Shameless Plug for a Band

Readers -

Head on over to Amie Street to check out Greg Smith and the Broken English. Their first album release was #1 on the Amie Street charts for a while, and is holding steady at #4.

"On Amie Street, the community determines the price of music. Every song starts cheap (or even free!) and increases in price up to 98 cents as more and more people purchase it.

This ensures that you get music at a sensible price. If you find cheap songs or albums, that means they're new to the site and/or undiscovered; conversely, when you pay top price for an album, you know that a lot of people think it's really good."

Community Board 6's Craig Hammerman Honored for 20 Years of Service (and interviewed!)

Anyone who has attended a Community Board 6 meeting no doubt appreciates the hard work, even temperament and quick wit of District Manage Craig Hammerman. Personally, I think that Craig's biggest strength is his ability to stand above the heated discussions that the meetings frequently devolve into and offer advice and support to both sides of a discussion. although he has mulled entering politics in the past, he has not yet taken the leap and I think the district is better because of it.

From Courier-Life:

"There is no such thing as a perfect development project. And the larger a project is, the greater the range of costs and benefits. I didn’t agree with all of the projects that came to us and while we can stand on principle, and often do, that’s little consolation to a person who needs your help. Change happens whether we want it to or not. I accept things which I cannot change, and change things which I cannot accept. 

This district has undergone some very real, major changes to its physical landscape in the past 20 years. Cumulatively, we’ve see projects that have reconnected the community to the waterfront like the Erie Basin evidence vehicle facility, Valentino Park and Pier, IKEA and Fairway in Red Hook. Twenty years ago there was zero public access to the Red Hook waterfront. That was, and is, and important community value. Now, it’s a whole new story."

Brad Lander Becomes our Councilman

Newly elected Councilmember Brad Lander took his oath in Prospect Park on Sunday. Lets hope that Mr. Lander is a little more progressive, open and thoughtful than his predecessor. From Courier-Life:

"In his speech, Lander cited three challenges that his district faces: recovering from the economic crisis while preserving neighborhoods, preserving and strengthening schools, subways and parks, and renewing the public’s faith in local government.

“I believe that the solution begins in building partnerships between government and the public, that insist both on real results, and on democratic engagement,” said Lander. “This balancing act takes longer, to be sure. Quality systems to measure accountability take discipline and data. Meaningful democratic engagement takes patience and openness.The combination is all too rare.”"

New Area Skate Park

With the construction and rehabbing of the Brooklyn Bridge's Manhattan side, the famed Brooklyn Banks will be closed for some time. Maybe some of the skaters can head over to Gowanus for Homage, the new indoor skate facility at 615 DeGraw Street. From the New York Times:

"has a suitable concrete floor and several wooden skateboard ramps wedged into it. The 2,500-square-foot space accommodates about 20 skaters; for now, it is open only to members who pay $100. Ms. Sauer, a former designer at Zoo York, the skateboard company, and at Burton, the snowboard company, said she and Mr. Portes planned to offer day-rate admission soon. “It’s hard for New Yorkers to skate in the winter,” Mr. Portes said. “So we wanted to set up a training facility because we want to see more pro skaters coming out of New York.”"

A Novel Idea for Slowing the CSOs into the Gowanus Canal

Everyone who lives around and studies the Gowanus Canal knows that the long-term issue is heavy metals, industrial history and lack of current. However, adding fuel to the fire are the CSOs, Combined Sewage Overflows. Basically, the waste and storm water flows share the same drain, and when stormwater flows heavily (i.e. during a rain event), the excess capacity overflows into the Gowanus. Once in the canal, it sits for weeks until it breaks down, since there is no tidal or other flow to bring it out to the bay.

One Park Slope resident think that he has a idea for this problem, and it involves disseminating real-time information to residents in close proximity to the canal, hoping to reduced wastewater flow when stormwater is heaviest. From Courier-Life:

"His system collects rainwater from buildings, and stores it in large, 750-gallon cisterns if a signal alerts that an overflow event is imminent. “Once you get that signal, it will close the valve because you don’t want to be dumping that water anymore.”When the system can handle it, the water is released back into the sewer line. “This is smart technology — it sees the action before it occurs and reacts to it,” he noted.

Presently, 377 million of gallons are discharged into the canal eachyear from 11 combined sewer overflow pipes along the waterway, Chezar said. Even with the city’s recently announced plan to reduce the overflows, there will still be 250 million gallons dumped in the canal, he noted. “Any gallon you can prevent from being discharged reduces that number,” he said.

