Today’s Headlines

the Nikolas Padilla story Is a parable of so much that is wrong. and how easily it could Be changed with just some love & tolerance

While I love the idea of more housing and subway stops, isn’t this in a major flood zone?

They can raise the land or buildings above the existing grade and/or dry waterproof the ground floor.

You need to consider two things. The projected life of skyscrapers is generally in the area of 200 to 500 years. Even going with the lower bound, you’re looking at ~30 feet sea level rise in that time period. Add another 30 feet for storm surges. That means the first 60 feet of the towers basically can’t be permanently inhabited. That in and of itself isn’t a major problem. The problem is you’ll need to raise street level about 60 feet higher than it is. This means essentially decking out the entire street. I suppose the nice this is you can have a level underneath for utilities which is easily accessible, meaning no need to break up the street for utility work. The major issue here is cost. People were balking at my proposal of bike viaducts on account of the cost and now we’re talking about raising the land? When it becomes this expensive to inhabit an area the best choice is to look elsewhere. We can do lots of infill development in better protected parts of the outer boroughs where flooding isn’t a problem.

My idea is to let flood prone areas return to nature (that even includes areas which are already developed). Use these areas for parks and recreation. If they get flooded, it’s not a major disaster. Once you have more parks along the shore, you can consider developing some of the parks further inland for housing. NYC needs more housing, but it’s shortsighted to put it near the water.

Red Hook is within the 100-year flood zone, yes. Why the dead men didn’t use it for housing. On the other hand, base flood elevation in that area is 12 feet, which is manageable. Just have to use the first floor and a half for nonresidential purposes and put all electrical equipment and machinery on the upper floors.

I hate these stories about how many new miles of bike lanes the city creates because they leave out the denominator. 18 miles of PBLs sounds good, but not when there are 8,000 miles of streets in NYC. At this pace, it would take 444 years, or if there are 4 generations in a century, 18 generations, to build out PBLs fully. My great great great great… grandchildren will be able to cycle safely.

I know not every street needs a PBL, but still the need is enormous.

At least this article one distinguished between protected and unprotected, as unprotected ones are just too dangerous for kids — a huge pool of potential cyclists.

Bleh, public risk, private profit. If it’s such a good idea, a public agency could build it itself and either sell the finished units at a hefty profit or keep them for the revenue. Of those 45k units, about 11k directly address affordable housing.

Subway expansion is always a net positive thing, but it once again ignores the greatest needs. Red Hook is even getting its streetcar finally, which is quite condign for the population and size of Red Hook – not to mention its probable eventual doom.

Gotta wonder if it’s a good idea too. Because we are almost certainly in the midst of a real estate bubble.

If this turns out to be our future, we face the rather dreadful prospect of a dirt mound dyke around Brooklyn and Manhattan pockmarked with giant glistening penises. No brownstones on it, of course, because the park cult is going to need their cut or they’ll let us drown.

No doubt built by the lowest bidder(s)!

Was the 18 miles of protected bike lanes figure calculated before or after the mayor caved and ripped out the Marine Park bike lane to placate whiny motorists?

a Public Agency ?

going to Be a cesspool of graft, Kickbacks, mismanagement, abd crony Capitalist fraud all paid for By The taxpayers.

plus The housing Units Will Take 40 years to get Built

Venice seems to manage without “decking out the entire street.”

A large part of New York City will become what Venice is today.

If that happens expect to see updated versions of these:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicar

The NYC elite won’t give up their cars, so they’ll just buy cars which can also double as boats. Probably all dockside space will end up being used for private amphicar parking.

Venetian foundations are principally wood and stone. Has anyone done research on effect of salt water on steel-framed buildings?

burden of Risk on Investors Not taxpayers

The DNA comments included some really shocking hateful vitriol (since removed) against minorities and cyclists, two categories the NYPD systematically bullies. The poor guy had two strikes against him.

I’d also argue that any bike lane with a “mixing zone” every 400 feet is not a protected lane.

Heard the CM is trying to get Ydanis to hold hearing on it

But it is pretty hard to bike there.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world…

We find police officers who actually care about public safety and enforcing the law. What a concept!

Read this Police blog and turn green with jealousy:

https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/junction-malfunction-and-a-new-dawn/

Yes, the bridges in Venice are largely step bridges, built before the invention of the bicycle.

Perhaps a better benchmark is the Toronto Islands. A car-free urban residential community and parkland on low islands in Lake Ontario that are connected by bicycle bridges. Among the residents, bicycle transportation mode share is pushing 100%. See:

http://www.theurbancountry.com/2011/06/no-cars-no-traffic-signals-no-deaths.html

No cars, no traffic signals, no stop signs sounds like my version of cycling heaven.

Yes! They’re really “bullying zones” where those with the biggest vehicle, the car or truck driver, pushes aside the vulnerable.

Using factual analysis instead of bigotry and prejudice!

What a concept!

How do we get that policing over here?