Brooklyn Navy Yard
06/22/05
Brooklyn Navy Yard
8:18 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
love the "BLOG 123" / "BLDG 123"
Posted by: tim at June 22, 2005 02:49 PM
oh, do you know if they just tore down the jails over there?
Posted by: tien at June 23, 2005 09:38 AM
The jail is gone. Too bad it went so fast, it was pretty cool in there.
Some photos here:
http://ltvsquad.com/Locations/urbanexploration.php?ID=32
Posted by: control at June 23, 2005 10:36 AM
Mike, I just realized its been one year since I first looked at your pictures. Time flies.
Posted by: christian at June 25, 2005 07:48 AM
Yay! You got in!
Posted by: corie at June 26, 2005 10:55 PM
You shut down the Trona photoblog, Why? was it getting too hot? you started it all, maybe you should be a bit more careful. At least you were able to give it enough time to expose a childmolester. It won't do any good to remove the site as I have already saved it as a webpage and forewarded it to the police. Read about the child molesters being sought in California. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/17/national/main702518_page2.shtml
http://www1.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_national/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19860_3868954,00.html
if you completely remove it you will look like a conspirature too. I suggest you remove the ban and let Fred be caught. Then you can have the credit for doing something good.
Posted by: Fran at June 27, 2005 10:38 PM
Marian Z. Augustyniak, Architect
77 Cooper Street
New York, NY 10034
212 567-4599
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD INTO AGORA
A PROPOSAL FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD INTO A PUBLIC USE PLACE FOR NEW YORK
Augustyniak, Architect
New York, July 4, 2005
Précis
The about 300 + acres of the New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard lie at present vacant and dormant. The yard, given by the US to the New York City is filled with the remainder of old glory structures, now rusted derelicts. Some attempts to form a viable industrial park in the middle of the city are a failure, and are enormous drain on the city’ finances. At the same time New Yorkers need a common space for communal activities. The one by three quarters of a mile area can accommodate a quarter of a million users. The task is too big for the usual investors for profit, so that the efforts of all people of the city and organizations will have to join and create such agora. Following are proposed plans for its realization.
Augustyniak
WHAT IS
The New York Metropolitan Area's need for a large, common, open area occasionally manifests itself in the chaotic attempts and proposals of half-measures that do not solve the needs, but create hardships for the population. All of these attempts have common characteristics. They are not planned within the matrix of the entire city. They are the results of an obtainable space wherever it may be. And they are based solely on the financial profitability projections, which invariably include substantial giveaways and contributions from the city and state governments, without accruing a higher quality of life to the inhabitants. They crop up in the densely populated and built-up areas, without adequate access. Historically, the city administration is incapable to provide the planning, guidance and directions, much less a regulation and control, and often it is a captive of the promoters, while the population is limited to the futile protests. Presently the administration with an access to the finances is like a bumble bee when chased from one investment project buzzes to another.
WHAT WILL BE
Indeed, there is a serious and urgent need for a focal point that allows the region's inhabitants to have a public place where they may gather and participate in common activities. A city of eight millions inhabitants, with other millions functionally connected, and a part of it, must have a common space where they may gather together and participate in a multitude of activities. There they can assemble and deliberate, view social, entertainment and sports presentations and performances. And above all, they, the people, will have opportunities, and indeed it is the main purpose, that they themselves engage in the provided facilities in health promoting, cultural and recreational, direct and personal activities. It must be sufficiently large to accommodate them without crowding, in comfort. To meet these needs, such space and area can not be just a convention center, or a sports stadium, or other single use for a specific purpose. It has to be on a scale large enough to encompass the diversified requirements, activities and interests of the users. Such place must be easily and conveniently accessible by the multitude of the participants in the provided activities centers and facilities. In the historical terms, New York needs a contemporary reincarnation of the Ancient Greeks' Agora, or the Romans' Forum. Now technologically, socially and culturally we have again the ability, and the need for such place, and with a will we can create it without undue difficulties.
