It sounds like Detective Shy of the 78th Precinct is the man to talk to if you have been the victim of credit card fraud. If it has happened to you, give him a call and let him know what happened.

Detective Shy: 718 636 6483

No, I don’t think this is one of those classes where you’ll be using your baby like bar bells to strengthen your arms.

In fact, I think the babys just hang out in their strollers or in their carriers for the duration of the class.

I did a post-natal exercise class after OSFO was born at the Dance Studio and it was great for a number of reasons.

First off, it was fantastic to move my body, which was sorely in need of stretching and working out.

It was also great social experience. I met people there that I am still friends with.

In the class I took, the leader was not only a fitness expert, but a lactation specialist and someone who was in training to be a midwife. So she was very well equipped to lead such a class.

Here’s a new class from the Fitness Collective and from the sounds of it it’s everything you need to get your body back: Motivation, group support, and a really great workout.

New sessions begin March 4th
When: 11-12pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
Where: Park Slope Fitness Collective, 366 7th Avenue (11th St.)
Who: moms and babies ready to move!
Why: If you are so busy caring about everyone else, who is going to take care of you?! This is your time.
How: Sign up today to save your spot.

8 week Program
1x per week: $135
2x per week: $220
single drop in: $20
Mention this posting and register by March 1st to save $10.

Testimonial supplied by Park Slope Fittness Collective:

I approached the Park Slope Fitness Collective about creating this class shortly after my daughter was born. Even though I was still healing a little, I was eager to find a way to work out again. The class they created far exceeded my expectations: I left each session feeling like I got a great workout and it helped me to slowly return to my pre-pregnancy body. Although it was sometimes difficult, even at 11am, to drag myself and my newborn there, I was always energized afterwards. The trainers were wonderful about holding and watching the babies when they needed attention, so we really could get into the workout. And I sometimes went to coffee or lunch with other class members, many of whom were also on maternity leave. I went to the Work Out, Baby! class for more than 3 mos, until I returned to work and “graduated” to The Fit Club class! We’re privileged to have the Park Slope Fitness Collective in the neighborhood, and I strongly encourage every new mom in the area to sign up for this.

–Renee, mom to Eliana, 6.5 mos.

Park Slope Fitness Collective
366 7th Ave (11th St.)
Brooklyn NY 11215
718-499-1849

Cobble Hill Fitness Collective
278 Court St.
Brooklyn NY
718-643-1109

Just heard on WNYC that there was a fire at a Kent Street matzoh factory in Williamsburg this morning not far from the building at 475 Kent Street where artist were evacuated last month.

At 475 Kent, artists were asked to leave their homes on freezing cold night. An illegal conversion of a matzo factory, the Fire Department declared it not up to code for residential occupancy.

More as I hear/read more…

As we exited the 7:10 showing of “Definitely, Maybe” at the Park Slope Pavilion, I saw crowd of policemen on the second floor. A woman came up the stairs and said, “I’m her mother. I’m the girl’s mother.” She then ran an area near the 2nd floor bathrooms and concession stand where her daughter, a teenager, was sitting on a bench icing an injury on her face just below her right eye. The girl started to sob hysterically when she saw her mother.

“Where’s the woman who did this?” the mother asked a police officer. “What’s happening with the girl who did this to my daughter?” the mother asked angrily.

When we got to the first floor there was a woman standing with her three children—two boys and one girl—by the concession stand in the lobby. On closer look, we saw that she was wearing hand-cuffs.

She was taken out to a police car; her children were left behind. I heard someone say that someone had been called to get the arrested woman’s children.

The injured girl was escorted by her mother, father and a policeman to a waiting ambulance. A crowd of people outside were trying to figure out which movie they’d been to.

“I’m thinking Hannah Montana,” one woman said.

Probably “Step U 2 The Streets,” someone else said.

It was determined that the assault occurred during the 7:05 screening of “Step Up 2 The Streets.”

.

“Definitely, Maybe” is a smart, funny, romantic comedy now playing at the Pavilion. Park Sloper Florian Ballhaus shot the movie which was written and directed by Adam Brooks.

Even A.O. Scott, the New York Times film critic and Leffert’s Gardens resident enjoyed this romantic tale with Abigail Breslin of “Little Miss Sunshine” fame.

“Definitely, Maybe,” a nimble and winning little romance written and directed by Adam Brooks, begins with one of those awkward Important Talks that parents are sometimes required to have with their children. In this case Maya Hayes (Abigail Breslin) needs some debriefing after a sex education class at her Manhattan elementary school. She’s acquired some technical vocabulary but not a lot of context, and so it falls to her dad, Will (Ryan Reynolds), to do the necessary explain.”

When Maya, who’s parents are divorced, asks her dad to tell her how he met her mother, he decides to tell the complicated story of his complicated love life like a mystery—changing the names of all the women involved. The film becomes a guessing game/mystery a “Who’s my mother?” challenge for Maya.

Part of the fun of the film is that much of it takes place during the 1990’s and it evokes that Clintonian time before and after cell phones with an expert hand. Again, A.O. Scott from his review:

Ah, the ’90s. Among the many charms of “Definitely, Maybe” is the way it evokes the recent past without drowning in fussy period detail. Will, ambitious and idealistic, has come east from Madison, Wis. (leaving Emily behind), to plunge into the world of electoral politics; and while this movie is hardly an incisive political satire, it does capture some of the flavor of the times and, more generally, the headiness of youthful commitment to a cause

Did you ever think you’d be nostalgic for the 1990’s of the “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” and the dot com boom?

