Catherine Bohne, owner of Park Slope’s famous Community Bookstore, is about to embark on a “Grand Adventure” (the details of which are under wraps for now). But before this great adventure can begin she must sell her personal book collection, what she describes as “2000 really good books.” She is also looking for a home for Jennie Lee, a Maine Coon cat, who comes, of course, with a trust fund for medical expenses.

Bohne’s lovely, whimsical style of writing speaks for itself. The date of the big sale is Saturday, April 17, from 10AM until…

Here’s the email I (and many others no doubt) received this morning:

Hi Everyone!

This Saturday, April 17th from about 10 am until we drop, I’ll be selling off most of my personal book collection (probably more than 2000 really good books) in one HumONGous stoep sale in front of my apartment at:

813 8th Avenue
[between 8th & 9th Sts]
Brooklyn, NY  11215

Everything must go!  And it’s gotta go that day, too!  Please come help me out by giving my books a good home!

And, while I’m at it:  I don’t know if there’s anyone out there who has a soft spot for gentle but chatty really old (18?) Maine Coon cats, but you could meet Jennie Lee, who’s looking for a more stable home than I’m providing at the moment.  She comes, of course, with a trust fund for medical expenses . . . .

And ALSO:  I don’t know if anyone needs handyman work done, but local Park Sloper and bookstore habituee Eric Rochow (www.handymaneric. com & gardenfork.tv) is a genius, has changed my life, rescued me and worked miracles — you can come look in my apartment if you want to see an example of his work . . .

Now . . . what is all this about?  Come to the stoop sale and I’ll tell you all about it!  (Well, I’ll tell you all about it soon, anyhow, BUT don’t have time right now . . . )  Don’t worry — the Bookstore’s fine.  I’m just having a Grand Adventure!

Much Love,
And see you soon,
Catherine

The driver of the van that killed the Park Slope cyclist yesterday in Ditmas Park will face charges of criminally negligent homicide.

He also face charges of aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, driving through a red light and speeding.

According the NY 1, the cyclist was traveling east on Beverly Road when he was struck on Flatbush Avenue around 9:30 a.m. A witness told NY 1: “He tried to get out of the way. But when he tried to turn the bike to avoid the van, the wheel just wobbled, and the van just hit him, his whole body. I saw his whole body went under the van, and he just dragged him all the way down here.”

Yesterday there were two other bike/vehicle accidents. Neither of those resulted in fatalities.

Very sad news:

An 18-year-old cyclist from Park Slope was killed on Flatbush Avenue and Duryea Place in Ditmas Park on Wednesday morning when his bike was struck by a dollar van.

The NYPD said that the cyclist was a white male in his twenties. But I’ve heard from a source who knows the boy that he was an 18-year-old who attended PS 321 and Millenium High School and was currently a college freshman at CUNY.

He was traveling east on Duryea and the motorist was traveling north on Flatbush. The driver, a 28-year-old male, was charged with negligent homicide and other charges for driving without a license, speeding and going through a red light.

This is a terrible story.

A  beautiful grand piano was donated to the Old Stone House and now they can present piano recitals like this one:

The Old Stone House presents a concert series to celebrate Chopin, Schumann and Liszt featuring pianist Eleonor Bindman. This is Part 1 of an ongoing series.

Friday, April 16, 2010 8 pm
Sunday, April 18, 2010 5 pm
Reception to Follow

Part One is a program featuring the works of Chopin. More info at theoldstonehouse.org

The piano pictured is NOT the one at the House.

A quarterly report released yesterday by Prudential Douglas Elliman revealed that  residential sales activity is up in Brooklyn and Queens. They also said that there’s “a growing momentum in the high-end market.”

According to The Real Deal, which published an article about the report, “Brooklyn appears to be recovering faster than Queens, which has been devastated by high foreclosure rates.”

If you suffer  from seasonal allergies, today’s high pollen count may cuase you to suffer.

