Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall   Click for Larger   ©Mark D Phillips

“The Waterfalls are an unbelievable sight: four cascades ranging in height from 90 to 120 feet rising out of New York Harbor,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “And what a beautiful symbol of the energy and vitality that we are bringing back to our waterfront in all five boroughs. Congratulations to Olafur Eliasson, the Public Art Fund and the many City, State and Federal agencies, and partners who played a role in bringing us to this momentous occasion.”

The exhibition of four man-made waterfalls of monumental scale are on view on the shores of the New York waterfront: one on the Brooklyn anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge; one on the Brooklyn Piers, between Piers 4 and 5 near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade; one in Lower Manhattan at Pier 35 north of the Manhattan Bridge; and one on the north shore of Governors Island. The Waterfalls, which have been designed to protect water quality and aquatic life, will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, except Tuesdays and Thursdays, when they will run from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Waterfalls will be lit after sunset.

New Yorkers and visitors from around the world can experience the Waterfalls from various vantage points and also by bike or by boat. Circle Line Downtown, the official water tour operator of The New York City Waterfalls, is offering free and specially-priced daily boat tours to view the Waterfalls. A select number of free tickets for this official 30-minute journey is available for tours each day by calling (866) 925-4631.

The always free Governors Island and Staten Island Ferries also provide views of the Waterfalls on Governors Island and at the Brooklyn Piers. The Staten Island Ferry runs daily, and the seven-minute Governor’s Island Ferry is running every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the duration of the project.

A temporary park has been specially created on Pier 1, a site of the future Brooklyn Bridge Park, for viewing this project. The Department of Transportation, in collaboration with the Public Art Fund, has created a bike route around the Waterfalls, which is marked by waterfall icons on the streets and existing bike paths. The public can also download podcasts of Eliasson’s comments about the Waterfalls from the official website at www.nycwaterfalls.org, and starting tomorrow can call 311 to hear them (212-NEW-YORK).

The Waterfalls have been designed to be sensitive to the environment and include:
elements that protect fish and aquatic life, energy efficient LED lights, and energy purchased from renewable sources. The Waterfalls will be temporarily turned off in the event of extreme winds or storms, or if there is a power shortage due to hot weather.

About the Artist
Olafur Eliasson was born in Copenhagen in 1967, and grew up in both Iceland and Denmark. He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and currently divides his time between his family home in Copenhagen and his studio in Berlin.

Visit HAPPENINGS for more South Brooklyn events

IKEA comes to town. Will anything be the same in Red Hook?

They came from miles away to line up for the grand opening of Ikea Brooklyn. TV stations did live shots and asked if this was the start of Red hook. It depends on what you want Red Hook to be.

Over a hundred people were lined up along the enryway to the blue behometh with the reward being a sofa or a chair. The Ikea cult has come to town. A half dozen tents peppered the line with most people sitting in hard plastic seats. It better be a relly good couch.

Sam Bowyer swung in a hammock and mused on his reasons for being on the line. He is new to New York and saw an opportunity for adding the couch to his apartment in Queens. His only complaint was the Port-a-potty, filthy beyond belief in the morning but cleaned out in the afternoon.

The best of them all was the father and daughter who arrived on Father's Day and became the first tent in Ikea village.

Sam Bowyer chills in a hammck / ©Mark D Phillips

Red Hook's new megastore is a major accomplishment. After an eight-year odyssey that saw lawsuits, midnight construction, and the loss of a historic dry dock, Ikea did what Wal-Mart could not; a major presence in New York City's marketplace. Elizabeth did not count.

With ferry service between Manhattan and the store, and two bus routes that were extended, Red Hook now has more public transportation than anytime in the last decade. And maybe the buses will run on time and as often as they promise. (The MTA?? Who are we trying to fool.) At least the ferry service is a private company.

The big question is cars.

How will Red Hook handle the stream of private vehicles on its narrow, truck filled streets? The Ikea website map keeps you off of Van Brunt Street if you come from Brooklyn Heights, but Columbia Street will quickly become a zoo. Passing by the Red Hook houses, the street is always crowded with pedestrians crossing just about everywhere. How soon will traffic lights appear in place of the stop signs?

For subway travellers, Ikea is providing shuttle service from Borough Hall and the Smith-9th Street stations every 15 minutes from 10am to 10pm. We'll see how that works.

