It’s an extensive list, and linking most of the names to their Wikipedia articles is quite a service. (I’m surprised there really is nothing on Wikipedia for Woody Guthrie or Joan Rivers.)
I can say this is about my least favorite feature of the Gardens. It’s just odd. The path itself is in a weird place. I never seem to need to go between the two places it joins. It goes behind the Japanese Garden, from one entrance to the other. I’d rather walk through the Japanese Garden.
Walking along the path, the stepping stones themselves are just distracting. If only there were some nice views or vistas along the way. If there are, I’ve missed them because I keep reading the stones!
BBG notes that “New names are added to Celebrity Path each June on the borough’s annual Welcome Back to Brooklyn Day.” So we can look forward to more distractions later this year.
Any Brooklynites you would want to add to the list?
There is a Public Competition open for envisioning and designing the future of Gateway National Park, also known as the Gateway National Recreation Area. The deadline for registration is next week, February 28, 2007.
Gateway is huge. It covers 10,374 acres of land and 16,233 acres of water, a total of 26,607 acres. For comparison, the entire island of Manhattan is about 12,800 acres. Gateway consists of three “units”: One in New Jersey, and two in New York City. The Jamaica Bay Unit straddles Brooklyn and Queens. It comprises the majority of Gateway: it covers 19,752 acres, 12,367 of which are water, the remainder of which are 15 different parks, beaches, wildlife refuges, and other sites of interest. Over 330 species of birds have been recorded in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, the largest designated area within the Jamaica Bay Unit.
Even if you don’t intend to compete, there are hundreds of pages of documentation, scores of maps, and innumerable photographs of Gateway available in the Site Brief section of the competition Web site. Although some details are available only to registrants, much of the information is available, intentionally, to the public at large, to help inform public discussion:
Gateway was designated the first urban National Recreation Area on October 27, 1972, exactly one century after Yellowstone became the first national park in the United States and the world. Thirty-five years later, Gateway continues to struggle to meet the aspirations of its founders, to negotiate its relationship with the communities that surround it, and to balance the goals of historic preservation, environmental conservation, and active recreation.
Gateway presents a significant regional resource with incredible infrastructural, ecological and cultural value in the New York metropolitan region, hosting endangered birds, fish and shellfish breeding grounds, marinas, playfields, and cultural relics. It is also the site of combined sewer outfalls, treated wastewater effluent, abandoned buildings, degraded habitat, drowned marshes, former landfills and vast asphalt runways.
Both the complexity of Gateway and the scope of this design competition call for an immense amount of background information about the park. The materials provided throughout the Site Brief area of the website are taken from a Research Report prepared by a team of investigators from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The report is comprised of written chapters, extensive mappings, external primary sources and site photographs. It is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the conflicting issues facing Gateway historically and today.
We are pleased to make the majority of this information available to both competitors and the public-at-large. The Research Report can be downloaded in its entirety for the duration of the competition, and selected images and mappings are available for public browsing throughout this section of the website.
A reminder to all my neighbors in Brooklyn’s City Council District 40: Vote today in the special election to select our next City Council-person. Polls are open until 9pm tonight.
[The voter reminder postcard I received refers to this as the “SPECIAL ELECTION for the 40th Councilmanic District …”. I love that.]
I already voted this morning on my way to the subway. Our polling place is P.S. 139; the main entrance is 330 Rugby Road, just up the block from Courtelyou Road. The voting sheet looked very odd, with just one row at the top of the sheet, and not enough room to list all 11 candidates! Turnout was extremely light. The winner of this election is likely to do so by a handful of votes. Every vote counts, unlike some elections [g].
Next week, on Tuesday, February 20, there will be a special election to replace Yvette Clarke as Brooklyn’s 40th District City Council Member. Clarke was elected to Congress in last year’s elections. The council member elected on February 20 will serve only until the end of 2007. A general election in November will elect the member to serve the remainder of Clarke’s unfinished term.
There are severallandmarkedhistoricdistricts within District 40, and hopefully another soon. Still, most of the Victorian Flatbush neighborhoods are at risk of being lost forever due to inappropriate zoning and development.
NYC asks us to imagine What kind of city we want to live in by 2030. What happens to this area in the next decade will determine not only what happens by 2030, but this century and beyond. The neighborhoods of Victorian Flatbush are not only worth preserving, it’s critical to the future of this area that we do so. It’s not just about pretty houses, or property values. It’s about open space and shade. It’s about the rates of asthma and respiratory disorders. It’s about moderating surface temperatures by preserving and managing the urban forest, reducing heating and cooling demands. It’s about how many people will die in the heat waves we will experience by the end of the century. It’s about the quality of life for the entire area, and whether or not it will be livable in the future.
This map shows the locations of schools and parks in City Council District 40. Schools are indicated with blue dots. The green labels identify the location of parks. Open space, including cemeteries, ball fields, and so on, are outlined in green. Prospect Park abuts District 40 on the northwest. The Parade Ground south of that is ballfields. Other than that, there is a near complete absence of parks within District 40.
