Let’s Read Along with the Kids at Brooklyn College
“How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America,” by Moustafa Bayoumi, an associate English professor at Brooklyn College, is this year’s “common reader” at Brooklyn College (a book give to freshmen and transfer students at the beginning of the year to offer them a shared reading experience).
At BC, the books are typically set in New York City and written by authors, who are available to speak on campus. Past books included: Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” and Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”
It sounds like an interesting book. Maybe everyone in Park Slope should read this book too?
Briana Ojeda RIP
So sad to read about the death (and the horrifying circumstances surrounding it) of 11-year-old Briana Ojeda, who was with her mother en route to the hospital Friday when their car was pulled over by an officer who refused to help.
Yesterday a funeral mass was held at St. Francis Xavier Church in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A horse-drawn carriage accompanied by a police escort brought Ojeda’s coffin to the steps of the church.
So sad. Briana died last Friday of an asthma attack
Carmen Ojeda, Brianna’s mothers, says that she was driving the wrong way down a one-way street in Boerum Hill to rush her daughter to Long Island College Hospital, when she was stopped by a police officer, who stopped her car. The mother cried for help for daughter who was having a severe asthma attack. He claimed he did not know CPR (note: all city police officers are trained in CPR).
Eventually, the officer did take the Ojedas to the hospital, but by driving behind them with his lights on. Briana, who was set to start sixth grade in a few days, died at the hospital about an hour later.
According to the NYPD, Officer Alfonso Mendez, 30, of the 84th precinct was identified as the man involved in the incident.
Police say witnesses were able to identify Mendez, who has been on the force for five years and works out of the 84th Precinct, as the officer who failed to help Briana.
Sources say he was suspended without pay Tuesday for failing to take proper police action. An internal affairs investigation is underway.
Stay Indoors: West Nile Mosquito Spraying Tonight
Thanks to Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn for this information about mosquito spraying tonight:
According to a notification issued on 9/1/2010 at 4:00 PM, the Department of Health will be spraying for mosquitoes to help prevent West Nile Virus from 8 PM on 9/2 until 6 AM on 9/3 in the following Brooklyn zip codes:
11210,11214, 11223, 11224, 11229, 11230, 11234, and 11235.
Department of Health recommends that whenever possible, stay indoors during spraying. Go to http://www.nyc.gov/health or call 311 for details.
Are The Eggs in Brooklyn Safe?
It’s truly disgusting to read about the Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms in Iowa that caused this recent salmonella outbreak. There may have been thousands of cases of salmonella in California, Minnesota and Colorado and elsewhere linked to the dangerous strain of salmonella.
None of the recalled eggs was packaged in New York, but the eggs are shipped nationwide.
So how safe are the eggs in Brooklyn?
The eggs that are believed to be tainted were sold with 13 brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp. You can check the FDA website for specific instructions on how to spot tainted egg crates.
This recent episode really exposes the holes in our food safety system. How do we really know what we’re eating. It’s a pretty disturbing thing to contemplate.
More and more it makes sense to know where your food is coming from and buy from local food distributor and shops like the Park Slope Food Coop, that provide information about the sources of their food and produce.
Crossing into Brooklyn Last Night at 3AM
Yup. We knew that the Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge were closed nights and some weekends due to repairs but for some reason we didn’t realize it was closed the other way, too.
The schedule of night-time and weekend closures is complicated so you better check the NYC DOT site for updates so you don’t get screwed like we did last night.
At 3AM after our 14 hour drive from Chicago (accomplished in one day, mind you) we wanted to drive across the beautiful Bridge, a visually stunning way to enter Brooklyn at night.
Okay, I begged Hepcat to take the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel but no, he wanted to fill his eyes with a gorgeous view even after such a long trip. But it was closed Brooklyn Bound (which surprised us).
We ended up taking the FDR to Houston Street, going down Allen Street…and finally made it onto the Manhattan Bridge…
After 1400 miles of driving over the last few days what’s a couple more miles.
For those who don’t know, the Manhattan bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge be closed nights and some weekends. Like I said, check the DOT schedule for details
Current Weather in Park Slope: Air Quality Alert
Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.