WHERE IT WILL BE
Search up and down for such common space, there is none such to be found in Manhattan. To start with, Manhattan is overused, over-paved, overcrowded. There are physical restrains and limits of space, area, and population congestion. The lack of accessibility and transportation are the most obvious and critical. Although the Island is accessible from the peripheries, there is not a single specific place in it for a large congregation, which could be conveniently accessed from each part of the city and suburbs. The Manhattan can be approached from all the peripheries as a terminal destination, in fact a dead end. There is hardly any go through transportation system that would lead beyond it, to the other boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, or Connecticut. At the same time the center has to be situated within confines of the city, yet readily reached by all.
BROOKLYN
Fortunately, there is such a place in New York City, in the Borough of Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the most popular borough, of some two and half millions population, the fourth largest city in the country, next to Chicago. Yet it has almost nil the large city's educational, cultural amenities and institutions comparable to Chicago. It still suffers from the unification of all present boroughs, and a consequent loss of independence. As for the cultural facilities, it is not that they are totally absent. The Brooklyn Academy of Music is a capacious but a singular, isolated hall, and its Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra has the standing of, with the respect and admiration for both for the high professional qualities and dedication, a community orchestra such as the Manhattan's New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. Some efforts to expand and modernize the area around it are salutary, and long overdue. However, they are insufficient to create together a viable and prominent public center. While most of the benefits from the unification were accruing to the Manhattan, some of the spillovers found their way to the Bronx and Queens. Notable were the baseball stadiums, Yankee in the Bronx, and Shea in Queens, and the Flushing Meadows Tennis Center. They all have in common the lack of adequate mass transit access and rely on a land devouring and air polluting automobile access, as is the case with JFK. Since the loss of the Ebbets Field and the Dodgers the Brooklyn residents have to content themselves with visits to the Bronx and Queens. For participation in most other spectator sports and mass recreation, Brooklyn's, like the rest of New York City's residents, must travel outside of the state. Ludicrous as it may seem, New Yorkers have to endure a long trip on a congested highway, without even a direct rail link, to New Jersey just to see a basketball game. From Brooklyn it is a twice the trip from Manhattan. And yet, in Brooklyn there is a place, which stares in the evelopers' eyes, and is overlooked or ignored by all. Some considerations by local groups to utilize a part of it as a sports arena, ware short leaved, timid and marginal to the political interests. This part of Brooklyn lies at the East River edge and faces Manhattan, the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (THE YARD), (Y) is situated at the center of the City, and accessible from every direction, by water, air and land. Perhaps the most important is that nearby are several subway stations, for the lines 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, M, N and R. This location allows people from any part of the town to reach it relatively easily. Another mass transit connection is the Long Island Railroad at the Flatbush Terminal. There is also the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway winding around it. The direct links with Manhattan through the three neighboring bridges, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg can be easily constructed. There is no better site in the city for a water transport than the Wallabout Basin, at which the Yard lies. The water transport can extend the ready accessibility to the Yard as far as Westchester and New Jersey. As the East River channels are kept at the minimum depth of forty feet, although there is no cargo storage room, the Yard can serve as a host for the oceanic liners and cruise ships. A bus and helicopter services can provide a ready link with the world through the nearby JFK Airport. A future loop from the Long Island Railroad at the Laurelton Station around the JFK Airport will give the travelers a simple, non-convoluted access to it. All these transportation systems are either ready now, or can be adapted with modifications, expansions and enhancements. After a glorious past and historic events of two centuries, the Brooklyn Navy Yard became a scrap heap of old buildings and machinery Since the US Government in 1966 gave it to the New York City, the Yard, despite some half hearted efforts, is a financial drain on the city's finances. The periodic infusion of finances to keep it afloat, are the good money sent after the bad. How much only the audit could show.
