The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected an appeal from tenants and property owners who face eviction to make room for the Atlantic Yards development. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn had hoped to stop the skyscrapers and new arena for the Nets from moving forward, arguing that the use of eminent domain was unconstitutional. This from DDB:

The United States Supreme Court denied the petition to grant a hearing (cert petition) to eleven property owners and tenants who asked the court to hear their appeal on the Second Circuit Court’s dismissal of their challenge to the use of eminent domain for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The petition received serious consideration by the Court. In a rare statement accompanying the denial (it’s unusual to have any statment at all when a petition is denied), Justice Alito said he would grant the petition. However, four Justices are required to accept the case.

The petition had asked the Court to address the appropriate constitutional limits on the government’s power to seize private homes for the benefit of powerful real estate developers like Bruce Ratner.

The Court’s denial of the petition in Goldstein et al. v. Pataki et al. does not affirm or deny the plaintiffs’ arguments, and was not a ruling one way or the other on the plaintiffs’ claims. And, it is not the end of the legal road for the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs, fighting to prevent the seizure of their homes and businesses for the benefit of Forest City Ratner, will now pursue their eminent domain challenge in state court under New York State law.

“We are, of course, disappointed that the Court declined our request to hear this important case. This is not, however, a ruling on the merits of our claims. Our claims remain sound. New York State law, and the state constitution, prohibit the government from taking private homes and businesses simply because a powerful developer demands it. Yet, that is what has happened. Recent events have revealed that the public, and the Public Authorities Control Board were sold a bill of goods by Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation. We now know that Ratner’s project will cost the public much more than it will ever receive,” said lead attorney Matthew Brinckerhoff of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP. “Now we will turn to the state courts to vindicate our rights. We will soon file an action in New York state court under state law as we were expressly permitted to do by the rulings of the federal courts.”

Besides the eleven plaintiffs on Goldstein et al. v. Pataki et al. there are approximately 30 other residents and business owners in the project’s footprint whose properties would be seized for Forest City Ratner’s benefit.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?
Now the plaintiffs will go to the state courts to vindicate their rights. They will soon file an action in New York state court under state law as the federal court rulings permitted them to do.

Someone at Park Slope Parents was so excited about the return of Red Hot, the Chinese restaurant on Seventh Avenue and 10th Street that suddenly disappeared a few months ago, she wrote it in all-caps. Apparently the restaurant is reincarnated as Red Hot II. I’m not sure if it’s the same owner or what.

I AM SURE YOU ALL KNOW BY NOW…BUT RED HOT IS BACK!!!
CALLED
RED HOT II
PHONE 718-369-2577
SIGN SAYS TO OPEN NEXT WEEK!!
WHOO HOO
CHEERS

A JEW FOR NO. 2?

Keep it under your hat
It’s only a rumor
But Obama’s considering
Our own Chuck Schumer.

Two ethnic candidates
In the White House run
The pundits are thinking
May be better than one.

There’s so much coverage of the Mermaid Parade online, you almost didn’t need to be there. Here are some great sources for Mermaid Parade imagery:

Brit in Brooklyn

Gowanus Lounge has video and loads of pix.

This pix and more at Brit in Brooklyn

Pastor Daniel Meeter of Old First Church went walking in Prospect Park one evening. Actually it was the night of the Issac Hayes concert. “I know we’re not supposed to walk in the Park alone at night, and for good reason, I guess, but when it’s dark and deserted you sense things you miss otherwise,” he wrote. Here’s an excerpt from his blog, Old First.

Honeysuckle, yes, lots of honeysuckle, but in certain places, blissful scents of jasmine. If you follow the smell you can find the jasmine trees. If you want to check one out, it’s on the SW side of the Wellhouse.

As I walked along, I suddenly smelled a cigaret. I didn’t see anyone. Uh oh. Is there some mugger in the trees? Nah, couldn’t be, they wouldn’t light up.

Then I noticed a hundred yards ahead, beneath a lamp, a couple on the grass, and the whisp of smoke in the lamplight. The smell had carried that far. Right, because it was so quiet out.

And then the chorus of the frogs. Bull frogs. And peepers.

And the smell of jasmine, lovely jasmine.

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

Smartmom is in love with Anthony E. Wolf, author of “Get Out of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall,” even if his book has a silly name.

