I’ve been hearing a lot about Jenny Scheinman over the last few years. A regular at Barbes, the cozy and eclectic music club and bar on 9th Street off of Sixth Avenue in park Slope, she always garners raves from the press and fans for her improvised violin playing. Now she’s come out with an album of folk and blues. I heard something about it on WNYC this morning. And something in the Times’ too. She’s definitely having her media moment:

One evening last month, the violinist Jenny Scheinman settled in for her customary early set at Barbès, the cozy Park Slope bar that has long been her second home. Though she has been heralded over the last five years as a venturesome improviser, her first number was a vocal feature, “I Was Young When I Left Home,” one of many traditional songs associated with the young Bob Dylan. Ms. Scheinman, cradling her violin in the crook of an elbow, sang in a clear, agreeable tone, with a hint of nasal twang.

She wasn’t dabbling in this air of rusticity. The song appears on her self-titled new album, along with tunes by Jimmy Reed and Mississippi John Hurt and a handful of originals. Released by Koch Records two weeks ago, the album presents Ms. Scheinman as a folk singer. She took the same stance at Barbès, as she will again on Wednesday night at Joe’s Pub, with a band that includes the album’s producer and guitarist, Tony Scherr.

nice photo by Sara Krulwich in the NY Times

Look what’s coming to JJ Byrne Park this summer.

Piper Theater at the Old Stone House/JJ Byrne Park is presenting a Coney Island themed version of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here’s what director John McEneny has in mind for this production:

Shakespeare’s greatest comedy set in the world of 19th century Coney Island. Lost lovers, wild eyed fairies, and a motley crew of actors collide with Dreamland, Luna Park, Steeplechase, circus freaks, showgirls, mermaids, jugglers, fun/terror! All performances at the historic Old Stone House at J.J. Byrne Park in Park Slope, NY.

Performance dates: July 10-12 and July 17-19 in JJ Byrne Park. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.

If you area contractor (of all types and size) interested in getting Leed certification, a nationally recognized certification by the US Green Building Council then this event is for you.

LEED points are the most accepted rating of the energy-efficiency and healthy product component of construction work on projects when contractors are certified.

There is going to be a one-day program at Kingsborough Community College on June 21, followed by an open book certification exam on the 26th.

This is only the second time that something like this has been offered in NYC, although it has been in place and is growing quickly throughout the US .

Kris Reed, Director of the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn Brooklyn Economic Development writes:

It matters tremendously to New York, and especially Brooklyn. New construction is slowing, but repair, maintenance and renovation will continue throughout the economic downturn.

We need to have contractors who understand green building practices when they work on our low-rise, high density housing and commercial stock, with its aging infrastructure and irreplaceable architecture.

Because this training is new to New York City , we need to get the word out. Can you help?

Yes, of course I will help.

Calling everyone interested in green contracting. This one-day workshop is limited to 40 people and is on June 21 at Kingsborough Community College from 8 am until 5 pm.

For more information go here.

Brit in Brooklyn took this great picture during the rainstorm on Sunday night. Go to Brit in Brooklyn to see it big.

McBrooklyn reports that Ikea’s promoting the opening of their first store in NYC (to open in Red Hook on June 18th) with these fun Ikea Pop-up room settings all over town. There will be one at the Brooklyn Public Library on Friday, June 13th (Grand Army Plaza branch). Here’s the PR:

Pop-up Room Settings – Deutsch worked with TH Outdoor to create four 20’ x 20’ pop-up room settings – or living room-sized boxes with complete interiors furnished with IKEA furniture such as sofas, tables and chair, and accessories such as lamps, rugs and prints. Inside, the public can experience IKEA products. Leading up to IKEA Brooklyn’s June 18 grand opening, these life-sized rooms can be found at Union Square in Manhattan (June 12) and in Brooklyn at Borough Hall plaza (June 9), the Brooklyn Public Library (June 13) and Cadman Plaza (June 15).

Monday morning I went into PS 321’s guidance counselor’s office to see if she’d heard anything about the fact that my daughter was on no list whatsover; she doesn’t exist as far as the Education Department is concerned.

She said she had 45 messages on her phone machine about various matters and didn’t have time to check. She also thanked me for my patience. In all fairness it was only 8:45 in the morning and her office was full of 5th grade parents with problems related to middle school. She’d barely had her coffee.

Still, that’s when I decided to take action. To Take Matters Into My Own Hands—or Feet. So what if it was 95 degrees in the shade yesterday: I marched to two of the schools on my daughter’s list to find out what was going on.

