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The residents of 140 Cadman Plaza West, a 250 unit middle-income Mitchell-Lama co-op in Brooklyn Heights, have complained for years about the 24/7 construction noise and pollution inflicted on them by the Brooklyn Bridge repair project. Their co-op is directly south of the bridge, and residents have reported sleepless nights and health problems from 2 a.m. jackhammering, construction vehicle commotion, bright nighttime lights and backup beeping — with little relief from the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), they say.

Now the co-op’s residents are bracing for another onslaught, in the form of the roughly seven-year reconstruction of a rapidly deteriorating length of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE), from Sands Street to Atlantic Avenue. The $1.8 billion rehab — one of the most complex and expensive repairs ever undertaken by DOT — will include rebuilding the Triple Cantilever underpinning the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. In a March 12 letter to DOT and officials, co-op board President Ted Valand wrote, “Our experience with the Brooklyn Bridge project taught us that in addition to normal work-hour and work-week construction noise and pollution, project contractors (apparently with relative ease) were able to secure approvals for unrestricted activities on a 24/7 basis.”

In an email to the Brooklyn Eagle, Valand called the experience, “Pretty hellish, particularly when they went 24/7.”

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The 84^th Precinct Community Council
urges you to attend the next meeting on Tuesday, March 20^th, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.

Brooklyn Borough Hall – 209 Joralemon Street

84 Precinct Crime Report and Results – Transit Police Report – Presentation on Commercial Bicyclist Law by Kim Wiley-Schwartz Asst. Comm. for Education and Outreach | NYC DOT.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS – BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS – REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED

TRANSPORTATION WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO AND FROM THE MEETING. CALL COMMUNITY AFFAIRS 718-875-6850 TO ARRANGE TRANSPORTATION

They’re hungry for more!

Owners of the beloved Remsen Street health-food store Perelandra temporarily shuttered its kitchen and juice bar to make way for a massive cooking space that will serve a bevy of new freshly prepared foods when it reopens this spring.

“This is the most significant expansion we’ve done in nearly 20 years,” said co-owner Allison Buckingham. “We’re close to tripling the size of the kitchen.”

The staple Brooklyn Heights grocer between Court and Clinton streets — which opened on nearby Montague Street in 1976 before moving to its current location — is recognized for its aisles filled with good-for-you fare, including organic fruits and vegetables and rice and grains by the pound, and for its entirely plant-based kitchen, where workers made to-go sandwiches and baked goods along with fresh juices and coffee before it closed in mid-January for the makeover.

And when the super-sized, Kosher-certified space opens in April, it will boast a bulked-up menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options as well as expanded hours that include weekends, when the old kitchen was closed, Buckingham said. -The Brooklyn Paper

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A delegation sponsored by the BHA traveled to Albany on Tuesday, March 6th to urge the State to authorize Design-Build for the fast-approaching $2 billion BQE Project. Joining the BHA were representatives from Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, and Park Slope, as well as from the Promenade Gardens Conservancy and CHIPS.
Without Design-Build, NYCDOT will have to detour 16,000 trucks daily off the BQE by 2026 onto local streets. With this authorization, DOT can complete the project before this catastrophic diversion becomes necessary and save $113 million.
In back-to-back meetings, the delegation met with nine Assemblymembers and seven Senators, or their legislative aides,with Ali Chaudhry, Governor Cuomo’s Deputy Secretary of Transportation, and squeezed in a press event. An account of the day’s events is here.
We were highly encouraged to learn the night before the trip that Alphonso David, the Governor’s Counsel, wrote on the Governor’s behalf to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson about the State’s position on pressing issues facing the city, and in particular, that “the Governor would be fully supportive of design build for the BQE.” The letter acknowledged the Governor’s concern for the traffic impacts of the project on downtown Brooklyn communities if Design-Build is not available to expedite the project.
The Senators and Assemblymembers with whom we met expressed their support, but passage of the legislation is by no means assured. Last year, only the Assembly passed this legislation, but the Senate’s action this year remains uncertain. Senator Martin Golden introduced new legislation that includes other measures, some of which might be unacceptable to the City and to the Assembly.
Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon will be working with their colleagues to send a “One House Bill” to the Governor outlining their respective budget priorities that include Design-Build for the BQE. The objective is to have this authorization passed with the State Budget, but the budget deadline is only 3 weeks away.
There are two actions the community can do in support of Design-Build, but time is of the essence:
First, sign the BHA’s petition, and second, call the following Senators to urge them to bring the bill to the floor and get it passed by the Senate:
Martin Golden, sponsor of S7698, (518) 455-2730
Simcha Felder, Chair-Cities Committee, (518) 455-2754
Majority Leader John Flanagan, (518) 455-2071
Please Call Now! Thanks for your support.
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No, Sociale has not turned into a Luncheonette and there’s no Beauty Supply store where the car service used to be!  According to Brownstoner, crews were spotted…in Brooklyn Heights getting ready to film scenes for the adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel “Motherless Brooklyn.  Storefronts on Henry Street between Orange and Pineapple were transformed to make the neighborhood feel like the 1950s, when part of the film takes place. Vintage cars were parked along the street and some extras were dressed in period clothing.

See all the photos here.

The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is holding a Scoping Meeting and preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) consistent with New York City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) regulations for the replacement or rehabilitation of the BQE / I-278 from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street. The Draft Scope of Work is available for review online at www.BQE-i278.com and at select public locations, including the Brooklyn Public Library Main Branch. Public comments are requested with respect to matters to be addressed in the DEIS.
The Public Scoping meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, 5:00 to 8:00 PM, at the Dock Street School, 19 Dock Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
During the Public Scoping meeting, a presentation at 5:30 p.m. will be followed by public testimony taken on the Draft Scope of Work. NYCDOT will have two American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at the Scoping Meeting, as well as a Spanish certified translator.
Written comments on the Draft Scope of Work will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. Monday, March 12, 2018. For more information or locations of the Draft Scope of Work, please contact the BQE Project Team during regular business hours or leave a message at 332-999-4520 or [email protected].

Watch the sky!

Neon-red letters that spell the new name of the massive office-and-retail complex planned for the former Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarters could float above Brooklyn Heights where the Watchtower letters once hovered, renderings show.

Workers tore down the 15-foot characters that formed the religious group’s iconic sign from the framework atop the Columbia Heights edifice last December as part of its new owners’ — who include President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — plan to transform the building into the multi-use space dubbed Panorama.

And a drawing on the property’s website shows very similar letters spelling out the new name atop its East River-facing roof. A rep for the developer said that sign is only hypothetical because whatever eventually gets hoisted onto the now-barren framework — which still features the blinking time and temperature — must first get the green light from the Department of Buildings.

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Brooklyn officials seek to fend off ‘massive failure of government’

Brooklyn communities abutting the BQE will face local traffic calamities for years during reconstruction of Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) and roadway under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade if Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others in Albany do not intercede immediately to allow a fast-track contracting process. Officials at a rally in Brooklyn Heights on Friday said they are working now to head off the looming crisis. The seven-year reconstruction, already in the planning stage, must be completed by 2026. If it’s not, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) says it will likely have to divert 16,000 trucks daily from the highway onto local streets, causing jams that will reverberate from Brooklyn to Staten Island and Queens. -Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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