Which borough had the most babies born in the last year? Brooklyn is the winner. There were 41,303 births in Brooklyn last year. Queens was second with 26,876. These stats were Tweeted by the NYC Mayor’s office.

pix from http://www.scoop.it/t/biracial

What’s all this I hear about the NYPD cracking down on stoop sales? Apparently, someone posted on the Brooklynian that  police shut down a stoop sale on Sunday in front of a building on Flatbush Ave near Grand Army Plaza.

“I told them I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong, and that we have a stoop sale every couple of years and have never had a problem. They asked where I lived and I gestured to my apartment building right behind me. I also said that I wasn’t blocking the sidewalk–since there was probably 10 feet open.

“Then the second cop asked, “Do you have a license?” I replied that I didn’t, but I also didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. I was calm, but after that I sensed that the cops were getting uncomfortable because people had gathered and were observing. So I said, “I’ll pack it up, no problem, officer.”

A license? I’ve never heard of a stoop sale license. I’m sure there’s something on the books about needing a license to sell items on the streets. But boy would it be crazy if they started shutting down stoop sales in Park Slope.

If this is yet another quality of life improvement that Bloomberg is pushing, I’m going to eat my stoop sale. I mean, come on. I know the cops have better things to do.

Bernette Rudolph, the elder goddess of the Park Slope art scene, just sent me a map that she made of the Park Slope artists participating in the Go Brooklyn Art Open Studio weekend September 8-9. 

On September 8–9, 2012, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, nearly 2000 artists across Brooklyn will open their studio doors, so that you can decide who will be featured in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

There are 80 participating artists in Park Slope. If you want a copy of this map, start your Go Tour at Bernette’s at #103 and you can get a map with a key of artist’s names.

For starters:

#3 is Simon Dinnerstein

#28 is Jonathan Blum’s storefront

# 35 is Hugh Crawford

# 103 is Bernette Rudolph

I received this informative email from Anne-Katrin, who lives in Brooklyn, and keeps many abreast of the West Nile Virus mosquto problem in our midst. I am quite sure that she got this information from the Department of Health. She is very concerned about West Nile Virus and believes that it is time to take precautions (see below):

According to the Department of Health, two test positive for West Nile Virus in Brooklyn announced this afternoon.

For the fourth straight week, West Nile Virus detected in Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights.

What do these neighborhoods have in common?

They border the stagnant pools and swampy pits (“Female mosquitoes prefer to lay eggs on water that may be described as aged, stagnant and putrid.”) at Prospect Park where the West Nile Virus mosquito surveillance traps were placed by the Department of Health.

“Now is the time to take personal precautions to prevent mosquito bites.”

 Eliminate any standing water that collects on your property.

 Remind or help neighbors to eliminate standing water on their

properties.

 Call 311 to report standing water.

I was waiting for the bus at Bartel-Pritchard Square-that-is-really-a-circle, when I saw her. Again.

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of What are the Chances? Liz Starin is an illustrator based in Brooklyn. She doesn’t believe in fate, but she does believe in probability. You can see more of her work at lizstarin.com.

The Brooklyn Ink, a blog which is affiliated with the Columbia School of Journalism, has an article about Congregation Beth Elohim and their use of social media and crowd sourcing to raise funds for the preservation of their synagogue.

“Last spring, several leaders at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope heard about a competition for a $250,000 grant being offered by Partners in Preservation, the first-ever citywide conservation campaign determined by online voting. The Reform temple indeed needed money to refurbish its 103-year-old stained glass windows.  The chance of a congregation made up of 800 families winning seemed to be a long shot.

“But, following the example of their tech-savvy rabbi, Andy Bachman, the congregants launched a social-media campaign. One vote per person was allowed daily, leading the members to use Facebook to reach family in Florida or Twitter to remind their followers to vote for the synagogue. And in May, Beth Elohim was awarded the $250,000 grant, after gaining eight percent of the popular vote.”

According to the New York Times, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo added his voice on Sunday to a chorus of voices calling for the resignation of Vito J. Lopez, a powerful Brooklyn politician, who is facing allegations of sexually abusing female staff members. Lopez is the leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

The Assembly’s ethics committee censured the Assemblyman who is accused of verbally harassing, groping and kissing two staff members.

The New Kings Democrats, a North Brooklyn progressive, grassroots political organization committed founded by veterans of the Obama campaign, is especially vocal about calling for Lopez’s resination:

“New Kings Democrats demands the immediate resignation of Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Kings County. Lopez was censured and dismissed from his position as Assembly Housing Chair by Speaker Sheldon Silver due to credible allegations that Lopez sexually harassed two female members of his staff.

“Yet again, Vito Lopez has embarrassed Brooklyn and the Democratic Party. We have long been used to stories about his corruption, cronyism and nepotism,” said Alex Low, president of NKD. “Today’s news marks a new low. Vito’s time has come. We encourage other leaders to join us in demanding his resignation and calling for fresh leadership.”