This morning I feel like my eyes are glued shut and I can stop sniffling, which will lead to sneezing.

I’m taking a Claritin!

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their weather tower.

Thanks to Leon Freilich for sending this over.

It’s been almost 65 years since New Yorkers celebrated the end of World War II, but a new book and accompanying film series give today’s residents a window into how life was “On the Town.”

The series, which begins at 6:30 p.m. April 13 at the Brooklyn Public Library, is based on the new book by Lorraine Diehl, “Over Here! New York City During World War II.”

The films, which continue each Tuesday through May 18, are discussed in the book and reflect life in the 1930s and into the war years, Diehl said.

“It was not too difficult for people to get on board and say, ‘We are the good guys, we have to win,’” she said.

An “all for one and one for all” attitude infused city life, Diehl said, and while New Yorkers faced privations, they were reasonably sure their homes wouldn’t be bombed. Londoners didn’t have that comfort, and New Yorkers understood that and acted accordingly, volunteering and showing soldiers on leave their appreciation.

But there was a dark side to New York, too. A pro-Nazi movement flourished in the German neighborhood of Yorkville, just as German Jews were flocking across the Atlantic to escape the horror overseas.

A quick look at the World War II-era films being screened

April 13: “All Through the Night” — It’s Humphrey Bogart versus Nazis in Gotham’s midst.

April 20: “The House on 92nd Street” — The film’s title is inspired by a Manhattan building that was home to the German-American Bund.

April 27: “Mr. Lucky” — Cary Grant in a film inspired by the “Bundles for Britain,” the knitting care packages New Yorkers sent to the British.

May 4: “Saboteur” — German spies set their sights on the Brooklyn Navy Yard

May 11: “The Clock” — Author Lorraine Diehl called this a valentine to the city. GI Robert Walker finds love with Judy Garland by the clock at Penn Station — the studio built a remarkable fascimile.

May 18: “On the Town” — Soldiers on leave whoop it up in a musical that celebrates New York’s wonders.

The series will be shown at the Dr. S. Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture at the Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, in Prospect Heights. Take the Nos. 2/3 train to Grand Army Plaza

Brooklyn food & drink round up: Brownstoner

First sushi restaurant in Bed-Stuy: Bed-Stuy Blog

New Italian on Stuyvesant Avenue: Bed-Stuy Blog

Asian style Chilean Sea Bass: A Kitchen in Brooklyn

Breaking the three cookie rule: A Cake Bakes in Brooklyn

A potato garden: Undomesticated Me

As long as you don’t mind taking a brisk three block walk between shows, you can catch two fine acts tonight on the Lower East Side: Harper Blynn and Sasha Dobson.  Now I’ve Heard Everything has all the details here.

Also in News and Notes at  Now I’ve Heard Everything, links to two good accounts of SXSW 2010 (one translated from the original German), news about Steve Wynn and Robbie Fulks‘ thoughts about the philosophy of Alex Chilton.

–Eliot Wagner

Sixpoint Craft Ales will be doing a beer dinner at The Vanderbilt later this month. Chef Saul Bolton has put together an awesome 5 course menu that pairs his signature, new American cuisine with Sixpoint’s craft ales.  The whole dinner will be $60 per person and will be held on April 27th.

Join NY Writers Coalition (NYWC), one of the Park Slope 100, as they celebrate New York Immigrant Heritage Week with a reading series at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

The talented children and adult readers this month come from all over the world from Yemen to Mexico, Guyana to Japan. Iraqi poet and novelist Sinan Antoon (author of Baghdad Blues, Harbor Mountain Press, and I’jam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, City Light Books) will also be featured.

