From a press release received via email.

June 20, 2007 – The board of directors of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation (Gowanus Canal CDC) and the newly formed Gowanus Canal Conservancy (the Conservancy) is pleased to announce the hiring of Bob Zuckerman as the new executive director of both organizations, effective immediately. 

“The Gowanus Canal CDC is very excited to have Bob Zuckerman as our new executive director,” said Michael Ingui, Chairman of the CDC.  “His experience running nonprofit organizations along with his community activism in Brooklyn made him the ideal choice to lead the Gowanus Canal CDC at this critical juncture.”

Zuckerman will also head the Conservancy, which was recently spun off as a separate nonprofit organization from the CDC.  “Bob will lead the Conservancy’s efforts to steward preservation, restoration and green development of the canal, and everyone on the Conservancy board is delighted to have him as our new executive director,” said Andrew Simons, chair of the Conservancy and a board member of the CDC. “His out-of-the-box strategies and excitement for real progress is exactly what our area needs.”

While many Brooklyn neighborhoods have been revitalized, the Gowanus Canal corridor and surrounding neighborhood is beginning its own renaissance, with a primary goal of incorporating environmentally friendly and “green” initiatives.

Under Zuckerman, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy will continue its mission to promote public access to the canal and promote efforts to clean it up. The conservancy is modeled on those that exist for Central Park, Prospect Park and other NYC parks. "Our aim is to create a clean canal," Ingui said.

New York Magazine picked up Dope on the Slope’s post about Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice on the streets and sidewalks of Park Slope scheduled for Saturday: June 23rd. With a snarky headline, of course. They just love to make fun of Park Slope, don’t they.

Slopers to Ward Off Evil Spirits, Potential Friends

You might want to go out on Saturday night. Your neighbors plan on making lots of noise on their stoops at 8:31 p.m.

Read Dope on the Slope

This from New York 1:

Speaking at the 311 Customer Call Center one day after announcing that
he is leaving the Republican Party, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed
his intention to stay in City Hall for the remainder of his term
Wednesday afternoon.

"My intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and probably
about ten hours – whatever is left, 11 hours – and that is my
intention. I’ve got the greatest job in the world and I’m going to keep
doing it,” said the mayor when questioned by reporters about increasing
buzz regarding a possible White House run.

BAX needs you.

ARE YOU AN ASSEMBLY JUNKIE?

Join BAX for an IKEA Party!

Wednesday, June 27, 7pm-9pm

BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) invites you to an IKEA party for the new second floor (this acclaimed art performance and workshop space is EXPANDING).  If you like
assembling items, come help BAX put together office furniture while
enjoying delicious pizza and cool refreshments. It’s just another way
to support the new BAX BUILDING (right above Save on Fifth).

To volunteer, call 718-832-0018 or email Marya Warshaw at marya@bax.org.

Forward email
http://eaui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?m=1101085766638&ea=louisecrawford%40gmail.com&a=1101702101083

This from New York 1:

Every borough with a beach will soon have a wheelchair-accessible ramp to the water.

Officials and disabled beachgoers opened a new mat in Brighton
Beach Tuesday that goes from the street all the way to the Atlantic
Ocean’s high-tide line.

The Parks Department is going ahead with the program after a
successful trial run at Rockaway Beach. In addition to the beaches in
Brooklyn, Midland Beach on Staten Island and Orchard Beach in the Bronx
are also equipped with the new mats.

Officials say they are working to make all beaches and parks wheelchair friendly.

“The parks are for everyone and if it’s not fully accessible now,
it will be in the future because that is our pledge,” said Parks
Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “It will take some time, it will take some
money, and in some cases it may not be completely accessible because
it’s the side of a mountain, but we will work to provide as many
opportunities as we can.”

The mats, which cost about $30,000 each, mark the first effort in
city history to make beaches accessible to disabled New Yorkers.

June 20, 2005:

Ran into our friends who moved to Nyack almost a year ago at the Rickie Lee Jones concert in Prospect Park.

I didn’t see them until the concert was over. Big Rickie Lee fans,
they’d left the kids in their Victorian house with a babysitter and
were spending a relaxing evening with Brooklyn friends, picnic-ing on
the grass at Celebrate Brooklyn.

After the show, we walked back to Third Street together, where they’d parked their car.

I told them how much the neighborhood had changed since last summer.
And it’s really true. It feels like so much has gone on since, say,
September. Brooklyn is it: the development capital of New
York City. Condos, Whole Foods, Ikea, Cruise ships, a Richard Meier
building, a controversial stadium for a basketball team and more.

