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.
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.
Help is on the way for the riders of the B61 bus. I got to know a little bit about riding the bus in Park Slope when I was commuting to the city for court reporting classes. Because I had that heavy (HEAVY) backpack, I would wait for the bus on the corner of Third Street and Seventh Avenue and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
I saw the same people every day and some days we got mighty impatient. There was always someone standing way out in the middle street looking southward for the bus. “Is that a bus,” we’d ask.
Truth of the matter, it was almost always more prudent—and faster—to just walk to the subway at Grand Army Plaza or Flatbush Avenue. But sometimes you just want to take a bus.
On cold winter mornings, there was always such relief when the bus finally arrived. On most mornings there was just plain relief that there was a bus at all.
Well, some exciting changes are afoot for riders of the B61 bus.
City Councilmember Brad Lander’s press guy sent out a release yesterday about the debut of something called BusTime on the B61 bus, making it the second bus in Brooklyn with the system that provides real-time bus arrival and location information. You an learn how the system works here.
The system, which is already in use for the B63 bus on Fifth and Atlantic Avenues, uses GPS devices on buses, which lets bus riders use their cell phones and computers to find out where the next buses to arrive on a route actually are.
I will say that it sounds like a big improvement over standing out in the middle of the street, risking injury, to check on whether there’s a bus coming. Especially for those of us who need distance glasses and can barely see two blocks away. Quite often a van or a truck looked like a bus and I (and others) got our hopes up.
There are other planned improvements to the B61 bus, as well.
· More frequent buses in the PM rush hour, increasing the average headway from ten to nine minutes.
· More reliable service at all hours resulting from:
o An increase in the amount of time the bus has to make the run and to recover at the end of the route.
o A change in the location of the bus driver shift change from the middle of the line to the end of the line.
Lander says: “Bus Time is a great step forward for B61 bus riders, who are looking for more reliable bus service. The MTA has brought Bus Time to the B61 at our urging and I look forward to taking further steps to making the line a great bus for the neighborhoods it serves.”
Park Slope’s Michele Madigan Somerville is the author of Black Irish and other volumes of poetry. She also writes essays about theology and education, which appear frequently on the Huffington Post and on her blogs, Indie Theology and Bored-O-Ed. Here’s an excerpt from a recent esssay on school reform, politics, and a teachers at a local school.
I wrote a “thank you” note to an eighth grade teacher on the morning of the last day of school this week. The teacher is a bit of a wise-ass; he cracks a lot of jokes, most of them, I gather, funny. Is he everyone’s idea of an excellent teacher? It’s hard to say. But he’s smart, funny, actually teaches students to write five-paragraph essays on Humanities topics, and when my own child was finding herself lost (in a large “gifted and talented” school which overall disappointed, in ways that could have been avoided) this highly intelligent teacher noticed and cared.
High intelligence and caring may sound like minimum basic requirements for teachers, but in even the best New York City schools, these qualities are all too scarce.
My children recoil in horror when I tell them I used to assign the occasional D+ or B++ to students on essays. Why not give the C- or the A-, they asked? More than not I rounded up.
But when my daughter presented me with her final middle school report card, she found the grade the aforementioned teacher (whom I thanked) assigned a bit low. I thought it was a perfect grade. The teacher knew my girl was uncommonly able — and I know she’d been dining out on aptitude for way too long. I was glad to see the teacher assign a grade designed to send a message — a grade which is code for “We both know you could have gotten an A+ if you had tried even just a little.” He cared.
From Francis Morrone, architectural writer and historian, I have just learned that the Church of the Redeemer, built in 1866, on Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street in Brooklyn is going to be torn down.
Morrone says that it is one of his favorite churches designed by Patrick Keely, who designed hundreds of churches. Obviously, it is not a designated landmark. “If it’s not torn down, it will probably fall down on its own,” he writes on Facebook.
“I like the play of volumes, the intimate scale, the good detailing, the side garden. I love imagining the church in 1866, when it was slightly more bucolic in these parts, and today, when the church shares its sidewalk with the subway entrance,” he adds. “And I love the mosaic sign for this church down in the subway station. It looks to me like Keely had a somewhat larger budget than he usually did with his Catholic churches. I’d love to see it with its stone cleaned.”
