Everybody's seen the announcement that Joshua P. Rechnitz will be donating ~$40M to build a velodrome in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This is coming together quickly as the plan is to have this built in 2013 (which is ambitious to say the least). Now we as cyclists/racers have to mobilize to ensure that we get our voice included in this. Part of this is making appearances at the public presentations about the design plans. There are going to be two public presentations in June about the design and plans.

Tues. June 12, at Brooklyn's Boro Hall (convenient to all subway lines [except G]), and on Monday, June 18th at Long Island College Hospital (corner of Atlantic Av and Hicks St, also in downtown Bklyn). Actual times are not yet announced but will be shortly. It probably is not a bad idea for folks to come and take a look at what the plan is. Since this is somebody else's money (not taxpayer money on a park that is more or less entirely privately funded), they can kind of do whatever they want, which is why there are "presentations" not hearings.

Well, no. They can't do whatever they want. In the long history of this particular park (which I worked on in some capacity on-and-off for close to 7 years) plans of various designs and intents have surfaced and were shot down. The biggest developer in DUMBO at one point proposed a massive, privately-funded movieplex to jut out into the river between the bridges. The neighborhoods went berserk, project killed. (In that case, I'd say, thank god - a movieplex on the waterfront? Yeesh...). The Port Authority wanted originally to fill the land here with condos - neighborhoods went apoplectic, shot down.

In general, all development proposals - and particularly ones taking place on a state/city run park like this, require a public approvals process to address things like environmental impact, traffic impact, etc....At the city level, they'll have to prepare an environmental impact statement, that will eventually be reviewed/voted on in a process that involves hurdles at various level community boards, borough president, city planning commission, city council and eventually the mayor. Of course, you can debate how effective that process is in actually incorporating public feedback - but it does exist, and projects have been altered as a result. I'm not 100% sure the *exact* same process will happen here, since the park is operated as a joint city/state effort - but safe to assume there will be some kind of process to review the project along these lines. The looking at pretty picture presentation - this is just the first volley. Brooklyn Bridge Park has been on the drawing boards in various iterations for 20 years - highly, highly doubtful this gets built in 18 months. Nothing in this park has happened that fast.

I don't think it's just about getting our voice included as racing cyclists -- at this point it's about getting the thing built in the first place. There's some powerful neighborhood constituencies making noise against this happening, at all. Pretty much nothing happens in this park w/o the old money cats in Brooklyn Heights getting heard - and right now they don't seem too pleased about this: http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/39989 They can be beaten - but the folks behind the velodrome will need to make a strong case. Maybe we can help....

The comments on that article are eye-opening. And to be honest, the NIMBYs make some good points. One if which is that track cycling is a fairly esoteric sport and so wouldn't serve the majority of Brooklyn. This is true enough. And yet somehow I doubt they'd be on board with something more mainstream like basketball or football facilities.

well if this was the only facility there, then yes i would think this is a terrible use of facilities, but they are building fields with artificial turf for soccer, football, and baseball, two blocks away are basketball and tennis courts. They've accommodated other esoteric sports, including 6 beach volleyball courts (not exactly a year round facility) built on pier 6. This is going to be multi-use, and isn't just a velodrome, but I am going to be adding my voice, to those supporting this endeavor. This is an amazing opportunity for NYC to have a year round cycling facility that will give kids more opportunities to learn track racing (and fatten up the pipeline of young talent going into cycling).

It shocks me every time somebody is against more athletic facilities when we're trending towards 1/3rd of Americans are overweight and sedentary. Why not just say "I want my health insurance costs to continue to grow at twice the rate of inflation, to pay for the preventable diseases of my fellow Americans." This facility isn't single-handedly going to turn the obesity epidemic around but will contribute some small part to making us healthier.

they'll complain about anything. about 10 years ago, a huge constituency of people in Willowtown/on Joralemon Street were opposed to the park, period. they just wanted the piers to be left as they were - underused and abandoned.

it got to the point that they tried to limit access as a concession for their support. joralemon street is the only one with a direct access point into the park through the Heights, which otherwise is cut off by the Promenade/BQE cantilever. these people were so NIMBY that they actually proposed building a wall at the foot of the street so people couldn't even WALK down the street to get to the park, much less drive.

they were laughed out of town on that one, thankfully. i told one woman that if she wanted to live in bucolic, quiet peace she probably should have moved to Iowa, not downtown Brooklyn.

anyway, i'm with dan, as long as the facility is multi-use and even better if they partner up with folks to run velodrome clinics and whatnot so it's as accessible as possible to folks.

