Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.

Last week, wildlife biologists and technicians working with the federal Agriculture Department herded 400 250 geese into a fenced area, packed them into crates (two or three geese at a time)  and took them to a nearby building where they were gassed with lethal doses of carbon dioxide.

Horrific.

This “genocide” was done in the name of aviation safety. Carole A. Bannerman, a spokesperson for the federal Agriculture Department, told the New York Times that these murders were necessary: “The thing to always remember in this New York situation is that we are talking about aviation and passenger and property safety,” she said. “In New York City, from 1981 to 1999, the population increase was sevenfold.”

The geese have been on the chopping block since geese flew into the engines of a US Airways Flight. The pilot averted disaster by landing on the surface of the Hudson River.

I understand the aviation risk that a huge population of geese pose but the thought of these geese being rounded up holocaust style in our park is just disgusting.

An OTBKB reader wrote in with this comment:

It seems to me that the plane incident is being used to eliminate the geese because certain parks and city officials think they are a nuisance. But the killings are a useless operation. Years ago an experiment was done with Starlings in forested area. They were removed and killed several times and always other Starlings came to replace them. The irony is that these geese were almost extinct early in the 20th century. Must we as a species always get rid of what we feel gets in the way of our lifestyles? So now we have a barren lake, devoid of most wildlife. And for what? For a threat that does not really exist…these were resident birds, not migrants. What a great example for all the children who used to enjoy them. Shame on the city, Adrian Benape, Tupper Thomas, the Prospect Park Alliance and the Federal government.

What do you think?

Verdict still out on loft law effects: Bushwick BK

Fatal accident in Manhattan Beach: Sheepshead Bites

The Point these days: Gerritsen Beach

Lost hedgehog: Clinton Hill

Yet another opossum sighting: Pardon Me for Asking

Thor’s Coney Island: Demolition under the radar? Amusing the Zillions

Calm energy dog trainers: Dumbo NYC

Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.

And I love it.

I got on at Third Street and biked all the way up to 15th Street (Bartel Pritchard Square). As I pedaled I tried to find a reason not to like the bike lane.

I couldn’t find one.

1. It gives bikers a place to ride in both directions.

2. It calms the traffic on Prospect Park West.

Two lanes of traffic rather than three has definitely made PPW less of a free-way-like speed zone. I thought about the new parking lane and wondered if it was less safe to park on Prospect Park West without the curb. I’ve heard complaints along those lines. There may be something to that but parkers will adjust and it doesn’t seem like a good reason to derail the path.

As far as I could tell, the bikers seemed to stick to their lanes and to bike carefully. As a biker, I will admit that it is easy to forget to observe traffic lights but there are plenty of signs.

For bikers it is important to ride slowly and responsibly. It is, after all, an urban bike lane and bikers need to be very aware of pedestrians and parked cars. If a biker wants a fast ride, the path inside the park is the way to go. But to get from one end of Prospect Park West to another, if you are willing to ride with care and respect for other traffic elements, the bike lane is an excellent option.

The fact that the DOT sees biking as an important element of traffic is a good sign. Bikes are good for the city and the health and well-being of its citizens. The safer it is to use a bike in this city the more people will ride them. I believe cities should be less auto-centric and more encouraging of pedestrians and bikers.

Bike lanes area a win win for the city and its people.

The Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District will host a free social networking/media training on Wednesday, July 21st at 9:30 AM at Aunt Suzie’s restaurant (247 Fifth Avenue), where you can learn how to use Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and even YouTube to help promote your small business or cause!

On hand will be representatives from two Internet companies, Postling and Mobile Meteor, who will talk about how their tools can help make your social networking easier and even how you can better spread the word to NYC’s city’s Smart Phone users!

RSVP via email: info@parkslopefifthavenuebid.com

Coffee and bagels will be served. This training is open to anyone interested, so feel free to spread the word.

If you’re free, check out what composer Roy Nathanson (sax and voice) and Tim Kiah (bass and voice) are doing on the Lower East Side tonight. Roy sent me this note:

I know it’s insanely short notice but if by any chance you want to shlep out on this steamy summer monday, Tim Kiah and I will be experimenting with some material as a duo on a cool vocal series at The Local 269 on Houston st.  We’ll be playing from 8-9 but there are other interesting groups – 2 after us and one before. Here’s the info

It happens tonight: Monday, July 12 at 8PM – Roy Nathanson/Tim Kiah Duo: Roy Nathanson (sax, voice,
compositions), Tim Kiah (bass, voice)
269 East Houston St at Suffolk
http://www.thelocal269.com/
fee: $10 for one band/$15 for two/$20 for all

And you can submit questions, too.