This parent’s guide to the new teenager is nothing less than a handy guidebook to Teen Spirit.

For Smartmom, reading Dr. Tony’s book was a great comfort. She inhaled the sections on teenage boys in one sitting and marked up the book with all kinds of annoying underlines, exclamation points and words.

“Yes, yes, yes!” she wrote next to the paragraph that said, “Boys solve the problem of their need to separate from their parents by doing just that: physically separating. They become vanishing experts. They learn the trick of saying ‘yes,’ but doing ‘no.’”

That’s for sure. Teen Spirit has been pretty scarce around here lately. He goes off to “Eric’s house” on weekend nights, when he’s not at band practice, at a show somewhere in Bushwick, Williamsburg or Fort Greene, or hanging out with friends in Brooklyn Heights.

Sadly, Teen Spirit seems to have no use for the wisdom of his exceptionally insightful and intuitive parents — and it must be irksome to have a mother who calls herself Smartmom in print.

Indeed, as Dr. Tony wrote, “It is very important for adolescents to begin viewing adults as flawed. Teenagers know that they themselves have flaws — lots of them — and they also know that they are expected to go out shortly into the adult world and survive. The natural thing to do is look for evidence that adults are human and flawed as well.”

All of this helps explain why Smartmom and Teen Spirit have been having such a hard time of late — which has been hard for Smartmom, who always prided herself on having such a good relationship with her son.

But Teen Spirit’s behavior is textbook, Dr. Tony wrote in his textbook: “Boys are especially likely to avoid their mother. For most boys, there has already been one particular woman in their life whom they have loved deeply. Unfortunately, that woman is their mother. Hence, until they get their new and fairly amorphous sexuality firmly focused on females outside the home, their mother presents a problem.”

The only thing that still connects Smartmom and Teen Spirit is the time they spend together on weekday mornings from 6 am until 7:15 am when he leaves for school.

It’s not that they really talk, but Teen Spirit asks Smartmom whether his really skinny black jeans are clean or whether he can have some money. He lets her pour him a big bowl of Cocoa Puffs and milk.

Smartmom and Hepcat can’t believe what a classic teenager they have in their midst. They thought they were always such cooltastic parents: very empathic, very creative, very accepting of whatever Teen Spirit wanted to do.

But despite their best intentions, Teen Spirit feels the need to rebel against them, hate them, smirk at them and spend inordinate amounts of time away from them.

And they are just spinning from what they feel is their mistreatment by their beloved son. Smartmom is trying not to take it too hard. But she and Hepcat are wracking their brains trying to figure out how to reel him back in. Thankfully, Dr. Tony offers pointers on the overly independent teen. It’s tricky, very tricky.

“You do not win the battle for control with a teenager,” he wrote. “There are many things that parents absolutely do not want their teenage children to do — drink, use drugs, be sexually active, cut school, hang around with undesirable friends — but most teenagers do some or all of the above on a fairly regular basis.”

Dr. Tony went on to say that with adolescents, usually the best that you can expect is imperfect control.

“The greatest error that parents of teenagers can make is to believe that disobedience means total loss of control. Believing this, they often go all out, sometimes with dire consequence, to reestablish the control that they have not really lost to begin with.”

In other words: make rules, but don’t engage in the escalating punishments game. That can end in disaster.

But if anything, she and Hepcat probably haven’t punished Teen Spirit enough. They’ve let him get away with a lot, especially when it comes to school.

School. Yes, school. That’s the albatross around Teen Spirit’s neck right now. And with college looming in the future, this pushes so many buttons in Smartmom, who desperately wants Teen Spirit to take it more seriously.

Buddha knows, many of the choices (good and bad) that adolescents make, particularly in school, can affect them for the rest of lives.

“This is the cruel irony,” Dr. Tony wrote. “We are asked to let go precisely when the stakes go up.”

But letting go is what adolescence is all about: for the parent and the teen.

“The capacity to let go, to separate to allow a child to resolve his or her own destiny is crucial to being the parent of a teenager,” Dr. Tony wrote.

And that is the hardest part of all.

Haven’t you always wondered about the Quaker Cemetery on the south side of Prospect Park? Well, here’s your chance to learn more and walk around in it.

The Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park will be open to the public on June 28th
for a play about the people buried there. The Quaker Cemetery is a beautiful
place in Prospect Park that is generally closed to the public. The event is
part of our Brooklyn Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers)
150th Anniversary.

Here are the details:

Location: Off Prospect Park Southwest and 16th Street, south of the Long
Meadow along Center Drive – look for the signs. Nearest subway is the F
train 15th Street station.

Event date and time: June 28th from 2-4 pm (rain date is June 29th, 2-4 pm)

Event price: free, but donations accepted

More information:
Guides will greet people at the gate to the Cemetery and usher them from
grave site to grave site (1820-2008,over 14 sites of individuals and families) providing historical context to
this 200 + year old burial ground.

A Friend will represent the interred at each grave site and tell about their
life and times.

I ran into Michele Madigan Somerville and she told me that about the banner. Y’know the banner. Everyone’s talking about THAT BANNER.

Okay, okay. For those of you who don’t know about the banner, here goes.

You know that cute corner, community garden on the northwest corner of President Street and Fifth Avenue. It’s a lovely and unexpected spot for a city garden and a pleasant place to sit, to read, to gather one’s thoughts.

Well, its beauty is being threatened by the presence of a large real estate banner. What a bad idea to put an ugly banner on the wall the garden shares with the building that houses Beacon’s Closet.

Bad idea. Bad.

So now you know about the controversial BANNER. What are we gonna do about it, folks?

Here’s the great list compiled by Park Slope Parents. Go to their site to see the calendar with the addresses, phone numbers, websites, and other details. This is just a summary:

     Friday, June 20, 2008

Storytime @ The Postmark Cafe

Sing A Long At The Tea Lounge On Union

Storytime @ The Moxie Spot

Brooklyn Society For Ethical Culture Good Coffeehouse Music Parlour @ 7:30PM

Metropolitan Opera: Live In Prospect Park  @ 8:00PM

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Puppetworks Presents Pinocchio At 12:30pm & 2:30pm

ARTY Facts At The Brooklyn Museum @ 11 Am & 2pm

Newkirk Avenue Block Party

Storytime At Court Street Barnes & Noble @ 11:00AM

Story Time At Brownstone Books @ 12:00PM

Intro To Birdwatching At The Audubon Center

Urban Assembly Academy Of Arts & Letters Summerfest!

Paint Across American – DUMBO

Lefferts House – Qult Exhibit & Workshops

Nature Crafts At The Audubon Center

Teach Your Child To Ride A Bike

Mermaid Parade

Prospect Park Audubon Center – Discover Tour

Hootenanny Art House – Open Family Art Studio

AudraRox – Carroll Park Concert Series

STOOPendous 2008

Sunday, June 22, 2008

STINK-FEST 2008!!!!

Brooklyn Museum – Arty Facts At 11am & 2:00pm

Fulton Art Fair

GOODSTOCK- A Day Of Tikkun Olam Learning

Prospect Park – Lefferts Historic House Quilt Exhibit & Workshops & More!

CIRCUSundays In Red Hook

Prospect Park Audubon Center – Discover Tours, 3pm

Tomatoes for EVERYBODY! Here’s the latest from Zuzu’s Petals:

This spring i expanded the borders of my vegetable patch and planted a couple dozen seedlings: several varieties of Heirloom, some Grape and Cherry to snack on while i weed, and old reliable Big Boy, Early Girl and Beefsteak as  an homage to my Dad (whose garden i inherited.)

a week after i planted, about a thousand volunteers from last year’s crop popped their leaves through the soil. i potted some up and added them to the  inventory at the Gardenshop

it is getting a bit late in the season to start these babies and i find i have an abundance of plants that are outgrowing their cell packs, straining for the sun.

so, this weekend,  the zuzus will be giving out free tomato starts to anyone who has a sunny patch to plant. just stop by and say you want to  give a tomato seedling a good home.

Yesterday after the mishap with Christine Quinn’s press conference I had lunch at Frankie 457 with a Yelper. Do you know about Yelp? It’s a social networking community that’s very popular on the West Coast and gaining popularity here.

In fact, they’re about to make a big pitch for Brooklyn!

Yelp bills itself as a fun and easy way to find, review, and talk about what’s great—and not great in your neighborhood.

Like the Brooklyn Blog scene, the site thrives on the interest people have in where they live. It’s loaded with reviews, tips, maps and best kept secrets.

