All posts by louise crawford

STUFF AND THINGS

AMY BURTON SINGS CORIGLIANO: NOT TO BE MISSED

Don’t miss acclaimed singer Amy Burton singing John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man, as part of the Brooklyn Philarmonic’s 2008 Corigliano Festival at the Brooklyn Public Library (Grand Army Plaza branch).

What a show! This performance will be at the brand new S. Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture (at the Brooklyn Public Library) on Saturday February 9th at 4 p.m.

Hear the wonderful Amy Burton in performance.

This event is FREE to the public.

Brooklyn’s John Corigliano is internationally celebrated as one of the leading composers of his generation. In orchestral, chamber, opera and film work, he has won global acclaim for his highly expressive and compelling compositions and his kaleidoscopic, ever-expanding technique. He has received virtually all of the most important prizes — several Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for his Second Symphony, a Grawemeyer, and even an Academy Award for his score to Francois Giraud’s 1997 film “The Red Violin” — as well as honorary doctorates, awards, fetes, lauds, and accolades too numerous to list. He is one of the few living composers to have a string quartet named after him, and his work has been performed by some of the most visible orchestras, soloists and chamber musicians in the world, and recorded on the Sony, RCA, BMG, Telarc, Erato, Ondine, New World, and CRI labels.

Corigliano holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York, and serves on the faculty at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1991, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; in 1992, Musical America named him “Composer of the Year,” their first ever. He has received grants from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

For a bio of Amy Burton go here.

Civics and Urban Life

MORE ROLLER-COASTERING: CLINTON VS. OBAMA

The Democratic Primary roller coaster continues.  Clinton vs. Obama. It’s a hard choice to make. And while we’d love to see them run together I agree with Maureen Dowd that it’s not likely.

As I said in my Obama endorsement, this is a tough primary for many of us. After reading my endorsement post a friend wrote to share her feelings.

She agrees that Obama’s speeches are inspirational and that the idea of a black president is almost as satisfying as the idea of a woman in the White House, not as the first lady behind her man… but up front.

She also wrote to say that it was pointed out on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show that Obama was NOT in the senate when he opposed the war, he had not been elected yet, which she thinks is a widespread misunderstanding .

She went on to say that she  believes that it is impossible for one person…even as president…to effect change on the scale that Obama promises. She believes that if he is elected, circumstances, reality, will take over and he will be faced with problems that have a life of their own that he is at present, unprepared to deal with. For her, Hillary is much more capable of transitioning because she knows all the players and understands the process intimately.

But it is the fact that Hillary is a woman that is really why she wins my friend’s support:

"I cannot separate myself from the importance …for me…of electing a woman. I came of age at a time when there was a double standard for men and women. I was raised to be sweet, get educated, get married, have babies….cook, clean…and work when it fit into the family life….not for me.  I made hard choices and have lived my life   fighting, in my small private way, to be independent financially and professionally."

On primary day, my friend will vote for Hillary Clinton because, while she may not be the woman she would choose to be the first woman president, she is the one who has made it to this place in time.

"I think most of what we don’t like about her is a result of what she has had to do to get to where she is. I truly wish she was more like Obama in presentation and energy. He is a rock star and that is good and not so good." 

 

Just more food for thought.

Postcard from the Slope

CLUB LOCO SEEKING PARENT VOLUNTEERS


Club Loco, the under-21 club in Park Slope which
celebrated its first anniversary last month, is seeking parents of
teens interested in helping to plan its future.

On average about 50 teens attend each of the events (held one Saturday
evening each month), and many local bands are eager to perform. It’s a
unique venue because only teens are present–except for the
20-something chaperone volunteers, sound manager, and security guard.
No parents are allowed in; Club Loco belongs to the teens.

The scene is more relaxed and less high-pressure than other venues such
as bars, and offers new bands an opportunity to perform even when they
can’t yet promise a huge following. We hope to expand to other kinds of
music than rock and to audiences from a larger area. 

It’s clear that Club Loco has reached a solid presence in Park Slope.
But its founder Lois Wingerson (a member of Old First Church on Seventh
Avenue where the events take place) doesn’t have either the expertise
or the local contacts to help it grow. (She doesn’t live in Park Slope and doesn’t
know many people in the area.) It’s high time for others to take an
active role in decision-making.