The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College, is hosting a debate between the Democratic candidates for New York State Attorney General on Thursday, July 15 at 6:30 PM, is still accepting question submissions from residents of Central Brooklyn.  The debate will be held in Founders Auditorium at Medgar Evers College at 1650 Bedford Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The debate will include three questions selected from submitted questions by central Brooklyn residents. Submissions can be emailed to CentralBKDebate@gmail.com and must include the resident’s first name and last initial or name, as well as the central Brooklyn neighborhood of residence (i.e. Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, etc.).

All five of the Democratic Party candidates are confirmed to participate in the event. The list of candidates includes Assemblyman Richard Brodsky; Sean Coffey, lead attorney in the WorldCom securities case; former New York State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo; Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice; and State Senator Eric Schneiderman.

The candidates are expected to address a number of questions considered to be of particular concern to residents of central Brooklyn and to those living in the state’s urban centers. Topics will range from discriminatory practices in hiring and police misconduct, to installing a special prosecutor’s office to handle cases where there is a potential conflict of interest for district attorneys prosecuting police officers.

The moderator of the debate will be Jonathan P. Hicks, a senior fellow at the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy and a former political writer with The New York Times.

The debate is co-sponsored by several political clubs from central Brooklyn: Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA); Progressive Association for Political Action (PAPA); Rosa Parks Democratic Club; Thomas S. Boyland Democratic Club; New Era Democratic Club; Progressive Democratic Political Association; and the Unity Democratic Club.

The City Room blog reports that nearly 400 Canada geese and goslings that were living in Prospect Park were captured and euthanized last week in an effort to reduce the goose population in the New York City region. Here’s an excpert from the City Room story:

Early on Thursday morning, wildlife biologists and technicians descended on the park and netted the birds. The biologists, who work with the wildlife services division of the United States Department of Agriculture, then packed the geese two or three to a crate and took them to a facility where they were gassed with lethal doses of carbon dioxide, said Carol A. Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the wildlife services division.

The wildlife specialists had taken advantage of the fact that the birds were in the middle of molting season, when they shed their feathers and are unable to fly. On Monday morning, only four geese were seen out on the lake in Prospect Park, according to one nearby resident, and it was not clear if they had avoided the roundup or arrived in the days since it occurred.

Last summer, 1,200 geese from 17 sites around the city were euthanized. The authorities have been trying to thin out their ranks since two geese flew into the engines of US Airways Flight 1549 in January, 2009, causing it to splash down in the Hudson River. Everyone on board survived.

Charter commission hearing on ULURP: Atlantic Yard Report

Landmarking progress in Bed Stuy: Brownstoner

Debbie Almontaser drops suit against city: NY Post

13,000 Ebooks at public library: NY Daily News

Food and Water Watch is presenting a screening of this documentary by the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car at Vox Pop on Wednesday, July 14, at 8PM.

Will you still eat at your favorite restaurant if it gets a C from the Department of Health?

Starting in July 2010, New York City is requiring “food service establishments” to post letter grades that correspond to their sanitary inspection scores. This report card must be posted at the entrance to the restaurant for all to see.

Los Angeles started a similar system in the 1990’s. Initially, only 40% of restaurants received an A. But now 80% of restaurants are receiving high grades.

Andrew Reggio, the director of operations of the New York Restaurant Association, thinks this will have a negative impact on restaurants and may cause closures. He cites differences between the Los Angeles system and the one in NYC, making it easier to fail in NYC. Here’s what he told Blackbook.com:

The LA system is based on 100 points and is traditional in the sense that 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C. In NYC there are more than 1000 points a restaurant can receive from violations. In NYC, 0-13 points = A, 14-27 points = B and 28+ = C (basically a failing grade). It will be substantially easier to fail in NYC.  Percentage wise, a restaurant would need to score between 98.7 – 100% to receive an A grade, 97.3 – 98.6% to receive a B and a 97.2% or less to receive a C.  Furthermore, in NYC there are more than 40 violations that carry between 10-28 points.  Compared to LA where no violation carries more than 6 points.”

The following is a Q&A from the NYC Health Department, which summarizes the grading program.

Why is the Health Department issuing letter grades to restaurants?
The Health Department is issuing restaurant letter grades to help consumers make informed choices
about where to eat out. Consumer awareness creates a powerful new incentive for restaurants to
maintain the highest food safety standards.