I met with Yelp’s East Coast PR person and she seemed very interested in the Brooklyn blog scene and I invited her to the Brooklyn Blogade this Sunday at Root Hill on Fourth Avenue and Carroll at noon.

Here’s her review of Frankie 457. But she left out one huge detail:

Dan Zanes was eating lunch there. You know I’m not a celebrity hound but he’s a very exciting Brooklyn celebrity. I didn’t wave, I didn’t try to talk to him, I didn’t start singing…

With a hairdo like his, you probably not trying to be too anonymous. Here is her review. We had a terrific lunch and a great conversation about blogging, the Internet, the future of journalism and life in the big city.

Frankie 457

457 Court St  Brooklyn, NY 11231

I went here for a quick lunch with blogger extraordinaire, Louise from http://onlytheblogknow…. Frankie’s was the perfect setting for a great conversation on a beautiful day.

We opted to sit outside in the garden which was surprisingly big and they even have a separate carriage house that you can hire for private events. I had a peek inside and it has a beautiful dark wood bar and looks like it would be a great space for an anniversary or even a wedding reception!

But let’s get on to the good stuff: the food.  Italian cheeses, pastas, tapas, sandwiches and salads they absolutely have something for everyone and they make a note smack bang on the menu that they only serve organic, local fare. Love that! Louise got the arugula and parmesan salad that looked incredibly fresh with vibrant greens and a healthy dose of shavings. She also got the eggplant crostini which looked delish. I had seen a chap earlier order the sausage broccoli rabe on foccacia so I opted for the same. Holy moly! It was BIG and so almighty good. I could only eat half but I’m shoveling in the rest right now as I type one handed.

If you’re not from Brooklyn – or Carroll Gardens – the F train is only 3 blocks away. Super affordable ($30 for two!) but remember to bring cash only.  Seems to be the perfect spot for an early dinner or a long lunch.

Just got this note from a friend who lives on Third Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Louise what’s up? Any one know? The helicopter is flying in very 
tight circles and low over my block for the past 15 minutes. I’m 
getting dizzy up here on the 4th flr watching the pilot turn around 
and around. Turned on NY1 & can’t find anything. Somethings up. They 
must be looking for someone. Wish we knew. Keep me posted.

She just wrote back:

Helicopter is smack in the middle of the block.

My friend Michele Madigan Somerville, sent word of a great event at her Park Slope Church. She’s the gal who organized the Bloomsday reading of Ulysses at Ceol on Smith Street, as well as monthly readings there.

For the Bible Tells Me So
In this award-winning documentary, which premiered at the
Sundance Fim Festival in 2007, director Daniel Karslake
uses biblical scholarship,a cast of adult children, parents
clergy, and theologians; and interesting historical footage
to highlight and challenge the homophobia in religious
communities.   

Thursday, June 19th at 7pm
in St. Monical Hall
on Sterling Street
between 5th and 6th Ave’s
in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Wine and other refreshments will be served; scintillating discussion will take place.
This event is free. 

Here’s an excerpt from the Daily News Op-Ed by Dick Zigun, founder and director of Coney Island USA.

The city’s latest plans to "save" Coney Island – the land of dreams and schemes at the southern tip of Brooklyn – once again threaten to destroy it.

That is why I recently wrote Mayor Bloomberg telling him I plan to resign as a director of the Coney Island Development Corp.
(CIDC) effective Tuesday, when the city will present its latest plan
supposedly designed to transform the area into a year-round attraction.
Plunking 30-story hotels onto land that should offer bumper cars and
other amusements is not the way to save the city’s "working man’s
Riviera."

As everyone in Brooklyn knows, I am the permanently unelected Mayor
of Coney Island and, therefore, a phony politician. As an operator of
the Coney Island USA
museum and sideshow, I am no more than a spokesman and advocate for a
shrinking amusement industry that has persevered despite decades of
municipal neglect and hostility.

Coney Island has been smothered by good intentions emanating from
City Hall, perhaps never more dramatically than in the 1960s when the
city tore down most of the dilapidated structures along Surf and
Mermaid Aves. but never quite got around to the rebuilding part. There
have been so many plans for Coney Island’s future that the paper they
were printed on would reach higher than the horses atop Steeplechase
Park – if Steeplechase had not been torn down as part of one of those
plans.

