Late night treats at The Costello Plan: Ditmas Park Blog
North 7th Street Bloomblight: NY Shitty
Stalled construction site collapses during “March Madness” storm: Sheepshead Bites
Marine Park devastated in storm: Gerritsen Beach
Adult sailing lessons: Gerristsen Beach
Second fatal shooting: The Local
Mugging on Minna and Dahill: Kensington Prospect
Key Food opens: Bay Ridge Blog
Umbrella graveyard: I Love Franklin Avenue
Daniel Meeter, the pastor at Old First Church, and Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim, sat down for an interview with the Brooklyn Paper’s Gersh Kuntzman. Here in an excerpt the two men of the cloth discuss intolerance:
GK: So where does intolerance come from?
DM: It comes from fear. Many people fear that God will not come through for us. Or they fear that God won’t protect us. They fear someone who is dirty or someone who makes them feel dirty. Even squirrels have fear. You can’t get rid of it. You have to deal with fear. The question is how we deal with it. Do you project it or do you work your way through it?
GK: But God does not protect us.
DM: He doesn’t protect us from being humans. He does not go around protecting us from having bodies. We don’t see God as a constant interventionist. A lot of people want that from their gods, like Zeus of old.
AB: An analogy that I like is watching parents at the tot lot in Prospect Park. At 6-18 months, a parent is stooped over every step so the child doesn’t hurt himself. And at a certain point, the child says, whether in gibberish or English, “Leave me alone.” A mature adult understands that the ultimate test of the covenant relationship with God is that we have to take control at some point. God could not stop 9-11 or the Holocaust. Humans treat each other in an abominably poor way. People say, “Where was God?”
Here’s an excerpt from Pardon Me for Asking about last night’s unity vigil against hate crimes in Carroll Gardens. Oh, and she’s got video.
A very large crowd gathered on Luquer Street on Monday evening, in a show of unity against intolerance in Carroll Gardens. In solidarity, the community had gotten together for a candle light vigil to show support for a 22-year old victim, who had been viciously attached by five thugs as he was walking on Luquer Street near Hamilton Avenue. The attachers had yelled anti-gay slurs at him.Many of our elected officials showed up to speak. There was also an impressive police presence from the 76th Precinct. Captain Corey and members of the precinct’s Community Affairs unit were there.
Two nights after throwing my first-ever dinner party, I was lucky enough to attend a dinner party at Park Slope’s Melt Restaurant.
Of course, I paid $50 for the privilege of attending this dinner party, but it was well worth the money. Hosted by momasphere.com, an organization that creates innovative events and programs for moms of all ages, the intimate evening began with an informal cooking class.
The event was billed as “How to Prepare a Restaurant-Class Dinner for Four for Under $20!” but the real draw was Melt’s executive chef, New Zealand born and bred celebrity “Top Chef” contender Mark Simmons, who is not only charming and informative (and talented), but also quite easy on the eyes. Simmons wasn’t the only New Zealand import of the night. The wine of choice was Savee Sea Pinot Noir Marlborough from New Zealand (2008).
Once we had settled in at the bar with a glass of wine, Simmons wowed the group of eight moms with his recipe for Beer and Honey Braised Lamb Shank with truffled polenta and charred asparagus.
“It’s all about trying to create a meal for your friends and family without breaking the budget,” said Simmons, who noted that the lamb shanks cost about $3.50/lb.
Simmons invited the ladies to join him in Melt’s cozy kitchen so he could show us how the pros work.
The secret to Simmons’ recipe is the mix of fresh spices, including lavender flower which he grows in his backyard, green cardamon, coriander seed, cumin seed and white pepper corn.
“If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you should run out and get one,” said Simmons. “People say variety is the spice of life, but I say freshly roasted ground spices are the spice of life.”
His other tip: buy lamb and other meat products at Los Paisanos, a small butchery at 162 Smith Street.
After seasoning the shanks with the spice mix and salt, Simmons dusted them with flour and then braised them (for non-cooks: braising means cooking in liquid with a cover).