In short, at one year of age Club Loco is now mature enough to need a
board to decide policy issues and plan future direction, and also to
carry out simple tasks such as managing email communications and
publicity, doing simple background checks on young adult volunteers,
and making booking arrangements for old favorite bands or new prospects
that contact Club Loco via email or Myspace.

We’re seeking four or five Park Slope
residents, preferably parents of teenagers in the area, who are willing
to collaborate in moving Club Loco toward its next season.

For further information, or to volunteer, please contact Lois at lwingerson@nyc.rr.com
or 917-583-5273.

STUFF AND THINGS

YOUTH ORCHESTRA AT OLD FIRST ON SUNDAY

Here’s a plug for an event that touches on a few of my favorite themes–kids, music, Old First Church & free events in the neighborhood:

This Sunday, February 10 at 4:00, the Brooklyn Queens Conservatory of Music’s Youth Orchestra will perform its second concert at Old First Church. (If you search really hard on the BQCM website, you’ll see this listed as a choral performance. That’s an error.)

As a parent lucky to have been there from day one, I’ve had the pleasure of watching the orchestra ("open to all instrumentalists age 9-18 who can read music") blossom
over the past year and a half under conductor Yvonne Hicks. Yvonne is
one of those incredibly demanding, occasionally intimidating, yet
absolutely adored teachers some of us may be fortunate enough to
remember from our own school days.
 

Yvonne’s
is not one of those off-tempo school orchestras only a parent could
love. Even though some of of the kids are relatively new at the game, I
bet any WQXR type would find this a pleasant alternative to a Sunday afternoon
listening to recorded music. Great opportunity, too, for parents
looking to scope what’s happening at BQCM–or to introduce a budding
musician to the idea of playing with other kids. And it’s free to boot.

       

Postcard from the Slope

READ THE NY MOON, TOUR THE ATLANTIC AVENUE TUNNEL

New York Moon is an internet-based publication adhered to the lunar phases of the real waxing, waning moon. It is collection of experimental, reflective, and imaginative projects that unfold in any medium. The Moon culminates in an “illumination” with each month’s full moon. The Moon will also take physical form in various ways – one month it may be wheat pasted on a wall and the next it may appear as a prospectus left carelessly on a subway seat. At the beginning of the cycle Moon editors and contributors get together and talk about what projects they propose for the next edition. The month is spent working on the projects and tweaking concepts. After publication, a project doesn’t end. There is always the potential for someone to send something to be included on a past project’s page. The Moon is in flux and these rules may be scrapped in the future.

The theme of their latest issue is “underground.” On the site, you can see a filmed performance in the abandoned Atlantic Avenue Tunnel; the images of this event are really interesting. Someone involved with the publication got in touch with me. He thought OTBKB readers would be interested; I think he’s right.

The Moon is an experimental publication and in this edition we had the theme of “underground.” Our chief project was to film a cello performance in the abandoned Atlantic Avenue Tunnel.

The other projects – an interview with an urban explorer, a short history of the Calvary Cemetery, and a dispatch from Istanbul – all deal with the theme of underground in a different way.

I thought it would be interesting to your readers just because the Atlantic Avenue tunnel is something that everyone walks over daily, but few people know it exists or its history. They have tours, too: the next one is Sunday, February 17th, Sunday – 1 p.m. – reservations can be made with the Brooklyn Historic Rail Association at 718 941 3160.

The BHRA let us down in the tunnel to film the performance. Our group is a bunch of artists, writers, and designers who just got together to create the kinds of projects we want: we don’t have any funding or anything. We spend a lot of time on this, though!

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

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Here’s the word from our pal Pete about a article in NY Times today about the notion of perfection entitled: “Perfection Is Afterthought, Perfect Examples Say.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/sports/football/03perfect.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1)

The New England Patriots have won all 18 games they’ve played this year as they enter today’s Superbowl, a “perfect” season thus far. But is it?

“There is no perfect season,” said John Wooden, who coached the U.C.L.A. basketball teams that once won 88 consecutive games. “You can have a season where you win all your games. But that is far from perfect. The other teams you played scored points and your team made mistakes. Maybe a lucky bounce actually won you a game or two. No, winning does’t make you perfect.”

