Results tagged “brooklynbridge”

NotifyNYC just sent a notice: "Emergency personnel are on the scene of a motor vehicle accident on the eastbound Brooklyn Queens Expressway near Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn. Queens bound traffic is being diverted at Atlantic Avenue." All eastbound lanes are closed and we hear that the accident involved a school bus, taxi, and two tractor trailers.

The city has made up its mind. Come December, the Brooklyn Banks will be boarded up and transformed into a construction area for the Brooklyn Bridge rehabilitation project, Scott Gastel, spokesperson for the city Dept. of Transportation told Downtown Express.

The Downtown Express reports that an area under the Brooklyn Bridge that's a popular skatepark called Brooklyn Banks (video) will probably be closing: "The city plans to use the internationally known Brooklyn Banks skate park as a staging area during the Brooklyn Bridge reconstruction, which is starting later this year and will last until 2014," according to the Parks Department. And the Department of Transportation "said the city would definitely need the space" at some point.

The folks who put on this weekend's Pup Crawl, which we mentioned in our newsletter last week, sent us some photos we just couldn't resist posting! (If you have glow-in-the-dark leash envy, you can pick up your own here.) They also tell us that through their event, which brought dogs and their owners across Brooklyn Bridge—taking it over from cyclists and pet-free pedestrians, they "raised more than $3,000 for local animal shelters."

Author Robert Sullivan, who writes provocative bicycling op-ed pieces for the Times when he's not writing about rats and the American Revolution, has a suggestion to solve the ongoing tension between cyclists and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge walkway. He proposes that the city ban bicycles entirely from the walkway, and shift them down to the motor vehicle roadways by creating physically protected bike lanes.

The Brooklyn Bridge wasn't always so precious to New Yorkers, in fact, Ephemeral NY points out that back when it was called the “East River Bridge Project,”, the public opinion was that the structure would take away from New York Harbor's beauty.

A reader sends us these pictures from the Brooklyn Bridge and says, "Police are trying to talk him down. Crowd on bridge yelling for him not to jump." The jumper is at about mid-span. Update: Looks like the police and crowd were successful: We hear that the man was talked down and is now in police custody.

A few more details about yesterday's fatal car crash on the Brooklyn Bridge, which closed inbound lanes for hours. The Daily News has a photograph of the crumpled car and reports, "Investigators believe Andre Donald was traveling from his home in East New York, Brooklyn, just after 4 a.m. when he lost control of his 2008 gray Honda Accord and crashed. The [stationary, yellow] DOT truck, which was unoccupied, sported a flashing electronic arrow meant to alert motorists to its presence... Investigators are not certain what caused Donald to hit the well-marked yellow truck but were checking if he had been drinking in the hours before the accident, police sources said." And WPIX's Linda Church was at the bridge during the accident and said, "This car was literally trashed, the whole first half of it. It was a horrible accident... He somehow hit the back of this big bridge truck with all the yellow arrows. Hard to say how he missed it but clearly he missed it and clearly he was going very fast."

A driver was killed in an accident on the Brooklyn Bridge earlier this morning. According to WCBS 2, "New York City police say the man was driving toward Manhattan when his car collided with a city Department of Transportation dump truck... Police say the truck was equipped with an arrow on top of its cab alerting drivers to work crews on the bridge. It wasn't immediately clear whether the truck was moving or parked during the crash." The driver was pronounced dead at the hospital. Currently, the inbound lanes and the ramp from the eastbound Brooklyn Queens Expressway to the bridge are closed.

Last night an unidentified man survived a suicide plunge from the Brooklyn Bridge after threatening police officers who were trying to talk him down. The 38-year-old man was approached by cops around 10:30 p.m as he clung to a girder about 35 feet away from the tower on the Brooklyn side. After waving a knife at them, he plunged to the East River, at least 120 feet below. Rescuers pulled him from the waters and rushed him to Lutheran Hospital, where his condition is not known. But police sources tell the Post investigators are checking the van with Jersey plates he abandoned at the scene to see if he left a note. And it's not unheard of for jumpers to survive suicide attempts on the East River bridges; in January a man jumped from the Manhattan Bridge, drifted to the Brooklyn shore, and walked away (photos).

