"... who often wore flowers in her hair. Locals are livid that the redesign doesn’t include a major expansion of green space or real flower beds. They also say that local residents never had a chance to offer meaningful feedback.... The new design was announced last August, but state officials waited until a few days before the park was set to close for construction in January to present it to Brooklyn Community Board 1.... 'It’s almost stereotypical at this point. People just think, Oh, it’s queer people so we’re going to make a gay flag as a park,' said Mihalis Petrou, a horticulturist who has worked on North Brooklyn parks and who identifies as gay. 'It’s just redundant and uninventive and it’s going to have an impact on the local wildlife. We could have a nuanced tribute that honors marginalized people by celebrating nature. It’s a missed opportunity.' 'Olmsted must be rolling in his grave,' said Katie Naplatarski, a North Brooklyn parks advocate and longtime Greenpoint resident. 'To coat a park in plastic? Are you kidding me? That is so fundamentally wrong.'"
From "North Brooklyn Locals Do Not Like the Plastic Mural Proposed For Their Park" (New York Magazine).
Plastic, flowers, rainbows — when is inclusivity insulting? Is there ever a point when those who are designated for governmental uplifting rebel and say this is trite, childish, and just plain bad design?
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106 comments:
Celebrating perversion. That’s the ticket!
- Krumhorn
The Left is never satisfied. You try to do something nice for people and this is the thanks you get?
And what wildlife is there in Brooklyn? Pigeons? Geese? Rats?
Is there ever a point when those who are designated for governmental uplifting rebel and say this is trite, childish, and just plain bad design?
Of course. But you are asking the wrong question. Ask instead whether there is ever a point where the MFA and BFA types thar the Democrat administrations put in charge of projects like this are required to actually listen to the people who are pushing back? This is just artsy-fartsy people designing for the applause of other artsy-fartsy people. The proletariat want to enjoy a park? Puh-leez!
Thanks for the morning laugh.
When a blackjack dealer leaves the table, she “clears her hands”: claps them together and shows the camera both sides, to demonstrate she’s not palming any chips. It’s a perfect way of saying, “I’m outta here.” So when the subject turns to racism or sexism or homophobia, and you understand that the only way to win is not to play, just clear your hands and walk away.
It should be something that can be toppled by the next wave of idiots.
1. Cost? At least $20m.
2. The artist’s rendering didn’t depict tents for the homeless and antifa.
As a tribute to a schizophrenic prostitute, the design looks quite appropriate.
“ ...often wore flowers in her hair“
Plastic flowers?
It won’t be long before a trial lawyer will be able to count on one juror nudging another juror and saying “A good goat will do that “ when the lawyer is telling the story about how the goat turned around and licked his client’s balls as he was being inclusive, unbiased, and equitable with the goat while fucking it out in front of the 3rd St elementary school.
- Krumhorn
Shorter park design: trans people are unnatural.
A large space where nothing grows is perfect for memorials of non-heterosexuals.
What is the real estate value of an acre of land in Brooklyn nowadays? And this is considered by someone as the best investment for that land? Also, who is going to spend any time loitering around this monstrosity? (Consider the term 'loitering' and I think you will have an idea).
Plastic? "Crude oil is a source of raw material (feedstock) for making plastics, it is not the major source of feedstock for plastics production in the United States. Plastics are produced from natural gas, feedstocks derived from natural gas processing, and feedstocks derived from crude oil refining." (Google)
How fitting for the nude gay pride celebrations. Garish.
It's ugly.
A large space where nothing grows is perfect for memorials of non-heterosexuals.
Bingo! Add garish, flaming, and vulgar and we have a lasting monument for the ages.
- Krumhorn
"And what wildlife is there in Brooklyn? Pigeons? Geese? Rats?"
I had the same question. This is a waterfront park, but I found a list for Prospect Park, which is a little ways inland in Brooklyn.
Of course there are birds — 292 species — and fish — 14 species — and reptiles and amphibians — 4-6 — and tons of insects — 1000+ Species of Insects, Including 35 Butterfly and 59 Bee Species.
But you probably see "wildlife" and think of mammals. What mammals are there besides rats, mice, chipmunks, and squirrels? There are 15 species of mammals. There are also raccoons and "at least 6 species of bats (possibly up to 9), rabbits, and as of 2019, a skunk!"