Francis Morrone is an architectural historian and author of Architectural Guidebook of Brooklyn. Morrone’s essays on architecture have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, American Arts Quarterly, the New Criterion and the New York Times. In April 2011 he was named by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the 13 best tour guides in the world.
He thinks a high rise condo is going to be built in its stead.
Many of the women I know were stunned by the death of Nora Ephron earlier this week at the age of 71. Their status reports on Facebook reflect this. Their columns, their blog posts, and emails.
Talking to my mother, in the midst of a longer conversation she exclaimed, “Oh, and Nora Ephron.” And in a phone call with another woman friend this morning I heard this non-sequitur. “And I’m so upset about Nora Ephron.”
I think the reason she touched so many of us is because she was so many things. And so are we.
We could admire and aspire to her talent and celebrity, as she was surely one of the most successful female movie directors and screenwriters in Hollwood with films like Heartburn, Silkwood, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Bewitched and You’ve Got Mail on her IMDB page.
We could revel in her wit and wisdom as she was a comic essayist of enormous gifts, a novelist, a blogger, and frequent contributor to the New Yorker, the New York Times and other magazines.
She made us laugh time and time again.
We could relate to her personal life, which seemed sophisticated and messy and real. She was a mother and a wife (three times over) and also, reputedly, a great cook and a tasteful homemaker. As a daughter and a sister, we had the sense that she struggled like the rest of us to navigate the tangle (and the treasure) of those familial relationships.
We also sensed that she understood the power and complexity of female friendship. She said as much in her book of essays, I Feel Bad About My Neck: “My friend Judy died last year. She was the person I told everything to. She was my best friend, my extra sister, my true mother, sometimes even my daughter, she was all these things.”
We could relate to her (and envy her) as the quintessential New Yorker born and bred in Manhattan, who at one time occupied an enormous rent controlled apartment in the Apthorp. You half expected to run into her at Zabar’s shopping for smoked salmon or at Laytners shopping for high thread count sheets. And when she moved to the Upper East Side, you could imagine her lunching at Eat or browsing turtleneck sweaters at Agnes B (she didn’t much like her neck but she had a great sense of style).
Those of us north of fifty could relate to her as she grappled with the indignities of age and openly laughed at the ways we obsess over the crow’s feet and neck jangle we can’t bear to see.
Continue reading Nora Ephron: She Was So Many Things. And So Are We.
Tonight at the bandshell in Prospect Park as part of this summer’s stellar Celebrate Brooklyn schedule, catch Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his band
Look at those arms!
Says the Washington Post: “a near-deafening, funk-charged blast of percussion, brass, reeds and guitar distortion.”
Troy Andrews hails from New Orleans’ Sixth Ward, and he got his nickname at the age of 4 when his older brother saw him marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice his size.
Tonight at 7:30 PM.
I thought the title of this exhibition, Show me Your Glands, at the New York Art Residency and Studios or NARS was intriguing. Turns out the curator, Tamara Johnson, was the winner of the 2012 annual NARS Emerging Curator Program Open Call.
NARS is not the name of a make-up company but an acronym for the New York Art Residency and Studios (NARS) Foundation, which occupies space in Sunset Park, not so very far from here. Located on 35th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, the Brooklyn-based foundation provides low-cost studio space and short-term residencies that connect with the needs of both emerging and mid-career artists. It hopes to create a sense of community and collaboration between the artists, as well.
Show Me Your Glands is a group exhibition with a body-centric approach.
The place where entities meet, bodies compress, muscles rip, and where soft insides are revealed on exteriors; where the ability to identify the self is dissolved and words and images transform into objects, architecture and orifices. These points of contact serve as anchors, stabilizing the moment when guts are drawn out and anthropomorphized as subtle gestures and confrontational situations. The works featured in this unique grouping of artists expands the landscape of body, uncovering the existence of a corporeal gland residing below the surface of making.
Through sculpture, performative language, image and video this exhibition makes physical inner ephemera. Alina Szapocznikow, a Polish Artist, speaks to the importance of the “material body” demonstrating the necessity for work to mine the absurd and convulsive existence of a bodily unknown.
