Monthly Archives: July 2012

Civics and Urban Life

Update on Park Slope Fire

Sign in window of Good Footing Adventure Sunday morning (written on the front of a file folder): Closed Due to Water Damage.

Indeed, passerby’s are still browsing the window (gates and all) eyeing sport shoes by Merrell, Dansko, Mephisto and Blundstone shoes. But the store, as the sign says, remains closed.

The sign, of course, refers to water damage suffered Friday afternoon at 196 Seventh Avenue during a fierce roof fire that was put out in 16 minutes by local FDNY.

Water damage incurred by the FDNY’s efforts to put out the fierce blaze, however, resulted in damage to Good Footing and two apartments upstairs. One is a duplex apartment. The other is an apartment rented by a young woman. I spoke to her boyfriend outside the building where he was standing with a coeterie of packed black suitcases.

He said the apartment was uninhabitable. His girlfriend does not have renter’s insurance and she has to move out for the time being. She stayed in a hotel the night of the fire.

He didn’t know anything about the tenants who occupy two of the building’s floors. The landlord, he said, has been away. He wasn’t sure when he was coming back.

The cause of the fire has not been released by the FDNY.
 

Civics and Urban Life

Aftermath of Park Slope Fire

Yesterday’s fire at 196 Seventh Avenue, the building where Good Footing Adventure sells sensible Birkenstocks, Dansko and Merrell shoes to sensible Park Slope feet, was the talk of the micro-community of Seventh Avenue between 3rd and 2nd Streets.

On Friday, I walked by many times and saw the owner of the shop standing outside fielding questions from neighbors, police, firefighters and passersby.

He probably got tired of saying that he had no idea how the fire started on the roof of the building. Thankfully the fire didn’t get very far because the FDNY’s response time was rapid and they put out the fire in 16 minutes.

Fast.

But that didn’t stop them from drenching the entire building with water and causing substantial amount of water damage that way. At 5PM walking past the building, I smelled that depressing stench of charred property and heard that the tenants could not return to the building until the water damage was cleaned.

Clearly Good Footing had insurance. Fire Response, a firm that cleans up after disaster, had a bright red truck parked outside of the store and workers were hard at work cleaning the store.

I don’t think a clean up was underway for the rest of the building. Yet.  I don’t know if the landlord but I don’t think he was on the premises before, during, or after the fire.

I’m wondering how the tenants of that building are faring. Obviously they are displaced for the time being. It’s early yet, but I will walk by there in a few and find out how things are going.

Civics and Urban Life

Update: Fire on Roof of Good Footing Building on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope

At approximately 1:30 PM, Eliot Wagner of Now I’ve Heard Everything called to tell me there was a serious fire in the 4-story building, which houses Good Footing Adventure, an athletic shoe store next door to the post office on Seventh Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.

I was in the Cocoa Bar so I ran over to check out the situation.

At 1:47, I spoke to one of the firefighters who told me that  the fire was on the roof. By the time I got there the fire was out. According to other sources, it took 16 minutes to put the fire out. There were no injuries and the occupants of the building can, as of 1:47 PM return to the building. but because of water damage to the entire building, tenents won’t be returning anytime soon.

A large number of fire trucks and a few ambulances were on the street. An eyewitness said she saw flames emanating from the roof of the building about a half hour ago.

At 3:15 or so, one of the employees of Good Footing told me that the fire was on the roof where there is a deck. I asked if there was a barbecue grill up there but he didn’t know. There is extensive damage to the shop and its merchandise due to  the water used by the firefighters.

Firefighters put out the fire on the roof And the owner of Good Footing and his employees will begin to clean up the mess. After the ceiling stops dripping, that is.

Seventh Avenue was closed to traffic from 4th Street to 2nd Street for an hour or more.

A few minutes ago, I stepped into the shop, which smelled of fire and dankness. Water was dripping from the ceiling and everyone looked extremely dispirited.

