WHAT HAPPENED ON THIRD STREET?
Hepcat reports that there were six police cars and an ambulance on the north side of Third Street between 6th and 7th Avenues Sunday morning at 2 a.m.
Does anyone know what was going on? Hepcat was working at his computer when he heard the sirens.
TODAY: A SHOW FOR KIDS AND PARENTS FOR DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY
Audra Rox and the Deedle Deedle Dees
Brooklyn Lyceum
Doors open at 3 p.m.
Tickets at the door: $18.00
227 Fourth Avenue
Marty Beller of They Might Be Giants says: “AudraRox is a gem. She connects so well with kids of all sizes. Her energy and spirit are infectious, her songs are clever and catchy and alot fun to sing along to. Her band is rockin’!”
The Deedle Deedle Dees are a rock band for kids who perform historically inspired songs like “Nellie Bly”, “Underground Railroad” and silly songs, too.
Sounds like a great show and a great CAUSE.
SIDE STREET: A NEW PLAY BY ROSEMARY MOORE
Brooklyn Reading Works presents SIDE STREET, a staged reading (with actors) of a play by Rosemary Moore directed by Ian Morgan of the New Group.
A woman discovers that her dead mother has been living in a studio apartment on the Upper East Side for the last 30 years. And she’s still the same age she was when she died. A meeting of two middle-aged women: one dead, one alive. Interesting stuff.
Thursday, January 17th at 8 p.m.
at the Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue and Third Street
8 p.m.
SIX CHAPELS: SIMULTANEOUS PRAYER AT OLD FIRST
On Martin Luther King Day, Monday January 21 from 10 am until 7:30 p.m, Spoke the Hub Dancing and the Old First Reformed Church have come together to create an event dedicated to the idea of creating and sustaining peace.
This special event will be a day of participatory activities at Old First at Seventh Avenue and Carroll.
The event that intriques me is Six Chapels: Simultaneous interfaith Meditation and Prayer for Peace right in Old First’s sanctuary. Here’s a list of what will be going on that day:
THEATER OF CHANGE (for ages 12 and up) with Ellen Baxt & Friends: An all day workshop for young people and adults, culminating in an informal performance at the end of the day.
SIX CHAPELS: INTERFAITH MEDITATION AND PRAYER FOR PEACE
Six sacred spaces set aside for simultaneous silent prayer and meditation for Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh faiths.
MOVING MEDITATION & PRAYER (Adults & Teens) with Jenny Burrill
FAMILY DANCE & YOGA (siblings ages 1-5 with caregivers) with Heidi Kinney
HATHA YOGA: A PORTAL TO FREEDOM (Adults & Teens) with Dolores Natividad
Beginners welcome.
JESUS ON PEACE: TEACHINGS WHICH INSPIRED MLK (Everyone Welcome)
with Pastor Daniel Meeter
BIG HEART DANCING & YOGA (ages 8 and up) with Heidi Kinney & Elise Long
LITTLE BIG HEART DANCING (ages 5-7) with Sarah Pope
PRAYING PEACE (Everyone Welcome) with Pastor Daniel Meeter
MEDITATION: A WAY TO INNER PEACE (Adults & Teens) with Mina Hamilton
WALKING MEDITATION (Adults & Teens) with Mina Hamilton
TOUCHING THE EARTH : A WAY TO OUTER PEACE with Mina Hamilton
Based on the work and practice of Thich Nhat Hahn.
CHAIR YOGA & MEDITATION (Adults & Teens) with Dolores Natividad
Ideal for seniors and the physically challenged.
TECHNIQUES AND APPROACHES TO REDUCING TENSIONS AT HOME
(Parents Only) with Sharon Peters
BIG HEART DRUMMING (For the Whole Family) with Gabriella Dennery of BaTuBa Collective Percussion
INTRO. TO NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION (Everyone Welcome) with Nellie Bright
WORKSHOP SHARING Informal Workshop Performances
by Gabriella’s BIG HEART DRUMMING Workshop and Ellen’s THEATER OF CHANGE
MEAL SHARING & SALUTE TO DR. KING’S LIFE AND LEGACY
Food generously donated by local restaurants
SMARTMOM: FIFTY IS NIFTY
The other day, Smartmom ran into her neighbor, Ciao Bella, who wanted to know which Weight Watchers meeting she’s been attending. Smartmom told her that the Sunday morning meeting at the Montauk Club is top notch and that Melanie, the leader, is knowledgeable and inspiring. She even sends out a Thinspiration e-newsletter every week or so.
