POLICE ON ALERT: UNVERIFIED THREAT

This from the New York Daily News:

According to the NYPD, units have been deployed with radiological
sensors, and checkpoints have been established at specific entry points
into Manhattan, including the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, as well as
the Manhattan Bridge.

The center of this threat is reportedly the 34th Street area.

The report was based upon postings on an Israeli website which said
an Al-Qaeda video suggested a truck with radioactive material may be
detonated within the city, as well as other locations such as Los
Angeles.

HELPING BAY RIDGE TORNADO VICTIMS

Right in Bay Ridge  spotted a sign in the window of New York City Councilman Vincent Gentile’s district office (8703 3rd Ave.) about helping victims of the Bay Ridge tornado:

Monetary donations are suggested for those wishing to help the American
Red Cross, who are now providing aid to our neighbors affected by the
tornado.

Please make checks / money orders payable to:

The American Red Cross of Greater NY

* Note on the check / money order "Brooklyn Tornado"

You may drop off your donation with a staff member inside or mail your donation to:

American Red Cross, Brooklyn Office
100 Pineapple Walk
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Thank you so much for helping the Red Cross help our Neighbors from Bay Ridge and other parts of Brooklyn!!

DEBBIE ALMONTASER RESIGNS: KHALIL GIBRAN PRINCIPAL OUT

Mayor Bloomberg today accepted the resignation of Debbie Almontaser, the principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy slated to begin classes in September. At 3:10 p.m. the Department of Education released this statement by Amontaser, who was one of the Park Slope 100. 

This morning I tendered my resignation to Chancellor Klein, which he
accepted. I became convinced yesterday that this week’s headlines were
endangering the viability of Khalil Gibran International Academy, even
though I apologized. I have spent the last two years of my nearly 15
years with the Department working to create the unique educational
opportunities that the school will offer. I will not allow the recent
outcry to undermine these possibilities for the children of our city.

Almontasser, a longtime public school teacher and former resident of Park Slope, was criticized by some for not condemning a t-shirt made by a group which shares an office with the Yemeni-American association that Almontaser represents.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers said her support
for the Khalil Gibran International Academy was shaken because Almontaser’s did not initially take concerns seriously about t-shirts that said, "Intifada NYC" and were sold by an organization called, Arab Women Active in the Arts. Mayor Bloomberg had this to say on his weekly radio show.

I know the woman. She’s worked for the city in a variety of capacities.
She’s very smart. She’s certainly not a terrorist. She really does
care. And she said something a couple days ago -– she got a question,
she’s not all that media-savvy maybe, and she tried to explain a word
rather than just condemn. But I think she felt that she had become the
focus of — rather than having the school the focus, so today she
submitted her resignation, which is nice of her to do. I appreciate all
her service and I think she’s right to do so. But now, let’s look to
the future.

Supporters of Almontaser in Park Slope urged her to stay on as principal. The school, whihc is expected to open as planned, is located in the Brooklyn High School of the Arts and the Math and
Science Exploratory School in Boerum Hill. No replacement for Almontaser has been selected. 

PETUNIA ON DOG RUN ETIQUETTE

This just in from OTBKB commenter, Petunia:

Your OTBKB reader’s nemesis is "clearly" in the wrong and sounds like a
miserable person to encounter w/ dogs or without, but that said, if
your dog is in a public dog run and has been allowed to get overexcited
to the point of "tussling," don’t let yourself off the hook so fast
either.

I personally avoid the Fifth Avenue dog run for these very reasons
– there’s no getting away from an overexcited dog, and a dog coming
into a dog run in that state can quickly cross the line from "play" to
aggression.

Often in those cases the owner isn’t paying attention to
the warning signs and then takes a "dogs will be dogs" attitude, which
can be a bit infuriating. Just because there’s no blood doesn’t mean
it’s ok for the other dogs and owners to have to put up with it.

[The OTBKB reader] said the other dog was out-of-control excited as well, which would make
a problem pretty inevitable. Just think about the playground, same
basic considerations apply – if one kid pushes another kid in
"excitement", then that kid’s parent needs to take charge, not make
excuses, whether or not anyone was hurt.