Well, the film manages to paint it in interesting (primary) colors and it makes for a fun backdrop for this charming, well-acted and well-written story.

More Brooklyn fun: There’s a scene with Kevin Kline as a funny and pompous intellectual author and drunk doing a book reading at The Montauk Club. The second floor ballroom looks gorgeous all decked out like a real bar.

A wonderful new actress (to me) Isla Fisher, plays one of Will’s numerous loves, who lives in a funky Greenpoint building with a great view of the Empire State Building.

The film is wonderfully shot by the masterful Florian Balhaus, who also shot Flight Plan, The Devil Wears Prada and Secret Lives of Dentists. Check out Florian’s IMDB page to see all the films he has worked on in his 20+ years in the business.

Watch for his signature 360 shot using a steady-cam like dolly in the Clinton headquarters scenes.

Dope on the Slope has done it again. I am only showing you one of Dope’s fabulous creations. Go to his blog to see the rest. Real signs and t-shirts, please. Do you think the Park Slope Civic Council might be interested…

It was with great dismay and a sense of deja vu that I learned the stroller feuds
continue unabated in our fair neighborhood.  I’ve recently become a
prammer myself, and, while the overwhelming majority of Park Slope
parents drive with care and consideration, there are enough jerks out
there to give us all a bad name. To combat these sidewalk simpletons, I
propose the following pramming penalties be implemented immediately.

Hepcat and I saw this sign on a lamp post—a  real metal sign—on Fifth Avenue and Union Street last night.

He didn’t, ahem, have his camera. So I jotted these notes down. It was a sign like you might find on the Appalachian Trail with instructions to the nearest lean-to. Slope-style,

It had a funny icon – sort of like Dope’s – a stick figure sloper pushing a stroller and holding a coffee cup.

Hepcat did snap a shot using his iPhone camera. Wonder if he’ll post it up here. Unfortunately someone has already graffitied the sign as if it were a real road sign.

SLOPE TRAIL

Pricey BKT’s: .02

Gentrified Playground: .02

$$$$Condos: .16

Doggy Bakery: .34

The Gowanus seems to endlessly inspire. Real estate speculators. City historians. Mafia hit-men. Artists.

Ah yes. The light of the Gowanus has been compared to Venice. Even Hepcat, who takes many a picture there, says so.

What is it? The romance of the industrial landscape? The Kentile sign? The view of Manhattan and the elevated subway train?

And now, a well-known Brooklyn artist is showing her pictures of the Gowanus on the Upper East Side. Here’s the blurb from the tony gallery where she is showing her work.

On Thursday, February 14, Hirschl & Adler Modern will open Diana Horowitz: Recent Paintings. The artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery will feature close to twenty new paintings in oil, ranging in size from 8 x 10 inches to 22 x 34 inches. This exhibition is an exciting departure from her last show, as Horowitz presents, for the first time, a series of purely abstract paintings. These abstractions will be shown alongside the open-air landscapes depicting the familiar urban panoramas of Brooklyn and Manhattan, for which the artist is well-known.

Painting intimate landscapes from direct observation, Ms. Horowitz returns repeatedly to a chosen site to complete each work, usually limiting the size of her canvas or masonite panel for easy carrying. However, the resulting works are much more than “oil sketches”, for these small, rigorous, quasi-panoramic views convey a surprising amount of information about her subjects.

Out to the Bay explores a historic section of the Gowanus Canal, with its loading platforms, storage containers, and machinery, while Green Tanks features a rhythmic row of mint-green silos, quietly heroic and bathed in sunlight, as reflections dance in the water below. In From 7 World Trade, Horowitz presents the geometric intricacy of the roofs, streets, reflections, and gleaming facades of urban citysprawl as orderly, natural, and calm. Whether a serene view of a commercial waterway or a bird’s-eye view of city rooftops, Horowitz floods her intensely observed studies with light and atmosphere, making palpable the summer haze and city smog.

Horowitz’s new abstractions share many of the same basic elements as her structured landscapes. Each chockablock construction is a celebration of paint–a geometric patchwork of planes of color–inspired by the built environment captured in her landscapes. In them, the artist continues to explore how atmosphere influences the properties of color and light and produces a particular tonal range and mood. Horowitz creates tension through balance and counterbalance, manipulating the space until the painting, as she states, “resolves into something that seems both surprising and inevitable.

Hey, there’s a new shop on Union Street just west of Seventh Avenue (around the corner from the Bank of America). From the description below, I’m guessing it’s a fabric and notions shop for quilters and crafters. But I think they will also be featuring one craft artist a month.

We haven’t had a sewing shop on 7th Avenue since the dearly beloved Sew Brooklyn on Seventh Avenue near 4th Street went under (Cocoa Bar is in that storefront now). Last year the fabric store on Berkeley Place went out of business after many years of business— I forget the name of that shop. Peek-a-Boo Kids took over their space). Brooklyn Mercantile is partly a fabric and sewing shop but also home goods and furniture. Apparently, being crafty is good business these days.

The owners sent me this email yesterday. I’ll be going in there today for a fuller report.

