Prospect Place btw. Underhill and Washington
The north side of Prospect Place between Washington and Underhill (for a huge stretch) is just plain disgusting, riddled with litter, and a black eye for the folks that live on the block.
1. Walking from the east, you now have—in the last week—a construction plywood fence that extends nearly to the street. With the weeds, etc, it's a literal maze. Nearly unpassable with strollers or grocery/laundry carts.
2. Right next to this is run-down and boarded-up stone front bldg, sidewalk overgrown with a glut of weeds (and little pest trees as well).
3. Continuing down the block, Prospect Place is stuck with the ass-end of the warehouse that has its entry on St. Marks. From Prospect, it looks abandoned.
4. A few more steps, and there's the stillbirth bldg, one of the many in Brooklyn frozen in mid-construction we can thank Scarano architecture firm for.
None of the owners/construction crew apparently give a f**k about the street, its (from what I can gather) friendly residents, and the many kids I see playing on the sidewalks. One of the sites is even wide open—up until yesterday one of the plywood doors was laying on its side next to the construction site. One could walk right in—shit, you can drive a truck right in. Someone is gonna get hurt.
1. Walking from the east, you now have—in the last week—a construction plywood fence that extends nearly to the street. With the weeds, etc, it's a literal maze. Nearly unpassable with strollers or grocery/laundry carts.
2. Right next to this is run-down and boarded-up stone front bldg, sidewalk overgrown with a glut of weeds (and little pest trees as well).
3. Continuing down the block, Prospect Place is stuck with the ass-end of the warehouse that has its entry on St. Marks. From Prospect, it looks abandoned.
4. A few more steps, and there's the stillbirth bldg, one of the many in Brooklyn frozen in mid-construction we can thank Scarano architecture firm for.
None of the owners/construction crew apparently give a f**k about the street, its (from what I can gather) friendly residents, and the many kids I see playing on the sidewalks. One of the sites is even wide open—up until yesterday one of the plywood doors was laying on its side next to the construction site. One could walk right in—shit, you can drive a truck right in. Someone is gonna get hurt.
Comments
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yeah, it's really disheartening to walk down some of these filthy blocks. Lots of litter and dog shit around here. The supers of these buildings don't seem to care either. No pride in the neighborhood. I hope that one day that changes. Brooklyn can be such a nice place if everyone had a little pride and made a little effort to keep their sidewalks clean. It degrades the quality of life when people are too lazy to maintain their property. There's virtually no enforcement either. The city doesn't seem to give much of damn.
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i know... it's messed up. i only walk that way to vote, or if i am taking a cab home i will pass it.
lived in my building for three years now, and nothing has changed about that half of the block... when the street lights go out, i always call 311. seems like the whole part of that block is in a giant violation.
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I live on that block and recently called the city to complain about the new sidewalk blocking fence. I will follow up to see if it is actually legal. They seem to have a sidewalk usage permit. Seems stupid, they are not even working there regularly... like all of the other half finished projects on that side of the block.
The "stillborn" building was shut down for violations by the city as was the excavated hole next to it. -
Nice, Vagabond that you called to complain. I live just beyond Grand on Prospect since April 2007 and foolishly expected that the row of abandoned bldgs would become something a la the Hello! buildings on the north side of PH.
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Is that the block where the Indian family lives in a house back off the street? A garden of weeds in front of it?
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I don't walk that block. too many blind spots/side "alleys". terrifying to a single woman.I have friends that live there and will walk home from their place but I refuse to even aim in that block's direction even if distance smart.
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WHY is everything there just sitting and sitting and sitting like that? It's been an eyesore as long as I can remember. What can we do, as a neighborhood? Anything? I too will go out of my way not to walk that block - sigh...
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I don't walk that block. too many blind spots/side "alleys". terrifying to a single woman.I have friends that live there and will walk home from their place but I refuse to even aim in that block's direction even if distance smart.
I don't blame anyone for this, especially because one can access the alleys, backyards, and open pits with ease. Totally prone to an ambush if walking on the street. -
Unfortunately, the city responded to my sidewalk complaint but there was no violation issued. They have a permit to block the sidewalk.
I don't know what could be done to clean up that part of the block. All of that half-assed crap has been built by developers who tend to be deaf in response to neighborhood issues since they don't live here.
