O.E.M. Out, Ice-Skating In

11 Water Street, under the Brooklyn Bridge. Yesterday the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the demolition of 11 Water Street, an Art Deco two-story warehouse built in 1936, to make room for the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Demolition of the building will begin next year. According to a spokesman for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, the land will be used for a plaza in the summer and an ice-skating rink in the winter. The demolition of the park is necessary because it bifurcates the northern and southern ends of the park; once removed, the parkland will be continuous. The two-story building is currently the home of the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the same agency that had to be evacuated on Sept. 11, 2001. It's curious that the O.E.M. moved out of the frying pan (the W.T.C.) and into the fire (just beneath the Brooklyn Bridge!--weren't the terrorists planning to blowtorch that?). We've got a call out to the O.E.M. to see what its plans are for moving. Let's hope it's somewhere away from any obvious terrorist targets. -Matthew Grace PS: We're having blog problems today. Comments aren't available for now, but we're trying to fix it up. Patience!