Have you heard of the new shop in town?….. Fiber Notion™.

By the way, my name is Alain. Kat, my wife, (or the boss as I refer
to her since the early days of the venture) owns the store.

Fiber Notion is located at 849 Union Street, Brooklyn NY 11215.
We’re a little shop around the corner from Bank of America located on
the corner of 7th Ave & Union St.

At Fiber Notion™ we are bringing the world of fashion to craft one
maker at a time! Our rescued fabrics are a labor of love. We recycle
trend and forecast fabrics into charm packs for quilters and
crafters. these charm packs feature the latest in European fashion!
Our appliqués, ribbons and trims are culled from the world of
design. Please stop in the store and check us out!

What a great idea for a website: Good People Guide is a great site for finding and recommending contractors. This information was sent to me by a trusted neighbor who is friends with the people who started this web site. Thanks for the tip.

“Home projects should be exciting, not exhausting. The best way to make the experience (relatively) painless is to find good help, which is hard to do when there are thousands of contractors and few places to find the best ones.

That’s where Good People Guide comes in. It’s a single source for unbiased recommendations and critiques on contractors of all kinds; big jobs, small jobs and everything in between.

We make it easier to find good people who do good work.”

This Wednesday through Sunday, it’s a week of percussion curated in collaboration with Billy Martin at Issue Project Room at the (oa) can factory
232 Third Street – Brooklyn, NY 11215
www.issueprojectroom.org
Telephone
718-330-0313

Inquires/Mailing List
info@issueprojectroom.org

The Steven Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture at the Brooklyn Public Library is a real boon to culture in Brooklyn. What a great space to see/hear cultural events. And the BPL is doing a great job programming events.

The shows are obviously well attended and as the word spreads, this may be a standing-room only performance space.

I finally made it over there on Saturday to hear singer Amy Burton singing “Mr. Tambourine Man,” John Corigliano’s song cycle based on some of Bob Dylan’s best-love poems.

The house was packed and it was a really interesting show. Corigliano spoke about what led him to rewrite the music to some of Bob Dylan’s most well-known songs like Blowing in the Wind, Forever Young, Chimes of Freedom and Masters of War.

Amy Burton’s singing was incredible, especially on the ominous and powerful “Masters of War.”

This Sunday, catch the BPL Chamber Players. Check out the new space, hear some great music. This event is free.

This Sunday February 17th at 4 p.m. BPL Chamber Players

Adela Peña, Violin
Ah Ling Neu, Viola
Alberto Parrini, Violoncello

Schubert: Trio No. 1 in B flat Major
Dohnanyi: Serenade
Beethoven: Trio in G Major,
Op. 9, No. 1

Gawker ran a piece on Friday saying that the Brooklyn Paper is in turmoil.

I have to say it’s the first I’ve heard about that and I work for them.

Today, Gothamisthad word from BP editor Gersh Kuntzman that the Gawker story is completely fabricated and that there’s nothing to worry about except whether someone’s gonna bid more on Gersh’s cast on eBay.

All I can say is: phew.

“The Gawker story is a complete fabrication. The Brooklyn Paper, which just won ‘Newspaper of the Year’ from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business. Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don’t know the territory, either.”

Last week NY Times’ reporter, Alison Stateman wrote an article about the building on Second Street called “The House that Whimsy Built.”

House of whimsy? Come on, it’s the building that a crazy lady refuses to take care of that causes much consternation to the residents of Park Slope.

Now there’s “Look Who’s Getting Rolled Out of the Bar?” by Alex Williams. It’s the Union Hall story that’s been blogged about ad bloggium but she left out one important detail. Union Hall plans on letting moms and kids into the bar.

In the afternoons.

That was something I reported in my front page article “State of the Union: Kids are back in the ‘Hall’ ” in the Brooklyn Paper.

While it’s true that Union Hall instituted a no stroller, no one under 21 rule for evening hours, the real issue was whether mommy groups could meet there in the afternoon. And it seems that Union Hall wants to welcome them in.

Hello?

Joe Lovell is a terrific writer with a piece in the February 11 New York Magazine that I just love. Really love. It’s called “The Upside of the Downside” and in it he really tells it like it is about this money and real estate obsessed community called Park Slope.

“Here’s to bad times,” Lovell writes. “May they restore the city that many of us moved here for.”

Lovell is a Park Sloper. He and his wife arrived in PS in the mid-1990’s and they live somewhere above 9th Street somewhere between 7th and 5th Avenues. They now have three kids and they feel like the poorest people they know.

That’s easy in Park Slope with all the multi-million dollar brownstones and everyone’s obsessive fixation on real estate and designer kitchens.

Lovell had me at hello with his reporting of this crazy scene on the F-train. You see, the train is stopped between York and East Broadway (a sick passenger or something) and a stroller kid is pitching a fit while his mom tries to take off his snow suit.

An older, gray-bearded guy next to him, who also had a seat, turned and nudged the well-groomed guy and said, “Why don’t you give her your seat?” The well-groomed guy looked up from his iPhone, a little befuddled and irritated, and replied, “Why don’t you?,” then went back to caressing his little device. Gray Beard leaned in real close and looked the guy straight in the face. “Why don’t you stick that thing up your ass,” he said, loud enough for everyone in the near vicinity to hear, and before the well-groomed guy could respond, he added, even louder, “You Wall Street dick.”

