So says an article in today’s Daily News which cites numerous wine ventures in Williamsburg, Red Hook and Green Point. Check it out. Here’s an excerpt:

Veteran vintners Greg Sandor and Paul Wegimont have opened the Bridge Urban Winery beneath the Williamsburg Bridge, determined to produce their own wines in the once-gritty neighborhood.

Cutting-edge California winemaker Abe Schoener has said goodbye to Napa Valley, set up shop in a Red Hook factory building and is expected to unveil his first wines sometime next year.

Allie Sharper of Greenpoint-based
Brooklyn Oenology, who is already selling a fine Merlot and Chardonnay,
is coming out with additional BOE brand wines and is looking to move
her winemaking operation from Long Island into the city.

"We’re pioneering winemaking on a commercial scale in Brooklyn," Sharper said. "New York
is a great market to tap, and in my case I’m a resident here and into
the culture and art scene. I figured there was no reason I couldn’t
practice my craft here."

Don’t you love Brooklyn Based? Now they’ve come up with ideas for great local picnic spots and the treats to bring along. BB suggests:

The Green Community Garden, on 6th Ave. between 15th and 16th Sts. in the South Slope. This lush patch’s tables and chairs are open to the public Saturday mornings and Thursday and Sunday evenings (though, sadly, the on-site grill is for members only). If you’re bringing six or more, check beforehand to ensure your gathering doesn’t clash with another’s.

Perfect Meal: Fresh mozzarella balls marinated with sun-dried tomatoes, handmade bread, olives, and a pasta salad from Eagle Provisions, a small Polish grocery store on 5th Ave. and 18th St. that’s been serving the South Slope since the Thirties.

She even has suggestions for wine. Go to Brooklyn Based for the ‘tails. Better yet, sign up for Brooklyn-based a thrice-weekly e-newsletter about all things Brooklyn based.

Brownstoner reported yesterday that Whole Foods is set to announce some changes to their plan to open a Whole Foods on Third Avenue and Third Street in the Park Slope/Gowanus area. Some Park Slopers have been waiting with bated breath for the opening of that long-ago announced Whole Foods. Even members of the Food Coop conjectured that they’d lose members to that store once it opened (just as Food Coop members have taken the fair way to Fairway).

So what gives? Sure the site has major toxicity problems. But in the glory days of a few years ago that was no problem. Now with troubled financial times here and in the horizon (and a 31% net income loss for the natural foods behemoth) Whole Foods is finally coming clean about their intentions. Here’s the word from our friends at Brownstoner:

We asked for details
from Whole Foods, who emailed us this response from spokesman Fred
Shank: “We are currently working on revising our plans for our Brooklyn
store and hope to be able to announce updated details in the near
future. We remain extremely excited about bringing the first Whole
Foods Market to Brooklyn.” (The Brooklyn Paper was told the same thing, while Gowanus Lounge recently reported
the first activity on the site in many moons.) Could the cost of the
clean-up be more than the market can bear in this economic environment?

I’ve never been in Brooklyn during Battle Week but I will be here this year so I looked with interest at this schedule of events at the Old Stone House for this event which commemorates the Revolutionary War Battle of Brooklyn:

Opera on Tap at OSH
Thursday, August 14, 7 pm
Outdoors at the Old Stone House 
JJ Byrne Park
3rd Street @ 5th Avenue
Brooklyn
Free, Sponsored by American Opera Projects, Ft. Greene
Park Conservancy and The Gate
718-768-3195

Reading of the Declaration of Independence
Friday, August 15, 12:30 pm
Federal Hall
26 Wall Street, Front Steps
Manhattan
(212) 825-6888

Maryland 400 Remembrance Ceremony
Saturday, August 16 10 am
Michael A.Rawley American Legion Post
8th Street and 3rd Avenue
Brooklyn.
Memorial march to the Old Stone House to follow with a reception and open house at the OSH Gallery with reenactors 11 am – 4 pm.  Transportation provided by The Green-Wood Trolley
(718) 768-3195
www.theoldstonehouse.org

Battle Week Harbor Cruise with Barnet Schecter
Saturday, August 16, 4 pm – 6 pm
The Manhattan
Tickets:  $65, available on-line at http://www.zerve.com/SailNYC/BattleBK
Reservations:  (718) 768-3195

Evergreens Cemetery/Jamaica Pass Walking Tour
Sunday, August 17, 11 am – 1 pm
Bushwick Avenue and Conway Street
Brooklyn
Free. Information: (718) 455-5300

