This is really unbelievable. And people wonder why I call Lopez the Darth Vader of Brooklyn politics. The article,With Three Spirited Primaries: Competitive Democracy is Breaking Out, is by Michael Powell is in today’s NY Times. District Leader Joanne Simon put it on Facebook (that’s where I saw it). What an interview. The portrait to the left is by Jerry Miller and it’s from City Hall Magazine.

Mind you: there’s a primary on June 26th. That’s next Tuesday. Don’t forget to vote in the congressional primary.

Vito J. Lopez, assemblyman and chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, is trying to help me understand why he longs to electorally decapitate his borough’s senior Democratic congresswoman, Nydia M. Velázquez.

She doesn’t call him, she doesn’t talk to him, Mr. Lopez says. It’s rude.

“I get a lot of agita as leader,” explains Mr. Lopez, a hulking fellow who is perhaps the city’s foremost practitioner of tomahawk-in-the-forehead politics.

“Why not say to me” — Mr. Lopez offers his closest possible approximation of a cheery tone — “ ‘Hi Vito’; ‘How are you, Vito?’; ‘Are you well, Mr. Democratic Leader?’

Adrian Benepe, New York City’s longtime parks commissioner, is stepping down. He’s been with Parks since Bloomberg’s first term in 2002. He has accepted a position at the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation organization.

Veronica M. White, the founding executive director of the city’s Center for Economic Opportunity, will take over for Commissioner Benepe. This news was announced this morning. Bloomberg had this to say:

“Adrian Benepe has done extraordinary work as parks commissioner, leading transformative changes in every corner of New York City, and I couldn’t be prouder that he is going to lead the Trust for Public Land’s new initiative to replicate our work in cities across the country.”

Second Sunday in June, Father’s Day, the Seventh Avenue Fair. Life can be predictable. The white tents come out, the roasted corn, the zeppole trucks, the lemonade stands…

What’s nice is that the fair still has a local feeling. It’s not all sock stands and weird mops. Eric Shoes will be out there selling men and women’s shoes at discount. Two Boots has a stand this year, International Taste will be selling middle-eastern treats, the Community Bookstore is having readings and participating in the Scavenger Hunt, the Food Coop will be recruiting no doubt.

By  11am it should be in full swing. The sky is meant to clear, the crowds will come. It’s the second Sunday in June, Father’s Day, time for the Seventh Avenue Fair.

Celebrate the Summer Solstice at the North Brooklyn Boat Club, a group which advocates human-powered boating on/and environmental restoration of the waterways around Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

They are a volunteer-run community organization. Anyone with an  interest in boating, open space, environmental education, and nautical recreation is invited to join.

I heard about this group at Pastor Daniel Meeter’s herring party the other day at Two Boots. An artist there told me about this event and it piqued my interest.

Sometimes North Brooklyn seems so far away from Park Slope. But damn, they do cool stuff over there.

The North Brooklyn Boat Club along the scenic shores of super fun Newtown Creek is throwing its first annual Solstice Party, which is also a fundraiser for the group. The event will include games, food, drinks, dancing, and more.

There is no cover and all funds raised will go towards their volunteer-run community organization connecting Brooklyn to its waterways. The party is this Wednesday, June 20th, from 6pm to midnight at the Broadway Stages Boatyard next to the Pulaski Bridge at 49 Ash Street (at McGuinness Boulevard).

Seems that Brooklyn Brewery and the New York Distilling Company are providing liquids.

The Broadway Stages Boatyard is located at 49 Ash St (at McGuinness Blvd) right below the Pulaski Bridge pedestrian path.

Is something troubling you? Do you need advice about love, money, family, children, neighbors, Park Slope, school? Do you have a very practical question or a more existential one? Maybe you’re just looking for something to buy, eat, do, or see in Brooklyn.

No question too big or small.

