Nice coverage and GREAT photos by James Estrin (including the one on the right) by the New York Times of the bar raising and move/parade of tini wine bar from their old location at 414 Van Brunt Street to their new space, also on Van Brunt near the waterfront. They are now in Home/Made, the owner's home design shop.

On Saturday I decided it was time I went out to Vox Pop, the popular cafe and performance space in the Ditmas/Flatbush section of Brooklyn to see for myself what was going on. I was intrigued by the email press releases I was getting about "Save Vox Pop" town hall meetings and benefit shows  but I didn't really understand what had gone wrong at Vox Pop and why it was in need of an urgent economic bailout.

I was also fascinated that the cafe was being turned into a "for-profit collective" and that members of the community were buying shares in the place. At the heart of all this activity was a woman named Debi Ryan who had taken over for Sander  Hicks as CEO of the Cafe but had never set foot in Vox Pop before December 2008 (just four months ago).

It sounded like a story

When I got to Vox Pop, Debi was in the upstairs loft. With long brown frizzy hair, hip eyeglasses and a strong, smart face, Debi has a direct and friendly persona; she waved me up the creaky spiral staircase. Down below in the cafe, a young woman was standing on a tall ladder erasing the huge blackboard behind the counter and a tween-age boy was washing the windows. The tables had been moved outdoors to make room for the crowd expected at Saturday night's benefit show with the local band, Loom.

It didn't seem like the best time for an interview with a show just two hours away, but Debi seemed game and I started firing questions.

I asked her to walk me through how she came to be involved at Vox Pop and she obliged. As a business consultant to small and mid-sized businesses, Debi was asked by a mutual friend to come and talk to Sander Hicks, the founder of Vox Pop, about a business plan for the cafe, which was in serious financial trouble in December due to an under-capitalized new branch of the cafe at the Bowery Poetry Club.

Sander, who founded Vox Pop as a politically progressive cafe (with the hopes of franchising the idea), was reluctant to close the Lower East Side branch. Debi told Sander that she would take over the Brooklyn branch for 60 days  if he would attempt a last ditch effort to make the Vox Pop at the Bowery Poetry Club profitable. It had already become a serious financial drain on the Brooklyn cafe.

Soon after it became apparent that the Bowery Vox Pop would have to close and that the Brooklyn cafe would need new leadership to get it through its economic  travails. Sander resigned as did the original board of directors. A new board was formed and Debit took over as CEO. Soon after, Debi, who was trying to untangle Vox Pop's financial mess discovered that there was an unpaid fine to the Health Department for $30,000. Not only that: due to this the Health Department had the right to close Vox Pop down and they did just that. 

When she got to this part of the story Debi noticed that a man with a rolling suitcase had just walked into the cafe. To her horror, it was an inspector from the Health Department.

"This is the second time in 24 hours someone has been here," Debi screamed from the loft.

"I was told by my supervisor to come here," the inspector said holding a piece of paper.

"We're not selling food. We're open as a community center and a wifi space. This is the second time since yesterday that someone has come by."

Debi went downstairs and asked  the inspector his name (Lionel) and asked him for the name of the person in his office who was repeatedly sending inspectors to Vox Pop. The inspector asked to go downstairs despite repeated assurances that he would find no food down there. 

Debi wondered out  loud why Vox Pop was being "harassed" by the Health Department.

"Every 12 hours someone shows up," she said. Finally, as the inspector prepared to leave, Debi assured him that she knew it had nothing to do with him.

"Have a good day, Lionel," she told the inspector. But she was clearly vexed by these constant incursions from the Health Department.

After that,  Debi and I sat downstairs on a banquette and continued our talk. I  was curious about what happened to Sander Hicks, the charismatic visionary behind the cafe. She provided me with some history. In 2004, Sander and his then wife Holley Anderson started the cafe with seed money from the sale of Holley's family farm. In fact, the children's loft section (which looks a little like a barn) is actually from that farm. The original conception was a cafe/bookstore/performance space/community center and self-publishing mecca (called Publish Yourself) that would morph into a national franchise of political cafes.

