Speaking of how much things change, Alex has an extensive here-and-now series over at Flaming Pablum. As an example, this is Bowery and East First Street from 2002, the year Bloomberg took office ... 2002 doesn't seem like that long ago...but just look...
You probably know what it looks like now...
Sure, the city landscape is getting sterilized... but I fear that we're losing our spirit and character as well... can we withstand another four years?
For further reading:
Cleaning up people (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
Photos via Flaming Pablum. Go there for a lot more.
10 comments:
With lots of psychedelic Morning Glory seeds falling from the vines that grew up the fence. I still have some. : )
Ha! Thanks for the plug, EV. Look for more installments (featuring Soho, East Village, Lower East Side, Chinatown & beyond) coming (hopefully) soon.
Ah, thank YOU, Alex. I imagine this was quite a project... going through the old photos...lining them up with what's there today... time-consuming AND depressing, perhaps?
I had some hope after the financial and real estate crash, but I didn't anticipate how large and effective the federal bailout would be in getting money to the people who like this stuff.
The government basically decided to double down on what America has been turning into since the end of the Cold War (I say the government because polls indicate the public didn't like this decision. But both parties were in on it). It looks like until the money finally runs out, we will get more of the same.
it's change we can believe in!
ahem...
it's not about bloo,berg, no matter who gets voted in new york city, what you think they're gonna vote for someone that makes the city "worse". give me a break.
bloomberg has got one ugly mug up close
Um, I glorify the good ol' days of New York as much as the next person, but can you honestly say the top picture is more alive -- with actual humanity, economic vibrancy -- anything! -- than the bottom picture? I don't think so. There's a balance, sure. And New York has mostly likely gone too far over to the pro-developer, who-cares-about-the-past side. But the top picture is desolation, pure and simple. There is nothing glamorous about homelessness, alcoholism, heroin abuse or any of the other back-in-the-good-ol'-days drivel that people crow about. (And the picture above isn't even that old!)
Here's what Greenpoint has to look forward to:
http://www.newyorkshitty.com/?p=27867
Even with a zoning variance (developing a waterfront park, handing it over to the city for more "height") this is seven stories more than the allotted cap. I am certain our local community board--- which seems to ascribe to Neville Chamberlain school of diplomacy/enforcement--- will rubber stamp it.
Because a neighborhood filled with half-completed/vacant "luxury properties" and "nondos" being illegally used as hotels needs a 47 story high rise.
Located two blocks from the G train. And four blocks from the largest waste treatment plant on the East Coast.
Thanks for the comment, Miss Heather.
47 stories?!??!? That's just....horrible.
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