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

Nydia Velazquez represents the 12th congressional district which includes parts of Park Slope. She’s been doing it for twenty years and this year she is being opposed by three Democratic candidates in the primary on June 26th, including George Martinez, the Occupy Wall Street candidate, about whom the Village Voice currently has a cover story, Dan O’Connor and City Council Member Erik Martin Dilan.

This morning President Obama endorsed Nydia. Here’s what he had to say

“For the past two decades, Rep. Nydia Velázquez has been a constant advocate for middle-class families, helping to create an economy built to last where everyone has an opportunity to achieve the American Dream,” said President Obama.

“Rep. Velázquez has worked tirelessly to create good middle-class jobs through community projects, provide affordable housing so folks have a decent place to lay their head at night, and invest in education so that the children in her district receive the quality education they deserve. The people of NY’s 7th Congressional need to re-elect Rep. Velázquez so that she can keep fighting for them in Congress.”

Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez is currently serving her tenth term as Representative for New York’s 12th Congressional District, now known as the 7th CD. In the 112th Congress, she is the Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee and a senior member of the Financial Services Committee. In 1992, she was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Continue reading Obama Endorses Velazquez in Congressional Primary Race →

Over at Brooklyn Borough Hall, BP Marty Markowitz is announcing the date and authors slated for the Brooklyn Book Festival.Here’s what I heard: The Brooklyn Book Festival will take place on Sunday, September 23, 2012, at Borough Hall, St. Francis College , Brooklyn Historical Society, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church and Columbus Park .

For the first time, an entire week of Brooklyn Book Festival “bookend events” will be held at clubs, bookstores, parks, theaters and libraries throughout the borough from September 17-23. For an up-to-date list of confirmed authors, visit www.brooklynbookfestival.org.

A partial list of the authors includes, Kurt Andersen, Paul Auster, Mary Higgins Clark, Billy Collins, Leela Corman, Andrea Cremer, Edwidge Danticat, Thomas Frank, Pete Hamill, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Katrina vanden Heuvel, John Hodgman, Derek Kirk Kim, Dennis Lehane, Philip Levine, Jaime Manrique, Terry McMillan, Carla Speed McNeil, Joyce Carol Oates, Stewart O’Nan, R.J. Palacio, Francine Prose, Esmeralda Santiago, Sapphire, Jon Scieszka, Adrian Tomine, Colson Whitehead, E.O. Wilson, James Wolcott

I walk a lot. I see. I drive around. I’m aware that in the last few weeks a slew of local businesses are going out of business. I also took a quick look at Here’s Park Slope, that awesome blog that is so good at telling us what businesses are closing, opening, expanding, changing…

I always said that people are addicted to where they live and when a store opens—or closes, it’s big news because it’s an important change to the landscape of our lives.

OTBKB Analysis:

Seems that there’s a lot of motion at the moment. I think it’s because summer is upon us and business can be quite slow in these parts once the summer months set in. Businesses that were not faring well may throw in the towel come summer during a bad economy in an area with atrociously high rents. Just ask any local business: the high rents make it close to impossible to make a living as a mom and pop shop.

You’ve gotta be a real estate firm, a cell phone store or a Starbucks, Radio Shack, and Barnes and Noble to be able to survive these rents.

But there are other reasons for stores to close. Sometimes the owner just decides to move on. That’s the case with two recent closures: Bob and Judi’s Coolectibles (15 years in biz) and Park Slope Florist (40 years in biz). But those aren’t the only recent changes to the nabe. Here goes an OTBKB accounting.

Transformations

Press 195 on Fifth Avenue near Union to become second Zito’s Sandwich Shop

Openings

Cafe Dada on Lincoln Place

Stone Park Cafe event space on Third Street across from Washington Park

Reopenings

Leaf and Bean moving to Lincoln Place sometime soon

Closures

Park Slope Bread is closed

Park Slope Eatery is closed

Park Slope Florist (closing at the end of the month)

Bob & Judi’s (closing July 31)

Let me know what I missed.

When Ozzie’s on Seventh Avenue and Lincoln Place closed it was a big deal on a few levels. Firstly, it was one of the very first cafes to come in Park Slope (circa 1992 or so). It was here before coffee places were ubiquitous. Real pioneer that Ozzies.