Chezar’s hope is that his system will be installed in representative homes, institutions and businesses in and around the Gowanus. If it is shown to be effective, he is suggesting the city provide a discounted water rate to homes or businesses that employ the technology.

The plan would offer a variety of modes of communication — text messaging, Twitter, e-mail — to alert resident that an overflow event was likely. A small subgroup of homes would even receive a remote signal to a MIT-designed cube-shaped device that will change color when the canal is in danger of being overwhelmed by sewage.

The theory is that the person would then modify their behavior, say, forestall washing their dishes, until after the danger of polluting the canal has passed. “This isn’t Big Brother,” Chezar said. “It is basically telling you what’s going on.”"

Old Computers Are Art in Gowanus

For the more artsy among us, the Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that some Gowanus artists took some older Macs which were to be recycled, and made some interesting exhibits.

"Since the Mac Support Store is part of the NYCS retail takeback program, the equipment was slated to be recycled. But Graber and Brooklyn curators Michele Jaslow and Spring Hofeldt decided to put out a call for artists to use them to create art pieces.

The result is the show “Programmed,” which opened on Dec. 21 at the Mac Support Store, with a satellite exhibit in the windows of wine shop Red White & Bubbly on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope."

The show will be at the Mac Support Store until March 13th.

Columbia Heights: Another Great Video

Mr. Junkersfeld over at the Brooklyn Heights Blog did another history tour video, this time on Columbia Heights. Truthfully, Columbia Heights may be the most expensive and coveted real estate in all of Brooklyn, and I've always enjoyed it. However, the BQE creates a physical, psychological and cultural barrier to conceptualizing a waterfront where Columbia Height, Fulton Ferry, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and the Columbia Waterfront District all were a part of a huge, vitally important economic engine for the country.

New Waterfront Restaurant for Brooklyn?

The River Cafe may not be the only waterfront restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn (you can of course venture into Williamsburg or Sheepshead Bay for other waterfront dining options). From the New York Post:

"The city’s Parks Department is seeking a restaurateur to operate an eatery overlooking the New York Harbor on Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6, this paper has learned.

The pier is located on the southern edge of the waterfront Park off Atlantic Avenue with breathtaking views of both lower Manhattan and New York Harbor.

“Parks recently sent a notice to (Community Board 2) that we are intending to issue an RFP (Request for Proposals) for a restaurant at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park,” said Parks Department spokesperson Phil Abramson."

Also at Curbed.

Nine Good Teeth: Carroll Gardens, Old School

For an incredible video, head on over to Pardon Me For Asking, Katia Kelly's Carroll Gardens and beyond blog. The video is titled "Nine Good Teeth" and is about someone's grandmother, born in Carroll Gardens (then Red Hook) two centuries ago. The video is not only incredibly well done, but is touching and contains scenes of the neighborhood.

I won't put this video up, because she went through the hard work of finding and posting, but suffice to say that as someone whose own grandmother is from Carroll Gardens, I found it touching. So head on over there and thank Katia for posting!

Carroll Gardens' Lucali Continues to be a Friend

Lucali's friends of friends continue to make news. From the ever-reliable New York Post:

Colombo crime-family slacker Dominick "Black Dom" Dionisio -- who was accused by his probation officer of socializing instead of working at his Brooklyn pizza-parlor job -- is hoping to open a new restaurant for his boss.

While Dionisio waits for his federal racketeering trial to begin, his lawyer has requested that he be allowed to help his current employer, Lucali's Pizza in Carroll Gardens, open a new eatery.

"Mr. Dionisio's duties at the new location will require him to travel to [Manhattan] for, among other things, his food handler's license and permits for the restaurant," his lawyer, James Froccaro informed the judge. "He will be purchasing décor and equipment for the new restaurant as well."

Froccaro refused to say where the new restaurant will be. 

Refused to say? Come on, where's the investigative journalism?

Gowanus A Go-Go: A Benefit for the Gowanus Canal Conservancy

GOWANUS A GO GO

Monday, January 25, 2010 6:30 PM 

a benefit concert to support the Gowanus Canal Conservancy

PLUSHGUN

PAPERDOLL

THE FLANKS

GRAMERCY ARMS

DJ SPIRITBEAR

The Gowanus Canal Conservancy will be hosting the first annual "Gowanus a Go Go" benefit concert. Gowanus a Go Go will feature some of the best bands of the New York City music scene, bringing them together to play at The Bell House in the Gowanus Canal district. 

All proceeds from the concert will go to the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in 2006, dedicated to the preservation, restoration and smart growth of the Gowanus Canal and its environs for the greater good of the community, to continue their ongoing work on the canal and the greater Gowanus neighborhood.

