Red fire alarm boxes are about to become a thing of the past.

Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano says deactivating 15,000 of them will save the city $6 million. The Fire Department is also considering closing 20 firehouses, which Cassano says will save the city $37 million.

Apparently, most of the calls they receive from those boxes are false alarms. Cell phones are the way most fires are reported.

About a year ago, Sustainable Flatbush’s Executive Director and its Director of Energy Solutions were strategizing about the best ways to meet the urgent need for energy efficiency upgrades in our neighborhood, to bring down soaring energy costs and reduce our carbon emissions.

With new incentive programs from government and utilities, they  realized the time was right to leverage funds that would bring major energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to Flatbush.

So they conceived the Neighborhood Energy Forum.  For the past year, SF’s Energy Solutions Initiative has been working diligently to bring the Neighborhood Energy Forum to fruition. They have joined forces with a group of sponsors and partners, the Flatbush Development Corporation, the Energy Smart Communities program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), ConEd,  and National Grid.

It all happens on March 20 at the Brooklyn College Student Center, from 9:30 to 2:00.
Admission is free!  Read more about at Sustainable Flatbush.

On March 4th, the Park Slope Civic Council held a public forum at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Church on Fourth Avenue. The purpose: to re-imagine the future of Fourth Avenue. Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Downtown Star sent to me by Gilly Youner, a member of the Civic Council:

Fourth Avenue might be an important Brooklyn artery, but the Champs-Elysees it’s not.

The no-frills motor-way, which branches off of Flatbush Avenue and slices through Brooklyn, is the route of choice for countless cars and trucks each day.

The centerpiece of the evening was a group of panelists who approached the idea of change for Fourth Avenue from different perspectives and professional disciplines. Overall, they floated visions of a brighter, greener, more pedestrian-friendly boulevard.

Panelist David Sweeny,the founder and president of the Public Development Services Corporation, a real-estate development company, characterized the current Fourth Avenue as “abysmally flat and hollow.”

Sweeny encouraged area residents to envision a Fourth Avenue with a neighborhood sensibility, where pedestrians would enjoy strolling. It is a goal he believes could be achieved, in part, by the avenue becoming a home to ground-floor micro retailers. “It would make Fourth Avenue a dynamic, more interesting place,” he said.

Other ideas ushered forth included planting more street trees, creating a scenic median, and north-south bike lanes.

“Fourth Avenue could be one of the next great boulevards of the borough of Brooklyn,” said Craig Hammerman, Community Board 6’s district manager, also a panelist.

Brought to you by The Feldman Family from their weather tower in Park Slope.

Dionne Mack-Harvin resigned last week as head of the Brooklyn Public Library because of the very public and embarrassing way she handled the firing of 13 employees last year.

As if it isn’t bad enough to be fired, the actual firings were featured in a Washington Post article about Mack-Harvin.

Lets just say, axed employees feel mighty vindicated by Mack-Harvin’s decision

It’s like Up in the Air on its head. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Daily News:

Shhh! There’s a scandal in the stacks at the Brooklyn Public Library.

The head of the sprawling system abruptly quit last week after a plan to lay off 13 employees backfired and ended in a very public embarrassment.

Insiders said the firing fiasco was the last strike against Dionne Mack-Harvin, a well-liked career librarian who took over the shaky system three years ago.

“The board was not happy with her,” a source said.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

Mack-Harvin took the post with great fanfare and a fabulous back story – the African-American daughter of a sharecropper who loved books and rose to her dream job.

Her predecessor had left under a cloud, and staffers hoped Mack-Harvin would provide a fresh start. She hit a few bumps over the past few years, but none would prove as fatal as a decision she made last August.

After taking a 5% cut to her $80 million budget, Mack-Harvin hired corporate downsizing experts to fire 13 employees.

The Manhattan-based firm, the Five O’Clock Club, was being profiled at the time by a Washington Post reporter, who was allowed to witness the library bloodbath – and chronicled it in painful detail.

“And now, the first layoff victim,” read the front-page story.

“It is a middle-aged woman … with her head bowed and a distant stare in her eyes. She is fund-raiser with less than three years’ experience,” it continues.

Last week Park Slope Parents released the 2010 PSP Nanny Compensation Survey. The results are up on the PSP Website and it reveals some interesting changes since last time they conducted the survey (March 2008). Indeed, the economy has definitely had an impact on the neighborhood in terms of Nanny/Employer relationships.