But that’s not even the final punch line.

True, Gray Beard was obviously a total crank, and who knows if the other guy had anything to do with Wall Street, or if he was even all that unlikable (though he did have a look about him)? I just loved it as a pure expression of class rage, a small rebellion, as I’ve come to think of it, against the ethos that has dominated the city in recent years. A couple of other passengers laughed, and Gray Beard looked up. I was smiling right at him, but rather than locking eyes in solidarity, as I thought we would—me and him and the struggling young mother and child allied against this latest American Psycho and all the aggressive wealth-hunting he embodied—he said with complete disdain, “What’re you smiling at? You’re a dick, too.”

Lovell goes on to confess his own class envy. But he also portrays the Slope zeitgeist pitch perfectly. He asks, “I’m amazed at how poor we feel in relation to our surroundings. When did we move to Beverly Hills?”

My question exactly. When did we move to Beverly Hills?

Sure, I’ve covered some of the same ground on my blog with my posts about Jennifer Connelly’s limestone and Jonathan Safran Foer’s brownstone, and my nasty case of house envy.

But this guy Lovell really writes Park Slope like he knows it; and like he knows me so well.

What I’m mostly struck by now is how much poorer we feel in relation to our surroundings than we did then, though we make about five times as much money. We have another baby, and when I walk with her at night, I still feel the wonders of parenthood, sure, but I don’t experience nearly the same connection to the people around me. The neighborhood now seems like a colonial outgrowth of Manhattan money culture, and I tend to feel envious and critical and, if I’m really being honest, even fairly hostile toward many of my neighbors. (And then, of course, I’m soon full of self-loathing for comparing my life—my things, really—with theirs, and for thinking I’m anything but absurdly lucky and comfortable.)

Like Lovell, I’ve watched the world of Park Slope change. And I too have much self loathing about not being richer, not having more. I thank Lovell for putting into words this culture of Wolf ranges, and Sub-Zero refrigerators. For Buddha’s sake, if I hear one more Park Slope mom complain about her kitchen renovation or which private school she’s sending her kid to I’ll just burst.

Thanks Lovell for this, too:

But it’s not just real estate. It’s everything, or near everything, and it’s ratcheted up even more in the last few years. As the value of homes and stocks and salaries has spiked, there’s been a kind of arms race of acquisition that has touched every little facet of our lives. You don’t just go to the store and buy groceries, like a regular person; now you fetishize the meat at Fairway and the fish from Blue Moon and the organic greens and the Greek yogurt and the cheese, always the cheese. The place that became a cigar bar in the late nineties, now it’s a Union Market, where among other preciously presented items there’s a loaf of raisin-walnut bread that isn’t quite as fresh and delicious as the raisin-walnut bread the Lopezes used to bake. But it is three times as expensive.

Lovell calls for a mythical return to the New York City of Bob Dylan and Basquiat. I think I am somewhat older than Lovell and I grew up in Manhattan so I can attest that New York City has always been about money and real estate—it’s just that the stakes are so much higher now. Still, I know what he means. It’s the West Village of the folk revival, the Soho of the real artist’s lofts, the Tribeca of Art on the Beach, and the Collective for Living Cinema, and the Park Slope of the Lopez Bakery, Al’s Toy Store, Book Link, social workers and Legal Aid lawyers and the Upper West Side of the Famous Dairy Restaurant, the Tip Toe Inn, the New Yorker Bookstore, the New Yorker Theater, the Thalia, Herman’s Toy Store and the original Liberty House that we long for.

That’s what we miss.

So despite Lovell’s overly romantic picture of what New York used to be, I love his honesty about himself and the world he sees around him.

It’s about time someone got it right. Thanks Lovell. You did just that.

Just got this email from the Community Bookstore about their unique Valentines Day celebration.

Come to the Community Bookstore on Thursday, February 14th @ 7:00 p.m. for a Lonely Hearts Club Party!
Whether you have a special someone or not, please come celebrate Valentine’s Day with us.

It’ll be a Potlucky/red-foodie/pink-drinks/sappy-movie Love Fest! Wear red (or pink), and bring food (and drinks) that are red (or pink). We’ll have a gay old time, indulge in theme-appropriate activities, perhaps, like reading Nathaniel West out loud, and watching great love stories, like Love Story, perhaps, on our brand new DVD projector’s maiden voyage! (We’re also considering Jules et Jim, among other things.)

Both of these good times are of course free and open to everyone, and we really do hope you’ll come.

Community Bookstore
143 7th Avenue
Park Slope, Brooklyn
(718) 783-3075

A woman on Park Slope Parents posted that her husband was mugged on their doorstep on Thursday night. She didn’t give the name of the street that she lives on.

She did say that he was coming from the Seventh Avenue F stop,
walked
home,
opened
the
two
doors
to
the
house and
when
he
turned
to
pull
the
outside
door
closed
he
realized a
man
was standing
directly
behind
him.

Creepy.

The
man
tried
to
come
in
the
door and then he pulled
out
a
knife.
The
two
of
them
struggled,
pushing
from
either side
of the
door.
The
mugger
didn’t
say
anything
during
the
attack. The woman’s husband came further in the door and the mugger grabbed his bag and
ran
up
the
street.

