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

Yesterday on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall prior to the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s biennial meeting, elected officials, government advocates, and members of New Kings Democrats called for Vito Lopez’s resignation as Party leader. The reform-minded group outlined a 4 point platform for reform:

1) Eliminate unelected at-large State Committee Seats

2) Open up meetings to press

3) Cease the practice of mass proxy voting

4) Hold County Committee meetings twice a year, at least

The group, which included State Committee member Jo Anne Simon (AD 52) and newly elected State Committee member Chris Owens (AD 52), marched to St. Francis College and rallied against the closed door meeting.
Sounds like things got interesting.

Apparently Lopez relented under pressure and for the FIRST TIME EVER,  reporters and non-invited individuals flooded the biennial meeting.

Lincoln Restler, candidate for State Committee in the 50th AD said in a press release from New Kings Democrats: “Three of Brooklyn’s past four Democratic Party bosses have been indicted on charges of corruption, and if the recent news about current Party Boss, Vito Lopez, is any indication, he is likely to meet the same fate. Brooklyn deserves a better brand of politics.”

Speaking of Restler, they still haven’t figured out whether he or Warren Cohn is the winner in the District Leader race in the 50th AD in North Brooklyn. Cohn was Lopez’s hand-picked candidate.

Last I heard Restler was ahead by 85 votes in the recount but the race, the most contested race in Brooklyn, has yet to be decided.

Stay tuned.

It’s important that bike riders know and observe the rules of the road so that our streets are safe for bikers, motorists and pedestrians.

That’s why a workshop like this sounds great.

Information on the October 2 Bike Like a Driver clinic and event as well as Bike to School Day information can now be found on Bike New York’s website here: http://www.bikenewyork.org/education/classes/bike_to_school.html.

Anyone interested in having their kids attend the Bike Like a Driver clinic should email their kids’ names and ages to classes(at)bikenewyork(dot)org.

The latest installment of Brooklyn’s hot new storytelling series, You Went to College for That,  with all new stories and great new storytellers, will be back at Union Hall October 6 at 7:30 PM. The second semester will continue on November 3 and December 8.

“You Went to College for That?” is an opportunity for New York’s best storytellers to present stories about their college days — love, classes, booze, experiments with drugs, experimenting in organic chemistry, growing up and being young. The stories can focus on any part of their lives, but each storyteller must teach the audience something that they learned in their major. We hope that the show will become part of the community of great storytelling in New York.

The show is hosted and curated by acclaimed standup comic and storyteller Ophira Eisenberg, (B.S., Anthropology, McGill University). Selected as one of New York Magazine’s Top 10 Comics, Ophira has appeared on Comedy Central, Fox, VH-1 and NBC. Her writing has been published in five anthologies, including I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America’s Top Comics and Heeb Magazine’s collection Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish. She is also a regular contributor for Us Weekly’s “Fashion Police” and YourTango.com. Her debut stand-up comedy CD As Is is available on iTunes.

Continue reading You Went to College for That? Returns to Union Hall in Park Slope →

My neighbor, who is an assistant principal at a NYC international high school, feels passionately about The Dream Act. She wrote me this letter yesterday about improving the lives of immigrant students.

As you know, I feel very passionately about improving the lives of immigrant students through education. It is possible that after years of stalling, the Dream Act, which would open a pathway to citizenship for undocumented students who graduate from college will be voted on tomorrow or Thursday. I urge you to take five minutes out of your day to send a letter to your federal representatives via this link: <http://capwiz.com/nacac/issues/alert/?alertid=13099226>.

Please make it possible for students like Angel, who was brought to the US at age ten by his parents, to live up to their potential and contribute to our society.  In bald terms, taxpayers spent close to 100K on his education and society is not reaping his potential.  In human terms, Angel’s story is a painful reminder of what can happen to undocumented students. Angel graduated from Brooklyn International High School a number of years ago, scraped together the means to attend and graduate from Hunter College. This in and of itself is an extraordinary accomplishment given the statistic that fewer than five out of one hundred Latinos graduate from college.  Angel was offered a position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the strength of his work as an intern there, which he could not accept, because he was undocumented.  Angel now sells flowers by day in midtown Manhattan and delivers take-out Chinese dinners in Park Slope by night.