According to the most recent U.S. census, about three million of the city’s eight million residents are foreign-born. NYWC has created niche writing workshops which cater to this significant population in New York City. Abdel Baidhani, a member of the Arab American Family Support Center workshop, and Luz Aguirre, a member of “Mano a Mano” (a Latin-American-focused workshop) will share their work at the event. NYWC has also provided a variety of groups where people with similar interests (whether they are foreign or U.S.-born) can write together—one of the readers, Jacqueline Carter-Cutting, is part of the of the Brooklyn Veterans Center workshop. Yasuko Nasasawa, another presenter, attends the 14th Street Y workshop (which caters to seniors). Aidan Amog, who will also read, is a regular at the kids workshop at Fort Greene Park.

The Writing Aloud Reading Series showcases the creative voices of at-risk youth, the homeless and formerly homeless, the formerly incarcerated, LGBT homeless youth, seniors, residents of supportive housing, and countless others who aren’t heard from often enough in our society.

READERS:    Sinan Antoon, Aidan Amog, Abdel Baidhani, Jacqueline Carter-Cutting, and Yasuko Nasasawa

WHEN:          Monday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:        Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton St.
Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Cost:        Free!

ABOUT NY WRITERS COALITION INC.
Founded in 2001, NYWC is one of the largest community writing organizations in the country. NYWC creates opportunities for formerly voiceless members of society to be heard through the art of writing. We provide free, unique and powerful creative writing workshops throughout New York City for people from groups that have been historically deprived of voice in our society, including at-risk and disconnected youth, the homeless and formerly homeless, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, war veterans, people with disabilities, cancer and major illness, immigrants, seniors and others.  Since emerging in 2002, NYWC has won awards from the Union Square Awards and Petra Foundation, and received program grants from local and national funders including Time Warner, the Pinkerton Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, Hot Topic Foundation, the Kalliopeia Foundation, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the NY State Council on the Arts and others. Our workshop participants have been featured on The New York Times Blog, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show and The Huffington Post, in stories about NYWC.

According to the Real Deal, a new developer has taken over  construction of the 18-unit Park Slope condo project at 910 Union Street from Yachad Enterprises. American Development Group, the new company, expects to secure financing by mid-summer.

The three-story brick building, most recently a church and schoolhouse, is one of dozens of properties across from Prospect Park that are not protected by city landmark laws. That means that developers can do whatever they want architecturally without approval from the NYC Landmarks Commission.

Interestingly, 910 Union Street is among 1,350 buildings included in the first phase of a proposed expansion to the landmark district.  No matter. The Department of Buildings already approved the permit for the four-story addition two years ago, so the new developers can start building as soon as they’re ready.

“We want to be very respectful to the existing architecture, unlike our neighbor across the street,” Perry Finkelman, principal of American Development Group, told the Real Deal.

About the building’s 4-story addition: It will be red brick and glass, featuring apartments with large kitchens and master bedrooms. at families can congregate in.

One special unit in the back of the building would have soaring ceilings and a totally retro interior, complete with a restored wood-burning fireplace, glass doorknobs and 1950s-style, thunderbird green kitchen appliances, Finkelman said.

I can attest to that. My eyes are swollen and watery and I’m sneezing a lot. Achoo.

Too Small to Bail

White collar, blue collar, no collar

They’d only be annoyed.

http://open.salon.com/blog/leon_freilich

Saturday, May 1st, from 10 am to 1 PM, run for your neighborhood school with the Brooklyn PTA 5K Run/Walk for Public Schools in Prospect Park (Bartel Pritchard entrance, Prospect Park West & 16th Street).

BrooklynPTA.org and City Councilmember Brad Lander are co-sponsoring the third annual PTA 5K Run for the Schools. Budget cuts in Albany threaten not only after-school enrichment activities but the core programs our children so rely upon in their schools. While it is unfortunate that parents are forced into the role of trying to make up for these shortfalls, this fundraiser is a great way for us to all come together to take action in support of local schools—and it’s good for your health, too!

Participants pay a registration fee ($15/person, or $25/family) and can also raise money through sponsorships.  The proceeds are split among the participating schools. You can run as part of a school team, or sign up as an individual and we will assign you to a group.

Last year there were more than 300 participants, with school teams from PS 10, 29, 39, 107, 146, 130, and 261.  We hope to have even more this year.  We’ll have awards by age group, and for the fastest teacher and principal!