The Observer reports that the City Council has approved the controversial Dock Street development 40 votes to 9. The project raised concerns among residents near the planned site at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, plus a renowned historian and some celebrities, who argued views of the Bridge would marred. Others countered that a middle school and affordable would be included—and said the views were only an issue to the immediate area. The Observer notes, "In the end, it showed the savvy of developers David and Jed Walentas, who, with lobbyists Yoswein New York and attorney and former Councilman Ken Fisher, were able to convince the Council to buck its custom of deferring to the local member. (The Walentases pulled their application in a previous attempt in 2005 when it was clear that [Councilman David] Yassky, and the Council, would not approve the building)." Besides Yassky, the no votes were Charles Barron, Tony Avella, Bill de Blasio, Vincent Gentile, Alan Gerson, Eric Gioia, John Liu, and Peter Vallone Jr.

Savor those views! The Brooklyn Paper reports that yesterday "a key City Council committee backed—by a surprisingly wide margin—DUMBO developer Jed Walentas’s controversial bid to build a 17-story tower next to the Brooklyn Bridge, hours after Speaker Christine Quinn reportedly had given her OK." The land-use committee voted 17-4 in support of the Dock Street Development, saying it's in the best interest of the community. While it will include affordable housing and a middle school, some suspicions arose recently, with the release of an internal email, about whether or not another site was ever considered. Queens lawmaker Tony Avella is one of the many opponents who spoke out against the bridge-blocking development, saying, “People are going to go by and say, ‘Who the heck allowed this building to get built?’” And following the vote, DUMBO's Neighborhood Alliance president, Gus Sheha, declared, “It’s clear that this committee today sold the Brooklyn Bridge.” Sigh. The full council will vote next week, and here's a look at the future.

As the Dock Street Development gets closer to City Council approval, opponents are raising their voices. Yesterday they met on the steps of City Hall to rally against the proposed structure that would ultimately block the historic view of the Brooklyn Bridge. As lines are drawn in the cobblestone, the Brooklyn Eagle brings us current, noting that so far "It has been approved by the City Planning Commission (which reduced the height from 184 to 170 feet), the Borough President’s Office (with other modifications) and CB 2."

It's been a little while since we checked in on the Dock Street development in DUMBO. To recap: Two Trees (David and Jed Walentas's) proposed an 18-story "green" residential building (featuring 65 below-market-rate rentals and a public middle school) near the Brooklyn Bridge that would block views of the historic span. Community board subcommittees were formed, debates were had, and now the City Planning Commission has voted in favor of the tower, though they plan to bring the 18-story plan down to 17, and the 10-story section down to 7 or 8, the Brooklyn Paper reports. Opponents of the project say that the modifications are "marginal" and criticize Planning Commission Chairwoman Amanda Burden for not trimming the building more.

E-Z Pass is coming to the Brooklyn Bridge after all—just not as part of any East River crossing toll plan. City officials announced that E-Z Pass transponders will be installed on the bridge, as well as several other spots throughout the streets of lower Manhattan below Canal Street in order to monitor the flow of traffic and come up with potential ways to ease congestion in that part of town. The Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center will be in charge of the project, which they emphasize will not be able to detect either license plate numbers or the drivers inside the vehicles. An LMCCC spokeswoman says that the routes and travel times of lower Manhattan motorists they'll be collecting will simply allow the agency to know where to dispatch traffic agents to deal with problems.

Sure, proposing on the bustling pedestrian walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge seems picturesque, but perhaps being up there holding on to a tiny ring with your nervous, sweaty, about-to-propose hands isn't actually the best idea. One would-be-groom has learned that the hard way, and he showed up on the Today show earlier to tell his harrowing tale.

Maintenance on the Brooklyn Bridge beginning in the summer of 2010 will close it off to Manhattan-bound traffic on weekends for six months. The bridge's arches and steel-wire will be freshly painted and repairs will be made on corroded and crumbling approaches, ramps and anchorages. The entire project will take over four years, beginning this June when one lane will be shut down during off-peak hours. The project will cost somewhere between $200 and $500 million, the first of its kind since the '80s and one that has been delayed for years due to budgetary constraints. A 2006 report deemed the bridge in poor but structurally sound condition, something that came even more into focus after the structural collapse of a Minneapolis bridge in 2007 led to 13 deaths. The DOT tells the Post that federal funding will be involved with the project.

Chances are you're not trying to ride your bike anywhere today in this mess, but anyone who's tried to pedal over the bridges connecting Brooklyn with Manhattan this week was in for a treacherous trip, because the city has yet to adequately plow or salt the bike and pedestrian paths. As of last night, much of the Williamsburg Bridge path (pictured) remained impassible on two wheels, and commenters on Streetsblog say both the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge remained unsalted and icy.