Continue reading Show Me Your Glands: NARS Show Explores the Landscape of the Body
Chase and Living Social are awarding up to 12 small businesses a $250,000 grant through a project called Mission Small Business. Urban Alchemist, a Park Slope design collective, is 230 votes away from being considered for this opportunity. There are only 2 days left to vote!
Urban Alchemist sees itself as a store, a gallery, and an artisan salon. In recent years there’s been a changeover of coop members so I am not really familiar with the current artisan/members of the coop except the founding member Imaan Selim. I think they still carry the work of some of the previous coop members, whose work I liked.
They feature eclectic mix of unique jewelry, handbags, stuffed animals, clothing and t-shirts, wall art, cards, ceramics, records, and other personal and home accessories by independent designers, as well as vintage finds. The vintage finds add a fun and unexpected twist to the shop.
Any time you visit, you will have the opportunity to speak to a designer and possibly watch them work.
To vote for this shop, all you have to do is go to Mission Small Business. You can sign in through Facebook. Then you just search for URBAN ALCHEMIST and VOTE! Easy peasy.
You have until June 30!
Woody Allen’s latest, an homage to Italian cinema and the city of Rome, is playing at our very own BAM Rose Cinema. To Rome With Love stars Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Woody Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Roberto Benigni and Penélope Cruz. It is the newest of Allen’s city-themed movies, which include Midnight in Paris and Vickie Cristina Barcelona. Prior to these masterful love songs to two European cities, he made three films in London. As I read somewhere, Allen used to admire foreign directors and now he is a foreign director—in Europe.
To Rome with Love sounds like an omnibus of a movie about a variety of Americans and Italian characters who either live in or are visiting Rome. Showtimes this weekend are: 2:10 4:40 7:15, 9:45pm
Starting her day with word of the the Supreme Court’s decision to let stand the basic provisions of Obamacare, ruling that the government may use its taxation powers to get people to buy health insurance, a Facebook friend in Northern California had this to say:
“Starting the day off right, with that special feeling. You know the one, where the Supreme Court upholds something you thought they might tear apart and grind the remaining pieces into the ground? But that didn’t happen! So yay! relief! surprise! more relief!
I’m sure you’re just dying to try out the new McCarren Pool. Or maybe you wanna go to Red Hook or Sunset Park. Try ’em all. They’re open and they’re free.
Outdoor pool hours are from 11:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m., with a break for pool cleaning between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Early bird and night owl lap swim hours are also available at select sites.
I am always happy when Gina Barreca, author of It’s Not That I’m Bitter and a Professor of English and Feminism at the University of Connecticut, weighs in on a topic of sure interest to OTBKB readers. At Huffington Post today, she pens a column about Nora Ephron, who was certainly one of her heroes. Leave it to the very funny, very smart Gina to open with a great lede. Here’s an excerpt.
“Nora Ephron” was the answer the two-word answer to every ridiculous yet bizarrely persistent cliché concerning the ostensible fact that women
1. Have no sense of humor;
2. Have a sense of humor, but only if they are unattractive;
3. Have a sense of humor, but have no friends or family;
4. Have a sense of humor, but can never become successful based on their talents.Ephron’s fiercely intelligent wit and ruthless cultural commentary braided together engaging personal revelation with topics so large they made several generations of women re-evaluate their lives. Her heroines were witty and perceptive even while being vulnerable and appealing; they were independent and capable, yet filled with that weird fear of overdoing everything or doing everything wrong that engulfs the most stunningly competent woman.
It’s been in the works for a long time. She’d mentioned it more than a year ago. It was good news, of course. She’d met someone, she was getting married again, she was moving to Staten Island.
Still, now that it is actually happening, well, it doesn’t seem quite right that I won’t be seeing Jacqueline—on Seventh Avenue, at one school or another, at various Park Slope events—anymore.
When someone special moves away from a community like Park Slope, it’s like losing a vital piece of the eclectic mosaic that makes this neighborhood tick.
For as long as I can remember, Jacqueline has been part of the texture of Park Slope and an active participant in so many aspects of life here. A mother of two, a working professional, and an environmental activist, this daughter of a jazz basoonist was hard to miss.