It was also interesting because they occupied a former drugstore/pharmacy and they kept all of the antique built-ins and glass. They were very forward thinking in the way that they preserved the past.

Ozzie’s went out of business more than a year ago and there was talk that a barista from Ozzie’s was going to open her own place in that location. I’m not sure if that’s the case.

For the past many months, there have been intriguing things in the mostly papered up window of that storefront – what looked like dollhouses made out of balsa wood (or were they architectural models?). There were also signs that a lot of renovation was going on within.

Suffice it to say, there’s been curiosity, there’s been lots of peeking in to see what’s going on.

Tada. Today’s the day for the mystery to solve itself. The brand new Cafe Dada is now open. I did peek in a few days ago and the space looks beautiful and craftsmen-like AND the owners kept the original pharmacy cabinets.

Preservation/renovation/reinvention.

Look at this cake that was made by Hudson Cakery to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Prospect Park carousel.

We had a fifth birthday party for Henry at the carousel and had a cake made (actually two) at Cupcake Cafe. It was a similar idea but not as colorful or as elaborate.

Lovely.

And Eric Adams, the NY State Senator who represents Park Slope will be there.

The march is planned for Sunday, June 17 at 3PM at 110th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues at the northern edge of Central Park. You can read more about it on the NYCLU website.

In preparation for the Father’s Day silent march against the NYPD’s stop and frisk practice, Adams, a former NYPD Captain, has posted a presentation to his website that explains in layman’s terms how the NYPD’s current practice violates the rights of minority youth.

Senator Adams states:

“Many New Yorkers are not fully aware of how the NYPD’s current practice of stop and frisk is abusive to youth of color.   My presentation explains the intention of the procedure, and shows how it is currently misused.  It is my hope that after viewing the presentation, an informed public will march in a unified manner to call upon the NYPD to stop the abuse of this practice.”

The Stop and Frisk informational presentation can be viewed at adams.nysenate.gov.

How does a subway get lost and where does it go?

To explore this matter, WNYC’s Transportation Nation put up a January post, map and radio feature about the city’s “ghost system” of never-built or abandoned lines.

Seems that this project was so well regarded, it was included on New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix, where they were placed in the Highbrow / Brilliant quadrant.

Now the folks at TN are giving an illustrated presentation at the  Mid-Manhattan branch about TN’s subways research — where they would’ve gone and why they weren’t built.

The presentation happens this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with Jim O’Grady, WNYC reporter and TN contributor, and John Keefe, Senior Editor for Data News & Journalism Technology at WNYC.

Photo from Marcus Cohn

Thanks to Brenda of Crazy Stable for bringing this to my attention on Facebook. She wrote, “Holy crap!!! I had no idea the library was facing cuts this deep. Even if it is just ritualistic bureaucratic budget brinksmanship (RBBB), we Brooklynites still need to stand up and scream…”

Indeed, the Brooklyn Public Library could face a cut of $27 million to their city funding on June 30, 2012, which represents a nearly 1/3 reduction to their current budget.

That’s massive. If the Library closes its doors, you will lose access to books, free computers and WiFi service;
job search assistance; story time activities; technical skill programs; and cultural events.

There’s also a petition here.

The other night, I was walking with Hugh on Seventh Avenue in front of PS 321 and I smelled the most wonderful botanical smell.

“Do you smell that?” I asked him and inhaled deeply.

“What?”

I guess not.

It smelled like honeysuckle but I didn’t see any honeysuckle. It made me think of the way it smelled on the kibbutz I lived on back in 1980. At night, the honeysuckle would make senses swoon.

I wondered if it was someone’s perfume. Then someone walked by who noticed me kvelling about the smell and she said, “It really does smell nice.” Or something like that.

I felt validated. And connected to this stranger who affirmed me. And now I feel validated again by this post from Brooklyn Based about the smell. She claims it’s from the Linden trees.