He
was
seen
by
a
number
of
people
going back
onto
the subway.

The
police
tried
to
follow
the
train
he
was
on,
but weren’t
able
to catch
him. She noted that her  husband had
earphones
on
as
he
got
off
the
subway but
he
had taken
them
off
as
he
walked
down
our
street.

Note to self: stop wearing earphones on the street at night.

Always good to hear from our pal Ben at Second Avenue Sagas, where he blogs the Subway from A to J/M/Z:

A few Brooklyn pols and business leaders want a free transfer between the G at Fulton St. and the Atlantic/Pacific Hub.

It was almost like being a VIP. We were whisked inside by an escort and seated with the other “Speech Guests.”

Here’s how it came about. Marty’s office emailed me the other day to see if I would be interested in Marty mentioning me (among several others) in his “Brooklyn Characters” section of his State of the Borough Address Thursday night.

“Brooklyn characters” are people who, according to Marty, exemplify Brooklyn and do something to promote the borough in unique ways. If you attend (and you have to attend to be mentioned) you just stand when he mentions your name during the section.

Needless to say, I said yes. I knew I was just a prop for Marty’s speech but I was eager to be there and see who else was chosen.

I was told to show up at the Red Hook Cruise Ship Terminal, Marty’s pride and joy, on Thursday night. There was a reception at 6 p.m. and the show started at 7:15.

Governor Elliot Spitzer was there, as were most of the local politicos, I was seated in a special section to the left of the stage. We were near the VIP section where I saw, among many others, David Yassky. Tish James, Mark Green and many more.

In 2006, Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report described the event very well:

A State of the Borough Address is many things–a chance for fellow politicians to pay homage, a shout-out to various neighborhoods and ethnic groups, a recounting of achievements, and a chance to honor those who’ve “done Brooklyn proud.” (A particular favorite last night was Keith Beauchamp, the filmmaker whose documentary helped reopen the investigation of the murder of Emmett Till.)

Prior to and interspersed with the speeches, there were performances by the amazing Streb extreme dance troupe, as well as Jammin’ Jumpers, double dutch champs from Bed-Stuy, a tap dancing group from a Fort Hamiliton senior Center, Care Bears on Fire, the dance troupe, Creative Outlet and the chorale from Brooklyn College, who will be performing at the Beijing Olympics.

All the performances were super duper. Good choices all.

The crowd stood twice for Eliot Spitzer’s entrance. The first time he didn’t come out. It was some kind of weird miscommunication, I guess. He loved the Care Bears and told the crowd. “If those kids don’t have a record deal they should get one and I’ll be their manager.”

Maybe if popularity continues to tank he’s considering getting into the music business.

City Council president, Christine Quinn thanked Marty for his support of the Brooklyn wing of the City Council. “Everyone knows that Marty has spirit and energy and that he makes us laugh. But he is also one of the most focused politicians I know,” she said.

Spitzer and Marty did the mutual admiration thing.

Up next was Marty’s Deputy Borough President, Yvonne Graham, who is strong advocate for health issues, especially in the Caribbean community. I really liked her.

Prior to Marty’s speech, there was a video of people all over Brooklyn saying “I am Brooklyn” in a variety of languages. THe fact that there are 136 languages represented in Brooklyn was a large part of Marty’s message.

The Borough President went on for more that 70-minutes. Luckily, he can be depended on to deliver a funny, well-written speech at an event like this one surrounded by his fans.

The theme of the speech was Brooklyn Stories and Marty expertly wove the Brooklyn characters into the narrative so that the speech had the feel of a shout-out for local heroes rather than a classic political rant.

He barely mentioned Atlantic Yards, although he did say that the Nets were having a terrible season “But that’s because they’re not Brooklyn’s team, yet.” The crowd was quite tepid when he did mention AY.

For a more thorough analysis of the speech, read Norman Oder today on Atlantic Yards Report.

Marty announced his support of the Kahlil Girbran International Academy and emphasized the importance of students learning Arabic for jobs in the State Department and elsewhere.

He also announced the formation of a High School of Advertising and Marketing that will open in September Canarsie High School.

In other news, he told the crowd that Grimshaw Architects will design the city’s first amphitheater, the Coney Island Center, at Asser Levy/Seaside Park for the summer concert series sponsored by Marty.

A strong moment in the speech was when Marty announced that the NY Aquarium needs new leadership and “a whale-sized budge rather than a guppy sized one.” He called for the mayor’s office to consider a Brooklyn-based board of directors. The aquarium is currently operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, which sends most of it’s funding to local zoos.

He talked a lot about Brooklyn’s renaissance, about tourism in Brooklyn, the number of hotel rooms now here, Will Shortz’s Crossword Tournament, which is moving to the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott from Stamford, CT, the redevelopment of Coney Island, and his desire to get the Parachute Jump up and running. “If the Giants can beat the Patriots, then we can get the Parachute Jump working again,” he said.

Other highlights were Marty’s recognition of childrens author Mo Willems, the owners of the Hotel Bleu (with much joking about a hotel on the banks of the Gowanus), the animal psychic, the owners of the Little Cup Cake Cafe in Bay Ridge; someone dressed as a giant walrus during Marty’s call for new leadership of the Brooklyn Aquarium.