Other famous athletes who have attained perfect scores and achieved record-breaking feats of greatness in their sport are also quoted in the article. Most agree that thinking about perfection or breaking records actually interferes with performance.

Winning doesn’t make you perfect? I love that! Why? Because perfection, in the way most people think about it, is an illusion, and perfectionism is a crippling defense mechanism that actually prevents someone from achieving even reasonable goals or experiencing even minimal levels of fulfillment.

In reality, perfection is a place we’re always heading towards, but never attaining, or conversely, it is the ongoing state of things already, depending on the way you want to frame it. In other words, because we’re always evolving, because we’re living beings, and therefore never static, anything that we accomplish today in the course of our evolution only sets the bar higher for another achievement tomorrow. Yet, also by virtue of the fact that we are alive, and as such are exact representations in physical form of our soul’s intentions, we are already perfect in that we are exactly what we are designing to be in each moment. (Or as John Lennon put it: “Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.”)

Perfectionism, then, is a covert way of resisting the very thing one is trying to accomplish, and/or it is an expression of the resistance to feeling gratified by what one actualy does accomplish. (Does anyone know a happy perfectionist?) Put another way, an obsessive insistance on perfection is a way of not giving, a withholding of one’s gifts. It is a passive-aggressive act. The perfectionist will say things like: I can’t serve our friends this meal, or present this work of art to the world, because my creation isn’t good enough yet. Or I can’t go to your party because I don’t have a suitable outfit to wear, or I can’t take my clothes off in front of you and make love with you because I’m out of shape physically. In other words, perfectionism is a disguised way of saying: “No!” No, I’m not going to give of myself to you. No, I’m not going to share my gifts with you. Etc. And that “no” is all too often disguised under the very annoying and false self-effacement of: I’m not good enough, or what I have to offer isn’t good enough. Ugh! Get over it. Good enough is good enough! Give something to someone already. If it’s from your heart, if it’s a genuine expression of your desire to give, it will be of value to the recipient. Can you improve the recipe for that dish? Rewrite that screenplay one more time? Lose a little weight? Sure. And you will. And those changes will always occur over time according to yoru intentions in the moment.

You’re a living, vibrant, fluid, always in flux human being. Don’t let that stop you from offering yourself to others. There is no one else like you. No one else has your perspective on life, your confluence of experiences and ideas and imagination. No one else has your body, and I can tell you, your body is already beautiful and perfect the way it is… if you say it is.

And remember, whether it’s the Giants or the Patriots today… it’s just a game!
PL (http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/)

Smartmom

SMARTMOM: KIDS ARE BACK AT THE HALL

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Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper:

The owner of Union Hall, the Union Street bocce bar popular with hipsters, rockers and (until last week) new moms, has changed his mind after a week of criticism for his hastily announced “No kids allowed” policy.

Starting soon, owner Jim Carden told Smartmom, the bar will once again welcome in moms and their kids for some downtime (and drinks!) a few afternoons a week.

Whew! Now, can we all get along?

Carden had been under fire — and also hailed as a drinking class hero — ever since he posted a “No strollers” sign in the front window last week.

Plenty of mommies took to the blogs to slam Carden, but just as many defended him.

“I went to Union Hall [and] was appalled to be sitting next to toddlers while trying talk to my girlfriends (sometimes graphically) about life,” wrote one poster on Brooklynian. “So I’ve not been back. I’ll give it another try if it’s not going to feel like a preschool.”

That was one of the more polite posts!

Carden certainly wasn’t the first bar-owner to lower the boom on the Bugaboo set. Who can forget the bartender at Patio on Fifth Avenue who wrote the now-famous (or infamous) “Stroller Manifesto” on an A-frame sandwich board?

“What is it with people bringing their kids into bars?” wrote bartender Andy Heidel in thick white chalk back in August, 2006. “A bar is a place for adults to kick back and relax. How can you do that with a toddler running around?”

Smartmom can see both sides (she wouldn’t be Smartmom if she couldn’t find the neuroses in everything!). Yes, it’s convenient to bring your kid with you if you don’t have a babysitter. But do parents really need their Rob Roy with a side of rug rats?

Maybe. Carden told Smartmom this week that it was mistake to just put up the “No strollers” signs without an explanation to the neighborhood.

