150-558: 40°40′39″N 73°57′09″W / 40.6776°N 73.9524°W / 40.6776; -73.9524 The Imperial Apartments is a Renaissance style residential building at 1198 Pacific Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City . They were designed by architect Montrose Morris for the developer Louis F. Seitz in 1892. At the time of construction, single-family row houses were typical for
300-418: A commuter town also included tearing down the 19th century Kings County Penitentiary at Carroll Street and Nostrand Avenue. Beginning in the early 1900s, many upper-class residences, including characteristic brownstone buildings, were erected along Eastern Parkway. Away from the parkway were a mixture of lower middle-class residences. This development peaked in the 1920s. Before World War II Crown Heights
450-465: A "Verrazzano Bridge" and proclaimed a "Verrazzano Day". The Staten Island Chamber of Commerce opposed the Verrazzano name altogether, saying that the proper name of the bridge should be "Staten Island Bridge" because there was also a " Brooklyn Bridge ", a " Manhattan Bridge ", a " Queens Bridge ", and a " Bronx Bridge ". The Italian Historical Society was reportedly perplexed about the opposition to
600-606: A 565-unit apartment complex in Crown Heights; in April 2019, a judge issued a restraining order against the project. In the wake of the 2010 opening of Basil Pizza & Wine Bar , a series of upscale, kosher, foodie restaurants opened in Crown Heights, which The Jewish Week described as "an eating destination." In November 2013, a series of attacks on Jewish residents were suspected to be part of " knockout games ". Media attention to knockout attacks increased following
750-469: A better connection to the rest of the city. Thus, the bridge's announcement was welcomed and it sparked a rise in real-estate prices on the island. As the controversy progressed, Steinman brought up a competing proposal to build a bridge between Brooklyn and New Jersey directly. Nelson Rockefeller , the Republican candidate for governor of New York, initially supported Steinman's proposal to build
900-520: A bridge because its construction would almost definitely require the demolition of part of the neighborhood. Boring work for the vehicular tunnels started in November 1930. The 11,000-foot (3,400 m) twin tunnels, projected to be completed by 1937, were to connect Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island with 86th Street in Brooklyn once they were completed. In January 1932, construction of these tunnels
1050-590: A bridge or a tunnel across the Narrows, and in 1939, put forth a plan to expand New York City's highway system. In March of the same year, as a bill for the Battery Bridge was being passed, Staten Island state legislators added a last-minute amendment to the bill, providing for a Narrows bridge. The Narrows crossing was not included in the final version of the Planning Commission's plan, which
1200-655: A bridge to New Jersey, but Moses later persuaded Rockefeller to endorse the bridge to Staten Island. The State Legislature drafted a bill in an effort to change the Brooklyn approach's location to Belt Parkway. However, now-governor Rockefeller vetoed the Belt Parkway bill, and in March 1959, the Board of Estimate officially condemned land along Seventh Avenue to make way for the Gowanus Expressway extension to
1350-458: A college education or higher. The percentage of Crown Heights North students excelling in reading and math has been increasing, with reading achievement rising from 31 percent in 2000 to 37 percent in 2011, and math achievement rising from 22 percent to 47 percent within the same time period. In Crown Heights South, reading achievement rose from 31 percent in 2000 to 37 percent in 2011, and math achievement rose from 21 percent to 47 percent within
1500-693: A combined 1,265,000 short tons (1,129,000 long tons) of metal, more than three times the 365,000 short tons (326,000 long tons) of metal used in the Empire State Building . Because of the height of the towers (693 ft or 211 m) and their distance from each other (4,260 ft or 1,298 m), the curvature of the Earth's surface had to be taken into account when designing the bridge. The towers are not parallel to each other, but are 1 + 5 ⁄ 8 in (41.275 mm) farther apart at their tops than at their bases. When built,
1650-599: A feasibility study for a Narrows tunnel, finding that it would be much cheaper to build a bridge. Moses and mayor William O'Dwyer both supported the Narrows Bridge plan, which was still being referred to as "Liberty Bridge". The city submitted its request to the War Department in July 1948, and a commission composed of three United States Armed Forces branches was convened to solicit the public's opinions on
SECTION 10
#17327801451641800-554: A joint study on the logistics of building and constructing the bridge. Because of restrictions by the TBTA's bondholders, construction could not begin until at least 1957. Frederick H. Zurmuhlen, the Commissioner of Public Works, estimated that the Narrows Bridge would cost $ 200 million total. He encouraged the TBTA to start construction on the bridge as soon as possible in order to reduce congestion on East River crossings to
1950-1253: A lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 82.7% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 8 murders, 26 rapes, 166 robberies, 349 felony assaults, 143 burglaries, 464 grand larcenies, and 68 grand larcenies auto in 2018. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) operates four fire stations in Crown Heights: As of 2018 , preterm births in Crown Heights and births to teenage mothers in Crown Heights North are more common than in other places citywide, though births to teenage mothers in Crown Heights South are less common than in other places citywide. There were 92 preterm births per 1,000 live births in Crown Heights North and 91 preterm births per 1,000 live births in Crown Heights South (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide). Additionally, there were 24.6 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births in Crown Heights North and 14.8 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births in Crown Heights South (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Both neighborhoods have
2100-603: A majority West Indian and African American population according to the 2010 census. Reflecting the most varied U.S. population of Caribbean immigrants outside the West Indies, Crown Heights is known for its annual West Indian Carnival . The vivid ostentation goes along Eastern Parkway , from Utica Avenue to Grand Army Plaza . According to the West Indian-American Day Carnival Association, over 3.5 million people participate in
2250-407: A motorcade to mark the official opening of the bridge. A 50-cent toll was charged to all motorists crossing the bridge. The Verrazano Bridge's opening was celebrated across Staten Island. Moses did not invite any of the 12,000 workers to the opening, so they boycotted the event and instead attended a mass in memory of the three workers who died during construction. The opening was accompanied by
2400-560: A public necessity should not be provided by private interests. A prior attempt to link Brooklyn and Staten Island, using the Staten Island Tunnel , had commenced in 1923 but was canceled two years later. That tunnel would have extended New York City Subway service from Brooklyn to Staten Island. This proposal was also revived with the announcement of the Liberty Bridge. One of the alternative proposals had
2550-571: A relatively high population of residents who are uninsured , or who receive healthcare through Medicaid . In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 12% in Crown Heights North and 16% in Crown Heights South, compared to the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of fine particulate matter , the deadliest type of air pollutant , is 0.008 milligrams per cubic metre (8.0 × 10 oz/cu ft) in Crown Heights North and 0.0078 milligrams per cubic metre (7.8 × 10 oz/cu ft) in Crown Heights South, slightly higher than
2700-481: A result of the faster-than-anticipated rate of progress, the TBTA decided to open the bridge in November 1964. In preparation for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge's opening, the TBTA fully repainted the structure. The construction process of the bridge had employed an average of 1,200 workers a day for five years, excluding those who had worked on the approaches; around 10,000 individuals had worked on