“That’s my New Year’s resolution,” Ciao Bella told Smartmom. She’s already lost 23 pounds on Weight Watchers, put 10 back on during the holidays and now wants to get back on track.
Way to go, Ciao Bella. Smartmom gave her loads of encouragement and hopes to see her at the Sunday meetings.
The two women have lived on the same block for more than 10 years — and in that Third Street way, feel a lot of affection for one another. Somehow, Ciao Bella knew that she and Smartmom were both going to be turning 50 this year and they got to talking about that, too.
“We should have a support group or something,” Ciao Bella suggested.
That seemed like a great idea. Ciao Bella wasn’t sure if it should be a support group or something a little more festive.
“Maybe a party or a gathering,” she said.
This got Smartmom thinking. A part of her loved the idea of a huge gathering of everyone in Park Slope who is turning 50. It could be like a secret society and called the Park Slope Half-Century Club and have a special handshake or something.
But then she wondered if she’d really want to attend something like this. She felt a little Groucho Marx about the whole thing and worried that it might be a drag. For Buddha’s sake, what does Smartmom have in common with a bunch of 50-year-olds?
The whole thing started to sound really depressing. It would probably be a first-class kvetch fest, an “I-can’t-believe-I’m-turning-50” kind of event. Smartmom was pretty sure she wanted no part of it. She still feels like she’s an 11-year-old in Mr. Giard’s sixth grade class at New Lincoln. As far as she’s concerned she’s still that same old gal.
Wake up, Smartmom. You’re 50 and there’s no denying it. You may feel like you’re 11, but add 39 years to that number. Get real, girlfriend.
Besides, maybe 50 isn’t so bad after all. Ciao Bella is turning 50, so is Epic Poetry Mom, Best and Oldest, The Brooklyn Paper’s PS…I Love You columnist, Diaper Diva, of course, local architectural historian Francis Morrone, and many more.
And that’s not all. Just look at this list of celebrities who are turning 50 in 2008: Holly Hunter, Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Stone, Miranda Richardson, Michele Pfeiffer, Annette Benning, Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Prince, Madonna, Tim Burton, Michael Jackson, Tim Robbins, Viggo Mortensen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Suddenly, Smarmtom isn’t feeling so bad. Maybe the Park Slope Half-Century Club should show movies starring actors turning 50 this year. They could have a Holly Hunter film festival and watch “Broadcast News,” “Thirteen,” “The Piano” and “Raising Arizona.” How about “Bull Durham” with Tim Robbins or “The Lord of the Rings” with Mortensen?
The club could dance to CDs by Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson and discuss books by 1958-born authors like Park Slope’s George Hagen (“The Laments”), Mitch Albom (“The Five People You Meet in Heaven”), Roddy Doyle (“Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha”) Christina Garcia (“Dreaming in Cuban”) and George Saunders (“In Persuasion Nation”).
The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of a Park Slope Half-Century Club. Maybe it’s a club she wouldn’t mind being part of even if she really has no choice. The group could compile an interesting list of historical events that happened in 1958 and even talk about what it was like to be 10 years old in 1968, that most iconic year, when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated.
They could share memories of “duck-and-cover” Cold War exercises in elementary school, anti-war demonstrations, bake sales for Eugene McCarthy, and Watergate hearings on network television.
So it’s decided. Smartmom and Ciao Bella are gong to do it: The Park Slope Half-Century Club. Next week, when Smartmom runs into Ciao Bella at that Sunday Weight Watchers Meeting, they will come up with a plan. Maybe they can even figure out the secret handshake?
Who’s in?
ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
Obama giving Clinton a race in her own backyard (NY Times)
A.O Scott says take the kids to see Juno and Persepolis and more (NY Times)
Pix of Brooklyn Was Mine reading at Barnes and Noble (Brit in Brooklyn)
Richard Grayson is a good teacher (Brooklynometry)
Issac Asimov, Brooklyn Writer (Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn)
Ditmas Graffitti War (Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn)
Deep woods in Prospect Park (A Year in the Park)
Fresh air through open windows like a crate of air-shipped grapefruits (Crazy Stable)
Nice interview with Audrarox, power pop for punks, I mean, kids (Zooglobble)
The Urban Memory Project at the Brooklyn Historical Society (Gowanus Lounge)
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
DON’T LET NEW UNION MARKET PUT GRAB OUT OF BUSINESS
Everyone loves Grab. It’s a great cheese, charcuterie, speciality foods and gift shop at 438 Seventh Avenue (between 14th and 15th Streets) that everyone needed when Blue Apron left the South Slope.
Now Union Market is opening on Wednesday January 16th in the South Slope and they’ve hired some kind of big deal muckity muck fromaggey expert kinda guy. Still, that doesn’t mean you have to stop shopping at Grab.
There’s room enough for both places. It’s all about moods and needs. Somedays you wanna get a Jarlsberg from Union Market. Some days you wanna have a long talk about various kinds of Stiltons at Grab.
This isn’t a zero sum game. Keep the local place in business while welcoming a new gourmet supermarket. That’s what I say.
Yay Grab.
JUDGE DISMISSES ATLANTIC YARDS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT SUIT
Gowanus Lounge has the full story. And the reaction from Develop Don’t Destroy, Marty Markowitz, Bruce Ratner and more.
LUCKY TO HAVE APPLEWOOD IN OUR MIDST
I had a lovely dinner at Applewood last night; it was my first time there. The food was delicious; well prepared with fresh ingredients.
How did we get so lucky to have this great place in our midst?
I had the pan seared striped bass and it was friggin’ awesome. I didn’t really know what to expect and it was GREAT with potatoes of some kind and kale. My friend had the venison. Another friend had the duck
We ordered this great bottle of Tuscan cabernet: Tenuta de capezzana sangiovese cabernet sauvignon for $45.
What a good bottle of wine. Or was it three? The waiter was very helpful, attentive. Loved the place. Five of us went out and we had appetizers, entrees, wine, dessert and coffee and it was $80 bucks a person. Not cheap but really wonderful.
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
MORE ON THE 9TH STREET STANDOFF
The Brooklyn Paper has more details about the Sunday night incident, where a 30-year-old emotionally disturbed man terrorized members of his family in a 9th Street brownstone between 7th and 8th Avenues.
Officers from the Emergency Services Unit took up a tactical position on Ninth Street, and the suspect fired off two rounds from the shotgun, though it is unclear if he was firing at the officers.
At that point, cops set up an inner and outer perimeter and called in the hostage negotiation team.
After eight hours of negotiations, the suspect finally surrendered and was taken to Kings County Hospital for a psych evaluation, cops said.
SUNDAY: CONCERT AT BROOKLYN LIBRARY
OTBKB friend and Fave, Helen Richmond, neighborhood flute and piano teacher, concert flutist, and founder or Chocolate Chip Music recommends this Sunday’s concert.
There looks to be a great FREE flute and harpsichord concert this Sunday Jan. 13th at the Grand Army Central Library starting at 4 p.m. Features superb, prestigious players Ken Cooper and Susie Rotholtz. I highly recommend checking it out!!
AWARD FOR BROOKLYN PAPER EDITOR
I guess we all knew it was coming. If you’re picked as the Newspaper of the Year it goes to reason that the editor will be picked as Editor of the Year.
And that’s what happened. The Suburban Newspaper Association’s Newspaper of the Year award went to the Brooklyn Paper and now the honors of Editor of the Year go to our man Gersh, who is so deserves this distinction.