Direct link to tickets here.

Jonathan Lethem on Brooklyn. Through British Eyes.

Motherless Brooklyn Author Jonathan Lethem gave an interview to the Observer (a British paper), on subjects ranging from Manhattan to writing to Dean Street. I must confess that I've always found Mr. Lethem a bit whiny, and it is hard to find a hipster who does not enjoy his work, but it's interesting to read how another culture gets it information about Brooklyn. The article does also do some serious journalist felating of Mr. Lethem.

Some highlights:

"This whole neighbourhood has become centred on the kind of middle-class families that were just one very small minority element then,"

"The dirty word hovering over all this is gentrification – "a Nixon word", as his parents saw it. The mother in Fortress of Solitude teaches her son to be proud of calling the neighbourhood Gowanus, rather than the nearby, more chi-chi Boerum Hill"

"As a teenager, Lethem left. He went to Bennington College in Vermont"

And my favorite:

"I didn't set out to write a great Brooklyn novel, or a Brooklyn novel at all. I set out to write the great novel of Dean Street between Bond and Nevins, on a certain summer's day in 1972."

via Curbed.

Congresswoman Yvette Clark Leaves Community Waiting, Wanting

Last night Conresswoman Yvette Clark (D-NY) held a community roundtable last night at Christ Church, courtesy of the Cobble Hill Association. After showing up half an hour late, the Congresswoman gave updates on topics ranging from joblessness to health care to housing. After a short discussion on health care, the discussion moved to the topic that everyone knew it would, Superfunding of the Gowanus Canal.

Congresswoman Clark explained her (non) position thusly: The Superfund process is slow, and the EPA currently does not have enough money to complete the process (this is debatable). The Mayor's plan (which itself lacks many details), will be faster and will include private sector money. She claimed that she is still waiting for details to emerge on both plans before endorsing either plan. See some of her comments in the video at the bottom.

The vast majority of those there endorsed Superfund designation and peppered the Congresswoman with questions about why she refused to endorse Superfund status. She kept on repeating that in fact, she had no endorsed EITHER plan. What she failed to realize was that in fact, by not endorsing the Superfund designation, she was implicitly endorsing the Mayor's Plan, or, at the very least, supporting those who oppose Superfund designation.

The rest of the night was spent with the Congresswoman attempting to straddle the fence on the issue, and with her parrying the citizen's concerns. While composed and cool under pressure, at a few points, she and her staff did break down and begin bantering with residents.

Congresswoman, the issue is simple. It will soon be a year since the issue has been raised. On one side of the issue are residents, your voting constituents. On the other side, people who stand to make loads and loads of money.

Who will you support?

More detailed writeup at Pardon Me For Asking, with additional video.

The Beer Man of Bay Ridge

A friend and fellow fisherman recently authored an article for the Brooklyn Paper on a new specialty beer store in Bay Ridge. Although not directly Carroll Gardens related, it is still a fun read.
 
"Dharmesh Chokshi’s new BR Specialty Beer Store offers 500 other bottles of beers for the rest of us.

“All of our beers were rated 95 percent or higher on Beeradvocate.com,” Chokshi said, adding that he spent considerable time roaming around some of the borough’s best bars before putting together his own shopping list.

As a result, BR’s offerings extend well beyond the full line of popular alt-brews like Dogfish, Rogue and Chimay to add organic craft beers and Belgian ales, not to mention an extensive line of wintertime strong brews that come in at more than eight percent alcohol."

For more by Mike, check out Lines in the Street.

A Life In The Gowanus Houses

Many newcomers to Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill (and, lets face it, many of the natives) avoid the Gowanus Houses. Sure, they're projects, but as projects go, they're not that bad. The New York Times has a nice little piece on one life in the Gowanus Houses, and her impact on the Drill Team the "Gowanus Wildcats".

"Ms. Flowers, now 51 and a facilitator at an East New York post office, still lives in the three-bedroom apartment where she grew up. And a third generation is in residence: the apartment is also home to her son, Darryl, 31, who works at a consulting and technology firm. (Ms. Flowers is engaged to his father, a longtime friend.) 

Ms. Flowers, who pays about $1,000 in rent, is not sure how much her parents paid when they arrived, but she could check because she has saved all the old receipts. “I hardly throw anything away,” she admitted. “You name it, it’s around here somewhere.” 

Over the years, her life has been brushed by the sorrow and disarray that is sadly commonplace in many of the city’s public housing complexes. She does what she can to fight back." 

Sometimes we lose track of the fact that old timers live everywhere, even the pjs. Click through and read about a life that is so close and yet so far from the Carroll Street F Train stop.