An avalanche of chatter and rage about Ikea's demolition of Civil War-era buildings in Red Hook is starting to rise to Pale Male-like levels. The latest news and opinion:
1) The buildings being demolished may contain significant amount of asbestos. Upshot: "Ikea could continue with the work even if more asbestos was found after it paid a fine and hired special contractors." Awesome! [NYPost]
2) New York's Will Doig writes on how Ikea bribed their way into Red Hook. Says an Ikea rep of a critic, "I think if he really cared about the neighborhood, he'd take the money [for the legal fees] to do some good in the neighborhood." Mmmkay. [New York Mag]
3) Starts and Fits: "Economic growth is great for New York City because it encourages people to come here to live, work, shop and otherwise enjoy leisure time. But why does it have to be done in a way that rips apart a piece of the pedestrian-scaled urban fabric that makes New York different from the rest of the nation?" [Starts and Fits]
4) Land+Living: "Nice work, Ikea. Class act all the way." [Land+Living]
5) Daily Dose of Architecture: "Entities like IKEA need to adapt their formulas to the urban fabric, something that IKEA and Wal-Mart seem unwilling to do." [Daily Dose]
6) On that note, excellent story about the coming of big-box retail to New York City and what it means to neighborhoods. "This is a new immigrant issue," one observer says. [Newsday]
7) Indeed, the battle over the Wal-Mart in Queens is also heating up. [The Box Tank]