Michael Callahan:  The Kings Men:  The British Army Fights
  The Battle of Brooklyn
Tuesday, August 19, 12:30 pm
Fraunces Tavern Museum
54 Pearl Street
Manhattan
Free with Museum Admission
Information: 212-425-1778
www.frauncestavern.org

William J. Parry:  The Strange Case of "Baron"
  Herman Zedwitz: Genius, Traitor or Madman?
Thursday, August 21, 6:30 pm
Fraunces Tavern Museum
54 Pearl Street
Manhattan
$6/members free
Information: 212-425-1778
www.frauncestavern.org

Battle of Brooklyn Neighborhood Walk
Friday, August 22, 6 pm
Led by Old Stone House Board Member and Hunter College Archaeology Professor William J. Parry. Meet at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, under the arch.
$12 per person/$10 OSH members; includes light refreshments.
Reservations and information: (718) 768-3195
www.theoldstonehouse.org

Commemorations at The Green-Wood Cemetery
Sunday, August 24
5th Avenue at 25th Street
Brooklyn
Linda Reno signs The Maryland 400, books available

10:00 am Trolley Tour with Barnet Schecter & Jeff Richman
12:30 – 1:15 pm Re-enactors inside the Main Gate
1:30 pm  Parade to the top of Battle Hill
2:00 pm  Memorial Ceremony at Battle Hill;

Sponsored  by the Committee to Commemorate the Battle of Brooklyn
Information: (718) 852-8235

Anniversary, The Battle of Brooklyn
Wednesday, August 27
OSH open 11 am – 4 pm

The Gate and The Brooklyn Brewery Salute
The Battle of Brooklyn
Wednesday, August 27
321 5th Avenue
Brooklyn
(718) 768-4329

Brooklyn Beat of Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn is psyched about tonight’s Dylan concert and he’s posted the songs Dylan played at a recent show in Baltimore. Wow, I can’t believe all the great songs he’s playing.

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob on keyboard) 
2. It Ain’t Me, Babe (Bob on keyboard) 
3. Rollin’ And Tumblin’ (Bob on keyboard) 
4. Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard) 
5. High Water (For Charlie Patton) (Bob on keyboard) 
6. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
(Bob on keyboard) 
7. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard) 
8. When The Deal Goes Down (Bob on keyboard) 
9. Summer Days (Bob on keyboard) 
10. Ballad Of A Thin Man (Bob on keyboard) 
    (encore)
11.  Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard) 

Weather: Bring a sweater because it’s going to be a little chilly tonight for the Dylan show at the Prospect Park Bandshell. For what it’s worth: Weather.com is predicting isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies
will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds WNW at 5
to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

A mom on Park Slope Parents was kind enough to let me reprint her post about a strange incident she witnessed in the 15th Street station of the F-train. She thinks that security has gotten very lax at the 15th and 9th Street stations and asks: How can we get better security in our train stations? What else can we do here? I can’t accept this being part of our beloved neighborhood.

Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 I took my little guy and his baby sister to the F train on
15th street for a trip to the new ice cream parlor in cobble hill. As we entered the turnstile, I
looked up towards one of the staircases, and saw a man sitting on the stairs receiving oral
sex from a woman whom I recognized from the local women’s shelter. I was so shocked that
I just stopped in my tracks, and the man actually made eye contact with me and smiled. Ugh.
I can’t quite find the words to describe how I felt (not very hungry for ice cream, anyway…).
I rushed down the stairs with my kids as quickly as I could and called the police. To make
matters worse, I have often seen this same guy around the neighborhood, drunk and passed
out or stumbling about. In fact, he got on the bus next to us on the way home from the ice
cream trip (there went dinner). Thankfully he was too drunk again to recognize me.
I feel like the security presence in the F train, both the stops at 9th street and 15th streets,
keeps getting worse and worse. I kind of expect that seedy stuff happens in the stations late
at night, but this was in broad daylight, and we could easily have walked down that same
staircase!

A second solo album from Telarc, a release party at (Le) Poison Rouge: Simone Dinnerstein is on a roll:

Park Slope pianist Simone Dinnerstein will celebrate the release of her second solo album, “The Berlin Concert” (Telarc 80715), by returning to (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday, August 28 for a CD release party and performance. In June, Ms. Dinnerstein was the first classical musician to perform at the new multimedia art cabaret, located at the site of the historic Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street in NYC. On August 28, she will perform Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in G major and Philip Lasser’s Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J.S. Bach, which are included on her new CD. Doors open at 7 pm, and the concert begins at approximately 7:30 pm. Seating is on a first-come, first-served, general admission basis. Brewery Ommegang will provide one complimentary Ommegang beer for each audience member over the age of 21.