Black trans activist
Twenty-one...!
"This is just artsy-fartsy people designing for the applause of other artsy-fartsy people."
No, it isn't. It isn't arty at all. It's cheap and commercial, using obvious go-to imagery — rainbows and flowers. This is stuff more associated with thoughtlessly manufactured junk, such as cheap t-shirts for little girls.
Apparently the park is a state park, and was formerly known as East River State Park. Cuomo renamed it a year ago. It is currently a green space. I guess the color green is now not diverse enough, so it will soon become a (plastic) rainbow space.
Perhaps the official song for the park could be Cream's SWALBR: She Walks Like a Bearded Rainbow.
"We could have a nuanced tribute that honors marginalized people by celebrating nature."
There's an abundance of nuance in that sentence; most of it somewhat confusing.
We watched Showtime's Judy Garland documentary the other night. For the first time, I realized the rainbow flag was because of Judy and The Wizard of Oz.
This is stuff more associated with thoughtlessly manufactured junk, such as cheap t-shirts for little girls.
It really could be renamed Lisa Frank park.
And what wildlife is there in Brooklyn?
The wild life goes on in the bushes.
This is stuff more associated with thoughtlessly manufactured junk, such as cheap t-shirts for little girls.
Just let it go, Althouse. It was a long time ago and they meant well.
Plastic breaks down over time, accelerating when exposed to the elements. So it’s not just ugly, it’s temporary. Most parks are designed with future growth in mind. This one? Not so much. It’s a park built to decay.
It's designed to be provocative, i.e., to cause a negative reaction, which can be used to further their claims of marginalization, permitting a double-down on their exercise of dominion over the public sphere. Pretty basic tactic, actually. Shame we keep falling for it.
An acre of horizontal plastic in the city.
Has anybody given any thought to what it will look like in a year? Dirty crap is what.
These people have lost their minds.
Hideous My Little Rainbow Farting Pony on meth and steroids
At least it will be easier to clean up the feces and effluvia from the booming homeless camps. Just get a giant squeegee and pressure washers. /facepalm
Shorter park design: trans people are unnatural.
This was the very thought that caused me to LOL - a little hysterically, I have to admit - when I read the post.
This giant plastic flag will be either scorching hot with no shade or covered with snow. In a practical sense, unusable. It's kind like spreading a blue poly-tarp out in your back yard so people passing overhead in airplanes will think you have a pool.
I'm so glad these Leftist-voting morons are gettign what they deserve,
I never understood the fetish parks departments have for concrete and asphalt. They never saw a piece of nature they didn't want to pave over.
But I do understand the habit of governments to present plans to the public after it's too late for the public to do anything about it. Their worst programs are secret until they're done deals. It beats trying to be responsive or responsible. Who do the public think they are, anyway? Pay your taxes and shut up.
Ann Althouse said...
"And what wildlife is there in Brooklyn? Pigeons? Geese? Rats?"
Of course there are birds — 292 species
And not 292 kinds of pigeons either. Probably half of them are exotic birds that escaped from luggage at JFK.
rhhardin @ 5:53:
“ A large space where nothing grows is perfect for memorials of non-heterosexuals.”
We have a threadwinner!
BTW, that is one butt-ugly design.
The oil and gas industry appreciates the choice of plastic over natural materials.
Like a giant Slip ’N Slide when it rains.
From Wiki:
"The toy is a long sheet of thin plastic, flanked lengthwise on one side by a heat-sealed tubular fold. The tube can be connected to any ordinary garden hose. Water runs through the tube and out small perforations, spraying onto the sliding surface. The Slip 'n Slide then becomes very slippery, enabling users to jump onto the plastic and slide the length of the sheet....
...Between 1973 and 1991, seven adults and a 13-year-old suffered neck injuries or paralysis while using Slip ’N Slides...."
I am Laslo.
"Communities" shouldn't own property. Likewise, public memorials are rarely supported by 100% of the locals.
This seems appropriate:
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel *, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum *
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT * now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Can we tap into a fire hydrant and have a HUGE slip-n-slide?
Nudity encouraged?
Might help unite the community.
Damn it, Laslo beat me to it. Gotta read ALL the comments before I post.
Christo is back!
They never told you that you might gag on it or that it might feel a little uncomfortable shoved up there.
Deal with it. You voted for it over a generation.