First I went to the middles school not far from my house on Fifth Avenue and 5th Street. My son went there a few years back so I knew exactly WHO to see and WHERE she sits. She told me that my daughter should put that school down on an appeal form and she would see what she could do. No promises.

Next, I walked to the other middle school located on 18th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. A mom on a mission, sweat dripped down my face. I was bright red when I arrived in the lobby; the school guard asked me to sign in.

“Do you have an appointment?” she said nicely.

“I’m here to speak with the principal,” I said seriously.

She pointed me toward the assistant principal who listened to my story and went to find the principal. Finally she brought me down to the school’s auditorium where the principal, a real hands-on, sweetheart of a guy, seemed to already know bits and pieces of my story.

“Here’s what we think happened…”

This mensche went on to offer a viable theory of why my daughter was completely left off of all lists (You’d need to be a Talmudic scholar of the Education Department to understand). He said that I should put his school on the appeal form and he’d make every effort to hold a spot for her despite the fact that he’s got a full list for next year and a long waiting list. We shook hands.

Next, I marched 22 blocks down to PS 321 and marched up to my daughter’s classroom, which was empty; they were in science, which is in separate building. I marched downstairs, crossed the playground to the mini-school, found her…

“Which school do you want to go to,” I said huffing and puffing.

“Do I have to decide right now?” she said. “We’re talking about dissecting a cow’s eyeball.”

“I’ll find out,” I said.

Next I marched back into the guidance counselor’s office and asked how much time we had before she filed the appeals.

“I’m bringing them over tomorrow afternoon…”

So we did have some time. OSFO made her decision this morning and as far as I’m concerned that’s where she’s going this fall.

We shall see.

I don’t know anything about the merger between Polytechnic University and NYU so I welcome responses to this article, which was submitted by Joel S. Hirschhorn, who graduated from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1961, where he was Student Council President; he was formerly a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association. Polytechnic University, the second oldest engineering school in the county, is located in MetroTech.

The Sellout of Polytechnic University by Joel S. Hirschhorn

The academic world is not without its corporate takeover madness. Unless the New York Board of Regents steps in this month to put the brakes on the so-called merger of New York University and Polytechnic University , something quite nefarious will happen.

To call the transaction a merger was and remains a boldfaced lie. With its 50,000 students compared to about 3,000 for Poly, and annual revenues twenty times larger, the giant NYU wants to acquire Poly. In particular, with its considerable expansion plans, it wants the prime downtown Brooklyn real estate owned by Poly. Like so many other Poly alumni I have been appalled by the shenanigans of the administrators of both institutions. After 154 years of independence and considerable contributions to city, state and nation, Poly is about to be gobbled up by the Goliath NYU.

To begin with, in 1972 the state passed a law requiring NYU, then having a fiscal crisis, to merge its School of Engineering and Science into Poly. Back in 1973 NYU’s President Hester acknowledged that an agreement with the New York State Commissioner of Education required that “ New York University would not be authorized to offer engineering instruction at Washington Square or elsewhere.” Indeed, several subsequent attempts in 1976, 1977 and 1981 to acquire an engineering college were rebuffed by the state Education Department because of the 1973 agreement. Now comes yet another attempt by NYU and it is up to the state to stop the deal.

Considerable propaganda has been disseminated by the management of both institutions, making it sound as if Poly is getting a good deal. It is not. But the telltale sign that something is amiss is that very few people have been told the many details of the transaction. We now have a report by the New York Senate Committee on Higher Education: “Proposed Affiliation: Polytechnic University and New York University .” In several contested areas this report found evidence that backs opponents to the “merger.”

It cites testimony from several Poly trustees that backs the contention that the board majority decided early on in favor of the merger and attempted “to marginalize the participation of those individuals who opposed the affiliation.” The report said this behavior “is not consistent with the duty of loyalty that a board owes to an institution.” It raises important questions, such as whether there are appropriate procedures to make sure the interests of all appropriate parties are considered and when various constituencies should be made aware of negotiations.

The report concluded that “it is impossible to ascertain the true value of this institution’s real property at this time.” This is a central issue, because opponents to the transaction believe that Poly is not getting a good financial deal. Further, the report found that the Board’s “failure to obtain an updated appraisal, regardless of the cost involved, is inconsistent with the duty of care that the Board owed to Polytech.” Moreover, it found that the facts substantiate “the Alumni Associations position that the Board was attempting to portray Polytech as being in financial straits in order to garner support for the affiliation with NYU.” That’s why there is little credibility to what the Poly board has agreed to.