It doesn’t mean you have a
monster dog or anything, it’s not really the dogs’ fault – I just wish
people would exercise their dogs a little before coming into the dog
run, to take the edge off so problems like this can be avoided. There’s
an excellent Dog Whisperer episode about dog park etiquette I wish all
dog owners would watch.

So take your pooch for a good long walk before
letting her loose in the run, keep a closer eye out for signs of play
getting too rough for one dog or the other, and hopefully you won’t
have to worry again about some crazy dog person getting all crazy on
you.

HOME MOVIE DAY AT THE ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

HOME MOVIE DAY 2007!

Anthology Film Archives

32 2nd Avenue

New York, NY 10003 USA

Telephone: (212) 505-5181

Fax: (212) 477-2714

"There’s no such thing as a bad home movie. These mini-underground opuses are revealing, scary, joyous, always flawed, filled with accidental art and shout out from attics and closets all over the world to be seen again. Home Movie Day is an orgy of self-discovery, a chance for family memories to suddenly become show business. If you’ve got one, whip it out and show it now." –John Waters

It’s back!! The 5th Annual Home Movie Day returns for another celebration of films by you, your parents, your grandparents, your neighbors, genuine strangers and total weirdos. HMD 2006 was an overwhelming success with events in over 40 cities throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan. This year promises to be bigger and better because YOU will be bringing YOUR 8mm, Super 8mm or 16mm films to Anthology where they will be inspected and projected for all to observe. Motion picture archivists will be on hand to discuss film preservation and to give tips on how to save your precious movies before it is too late.

Sorry, but only films will be screened at this event, which means NO HOME VIDEOS (however video-makers should definitely come and see what they are missing).

Screenings will be first come, first served and we will not be able to screen more than one or two reels per person. Whether it is the day you lost your first tooth, an unknown cousin’s graduation or Grandpa in his Cadillac, we want to see those movies! Please contact andrew@anthologyfilmarchives.org for more information, or check out our site: homemovieday.com.

WEATHER BY ROSE: PROBLEMS ON F TRAIN IN QUEENS

From her weather tower in Coney Island, here’s today’s Weather by Rose at 9:30 am:

Heavy downpours until 2 p.m. or so. It’ll clear up by the afternoon. Temperatures in the 70’s. There might even be a peep of sun. The rest of the weekend is supposed to be nice.

The F train isn’t running at all. The rest of the trains are running. Mostly problems with the F. Otherwise everything is going okay.

F TRAIN SERVICE SUSPENDED IN QUEENS

The City Room Reports that as of 8:18 a.m., "the F line was suspended at its terminus at 179th Street
in Jamaica, Queens, and the 71st-Continental Avenues station in Forest
Hills, Queens, because of switch problems at the 179th Street station.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Web site, which had not
been updated since 6:33 a.m., had previously reported that the system
was running normally."

SEEING GREEN: ADVERSITY BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN CITY CYCLISTS

Seeing Green had this to say about Wednesday’s subway crisis and the behavior of cyclists. Read more at Seeing Green.

It is said that adversity brings out the best in people. Not,
apparently in some of the cycling populace of New York (or is it
Brooklyn alone?). Yesterday’s storm caused commuting chaos, what with
subways closed, roads gridlocked and buses jammed.
So many were forced to walk on the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges
from our fair borough to Manhattan (as an aside, I must say that I am
very impressed by these commuters; faced with the walking to work, I’d
taken the day off.) You would think this would bring out a camaraderie
in the cyclists, preferring to see pedestrians rather than the mass of
commute vehicles normally around. But apparently not. Streetsblog ran a
post asking "How was your commute?" which had dozens of lively, entertaining stories about how bad it was and how people coped.

But what stood out, and I will admit to succumbing to the tyranny of
small numbers (where one places undue focus on a small number of events
rather than statistical norms, kinda like remembering the few times
your bus was late rather than the majority of times you did not have to
wait long,) is the sheer stupidity of certain cyclists. Faced with
hundreds of people walking the bridges, they had the temerity to
complain about pedestrians who impinged on their sacred bike path space.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WARNING: FLOOD WATCH FOR KINGS COUNTY

FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY
436 AM EDT FRI AUG 10 2007
...SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS...HEAVY AT TIMES...COULD
PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING ACROSS NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK
CITY THIS MORNING...
.AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER PENNSYLVANIA WILL TRACK JUST SOUTH
OF THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA LATER TODAY. SHOWERS AND
POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS WILL ACCOMPANY THIS LOW...WHICH MAY RESULT
IN FLASH FLOODS.

