PS 107 and PS 39 are presenting a special evening of stories for families, featuring storyteller Bill Harley, winner of two Grammy Awards,the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Storytelling World Award and others.

Bill’s stories and songs are funny and insightful and, best of all, appeal equally to children and adults.

Thursday, March 25, 2010
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
John Jay High School 237 7th Avenue

Tickets are $10 per person or $30 per family (up to six people)
Tickets can be bought at www.ps107.org or at the door.
Questions? Email stuart.miller6@verizon.net

All ticket and bake sale proceeds benefit the PS 107 PTA and PS 39 PTA. Here is a link to a Youtube clip of Bill Harley.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RoundRiverProduction#p/u/5/yB0Wm7CsDv0

Neighborhood bloggers are celebrating the decision by the EPA to put the Gowanus Canal on the Superfund list:

Found in Brooklyn

Pardon Me for Asking

The City Room has a photo feature called “The Gowanus, In All Its Gooey Glory”

I wrote this on March 5th, 2009:

I’ll never forget the day that a perfect stranger by the name of Bob Guskind emailed to say that he was starting a blog. He told me that he was a seasoned journalist and a reader of OTBKB—and that he planned to focus on real estate and development issues in Brooklyn.

He was calling his blog, Gowanus Lounge, named after a shuttered bar on Union Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

I met Bob a few weeks later at the First Annual Brooklyn Blogfest at the Old Stone House. That was June of 2006 and I was very impressed with him. Serious, funny, he had a hearty laugh and a radio announcer’s voice. He told me that he’d worked at the National Journal in Washington for years. It was obvious that he was really excited about this blogging thing.

Clearly, he was smitten by the promise of the Blogosphere because it offered him the chance to pursue a lifelong dream: to be the publisher, editor, and star reporter of his very own Internet newspaper.

In the months that followed I was amazed at the scope of Bob’s reporting. At the time he had a day job at community newspaper in New Jersey and a freelance job with Curbed, a real estate blog in Manhattan. But somehow he managed to put out numerous blog posts every day. How, I wondered, did he have the time for all the top-notch reporting he was doing in and around Brooklyn?

And, boy, did he get around: Gowanus, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Coney Island. Bob was an old style newspaper reporter. He walked the walk, made the phone calls, drove his car from one end of the borough to the other doing the real face-to-face reporting that few bloggers are willing or able to do.

Later he worked full-time for Curbed.com and he still managed to create a wonderfully dynamic blog that had its own distinct editorial voice and hard-hitting reporting.

I especially enjoyed Bob’s frequent Street Couch series, photographs taken by Bob of derelict couches that were abandoned on the streets of Brooklyn. Those posts exhibited a whimsical and creative side of Bob that I found compelling.

Last summer we were both interviewed on Brian Lehrer’s television show. It was a nice experience and Bob and I spoke afterward about the myriad ways that blogging had changed our lives. That’s when he told me that Gowanus Lounge was the best thing he’d ever done professionally because it was a dream come true to invent his own “newspaper.”

Many of us knew that Bob worked too hard. That, like many journalists, he had “workaholic” tendencies. He worked until he dropped. He would often regale me with tales of work days that began well before dawn and took him till the wee hours of the morning. It seemed that long hours were the rule not the exception for Bob, who obviously loved what he was doing.

Continue reading Robert Guskind, You Had Brooklyn’s Back and for That We Thank You →

The post below was sent to the Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development (CG CORD) from Phil DePaolo, a Carroll Gardens resident and community activist in Williamsburg. CG CORD writes: “He reminds us that we lost a dear friend and incredibly passionate Brooklyn community activist, Bob Guskind, author of the Gowanus Lounge Blog and writer for Curbed, among other things.  There is not a day that goes by that we at CORD do not think of Bob…We often say that we have no idea where CORD would be today had it not been for the compassionate, listening ear and and superior journalism instantly provided for us by Bob Guskind.  Rest in Peace our friend.  We miss you each and every day! ”

Today is one year since the passing of Bob Guskind. I miss him so much and I wonder what Bob would be saying about all the developments since his passing. I know he would be thrilled and very proud of the residents of Gowanus who won a Superfund designation yesterday over the objections of the Mayor. This was very important to Bob. I know he would also be very happy that the Newtown Creek has also received Superfund designation.