Indeed, this statuesque, beautiful woman with the big dark eyes and a bold intelligence has made her mark.
As she writes in her own good bye to the neighborhood on Facebook, “I’ve been a part of so many worlds in my time here — the vibrant group of women that made up our Megamom’s group, the dedicated group of people who fought with me for 4 years in Parents for Climate Protection, my wonderful myoho brothers and sisters, the Italian playgroup, the community of singers in the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale, the friends I made as part of the 321 community, my shift-buddies from the Food Coop.”
Continue reading Au Revoir Jacqueline: A Memory on Every Corner
What does Macy’s have against Brooklyn?
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and State Senator Daniel Squadron are calling on Macy’s to return its July 4th fireworks display to the East River. According to their press release, this is the fourth consecutive year that Macy’s will hold its fireworks on the Hudson, out of view for the millions of residents who live in Brooklyn, Queens and on the East Side. The officials will announce upcoming talks with Macy’s to discuss returning fireworks to the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront.
WHEN: Thursday, June 28, 10:30am
WHERE: Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 1 (northwest corner of pier, enter at Furman and Old Fulton Streets), Brooklyn, NY
WHO: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, State Senator Daniel Squadron, community leaders
In a recent issue of the New York Review of Books, Zadie Smith, author of the novel White Teeth, writes about the closing of a library in Willesden Green in London (pictured left): “I don’t think the argument in favor of libraries is especially ideological or ethical. I would agree even with those who say it’s not especially logical. I think for most people it’s emotional. No logos or ethos but pathos. This is not a denigration: emotion also has a place in public policy. We’re humans, not robots.”
I would guess that she will be happy to learn that funds have been restored to the public libraries of Brooklyn.
Indeed, the Brooklyn Public Library has averted disaster. Funds have been restored and layoffs won’t be necessary. Good news all around.
The final budget restores $25 million in City funding for the Library out of a proposed $27 million cut, which—at 33% of the Library’s operating budget would have meant staff layoffs and greatly reduced library services.
Library fans were encouraged send emails to elected officials, sign petitions and advocate against the cuts.
The FY2013 budget now allows the Library to continue to offer free access to educational and cultural programs, job search and small business resources, Wi-Fi and internet-ready computers while avoiding any layoffs or drastic cuts to service.
“We are very grateful the budget agreed to by the Mayor and Speaker restores funding for libraries and I want to thank Chairman Recchia and the entire Brooklyn delegation for their continued support of Brooklyn Public Library. The adopted budget will allow the Library to maintain our existing service levels and avoid layoffs,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library.
How’s about some New Orleans music to wind down your weekend?
Every Sunday from 5-8pm throughout July and August (it started two weeks ago), DJ Says Pitalo will be spinning New Orleans R&B oldies from artists like Irma Thomas, Fats Domino, Earl King, Larry Williams, Dr. John, the Meters, the Neville Brothers, and more at the Fifth Estate Bar (506 Fifth Avenue) in Park Slope. Free andouille sausage and excellent bloody marys also help ease out the weekend’s craziness…
Says Pitalo, the NOLA DJ: “I grew up just east of New Orleans, and my family currently lives there. I miss it, so when I noticed that there’s an interest in New Orleans culture in New York, I started an afternoon party that’s one part hangover cure, one part booty shake, and one part old-school musicology. I’m seeing an great mix of folks coming out, so I thought it might be something that “Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn” would be interested in.”
Have you seen the video of the parent’s flash mob at PS 10 in Park Slope? It’s on Nona Brooklyn, a food blog, and it’s a sight to see.
Picture it. You’re eight years old. Your mom wakes you up, hustles and herds your groggy ass through the morning drill: “Get up get up! You’re gonna be late!” – nipping at your heels – “Eat your breakfast! Hurry up! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!“
She runs you out of the apartment, pulling you faster than your shorty legs want to go, across the street, down the block, “Come on, come on, we’re gonna be late.” You scamper and hustle under your backpack loaded with books. The schoolyard comes into view, same as every day. All the other kids mill around with their parents, while the principal hectors everyone through a bullhorn from the top of the steps, “OK guys let’s go! Line up! Line up!”
