Streetsblog is covering the continuing drama about the 9th Street’s proposed bike lane. There’s there’s even a video of an executive member of Community Board 6 who is dead set against a bike lane over there.

"First off, please accept my apologies for continuing to torture you
with the intensely parochial drama taking place on Park Slope’s 9th
Street. I justify all of this coverage by imagining that this story may
be useful for advocates working towards Livable Streets goals in other
neighborhoods.

For those who are just coming in to the story, a few weeks ago the Department of Transportation put forward a thoughtful, responsive and well-designed "Road Diet" plan
for Park Slope’s dangerous, crash-prone 9th Street. Sadly, a rather
well organized group of residents led by a Community Board 6 executive
committee member named Robert Levine has set out to kill the plan (or,
at least, get rid of the bike lane portion of it)."

A message from Stephen and Mookie, parents of Toby who has neuroblastoma. For ways that you can help, go to their blog.

hello everyone, we are back in the hospital since friday evening,
because of a fever and slowly readjusting to life on the inside. friday
at home was actually lovely… stephen built a lego train track that
enticed toby to play on the rug for the first time in many days. saba
was able to elicit some belly laughs and randy came over for some quick
songs. but then it was back to mskcc and admission through the urgent
care center where toby was immediately hooked up to iv antibiotics to
treat a possible infection.

while we were waiting for a bed to
open up on the 9th floor we found a roll of medical tape and toby taped
up his hospital bed from side to side. one of the nurses also brought
in a small craft kit with four tiny paint pots and a white plastic
fish. we covered toby’s lap with a sheet and he jackson-pollacked the
fish with interest and intent.

stephen also discovered that his
itunes stash on the computer is a great distraction for toby. since
that night mommy and daddy have danced around toby’s bed to booker t
while toby grooves lying down. it’s a new activity, one born of our new
reality. so far it works amazingly well.

toby spends most of his
days in bed, with short forays to the playroom and around the ward. we
want him to be up and about as much as possible, but he tires quickly.
so we’re trying to come up with ways to make the hospital interesting
beyond the constant beckoning call of tv. over the weekend toby did his
"homework" on the computer, typing pages of letters, increasing the
font size and cycling through the pages like a stop-motion animation.

so
we’re in until toby’s absolute neutrophil count rises to 500, which may
take a few days. i hope that we’ll have a tiny window to return home
before his next cycle of chemo starts. we are currently at day 14, with
the next treatment scheduled to start on or about day 21. however, the
protocol is aggressive, so if the docs deem he is ready to start before
day 21, we will.

toby has now lost 8 lbs, down to 36 lbs. for
the last few days his mouth and throat were filled with sores (a side
effect of chemo) so he was unable to eat much of anything. the
nutrition staff suggests liquid foods during this time, but toby tanked
out on icecream and jello pretty quickly. yesterday out of the blue he
announced that he wanted chips and stephen ran out to get cheetos,
pringles, anything with taste and salt. i couldn’t believe that his
poor swollen mouth could handle those intense flavors but he relished
the jolt of flavor. last night he actually ate 4 small bites of pizza,
so we might have a few days of real eating before the 2nd cycle.

toby
still looks beautiful, with his new short cut and lingering suntan from
jamaica. he is the most delicious little boy. the long road ahead seems
cruel and unfair. we try to take it day by day. my tears are short,
fierce and usually come in the early morning, at the moments between
sleep and wakefulness, when i remember our old life and am confronted
with the new.

uncle greg drove all the way from
michigan, arriving late on saturday night after a detour to queens. we
are so grateful to have him here for the week. yoni is doing okay, very
busy with sports on the weekends and school the rest of the time.
yesterday we had a normal dinner together and right now he’s sitting
next to me having breakfast.

a totally inadequate thank you to
all of you for your continued and amazing support and love. the food,
visits, words, errands, energy, gifts and prayers are so, so important
to us. we have just started on this journey together.

Toby has  neuroblastoma, a very serious illness. He lives in park Slope with his parents and they are reaching out to the community for help in finding a new place to live. Visit their website for more information and ways you can be of help.

Neuroblastoma is a relatively rare cancer of
the sympathetic nervous system — a nerve network that carries messages
from the brain throughout the body. Each year about 600 children in the
United States will develop neuroblastoma. Generally developing in young
children, it accounts for half of all malignancies in infants. These
solid tumors, which take the form of a lump or mass, commonly begin in
one of the adrenal glands, though they can also develop in nerve
tissues in the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis. The adrenal glands,
located above the kidneys, are specialized glands that release
hormones which maintain blood pressure and respond to stress.