Bob would not be happy about what has happened at Coney Island or Atlantic Yards.  The loss of historic structures, the loss of amusement space and the overwhelming density and limited scope of the Coney plan were issues we often spoke about.

The recent ruling by Judge Gerges regarding Atlantic Yards would have angered Bob. He was a strong supporter of protecting residents from Eminent Domain abuse. He also saw through the fake “Affordable Housing” and the impact of the proposed density on the existing community.

He would be all over the new Domino proposal in Williamsburg. Bob was a strong advocate for the preservation and protection of the Domino site. The proposed density and lack of true affordability would have him up in arms!

Bob would be proud of some of our bloggers who have done a great service to our communities discussing important issues that for the most part are ignored by mainstream media. But he hated hack bloggers who simply cut and paste information or were just lazy. I remember one of Bob’s first post explaining why he started Gowanus Lounge. “Up front: While I am a realist about what cities need in order to survive and thrive, I am not a fan of what is happening in our communities, and particularly of the looming Manhattanization of Brooklyn and of the ongoing Theme Parkization of Manhattan. The blog side of Gowanus Lounge will be joined, some months down the road, by a literary magazine intended to feature the work, especially, of Brooklyn-based writers, and stories that feature a strong sense of place. I don’t take myself as seriously as all this might make it sound”

I can’t believe it has been a year since Bob passed away. But going forward I have wonderful memories of a great friend. I hope you can take a second to remember him. You can still see his writing and thoughts at

www.bobguskind.com and http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/

I just got this tip about census jobs from an OTBKB reader.

I don’t know if this would be of interest to you and your readers, but I am currently working for the 2010 Census. The region that includes DUMBO to Clinton Hill & Prospect Heights, Red Hook to Sunset Park (and everything in between) is currently facing a shortage of applicants for Enumerating jobs.

We are so short on applicants that everyone in our database will be offered a job within the next 6 weeks, and due to refusals and not being able to reach some people we probably won’t be able to fill all of the jobs that we have.

This is a great opportunity for people in this area to make some quick cash. The greatest number of jobs that will be available pay $18.75 an hour, but there will be positions available that pay from $14.50/hr. to $20.25/hr. and offer flexible part-time and full-time schedules including evening and weekend hours. The job also includes a paid training period.

All people have to do is call 718-360-5150 to schedule to take the test. Or, show up at the Big Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza between 1:30 and 1:45 this Sunday, with two forms of ID (Photo – Passport, License, State ID plus a Social Security Card, or Birth Certificate.) It’s that simple. Due to the shortage, just about any passing score will net a job.

I have been working with the 2010 Census off and on since the address canvassing operation last spring, and it’s an interesting job. I highly recommend it, especially for people that are interested in Brooklyn and people.

Pardon me for Asking has a round-up of responses from local politicans in response to Tuesday’s announcement that the EPA has added the Gowanu Canal to the Superfund. Here’s what Brad Lander had to say. Go to PMFA to hear from other loca pols.

“I am very enthusiastic to hear about Superfund designation of the Gowanus Canal, which was announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Previous EPA studies have confirmed that the Canal is highly toxic and requires comprehensive cleanup. I am convinced that Superfund designation is the best approach for getting it done – to bring the substantial resources necessary, provide for optimal coordination between all interested parties, and best insure that the community is well-informed and involved. Over time, I believe that Superfund designation will turn the Gowanus Canal area from a toxic remnant of mistreatment of the environment into a sustainable community resource for decades to come.

“Starting today, I am eager to begin working with the full range of stakeholders toward a comprehensive cleanup of the Canal and the surrounding area. For supporters and opponents of Superfund designation, it is now time to come together and work collaboratively toward our shared goals of a comprehensive cleanup and a revitalized community.