2850-501: A result, they must be built to accommodate the clearance under the bridge. At mean high water, that clearance is 228 ft (69 m). The RMS Queen Mary 2 , one such vessel built to Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge specifications, was designed with a flatter funnel to pass under the bridge, and has 13 ft (3.96 m) of clearance under the bridge during high tide. Each of the two suspension towers contains around 1 million bolts and 3 million rivets. The towers contain
3000-407: A result. This unidirectional collection remained in effect through 2020, when two-way tolls were restored. The TBTA spent $ 45 million in the 1990s on repairs to the deck, which had been damaged by chloride from the seawater. As part of the project, the top 3 inches (76 mm) of the deck was removed and latex-modified concrete poured in its place. The TBTA also allocated $ 30 million to repaint
3150-408: A six-by-eleven grid. Shafts of reinforced concrete would be built along the inner rim of each opening, and once each section of shaft reached 40 feet (12 m) above water level, cranes with clamshell buckets would dig the sand and mud inside each shaft before sinking the shafts deeper into the water. The Staten Island side's caisson was sunk 105 ft (32 m) into the water, and necessitated
SECTION 20
#17327801451643300-542: A steel grid so that the suspender cables would not rip it apart. Architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable derided the new flag as a "simple-minded, vainglorious proposal" and asked, "Does anyone really want to spend $ 850,000 to upstage the Statue of Liberty?" The TBTA stopped collecting tolls for Brooklyn-bound drivers on the Verrazzano Bridge in 1986 and doubled the toll for Staten Island-bound drivers. This
3450-564: A total of 142,520 mi (229,364 km) in length. Numerous birds nest or roost on the bridge, most notably breeding peregrine falcons . The falcons nest at the top of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's towers, as well as on the Throgs Neck and Marine Parkway Bridges. As the falcons are endangered, the city places bands on each bird and examines the birds' nesting sites each year. The falcons were discovered on
3600-399: A two-year extension for the start of construction. In a measure passed in March 1955, the city gained control over the approval process for several tasks related to the Narrows bridge's construction, including land acquisition. A little more than a month later, New York governor W. Averell Harriman signed a $ 600 million spending bill authorizing the construction of the Narrows Bridge;
3750-437: A visiting rabbinical student from Australia, was killed in the riot, while Jews were assaulted, and there was property damage amid rock throwing in the ensuing riots. The riot unveiled long-simmering tensions between the neighborhood's Black and Jewish communities, which impacted the 1993 mayoral race and ultimately led to a successful outreach program between Black and Jewish leaders that somewhat helped improve race relations in
3900-488: Is 300 feet (91 m) offshore from Staten Island, while the eastern tower is 700 feet (210 m) offshore from Brooklyn. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is classified as a fracture critical bridge , making it vulnerable to collapse if parts of the offshore towers were to fail. The March 2024 collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge raised awareness and concern about other bridges nationwide, especially with ship traffic being diverted to other area ports. A few weeks weeks after
4050-427: Is 50% in Crown Heights North, lower than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018 , Crown Heights North is considered to be gentrifying . According to the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning , there is still an overwhelming Black population majority of 40,000 or more residents, but there is a diverse cultural population with each
4200-551: Is covered by ZIP Codes 11238, 11216, 11213, and 11233 from west to east, while Crown Heights South is covered by ZIP Codes 11225 and 11213 from west to east. The United States Postal Service operates two post offices nearby: the Saint Johns Place Station at 1234 St Johns Place, and the James E Davis Station at 315 Empire Boulevard. Crown Heights generally has a similar ratio of college-educated residents to
4350-658: Is equal to the median life expectancy of all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 22% are between the ages of 0–17, 30% between 25 and 44, and 25% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 14% respectively. As of 2016, the median household income in Community District 9 was $ 51,072. In 2018, an estimated 22% of Crown Heights South residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in nine residents (11%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in
4500-529: Is held on the first Monday in September. During the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, Crown Heights was declared a primary poverty area due to a high unemployment rate, high juvenile and adult crime rate, poor nutrition due to lack of family income, relative absence of job skills and readiness, and a relatively high concentration of elderly residents. Violence broke out several times in the neighborhood during
4650-556: Is located in New York's 35th and 36th City Council districts, represented respectively by Democrats Crystal Hudson and Chi Ossé . As compared to most other parts of New York City, however, Crown Heights is more politically moderate; several of its precincts voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election . Crown Heights is served by Brooklyn Community Board 8 north of Eastern Parkway and Brooklyn Community Board 9 south of Eastern Parkway. Crown Heights
Imperial Apartments - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-613: Is owned by Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority bondholders who paid for the bridge at its construction. It is operated by the TBTA, which is an affiliate agency of the MTA, using the business name MTA Bridges and Tunnels . The bridge carries Interstate 278 , which continues onto the Staten Island Expressway to the west and the Gowanus Expressway to the northeast. The Verrazzano, in combination with
4950-626: Is patrolled by two precincts of the NYPD . Crown Heights North is covered by the 77th Precinct, located at 127 Utica Avenue, while Crown Heights South is patrolled by the 71st Precinct, located at 421 Empire Boulevard. The 77th Precinct ranked 42nd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010, while the 71st Precinct ranked 46th safest. As of 2018 , with a non-fatal assault rate of 85 per 100,000 people in Crown Heights North and 73 per 100,000 people in Crown Heights South, both areas' rates of violent crimes per capita are greater than that of
5100-610: Is represented by the New York City Council 's 35th, 36th, and 41st Districts. Although no known physical evidence remains in the Crown Heights vicinity, large portions of what is now called Long Island including present-day Brooklyn were occupied by the Lenape Native Americans . The Lenape lived in communities of bark- or grass-covered wigwams , and in their larger settlements—typically located on high ground adjacent to fresh water, and occupied in
5250-455: Is slightly lower than North Crown Heights. The neighborhood is part of New York's 9th congressional district , represented by Democrat Yvette Clarke since 2013. It is also part of the 19th and 20th State Senate districts, represented by Democrats Roxanne Persaud and Zellnor Myrie , and the 43rd and 57th State Assembly districts, represented respectively by Democrats Brian A. Cunningham and Phara Souffrant Forrest . Crown Heights
5400-552: The Belt Parkway interchange were also rearranged to allow for a ramp to be constructed for the new HOV lane on the upper deck. The parts for this deck were ordered from China because the parts that the MTA required were no longer manufactured in the United States. After the upper deck was replaced, parts of the lower deck are to be replaced, but this necessitates the closure of the lower deck during construction. Hence,