What a long, strange year it’s been. And The Deserters weren’t here to
see it with us. They were in Nyack, spreading out in their spacious new
digs. But it was a year of adjustment for them: Nyack Weed Killer (AKA Mrs. Deserter) overcame her fear of
driving. Mr. Deserter learned how to be a commuter.  Their son had to make new
friends at a new school and find new activities to be part of.

Back in Brooklyn, we watched the borough undergo tremednous change.
It seemed sudden, but maybe we weren’t paying enough attention before.

Mr. Deserter joked: "Now that us schleppers have moved out, someone
decided it’s really time to go upscale around here." As if on cue, a
bright yellow Porsche appeared on Prospect Park West.

"Look at that. That’s a real upscale car," he yelled.

Approaching Sette on Third Street and Seventh Avenue, they looked
stunned: obviously no-one had told them about Third Street’s new
eatery.  They were fascinated by the restaurant’s sidewalk patio.

"Wow, the old Christmas tree spot. An outdoor cafe is actually the perfect use of this corner," Mr. Deserter said.

Then they looked across the street and saw the new Miracle Grill. I
thought they might faint. "There really are a lot of changes since last
year," Mr. Deserter said and added something wistful and poetic like: "When you move away from a place,
they should leave everything exactly the same. Frozen. So that it’s
always there for you."

I asked them if they wanted to walk in front of their old building
and
see the window boxes they’d left behind for the people who bought their coop. Nyack Weed Killer seemed a little aprehensive at first as if seeing the
old place might get in the way of her sucessful adjustment to life in
that small town on the Hudson.  But she braced herself and walked
bravely down Third Street.

When they got to the building, they were very still for a moment. I
could see that L. was quietly taking it all in: her window boxes, the
other window boxes, the stone planter, a new location for the benches.
There were even silk flowers on the gate down to the basement. There
was so much to see.

"The boxes are doing well. And I like where they put the benches. Right in the middle of the yard…"

She stared up at her old window probably reliving the days (less
than a year ago) when her family of four was still living in such
cramped quarters. At least, that’s what I think she was thinking. I
really don’t know.

They came upstairs to our apartment to say hello to Hepcat to
have some tea. It was rushed as they had to get back to Nyack: the
babysitter had to be relieved.

"If you lived across the street, you’d be home by now," my husband joked. And they looked only mildly amused.

I don’t think it got rained on. The rain didn’t start until about 11 pm.

We may have to come back from California early so I can catch my new fave Feist at  McCarren Park . Tickets are $29. so it’s not one of the free concerts.

Last year on OTBKB we were trying to figure out how to make a screen for Brooklyn Film Works. But things worked out just fine and this year the show will go on. Hepcat’s Volvo idea didn’t work out. But something else did. Brooklyn Film Works opens its 2007 season on July 10th with The Lady Eve (introduced by Ty Burr, author of "The Best Old Movies for Families." ). It should be a really great show.

It all started months ago when Kim Maier, director extradonaire of The Old Stone House,
proposed the idea of a summer film festival in JJ Byrne Park. I loved
the idea right away and got to thinking about Brooklyn-related films to
include in the festival.

But there were a few technical details that needed to be worked out. Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

I decided to get in touch with an old friend of mine from my video production days, who now works for Scharff Weisberg,
providers of audio, video, and lighting technology. I told him we had
no money, that we were doing the project as a community service very
much on the cheap. He was game to try to help us out.

My friend came to JJ Byrne Park to scope out the site and offered us
advice about where to put the projector and screen. A few days later,
he emailed us an equipment list that was a tad more ambitious than what
we had in mind.

Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

My friend did say, however, that Scharff Weisberg would be willing
to loan us a video projector for the four screenings. Somewhere along
the way it was decided that we would project a 12 x 15 ft. image.

But what would we project the image on? Good question.  My friend at Scharff Weisberg suggested I have a screen made at Rosebrand,
a company that specializes in theatrical drapes, scrims and screens.
When I called Rosebrand, the sales representative asked me all kinds of
questions…what size, what material?

We decided on white seamless muslin with a black duvatine back. Then
the sales representative asked: Do you want gromits and webs?  I didn’t
have a clue what gromits and webs were.

So I called my friend Bob at Showman Fabricators,
who lives in Park Slope, and told him I was having a screen made and I
wondered if he could help me figure out a way to frame the screen so
that we could project a movie on it.

And by the way what are gromits and webs?

He said he could make a frame for the screen out of aluminum pipes.
He’d deliver five pipes that could be made into a 12 x 15 ft. rectangle
with key clamps or speed rail.
And then he called the sales
representative at Rosebrand and told them what kind of webs and gromits
we’d need because that’s how we were going to attach the screen to the
pipes.