Congratulations, Gersh. You’re one heck of an editor! And the work you’ve done at the Brooklyn Paper is something to be proud of. Here’s an excerpt from the award winning Brooklyn Paper.
The Suburban Newspapers of America, which represents nearly 2,400
daily and weekly newspapers in both urban and suburban markets, cited
Kuntzman as the country’s top weekly editor for providing the “most
focused and sharply written coverage” and for “good exploratory stories
and graphics.”On hearing the news, Kuntzman, 42, was atypically humble.
“An editor doesn’t win awards like this alone,” he told The Paper’s
staff, which had gathered in the newsroom. “The only reason I was even
nominated is because of the amazing work everyone here is doing. Now,
get back to work.”
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LIVING ON FIFTH RELOCATING
Living on Fifth, the clothing and home goods store on Fifth Avenue, with other outposts on Seventh Avenue (Living on Seventh), Smith Street (Living on Smith) and the South Slope (Lola) is relocating.
The landlord at their old location on Fifth between 3rd and 4th Streets stopped heating the store two months ago. He suddenly changed the terms of their lease and acted in a dishonorable fashion.
Not a nice guy.
Luckily, LOF’s owner found a small storefront on that hotter than hot block between Carroll and President Streets next door to Diana Kane, Scaredy Kat, and Eidolon (I double checked the spelling on that 3 times because someone got so mad at me for mispelling it on the Park Slope 100). (And I still got it wrong. I fixed it.)
SLOPE SUSHI SWITCHEROO
According to Go Brooklyn, if you call the old Inaka Sushi phone number you get Mura Sushi at 369 Fifth Avenue.
On to fishier matters: Park Slope’s Inaka Sushi has closed and dialing the phone number now leads callers to Mura (369 Fifth Ave. at Sixth Street in Park Slope) where a staffer wouldn’t explain what happened to Inaka, but did offer to replicate any item from its menu for me.
This could mean a couple of things.
1. Mura Sushi is moving into the spot where Inaka used to be on Seventh Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets.
2. Inaka Sushi gave its customers to Mura Sushi.
3. Inaka Sushi is taking over Mura Sushi.
4. Inaka Sushi is Mura Sushi.
Anyone know?
LIBRARIANS DONATE BOOKS TO NEW ORLEANS
My cousin Meg Fidler executive director of the Petra Foundation, an organization dedicated to "unsung individuals who are making distinctive contributions to the rights, autonomy, and dignity of others" sent me information about The Desk Set, a group co-founded by St. Ann’s librarian Maria Falgoust. They are leading an effort to donate books to the A. P. Tureaud Elementary in New Orleans, which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Here’s some info from their MySpace page:
The Desk Set is an informal group of librarians, archivists, library science students, and other individuals who love books. The Desk Set gatherings usually entail meeting up at bars in Greenpoint or Williamsburg; and sometimes we go on field trips, have picnics, or book swaps.
We created our profile using nUCLEArcENTURy.COM, and you should too!
Who I’d like to meet:Librarians (all kinds!), book lovers, writers, illustrators, archivists, publishers, artists, bibliophiles, and people who heart librarians!
An article in School Library Journal had this to say about The Desk Set’s good works.
Located in the 7th Ward, an area devastated by the 2005 hurricanes, A. P. Tureaud is across the street from still-vacant homes and a burned-out church just a few doors down. "Like many neighborhoods throughout the city, the neighborhood is still obviously struggling," says Falgoust, who posted a message on the Desk Set mailing list, as well as several online library school bulletin boards, urging colleagues and friends to purchase books for the school from a wish list she created on Amazon.com
It didn’t take long for the word to spread—and in no time, people from as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia, Vermont, California, and Michigan started buying items on the list. The list, put together by teachers at A. P. Tureaud, consists mostly of multicultural books such as I Love My Hair! (Little, Brown 2001) by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and illustrated by E. B. Lewis; The Skin I’m in (Jump at the Sun, 1999) by Sharon Flake; and Black and White (Houghton, 1990) by David Macaulay.
The response was "so big and generous that I had to add a bunch of similar books to the wish-list so we could have enough for people to purchase," says Falgoust, a librarian at Saint Ann ‘s School in Brooklyn , NY , where one parent donated more than $300 worth of Barnes & Noble gift cards. And rather than buy Christmas presents this year, Falgoust’s colleague at Saint Ann ‘s, Sarah Mente, and her family decided to donate books in each other’s names.
Until this morning, piles of books were sitting on Bill and Donna Falgoust’s kitchen table awaiting delivery. "My parents’ mail carrier was a bit annoyed to be hauling so many boxes," Falgoust laughs.
This isn’t the first time that the Desk Set—named after the 1957 romantic comedy starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy—has done a good deed. The group, made up of hipster New York librarians, publishers, and archivists in their 20s and 30s, has held book drives for Books Through Bars, which sends books to prisoners all over the country. And Falgoust personally organized a huge benefit for New Orleans—complete with a raffle, T-shirts, and a dinner at Enid’s, a restaurant in Brooklyn where she waitresses part-time. The proceeds raised $8,000 for the nonprofit aid groups Habitat for Humanity and Common Ground in New Orleans .
SIDEWALK SIGNAGE IS ALLOWED, AGAIN
Brownstoner reports that A-frame signs are allowable in Park Slope again. You know, those signs that restaurants and shops use to display specials, sales, and other information.
I know a lot of businesses in Park Slope were bemoaning the fact that they were getting multiple tickets for their sidewalk A-frames from the Sanitation Department. In fact, this issue came up quite a bit at the Buy in Brooklyn (Yellow Umbrellas) meeting last November. This will be good news for many shops! The following is a quote from the Gothamist’s story.
Brooklyn bars and restaurants rejoice: you can once again put your sandwich board signs on the sidewalk without fear of tickets from the Department of Sanitation! Your free and effective method for seducing customers with daily specials and clever jokes about drinking the pain away is now perfectly legal. Of course, this does not give you permission to lose all restraint and play music or let people dance.
Last fall a crackdown on the signs led to such establishments as Park Slope’s excellent Community Bookstore and Brooklyn Heights’ delicious Zaytoons getting slapped with tickets from the Department of Sanitation, who was acting on a rarely enforced law intended to keep the sidewalks clear. Brownstoner reports that Councilmember David Yassky leaned on Sanitation commissioner John Dougherty a few weeks ago and, lo and behold, Dougherty “agreed it was ridiculous.
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ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
Con-don’ts near the Brooklyn House of Detention: It ain’t happening. (NY Daily News)
Middle school in House of Detention?(Brooklyn Paper)
Suspended construction platform mishap in Bay Ridge (Right in Bay Ridge)
City Council: Recycle cell phones and other electronic gadgets! (NY Metro)
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
IMAGINE WHAT JJ BYRNE PARK COULD BE
This Saturday from 10 am until noon, the Old Stone House invites you to help develop the concept for the park. They are asking community members to participate in a facilitated session to discuss conceptual plans for renovating the 5th Avenue aspect of JJ Byrne Park.
CITY COUNCIL PASSES A BILL ON PLASTIC BAG RECYCLING
The City Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill requiring large stores and retail chains to collect and recycle plastic bags they give to shoppers. New York is by far the largest American city to enact so broad a measure to limit the environmental impact of the bags. Altogether, each year the country is estimated to use 86 billion bags, which end up blowing down city streets, or tangled in the stomachs of whales and sea turtles, or buried in landfills where, environmental organizations say, they persist for as long as 1,000 years.
…under the new bill, which had a surprising amount of support from retailers and plastic-bag manufacturers, stores that give the bags to customers must provide recycling bins for the bags in a prominent place in the store. The legislation applies to stores of 5,000 square feet or larger, as well as all branches of chains with more than five locations in the city.
NEW IMPROVED WEB SITE FOR PARK SLOPE CIVIC COUNCIL
Much improved. Much improved. That’s all I can say.
The new PSCC web site has a clean, contemporary web-site look. It’s easy to read, easy to navigate. Well-organized, nicely written. There are nice photographs, too.