“The Berlin Concert” is a live recording of Ms. Dinnerstein’s recital debut at the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie in Berlin , which took place on November 22, 2007. The program features J.S. Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816; the world premiere recording of American composer Philip Lasser’s Variations on a Bach Chorale; and Beethoven’s landmark Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Grammy Award-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse produced the CD.

Ms. Dinnerstein chose this program because of how the pieces speak to each other, and because of their relationship to the music of Bach. She explains, “My hope was to program a group of pieces that would contrast with and relate to each other, despite being separated by hundreds of years. So much music written since Bach has been influenced by him, and the Beethoven and the Lasser recorded here are no exceptions.

Philip Lasser’s variations on the very dark Bach chorale, Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott (Take from us, Lord, Thou faithful God), draw on Bach’s intense and meditative side. Lasser’s writing is intricately crafted and encompasses a range of styles, from a contrapuntal energy reminiscent of Bach, to French Impressionism and even jazz. Beethoven’s Opus 111 sounds surprisingly contemporary in this company. The first movement looks ahead to Liszt and the second movement, with its set of variations on a chorale-like arietta, looks back to Bach and ahead to jazz. All three works are densely layered, but also have a sense of freedom and directness of expression. Though they span almost 300 years, in many ways, to me, they each feel grounded in the present.”

Rabbi Andy Bachman, the ever thoughtful blogger and rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim is back from his sojourn in Israel. Here are some of his thoughts now that he’s home. It is titled “Whatever:”

I was struck right away by the abundance of things here in America.

In Jerusalem, before returning the car on Thursday, I filled the car with gas and was astounded how much money I had to pay. $3.85 per gallon or whatever we’re paying here these days is nothing. I suppose it was fitting that as soon as we exited the terminal at JFK at 6.45 am this morning, the wave of nostalgic smells we were greeted by was a mix of jet fuel and taxi cab exhaust, serving as a formidable filter for the mid-August summer breeze coming off Jamaica Bay.

With Moqtada al Sadr offering to put down arms, we must be near a financial deal to share oil revenues with various Iraqi leaders from across the spectrum. I wonder who will win the bidding war to sponsor the night of the Republican Convention when Vice President Cheney speaks–Halliburton or Exxon?

Like I said, abundance. Fuel, hubris. Take your pick.

I tried really hard in the cab ride home to grab a hold of that American narrative that reaches beyond what we crave as individuals and instead strives toward the greater good–now more than ever in our fractured world. Though Isabel Kershner writes about an Israeli anxiety with the current state of the Hebrew language, I’d have to say that most Israelis I spoke to were having a good old time mixing the ancient tongue with contemporary iterations and adding, day after day, to the incredible richness of the experience of using the Hebrew language. Our last night in Tel Aviv, there was even a sign advertising a band called Tractor Revenge. It’s a line that even the aforementioned prophet Isaiah from the famous Dead Sea Scrolls couldn’t have come up with at his sarcastic best.

Back in Brooklyn this morning, I walked the dog, picked up coffee, dropped off my laptop for repair, ran various errands, and happily ran into several congregants–it feels good to be home. Inside Community Bookstore is another book questioning the legitimacy of Zionism–Arno Mayer from Princeton University has just published Plowshares into Swords: From Zionism to Israel. Two years ago, the Nation called Mayer “Israel’s Cassandra. I dunno

.

Illo by Peter and Mana Hoey in the New York Times

Richard Grayson’s new book arrived in the mailbox yesterday. What fun. A selection of entries from his summer diaries from age 18-24. They are arranged chronologically by day but not by year. For instance May 26, 1975 is followed by May 27, 1970. So it is one summer in Brooklyn that spans 1969-1975. Interesting.

He is a experimental writer, you know. With a decidedly Woody Allen orientation.

Grayson was born in Brooklyn and grew up here. He bagan keeping a daily diary in August 1969 when he was about to enter Brooklyn College.

His first book of short stories, With Hitler in New York, was called really funny” by Liz Smith in the Daily News. A Rolling Stone reveiwer wrote: “Where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand up comedy.