More information & registration is available at http://brooklynpta.org/.

The Young Dads, a very talented, funny duo, have a great schtick. To give you an idea here’s a list of their songs (with comments by the Young Dads):

ooh!: this song features our sexy/grossed-out pop vocal, a pop vocal that we think originally was an amusing satire of late-90s boy-band vocals but has since evolved into a thing that does not occur in nature. the groove on this song is tight.

existential crisis: young uncle david shapiro makes a cameo in this rollicking barbershop meditation on the nightmare of being.

making the pitch: you will be seduced by our hot dance moves and questionable wardrobe choices, unless you are a dude, in which case you will feel threatened in ways that you may not fully understand.

satan wants you to do bad things: thank goodness for that eighteen-month face-training course we took at the sorbonne! in all seriousness, the faces we are making during this song are even more difficult than they look. you’re all like: jesse and micah, that’s not even possible. but it is! anything is possible. go celtics.

pop accountants: this video is an early frontrunner for the “Most Under-Rated Video” award of the 2010 Videos Made By The Young Dads In A Public-Access Studio Awards (the VMBTYDIAPASAs). warning: dangerously sick groove.

i could never eat that: a freshman going to junior prom?! a freshman going to junior prom. please.

To get an even better idea have a look at the videos of them performing the above songs: http://www.youtube.com/theyoungdads

They’ll be at bar 4 tomorrow night at 9PM. 444 Seventh Avenue at 13th Street.

There will be no left  turns from Park and Sterling Place onto Flatbush Avenue starting April 15th, part of a traffic calming effort on the street where a young woman, Erinn Phelan was seriously injured in a hit and run accident.

This no left turn policy would not have saved Phelan’s life. Still, it may slow things down on that dangerous thoroughfare and make things a little bit safer.

Surprises on NY Mag’s list of livable neighborhoods: NY Times

We’re #5: NY Shitty

Antony Weiner says Green Street money exists: Gerritsen Beach

Report on Daniel Squadron’s 2nd Community Convention: Pardon Me for Asking

James Cameron to preach green in Ft. Greene: The Local

Grrr. Ditmas Park & Kensington not on NY Mag list: Ditmas Park Blog

Borough Hall’s fancy water fountain returns: McBrooklyn

Lowest census rate in all of NYC: Free Williamsburg

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.

The following is an urgent call from Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors to implement a protected bike lane  on Prospect Park West without delay as a way to stem dangerous speeding along that street.

One year after the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) announced plans to combat chronic speeding on Prospect Park West by narrowing the roadway from three travel lanes to two – replacing one travel lane with a protected bi-directional bike lane – work has yet to commence on the critical safety improvements, which had originally been planned for implementation beginning in September, 2009.  Meanwhile, cars continue to hurtle down Prospect Park West at breakneck speed, in clear defiance of the legal speed limit.

Volunteers from Park Slope Neighbors on the first weekend of Spring followed up NYC DOT’s March 2009 field survey, with similar – and potentially even more dangerous – results.  Last year’s DOT survey clocked 70% of cars exceeding the 30 mph speed limit, with 15% traveling 40 mph or faster.  The PSN survey – conducted on March 20th and 21st, a weekend during which thousands of people on foot and on bicycles flocked to Prospect Park to take advantage of unseasonably warm weather – found 85% of cars exceeding the speed limit, with a startling 30% averaging 40 mph or more.

“What was true a year ago is even more true today,” said Eric McClure, campaign coordinator for Park Slope Neighbors.  “Speeding poses a significant danger on Prospect Park West, something that NYC DOT has clearly recognized.  On the occasion of tonight’s Prospect Park West Traffic Calming and Protected Bicycle Path Open House, we urge the city to begin implementing this critically needed project immediately.”