The Daily News had this to say about the other shout-outs:

It’s impossible to catalogue all the people and places Markowitz saluted, but here’s a partial list: the new LGBT Center; the Carlos Lezama Cultural Center; the Italian Community and Cultural Center; the Kahlil Gibran International Academy; the New York Times Crossword Puzzle Tournament; Dine in Brooklyn Restaurant Week; the Brooklyn Book Festival; Coney Island redevelopment; Ikea; IHOP; Trader Joe’s; Noble Drew Ali houses; Atlantic Terrace; Polytechnic University

Also: Dressler/Dumont founder Colin Devlin; Mukhesh Patel and Roberta Gaeta of Hotels Le Blue and Jo-Lee; children’s book author Mo Willems; someone in a walrus suit representing the Aquarium’s new baby walrus; “green” bakery operators Luigi and Massimo Lo Buglio; Elizabeth Yeampierre of UPROSE, on the PlaNYC task force; Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership; Bill Howell of the Downtown Brooklyn Advisory and Oversight Committee; education advocate Wendy Gilgeous; Brooklyn Public Library Director Dionne Mack-Harvin; animal medium Christine Agro; Elisa Zuritsky, who gave away her wedding dress after it wasn’t ready in time; Keith Belvin, who turned in his daughter after seeing her on a video that showed a harassment attack on the subway; and Hassan Askari, the Muslim who intervened in a subway attack on Jewish passengers.

He also saluted some prominent Brooklynites who died in the past year, including developer Harvey Schultz, former Deputy Borough President Jeannette Gadson, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Judy Zuk. A list of some 35 others scrolled on screen, including that of Heath Ledger. And perhaps the most heartfelt applause came for the families of the service members who died in Iraq, as well as local firefighters and a police officer who lost their lives on duty.

A blogger

Near the end of the speech, Markowitz noted that, “as the bloggiest place in America, our guest list wouldn’t be complete without a notable blogger.” His guest: Louise Crawford of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, whom he saluted as “the Cindy Adams of Park Slope.”

As to whether Marty is planning on a mayoral run. “Too soon to tell,” said the slide on the speech support screen. Marty wished us a safe trip home and we were lucky enough to get a ride from the former owner of the Liberty Heights Tap Room, Steve Deptula and his wife.

Thanks guys.

OTBKB friend and fave, Joe Holmes of Joe’s NYC has a new series out called the Work Space Series.      Artist Shawn Dulaney who is pictured in the series, sent me the link. Joe, who was selected for the Park Slope 100 in 2006, is a wonderful photographer.  

Yet another fun cultural event at the Old Stone House , that old stone house located at Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street. OTBKB friend and fave, Kim Maier, executive director of the OSH emailed me about this not-to-be-missed new Friday night series:

Come join us for the kick-off of our NEW Friday night Jazz series which we’re presenting with Park Slope Music.  TONIGHT:
    
    Stephanie Rooker, vocals
    Ray Parker, bass
    Mark Josefsberg, vibes
    And every set, Charles Sibirsky on piano
    
    8 pm.  $12 at the door.  Drinks and snacks available.  It’ll be fun, informal and we hope to see lots of you here!
    
    Old Stone House
    JJ Byrne Park
    3rd Street at 5th Avenue
    718-768-3195
    www.theoldstonehouse.org

You’re not alone if you think the new buildings on Fourth Avenue are uninspiring. I thought there would be some effort to make the avenue a livable street, a place you’d want to walk and shop. But the new developments seems to discourage street life. Here’s an excerpt from what Streetsblog has to say on this topic. Check out the photographs and story at Streetsblog.

When the City Planning Commission upzoned Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue in 2003, it was hailed by some as a breakthrough. Borough President Marty Markowitz trumpeted Fourth Avenue as “a grand boulevard of the 21st Century.” Residential development would reshape this urban speedway, the thinking went, from a pit-stop for cabs to a stately corridor of mid-rise residences — Brooklyn’s answer to Park Avenue.

In the past two years, as the dust cleared from disputes over building heights and provisions for affordable housing, Fourth Avenue’s transformation has sped along. The first wave of new residential construction has hit the market, and dozens more properties from Flatbush Avenue to 15th Street are in various stages of development. But the early returns are discouraging for anyone who hoped to see a walkable, mixed-use district take shape here

One new apartment building, the Novo, looms fortress-like over the playground next door, while another, the Crest, greets passersby with man-sized industrial vents. A new hotel, Le Bleu (“a haven of style, elegance and fine living”), meets the sidewalk with a parking lot fit for a suburban dentist’s office.

Welcome to the new Fourth Avenue — the future of Brooklyn.

Finally

It’s a must-have for my library, of course. But for some reason I was dragging my feet even though some of the profits go towards Develop Don’t Destroy legal fees.

So last night I made the big purchase and am looking forward to some time on the green leather couch and reading it.

Quickly browsing through, I found myself wishing that they’d asked me to write something but I’m not famous or anything.

So maybe there was some sour grapes on my behalf. But come on, girl. Brooklyn Was Mine is an anthology of Brooklyn superstars: Lethem, Egan, Colin Harrison, Alexandra Styron (daughter of William) and more.

So it is with excitement, envy, sour grapes, and great interest that I open this book…

P.S. it’s available at the Community Bookstore.