I can tell that this book, like much of Grayson’s writing, is going to be addictive reading. I find myself randomly going through it and reading entries from 1971, 1975, 1972. Here are some excerpts from this seemingly artless record of the day to day life of one literary Brooklynite. This one is from July 21, 1971:

A hot, clear day. I woke up early & watched AM News New York with guest host Robert Klein, whom Sheli idolizes. I kept trying to call him & ask him to stay away from her as a joke. I got a letter from Alice today. Altho she’s probably back by now, I enjoyed the note – she wrote that she was having a ball, climbing the alps, playing in the snows of the Matterhorn & seeing quaint out-of-the-way towns. I also got a letter from Avis who enjyed Copenhagen very much altho she’s lost 10 lbs & it’s the porno capital of the world..

.

That’s right. The Brooklyn Paper is having some kind of giveaway:

Sure, Bob Dylan’s Aug. 12 concert in Prospect Park is sold out — but you can still get a pair of tickets, courtesy of your friends at The Brooklyn Paper.

Of course, there’s a catch: In order to see Dylan, you have to know Dylan. Our resident Dylanologist, Dr. Lawrence Gardner, has put together a seven-question Zimmerman quiz — so you’d better know your “Caribbean Wind” from your “Visions of Johanna.”

Fill in your answers and send them back to us by Sunday, Aug. 10 at 10 pm. The winning entry will be chosen at random from among the correct responses.

A Year in the Park reports on last week’s murder at Lookout Hill in Prospect Park. Here’s an excerpt. Go to her blog for pictures. The story hasn’t gotten much coverage. Nor have the police found his killer or a motive for this mysterious death.

A man beaten to death in Prospect Park has been identified, but his killer and the motive for his death remain a mystery.

Mohammed Afzaf, 41, was found with a massive head wound in a wooded area near a jogging path on Wednesday, police said.

The medical examiner said Thursday that his death was a homicide.

Afzaf suffered from mental illness and had spent time in a hospital being treated, said his imam, Abdul Rashid. He had been homeless for six months, a former employer said.

This sketchy report raises more questions than it answers. For one thing, the man’s name may be wrong; “Afzaf” is virtually a “Googlenope” (writer Gene Weingarten’s neologism for a search term that comes up empty), whereas “Afzal” is apparently a common name, particularly in connection with Pakistanis.

Nearby, the swans were unruffled. Poor Mr. A, no wonder they took no notice. Homeless, mentally ill, and Muslim: victim-wise, that’s hitting the trifecta for media apathy. Imagine if it had been a young, blonde female Episcopalian—an out-of-work actress, perhaps—whose body lay up on the hill for two days. Even the swans would have wept and demanded big headlines, heart-rending sidebars, and frequent updates on the hunt for the killer.

Here’s note from an OTBKB reader about Whole Foods:

I came across an item that I thought might be of interest. I read in the business section of the Times Wednesday that Whole Foods isn’t doing so well, and “would reduce the number of stores it plans to open in fiscal 2009 to 15, instead of 25 or 30.”

So, I am curious if that would affect the Whole Foods that is planned for 3rd Avenue. I haven’t been following that whole story so closely–I think I heard that there were environmental remediation issues that had to be dealt with. Anyway, maybe that store might be one of the ones on the chopping block. (Unlike much of Park Slope, I am sort of hoping the store doesn’t open; I don’t want to see anything happen to the Park Slope Food Coop).

Local elected officials and community activists called on Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to reconsider its decision to shut down its maternity ward, and create a long-term plan for combating its financial problems. LICH is run by Continuum Health Partners, which also manages Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan.

Councilmember De Blasio:
“I am deeply disturbed by LICH’s recent decisions to close its maternity ward and rape crisis intervention program. Without these important components of the hospital, Brooklyn residents will not have access to the direct health care services they need and deserve. LICH must stop taking services away from Brooklyn families and work with the community to create a long-term plan for combating its financial problems.

“Maternity ward closings are becoming a Brooklyn-wide problem. Last December, Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge shut down its labor and delivery unit due to financial troubles. In addition, Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant closed its maternity ward in 2004, and St. Mary’s Hospital closed down entirely in 2005.

“As Long Island College Hospital continues to dismantle its services, our neighbors suffer. It’s time for Continuum to create a long-term plan that will ensure the community has access to quality medical care in their home borough,”

Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez:
“Brooklyn deserves a hospital that puts the health of our hard-working families at the top of its priority list.”

Councilmember Letitia James.
“Maternity and rape crisis intervention services are vital to many of Brooklyn’s residents and families. We can not stand idly by while LICH takes these important services away from the community, while failing to present a long-term plan for its financial stability.”