WESTERN PASSAIC-BERGEN-EASTERN PASSAIC-ESSEX-HUDSON-UNION-
NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX-RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)-
KINGS (BROOKLYN)-QUEENS-
436 AM EDT FRI AUG 10 2007
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM EDT THIS
AFTERNOON...
THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR
* PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY...
BERGEN...EASTERN PASSAIC...ESSEX...HUDSON...UNION AND WESTERN
PASSAIC. IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK...BRONX...KINGS (BROOKLYN)...
NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)...QUEENS AND RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND).
* UNTIL 2 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON
* SHOWERS THIS MORNING ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MODERATE TO HEAVY IN
INTENSITY AS THE MORNING PROGRESSES. AS SUCH...RAINFALL AMOUNTS BETWEEN
ONE AND ONE AND A HALF INCHES ARE ANTICIPATED. LOCALLY HIGHER
AMOUNTS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. WITH A SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL IN
THE RECENT PAST...SOIL MOISTURE LEVELS ARE ALREADY HIGH...WHICH
WILL INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT RESULTS IN RUNOFF. THIS
WILL TAX LOCAL SEWER SYSTEMS AND RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT RAPID
RISES ON SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS...AND COULD RESULT IN FLASH
FLOODS ACROSS THE WATCH AREA.
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD
TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.
YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION
SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.
$$

Issuing Weather Forecast Office Homepage 

TROUBLE AT THE FIFTH AVENUE DOG RUN

An OTBKB reader sent in this story of her "nightmare at the Fifth Avenue Dog Run."

I had a terrible experience today at the Fifth Avenue dog run. An aggressive truck of a woman with a shepherd mix and an
abundance of leisure time stopped me and my dog from entering the park,
and by "stopped" I mean physically blocked the entrance, called me a
"bitch", and said that my dog and I would enter "over her dead body."

I wish that I were joking about this.

It was like walking into an episode of COPS.

Now
I’ve dealt with my share of crazy dog people before but this lady was a
whole new level of lunatic. She calIed me Dorothy and accused me of
being from Kansas. KANSAS!

This would not stand. Rather than face a physical confrontation
with this stool sample I called the cops on her after she quite
elegantly volunteered to "kick my ass." The police were nice enough to
stop by and let her know that she was neither the boss of the dog park,
nor the President of Armenia.

I had unfortunately previously encountered this beastly woman. I
warn you Park Slopers to tread carefully because the wicked witch may
come for you and your little dogs next.

A few months back our dogs
were in the park together with a few others. This woman…let’s just
call her Ava Braun was waving a stick in the air to throw. My dog
(being a dog) jumped up to get the stick. She was less than a year old
at the time and still mastering the command "Down".

Ava yelled out "You
had better get your dog off of me. I have a head injury." Now in
hindsight this should have been abundantly clear. However at the time I
apologized and pulled my dog back. Then at some point during the course
of play our two dogs got into a tussle. Nothing too vicious mind you,
no blood or anything, just your average carried away dog scuffle. So
Ava pretty much lost her shit on me all while warning me that she may
indeed lose said shit. "Get your fucking aggressive dog out of here
before I lose it!"

I am sure I asked her not to swear at me and assured her that my
dog was not aggressive but had just gotten overly excited as her dog
had seemingly also done. This just seemed to make Ava angrier and
apparently "we would no like Ava when she angry". So the pooch and I
decided to abandon the park for the time being and pray for a return to
a Democratic regime.

That was the last time we had the misfortune of running into Ava
until today’s sorry incident. I pray that this will be the last I see
of her but I seriously doubt it. Ava has a lot of free time but only so
many more summer afternoons left to ruin. The boyfriend will be coming
with me to the park from now on just in case she wants to get frisky
with me again.

