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Jess Schiewe

By Jess Schiewe 6/12/12 4:17pm

Greensward

Yep, you won't be seeing this anytime soon.

Another Dry Summer? A Plea for Drinking in Public

There are two types of people in this world: those who think that alcohol creates problems and those who think that alcohol solves them. Most people believe in the latter, but some believe in the former. And for some reason that “some” always happens to be elected officials. Are we lucky, or what?

Because of this unfortunate coincidence, New Yorkers are looking at a mighty dry summer. Put away that flask, leave your portable wine carafe at home, and stuff a Smart Water into that drink holder on your beach chair because there will be no public drinking allowed. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/12/12 12:39pm

Picture 9

Michael Stipe is Losing His Religion…and His Loft, Yours for $11 M.

Midlife crises tend to evoke the same images: red sports cars, hair plugs, letters of resignation. But not if you’re a rock star. Not if you’re Michael Stipe.

After six years of presumably felicitous dwelling in his two-story penthouse loft home and studio on Canal Street in SoHo, Mr. Stipe, the former lead singer and lyricist of now-disbanded R.E.M., is calling it quits and, like most retirees, moving south. And by south we mean downtown Manhattan. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/11/12 3:42pm

All dogs go to heaven

Hold onto that spare key: dogs are taking over apartment buildings.

Going to the Dogs: More and More Apartments Have Pooch-Pampering Amenities

If The Observer were an oracle, we’d prophesize this: dogs will one day take over the world. First, they’ll get the right to vote. Then they’ll run for office. Next will come the wars and eventually human beings will become their bitches (open to interpretation).

But perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Perhaps we got a little too excited about last week’s science-fiction-themed New Yorker.

We hope this is the case but one thing’s for sure: dogs have increasingly more sway in society. And we don’t just mean with entrepreneurs or boutique owners. They’ve now got developers and building managers clasped between their furry paws, too. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/07/12 4:23pm

Making History

This hospital gives us the creeps, but apparently it's worth saving.

Give Us Your Tired, Your Weary Buildings: Ellis Island Named to Endangered Building List

Plants and animals aren’t the only things that are endangered—buildings are, too! Or so says the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

And although the number of endangered historic buildings is nowhere close to the whopping 2,000 endangered plant and animal species, endangered anything is never a good thing, which is why the Trust releases a list of the top 11 endangered historic buildings each year.

Since the annual list was started 25 years ago, only seven New York sites and buildings have been classified as endangered—thanks to the city’s Landmarks Law, in part—though that seventh was just added this year. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/06/12 6:02pm

Lodgings

A claustrophobic's nightmare.

Hotelier Gets Claustrophobic With Tomb-like Rooms

We are as fond of baby animals and those brightly-colored mini food erasers as much as the next person. But our affections are decidedly more muted when it comes to small hotel rooms. Certainly there’s something cute about the teensy spaces, but it’s one of those you-won’t-know-until-you-try-it kind of things. And we’re not sure that we want to try it.

That said, tourists will have more opportunities than ever before. BD Hotels, the developer responsible for opening the first tiny hotel (or pod—if you want to put a positive spin on it) in Manhattan in 2007, is opening up a new location in Murray Hill, reports The New York Times. The 366-room hotel, Pod 39, will be slightly larger than its Midtown East sibling, Pod Hotel, and it will have more amenities. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/06/12 4:15pm

Brooklyn State of Mind

Fingers crossed: off-street parking requirements might be reduced in Downtown Brooklyn. (Photo: Department of City Planning)

Goodbye Parking Garages: Proposal Aims To Reduce Off-Street Parking Requirements in Downtown Brooklyn

There’s a reason why public transportation exists: so that people don’t have to use cars. Downtown Brooklyn residents have long accepted this reality of urban living and it appears that the Department of City Planning has too.

At Monday’s  City Planning Commission meeting, DCP unveiled their latest proposal: a plan to reform Downtown Brooklyn’s off-street parking requirements. The oh-so-creatively titled Downtown Brooklyn Off-Street Parking plan would reduce the current zoning requirements for parking in new developments from availability for 40 percent of residential units to 20 percent. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/05/12 3:38pm

Greensward

This could be you...if the Park Department's budget is cut.

Pols and Patrons Plead: Don’t Cut The Parks Department

Early this morning, a handful of city park advocates, a trio of council members, and a smattering of curious onlookers gathered on the steps of City Hall to talk parks, budget cuts and leafy green things.

“Funding for our parks must be restored,” cried City Councilmember Brad Lander, who was joined at the rally by park-loving compatriots Melissa Mark-Viverito and James Oddo.

The last few years have not been kind to the Department of Parks and Recreation, which has been the victim of a number of heavy-handed budget cuts since 2008. This year, the Parks Department faces a proposed budget cut of $33.4 million that, if approved, would lead to a cumulative loss of $62 million in funding—or 17 percent—over the last five years. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/04/12 4:52pm

Mysteries of Brooklyn

Better act fast: brownstones in Brooklyn are snatched up like hot cakes.

The Manhattanization of the Brooklyn Brownstone Means Red Hook Is Hotter Than Ever

Christabel Gough, the secretary for the Society for the Architecture of the City and a resident of the Greenwich Village Historic District, has a simple, to the point message for New Yorkers: Beware. Manhattanization, she warns, is growing, encroaching on historical neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. It is the real estate equivalent of kudzu and Brooklyn, Ms. Gough says, is the next victim. Yet unlike it’s leafy cousin, Manhattanization cannot be eradicated with sheep.

But first, a word on Manhattanization, as explained by Ms. Gough in her keynote speech, “Can Cobble Hill Avoid Manhattanization” at the Cobble Hill Association General Meeting on May 29th, and helpfully reprinted at Brownstoner. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 6/04/12 1:16pm

Under Development

The city hopes to build a 42,000-square-foot complex down the block from Harlem's Apollo Theater, but given their track record, this might be wishful thinking.

Harlem Is Skeptical Yet Another 125th Street Development Won’t Fail

Promises: they’re easy to make, but hard to keep. Just ask the residents and landowners of West Harlem.

For the last five years, a number of developments have been proposed along 125th Street, but most have fallen through. Take, for instance, Vornado Realty Trust’s ambitious plans for a 600,000-square-foot office building on the corner of Park Avenue that would have housed Major League Baseball’s new television network. That building never materialized, nor did a later development, planned on the same site, for a high-rise that included a Marriott hotel.

So what’s the beef? Why are so many projects along 125th Street (as well as nearby Lexington and Morningside avenues) habitually planned and then abandoned? Read More