I have complained about the Inter-faith garbage heap sidewalk and the city did issue violations and Inter-faith did clean it up. I may write them to ask if they would contact the city to remove the graffiti, which I think is a free service provided by the city. A couple of flood lights would also be nice. They are a big hospital and should have some sort of responsibility to the community where they operate or have a presence. Maybe the Prospect Heights Dev Council could get involved? -
The 77th Precinct has a graffiti removal project. They have been trying to remove a lo of the gang related graffiti throughout the neighborhood. Call the community policing officers, and they should be able to point you in the right direction.
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Worst block in a great neighborhood = best block to buy into for the long term. One day it'll be fixed.
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[quote= best block to buy into for the long term. One day it'll be fixed.
I keep thinking if the row of townhouses on the south side of the street go up for sale they'd be a great investment. Then of course "the wait and see what happens" approach to what seems to be clearly not happening across the street becomes more of a burden.
Prospect Place is gorgeous from 5th ave in PS all the way into Crown Heights; the block btw. Underhill and Washington is an anomaly. If it were my block, I'd likely have the impetus to do some guerrilla clean-up so my family, the neighbors, and anyone else does not have to deal with this mess. -
There have been huge improvements in the 6 years that I have lived on that block, incidentally in one of those row houses. The block is not a total loss. It is in fact the best, most neighborly place I have ever lived.
Several houses and condo buildings have been renovated including three of the row houses, the condo building next to the park and the park. About 6 new trees have been planted. My neighbors and I gracefully made clear that the street music/scene had to be taken down several notches and it has. It has been a relatively quiet summer.
The main problem is that as the neighborhood became more expensive, developers moved in, bought up the crappiest houses and then abandoned them. That sucks and all of us are really hoping that this improves. But beyond the developers, the street looks better than it has in decades. It may be improving more slowly than other streets in the hood but it is improving. -
What a toilet.
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I HAPPEN TO THINK OUR BLOCK IS A VERY NICE BLOCK.
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Nice little drug action going on there too.
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i live on the next block over and basically try to avoid this block entirely. it seems that there is no progress being made and its a stark difference from all the surrounding blocks.
blocks that look bad end up being more dangerous or at least perceived that way. its the broken window theory at its finest.. if anyone knows something we can do to help (calls, letters, etc.) please let us know!
in the meantime, im still avoiding it too :? -
some of the owners were asking for too much for some of those buildings. alot of them were delusional.
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It's the potential of the block that screams out to me. Residents can complain and make myriad calls to city agencies, but there's not much else they can do but roll up their collective sleeves and clean up the area; and keep it clean.
I noted this morning that one of the plywood construction fences is STILL down, and it appears that trucks are indeed driving in: There are now two huge piles of construction trash, obviously dumped there by some fool trying to avoid paying to have it hauled away. -
W.C. Block, totes.
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RIP Mutant Asset Bubble..
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Fjord wrote: Residents can complain and make myriad calls to city agencies, but there's not much else they can do but roll up their collective sleeves and clean up the area; and keep it clean.
I also live on that block, and honestly 3/4 of the block is nice. The abandoned site is the big offender, but, it is also a hazardous site. Who knows how safe any of that is, and there could be any kind of toxic waste in those garbage bags. So - really - what can we as the residents of the street do to clean that up other than calling 311?
The occupied buildings on that block are well maintained and clean. And we arguably have the best playground in the neighborhood. I hate that these eyesores make others in the neighborhood avoid my block.
It is not actually a dangerous place either. There are often people out on the stoops at the row houses and apartment buildings, so really the only area where it feels dangerous and lonely is in front of the abandoned buildings. I've only heard about 2 muggings on the block in the past year and a half that I've been there, so it seems like it is not less safe than other parts of the neighborhood.
So - what *can* be done to fix that part of the block? -
Subject: Thoughts on what the neighborhood would like...
What would some of you like, want, or need in this area? Besides having all the crap removed and cleaned up... -
Anchor,
What prompted you look up and post to this [year-] old thread?
Looking to start a business nearby? If so, I'm sure folks here would have a ton of ideas. -
I think having crap removed and cleaned is a fine priority. Are you offering your services Anchor?
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Subject: Re: Thoughts on what the neighborhood would like...
Anchor wrote: What would some of you like, want, or need in this area? Besides having all the crap removed and cleaned up...
Have the city confiscate the property of the offending lot owners using eminent domain on grounds of blight, level the half-built and burnt-out buildings and turn it into community gardens.
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