According to Gridskipper, an arrest was made following the tense situation on Sunday night in a 9th Street Park Slope when an angry resident refused to leave his home and disarm when the police arrived.

Additionally, we were able to verify that, after more than six hours of negotiations, the situation was resolved without violence. Interestingly, those we spoke to in the police department also let us know about their frustration with the way some folks in the neighborhood responded to the situation.

The Caucus, a New York Times political blog reports that a Hillary Clinton fundraising letter is already out:

Subject: From the bottom of my heart

You and I surprised a lot of people tonight!

In the days after Iowa, I turned to you and asked you to stand with me. When I needed you most, you came through with flying colors.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

All the best,

Hillary

Senator Barack Obama, who came in a close second, says that he’s still fired up and ready to go. “But, in record numbers, you came out and you spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes you made it clear that at this moment in this election there is something happening in America.”

Obama congratulated Hillary Rodham Clinton and had this to say:

“All the candidates in this race have good ideas and all are patriots who serve this country honorably,” Obama said

Finally. And her name isn’t Debbie Almontaser. It’s Holly Reichert. This from NY Daily News:

NEW YORK (AP) — A new principal was hired to head the city’s first Arabic-themed public school, the education department announced Tuesday, five months after the academy’s founding principal said she was forced to resign.

Holly Reichert was to begin leading the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn on Wednesday. The school, which opened last September with about 60 students and emphasizes Arabic and Arab culture, is named for the Lebanese Christian poet and peace advocate.

Reichert, 42, replaces interim principal Danielle Salzberg. Salzberg, who is Jewish and doesn’t speak Arabic, replaced Debbie Almontaser, who stepped down in August after she gave an interview in which she discussed the word “intifada,” an Arabic term commonly used to refer to the Palestinian uprising against Israel.

This just in from a woman who was mugged on Sunday night. The good news is that one of the muggers was caught on Sunday night in the Park. I want to say THANKS to the woman who took the time to write this post as a way to warn women in the neighborhood. She’s been through a lot and still feels violated, frightened and vulnerable. THANK YOU.

I was mugged on my way home Sunday night at around 10:30. From what I’ve heard from neighbors, this has been going on for the past week or so.

I had passed these two kids when I was walking home from the 2 subway at Grand Army Plaza . They must have doubled back, and followed me – I saw them on the other side of the street about 20 feet behind me, but since there were plenty of people around, I felt ok, but very cautious. I turned down my block, and when I turned around, saw that they were following me. All I could think of was I needed to get to my door as soon as possible. I took my keys and my cell phone out of my bag. They came up on my stoop, I heard them and turned around, and then they backed me up against my door, pulled on my coat, telling me to give them the bag.

All I could think of was that they were going to drag me somewhere. The smaller of the two grabbed my bag, and they both ran into the park. I started screaming for people to help me, my downstairs neighbor and one of my other neighbors ran into the park after them, and a bunch of other people came out. My roommate and this other woman called the cops. I really appreciate all my neighbors and what they did for me. The cops came right away, asked me to get in the car, and we were going to drive into the park to see if I could identify them if found.

They ended up catching one of the kids in the park, but the other one got away. They had also dumped my bag and all its contents on a playground. He took my debit and credit card, my leather gloves, and my camera.

Although they didn’t hurt me, I still feel violated. Although they got one of them, I’m still scared.

I have had the satisfaction of identifying one of them. The cops had him in handcuffs near the playground, and asked me if that was one of them, I looked at his face, and immediately knew it was him. He denied it, of course, but the cop told me that when they got him, he had obviously been running, he was pretty winded. It was pretty satisfying knowing that I could identify him, say, “yes, that’s one of them” and that hopefully he’ll be put away.

He was the one that had me against my door and was in my face, but I don’t know if I could recognize the other one. I read up last night on sentencing for this type of crime (I couldn’t sleep), and since the kid has priors, he could actually go to jail for anywhere between 2 and 25 years depending on what classification felony it is.

The ADA called me Monday morning, and told me that the kid had given up his buddy, and the cops were now out looking for him so that they could arrest him. He also told me that since they took my credit cards, it’s a felony. I have to go to the grand jury on Friday. Detectives stopped by last night, and I’ll have to go to a line-up sometime this week to identify the other one, if I can.

Hopefully, these two are the ones who have been mugging other woman in the neighborhood and that there aren’t more of them out there. If this has happened to you recently, you should call the officer on your case, and tell them that you heard that someone had been arrested for a similar crime.

The rash of muggings continues in Park Slope. As recently as Sunday night a woman was mugged. However, one of the muggers was caught in the park and identified by the victim. She has written a longer post about the incident (above).