Vox Pop was the first cafe of its kind on Corteylou Avenue and it quickly became a community destination with its decidedly progressive politics, its free trade coffee and its vegan menu. Since opening, other restaurants like The Farm on Adderly, Sycamore and other neighborhood spots have opened and Corteylou Avenue now has a growing mix of ethnic businesses, basic service shops run by longtime shopkeepers and new shops catering to the gentrifying neighborhood.

It can't have been easy for Sander to walk away from his unique creation. Ultimately it may have been the best thing for him and for the cafe. And in Debi he may have found a perfect successor to keep his vision alive. All in all, it seems a peaceful transition of power  with a  board made up of long-time Vox Poppers including Sander's ex-wife, Holley.

As for Sander, Debi told me that he has  a couple of book deals in the works and is set to go on tour as part of his Inaugurate Yourself campaign. Seems to me he personally has a strong brand as a charismatic visionary. There's even an indie film based on his life. For a guy who thinks big, that might be a better route than operating a local cafe.

So who is this Debi Ryan, the angel behind Vox Pop's resurrection? Indeed, she wears many hats. Prior to 9/11 she worked as a paramedic and a health care educator. Since 9/11, she has devoted herself to running small companies and helping non-profits prosper. She is also actively involved in the movement to save Coney Island and helps with fundraising for the Mermaid Parade, the Coney Island Museum and Coney Island USA.

But since walking into Vox Pop and meeting Sander Hicks on that fateful December day she's done little else but strategize about the future of Vox Pop. 

She (with her board) also came up with the plan to turn Vox Pop into a for-profit collective. That means that people can buy shares in Vox Pop; more than 175 people have already done so. Employees also have shares but they will also be paid for their labor. I assume that if the cafe makes money, the shareholders will, eventually, receive dividends.

In the last weeks, this plan has raised close to $65,000 to help Vox Pop pay off its $30,000 debt to the Health Department, 4 months of back rent to the landlord and whatever else will get them out of the red. 

On Saturday night there was a benefit concert and there have been two town hall-style meetings attended by many in the community.

Spending an hour with Debi, I could tell that she's a passionate organizer with strong skills in business. I wondered if she'll be able to make a living wage doing this when she could be off making the big bucks running a profit or non-profit company.

"I'm not going to get rich having money," she told me. I liked the sound of that and wrote it down as she continued.

"I like to make a difference. That's what we're all here to do. They don't have to be big changes, but changes that help people."

So how will Debi's Vox Pop differ from Sander's? Clearly, she wants there to be more consistency in the programming.She gives me a rundown of what she has in store:  Monday will be jazz night. Tuesday is for blues
and blue grass. Wednesday night is movie night with a special emphasis on young filmmakers from Brooklyn College and the Kings County Film Society. Thursday is all about Wellness, which will include workshops with practitioners of yoga, acupressure, nutrition, pediatric medicine. Friday and Saturday is devoted to a strong line up of music and Sunday night, Debi preserves the great tradition of the Vox Pop Open Mic, "which is considered one of the best open mics in the city," she said.

Debi also hope that the politics at Vox Pop will be more inclusive and a little more broad. "Vox Pop means voice of the people, all of the people." She also hopes to broaden the selection of books and ideas. "But I still only want to carry self-published books. That's important and  they need a place."

In addition to making the politics more inclusive, Debi wants to inspire people to make Vox Pop an open forum for ideas. and a place where local artists can exhibit their work with one caveat. "They must be willing to run one workshop for the community as part of the show."

At this point in our conversation, a woman walked in carrying a  baby in a Bjorn. She told Debi she wouldn't make it to that night's benefit but she wanted to make a small contribution and gave her a crumpled up $5 billl. Debi thanked her: "That's what it's all about," she said. Other people walked in who had no clue that the cafe had been closed down for weeks and wasn't serving coffee or food.