“I like braising a lot because it imparts flavor into meat,” said Simmons, who likened the dish to an orchestra. “The spices are the percussion.”
Luckily for us, Simmons had prepped the meal in advance so we didn’t have to wait three hours for the lamb to be ready to eat.
We began the meal with a tantalizing amuse bouche of marinated baby beets with house made lavender-infused ricotta.
We oohed and ahhed at the delicately flavored grits and the tasty charred asparagus.
The lamb was so tender it fell easily off the bone. The group was collectively skeptical that we could pull off such a culinary masterpiece on our own at home.
“All my kids want to eat are frozen waffles,” said one mom.
“You should challenge yourself in the kitchen regularly,” said Simmons and we all nodded at the notion.
Of course, he’s right, but it’s easier said than done.
“No offense, Mark, but I will never be trying this at home,” said one mom of two young tots.
To be honest, I don’t think I’ll be cooking up lamb shanks anytime soon either, but it’s a nice idea.
“So what do you cook when you get home?” I asked him.
“Sometimes after I’ve been cooking all day, I want a break from the kitchen. My wife understands,” said Simmons.
“Any last questions for me?” he asked the group.
“Can we have your home phone number?” one mom asked and we all broke up laughing.
If you want to try some of Simmons’ cooking, keep in mind that Melt is participating in Brooklyn’s Restaurant Week a.k.a. “Dine in Brooklyn,” which starts today and runs through March 25. In fact, Melt is extending the $25.00 dinner prix fixe promotion til March 31st. The menu will change weekly, so if you want you can try something new each week.
The South By Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW) begins on Wednesday in Austin Texas. When it’s all over on Sunday, 2,000 band will have played multiple sets at over 100 venues. I’ll be attending SXSW and filing daily reports about it all this week at Now I’ve Heard Everything. I start today here with an overview, and a few words on how I figure out who I’m seeing.
Also over at Now I’ve Heard Everything, there’s a very tasty video of Christine Ohlman singing Take Me to the River. Christine won’t be at SXSW but she’s been a sing with the Saturday Night Live Band for years now. Check it out here.
–Eliot Wagner
From McBrooklyn:
At 8 p.m. Sunday evening more than 1,000 homes in Brooklyn were still without power in the aftermath of Saturday’s nor’easter. Con Edison has been busy all day — more than 10,000 were without power Sunday morning. The map above was produced by Con Ed’s Storm Center. Each colorful little group of triangles represents multiple outages.
Customers are urged to call Con Edison immediately to report any outages at 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).
No place for hate crime in our neighborhood: Pardon Me for Asking
Atlantic Yards a job creation engine?: Atlantic Yards Report
Upstart could bring Hip-Hop to the Hill: City Limits
How to bring healthy food to underserved nabes: City Limits
Hannah Senesh drops controversial plan to expand into garden: McBrooklyn
Over the Brooklyn Bridge for a free Tibet: McBrooklyn
Albany reform group led by Koch: City Room
Yoga license rebellion may soon claim victory: NY Times
Embracing NY Law by Leon Freilich: NY Times
Councilman Levin says no to Domino Sugar project in Williamsburg: Brooklyn Paper
Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.
Four-time divorcee Tammy Wynette is the subject of a biography just published by Jimmy McDonough.
Stand by Your Man–
The Hillary Version
Stand on your man
Dig in until he’s bleedin’
And knows just what he done wrong
When he ran roun’ a-seedin’
Stand on your man
And tell the folks you hate him
Cause he was bad since he began
Stand on your man
Stand on your man
And try forgettin’ the times
The bastard knocked you on your can
Stomp on your man!
BLARNEYPALOOZA: On Thursday, March 18th at 8PM, Brooklyn Reading Works presents Blarneypalooza, a literary celebration of Irish writers, music and influence planned with Saint Patrick’s Day in mind. Donation: $5
Ann Beirne, Jill Eisenstadt, Barbara O’Dair, David Freiman, Greg Fuchs, Patrick Brian Smith, and Michele Madigan Somerville.will read/perform at the historic Old Stone House in Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.