Incidentally my dog came home from the day’s events and viciously
licked my feet for a while, ferociously attacked an ice cube, and
passed out while I was rubbing her belly. Clearly we are both a menace
to society.

BLOG OF THE DAY: EVERYDAY TRASH

Thanks to an article in the Brooklyn Paper, I just discovered Everyday Trash, a blog that examines the art and politics of the world through the
lens of garbage. It is written by Leila Darabi, a Brooklyn-based
journalist and nonprofiteer.

When my friends think of me, they think
of trash. They send me postcards of garbage dumps and email me links to
articles on the solid-waste industry. If they hear a story on the radio
or spot a television program mentioning trash, they call me. Sometimes
they even give me presents made from garbage. They do this because I am
a garblogger—someone who writes about garbage and posts those musings
on the Web. While I don’t presume to be the world’s first garblogger,
I’d like to think that if someone were to draft Wikipedia entries for
the terms garblog, garblogger, and garblogging, none would be complete without a link to my site, everydaytrash.

I
started everydaytrash in August 2006 to share with the world my wonky
fascination with the things people throw away, an interest developed in
journalism school while researching the politics of trash in New York
City. To me, trash was a political issue, and what interested me was
the enormous amount of money my city paid to export our trash to other
states.

PROTECTING YOURSELF IN THE EVENT OF A FLASH FLOOD

I found this information on a Utah website. But I think the information may be applicable to our situation here in Brooklyn.

If the waters rise, there are definite things to do and not to do.

DO:
– Have a battery-powered radio tuned to a local station and follow all emergency instructions.

– Have a 72-hour kit with fresh water and food and keep it in an easy to locate spot in the event of evacuation.

– Secure all outdoor equipment, furniture and other movable objects that might be swept away.

– If directed to evacuate and time permits, turn off all utilities – gas, water and electricity – at the main switch or valve.

DO NOT:
– Walk through flood waters. One foot of flood waters can knock you off of your feet . The water can often be contaminated by sewage and flood-related chemical spills.

– Drive around barricades. Two feet of water is enough to float an automobile. Flood waters can conceal places where roadways or bridges have been washed out.

REMEMBER:
– Any low-lying area has the potential to flood. Inundation flooding may occur when the amount of rainfall and runoff exceeds a storm water system’s capability to remove it.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN:
– A flood watch means that rainfall is or is predicted to be heavy enough to cause rivers to overflow their banks.
– A flood warning means flooding is either occurring or likely to occur soon.
– A flash flood watch means heavy rains are occurring or are predicted and may cause sudden flash flooding in specific areas.
– A flash flood warning means flash flooding is occurring or imminent at designated areas.

ARE YOU WATCHING MAD MEN?

Luckily the Kravitz’s have cable. I watch Mad Men with them on Thursday nights. They even have TIVO, which means we skip over the ads on this show about advertising.

Set in 1960 New York, this AMC series is about the personal and professional lives of Madison Avenue advertising execs.

At the agency it’s a man’s world—sexist and competitive; the drinking starts early and there are three-martini lunches and late nights at the St. Regis with clients, escorts, and more drinks. The show portrays the women but they’re mostly relegated to being secretaries and wives.

But the times they are a changing and the women are starting to wake up and are coming into their own at the dawn of the age of birth control pill and divorce.

Life in the suburbs isn’t what it seems and every one is unhappy for one reason or another. The suburban scenes are stylized and not altogether convincing vignettes of the sterile (and somewhat catty) world of housewives and children. They may be chirpy but secretly they’re suffering; one is in therapy and lies on an natty Eames couch.

The scenes in the agency are fascinating; it’s the beginning of an exciting and creative time in advertising, starting with the groundbreaking Volkswagon “Lemon” ad.

Watching with the Kravitz’s is fun. My father, who hates the show, was a copy writer in 1960 (and for many years after) and Mrs. Kravitz worked in advertising and Mr. Kravitz still does.

It’s all in the details. Great, spot-on authentic set design, references to all kinds of cultural icons and news. Can’t wait for next week’s show. The characters, especially John Hamm, playing Don Draper, are growing on me.

He plays the hard-working creative director with a roving eye. His wife is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and he’s breaking many single girl’s hearts.