State Senator Martin Connor:
“Our neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and DUMBO have become home to many young families with young children with the potential of many more children on the way. It would be a tragedy for LICH to close their OB/GYN and pediatric departments when these families most need these services. I wholeheartedly support my community and the doctors and other hospital personnel in this fight to stop the dismantling of this important medical facility by Continuum Health Care. I have already contacted the New York State Department of Health to let them know how concerned I am about the proposed termination of these services at LICH.”

Assemblywoman Joan Millman
“I am deeply concerned about the possible closing of Long Island College Hospital’s maternity ward. It sets a dangerous precedent for closing any unprofitable department with little regard to the actual needs of the community. I know the State Department of Health will work with Continuum Health Partners to explore every option to ensure LICH remains a full-service neighborhood hospital.

Councilmember Gonzalez:
“For 150 years LICH has provided vital services for all of downtown Brooklyn and surrounding communities. To watch it being dismantled, piece-by-piece is both alarming and disheartening. R are vital services, not commodities, and the people of Brooklyn can ill afford fewer health care alternatives. I am convinced Continuum is not considering the human element or the needs of the Borough of Brooklyn in their decision-making process. I call on them to do so.”

Last night at Iridium, a basement jazz club on Broadway and 51st Street, Park Slope’s Louis Rosen, Capathia Jenkins, their superb band, and world renowned poet Nikki Giovanni (and professor of English at Virginia Tech University) wowed the crowd with a stirring performance of songs from their new CD “An Ounce of Truth: The Nikki Giovanni Songs.”

Giovanni spoke briefly during the show and read three of the poems that Rosen has turned into songs. Singing along quietly with the songs, Giovanni is obviously thrilled with the music, which “bring the poems to a new level,” she said.

It’s always interesting to hear the spoken word and then the musical adaptation. Giovanni’s comments were fun and telling:

“I don’t want people to think I’m always horny,” she told the crowd after a performance of the sultry and sexy song called “All I Gotta Do (Is Sit and Wait).

But the songs are about way more than sex. “Telephone Song” is a joyful song about female friendship and the phone call and “The Black Loom” is about the arts that artists have woven from the African-American influence (careful baby don’t prick your fingers).”

About “That Day” an unabashedly sexy song Louis said: “There are a lot of love songs that are really about sex. This is a sexy song that is really about love.”

Sad to say, this was the last Louis and Capathia show at Iridium for the summer.

Happy to announce: Louis and Capathia with their superb band will be at the Brooklyn Public Library Dweck Center (at the Grand Army branch) on October 14th at 4 p.m.

This morning, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Brooklyn GreenBridge announces the winners of the 14th annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest. This year nearly 230 blocks participated in this annual event.

More than 120,000 Brooklyn residents and business participated in this borough-wide greening effort.
Contest winners were selected through a rigorous process by an expert panel of judges that included professional horticulturists from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, metro area horticulture professionals, gardening journalists, and other New York City greening organizations.

First Prize is a $300 check for each top residential and commercial block winner. All other finalists will receive cash prizes ranging from $100–$200. Best Window Box, Storefront, and Street Tree Beds winners will receive cash prizes or gardening tools, and all participants will be awarded a recognition certificate.

I will keep you posted…

I saw flyers about the 28th Annual National Night Out. I’d never heard of it. Turns out it’s a public crime prevention event. Thankfully, Eugene Patron from Prospect Park sent out this press release and some pictures.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly joined the 78th Precinct at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park to mark the “25th Annual National Night Out,” a public crime prevention event (organized in cooperation with the National Association of Town Watch: http://www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/about.html).
Also attending the event were Congressman Anthony Weiner, NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, NY State Senator Velmentta Montgomery, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, and representatives from the offices of Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, and NY State Assemblywoman Joan Millman (who presented a proclamation from New York State Governor David Patterson)

.
In the Prospect Park Alliance photo: (L to R): Mayor Michael Bloomberg with President of the 78th Precinct Community Council Pauline Blake, and 78th Precinct Commanding Officer Deputy Inspector John Argenziano.

The Bay Ridge Interfaith Peace Coalition is sponsoring a film showing commemorating the 63rd annual Hiroshima Day.

Conviction, an award-winning documentary film about three Dominican nuns convicted and sentenced to Federal Prison for their non-violent protest at a Minuteman III missile site in northern Colorado. This film evokes important conversations about faith-based political action, the role of nuclear weapons in national defense, and the role of international law in federal courts. Directed/Produced by Brenda Truelson Fox.

Approximate running time: 43 minutes. Discussion will follow the film.