When Angel came to me years ago to say he didn’t think going to college would be worth it, I told him about the Dream Act. I told him it would be a gamble, but if it never got passed, noone could ever take his education away from him and he would serve as a powerful example to his community and future children.

Let’s just say, my heart breaks every time I bump into Angel on his delivery bike.  Please, for his sake, and for the sake of all the Angels out there all over the US, please take a moment out of your busy lives to insure that we tap into the potential and hold out hope for the students who really do believe in and work for the promise of the American Dream with an ardent fervor even as many of our children, who have the birthright of American citizenship purely by chance, take for granted.

Please, also send this out to all of your friends and family.

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to walk around Brooklyn blog by blog:

Street art: NY Shitty

B&Q subway disruptions: Sheepshead Bites

Happy 4th Birthday: Gerritsen Beach

Diving into the Gowanus in 1979: Pardon Me for Asking

I survived tornado t-shirt: Effed in Park Slope

Park Slope cameo in Boardwalk Empire: Here is Park Slope

Champion of bridezillas: Bushwick, BK

Out of context at 11 Broadway: Brooklyn 11211

First Brooklyn Heights dog show: McBrooklyn

Review of Chestnut Market: Bed-Stuy Blog

Yeah, right.

Technically the recession might be over but what does that really mean?

The unemployment rate hovers at 9.6% and economic growth is slow but according to the National Bureau of Economic Research the longest recession since WWII is now officially over.

Sounds like it’s time to send my resume all over town: hire me, the recession is OVER, hire me.

But I think businesses are still too shaky to start hiring again and the conclusions of the NBER aren’t  much consolation to struggling small businesses, unemployed individuals and those whose home values have gone down.

I’m glad to hear that the recession is over but I want to see evidence (other than the rising stock market) that thing are really getting better for most Americans.

In other words, it ain’t over till it’s over.

Fortune Magazine discovers the Park Slope Food Coop and thinks that “traditional supermarkets should pay attention.” Okay.

It turns out that one of the most successful grocers around by some measures isn’t really in it for the money. The Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC), the largest consumer-owned single-store coop by sales in the U.S., had $39.4 million in sales during its last fiscal year, raking in more than $6,500 per square foot annually. “Anyone would salivate at that,” says Ann Herpel, a general coordinator at PSFC. In our recent story on Trader Joe’s we noted that the successful Monrovia, Calif.-based chain outdoes it competition with an average of $1,750 in sales per square foot, more than double those of Whole Foods (WFMI, Fortune 500). Traditional supermarkets should pay attention, and not just to those stellar financials. Under the coop model, the owner and the consumer are one in the same. “A coop has to make money but also has to have the best interest of its owners, who are also its shoppers, at heart,” says Robynn Shrader, CEO of the National Cooperative Grocer’s Association (NCGA).

New report alleges fraud at Vito Lopez’s non-profit: Gothamist

Democrats circle wagons for Rep. McMahon: Brooklyn Paper

Lincoln Restler is leading, again: Brooklyn Paper

Vito’s charity shake-up: Brooklyn Paper

Staten Island’s Cedar Grove next chapter in city’s eminent domain saga: Noticing New York

Historical error at the Brooklyn Historical Society?: Atlantic Yards Report

Proposed Brooklyn trolley route: McBrooklyn

Renee Dinnerstein, who has over 40 years experience as an early childhood educator, has started a blog called Investigating Choice TIme and it should be an interesting and illuminating blog about education and how children learn, important topics in these times of budget cuts and constant academic assessment.

