Posts from — February 2008

Varmint by chingsta on Flickr.

According to the Post, the massive Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is being overtaken by an ever-growing army of masked mammals, and there’s no end in sight. The population of raccoons making their homes in the landmarked cemetery has ballooned into the hundreds and maybe even thousands, and they sure don’t share the goodwill enjoyed by the the cemetery’s parrot population.

Groundskeepers used to trap the animals and turn them over to the city’s Center for Animal Care and Control to keep the population manageable. However, last year the organization stopped accepting the snared animals, and as a result, the cemetery population has swelled dramatically. Groundskeepers still trap the raccoons, but end up releasing them in another areas of the cemetery.

The horde of raccoons have been tearing up the turf, eating flowers left at grave sites, and pissing off the neighbors who reside near the cemetery and who now find their trash opened and their pets assaulted.

The cemetery’s VP of Operations noted that “I got one call from a woman who wanted to know if she could shoot it with a .22..I didn’t know what to tell her.” Another worker said, “If I put out 100 traps out tonight, I’ll probably get 95. At night, you can see their glowing eyes everywhere.”

Cemeteries are creepy enough at night, the last thing you need is a pair of glowing eyes creeping around in the shadows–that, and oh yeah, rabies.

We Are L.I.C: Curated exhibition by Yigal Ozeri
Through 10 March 2008
Thursday-Sunday Noon-7 P.M. & Monday by appointment
Dean Project
45-43 21st Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 706-1462
www.deanproject.com

Tucked away across the street from P.S. 1 in Long Island City is the unassuming home of the Dean Project. Through March 10th, the gallery is featuring the work of seven Long Island City artists in their mid twenties and early thirties who use more traditional figurative representations to explore the themes of today. Both the show and the space are delightful detour on a trip to the gallery’s larger neighbor across the street.

From the gallery: “Using taxidermy animals, technology imagery, and material culture references from our daily life, Bryan Drury builds fascinating narratives of beauty and deterioration. His almost scientific technique of fine and meticulous detail results in a picture of tremendous energy and feeling.

Dina Brodsky paintings are created from memory and imaginary landscapes. Brodsky invites the viewer to explore the fine detail of her work captured by the exclusivity of her memory, and therefore to question the nature of representation in her work.

Michelle Doll depicts intimate moments of her daily routine that address ideas of personal identity. The physicality and use of color in her paintings plays with notions of environmental home décor, and idealization of the female image.

Rachel Deutch has a strong background in classical portraiture that is evident in her work. These compelling portraits are exactly created and have a fresh quality of such a high intensity that emotionally connects the viewers with her subjects as if these were from a personal source.

Tun Myang’s work deals with the balance of life and the certainty of death. Myang depicts this by creating a silent dialogue between the two dead entities. This interaction creates a mystery that overshadows the simplicity of his paintings.

Out of the seven artists in this exhibition Virginia Martinsen and Caitlin Hurd are the two artists whose painting style incorporate conventional traditional figurative representation and modernist art aesthetics. Martinsen’s work, which she creates by a process of throwing and pouring paint on canvas creating a vivid comparison to the blood vessels of the human body. Caitlin Hurd employs painting techniques associated with modern painting and incorporates concealed human imagery to depict her emotional reactions to certain ideals in our society.”

The family of Firefighter Robert Beddia (pictured far left) will sue the whole gang of state agencies and private contracting companies that were involved in the deconstruction of the former Deutsche Bank building–site of last summer’s tragic fire that took the lives of firefighters Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino (pictured right).

The suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, contends that “serious safety lapses…converted the building into a veritable death trap,” and “if not for the “reckless conduct” of the various deconstruction stakeholders, Robert Beddia “would still be fighting fires with New York City’s Bravest today.”

Those named in the suit include: the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.; Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center; Bovis Lend Lease Inc.; the John Galt Corp.; TRC Environmental Corp.; safety contractor URS Corp.; the Gilbane Building Co., Safeway Environmental Corp.; and Regional Scaffolding and Hoisting Co. Inc.

Joseph Graffagnino’s family has not yet filed a lawsuit but is planning to, and has filed a notice of claim.

Rendering of one of the proposed redesign schemes from NYSDOT.

The New York State Historic Preservation Office has held up plans for the proposed replacement of the Kosciuszko Bridge by raising questions about the destruction of the current bridge and suggesting that the current span be reincorporated into the new design.

The Daily News highlighted a letter from the SHPO to the New York State Department of Transportation that stated that “it is our opinion that the rehabilitation of the existing bridge - which represents a significant and unusual variation of the Warren truss type bridge - is a prudent and feasible alternative to demolition.”

NYSDOT’s plan is to replace and upgrade the one-mile portion of the BQE that contains the bridge, roughly from the LIE/BQE interchange in Queens to Morgan Avenue in Brooklyn. The DOT has cited its reasons for the replacement as (in addition to the Kosciuszko receiving the worst rating among deck-truss bridges statewide in a DOT study):

• Insufficient shoulders
• Narrow lanes
• Insufficient acceleration/deceleration lanes
• Non-standard stopping sight distance
• Accident rate as much as six times the statewide average

The concerns raised by the Historic Preservation Office keep the DOT from finalizing plans and presenting them for approval to federal officials who will have the final say on the project. As the DOT works on a report further explaining why the bridge should be replaced, the SHPO seems to be showing some leeway and has stated that “we will be responsive to [the DOT's] concerns, especially if they are safety related.” If the issues are cleared up, construction on the BQE is slated to begin in 2011 or thereafter.

Learn more about the bridge’s namesake, General Tadeusz Kościuszko, here.

The Kosciuszko Bridge by sizeofguam on Flickr.

Runaround on Randall’s? (Gotham Gazette)

Randall’s Island Superintendent Ordered to Stand Trial–Children Strapped Up and Ill Fed, 1915 (NY Times)

Randall’s & Ward’s Island Photo Tour (Bridge & Tunnel Club)

Ward’s Island Park and Randall’s Island Park Histories (NYC Parks)

Views of the Ward’s Island Immigration Station for the Detention and Treatment of Destitute or Sick Arriving Immigrants (The Ships List)

Public bath building in Greenpoint.

Bay Ridge in Brooklyn has maintained much of its low-scale, tight-knit feel over the years…

Walking down the streets you can find block after block of quaint, well-maintained homes…

The steady march of progress has also come to these quiet streets, and it’s been doubled for your pleasure…

Take it away, Jay…

The twin fourteen-story Shore Hill Apartments for senior citizens in Bay Ridge were completed in 1976 by Gruzen & Partners and were initially met with opposition from the community. The AIA Guide calls them a “looming presence” whose “tan brick anodized-windowed facade might better befit a Middle America motel.”

In the winter sun they’ve got that cold Modern presence of certain buildings that sparks honest thoughts of “dramatic and elegant simplicity,” just before you look again and think “East German drab.” Where does one draw the line?

Click each for larger size. More photos after the jump.

[Read more →]