Ikea has made an attempt to appease the neighborhood. On the site is art created from the remnants of the shipyard lost in the transition. Huge cranes were kept on the site, as well as a sculpture created from old tools found during construction, and stone blocks bear the names of historic ships that graced the Red Hook shoreline.

With unobstructed views of the Statue of Liberty from its restaurant, Ikea is bound to have a steady stream of visitors.

Red Hook will never be the same.

mybrooklynbridge.com

Friends of the Brooklyn Bridge launches mybrooklynbridge.com

PSST! Would you like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?

On the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge, a new organization is launching an exciting website, mybrooklynbridge.com. Friends of the Brooklyn Bridge, started by the DUMBO Improvement District, is beginning a grassroot effort to help maintain the public walkways and entryways of the world's greatest bridge walk.

The site features time-lapse photography showing the bridge at sunset from several unique vantage points, 360° images on the walkway, a memories section to enter your favorite experience at the bridge, and a history section that even includes an 1899 movie by Thomas Edison studios.

The 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge is a five-day event which started on Thursday, May 22, with fireboats on each side shooting water before darkness settled in. Then the light show began. Spotlights cut through the sky, fireworks by Grucci framed the bridge, and differnet color lights painted the anchorages.

“The Brooklyn Bridge made a big, bold statement right from the start,” says BP Markowitz. “In 1883, it was opened with the goal of joining the two largest municipalities in the nation at the time, New York City and the City of Brooklyn—and its glittering span of steel, stone, wood and light continues to symbolize the bond that links our fortunes forever. Today, hundreds of thousands of tourists cross the Brooklyn Bridge each year to get a taste of the ‘Brooklyn Renaissance.’ We wish the Brooklyn Bridge a Happy Birthday—in every one of Brooklyn’s136 languages. At 125 years young, she is as vital and majestic as ever!”

©Mark D Phillips - Click for larger

NYC DOT partnered with the DUMBO Improvement District to upgrade the Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Walkway. Improvements include an extensive public art project and upgrade to the Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Walkway as part of Mayor Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz's five-day celebration in honor of the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge. The permanent improvements feature wayfinding signage by Emphasis Design, and a public art lighting installation by Tillett Lighting Design and KT3D entitled "This Way."

"The beauty of Brooklyn doesn't have to end with the Bridge," said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. "A single sign can mean the difference between finding your way and continuing on your Brooklyn adventure. Today, that adventure continues as we better connect the historic bridge's walkway with Brooklyn's equally historic neighborhoods."

The Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Walkway Project was made possible by generous contributions from the City of New York, Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz, and Councilmember David Yassky. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs & Percent for Art and the New York City Department of Transportation.

What we hear......

B'KLYN POLICY CREATES 'NO PARK' SLOPE

NY POST - June 17, 2008: Park Slope has long been infamous for its lack of parking. Now, many residents say the situation's gotten worse, thanks to a recent city policy change that's supposed to provide relief.

The decision to suspend alternate side regulations - expected to last at least through the summer - was needed so that more than 9,000 street signs can be replaced. The signs outline new residential street-cleaning rules that reduce once-a-week "no parking" enforcement from three hours to 90 minutes.

"At first I thought it was great not having to deal with alternate side parking, but as it turns out, now it's twice as hard to find a spot," said Linda Morrison, 29, of Sixth Avenue. "A lot of people are just leaving their cars in the same spots for days, weeks."

But city spokesman Seth Solomonow said "observations" by the Department of Transportation and Brooklyn Community Board 6 have found the number of available spots hasn't changed "noticeably" compared to "the high level of parking occupancy that existed before the suspension began."
Maria Maloney, 32, of Eighth Avenue, has another gripe. Without street sweeping, roads in Park Slope are "beginning to smell with the arrival of the warm weather," she complained.

Tonight Show auction to benefit Bailey's Café

Bailey's Cafe and the Tonight Show The South Brooklyn Network welcomes Bailey's Café as a new member of our site and we invite you to learn more about the organization. Jay Leno's online auction of his Tonight Show set to benefit Bailey's Café finished October 5th, selling seven pieces of furniture for $45,100, with 100% of the money going to Bailey's. Visit Bailey's Café