Same as always.
But wait, what’s this!? Strange, slow, soft music suddenly unfurls over the bullhorn’s blare. But what? Parents suddenly disengage from the mob, traipsing, oddly gracefully for an inherently nerdy breed, into the empty center of the schoolyard…And proceed do prance around in some sort of choreographed ballet…What!? Parents. So weird.
Read OTBKB’s new advice column:
DEAR LISTEN:
Hi there. Do you post complaints on the website? I have just had a horror with a certain Seventh Avenue dry cleaner about a delivery issue. They hung up on me twice and refused to work with me to find my clothes when they were not delivered, even though my building had it on camera.
I would like to let others know about them and also get a recommendation for a good Park Slope dry cleaner. Not sure that this is appropriate for your site? Thanks!
Sincerely,
I Hate a Certain Seventh Avenue Dry Cleaner
Dear I Hate a Certain:
Of course I won’t FLAME a local business based on a single complaint. That’s bad practice, bad for local business, and just plain bad policy for a reputable blog.
Puhleeze. Who do you take me for? Effed in Park Slope?
That said, I feel your pain. More than once I have wanted to rent one of those election vans to rant about a horrible experience at a local business from Flatbush Avenue to Green-Wood Cemetery.
Who hasn’t?
In your case, I think it would be legitimate to bad mouth that local business to your friends and neighbors; you could put up a flyer telling people to stay away from said business; you could even send them an angry letter and really give it to ’em.
But I’m not sure it pays to be vindictive.
You could also do something constructive like go to the NYC 311 website and check out their Dry Cleaners Complaint page. Here’s what it says on that page:
The City accepts complaints about dry cleaners who:
Damage your clothing
Refuse to give you a refund
Fail to deliver goods or services
Overcharge
Charge different prices to dry clean clothing based on gender
The City can also direct you to the proper authorities if a dry cleaner closes down without returning your clothing. The City does not license dry cleaners and cannot force closed dry cleaner businesses to return your clothing. The City does not accept complaints about employee behavior or rudeness.
What I can do: I can recommend Nice Cleaners on 4th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. It’s a very nice place and the woman there does a good job tailoring, hemming and sewing. They have a cute bulldog and have NEVER lost an item of mine.
Sincerely,
She Who Listens
NOTE: If you need advice on personal and/or civic matters, Dear Listen (DL) will listen to your question, think about it, and offer you the best advice DL has to offer. Or not. If DL doesn’t know the answer, DL will reach out to someone who does.
No names will be used. This is anonymous, discreet and possibly very helpful.
Send emails to Dearlisten(at)gmail(dot)com
On July 11th from 8pm until closing at Freddy’s Bar, you will have a chance to say a formal good bye to a Park Slope institution. It seems that there was no Last Call at O’Connor’s Bar. There was only a subtle warning of an impending closure of the historic bar at 39 5th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
But now the bar has shut its doors for “re-modeling,” and it seems to be a foregone conclusion that it will never be the same.
Freddy’s Bar, however, is doing the right thing, the prudent thing. They are offering O’Connor’s “post mortem rectification” (that is, indeed, a mouthful).
On July 11th, all are invited to celebrate the bar’s history and retrieve that “Missed” Last Call, one last time, from O’Connor’s bartenders– the proper sendoff this neighborhood institution deserves. Long-time O.C. barmen, Thomas and Matty the Kid, will grace the rails and serve patrons of both bars for this one special night.
And now a little history (not sure who wrote this amazing press release):
Since Prohibition Freddy’s and O’Connor’s have shared a rich history, a neighborhood, and a sense of defiance. More recently, in the 90′s, both bars waged a war on who could stay open later (Usually a tie since neither seemed to ever close.) A softball league, comprised of only the 2 Bars… Freddy’s and O’Connor’s. Plus, for years, particular Objects would disappear from one bar only to appear in the other, and vice verse. The legend grew such that even the NY Times covered the story. O’Connor’s vs Freddy’s– NY Times
Freddy’s recently re-located to escape the Barclay Center, while O’Connor’s weathered the passing of it’s beloved and iconic patriarch Pat O’Connor in 2006, and a consequential change in ownership. The Gothamist says the bar is closed for “ Evisceration,” but Freddy’s is offering one last round for OLD TIMES SAKE. Loyal regulars and ir-regulars who darkened the door at the now defunct bar can be served by O’Connor’s bartenders for one last time. Here is the final chance for regulars, ir-regulars, and first timers to pay respect to a historic bar, a legacy and to the man Pat O’Connor himself.