5550-670: The Goethals Bridge and the Staten Island Expressway, created a new way for commuters and travelers to reach Brooklyn, Long Island, and Manhattan by car from New Jersey. At the time of opening, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world ; its 4,260-foot center span, between the two suspension towers, was 60 feet (18 m) longer than the Golden Gate Bridge's center span. Despite being only slightly longer than
5700-686: The Narrows Bridge , the Verrazzano Bridge , and simply the Verrazzano ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn . It spans the Narrows , a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean . It is the only fixed crossing of the Narrows. The double-deck bridge carries 13 lanes of Interstate 278 : seven on
5850-415: The New York City borough of Brooklyn . Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New York Avenue to the south. It is about one mile (1.6 km) wide and two miles (3.2 km) long. Neighborhoods bordering Crown Heights include Prospect Heights to the west, Flatbush and Prospect Lefferts Gardens to
6000-724: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge touches down in Brooklyn today. There he was visited by a canoe party of Lenape . The next contact was in 1609 when the explorer Henry Hudson arrived in what is now New York Harbor aboard a Dutch East India Company ship, the Halve Maen ( Half Moon ) commissioned by the Dutch Republic . European habitation in the New York City area began in earnest with
6150-403: The mercury vapor fixtures in the bridge's necklace lighting were replaced with energy-efficient light-emitting diodes . This retrofit was completed in 2009, years before LED street lights were installed in the rest of the city. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's name was originally spelled with one "z". The "Verrazano" name dates to 1960 when governor Rockefeller had signed the bill authorizing
Imperial Apartments - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-609: The 1970s, New York City took possession of the building due to unpaid taxes. In 1986, it was designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission . A $ 6.3 million gut renovation occurred in the 1990s. It is also a contributing property to the Crown Heights North Historic District . Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of
6450-578: The Allied Zones of Occupation of Germany. However, new arrivals from the West Indies and the American South created a growing Black presence. By 1957, there were about 25,000 Black people in Crown Heights, making up about one-fourth of the population. Around the same time, suburbanization began to rapidly affect Crown Heights and Brooklyn. Robert Moses expanded the borough's access to eastern Long Island through expressway construction; by way of
6600-496: The Baltimore bridge collapse, in early April, a large container ship had propulsion problems near the Verrazzano and was assisted by several tugboats. Authorities were confident that riprap , or piles of rocks, around the towers' bases would ground a stray ship before it could hit a tower. The diameters of each of the four main suspension cables is 36 in (914 mm). Each main cable is composed of 26,108 wires amounting to
6750-569: The Brooklyn approaches back to Belt Parkway, which was almost identical to the bill Harriman had vetoed. However, the city approved the Seventh Avenue bridge approach in August 1958. The next month, mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. said that the city was committed to building a bridge across the Narrows, but was not committed to the construction of the Seventh Avenue approach. In response, Moses wrote to Wagner that any continuing delays would cause
6900-609: The G.I. Bill, many families moved east. As the Jewish, Irish and Italian populations of Crown Heights moved out of the neighborhood as the housing stock deteriorated and crime rapidly escalated, black people from the south and immigrants from the Caribbean continued to move there. The 1957 departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the destruction of Ebbets Field for public housing for its Black population symbolically served as
7050-613: The Golden Gate Bridge, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge could carry a 75% greater load than the former could. In 1981, the Verrazzano Bridge was surpassed by the Humber Bridge in England, which has a center span of 4,626 ft (1,410 m), as the world's longest suspension bridge. The upper and lower levels are supported by trusses underneath each roadway, which stiffen the bridge against vertical, torsional, and lateral pressure. There are also lateral trusses on either side of
7200-538: The Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn. On December 31 of that year, the Board of Estimate voted to approve plans for the Seventh Avenue approach, having delayed that vote several times. The approval of the Seventh Avenue approach angered Bay Ridge residents since the construction of the approach would displace 7,500 people. Opposition in Staten Island was far smaller. More than twice as many people were being displaced there, but Staten Island stood to benefit from
7350-433: The Liberty Bridge to a "Crosstown Highway", spanning Brooklyn and Queens and connecting to the proposed Triborough Bridge in northwestern Queens. The city also envisioned a possible connection to the preexisting Manhattan Bridge , connecting Downtown Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan . However, a vote on the planned Liberty Bridge was never taken, as it was blocked by then-Congressman Fiorello H. La Guardia , who believed that
7500-531: The MTA opted to replace the upper deck first to add more capacity. The upper level's new HOV lane opened on June 22, 2017. The MTA dismantled the Staten Island-bound toll booths in 2017 to speed up westbound traffic. This work was done in advance of the reconstruction of tracks around Penn Station , which severely limited rail service into that station and created more vehicular traffic at crossings to Manhattan. The MTA accelerated some components of
7650-500: The Mahalia Jackson School building. Explore Empower Charter School is also located in Crown Heights. The PS 373 Brooklyn Transition Center at H594K, serving grades 9–12, is located at 561 Grand Avenue at the border of Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. Medgar Evers College is an institution of higher education in the neighborhood. The orthodox Jewish community is serviced by gender-segregated schools. Among
SECTION 50
#17327801451647800-481: The Narrows Bridge by way of Seventh Avenue, which would require cutting through the middle of Bay Ridge. This proposal drew opposition from the community, who wanted the approach to follow the Belt Parkway along the Brooklyn shore. These opponents said that the Seventh Avenue alignment would displace over 1,500 families. In February 1958, the New York State Legislature approved a bill to change
7950-400: The Narrows Bridge plan, other than a request that it be allowed to operate the future bridge. Following the War Department's announcement that they would oppose the Narrows bridge, private interests began studying the feasibility of a tunnel under the Narrows. In 1936, the plan for a Narrows crossing was brought up again when now-New York City mayor La Guardia gained authorization to petition
8100-499: The Narrows Bridge. The only tasks remaining before the start of construction were to finalize the design of the Narrows Bridge, and to speed up the construction schedule to meet a 1964 deadline. In April 1959, the bridge was officially renamed after the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano . This sparked a controversy because the proposed bridge's name only had one "z" while the explorer's name had two "z"s. Surveying work for
8250-547: The Narrows had been proposed as early as 1926 or 1927, when structural engineer David B. Steinman brought up the possibility of such a crossing. At the time, Staten Island was isolated from the rest of New York City, and its only direct connection to the city's other four boroughs was by the Staten Island Ferry to South Ferry in Manhattan , or by ferries to 39th and 69th Streets in Brooklyn . In 1928,
8400-542: The Narrows, with 800-foot-tall towers. Supporters hoped that the new construction would spur development on Staten Island, along with the Outerbridge Crossing and the Bayonne Bridge , which were under construction at the time. The Liberty Bridge would carry vehicles from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn , to an as-yet-undetermined location on Staten Island. On the Brooklyn side, the city planned to connect
