This from New York 1:

Every borough with a beach will soon have a wheelchair-accessible ramp to the water.

Officials and disabled beachgoers opened a new mat in Brighton
Beach Tuesday that goes from the street all the way to the Atlantic
Ocean’s high-tide line.

The Parks Department is going ahead with the program after a
successful trial run at Rockaway Beach. In addition to the beaches in
Brooklyn, Midland Beach on Staten Island and Orchard Beach in the Bronx
are also equipped with the new mats.

Officials say they are working to make all beaches and parks wheelchair friendly.

“The parks are for everyone and if it’s not fully accessible now,
it will be in the future because that is our pledge,” said Parks
Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “It will take some time, it will take some
money, and in some cases it may not be completely accessible because
it’s the side of a mountain, but we will work to provide as many
opportunities as we can.”

The mats, which cost about $30,000 each, mark the first effort in
city history to make beaches accessible to disabled New Yorkers.

June 20, 2005:

Ran into our friends who moved to Nyack almost a year ago at the Rickie Lee Jones concert in Prospect Park.

I didn’t see them until the concert was over. Big Rickie Lee fans,
they’d left the kids in their Victorian house with a babysitter and
were spending a relaxing evening with Brooklyn friends, picnic-ing on
the grass at Celebrate Brooklyn.

After the show, we walked back to Third Street together, where they’d parked their car.

I told them how much the neighborhood had changed since last summer.
And it’s really true. It feels like so much has gone on since, say,
September. Brooklyn is it: the development capital of New
York City. Condos, Whole Foods, Ikea, Cruise ships, a Richard Meier
building, a controversial stadium for a basketball team and more.

What a long, strange year it’s been. And The Deserters weren’t here to
see it with us. They were in Nyack, spreading out in their spacious new
digs. But it was a year of adjustment for them: Nyack Weed Killer (AKA Mrs. Deserter) overcame her fear of
driving. Mr. Deserter learned how to be a commuter.  Their son had to make new
friends at a new school and find new activities to be part of.

Back in Brooklyn, we watched the borough undergo tremednous change.
It seemed sudden, but maybe we weren’t paying enough attention before.

Mr. Deserter joked: "Now that us schleppers have moved out, someone
decided it’s really time to go upscale around here." As if on cue, a
bright yellow Porsche appeared on Prospect Park West.

"Look at that. That’s a real upscale car," he yelled.

Approaching Sette on Third Street and Seventh Avenue, they looked
stunned: obviously no-one had told them about Third Street’s new
eatery.  They were fascinated by the restaurant’s sidewalk patio.

"Wow, the old Christmas tree spot. An outdoor cafe is actually the perfect use of this corner," Mr. Deserter said.

Then they looked across the street and saw the new Miracle Grill. I
thought they might faint. "There really are a lot of changes since last
year," Mr. Deserter said and added something wistful and poetic like: "When you move away from a place,
they should leave everything exactly the same. Frozen. So that it’s
always there for you."

I asked them if they wanted to walk in front of their old building
and
see the window boxes they’d left behind for the people who bought their coop. Nyack Weed Killer seemed a little aprehensive at first as if seeing the
old place might get in the way of her sucessful adjustment to life in
that small town on the Hudson.  But she braced herself and walked
bravely down Third Street.

When they got to the building, they were very still for a moment. I
could see that L. was quietly taking it all in: her window boxes, the
other window boxes, the stone planter, a new location for the benches.
There were even silk flowers on the gate down to the basement. There
was so much to see.

"The boxes are doing well. And I like where they put the benches. Right in the middle of the yard…"

She stared up at her old window probably reliving the days (less
than a year ago) when her family of four was still living in such
cramped quarters. At least, that’s what I think she was thinking. I
really don’t know.

They came upstairs to our apartment to say hello to Hepcat to
have some tea. It was rushed as they had to get back to Nyack: the
babysitter had to be relieved.

"If you lived across the street, you’d be home by now," my husband joked. And they looked only mildly amused.

I don’t think it got rained on. The rain didn’t start until about 11 pm.

We may have to come back from California early so I can catch my new fave Feist at  McCarren Park . Tickets are $29. so it’s not one of the free concerts.