Since its heyday in 1944, when the Yard employed 74,000 people, only few of the buildings are still usable, barely. The electric system is incompatible with the standard city system and even as such, is grossly inadequate. It is like a ghost of it former glory. Administered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Corporation, endeavoring to make it an industrial center, it is virtually empty. Despite some occupancy of the usable structures, including the environment polluting enterprises, it is a wasteland in the middle of the densely populated city. But, it is a large chunk of Real Estate, of some 300 acres of land, and perhaps half as much in the adjacent, build-able, and otherwise usable shore and river waters. The area reaches a width of one mile in north-south direction and three quarters of a mile to the East River. Further, beyond the Williamsburg Bridge, between the Kent Avenue and along the river edge there is a mostly vacant, open space, with the interspersed, abandoned piers, all the way to the Railroad Yards and North 7th Street. Turned into a park, it can rival and surpass the Riverside Park of the Manhattan West Side.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Yard will be the home to a large variety of structures. Its main feature, a movable roof Assembly Hall, will be constructed for a hundred thousand people to view sporting events, conduct group activities, conventions, ceremonies and fairs. There will be structures housing numerous other spectators' sports, including water sports, for group, and individual usage. For other recreational and cultural activities there will be a Performing Arts Center, supplementing the nearby Academy of Music area, which will have a prominent place as a part of the Yard and unified with it. There will be the integration of the sports, cultural and arts aspects through the galleries, exhibits and shows at the sports areas and events. In outdoor activities, within a landscaped terrain, there will be the play and relaxation, as well as quiet areas. To the North, alongside the east bank of the East River there will be a continuation of the park through Williamsburg. On the south at Flushing Avenue a bridge or an underpass will integrate the J. Berry Park with the Yard.
SERVICES, UTILITIES
A provision of services and utilities will not present undue problems. Most of the construction, and maintenance materials, as well as equipment, food and other staples can be readily delivered by water. In addition, a construction of a rail connection to the LLRR at the Flatbush Terminal and PATH from the world Trade Center should include freight service, in off peak hours at least. Although the Yard has its own electric power generation, the system is Navy proprietary thus incompatible with the City's system. As it also obsolete, it has to be replaced. It should continue to be independent from the local electricity supplier to void historically frequent blackouts, in the sense that it will not fail while the city's system is down. At the same time, the interconnection will permit its utilization in an emergency. There is adjacent to the north east corner a Con Edison power facility, which may be augmented to serve the Yard. The Yard will have dual water supply, of potable water and a general use, including fire requirements. In its history and operations the Yard consumed large volume of water tapped from the city supply system. The new water requirements are expected to exceed the historical need, and the facilities will have to be expanded, updated, some replaced or repaired. Located at the river, the Yard can use its waters for general purposes. A water filtration, purification and pumping system located at the north end, in Wallabout Basin or a northern dock is separated from the existing at the east end sewage treatment plant, convenient and least obtrusive. The site's storm water and sewage treatment at the east side of the Yard may have to be enlarged and modernized. However, it provides a good solution to the Yard's requirements. Commonly, there are produced enormous but avoidable quantities of garbage and trash. It is paramount that the Yard establishes a system based on needs, minimum wastage and efficiency to minimize and limit the garbage creation.
PROGRAM
An overall program shall be established within the above parameters. It shall include detailed requirements for the facilities, amenities, to allow their simultaneous use by a quarter of a million people. The overall conceptual design for the Yard will be obtained through a form of a world wide architectural and planning competition. The International Union of Architects, which has proven procedures in the international competitions, will play a leading role in the competition organization and administration. The Union should work together with the New York organizations: the American Institute of Architects, and the New York Society of Architects, as well as other pertinent organizations.
CONSTRUCTION CONCEPT
To serve the people as soon as possible, the creation of the Yard must be based on a fast track, multilateral, simultaneous and well coordinated efforts of maximum capacity. In New York such precedence abound. Perhaps the most relevant is the construction of the Yard's neighbor, the Brooklyn Bridge. As it is, the fast-track method is also the most efficient and least expensive, compared with the large, government run projects. These are generally split into various jurisdictions, authorities and groups, are loaded with the administrative, managerial and fiscal redundancies and duplications, which are non productive and non-contributing to the project's quality and completion schedules. The conditions for a fast-track approach are favorable also in that the site is accessible from several streets, and above all from the navigable water, with docks and loading facilities already in place. There the construction can be effected on the multiple sub-projects concurrently. Within forty months from the day of the go ahead, the Yard can celebrate its opening with the gala performances and fireworks.
OWNERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION
Because of its importance the decision for the creation of the Agora will be taken by the People of New York City in a binding referendum. The people, as behooves a democratic society, will have a governing, majority interest and elect the management, and replace it at their will. Yard can also be organized as a public corporation, with the people of New York as individual shareholders and managers. The project will be too large for a private, promoters' effort. Although a high minded coalition of some individuals and entities might assist in carrying out the project successfully. The price will be about $4 billions, or three quarters of an aircraft carrier's. The expansion and modernization of the infrastructure and transportation, city and regional, requires a long overdue federal involvement and activity. The public, inhabitants' support and participation requires a grass roots activities through organizations of local, groups, clubs and societies and their joining in a unified support for the Agora.
REGIONAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
The pressures on Manhattan will be relieved when the conditions created by the Yard will balance it with Brooklyn as a viable, integrated urban center. The immediate neighborhood of the Yard from the East River along the Atlantic Avenue, Marcy Avenue and Broadway will become this urban center. The new center will assist the Long Island in a revitalization of its economic life, which will provide the newly created demands for products and services. The yard will stimulate a creation of the comprehensive transportation systems, integrating expanding and extending the rail, road and water modes to the entire region, including a connection of New Jersey with Long Island and Connecticut.
Augustyniak, New York, July 4, 2005
Please comment to: mzaug@aol.com, admin@ponderon.com,
Augustyniak, 77 Cooper Street, New York, NY 10034
1. Program 2. Ownership 3. Financing 4. Region 5, Other
Posted by: Augustyniak at July 17, 2005 10:25 PM
what's the likelihood of something like this happening and what is the timeframe?
Posted by: kris at July 23, 2005 05:53 PM
i was biking down flushing today, and saw a whole block of old houses, which i assumed were on brooklyn navy yard property, built about 100 years ago, totally covered in ivy, just decaying like they were in the middle of a jungle. does anyone know what is up with those buildings?
Posted by: keach at September 22, 2005 09:10 PM
I HAVE COME TO CRASH TOTHIS POPSICL STAND HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOW I GO I CONE TIME I LIVE ON THJE ROOF TOO
OMG SORRY!!!1 DRIMLK
DURNK
DRIS
DRUNKK THERE
Posted by: QUE at September 27, 2005 01:23 PM
i would also like to kno how likely it is that this plan be put into action also exactly how many acres of unused space is there does anyone kno???
Posted by: maya_tha_bee at October 16, 2005 07:49 PM
augustyniak--Have you even been to the navy yard? I find some of your statements misleading. First of all, the trains you listed are nowhere near the yard. The closest lines are the F and the G, and both are a considerable walk (which is why the the BNY Development Corp. provides shuttles for people who work there). I have a woodshop there and wish it was as accessible by public transportation as you make it sound.
The US gov. sold the yard to the city in '67 because it became obsolete--for building those giant super aircraft carriers. For the rest of us it's more than adequate. Yes there is a lot of unused acreage, however the yard has over 200 businesses, and is one of the few areas left in the city for light manufacturing that remains affordable. You see a wasteland, where in fact there are wood and metal shops, printers, artists, textile companies, jewelry makers, and more. Yes, I'm sure there are ecologically irresponsible companies there, but that is by no means specific to the yard. Many of the younger shop owners I know are ecologically concerned and chose and use their materials accordingly, which I'm sure is part of a larger trend. There are other eco-minded businesses such as a recycled glass countertop fabricator. Currently, the BNYDC seems to be operating well, whatever it's history, and I can't imagine the corporation you propose being any better than any other public corporation. The BNYDC is also very supportive of small businesses and provides many educational seminars for their tenants. Many of us love the yard as it is, including many people who have visited my shop. I've never heard it described as desolately as you have and I can't imagine being in a better location.
The Navy Yard has long rich history, but that history is largely working class, which is why I suppose most people who would want an Agora wouldn't give two shits about it, or the fact that that history continues. New York needs to maintain some degree of manufacturing--and believe it or not some people like it. Where should these people go work? The Gap? Starbucks? There are tradespeople who love this city and want to live and work here, and not get swept out (except when needed of course), so that it can become the next bourgeois playground.
Posted by: revjim at October 31, 2005 09:10 PM
Can anyone tell me how do I go about renting space at the Navy Yard?....I need to park about 15 buses........