"Too bad," they said. "I  always like to stop in here when I'm in the neighborhood.

"We should be opening up again soon," Debi told them as they went on their way.

In the middle of the night this email from Debi Ryan, CEO of Vox Pop, arrived with this great news.

I love to hear about the trajectory of people's  lives and how they
came to do what they are doing. That's why it's been so interesting to
talk one-on-one with the democratic candidates for City
Council in the 39th district for OTBKB's Breakfast-of-Candidates
series. I also wanted to learn more about these people who are
asking for our votes. What are they all about? What are they like to
have breakfast with (for that matter what do they eat for breakfast)?
Most importantly, should they get my vote for the City Council?

 Bob Zuckerman, the only gay democratic candidate for the City Council in the 39th District, was 11-years-old, when he went door to door for democratic presidential candidate Senator George McGovern in East Orange, New Jersey. When he tried to slip some leaflets under the door of a spooky looking house, a fierce dog went ballistic.  "I hid underneath a parked car as this German Shepherd came after me; at that moment I wondered if this is worth it," he laughs.

Well, it certainly didn't keep him out of politics for long.

Born in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey, Bob was raised by a dad who was a small businessman and a mom who was a homemaker and later an insurance broker. Bob is quick to point on that his mother was born and raised in Brooklyn.

 As a kid, Bob worked the cash register in his father's sportswear shop and unloaded merchandise at the warehouse. He attended Newark's Weequahic High School, as did his dad, whose fellow classmates included Philip Roth and Allen Klein, first manager of the Beatles. 

But the big influence in Bob's life was his grandfather, who was active in democratic politics. "I was indoctrinated at a young age,"  he says. Bob remembers election night 1968 when Nixon beat Hubert Humphrey. "It was a bad day and I stayed up late."

In college he studied business administration and minored in political science. He went to law school straight after graduation  because an adviser told him "it's a good degree to have whether you practice or not."

Engaged to be married to his college sweetheart, he clerked for a Superior Court judge and a Civil Court judge. Later he worked for a firm that specialized in securities law and realized that it wasn't his cup of tea.

This created a crisis in Bob's life. He was 28-years-old and for the first time he wasn't sure what he wanted to do or "who I was as a person." That's when he realized that he was gay.  It wasn't that he was in closet, he explains, "just didn't know."

After that everything changed. And in his professional life he knew he wanted to "sink his teeth into the things that have an impact on community, the state, the nation and the world," he said. He also remembered "how much I loved being involved in public issues that affect people's lives."

Cut to Bob almost 20 years later sitting in Sweet Melissa's in Park Slope talking enthusiastically about his hopes for Bill deBlasio's City Council seat. He orders quiche and salad and tells me about his current role as executive director of the Gowanus Canal Community
Development Corporation and the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, with their focus on smart development, affordable
housing, strategies for cleaning the Gowanus,
and creating new parks along the waterfront. Until recently he served as President of the Independent Neighborhood
Democrats, a progressive Democratic club. .

Prior to that, Bob was  Executive Director of the Greenwich
Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. He has also been Executive Director of the New York
Nightlife Association, a trade association representing the hospitality
industry, and served as Assistant Director of Development for the LGBT
Community Center in New York. He also spent years working as a campaign manager for various political campaigns in New York and New Jersey.

Clearly Bob has leadership qualities and is a menchy guy. But politics is in Bob's bones and he has some "big ideas" he wants to present to the citizens of the 39th district.

Bob believes that small business is the life blood of Brooklyn's economy. During these tough economic times, he wants to see the city invest in non-profits that will funnel cash flow loans  to keep small businesses afloat.

Another idea: There should be tax incentives for landlords to sell their retail space to shopkeepers as condos. Reason: it's much easier to survive as a local business if you own your own place of business.

The environment is another priority for Bob and he wants to use stimulus money to bring green industry to Brooklyn, specifically the Gowanus Corridor.