8550-416: The Narrows. Discussion of a tunnel resurfaced in the mid-1930s and early 1940s, but the plans were again denied. In the late 1940s, urban planner Robert Moses championed a bridge across the Narrows as a way to connect Staten Island with the rest of the city. Various problems delayed the start of construction until 1959. Designed by Othmar Ammann , Leopold Just , and other engineers at Ammann & Whitney ,
8700-576: The Staten Island Expressway and the Verrazano Bridge, saw its daily average use increase by 75%, or approximately 300,000 trips total, compared to before the Narrows Bridge opened. The Holland Tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan, and the Staten Island Ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan, both saw decreased vehicle counts after the bridge opened. In summer 1965, Staten Island saw increased patronage at its beaches, facilitated by
8850-477: The Staten Island anchorage, which had only been partially filled with concrete. This strike lasted several months and affected many projects under the city. As construction on the anchorages proceeded, two watertight caissons were sunk into the channel close to either shoreline, so that the bridge's suspension towers could be built atop each caisson. The bases of each caisson consisted of sixty-six circular openings each 17 feet (5.2 m) in diameter, arranged in
9000-634: The TBTA again but was turned down a second time. The explorer's name had previously been suggested for the George Washington Bridge , located several miles north, in 1931. The Italian Historical Society later successfully lobbied to get a bill introduced in the New York State Assembly to name the bridge for the explorer. After the introduction of the bill, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce joined
9150-500: The TBTA decided to erect the lower deck at a cost of $ 22 million. The Verrazzano Bridge had not been expected to carry enough traffic to necessitate a second deck until 1978, but traffic patterns over the previous five years had demonstrated the need for extra capacity. By contrast, a lower deck on the George Washington Bridge, connecting New Jersey and Upper Manhattan, had not been built until 31 years after
SECTION 60
#17327801451649300-423: The TBTA was put in charge of funding and building the bridge. To raise money for construction, Rockefeller signed a bill that would remove the 4% ceiling on the interest rates for the securities that the TBTA was selling to pay for the bridge. This ceiling would be lifted until June 1965. In essence, this meant that the TBTA could sell securities at much higher interest rates to raise the $ 320 million that
9450-512: The U.S. Congress for a bridge across the Narrows. Under the new plan, the proposed bridge would charge tolls for motorists, and its $ 50 million cost would be paid off using federal bonds. La Guardia preferred a tunnel instead, and so the next year he requested the New York City Tunnel Authority to review the feasibility of such a crossing. The New York City Planning Commission was amenable to constructing either
9600-467: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge began in January 1959. Construction officially began on August 14, 1959, with a groundbreaking ceremony on the Staten Island anchorage. Those in attendance included New Jersey governor Meyner, New York City mayor Wagner, and TBTA chairman Moses. Although Rockefeller had been invited to the event, neither he nor Assembly speaker Joseph F. Carlino showed up. In December 1959,
9750-417: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened, the ferry from Staten Island to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, stopped running, as it was now redundant to the new bridge. Within the first two months of the bridge's opening, 1.86 million vehicles had used the new crossing, 10% more than originally projected, and this netted the TBTA almost $ 1 million in toll revenue. The Goethals Bridge , which connected New Jersey to
9900-490: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's reconstruction during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, rebuilding the westbound approach ramp from the Gowanus Expressway and adding a fourth lane along that ramp. This also allowed for an extensive renovation of the towers' pedestals. Long-term plans also call for the installation of a bicycle and pedestrian path on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
10050-414: The War Department announced its opposition to the Narrows Bridge's construction. The War Department's opposition to the bridge plan was based on the fact that a bridge could create a blockage during wartime, a rationale it gave for opposing a Brooklyn–Battery Bridge connecting Red Hook, Brooklyn , with Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not have a public position regarding
10200-474: The White and Hispanic populations at between 10,000 and 19,999 residents. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Crown Heights South was 39,670, a change of -2,700 (-6.8%) from the 42,370 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 366.94 acres (148.50 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 108.1 inhabitants per acre (69,200/sq mi; 26,700/km ). The racial makeup of
10350-554: The World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at 770 Eastern Parkway , after a group tried to stop workers who were trying to infill an illegal tunnel excavated by students; the incident resulted in nine arrests. Crown Heights is divided into two neighborhood tabulation areas, Crown Heights North and Crown Heights South, which collectively comprise the population of Crown Heights. Crown Heights has
10500-448: The bridge and approaches gray; this project began in 1998. Workers also repaired the bridge's anchorages and replaced the roadways atop the anchorages. The repairs to the anchorages and electrical systems were completed in 2002, and workers finished repainting the bridge the next year. In addition, a minor project to clean and repaint both of the decks (mostly the bottom deck) took place between 2004 and 2008. Beginning in 2008, all 262 of
10650-416: The bridge as being 237 ft (72 m) above the mean high water level, enough for the 215-foot (66 m) RMS Queen Mary to pass under it. Moses and acting Port Authority Chairman Bayard F. Pope were agreeable to letting either of their respective agencies construct and operate the proposed Narrows Bridge, as long as that agency could do so efficiently. In 1954, the two agencies started conducting
10800-470: The bridge opened on November 21, 1964. The lower deck opened in 1969 to accommodate increasing traffic loads. The bridge was refurbished in the 1990s and again in the 2010s and 2020s. The bridge has a central span of 4,260 feet (1.30 km; 0.81 mi). It was the longest suspension bridge in the world until it was surpassed by the Humber Bridge in the UK in 1981. The bridge has the 18th-longest main span in
10950-539: The bridge proposal in May 1949, over the vociferous opposition of Bay Ridge residents, on the condition that construction start within five years. By that time, plans for the 6,540-foot (1,990 m) span had been finalized, and the project only needed $ 78 million in financing in order to proceed. This financing was not set to be awarded until 1950, when the Battery Tunnel was completed. Preliminary plans showed
11100-478: The bridge throughout that five-year period. Three men died during the construction of the bridge. The first fatality was 58-year-old Paul Bassett, who fell off the deck and struck a tower in August 1962. Irving Rubin, also 58 years old, died in July 1963, when he fell off of the bridge approach. The third worker who died was 19-year-old Gerard McKee, who fell into the water in October 1963, after slipping off
11250-405: The bridge to be canceled. The bridge's cost had now risen to $ 320 million. After holding a hearing for concerned Bay Ridge residents, the Board of Estimate affirmed the Narrows Bridge plan in October 1958, without any objections. At the same time, it rejected plans for a tunnel under the Narrows, as well as a bridge or tunnel from Brooklyn directly to Jersey City, New Jersey . The Board