What a mess.

 

arts and culture

Hot Nights, Cool Movie Theater: Magic Mike

I’ve heard that Magic Mike is the PERFECT summer movie because it is so HOT to see Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey as male strippers. Have you seen it? Do tell.

Here it is in a simple sentence: A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Here it is even simpler: Air conditioned movie theater like the UA Stadium Court Street 12 on Court Street.   

Food and Drink

Forty Weight Coffee Roasters & Cafe

Forty Weight Coffee Roasters & Cafe is that cafe on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 12th Street. By day it’s Forty Weight, by noon it’s also a restaurant called Sweet Wolf’s. 

Maybe you’ve wondered about it; maybe you’ve been there.

Forty Weight and Sweet Wolf’s have lovely front area that has a very elegant and inviting look. High gate, brick posts, gargoyles, black metal tables and chairs. Inside it’s air conditioned, there’s free wifi and the coffee is good, very good. It’s roasted by Forty Weight Coffee Roasters.

Here’s what Forty Weight has to say on their website.

“Forty Weight Coffee Roasters is the product of many years spent daydreaming over hot cups of coffee in breakfast spots and cafes around the world. Owner/Operator Andrew Ballard built Forty Weight on his passion/skill for sourcing, roasting and drinking the finest coffees on earth. The genesis of Forty Weight Coffee Roasters was long and hard, but it led us to be the strong uncompromising company that we are today. Forty Weight Coffee Roasters is on the front lines of third wave coffee; educating, inspiring – leading the movement to evolve our industry.”

Here at FW, the baristas are very nice, very conversational, fun. The place has a very neighborhoody feel. Best of all, the flat screen TV is set to Wimbledon.

I like it here.

arts and culture

Xanadu in Washington Park July 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20

It happened last night. The wonderful equity actors of Piper Theatre rolled into Washington Park for six showcase performances of Xanadu.

I wasn’t there but we did drive by and saw the beautiful purple lighting. We do plan on catching the show, which sounds very fun. Roller skates and all.

There are five performances left: July 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 @ 8 pm. Outdoors under the stars on Washington Park field. Concession, including beer & wine.

Hard to believe, this is the first ever Brooklyn production of Xanadu, a musical comedy with a book by Douglas Carter Beane (Lysistrata Jones, The Little Dog Laughed, As Bees in Honey Drowned), music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the beloved 1980 cult classic film with Olivia Newton John, will be directed by John P. McEneny Piper’s artistic director.

The cast includes Alissa Laderer (Kira), Jamie Roach (Sonny Malone), M.X. Soto (Danny McGuire/Zeus), Kelly Blaze (Calliope/Aphrodite), MaryAnne Piccolo (Melpomene/Medusa), Jake Mendes (Talia), Ricky Dain Jones (Terpischore), Matthew McGloin (Hermes), Jennifer Somers Kipley (Euterpe/Thetis), Linnea Larsdotter (Erato/Hera), Emily Bodkin (Thalia) and Arielle Vullo (Urania).

Xanadu has choreography by Karen Curlee, musical direction by Laura Mulholland, set design by Sarah Edkins, lighting design by William Growney, sound design by A&L Sound Partners and costume design by Lauren Fajardo and Sandye Renz.

Civics and Urban Life

No Internet Yesterday on Our Block

Seems that our Time Warner is out in our vicinity. The problem area seems to be parts of Third Street and Second Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. I know there’s Internet at the Cocoa Bar and Konditori, thank goodness.

But there’s been no Internet since Saturday. Which makes blogging and working difficult, to say the least. We thought it had something to do with the Leap Second and the storms. Initially we were told it was a power outage, then TW called to say it was fixed. Then we thought it was our modem or cable box.

Thorough investigation ensued.

After an extended phone call yesterday, Time Warner acknowledged that there was a problem but they did not give us a ETA as to when it would be fixed.

Cripes.