He's also a proponent of residential parking permits. His idea: car owners would have to pony up $10-$20 a month to have a car. "Cars are a luxury," he tells me. And the money from the permits would go to fund a community jitney, to make it easier for citizens to get around without cars.

As for education, Bob has an unusual idea. He'd like to see a charter school modeled on the operating methods of t he Park Slope Food Coop. "Encouraging parents to work 3 hours a month – in the office, in after school programs, coaching."

I told Bob to be careful about that idea. "People are touchy about the Food Coop," I think I told him. 

Bob also believes that the City Council should be a full time position. "A salary of $112,000 is a full-time salary. It's enough money not to need a second job." Currently, the City Council is considered a part-time job. 

Bob didn't skip a beat when I asked him about his heroes: "Harvey Milk because he was encouraging and courageous before it was popular to be out. He had tenacity, he was inspirational, Jewish and from the New York area." Then he mentioned Barbara Boxer, "who speaks truth to power and is a Brooklynite." And then his partner of 11 years, Grant Neumann, a playwright and publishing executive. "He's kind, supportive and I couldn't do this without him."

I thought that was sweet. And in general, I appreciated Bob's enthusiastic and unguarded personality. By the end of brunch, I felt a bond with Bob and was excited about  his candidacy. He's been in politics all his life and he strikes me as a creative leader with interesting ideas, who is eager to serve the people of the 39th District.

Deborah Fisher had an idea. If you could get a bunch of people together to "throw seeds" in Bed-Stuy one spring morning you could bring wildflowers to the vacant lots, the tree pods and the streets of that neighborhood.

Well, she actually took this out of the realm of an idea and made it into a reality. The project is called Bed-Stuy Meadow and there's information about it on the website 21st Century Plowshare. Planting is just two weeks away on April 11th and there are 90 confirmed flower planters.

She even has a few sponsors, including Lab 24/7, where there will be an after-party with lunch on the 11th! If you are interested in volunteering in Bed-Stuy do the following according to Deborah:

Vox Pop, the coffee house/bookstore/art gallery/music venue located on Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park/Flatbush, has been having big financial problems for some time now. It seems that the old leadership has resigned and Debi Ryan, a new CEO, has taken over. Ryan is trying to pay off the cafe's old debts, reorganize the cafe as a collective, and find a way for this beloved local institution to stay afloat financially.

Last Sunday, there was a town-hall style meeting at Vox Pop about its future survival (there will be another one tomorrow). Started four years ago and spearheaded by a visionary entrepreneur by the name of Sander Hicks, Vox Pop provided a space for the community to meet in a neighborhood that was fast gentrifying. There was nothing like it in that neighborhood at the time. However, since Vox Pop, opened,
several independently owned restaurants and bars have opened up along Cortylou Avenue more are moving in every day.

The founders of Vox Pop had a vision of a politically progressive coffee shop franchise and they wanted to expand rapidly. Last spring,
in an effort to expand, the board at that time decided to open a second
Vox Pop at the Bowery Poetry Club. That is now seen as a strategic mistake. The second store did not have the long term capital to keep going and their financial problems dragged the Cortelyou Road Vox Pop deep into the
red over the past year. A wise decision was made to close the Bowery Poetry Club location.

Mired in debt, the Brooklyn Vox Pop tried to get out from under their unpaid bills. One of the debts that was left unpaid was to the Department of Health, which
refused to renew their permit and closed them down in February. Since then, the old Board of Directors and the Officers of the
Corporation have all resigned. I suppose that means that Sander Hicks is no longer involved and his vision of a political cafe franchise.

But there is energy in the ashes. Debi Ryan has taken over and has been furiously trying to raising money to keep Vox Pop open. With tremendous help from the community, Vox Pop has raised well over half of the debt that they owe. .

