BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today? Check here for Brooklyn weather.
SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3, 2005.
CITY NEWS: New York University will limit student’s access to balconies in two
dormitories. The school also installed a plexiglass guard wall in the school’s main library. This is all part of the school’s effort to prevent
student suicides. Last year there were five such deaths.
_iPods are getting stolen on the subway pushing up city’s subway crime rate.
_City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.
_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.
_As of Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.
_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judysmoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.
_NYPD arrested 37 protesters,
members of Critical Mass, a group that celebrates cycling and other
non-polluting forms of transportation. Those arrested were charged with
parading without a permit. The city is going to court to demand that
these cyclists get a permit for their month protest. Earlier this year
a Federal judge said permits weren’t necessary.
_The City’s Department of Education sent out
test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and
grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover:
Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with
excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune
mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors
and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation
of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."
BROOKLYN BEAT: _The Department of
Education has instructed high-demand middle schools in District 15 to
admit 20-40 additional applicants. Parents were outraged when in-demand
middle schools rejected 550 qualified applicants."
_New York wants to reclaim the movie and TV production that’s been
going to Candada and other lower-priced shooting locations by offering
tax credits and other incentives. The city is hoping that the recently
completed Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will attract movie
and television producers.
_ Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site. "Play without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, the most important contemporary choreographer in Britian. 8 p.m. at BAM.
IT’S WEDNESDAY 3/30: "Play without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, said to be one of the most
important contemporary choreographers in Britian. 8 p.m. at BAM.
THIS SOUNDS COOL: "Who’s Afraid of Mike
Nichols?" film series. March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program
includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more. This Thursday, March
31 at 7 p.m. Q & A with Nichols following "The Graduate."
Pianist Anthony Coleman plays the music of Jelly Roll Morton at Barbes on Friday night. April 1. 7 p.m. And at 10 p.m.: The Wiyos, a band that combines Django Reinhardt, Gershwin, Doc Watson, Fats Waller and vaudeville.
_First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. April 2nd. 6:30 – 8:30: Use oil pastels to creat your own Basquiat-inspired symbol on canvas. At 7 p.m. there’s a public reading of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass followed by a musical setting of the poems by members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Then it’s time to do some LATIN DANCING in the Rotunda.
WORTH TAKING A LOOK: The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month.
HERE/SAY: "We love those who know the worst of us and don’t turn their faces away." Walker Percy