Which establishments are graded?
Some food service establishments that require Health Department permits will receive and post letter
grades that correspond to their sanitary inspection scores. These establishments include most
restaurants, coffee shops, bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, retail bakeries, and fixed-site food stands. This
document uses the term “restaurants” to refer to all these establishments.
Which establishments are not graded?
Letter grades are not being issued to mobile food vending units, temporary food service
establishments, food service establishments operated by primary or secondary schools, hospitaloperated
cafeterias, correctional facilities, charitable organizations (including soup kitchens or other
prepared food distribution programs), or food service establishments operated by not-for-profit
membership organizations, which serve food only to their members.
What are the grades, and what do they mean?
Grades reflect how well a restaurant complies with the food safety requirements of the New York
City Health Code and the State Sanitary Code. When inspectors examine a restaurant’s sanitary
conditions and practices, they assign numerical points for different violations of the Health Code.
Different violations carry different numbers of points, depending on their nature and severity. The
total number of violation points provides a measure of the restaurant’s general condition. Under the
new system, the Health Department will use the scores from certain inspections to generate letter
grades that are easier to interpret. Here are the grades:
• Grade A. 0 to 13 points for sanitary violations.
• Grade B. 14 to 27 points for sanitary violations.
• Grade C. 28 or more points for sanitary violations.
• Grade Pending. A restaurant’s B or C grade is not final until the restaurant has had the
opportunity to go before the Health Department’s Administrative Tribunal to contest the
violations cited against it. Until then, the restaurant has the option to post either the
preliminary grade or a card that says “Grade Pending.” Once the grade is final, the restaurant
must immediately post the letter grade card and take down the Grade Pending card.
Continue reading Restaurants Must Post New Letter Grades from Department of Health →

In the NY Times Metropolitan section today, a little sparring match over the merits of Central Park vs. Prospect Park. Here is Jim Rasenberger on Central Park:

I admit I was surprised when the idea of a friendly joust over the respective merits of Central Park and Prospect Park was first proposed to us. It had never occurred to me that anyone seriously considered the two parks comparable. I have nothing against Prospect Park. I have actually been to Prospect Park. It is, as I recall, in Brooklyn. I am sure that if I found myself near it again and had nothing better to do, I would be happy to watch the grass grow, or whatever it is people do there. But seriously. I look forward to sharing with you why Central Park is not only the most visited, most famous, most beloved, but also — wait, I’m going to need the caps lock button for this — THE GREATEST URBAN PARK ON EARTH.

And on Prospect Park, here is Elizabeth Giddens:

I’m sure Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the architects of both these parks, would be surprised by your surprise, as Prospect was their clear favorite. It’s widely understood among landscape architects that Central Park was a mere practice run, and Prospect Park the true masterpiece — like God making man before woman.

I didn’t know Manhattanites actually used Central Park. It’s a wonder you’re even able to, since it’s so entirely overrun by tourists. Though I did once ford a treacherous river of Lycra-clad bikers to find a small flat spot of grass where Upper East Siders sardine together in search of the perfect tan. Ah, park as annex to gym and tanning salon! Inspired!

Consider, by way of contrast, our Long Meadow: the pastoral ideal at its finest, with undulating hills dotted with ancient trees, among which a diverse array of humanity frolics with happy abandon. The difference between our parks is that mine is full of New Yorkers in their own gorgeous backyard, and yours is full of suburbanites snapping pictures out of pedicabs.

An OTBKB and neighborhood resident writes in:

The tree-lined block of Carroll Street between 4th and 5th was a crack depot during the 1980s. Dealers used the tree pits on Garfield and Carroll Streets as drop off/pick-up sites. During the 1990s, there was a major bust on Carroll Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. Neighbors said, “You know that house that isn’t visible from the street? Well, that guy is gone. Busted.”

That bust really paved the way for gentrification. Those blocks were “cleaned up,” many small houses were bulldozed, and coops and condos went up. Now, people are shocked to learn that one of the gentry was running a drug ring out of his Carroll Street condo. The older residents just think, same block, different drugs.

The Brooklyn Paper has the story. Here’s an excerpt:

A literature lover went rogue on Thursday, swiping tomes from the Barnes & Noble in Park Slope before struggling with a cop, breaking free and stealing and crashing a van.

Police are now throwing the book at their suspect, Jay Wilkins, who is charged with more than just lifting the books from the store, which is on Seventh Avenue near Sixth Street, at about 5 pm

Read the rest here.