But there is still an urgent need to raise the rest of the money before the end of the month; Vox
Pop has exactly two days left to do it.  Today I got word that there will be a benefit tonight (Saturday March 298th) to raise money for Vox Pop in its dire time of need.

TONIGHT,
March 28 at 8 pm THE LOOM will be headlining a benefit show at Vox
Pop. The Loom is a folk and Americana-influenced indie rock sextet from
Brooklyn. You can get a feel for them here http://www.myspace.com/theloommusic

Tomorrow, Sunday,
March 29nd at 4:00 pm at the Vox Pop Café, there will be aother Save Vox Pop  Town Hall meeting.

Has anyone else noticed all the flaming new neon on the exterior of the building that houses Rachel's Taqueria on Fifth Avenue? It's hard to miss. Especially at night. Well, it depends how you feel about hot rod style neon.

I think it's pretty hot. Wild. Fun. Business seems to be hopping over at Manny's place, which now has a full fledged bar. He's really souped up his restaurant outside and in and customers seem to be responding to the good prices, the abundant burritos and the well-stocked bar.

Thank god for Flickr and Chris Gold's NY Photostream

So last night I got a note from Jenn de la Vega, the assistant chef and publicist for home/made, the new tini wine bar restaurant, with even more information about tini wine bar's landlord/situation.

Check out the article in New York Family Brooklyn about Smartmom, OSFO and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. Maybe you've seen the cover story in kiosks around the Slope.

l

Today I am rolling out the first of my Breakfast-of-Candidates interview/profiles. That's right, it's candidate Gary Reilly's turn to go under the microscope at breakfast with OTBKB. At 34 he's not quite the youngest of the candidates (John Heyer beats him on that score) but he's plenty wet behind the ears and full of enthusiasm for what he's set out to do.

So far I've had breakfast with Brad Lander, Bob Zuckerman, Gary Reilly, and Craig Hammerman all democratic candidates for City Council in the 39th District.  I haven't met with Josh Skaller or John Heyer yet. Stephen Di Brienza has not declared his candidacy.

I will be meeting with Jonathan Pechefsky, the Green Party candidate next week.

The 39th District covers much of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Gowanus, and Carroll Gardens.

Some of Park Slope is in the 33rd District, which also includes Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, the Navy Yard, Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Today I met with Jo Anne Simon, who is one of the front runners for City Council in that District. That is a very contentious race and one that I will also be following.

 
I love to hear about the trajectory of people's  lives and how they came to do what they are doing. That's why it's been so interesting to talk one-on-one with the democratic candidates for City
Council in the 39th district for OTBKB's Breakfast-of-Candidates
series.

I also wanted to learn more about these people who are asking for our votes. What are they all about? What are they like to have breakfast with (for that matter what do they eat for breakfast)? Most importantly, should they get my vote for the City Council?

In a royal blue button down shirt with an open collar and no tie, Gary Reilly greeted me warmly at Joe's Restaurant on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. He has a well-scrubbed, open face and smart, penetrating eyes.

Gary ordered a big breakfast of pancakes, fried eggs over-easy and bacon. I had eggs over-easy with rye toast. "No potatoes, no meat?" the waitress asked. "That's right," I said.

When I complimented Gary on his attractive shirt he told me it was from the Goodwill. "I love thrift shops," he told me. "I love bargains."

Born in 1974 and raised in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, Gary is a young, small town guy with a blue collar background. His dad was a glass truck driver, his mom a waitress, who later got a certificate in cosmetology. His parents  were Ronald Reagan Republicans and Gary took on that perspective without question until he went to Rutgers University (the first member of his family to attend college), where he studied economics and started to take a closer look at the politics he took for granted as a child.

After graduating from college, Greg worked in banks in southern New Jersey but decided to go to law school after 9/11 changed his way of thinking. He realized that he wanted to do something more meaningful with his life and was outraged by the Patriot Act and other changes enacted by the Bush administration.