For more information visit: http://www.jonahhouse.org/UN.htm

Location: Hotel Gregory, 8315 4th Avenue (near 84th Street), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Train: R to 86th Street

Sponsors: Bay Ridge Interfaith Peace Coalition, Peace Action New York State, and Peace Action — Bay Ridge
Endorsed By: Brooklyn For Peace

Here’s a post from the always provocative Peter Loffredo of Full Permission Living.

By Peter Loffredo

Somebody turned me onto this article and book, “A NATION OF WIMPS,” yesterday on a subject that I write and yell about a lot – how we’re gutting our children’s self-confidence and creating a class of whiny and seriously damaged narcissists by over-parenting. The author is Hara Estroff Marano, editor of Psychology Today.

Here are some excerpts from Marano:

“The 1990s witnessed a landmark reversal in the traditional patterns of psychopathology. While rates of depression rise with advancing age among people over 40, they’re now increasing fastest among children, striking more children at younger and younger ages.”

“The perpetual access to parents infantilizes the young, keeping them in a permanent state of dependency. Whenever the slightest difficulty arises, they’re constantly referring to their parents for guidance. They’re not learning how to manage for themselves.”

“In his now-famous studies of how children’s temperaments play out, Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan has shown unequivocally that what creates anxious children is parents hovering and protecting them from stressful experiences. Overparenting can program the nervous system to create lifelong vulnerability to anxiety and depression.”

The article and book goes on, of course, but the bottom line is this – overparenting isn’t about love; it’s about ego. EGO! If there’s even one parent reading this who can hear me, listen up: every time you hover or cover for your child, every time you pamper or prop them up, every time you “sacrifice” adult activities to feed your child’s demands, you are not coming from a place of love. You are looking to BE loved from your own place of low self-worth and damaged self-esteem. In other words, you are being selfish, not generous, needy, not giving, and you are stunting and robbing your children, not raising them. Get into therapy! Get a life! Leave your kids alone!!

Groundswell Community Mural Project is working on five murals around Brooklyn – all created by teens working
with local artists. You may have seen some of this group’s work along Fourth Avenue or on Washington Avenue.

The group is eager to spread the word about two of the new murals: one
in Park Slope, the other on 23rd Street in Sunset Park.

On Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street, teens are hard at work on a monumental mural about the importance of protecting and conserving the water
supply in New York. This group of teens, who are part of Groundswell’s
Summer Leadership Institute, have met with the Department of
Environmental Protection and visited key sites of importance for the delivery of safe, clean drinking water to the city.

Under the auspices of this program, 80 young people, ages 14-21, are right now
working with professional artists to transform walls in Brooklyn with a message
of environmental protection and respect.

My friend Bob Guskind over at Gowanus Lounge read about it on the  Brooklynian grape vine and now he’s blogging ’bout a bagel war on Seventh Avenue.

According to Bob, a new bagel place may be going into the one un-rented spot where D’Agostino used to be (Seventh Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets). Right there next to Five Guys Burgers and The Bank of America (with the comfy looking seating area).

What’s up with that? Why there’s La bagel Delight on Fifth Street just one block away. Can’t wait to talk to the guys over at La bagel about this rumor/news. They’ll know what’s going on and most likely have loads of attitude about it.

The suspense is killing me: On Wednesday at 10 am the winner of the 14th annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn award will be announced. The ceremony will take place on the winning block. So obviously they cannot reveal where the ceremony is taking place until…

Mum’s the word. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Greenbridge program hasn’t spilled the beans yet. So we’ll all have to wait until Wednesday to find out which block in Brooklyn has the prettiest stoop gardens, the nicest window boxes, the loveliest trees.

Will it be in Park Slope, Bed-Stuy, Ft. Greene, Cobble Hill, Ditmas Park…???

It must be soooo hard to pick. Initially there were over 200 blocks entered in the competition. The most ever. Fourteen years and this contest has become a big deal in Brooklyn.

Now the winner is…

First place winner gets a prize of $300 bucks. Runner’s up get $150-200. Loads of politicians should be on site for the festivities on Wednesday, as well as the judges (horticulturalists, journalists, gardeners, etc.) and the interested public.

See you there wherever THERE is.

Here’s a way you can help some victims of the Friday night fire at Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

Our friends lived in the apartment building in
Prospect
Lefferts Garden
where the fire occurred on Friday night and they lost all of their belongings
and their home. We are trying to raise money to get them back on their feet.
We would greatly appreciate it if you could let people know about our site http://csurics.com/helpjj where we are
currently collecting donations.