The direct link is here: http://www.parkslopeparents.com/docs/NannySurvey2010.FINAL.pdf You can also access the the results through the PSP homepage, http://www.parkslopeparents.com.

Here are some highlights of the survey:

–The average pay for 1 child is $13.50 – $15 per hour and for 2 children $15 – $16.50 per hour.

–77% of those surveyed pay their nannies off the books.

–The economy has caused four in ten employers to make changes to their nanny/employer relationship.

–51% gave 2 weeks notice as severance pay, 30% gave 1 week pay, and 19% gave a higher amount.

–91% of employers give year end bonuses.

The folks at PSP contributed hours of hard, invaluable work on this very well presented survey. “While it may seem like a quick thing to make happen, there’s a lot of data cleaning, analyzing, re-analyzing, content analyzing, and over-analyzing that goes into putting this document out,” writes Susan Fox in an email.

The PSP Nanny Compensation Survey is based on data collected in October/November of 2009. Over 800 parents participated in the survey from the following groups: Park Slope Parents; Hudson River Park Mamas; BoCoCa and more!

For the  “Support Our Shelves” campaign, the Brooklyn Public Library will be accepting  tax-deductible donations via text messages.

All you have to do is text the word “books” to 50555, and the library will receive a $10 donation, which will show up on your next cellphone bill. The Brooklyn Public Library is the first library system to adopt this method for donations.

“It should make a difference on two fronts,” said Jason Carey, a library spokesman told the Brooklyn Paper. “It’s a new way to get people involved who might not have gotten involved before. Plus, it allows us to keep communicating with people if they opt in.”

The unofficial Carroll Gardens tree: Pardon Me for Asking

Chicken feet at the American Playground: NY Shitty

Upper scale deli and bodega: Bushwick BK

Woman crushed by car in tragic accident: Sheepshead Bites

Broads without boundaries at Brooklyn Tech: The Local

Incident at American Apparel: Free Williamsburg

Coney Island USA Gala on March 25: Kinetic Carnival

The history of Ocean Parkway: Kensington Prospect

Parenting your children loudly: Fucked in Park Slope

Yesterday a 40-year-old mother of two, was killed in a church parking lot in Gravesend and in Dyker Heights, a 37-year-old woman named Natalie Assee was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing Fort Hamilton Parkway.

Read more at Gothamist

Census of places that matter: Atlantic Yards Report

Misleading P.R. from Forest City Ratner circa 2003: Atlantic Yards Report

EPA says “We want to do a job we can be proud of”: Pardon Me for Asking

Ask about the Gowanus Canal: City Room

Want to fix Fourth Avenue? Slow ’em down: Brooklyn Paper

Robert Duvall couldn’t believe that T-Bone Burnett didn’t speak.  Shocked!

Ed Asner, no contest.

Neil Patrick Harris’ song dropped a Dolly Parton boob reference – it’s like the CMAs, circa 1980 all over again!  Good sign!

Get ready for the opening monologue.  I can’t believe that Bruce Villanch is STILL one of the writers of the Oscars broadcast.  He wrote for Osmond specials, Paul Lynde’s Halloween Special, he’s done it all.  Oscar.com had some clips of the writers’ room – not a young bunch.

The top of many women’s heads are messy.  Trend I’m not getting?

The red carpet interviewers on ABC seem like they were coached not to get too close the stars.  The mic reach is reaching athletic competition proportions.  Check it out.

When they interviewed the 5 Best Supporting Actress nominees at the same time, I was hoping they would do that for every acting category.   Or, for that matter Best Cinematographer?  But the Bullock and Clooney interviews indicate otherwise.

The carpet is more of an earth  tone than red.  I am wearing a thrift store sweatshirt by a designer named Gap.  My date is free to chomp her apple right next time.  Tonight, LIVE from my living room – The Oscars. 

I’ll be opining and commenting throughout the night.  Please join in and do the same.

I was lucky enough to be a guest at Undomesticated Brooklyn’s dinner party last night. It was great fun but I don’t want to give too much away. It’s is her story to tell. Here is an excerpt from UB about last night. There is more to come:

Tonight is the Academy Awards, but last night was my night in the spotlight. There was no red carpet, but guests did get gussied up for my First Ever Dinner Party (and they all looked fabulous!)

I’ll give you the full report in due time (although there’s too much for just one blog post), but first, let me assure you that nothing burned and nobody was injured in the course of the evening. In other words, it was a big success!