Bklyn Bloggage: neighborhoods
Lucky penny paintings: Pardon Me for Asking
Breast feeding in public: Effed in Park Slope
Shane the repo man: Bushwick BK
Another Walgreens gone: Sheepshead Bites
No cabbies to Brooklyn: Brownstoner
Inside the mysterious world of Trader Joe’s: McBrooklyn
There goes the neighborhood: NY Shitty
The Coney Island Illusicination: Amusing the Zillion
Everyones’ Talking About Bed Bugs
Seems like everyone, I mean EVERYONE, is talking about bed bugs. Finally, the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have weighed in on what seems to be a rampant problem in NYC.
According to the NY Times, they have issued a joint statement on bedbug control. “It was not, however, a declaration of war nor a plan of action. It was an acknowledgment that the problem is big, a reminder that federal agencies mostly give advice, plus some advice: try a mix of vacuuming, crevice-sealing, heat and chemicals to kill the things. It also noted, twice, that bedbug research “has been very limited over the past several decades. Ask any expert why the bugs disappeared for 40 years, why they came roaring back in the late 1990s, even why they do not spread disease, and you hear one answer: “Good question.””
In the statement, however, they attribute the rise in bedbugs to a variety of issues including:
–increased resistance of bed bugs to available pesticides
–greater international and domestic travel,
–lack of knowledge regarding control of bed bugs due to their prolonged absence
–continuing decline or elimination of effective vector/pest control programs at state and local public health agencies.
Read on for the actual statement…
Tom Martinez: How Many Muslims Do You Know?
Since 2003, Rev. Tom Martinez has served at Brooklyn’s All Souls Bethlehem Church. He is an active participant and organizer of the annual Children of Abraham Peace Walk.
A reporter interviewing me on Staten Island in front of a building whose ownership is disputed (the Catholic Church sold it to a local Muslim community then reneged on the sale) asked me if I had anything else to say to the people who oppose the mosque. I don’t remember exactly what I said. Of course a month later I thought of the perfect thing to say:
“Well, yes, there is one last thing I’d like to add. I encourage everyone who’s opposed to the creation of new mosques or community centers to ask yourself, ‘How many Muslims do I know?’ If the answer is zero, then I’d encourage you to make an effort to actually get to know someone who’s part of a local Muslim community. Tell them you’ve decided not to pass judgment until you meet and speak with someone from their community. You might be surprised by how warmly you will be received and the impact the experience will have on your perceptions.”
I was at another press conference just yesterday, this one was just a few blocks away from my church here in Brooklyn. My friend Mo Razvi, the Executive Director of a local Pakistani organization called COPO had asked me to stop by.
Mo was thrust into the limelight in wake of 9/11. Family members whose loved ones were picked up for questioning came to him for legal assistance. At the time he was a trusted businessman on Coney Island Avenue, one of the most demographically diverse neighborhoods in the continental US and home to a large community of Pakistani-Americans.
In addition to serving as a liaison between ordinary citizens and various law enforcement agencies (he proved so helpful in these matters he was eventually asked to complete a training course offered by the FBI), he also documented over 800 hate crimes carried out against Muslims in his neighborhood and throughout Brooklyn.
September 11th Memorial Poetry Reading
The Brooklyn Arts Council announces a reading of poems about September 11th written by local poets to be held on Thursday, September 9, 2010 from 7 – 8:30pm at P.S. Bookshop in Dumbo, Brooklyn (76 Front St.).
Read more
Going to Manhattan at Night: Don’t Take the Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Eagle reports that as part of a $508 million repair project, all Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge will be closed at night beginning August 23, —from 11PM until 6AM in the morning—continuing until 2014. 2014? Is that a misprint. That’s an awfully long time.
To make matters worse: there will also be 24 weekends when the Manhattan-bound lanes will be closed all weekend.
The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) warns motorists to “avoid the need to enter Manhattan on closure weekends.”
For pedestrians and bikers there’s good news: the center walkway will remain open.
The lanes to Manhattan closure will run from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. Weekend closures begin at midnight and end at 7 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday — except for those weekends when the Manhattan-bound lanes will be closed both day and night.