11400-494: The bridge was constructed with only one six-lane roadway, Ammann had provided extra trusses to support a potential second roadway underneath the main deck. These trusses, which were used to strengthen the bridge, were a design alteration that was added to many bridges in the aftermath of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in 1940. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge became so popular among motorists that in March 1969,
11550-500: The bridge's 1931 opening. The new six-lane deck opened on June 28, 1969. Originally, the Verrazzano Bridge's Brooklyn end was also supposed to connect to the planned Cross-Brooklyn Expressway , New York State Route 878 , and JFK Airport , but the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway project was canceled in 1969. On June 26, 1976, to celebrate the United States' 200th anniversary, workers placed a very large U.S. flag on
11700-486: The bridge's cables. The American Bridge Company was selected to construct the cables and deck. The cable-spinning process began in March 1963, and took six months, since 142,520 mi (229,360 km) of bridge cables had to be strung 104,432 times around the bridge. The main cables were hung on both sides of the span, and then suspender cables were hung from the bridge's main cables. The main cables were fully spun by August. In late 1963, builders started receiving
11850-464: The bridge's construction for The New York Times . The book also contains several drawings by Lili Réthi and photographs by Bruce Davidson. The Staten Island approach to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the first part of the new project to be completed, and it opened in January 1964. The upper deck was opened on November 21, 1964, at a cost of $ 320 million (equivalent to $ 3.144 billion in present dollars). Politicians at all levels of
12000-458: The bridge's name as such. A bill to formally change the bridge's name to the variant with two "z"s was introduced by college student Robert Nash in 2016, but it stalled in early 2018. The New York State Senate voted to change the name of the bridge in June 2018, and the name change was officially signed into law that October. In 2011, the city began a $ 1.5 billion construction project at
12150-416: The bridge's suspension towers were the tallest structures in New York City outside of Manhattan. The towers do not use cross-bracing, unlike similar suspension bridges; instead, there are arched struts near the top of each tower and below the lower deck. At the base of each tower is a concrete-and-granite pedestal, which rests on a caisson measuring 129 by 229 feet (39 by 70 m) across. The western tower
12300-405: The bridge, Moses warned them of steep fines if the expressways were not completed by the time the bridge was finished. An anchorage was built on each side of the Narrows, with each anchorage measuring 229 ft (70 m) long by 129 ft (39 m) wide, and containing a combined 780,000 short tons (700,000 long tons) of steel and concrete. Each anchorage contained sixty-six large holes for
12450-590: The bridge, the TBTA destroyed the structures at the future locations of the anchorages. The agency acquired 36 acres (15 ha) of the 138 acres (56 ha) within Fort Hamilton, in return for paying for a $ 12 million renovation of the Army installation and giving up 10.8 acres (4.4 ha) of land in Dyker Beach Park . A 1,000-ton World War I monument on the Brooklyn side, within the path of
12600-468: The bridge. At the time, it was expected to take up to 25 years. The first phase, which cost $ 235 million and lasted until 2017, involved constructing a seventh lane on the upper deck, which was to be used as a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane . The old median barrier was demolished, and the old deck was replaced with orthotropic decking . Related work also included the repainting the bridge's supports with corrosion-resistant paint. The ramps within
12750-411: The cables. The bases of each anchorage are built on glacial sands, reaching 52 feet (16 m) below ground level on the Brooklyn side, and 76 feet (23 m) below ground level on the Staten Island side. Foundation work for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was well underway by 1960, as visitors were able to see the anchorages. A concrete workers' strike in mid-1961 threatened the timely completion of
12900-444: The caissons were sunk completely, the shafts inside each caisson were filled with water, and the bases of the caissons were covered by a sheet of reinforced concrete. The process of constructing the anchorages and caissons took just over two years, and it was complete by the end of 1961. Two separate companies later constructed the modules that would make up the 693 ft-tall (211 m) suspension towers. The Staten Island tower
13050-506: The catwalk. After McKee's death, workers participated in a five-day strike in December 1963. The strike resulted in temporary safety nets being installed underneath the deck. These nets had not been provided during the four years prior to the strike. The construction of the bridge was chronicled by the writer Gay Talese in his 1964 book The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge . He also wrote several articles about
13200-595: The chambers of commerce in Brooklyn, Queens , Long Island , and Staten Island announced that the Interboro Bridge Company had proposed the future construction of the "Liberty Bridge" to the United States Department of War . The bridge's towers would be 800 feet (240 m) high and it would cost $ 60 million in 1928 dollars. In November 1929, engineers released plans for the 4,500-foot (1,400 m) Liberty Bridge spanning
13350-524: The city as a whole. The incarceration rates of 872 per 100,000 people in Crown Heights North and 598 per 100,000 people in Crown Heights South are both greater than that of the city as a whole. The 77th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 85.7% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 2 murders, 32 rapes, 180 robberies, 297 felony assaults, 158 burglaries, 397 grand larcenies, and 72 grand larcenies auto in 2018. The 71st Precinct also has
13500-494: The city. Through the 1990s, crime, racial conflict, and violence decreased in the city and urban renewal and gentrification began to take effect including in Crown Heights. In the 2010s, Crown Heights experienced rapid gentrification. In some areas the increasing rents have caused the displacement of long-time residents. Not only did rents for each apartment increase drastically but building management firms such as BCB Realty, affiliated with companies that buy up buildings in
13650-617: The citywide and boroughwide averages. Eighteen percent of Crown Heights North residents and eight percent of Crown Heights South residents are smokers , compared to the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Crown Heights North, 26% of residents are obese , 13% are diabetic , and 33% have high blood pressure —compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. By comparison, in Crown Heights South, 32% of residents are obese, 15% are diabetic, and 37% have high blood pressure. In addition, 19% of children are obese in both Crown Heights North and South, compared to
13800-553: The citywide average of 20%. Eighty-four percent of Crown Heights North and eighty-one percent of Crown Heights South residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is slightly lower than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 78% of Crown Heights North and 84% of Crown Heights South residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", compared to than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket, there are 25 bodegas in Crown Heights North and 21 bodegas in Crown Heights South. Crown Heights North
13950-744: The citywide average of 75% of students. Among the public schools are the International Arts Business School, The League School, The School for Human Rights, The School for Democracy and Leadership and the High School for Public Service: Heroes of Tomorrow , all on the campus of the now-closed George W. Wingate High School , and Success Academy Crown Heights, part of Success Academy Charter Schools . M.S. 587, New Heights Middle School, Achievement First Crown Heights Elementary School, and Achievement First Crown Heights Middle School are all located in Crown Heights, housed in
14100-515: The condition that they situate their houses "within one of the other concentration, which would suit them best, but not to make a hamlet." In the 19th century, the area was rural. The Crow Hill penitentiary and various orphanages were located in the area at the time. In 1884, Alexander Jefferson was killed during a prolonged hanging after being convicted of the Crow Hill Murders . Appeals seeking to overturn his death sentence documented