Posted By: Jeffrey WhiteThe comments on that article are eye-opening. And to be honest, the NIMBYs make some good points. One if which is that track cycling is a fairly esoteric sport and so wouldn't serve the majority of Brooklyn.

I would serve all of some of Williamsburg so something should be said about that.

Noted that the UES may or may not have more fixed gear riders then Wburg. I'm waiting on Jeff O. for the official recount.

How many of those fixed gear riders in W'Burg have the balls to ride at speed on a velodrome?

sadly they're more likely to go to a new park in Brooklyn than Queens where there is an existing cycling facility. I can see this being able to support evening racing year round, which would probably bring me back to track racing. I can get there for a winter series of track races (which I can't make Kissena Twilight series races if I want to keep my job).

quit yer job! steal this book!

I don't think half of those with guys with fixed gears can legally ride a track with their bmx pedals, cut up handlebars, and brakes for those that came to their senses.

But as for track cycling as an esoteric sport, I think it's hard to say. Who would have thought that cycling would have gotten as popular as it has with bike lanes and all. The other great thing about track racing is that it's a spectator sport. And maybe in time, they'll hold Keirin races that we can bet on, first of course in the dark alleyways, urban crevasses and underground black market happenings but then legitimately as the government sees that they can't stop it and realizes that it would be to their advantage to oversee it and ensure it's fairness, like weed and prostitutes of the Dutch City of Canals.

If I don't show up to the presentations, someone should represent us and pitch this.

An interesting document on the velodrome.
http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/uploads/files/e31fc168-8143-4b06-a3a9-ddc4637c949a.pdf

The public meeting is tonight at Brooklyn Boro Hall. I am trying to get updated time and other information. If FBF is cancelled come on out and see what the plans are so far for a velodrome in our backyard. I for one am going to be a HYIMBY (Hell Yeah, In My Backyard) about this project.

just got word that they changed the public meetings to the following dates and times:

Mon. June 18 at 6:30 at Long Island College Hospital (Hicks &
Atlantic);
Mon. June 25 at 6:30 at St. Francis College (Remsen St
just in from Court St at Boro Hall).

I am going tonight, and anybody else is welcome to join for this public meeting about the Velodrome at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

June 25, 2012 at the Callahan Center at St. Francis College, 180 Remsen
Street, 6:30pm-8:15pm. Community Forum regarding indoor velodrome
planned at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

just an FYI - looks like there's a second meeting on the topic this week being sponsored by the willowtown association, taking place on June 27, 2012 at the Alfred T. White Center on Willow Place. 

I went to the community forum last night at St Francis College. There was excellent represntation. Mike Howard was there, a cycling coach from Columbia university and the President of BVF. It was very clear who was a cyclist and who were the grumpy oldsters who lived in the 'hood and didn't want the fieldhouse to interfere with their vision of the park.


The project is now being called the NYC Fieldhouse and is run by Greg Brooks, who led the meeting along
with several folks HR&A Public Relations firm and Gabe Smith an
architect from Thomas Phifer and Assoc.

I think the biggest concern from the community members there was that cycling is a "niche" sport and therefore this facility would get sporadic use by cyclists and then would sit empty most of the time. The Fieldhouse group did a good job if communicating that both the infield and other areas in the facility will be designed to be used by multiple sports and will not just be a velodrome only. There were people who suggest alternate uses like pools or ice rinks, but since the primary funding is coming from a cyclist donating $40M to build the facility $10M for maintenance, and guaranteed covering any operating loss in the first 5 years the velodrome has to be part of building the facility or it doesn't happen.