Bklyn Bloggage: neighborhoods
Councilman Lew Fidler’s $60,000+ side job: Sheepshead Bites
61st Precinct offering free etching: Gerritsen Beach
Strange neighbors: NY Shitty
Band most likely to start a cult: Free Williamsburg
Myrtle-Wyckoff hub gets bus upgrade: Bushwick BK
A bumper crop of Brooklyn peaches: Pardon Me for Asking
Slope needs doggie daycare?: Effed in Park Slope
Jacobs vs. Adolphe for Assembly: Ditmas Park Blog
A plaza for Kensington?: Kensington Prospect
Andy Levin’s Coney Island: NY Times
Bed Bugs at the Pavilion Movie Theater?
My sister, who is just back from Welfleet, heard from a reliable source today that there may be bed bugs at the Pavilion. With my Google finger I see that there’s been much reporting on this since I went away in July.
Well, it’s news to me even if it’s been reported on Gothamist and Brownstoner. I found this today on the Bed Bug Registry. It was posted on August 21, 2010.
“I tried to escape the heat two times this week. I went to the Pavilion Movie Theater. On both occasions, hours later, I had bed bug bites on my legs. I think that theater must be infested!”
Smartmom Moves On
The first in a three-part series about the end of a six-year run as Brooklyn’s official smart mom.
Current Weather in Park Slope
Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.
Dreamy Pop with Textured Guitar and Food Vendors Outdoors
Tonight on the Gowanus: an evening of sleepy sonic somethings, and delicious finger-licking treats. It happens at 383 President Street across the street from the former BKLYN Yard (Gowanus)
. Doors open at 6PM. The event costs $18 at the door.
What to expect? Dreamy pop with textured guitar effects and sweet vocals, the two musicians of Asobi Seksu easily hypnotize.
Golden Triangle open with their “loud and spooky, reverb-drenched distorto girl group pop, mixing male/female vocals with gnarly surf guitar jangle,” says someone named Ken.
Greenpoint Food Market vendors will be there, selling their home-made specialties. Read on for more details about the delicious sounding food…
Rededication of JFK statue at Grand Army Plaza
On Tuesday, August 24th at 11am the bust of JFK at Grand Army Plaza will be rededicated and the public is invited to join local pols at the event.
Artist Neil Estern’s original bust of President John F. Kennedy was unveiled at Grand Army Plaza on May 31, 1965. It remained in place until 2002 when the Department of Parks & Recreation and the Prospect Park Alliance began a major restoration of the Plaza. The installation of a new, granite pedestal for the monument offered Mr. Estern an opportunity to resculpt his bust of the 35th President. The new, larger and more detailed sculpture was recast in bronze at the Beacon Fine Art Foundry in Beacon, NY…
Get Your Revolutionary War On With Brooklyn Battle Week
I’m rarely in Brooklyn during Battle Week, the annual commemoration of the Battle of Brooklyn. So I’m excited that I might get a chance to see the Revolutionary War reenactors do their stuff.
The Old Stone House, site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, is the epicenter of all the Battle Week activities which begin on Saturday, August 21, 11 am – 3:30 pm with a Battle of Brooklyn Van Tour with NYC Urban Park Rangers. Reservations necessary as the seating is limited.
Meet at the Old Stone House, 336 Third Street @ the center of Washington Park/JJ Byrne Playground Reservations Necessary: 718-768-3195/info@theoldstonehouse.org For more Battle Week activities (and there are plenty) keep reading…
We’re Back
Gosh. We’ve been away off and on for weeks. Out in California on the farm the Internet wasn’t working and that was a blessing of sorts. There’s so much going on, so much to post about. How will I ever catch up?
Start typing…
Park Slope Food Blogger in Food Network Challenge
The very talented Heather Johnston of Sogood.TV, a wonderful cooking blog, has been selected as one of 15 finalists for the YouTube challenge with the Food Network. If she wins she gets a chance to audition with major casting agents of the Food Network. The finalist with the most votes wins and you can help…
Breakfast at La Bagel
Now I’ve Heard Everything and I were set to have breakfast at 9 this morning at Grand Canyon but when we got there the gates were closed.
Closed? What no breakfast at the only local diner we’ve got?
So NIHE and I schlepped up to Purity and guess what: it was closed, too. A sign on the door said that there was no air conditioning but there was also a notice from the Health Department, which gave it an unsatisfactory grade. They are temporarily closed to put their house in order, no doubt.