This map shows landcover classification in District 40. Dark green areas are trees and forest. Light green areas are grassland, fields and such. Everything else is classified “impervious”, ie: buildings, streets, sidewalks, pavement, etc.
South of Prospect Park, note the interrupted band of dark green that extends to the south boundary of the District. These trees provide the only greenery and shelter in District 40. This area is the lungs of Flatbush.
Now we zoom in on my little neck of the woods, the Victorian Flatbush neighborhood of Beverly Square West. This map shows the outlines of buildings and the landcover classification. At this scale, it becomes clear that it is the trees on private property, not street trees, and certainly not parks or “open areas”, that provide most of the tree cover.
And this is what it looks like from the ground. These two photos show the view from the same street corner on my block, as it looks in Spring and Fall.
With no parks for blocks around, and few playgrounds, it’s no wonder that parents come to our streets to stroll their babies and walk their children. It’s the only green space within walking distance for many people.
[Updated 2007.02.13: Corrected list of candidates attending.] [Updated 2007.02.09 with more photos.] Tonight I attended the New York City Council 40th District Candidate Forum on Preservation and Development. Tonight’s Forum was sponsored by the Coalition of Concerned Preservation Voters in the 40th District, comprised of 11 community organizations and neighborhood associations, including that of Beverly Square West, where I live.
Nine of the ten confirmed candidates were present. In alphabetical order, they were:
Mathieu Eugene
Karlene Gordon
Gerry Hopkins (write-in candidate)
Jennifer James
Zenobia McNally
Moe Razvi
Harry Schiffman
Wellington Sharpe
Joel Toney
Leithland Tulloch
Jesse Hamilton was not present.
About 100 people attended the event. I was surprised by the turnout, especially since the wind-chill was in the single digits. I’ll post some more photos over the weekend.
Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council, kicks off the Forum.
The candidates make their opening statements.
Ron Schweiger, Brooklyn Borough Historian, poses the first question from the audience to the candidates.
I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago, but I just want to remind my neighbors about this event tomorrow evening:
Tomorrow, Thursday, February 8, the Historic Districts Council and the Coalition of Concerned Preservation Voters in the 40th District are sponsoring a public forum with candidates for the City Council’s 40th District special election. As the District includes several historic districts in Flatbush, candidates will discuss important preservation and development concerns including questions of landmark designation, community plans, rezoning and building code enforcement within the district. The Coalition is made up of more than ten neighborhood organizations interested in preserving their communities. – Historic Districts Council
My neighborhood association in Beverly Square West is part of the Coalition. I will be there tomorrow night. The following candidates have confirmed their participation: Mathieu Eugene, Karlene Gordon, Jesse Hamilton, Jennifer James, Zenobia McNally, Harry Schiffman, Wellington Sharpe, Joel Toney and Leithland Tulloch.
[Updated 2007.01.22 with more information about the event.]
On Thursday, February 8, from 7-9pm, the Historic Districts Council will host a Candidates’ Forum on Preservation and Development at P.S 217, Col. David Marcus School, 1002 Newkirk Avenue, at the southeast corner of Newkirk Avenue and Coney Island Avenue.
The following details are from a flyer promoting the event.
NEW YORK CITY 40TH COUNCIL DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM ON PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT Sponsored by the Coalition of Concerned Preservation Voters in the 40th District
Thursday, February 8, 2007 7:00-9:00pm
Public School 217 1100 Newkirk Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11230
This forum is an opportunity for residents, business owners and community members to hear candidates present their perspectives on preservation and development concerns. All questions presented to the candidates will be focusing on these issues, including questions of landmark designation, community rezonings, and building codes within the district.
As of January 17, the following candidates have been invited to participate: Anthony Alexis, Victor Babb, Irshad Choudhry, Mathieu Eugene, Jesse Hamilton, Gerry Hopkins, Jennifer James, Zenobia McNally, Moe Razvi, Harry Schiffman, Wellington Sharpe, Joel Toney and Leithland Tulloch. As candidates are confirmed they will be listed on HDC’s website, www.hdc.org.
The Coalition of Concerned Preservation Voters in the 40th District is a group of eleven neighborhood and civic organizations that are interested in preserving the unique character of the community. The Coalition believes we must reach out to elected officials and candidates and begin a dialogue about preserving the neighborhoods’ cultural, architectural and historical heritage.
Members of the coalition are the Historic Districts Council, Beverly Square West Association, Caton Park Neighborhood Association, Ditmas Park Association, Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association, Fiske Terrace Association, Flatbush Development Corporation, Lefferts Manor Association, Midwood Park Homeowners Association, Prospect Park South Association and West Midwood Community Association. This coalition is non-partisan and does not endorse a specific candidate for office.
