Will Ryman's "Bird" Lands in Flatiron Plaza

If you find yourself near Madison Square Park over the next couple of weeks, be sure to stop by the mammoth sculpture in Flatiron Plaza. Created by Will Ryman, Bird stands 12' tall and weighs in at 5 tons. With the exception of the rose-in-beak, the entire sculpture comprises around 5,500 nails, both off-the-shelf and custom-fabricated. Rather than methods of attachment serving a greater composition, the nails themselves form the structure and the surface. The sculpture will be on view through April 21.

Photo of the Day: NYC Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Heartwalk Hits DUMBO

This week, DUMBO became the new home for Heartwalk, a heart-shaped art installation designed and built by Brooklyn's SITU Studio, using planks reclaimed from four Sandy-ravaged boardwalks along the New York and New Jersey coasts. Originally built in Times Square, Heartwalk was the winning entry in a Valentine's Day design competition sponsored by the Times Square Alliance and the Design Trust for Public Spaces. Now you can visit Heartwalk at the Pearl Street Triangle, next to the base of the Manhattan Bridge, where it will live through the end of April. A few more photos of the installation at night:

Maura and Blue

How to Raise a Family in Connecticut

This past weekend, we took a drive along the shore in Milford, CT, where we were stopped cold by a sight we don't see every day:

A handful of existing houses are in the middle of serious reinventions, most likely due to the devastation wreaked by Sandy last fall. Much of Milford's shoreline falls within a Coastal High Hazard Area, defined by FEMA as an "area subject to high velocity wave action from storms or seismic sources." That means that any home within such a zone that "was substantially damaged or is being substantially improved" must be elevated so that the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member rests at least as high as the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). How high the structure sits relative to the BFE affects the  amount of the homeowner's flood insurance premium.

In this case, it appears that the house has been lifted off of an existing foundation, which was compacted with dirt. Four Jenga towers of wooden cribbing temporarily elevate the house more than a story in the air until piers can be built below. While small steel beams act as a belt around the midsection of the cribbing, it appears that the joists of the lower floor are supported by built-up wooden beams--of 4x4s, 2x8s and other miscellaneous lumber. For an overview of various methods for lifting houses, look no further than this FEMA manual. Discussion of the method used in the phone above begins on page 104 (page 17 of the PDF).

UPDATE: Just as an addition to the above--evidence of new construction on the same road employing the elevated living strategy. The house features an uninhabited ground floor with a car port, so that all living spaces are located above potential flood levels.

We Now Interrupt This Break...

... to resume our regularly scheduled weather watch. Breaking News! It's snowing. In the North. Two days later than expected, we're finally getting a nice powdery snow. A look at Brooklyn this morning:

Finding (the Logic in Giving Every Snowfall a Name Like) Nemo

Walking path at Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Thankfully, Winter Storm Nemo passed through Brooklyn relatively peacefully on Friday night, leaving behind only a nice blanket of snow and an inordinate amount of salt on the city sidewalks. Brooklynites have been spending the rest of the weekend turning the borough into a playground. A glimpse at our neck of the woods over the last couple of days:

Concealed creek bed in the park

A few enterprising spirits brought cross-country skiing to Pier 1 yesterday.

More adventurous were the sledders who took to the granite steps, navigating their way under the railing halfway down.

Evidence of the new sled run on the granite steps

Snowman in progress within the Tobacco Warehouse

Commingling of canines and sledders at the Hillside Dog Run

Sidewalk grates on Fulton Mall

Cadman Plaza facing South

A common sight throughout Brooklyn: snow-drifted cars as snowballing ammunition supply

Here We Come, Walking Down the Street...

Last weekend, while visiting family in Kansas, we celebrated my grandfather's 88th birthday. For the occasion, my mom hired a bakery in South Haven, KS, to bake a special cake for Frass. Muffin Top Bakery came through with flying colors, producing an entertaining and delicious banana cake with cream cheese frosting. I've never had anything like it. If you have a sweet tooth and ever find yourself in South Central Kansas, consider yourself notified.

 

 

Good Morning, Nemo.