POETS FOR HAITI: On Monday, March 22 at 8PM at the Old Stone House, Louise Crawford and Michele Madigan Somerville present POETS FOR HAITI, an entertaining and inspiring benefit designed to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti.
Poets/performers Sharon Mesmer, Joanna Sit, Wanda Phipps, Roy Nathanson, Bill Evans, Ellen Ferguson, Christopher Stackhouse and more will performa the Old Stone House in Washington Park in Park Slope (Fifth Avenue and Third Street). Donation $10. for Doctors Without Borders.
Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry “Caesar!” Speak, Caesar is turn’d to hear.Soothsayer:
Beware the ides of March.Caesar:
What man is that?Brutus:
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
Sarah Deming met vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu at the Tea Lounge to discuss her composition “Red Sands, Raging Waters,” which she will perform at McCarren Hall in Williamsburg on Friday, March 26.
Based on an ancient Chinese narrative form called Shuo-chang (literally, “talk-sing”) and Brazilian poetry, “Red Sands, Raging Waters” features Portuguese, Mandarin, Tetum, and Taiwanese vocals (Shyu), dance (Satoshi Haga), clarinet (Ivan Barenbaum), cello (Daniel Levin), vibraphone (Chris Dingman), and percussion (Satoshi Takeshi). For more information, go here.
Sarah: Tell me about the genesis of this piece.
Jen: I got a commission to compose a new vocal work for the Jazz Gallery. At the time, I was traveling through China and Taiwan studying Shuo-chang and other traditional music, and the motif of flooding seemed to show up everywhere. After I gave a concert one night, we had to drive home through knee-deep rainwater. A month later, the day after I left China for Taiwan, someone read my Mayan horoscope and told me my sign was “Red Moon,” whose power is “Universal Water” and whose essence is to purify. The next day, I read an email from my host in China, saying that the day after I’d left, the pipes had burst in her apartment where I stayed! I thought of this story of a girl who caused flooding wherever she went. Then I learned this Chinese legend about a flood hero named Da Yu or “Yu the Great,” because my friend in Beijing was named after him. I collaborated with a poet named Patricia Magalhaes, who wrote Portuguese lyrics based on the Da Yu myth.
Sarah: What’s the myth about?
Jen: Yu’s father had unsuccessfully tried to save China from flooding by building dams. Yu succeeded by digging canals instead. Taoists love this story because it demonstrates the superiority of working with nature’s flow, rather than trying to subdue it. It’s also about the conflict between love and duty. Yu married his wife but he only spent five days with her before he had to leave. He told her to name their son Qi (啟) which means “Five Days” after the number of days they shared. They say Yu passed his own door three times while busy fighting the floods. The first time, his wife was giving birth. The second time, his son was taking his first steps. The third time, his son was waving at him and begging him to come home. But Yu never went inside. The same night I learned about Da Yu, a woman served me tea named after him, and she said, “He didn’t love his wife.” This was different than all historical accounts about him, which praised his abandoning his family in order to fight the flood waters. I wanted to give the wife and her suffering a voice in the piece, too.
Sarah: Is it important for the audience to understand all the words you are singing?
Jen: Well, I had a program with translations for the premiere of the piece. I’ve tried singing parts of it in English, but I felt it ruined the mystery. I like giving people a reason to absorb other cues, to look deeper. If they don’t understand the story, they can make up their own. When you go to a ritual, you don’t try to understand it – you just experience it. Maybe one day I’ll write some simple love songs, I don’t know! But I fear cliché. Even if the source material is transparent, like a folksong text, I want the music to retain some mystery. Just like people have mystery. At least, the people worth knowing.
Sarah: What kind of music did you grow up listening to?
Jen: Mostly classical. I played piano and violin, and my brother played piano and clarinet, so there was always a lot of practicing, and we entered competitions. My dad would make us these great cassette tapes with all the movements and names of classical pieces written out in his beautiful handwriting.