There’s an updated proposal to rezone the west side of Fourth Avenue between Douglas and First Streets so that 12 story apartment buildings can be built there.

Fourth Avenue is changing and it’s changing fast.

Brownstoner has more information about a new proposal that differs in significant ways from the 2003 rezoning that made all those tall buildings on Fourth Avenue possible. Anything about schools for all those new residents of Fourth Avenue?

Under the proposal, the seven blocks’ zoning will be changed from manufacturing, thus allowing for the construction of 12-story residential structures. One big difference from the ’03 rezoning that gave us the 4th Avenue we have today: The new law of the land will require developers to have a active ground floor uses for a percentage of frontage on 4th Avenue. Click through for a map detailing the planned changes

Here you can read the actual draft proposal for the Gowanus Canal Corridor Framework
Draft Zoning Proposal

Students are graduating this week and next but as of June 16, the children on the Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) track HAVE NOT been placed in a middle school. Here’s a letter by parents and others at a local elementary school that was sent to the Education Department.

CTT (Collaborative Team Teaching) helps bright children who have different learning styles be successful. This can be seen in report cards, test scores and other school activities. Two teachers, working together, teach and instill in their general education students and special education students that everyone can achieve and contribute as much as the brightest students to the whole. This is what is happening at the Children’s School (PS372).

Unfortunately, everything we’ve worked for is in jeopardy because our CTT students do not have their middle school placements. We’re seeing the consequences right now. These students are missing the transitional steps, such as orientations and auditions, that make the move to middle school successful. Their peers on the general education track are participating and making plans for activities in September. But we can’t plan the next academic year because we don’t know where our kids will attend middle school.

We have missed the June 12 deadline to respond to and appeal, if necessary, our kids’ placement. We don’t know who is making the final decision on placement or what criteria are being used to get into a middle school. Is it report cards, IEPs, test scores, a combination of these or none of these?

Please tell us what factors lead to this situation? How we can explain to our children when we pick them up from after-school programs, music lessons, sports practice and take them home after their June 18 graduation why they were left behind?

With the support of parents whose kids are on the general education track, we ask for your immediate response and help in solving this crisis.

KIDVERSE: COMFORT FOOD

Feeling blue
As blue can be
I reach out for
My remedy
—Peanut butter!

Dad caught a peek
Of my online pal
Asked, “That a guy
Or that a gal?”
—Peanut butter!

Mom found something
In my drawer
Knocked her socks
And dropped her jaw.
—Peanut butter!

Arithmetic,
Arithmetic,
It makes me sob,
It makes me sick.
—Peanut butter!

Why’d I shout
“Mrs. Pell
Is the designated
Teacher from hell”?
—Peanut butter!

I called the schoolguard
A dizzy dame.
I hope she doesn’t
Know my name.
—Peanut butter!

My best friend talked
Behind my back,
Told all the kids
I’m a sad sack.
—Peanut butter!

Will I marry
And divorce
Like the neighbors?
Horrors! Of course.
–Peanut butter!

My worst enemy
I hate to admit
Is twice as smart
And twice as fit.
—Peanut butter!

No one knows
The troubles I’ll see.
But if they do–
DO NOT TELL ME.
—Peanut butter!
—Peanut butter!!
—Peanut butter!!

Here’s a report from Leon Freilich about Saturday night’s rainy gay pride parade:

Gaily, gaily. Through Saturday night’s on-&-off heavy rains and thunderclaps, Brooklyn Pride paraders marched their full mile course along Seventh Avenue. They were led by a drenched vanguard of women bikers and a marching band of more than fifty men, women & youngsters in gleaming white uniforms.

Nothing stopped their high spirits, not the lack of discouraged spectators or feet swimming in shoes. Only when the showers turned into torrents did they break ranks–but only for ten or so minutes–and head for the shelter of store awnings.

Some joined my wife and me in front of Tutta Pasta restaurant, and we were uplifted by the total absence of grumps and groans. “Naa,” said a young trumpet player, shaking a lake out of his instrument. “This is our day and nothing’s spoiling it.”

I’ve seen paraders who trekked through mud or snow (on TV), but never any who slogged through a potentially dangerous rainstorm. (Fortunately no lightning bolts struck nearby, or the accompanying police would certainly have dispersed the marchers.) A brave, determined bunch.