Now it is up to the Regents to use all this information and analysis to objectively and fairly evaluate not the “merger” but the acquisition. Like so many others, I fear that unless the Regents stop this deal Poly will lose its identity and academic independence. It is being sold out by incompetent managers that failed to continue the success Poly had enjoyed for over 100 years. NYU needs Poly more than Poly needs NYU, and NYU would end up making money, not paying handsomely for or investing in Poly.

As you probably know by now, my daughter is one of eight children at PS 321 who is not on the middle school admissions master list. We still don’t know if this means she doesn’t exist as far as the DOE is concerned or if she did get in somewhere.

I’m tired of the long looks, the sad faces, the “what are you going to do?” variety of questions. I hate being the poster child for the situation everyone is just glad they’re not in.

We’ve been calling one of the schools she wants to got to since last Wednesday. I called and the guidance counselor from PS 321 has called.

I have heard her numerous times leave messages on message machines and with secretaries. Nobody calls back. I just put in a call today to the principal. I hope he gets back to me. At this particular school, he’s the only one with the list.

This is getting very frustrating. My daughter seems fine; she’s more patient than I am. She doesn’t know what a tangled bureaucracy the Education Department is. I have assured her that things will work out just fine.

I guess she believes me.

Now I think I should just go to the schools and corner the principals or the guidance counselors.

Where is my daughter going to middle school?

California Taqueria, the always dependable burrito place on Seventh Avenue near Berkeley, has re-designed the right storefront of the restaurant and christened it Le Taq.

Like their other branch, Rachel’s, on Fifth Avenue, they put in an attractive bar, which will serve something like 100 varieties of tequila; there are tables in the back with a new menu and table service.

The bar looks very nice; I haven’t seen the new menu but I hear that it’s different from the right storefront, which is still a cafeteria-style restaurant with take-out and delivery.

Owner Marty Modina (who was on the Park Slope 100 last year) is the guy who drives that vintage red pick up truck you see around Park Slope. He’s been running California Taqueria and Rachels for years now. Le Taq is a slightly upscale version of what he’s been doing all along.

Curious to see how it is. Anyone been there yet?

According to Robert Belzer, of NJCAAN, a volunteer citizens group working to address airport and airplane noise pollution, there are going to be more and more planes landing and departing from New York area airports and the consequences in terms of noise pollution are, well, obvious. He sent diagrams of the JFK departure backbone tracks that the FAA intends to implement later in 2008. He sent this to me on Saturday:

New JFK/Long Island Airport Departure Procedures Impact Nassau County, NYC And New Jersey Communities To The West Of Newark Airport
As the diagram illustrates, the departure traffic is shifted north over the new departure gate to the areas currently the most heavily impacted by Newark Airport traffic. This is the area to the west of Newark Airport.

The traffic would first over fly Nassau County and then New York City . It currently goes out over the Atlantic Ocean and then Monmouth County , NJ south of Newark Airport.

The New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise (NJCAAN) is very concerned that the public remains unaware about the FAA intention to shift all of this traffic over densely populated residential communities due to the agency’s inadequate disclosure in its reports for the metro Airspace Redesign.

In addition, we are questioning whether this shift in traffic would be necessary if the military would have provided access to the offshore airspace that it currently uses for training purposes. The unfortunate consequence of the military blocking access to this airspace is to require commercial aircraft to over fly densely populated residential communities instead of the Atlantic Ocean . Finally, the FAA intends to shift all of this traffic over New York City .

Is this a good idea in terms of security and safety?

Robert Belzer
President, NJCAAN
www.njcaan.org

In Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, the follow-up to Garbage Land, her influential investigation into our modern trash crisis, Elizabeth Royte ventures to Fryeburg, Maine, to look deep into the source—of Poland Spring water. In this tiny town, and in others like it across the country, she finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that have made bottled water a $60-billion- a-year phenomenon even as it threatens local control of a natural resource and litters the landscape with plastic waste.

Moving beyond the environmental consequences of making, filling, transporting and landfilling those billions of bottles, Royte examines the state of tap water today (you may be surprised), and the social impact of water-hungry multinationals sinking ever more pumps into tiny rural towns. Ultimately, Bottlemania makes a case for protecting public water supplies, for improving our water infrastructure and—in a world of increasing drought and pollution—better allocating the precious drinkable water that remains.

Elizabeth Royte is the author of Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash and The Tapir’s Morning Bath: Solving the Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest — both New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her writing on science and the environment has appeared in Harper’s, National Geographic, Outside, The New York Times Magazine, and other national publications. Royte is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review, a contributing editor for OnEarth, and a correspondent for Outside magazine. A former Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow and recipient of Bard College’s John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their daughter.