TORNADO CLEAN UP CONTINUES

The tornado clean up continues. In Bay Ridge and Sunset Park, dozens of buildings were damaged. For many residents it meant thousands of dollars in property loss. Many were forced to leave their homes.

This from New York 1:

The tornado’s heavy winds, estimated to have been up to 111 to 135 miles per hour, tore through sections of Brooklyn, damaging roughly 40 buildings and downing dozens of trees. Residents in the Bay Ridge, Flatbush and Sunset Park neighborhoods reported damaged houses and hundreds of crushed cars along several blocks.

Meteorologists say the tornado path started in Bay Ridge just after 6:30 a.m. and continued on an east-northeast path across 68th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. Eleven homes along that part of the tornado’s path suffered moderate to severe roof damage.

The storm continued to move east-northeast into Leif Ericson Park Square, where trees were downed and suffered severe damage.

The storm tore off the roof of a Nissan car dealership at the corner of 66th Street and Fifth Avenue, then returned to the ground farther northeast, causing scattered tree damage along Sixth Avenue.

The tornado then returned to the ground to cause more damage on 58th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, where five homes lost their roofs.

A tornado warning was issued for the area around 6 a.m., but it was unclear until Wednesday evening whether a tornado had in fact touched down.

MORE FLOODING? MTA BRACES FOR FRIDAY STORM

Flash flood warnings for tomorrow have been issued by the National Weather Service. The storms are not expected to be as severe as Wednesday’s short, heavy rain which brought the New York Subway system to its knees.

Thunderstorms are being predicted for Thursday night and Friday morning. They’re talking over an inch of rain. The MTA says it’s ready with additional personnel and, hopefully, additional expertise.

"We will be strategically placing pumps throughout the system at potentially flood-prone locations, strategically placing management and customer personnel at key stations throughout the system to help our customers navigate in case of service disruptions… The authority put hundreds of buses from New York City Transit, Long Island Bus and its express and suburban bus fleets on reserve in case they are needed to move stranded subway passengers on Friday. The authority also “rechecked drains to ensure they are free of debris from yesterday’s event,” said Elliot G. Sander, the chief executive of the M.T.A., said Thursday afternoon at a news conference. 

WEATHER BY ROSE

From her weather observation tower on Coney Island, here’s today’s weather by Rose:

Sunshine and high temperatures will prevail today. Close to 90 degrees. Late this evening there will be thunder showers and rain will continue all day Friday.

The weekend is going to beautiful. And not as humid. The weather is going to drop into the 80’s but sunny and no rain.

HIDDEN BROOKLYN IN THE NEW YORK POST

Discover "hidden Brooklyn" in a  nice, well-researched article by Mandy Stadtmiller, which includes food, shopping, spas and more in the New York Post.

YOU likely won’t find a place in America more storied, more
chronicled, more waxed about than Brooklyn, from Walt Whitman to
Jonathan Safran Foer, from egg creams to di Fara’s, from
trolley-dodgers to hipster doofuses. And the beauty part is, in spite
of all the lore and legend, there’s still more hidden Brooklyn out
there to discover.

As part of our weeklong series dedicated to New York’s
unheralded finds, we talked to foodies, bloggers and various experts in
all things Brooklyn to find the next legendary sights and sites. For
instance, if not di Fara’s, where? (Joe & Joe Pizza, says Brooklyn
novelist Gabriel Cohen.) Get started now with our list of
under-the-radar bars, restaurants, boutiques and other assorted Kings
County oddities. And check out nypost.com for yesterday’s hidden
Manhattan picks.

NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR THE BROOKLYN PAPER

Props to Ed and Celia Weintrob and everyone at the Brooklyn Paper for this distinction. The Suburban Newspapers of America cited general excellence but gave special praise to the paper for its coverage of the Atlantic Yards. I am looking forward to my drink with my esteemed editor, Gersh Kuntzman (see quote below):

The Brooklyn Paper is a Suburban News­papers of America’s “Newspaper of the Year,” the group announced on Monday.

Finding that “The Brooklyn Paper was strongly and brightly written
throughout,” SNA’s judges heaped special praise on the newspaper for
its reporting on the Atlantic Yards mega-development.