Power to the gays of our lives!

The lighting bolts in the distance Saturday night were striking near Jones Beach in Nassau County. They were close enough to prompt police to halt the REM concert in progress for 90 minutes, according to an account in the Times. Then the rockers and spectators who had taken shelter returned for the rest of the evening’s pounding music.

Come to Kentler International Drawing Space, a gallery in Red Hook and see the film, A Hole in a  Fence on Wednesday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m. 353 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook. Admission is free.  

Chronicling the changing fortunes of a unique abandoned lot in Red Hook, Brooklyn, A Hole in a Fence explores the complicated issues of development, class and identity facing the city’s most populous borough.

It’s the story of a vanished homeless community and the young
architect who documented it; of a real urban farm run by local kids
amidst a landscape of industrial decay; of young graffiti writers
losing their stomping grounds; of the arrival of a controversial Ikea
megastore; of a photographer’s vision of nature’s renewal; of the
doomed struggle to save a rare part of the neighborhood’s working
waterfront; and of a filmmaker’s discovery of a fleeting, hidden world
on the other side of a rusty old fence.

My friend had a two-piece swimsuit custom made at Eidolon, a Fifth Avenue shop, and it cost, like, $130. Can you imagine. A suit perfectly constructed for your body????

Here are the ‘tails:
Eidolon
233 Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

Apparently, they have a few designs—one-piece and two-piece—and loads of gorgeous fabrics to choose from. Her suit looked lovely. An Eidolon swimsuit is featured in the 2008 I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendar

Excerpted from the New York Times’:

By Sewell Chan
Administrative charges have been filed against Robert M. Scarano Jr., an architect who built his career during Brooklyn’s construction boom, alleging that he made false or misleading statements on applications submitted to the Buildings Department in connection with two projects in Greenpoint, the authorities announced on Thursday.

The administrative charges — which could result in the suspension or revocation of Mr. Scarano’s ability to file documents with the Buildings Department — involve documents for two Brooklyn apartment houses that Mr. Scarano filed with the Buildings Department in 2000 and 2002. The city’s Buildings and Investigation Departments said in a joint statement:

Scarano is alleged to have improperly divided a zoning lot into two smaller lots for the two new buildings, 158 Freeman Street and 1037 Manhattan Avenue, resulting in the construction of two noncompliant buildings. With the two independent zoning lots, 158 Freeman Street could not have been legally built at all as a residential building and 1037 Manhattan Avenue as designed would have been smaller by approximately 2,000 square feet.

Both buildings are in Greenpoint, a neighborhood historically known for its large Polish immigrant community but now associated with the forces of gentrification.
In the wake of two fatal crane accidents this year that resulted in the ouster of the city’s buildings commissioner, the city has stepped up efforts to improve construction safety and to scrutinize every step of the building process.

“We will not tolerate anyone who knowingly attempts to mislead the Department with false documents,” said Robert D. LiMandri, acting commissioner of the Buildings Department. “Our Special Enforcement Team is identifying repeat offenders and building cases against them. Flouting building and zoning regulations undermines the quality of life for all New Yorkers, and we will continue to identify and hold accountable individuals who abuse the rules.”

This is from the Metropolitan Opera press release about the really, really big opera show in Prospect Park on Friday June 20th.

Two of opera’s biggest stars, soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna, will perform together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on June 20 at 8pm, together with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, in what is anticipated will be one of the Metropolitan Opera’s largest outdoor concerts in company history. Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park has the potential of being attended by an audience of up to 150,000 people, who will be drawn from all five boroughs and the suburbs. The performance will be broadcast live on WQXR-FM (96.3 FM), and streamed live on the Met’s website, www.metopera.org.

“We are trying something new this summer, which we think will be especially appealing to all New Yorkers,” said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. “This is the first time in some years that leading Met stars will sing outdoors in a parks concert.”

The married star couple of Gheorghiu and Alagna will sing popular arias and duets by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Massenet, and others, conducted by Ion Marin. Gheorghiu and Alagna will perform on a larger than normal stage in Prospect Park’s Long Meadow baseball fields, surrounded by six jumbo video screens that will be strategically placed throughout the area to maximize the viewing experience

.

Now this is an idea whose time has come. A coming together of Brooklyn PTA’s as a way to fund raise, share information, and support the schools. They’ve even got a website. They’re planning a great inaugural event that I may participate in.