“Citizen involvement in this project will be critical for years to come. The EPA has done a great job with community outreach, information, and involvement thus far, and I am optimistic they will continue to do so. Toward this end, I also want to express my strong support for the prompt creation of a Community Advisory Group (CAG) for this site, to facilitate broader community involvement. I hope that the CAG will not only look at the dredging of the Canal (the focus on the Superfund project), but bring people and public agencies together to better address sewage overflow into the Canal, brownfields around the Canal, bulkheads, and other related issues.

With Superfund designation in place, it is time for everyone to come together, roll up our sleeves and get to work!”

I just heard from Craig Hammerman of Community Board 6. So I guess it’s decided.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has officially placed the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY on its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites…

Full copy of the EPA Press Release is available by clicking here, or as a download the following link:
http://www.brooklyncb6.org/neighborhoods/?a=detail&content_id=58

Everyone’s talking about yesterday’s decision by a State Supreme Court judge approving Ratner’s use of eminent domain and giving him the go-ahead for land grab.

It’s the legal go-ahead he’s been waiting for as the Judge rejected a challenge by local homeowners to the state’s use of eminent domain.

This is not good news for all those who oppose the building of the Atlantic Yards Project. Here’s a news round-up of coverage of this decision.

Atlantic Yards Report

No Land Grab

New York Times

Brooklyn Paper

Brit in Brooklyn

Brooklyn Eagle

Develop Don’t Destroy

Former transit brass critiques cuts: Sheepshead Bites

If a tree grows in a path do we walk around it?: Gerritsen Beach

Photos of Bed-Stuy: NY Shitty

Three buildings on Sackett Street evacuated: Pardon me for Asking

Tracing federal dollars: Bushwick BK

Creative women’s networking salon on March 5:  Ditmas Park Blog

Climate Awareness Day in Park Slope: Brooklyn Green Team

Fort Greene Shopping: The New Yorker

Pondering Love Lane: Brooklyn Heights Blog

Lots to read in the Sunday Times about Brooklyn. You probably saw it but just in case you missed it.

Read what filmmaker and Ft. Greene resident Morgan Spurlock does with his kid on Sundays.

Bed-Stuy is a-gentrifying and the NY Times is all over it.

Mumps among Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and it’s time to call the POD squad.

I found this on a blog called All the Good Blog Names Were Taken. It’s a fun graphic and a fun list by a woman named Lauren B. who desribes herself tihs way:

“my name is lauren, and i’m a paperholic…i have more art supplies than any sensible person needs (but i’m NOT giving ’em back!)…i’ve been married to my lovely husband, jeff, for 20+ years…we have no kids or pets (no room, what with all the paper!)…my back has a mind of its own…i’m addicted to chapstick…i can be bribed with ice cream or a hot stone pedicure…the museum hasn’t been built that i would not enjoy…my favorite form of punctuation is the ellipsis…i like making stuff…wanna be friends?”

Click on it to read it.

The Center for the Urban Future has just released a report called Energizing New York’s Small Businesses.

In it they reveal that only a fraction of the city’s small businesses have taken steps to become energy efficient, a missed opportunity given that commercial electricity costs in NYC are among the highest in the country and since even the smallest firms could save thousands of dollars by implementing efficiency measures.

This report offers  insight into the challenges facing small businesses on this front– and includes many recommendations going forward.

Here’s a PDF of the report

When Trees Fall : Water Over Rocks

Untangling the conundrum of the Carlton Avenue Bridge: Atlantic Yards Report

Downstate and Downtime in the Empire State: Deep in the Heart of Bklyn

New leader for rent guidelines board: City Room

Human rights abuse at Albee Mall? Brooklyn Paper

SNL brings back Gov. Paterson: Gothamist

–Become the know-it-all on your block when it comes to neighborhood matters.

–Memorize the dates of important local meetings.

–Be a mover and shaker as you learn how to fix local problems.

–Or just read an interesting — and informative — email newsletter about the nabe.

Subscribe to The Sixth Sense, the new email newsletter from Community Board 6, which covers Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street Waterfront, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook.