14250-635: The construction of the Throgs Neck Bridge between Queens and the Bronx ; and the addition of a second level to the George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey . Later that year, it was announced that the Narrows Bridge would be part of an expansion to the Interstate Highway System . Although a study on the viability of adding transit service to the Narrows Bridge was commissioned in early 1956, Moses rejected
14400-458: The deck were then hung from the suspender cables. The first piece of the deck was lifted onto the bridge in October 1963. By early 1964, the span was nearly finished, and all that remained was to secure the various parts of the bridge. By this point, plans for new development on Staten Island were well underway, and tourists had come to observe the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The bridge had been scheduled to open in 1965, but as
14550-458: The dredging of 81,000 cubic yards (62,000 m ) of sand and assorted muck. This caisson required 47,000 cu yd (36,000 m ) of concrete, and in March 1961, it became the first of the two caissons to be sunk. The Brooklyn side's caisson required even more work, since it was 170 ft (52 m) deep, displaced 145,000 cu yd (111,000 m ) of muck, and used 83,000 cu yd (63,000 m ) of concrete. Once
14700-476: The end of the old white ethnic Crown Heights and in the 1960s the neighborhood experienced mass white flight . The demographic change was astounding; in 1960 the neighborhood was 70% white, and by 1970 it was 70% Black. The one exception to this pattern were Lubavitch Hasidic Jews . There were thirty-four large synagogues in the neighborhood, including the Bobov , Chovevei Torah, and 770 Eastern Parkway , home of
14850-410: The fall, winter, and spring—they fished, harvested shellfish, trapped animals, gathered wild fruits and vegetables, and cultivated corn, tobacco, beans, and other crops. The first recorded contact between the indigenous people of the New York City region and Europeans was with the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 in the service of France when he anchored at the approximate location where
15000-526: The founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement, later called "Nieuw Amsterdam" ( New Amsterdam ), on the southern tip of Manhattan in 1614. By 1630, Dutch and English colonists started moving into the western end of Long Island . In 1637, Joris Jansen de Rapalje purchased about 335 acres (1.36 km ) around Wallabout Bay and over the following two years, director Kieft of the Dutch West India Company purchased title to nearly all
15150-403: The future Seventh Avenue approach, was placed atop rolling logs and shifted 370 ft (110 m). The right-of-way for the Seventh Avenue approach was also being cleared, and despite initial opposition to the clearing work, all of the residents within the approach's path eventually acquiesced to moving elsewhere. To prevent contractors from delaying work on the expressways on either side of
15300-860: The girls schools are Beth Rivkah Academy, founded in 1941 by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson , as the oldest Chasidic school for girls; the school now hosts preschool through higher learning institutions. Newer schools include Bnos Menachem, Bais Chaya Mushka, Bnos Chomesh and Chabad Girls Academy. The boys are educated at Oholei Torah , Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch , Cheder Ohr Menachem, Gan Academy, Darchei Menachem and various other smaller schools. The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has three branches in Crown Heights: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( / ˌ v ɛr ə ˈ z ɑː n oʊ / VERR -ə- ZAH -noh ; also referred to as
15450-403: The government, from Brooklyn Borough President Abe Stark to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson , wrote speeches paying tribute to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The opening ceremony was attended by over 5,000 people, including 1,500 official guests. Several dignitaries, involving the mayor, the governor, and the borough presidents of Brooklyn and Staten Island, cut the gold ribbon. They then joined
15600-481: The idea of adding subway tracks onto the new bridge, saying that it would be too costly. In April of that year, New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner signed a bill that allowed the Port Authority to build the Narrows Bridge and lease it to the TBTA, who would operate the bridge. The TBTA would buy the bridge from the Port Authority in 1967 as part of the agreement. On the Brooklyn side, the Narrows Bridge
15750-520: The incidents in Crown Heights. In response to the violence, the Jewish community hosted an event for African-American teens, designed to promote greater understanding of Jews and their beliefs. The event, hosted by the Jewish Children's Museum , was coordinated by local Jewish organizations, public schools, and by the NYPD's 71st and 77th precincts. On January 8, 2024, clashes broke out at
15900-433: The initial proposal, the society undertook a public relations campaign to re-establish Giovanni da Verrazzano's largely forgotten reputation and to promote the idea of naming the bridge for him. The society's director, John N. LaCorte, successfully lobbied several governors of states along the U.S.'s East Coast to proclaim April 17, the anniversary of Verrazzano's arrival in the harbor, as Verrazzano Day. LaCorte then approached
16050-401: The land in what is now Kings County and Queens County from the indigenous inhabitants. Finally, the areas around present-day Crown Heights saw its first European settlements starting in about 1661/1662 when several men each received, from Governor Peter Stuyvesant and the directors of the Dutch West India Company what was described as "a parcel of free (unoccupied) woodland there" on
16200-537: The late 20th century, including during the New York City blackout of 1977 : More than 75 area stores were robbed, and thieves used cars to pull up roll-down curtains in front of stores. In 1991, there was a three-day outbreak known as the Crown Heights Riot , which started between the neighborhood's West Indian / African American and Jewish communities. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after Gavin Cato,
16350-410: The lower level. The anchorage on the Staten Island side contains a facility for heating cinders that are used to de-ice the bridge deck during winter. Because of thermal expansion of the steel cables, the height of the upper roadway is 12 feet (3.66 m) lower in summer than in winter. The Narrows is the only entry point for large cruise ships and container ships that dock in New York City. As
16500-465: The middle-class families. Changing attitudes in the late 19th century made it socially acceptable for families to live in the apartment house. Morris designed the Imperial to speak to these changing attitudes and introduced a high-quality of design and materials such as yellow and buff brick and terra cotta to the building seamlessly blending it in with the surrounding neighborhood of Grant Square. In
16650-500: The neighborhood was 62.8% (24,921) African American , 25.8% (10,221) White , 0.7% (285) Asian , 0.2% (81) Native American , 0% (12) Pacific Islander , 0.3% (127) from other races , and 1.5% (601) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.6% (3,422) of the population. The entirety of Community District 9, which covers Crown Heights South, had 98,650 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.2 years. This
16800-505: The neighborhood, aimed to remove long-term residents by buying them out or pressuring them to move by "failing to adequately maintain apartments", according to a housing activist, with the aim of forcing out the rent-stabilized . Other tactics include relocating residents from their apartments claiming renovation and locking them out, as employed by another realtor in the neighborhood, ZT Realty. In 2017, real estate developer Isaac Hager faced opposition from activists when he proposed building