Now that I’ve been to an event at Brooklyn Bridge Park I am a real booster for events over there. Last week’s Movies With A View showing of Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole was a fabulous night of cinema and views.

Wedneday night is the last of the Music at the Bridge series. A great concept:  Get some major venues in Brooklyn like Barbes, Zebulon, Issue Project Room, and Union Hall to curate a night of music associated with that venue.

Last week’s Issue Project Room event was a veritable who’s who’s of the New York avant garde music scene. And the Union Hall show not only features a very Union Hall music line-up but will also have The Secret Science Club, a much loved act at Union Hall.

Get there
early to get a seat for what is sure to be a packed show, featuring:

All shows are in Brooklyn Bridge Park, in the historic Tobacco
Warehouse. Enter at 1 Main St. Doors at 6pm, show starts at 6:30pm.

Galapagos Art Space, which started as a fascinatingly designed space complete with a waterfall in hipster Williamsburg, is now open at 15 Main Street in DUMBO. The space is the first certified LEED green cultural venue in New York City. Now that’s a distinction.

The new space is sure to have an interesting design. And interesting programming. I was told about (but forgot to post about) the DUMBO Kite Flying Society, a monthly event for kids. The first one was last weekend at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Brooklyn Based has an interesting interview with Robert Elmes, the director of Galapagos Art Space. Aside from interesting programming, the space has an interesting mission:

The most basic function of the arts is to be relevant in   the advancement of society.
 

Galapagos does not accept government grants or public funding of any
kind. We believe that if the work we present is strong, communicative,
and effective, we will survive.
 

If we don’t produce strong, communicative and effective work then we
won’t survive – we’re not feeding the hungry: we make art. If we can’t
be grown-up about that  and stand up on our own, then we don’t think
we’d have anything interesting to tell you anyway.
 

This is New York City. One of the greatest cultural cities to have ever
risen; perhaps the greatest. We’re not sitting around dreaming of the
grant we applied for.
 

          We have our whole lives to live and that is   terribly important.
 

          Culture should reflect that   clearly.

The following is an excerpt from their website as to why they had to leave Williamsburg. Hint: They may be the first cultural institution that was priced out of Williambsurg and got a better deal in DUMBO (thanks to Two Trees and David Walentas).

We love Williamsburg, we were born here in 1995, but we simply can’t afford to remain in Williamsburg and produce the work that we feel is our most valuable contribution to the cultural ecosystem of New York City.

In December 2005 our rent went up by $10,000.00 a month.

Now, in order to extend our lease past November, our landlord requires a 30%
increase in rent.

As a venue, our core responsibility is to create audiences for the artists we present and help expand the cultural environment for the benefit of the community we live in.

In DUMBO we’ll be able to present the theater, dance, performance art, music, cinema, lectures / literary events, and the non profit fundraising that we believe is our core mission and the most important contribution we can make to our community.

It must be said that our landlords are lovely people who, way back in 1995, gave us an opportunity that no one else was willing to offer. The rent increases they’ve offered us are, incredibly, still below the market rate.

We’ll be working with them to make sure that 70 North 6 Street remains a venue of cultural significance and doesn’t become the North 6 Street’s next American Apparel or, god forbid, a Starbucks.

On Monday Citycouncilmember David Yassky and state assemblyman Eric Gioia spoke to the press about somthing that is not right in New York harbor: abandoned barges. And they pointed the finger of blame at the Pile Foundation Construction which has been allowing its barges to sink or decay. They’ve been cited in the past for violations. The following is an excerpt from the New York Times article.

On Monday, two City Council members and a state assemblyman announced their disgust with what they called a growing problem: abandoned construction barges and other vessels left to rust, buckle,
leak and eventually sink to the bottom of remote corners of rivers and
tributaries feeding Jamaica Bay.

In January, the National Parks
Service estimated that about 190 abandoned vessels — many of them small
boats, apparently privately owned — had been left to rot in the 25,000
acres that make up Jamaica Bay. Since then, about 40 vessels have been
removed, said Brian Feeney, a Parks Service spokesman.

In a news conference held by the East River in Manhattan on Monday, City Councilmen David Yassky and Eric Gioia said that abandoned industrial barges had become a threat to the health of city estuaries.

“For too long, it’s been the Wild West in New York Harbor,” Mr. Yassky said.

