BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today? Check here for Brooklyn weather.
FYI: Tuesday through Saturday April
26-30 alternate-side-of-the-street-parking is suspended due to
religious observance (Passover). All other parking regulations in
effect.
CITY NEWS: Revised plans for the Plaza Hotel were unveiled on Thursday. The hotel will now be turned into a mix of guest
rooms and condos during the 18-month renovation. Originally, the hotel going to be converted entirely into condos, but the owners and the employee’s union reached a compromise. Now spaces like the Plaza’s Grand Ballroom, Oak Room and Palm Court will be preserved. Eloise will have a special suite dedicated to her. Will this suite be open to the public – or will it be a super expensive hotel room? Probably the latter. And what are they doing with Eloise’s portrait?
_The cab driver who caused Times Square pile-up wakes up from coma. He says there may have been something wrong with his car. He said he was glad that no-one died in the accident. Read more about it at NY 1.
_With state aid falling $1 billion short, MTA voted to cut subway repairs and froze major expansion. Read more about it at NY 1.
_Police are searching for a robber who has hit 21 beauty salons citywide. Read more about it at NY 1.
_New York’s air quality is deteriorating. The American Lung Association says that more than half the residents of New York face health risks just from breathing. Read more about it at NY 1.
_The NYC Department of Health is warning New Yorkers to use window
guards and to make sure they are installed properly after a 2-year old
boy named Jonathan Sanchez died falling 6
stories when the window guard, which were improperly installed, gave
way when he leaned against the window.
BROOKLYN BEAT: A man’s body was found on Plum Beach near Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. Police are trying to figure out who dumped an unidentified body wrapped in a blanket and plastic bags.
_Two bystanders attending a funeral were hit by a stray bullet intended
for someone else. Police are searching for the shooter and the
intended target. One of the bystanders, a 14 year old girl, was seriously wounded. Read more about it at NY 1.
_The family of the 7-year-old Brooklyn
boy who died after crossing street to buy ice cream, died in the hospital on Wednesday is urging the hit-and- run driver to turn himself in. Charles Santiago, 7, was crossing Milford
Street in East New York around 7:45 p.m. when a 1997 white Chrysler
slammed into him, police said. Charles was taken to Jamaica Hospital in
Queens with multiple head injuries and two broken legs. Read more about it at NY 1.
You already knew about it but now it’s in the New York Post: "Architect Richard Meier has been hired to design a new residential project in Brooklyn that promises some of the city’s best viewsThe 15-story, 200,000 square-foot project will be called One Prospect Park. By the time it is ready in two years, prices should be well above $1,000 a foot. It will rise on the airy corner of Eastern Parkway and Plaza Street that is currently a vacant lot used for parking by the Union Temple. ‘It’s got Manhattan, it’s got the bay, it’s got the [Prospect] park, it’s got the Brooklyn Museum and the library,’ said developer Mario Procida. ‘You pick the direction and you got the view.’ Procida, a principal of GPG Equities, said he and partners Louis Greco and Sheldon Gordon bought the site earlier this week, and have commissioned a building similar to the Meier "triplets" ‘Being the fourth one, it will be even better.’"
From the New York Daily News: "A daylight sicko walked into the kids’ reading
room at a Brooklyn library yesterday and flashed his privates to a
13-year-old girl, police said. Then the perv began touching himself."The guy masturbated and the girl
saw him," said Detective Bernie Gifford, an NYPD spokesman. Police said
the girl was sitting at a computer about 12:30 p.m. when
the man slithered into the first-floor reading room at Flatbush Ave.
and Linden Blvd.
IT’S FRIDAY: Mommy Matinee at the Brooklyn Heights Pavillion. Friday at 12:30. Call the theater for information. (718)596-5095
-Jean-Luc Godard : Before and After the New Wave at At BamCinematek
_Don’t miss the new French film "Look at at Me" now playing at At Bam. I saw it at the New York Film Festival (ooh la la) and LOVED IT.