This Friday a group of Brooklyn elementary school PTAs will come
together for a unique event to raise money together.

In the face of budget cuts this year and planned cuts for next year,
PTAs of all sorts are being asked to do more fund raising to help
support their schools. In communities with a strong economic base,
this is not as difficult as it is for communities where families are
less affluent.

A new organization, brooklynpta.org, was formed to raise money for all
of our children, no matter which school they attend.

Our first event is this Friday’s 5K Run-Walk-Stroll-Toddle in Prospect
Park. Any Brooklyn elementary school is eligible to share in the race
proceeds by getting 20 runners/walkers to participate. Remember to
note which school you are running for when you register. Runners can
come from anywhere, not just your school.Get your sisters, brothers,
cousins, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers and friends and come on out.

To sign up or get more information, go to brooklynpta.org.

The registration fee is $15 with a $25 cap for families running
together. Raise additional money by getting sponsors!

Registration begins at 6 p.m. and the run begins at 7 p.m. at the
Lincoln Road Pavilion.

With all the crazy news from the DOE lately, this is a nice chance to
do something positive for our schools. Some of the schools involved so
far include PS 10, 107, 146, 29, 39, 139, 295 and 261 among others. We
also have support from the UFT and the Brooklyn Roadrunners Club. How
about you?

Any questions? Feel free to ask me or go to brooklynpta.org.

Sincerely,
Sarah Cassidy (PS 146, BNS)

I met the very enthusiastic Flatbush Pigeon during yesterday’s media tour at the Red Hook IKEA. Actually we met over by the buffet as I was selecting one of the many Swedish pastry offerings. She was at the Brooklyn Blogfest and it was nice to meet her and talk. Her blog covers art, culture, history, politics, current events of Brooklyn with a particular emphasis on documenting the early 3rd millennium resuscitation of Flatbush.

She’s been posting since April 2008 and has lots of great info on the blog including a great feature called Featured Brooklynite of the Week. So far she’s done: Mae West,, Francie Nolan (from a Tree Grows in Brooklyn) and filmmaker Ken Burns.

Here is her first post:

So, after being a faithful reader of several community blogs, I’ve decided to offer my own perspective about social, cultural and political life of Brooklyn in the early 3rd Millennium. Currently, I am particularly focused on the area in and around Flatbush since that is where I spend most of my time. Being that I try to keep myself up on happenings in Brooklyn, I thought I’d share them with my readers…should they ever arrive.

Caution: Anticipate periodic digressions.

Cheers,
Pigeon

Here is the line up for next fall’s Next Wave Festival at BAM. You can view video previews for just about every one of these shows here.

A Quarreling Pair
Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company
Based on the play by Jane Bowles
Directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones
Sep 30—Oct 4

Sunken Red
Toneelhuis (BE) & ro theater (NL)
Directed by Guy Cassiers with Dirk Roofthooft
After the novel by Jeroen Brouwers
Oct 7—11

New Voices from Spain
Huecco (BAM Howard Gilman Opera House)
Rosalía (BAMcafé)
Oct 11

ETHEL’s TruckStop™: The Beginning
Directed by and created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen
Oct 14—18

Woyzeck
By Georg Büchner
Vesturport and The City Theatre
Directed by Gísli Örn Gardarsson
Oct 15—18

Awakenings
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Choreography by Stephen Page
Oct 21—25

Steve Reich Evening
Rosas
Choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Music by Steve Reich and György Ligeti
Music performed live by Ictus
Oct 22—25

Darwin’s Meditation for The People of Lincoln
Conceived and composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
Oct 29—Nov 1

Meeting with Bodhisattva
U Theatre
Directed by Liu Ruo-Yu
Oct 29—Nov 1

Les sept planches de la ruse
(The Seven Boards of Skill)
Compagnie 111 and Scènes de la Terre
Conceived and directed by Aurélien Bory
Nov 5—8

Arjuna’s Dilemma
Music-Theatre Group
Music by Douglas J. Cuomo
Nov 5—8

Amjad
La La La Human Steps
Choreography by Édouard Lock
Nov 12—15

Continuous City
The Builders Association
Directed by Marianne Weems
Nov 18—22

Les écailles de la mémoire
(The scales of memory)
Compagnie Jant-Bi and Urban Bush Women
Choreography by Germaine Acogny and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in collaboration with the dancers
Nov 19—22

