Filming on Thursday, 4/15/2010 between 3am – 9pm in Dumbo around Adams and Front Street. It looks like a Walgreens ad shoot. Walgreens became the largest drugstore operator in NYC last Friday as the company completed its $623 million buyout of Duane Reade. Walgreens said it plans to keep using the Duane Reade name. Maybe they’re filming in Brooklyn to show how they’ve branched into NYC.

(Photo courtesy of tienmao).

(Photo courtesy of bekka p. from the DumboNYC Flickr Pool. If you have your own pictures related to Dumbo, please feel free to drop them there.)

The DOB has issued a Full Vacate Order on the townhouses at 11, 13 and 15 Old Fulton Street due to “significant structural defects of rear wall entire building and rear yards to be vacated.” Commenters in a 2007 post about 11-15 Old Fulton Street, did mention that there are “severe structural issues with them, and the land they sit on,” so this may have affected the buildings.

DOB listing for:

1. 11 Old Fulton Street
2. 13 Old Fulton Street
3. 15 Old Fulton Street

Top photo courtesy of epc.

Previously:
{Three Vacant Buildings on Old Fulton Street, 18Jan2007}
{Old Fulton Street Townhomes Under Contract, 30Nov2007}

A Curbed report says that someone posted a sign in front of the currently-closed-for-renovations Empire Fulton Ferry Park. The sign as transcribed by Curbed says:

the carousel
Boycott this thoughtless project of a rich individual’s boredom
In order to install the carousel in the park,

• A majestic tree will be chopped down
• Nature all around will be destroyed
• As will the peace and quiet we’ve enjoyed
• No more geese – either chased or terrified by the racket and the crowds

Inevitably, this “mini amusement park” will attract unprecedented crowds, junk-food concession stands, and, in turn, rats at night.
All this because an idle person, Jane Walentas, wife of a developer already responsible for several Dumbo eyesores, has nothing better to do and plenty of power and money to do it. No doubt she thinks of it as her great legacy, for which we should all be thankful. After all, you are incapable of teaching your children to be entertained by a mere park. They must have a whirligig that will improve their lives.

Fight the bully! Go online and tell Jane Walenta [sic] that money doesn’t buy everything. Certainly not our admiration.

Is this about NIMBY, anti-Walentas, or both?

New York Mag published their “Most Livable Neighborhoods in NY” article today. (Might also be the ‘bloggiest’ article since it’s mentioned in many real estate and neighborhood blogs). The list of 50 neighborhoods are a quantitative index of the 50 most satisfying places to live. However, according to Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, the writer of the article, while they were based on “objective statistical dimensions” and “you’ll find that it’s fairly easy to slot any of 15 or so neighborhoods into the top position, and any of 40 or so of the 60 that we evaluated into the top ten.” Data is based on housing cost, housing quality, transit/proximity, crime, schools, green space, food/restaurants, health and wellness, shopping and services, diversity, “creative capital” and nightlife.

So where’s Dumbo? Dumbo is #19 on the list (paired with downtown Brooklyn) and ranked high in shopping and services (#5), creative capital (#1), transit (#11), and housing quality (#12). In the NYMag piece, he writes: “Dumbo supplies the art galleries and waterfront access but is expensive; Downtown Brooklyn provides the stadium-seating multiplex and public-transit hub, but is high in crime and bereft of nightlife. This area received the highest score of any (95 points) in our creative-capital category: People in the arts constitute about 20 percent of its workforce.” Housing quality is defined as “historic districts, code violations, cockroaches” but it’s difficult to quantify that in an urban center where quality can vary from building to building.

Silver writes on his blog that “Not to encourage gentrification, but if I were buying property as an investment right now, I’d look toward places that are cheap relative to those qualities that take the longest time to upgrade or repair — particularly transit lines, and to a lesser extent greenspace and the quality of the housing stock. That might mean places like Long Island City and Sunnyside (Queens), Prospect Heights and DUMBO (Brooklyn), Washington Heights (Manhattan) and perhaps even some portions of the South Bronx near the train.” Not sure if I would characterize Dumbo as an investment as it avoided the real estate bust (prices are still as high as they were in 2008), but with developments in the Brooklyn Bridge Park and downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo may be an investment in the upcoming years. Do you think the article got it right?