I have an update on the muggings going on on 8th Ave , and wanted to let people know one of the kids has been arrested, and the cops know who the other one is, and will try to arrest him today. I was mugged Sunday night, and the police were able to catch one of them.

Throughout the day comments came in from readers about Sunday night’s incident on 9th Street. Here’s what readers wrote in. No one seemed to know what happened.

–Watched this out my bedroom window all night…friends and relatives were pleading with the man inside over a block-rocking loudspeaker until at least 3 a.m. There were dogs and SWAT guys on the roof. No sign of the outcome when I left for work this morning. Scary stuff on a very quiet street!

–Yeah, I also live across the street. It was pretty scary. From the announcements over the loudspeaker, it seemed like this was a possible suicide attempt. At one point, they told him to take the gun out of his mouth. They were pleading with him most of the night to come to the window just to let them know he was ok and to drop the gun out the window. Was woken up again around 1:30 a.m. or so to hear them saying that his mother, father and sister were there. They had rigged this phone in a bucket outside his window and were asking to reach into the bucket and call them. I don’t know how it ended. I woke up this morning at 6:30 a.m. and the street was all clear. I would be very curious to find out what happened; I was just really sad to hear this might be a suicide attempt. I hope it all worked out ok.

–does anyone know anything more about this and how it ended? the swat team was on my roof last night – pretty unnerving.

Brooklyn Skeptic had this to add on their blog:

The incident was resolved around 4:30am, when they managed to get Dave away from the building peacefully. The entire block was surrounded in police tape. Anyone trying to get home after 8pm was forced to either find somewhere else to stay, or wait until the standoff was over. My roommates were not allowed to leave our apartment. I was not allowed to get into it.

Someone on Park SLope Parents had this to say:

There is a report on Gothamist. I live across the
street. I think the basics are that he got drunk,
there was a domestic dispute, there were shots fired,
and he refused to come out of the apartment. I did
hear a shot, and the loud speaker with the negotiator
until like 5:30 this morning. Very hard to sleep, it
was right outside my window. Dogs barking, SWAT,
etc

.

Looking for a totally civilized, inspiring, and entertaining thing to do next Sunday afternoon? Check this out. I just got this email about event at the Brooklyn Public Library on January 13th at 4 p.m.

Peter Weitzner is curating a Chamber Music series at the
Brooklyn Public Library’s new auditorium. If you haven’t been there
yet, it’s a great space that’s still Park Slope’s best kept
secret. The programs being offered are pretty impressive. Jonathan
Lethem was there a couple of weeks ago. Russell Banks will be there
on Feb. 1 and there is a complete roster of really great music
happening every weekend.

The first concert in Peter’s series will be next Sunday, January 13
at 4 p.m. It will be a concert of flute and harpsichord music with
artists Susan Rotholz (flute) and Kenneth Cooper (harpsichord), both
world renowned musicians who always have great rapport with their
audiences.

I was watching WABC News at noon today and saw a shot of Mayor Bloomberg in Oklahoma attending a bipartisan forum at Oklahoma University.

The Mayor looked dapper and casual in a red sweater and he was carrying a box of Junior’s cheese cake into the home of some kind of official. He said something like: "Here’s some very intense cheese cake."

Junior’s Cheese Cake represents Brooklyn all over the country. If not the world.

According to New York 1, Bloomberg speaking at the forum said that politicians need to find common ground.

"People have stopped working together. Government is dysfunctional;
there’s no collaboration, and congeniality. There’s no working
together. Let’s do what’s right for the country,” said Bloomberg. “I
think there is no accountability. Nobody’s holding themselves
accountable and to the standards of what they promised when they ran
for office. And I think lastly, there is no willingness to focus on big
ideas."

Just got this tip from a friend about a dangerous situation that started on Sunday night. I’m not sure if it has resolved itself yet. It’s from Gridskipper:

…a man became enraged, intoxicated, and fired a gun in his home on 9th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues sparking a police standoff. The shooter, a young man named David, apparently lost it after arguing with friends and family. Despite initial fears that he had taken hostages, he is currently holed up in his home alone. The block is swarming with police personnel including a hostage negotiation team, armored trucks, and a bomb squad robot.

Sunday morning in front of the PS 321 weekend flea market I saw this:  a truck bearing the name Wafel & Dinges. It looked like they were serving Belgian waffles. There was a bit of a line and then I remembered I had no cash on me.

Unlucky me.  The waffles looked delicious and I was hungry.

The company is apparently thinking of making Park Slope a regular stop on its rounds around NYC. Be on the lookout for these tasty looking waffles in a big yellow truck.

Did anyone try them?