16950-442: The north. Staten Islanders viewed the project cautiously, since the Narrows Bridge would provide a connection to the rest of the city, but could also cause traffic congestion through the borough. Moses had only a positive view of the bridge's proposed effects on Staten Islanders, saying that it was vital for the borough's future. In May 1954, the Army's permit for starting construction on the Narrows Bridge lapsed. The Army granted
17100-493: The one-"z" name was bolstered by the fact that it appeared on the bridge's first construction contracts in 1959; this incorrect spelling persisted in all subsequent references to the bridge. Although the "Verrazano" name was not finalized yet, The New York Times noted that the Staten Island Ferry boat carrying dignitaries to the bridge's August 1959 groundbreaking ceremony was named the "Verrazzano". The Times further stated that Harriman and mayor Wagner had respectively proposed
17250-457: The opening of the new bridge. By the time of the bridge's first anniversary, 17 million motorists had crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, paying $ 9 million in tolls. The bridge had seen 34% more trips than planners had projected. Conversely, 5.5 million fewer passengers and 700,000 fewer vehicles rode the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan. The Verrazano Bridge was the last project designed by Ammann, who had designed many of
17400-488: The other major crossings into and within New York City. He died in 1965, the year after the bridge opened. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was also the last great public works project in New York City overseen by Moses. The urban planner envisioned that the Verrazano and Throgs Neck Bridges would be the final major bridges in New York City for the time being, since they would complete the city's expressway system. Although
17550-571: The parade each year. Crown Heights also contains a significant number of Hasidic Jews . It is the location of the Worldwide Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish movement, at 770 Eastern Parkway . An Orthodox Jewish community which established itself in Crown Heights in the 1940s has continued to thrive around that location. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census ,
17700-512: The population of Crown Heights North was 103,169, a change of -293 (-0.3%) from the 103,462 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 1,185.56 acres (479.78 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 87 inhabitants per acre (56,000/sq mi; 21,000/km ). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 49% African American , 31% White , 3% Asian , 0.2% Native American , 0% Pacific Islander , 0.4% from other races , and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14% of
17850-491: The population. The entirety of Community District 8, which covers Crown Heights North, had 97,130 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 79.2 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 20% are between the ages of 0–17, 37% between 25 and 44, and 22% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents
18000-424: The proposed span. U.S. Representative Donald Lawrence O'Toole , whose constituency included Bay Ridge, opposed the proposal for the bridge because he believed it would damage the character of Bay Ridge, and because the bridge might block the Narrows in case of a war. He cited a poll showing that for every Bay Ridge resident who supported the bridge's construction, 33 more were opposed. The U.S. military approved
18150-538: The rectangular pieces that would make up the roadway deck. The components for the sixty 40-ton slabs were first created in an assembly line in Jersey City. Then, these components were combined in a Bayonne steelworks 5 mi (8 km) from the bridge site, and after the pieces of each slab were assembled, they were floated to the Narrows via barge. Each piece measured 28 ft (8.5 m) high by approximately 115 ft (35 m) wide and long. These pieces of
18300-475: The release of a commemorative postage stamp, which depicted a ship sailing underneath the new span. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) created a bus route across the bridge to connect Victory Boulevard in Staten Island with the Bay Ridge–95th Street subway station in Brooklyn. This bus service initially saw low patronage, with only 6,000 daily passengers using the route. Five days after
18450-645: The request of their leader, the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson , the neighborhood's mostly white and relatively large population of Lubavitch Hasidim stayed in the community as other whites were leaving. In 1964 the Labor Day Carnival celebrating Caribbean culture was moved to the neighborhood when its license to run in Harlem was revoked. It now attracts between one and three million people and
18600-633: The rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 55% in Crown Heights South, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018 , Crown Heights South is considered to be gentrifying. As of the 2020 census according to New York City Department of City Planning , there were between 20,000 and 29,999 Black residents and 10,000 to 19,999 White residents. The concentration of Black residents in South Crown Heights
18750-515: The rest of the city as of 2018 . In Crown Heights North, 44% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, while 16% have less than a high school education and 40% are high school graduates or have some college education. In Crown Heights South, 35% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, while 16% have less than a high school education and 48% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have
18900-497: The same time period. Crown Heights' rates of elementary school student absenteeism are higher than the rest of New York City. The proportions of elementary school students who missed twenty or more days per school year were 28% in Crown Heights North and 22% in Crown Heights South, compared to the citywide average of 20% of students. Additionally, 71% of high school students in Crown Heights North and 77% of high school students in Crown Heights South graduate on time, compared to
19050-486: The side of the Verrazzano Bridge. The flag, which measured 193 by 366 ft (59 by 112 m), was described in The New York Times as being the size of "a football field and a half" and billed as the world's largest flag. At the time, it was the largest U.S. flag ever made. The flag was supposed to withstand wind speeds of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h), but it ripped apart three days later, when there
19200-557: The significant poverty in the area at the time. Crown Heights had begun as a fashionable residential neighborhood, a place for secondary homes in which Manhattan's growing bourgeois class could reside. The area benefited by having its rapid transit in a subway configuration, the IRT Eastern Parkway Line ( 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 trains), in contrast to many other Brooklyn neighborhoods, which had elevated lines. Conversion to
19350-481: The society in promoting the name. In April 1958, governor W. Averell Harriman announced that he would propose naming the Narrows Bridge after Verrazzano in honor of the explorer's voyage to New York Harbor in 1524. His successor, Nelson Rockefeller, put his support behind the one-"z" "Verrazano" name in April 1959, saying that it was the Americans' standard way of spelling the explorer's name. According to Gay Talese,
19500-401: The son of two Guyanese immigrants, was struck and killed by a car in the motorcade of prominent Hasidic rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson . A mob began to attack a Jewish volunteer ambulance, which withdrew. Rumors, which later proved to be unfounded, circulated that the ambulance refused to treat Gavin Cato's injuries while removing members of Schneerson's motorcade instead. Yankel Rosenbaum,
19650-460: The south, Brownsville to the east, and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the north. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway , a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles (3.2 km) east–west. Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill . It was a succession of hills running east and west from Utica Avenue to Washington Avenue, and south to Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue . The name