The photograph is from Eater where there’s an interesting piece about O’Connor’s by Robert Simonson
It seems to me that this message from School Chancellor Walcott signals a shift in thinking about the best way to educate students with disabilities.
Starting in September, these students will have the opportunity to attend a local community school in an inclusion class: “Students with disabilities demonstrate improved attendance rates and score better on state reading and math tests when they are educated in inclusive classrooms,” he writes in the following message. Inclusion classrooms, also known as Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) classes, have two teachers (one trained in special education and learning disabilities), a majority of general education students and a smaller group of special needs kids.
Dear Families,
As the school year comes to an end, I am excited to tell you about an important step we are taking to ensure all New York City public school students graduate from high school ready for college and careers. Starting this September, the vast majority of our students with disabilities who are entering a public school will have the opportunity to attend their local community school, where appropriate.
Our goal is to ensure our students with disabilities are fully embraced in their community schools and participate in a wide range of classroom and school-wide activities with the appropriate support. Students with disabilities will continue to be provided with the services they need as stated in their Individualized Education Programs, and at the same time they will have increased access to the same curriculum and be challenged to reach the same high expectations as their non-disabled peers.
As Chancellor, I believe that this transition will benefit all of our public school students and school communities. Students with disabilities demonstrate improved attendance rates and score better on state reading and math tests when they are educated in inclusive classrooms, and research indicates that students without disabilities also benefit from learning in the same classrooms as their peers with disabilities.
Continue reading Message from School Chancellor About Students with Disabilities
“We won because of you,” Ms. Velázquez told supporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. Representative Nydia M. Velázquez beat her three opponents and will continue to represent the 7th district in congress.
According to the NY Times: “Her victory represents a triumph over the Brooklyn Democratic chairman, Vito J. Lopez, who threw his powerful political machine behind Mr. Dilan.”
In the 9th congressional district, which includes my part of Park Slope, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke is the clear winner with 88.3% of the vote against Sylvia Kinard.
With 72% of the vote, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is the democratic nominee for congress in the 8th CD, a district that includes Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and East New York. He ran against City Council Member Charles Barron. Jeffries it is to replace Representative Edolphus Towns, who is retiring,
I was quite delighted to see that the 14th Street F-train station now has Wireless. What a pleasure it was to check my texts, my email while I waited for the train yesterday after having coffee with a friend at Books of Wonder.
Boingo Wireless has teamed up Google Offers to offer the free Internet. Google is paying for the service from now until Sept. 7. So it’s a short lived experiment?
I see that there are other stations, too, that have Wireless provided by Google/Boingo.
• A, C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street
• L station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street
• C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street
• 1, 2, 3 station at Seventh Avenue and West 14th Street
• F, M station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street
• L station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street
There’s quite an intense race in Brooklyn’s 8th congressional district (which includes Fort Greene, Bed Stuy, Prospect Heights and East New York) going on. Turnout will be the key to who wins.
City Council Member Charles Barron and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries are duking out it out. Last week, Charles Barron got a toxic endorsement from David Duke, a former KKK Grand Wizard and fervent anti-semite.
And what a great reason to vote for Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is running for congress in the 8th congressional district against City Council Member Charles Barron for Ed Towns’ congressional seat. Not that you need a reason to vote for Jeffries, who is a good guy.
City Council Member Brad Lander has worked closely with Jeffries on issues including affordable housing, creating good jobs, and building stronger neighborhoods. “He’s great at bringing people together to make real and concrete change. He’s going to be a fantastic Congressman. I hope you can support him if you live in Prospect Heights, East New York, Bed Stuy, or one of the other neighborhoods in the district,” writes Lander in an email.