Since January, District Manager Craig Hammerman has been sending out this fun, clearly written and informative monthly e-newsletter that contains  information about important meetings, well as other matters of importance. If you’d like to subscribe go to the CB6 website and click on “sign up for our email newsletter.”

Here’s an excerpt from this month’s Sixth Sense.

If March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb, this year is no exception. And we’re not talking about to the weather. This month is front-loaded with many heavy duty meetings where important public policies will be the subject of hotly contested discussion and debate.

On March 3rd, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is holding a Public Hearing on proposed changes in levels of service, student fares, and crossing charges beginning 6:00pm at the Brooklyn Museum’s Cantor Auditorium, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn.

Continue reading Subscribe to CB6 Email Newsletter →

Alternate side parking rules will be back in effect on Monday despite the recent snow storm.

They were canceled Friday in most parts of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens because of the snow storm.

Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty had this to say:

“Number one we were going to have warmer weather and two, there’s a potential for a storm coming in on Wednesday.”

Plows will cover 194 different routes starting at midnight Sunday night .

Sadly, Marion McCleneghan, the 40-year-old Park Slope woman who has been missing since February 7th or 8th has not been found.

Last night at a dinner party I attended, a man who lives on 14th Street in south Park Slope, Marion’s block,  told me that he heard from a neighbor that Marion had given her two beloved dogs away to her ex-husband just days before she disappeared.

That neighbor saw Marion on the street without her dogs and asked where they were.  It struck her as very strange that this woman, who she’d seen for years walking her dogs, would give them away.

According to the Brooklyn Paper, Marion left  her money and two packs of unopened cigarettes in her apartment. She was last see wearing jeans, a bright-colored shirt, a baseball cap and a “big pocketbook.” She had her hair down.

As the days pass hope recedes, deep concern and morbid curiosity rises.

Missing since, February 8th, Marion was last  seen at the La Dolce Vita grocery store on the corner of 14th Street and 7th Avenue.  She told the owner:  “Goodbye — you won’t be seeing me anymore,”’ and she was crying.

Before that, Marion was seen at a party at her boyfriend’s apartment on 14th Street around 2AM on February 7th. His name is Richard Eric Sosa and he told police that they’d had a fight.

According to Barbara Sullivan, Marion’s mother who is frantically trying to find her daughter, she was planning to spend the night at Sosa’s on February 7th but they had a fight and she left his apartment in a huff. Sosa has a scratch on his face.

Sullivan told the Brooklyn Paper: “She was having a rough year — first she lost a friend, then her father and two aunts.”  She had just started a new job in real estate.

How does someone disappear into thin air? Is it really possible that no one has seen her anywhere since February 8th?

Tonight friends wondered if this woman  might be the victim of a terrible crime.

Others wondered if she killed herself.  Someone suggested that she jumped off the Staten Island ferry (an allusion to the way Spalding Gray killed himself).

With no information, there is only conjecture, rumor, hearsay, gossip. We ruminate on her absence and wonder what really happened. We just don’t know. But our hearts go out to her family and friends, who are still searching.

If you have any information about Marion call 718-636-6483, case #109, Complaint #445, Detective Gibbons assigned.

MUSIC

–Saturday, February 27 starting at 7:15 with a reading of the Megillah followed by Purimpalouza at 8:45 PM at the  Jewish Music Cafe

–Saturday, February 27 at 8 PM Glenn Branca CD release party with slide show by Robert Longo at  La Poisson Rouge

–Sunday, February 28 at 9PM French virtuoso guitarist Stephane Wrembel channels the technique and the fire of Django Reinhardt.

MOVIES

–Shutter Island, Avatar and Crazy Heart at the Pavilion in Park Slope.

DANCE

–February26 & 27 at 8PM, BAM presents Mark Morris Dance Group in the premiere of the humorous Looky, choreographed to Kyle Gann’s idiosyncratic score for Disklavier (digitally driven player piano); world premiere  of Socratesl; revival of  Behemoth— the sole Morris work performed in silence—reveals that Morris’ genius can be independent of his love of music.