And you thought Lance Armstrong was the only one stripped of his privileges today. Nope, Vito Lopez was, too.

Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic leader, considered the kingmaker of Brooklyn politics, has been stripped of his committee chairmanship, barred from employing young people, and censured because an assembly committee determined that he did sexual harass two female employees this summer.

What is wrong with this guy?

Speaker Silver shared these findings with the public via the New York Times: “There were multiple incidents of unwelcome physical conduct toward one complainant, wherein you put your hand on her leg, she removed your hand, and you then put your hand between her upper thighs, putting your hand as far up between her legs as you could go,” Mr. Silver wrote.

What a perv.

According to the New York Times, Speaker Sheldon Silver, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, United States Representative Jerrold Nadler; and Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer all called for him to quit.

Lopez said that he would not.

The NYC taxi logo redesign is big news for design geeks and NYC wonks; people who obsess over those sorts of things. Indeed, the logos and signage of our urban environment are part of the landscape of our lives. And when they change, well, we are bound to have an opinion about it.

And a healthy curiosity.

I asked David Yassky, the commissioner of the New York Taxi and Limo Commission, why the change and this is what he had to say. Yassky used to be one of the City Council members in Park Slope.

“The logo redesign project started in conjunction with the “Taxi of Tomorrow” project — figured it was time for a “freshening” — prior iteration has two different fonts for the “NYC” and the “TAXI” and TLC felt that was visually jarring — also, the new vehicle created opportunity for logo designed specifically to look good on that vehicle.

“Reason for deploying now is that with recent fare increase, taxi owners were going to have to change the decals anyway, so figured we might as well roll out the new version.”

Leaf & Bean recently relocated to Lincoln Place and guess who’s taking their old spot?  Subway Sandwich, the ubiquitous hero sandwich shop (five dollar footlongs and all that).

There goes the neighborhood for the dozenth time. Just saying.

According to Dan at Here’s Park Slope, the king of what’s in, what’s out in retail Park Slope, the old Leaf & Bean  storefront can’t be dismantled because of Landmark designation. Let’s hope Subway keeps it contextual when designing their storefront.

Does that mean they have to take those cute Leaf & Bean letters and respell them as Subway. Let’s see there’s an A, a B, another a…

Reminds me of when there was middle eastern restaurant with huge red letters for signage on the Upper West Side called Cleopatra back in the 1970’s. When a new place, more of a bistro, went in they used the old letters to spell At Our Place .

Yesterday I came across With A Brooklyn Accent,  a blog written by Mark Naison, a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He lives in Park Slope, where he raised his children.

According to Naison’s biography on his Blogspot blog, he is the author of three books and over 100 articles on African-American History, urban history, and the history of sports. Interestingly and despite the name of his blog, his area of expertise is the Bronx and The Bronx African-American History Project, is Dr Naison’s most recent venture. It was launched collaboratively with the Bronx Historical Society in the Fall of 2002. Here he writes about The Park Slope My Children Grew Up In:

“I would not trade the Park Slope my children grew up in—which was not always ‘safe,” which was diverse in race and class, where new residents, many of them political activists, worked inside local churches with longtime residents as well as building their own institutions; where Catholic school and public school kids came together in local sports programs; where there were almost no upscale restaurants and a big treat was having a family night out in places like “Snooky’s” or “Circles,” and where housing was affordable enough so that you could buy a brownstone on two teachers salaries- for any neighborhood in the country. I could not think of a better place to bring up two children as athletes, as caring people, and citizens of a multiracial society who had in depth exposure to people of different backgrounds in school, on the streets and in the sports programs they participated in.”

Naison is a serious man and With a Brooklyn Accent is a serious blog that he’s consistently updated since 2008. Subject matter includes the Bronx, education, urban history, Stop and Frisk,  school reform, politics and more. The following is a post called Things About Me As a Teacher My Students Can Count On:

“1. I will be there for my students whenever they need me, whether they are in my class or not, and throughout the course of their adult lives. Once my student, always my student. 2. I will stay at the job I love until I am no longer able to function. My students will always know where to find me. 3. I will stand up for my students, my colleagues, and the principles I believe in whether my school administration supports me or not, and whether or not my actions make my out of tune with the current political fashion in the nation.”

Last night I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about the mosquitoes with West Nile Virus (WNV) that have been detected in our  zip code and in the zip codes of Prospect Heights and Prospect Park.

I even checked the symptoms on the Center for Disease Control website. I don’t want to freak anyone out but here goes: “It is estimated that about 20% of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash (on the trunk of the body) and swollen lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy people have reported being sick for several weeks.”

Sometimes it’s  asymptomatic.