Since
2006, the officials said, one company in particular has repeatedly
tugged barges into Newtown Creek, in Brooklyn, and other New York
rivers and bays, to let them rot. Mr. Yassky said the company, Pile
Foundation Construction Co., of Hicksville, N.Y., was pursuing what he
called an intentional “abandon-and-sink strategy” within the city, and
must be stopped.

Jenny Scheinman will be playing tonight at Barbes, Park Slope’s eclectic music space on 9th Street near Sixth Avenue.

For those who don’t know, she is a violinist/composer, who works with a variety of performers
including Norah Jones, Bill Frisell, Madeleine Peyroux and John Zorn.

She is in residence at Barbes most Tuesdays with an almost infinite variety of
lineup. This week, with steve cardenas (guitar).

Scheinman currently has two new CD releases: Jenny Scheinman (her vocal debut) and Crossing the Field (an instrumental extravaganza).

Later in the evening: Northeastern Brazilian Dance Party is Brooklyn’s first Brazilian brass band, will play the music of
Pernambuco such as Coco, Forro, Ciranada and Maracatu. Sounds fun.

Fifty-nine semifinalists have been selected in the 2008 Greenest Block
in Brooklyn Contest! Contest winners were selected through a rigorous
process by an expert panel of judges that included professional
horticulturists from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, metro area horticulture
professionals, gardening journalists, and other New York City greening
organizations.

For a list of the semi-finalists go here.

On Wednesday, August 6, 2008 the press conference will be held at 10 a.m. at
the winning block—stay tuned for notification on Tuesday, August 5,
2008.

Remarks will be made by Scot
Medbury, President of Brooklyn Botanic Garden; Marilyn Gelber,
Executive Director of Independence Community Foundation; and Brooklyn
Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Committed to helping improve the urban landscape, Brooklyn
GreenBridge promotes neighborhood gardening programs, classes,
workshops, and events. Working with block associations, community
gardens, businesses, and social service organizations, Brooklyn
GreenBridge extends Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s resources in order to
connect people with plants, and to engage Brooklyn communities and
residents in a unified greening effort.

The Contest is coordinated in cooperation with the Borough President Marty Markowitz and sponsored by the Sovereign Bank Endowment Fund at Independence Community Foundation.

Here is a snapshot of sustainability issues that faced the borough and the city in the month of July. The links were compiled by Rebecca Welch Associate Director of Public Affairs, at the Center for the Urban Environment. To Learn more about the Center, go here. www.bcue.org

Report:
Small Downtown Brooklyn Retailers Being Forced Out [ Brooklyn
Daily Eagle]

Bike-Friendly
Businesses Honored By Advocates [NY 1]

Report
Rates Orchard Beach City’s Most Polluted [Daily News]

Reading
the River and Its Contents, With an Eye on Its Health [NY Times]

Paterson
Approves Law on Risky Gas Drilling [ Albany
Times Union ]

Urban
Environmentalist NYC: Tri-State Biodiesel [Gowanus Lounge] *

Maybe
Beloved Shops Don’t Have To Disappear [City Limits]

Survey
Shows Parks Deteriorating [ Brooklyn
Eagle]

17
Projects Honored by Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce [Brownstoner]
*    

Helping
Building Owners Go Green [CityRoom]

Federal
Help Sought for Newtown Creek [Daily News]

Bike-Share
Coming to NYC? DOT Says It Will Test the Waters [streetsblog]

How
the City Has Reduced Soot [ Gotham
Gazette]

Keeping
City Beaches Safe and Clean [ Gotham
Gazette]

Is
‘Green’ the Place to Look for Job Growth? [City Limits]

A
Locally Grown Diet With Fuss but No Muss [NYT]

IS
‘Green’ The Place to Look For Job Growth? [City Limits]

Bloomberg
Proposes Plan for City to Make Eco-friendly Upgrades [Daily News]

The
Unanticipated Impacts of Rezoning and Development in Downtown Brooklyn [Report-Pratt] 

Green
State Lawmakers. [Report-Environmental Advocates of
New York ]

I just got this email about rats in Prospect Park.

I don’t want to start any panics but this might be important especially to parents. The past week or so I have come across three rats in Prospect Park on the Prospect Park Southwest side in the vicinity of the children’s playground off of Vanderbilt. Each encounter was not in the playground but some 25 to 50 yards (as best I could guess) away on the inside path.

I reported this to the parks department via 311 after my last encounter. That was the most chilling as I literally walked into one. I was “speed” walking on the interior walk and it was fairly dark from the shade and I wasn’t looking at the ground. So I don’t know if it was just standing there or if it had run across my feet. But I did see it scramble away . . .