The battle for a Brooklyn Congressional seat will likely hinge on one neighborhood in the sprawling and diverse new district- Bedford-Stuyvesant, political insiders say.
With record low turnout expected for the June 26 Demoratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Ed Towns, controversial City Councilman Charles Barron upstart and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries have flooded Bed-Stuy with campaign literature and door to door visits in recent weeks, residents say.
“It’s the Ohio of the district,” a Jeffries campaign staffer said, referring to the perennial swing state in Presidential elections.
While each candidate has carved out sections of strong support in the recently redrawn 8th Congressional district, neither one currently represents more than small enclaves of Bedford-Stuyvesant, long seen as a must win area for any black pol. As many as 9,000 votes are up for grabs based on prior turnout.
I am definitely going to try to catch one or more of the movies at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Thursday nights this summer. Starting July 5th, they’ve got a cool line-up of films at Pier 1 Harbor View Lawn for the 13th season of the Brooklyn Bridge Park movie series. Music at 6:00pm, movies at sunset.
DJs from Brooklyn Radio kick off the evening, shorts curated by BAMcinématek follow, and bike valet provided by Transportation Alternatives will be available all evening.
To maintain their luscious and green lawns, chairs are not permitted on the park lawns.
Thursday, July 5
Movie: E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial [PG]
Short: CatCam by Seth Keal
DJ: Ayres
Thursday, July 12
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird [NR]
Short: Eye on the Stars by Rauch Brothers
DJ: $mall Change
Thursday, July 19
Movie: Slumdog Millionaire [R]
Short: Odysseus’ Gambit by Àlex Lorca Cercos
DJ: Emch Subatomic (of Subatomic Sound System)
Continue reading ET with a View at Brooklyn Bridge Park on July 5th and More…
How many people actually know that there’s a primary in New York City today? Part of the problem is that New York moved its primary from September to June. So people might be a little bit confused.
What? There’s a primary today? Today?
That said, I have been barraged with endorsements of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries for congress in my inbox. If other people are getting that, too, then they must be aware that there’s a primary today.
Yup, a primary today.
According to the New York Times, “…a federal court moved the state’s Congressional primary to Tuesday to ensure that people in the military using absentee ballots were not disenfranchised, creating a campaign season that defied the usual rhythms.”
June or September (and November for that matter): It is ingrained in me that it is important to vote, even in primaries. I know it’s easy to be cynical about our electoral process. But it still feels important to stand in a voting booth and choose the people we want to represent us in government.
It is fundamental.
If you don’t know where you are supposed to vote, in New York City, call (866) 868-3692 or visit the online poll site locator at vote.nyc.ny.us. Elsewhere, contact the County Board of Elections. For a list of Web sites and phone numbers, go to elections.ny.gov and click on County Boards.
Here’s the way I am voting on Tuesday, June 26th in the democratic primary: Turns out I’m in the 9th congressional district and not the 7th. So I voted for Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. That was a no-brainer. Now if I can just keep my congressional districts straight.
For congress in the newly redrawn 7th district I am voting for Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, the incumbent, because she’s been doing a good job for twenty years and she cares about health care, education and transit. According to Brad Lander, “she led the successful effort to get the Gowanus Canal declared a Superfund site, which will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the Canal in the decade to come.”
It’s a race to watch because she’s being opposed by Dan O’Connor, City Council Member Erik Marin Dilan and George Martinez (the Occupy Wall Street candidate). Interesting candidates all.
But Nydia’s the one I’m going for this time.
Tuesday is the congressional primary (US House and Senate). The polls will open in NYC at 6AM and stay open until 9PM. If you’re not sure where you’re voting and who you are voting for check this out:
This Poll Site Locator has been designed to provide a registered voter with the location of his or her poll site, which is based on the address entered. When there is an Election Event in the Election District for the address entered, sample ballots are available. Please note that these are “sample” ballots; the ballots used on Election Day may be different as a result of court order(s).
It is your democratic responsibility to vote. Tuesday is the primary. And if you’re not registered to vote in the presidential election get registered.
According to the MTA Service Advisory: There is no service on the 2 train between 34th Street and Flatbush Avenue and no 3 train service on June 25 – 29 from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m.