Opening Night
By John Cassavetes
Toneelgroep Amsterdam and NTGent
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Dec 2—6

Red Hot + Rio 2
The Next Generation of Samba Soul
Dec 4 & 5

Lightning at our feet
Michael Gordon / Ridge Theater
Dec 9—13

Bamboo Blues
A piece by Pina Bausch
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Dec 11—2

The Daily News has a list of free summer activities in Brooklyn. For starters, there’s Issac Hayes this Thrusday at Celebrate Brooklyn. Check the article for lots more!

Also on Thursday, Isaac Hayes, the soul man who brought us “Theme From Shaft,” launches the Celebrate Brooklyn! summer series at the Prospect Park Bandshell. There’s a suggested donation of $3 at the gate for all performances, except special benefit concerts on July 9 and 15. Celebrate Brooklyn! continues through Aug. 9, ending with the Bill Withers Project. All performers are listed at www.briconline.org/celebrate/2008season.asp or call (718) 855-7882.

The recent tragic death of 3-year-old Kyle Smith by the hands of his legal guardian Nymeen Cheatham, and her boyfriend, Lemar Martin is sending shock waves through the city’s child welfare ranks once again. Brooklyn City workers were warned about possible child abuse in this case in the past and did nothing.

Last Friday little Kyle’s body was found covered with cuts, bruises and cigarette burns inside the Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment he shared with his legal guardian and her boyfriend.

At a press conference tomorrow, Councilmember de Blasio will join child advocates to introduce a resolution calling on the State Assembly to pass pending legislation that would allow child protective services to conduct criminal background checks on children’s guardians suspected of child abuse or neglect.

Child protective services workers are currently limited in their ability to access critical information that would allow them to fully evaluate the homes and living situations of children. In order for these workers to determine the health and safety of children in the system, they need every tool possible to ensure that children are not in imminent danger.

If these adults have a history of abusing or neglecting children, or of having children removed from their care, state and local agencies must be able to access this information so that they can make decisions in the best interest of the children involved.

Who: Councilmember de Blasio and Child Advocates
What: Councilmember de Blasio joins child advocates at a press conference to introduce a resolution calling on the State Assembly to pass legislation that would allow child protective services to conduct criminal background checks on children’s guardians suspected of child abuse or neglect
When: 10am – Thursday, June 12, 2008
Where: City Hall Steps

The recent tragic death of 3-year-old Kyle Smith by the hands of his legal guardian Nymeen Cheatham, and her boyfriend, Lemar Martin is sending shock waves through the city’s child welfare ranks once again. Brooklyn City workers were warned about possible child abuse in this case in the past and did nothing.

Last Friday little Kyle’s body was found covered with cuts, bruises and cigarette burns inside the Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment he shared with his legal guardian and her boyfriend.

At a press conference tomorrow, Councilmember de Blasio will join child advocates to introduce a resolution calling on the State Assembly to pass pending legislation that would allow child protective services to conduct criminal background checks on children’s guardians suspected of child abuse or neglect.

Child protective services workers are currently limited in their ability to access critical information that would allow them to fully evaluate the homes and living situations of children. In order for these workers to determine the health and safety of children in the system, they need every tool possible to ensure that children are not in imminent danger.

If these adults have a history of abusing or neglecting children, or of having children removed from their care, state and local agencies must be able to access this information so that they can make decisions in the best interest of the children involved.

Who: Councilmember de Blasio and Child Advocates
What: Councilmember de Blasio joins child advocates at a press conference to introduce a resolution calling on the State Assembly to pass legislation that would allow child protective services to conduct criminal background checks on children’s guardians suspected of child abuse or neglect
When: 10am – Thursday, June 12, 2008
Where: City Hall Steps

Fonda at Zuzu’s Petals wrote to me this morning:

it’s so hot that:
we had iced coffee for breakfast.
we didn’t blow dry our hair.
we had to open the umbrella in the gardenshop to make a little bit of shade.
we put off our plant buying trip until Wednesday when it will only be in the 80’s
we had to water the garden every 2 hours….and hosed ourselves as well.
we had to have BOTH air conditioners on at The Big.
we tried not to think about our carbon imprint today.