Take note of two special events at the Old Stone House on March 18th and March 22nd.

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 event 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.

Kim Maier, Executive Director of the Old Stone House, was selected as one of 31 Extraordinary Women honored yesterday by Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes as he announced the recipients of his fourth annual Extraordinary Women’s event.

“These exceptional women serve as role models because of their selflessness, dedication and compassion”, Hynes told the crowd. “It is an honor for me to recognize these women for their outstanding work, which benefits the people of Brooklyn.”

To each of the 31 women, Hynes bestowed the title of Special Ambassador to their communities.   “The women come from neighborhoods all throughout Brooklyn.  The honorees all have one thing in common,” said District Attorney Hynes.  “They make Brooklyn a better place to live.”

The 31 Extraordinary Women are: Oraia Reid (Boerum Hill), Paula Shirk (Brooklyn Heights), Christine Moore Vassallo (Boerum Hill), Wai Po Tsang (Sheepshead Bay), Aqila Norris (Bedford Stuyvesant), Laurie Windsor (Bath Beach), Chaya Lipschutz (Borough Park), Suzelle Charles Augustin (Old Mill Basin), Sherif Fraser (East Flatbush), Linda Sarsour (Bay Ridge), Mary D. Allen (East New York), Kathleen Snow (Marine Park), Kimberly Maier (Park Slope), Jodie Reznik (Flatbush), Jeanne B. Lambert (Flatbush),  Megan Kerrigan (Mapleton), E. Colleen Golden (Bay Ridge), Victoria Aviles (Boerum Hill), Elisabeth Stock (Park Slope), Patricia Reddock (East Flatbush), Dale Mc Reynolds (Sheepshead Bay), Candice Anderson (Park Slope), Renee Flowers (Gowanus), Ismay Griffith (Canarsie), Amy Cohen (Carroll Gardens), Bazay Roohi (Coney Island), Margarette D. Tropnas (East  Flatbush), Nancy Carbone (Red Hook), Margaret Cusack (Boerum Hill), Deb Howard (Fort Greene), and Laurel O. Fraser (East Flatbush).

On Sunday, March 14, 2010 Daylight Saving Time goes into effect. Reset your clocks one hour ahead. The time change goes into effect at 2:00 AM.

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.

Yesterday after more than seven years of protest and delays, Bruce Ratner and supporters of the Atlantic Yards project broke ground on the Barclays Center, a home for the New Jersey Nets.

Many of Ratner’s political supporters were there: Paterson, Bloomberg and Markowitz are pictured with shovels. Even Jay-Z (who owns a small part of the Nets) held a shovel.

More than 100 protesters from Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn were also on hand.

The Barclay’s Center is just the first part of Ratner’s proposed 16 tower development, that is opposed by many in Brooklyn.

The arena is set to open in 2012, which sounds awfully soon. It seats 19,000 basketball fans.

OTBKB is a proud sponsor of the upcoming Lyceum Spring Food and Craft Market 2010, which will take place the weekend of May 1 and 2 at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Fourth Avenue at President Street.

The market, covering two floors at the Lyceum, will highlight an impressive array of artisanal goods, including clothing, clocks, home goods, art, gifts, jams, chocolates, cheeses, craft beer and more. There will also be workshops and demos:  learn to bind a book or grab a basic lesson in chocolate making for instance.

So what does artisanal mean exactly? Handcrafted, small batch, human scale, personalized, and unbranded are a few other phrases that help to describe the kinds of things you’ll find at the market.

Over the next 7 weeks I’ll be highlighting some of the artists, whose work you’ll find at the fair. For starters:

You know I love Warpe Designs. I already have one of her beautiful lamps sitting on my writing desk at home. The holes in the lampshade (and all of her work) are individually handpunched to create the embossed effect and openings. Each pattern is unique and “painted with pins” to create this special effect.

My other pick for this week: Can’t Afford ‘Em Clocks. I thought these would make great gifts for the comic book/pop culture fanatic in your life. The artist says: “This is a an old 7″ record that I turned into an awesome wall clock. This clock is decoupaged with scenes from an old, 1990’s Spideman comic. This is a one of a kind piece of wall art that will also tell you the time. The clock has a couple of coats of mod-podge so it will be fine if it gets water or something of that sort on it.” He  can also custom make a clock with your preference of comic, or something else. 

At BAM on Friday, Mar 12 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm, A Place in the Sun (1951) directed by George Stevens with Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters

George Stevens takes on Theodore Dreiser’s monumental opus An American Tragedy in this adaptation featuring Clift in one of his defining roles: an ambitious social climber caught between his pregnant, working class girlfriend (Winters) and a wealthy socialite (Taylor). Each in their prime, Clift and Taylor’s chemistry and beauty are captured in Stevens’ electrifying, erotically-charged close-ups.

This screening is part of a That’s Montgomery Clift, Honey a film festival at BAM, which includes From Here to Eternity, I Confess and more

Our City Councilman in the 39th District, Brad Lander, responds to a recent hate crime in Carroll Gardens:

It’s a cliché, but one worth repeating: one of the best things about our communities in Brooklyn is their diversity. We have people of all races and religions, gay and straight, from an extraordinary array of nationalities.  I love going from a meeting with the Bengali community in Kensington, to an LGBTQ event in Park Slope, to coffee with members of the Italian community in CarrollGardens – sometimes all in the same night!

Unfortunately however, sometimes that diversity is attacked or threatened — and then it’s time for our community to stand up together.  This is one of those times.

Bias Attack in CarrollGardens

I am sorry to report about one such incident that occurred last Monday night. A young man was walking home from a bar in CarrollGardens 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 incidents like this one remind us that there are still people who would seek to divide us from one another and spread hate through our streets.