“The Brooklyn Paper’s aggressive, read­able coverage of local developer Bruce Ratner stood out,” they wrote.

The SNA is a leading newspaper professional and trade association,
representing more than 2,000 daily and weekly newspapers in both
suburban and urban community markets across the country. The contest
was judged by the American Press Institute.

The Paper was cited for general excellence in its category of
newspapers, the com­petitive class of larg­est circulation week­lies.

Publisher Ed Weintrob said he was particularly pleased that the
judges singled out The Paper’s Atlantic Yards coverage for praise.

“This story — the biggest Brooklyn story in our lifetimes — is one
we’ve stayed with over four years, despite strong commercial pressures
to do otherwise, and despite appearing out on a limb, given the
determination of other New York newspapers to either ignore it or
misreport it.”

Publisher Celia Weintrob said her staff “should be rightfully proud to receive this recognition of their outstanding work.”

Paper Editor Gersh Kuntzman was less florid. “It is customary for
editors who bring home awards like this to get hefty raises,” Kuntzman
said. “I will use a portion of mine to take the entire staff out for a
well-earned drink.”

Turning to The Brooklyn Paper’s back pages, the judges celebrated
the newspaper’s “accessible and reader-friendly” color classifieds.

Up front, the judges praised the “use of graphical elements, [which] illuminates and draws readers into stories.”

NEW ON SEVENTH AVENUE: CHOCOLATE GIRL

It’s across the street from Naidres (near 12th Street) and my friend and tipster, Creative Times, says that there is a strong pink theme (and she has a thing for the color pink).

The interior is already incredible even
though it is not finished, and it is all kosher. It deserves a photo. Creative Times will cover it, too when I get back but I see no reason why we can’t both do a bit. The owner is nice, creative, etc. and deseres lots of coverage.

That’s a first for Park Slope. Kosher chocolate. After a quick google I see that Chocolate Girl doesn’t have a web site but, what do you know,  Brooklyn Paper did an article about the shop on July 21:

The new chocolate maker in town wants Park Slope’s picky foodies to
know that “kosher” and “gourmet” needn’t be as incompatible as oil and
water.

“Quality can be kosher, too,” said Tziporah Avigayil
Jaeger, 26, proprietor of Chocolate Girl, a chocolate shop that will
open on Seventh Avenue on Wednesday.

“It’s gourmet chocolate, and
it just happens to be kosher,” said Jaeger, who lives in Midwood. “I
only use top-quality ingredients.”

Pure chocolate is essentially
parve, or non-dairy, Jaeger pointed out. It’s the additives, like milk
and flour, which can render some chocolate un-kosher.

To avoid
unholy ingredients, Jaeger imports her chocolate from a kosher company
in Belgium. She tempers and reworks the sweet confection here in
Brooklyn, where she has separate kitchens for dairy and non-dairy, and
she has the treats certified again by Rabbi Avner Katz.

 

A CRAZY MORNING IN BROOKLYN

The storm lasted maybe an hour but it was very intense and thunder and lightening woke many Brooklynites. It managed to unleash a tornado that touched Staten Island, but whipped through
southwestern Brooklyn at breakneck speed with winds going 135 miles an hour.

This all happened before the morning rush hour and managed to paralyze the transit system, flooding tracks, tunnels, and major thoroughfares.

In Park Slope, there was gushing water everywhere. Met Food on Seventh Avenue near 2nd Street was filled with water, as was their basement. The storm wreaked havoc all over the Slope. Water filled  the Grand Army Plaza train station making it look, one friend told me, "like there had been a mudslide."

All day, readers sent pictures from Bay Ridge which looked like a major disaster area with fallen trees, wrecked cars, broken windows and damaged  buidlings. Ditmas Park also had many fallen trees and building damage.

By 9 am it was a bright sunny day and if you weren’t reading a blog or listening to the news you might not have known that there had been a serious storm.

OTBKB readers who left early for the subway were shocked to find that the trains weren’t running. Many people just gave up and stayed home. Others waited hours for trains. One reader did get a train out of Grand Army Plaza, after waiting an hour, but it only went to Atlantic Avenue, where she waited for a R train and then gave up.

Serving Park Slope and Beyond