Last year on OTBKB we were trying to figure out how to make a screen for Brooklyn Film Works. But things worked out just fine and this year the show will go on. Hepcat’s Volvo idea didn’t work out. But something else did. Brooklyn Film Works opens its 2007 season on July 10th with The Lady Eve (introduced by Ty Burr, author of "The Best Old Movies for Families." ). It should be a really great show.

It all started months ago when Kim Maier, director extradonaire of The Old Stone House,
proposed the idea of a summer film festival in JJ Byrne Park. I loved
the idea right away and got to thinking about Brooklyn-related films to
include in the festival.

But there were a few technical details that needed to be worked out. Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

I decided to get in touch with an old friend of mine from my video production days, who now works for Scharff Weisberg,
providers of audio, video, and lighting technology. I told him we had
no money, that we were doing the project as a community service very
much on the cheap. He was game to try to help us out.

My friend came to JJ Byrne Park to scope out the site and offered us
advice about where to put the projector and screen. A few days later,
he emailed us an equipment list that was a tad more ambitious than what
we had in mind.

Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

My friend did say, however, that Scharff Weisberg would be willing
to loan us a video projector for the four screenings. Somewhere along
the way it was decided that we would project a 12 x 15 ft. image.

But what would we project the image on? Good question.  My friend at Scharff Weisberg suggested I have a screen made at Rosebrand,
a company that specializes in theatrical drapes, scrims and screens.
When I called Rosebrand, the sales representative asked me all kinds of
questions…what size, what material?

We decided on white seamless muslin with a black duvatine back. Then
the sales representative asked: Do you want gromits and webs?  I didn’t
have a clue what gromits and webs were.

So I called my friend Bob at Showman Fabricators,
who lives in Park Slope, and told him I was having a screen made and I
wondered if he could help me figure out a way to frame the screen so
that we could project a movie on it.

And by the way what are gromits and webs?

He said he could make a frame for the screen out of aluminum pipes.
He’d deliver five pipes that could be made into a 12 x 15 ft. rectangle
with key clamps or speed rail.
And then he called the sales
representative at Rosebrand and told them what kind of webs and gromits
we’d need because that’s how we were going to attach the screen to the
pipes.

I still didn’t know exactly where we were going to put the screen –
between the trees on the north side of the house or against the fence
in front of the house?

I figured we’d figure it out.

Well, tonight Bob from Showman Fabricators delivered the pipes and
walked around the site and said that it might be impossible to tie the
screen to the trees or to put it against the fence in front of the
house. Wind would be the big problem. The frame with a 12 x 15 ft.
fabric screen was like a sail. And if a big gust of wind came along…

Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

So there we were — me, Kim, Bob from Showman, Bill the
projectionist, standing outside of the Old Stone House trying to figure
out what to do. For a moment I thought we might have to get a bed sheet and a home projector. Maybe what we were trying to do was impossible, too ambitious, too BIG.

Then I remembered something that Hepcat suggested a few months ago:
we could get a truck and tie the frame and screen to the truck.

Bingo. Everyone seemed to like the idea. We talked about calling
U-Haul and other truck companies. When I got home I told Hepcat all
about our screen problems, the truck. He sighed a bit. Did some
thinking. Sighed again.

"I’ve got it," he said. "I can put the old roof rack on top of our
Volvo station wagon and I will clamp two pieces of pipe horizontally to
the roof rack and attach that to key fittings,,,"

"Are you sure it’s going to work?" I asked gently.
"Look who was raised by engineers and who was raised by an advertising executive?"
"In other words, have faith in you, right?"
"Right."

And I do. So tomorrow night Hepcat will test out his idea…

Go to the Old Stone House for the 2007 Summer festival

On June 21 at 8 p.m. Brooklyn Reading Work’s special mixologist will be mixing a brand new drink named, The Waking Dream, in honor of the poetry reading by Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham, writers who sometimes use sleep and dreams as source material for their poetry.

The Waking Dream

1 ounce vodka
1 ounce Triple sec
1 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice
1 ounce black currant juiice

Ruby and Graham are reading poems, prose, and a collaborative work based on a text by Samuel Beckett.

It should be a great show: The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. 8 p.m.
Five bucks gets you in, light refreshments, and a free Waking Dream.

This from New York 1:

Police have released a sketch of a man who is suspected of sexually assaulting a woman in Prospect Park last week.

The victim was walking with an off-duty police officer around 1:15
a.m. Friday when they were approached by the attacker, who pulled a
gun. The woman and her companion were separated, and then the attacker
raped the woman.