Waiting on line at Connecticut Muffin I overheard a conversation between two people about how hard, if not impossible, John McCain is to beat. “He’s unbeatable,” the man said as he took his coffee from the barista.

An early email from a friend announced that the only county in New York State that carried Obama was Tompkins County, which includes Ithaca.

“What about Brooklyn?” came a swift reply-all. I don’t think that was the case with Kings County though Park Slope and Crown Heights were Obama’s.

I conversed with a friend who voted for Obama, who told me that he has huge reservations about Obama’s health care policy. He believes that Clinton’s plan, which is mandated for all unlike Obama’s, is far superior. That worries him. But he voted for Obama anyway.

Another friend said he found Obama’s speech on Tuesday night uninspiring.

Others contemplated the idea that the fight would go all the way to the convention for the first time in so many years. All day people mentioned super delegates.

Two words of the day: Super Delegates.

“Many people I encountered in Park Slope said that they feel comfortable with both Democratic candidates. While Brooklyn Beat voted for Hillary Clinton he wrote on his blog, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn,

“I am totally prepared to vote for Mr. Obama should he be the eventual Democratic candidate, whether he runs again Messrs. McCain, Huckabee, or Bloomberg. The Democratic Party needs to be returned to the White House. We cannot stand even one more term of the Republican Party, regardless of who that candidate is. They have made a muck of it and must pay the price.”

At a cocktail party I attended last night, someone fantasized that neither Clinton or Obama would be nominated and Al Gore would emerge at the convention as the democratic candidate.

Interesting.

You probably knew that. But Andrea Bernstein on WNYC just reported it. She also said there was some griping from New York Hillary supporters that she could have done better in New York City, she could have gotten more delegates. Apparently, there weren’t that many volunteers, electioneers, and Hillary enthusiasts out on the streets.

An OTBKB reader wrote to say:

I was wondering if you’ve heard anything about Ellis Bar? It’s on 5th
ave between 17th and 18th…i think they’re going to serve southwestern
food but was wondering if you know any more information…i live on 6th
and 20th and would love a new place to hang!

Okay. OTBKB did some quick googling and I see that Ellis Bar is a bar/restaurant right near Eagle Provisions. It’s not open yet. I used to have an office space up there and I can attest that a nice restaurant would be much appreciated by many.

Here’s the menu from the website. I’m hungry right now so it all sounds good. The brunch looks good, too. Funny, I don’t see any dinner entrees. The website doesn’t say the place will open. I don’t get up there much anymore but let me know when you do.

* Soup of the Day
    * Beth’s Spanish Onion Soup Topped with Blue Tortilla Strips and Pepper Jack Cheese
    * Four Bean Corn Chili with Navajo Fry Bread

Salads
    * House Salad with Baby Romaine, Carrots, Golden Raisins, Bleu Cheese, Sunflower Kernels, Orange Slices and a Grapefruit Honey Balsamic Vinagarette
    * Sonoran Caprese Salad With Roasted Bell Peppers, Goat Cheese and Cilantro with Balsamic Reduction and Pepper Coulis

Appetizers
     * Avocado Crabemeat Aioli Stuffed Tomato Wedges
    * Grilled Chipotle Marinated Chicken Wings or Shrimp
    * Seared Polenta with Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese, Chive Oil and Corn Salsa
    * Roasted Stuffed Portabella Mushroom, Shallots and Poblano Pepper with Jalapeno Balsamic Reduction
    * Zucchini Cakes topped with Corn Salsa
    * Nachos topped with Melted Goat & Cheddar Cheeses, Jalapenos, Black Beans, Sour Cream, Pico de Gallo and Guacamole
    * Corn Meal Crusted Catfish with Blueberry Salsa
    * Navajo Fry Bread Pizza with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Sunflower Kernels and Parmesan Cheese
    * Goat Cheese Red Pepper Jelly Bruschetta
    * Navajo Fry Bread with Powdered Sugar and Organic Honey

Continue reading ELLIS BAR IN THE SOUTH SLOPE: ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING? →

The race goes on and it’s going to be a fight to the finish.

Will the see-saw continue? For those choosing between Obama and Clinton it’s an embarrassment of riches. That’s why women were so conflicted yesterday 

Hillary or Barack: such a tough and emotional choice.

There was the elation of voting for Clinton, who could be the first woman president. There was the elation of voting for Obama, an agent of change and the first African-American president.

Did Super-Tuesday help focus all the undecided voters who decided at the last minute, on the way to the polls, in the voting booth? Does it come down to: experience vs. poetry. Practical issues vs. yearnings for change?

Will it be an Obama button or a Clinton button on your lapel? Here’s the real question: who can beat the Republican ticket? That’s what’s important now. Who will galvanize more independent voters, who will be able to face off against McCain. 

We know Clinton can fight. But will Obama’s verbal grace and his ability to reach out across the aisle and inspire change win him the nomination?

Who really has the better health plan?

It’s a waiting game now to see what happens next.

On Tuesday, Park Slope felt like an Obama bubble. Everywhere I went there was an Obama sign, an Obama button, or a person talking about how they were voting for Obama.

Being in this bubble I figured Hillary was finished. There were no Hillary signs, no Hillary supporters. They were either over-confident or had bigger fish to fry.

So Park Slope felt like Obama’s oyster on Tuesday. And on Tuesday night, something connected Park Slope with communities across the country, other Obama bubbles, places we don’t always feel connected to like Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, Minnesota, and all the places where Obama won.