Toby’s family needs to find a new apartment to live in. They can’t stay in their current apartment due to environmental factors that are dangerous to Toby. Email louise_crawford@yahoo.com or leave a comment and I will get info to them. There  are links on Toby’s website about ways that you can help Toby.

Toby made it home earlier this week. Initially, the transition back to home was a difficult one. Toby was particularly fussy, but today he had a better day. He showed shades of himself, playing on the carpet & engaging those around him.

This evening Toby was readmitted to Sloan because of a fever. As expected, his blood "counts" have bottomed out. Toby’s white blood cells & his ANC are zero, & for this reason, he’s unable to mount a significant response to infection (i.e., fever) & needs i.v. antibiotics.

Tomorrow, Toby’s saba & savta (grandparents) return to Israel. They provided moral support, cooked, cleaned, & shopped. They will surely be missed. Greg, Toby’s uncle, arrives tomorrow for the week.

On the homefront, Mooki & Stephen are still searching for a new apartment. If any of you have any news or suggestions, please let Mooki & Stephen know.

Finally, Fran, Heather, & Carie met today to make sure that everyone’s efforts to help out are maximized & coordinated.

Thank you all.

Planners are hard at work organizing Stoopendous, another great event from the Park Slope Civic Council, the folks that bring you the Halloween Parade and the House Tour.

In the days and weeks ahead, be on the lookout for flyers, postcards, and posters about Stoopendous, celebration of the summer solstice in Park Slope on Saturday June 23, 2007

Stay tuned for the launch of Stoopendous.org, where there will be lots of how-to information about making Stoopendous happen on your block.

There will also be  information about the event at the Park Slope Civic Council’s table at Seventh Heaven.

Celebrate the beginning of summer with your neighbors and friends on the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope.

Mark the day with a simple, fun event on your block or in your building. Morning, afternoon, or evening: whatever time works for you. Plan a stoop sale, a BBQ, a hopscotch tournament, a solstice teach-in, a talent show, an art activity, a sidewalk café.

At sundown (8:31 p.m.) join the All-Slope-Solstice Shout-Out, a chance to make a lot of joyful noise. Blow a kazoo, a whistle, bang on some pots and pans, or play an instrument.
.
For how-to information, contact Louise Crawford at 718-857-5842 or louisecrawford@gmail.com

The new Ikea in Red Hook is set to open next year. The new Ikea in Red Hook will open sometime next year. And there may be more big box stores a-coming. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Bed, Bath  & Beyond (which we call Bed, Bath & Bananas) may be considering part of the Ikea site an become the site of a mixed use development that would include
retail.

Rosewater, one of the top restaurants in Park Slope, finally has a website.

Finally.
Yes, it took a long time. As our dear friend Bruce told us when
informed of the imminent launch, "Oh, wow. Welcome to the Nineties!"
Love ya, Bruce.

The site isn’t 100% complete and may never be.
Our restaurant is an ever-evolving project and the website will be,
too. Changes in season bring change at the restaurant and it will bring
change to the site, as well.

Our menus and wine lists will be
updated at least twice a week, and you can check for upcoming events
between newsletters. We hope you like the site and that you find it
useful. You’ve certainly waited long enough for it!

Gowanus Lounge has a list of the Brooklyn street fairs. Here are the dates. Check GL for analysis.

May 6—Court Street Fair,

Sponsored by the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation
(GCCDC) on Court Street between President and West 9th Streets. 10AM-6PM

May 20—Fifth Avenue Fair. Fifth Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and 14th Street.

June 9—Brooklyn Pride Street Fair. Prospect Park West between 9th and 15th Streets.

June 17—Seventh Avenue "Seventh Heaven" Street Fair. 7th Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and 15th Street.

June 24—Smith Street Fair. Presented by the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation on Smith Street between Bergen and Union Streets.

September 30–The 33rd Annual Atlantic Antic on Atlantic Avenu

It seems that Con Edison is using car service drivers to guard people and pets from high voltage spots — like fences and manhole covers — around the city. So many hot spots have been discovered that Con Edison doesn’t have enough trucks to do it themselves.

And it happened right here on Third Street last week. One of the limestone buildings between 6th and 7th Avenues was discovered to have dangerous high voltage spots on their fence. Con Edison put cones around the building and had a livery driver parked there for two days. The black town car had an orange cone on its roof.

A Con Edison crew came with a crane and hooked up wires through the trees and down into their basement to ground the streetlights. That supposedly stopped the fence from being electrified. It grounded it (pictures from NWDP to come).

The use of livery drivers is, obviously, causing some controversy in the news today.