A huge surface of plastic, that people will walk on. That city employees will inevitably drive on, directly adjacent to a river that flows immediately into the Atlantic.
But you can't have plastic straws, because of plastic in ocean.
"Is there ever a point when those who are designated for governmental uplifting rebel and say this is trite, childish, and just plain bad design?"
Well, there may be. But how long will they have the power to resist? Won't they be racist domestic terrorists?
Bad design is part of prog hegemony, the better to yank the chains of the deplorables. Scorching the earth, one plastic plower at a time.
Now that progs are infringing on Althouse's all-important esthetic sensibilities, is there ever a point when she will acknowledge that cruel neutrality was nonsense and that abstention aided the prog devastation?
"[W]hen is inclusivity insulting? Is there ever a point when those who are designated for governmental uplifting rebel...?"
Inclusivity is ALWAYS insulting. For conscious purposeful inclusion, there is pre-requisite of exclusion.
"Those who are designated for governmental uplifting" will take an honored place among the most vile and repugnant phrases of all time. A Federal Department of Uplift to control emotions of the citizenry. The Libertarian mind gags.
God that's ugly.
I suppose that's the point tho. Demonstrate your power by making everything fugly and rubbing your peon noses in it.
Ann thinks the design is not "arty." Have you seen David Hockney's paintings?
Whoever sells that plastic paving must have a connection and the ability to call in a favor.
"Is there ever a point when those who are designated for governmental uplifting rebel and say this is trite, childish, and just plain bad design?"
No. All is allowed in service of a correct cause.
Plus the graft potential on such projects exceeds even that of road building or small arm procurement.
This is what happens when you allow the inmates to take over the asylum. Many of us are still puzzling over how it happened. We have given the reins of power to lunatics and weirdos.
@Althouse (6:16), I will stand on what I wrote. I deliberately didn’t say “people with good artistic taste.” I used the term “artsy-fartsy people” as IMO it is highly descriptive. I am writing about the sort of credentialed idiots who would look at a beautiful painting of Madonna with Child and sneer that it was bourgeoise because it was created without resorting to fecal matter. That you have a BFA and yet have artistic taste is a cause for wonder, and probably due to your having earned the degree a half century ago.
And you are still not asking the right question.
I'd like to hear from the people in N. Brooklyn who will be the one's living with and using the park.
I would not presume to tell rhhardin that he's scything his lawn the wrong way, it's unnatural even to scythe lawn, weirdo. It's either sheep or nothing, man!
I must say Big Mike is right, and Michael K proved it. Time for people to read Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word. “The art is ugly so that I may teach you with it.”
*puts on Taylor Lorenz mask*
Meade is using death imagery to marginalize Hardin.
*horrifying*
That's fucking hideous.
It is difficult to see this as anything other than an intentional stick-in-the-eye to the few remaining Brooklynites who are not gonzo Progressives, to chase them out of the borough and leave everything for those who are. Epater les bourgeois!
So, plastic in 95-degree NYC heat in summer?
How will it smell?
If you're going to North, North Brooklyn
Be sure to wear some plastic flowers in your hair
If you're going to North, North Brooklyn
You're gonna meet some loony people there
It sure looks like that the community is going to cancel this project. It also looks like that a lot of the lbgtqrmnolp community was never involved in the planning for this and don't particularly like the design either.
So the bottom line it seems like our system of checks and balances is working to prevent this monstrosity from being constructed.
But let's not focus on the victory let's wallow in our superiority over the stupid people who proposed it.
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big rainbow taxi
Took away my wo man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They painted a parking lot
And put up a paradise of colorful recyclable plastic pavers
That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.
Whose loser kid got paid big bucks to design it?
“That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.”
Wait till you see it covered in bird poop.
But, but, gays and trans only want 'tolerance' and 'acceptance.'
Right?
Fuck all you straight people. Good and hard. No lube for you.
You will be made to care.
The left is sick.
You might not be interested in acres of plastic, but acres of plastic is interested in you.
I don’t know if this will be built, but that’s almost beside the point. Epater Le bourgeois and graft are the point, as has been noted above.
The insult is better if this is built, but it’s already been delivered,
"Is there ever a point when those who are designated for governmental uplifting rebel and say this is trite, childish, and just plain bad design?"
No. Never happened, never will.
