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July 21, 2006
Democratic Space
Brooklyn Views has started perusing the "Draft Environmental No-Impact Statement" ("DEN-IS," pronounced "denies?").
It seems that BV was right about the "real FAR" all along [See BV, Street Logic.]:
The document now recognizes that a Floor Area Ratio without streets is a different measure of density than a Floor Area Ratio with streets.
But, the DEIS is less forthcoming on "open space:"
You may be surprised to read, as I was initially, that after building over 8 million square feet of concrete, steel and glass, plus parking for 3800 cars, the open space ratio for “passive” open space throughout the neighborhood actually improves! Incredible! How could this be? It’s because when an area is used as a public street, it is not counted as open space, despite Ms. Burden’s contention. But when the street is given to a private project to be used for “strolling, dog walking, and bird watching” it IS counted as open space.
One would think that a qualitative assessment of potential open space impacts would address how removing street right-of-ways impacts effective open space ratios. [Emphasis added.]
What about that "open space?"
Throughout the document, private “open space” is referred to as “publicly accessible open space” (not to be confused with real open space, which is public and doesn’t require authorization for access). But now we learn that “publicly accessible open space” is not public open space at all, and would only be “available for public use” during limited hours.
BV concludes by explaining the impact of "elected officials who are facilitating this defeat of our public realm" on the city:
So if you thought that this was your borough, think again. If you give away this amount of property, including the streets, you give away that essential quality of cities: democratic participation in public space.
Posted by lumi at July 21, 2006 11:54 AM