I still didn’t know exactly where we were going to put the screen –
between the trees on the north side of the house or against the fence
in front of the house?

I figured we’d figure it out.

Well, tonight Bob from Showman Fabricators delivered the pipes and
walked around the site and said that it might be impossible to tie the
screen to the trees or to put it against the fence in front of the
house. Wind would be the big problem. The frame with a 12 x 15 ft.
fabric screen was like a sail. And if a big gust of wind came along…

Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

So there we were — me, Kim, Bob from Showman, Bill the
projectionist, standing outside of the Old Stone House trying to figure
out what to do. For a moment I thought we might have to get a bed sheet and a home projector. Maybe what we were trying to do was impossible, too ambitious, too BIG.

Then I remembered something that Hepcat suggested a few months ago:
we could get a truck and tie the frame and screen to the truck.

Bingo. Everyone seemed to like the idea. We talked about calling
U-Haul and other truck companies. When I got home I told Hepcat all
about our screen problems, the truck. He sighed a bit. Did some
thinking. Sighed again.

"I’ve got it," he said. "I can put the old roof rack on top of our
Volvo station wagon and I will clamp two pieces of pipe horizontally to
the roof rack and attach that to key fittings,,,"

"Are you sure it’s going to work?" I asked gently.
"Look who was raised by engineers and who was raised by an advertising executive?"
"In other words, have faith in you, right?"
"Right."

And I do. So tomorrow night Hepcat will test out his idea…

Go to the Old Stone House for the 2007 Summer festival

On June 21 at 8 p.m. Brooklyn Reading Work’s special mixologist will be mixing a brand new drink named, The Waking Dream, in honor of the poetry reading by Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham, writers who sometimes use sleep and dreams as source material for their poetry.

The Waking Dream

1 ounce vodka
1 ounce Triple sec
1 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice
1 ounce black currant juiice

Ruby and Graham are reading poems, prose, and a collaborative work based on a text by Samuel Beckett.

It should be a great show: The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. 8 p.m.
Five bucks gets you in, light refreshments, and a free Waking Dream.

This from New York 1:

Police have released a sketch of a man who is suspected of sexually assaulting a woman in Prospect Park last week.

The victim was walking with an off-duty police officer around 1:15
a.m. Friday when they were approached by the attacker, who pulled a
gun. The woman and her companion were separated, and then the attacker
raped the woman.

He is described as 38 to 40 years old, 5’ 8” tall with a husky
build. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a navy blue t-shirt.

The Mermaid Parade. Coney Island. Saturday 2 pm. Boardwalk. From Flavorpill:

The nation’s largest art parade has its silver anniversary this year,
so ogle curbside or register to march in your best sparkles, scales,
and pasties. Floats, antique cars, marching bands, drill teams,
sideshow freaks, and neighborhood locals stomp their grounds in
handmade outfits inspired by nautical mythology and all things Coney.
Due to the recent sale of Astroland (and imminent demise of old Coney Island), this is sure to be the biggest one
yet; expect the usual mob at Nathan’s and the unusual opportunity to fall in love with a suitor on stilts. (RB)

Go to Old First Blog for Pastor Daniel Meeter’s thoughts on the bands that played under the auspices of Club Loco on the steps of the church during Seventh Heaven:

"Thousands of people walk pass the church during this street fair.
And I’m happy to say that this year we were able to make Old First one
of the chief locations of the fair. Our volunteers worked hard. And
that included volunteers from the community who are not church members.

What
I like about this photo is that it shows how this great ark of a
building, for all of its burden, is the center of our community.

What
I like about the lower photo is that shows how Club Loco expresses both
our Third and Fourth Missions: “To offer sanctuary” and “To offer
hospitality.”"

Continue reading PASTOR DAN ON CLUB LOCO →

I got word of this via email from a dad in Park Slope, who is setting up a way for kids to play casual pick-up games this summer in Prospect Park.

Slope Sandlot Baseball is a way to get kids together to play baseball
in Park Slope through the summer in casual, pick-up games. For more information or to join the group, go here: sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/slope-sandlot/

KID’S ART WORKSHOP AT THE BROOKLYN ARTISTS GYM: WOW!

I’m still trying to figure out what to do for Stoopendous, a solstice celebration on the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope. I think we may do a concert in the yard in front of our building.

Classical piano. Sitar. Songs by Teen Spirit. Sounds like a good start. If Phyzz is around maybe she’ll do some drumming?

As always, wine and cocktails. And at 8:31 p.m. we’ll blow on our kazoos along with the rest of the Slope for the All Stoop Solstice Shout Out.