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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, DEC. 15, 2019,
Cobble Hill’s traffi c nightmare
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Cobble Hill civic gurus say
officials at the Department of
Transportation are doing a
shoddy job providing oversight
as three major developments at
the former Long Island College
Hospital site flood the area with
construction vehicles, causing
traffic jams and posing a danger
to pedestrians.
“I just see this getting worse
and worse, and you have people
trying to navigate through all
of these huge construction vehicles,”
said the president of
the Cobble Hill Association
Amy Breedlove. “I don’t know
what to do to make the DOT
have that concern for human
life.”
Dumbo-based developer
Fortis Property Group is in
the process of erecting two
15- and 36-story towers on opposing
sides of Hicks Street as
part of the five-building project
around the former hospital
campus which the company has
since dubbed River Park.
Meanwhile, New York University
plans to build a medical
center in front of the taller
tower once it acquires the land
from Fortis some time in the
coming months.
Hicks Street is already regularly
visited by long lines of
cement trucks and 18-wheelers,
which struggle to make the
tight turn onto Pacific Street to
access the work site, according
to Breedlove.
“They have to get their
trucks in and out, but there has
to be a plan where it doesn’t
make everything a logistical
nightmare,” she said.
Contractors have also made
it more difficult and dangerous
to access the nearby Van
Vorhees dog park overlooking
the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway,
by blocking the entrance
and sidewalk with construction
fence for 1 River Park,
the shorter of the two towers
—leading many locals to jaywalk
across the busy one-way
street instead.
A construction worker flags
traffic to make sure there’s safe
pedestrian crossing, and during
non-working hours contractors
set up a plastic barrier
from Atlantic Avenue towards
the dog park, according to a
public relations spokeswoman
for the River Park development,
Pizza de résistance!
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
It’s a Vincent van Dough!
The owner of a Greenpoint pizzeria
has cooked up a cheesy homage to
the absurd banana duct-taped-to-a-wall
“art” that sold for $120,000 in Miami
last week, and hopes his own food-inspired
piece will fetch a similarly eyepopping
six-figure price.
Fornino owner Michael Ayoub ducttaped
a margherita pie to the wall of his
Manhattan Avenue shop — aptly named
“Pizza” — along with signage advertising
its sale for the meager price of
$100,000.
So far, he hasn’t gotten any offers.
“I took a crack at it,” said Ayoub.
“I’m still waiting on a buyer though.
Cattelan got four, I didn’t get any!”
Ayoub unveiled his masterpiece on
the pizzeria’s Instagram page Monday
as a tribute to Italian artist Maurizio
Cattelan’s now-infamous piece “Comedian,”
which — simply put — is a banana
duct-taped to a wall.
Cattelan’s work lived for short period
of time at Art Basel Miami Beach,
before it was purchased for $120,000 —
and later eaten by performance artist
David Datuna in an elaborate artistic
stunt.
The sale of the edible artwork — and
its subsequent consumption — momentarily
shocked the art world and turned
the entire ordeal into a nationwide media
phenomenon.
It remains to be seen whether Ayoub’s
cheesy take on the episode will
garner the same frenzy of attention
within the art world.
Michael Ayoub and his artwork “Pizza” which hangs at his restaurant Fornino in Greenpoint and can
be yours for a steal at $100,000. Photo by Caroline Ourso
Pie maestro hangs $100,000 pizza ‘art’
Anna Crowley.
Breedlove, however, says
she has passed by the site many
times after-hours and has never
seen the barriers set up.
“I really don’t remember
ever seeing them out so that
people can walk by them,” she
said.
The Transportation agency
has signed off on the developer’s
traffic management plan,
according to spokeswoman Lolita
Avila, but Breedlove said
that the most recent draft she
saw did not have adequate measures
for pedestrian protection
and managing the flow of
trucks.
Avila noted that the agency
meets with the Association and
Councilman Brad Lander (D–
Cobble Hill) on a monthly basis
to discuss traffic concerns.
Breedlove said that she had
not received the signed-off plan
and Avila did not provide a copy
by press time.
— Additional reporting by
Elissa Esher
Cobble Hill residents worry that construction
will put locals in danger.
Photo by Elissa Esher
Cement trucks already line Hicks Street and locals fear it will get worse. Photo courtesy of Amanda Sue Nichols