A community advisory notice from the NYC Department of Design + Construction (DDC) has posted a note for people who park their cars on Dock Street, between Front and Water Streets, are advised to move all cars on Dock Street by Tuesday, April 13, at 8am. Per their notice:

On Tuesday morning all cars on Dock Street will be ticketed and towed at owners expense. Under the two way operations there will be no parking on either side of the street due to limited street width. When the construction is complete the street will return to one-way operation.

This is to allow continued Water Street reconstruction. To view the notice, view the PDF file.

Previously:
{Water Street Reconstruction Update (Mar/Apr 2010), 10Mar2010}
{Water/Washington St Reconstruction Project Update, 03Dec2009}
{Belgian Block Reconstruction to Begin, 04May2009}

(Photo courtesy of Josh Derr)

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• Brooklyn Bridge Park Orbs: Breaking Noses, 08Apr10, Gothamist
• Red Hook Lobster Pound in Brooklyn Bridge Park?, 09Apr10, NYM
• ‘Apocalypse Now’ in Brooklyn Heights?, 09Apr10, NYT
• Construction Elevator at 25 Washington, 08Apr10, Brownstoner
• BP Markowitz Partners w/ Dumbo’s Drop.io/PressList, 08Apr10, BBP
• Markowitz asks Apple to consider Brooklyn, 058Apr10, BBP
• Moby at powerhouse arena gristle book release, 07Apr10, Moby
• Dewey’s Candy Named ‘Best Sweets Shop’, 09Apr10, BK Eagle
• Helicopter Noise Press Conf, 09Apr10, BHB
• Moby Pines for Older, Grittier DUMBO, 07Apr10, NBC
• 2010 Bent Festival:Apr 22-24, 06Apr10, OSV
• NYC Extend Bike Lanes From BK & Manhattan Bridge, 06Apr10, NYP
• New DUMBO mall, 09Apr10, YourNabe
• Brooklyn Bridge Park Visit, 04Apr10, happyhealthybalance
• Brooklyn Tech: Purple Rock Scissors, 05Apr10, BHB
• 5 commercial leases signed in Dumbo, 05Apr10, Crain’s
• Brooklyn Has Lowest Census Returns, 07Apr10, BK Eagle
• Pomme, the best children’s store in NYC, 08Apr10, Telegraph
• Abhaya Yoga Opening in Dumbo Apr 15, 05Apr10, AbhayaYoga
• Bubby’s Review, 08Apr10, immaculate infatuation

BIC Plastics and Marka27 Present “8inch Bic Buddy Custom Show”. With a limited release of blank D.I.Y BUDDY and also the Half Dead Buddy. Plus limited Buddy t-shirts.

Also FREE Buddy key chains / zipper pulls while supplies last. So go there early folks, first come first serve.

Friday April 9th 6-9pm, live dj’s, TOSHII and TWREXX

ZAKKA NYC (www.zakkacorp.com)
155 Plymouth St, Brooklyn, NY, 11201
718.801.8037

New York is being invaded by 8-bit characters in this short film. Destruction originates in Dumbo, the NY Digital District (naturally). PIXELS is Patrick Jean’s (onemoreproduction) latest short film, shot on location in Dumbo and in New York.

(via Gizmodo)

The Brooklyn Digital Foundry, Carrot Creative, and Drop.io are leading the initiative to establish DUMBO Brooklyn as the New York Digital District (NYDD) to promote this dynamic area’s ability to satisfy a vast array of technology and web-based needs for brands and companies.

The NYDD’s first initiative is to try to catch the eye of Google for their Google Fiber project (google.com/appserve/fiberrfi). Our official submissions were submitted on time and our collection of video testimonials (www.nydd.us) is off the ground. The collection, however, is lacking; we need a stronger show of support from the community! The official submission deadline has passed (March 26), but that doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to produce testimonial videos to show the community’s support for Google Fiber and the NYDD.

The Brooklyn Digital Foundry will be providing a walk-in recording studio this Friday, April 9th for anyone and everyone in the neighborhood to stop by and record their 30-second testimonial. The Foundry is located at 20 Jay Street, suite 1105. The basic script is available for download here: http://bit.ly/nyddgoogfiber. People can notify us of when they may be stopping by here: http://bit.ly/gfiberinterest.

We want participation from not only digital businesses, but any company that makes the DUMBO community and economy go ’round. In addition to helping people record their videos, we’ll be raffling off* two (2) $10 gift certificates to Dewey’s Candy and three (3) gift certificates good for one free crepe at the new O’Crepes!

See everyone Friday!

Please contact Chris Fohlin (fohlin@brooklynfoundry.com) if you have any questions.

*Max of one gift certificate per person