Civics and Urban Life

Third Street on the Fourth Circa 2006

I love to re-post posts from days gone by. It brings back memories, reminds me of what life used to be like when our kids were younger. Here’s an excerpt from a post about Third Street on the Fourth of July in 2006.

The Third Street Cafe is in full summer swing. This year it’s hop hop hopping. Maybe it’s the colorful umbrella someone found. Or the brand new Weber we split with the Kravitzes.

Most nights now, we can be found downstairs sitting at the green plastic table in the green plastic chairs drinking wine, chatting up the neighbors, dodging frisbees, disciplining our children as they vroom down the street on bikes, skates, scooters. We even discipline the children from neighboring buildings who seem to love our yard and wreak havoc.

Takes a street to raise a child, I guess. Third Street.

Ravi, the 13-year-old boy who lives downstairs, plays sitar sitting on a beautiful Indian cloth on the stoop. He even burns incense. He and his mother went to Queens and bought him a beautiful brown and gold silk robe and Indian pants.

He looks like an Indian prince. Sitar is fast becoming the soundtrack of this summer.

Other friends make our Third Street Cafe a fun place to be. Fofolle and her boyfriend Jack Twist, so named for his spot-on imitation of the Jake Gyllenhaal character in Brokeback Mountain, joined us at the cafe.

“I can’t quit you, Ennis.” Is fast becoming the quote of the summer.

Read more here: http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com/2006/07/page/5/

 

Civics and Urban Life

Indie Declaration: We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident,

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Civics and Urban Life

When We Could Watch the Fireworks in Brooklyn Heights

Note: I love to re-post posts from the past. This one is from July 5th, 2005 about watching the fireworks from my father’s apartment in Brooklyn Heights, back when there were fireworks on the Brooklyn side.

It helps to have friends in high places. Especially on the fourth of July. And a river view doesn’t hurt.

My father and stepmother live in a high-rise apartment in Brooklyn Heights with a sumptuous view of New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, and the Lower Manhattan skyline. On 9-11, they watched in horror as a plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers. Then, they were evacuated frm their building in those first uncertain hours when it was feared that there might be more attacks to come.

Like the rest of the city, they have, for the most part, moved forward from that day. But their view will never be the same. Something that once brought them such pleasure is now tinged with death and destruction

But it is still one of the most beautiful urban views in the world with its sparkling lights, elegant bridges, tall buildings, and boats in the harbor: it is an endlessly interesting vista to soak one’s sight in. And on the 4th of July there is no better place to revel in the booming brilliance of Macy’s fireworks.

This year was advertised as the best ever: right up there with the Brooklyn Bridge celebration, the bicentennial, and the millenium. A group of eight adults and one seven-year old, we borrowed my father and stepmother’s apartment and used it as our viewing stand (they were upstate at their country house). We drank their champagne, we used their crystal glasses. We cleaned up after ourselves.

And we oohed and ahhed, privileged to have such a view. The Macy’s barges, which were literally framed by the apartment’s windows, sent bouquets of shimmering colors and shapes so close to the window we could practically smell it…

You can read the rest of the story here. 

 

Civics and Urban Life

Janine Nichols at Barbes Tonight With Her Band, Semi-Free

Performer Janine Nichols is sort of the quintessential Brooklyn creative artist. She’s got her hands in all sorts of art forms. I enjoy her collage work, which are available as cards at the Community Bookstore or can be viewed at her blog, JazzPaperScissors and in a book of a Pratt exhibition called You Are Here; Mapping the Psychogeography of New York. 

Nichols was originally the Music Coordinator for Saturday Night Live in  its heyday and she also worked on The New Show and has worked with Hal Wilner on his wonderful anthology shows highlighting the music of Tim Buckly and Leonard Cohen.