For more information on this forum, please contact the Historic Districts Council at 212-614-9107 or ftolbert@hdc.org.
I visited Coney Island for the first time this past April. This is a view at dusk from the elevated subway platform.
A cover story of the November issue of Travel & Leisure magazine is “Brooklyn-Bound”. My emphasis added:
I wonder if curious visitors aren’t coming with misplaced expectations. If someone told you Brooklyn is “the next Manhattan,” they got it dead wrong. Brooklyn is nothing like Manhattan. Brooklyn looks and feels and is like no place else.
The first thing you need to know about Brooklyn is that it is huge: New York’s most populous borough, home to nearly a third of its citizens. An independent Brooklyn would be the nation’s fourth-largest city. Brooklyn is a vast metropolis blessed and cursed to lie 500 yards from Manhattan.
The second thing you need to know about Brooklyn is that it is small. Big in breadth and attitude, but intimate in the height of its buildings, the modesty of its storefronts, the compactness of its communities. Defined by the stoop, the bodega, the bocce or basketball court, Brooklyn has an enduring neighborhood-ness. Come to my block next month and they’ll be decking the stoops for Christmas; come in June, and the kids next door will be manning a lemonade stand. – Brooklyn-Bound, November issue of Travel & Leisure magazine
Or come to my front door tomorrow evening. We stocked up on over 30 pounds of candy over the weekend. Halloween is big in this neighborhood.
[Updated 2007.02.23: Added link to the issue of Plants & Gardens News (PDF, requires membership login) which mentioned Shiota’s death in the U.S. internment camps.]
A video sparked a connection for me among three seemingly unrelated topics: a Japanese Garden built over 90 years ago, World War II, and the Department of Homeland Security.
This is a view from the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I took this photo last year, November 5, 2005. BBG has this to say about this garden on their Web site:
It is considered to be the masterpiece of its creator, Japanese landscape designer Takeo Shiota (1881-1943). Shiota was born in a small village about 40 miles from Tokyo, and in his youth spent years traversing Japan on foot to explore the natural landscape. In 1907 he came to America, driven by an ambition to create, in his words, “a garden more beautiful than all others in the world.” – Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Note the year of Shiota’s death, 1943. I learned recently, from a review of the book Defiant Gardens in the Fall 2006/Winter 2007 issue of BBG’s Plants & Gardens News (PDF, requires membership login), that Shiota died in a United States internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II.
It has happened here before. It can happen again. And our government has plans to do so.
The Pearl Harbor attack intensified hostility towards Japanese Americans. As wartime hysteria mounted, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 causing over 120,000 West Coast persons of Japanese ancestry (Nikkei) to leave their homes, jobs, and lives behind to move to one of ten Relocation Camps.
The largest, so far. I am painfully aware of the parallels between Pearl Harbor and September 11. As bad as the hysteria has been, it can get worse.
On January 24 of this year, the Department of Homeland Security awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) a $385M contract [my emphasis added]:
The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contingency support contract provides for planning and, if required, initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics support tasks to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities.
The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster. – Halliburton Press Release: KBR AWARDED U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CONTINGENCY SUPPORT PROJECT FOR EMERGENCY SUPPORT SERVICES
This has been widely reported in the press, including the New York Times. Peter Dale Scott wrote an extensive analysis for Pacific News Service.
I can add little, except to relate these current historical events to the atrocity committed against a single person over 60 years ago, and share my feelings about all of this. Takeo Shiota was responsible for one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, one which I and millions of others have enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy. I will never again be able to visit that garden without wondering about him and his life, and thinking of how my government killed him. It is the least I can do.
Video: Crosby & Nash, “Immigration Man”
I haven’t thought of this song in many years, decades maybe. It was always one of my favorites, hauntingly beautiful vocals and chord progressions.
I don’t know who’s responsible for assembling the images into the video, but it’s an effective piece of work. This is what reminded me of the Halliburton contract, and led me to post this.
Additional Links:
Kenneth Helphand, author of “Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime”
CORRECTION: The insect I off-handedly identified as a “butterfly” on flickr is actually Epargyreus clarus, the Silver-Spotted Skipper. They were quite common the day of our visit. I saw them both in the Mixed Perennial Border, and in the Native Flora Garden.
In response to Black Swamp Girl‘s comment and question: The Cranford Rose Garden was disappointing. This was definitely past peak rose season. I had wanted to go during June – the peak month – but was unable to get there at that time. Most of the roses were not blooming. In addition to scant bloom, the plants overall were a bit the worse for wear. We had over a week of heavy rain every day until this past weekend. We had pea-sized hail on the 4th of July. So the poor things were not looking their best.
I’m not a fan of “rose gardens” where there’s nothing but. Monocultures are rarely a good idea. I do want to have some roses in my mixed borders at home, though. I wanted to research some possibilities during the visit. I just didn’t see anything I would have wanted in my garden!