Educated communities went for Obama, as did blacks. High school educated working people and Latinos in large numbers went for Hillary: at least that’s what I’ve been hearing the pollsters say all night.

It certainly felt like it was going to be a national Obama landslide from the bench at Connecticut Muffin in Park Slope. But Hillary is still very much alive. In fact she was glowing with relief and victory from the stage of the Manhattan Center in midtown Manhattan, where she gave a strong, fighting kind of speech. A good speech, I thought.

Many in Park Slope said that they’d be comfortable with Hillary or Obama. So I am eager to see what the mood is tomorrow on Seventh Avenue.

Clearly, there will be a fierce fight all the way to the convention in Denver. On Super Duper Tuesday, I think both campaigns have reason to be happy. It was a good night for just about everyone. Obama won more states, Hillary won the big states.

“Our time has come, our movement is real and change is coming to America,” Obama said from the stage in Chicago, Illinois. “We are more than a collection of red states and blue states, we will always be the United States of America.

The crowd chanted “USA, USA, USA…” when they’re not chanting “O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA!”

He continue: “We don’t have to settle for a politics where scoring points is more important than solving problems.”

And later: “What began as a whisper in Springfield has swelled to a chorus of millions that wants change. This time can be different. This campaign for presidency of the United States of America is different…”

That’s my guy, that’s why I voted for him: he speaks with grace infused with the power of the movement that he is leading. This call for change: it feels like something much bigger than one man.

This is going to be quite a race.

Last night my friends Marian Fontana (author of A Widow’s Walk) and Unitarian Minister Tom Martinez (All Souls Bethlehem Church in Kensington) threw a benefit for ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) at the beautiful Palm House at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

The party was also a 50th birthday party bash for friend of theirs who has the disease and was told he would never make it this long. He’s an amazing person, who manages to keep going with optimism and joie de vivre despite the ravages of this disease. As Marian’s 12-year-old son told him, "You have the healthiest spirit of anyone I know."

The event, which was also organized by their friend’s dedicated and loving wife, was called, You Can’t Stop the Love. Marian said that there is probably a  porn film with that name but it perfectly
characterized the spirit of the night. Two Chicks and a Casio performed two hysterical songs and there was stand up comedy as well as a silent auction.

I’d never been inside the Palm House but I’ve looked through the windows of that elegant building for years. It was nice to finally be on the inside at a great party for an amazing cause. If you’d like to donate money email me (louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com. Here’s some information about this terrible disease:

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that usually attacks both upper and
lower motor neurons and causes degeneration throughout the brain and
spinal cord. A common first symptom is a painless weakness in a hand,
foot, arm or leg, which occurs in more than half of all cases. Other
early symptoms include speech swallowing or walking difficulty.

The biological mechanisms that cause ALS are only partially understood.
The only known cause of ALS is a mutation of a specific gene: the SOD1
gene. This mutation is believed to make a defective protein that is
toxic to motor nerve cells. The SOD1 mutation, however, accounts for
only 1 or 2 percent of ALS cases, or 20 percent of the familial
(inherited) cases.

Familial ALS represents between five to 10 percent of all cases. The
rest arise spontaneously and mysteriously, making seemingly random
attacks on previously healthy adults. ALS can strike anyone, anytime.

Physicians have limited choices for treating ALS, and the options that
do exist have come into use within the last 10 years. Studies suggest
that patients’ length of survival and quality of life are enhanced by
night-time breathing assistance early in the course of the disease and
by aggressive application of alternate feeding options to assure good
nutrition once swallowing becomes difficult. At this time, Riluzole® (Rilutek) is the only drug that has been approved by the FDA for treatment of ALS. In clinical trials, Riluzole® has shown a slight benefit in modestly increasing survival time.

I went to PS 321 and John Jay and there were no lines for voting. In fact, at 10:30 I voted in the John Jay school building and there was no wait at all for the 36th precinct.

I saw Andrea Bernstein, WNYC’s Political Director, in front of PS 321. She’s been covering the Clinton campaign (at least she did through the New Hampshire primary). I’m not sure if she was reporting, observing the scene or just being a PS 321 parent.

John Turturro and Katharine Borowitz walked in front of Connecticut Muffin holding a big Obama sign. They looked really excited to be carrying that sign.

It was a nice moment.

There are definitely more Obama supporters electioneering in Park Slope than Hillary Clinton supporters. My prediction is that Park Slope will go for Obama but that plus five bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.   

Does Clinton think Park Slope already belongs to her or has she given it over to Obama?

Two friends who voted for Clinton said they were surprised to see so few Hillary signs near PS 321. "They need to be here," one said. Quite a few people I spoke were undecided until they got on line to vote (or even in the voting booth).

I spoke with a friend who hasn’t voted yet but is definitely voting for Clinton. "All things being equal, I want to vote for her because she’s a woman and she has experience," she said.

Also at Connecticut Muffin, a local artist told me that he thinks it’s the right time for Barack Obama. He respected the fact that Obama said he’d smoked a lot of pot while Bill Clinton never inhaled. Someone sitting on the bench at CT said, "I bet Clinton regrets ever saying that." To which the local artist replied, "I don’t know. He didn’t have sex with that woman either."