Dumbo NYC

Notes from the DUMBO, Brooklyn NY neighborhood


Streetfilms Coverage of Pearl St Triangle

August 15th, 2007

Streetsfilms.org covered the Dumbo Improvement District’s press conference on August 9 and included the video clip (above):

What once was a triangle on Pearl Street for about two dozen car parking spots has become an oasis of green complete with chairs, tables, umbrellas and art. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan called the space, “a new living room for the neighborhood.” Although the subway can be a little clanky in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge, we think that comment couldn’t be more perfect.

{Paint a Parking Lot, Put Up a Paradise, 13Aug07, Streetfilms.org}
Previously: {Pearl Street Triangle Unveiling Press Conference}

Filed in Dumbo Improvement, Dumbo Streetscapes, Pearl Street at 12:00 am
Comments
  • I think it's a great idea. A little piece of heaven in the middle of a brick and mortared neighbored.

    Regards,

    Jim C.
    San Francisco Dentist
    Beverly hills dental spa
  • DUMBO Kvetchers
    Jen, If you think the new arrangement is ugly, how did you like it when the triangle was used as a parking lot and illegal dump? Was that less of an affront to the senses to you?

    Look, folks: This is an outstanding project. This is exactly the direction NYC needs to go. We need to start taking back our streets and public spaces from motor vehicles and giving them back to human beings. There are countless reasons to do this, some of which are business-related but not all.

    The DOT commish said that if people use the space and it is deemed successful, then they'll come up with a permanent more plaza-like design. DOT and DUMBO BID did a fantastic job of transforming what was basically a junkyard parking lot into a place where people are sitting and eating lunch, doing meetings, working on their laptops. They did it in a very very short time and for virtually no money. And you're complaining that they picked the color green for the pavement?! Puh-lease. What a bunch of unbelievable whiners.

    DUMBO now has one less junkyard parking lot and one more community space, one more place where public life can flourish in public space. If you've got a problem with that then, well, you've got a problem.
  • Vinegar Hill Res.
    You don't have to like the location. But the criticisms of the green paint and temporary fixtures are so weak. This is how the NYC parks department tests new parks. Another park just like this one is set to roll out in the Meat Packing District. If one or both work, then the city will set about installing them properly. If you still don't like it then, you don't have to sit there.
  • jen
    Perhaps people wouldn't feel the need to "complain about everything" if the powers that be in Dumbo ever gave any credence to what people other than themselves thought or wanted. I never parked my car at the triangle, I pay $300/month at a garage. So it's not that specifically that disturbs me. It's that nothing ever happens in Dumbo that isn't geared toward someone's profit (whether that means a film shoot or some promotional festival etc.) And even those are co-opted to sell condos. The creation of this space (or the depletion of the space that it was - depends on how one sees it) is no different. So the chick from Journey is happy because she thinks it may improve her business. Maybe the new kids shop that no one goes to is happy. So what. Why should I care? It's an eyesore. It's ugly. Is this lost on you? Really? I'll say it again: it's ugly. It's hideous. It's an affront to the senses. Lime green paint posing as grass and a gaggle of imbeciles who can't think their way out of a paper bag lining up in agreement to say it's wonderful. Bozo is right. It's the worst kind of veneer. Temporary or not, if you want green space, lay some sod, etc, and do it right. This does not qualify as green space, nor does it "add vibrancy." It's an ugly, nauseating, Guttman-inspired wasteland that has been made worse than what it was. You want to sit there, eat lunch as the diesel spills off the bridge onto your food, fine. I choose not to. And I choose to say so, and why.
  • DOT
    Why must people complain about everything? My goodness, it's a small peice of the neighborhood with plants, chairs, tables, and art. There's no doubt it adds some vibrancy to the block. What's the gripe? I agree with Rascal... dumbo circa 1990 is gone, get over it and roll with the punches (if you even call this a punch).
  • Jen
    1:53 refers to this thing as a park. Dunno what to call it, but it sure as hell ain't a park.
  • nope
    This triangle is a piece of shit. I agree with Bozo.
  • Rascal
    Time marches on, Bozo. No matter how much pining you do for the glorious Dumbo days of yore, they ain't-a-comin'-back.
  • Vinegar Hill Res.
    Bozo, how can you not realize that this is a temporary park? The green paint, the planters, etc. are here on a trial run. If the space is deemed a success, then a more appropriate, and permanent design will be put into effect. If the city had ever presented this space as completely finished then there would be something to gripe about. I have seen people sitting here enjoying this park every day. There are few spaces in Dumbo where one's conversation or train of thought aren't drowned out momentarily by the rumble of a train overhead -- and the waterfront park isn't one of them either and it's an oasis.

    Seems to me that the people who are the most upset by the triangle park are the ones who miss the old parking lot.
  • mw
    last weekend the triangle was full of people. so i think that there actually are a lot of people enjoying this. and for me - as a resident - i'm not going to be opposed to more trees in the neighborhood - they help to clean the air even a small amount and i don't see how that's a bad thing.
  • local
    right on bozo!
    damn the man!
  • Bozo
    Uh, spin this any way you like, but this is not an "oasis" or a "lovely new public space" or a "living room for the neighborhood." This is a pathetic, ill-conceived project and an embarrassment to any and all who live here. I pass this every day and cringe at the sight of it. This is a gleaming example of what Dumbo has become and the "vision" of those who are running the show (as well as the vision of those that get heard). Dumbo has become a collaboration of veneers and easy fixes, and self-congratulatory, ego-centric incompetents. My guess, is that they were attempting to replicate the small triangle park at 6th Avenue and Walker Street in Tribeca, and, unable or unwilling to make that happen, reduced the neighborhood to this. Putting aside the profound failure of the aesthetic of this, on an even greater scale they failed to take into account the train and the commercial traffic above. Short of maybe standing next to the speakers at a Smashing Pumpkins concert, I can think of few places noisier than Pearl and Water. This was a stupid idea, stupidly executed, by very stupid, uncaring people. So sorry if that offends them, but not only am I offended by their work, but by their seeming relentless insistence, through press releases, press conferences, and now a friggin film, that this is all good. It's not. It sucks. It looks awful. It feels awful. It's a goddamn joke.
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