Herein is that explanation: “It was strictly liability,” Carden said. “A lot of parents are great and mindful. But some are not that attentive to their kids when they’re in here. This is a bar with an open stairwell and a bocce court. This is a business and we don’t have the staff to police it.”

It’s not like Union Hall has anything against parents and kids — far from it. Carden and a few of the bar’s employees have kids of their own.

“But Union Hall is not a community center,” he said. “We want to be here for a long time. We’ve got a long lease. We don’t want to jeopardize that for anything [with a possible lawsuit].”

So for now, that means no more mommy groups at the bar. One mom wrote Smartmom to say that she’s not happy about this turn of events. She lives in a 650-square-foot apartment, and there’s barely enough room for her, her husband, their 18-month-old and an elderly, deaf cat.

So she likes to get together with friends in a public space like Union Hall. Especially when it’s cold outside.

“In the winter, sometimes we go to a bar during ‘off’ hours with our kids, let them run around, let the adults chat and have a drink whether it be alcoholic or not,” she said. “We assume that a bar or bar/restaurant would be happy to have some business during the off hours.”

Good assumption. Carden now says he will open Union Hall to kids and parents a few afternoons a week.

While some parents might resent the segregation of parents and regular customers, Smartmom think this is a great compromise for mommy groups that need somewhere to go and a neighborhood sorely in need of indoor spaces for parents and kids.

Still, local parents will have to face the fact that Union Street is not a small village in the English countryside with a charming pub that doubles as a gathering place for families with children and dogs. Smartmom loved the feeling of those places back in 1978 when she took a bicycle tour through southern England.

But this is Brooklyn. And Union Hall is a grown-up bar. Smartmom would even go so far to say that it is designed as a place for the younger Park Slope crowd — you know, those post-pubescent adults without gray hair that aren’t attached to strollers and children. They tend to congregate at brunch places and bars on Fifth Avenue.

Heck, they’re almost as young as Smartmom and Hepcat were when they hung out at that funky bar they called windows on the weird on Avenue A.

Come to think of it, Smartmom can’t remember any kids in Puffy’s, El Teddy’s or the Ear Inn in Soho back in the 1980s. Kids certainly existed, of course, but they didn’t have social lives like kids today.

Today, clearly Park Slope’s “young people” need a place to hang out just like Hepcat did when he had a specially designated bar stool at the Great Jones Café.

And it’s not like Union Hall never lets children through its very grown-up doors. Downstairs, the club sponsors special all-ages shows with such popular bands as Care Bears on Fire and Teen Spirit’s incredible new band, the Mighty Handful. These shows, which happen on Saturday afternoons, serve non-alcoholic punch with sour gummy worms.

But other than afternoons for mommy groups, and the occasional all ages music show, Union Hall is declaring itself a kid-free zone on nights and weekends when it wants to be a grown-up bar.

Smartmom is okay with that. Just because they have a huge Bocce court, Union Hall is not, for the most part, a place for kids. Or parents who don’t want to get a babysitter.

Civics and Urban Life

OTBKB ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA

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If you’re like me, trying to decide who to vote for in the democratic primary on Tuesday has been a real roller coaster.

For months, the democratic field has been a fascinating one. Hillary Clinton, a hero to feminists like me; Obama, a shining star since I saw his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004; Edwards, a passionate advocate for the working poor. 

My thoughts and feelings have vacillated continuously. And they continue to do so.

This is not a lesser-of-two-evils kind of primary. The only thing I can compare it to in my lifetime is the choice between Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy in 1968. I was only ten years old, but I remember feeling very strongly about both of them. My fifth grade class couldn’t decide whether we wanted to give our class bake sale money to McCarthy or Bobby so we had two bake sales.

After Bobby was murdered in June of 1968, that wasn’t an issue anymore. What a tragedy.

For many of us, the idea of a female president is an awe-inspiring thing. As the mother of a ten year old girl, I would be able to point to the White House and say, "A woman can do anything."

What an exciting thought.

There is much to admire about Clinton and her story: The wise young woman in the big round glasses at Wellesley College, a feminist leader, a great intellect; her achievement at Yale Law School; her years as a lawyer, as a political wife/partner to Bill Clinton; her efforts on behalf of healthcare and children in the White House, her time in the senate.