Next question?
plastics are made from hydrocarbon - aka fossil fuels?!
why not plant real flowers and plants of colors they prefer?
+ garden work crew keep coming in anyway
"Celebrating perversion. That’s the ticket!"
Celebrating mental illness. That’s the ticket!
Fixed.
And the star attraction will be a huge public restroom where gay men can flock to have clandestine and not-so-clandestine assignations, fully approved by hizhoner.
No summons will be issued...kind of a fucking free-for-all zone.
Dear God, that is ugly.
Toxic art. On the upside, may be a good target for pigeons.
Howard: So, this is all totes OK, b/c it's probably not going to happen anyway? Well, in the first place, from the article:
It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that the state will toss out its redesign midstream. But with new support from local elected officials, concerned neighbors now have slightly better odds.
"Not impossible" that it'll be stopped, but "unlikely." So, yes, this absolutely does look likely to be "built."
But that's not even the point, anyway. This monstrosity should have been born and died in one person's head. Even letting it get on paper is too much.
This might be a good time to point out that grass and trees and flowering plants absorb carbon dioxide and generate oxygen. If you really believe in climate change then your choice is clear.
Wait till you see it covered in bird poop.
Not to mention where you have pigeons and tall buildings, you have peregrine falcons, followed by blood and feathers.
Michelle: I spent an entire career cleaning up toxic waste fuckups left to us by the greatest generation. No doubt this site was one of those Brownfields. The history of the world is built upon the waste and mistakes of previous generations. This proposal is a relatively harmless stupid art project that doesn't trigger me all that much. Part of me wants it to be built because people in real life will find ways to us it that no one intended that would likely trigger the designers.
Locals are livid that the redesign doesn’t include a major expansion of green space or real flower beds. They also say that local residents never had a chance to offer meaningful feedback.
Welcome Brooklyn. Welcome to the rest of the country that the majority of people live in. Your government and leaders hate you. They'd rather not consider you at all, let alone have to ask for your opinion on decisions that were made before you knew the question. This is for your own good, peasants. You will like it, and you will show how pleased you are with us.
Nothing to worry about. I'm sure a job in Brooklyn to pour an entire field of concrete for no reason has nothing to do with organized crime and kickbacks. Because who doesn't imagine a park as a huge swath of land covered in paving and flooring? Makes total sense.
"The contract is excellent. Now how do we make it go over?"
"You mean so people won't get too curious?"
"Yeah."
"I dunno. Cover it with a bunch of woke shit."
"Like what?"
"You know like rainbows and flowers and and stuff like that."
"You're on to something here."
"You know what? People like those little quotes now. My nephew's always sending me these things. Memes. You could put a quote with the rainbows and flowers. Like, 'Being gay is great!' or something that the young people like. If anyone questions anything, we say he's a bigot."
"You're a genius!"
a plastic mural, for a plastic people
plastic noun
plas·tic | \ ˈpla-stik
1 : having a quality suggestive of mass-produced plastic goods especially : artificial sense
2 : capable of being molded or modeled
Meade said...
I would not presume to tell rhhardin that he's scything his lawn the wrong way, it's unnatural even to scythe lawn, weirdo. It's either sheep or nothing, man!
Meade? i THOUGHT you Were a gardener? Sheep WON'T cut it
Sheep will Only eat tasty grass,flowers, etc
Woody plants? Nope
Thistles? Nope
Tin Cans and other trash? NOPE!
GOATS dude! GOATS are what you're looking for
rental goats are big business in California hills.
your scything can't compete against Big Goat.
If this goes forward, it has to be mobbed up.
Howard,
If the site is actually a toxic waste dump, I don't think anyone should be hanging out there, let alone picnicking on it. Fence the whole site off already. Since it is already a park, though, I doubt very much that it's a toxic waste dump. Not that throwing an acre of plastic-covered concrete over it would improve it any if it were.
This proposal is a relatively harmless stupid art project that doesn't trigger me all that much.
"Relatively harmless" art projects aren't that big, honestly. If this acre-sized "mural" (a silly word anyway for something that is not a wall) were scaled back to, oh, 400 square feet or so, the locals would no doubt be OK with it. As it is, it's just a concrete slab, except infinitely more garish and off-putting. Also, plastic.