He is described as 38 to 40 years old, 5’ 8” tall with a husky
build. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a navy blue t-shirt.

The Mermaid Parade. Coney Island. Saturday 2 pm. Boardwalk. From Flavorpill:

The nation’s largest art parade has its silver anniversary this year,
so ogle curbside or register to march in your best sparkles, scales,
and pasties. Floats, antique cars, marching bands, drill teams,
sideshow freaks, and neighborhood locals stomp their grounds in
handmade outfits inspired by nautical mythology and all things Coney.
Due to the recent sale of Astroland (and imminent demise of old Coney Island), this is sure to be the biggest one
yet; expect the usual mob at Nathan’s and the unusual opportunity to fall in love with a suitor on stilts. (RB)

Go to Old First Blog for Pastor Daniel Meeter’s thoughts on the bands that played under the auspices of Club Loco on the steps of the church during Seventh Heaven:

"Thousands of people walk pass the church during this street fair.
And I’m happy to say that this year we were able to make Old First one
of the chief locations of the fair. Our volunteers worked hard. And
that included volunteers from the community who are not church members.

What
I like about this photo is that it shows how this great ark of a
building, for all of its burden, is the center of our community.

What
I like about the lower photo is that shows how Club Loco expresses both
our Third and Fourth Missions: “To offer sanctuary” and “To offer
hospitality.”"

Continue reading PASTOR DAN ON CLUB LOCO →

I got word of this via email from a dad in Park Slope, who is setting up a way for kids to play casual pick-up games this summer in Prospect Park.

Slope Sandlot Baseball is a way to get kids together to play baseball
in Park Slope through the summer in casual, pick-up games. For more information or to join the group, go here: sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/slope-sandlot/

KID’S ART WORKSHOP AT THE BROOKLYN ARTISTS GYM: WOW!

I’m still trying to figure out what to do for Stoopendous, a solstice celebration on the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope. I think we may do a concert in the yard in front of our building.

Classical piano. Sitar. Songs by Teen Spirit. Sounds like a good start. If Phyzz is around maybe she’ll do some drumming?

As always, wine and cocktails. And at 8:31 p.m. we’ll blow on our kazoos along with the rest of the Slope for the All Stoop Solstice Shout Out.

New from the New York Times. And check out the blog roll over there.

The newspaper city room was once a vast, loud, smoke-filled place filled with reporters and editors banging away at manual typewriters amid paste pots and clattering Teletype machines. While the tools have changed — laptops, digital recorders and cellphones come to mind — the modern city room has much in common with its lively ancestors. Reporters still hit New York streets with the time-tested methods: asking pointed questions, digging through records, knocking on doors.
A few days ago, the Metro staff left the old Times Square city room for good, but we aim to keep that spirit alive in our new newsroom and on this blog, which has been named with a wink and a nod to our past.
The emphasis here will be on reporting, not punditry or snarky commentary. The blog will feature news-maker interviews, documents, Web resources, photos, videos and other multimedia, as well as updates and follow-ups on the day’s news.
But the most important feature, we hope, will be the reader discussions. We think New Yorkers have a lot to talk about. In his 1949 essay “Here Is New York,” E. B. White wrote, “To a New Yorker the city is both changeless and changing.” Then, he described the dismantling of the El, the growing gaudiness of Broadway, the decline of the great East Side mansions.

Jerry is the quintessential old time Park Sloper. He’s been here like forever. Like me. But he bought his own house and did all the work himself. He’s smart, funny, discriminating about local restaurants and very in the know about what’s new in the nabe.

"Hey let’s take Jerry’s block," Diaper Diva said the other day and we walked to Belleville, where we were meeting our cousin before the Louis and Capathia show at the Old Stone House. And what do you know. We ran into Jerry and his wife.

"Belleville is under new ownership," he said ominously. "The old cook left."

"We were there recently," Jerry’s wife chimed in. "It was so so."

One or other of them added that Cocotte got it’s old chef back and it’s been really good lately. Jerry said that Cocotte had gone down hill for a while ("We wouldn’t eat there," Jerry’s Wife added. "But now it’s good.")

Seems that Belleville and Cocotte just did a switcheroo in terms of public opinion according to Jerry.

