On this very, very hot day, here’s the latest info on equipment problems and reduced voltage in parts of Brooklyn from Con Edison:

Because of problems on electrical cables supplying power to eight Brooklyn neighborhoods, Con Edison has reduced voltage by 8 percent to that area.

•    The neighborhoods are Vinegar Hill, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill.

•    The affected area is bounded by the East River on the north and west, South Oxford Street and Fifth Avenue on the east, and Third Street/Fourth Street on the south. The area includes approximately 51,500 metered customers.

•    Last night, the company announced voltage reduction in a number of other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.

•    Company crews are working now to repair the problems. Con Edison has asked customers in the affected areas to turn off electrical appliances to help reduce electricity usage until equipment problems can be resolved.

•    The equipment problems in the affected areas have no effect on the rest of the Con Edison system. Con Edison will provide updates to affected customers both directly and through the media as the situation warrants.  The company is in constant communication with the New York City Office of Emergency Management.

Brownstoner responds to the Times’ article comparing the cost of living in the Slope with Orange, NJ. Here’s an excerpt:

New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living in Park Slope versus Orange, NJ found that a family of four with a household income of $170,000 could actually live more inexpensively in Brooklyn than Jersey.

Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.

Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn ponders frying an egg on the sidewalk. Here’s what he had to say:

The Times City Room threw caution to the wind and tried to fry an egg on the sidewalk.  I have to give the reporter Andy Newman credit for venturing outside on a day when only Mad Dogs, Englishmen, and the kebab and felafel carts venture out. While the experiment resulted in some lightly cooked tuna, the eggs proved less than satisfactory. Based on our extensive Google research, the Library of Congress reports that, yes, it is theoretically (damn their eyes – there is that word again) possible to cook an egg on the sidewalk, but it is unlikely that the sidewalk would get hot enough.

LoC reports: An egg needs a temperature of 158°F to become firm. In order to cook, proteins in the egg must denature (modify), then coagulate, and that won’t happen until the temperature rises enough to start and maintain the process.

The City Room was on the right track using a frying pan, since metal is a better conductor of heat than just plopping the egg on the concrete. But wo-be-tide to we New Yorkers should it ever approach that chilling temperature. But standing around trying to fry an egg  at 103 degrees Fahrenheit just ain’t gonna cut it.

Once, when our kids were younger, I amused them on a long car ride home from upstate by making nachos: melting little bits of cheese on Doritos using the car cigarette lighter. Now that’s entertainment!  (My Better Half was suitably unimpressed.)…

Read the rest at DITHOB

Double D Pool: a public pool at Nevins Street between Degraw and Douglas Streets in the Park Slope/Gowanus area.

Coney Island: Take the F train all the way to Stillwell Avenue

The Movies: at BAM or the Pavilion

Shop at Target at the Atlantic Mall: It’s air conditioned

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is open Tuesday–Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed Mondays

Brooklyn Public Library is always cool

The Daily News picked up a story from Ink Lake via Gothamist but neglected to attribute the story. Here’s an excerpt from Ink Lake about what happened:

When I wrote on Wednesday about the missing shoe on the Upper West Side, I was glad to see the story was picked up by Gothamist. That night, I got e-mail from Moshe Billet, the shoe-finder, saying the Daily News must have read my blog, because they had contacted him. I wrote back, saying that I was sure they had first seen it in Gothamist.

So the next day, I was happy, and not surprised to see the story in the News, and on their web site. But I was kind of surprised to see nothing mentioning that this was in fact, my story.

I called the News’s City Desk, and asked to be connected to Bill Hutchinson, the reporter whose byline the story ran under. I got his voice-mail, and left a message.

After a couple of hours, I hadn’t heard back from him, and was getting more and more annoyed. I called Hutchinson again. This time, he picked up…

Read the rest at Ink Lake

Oposums in Carroll Gardens: Pardon Me for Asking

Furniture Mattress closing: NY Shitty

In spite of not being able to see fireworks…: McBrooklyn

McB is back from vacation: McBrooklyn

Bike billboards: yay or nay: Sheepshead Bites

Quad crazies: Gerritsen Beach

Park Slope cheap eats: Effed in Park Slope

Those huge bikes: Clinton Hill Chill

Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
506 AM EDT TUE JUL 6 2010

…HOT AND INCREASINGLY MORE HUMID…

.A WARM RIDGE ALOFT AND SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE MID
ATLANTIC STATES WILL KEEP HOT AND INCREASINGLY MORE HUMID
CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH MID WEEK.

NYZ072>076-062315-
/O.CON.KOKX.HT.Y.0002.000000T0000Z-100707T2300Z/
NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX-RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)-
KINGS (BROOKLYN)-QUEENS-
506 AM EDT TUE JUL 6 2010

…HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT WEDNESDAY…

A HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT WEDNESDAY.

THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES AROUND 100 DEGREES AND GRADUALLY
INCREASING HUMIDITY LEVELS WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES OF
100 TO 104 DEGREES TUESDAY AFTERNOON. HIGH TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON ARE EXPECTED TO REACH IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S…WITH
HEAT INDEX VALUES OF 95 TO 99 DEGREES. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE IN
THE LOWER 80S TONIGHT AND TUESDAY NIGHT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

When I was a  young mom I fantasized about a house with a backyard. I believed that my children would be happier and healthier if they had outdoor space to run wild in, a garden lush with hydrangeas and home grown tomatoes, and a playroom big enough for all their toys and even a ping pong table.

Yes, a ping pong table.

I thought about this last night at my apartment building’s annual fourth of July barbecue.

As usual, Mr. Kravitz set up a make-shift serving table with boards from the basement placed artfully on top of three garbage pails covered by an orange plastic table cloth.

When Mr. Kravitz fired up the grill, neighbors brought wine, beer, and platters of meats, vegetables, and salads downstairs as if on cue and the serving table was filled with a veritable potluck feast

It was a hot night and Mr. Kravitz’s face was turning deep red as he turned an assortment of grilled lamb burgers, Hebrew National hot dogs, turkey burgers and corn on the grill.

By 7PM the front yard was jammed with an enthusiastic group of adults and children from the building and nearby buildings busily eating, drinking and talking.

I have been to so many of these barbecues. Not only have I lost count but they all blur together. The children sort of blur together, too.

In my mind’s eye, I could see a young Teen Spirit and his best friend who moved away standing by the Weber carefully wrapping graham cracker sandwiches of marshmallows and Hershey chocolate in Reynolds Wrap and tossing them into the fire.

In my mind’s eye, I could see OSFO and her best friend standing at the Weber carefully wrapping graham cracker sandwiches of marshmallows and Hershey chocolate in Reynolds Wrap and tossing them into the fire.

Last night I watched the latest generation of young children standing at the Weber carefully wrapping graham cracker sandwiches of marshmallows and Hershey chocolate in Reynolds Wrap and tossing them into the fire.

I  imagined it as a black and white movie—faces and hands dissolving one to the other—symbolizing the passage of time and the continuation of childhood traditions and skills.

During the barbecue Teen Spirit and a friend stopped by. At 19, he looked tall and handsome in a red and white striped shirt and his grandfather’s wing tip shoes.

“Hey, do you want to have something to eat?” I asked Teen Spirit and his friend hopefully.

“No thanks. We just came from a barbecue and are on our way to another,” he said.

Teen Spirit and his friend disappeared into the apartment building. He has a busy and complex social schedule that takes him to other parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. In August he will leave for college.

I felt a pang. I never gave my son a house with a backyard. This patch of concrete was his yard, his childhood yard…

Continue reading Fourth of July, Again →

From time to time I hear from Brad Lander, who is in his first months as City Councilmember for the 39th District. He even has an interesting blog. Here Brad discussing the recent passing of the NYC budget.

Yesterday, the City Council passed the $63 billion, Fiscal Year 2011 budget for New York City.  Considering the difficult fiscal circumstances we are facing, and the deep cuts the Mayor had initially proposed, the final budget is much better than it might have been.  We were able to substantially restore many critical services – libraries, pools and parks, firehouses, adult literacy, cultural institutions and many important social services – while keeping the City on sound fiscal footing.

I am especially pleased to report that we were able to restore essential day care slots that hundreds of families in our community rely on, and that the “Double-D” pool on 3rd Avenue will remain open.  In each of these cases, we heard loud-and-clear from so many of you how important these services are.

Of course, the news is not all good.  There are substantial cuts across-the-board – to senior centers, affordable housing, legal services, parks, and public schools – cuts that will have real and painful impact. And we will face even greater challenges next year, with larger deficits and a still-shaky economy … long-term challenges that will require hard choices about how to achieve the right balance.  As we move forward, I’ll continue to remember that 89% of the nearly 2,000 people who responded to our budget survey would prefer a “fair share” plan that asks for a bit more from those with the most ability to pay, before we risk the core services and institutions that keep our city strong.

Still, given the circumstances, and so much budget dysfunction elsewhere, I’m proud of what the City Council, working with the Mayor, was able to do – both of the very democratic and inclusive process (thanks to the thousands of people who contacted us), and of the strong results we achieved for our city in trying times.

As part of his job, Lander has officiated at quite a few local graduations:

Amidst the sometimes-frustrating scrum of City budget negotiations last week, I had a great counterweight that served as a profound reminder of the value of local democracy: public school graduations.  I was honored to speak at several 5th & 8th grade graduations, and one kindergarten stepping-up ceremony.

My teary-eyed takeaway is this: public education is the crown jewel of local democracy.

There is simply no comparable way of living up to our core democratic values – that everyone is equal, that the future can (despite everything) be better than the past, and that by acting together as citizens, we can achieve extraordinary things.