Gary went back to Rutgers to get his law degree and worked in the Environmental Law Clinic, which also had a profound impact on his future direction. It was there, he says, that he learned that "government is a place where you have the levers to affect change. Being outside you can make a lot of noise to try to influence people in power," he told me. "But if you have a vision for the way you'd like things to be, you have your best chance of implementing it from within."

In late 2004, after graduating from law school and passing both the New York and New Jersey Bar, Gary moved to Carroll Gardens with his wife Mia (they were married in 2005). He knew he wanted to work for the public good but a job at the Department of Environmental Protection didn't pay enough to cover his bills and his school loan payments, so he became a freelance attorney. "I hire myself out to work for firms on big cases," he says. "My interests are in land use and environmental law, but most of my "day job" is corporate."

Living in Brooklyn, Gary immediately felt at home. "Sometimes you don't know what you're missing till you get home and say, 'This is  what I've been looking for.'"

He liked the strong community feeling of Brooklyn and life without a car. But Gary still wanted to serve the public somehow. He decided that neighborhood activism in Carroll Gardens might be the best way "to satisfy the itch for doing something that I love."

Gary attacked his breakfast with gusto. He ate the pancakes first (they looked delicious) and then went on to the fried eggs and the bacon. The waitress kept checking in to see how we were doing, to see if we wanted refills on the coffee. Gary knew an elderly woman who was eating breakfast and waved at her when she got up to leave.

So it was in Brooklyn that he recognized his passion for public transportation. It all started when he noticed that there was work being done on the middle tracks at the Smith and Ninth Street F-train station. It piqued Gary's interest: he wondered optimistically if they were making improvements, adding an express line. But nothing came of it. 

Then he attended a neighborhood association meeting to share his thoughts about restoring express service to the F-train. At that meeting, he decided to start a petition, the beginning of a campaign for improved service on the F
line, including full local and
express service on the F/V lines and improved G train service. 

Thousands of F-train commuters signed Gary's petition. Later he  testified before the MTA Board and at City
Council and State Assembly hearings on transportation issues.

As an advocate for public transportation, Gary found his issue and his voice. This powerful experience also cemented his belief that public transportation is an equalizer and an important engine of democracy. "It creates mobility which equals opportunity," Gary told me. It also ties in with environmental sustainability, another issue close to Gary's heart.

"Transportation policy dovetails with development policy, land use, how we view our streets, how we share our space and making the city safe for pedestrians and cyclists," he said. The F-Train petition experience also convinced Gary that he would one day run for office. But he didn't think it would happen quite so soon. It was when he realized that Bill deBlasio was at term limit that he decided to jump in. But not before asking his wife how she felt about it. "Let's do it," she said. And that was that.

So why does Gary think he's your man for City Council in the 39th district, even though he's only been in Brooklyn since late 2004 and has  never worked in government? "I have good ideas and enthusiasm," he told me.

And what else?

— "I have a skeptical way of looking at things with a skeptical eye as to what is put out there."
— "I will focus on transit issues, a priority that is missing on the City Council right now; I will be a solid pro-transit voice."
— "I believe that investing in infrastructure is vital."
— "I will push for livable streets."
— "I want to get rid of the Gowanus Expressway and replace it with a tunnel."

Some might say it's audacious for such a newbie to run for a City Council seat but I found it compelling. Breakfast with Gary convinced me that he's very determined and thoughtful and he's not doing this in a casual way. A quick study, a good researcher, and a strong people-person, Gary is a smart, ambitious and principled candidate. While this year may or may not be his moment for the City Council, Gary clearly has a political career ahead of him. So it's worth taking a close look at his website and to be open minded when he knocks on your door in the coming weeks. (Like many of the candidates, Gary will be going door-to-door, introducing himself to voters and getting his name out there.)

Gary and I went 50/50 on breakfast. We said our goodbyes but less than five minutes later Gary returned to Joe's out of breath. He'd run back from 2-3 blocks away. "I didn't give you enough change," he said and handed me a $5 bill. He may have been right but I didn't notice. But it told me something else about Gary: he's a very honest guy. 