Sarah: When did you decide to use your own ancestry as an inspiration for your music?
Jen: My degree at Stanford was in classical singing, but I had started singing with some jazz ensembles, and I was reconsidering my path. I met this activist/saxophonist Francis Wong, who said to me, “Why don’t you check out your roots for inspiration?” Nobody had ever said this to me before. I dug out these Taiwanese folksongs my father had given me, and I started to learn and arrange them. Then I gave a demo to Steve Coleman in New York, and he told me, “You have a nice voice, but what do you want to do with it?” I told him I was thinking of going to Taiwan to study indigenous music, and he said, “What are you waiting for? You could die tomorrow.” He was right. We build up walls of excuses. I quit my teaching gig and broke the lease on my apartment. My parents were willing to help me pay for the trip, and I realized I couldn’t let pride stand in my way.
Sarah: I love the strength of your voice.
Jen: When I started singing as a kid it was in musical theatre, so I’ve always loved the strong voice. I find myself channeling Cassandra Wilson sometimes. I love the incredible depth and richness she has. You hear the air behind it. And even though what she does is difficult, she makes it sound easy, like water falling down. I’m over my “pretty singing” phase, and now I am interested in more primal emotion. Like these villagers I would listen to in Taiwan. They would be doing their work, chewing betelnut – none of this protective singer crap – and then they would open their mouths and the most beautiful sound would come out. It had nothing to do with technique. Knowledge comes in many different forms.
IN PRAISE OF YERBA MATE
Like great music, yerba mate is meant to be shared. The Tea Lounge serves mate the way it’s served in South America: in a gourd with a metal straw called a bombilla. The gourd can be refilled many times, the mate becoming sweeter and milder with each re-steeping. Mate is high in Magnesium, slightly bitter, and strangely addictive. As the adorable barista Matthew remarked, “It’s caffeinated, but in a different way than coffee. It gives you a mellow feeling. The more you drink it, the more you want to drink.”
I heard from my friend over at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn who had tree troubles during the weekend storm.
Our big, Ol’ evergreen came down in the storm as did our neighbor’s…completely uprooted. No damage but phone and Internet service out(sending this on bb). My daughter her way to her weekend job on Cortelyou road took this photo of a tree that blew over onto a house at East 17th and Foster. Will send u a pic of our tree down separately..rough winter or global warming here we come?
A member of Park Slope Parents had this report from Prospect Park:
I just ran the loop and saw at least 15 large trees down–two blocking the road on the back side. Third st playground has two trees down on top of the playground equipment and another large one down on the road.
Diaper Diva has been stressing lately about where to send Ducky for summer camp. She just couldn’t decide — and there are so many choices (and they’re all so expensive).
As is often the case, she called Smartmom to meet for coffee at Sweet Melissa (Dumb Editor note: That is not a cheap plug for a fellow Brooklyn Paper columnist!), where they have most of their “there’s something I need to discuss with you” conversations.
Smartmom could tell that Diaper Diva had done her homework. She knew about all the camps in the area. She’d been online, read the mailers, and garnered a boatload of information from other parents, who were stressing about the very same thing.
“Scone-loving Mom is sending her daughter to Beth Elohim,” she said. “And Flirty Dad is sending his son to Park Explorers,” Diaper Diva told Smartmom.
The Diva was reeling with stories about what all the other kids are doing this summer. Buddha knows, she wanted the same for her daughter. It would be downright cruel to deprive Ducky of all that fun.
Would Ducky enjoy an arts camp? A drama camp? A traditional day camp with bug juice and lanyards? A daily trips camp? A tennis camp? A soccer camp?
The possibilities were limitless — but Diaper Diva’s budget is not. In these dark economic times, it’s not like money is growing on the trees in Prospect Park.
So Smartmom made a radical proposal: How about not sending Ducky to camp?