Dinnerstein has taught both in Italy and the United States and has spent eighteen years as an early childhood teacher at PS 321, one of New York City’s leading elementary schools. She was the teacher-director of the Children’s School early childhood inclusion annex and worked also as an Early Childhood Staff Developer in the New York City Department of Education, Division of Instructional Support, where she wrote curriculum, led study groups and summer institutes, and helped write the New York City Pre Kindergarten Standards.

When I taught kindergarten and first grade, the most exciting part of my day was Choice Time, when children had time to pursue an inquiry topic, explore materials and ideas and, of course, have space and time to play.  If you would have asked any of the children what the most exciting time of the day was for them, I would not have been surprised if they would have also named Choice Time as the best part of their school day.

Continue reading New Blog on the Block: Investigating Choice Time →

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

Referring to Thursday’s tornado, Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim started out his sermon at the Kol Nidre service of Yom Kippur with the words “We almost died.”

Here is an excerpt from his sermon which included a prop. You can read the full text of his sermon at his blog, Water Over Rocks.

On the 8th Avenue sidewalk near Union Street I saw a satellite TV dish (Direct TV, RCA) that had blown off someone’s roof in the tornado and lay, neglected, on the ground.  In a moment of inspiration I picked it up and realized that I had a prop to begin the sermon.  I immediately ran into my in-laws, who remarked that they had seen it, too–I think if not blown off the roof it served to symbolize for many who walked past it in the storm’s aftermath as a kind of metaphor for our time–the dynamic between the human need for continual connectivity and God or Nature’s powerful potential to call the shots and “connect” at will…

Here’s Park Slope has many photos of the damaged trees in Park Slope called The Great Tree Reckoning. Here is an excerpt. Go to the blog to see the pix:

Walking outside after yesterday’s tornado (technically a “gust front” but I think we can all agree to call it a tornado) was like emerging after a snowstorm: it was nearly impossible to not stop and look around in wonder. Leaves and branches covered nearly every inch of street and sidewalk, and it seemed as if every block had a downed tree or destruction of some sort. Here are some photos of the aftermath, as well as a few from this morning.

Sunday in Park Slope, the streets are filled with stoop sales and fallen branches from Thursday’s tornado. There’s much to do and see today and tonight, including this film and discussion at  Zora’s Space at 7:30 PM: Border crossing and migration are issues that confront societies worldwide, both rich and poor. Author and professor Behzad Yaghmaian (Embracing the Infidel) leads a program of film and discussion on the topic. And for other events…

Continue reading The Sunday List: Sept 19 →

Lefty Lucy won the annual Miss Coney Island 2010 Burlesque competition.

The Thumbs of Somes

“All thumbs” has become high praise.

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

Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6, just wrote to say that if you have storm related damage, report it to the City by calling 311. Here’s his note:

Thankfully yesterday’s storm did not take a greater toll on human life, but its impact on our neighborhood’s trees is another story altogether.  If you suffered any storm-related damage, please take a minute to report it to the City by calling it in to 311.  Please encourage your friends and neighbors to do so as well.  The more accurately the City can report the extent of the damage, the more likely we will qualify for resources to help make our communities whole again…

And here’s the message from the City:

Friday, September 17, 2010 – Report Home and Business Damage to 311

Call 311 to report any damage to your home or business sustained from last night’s storm. In order to qualify for disaster relief assistance, New York City must estimate the storm’s total effect on city residents and employees. Be prepared to answer questions about the extent of your property’s damage.

Like many good things, Park(ing) Day, an annual event that inspires city dwellers to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good, started in San Francisco.

The project began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco design studio, turned a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco.

Since 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with organizations and individuals creating new forms of public space in urban settings.

The reason: to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out!

Today there’s a space in Park Slope on Seventh Avenue between 1st and 2nd Street. There are benches (donated by Tarzian) and plants. You can just sit there for a few minutes if you wish.

There’s also a space in Ditmas Park on Cortelyou Road. Report back if you know of any others.