I was also stressing about the fact that my son’s window was open. What if a WNV mosquito happens in and stings him? Panic…

We’d had the windows open all day because the temperature was so much lower than it’s been and there was a nice breeze and cross-ventilation.

Now I’m officially freaked out about WNV. No open windows today. Which is sad, because it feels like a nice day for open windows.

Go here to see what the CDC suggests to prevent mosquito bites.

 This video was made by an educator who used to teach first grade at PS 321. It was sent to me by educator Renee Dinnerstein, who writes: “Kathy Collins was a much-loved first grade teacher. Now she’s an educational consultant. She’s written some pretty important professional books about teaching reading.

“Now that people are getting their kids ready for school and teacher-bashing is at an all-time high, I think that this might be something you might want to post on your blog.”

This morning, just days after receiving a $225 dollar Con Edison bill—our penance for using the air conditioner almost constantly in July and August—I opened our windows and turned off the A.C.

Finally. A day without air conditioning. The temperature is 72 degrees. Let the cross ventilation begin.

Bad news for today: According to Prospect Heights Patch, the West Nile Virus has been found in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Prospect Park. The Department of Health detects the disease by trapping mosquitos and testing them for the virus.

“Evidence of the virus was found on Aug. 10 in the 11238 and 11215 zip codes, although the DOH doesn’t specify which areas,” writes Patch.

Cripes.

This does not mean that any humans i these areas has been found to have West Nile but the trapped mosquitoes do. West Nile also been detected in mosquitoes in Windsor Terrace, Bushwick, Dyker Heights, Greenwood Heights, Marine Park and Starrett City.

There’s a line in Amy Sohn’s new book Motherland about Park Slope purporting to be a community but it not being a community at all.

I think you have to look for community to find it sometimes.

I thought of that when I received a very exciting press release from the Brooklyn Community Foundation, reporting on some exciting community events that popped up this summer all over the borough.

This is the group that helped announce the winners of the 2012 Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest, a gardening competition organized by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This year’s big winner: Lincoln Place between Bedford and Rogers Avenue (I just drove by there yesterday and saw the big green Greenest Block sign). There were many more winners,  including Eighth Street between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West, the Cortelyou Road Merchants Association and Newkirk Plaza. You can read about them here. 

The Brooklyn Community Fund is also responsible for funding Groundswell, a group that brings exciting wall art to the exterior walls of apartment buildings, schools, gas stations, and even at the Navy Yard.

Working with community partners at the Brownsville Community Justice Center, BCF helped sponsor a team of young men to create a mural dedicated to role models and the male identity, on a wall overlooking a new community garden.

Many of Groundswell’s participants are court involved youth fulfilling their community service requirement through the organization. As part of their research in the design process, the team went to the Brooklyn Museum to view the Question Bridge: Black Males exhibit.

Another bright spot is the I Heart East New York project where young artists—many attending Aspirations Diploma Plus High School—are developing a mural on a NYC Parks wall opposite the Broadway Junction subway station.

The project’s theme: “We Believe in and Heart East New York,” conjured the neighborhood’s past and not yet realized potential. The wall’s design depicts the history of East New York.

There was also activity at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where artists are creating murals to illustrate the complete history of the yard, from its original Native American inhabitants, as a holder of prison ships during the Revolutionary War and as a Naval shipyard employing over 70,000 during WWII, to its modern rebirth as a sustainable small business park.

Old news already but I didn’t know about it and maybe you don’t either.

Two 17-year olds were stabbed on Tuesday night near The Owl Farm, a newly opened bar on Ninth Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues. The victims were taken to Lutheran Medical Center.

This was reported by Park Slope Patch but I don’t have an update beyond what’s here.

There were giant hail stones hitting my window a few minutes ago. Thunder, lightning, heavy rain and hail in Park Slope.

Things just got a little better for parents looking for a good public high school for their kids. Opening in September 2015, there’s going to be an additional campus for The Beacon School, considered one of the best public high schools in the City. That means that many more students will be able to attend that top rated school, which is currently located on West 61st Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Beacon offers a rigorous “inquiry-based” curriculum infused with technology and arts. From what I understand history and humanities are a strong suit for the school, which also has an impressive science curriculum. Each year students must present “performance-based” projects to panels of teachers, and pass New State Regents tests and community service to graduate.

On Monday, the DOE and officials from the school held a ground breaking ceremony at the new location 521 West 43rd Street,  a 200,000 square foot, former New York Public Library.

The new and larger campus, which will be in a newly modernized old building, will accommodate 1487 students and provide important new features to the Beacon School, which is currently overcrowded because it is so popular. The new building will operate in addition to the other building on West 61st Street.

Here’s a good deed from Time Warner Cable, the company cable and Internet users love to hate.