Tonight she will be performing with her band Semi-Free at Barbes. SEMI-FREE is singer/songsmith/rhythm guitarist Janine Nichols, ; guitarist Brandon Ross(Cassandra Wilson, Harriet Tubman::the band), violinist Charlie Burnham (Steven Bernstein’s MTO, James Blood Ulmer, Medeski Martin & Wood) and, increasingly, Doug Weisselman (Antony, Steven Bernstein, Robin Holcomb, John Lurie) on bass clarinet.

The songs are Janine’s or given her by Hal Willner, her partner in ambitious live shows for 20+ years.

The show will begin at 7PM and there is a $10 charge for the show. If you don’t already know, Barbes (on 9th Street near 6th Avenue in Park Slope) is a small space so get there early and stake out a seat.

 

arts and culture

Daniel Meeter: Why Be a Christian If No One Goes to Hell?

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The very wise, erudite and wonderful Pastor Daniel Meter of Park Slope’s Old First Dutch Reformed Church has just published a new book with the bold title, Why Be a Christian If No One Goes to Hell?

I have not read it yet but I plan to because I am intriqued by the title and interested in anything Daniel Meeter does. Well almost anything.

The new book, published as an ebook by Shook Foil Books, is blurbed to be “a  warm and friendly tour through the peaceful and positive features of the Christian faith, without judgment of other religions.

Let me say that I am impressed that Meeter decided to go the ebook route. His digital tome is available on Nook, Kindle and IPad. How cool is that?

Sayeth the blurb: “The book is a practical and down-to-earth introduction for the curious, the inquirer, and anyone who wants to discover Christianity in a new light. It confidently clears away the ever-present and negative motivation for being a Christian: the fear of going to hell.”

“The conventional doctrine of people suffering in hell is not part of the original Biblical faith, and belief in hell is not required of a Christian today.

If you are shopping for a religion, want to develop your spirituality, or just want to know more about Christianity, check out Meeter’s book. Chapters include: To Be Spiritual, To Save Your Soul, To Be a Human Being, To Deal with Guilt, To Know God’s Story, To Love Your Neighbor, and many others.

Civics and Urban Life

Wear It Proudly: I’m Still Calling It Atlantic Av Pacific St

Graphic designer and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn activist Deborah Goldstein, also known as Miss Wit, wanted to share her latest t-shirt design with the readers of OTBKB.

I too have been miffed at the renaming of some local subway stations. For instance, the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street subway station has been renamed Atlantic Av/Barclay’s Stadium, I believe. Jay Street Boro Hall is now Jay Street MetroTech.

Miss Wit writes, “A British multinational bank (in the news currently for extreme and “systematic greed” practices) bought NYC subway naming rights very cheaply from a cash strapped state agency on the back of a corrupt deal.

“By calling the subway station by said British multinational bank, which certainly not a very many will do, one accepts that scenario as being acceptable.

“The station once known as Pacific Street-Atlantic Avenue will soon be called something else, due to the fact that the same company that bought the rights to the stadium the station sits under, also bought the rights to the station. For the first time in NYC Transit history, a Subway station will bear the name of a corporate entity.

But….

I’m Still Calling it Atlantic Pacific!”

 You can buy the t shirt here. FOR 10% OFF Use Promo Code FFCR at check-out thru July 15

 

Civics and Urban Life

Produce a Special for Brooklyn Community Access TV

Not everyone has time to create a weekly television show, or even a bi-weekly or monthly series for Brooklyn’s community access television network.

But BRIC, Brooklyn’s community access television organization, wants you to know that this shouldn’t stop you from submitting your content to air on Brooklyn’s community access television network. If you have a 28-minute or 58-minute piece that you think the borough of Brooklyn will want to watch, give them a call and request an appointment to air what we call a “Special.”

Special time slots don’t occur on a regular basis, so you don’t have to commit to submitting content on a rigorous schedule. Create your program in an amount of time that best fits your schedule, give them a call to arrange a Special time slot, and watch your program on the BCAT TV Network. Pretty simple.