The lowdown:
Community Bookstore, Park Slope
143 7th Avenue
(718) 783-3075
Our events are, as always, free and open to the public.
Drinks and snacks for all!

From Park Slope Parents, one woman’s take on the Pre-K mess. Most importantly, everyone affected should COMPLAIN to 311, WRITE LETTERS to Joel Klein and Mike Bloomberg.

I had a long talk with a parent coordinator this morning who told me
more detail about the screening process than the Times article
revealed. The article stated that parents either filled out the
application incorrectly or the algorithms weren’t working. I can’t
speak to the latter, but as for filling out
applications “incorrectly”, this is what she told me: the data
clerks in Pennsylvania were interpreting these forms without a clue
as to what NYC looks like.

If you mispelled a street name, you were
rejected. If you left something off because you weren’t sure how to
answer it, you were rejected. This was mishandling on a personal
level, because the program was shipped to a place outside the city,
with real live people making judgement calls. The way it was handled
last year (or before) was school by school, district by district,
where the people making the assignments knew the parents and families
and kids personally, and knew the street names (for example). On top
of this, because of this huge backlog of problems, OSEPO (the office
of student enrollment) is overwhelmed, leading to secondary backlogs
the gifted program, etc. And because the process was centralized,
there are very few – business school graduates – handling what used
to be handled by many skilled and knowledgable people all throughout
the city. She even said someone on the phone at Tweed was crying.

I am affected by this myself. Some kids who should have been
accepted earlier in the year in her school were rejected, so they
were reaccepted as Magnet students as a solution to keep them in the
school, which is crazy because they are in their own district and
don’t need the magnet status, thus bumping people like me, who needs
a magnet admission to get into that school!

She advised me to call 311 to complain, or drop an email to Joel
Klein: so should everybody reading this post!

Over at Brooklynometry, there’s a recipe for homemade laundry soap. Here’s an excerpt from her post:

I made a batch of homemade laundry soap Wednesday night, this is my big big fun. I didn’t have any Zote laundry bar soap, so I used the bar of Octagon I got from Key Food. Octagon, the name makes me happy. Is there a diagnosis for that?

I grated half the bar of soap. Once I start grating soap, it’s a little hard to stop. It makes me wonder what it would like to be a tallow renderer, like Benjamin Franklin’s father.

Here is an excerpt from Andy Bachman’s blog. Andy, the rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim, attended Friday’s Parents as Reading Partners, a montly open school hour for parents.

As is usually the case, the school’s spectacular principal, Liz Phillips, came over the PA to read a poem. The fifth graders mouthed the principal’s words when she asked everyone to rise and join the fifth grade in leading the Pledge of Allegiance.

I looked at my daughter, who stayed up late on Tuesday night to watch Barack Obama claim the Democratic nomination, making history. She looked at me and smiled. Tears filled my eyes. She rolled hers.

And then I saw her turn toward the American flag with her hand over her heart and with the naivete and idealism of the child she still is, dedicate herself to the values of her country.

It was a moment I will not soon forget.

Hillary Clinton bows out of the race and gives her support to Obama marking an end to her historic and powerful run for the presidency of the United States of America, the first woman to get as far as she did. Here is an excerpt from the speech she gave yesterday.

As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.
Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.

Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot-soldiers who marched, protested and risked their lives to bring about the end to segregation and Jim Crow.

Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote. Because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together. Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard fought campaign for the Democratic nomination. Because of them, and because of you, children today will grow up taking for granted that an African American or a woman can yes, become President of the United States.

When that day arrives and a woman takes the oath of office as our President, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our nation, proud that every little girl can dream and that her dreams can come true in America. And all of you will know that because of your passion and hard work you helped pave the way for that day.

So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying – or think to yourself – “if only” or “what if,” I say, “please don’t go there.” Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.
Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next President and I hope and pray that all of you will join me in that effort.

There are loads of great items to bid on for the BAX Spring Silent Auction. But there’s only one day left to do it. You can find these items here: www.bax.org/silentauction.php and in person at BAX. But hurry, the auction closes at 5pm sharp on Monday, June 9, 2008.

This incredible program adds so much to Park Slope and it deserves our support.

BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange—arts and artists in progress – is a multi-arts non-profit organization in Park Slope, Brooklyn, founded in 1991 (as the Gowanus Arts Exchange). Their mission is to provide a nurturing, year-round performance, rehearsal and educational venue in Brooklyn that encourages artistic risk-taking and stimulates dialogue among diverse constituencies.