According to McBrooklyn, “The Purity Diner on 7th Ave. in Park Slope was inspected July 27, when it received 22 violation points. It hasn’t received an official grade, but if it performs the same on its re-do, it will get a B.”
So where did we go?
Changes in the Neighborhood
Park Stationer’s on Flatbush near Seventh Avenue has gone out of business. A handwritten sign said that the rise in operational costs caused the closure after 25 years in the neighborhood.
The one-story buildings that housed Zuzu’s Petals, a Korean Market and Olive Vine on Seventh Avenue between Berkeley and Union before a fire that forced Zuzu’s and Olive Vine to move have all been demolished to make way for…what?
A Toys-R-Us has gone into the large space on Flatbush Avenue near 8th Avenue that was Blockbuster Video.
A new deli is going in on Seventh Avenue between Union and President Streets. It was a Korean Market briefly and before that…I forget.
The Rite Aid on Seventh Avenue and Fifth Street seems to be undergoing some sort of renovation…
Current Weather in Park Slope
Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.
Exhibit in Bed-Stuy: Eyewitness: Black Brooklyn
Jacqui Wood, a longtime Bed-Stuy resident and the arts manager at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation curated “Eyewitness: Black Brooklyn,” a photography exhibit at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration complex’s Skylight Gallery featuring dozens of rare images from the 1960s to the 1980s…
Five award winning black Brooklyn photographers, capture the people, spiritual life, community events and protests in Brooklyn from the 1960s through the 1980′s.
Public Hearing On Proposed Expansion of Park Slope Landmark District
Thanks to the hard work of Park Slope residents, the Park Slope Civic Council, and local elected officials, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted earlier today to put a public hearing on the calendar (date to be determined) to seriously consider the expansion of the Park Slope Historic District. The proposed expansion would add the blocks between Seventh and Eight Avenues, from Seventh Street through 14th Street , as well as areas adjacent to Bartel Pritchard Square (the full proposed boundaries are available on the LPC website.
Park Slope’s City Councilmember Brad Lander chairs the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Landmarks. Both he and City Councilmember Steve Levin (33rd district, which also includes Park Slope) were thrilled about the decision and will notify the community as soon as they know the date of the hearing…
Tell DOT How You Feel About Ghost Bikes And Their Possible Removal
The Department of Sanitation is threatening to designate ghost bikes as “derelict bikes” that may be subject to removal.
How do you feel about these heartfelt and makeshift memorials to those who’ve died in bike accidents? Has someone you care about been remembered with a ghost bike? Do you find this approach to increasing awareness and respect on the streets effective and sensitive? Do you think it is important to remember those we have lost on unsafe streets? Do you think this project has affected your experience as a cyclist or pedestrian in New York?
Do Pregnant Women Get Seats on the Subway?
Today on the Park Slope Parents blog, a pregnant Park Sloper decided to figure out what happens when you’re hugely pregnant on the subway. Does the big bump get you a seat or not? The results may shock you.
Bklyn Bloggage: neighborhoods
Grisly Gravesend subway accident: Sheepshead Bites
Meet Merlene the nurse: Bushwick BK
BFFs exploring life, love & lipstick in McCarren Park: Free Williamsburg
Common courtesy: NY Shitty
Bedbugs in Park Slope: Effed in Park Slope
Guerilla environmentalism in Prospect Park: Ditmas Park Blog
Letter grades for Brooklyn Heights restaurants: McBrooklyn
Dolls lost and found at Celebrate Brooklyn: Park Slope Parents
Bklyn Bloggages: civics & urban life
Williamsburg roadwork will be hellish this weekend: Bklyn Paper
Park Slope historic district to expand: NY Observer
Sketching a future for the Brooklyn Museum: NY Times
AY timeline is complete, utter fantasy”: AY Report
Former Brooklyn resident now leads Al-Queda: NY 1
Michael Gross, Owner of New Prospect Cafe, Dies
In 1984, Michael Gross opened the New Prospect Cafe, one of the first upscale (and organic) eateries back when Park Slope was a foodie desert. Later he opened New Prospect At Home, a gourmet take-out shop on Seventh Avenue. He died last week of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Longtime friends, Ann Smith and Richard Glassman, wrote to OTBKB with this heartfelt remembrance.