_St. Ann’s Warehouse: Filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen and Oscar winner Charlie Kaufman present "Theater of the New Ear," a
reading of two original radio plays set to music. Actors include Steve
Buscemi, Hope Davis, Peter Dinklage, Marsha Gay Harden, Meryl Streep. Call for dates and times. 38 Water St. (718) 254-8779.
THIS SOUNDS COOL: Sakura Matsuri: The Cherry Festival in the Botanic Gardens is this Saturday April 30.
_Walking tour of Whitman’s Brooklyn offered by the Brooklyn Historical Society. Meet at 128 Pierrepont Street at 2 p.m.
_First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum is Saturday May 7, 2005.
_Barbes is turning three. "We do feel much older. We can’t be thankful enough to all the musicians who have help us build the space and its reputation – and have made it possible to maintain a level of quality that still manages to astonish us. We’re lucky. To celebrate, we’re throwing ourselves a party this Saturday." The festivities will be broadcast from Barbes, live on WFMU from 8 to 11pm and will be hosted by Irene Trudel and Rob Weisberg. Music will be provided by The Zagnut Cirkus Orkestar, One Ring Zero, Las Rubias del Norte, Bebe Eiffel, Stephane Wrembel’s HOt Club of NY. $10.
_Brick Theater presents "Tupperware Orgy," a feminist play for chauvinist pigs. $10. 8 pm. 575 Metropolitan Ave. (718) 907-3457.
_"Around the World in 80 Days" at Puppetworks. 378 6th Avenue.
Saturday and Sunday. 12:30 and 2:30. Reservations advised: 718-735-4300.
_Got a guitar? Compete in the Brooklyn Battle of the Bands on June 5th at Grand Army
Plaza. Ten music groups of any genre will be selected to perform. Five judges
including Danny Simmons and Adam Shore will pick a grand prize winner
and runners ups. Sponsored by CMJ. Go here for information. Sign up
deadline is May 15th.
_On Sunday, May 15th, join Shorewalkers
on a six mile walking tour from Bed-Stuy to Brooklyn Heights.
Highlights include: Junior’s Restaurant, Fulton Street Mall and the
Brooklyn Promenade where you’ll break for lunch. After lunch, explore
Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and quaint
carriage houses. Take the J train to Gates Avenue in Brooklyn and walk
one block to McDonald’s. Meet at noon in front of McDonald’s. Leader:
Lauri Hewie (718) 455-3050.
_On Tuesday, May 25 from 7:00- 8:30 pm Marcie G. Roth, Esq. of Freedman Fish & Grimaldi LLP will present a Workshop on legal planning for parents with young children.
Ms. Roth will address the legal and emotional aspects of preparing your
Will, the New York and Federal estate tax, how to name a guardian,
trusts for minor children, avoiding probate, and living trusts. This
workshop will also cover planning for your disability including Powers of Attorney, Living Wills and Health Care Proxies.
To register for this important workshop, call Families First (718)
237-1862. The fee for the workshop is $10 for members and $15 for
non-members. Please register by May 15. Families First is located at
250 Baltic St., Brooklyn, N. Y. 11201
WORTH TAKING A LOOK: OTBKB Daily Pix
photographer, Hugh Crawford, has a show of portrait work on view at Fou
Le Chakra 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets until May
16th.
HEAR/SAY:
You were never a water wimp.
Even at Orchard Beach,
you were good to go. A natural swimmer,
graceful and strong. All of us were.
Natural swimmers, that is.
In water, that is.
But I was afraid to be out over my head
afraid to swim at dawn with you
and Brutus out on 95th Street
when the lifeguard chairs were still
overturned in the sand
on the Irish Riviera
where we learned to tread
water. You always went way out.
You were never afraid
to get your ass kicked
by a wave. There was no fear
of losing control, cramping up,
no fear of water rushing to displace
the spirit of your lungs. No fear
of the Earth’s humors, the protean
green–the wet scary
unknown, no fear of the curvaceous
machine of the tides.
And how you love baths!
"Tropical Rain Forest:"
smoke a joint, fill the tub
with aromatic bubbles,
darken the room, put music on,
pull the curtain, turn the shower on
and float away down the Nile
in your vessel.
– From "Bodies of Water" by Michele Madigan Somerville