Diaper Diva looked like she might fall over. She was uncharacteristically speechless. Her face went pale, and Smartmom thinks she saw her head spin around. Twice. The Diva looked at Smartmom like she had just proposed sending Ducky to Fresh Kills landfill for the summer.
“What about the summer she’s entitled to?” Diaper Diva sputtered.
Entitled to?
Since when does a 5-year-old have to go to summer day camp? Sure, Diaper Diva and Smartmom went to day camps. But back in the 1960s and ’70s, you didn’t have to take out a second mortgage to afford it. And the truth is, they didn’t even like Hudson Day Camp and used to write musicals, yes musicals, which they performed for their parents, about how much they hated that camp.
So who’s got the entitlement issues? Smartmom thinks it’s the parents. Truth is, it’s perfectly OK to not spend money you don’t have on some inflated sense of what summer has to be. The kids will survive. They really will. But will the parents?
If she’s unemployed, Diaper Diva might be around in July, and she and Ducky can do Camp Mom (as one friend of Smartmom calls it) and go to local pools, zoos, museums and parks. If the Diva is working, their wonderful babysitter can take Ducky.
There was an odd moment of truth between the sisters. Then Diaper Diva went in for the kill.
“What about you? You always sent Teen Spirit to day camp,” Diaper Diva asserted. Clearly, she was looking for a loophole in Smartmom’s idea.
It was true. But they sent him to the inexpensive Park Explorers, which he loved, for years and years. The Oh So Feisty One hated day camp from the get-go. And that was that.
People complain that kids these days feel so entitled, but isn’t it the parents who set that up? Isn’t it the parents who, in an effort to outdo their own childhoods, insist that their children have an action-packed life filled with 24/7 activities that cost lots of money?
Diaper Diva thought about it. And then she thought some more. It was a radical idea. It was also, she realized, liberating.
There was no reason that she had to do exactly what all the other parents are doing. Sure, it would be fun for Ducky to go to that camp in Staten Island (which costs upwards of $2,500), but maybe this just isn’t the summer to do it.
And the kids will be just fine swimming at the Red Hook pool, touring around Central Park, visiting the Museum of Natural History.
It’s the parents who feel deprived if they have to say no; that’s the toughest word in the English language — for the parents, not the kids, though.
We switched to daylight savings time this morning at 2AM. You probably know by now. But it’s that spring forward thing. In other words, you lost an hour.
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vindicated Debbie Almontaser, the Muslim teacher who helped found Brooklyn’s Khalil Gibran International Academy.
The Commission said that the city Education Department discriminated against the former principal, when they forced her to resign, a federal commission ruled this week.
“DOE succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel,” the commission wrote this week, finding Almontaser faced discrimination on “the basis of her race, religion, and national origin.”
No comment as yet from Almontaser but she is still seeking to return to the job of leading Khalil Gibran. Her lawyer, Alan Levine, said he was “gratified.” “Debbie Almontaser was victimized twice, first when she was subjected to an ugly smear campaign orchestrated by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigots, and second when the DOE capitulated to their bigotry,” he told the NY Daily News (who reported this story).
The wind is really howling out there and there’s a tree down on Cortelyou Road. You can see more pictures at Ditmas Park Blog. There are almost certainly other trees down on this stormy, yucky night in other neighborhoods of Bklyn.
BLARNEYPALOOZA: On Thursday, March 18th at 8PM, Brooklyn Reading Works presents Blarneypalooza, a literary celebration of Irish writers, music and influence planned with Saint Patrick’s Day in mind. Donation: $5
Ann Beirne, Jill Eisenstadt, Barbara O’Dair, David Freiman, Greg Fuchs, Patrick Brian Smith, and Michele Madigan Somerville.will read/perform at the historic Old Stone House in Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.
POETS FOR HAITI: On Monday, March 22 at 8PM at the Old Stone House, Louise Crawford and Michele Madigan Somerville present POETS FOR HAITI, an entertaining and inspiring benefit designed to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti.