After loading up on groceries at both Fairway and The Park Slope Food Coop on Friday, I started to panic…

“Do I have enough food?” I have never cooked for so many people before, so it was hard to judge how much to buy.

I resolved to pick up some last-minute items on Saturday, but I continued to fret.

“Should I serve the cheese at the end of the meal like the French or at the beginning of the meal?” I asked Avo.

Avo, who is an unabashed Euro-file (he crosses his sevens!) was surprisingly insistent that we should have a cheese table for people to graze on (paired with wine, of course) when they arrive. He even had the great idea of printing out labels for the cheese and sticking them on tooth picks so people know what they’re eating.

An excerpt from our friend at  Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn about the battle between ABC and Cablevision that will shut out the Oscars for some New Yorkers.

After a few days of Orwellian-Outer Limits cable hijacking (“Do not attempt to touch your TV.We will control your horizontal”) where your default channel on start up was channel 1999, presenting a constant barrage of  anti-ABC propaganda, countered by print and media ads from WABC with their own agit prop, WABC TV is finally off the air for some NYC cable customers.  Although I am a big fan of cinema I am not a big Academy Awards show watcher. At the point, when  I was maybe 10, and I realized that I was never going to there or a part of that scene, the voyeuristic/celebrity/fan quality of it embarrased me a little, and  while I will tune in, I am more likely to watch the Super Bowl or sit through the entire World Series, even though I am not a devoted sports fan, than sit through the Oscars.

His pajamas are pressed for tonight’s big Oscar live blog and Pops Corn is ready for the Oscar broadcast. Isn’t he just the guy you’d want to sit next to on the couch while watching the big show? He’s OTBKB’s film expert, critic and Oscar connoisseur.

But who is Pops Corn?

Following an aborted, but valuable, film school education, the writer spent decades of self-disciplined cinema study finding ways to see movies for free or pay.  Years of work within film and media industries includes stints with B-movie studios, high-art non-profits and as a major media company censor. A former and founding member of New York-based underground country band, The Inbreeds.

Tonight at 8PM: turn on the TV and follow OTBKB on your laptop, iPhone or Blackberry.

Smartmom and Diaper Diva may be twins, but Smartmom has always felt like the elderstatesmom when it came to raising kids.

For Buddha’s sake, Teen Spirit is 13 years older than Ducky. That alone gives Smartmom the right to act like a big know-it-all, doesn’t it?

For many years, Smartmom was the Been-There-Done-That mom around her sister and she always thought she knew best what Diaper Diva should do when it came to Ducky.

It was probably really annoying. Actually, it was really obnoxious. But Diaper Diva was pretty nice about it. That’s probably because when Ducky was little, Diaper Diva was a typical new mom: a little nervous, a little jittery, a little bit, let’s call it what it is, ignorant when it came to the basics.

And boy did Smartmom love it when her sister asked for her advice. It made Smartmom feel like such a pro to give tips about teething, temperatures and the terrible twos.

Smartmom loved it when Diaper Diva followed her instructions word for word, like the time she bought the exact same Braun ear thermometer at Neergard or invested in the exact same kind of Maclaren stroller.

And then there were the times when Diaper Diva didn’t listen to what Smartmom had to say — something she lived to regret.

How about the time when Smartmom told Diaper Diva that she should get all the birthday party balloons in the same color so that the kids don’t fight.

“Read my lips,” Smartmom said. “Twelve purple balloons.”

But Diaper Diva didn’t listen, and at Ducky’s birthday party a gaggle of girls fought over two pink balloons.

There were tears and tantrums — and more than a few “I told you so’s.”

Then there was the time that Smartmom told Diaper Diva that it was a definite no-no to go backstage with Ducky before the Dance Studio’s recital at Brooklyn College.

“They don’t want parents back there, and she’ll probably get very clingy,” she warned.

Diaper Diva didn’t listen to Smartmom that time either. And when the rest of Ducky’s class was performing pirouettes, Ducky stayed stubbornly in Diaper Diva’s arms far away from the stage.

Well, that was then and this is now. Ducky is 5, and Diaper Diva is an experienced mom. Truth is, she doesn’t really need Smartmom’s advice anymore. And sometimes that makes Smartmom feel sad.

In fact, it doesn’t just make Smartmom feel sad. It makes her feel old and obsolete. It makes her feel invisible and without a purpose. She doesn’t know who she is when she isn’t being elderstatesmom.

Change is tough.

Diaper Diva doesn’t need Smartmom’s advice when Ducky has a fever. She knows all about Children’s Motrin and cold baths.