NYC DOT’s plan for Prospect Park West was endorsed by Brooklyn Community Board 6’s Transportation Committee last April, and approved by the full board in May.  More than 1,300 people have signed a Park Slope Neighbors petition supporting implementation of a two-way, protected Class I bike lane.  And 39th District City Council Member Brad Lander, whose district encompasses a long stretch of Prospect Park West, has been an outspoken proponent of the plan.

“It’s clear that the speeding problem on Prospect Park West isn’t going to improve without a complete redesign of the street,” said McClure.  “And a two-way physically separated bike lane will provide an important and necessary link in the city’s bicycle network.  We shouldn’t let the summer go by without implementing these important changes.”

The Prospect Park West Open House is being held tonight, Monday, April 12th, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at Temple Beth Elohim at 274 Garfield Place, between 8th Avenue and Prospect Park West.  It’s being billed as an opportunity to learn about the proposed safety improvements, view design plans, and provide input to and discuss the plans with the project team.  The Open House is being sponsored by NYC DOT, Community Board 6, and Council Members Lander and Steve Levin.

About the speed survey: the speed survey was conducted with an accurately calibrated hand-held radar gun at Prospect Park West and Garfield Place, on March 20th and 21st, 2010, in mid-afternoon, with a random sample of 251 vehicles.  The median speed among the vehicles was 37 mph; the mean was 36.2 mph.  Thirty percent of vehicles were timed at 40 mph or higher, and the top speed recorded was 53 mph.  The posted speed limit on Prospect Park West is 30 mph.

Here’s an excerpt from Nate Silver’s blog, Five Thirty Eight, from his neighborhood survey that was used as a source in the New York Magaizne article, The Best Place to Live in NY.

The results of my project with New York magazine to rate New York City’s neighborhoods along a number of objective statistical dimensions are now live. This was a fairly grueling and exhaustive project; people are rightly proud of their neighborhoods, and I don’t think you dare to do something like this without being pretty careful about it. With that said, there’s a lot of reasonably high-quality data available on New York and its neighborhoods, so I hope we were at least able to get a little closer toward the truth.

If you want to look at a static set of rankings, Brooklyn’s Park Slope ranked first, followed by Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Queens’s Sunnyside. But that’s not really where the utility of this project is. The coolest part, rather, is an interactive applet that allows you to determine for yourself the relative importance you attach to 12 different categories of data (housing cost, housing quality, transit/proximity, crime, schools, green space, food/restaurants, health and wellness, shopping and services, diversity, “creative capital” and nightlife). If you play around with the applet for long enough, you’ll find that it’s fairly easy to slot any of 15 or so neighborhoods into the top position, and any of 40 or so of the 60 that we evaluated into the top ten.

Park Slope tops the list in New York Magazine’s cover story,  The Best Place to Live in New York.

Big surprise.

The list was compiled by blogger and statistics maven, Nate Silver of  fivethirtyeight.com.

According to the Daily News, “Silver used a complicated statistical formula that factors in everything from diversity to safety to nightlife, giving housing affordability more weight than any other category>”

Second place: The Lower East Side, which got points for its plethora of bars and restaurants.

Third place: Sunnyside, Queen which Silver found to be affordable

Fourth Place: Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill

Fifth Place: Greenpoint

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.

A friend sent this request my way:

Brooklyn-Born traveler seeks suggestions for day outing that connects to to his roots. His own thoughts for visit on Wednesday, May 26 include trolley tour at Green-Wood Cemetery and meanders around Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO.

Park Slope tops the list in New York Magazine’s cover story,  The Best Place to Live in New York.

Big surprise.

The list was compiled by blogger and statistics maven, Nate Silver of  fivethirtyeight.com.

According to the Daily News, “Silver used a complicated statistical formula that factors in everything from diversity to safety to nightlife, giving housing affordability more weight than any other category>”

Second place: The Lower East Side, which got points for its plethora of bars and restaurants.

Third place: Sunnyside, Queen which Silver found to be affordable

Fourth Place: Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill

Fifth Place: Greenpoint