And why is there a street named after him? Here is New York  wants you to know all about Ed.

An OTBKB reader and a "frequent" contributor to Bob Guskind's Gowanus Lounge wrote in to say that my story about tini wine bar may have contained a tiny (or not so tiny) inaccuracy. The writer suggests that it is not "greedy landlord syndrome" that is responsible for tini's relocation. According to the writer, tini never had a lease on the space in question:

.

Donating One's Body to Medical Education and Research
Sunday, March 29, 2009
1:00 pm, Park Slope United Methodist Church (PSUMC)
410 6th Ave. @ 8th Street

Special Guest: Jane Brody
Health columnist for The New York Times, and Park Slope neighbor 
Author of the just-released Jane
Brody’s Guide to the Great Beyond: A practical primer to help you and
your loved ones prepare medically, legally, and emotionally for the end
of life, which will be available for purchase (signed by the author)

(March 21, 2009) Several members of our PSUMC community are
planning on leaving their bodies to a local medical school when they died. 
For some of us it is a spiritual act; for others, an earthly and
practical step at death.  Either way, it's a gift that enables the next
generation of doctors to learn more about life. 

How does such a donation take place and when is the decision made?  
Does it conflict with signing on as an organ donor on one's driver's
license?  How do families experience a loved one's body donation?  How
does one select a recipient institution? PSUMC invites you to hear more
about this death option, including legal and logistical considerations
and personal reflections.

Brief presentations will be given by representatives of a consortium of
NY medical school anatomical donation programs, and  family members of
donors who will talk about their families' experiences. Information
will be available about contacts for programs.

No need to RSVP.  All are welcome.  There is no charge for this event. 

Park Slope United Methodist Church
www.parkslopeumc.org
410 Sixth Avenue (at Eighth Street), Brooklyn, NY

Fare increases take place on May 31st. Single fares will rise to $2.50 (from $2) and a monthly MetroCard will go up to $103 (from $81).

There will also be wide service cuts. A total of 35 bus routes will be eliminated along with the W and Z subway lines. Off-peak service is also to be reduced on subways, buses, LIRR; many bus routes will be cancelled on weekends. The MTA will also lay off 1,100 transit employees.
.
This is being called the most drastic cuts to service since the  mid-1970's.

The MTA is looking to Albany for a rescue package to help with their $1.2 billion budget deficit. What's known as the Ravitch Plan would funnel revenue to the MTA from bridge and tunnel tolls. The plan is tied up in the senate over disputes about the tolls.

The White House is open for questions. You can post your questions on the economy and vote on submissions from others. The President  will answer some of the most popular on Thursday. The online town hall is at 11:30 am Thursday. The voting will close at 9:30 am.

Brownstone Voyeur is a joint project of casaCARA and OTBKB, taking you behind Brooklyn’s intriguing facades to see what’s inside. Look for it every Thursday on both sites. Go to casaCARA for more text and pix.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca Cole, a well-known, Manhattan-based garden designer and sometime interior designer, decorated the hell out of this 3-bedroom pre-war apartment on Eastern Parkway, with the blessings of her adventurous clients.

A couple in their 50s with grown kids, this is their empty nest. They moved from Connecticut and settled in Brooklyn to enjoy city life, calling on Rebecca to create a place that would be so much fun to live in they wouldn’t regret leaving their former home.

Among the standout features:

• Brave, bold color in unusual combos like pink, brown, and chartreuse
• Hand-stenciling on walls instead of wallpaper
• The use of garden furniture indoors
• Thrift shop pieces re-upholstered in serious fabrics
• Playful light fixtures and accessories
  

If you mention OTBKB

It's Wednesday night. That means you shoul get on over to Bar Reis, have a cold beer and listen to the Tin
Roof Trio, they're hot. Fronted by violinist Monica Smith, they're darn good doing that gypsy jazz, standards and originals. True, there's only
the slightest chance that bartender Moe will sing "Honeysuckle Rose."