Much chatter followed Two Trees (David and Jed Walentas's) proposal for an 18-story residential building near the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO. The building would include a public middle school and "dozens of units of below-market-rate housing," but the Brooklyn Paper reports that neighborhood folk don't want to "block some views of the historic span."

In order for one of the most controversial suggestions of Thursday's Ravitch Commission report--tolls at all of the now-free East River crossings--to become a reality, it appears right there may be too many political tolls for them to become a reality.

That unusual occurrence on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge we mentioned this morning? It turns out a crane hit the bottom of the bridge. WABC 7 reports that a passing ship's crane was the culprit, hitting the 125-year-old structure around 7:30 a.m.: "the crane left debris on the bottom of the bridge, but did not appear to cause any damage to the structure." The Department of Transportation is checking the bridge to make sure--and we're curious if the ship was fine. No one goes around hurting the Brooklyn Bridge!

Artist Olafur Eliasson may soon have tree blood on his hands – the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall installation is kicking up such a salty spray that downwind trees are turning brown and “looking as if it's November,” the Post reports. The saltwater is interfering with their photosynthesis, and the owner of the River Café, which has gardens just south of the bridge, is worried that the trees he planted over three decades ago are suffering too much for public art. The Parks Department agrees they're “showing signs of stress,” and the Public Art Fund, which is producing the NYC Waterfalls, has hired a tree service to try and save them.

Earlier this afternoon, two kayakers required some extra help when they got too close to the temporary NYC Waterfalls near the Brooklyn Bridge. Harbor and aviation units were on the scene to help them out--there was even a request to shut down the waterfall. The two people were rescued and the waterfalls continue to flow. Less dicey ways to see the falls include walking on the Brooklyn promenade, taking a boat cruise, or while biking around town.

The New York Times has fever also, featuring an image of the public art project that is set to flow starting tomorrow by 9 a.m. First announced in January, the project, conceived by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, involves four man-made waterfalls along the shores of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governors Island: by the Brooklyn anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, between Piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn, in Lower Manhattan at Pier 35, and on the north shore of Governors Island.

    

And then there were four. A tipster just sent us this shot of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's Brooklyn Bridge waterfall, being tested this afternoon. This completes the teaser set for all the NYC Waterfall aficionados out there. Also seen below are the Governors Island test, the Pier 35 test in Manhattan, and the other Brooklyn waterfall between Piers 4 and 5.

FOOD: Take a few beer and food bloggers, mix them up with an eclectic menu and and extensive beer list and you've got Bloggers and Beer. Four panelists will be selecting food and beer pairings, and the price of admission entitles you to a mini-meal of the four pairings. Pairings by Nick Fauchald, Food & Wine's "Mouthing Off," Samuel Merritt, Civilization of Beer, our own Laren Spirer and Jeff Gorlechen, Six Points Brewing Company.

A distraught 34-year-old woman threw herself from the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, plunging 100 feet from the pedestrian walkway near the Manhattan shoreline into the East River. An NYPD Harbor Unit quickly responded to the scene and pulled the suicidal woman from the water. Somehow she was relatively unscathed--without a scratch or a broken bone--and was treated at a hospital for aspirating some water, which is common in near drowning incidents.

In January 1931, Modern Mechanics magazine featured daredevils, stuntmen, and others with risky odd jobs. Unsurprisingly, many of them flocked to the city, from Madison Square Garden to the Brooklyn Bridge. One of particular interest is Sig Smith, who once walked around the crown of the Statue of Liberty, blindfolded!

Everybody has heard of the Statue of Liberty, though not many people realize what a huge object it is. They say that a man can crawl out of the statue’s eye. If he should slip through that eye he would drop to certain death at the base, more than 150 feet below.

Continue reading "NYC's Daredevil Past"

Tonight, the skyline over the Brooklyn Bridge was lit up with fireworks to celebrate the iconic crossing's 125th birthday. Festivities for the bridge include: the Telectroscope which bridges NYC and London; new pedestrian entrance signage; lectures, readings and guided tours; a film series; and the Tour de Brooklyn on Sunday. More details after the jump:

ART: Artist Tom Sanford's installation show, titled Mr. Hangover, is something to check out before it comes down in June. "Featured in the exhibition are new works modeled after ubiquitous street posters that are plastered around most cities to advertise events, movies and products. Comprised entirely of hand painted posters that are unframed and tacked to the wall, they suggest influences that come as much from the broader consumer culture as they do from the arena of fine art." Get a preview here.