Their old web site was seriously insufficient. It’s good that they recognized the power of the web as a way to communicate the vitality of who they are. Indeed, the web is a great way for non-profits and community organizations to communicate what they’re about, disseminate information and brand themselves.
Good work PSCC. Sub-sections include: Who We Are, Nurturing Community, Speaking Up, Grants, Civic News…
Some of the information seems a little buried to me.
It’s in the Speaking Up section where you can read about PSCC’s community based activism: Buy in Brooklyn, Whole Foods, the Atlantic Yards Project, historic district expansion, Grand Army Plaza Coalition, Congestion Pricing.
It’s in the Nurturing Community section that you can read about the House Tours, the Halloween Parade. Seems like there should be reference to these things on the home page.
It could be in the writing. Something like: “From the folks who bring you the Halloween Parade, the House Tours, the yellow umbrellas, etc.” Each item could have a hyper-link.
There’s a whole page about the Buy in Brooklyn initiative. Hey they even mention and link to OTBKB.
WHICH LAUNDROMATS DO YOU LIKE?
An OTBKB reader wants to know:
I told her that I like the one on Sixth Avenue at 5th Street which was immortalized by Mo Willems in his book, the Knuffle Bunny.
Book Description: Trixie steps lively as she goes on an errand with her daddy, down the block, through the park, past the school, to the Laundromat. For the toddler, loading and putting money into the machine invoke wide-eyed pleasure. But, on the return home, she realizes something. Readers will know immediately that her stuffed bunny has been left behind but try as she might, (in hilarious gibberish), she cannot get her father to understand her problem. Despite his plea of “please don’t get fussy,” she gives it her all, bawling and going “boneless.” They both arrive home unhappy. Mom immediately sees that “Knuffle Bunny” is missing and so it’s back to the Laundromat they go. After several tries, dad finds the toy among the wet laundry and reclaims hero status. Yet, this is not simply a lost-and-found tale. The toddler exuberantly exclaims, “Knuffle Bunny!!!” “And those were the first words Trixie ever said.”
Any other suggestions?
MUGGERS STILL OUT AND ABOUT
As reported on OTBKB: one of the muggers from Sunday night’s mugging was arrested when he was identified by the victim in Prospect Park that night. Today Gowanus Lounge reports that the perpetrators of the other incidents in a rash of recent muggings may still be at large.
An email via Park Slope Parents says that a 78th Precinct Detective says the case is still “open.” The email goes on to say that “from what I’ve heard it’s not yet a done deal.” In the meantime, the latest crime statistics from the 78th Precinct actually show only one reported robbery from December 31-January 6. There were 17 during the last 28 days, which is one more than during the same period a year ago
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TENSE SITUATION RESOLVED WITHOUT VIOLENCE ON 9TH STREET
According to Gridskipper, an arrest was made following the tense situation on Sunday night in a 9th Street Park Slope when an angry resident refused to leave his home and disarm when the police arrived.
Additionally, we were able to verify that, after more than six hours of negotiations, the situation was resolved without violence. Interestingly, those we spoke to in the police department also let us know about their frustration with the way some folks in the neighborhood responded to the situation.
ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
The overhauled Royal Supermarket on 8th Avenue (Brooklynometry)
Hope for Loew’s Kings Theater redevelopment (Brooklyn Junction)
Mother Nature fooled on Montague Street (McBrooklyn)
Multiple bus crash in Crown Heights injures 19 (NY Metro)
Parks Department seeking gourmet food vendors for McCarren Park and elsewhere (NY Metro)
Seeking visions for JJ Byrne Park (NY Metro)
When true things sound like tall tales (Callalillie)
Discussion on calming traffic on PPW and 8th Avenue (Gowanus Lounge)
Two shooting incidents in Prospect Heights (Gowanus Lounge)
Musical based on poem about the roaring 1920’s (The Gallery Players)
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
MULCH AROMATHERAPY
Don’t you love the smell of mulch in the morning? I love that evergreen smell when I’m running the Prospect Park loop.
Today felt like Spring, a perfect day to run. And the mulch. Oh the mulch.