–Through March 7 at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company presents the world premiere performance of Coltrane’s Favrite Things, set to an iconic recording of John Coltrane’s interpretation of the Richard Rodgers song “My Favorite Things” and incorporating Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm.”

DIY

Learn how to felt and spin your own yarn at the Old Stone House, from 4pm to 6pm, as part of the House’s new Craft Saturdays series. (The next workshop, on March 27, will be devoted to knitting and big-needle basics.) The session costs $25. Call 718-768-3195 to reserve your spot ASAP.

ART

–February 26-28 at the Dumbo Arts Center: The Great Pop-Up Art Sale, a benefit for the arts center.

Every year private and public schools hold silent auctions to benefit their schools. These silent auctions feature donated items, including fine art, dinner at local restaurants, services and tours.

Often you can get a good deal at these auctions. For instance, at the PS 321 auction one year I got four hours with a top notch lawyer for a fraction of the actual cost. I also got two nights at the Sea Breeze on Block Island for about one third of the room rate.

To my knowledge, this the first time that a local private school has opened up its silent auction bidding process to the public. At least it’s the first time that I’ve ever had a link to the items that they’re auctioning off.

Check it out: there might be an item that will interest you. Perhaps a Robert Longo digital pigment print? A private tour of the 2010 Whitney Biennial? Dinner at Blue Ribbon Sushi?

Better hurry. The online auction is up and running and open to the public before it closes Monday, March 1st at 12 midnight.

Indeed, they have a lot of great items from around the neighborhood, deals on art and all around great stuff at http://berkeleycarroll.maestroweb.com You can even submit a proxy bid for an item in the silent auction by emailing advancement@berkeleycarroll.org

The auction event is also open to the public but the price is a little steep. The theme this year is “Road to Morocco.” This is the school’s major fundraiser with proceeds going to support this neighborhood institution through educational programs and financial aid.  Berkeley Carroll employs over 170 people in Park Slope and provides the highest caliber education to over 815 students in the neighborhood.

Donations to the school help more than 25% of the students receive some form of financial aid, one of the greatest percentages among any independent school in New York City.

This year’s co-Chairs are long-time PS residents, author and “Shiksa From Manila” Sophia Romero and Patrick Boylan, owner and designer of Grace Vestments, a leading brand in liturgical design.”

Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6, just wrote with good news: There will be F train service this weekend between Jay Street an Church Avenue.

Greetings!

This just in from New York City Transit…

“Due to the heavy snow, this weekend’s planned shuttle buses between Jay Street and Church Avenue along the F line will NOT operate.  Normal F subway service will operate. Have a safe weekend.

The Department of Parks and Recreation isn’t kidding when it advises New Yorkers to stay away from trees today due to the heavy snow.

Yesterday someone was killed by a falling branch in Central Park. Sad.

This morning on St. John’s Place just east of Seventh Avenue in Park Slope a tree. I will be walking by there soon. Photographer  Tom Martinez got some pictures, which are forthcoming.

“Quite dramatic,” he said. “Could have killed someone but fortunately didn’t.”

I walked up St. John’s Place not on the sidewalk which is blocked off but right down the middle of the street. Police and firemen are on the scene. There’s lots of yellow police tape blocking off the street.

Hey folks, walk carefully today. And look UP. Something could be coming DOWN.

And it begins with a reading of the Megillah at 7:30 PM followed by Purimpalouza with Soulfarm at 8:45.

Jewish Music Cafe. 401 9th Street. $18.

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

The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation has issued a warning that people should stay out of NYC parks and avoid walking under city trees after a man was killed by a falling tree branch in Central Park yesterday.

Elmaz Qyra, 46, was walking near East 67th Street and 5th Avenue around 4 p.m. Thursday when he was struck by a snow covered tree limb.

Very sad.

.

Due to snow weather conditions, all New York City public schools will be closed today, February 26, 2010. All after-school activities and PSAL events will also be cancelled. Administrative offices will remain open.

Thanks to lovely Liena at the Ditmas Park Blog for this photo. On a gloppy, snowy day like this it’s nice to remember that spring is coming.