The plan is to build a minimum of a 200m track (they're looking at fitting a 250m track), the biggest concern is about footprint for the facility with a track of either size. Not just for the velodrome but potentially up to 24,999 seats. It will probably not be anywhere near that many but that is the absolute max they would be allowed. There are certainly limits to the height of the building they can put there because the rules about not blocking existing views from Brooklyn Heights, and the water table is very high there since they are only 5-6 feet above sea level there. So the max building height will be limited.

There are no designs yet, and there is still an environmental impact statement (EIS) required for traffic and noise generated by the fieldhouse project.

They are doing outreach now with these meetings. In July they're meeting with the BBP Community Advisory Committee and then in the fall they should do outreach around preliminary designs and working on building in 2014.

It appears that Greg Brooks
and the Fieldhouse have done serious outreach with
local schools about developing cycling clubs in order to take advantage
of this facility. I was concerned, initially, given the lack of outreach
to the racing community directly that they've not really worked to get any feedback or input.
However, the fact that NYC Fieldhouse did reach out to schools (both
public and private) to build that constituency, is a positive first
step. After the meeting I spoke with one of the folks from the PR team. She would be interested in meeting with us and discussing the what their vision of the facility and the programs that would be available.

skeleton website set up for the project is http://www.nycfieldhouse.org/ which has copies of all the documents they've created so far.

They made a lot of comparisons to the Home Depot Center in LA. which is a model I think they're looking to replicate.

http://www.homedepotcenter.com/contentright.php?section=venues&venue=velodrome&page=velodrome

@Dan - who's the HR&A person?  It's not really a PR firm, more of an economic development/real estate strategic consultancy.  most of the peeps there have degrees in urban planning, architecture, development, etc...i know several of the principals there. they tend to be a smart, though thoroughly machiavellian bunch.

solid write-up, by the way.  

@dsterns her name escapes me. my notes are back at the office but I'll look it up tomorrow.

Great summary Dan, thanks for rep'ing & scouting.  Very exciting times to be riding in NYC!

Is there any interest in having a Kissena meeting with the Greg Brooks and the HR&A folks? They can present the plan and we can give them some feedback about what kinds of programs we would like to see, and how we as a club could use the facilities?

Dan - great write up, thanks!

Sorry about that. yes I added an extra 9. no more than 2499 seats, not the excessive 25K seats. Damn factors of 10.

A survey about the BBP Velodrome. Please fill it out folks

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SHL2ZW7

Dan and all - I'm a bit slow on the uptake so just read your write up - fantastic stuff and the more you read about the whole thing, the more exciting it sounds (and actually moving forward, unlike say that idea to build one in the Bronx - what happened to that?). Would definitely be interested in going to the final meeting and also participating in a potential meeting with HR&A.

It was interesting following the life cycle of the velodrome in Manchester in the UK. That was built for different reasons - for the Commonwealth Games in 1994 - but came under attack afterwards for being a white elephant etc. Secondary usage (basketball, badminton etc.) helped keep the place ticking over a bit, but most of it's support was from the national team (admittedly prob not a factor here), but also the fact it regualrly hosted World Cups and World Champs (plus once Team GB started gaining some momentum post-2004 Olympics, it all changed - now you wouldn't believe how popular the place is). I know it's different here, but I still think a major thing would be if the track would be able (and desired) to host big international events too, like LA does `- however, to do that it would have to be 250m, rather than 200m (the UCI now don't go near non-250m tracks for WCs or Worlds. You could still have six-days of course though)...And I think having a New York World Cup, World Championships or Six-Day sounds pretty ace - it would be a real crowd-drawer (and inspirational for da youth and well, all of us), more so than LA. Is the 200m design for definite? Would really be awesome if it was 25,000 capacity ;-)

The survey raises some good points - getting way ahead of myself but bike storage is a major issue! When I lived in Manchester there was an epic waiting list to get a spot (I put my name down and got a phone call literally 2 years later when I had moved to London).

I know a couple of people who have worked as track development officers at Manchester and Newport velodromes in the UK and will encountered both the community use / NIMBY issues in some form and "what is good to have as a facilty" / club usage perspective. I could drop them a line and see what their thoughts are - no harm and would maybe be interesting to get some international perspective on it.