There is also a tragic part of Clinton and the fact that she has had to put up with so much on a personal level as the wife of a powerful (and libidinous) man. She has had to hide parts of her self so as not to alienate those in the electorate that distrust the idea of a powerful woman.

She has had to act strong when she probably felt anything but.

Indeed, it isn’t easy being a strong, smart, assertive woman in a culture that is deeply ambivalent about such a thing. She’s had to continuously redefine who she is to be acceptable to the electorate. If she’s tough and opinionated, she’s a bitch. If she’s smart and driven, she’s too ambitious.

It’s a no-win situation and that has taken its toll.

Yes, Hillary is a fascinating personality with personal tragedy and triumph that is better than fiction. But does that make me want to vote for her?

I’m not so sure.

Again and again, I go back to my reaction to Obama at the convention in 2004. As soon as he was done, I told family members who were in the room:  "There’s the first black president of the United States."

In the days after, I was buzzing from his message" "the audacity of hope.  It has been exciting to see how he has evolved and matured as a candidate in the last few months. His speeches are like poetry, as is his awe inspiring ability to inspire and lead.

Living in New York City, I see how intractable a problem race is in this country. A black man in the White House would be an amazing and inspiring message to those in urban America who feel trapped in their lives.

As a New Yorker,  I also remember the days and weeks after September 11 when the world seemed to have nothing but empathy for New York City and the United States. It was a magical moment of unity and compassion.

That the Bush administration took that moment and turned the world against us with his engagement in Iraq is the beginning of the tragic story of the last seven years. The worst part of it is the almost universal disdain for Americans and our policies around the world.

So it is as a New Yorker with deep memories of 9/11 that I turn away from my admiration for Hillary and embrace the power of Barack Obama’s message of a politics of true change and transformation.

We are at a moment in our history when we have to show the world something different and I think having Obama at the helm will send a powerful message that Americans want change, even transformation.

Again and again, people say that Obama has the ability to inspire and to see an issue from many sides. As reported in the New Yorker, Obama told one crowd in New Hampshire, "If you know who you are, who you’re fighting for, what your values are, you can afford to reach out to people across the aisle."

In these dark times, we could use a politician who has the ability to reach out across the aisle; to inspire; to lead with grace and inner strength.

Clinton often says that she is the candidate ready to lead on day one. And that may be true. But on day one, the message of a man like Barack Obama at the head of our troubled country is almost too powerful to ignore.

And hopeful. He’s got my vote on Tuesday.

 

Only the Blog News Links

ONLY THE BLOG LINKS

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Local analysis of the Clinton/Obama debate on the Brian Lehrer radio show today (WNYC)

Panel approves congestion pricing for entry 60th Street and below (Daily News)

Microsoft bids $44.6 billion for Yahoo (Marketplace)

Hotel Bossert in Brooklyn Heights for sale (McBrooklyn)

Public school budgets slashed (New York Times)

Blogger Written Nerd wins library award (Brooklyn Optimist)

Brooklyn Paper editor’s cast is for sale (ebay)

New chef at The Montauk Club (Go Brooklyn)

Brooklyn Brewery owner raises $40,000 for Transportation Alternatives (NY Daily News)

There Will Be Blood playing at BAM (BAM)

Civics and Urban Life

PAUL SIMON: MONTH LONG RESIDENCY AT BAM

BAM’s got Paul Simon for the month of April and it should be a very exciting month at BAM. Tickets are going to go fast so you better get moving on that. It’s a very interesting survey of Simon’s post Art Garfunkel career. Here’s the blurb and info from the BAM website.

Latin beats and 50s doo-wop fill New York City’s nights with Songs from The Capeman. In Under African Skies, Simon rekindles a love affair with the sounds of South Africa and Brazil which began with his masterpieces Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints. Finally, Simon revisits the quiet railway stations, urban rhythms, and immigrant dreams of his greatest American Tunes.