I asked him about Mura, the new Japanese place on Fifth Avenue.  Jerry made a face. I too have heard mixed.

"The only place we eat sushi is Blue Ribbon Sushi." Jerry’s Wife said.

Our dinner at Belleville was pleasant as always. The Steak Frites was delicious, as was the Salade Nicoise. My only caveat is that they’re using  canned tuna instead of fresh. But it’s a good Italian canned tuna I’m guessing.

I love the decor, the ambiance at Belleville. If the food stays the same we’re still gonna be the occasional regulars that we are.

The Burger Bar is is on Seventh Avenue and 9th Street (take the F to Seventh Avenue).
Here’s the jazzy schedule for the rest of June and July. Ninth Street is quite the music street what with Barbes, Burger Bar, and the Jewish Music Cafe when that resumes in the fall.  Barbes just completed a 3-day Accordionology Festival — woo.

Good food. Good drink. Good music!
No cover.
Music start at 9 and goes to 1a.m. every Thursday and Saturday.

Here’s the cast of characters:
6/21 Kurt Stockdale tenor sax, Charles Sibirsky piano, Dan Shuman bass

6/23 David Farrrer alto sax, Fred Gilde piano, Josh Paris bass
6/28 Gary Levy alto sax, C.S. piano, Joe Solomon bass
6/30 Anders Nilson guitar, C.S. piano,  Dan Shuman bass
7/5 David Farrrer alto sax, Fred Gilde piano, Josh Paris bass

7/7 Gary Levy alto sax, Virg Dzurinko piano, Alex Gressel bass
7/12 Kurt Stockdale tenor sax, C.S. piano, Ray Parker bass
7/14 John Merrill guitar, C.S. piano, Dan Shuman bass
7/19  Anders Nilson guitar, C.S. piano,  Dan Shuman bass

Got a note from Brooklyn Artist Gym in the old in-box yesterday. Shared work space for artists, BAG provides tables, taborets, easels and a large locker for each member in which to store supplies. Additional storage space, including flat files for 2-d work, can be rented for a very small fee. Paintings, drawings, and other works in progress can be stored in our drying racks. Though you share the space with others, you’ll never feel crowded, and often have the space to yourself. It’s a lovely and inspiring space.

Located at 168 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave in Park Slope ( F train to Fourth Avenue stop. M and R to 9th Street.), BAG’s website has more information; bag.com or email them at info@brooklynartistsgym.com

Ours is a beautiful open studio space (3,000 sq. ft.) located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brooklyn Artists Gym is a membership organization that provides a large space in which visual artists can, as members, do their artwork without the prohibitive expense of a private studio.

BAG is also a gallery where artists can, for a small fee, exhibit and sell their work, with no commission taken. It is, above all else, a place where artists can come together with other artists in a supportive creative community.

For only $220/month our artists have 24-hour/7 day a week access to BAG. (That comes out to only about $7.33 per day!) If you agree to join for a six-month period of time, your dues are only $195/month.

Thursday June 21: Brooklyn Reading Works presents
poets Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham reading texts based on Beckett. The
Old Stone House at 8 p.m. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.


Saturday June 23: Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice on
the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope. For more information:
stoopendous.org

An 18-month-old baby was killed after being hit by a car in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon. Cops say the a 86-year-old woman was backing out of her Midwood driveway when the infant boy ran behind the car.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, five people were hurt in East Flatbush, including three pedestirans that were run over by an out-of-control cab driver.

Unbelievable.

Matthew Schlanger and Nyack Weed Killer were the first people we knew who lived in Park Slope. We visited them once in the 1980’s and were thoroughly confused. What is Park Slope? Where are we? We scurried back to the East Village…

Then we moved here and they moved across the street into an identical apartment and we saw a lot of them. We even had impromptu Sunday suppers of the “what’s in your fridge?” variety. They moved to Nyack two or three years ago and Smartmom was sad. She called them, as a joke, the Deserters. She missed NWK’s window boxes and frequent conversation with the two, who were Smartmom’s friends from college.

Matt has a company called BLACK HAMMER, which is a leading developer of CD ROMs, web sites, games, and trade show exhibits. He is also a video artist and is having a show in Nyack. Here’s the scoop:

Hopper House Art Center
82 North Broadway
Nyack, New York
June 30 – July 22nd.
Reception: July 8th 2-5 p.m.
Talk: 3 p.m.