Kieran,

Thanks for the input. The team working on this certainly has a lot of work cut out for them in the next 6 months, coming up with a design that will accomodate the needs of users, overall footprint, with what you can accommodate in that space, and a business plan. I certainly think bike storage space will be an issue for many riders and the facility itself. Especially for a year round space, since I may not want to ride over in ankle deep snow on a track bike. I am at my N = D-1 max bike limit in my apartment, so I would need a secure place to store a track bike that would be offsite (if she doesn't know it exists does it contribute to the N?)

Some of the outstanding questions is how the business model would work. It is a private facility so it would have to charge a usage fee, and I think the charges for training should be reasonable. What I am concerned about is the cost of usage fee making the price to participate in races too steep and will keep people from participating.

Getting to a 250m track would be awesome. I think the key determining factor is the footprint and accommodating the facilities needs without exceeding the 115k square foot footprint. There are limiting factors of how far they can go below grade there (right on the water) and how high they can build up (an agreement not to alter the existing view for residents of Brooklyn Heights Scenic View District). So getting 250m of track, bike storage, locker rooms, concession stand, maintenance facilities, and storage space for equipment for other sports means there is a tight set of restrictions, 200m is more likely but at this point nobody's done anything but drawn on a napkin, so we'll see how designs come out.

Also there has been outreach to schools about using the space, but there has been very little outreach to the cycling community at large about our hopes for the space. I still haven't heard back from the HR&A folks about meeting with us. I think a field house/velodrome night at Ride Brooklyn would be a cool thing for the club.

Dan,

I completely see what you mean - the team certainly has a lot to try and accomodate! I am fully with you on the bike storage front - I would be exactly the same. I currently trek to the track in Kissena with the track bike on the subway then walk with it - riding at any track is so much easier if there is adequate storage available.

I'm no expert but business models must be a huge thing for any velodrome. I wonder how other facilities in the US manage? i.e. how many any tax-payer funded publicly owned spaces, e.g. Kissena, and how many are privately owned - I am guessing T-Town for example, and in which case, how it makes ends meet. I noticed the questions in the survey re cost - I'd probably pay anything (within reason) to ride a quality track every week, but when someone asks, it makes you think. In the UK the big indoor tracks have all been supported directly or
indirectly by outside funding, i.e British Cycling, National Lottery
grants.

Sounds like a lot of stuff to try and fit in a restricted space. Let's see how they get on (I am also concerned cos I could never ride a 200m track very well!) The ironic thing is that given the relative size of the cycling community to the non cycling community, more effort will be put in to appeasing / accomodating the latter's needs / demands that the former's. Still, no matter what compromises they may have to make, it would be awesome. Keep us posted if you hear anything.

Kieran, if you can hook us up with British National Lottery money to support this track it would be awesome.

The donor who is putting up the money to build the track has guaranteed to cover any operating loss for the first 5 years, so the project will not be sunk during ramping up, but it would be great if there were ways that sponsorships and advertising could subsidize the cost of running the track.

Aside from the press articles Dan was quoted in, there is a poll being taken on the Brooklyn Heights blog. Go vote for the velodrome:

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/

Community meeting tonight for the velodrome. CRCA is encouraging members to show up and voice their opinions and counter the voices of all the nimbys, as the press will certainly be there. I will try to attend.

I unfortunately cannot attend because we're having a Kissena board meeting at the same time, so if more folks from Kissena could come out and attend the meeting PLEASE PLEASE do.

This Monday, September 24th Greg Brooks, the executive director of the NYC Fieldhouse (Brooklyn Velodrome) will be giving a presentation on the proposed program for the facility to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Advisory Council (CAC). As you may know, there are a number of CAC members who have a negative view about track cycling and the interest of the Brooklyn Community. It would be great if as many people from the track community could attend the meeting to offer support. There will be limited opportunity for open questioning from the public, but the public is invited to attend. The meeting will be held on September 24th at 6:30 PM at 334 Furman Street at the foot of Joralemon Street.