SONGS FROM THE CAPEMAN
Oscar Hernández and The Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Featuring performances by Claudette Sierra, Obie Bermudez, Ray De La Paz, Paul Simon
Special guest performance by Little Anthony and The Imperials
More artists to be announced

Apr 1—6 at 8pm
BAM Harvey Theater
$30, 50, 65

UNDER AFRICAN SKIES
Featuring performances by Hugh Masekela, Milton Nascimento, Kaïssa, David Byrne, Luciana Souza, Paul Simon
More artists to be announced

Apr 9* at 7pm
Apr 10—13 at 8pm
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
$45, 60, 75, 95
*BAM 2008 Spring Gala

AMERICAN TUNES
Featuring performances by Olu Dara, Grizzly Bear, The Roches, Paul Simon
More artists to be announced

Apr 23—27 at 8pm
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
$45, 60, 75, 95

Postcard from the Slope

KHALIL GIBRAN MOVING OUT OF DEAN STREET BUILDING AT THE END OF THE YEAR

But I don’t know where they’re moving.

Yesterday on a tour of the Middle School for Math and Science Explorations, a local middle school which shares space with Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) and the Brooklyn High School for the Arts, my group was told by the Parent Coordinator that Khalil Gibran will be leaving the building at the end of the school year. “We have it in writing,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if she meant the end of this school year or next (2009).

The middle school shares the large cafeteria with KGIA (and the high school) although the different schools are never there at the same time. When KGIA (which the Parent Coordinator pronounced kagiya) moves out, middle schoolers will no longer have a 10:15 am lunch period on some school days due to overuse of the cafeteria.

Other than that, the three school have nothing to do with one another.

There also happens to be an article in today’s New York Sun about a nasty clash outside of City Hall yesterday about the Khalil Gibran International Academy:

Yesterday, opponents of Khalil Gibran said the school is “in chaos” and that it is at risk of becoming a mouthpiece for violent radical Islamic ideology. They said they are going to court to force the Department of Education to turn over documents proving the school’s curriculum is safe and reasonable, as the city has been arguing.

The press conference turned into a commotion of shouting matches when supporters of the school, who came with cameras and a press release of their own, began firing back and accusing the school’s opponents of bigotry.

Atlantic Yards

CIRCUIT COURT RULES AGAINST HOME AND BUSINESS OWNERS AND TENANTS

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Hot off the press release presses, here’s the latest news from Develop Don’t Destroy.

New York, NY— The Second Circuit Court today ruled against 14 homeowners, business owners and tenants in their appeal of their lawsuit alleging that New York State’s use of eminent domain to take their properties for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project violates the United States Constitution.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Matthew Brinckerhoff said, “Today’s decision is disappointing. We disagree with its conclusion. We intend to ask the US Supreme Court to hear our case, and will continue to pursue every avenue available to prevent the unlawful seizure of my clients’ homes for Bruce Ratner’s enrichment. The court today affirmed that the government is free to take private homes and businesses and give them to influential citizens as long as one can imagine a conceivable benefit to the public, no matter how small or unlikely it may be. Indeed, it does not matter if all evidence points to a secret back room deal. All corrupt politicians need do to insulate themselves from judicial scrutiny is claim a benefit to the public. This is wrong. It should trouble all citizens who, unlike Bruce Ratner, lack the power and money to coopt the governments’ power of eminent domain for their private use. We believe that the United States Supreme Court will welcome the opportunity to clarify this area in light of its widely criticized Kelo decision.”

Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn legal director Candace Carponter said, “Our support of the fight of citizens to live safely in their homes, and operate safely in their business, will continue. We maintain that the government’s motivation in using eminent domain for Atlantic Yards is not to benefit the public, but rather, to benefit a single, very rich and powerful developer. The seizure of our neighbors’ homes and businesses is at the very foundation of the Atlantic Yards project. It is a foundation that must not stand. Now is the time for our elected leaders, who have frequently expressed grave concern about the abuse of eminent domain, to publicly stand in defense of everyday Brooklynites and New Yorkers.”

The 2nd Circuit Court’s opinion on the case, Goldstein v. Pataki, can be found at:
http://www.dddb.net/php/reading/legal/eminentdomain

Postcard from the Slope

SECOND STREET SPEAKS

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Ted Gordon, the co-owner of the Second Street Cafe, told Dana Rubinstein at the Brooklyn Paper, that you can’t run a restaurant on lunches and brunches alone.

The cafe never seemed very crowded at dinner time. I went there few times over the years but it wasn’t my first choice for dinner.

