Have they finished building the whole area? The rail yards are still "on the air". I guess they'll eventually be covered up and built on.
I got reminded about the dangers of when you lived next to Domino's sugar. An action flick where the protagonist triggers an explosion of flour particles suspended in air.
The Calzone spot we went on Williamsburg bridge no longer has the same view, google street view shows the new building covering you old apartment there.
Saw on the news that there was a NY plan to develop downtown 300ft into the water and do some flooding containment.
Jorde,
Along the surrounding area are skyscaper cranes. The yard is still partially open. Still lots of building to go up.
The vibe at Hudson yards was very suburban mall except scaled up. Not my idea of NYC.
The building you mention on Google Street in Williamsburg is actually an interesting building and to me is more interesting than Hudson Yards. It has this rectangle sculpted out of the top half.
The panorama of the old refinery is not only blocked partially by the new building, but also on the Williamsburg Bridge they fenced off the area by the east casion so you can no longer climb the iron railing and reach out to take the shot I once got.
The fine dust explosions are like fuel air bombs. They happen in coal mines, and steel mills also. The idea is to spread a combustable and then ignite the cloud of particulate.
This is the idea behind the U.S. weapon called a "Daisy Cutter." A cargo plane releases a parachute that pulls the weapon out of the rear cargo hold. At a certain altitude the first explosion happens to disperse the flammable material, and then a second detonation ignites the cloud of flammable material. The explosion from a Daisy Cutter is said to kill and destroy everything in a square mile.
In Lebanon terrorists killed over 200 Marines with a pickup truck loaded with hydrogen and oxigen compressed gas cylinders to create a fuel air bomb.
The 300 foot extension of landfill is just a proposal at this point. At best this only protects some assets and really offers very little protection from flooding. Really only a buffer zone and no real protection.
Out of all the places I have lived in NYC most were in flood zones. All the high value real estate that formally in the past were industrial, like the Meat Packing District, SoHo, Long Island City, Williamsburg west of Bedford, Dumbo are all in major flood zones if you look on a FEMA map.
It makes sense that in the past government restricted residential development to these flood prone areas.
On the FEMA map at 101 Street and Lexington I skirt a flood zone, but I am for once not in one. If the winds, tides and time are all in sync the northern end of Central Park known as the Harlem Mews would get flooded with sea water.
Even way inland, the rowhouse I rented on Monitor Street, not far from the BQE, was still in a flood zone.
They say Miami is a doomed city, but NYC is not so far behind or so much better off. They say with global warming that Toronto's climate will become like NYC's within a decade. The worry for Canadians is that the forests will not be able to adapt as fast as needed. Maple trees might become extinct.
Be aware that New York, New Jersey and California together make up 25% of the GNP of the entire U.S. These high tax states will suffer this tax season due to the $10K cap on State and local taxes. Just like I thought, crunch time is happening, and the money has to come from somewhere.
Just be aware that if you make $100K that New York State income taxes alone comes pretty close to approaching the $10K cap, and that people who own homes or real estate now have to pay for their property taxes (out of pocket).
I'm not saying this will cause a recession, but surely a slowdown will happen that is notable. I for one am actually now glad I am not a homeowner. This also coincides with a slowdown in real estate sales and a "buyer's market." Unintended consequences I say. "Look out below."
Cal