According to BRIC, many of their regular users submit specials that can air during one of the station’s programming quarters. In fact, you can submit as many as 4 programs within a 13 week period. For more information, visit their website or call 718-683-5605 to arrange an appointment with their Programming Department so you can get your Special time slot.

Civics and Urban Life

Traffic Advisory about 15th Street July 5-6

Just in case you’re planning to drive down 15th Street on Thursday and Friday July 5-6 from 9AM until 4PM: Don’t!

Please be advised that on 5-6 July 5-6, 2012, from 9AM until 4PM, 15th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues will be closed to vehicular traffic (don’t you love the word vehicular?) due to a crane operation at 239 15th Street in Brooklyn.

This closing has been approved by the Department of Transportation. This information was provided by Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6.

 

Got it?

arts and culture

For the 4th of July: Own Some British Soil (It’s Conceptual Art, Too)

Celebrate the fourth of July with this eccentric conceptual art project by an artist in the UK (who used to live in Park Slope).

“I lived on Garfield for a couple of years back in the 90’s. Miss walking the Dog in Prospect and learning to like coffee on 7th Avenue,” says artist Nathan, who has a website called Ancestry Art.

It’s all very conceptual: Nathan is a bonafide conceptual artist from the UK, who uses soil in his paintings to represent all the land (118 counties) of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Each painting contains soil collected from a different county.

The idea is that you can exclusively own your own county and own a part of Britain.

Got it?

Imagine this: you can own land from the county where Shakespeare came from. Or perhaps your ancestors were British. an ancestor. Or just buy up British land before the British grab it. I

Accordint to Nathan, “”t’s the fun way to acquire land without having to use force, coercion, exploitation, ply anyone with whisky, or stick flags in the ground. They say the best investment on earth is earth so I’ve put it into art.”

Check out more images at Nathan’s website.

www.ancestryart.co.uk/wpimages/wp3d8c87b9_05_06.jpg

www.ancestryart.co.uk/wpimages/wpddd1b350_05_06.jpg

 

 

Civics and Urban Life

Take A Walk on the South Side

Today, I walked south on Seventh Avenue above 9th Street which is often where I jump into the F-train. Sure, I get above 9th Street every now and again, but today I decided to see what was going on up there.

Stay tuned to stories about a bunch of new businesses in the South Slope.  I’ll also describe some pleasant encounters with some old businesses up there, too.

Civics and Urban Life

Brownstone Collapse in Carroll Gardens

I heard about the collapse on WNYC radio this morning and leaped out of bed: A Carroll Gardens brownstone partially collapsed at around 1AM Monday morning. There were six people inside who managed to escape without injury.

I know a lot of people in Carroll Gardens so I worried…

According to DNA Info, the building is located on Carroll Street between Court and Smith Streets.

There is no information yet as to what caused the collapse.

Civics and Urban Life

Leap Second & Storms Caused Trouble to Brooklyn Internet Service

Was your Internet slow or non-existent this weekend? Many in Brooklyn had intermittent, exceedingly slow, or no Internet service Saturday. Here’s why.

Over at Greenwich Mean Time, the official timekeepers of the world, as June turned to July, they held their clocks back by a single second in order to keep them in sync with the planet’s daily rotation,

And it was this Leap Second that caused trouble to some of the Internet’s most important software platforms like Linux and Java.

Sort of like  Y2K without all the initial panic.

Many Internet systems do  keep themselves in sync with the world’s clocks, and when an extra second is added. Some don’t know how to do it, apparently.

The “Leap Second Bug” hit just as the Internet was recovering from a major outage to Amazon Web Services, a service that runs 1% of the Internet.

And that’s why.

Many complained of service to Mozilla, NetFlix, Buzzfeed, Gawker, FourSquare, Yelp, LinkedIn and StumbleUpon. The Brooklyn Museum lost Internet service which resulted in them extending the deadline to the GO Arts Open Weekend registration until July 10th.