Did you happen to notice that, in the article, not one person who actually lived nearby could be found to say a kind word about it? As for the locals "repurposing" any of it, clearly they can't, b/c any use that smacked of disrespect or even annoyance would be labeled anti-trans, anti-Black, or both. That's the whole point of such projects.
DavidUW,
rental goats are big business in California hills.
Anything that eats poison oak is big in CA hills, which is to say that goats are it, yes.
They also say that local residents never had a chance to offer meaningful feedback....
When will the locals realize that although this is where they live what they want has no bearing on something like this.
But more importantly, Why do the locals hate activist, n-word trannies?
Poor Howard, oppressed by the GI Bill.
Great comment thread today, dumping on what some of the loonies running NYState want to impose on hipster Brooklyn. A gigantic, plastic-and-concrete, kandy-kolored slip'n'slide along the W'msburg shore -- what could possibly go wrong?
Here in not-so-hipster South Brooklyn (a/k/a Brooklyn Heights), the park along the waterfront is mostly grass, bushes and trees, with walking and bike paths throughout. Of the five old piers incorporated into the park, three are planted with walks and lawns plus scattered play areas for little kids, while two are devoted to sports (one focused on soccer fields, the other mostly basketball, but with room for bocce, sand volleyball, handball, etc.). In between the piers is a sandy beach, good for launching kayaks and water boards but not for swimming. The park goes under Brooklyn Bridge and into Dumbo on the north side, where there is a refurbished carousel (originally from Ohio), more lawns, trees, walks and another beach.
The design for this terrific park in South Brooklyn was years in the making, lots of local input, and it came out right. As for the one in W'msburg, my guess is that one's heading for some serious redesign.
A symbol of inclusive exclusion. One step forward, two steps backward.
Celebrating perversion. That’s the ticket!
Trans/neogender through mental and physical corruption, simulating a borrowed sex, in service to identity religions. It's no wonder that trans/homosexuals seek to socially distances themselves from their spectrum cousins.
It's been cleaned up Michelle that's what we do. Obviously the cleanup standards for a park or not as strict as a cleanup standards for a residential redevelopment. Therefore typically the most toxic and toughest to clean up spots are the ones that turn into parks. You just scrape off the top couple of feet of the nasty dirt replace it with clean soil and Bob's your uncle
Genderphobia.
Yeah actually plastic covered concrete is an approved barrier for a toxic waste dump
An open air park made out of brightly colored plastic.
Either no one involved with the project has ever been to Brooklyn on a hot, sunny day in August, or they all truly hate people.
Oh oh oh...let me use thousands of $$ of landscape architecture education I don't ever use...
My theory is that maintenance costs drove the design. Nearly all people looking for any outdoor design want 'low maintenance'. Can't get more low maintenance than this - especially when compared to plants. They could have done a nice design using actual plantings, but that cost too much $$$ to maintain.
"You just scrape off the top couple of feet of the nasty dirt replace it with clean soil and Bob's your uncle"
So I guess you don't have to be very smart to do your sort of work...
You have to remember that Joe's handlers are shoveling boatloads of fake money to profligate blue states in the name of covid relief. Some of this stuff is going to get built. And the right people will get paid to do it.
Of course there are birds — 292 species...
---------------
Because it's on the water it's highly likely that most of those species of bird are transient in the spring and fall. When we lived along the lake in Chicago I had identified over 100 species of birds because that side of Lake Michigan was a flyway. In reality it was pigeons, sparrows, robins, and the occasional house finch who lived there year round.
To me the disgusting part is how the state officials decided what they wanted in camera and thought they could defeat democracy by springing a fait accompli on the town board at the last possible minute. That’s good government, New York!
Hey, a thought arrives: have Jimmy Hoffa's remains been located?
Here's a panorama of what it looks like before plasticization.
The wildlife is interesting but the bodyless foot is disturbing.
I prefer the new version, but my tastes are rather plebeian.
The 3rd line of the inscription looks to be "how many years does it take people to see hell". Fitting...
The graffiti artists will have a ball there.
Umm..what's the "carbon footprint" of all that plastic?
What would this look like after a few years of weather?
They are getting what they voted for, good and hard.
I think that the real insult is that is just doesn't make logical sense. A city park should be a place where you can go to be a little closer to nature. If they wanted a commemorative mural, why didn't they just build a wall and put the mural on the wall? By making it a giant mural on the ground, only people flying overhead can really see it the way it was intended.
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