Maybe that’s because I always thought of Second Street as a great place for coffee, breakfast, and lunch. Truly, they did do a great job with lunch (their goat cheese salad was one of my faves) It was one of my favorite Seventh Avenue place to meet friends and family for the mid-day meal. I never considered going there for Sunday brunch because it was always so crowded and a wait was almost certain.

Gordon told the Brooklyn Paper that business fell off a few years ago. I wonder if he’s just talking about the dinner business because I didn’t notice a change in the popularity of their lunch and brunch. Apparently, the renovation was part of an effort to improve business. Sadly, that effort failed or didn’t reap any benefits.

Maybe it was removing the customer drawings from the walls and ceilings; moving the front door from Seventh Avenue to 2nd Street could have been part of it. I was in there for lunch recently and the food seemed the same as ever. Sweet Melissa’s may have cut into their breakfast and lunch crowd, as well.

According to the Brooklyn Paper, the landlord raised the rent to $12,000, which was just one more reason for their demise.

Postcard from the Slope

CONGRATS TO THE WRITTEN NERD

That’s because she just won the $15,000 grand prize from the Brooklyn Public Library to open a Brooklyn bookstore.

Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo, who runs the Written Nerd blog, won the big prize at the library’s fourth annual Power Up! business-plan competition, a contest open to those in Brooklyn who want to start a business or need capital for expansion.

Congrats to Jessica, who lives in Park Slope. Here are the other Power Up Winners:

1st Place
$15 K – Book Nerd Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo

2nd Place
$5 K – Soul Sister Quisine Nicole Gates
$5 K – Matari Lukango Victoria Watson

Merit Award
$750 – Still Hip Marcie Bohan & Gabrielle Napolitano-Swift
$750 – Brooklyn Creative League Erin Carney & Neil Carlson
$750 – BK Telecom Kevin Byrdsong

Honorable Mention
$500 – Museum of Magic Rory Feldman
$500 – Steven’s Consulting Jennifer Stevens
$500 – Semiology Kathleen Rhew
$500 – Handmaiden Ilana Kavadlo

Civics and Urban Life

WOUNDED DOG FOUND ON 6TH AVENUE

I just got this email:

My husband and I found a cute brownish/reddish dog on Sixth Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Street around 11 p.m. Thursday night. He’s about 35 or 40 pounds and looks to maybe be a pit mixed with something smaller and hairier. He was hurt; had been hit by a car and we took him to the vet. He had a leash and a collar but no tags or microchip.

Is he yours? I am anxious to get in touch with the owner. Please contact nicky.agate(at)nyu (dot)edu

Civics and Urban Life

DEBATE PARTY IN PARK SLOPE AT THE DRAM SHOP

This is an event sponsored by supporters of Hillary Clinton. It is located at a nice looking new bar on 9th Street called Dram Shop (details below).

When: Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Where: The Dram Shop
339 Ninth Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
General Area: Park Slope

Join fellow Brooklyn Hillary supporters on debate night in Park Slope – at the newly opened Dram Shop, a terrific bar with a great atmosphere – 7:30PM – 10:00PM. Location is 341 Ninth Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues – close to the F and M/R lines. Please bring your friends to network, watch the debates and get motivated to get out the vote for Hillary in the NY primary February 5th!

Please rsvp by registering at the Hillary Clinton site, http://www.hillaryclinton.com/actioncenter/event/view/?id=7284

Civics and Urban Life

POETRY READING AND OPEN MIC: BROOKLYN READING WORKS

Don’t miss tonight’s reading at the Old Stone House.

Tonight: Brooklyn Reading Works presents Word Girls: 4 poets associated with Word Tech Press.

Plus: an open mic following the reading, which I will be reading in.

AWP: The Association of Writers and Writing Programs, an annual conference and book fair is in town and some of the participants are coming out to Park Slope.

Brooklyn Reading Works is at the Old Stone House in Park Slope. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope. Take the F-train to Fourth Avenue or Union Street and walk. The R train to Union Street. Directions are here. For information or questions: 718-288-4290 (if you get lost or need better directions).

WORD GIRLS with poets published by Word Tech: BARBARA CROOKER, MEREDITH DAVIES HADAWAY, KIM GARCIA, ERIN MURPHY. OPEN MIC TO FOLLOW. Starts at 8 p.m.