Diaper Diva doesn’t need advice about Ducky’s birthday parties. She knows the best hula-hoopers, children’s folk singers and party clowns.

Diaper Diva doesn’t need Smartmom’s advice about summer camps. She’s familiar with Park Explorers and Kim’s Kids and has actually researched, like, 10 other camps in the area.

Diaper Diva doesn’t need Smartmom’s advice about disciplining Ducky. Diaper Diva is actually an ace when it comes to setting limits and telling Ducky that she can’t buy junk eggs at Pino’s, those stupid little toys in egg-shaped canisters that they sell in those evil gum ball machines.

Smartmom can’t give Diaper Diva advice about bedtime either because, well, her kids were (and still are) night owls. But Ducky has always been a great sleeper, and Diaper Diva has always been firm about putting her to sleep, after three books, at 8 pm.

And about that three books thing, Smartmom lost that battle early on. She was never able to limit the number of books she read at bedtime. Well, she tried. But Teen Spirit, and then OSFO, always pushed the envelope.

Smartmom can’t even give Diaper Diva advice about PS 321, the beloved elementary school where she sent her children. For one thing, Smartmom doesn’t know all the new teachers. And Smartmom is way behind the eight-ball when it comes to all the newfangled traditions like 100s Day, the 100th day of school when the kindergartners are required to create an artwork using 100 of something.

Smartmom isn’t Expertmom anymore. So it’s lucky Smartmom isn’t having any more kids because she’d never hear the end of it from Know-it-all, er, Diaper Diva. Truth be told, she’s the smart mom now.

FILM

–Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer at BAM; Brooklyn’s Finest and Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton at the Pavilion

–Sunday, March 7 at 8 PM Pops Corn live blogs the Oscars right here on  OTBKB!

MUSIC

–Saturday, March 6th at 8:30 PM indie music with Moshe Hecht  at the Jewish Music Cafe

–Saturday, March 6th at 10 PM Find out what happens when New York jazz musicians play and improvise around the melodies of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at Barbes in Park Slope

–Sunday, March 7th at 8PM Nerissa Campbell’s Oscar party and concert at Puppets Jazz Bar in Park Slope.

THEATER

–March 6-7 at 8PM and through March 13th: Brave New World Repertory presents The Crucible by candlelight at The Old Stone House in Park Slope.

Through March 28th A Life in Three Acts at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo. “Hilarious and touching… a priceless repository of mischief and mimicry, honesty, wisdom and defiance” – The Times.

POETRY

On Sunday, March 7th at 7PM (before the Oscars) the Brooklyn Lyceum Writers Series presents poet Edward Hirsch reading from The Living Fire. He is the author of eight collections of poetry and four prose books, among them How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry, a national best seller.

MUSEUM NIGHTLIFE

On Saturday, March 6 starting at 5PM until midnight, First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum features special programs, and access to the exhibitions.

The kids in bars issue seems to be back for a flash. CNN weighed in on that subject recently and even quoted FIPS. Here’s an excerpt from the CNN piece:

…the divide remains wide in the blogosphere. Around 150 readers weighed in recently when someone posted on the Brooklynian, a neighborhood blog, the simple query: “Which bars are child free?” One writer shared the tale of a drunk father standing at a bar while his beer sloshed on his stroller-strapped kid’s face. Another poster announced a bar crawl in which “no crawlers” would be allowed.

The public debate about babies in bars ignited about two years ago when the bar Union Hall, a popular stomping ground, banned strollers from the premises, Gross said.

“At a certain point, owners said, ‘Hey, enough,’ ” he explained. “Strollers take up a lot of room, especially the nice strollers. Your average Bugaboo is a beast.”

This ban on buggies in a neighborhood where “kids rule” caused an “uproar,” said Erica Reitman, the 36-year-old married — but not a “breeder,” she insists — marketing director who is behind the blog F****ed in Park Slope. “There wasn’t a march on the street, but there could have been. [Union Hall] relented under pressure and got rid of the policy.”

Wouldn’t it be fun to watch the Oscars with OTBKB’s film expert and critic, Pops Corn? Isn’t he just the guy you’d like to be sitting next to on the couch trading Oscar stories, film facts and critiques of the Oscar presenters and winners?

Well, here’s your chance. Sort of.