Today, they opened a state-of-the-art Learning Lab at Good Shepherd Services in Park Slope, Brooklyn, located on Fourth Avenue near Ninth Street in Park Slope. The community services organization is the first in the borough to receive a Learning Lab, which is meant to provide community members with access to computers, e-learning programs and high-speed Internet to assist with their educational and professional development needs.

This Learning Lab is an essential addition to Good Shepherd Services which is dedicated to helping young men and women get the skills they need to enter the work force. Check out the Good Shepherd website to learn about all the services they have to offer for children and adults. It sounds like an amazing organization.

The Learning Lab is powered by high-speed Internet from Time Warner Cable Business Class, which is also providing the lab’s television and HD DVR services. The facility is also fully equipped with computers, computer software, printers and a HD television that are completely underwritten by Time Warner Cable. The value of the donation exceeds $50,000.

“Good Shepherd Services is very grateful to Time Warner Cable for their partnership and support in establishing the Time Warner Cable Learning Lab at our Fifth Avenue location in Brooklyn,” said Sr. Paulette LoMonaco, Executive Director of Good Shepherd Services in  a press release. “This facility aligns perfectly with Good Shepherd Services’ mission to provide youth and families with the services and support they need to make a safe passage to self-sufficiency.

What is it about sunglasses and where they go? You reach for them one day and they have vanished. Oh the pain, the sorrow, the loss. It seems completely unfair.

I lost my sunglasses on Sunday, August 5th. Perhaps it was in the American Apparel store on Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope, where I remember taking them off to try on a tank top.

Then I was in an Eastern Car Service car but I called the dispatcher and he asked the driver. No go. I called American Apparel, too, but no-one found the. I even went over there and searched.

Those Coach frames belonged to my mother. I seem to remember that she found them in cab. Maybe those frames were destined for travel. Whoever found mine notice that they are a nearsighted person’s prescription. Nonetheless, new lenses can be arranged.

My sunglasses have embarked on a new life, a new set of eyes, a new nose to rest on. If you find them do let me know.

As reported in the New York Times today, two shopkeepers, one in Bensonhurst, the other in Bay Ridge, were murdered killings that may well be unrelated but have a few similarities.

Both were shot in the head or neck with.22-caliber guns. Both were Egyptian immigrants around retirement age.

According to the Times, both sold merchandise at addresses that contained the same numbers. No one has been arrested in connection with the murders of Issac Kadare, the owner of Amazing 99 Cents in Bensonhurst or Mohamed Gebeli, owner of Valentino Fashion in Bay Ridge.

There was a story on WNYC this morning about the new Barclay’s Center and how it is attracting restaurants and bars like crazy. No surprise there. Why wouldn’t businesses want to cash in on the cash cow that the Barclay’s Center will be what with sporting events and concerts by the likes of Jay-Z, Barbra Streisand, Leonard Cohen and Justin Bieber?

The onslaught of sports and entertainment fans may well be a headache for those who live near there on the Park Slope and Prospect Heights side of the arena.

I was at Freddy’s Bar the other night, which reminded me of all that’s gone done about the Atlantic Yards in the last eight years…

I knew they were closing on July 31st. I knew that they’re planning to move to Santa Barbara or San Diego. Greener, warmer, more sublime pastures, I’m sure.

Ocean. Water. Blue sky. California Dreamin’

Still when I saw the post on Here’s Park Slope, I felt a catch in my throat.

Yup. Maybe because I had a glass of wine with lunch (Rose). Maybe because I’m listening to Swans (life after Death) by Islands, one of my favorite songs ever. It’s all about death and stuff.

Swans

Swans

Swans sing songs

All night long

Who knew how warm the islands were

Well, that has nothing to do with Bob & Judi’s Coolectibles closing And yet a “swan song” is a farewell or final appearance. Maybe the song is about letting go and moving onto the next thing.

Okay.

Bob & Judi’s was one of the first shops on the new Fifth Avenue, when it was being re-developed slowly and organically by artisans and entrepreneurs.

That was a while ago. Maybe 1999 or before. Before Eidolan and Al Di La. Before Blue Ribbon and Brooklyn Industries. Aunt Suzie’s was there. She was always there, of course. But Bob & Judi were visionaries on Fifth Avenue. Movers and shakers. Early adopters. A couple who wanted to sell their vintage wares.

I know they’re ready to move on. Maybe Brooklyn isn’t the Brooklyn they used to love. Maybe they’re just ready to try something new. Sometimes it’s just time…

Best of luck and love to you, Bob and Judi. We won’t soon forget you.

Holy Magogo, look at this sink hole on 79th Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge. A Facebook friend lives on the street and posted this picture. Thanks to Home Reporter for the photo and the details. 

Yowza. This big baby formed Wednesday, August 1 at around 4:30 PM and it’s 15 feet wide, 20 feet long and 10 feet deep. As you can see, one car got stuck in it but the FDNY got it out.

The exact cause is unknown.