Crains New York - June 10, 2013 - (Page 11)

STEVE HINDY B’klyn would hit new heights with Domino T he Williamsburg Savings Bank Building opened in downtown Brooklyn in 1929. It was a vision of a soaring Brooklyn,with a clock tower higher than London’s Big Ben, a façade with elaborate limestone gargoyles and a breathtaking ground-floor rotunda with 63-foot ceilings, 40-foot windows and mosaics that rivaled the Byzantines’. But the 512-foot tower sat there lonely for 81 years, and in my household was known as the “tower of pain”because so many tenants were dentists and oral surgeons. Now, tall apartment towers are rising along the Flatbush Avenue corridor, and I hear people complaining the newcomers have no character, that they could be in Jersey City or Dallas. There are similar complaints about the waterfront development in Williamsburg. For some reason, some people seem to think no one should build higher than the Williamsburg Savings Bank Building,now a residential building known as 1 Hanson Place. But I am asking: Why should Brooklyn be limited to a vision that was realized in 1929? The City Planning Commission is now weighing Jed Walentas’ proposal for a bold redo of the plan to develop the Domino Sugar factory site in Williamsburg with an exciting series of buildings that would create a new vision of a 21stcentury Brooklyn. Designed by SHoP architects and landscape architecture firm Field Operations, the 11-acre site would include a 598-foot tower and three smaller buildings, two shaped like big rectangular doughnuts and a third that evokes the step pyramid in Egypt, at least to my eye. The new design would replace a ho-hum vision that reminds me of the mental hospital on Randall’s Is- Education reformers are MIA in campaign F or the past 11 years, education policy in New York City has been shaped by a mayor committed to a relentless program of reform to raise the standards in the public-school system, to introduce alternatives like charter schools, to enforce accountability of employees and to produce graduates who have a chance in life. But this year, education policy in the city is being driven by the United Federation of Teachers, which has two goals: to roll back much of the Bloomberg agenda and to win a big raise for its members. Just watch what happens over the next few days as every Democratic candidate for mayor intensifies his or her effort to win the UFT’s endorsement, which is expected next week. Then track the impact as the union spends millions—“high seven figures,” the union claims—to support its mayoral choice. All this raises a crucial question: Where are the education reformers? Where are the people who created charter schools and provided the support that people like Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Chancellor Joel Klein and current Chancellor Dennis Walcott needed to pursue reforms? One group clearly missing in action is StudentsFirstNY, an offshoot of the national organization created by Michelle Rhee, the controversial former Washington, D.C., schools GREG DAVID chief.The local effort was announced with great fanfare a year ago, promising to counter the union and raise $10 million over five years. Yet the New York executive director, Micah Lasher, abandoned ship earlier this spring, no replacement has been named, and there are few if any traces of Students- land visible from the Triborough, now Robert F. Kennedy, Bridge. Manhattan is Manhattan. Its crowning glories are 1 World Trade Center and the Empire State Building.I haven’t been to the Far East,but friends tell me the skylines of Shanghai and Jakarta make Manhattan look like a quaint 20th-century city. Brooklyn is not Manhattan. Why can’t Brooklyn be different? Why can’t Brooklyn be a 21st-century city? Walentas’ vision changes the Domino plan from a residential development to a mixed-use development,making space for the many tech and culinary startups that are clamoring for more commercial and industrial space in the city.That means jobs as well as affordable housing. By going higher, it opens up much more space for the people of Williamsburg, one of the most parkstarved neighborhoods in the city. Bruce Ratner was the last developer to try to sell Brooklyn a new vision.His Frank Gehry-designed Atlantic Yards faded after opponents fought it from every possible angle for almost a decade.SHoP’s Barclays Arena is a wonderful addition to downtown Brooklyn. Most arenas and stadiums around the country look like airplane hangars with signs. I hope the Planning Commission allows the Domino project to proceed. Brooklyn is ready to soar. FirstNY’s involvement in the race. Meanwhile, leaders of the influential Democrats for Education Reform have decided to work behind the scenes for now. A confidential memo to its funders obtained by Crain’s argues that no one should be surprised that all the Democratic candidates are seeking the UFT endorsement. Even so, the memo says, three candidates—former Comptroller Bill Thompson, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Rep. Anthony Weiner—show signs that they support at least some of the aims of the group.Those three are willing to take a pragmatic look at what the mayor has done, especially on the crucial issue of co-location of charters in public-school buildings. Echoing the conventional wisdom, the group believes no Democrat will receive 40% in the September primary,forcing a runoff.At that point, it might make sense for the reformers to get behind a candidate. The memo says there is zero chance of a Republican winning. (Memo to Joe Lhota and John Catsimatidis: Maybe you should talk to them.) The key is whether Democrats for Education Reform is engaged in wishful thinking. True, candidates in this race are tailoring their messages to their audience, and some of the Democrats are seeking both the group’s support as well as the union’s. They may also change their tune on education in the runoff or general election. That’s something that people who believe in much of what the mayor has done should hope for. June 10, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - June 10, 2013

SOURCE DINNER
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
DIGITAL NY
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
SMALL BUSINESS
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REPORT: HEALTH CARE
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - June 10, 2013