There is no room for hate or violence of any kind in our community, or anywhere in New York City. As you would expect in our community, the outrage over this incident and support for the victim has been overwhelming – from members of Lambda Independent Democrats, from elected officials, and from neighbors.

On Tuesday night, I released a joint statement with the Speaker of the New York City Council, Christine Quinn, making clear that we were appalled and sickened by the attack, that there is no room for hate or violence, and that we live in an inclusive and welcoming community that will stand up together for all its residents (the full statement is available here).

In the coming days the LGBT community and allies will be taking action to show our support for the victim and call attention to this despicable act. If you would like to receive information about next steps, please email me at info@bradlander.com. In the meantime, I know all our thoughts go out to this young man and his family.

I hear the sound of a helicopter circling outside, due north of my dining room. I am guessing it’s a news copter covering the groundbreaking ceremony over at the Atlantic Yards not all that far from my Third Street apartment.

Yup, today’s the day. After years, yes years, of protest, lawsuits and outrage, today is the official groundbreaking ceremony for Forest City Ratner’s Nets arena at the Atlantic Yards.

It should be quite a scene: Governor David Paterson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and rapper Jay-Z, who is a part-owner of the Nets, are all on hand for the ceremony, which marks the next phase in construction of the 18,000-seat Barclays Center.

“As we break ground on the new Barclays Center, we break open new opportunities for a new generation of New Yorkers,” NY’s embattled governor told the crowd.

According to him, the construction of the Barclay Stadium will create 16,000 union construction jobs and 5,500 permanent jobs.

We shall see.

Next year, there are plans to build three residential buildings, a day care facility, senior center and health care facilities will be built.

If the economic downturn doesn’t stall those plans.

Last week, Developer Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner got approval from the State Supreme Court to use eminent domain to move the project forward.

Ah yes, Eminent Domain. Just look at New London, CT. to see what the abuse of eminent domain can mean to a city. That city used Eminent Domain as a way to knock down buildings to build a Pfizer factory. Well, Pfizer is now leaving and New London is left with vacant acres, where the factory was never built.

Read this excerpt from a November 12, 2009 article in the New York Times:

From the edge of the Thames River in New London, Conn., Michael Cristofaro surveyed the empty acres where his parents’ neighborhood had stood, before it became the crux of an epic battle over eminent domain

Michael Cristofaro in the field in New London, Conn., where his parents lived. The city seized the land for a private “urban village” that was never built. Pfizer’s complex is in the background.

City Councilman Robert M. Pero said, “I’m sure that there are people that are waiting out there to say, ‘I told you so.’”

“Look what they did,” Mr. Cristofaro said on Thursday. “They stole our home for economic development. It was all for Pfizer, and now they get up and walk away.”

At today’s ceremony, opponents of Ratner’s plan from Develop Don’t Destroy, wore masks of the governor, mayor and Marty Markowitz, president, as they gathered near the site.

Did you get a letter from the US Census Bureau? It’s not the Census form, it’s the pre-Census form alerting you that the Census form is on its way.

I got mine and it said that one week from today we will be receiving the actual 2010 Census form in the mail. The Census Bureau wants everyone to fill it out PROMPTLY because your response is IMPORTANT. Results from this Census will be used to help each community get “its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities and many other programs.”

The Census is coming. The Census is coming.

Red fire alarm boxes are about to become a thing of the past.

Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano says deactivating 15,000 of them will save the city $6 million. The Fire Department is also considering closing 20 firehouses, which Cassano says will save the city $37 million.

Apparently, most of the calls they receive from those boxes are false alarms. Cell phones are the way most fires are reported.

About a year ago, Sustainable Flatbush’s Executive Director and its Director of Energy Solutions were strategizing about the best ways to meet the urgent need for energy efficiency upgrades in our neighborhood, to bring down soaring energy costs and reduce our carbon emissions.

With new incentive programs from government and utilities, they  realized the time was right to leverage funds that would bring major energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to Flatbush.

So they conceived the Neighborhood Energy Forum.  For the past year, SF’s Energy Solutions Initiative has been working diligently to bring the Neighborhood Energy Forum to fruition. They have joined forces with a group of sponsors and partners, the Flatbush Development Corporation, the Energy Smart Communities program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), ConEd,  and National Grid.

It all happens on March 20 at the Brooklyn College Student Center, from 9:30 to 2:00.
Admission is free!  Read more about at Sustainable Flatbush.

On March 4th, the Park Slope Civic Council held a public forum at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Church on Fourth Avenue. The purpose: to re-imagine the future of Fourth Avenue. Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Downtown Star sent to me by Gilly Youner, a member of the Civic Council:

Fourth Avenue might be an important Brooklyn artery, but the Champs-Elysees it’s not.

The no-frills motor-way, which branches off of Flatbush Avenue and slices through Brooklyn, is the route of choice for countless cars and trucks each day.

The centerpiece of the evening was a group of panelists who approached the idea of change for Fourth Avenue from different perspectives and professional disciplines. Overall, they floated visions of a brighter, greener, more pedestrian-friendly boulevard.

Panelist David Sweeny,the founder and president of the Public Development Services Corporation, a real-estate development company, characterized the current Fourth Avenue as “abysmally flat and hollow.”

Sweeny encouraged area residents to envision a Fourth Avenue with a neighborhood sensibility, where pedestrians would enjoy strolling. It is a goal he believes could be achieved, in part, by the avenue becoming a home to ground-floor micro retailers. “It would make Fourth Avenue a dynamic, more interesting place,” he said.

Other ideas ushered forth included planting more street trees, creating a scenic median, and north-south bike lanes.

“Fourth Avenue could be one of the next great boulevards of the borough of Brooklyn,” said Craig Hammerman, Community Board 6’s district manager, also a panelist.