Maybe you’ve noticed a sweet smell in the air as of late.  Somewhere between sugary honeysuckle and strong magnolia, it’s delicate and floral, a bit musky.  It takes a determined flower to cut through the all the olfactory noise and reach our noses in this busy borough, and this year the linden tree is on top of its game.

Also known as basswood or Tilia americana the linden tree blooms for about two weeks at the beginning of summer, filling the air with a sweet scent that attracts picnickers and buzzing bees alike.  The most populous varietal in Brooklyn is the littleleaf, which are commonly found in parks and as street trees.

According to Brooklyn Based, there are 56 such trees in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens but there are many here in Park Slope, too.

Come smell it.

Friend-in-the-Know suggested that I look into the race for Nydia Velazquez’s seat in the 7th Congressional district which includes Park Slope. A guy by the name of George Martinez , who has already been profiled in a cover story in the Village Voice, He’s low man on the totem pole is running in a race that includes Nydia Velazques (incumbent), City Council Member Erik Martin Dilan (the choice of Vito Lopez and the Democratic machine), and Dan O’Connor, an Irish-American who speaks Mandarin Chinese and is headquartered in Chinatown (which is also part of the new rejiggered district).

So that’s the field.

For now, I’m turning my attention  to George Martinez because sometimes the off-beat candidates are really compelling and offer interesting lessons in grassroots democracy. Martinez was born and raised in the 7th district. He attended IS 88, Brooklyn Tech and Brooklyn College. He’s an Occupy Wall Street activist with an impressive resume. In his own words, this is what he posted on his website (bumrushthevote.net):

My Puerto Rican parents divorced when I was three, leaving my mother to raise me and my sister alone. She worked hard to support our family but we wouldn’t have been able to survive without public assistance. My mother taught me the importance of learning from an early age, and I’m a proud product of the New York public school system. Starting at PS 58 in Carroll Gardens, then IS 88 in Park Slope, followed by Brooklyn Technical High School.  I was the first of my family to enter higher education, graduating magna cum laude from Brooklyn College before earning a doctoral fellowship at the CUNY Graduate Center.

While at college, I performed regularly in the NYC underground hip-hop scene and was recognized by Source Magazine as an Unsigned Hype. I was a founding member of the Blackout Arts Collective, a grassroots coalition of artists, activists and educators empowering communities of color through the arts. As a student leader at CUNY I fought against Giuliani’s plans to implement workfare and restrict access to public higher education.

After college I became an adjunct professor at Hunter College and ran many political literacy and organizing campaigns in the local community. Later I ran for City Council and have served as District Leader for the 51^st Assembly District. There I led the movement for reform in the county organization and continued to advocate for grassroots political empowerment in our neighborhoods.

Continue reading Who Is George Martinez & Why Is He Running for Congress? →

Why do people abandon bikes? Do they ride them and then forget about them? Do they lock them up and lose the key? Is it some kind of urban activity like throwing sneakers on a lamp post?

WNYC listeners submitted over 500 pictures of abandoned bicycles in New York. They showed them to the Department of Sanitation but they won’t be removing most of them anytime soon.

Why, you might ask.

According to Transportation Nation: “The life cycle of a bike left to rot on NYC streets is long, and intentionally so.  The complaint process is as clunky as the cast off bikes themselves and the criteria for removal is stiffer than the U-lock holding this pilfered cruiser to a bike rack on Bleecker Street.” .

There are many of these bikes in Park Slope. The Department of Sanitation makes the point that they don’t know if these are really abandoned or not. So they’ve come up with their own critera for removing these bikes. Here goes:

–The appearance is crushed or not usable;
–Have parts missing from bicycle other than seat and front wheel;
–Have flat tires or missing both tires;
–Handlebars and pedals are damaged, or the fork, frame or rims are bent;
–75 percent of bicycle is rusted.

Read more about this cycling conundrum at Transportation Nation where there is an abandoned bike tracker, a map and all sorts of interesting facts.