The Basile Group

It's been over three years since the city passed a contextual rezoning of Bay Ridge to limit "out-of-character development" in the low-rise neighborhood, but tensions between nostalgic residents and developers who continue to squeeze three- and four-story apartment buildings into plots once occupied by single-family homes show no signs of abating.

The "Green Church" looks like it is slated for demolition despite the last ditch-effort of local activists; a seven-story apartment building will soon rise from the site of the Bay Ridge Funeral Parlor; and the board of the Bay Ridge Jewish Center is shopping for a buyer.

To Bay Ridge lifers like Steven Diahy, these developments and the squat, tightly packed generic brick buildings scattered among the rowhouses off Third and Fourth avenues signal the neighborhood's transition from a sleepy, suburban community into a mini-Manhattan, and, equally important, make finding a parking spot nearly impossible.  read more »