19800-553: The subway tunnel going from St. George, Staten Island , to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, before continuing to Governors Island and then Lower Manhattan. Simultaneously, engineers proposed a set of vehicular tunnels from Fort Wadsworth , Staten Island, to 97th Street, Brooklyn. The tubes were being planned in conjunction with the Triborough Tunnel (the modern-day Queens Midtown Tunnel), which would connect Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The city appropriated $ 5 million for
19950-501: The top of the Verrazzano Bridge in 1983, though they had started breeding there several years prior. During the planning stages, the bridge was originally named simply the "Narrows Bridge". The co-naming of the bridge for Verrazzano (with two "z"s) was controversial. It was first proposed in 1951 by the Italian Historical Society of America when the bridge was in the planning stage. After Robert Moses turned down
20100-501: The tunnel, saying that "it is not my time" to construct the tunnel. The cancellation of plans for the Narrows tunnel brought a resurgence of proposals for a bridge across the Narrows. In September 1947, Robert Moses , the chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), announced that the city was going to ask the War Department for permission to build a bridge across the Narrows. Moses had previously created
20250-521: The tunnels in July 1929, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad also pledged funding for the vehicular tunnels. Planning for the vehicular tubes started that month. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce simultaneously considered all three projects—the bridge, the vehicular tunnels, and the subway tunnel. Community groups on both sides of the Narrows disagreed on which projects should be built first, if at all. Residents of Bay Ridge opposed any plans involving
20400-499: The upper level and six on the lower level. The span is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano , who in 1524 was the first European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River . Engineer David B. Steinman proposed a bridge across the Narrows in the late 1920s, but plans were deferred over the next twenty years. A 1920s attempt to build a Staten Island Tunnel was aborted, as was a 1930s plan for vehicular tubes underneath
20550-475: The world, as well as the longest in the Americas. When the bridge was officially named in 1960, it was misspelled "Verrazano-Narrows Bridge" due to an error in the construction contract; the name was officially corrected in 2018. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge collects tolls in both directions, although only westbound drivers paid a toll from 1986 to 2020 in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion. A bridge across
20700-586: The worldwide Lubavitch movement. There were also three prominent Yeshiva elementary schools in the neighborhood, Crown Heights Yeshiva on Crown Street, the Yeshiva of Eastern Parkway, and the Reines Talmud Torah. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of turbulent race relations in the area: With increasing poverty in the city, racial conflict plagued some of its neighborhoods, including Crown Heights, with its racially and culturally mixed populations. At
20850-439: Was a result of a bill introduced by Guy V. Molinari , the U.S. representative for Staten Island, as part of an initiative to reduce traffic that accumulated at the toll booth on Staten Island. The one-way toll was initially intended to be part of a six-month pilot program, but resulted in permanent changes to traffic flows on the Verrazzano Bridge. The crossing saw more Brooklyn-bound traffic and less Staten Island-bound traffic as
21000-409: Was a wind speed of 16 mph (26 km/h). The flag had been stuck against the bridge's suspender cables, so any slight wind would have caused the cables to make tears in the flag. A second flag was created in 1980 for the July 4 celebration that year. This flag was even larger at 411 by 210 ft (125 by 64 m) (an area of 71,000 sq ft (6,600 m )). The new flag was placed along
21150-570: Was among New York City's premier neighborhoods, with tree-lined streets, an array of cultural institutions and parks, and numerous fraternal, social and community organizations. From the early 1920s through the 1960s, Crown Heights was an overwhelmingly white neighborhood and predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish reflecting the demographics of the city, at the time. In 1950, the neighborhood was 89 percent white, with some 50 to 60 percent, or about 75,000 people, being Jewish and many of them Holocaust survivors and recent arrivals from Displaced Persons Camps in
21300-627: Was approved in 1941. In 1943, the New York City Board of Estimate allocated $ 50,000 toward a feasibility study of the tunnel. By this time, Bay Ridge residents now opposed the tunnel plan as well, because they feared that the tunnel's construction would lower the quality of life in that neighborhood. After the war ended in 1945, the Planning Commission estimated that construction of the Narrows Tunnel would cost $ 73.5 million. However, by then, La Guardia had turned against
21450-517: Was building the Triborough Bridge, Midtown Tunnel, and Golden Gate Bridge at the time, showed interest in designing the proposed Narrows bridge, which would be the world's longest bridge if it were built. The city approved the construction of a rapid transit tunnel under the Narrows in December 1933. This tunnel was approved in conjunction with the proposed Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel connecting Red Hook with Lower Manhattan. In April 1934,
21600-488: Was built by Bethlehem Steel , and the Brooklyn tower was built by the Harris Structural Company. The first piece of the towers, a 300-foot piece of the tower on the Staten Island side, was lifted into place in October 1961, and this tower was topped out by September 1962. The Brooklyn tower started construction in April 1962. When the towers were fully erected, workers began the process of spinning
21750-519: Was changed when Crown Street was cut through in 1916. The northern half of Crown Heights is part of Brooklyn Community District 8 and is patrolled by the 77th Precinct of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The southern half is part of Brooklyn Community District 9 and is patrolled by the 71st Precinct of the NYPD. Crown Heights's primary ZIP Codes are 11213, 11216, 11225, 11233, and 11238. Politically, it
21900-459: Was lower, at 9% and 12% respectively. As of 2016, the median household income in Community District 8 was $ 60,107. In 2018, an estimated 21% of Crown Heights North residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent,
22050-428: Was needed. Othmar Ammann was named as the senior partner for the project. Other notable figures involved chief engineer Milton Brumer; project engineers Herb Rothman and Frank L. Stahl; design engineer Leopold Just ; Safety Engineer Alonzo Dickinson, and engineer of construction John West Kinney. Meanwhile, John "Hard Nose" Murphy supervised the span's and cables' construction. Before starting actual work on
22200-566: Was originally supposed to connect to the Circumferential (Belt) Parkway , but in early 1957, Harriman vetoed a bill that stipulated that the main approach connect to the Belt Parkway. By May 1957, an updated location for the Brooklyn anchorage had been agreed on. The anchorage was now to be located at Fort Lafayette , an island coastal fortification built next to Fort Hamilton at the southern tip of Bay Ridge. Moses also proposed expanding Brooklyn's Gowanus Expressway and extending it to
22350-488: Was put on hold indefinitely due to a lack of money. The construction work did not go beyond an examination of shoreline on the Brooklyn side. In February 1933, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill authorizing the construction of a suspension bridge across the Narrows. With this approval, the Interboro Bridge Company hoped to start constructing the bridge by the end of the year, thereby creating jobs for 80,000 workers. Structural engineer Othmar H. Ammann , who
22500-483: Was set to vote on the Seventh Avenue approach in mid-December, but the federal government stated that it would only agree to the bridge's construction if the Seventh Avenue approach had 12 lanes, with six on each level. The federal government was already paying for two highway improvements on both sides of the proposed bridge: the Clove Lakes Expressway ( Staten Island Expressway ) on Staten Island, and
#163836