Hey, I just found this post on their BLOG from Wednesday January 2nd. They were going to set up in front of Key Food but parked at 2nd Street and Seventh instead. I wonder how long they wre parked there today. Anyone know?

We’ll be back in Park Slope on Sunday, January 6th. Location will be 7th Avenue and Carrol Street (at the Key Foods).

There is only one place in the world where Wafel & Dinges show is better than in Manhattan… Yes…Brooklyn has the record of eating the most waffles in one day. We haven’t heard from Special Envoy Cynthia W. in a while (would she still be hung over from New Years??), but let’s hope she shows up and orchestrates the visit this time as well….

The Perch Cafe may not be the easiest place for 100 people to gather to hear acoustic music but it was the site of one heck of a show on Saturday night.

Perch is a long skinny restaurant. In the front there are tables, in the middle a bar and in the back there’s a tiny performance space and seating area.

Twenty people would fit comfortably back there and it’s a great place for poetry readings and kid’s concerts where a small group can lounge around and let there kids run wild.

About 100 people packed the house for a night of music by the leaders of Park Slope’s new teenage acoustic music scene. Boy oh boy is there talent in our midst.

I won’t brag, but Henry Crawford performing solo grabs an audience by its neck—and heart—and won’t let go. Last night he was a tad tired after his earlier Union Hall show with his band Mighty Handful but his performance of original songs and a smattering of covers was hard to shake. Go man go. Knockout song: Uptown Drunks.

Kane Dulaney Balser, performing with a terrific bass player and his brother Luca Balser, just breaks your heart with the beauty and craft of his self-penned songs, his voice, and his virtuosic guitar playing. Knockout song: Bright Angel Trail

Calamus, a trio with two guitars and an upright bass plays a mesh of country, swing, bossa nova and folk rock that was really fun and original. Knockout song: Act Like You Didn’t

Closing the night, was the event’s organizer Lily Konigsberg playing with her Elliott Smith influenced duo Window Sign Language. She commands the stage with a restrained and quiet vocal power that’s razor sharp. She never pushes and yet holds the audience in her thrall with her ultra-melodic, wise and introspective tunes. Knockout song: The Slowest Song. Watch out for them in 2008.

Watch out for all of these kids this year. There will definitely be more of these acoustic shows.

Japanese Television was at Union Hall Saturday afternoon taping a show about Care Bears on Fire, the hotter than hot trio, leaders of Park Slope’s kid core scene. They’ve got a record contract, a CD that’s gotten a lot of press, and one of the band members performs in a Converse television ad.

A crowd began to gather on the steps leading down to Union Hall’s basement performance space at around 1:30 when Care Bears was finishing their sound check and Mighty Handful was getting just started.

The downstair’s space is neon lit and highly atmospheric like a 1950’s union hall. I guess that’s what it was. There’s a full bar for adults and special drinks for kids like Worm Punch and Hot Chocolate.

The room was packed with fans and friends of Mighty Handful when the band began to play at 3 p.m. In the audience, there were also lots of parents and young kids (3-13), who make up the Care Bears audience.

When Mighty Handful’s fans started moshing, some of the parents got agitated and asked them to stop. The kids didn’t seem to mind but some of the really little kids might have gotten trampled by the unbridled rock and roll energy of the dancers.

Mighty Handful, as the name suggests, is a wildly energetic and eclectic mesh of musical influences and styles. The lead singers (Henry Crawford and Jack Ferenz) definitely project a Mick and Keith vibe, as they riff off of one another and sing and move emotively.

While this was their very first gig, the band members are veterans of other bands and there’s a level of comfort when it comes to stage performance. Everyone seemed highly committed and creative. The energy level and chemistry between the band members was intense.

All I can say is this: I was blown away and am very excited about the prospects for this brand new band. Their next show is at the Cake Shop in February.

Care Bears show began at 4 p.m. and the room was stuffed to the gills with their young fans. I had to leave but Hepcat stayed around. He was very impressed and said their punk pop sound is very tight and very professional. He loved the drummer and said that the singer/guitarist really knows what she’s doing.

Check out this week’s PS I Love You column by OTBKB friend and fave, Wendy Ponte:

Every time I pass by the Barnes & Noble on Seventh Avenue, I remember how I met my boyfriend there. Not the most romantic of meeting spots — I might have preferred the park, or maybe something a more literary like at a reading at the Old Stone House — but nonetheless it was our meeting place and so lovely a moment that the store is inextricably connected to our relationship in my memory.

After 14 years of living here, Park Slope is full of place memories for me — spots that are inextricably attached to a specific event. Around the New Year, I find myself thinking about them even more often.