This morning's view from Fulton Landing:

Ad Astra Per Aspera

On the 152nd Anniversary of Kansas' Statehood, it's worth taking a moment to reflect upon the struggles that led to its establishment. If you have ten minutes, PBS has a good summary of the violent atmosphere on the Kansas frontier in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Of course, much of the bloodshed between pro- and anti-slavery factions occurred near the Kansas-Missouri border. A Congressional report of the "Special Committee Appointed to Investigate the Troubles in Kansas" vividly portrays the twisted mindset of the pro-slavery forces seeking to shape the future of the Kansas territory. John H. Stringfellow, a fervent Border Ruffian from Missouri, provided the following testimony to the committee (emphasis mine):

Free-State men who came into the Territory after the passage of the bill were regarded with jealousy by the people of western Missouri, for the reason that a society had been formed, by members of Congress and others, for the avowed purpose of shaping the institutions of Kansas Territory so as to make it a free State, in opposition to the interests of the people of Missouri. If no emigrant aid societies had been formed in the northern States, the emigration of people from there known to be in favor of making Kansas a free State would have stimulated the emigration from Missouri. Had it not been for the emigrant aid societies the majority in favor of slave institutions would, by the natural course of emigration, have been so great as to have fixed the institutions of the Territory, without any exciting contest, as was in the case of the settlement of the Platte purchase. That was the way we regarded the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, as by reserving a restriction to introduce southern institutions into Kansas. This and the principle of it was what induced us to support it. The fixed time that any action was taken to form societies in Missouri to counteract the movements of emigrant aid societies was in October, 1854. The end sought to be attained by the formation of these societies, was to induce citizens to move into the Territory who were friendly to the institution of slavery. We held public and private meetings. The members of these societies knew each other, and in public and private pledged to use all honorable means to make Kansas a slave State.

Stringfellow's brother Benjamin was much more explicit concerning his movement's intentions, instructing an audience in St. Joseph, MO, to "mark every scoundrel that is in the least tainted with free-soilism or abolitionism and exterminate him."   
Meanwhile, in a letter to his cousin Sidney, a young Massachusetts transplant named Edward Bridgman described his rapid evolution into an abolitionist and a Free-Stater:

In some small towns the men are called up nearly every night to hold themselves in readiness to meet the worst as scouting parties of Alabamians Georgians and Missourians are around continually, plundering clothes yards, horses and cattle, and everything they can lay hold of. A few miles from Lawrence a man was plowing. A party of Southerners came along and being hungry killed his best ox, ate what they wanted, took away some and left the rest. Such like occurrences are almost daily taking place. Last Thursday, news came from Lawrence that she was in the hands of the Ruffians, and that they had demolished the free state Hotel, burned Robinson's house, and destroyed the two printing presses. Almost immediately a company of 30 was raised. There was no reason why I could not go for one, so I borrowed a rifle and ammunition and joined them. The thought of engaging in battle is not a pleasing one, but the free state men are compelled to. Why should I not do [so] as wall as others, I have nothing to hinder me and my life is no dearer to me than the lives of others are to them.

The sacking of Lawrence recounted by Bridgman was led in part by Benjamin Stringfellow. Shortly after the arrival of Governor John Geary in late 1856, most of the bloodshed would cease. Kansas, however, would have to wait more than four years for admission into the Union, following the secession of the Confederate states, which had been formidable roadblocks in the quest to establish the territory as a free state. To the stars through difficulty.

The Park Freezes Over

Yet Another Update on the Pedestrian Bridge

If you can't tell by now, I'm just a little anxious for the new Squibb Park Bridge to open... so that my walk to Brooklyn Bridge Park will be cut in half. Here's another progress shot, taken yesterday afternoon. The upland connection is nearly complete, and the section closest to the water has been installed. Stay tuned for railings in the near future...

Update: Squibb Park Pedestrian Bridge

While the Squibb Park Bridge didn't make its year-end deadline, it is inching closer to completion. As you can see above, a third section--the closest to Squibb Park--is nearly complete. In the very near future, the walk from Brooklyn Heights to the waterfront will be much more fun. Once the trees fill out, I'm picturing something along these lines. Stay tuned!

Photo of the Day: East River Morning Fog

Yesterday's view from Brooklyn Bridge Park:

Revisiting Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5

Pier 5 Soccer Fields (looking west)

Other than a long-distance shot pre-Sandy, I haven't posted any photo updates on Pier 5 since the construction site tour. The Pier has now been open for a few weeks, and yesterday we took our first look up close. More glimpses of the new pier (the third of six) follow, taken on a chilly, but sunny, Saturday afternoon.

Maura and Blue, enjoying a stroll on the south promenade

Picnic Peninsula, looking south to the pier

A few of the 25 grills dotted throughout the picnic area. January seems like a good time to stake your claim!

Detail of a timber picnic table, made from Longleaf Yellow Pine, salvaged from Pier 1.

Prefabricated concession stand, also featuring reclaimed pine and a green roof. No word yet on a vendor.

A Better Look

The pedestrian bridge, one step closer to completion: