Civics and Urban Life

SMARTMOM: GOSSIP GIRL IN BROOKLYN

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Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the award-winning Brooklyn Paper. It was written before Dan and Serena’s date. Last week, He too her slumming to a bar with a pool table in Brooklyn. She LOVED it.

Close your ears. Smartmom is about to admit something that may shock you.

She and the Oh So Feisty One were big fans of “The O.C.,” the now-cancelled nighttime soap opera about a group of Orange County teenagers and their families.

Last year, lying on the green leather couch on Thursday nights watching a cast of sexy actors including, Peter Gallagher (swoon), Adam Brody (tepid swoon), Benjamin McKenzie (triple swoon), Rachel Bilson and Micha Barton, was a high point of their week — and a great time for mother-daughter bonding and beyatching.

Some parents might think “The O.C.” a strange show to watch with a 10-year-old. And Smartmom would have to agree. Teen sex, drugs, and nasty behavior are woven into just about every episode.
But hey, it offered Smartmom many opportunities for OSFO-appropriate sex and drug education.

“Too much information,” OSFO would say when Smartmom went into too much detail about …

While the show may not be recommended viewing for a 10-year-old, Smartmom knows quite a few Park Slope moms, who make time for shows like “The O.C.,” “Gossip Girl” and “Desperate Housewives.”

Seventh Avenue Mom told Smartmom: “I can’t watch TV anymore and the news is so depressing.” She explained that shows like “The O.C.” are a nice break from real life — and the reality of current events.

When the show was cancelled, Smartmom and OSFO pined. In the weeks after, they even rented DVDs of the first two seasons.

So when they heard that Josh Schwartz, the creator of “The O.C.” was working on a new series, sort of an “O.C.” about the Upper East Side private-school crowd, they were, to say the least, ecstatic.

Last summer was not really a summer so much as a countdown until the beginning of “Gossip Girl” or “GG” as OSFO likes to call it.

Finally, on Sept. 19, “GG” made its debut. Sad to say, the first episode did not deliver the goods. They found themselves wishing that the writers had just transported Ryan, Marissa, Kirsten, Sandy and Seth to the Upper East Side. It was hard to get used to a bunch of new, good-looking actors bopping around the city in yellow cabs rather than going to the beach in swanky sports cars.

Smartmom is glad to report, however, that by episode three, she and OSFO are beginning to grow attached to the upper-crusty, Upper East Siders. They love the fact that the show’s unseen narrator is a blogger. (Dumb Editor note: Bloggers?! How about a show about cool, hip, sexy young newspaper editors? After all, TV is fantasyland anyway.)

But even more fun is that the coolest characters, Dan and his sister, take the subway to school and they don’t fit in.

And they live in Brooklyn.

Supposedly “middle class,” Dan and his family live in groovy Williamsburg. His dad, a former rocker, now owns a trendy art gallery and sends his kids to the best private school his new money can buy.

Dan’s dad, who is handsome in a New York artist sort of way, also has tons of back-story with the mother of Serena, the show’s social butterfly. Her mom is a snotty beyatch who was once a rock groupie.

Best of all is the show’s depiction of Dan’s Brooklyn lifestyle. The sprawling loft he lives in with his family has brick walls, art haphazardly hung, electric guitars and furniture from Design Within Reach and West Elm. It looks just like Smartmom’s apartment except she doesn’t live in a million-dollar loft (and can’t afford Design Within Reach).

Of course, Dan’s family isn’t really middle class, they’re just FUNKY Brooklyn folk with more than enough moolah.

Brooklyn Dan is the coolest, smartest, and most ethical character in the show (sort of the Seth of this show in “O.C.”-speak). Unlike the rich, Manhattan kids, who go to the best colleges on the legacy plan, he really reads books and THINKS.

Yay, Brooklyn.

“Gossip Girl” has class warfare up the wazoo as Dan is often picked on for his outer-borough roots.

Therein lies the biggest irony of all: the show is being filmed in Brooklyn Heights (a poor man’s Upper East Side) and DUMBO (a rich man’s Williamsburg).

Last week’s episode used Packer Collegiate, on Montague Street, as a stand in for the private school the kids attend. A snooty cocktail party scene was also filmed there (it looks really nice by the way).

So, who says Brooklyn ain’t as classy as the Upper East Side? The only prominent Manhattan location one week was the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.

Addictive script. Class warfare. Silly, sexy characters and a Brooklyn subplot. What’s not to love?

So you better not call Smartmom or OSFO on Wednesday nights between 9 and 10 pm. They’ll be watching “Gossip Girl” and they don’t want to miss a minute of it

Civics and Urban Life

TWO BIKER DEATHS ON THURSDAY

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From AM New York:

Two Brooklyn bicyclists were killed in separate incidents within two hours early Thursday morning.

In the first case, a man was struck and killed by a gasoline-delivery truck on Union Avenue in Williamsburg. The truck was turning onto Ten Eyck Street shortly after 4 a.m. when it hit the cyclist, who police said was trying to pass the truck and had been riding on the wrong side of the street. No charges were filed again the driver.

About two hours later, another man was riding his bicycle in Bedford-Stuyvesant and was hit by a white van at the intersection of Utica Avenue and Fulton Street. Police determined the driver of the van, Alfred Taylor, 41, of Brooklyn, had been speeding. He was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Police were withholding the names of cyclists pending notification of family.

“We are stunned and outraged to learn that two cyclists were killed within the span of hours,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “Protected street space for cyclists is the surest way to make biking safe. The city must continue to work tirelessly to provide bicyclists with the protections necessary to ensure safe travel.”

Civics and Urban Life

BLOGGER ROUNDTABLE WITH GERSH, GOWANUS, BROWNSTONER AND OTBKB

Last Tuesday morning, three bloggers and one grizzled print editor met at the BCAT studios for what moderator Gersh Kuntzman is calling a smackdown and OTBKB would call a taping of BCAT’s “Reporter Roundtable.”

Probably the most surprising news was the show’s new set. Four leather chairs. Luckily, I wore nice shoes. Truth is, I was expecting to sit behind a desk like the last time I was on a BCAT show.

Pre-show, the three bloggers compared notes about working methods and daily schedules.

The show itself was a mixed bag of conversation about newsapers vs. blogging, development in Williamsburg, and the fate of the NYC real estate bubble. Gersh is a lively and fun moderator and Brownstoner and Gowanus Lounge are both very articulate and comfortable in front of the camera.

I revealed on the show that I lived on North 6th Street in 1984.

“Whoa. You were quite a pioneer,” Gersh said. “Why’d you leave?”

I broke up with the boyfriend I was living with.

The show first airs on Friday, Oct. 19 at 9 pm and is repeated on Monday, Oct. 22 at 1 pm; Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 1:30 and 9:30 pm; and Thursday, Oct. 25 at 2 and 10 pm.

BCAT appears on channel 56 for Time-Warner customers and channel 69 for Cablevision subscribers.

Civics and Urban Life

100 YEARS IN PARK SLOPE: LADDER 122 ON 11TH STREET

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This from NY 1:

A Brooklyn fire house celebrated 100 years of service Thursday.

The fire commissioner and chief of the department joined the members of Ladder Company 122 in Park Slope to celebrate the centennial and to honor its firefighters past and present.

A wall of tribute was unveiled during the ceremony, which includes the names of every firefighter that has worked there.

“It’s great day here,” said FDNY Captain Peter Maglione. “It was an honor to work here. I liked working here.”

“It’s a true honor for us to look up everybody that worked here, and to see how it came out,” said Donald Campbell of the FDNY. “It came out so beautiful.”

Ladder Company 122 is housed in one of the oldest continuously operated firehouses in the city.

Postcard from the Slope

WHAT WOULD JACKIE CONNOR SAY?

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Late afternoon yesterday I saw Pastor Daniel Meeter’s blog post about the homeless men who live on the steps of Old First Church.

I know it took a lot of soul searching on Pastor Meeter’s part to get to the point where he could write that piece and I think he did an excellent job.

Pastor Meeter’s careful articulation and his quest to truly figure out the right way to act makes me respect him even more than I already do.

While this matter obviously causes Meeter a great deal of trouble and anger, he writes beautifully that these men “remain human beings, images of God, and they need to be treated with respect.”

As a spiritual leader, there is no denying that Pastor Meeter has a very difficult situation on his hands.

Meeter says that the church could just get a fence but they don’t believe in that. He recognizes that the steps of the church are an important public space in Park Slope.

At a time like this, Jackie Connor comes to mind.

She used to sit on the steps of Old First at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Carroll. Over a year ago, that corner was officially named Jackie Connor’s Corner.

Sometimes called the Mayor of Seventh Avenue, Connor died in the spring of 2006. She used to push a shopping cart up and down the Avenue. Some thought she was a street person but wasn’t that at all.

In her own inimitable way, she was organizing, agitating, fighting for the rights of the little guy, the streets, and the community of Park Slope.

Civic minded doesn’t even begin to describe Connor, who cared deeply about the neighborhood where she was born and raised. Everyone knew her and she knew everybody; she kept the police abreast of what was going on on Seventh Avenue by cell phone. And she had her pet peeves like flyers on lamp posts, which she waged a one-woman campaign to remove.

Connor was on the street in front of Zuzu’s Petals minutes after fire that ravaged that store, Olive Vine and a Korean market. Fonda Sera, owner of Zuzu’s, will never forget Connor’s unswerving support during what was a devestating time for her and her business.

What would Jackie Connor say now?

I am quite certain that Jackie Connor would not tolerate this situation. I’m sure she had an opinion about people sleeping on the steps of the church. During her time on those steps, the men didn’t sleep there. I may be wrong about that. I’d love to hear Pastor Meeter’s memories of this.

Personally, it disturbs me that these men are making such a nuisance of themselves almost as much as it horrifies me to see them looking so very ill. I’ve observed these men for many years and I’ve seen the ebb and flow of their mental condition. In the last year, they have really deteriorated. Meeter concurs:

I used to talk to them and pray with them. I used to be able to reason with them. That’s no longer possible. They’re drinking 24/7 lately. They are nasty to me too. How long this will go on I do not know. In the short term, it’s people giving them money that keeps it going. In the long term, they are killing themselves. If they manage to get arrested, they will get cleaned up at Rikers, and we’ll have them back in February!

“Before Robert had descended to his current condition, and when he had sober moments, he used to pray very moving prayers for certain people in the area. for poor children, for illiterates (such as himself), for soldiers, for forgiveness of his sins. I hate what has become of him. I always knew it would be coming.This is something, I am guessing, that Jackie Connor would never have tolerated.

The situation is forcing Pastor Meeter and this community to look deeply within to figure out what is the right thing to do.

Already many people have written in to OTBKB to express their views: “People who are actually poor because they may have lost their jobs or suffered some other personal catastrophe don’t end up urinating on themselves and ranting obsenities on street corners. Only the seriously untreated mentally ill do that,” writes Peter Loffredo, a social worker and a psychotherapist.

“While I know that this doesn’t alleviate Pastor Meeter’s frustration with the situation on his church steps, a place to begin must always be to accurately understand the problem. The men are not the “poor” described in the New Testament. Robert, Will and Franklin don’t need money. They need psychiatric treatment in a facility that can also provide structure and teach basic self-maintenance to them. I have seen men like these become functional in such a facility. And I saw the places where such healing took place dismantled a long time ago.”

Three men on the steps of a church. The issues are huge. Are they mentally ill or homeless. Or both. Can they be helped? How and where?

For the time being, we have Pastor Meeter, a deep thinking community and religious leader, who is taking the time to present this complex situation to the community. He is, in a sense, going public with this moral civic conumdrum and seeing what the public has to say. As he writes:

It’s a grief, and we’re at our wits end. We have been unable to find any solution. In a strange way, the three of them are in control. Robert, Will, and Franklin.

They have names. They have souls. They belong to our community. They tell us something about ourselves.

Civics and Urban Life

BENEFIT FOR NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS

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I got this from a woman I met while helping to plan Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice in Park Slope. She’s one cool lady and she’s involved in so much good work in Park Slope.

I am passing on this information about a fabulous pre-holiday party right here in the Slope,
at which we have a chance to get together, have great fun, help a great cause and chill out
for a couple of hours at a very reasonable price. Please Check it Out
As many of you know, I work part-time for a small nonprofit, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, as a Homeownership Counselor. We do homeownership education/counseling and tenant advocacy to primarily low-moderate income clients. Most of our tenant clients are very low-income immigrants living in Sunset Park , Brooklyn , our home-base. Our homeownership program serves clients in all five boroughs.
We are planning our First Annual Benefit Bash at Union Hall, the kick-off to our annual appeal. The event will be on Monday, November 5 from 6:30-9:00pm… and I’d like to invite you all to attend! For the $45 ticket price, guests will enjoy:

Union Hall, closed off to the public until 9:00pm!

Complimentary beer, wine, hors d’oeuvres!

A silent auction with cool items like a new mountain bike, two nights at the Bellagio in Vegas, Liz Claiborne packages, and original artwork! Get some impressive items at great prices, with all proceeds going to charity!

Performances by three talented artists/bands:

Tracy Bonham, who has performed and toured with The Blue Man Group and whose Grammy nominated debut album The Burdens of Being Upright went Gold.

One Ring Zero, who The Boston Globe writes “have not only embraced their ‘lit rock’ reputation but seem primed to become the movement’s indisputable kings.”

Takka Takka, designated ‘a band on the edge’ by Rolling Stone, and called ‘a reason to love New York ‘ by New York Magazine.

I would love to see you there to share a good time together with all proceeds going to support NHN’s important tenant and homeownership work.
To purchase tickets and view this event information, click here. If you are unable to attend, I hope you’ll consider making a small donation. Click here to donate to NHN.

BROOKLYN READING WORKS

BROOKLYN READING WORKS WILL BE PODCAST

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Last night’s Brooklyn Reading Works was recorded by Hepcat with his nifty new Zoom recoring device and will be available soon for those who missed it as well as those who were there.

Broken Land: Poems of Brooklyn was the featured book of the evening. Four poets who’s work appears in the book, Phillis Levin, Patricia Spears Jones, Tom Sleigh, and Michael Tyrell, read their poems as well as their favorites inside the book.

Everyone agreed that the collection, published by NYU Press, is an unusually strong representation of poems about Brooklyn. Tyrell revealed that he and his co-editor, Julia Spicher Kasdorf, tried to avoid nostalgic poems about Brooklyn, what they called knish poems.

Not that there’s anything wrong with poems about knishes.

The book includes contributions from the American poets commonly associated with Brooklyn like Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, and Marianne Moore-as well as memorable poems from Elizabeth Bishop, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, George Oppen, and Charles Reznikoff.

It also includes a wide range of contemporary works from both established and emerging poets: Derek Walcott, Galway Kinnell, C.K. Williams, Amy Clampitt, Martin Espada, Lisa Jarnot, Marilyn Hacker, Tom Sleigh, D. Nurkse, Donna Masini, Michael S. Harper, Noelle Kocot, Joshua Beckman, and many others.

Patricia Spears Jones read her poem, Halloween Weather (A Suite), as well as a poem by June Jordan called Grand Army Plaza.

Philis Levin did a beautiful reading of a Brooklyn poem by Frederico Garcia Lorca, as well as her own piece about the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She also read a startling poem called The Fire by a Croation poet named, Goran Tomcic.

In addition to his own poem, Tom Sleigh read poems by Hart Crane and Walt Whitman.

In his introduction to the evening, editor Tyrell spoke of the years he and his co-editor spent hunting and gathering poems for the book. He grew up on Manhattan Avenue and still lives in Greenpoint. He said the book was dedicated to Enid Dane, a Brooklyn poet of longstanding, who edited, Home Planet News, a Brooklyn literary tabloid “filled with poetry and gossip.” She died in 2003. Tyrell read his poem, “Against Angels” about St. Anthony’s Church in Greenpoint.

Phillis Levin read the last poem in the book, a beautiful poem called, After We Make Love by Melissa Beattie-Moss. Here’s the final stanza:

To comfort me, we lie in bed and talk of our three-year-old-son.
You’ve taught him his full name, address and number, to say
Brooklyn
correctly which he tries in his mouth again and again
Mommy, he says, it’s Baruch, Baruch-lyn, finding the Hebrew word Baruch
meaning Blessed in the old Dutch town of Brooklyn which you
remind me
also means a broken land

You can order Broken Land from the Community Bookstore (they may have it in stock).

The podcast will be available here and at Brooklyn Reading Works.

Don’t miss next month’s Brooklyn Reading Works on November 15th at 8 p.m. Poetry Punch with Lynn Chandhok, Michele Madigan Somerville, Zaedryn Meade, Cheryl B., and Marietta Abrams.

At the Old Stone House in JJ Byrne Park. 3rd Street and Fifth Avenue. For directions check the Old Stone House website.

Civics and Urban Life

CHANCELLOR KLEIN: ALMONTASER WILL NOT GET HER JOB BACK

This from NY 1:

City school officials insist the original principal of a Brooklyn Arabic school will not get her job back.

Debbie Almontaser has said she would sue the Department of Education to be reinstated as head of the Khalil Gibran International Academy.

Almontaser says the city forced her to resign in August, after controversy erupted over her non-condemnation of t-shirts with the word “intifada.” Intifada is widely associated with the Palestinian uprising against Israel.

Almontaser said Tuesday that she would re-apply for her job. But a spokesman for Chancellor Joel Klein says Almontaser will not be eligible, though she remains a DOE employee.

He says 25 people have applied for the position, which is being filled on an interim basis.

Civics and Urban Life

THE HOMELESS MEN OF OLD FIRST: HUMAN IMAGES OF GOD OR PUBLIC NUISANCE?

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Old First Church has a very difficult situation on its hands. It is the homeless men who live on Old First’s steps.

Pastor Daniel Meeter of Old First Church has a post on his blog about these men. He wants to share with the community who they are and why the church has decided, reluctantly, to let them stay there.

In many ways, Pastor Meeter is at the end of his rope about this. “We chased them away every morning. They came back every night. We threw out their stuff. They found new stuff. Only now they started getting even more hostile, to us and to other passersby. We finally found that we couldn’t beat them, and the only thing was to try to control it. Yes, they beat us.”

While they cause him a great deal of trouble and anger, Meeter concludes that these men “remain human beings, images of God, and they need to be treated with respect.”

At the same time, Meeter recognizes that the church belongs to the community and that the church has the responsiblity to be a good neighbor. These men scare kids, make lewd comments at women and passersby.

The situation is forcing Pastor Meeter and the community to look deeply within and figure out what is the right thing to do.

“It is a grief, and we’re at our wits end,” writes Meeter. “We have been unable to find any solution. In a strange way, the three of them are in control. Robert, Will, and Franklin

“They have names. They have souls. They belong to our community. They tell us something about ourselves.

Here’s an excerpt from his Pastor Meeter’s post on Old First Blog:

They have names. They have souls. They belong to our community. They tell us something about ourselves.

Their names are Robert Royster, Will Franklin, and Frank. They cause me a great deal of trouble, and lots of anger from our neighbors, and I do wish they would go away, but, whatever else, they remain human beings, images of God, and they need to be treated with respect.

People keep asking why don’t we get rid of them. We can’t. We’ve tried. Believe me, we have tried. They have abused our hospitality, they piss on our building, they leave food around, they leave garbage all over, they play their radio at great volumes (God forgive me, I have had to resort to theft against them to deal with that one). They are a pain in the neck. But we will not treat them as less than human beings.

We have tried to get rid of them. We’ve discovered the hard way that we can’t do it, we can’t beat them. Whenever I chase them away, they just wait an hour, two hours, and they come back. I go home at night, and they come back. No matter what we do or say, they come back.

I will confess a strong desire inside myself to just let them be. It’s Jesus’ church, not mine, not ours, and the New Testament is very clear about our hospitality to the poor. “The poor you will always have with you.” The parable of Lazarus. Etc. You get the point. And there is no asterix pointing to a codicil that says, “the nice poor.”

But at the same time I recognize we belong to a community, and the church has the responsiblity to be a good neighbor, and if the guys scare the kids, and make lewd comments at women and passersby, and if they leave food scraps around for vermin to get at, etc. etc., then, well, I know that the church has to be a good neighbor. So we decided this last July that they absolutely had to go. We tried to get rid of them. As I said, we couldn’t…

READ THE REST AT OLD FIRST BLOG

Civics and Urban Life

CALLING ALL BROOKLYN BLOGGERS

Luna Park Gazette is the host of this Sunday’s blogfest. Here’s his shout-out. I took it off of LPG. The picture makes me laugh.


All right, all you Kings County bloggers, it’s time to come out from behind the keyboard and face the world. Or at least one part of it.

On Sunday, Oct. 21, I will be hosting Blogade, a monthly meeting of Brooklyn bloggers in beautiful downtown Bay Ridge. (I don’t if it’s really downtown, but I like how that sounds.)

This is my first time hosting one of these events, so naturally I’m a nervous wreck. The bloggers group has its own web page, but we want to reach out to all bloggers in Brooklyn.

The Who: You. That is, you, if you blog in Brooklyn.

The Where: Omonia Cafe, 7612 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. For about 8 bucks you get a delicious pastry and a damn good cup of coffee.

The When: 1 p.m. to about 4 p.m.

The Why: Meet, greet, mingle, schmooze, kibbutz, and sound off about your blog or anything else that might be bugging you.

This is a great group of people and it is diverse as hell. I’ve traveled to parts of my borough that I never would have dreamed of going–and I’m so glad I did.

But we need more: We need you.

So shoot me an e-mail and tell me about you and your blog. Tell me what part of Brooklyn you’re from and please include your blog’s URL.

Please note: if there are any changes to the above plan, I will post a notice and contact everybody by e-mail.

What can I say, people? That’s just the kind of guy I am.

I wish you all peace, love, kindness, and plenty of cream cheese.

Richard Grayson

THE BROOKLYNITES AT BARNES AND NOBLE

A bad cold, sinusitis and teaching six classes at three colleges didn’t keep RICHARD GRAYSON from attending the reading of the Brooklynites on Tuesday night at the Park Slope Barnes and Noble. And boy are we glad he did. Thanks Richard.

by Richard Grayson

ON TUESDAY EVENING: I attended a presentation at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble by Anthony LaSala and Seth Kushner about their excellent coffee-table book of photos and interviews, The Brooklynites. Casually dressed, they sat on either side of a screen on which they showed Seth’s photos of Brooklyn residents from the book and discussed how they went about developing and executing their project and gave interesting tidbits about their subjects.

The first photo that the pair of Brooklyn natives (Seth has never left the borough for more than two weeks at a time; Anthony went away only for college) showed was of themselves back in high school in Bay Ridge in 1991.

When the two friends started their project to photograph the people of Brooklyn, they had a hard time. The neighborhood young women at the annual feast on 18th Avenue, thinking the guys were “perverts” trying to pick them up, were suspicious – as were many others.

Even Seymour, their local hardware store owner, was so dubious about what seemed to him a “not very successful” idea that he refused to be photographed – and would not agree to be until after a year had elapsed and the duo had already shot celebrities like Spike Lee (their first big “get,” Spike led to others), Rosie Perez (who drove Anthony’s car “with a very heavy foot” to the marqueta in Williamsburg where she posed), Jonathan Lethem (who also rounded up Brooklyn’s other literary Jonathans, Safran Foer and Ames) and Marty Markowitz (photographed at his table at Junior’s, where he posed with a slab of cheesecake that he would not eat – at least in front of them – but did take home).

Seth and Anthony said they gained of weight from all their travels around the borough: they got steaks at Peter Luger (whose chef is seen on the Williamsburg Bridge), pizza at Totonno’s and DiFara’s (Dominick DeMarco has his floured hands, as usual, taking his pie out of the oven), and cases of Fox’s U-Bet syrup at the Brownsville factory where the crucial ingredient in eggcreams is still manufactured and which is permeated by the smell of chocolate.

They also got to go behind the scenes at Brooklyn’s cultural and historic attractions. The pair got into the Brooklyn Museum on a Monday or Tuesday, when all of us natives know it’s never open, to take a photo of director Arnold Lehman in the famed Egyptian room. They also went to Green-Wood Cemetery on a bright snowy day when it too was closed, to shoot director Ken Taylor – who told them it was often hard to convince pizzerias that, yes, the delivery should come to his home in a graveyard.

And that shot of Otis the sea lion and his keeper at the New York Aquarium also allowed Seth and Anthony access to places usually off-limits to the public. They even managed to get past the gate in Sea Gate, which Anthony said was unlike any other place in the city, when they shot gymnast Olga Karminski doing contortions on a ledge in front of the Sea Gate lighthouse.

Other photos we saw featured the Coney Island freak show’s The Great Fredini, swallowing a sword on a street corner in Greenpoint; writer David Lefkowitz and his young son, who actually live on a Gowanus Canal houseboat; one of the young players for the Cyclones in Keyspan Park, with the Parachute Jump in the background; and singer Sufjan Stevens, photographed on the Brooklyn Bridge in one of the most artistic shots in the book (thanks to the wonderful geometric patterns of the bridge’s cables).

They were most pleased to shoot Steve Buscemi on the block in East New York where he grew up; they were invited to his old apartment, which he hadn’t been in since childhood and where he did his first acting for his mom and dad. But of course many of the portraits in the book are not of famous Brooklynites but of the regular people we pass on the street every day. In the book, all of them get to talk about what makes Brooklyn special to them. (When asked by Southerners to say something in Brooklynese, one wise guy photographed in the book said he told them, “Hand over your wallet.”)

After the presentation, a lot of us lined up to get our copies of The Brooklynites signed by Seth and Anthony. I’m sending mine to my father who may have lived in other states for the past 30 years but who’s still a Brooklynite at heart.

–RICHARD GRAYSON (author of With Hitler in New York and And to Think That he Kissed Him on Lorimer Street.

Look what the critics have to say about RG: “Where avant garde fiction goes when it becomes standup comedy.” — Rolling Stone
“Grayson is shaking funny ingredients together like dice.” — Los Angeles Times
“The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on.” — Newsday
“Really funny” — New York Daily News

Other Bloggers

FISKE TERRACE LANDMARKING MEETING UPDATE

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Brooklyn Beat sent me this update. Check out his blog: Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn.

"We had a very large turnout from the 2 neighborhoods and almost everyone who spoke was positive. We left feeling that we made a favorable impression on the committee," reports Paula Paterniti, Fiske Terrace Association Co-President. Although as yet there is no official word as to when the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s final ruling will be made regarding granting of the historic status to the Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park neighborhoods, the community hopes that the LPC will release a decision "before the summer," said Ms. Paterniti.

But it would appear that major steps in the landmark designation application and review process have now been completed through the dedicated efforts of the Fiske Terrace Association and Midwood Park Homeowners Association and other public officials and members of the community, and it is now up to the LPC to deliberate and render a decision.

Tuesday’s hearing was covered on Cablevision’s News 12 Wednesday night.

In a related item, Borough President Marty Markowitz will present a proclamation celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fiske Terrace Association to community members at a special Brooklyn Borough Hall celebration next week.

–Brooklyn Beat

Civics and Urban Life

TEEN SINGER/SONGWRITERS AT ROCKY SULLIVAN’S ON FRIDAY NIGHT

Kane’s record release party is turning into quite a line-up of local teen singer/songwriters.

Kane, one of the members of the blues duo, Dulaney Banks, has come out with an album of his original songs. I haven’t heard it yet but my expectations are sky high based on his excellent guitar and vocal work with Dulaney Banks. Here are the deets:

October, 19 2007 at Rocky Sullivan’s of Red Hook
34 Van Dyke st. (corner of Dwight st), Brooklyn, New York 11231
Cost :

DEMO RELEASE/SINGER SONGWRITER SHOWCASE, feat: Jonathan Edelstein, Tola Brennan, Joe Endozo, Matt Feldman, Henry Crawford, Window Sign Language, Josh Weidmann, Kane.

Hear Kane’s music here.

Postcard from the Slope

A PASSIONATE DEFENSE OF PIGEONS AND THE PLANET FROM THE PIGEON LADY

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Johanna Clearfield is a serious animal rights advocate, a member of the HSUS (humane society) as well as a wildlife rehabilitator. Her respect for wildlife comes also out of a serious interest in the survival of the planet (eg. having some of the wonder of nature preserved and pristine as a legacy for our children). She is also a passionate advocate for the pigeons of Park Slope. Here is her reaction to the many comments she has received about her post about feeding bird seed to pigeons.

Any and all animal waste is not healthy and the germs and bacteria that result from dog waste are far more serious than any pigeon droppings.

The fact that Bryant Park was horrible in the 1960s and early 70s does not justify robbing the public of park space and injecting a tourist attracting ice skating rink. These are not answers. These are extremes. The fact that Methodist hospital took a neglected piece of overgrown acreage and turned it into a neat paved parking lot is another extreme.

What were there? Only two choices? An overgrown yard or a paved parking lot that (it has been proven) has tripled the amount of pollution in our air — and these were the only two choices? Perhaps a public garden? A playground? An open air performance space? Something that the local high school could have used for their kids?

Such myopic thinking.

If you go to the web page colinjerolmack.com you will see an extremely intelligent PhD candidate who is currently finishing a full length book which explores, investigates and exposes how cities and urban areas have been changing the “norm” of what is acceptable and (what birds or animals) are acceptable in our urban environment. Not long ago pigeons enjoyed a high popularity — many people find them entertaining, amusing and contributing greatly to the general every dayness of our lives. Many people welcomed their presence as many people (today) find sparrows and blue Jays and other birds to be a welcome addition to their urban scape.

It is the success of the exterminating companies, the developers and the property owners who are annoyed with having to clean off pigeon droppings — who have spread this “N” word of “rats with wings” —

Do we question whether or not we want to live in neighborhoods that are antiseptic and devoid of natural and free city birds? Where do we draw the line? Sparrows are cute but pigeons are monstrous?

To add to the arrogance of “pigeon haters” — the bigger picture — our planet and the extinction of so many wonderful and unique species — the extinction of so many animals because of human selfishness — This does not seem to play into anyone’s psychic awareness. We have to look at where we are. Where are we? If we keep destroying all of the natural areas and making the wild animals extinct — will that be when we finally enjoy our planet? When developers don’t have to worry about any spotted owls getting in the way of their John Deer tractors?

We live here in Brooklyn. Do we have any connection to the daily destruction of the rain forests and/or the wildernesses in other parts of the world? Maybe not directly.

But what are we doing to care for what we now enjoy as wildlife in our midst? Wouldn’t it make sense to devise some kind of “living with urban wildlife” scheme and/or program where people like myself — who respect and care for all city birds and animals without distinction — to support such a program? We should be able to have our voice heard along with the overwhelming cries of developers and people like many of the posts here — who selfishly cannot think beyond “rats with wings” They cannot put themselves in the reverse position. Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. How would they feel, if by a freak of nature, they were pigeons in a world of humans? Why is that such a difficult and unwelcome thought for almost anyone to consider?

We as a race, not just on this little plot of land, but on the planet have to stop being so myopic and self centered and lack real respect and consideration for nature and animals — all animals. Look around. The world is in horrendous shape. We are on the brink of a gazillion catastrophes, we have our men and women dying every day over what? Over property? Over money? oil? It is the same thinking and values that have cause the state of disaster we find our world in today. What does it take to start with one simple act of compassion? To think about creatures who are at our mercy? To act without selfishness? To care without condition

Civics and Urban Life

MCBROOKLYN IS ON A ROLL

Go to McBrooklyn and read about the death of a MCI Worldcom public telephone and bottles in the trees at Metrotech.

But for my money, his piece about what remains of Schrafft’s on Fulton Street takes the cake. My sister and I lunched at a Madison Avenue Schrafft’s every Saturday with my grandmother. Hot Butterscotch Sundae. Thanks for the memories, McBrooklyn.

There was a time when everybody ate at Schrafft’s.

Schrafft’s was known for wholesome, all-American fare, served by fresh-faced Irish waitresses. Mothers and children ate there; so did movie stars. Schrafft’s restaurants were located in high-end shopping districts, like Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn…

Read more at McBrooklyn.

Civics and Urban Life

BROKEN LAND: POEMS OF BROOKLYN TONIGHT!

Brooklyn Reading Works presents poets Phillis Levin, Andrea Baker, Patricia Spears Jones, and Tom Sleigh featured in the book, Broken Land: Poems of Brooklyn. The Old Stone House at Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street. at 8 p.m. $5. donation. Includes light refreshments.

Brooklyn, crouching forever in the shadow of Manhattan, is perhaps best known for a certain bridge or for the world-renowned tackiness of Coney Island. When it comes to literary history, Brooklyn can also seem dwarfed by its sister borough-until you take a closer look. As unlikely as it may sound, for more than two centuries Brooklyn has inspired poets and poetry. Although there are plenty of poetry anthologies devoted to specific regions of the United States, Broken Land is the first to focus exclusively on verse that celebrates Brooklyn. And what remarkable verse it is.

Edited by poets Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Michael Tyrell, this collection of 135 notable poems reveals the many cultural, ethnic, aesthetic, and religious traditions that have accorded Brooklyn its enduring place in the American psyche. Dazzling in its selections, Broken Land offers poetry from the colonial period to the present, including contributions from the American poets most closely associated with Brooklyn-Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, and Marianne Moore-as well as memorable poems from Elizabeth Bishop, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, George Oppen, and Charles Reznikoff. Also included are a wide range of contemporary works from both established and emerging poets: Derek Walcott, Galway Kinnell, C.K. Williams, Amy Clampitt, Martin Espada, Lisa Jarnot, Marilyn Hacker, Tom Sleigh, D. Nurkse, Donna Masini, Michael S. Harper, Noelle Kocot, Joshua Beckman, and many others.

With its expansive array of poetic styles and voices, Broken Land mirrors the borough’s diversity, toughness, and surprising beauty. The requirements for inclusion in this volume were simple: excellent poems that pay tribute in some way to the land that Dutch settlers, translating from the Algonquin, called “Gebroken landt.” But it is the phrase emblazoned on borough billboards that best serves to entice readers into entering this book: “Welcome to Brooklyn, Like No Other Place in the World.”

Brooklyn Papers

DID YOU SEE COUNCILMAN ODDO ON YOU TUBE?

I didn’t know a thing about it (even though it was on the cover of the Brooklyn Paper). Gersh Kuntzman brought it to my attention yesterday when I was at the taping of his show, Reporter’s Roundtable on BCAT. You can see th Oddo video on the Brooklyn Paper website.

Oddo (R–Dyker Heights) made headlines around the globe this week
after a user of YouTube, the ubiquitous video-sharing Web site, posted
a clip of the Council minority leader screaming obscenities at a
Norwegian reporter whose “interview” was really an Ali G-style prank.

Once he realized that the joke was on him, Oddo wasn’t laughing.

“Get
the f—k out of my office! What the f—k is this?” Oddo screamed,
dropping the “f-bomb” 15 times (and assorted other barnyard expletives
a few more times) in the clip which ran just over one-and-one-half
minutes.

The YouTube footage has made Oddo something of a folk
hero among his supporters (“Reminds me of Sonny Corleone! Awesome,”
said one fan) and a thug to his detractors (“You embarrassed yourself,
Staten Island and Italians,” wrote one disappointed constituent).
Either way, the video has become a must-watch (you can see it below).

Civics and Urban Life

311 WORKS OR WHAT A COLOSSAL MISUSE OF TIME

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What a story. And Brooklyn Paper has bragging rights. The story spread from coast to coast.  A summons for chalk drawings on a Brooklyn stoop? Come on.

A 6-year-old Park Slope girl is facing a $300 fine from the city for
doing what city kids have been doing for decades: drawing a pretty
picture with common sidewalk chalk.

Obviously not all of Natalie
Shea’s 10th Street neighbors thought her blue chalk splotch was her
best work — a neighbor called 311 to report the “graffiti,” and the
Department of Sanitation quickly sent a standard letter to Natalie’s
mom, Jen Pepperman.

Can somebody stop these bureaucrats before they Kafka again?

“PLEASE
REMOVE THE GRAFFITI FROM YOUR PROPERTY,” the Sanitation Department
warning letter read. “FAILURE TO COMPLY … MAY RESULT IN ENFORCEMENT
ACTION AGAINST YOU.”

Civics and Urban Life

DEBBIE ALMONTASER TO SUE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

This from NY 1:

The founder and former principal of the city’s new Arab language and
culture school announced Tuesday evening that she is suing the
Department of Education and re-applying for her job.

Debbie Almontaser resigned in August under criticism for not
condemning the use of the word intifada on t-shirts. Intifada is an
Arabic term commonly used to refer to the Palestinan uprising against
Israel.

However, now she says the DOE violated her Constitutional rights by
basically forcing her to resign and turned its back on her when the
controversy got heated.

"In fact, they should have said that the attacks against me are utterly baseless," said Almontaser.

Some of the school’s planning committee, religious leaders, and local lawmakers came out to support Almontaser.

“Everyone has a right to free speech,” said City Councilman John
Liu. “The DOE and this administration acted totally irresponsibly and
violated the trust placed in them in what they allowed to happen to
Debbie Almontasser.

Brooklyn State Assemblyman Dov Hikind was one of those who
protested the school since the beginning. He dismissed Almontaser’s
application, saying her resignation should stand.

“She decided to resign,” he said. “Whether she did it on her own,
or was encouraged by the administration in the city to do that, it was
a good thing that she left.”

Almontaser says she’s the most qualified educator to run the
school. The DOE says that it will not consider her application,
although there is an active search for a new principal.

A spokesperson for the DOE also says that Almonster is currently an employee of the DOE who is being paid about $120,000 a year.

Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn opened its doors to 55 students this September.

Postcard from the Slope

RANDY KAPLAN HEADING WEST

I got this email from kid’s music hero, Randy Kaplan, about his winter plans.

I decided to winter in Los Angeles this year. But, before I set out for several shows in the South, Thanksgiving in Dallas, more recording in Kansas, and that beautiful drive through Utah to California I’ll be appearing here in New York a bunch of times:

Saturday, October 27 (Family Show) – BAX – 421 5th Ave. (near 9th St.) – Park Slope, Brooklyn – 11:30 a.m. – $8 kids / $12 adults – buy tickets soon!

Monday, November 12 (Adults Only) – The Living Room – 154 Ludlow St. (between Stanton & Rivington) – Lower East Side, Manhattan – 8 p.m. – no cover/tips only – 21+ w/ i.d.

Every Tuesday morning at 10:30 & every Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 through November 14 (Family Shows) – Perch Cafe – 365 5th Ave. (between 5th & 6th Streets) – Park Slope, Brooklyn – $3

There’s a video of me singing "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" at this past April’s kids’ show. It’s posted on my MySpace Kids’ page which is www.myspace.com/randykaplanjunior.

Just click on the blog link or scroll down to the comments. I haven’t watched it yet. I hope it’s alright.

So, does anyone want to sublet my apartment from mid-November through mid-March? It’s in Park Slope, Brooklyn. E-mail me.
Oh, my two new records (Ancient Ruins & Loquat Rooftop) should be out by December. Should be. We’ll see.
Thanks. Hope to see y’all soon,

Other Bloggers

BLOG OF THE DAY: BROOKLYN JUNCTION

There’s a new blog on the block. It’s called Brooklyn Junction and it focuses on the area right near Brooklyn College.

Dear Brooklyn Bloggers,

I am taking a stab at joining you in the blogosphere. I’m way down
here in the belly of Brooklyn, blogging about the area in Flatbush
known as the Junction–right near Brooklyn College.

Please visit me at brooklynjunction.blogspot.com. I think I’ve got a
good first story–a residential dorm in the works at Brooklyn College.

I am a faithful reader of your respective blogs. I have read numerous
times over the course of the last year about bloggers lamenting that
certain parts of Brooklyn are underrepresented in the blogging
community.

My blog is partly inspired by that indirect call to action.

I’m a total rookie at this, with a day job to boot. Any ideas, advice
or support you can offer me would be received very well.

Sincerely,

Brooklyn Junction
brooklynjunction.blogspot.com

Postcard from the Slope

FOR THE WANT OF WANT

An OTBKB reader sent this lovely and introspective post. Check out her blog, The Love We Make.

Want; it can be used as a verb (used with or without object) or a noun. One definition being; “to be deficient by the absence of some part or thing, or to feel or have a need”.

 

Today I had a
realization that changes the way I look at my life. I got up this
morning and found my mate in the living room writing in his journal, I
sat down and we immediately got into deep conversation about life, our
lives. One of the things he touched on was the feeling that his
grandfather and father were considered icons or “great” men and that
all his life he wanted to be great. My response,
was that he was already that great person, even back then as a boy, and
that he just didn’t see it, which I know to be true, but almost sounds
pat in today’s world of self introspection and positive affirmations,
etc.

As we got deeper into
the conversation I shared that it reminded me of MY childhood only I
always wanted to have the perfect body, I always fantasized that if I
had the perfect body (and overall look) I would be beyond happy, my
life would be filled with wonders beyond my wildest imagination blah,
blah, blah… I guess this was my version of “being great”.

We went on to talk
about the times in our lives when we actually achieved “greatness” (at
least in our own mind) or came as close to it as possible, for example;
a time when he was playing piano so beautifully he made his instructor
cry at a recital, or a time I was in great shape and very happy with my
body and the overall way I looked.

Why then did we not
maintain these statuses? Why were these fleeting moments? Why did we
need to sabotage ourselves? Is it because once we were getting close to
great, and our lives were not exactly meeting our wildest fantasies, it
was too disappointing to face?

What about this state of WANTING, “the state of being without something desired or needed, of being without the necessaries of life.”?


Now
this, the state of wanting, this is where we grew up. It was something
we could handle, this feeling was so familiar, so comfortable, it
seemed to fit us perfectly. Wanting wasn’t a launching point to
get you to the next place in life but rather was a perpetual state of
being, a mood or way of life, if you will. This
is how we were recognized, how we learned to relate to others. It was
like belonging to this club, those of us who knew about wanting. I
started to think back to the 60’s when I was growing up, what was I
hearing about- wanting peace, wanting to change the world, wanting be
somebody, wanting to stop the war…it was cool to want. Now
wanting…that’s something I could sink my teeth into, wanting is where
it was at.


When
I think about the last conversation I had with an old friend of mine,
(about a week ago) what did we talk about? We talked about wanting to
lose weight, hmm… let’s see…how long have I been wanting that… Oh yeah
only about 40 years now – 40 YEARS!!!! What the hell! Let’s at least
consider changing the subject!!! There should be a statute of
limitations on it for Christ sake, come on already! How long should we
be allowing ourselves to want something??? (I’m starting to feel like
Lewis Black all of a sudden).