Poets/performers Sharon Mesmer, Joanna Sit, Wanda Phipps, Roy Nathanson, Bill Evans, Ellen Ferguson, Christopher Stackhouse and more will performa the Old Stone House in Washington Park in Park Slope (Fifth Avenue and Third Street). Donation $10. for Doctors Without Borders.
FILM
–Alice in Wonderland, The Ghost Writer, Shutter Island at BAM.
–Also at BAM It’s Montgomery Clift, Honey festival of the actor’s films.
MUSIC.
–Saturday at 8:30 at the Jewish Music Cafe: Kol Dodi and the 7 ft. bassist, Jootsy Szaba
ART
–Mary Ting, Excerpts from the Dysfunctional Forest at Kentler International in Red Hook through March 28th
–Battlefields, the first New York solo exhibition by Nebojsa Seric-Shoba. Taken over a 10 year period (from 1999 to 2009), the featured photographic works, documentations of actual battlefields, call into question the autonomy of “place:” the disparity that exists between historical events and the geographic locations in which they occur. Dumbo Arts Center through April 25th
THEATER
Saturday and Sunday at the Old Stone House: The Crucible directed by Claire Beckman. Brave New World Repertory Theatre presents an exciting, site specific adaptation of the Arthur Miller classic. $18. Reservations necessary. Order tickets and reserve on-line at www.bravenewworldrep.org or call 718-768-3195. I just found out that the run is sold out but maybe there’s a waiting list.
David Yassky, the former City Councilman for the 33rd District (which includes parts of Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Williamsburg and Greenpoint), has been nominated by Mayor Bloomberg to head the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission .
I’d been hearing rumors for weeks and the mayor announced Yasskys nomination on his weekly radio show. Does anyone listen to that show? Just curious.
After his failed run for city comptroller in November I was wondering what Yassky was going to do next. So here’s the answer. The nomination is subject to approval by the City Council.
Here’s what Bloomberg had to say in statement reprinted in the NY Times:
“David is the right guy for the job. He led the way in the Council in introducing fuel-efficient taxis to the City, part of our PlaNYC agenda, and as former Chairman of the Small Business Committee, he’s familiar with the issues and concerns of running a small business and many taxi drivers are in fact small business owners.”
I interviewed Peter Hedges about his new novel, The Heights a few weeks ago. We had a interesting and far reaching conversation and I can’t wait for you all to see.
His first novel “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” was made into an acclaimed film that introduced Johnny Depp to the world. Hedges also directed the beautiful, Pieces of April with Katie Holmes and Patricia Clarkson.
My interview will be up and running on Monday. Stay tuned.
Peter Hedges scores with his new book, The Heights, about Tim and Kate Welch, parents who live in the upscale neighborhood on Tim’s salary as a teacher at the fictional “Montague Academy.”
When his wife gets a good job in Manhattan Tim is able to quit his teaching job become a stay at home dad and finish his dissertation.
The trouble starts when Anna Brody, a mysterious, alluring and fabulously rich mother buys the biggest house in the nabe and the Welches are forced to grapple with issues of friendship, fidelity, parenting, money, envy and the ties that bind.
In this breezy, intelligent third novel by Hedges, who also wrote the book and film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, the author uses humor, smarts, good plotting and excellent observations of the Brooklyn Heights life to tell his human tale. He creates believable characters that are interesting, quirky and complex.
Most importantly, he sketches an insiders view of the upper crust world of Brooklyn Heights complete with references to the 100-year-old Brooklyn Heights Association, familiar locattions, cafes with (sometimes but not always) fictional names, and people you can truly imagine at the Promenade Playground.
One of my favorite scenes comes after Anna’s daughter is injured in a playground accident:
“Earlier that night Sophie Brody-Ashworth tripped over/slipped off/fell headfirst from the top of the circular slide at Pierrepont Playground. Her mother, Anna, saw the whole thing happen/dind’t see a thing, wasn’t even at the playground. Sophie’s injury was just a scarpe/a deep cut/a nasty gash that exposed her skull bone…
Hedges is a pro when it comes to telling good stories. In addition to writing Gilbert Grape, he directed Pieces of April (a film I loved), Dan in Love and About a Boy.