A neighborhood home for the arts and recognized citywide and nationally for its work “developing” artists, BAX is an advocate of cultural diversity and inventiveness. BAX received a special citation in 1998 from the New York Dance and Performance Awards (“Bessie”) for “building a house and a home for the arts in Brooklyn…championing the vital connection of accessible education to the life and livelihood of artists; for imagining, supporting and leading a wildly diverse, aesthetically vocal community…”

BAX has offered a full range of presenting—currently over 50 evenings each season-and educational programs for children and adults in dance, theater, performance art, and film/video since 1991. Three alternative public schools in Brooklyn receive arts-in-education programs, as well. BAX’s diversity is its greatest strength.

Over 100 items are up for bid in the following categories: For Artists or the Artist Within; For Kids & Families; Events/Museums; Culinary Delights; Unique, Unexpected, and Ultra Luxurious; Body, Mind, Spirit, Fine Art and Alluring Items and Great Gifts.

-Two-night hotel accommodations at Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa in Ocho Rios, Jamaica

-The iPod Touch

-Dinner for two at Union Square Café

-George Michael concert tickets at Madison Square Garden

-Big Apple Circus tickets

-Hot air balloon rides

-Gift certificates to hip Park Slope boutiques, restaurants & wine shops

It’s always a little unnerving—and helpful—to read something like this. I guess we won’t be putting these tomatoes in our salads.

The Food and Drug Administration is expanding its warning to consumers nationwide
that a salmonellosis outbreak has been linked to consumption of certain raw
red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these raw,
red tomatoes.

FDA recommends that consumers not eat raw red Roma, raw red plum, raw red
round tomatoes, or products that contain these types of raw red tomatoes unless the
tomatoes are from the sources listed below. If unsure of where tomatoes are
grown or harvested, consumers are encouraged to contact the store where the
tomato purchase was made. Consumers should continue to eat cherry tomatoes,
grape tomatoes, and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, or tomatoes
grown at home.

On June 5, using traceback and other distribution pattern information, FDA
published a list of states, territories, and countries where tomatoes are grown
and harvested which have NOT BEEN associated with this outbreak. This
updated list includes: Arkansas, California, Georgia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala,
Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.Full text:

here:http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01848.htmlwillow lawson

Golf for kids in Brooklyn. Could be a great thing for your kid; mine love mini-golf.

Since 2000, City Parks Foundation’s CityParks Golf program has provided
free lessons to over 12,000 children in parks and ranges throughout the
five boroughs.

The CityParks Junior Golf Center was created to further develop the skills
of our city’s future generations of golfers. Our mission is to:

–teach the basics of the game and its positive values to New York
City youth, at no cost
–offer free, challenging follow-up programs that will enable
participants to play independently on the course for the rest of their
lives.

As a member of the Golf Center, your child will learn the game from our
experienced teaching staff, directed by PGA professional Gregg Gaulocher,
and can practice regularly at a facility designed specifically for youth
development.

Instructional programs at the Golf Center are open only to NYC residents
between the ages of 6-17. Membership is automatic once a child enrolls in
one of our programs.

Schedules, registration forms and special event dates are posted at least
one month in advance on the website located at
. Click for
current program and registration information. Please check our website
regularly for up-to-date information.

Program dates for 2008 are as follows:

# July 7 – August 3
# Aug 4 – Aug 31
# Sept 1 – Oct 5
# Oct 6 – Nov 9

We are currently registering for the July & August sessions.

Beginning July 7, 2008, the Golf Center will be open 7 days a week through
October 31. Hours of operation during July and August are from 8:00 AM to
7:00 PM. During the fall, the facility will be open from 3:00 PM to 7:00
PM on weekdays and 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Saturdays and Sundays.

Directions

The CityParks Junior Golf Center is located at 8850 14th Avenue, in Bay
Ridge Brooklyn and is accessible by car and public transportation

I hear good things about this program. They are offering a special deal for Sessions I and II.

LADIES ROCK CAMP 2008
**Special sale — Register with a friend by June 20 and you both save 20%
— a $100 value!**

Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls presents Ladies Rock Camp -unique and fun
weekend of hands-on music playing, right here in NYC. Learn to play drums,
bass, guitar, or vocals (or get even better if you already play), form a
band, write a song, and perform at The Knitting Factory — all in three
days. Classes, workshops, special appearances by amazing women artists,
and more. All proceeds go to the Scholarship Fund of the non-profit summer
camp Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. No musical experience necessary!

–When: Session I: Friday, July 18 – Sunday, July 20
Session II: Friday, August 8 – Sunday, August 10
–Location: Urban Assembly School of Music & Art, in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn
Cost: $500 for one person. Special offer: $800 for two people (until June 20)
–Registration forms available at http://www.williemaerockcamp.org
Questions? Write