Bed Stuy Banana, a highly creative and influential blogger, has decided to call it quits and I know that many are going to miss the great blog with the great name.

Sounds to me like BSB is moving on for all the right reasons: she’s got new and exciting things to do. Still, I will miss her unique take on the world and the glorious pictures she takes, often of signs and interesting graffiti, in the neighborhood she calls home.

Nearly three years ago, BSB named the blog after a bright yellow bodega sign. She described herself this way: “A yellow girl raised in a white suburb shacked up with a white boy and had a tan kid in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a primarily black neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. Here’s a look at the few blocks that comprise our world and a little bit beyond.”

With her partner and her pre-schooler, she walked every street of Bed Stuy photographing everything from memorial murals to old signs. In her writing she describes her struggles with gentrification, financial hardship, and the joys of being both a parent and a part of a new community.

No one can deny that BSB was feisty and full of attitude. She wrote honestly about her life and the neighborhood around her. Scroll down on the far left column of her blog and find what she calls “the most viewed/praised/reviled posts” to get an idea of BSB in action.

Sometimes she was criticized for not being more of a neighborhood booster on her blog, which rubbed some people the wrong way and delighted many others. To the nay-sayers she had this to say:

My intention was never to portray Bed-Stuy or its long time residents in a bad light. It was to take a closer look, to really see what was in front of me instead of easily dismissing or condemning it and hopping on the train to spend my time and money in Manhattan. To comment about what I find quirky, interesting, and unique in our neighbourhood in what I thought to be a light-hearted way.

BSB says that the blog will stay up for about a month and then it’s going to go away so get on over there and check it out before it is no more. In her good bye note, BSB hints that a photo book may be in the works. I certainly hope that is true.

Here is BSB’s farewell letter and reasons for saying good bye:

So 581 posts, 802 days, and 174 miles later, I’m saying good-bye. Lately I’ve just been managing to keep up this blog as a sort of notice board for various Bed-Stuy causes – but they can be just as easily, if not better, served by Bed-Stuy Blog. For now I’ve got to focus my energy on keeping the amazing job I have (especially in these economic times), which my employer has told me I’m going to need to put more hours into – no more 9-5); on my wonderful partner, Big Joe, my fantastic kid, Little Joe, and myself. 2010 means finally starting the self-defense class I’ve wanted to do for the last 10 years but didn’t have the money for, on continuing with my anger management classes, my recovery meetings, meditation and physical fitness. And maybe one day this blog will materialize as a book and I’ll re-photograph every street in Bed-Stuy with a better quality camera. And my biggest dream – that I’ll finally get a book published.

BSB: Thanks for your great, groundbreaking blog. You will be missed.  OTBKB wishes you the best of luck in everything you do and I for one am looking forward to that book.