 

Here’s
the rub; it’s can’t possibly be about losing the weight or whatever
that thing is that you say you “want” it must somehow be the wanting
that is the goal here . Imagine having a contest for people who have
been wanting something the longest in life? You wouldn’t actually get the Gold Medal, your prize would be to get to keep wanting it!


What I’m saying is that wanting, the “state of wanting”, is what we end becoming attached to, as painful as it is.


Now
it’s not as if we all haven’t achieved many goals along the way, it’s
just that I can finally see clearly how this state of wanting is so
ingrained in me that I don’t even notice I’m in it. To see past wanting
and accept HAVING is really to accept a totally new way of
understanding and living life, this time joining the ranks of already
having, being, and doing. I think I’m ready for a change.

The writer "is a 47 year old woman who spent the last 22 years of my life working
(19 years in the fashion industry)and living in the city of New York (4
yrs Bronx, 9 yrs Manhattan and the rest in Brooklyn ). During those
years I have experienced being single, married, a parent (twice),
divorced (once), employed, unemployed, selling and buying real estate
(a total of 9 transactions), dealing with private schools and public
schools, issues around vaccines,and all kinds of incorrect diagnoses of
my children. I have willingly gone through more than my share of
individual/couples and group therapy. I have gone from being a democrat
to an independent to a new party I just made up called the NRRM an
acronym for the "Nobody Really Represents Me" party.
The name of my blog is taken from the words of A Beatle’s song off the
Abbey Road album called The End – "And in the end, The love you take,
Is equal to The Love You Make." I happen to believe it."

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

Here’s something new from our pal Pete. His new blog, Full Permission Living, is up and running.

Bill Cosby
and Alvin Poussaint have a new book out called: "Come On People: On the
Path from Victims to Victors." They’re on the talk show circuit, and
Bob Herbert wrote a column in today’s Times on the book. Here’s the
link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/opinion/16herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Here’s my comment in a letter to the Times and Mr. Herbert:
 
 To the Editor:

     I, too, watched Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint on "Meet The Press," on Sunday,
and although I admire what they are trying to say in their book, "Come
On People…", as a clinical social worker who was worked in New York City
for thirty years, I must disagree with Mr. Cosby’s statement: "A word
to the wise ain’t necessary. It’s the stupid ones who need the advice."

I have found that "preaching to the choir" is actually a key way to
effect change. For example, during the Meet the Press
interview, the subject of parents being physically violent with
children came up. The two authors addressed this as if what the parents
in question needed was training or information, presuming that the
knowledge that beating your kids isn’t a good child-rearing technique
would change the parents’ behavior.

In fact, adults who beat children
do so because of their own internalized stockpile of unworked-on rage,
not for lack of knowing a better approach. Likewise, the notion that
informing absentee fathers that their children need them, or pointing
out to adolescents who emulate the language of rappers that they might
not get a job as a pilot or doctor, is not going to effect any change
either.

Adults who already desire to be loving, present parents are the
ones who seek out and require information on ways to better themselves,
and young people who already desire a life of dignity and financial
comfort are the ones who need guidance and access on how to attain such
goals. The people who Mr. Herbert  states "are still trapped in prisons
of extreme violence, poverty, degradation and depression" need the kind
of help that could only be provided by a society that can go beyond
punishment and provide useful limits and boundaries on violent,
anti-social behavior in combination with intense emotional guidance.

Sincerely,

Peter Loffredo, LCSW

Postcard from the Slope

TIME OUT LOVES ELEMENTI

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Time Out New York served Elementi, the post-Snooky’s eatery on Seventh Avenue, with one heck of a review. And it’s all about the FOOD. The sentence that sticks out: "Elementi is the best thing to happen to Park Slope since al di la." TONY gave Elementi 5 stars out of 6.

"When Snooky’s, a Park Slope hang, served its final pint earlier this
year, locals rallied in protest. Seems that Slopers content to vie for
tables across the street at Sotto Voce (or at any of the lesser Italian
spots lining the nearby Fifth Avenue) were loath to relinquish one of
the area’s remaining blue-collar joints to this capacious Pan-Italian
eatery.

Indeed, everything about Elementi—from the yuppified
chocolate-brown decor to the insightful servers—feels at odds with the
humbler side of Brooklyn. Civic unrest notwithstanding, Elementi is the
best thing to happen to Park Slope since al di là. Chef Camilo Bassani
dispatched a garlicky bruschetta to nibble on while we considered the
wine list—a mostly Italian lineup with plenty of modest selections and
a few worthy indulgences, like a divine $79 Barolo. An appetizer of
fish carpaccio—ghostly, translucent sheets of tuna, swordfish and
salmon—melted on the tongue, while long ribbons of fried zucchini
tangled with a tender shrimp-and-squid fritto misto. We delighted in a
heady rabbit ragù threaded with al dente strands of fresh
fettuccine, and savored buttery veal, perfumed with sage and served
over crisp cubes of potato. An unexceptional ricotta cheesecake brought
us back to earth, if only long enough to consider the hefty bill (a far
cry from Snooky’s sorely missed $19.95 steak dinner). Angry Slopers,
avert your eyes: Gentrification never tasted so good.

140 Seventh Ave between Carroll St and Garfield Pl, Park Slope,
Brooklyn (718-788-8388). Subway: F to Seventh Ave. Mon 5:30–11pm;
Tue–Fri 11:30am–4pm, 5:30–11pm; Sat, Sun 10:30am–4pm, 5:30–11pm.
Average main course: $17."

New York 1

MORE WATER TAXIS TO BROOKLYN

2 Comments

This from New York 1:

The City’s Economic Development Corporation has issued a
request for proposals for ferry service to the Williamsburg and
Greenpoint waterfront. The agency is currently reviewing the proposals.
New York Water Taxi is one company that wants in.

"The city provides a base level of operating subsidy. Together you
can make the system work, at a cost, that will bring people to the
water,” says New York Water Taxi President Tom Fox.

The Water Taxi already docks at the Schaefer Landing Condo Complex
in South Williamsburg and goes to Midtown and Wall Street. But there is
no city subsidy, so a one way ticket to Wall Street is $5.50, to East
34th Street is $4.50, compared to $2 for the subway. One rider says
it’s still worth the cost.

Serving Park Slope and Beyond