It great to have a talent like this writing about the neighborhood life in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), in partnership with the MetroTech BID, seeks proposals from Brooklyn-based artists and collectives for artwork to be installed on construction fences on 3 sites in downtown Brooklyn.
Proposed works should have strong visual impact and should be accessible and appropriate for the general public. Artists are encouraged to create installations that fit within the context of the site and create a visual identity for the area. Applicants may apply for more than one site and are required to complete separate applications for each site. Three artists/collectives will be chosen, one artist/group for each site.
Chosen artists/collective will receive a $1,000 fee for honorarium. Each site includes a supply budget not to exceed $2,700. For more details and to apply visit http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/documents/1413.
Deadline: April 5, 2010 by 5 pm
39th district City Councilman Brad Lander is joining with Lambda Independent Democrats and other elected officials (including the Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Borough President Marty Markowitz), Carroll Gardens community leaders and neighbors for a vigil scheduled for Monday night at the site of a hate crime attack. Here’s the note from Lander.
As I reported yesterday, a despicable incident occurred in our neighborhood last Monday night. A young man was walking home from a bar in Carroll Gardens when he was attacked by five individuals who hurled anti-gay slurs at him while beating him severely. Fortunately, the victim of the attack has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, but we want to make sure that we show our support for him and make clear to everyone that there is no room for hate or violence of any kind in our community, or anywhere in New York City .
On Monday night, I will join Lambda Independent Democrats, other elected officials (including the Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Borough President Marty Markowitz), Carroll Gardens community leaders and neighbors for a vigil at the site of the attack. We need to make clear that we are all appalled and sickened by the attack and that we live in an inclusive and welcoming community that will stand up together for all its residents.
I hope you will join me in showing your support for the victim, your outrage over this incident, and your commitment to a community that is united against hate.
What: Community vigil against hate
When: Monday, March 15th at 8:30pm
Where: Luquer Street , between Clinton and Hamilton
Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Paper’s story:
The city has approved a Park Slope private school’s expansion plan, a controversial scheme that vexes some residents who fear that the new building will undermine the neighborhood’s historic character.
On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 8-0 in favor of the Berkeley Carroll School’s one-story annex and rooftop playground at the rear of its campus on Lincoln Place between Seventh and Eighth avenues.
The addition is four feet taller — and occupies a larger footprint — than an existing portion of the school that will be razed.
The project was approved because it “does not involve the removal of historic fabric, and the addition is not visible from a public thoroughfare,” said Landmarks spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon…
…Some residents of St. Johns Place, whose backyards abut the Berkeley Carroll School, vow to fight on.
“The community will not stand by and allow … a project so antagonistic to the neighbors,” said John Muir.
Dalaga has pretty dresses all year round and of course they have pretty dresses for spring AND they were mentioned in New York Magazine for Best Dresses – Best of New York Shopping 2010 — New York Magazine http://nymag.com/bestofny/shopping/2010/dresses/#ixzz0hytuRzVi
The shop is in Greenpoint near the water, a fun place to go. 150 Franklin St., nr. Greenpoint Ave., Greenpoint; 718-389-4049. And here’s what New York Mag had to say:
A lot of boutiques only stock a few dress styles, preferring to focus on easier-to-fit (and therefore faster-selling) categories like T-shirts, knits, and accessories. At Dalaga, Michelle Mangiliman puts an emphasis on the category, so her selection is far more inclusive; you’re just as likely to find a party-appropriate formfitting LBD or vintage-inspired silk style as a crisp, office-appropriate belted shirtdress from a brand like Holy G, BB Dakota, or Alexandra Grecco. Given its neighborhood clientele of twenty- to thirtysomethings, the prices rarely get much over $100, but Mangiliman vets her suppliers for quality and brings in new pieces weekly to appeal to the crowd that might amble past after brunch at Five Leaves.