Pops will be live blogging the Oscars live on OTBKB on Sunday night starting at 8PM (no, I don’t think he’ll be live blogging the Barbara Walters Special). But he wouldn’t miss the red carpet for anything. Pops will be online posting every 15 minutes or so exactly what he’s thinking and feeling about the broadcast, the ceremony, the movies, Alec, Steve, the audience and all the rest.

Don’t miss Oscar night with OTBKB’s Pops Corn. 8 PM on OTBKB.

On Sunday March 7th at 2 PM, Parents for Climate Protection and Beth Elohim Environmental Committee is having their 4th Annual Family Gathering (free and open to the public) in support of climate protection at Beth Elohim at 271 Garfield Place in Park Slope.

They’ve got something of interest for young children, teens and adults:

For young children: Tiffany Threadgould of RePlayGround will show kids how to turn scrap materials into fun and useful objects.

For teens: The Alliance for Climate Education will present a spirited multi-media presentation, including music, live narration, video and animation to educate and empower teens to take action on climate change.

For grown-ups, they’ve put together a panel discussion sure to enlighten and inspire, entitled: After Copenhagen: The Science and Policy of Climate Change

Continue reading Sunday 2PM: Parents for Climate Protection in Park Slope →

Superfund sounds like a fund but its not. It’s just a list, put out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of the most toxic sites in America.

Remember Love Canal. That’s when Superfund started.

Superfund doesn’t have the money to pay for costly clean-ups that go on for years. But it’s their job to identify the polluters, who are responsible for the mess and go after them. They are, truly, the Toxic Avengers.

That can, of course, be a little tricky. Some of those companies aren’t even in business anymore.

Last summer during initial meetings about Superfund status for the Gowanus, the agency identified Con Ed, National Grid, Chemtura, the U.S. Navy for some World War II-related uses and the City of New York as major polluters of the Gowanus.

All the usual suspects in these parts.

But now there are more. Plenty more. On Thursday night at the  meeting at PS 58 on Smith Street, the EPA revealed more polluters. Walter Mugdan, the regional director of the Superfund program, and an impressive leader for this endeavor, announced that Kraft Foods and Citigroup might have to foot part of the bill for the $500-million that could take as long as 12 years.

Yowza.

Here is the list of new names:

Amerada Hess Corp.

Bayside Fuel Oil Corp.

BP America, Inc.

Chevron Corp.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Seagrave Coatings Corp.

Patterson Energy Group

E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co.

Honeywell International Inc.

Kraft Foods Inc.

Rio Tinto Alcan Inc.

Unilever USA, Inc.

AkzoNobel Polymer Chemicals LLC

ConocoPhillips Co.

Fuqua Enterprises, Inc.

Citigroup, Inc.

Algrun Metals and Minerals, Corp.

NL Industries, Inc

United Capital Corp.

Universal Fixtures, Corp.

Wouldn’t it be fun to watch the Oscars with OTBKB’s film expert and critic, Pops Corn? Isn’t he just the guy you’d like to be sitting next to on the couch trading Oscar stories, film facts and critiques of the Oscar presenters and winners?

Well, here’s your chance. Sort of.

Pops will be live blogging the Oscars live on OTBKB on Sunday night starting at 8PM (no, I don’t think he’ll be live blogging the Barbara Walters Special). But he wouldn’t miss the red carpet for anything. Pops will be online posting every 15 minutes or so exactly what he’s thinking and feeling about the broadcast, the ceremony, the movies, Alec, Steve, the audience and all the rest.

That’s Oscar night with OTBKB’s Pops Corn. Don’t miss it!

As part of the Brooklyn Heights Association’s Celebrating a Century yearlong series of events, the BHA will be presenting a two hour workshop on Saturday, March 27^th at 2pm. Held at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), this workshop will help you discover the intriguing history of your house using BHS’ images, records and documents.

Attendees will be introduced to the library collections as well as essential tools for house and building research, allowing them to piece together the architectural and social history of any Brooklyn home or block. At this event participants will be given time to use their new skills to begin research in BHS’ Othmer Library. Admission: $10

Brooklyn Historical Society: 128 Pierrepont Street

Space is limited, to confirm attendance please call 718-222-4111 x250 or email vservice@brooklynhistory.org.

Visit  www.thebha.org to learn about all of the events in the BHA’s Celebrating a Century series. For questions regarding the BHA and the Celebrating a Century series please contact BHA at 718.858.9193 or info@thebha.org.  Follow them on Twitter:www.twitter.com/BKLYNHeights.  Fan us on facebook: www.facebook.com/BrooklynHeightsAssociation.