The Brooklyn Paper: Mud is tossed over Williamsburg landmarking
The current issue
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Merchant news
About The Paper
RSS Feeds
Tropicana, Atlantic City

Mud is tossed over Williamsburg landmarking

By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper
The Austin, Nichols Co. warehouse at 184 Kent St. was designed by Cass Gilbert.

Tools

Print this story
digg
del.icio.us


Who knew that protecting beautiful buildings was such an ugly business?

The effort to protect an 80-year-old Cass Gilbert-designed warehouse on the Williamsburg waterfront broke down this week into a round of schoolyard name-calling and bitter accusations that the neighborhood’s councilman sold his vote for campaign contributions.

The battle started in September, when the city Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Austin, Nichols Co. warehouse a landmark.

In a rare move, the City Council, led by David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights), voted down the designation this week so that the building could be converted into high-end apartments on the waterfront.

The mayor vetoed the Council “de-landmarking” only to have the Council rush to over-ride that veto the next day.

Yes, sports fans, the fur was flying!

Supporters of landmarking the warehouse began a fairly loud whisper campaign detailing $2,000 in campaign contributions that Yassky has received from two members of the developer’s family, Joel and Margaret Kestenbaum.

But Yassky said the campaign cash had nothing to do with his vote.

“My vote [to de-landmark the building] was entirely on the merits about what is best for the Williamsburg waterfront,” Yassky told The Brooklyn Papers.

“The city spent three years banging out a terrific revitalization plan for the Greenpoint and Williamsburg waterfront and I am unwilling to undermine it for a completely undistinguished building,” he said.

“There are far more buildings in that neighborhood worthy of preservation.”

But after Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the Council bill and championed the Egyptian Revival building’s “historical importance,” Yassky hurled some mud of his own.

“The only reason they [city officials] pursued this landmark in the first place was to curry favor with preservationists after refusing to landmark 2 Columbus Circle,” Yassky told the New York Times, referring to a quirky 1960s-era building in Manhattan that many want to see protected.

“Now they’ll milk [the veto] and really try to get political credit,” Yassky added.

The comment earned a spitball from mayoral spokesman Jordan Barowitz.

“That’s absolutely moronic,” Barowitz said. “Is he saying we’re pandering to the preservationists? As in, ‘There goes that mayor again — protecting landmarks!’ The two buildings have nothing to do with each other.”

The Kestenbaum family, represented by former City Councilman — now lobbyist — Ken Fisher, refused to comment.. .



Brooklyn Bridge Realty

©2005 Community Newspaper Group

→Brooklyn Angle: Washing machine becomes a soap star

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.