From the May 2011 Civic News article, “Ten Years Ago in the Slope (…and 20 and 30, Too), May 2011.” Return to main article.
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Brooklyn ‘Sportsplex’
The Brooklyn Sports Foundation, a not-for-profit organization is presently working with a professional group, Spectacor, to design a “Sportsplex” in downtown Brooklyn. The Sportsplex will consist of a 14,000 seat auditorium, a smaller 3,000 seat auditorium and a 700-car garage as well as an office tower.
After hearing from Civic Council member Forbes Hill at the April 4 meeting, trustees agreed to write legislators urging them not to fund a half-million dollar feasibility study of the complex site, but instead to urge Spectacor to consider alternative sites.
The proposed site for Sportsplex is bounded by Lafayette Street, Fulton Street, Flatbush Avenue and Hanson Place. Another small road would be destroyed and remapped in order to build the complex and the Pioneer Warehouse and Brooklyn Arms Hotel are slated to come down. Hill noted that the site is located in an already densely-populated area — across from the Brooklyn Academy of Music and surrounded by Con Edison, the Brooklyn Hospital and Long Island University. He commented that “it’s a large facility on a small site. It will be crowded.” He pointed out that the traffic may be a problem if a large event is held and people are parking and driving through Park Slope.
At this point a number of alternate sites are still being considered for the complex, including Coney Island. The Council has formed an ad-hoc committee to find out more about the Sportsplex proposal.
A Letter About the Sportsplex
The following letter was sent to the area’s state legislators by Greg Etchison, Civic Council President. -Ed.
In a few days, you will be voting on a collection of members’ initiatives which will include one to appropriate $500,000 for funding a feasibility study for a sports complex in Downtown Brooklyn.
On behalf of the Park Slope Civic Council, I write to ask you to vote against this initiative.
The general sense of our board of trustees is that there is no need for an elaborate study to discover that locating a sportsplex in a central position Downtown is undesirable. A facility that would attract as many as 17,000 or 18,000 people on an afternoon or evening obviously has the potential to create an amount of congestion that would paralyze this small area and the immediately surrounding neighborhoods.
The trustees of the Park Slope Civic Council voted almost unanimously to oppose a feasibility study for this development at this location.
You will be told that a number of important business and education leaders support Sports Foundation’s efforts to bring athletic facilities to Brooklyn. We do not believe that most of these people have seriously considered the newly conceived plan to put the indoor facilities Downtown. And, of course, they are not people who live in this area.
We have all been hurt by the state’s financial crisis. Yet, in the midst of cuts to schools and hospitals, you are,’ being asked to appropriate half a million dollars for this investigation. As your constituents who live near the proposed SPORTSPLEX, we urge you to vote against any appropriation that would utilize state funds to study the feasibility of a downtown Brooklyn sports complex.
14th Street Shelter
Assemblyman Jim Brennan spoke about the shelter controversy at the April 4 Council meeting. At present, community residents have won a preliminary injunction against the shelter conversion but the City has appealed the injunction. According to Brennan, “under state law, a government agency has a right to an automatic stay of enforcement which means that they can still go ahead (with the conversion). We’re now going to have to go to the appellate division to ask that it not go forward.”
At a recent Town Meeting in Park Slope, Deputy Mayor Norman Steisel promised to obtain information about the alternate sites for the shelter and find out more about the plans for the shelter. At the Civic Council meeting, trustee Carl Kaiserman added that he believed that HRA Commissioner Barbara Sabol was stonewalling in that she was continuing to refuse to answer residents’ questions regarding I the conversion.
While victory may not be swift, residents are continually garnering support for their case. A number of groups have donated money for legal costs including the Civic Council’s $250, $250 from ROSAS, $250 from local block associations and an additional $300 from individual donors. Brennan noted that even though Park Slope attorney Peter Weiss is handling the case on a pro bono basis, funds are needed to cover filing fees and obtaining transcripts. Brennan said that he believes residents will be able to delay the conversion for another few months or even a year to put additional pressure on the City.
Volunteer Ambulance Corps
Trustee Jim Ryan provided a full update on the Park Slope Volunteer Ambulance Corps at our April 4 meeting. Ryan explained that the goal of the Corps is to improve response time to emergencies in our neighborhood. The Corps will begin serving the community on nights and weekends and will eventually expand to 24-hour service.
Auto-Free Sundays on Seventh Avenue?
An auto-free Seventh Avenue on Sundays is a possibility this summer according to Jeff Prant, Civic Council member. At the April Civic Council meeting, Prant spoke about the possibility of a pedestrian walkway between Union and First Street on four consecutive Sundays this summer. Prant says this temporary plan is a good way to learn about Park Slope residents’ response to an auto-free shopping area.
In terms of the particulars of the program, Prant says that barricades would be put up between the proposed hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. so that pedestrians would be able to stroll throughout the daylight hours.