Then again, she just might.

And here's the recession  busting deal: $1 dollar off on any $5 dollar draft if you mention OTBKB while the band is playing.

It's
a very hot club vibe over there at a very cool bar –  with
a really high level of civil discourse, reasoned debate and unabashed
revelry.

They band plays until 11:30 p.m. and by then things are pretty sublime but nobody is afraid to to flirt with the ridiculous.

Lucky we to once again have the talents of writer/designer/pub quizzer Scott Turner on this page.

Greetings, Pub Quiz Bonus Returners…

A few things this week I just can't figure out:

AIG got $170 or 180 billion in federal bailout
money.  The controversial bonuses were $165 million — less than one
percent.  Rather than all of these contortionist moves to recoup the
bonus money — taxes, lawsuits, pleadings on bended knees — can't the Geithners, Bernankes and Franks just, you know, demand one-percent back?  One frakkin' percent?

hexxes, tears and the stinkeye — things can't help but look up.

Speaking of AIG's bailout money, why isn't Barney Frank — who made a big deal and justifiable deal out of Citi spending $400 million to slap their dopey name on the Mets' new stadium — not shooting the same stinkeye AIG's way?  AIG handed $8 billion to the British bank Barclays, who's also paying $400 million to slap their dopey name on Bruce Ratner's proposed basketball arena here in Brooklyn.  Or, if you prefer, why is U.S. bailout money going to a British bank that participated in the slave trade, supported South African apartheid, helped the Nazis freeze French Jews' money during WWII, bankrolled Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe and was an enabler for the Congo civil war and is paying $400 million to slap their dopey name on Bruce Ratner's proposed basketball arena here in Brooklyn?

Why didn't the t.v. show Life on Mars garner enough viewers to keep its New York 1973 head off the Nielsen
ratings chopping block.  Clever show, great actors, compelling stories,
social commentary, funny lines, and groundbreaking.  Okay, I know the
answer to this one: it's not a reality show about models in kitchens
getting screamed at by a master chef while he's swapping wives with a
nanny on an island in Borneo staffed with apprentices trying to win a record contract.

…not so much with the standing-a-chance.

How come, when
we pass someone on the street and our eyes meet, we often make that
pursed-lip/tough-up face.  It's like we're saying "yes, we must
acknowledge each other, it's a tough task but here we are knowing what
the other is going through and it's not your fault or mine, I blame
society and you're probably a good person so I don't blame you and
we're caught in this conundrum of confused confrontation but we're
bearing up all the same, good work"?  Next time I'm just saying "good
morning."

face it — saying hello has become a really tough task

Why don't autumn leaves in New York city turn colors 'til November these days, and why aren't there any buds on the trees, even though it's now officially springtime?

Are there really very few people that don't know about this two albums:  Ali Farka Touré's Niafunke and The Levellers' Letters from the Underground? 
It's a good thing CD players are sealed shut, 'cause these two discs
would go flying out, scaring the dogs and putting gashmarks in the
walls around here, I've been playing them so much.

How come the Mets' owners are disconnected from the human condition in such an imbecilic and soul-masticating fashion?

Why is healthy food expensive and crappy food cheap?  Okay, that's solidly rhetorical, but still…

And, bringing us full circle, why were the AIG bonuses unassailable
because they were part of some inviolate contract, but the Big Three
car companies were told to renegotiate contracts with their blue-collar
assembly line workers if they wanted some of that yummy-good TARP money?

AIG's Hank Greenberg, a UAW member.  Contracts are contracts, except when they're not.

Luckily for you, these are not the questions I'll be asking at this Thursday's Rocky Sullivan's Pub Quiz.  No, these are left for me to consider from deep in the inner recesses here at Pub Quiz Actual.

But if you can shed some light on these issues of the day, let me know.  It is, after all, the Season of Renewal.

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