Community Board 6 turns down Charter School

We've already seen rough talk about the realities in Gowanus, and how it is not appropriate for school siting. Well, sounds as if Community Board 6 still agrees with their previous comments. According to Courier-Life, Summit Academy's application to be sited on Butler Street was recommended for denial.

"“This is outrageous,” said board member Debra Scotto, who voted against the special permit. “This is an absolutely horrible place to site a school — primarily because of the traffic, but also because there are prostitutes around the corner [from the site],” she said after the board’s March 10 meeting. “It’s abysmal down there.”

Despite the vote, Natasha Campbell, the school’s executive director, said Summit remains in “an exploratory phase, looking for a permanent home.”

Summit Academy is currently housed inside Public School 27, on Huntington Street in Red Hook. The charter school currently serves 92 sixth graders, and its population is expected to swell next year to 100 sixth graders and 100 seventh graders Campbell said.“We have a phenomenal relationship with PS 27, but the problem is that we are growing,” she added."

Although I sympathize with a fledgling school trying to make it, the fact that this is a charter school softens the blow. Also, let's not forget that the Community Board doesn't actually have any power!

New York City (and others!) Still Pissy about Superfund Designation

Wow. The City doesn't seem to know how to quit. While this trait probably served those in the Bloomberg administration well in private enterprise, it is a little embarrassing coming from the Mayor Office. In a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway, it certainly sounds as if there is some spilled milk being cried over:

"We are as committed to that goal now as when we submitted our comprehensive plan last July, and we’ll work with the Environmental Protection Agency within the Superfund process to achieve it.

The E.P.A.’s timeline is now three years longer than what the city proposed, and the agency has acknowledged that our cleanup plan was as comprehensive as Superfund.

Our plan did not “rely on federal allocations,” but proposed the possibility of Congressional appropriations that we thought would incentivize responsible polluters to work with us voluntarily. We were right: one of the largest polluters committed to our plan without the need for a Superfund listing."

Following that, we hear from Bill Appell:

"The city committed to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to clean the canal to the E.P.A.’s own standards, but the city’s approach would have accomplished more than just remediation of the waterway.

The Superfund designation does not address the primary source of pollution in the Gowanus Canal: combined sewer overflows, which occur when storm sewers overflow during heavy rainfalls and combine with the sanitary sewers, pouring 300 million gallons of raw sewage into the canal every year."

Brooklyn Public Library's Carroll Gardens History

One of the great hidden gems, and underutilized resources in New York City is the public library system. I remember as a child going to events there, and being fascinated at all of the FREE books that were available. And then computers, and copies and talks and rental equipment. Talk about a true public service and a true public good!

Well, turns out that the Brooklyn Public Library has a great website, aimed specifically at the history of Carroll Gardens: Our Brooklyn - Carroll Gardens History.

"Before there were streets, there was an Indian path along what is now Henry Street. Native American Indians sold a tract of land to Dutch farmers Adrianse Bennet and Jacques Bentyn in 1636, and it was around the area of Carroll Gardens that development first began. Docks and warehouses were constructed in Red Hook, and a plan was made to dredge the Gowanus Creek and drain its surrounding swamps to form a navigable inland waterway. To facilitate the transportation of bodies from Manhattan to Green-Wood Cemetery, the Hamilton Avenue Ferry began service in 1846. These factors encouraged developers of the 1860s to build the residences that are now among the most sought-after homes in Brooklyn."

Although the ethnicity and income classes have changed, sounds like Carroll Gardens has ALWAYS been under development pressure!

Be sure to click over for a synopsis of Irish immigration, BQE construction and, of course, the Carroll Gardens Public Library Branch, on Union and Clinton.

South Brooklyn Studio Tours

Join other Gawkers to check out some of the area's artists on Saturday May 22, and Sunday May 23rd. Brooklyn Studio Tours is organizing a tour of (duh!) working studios in the area.

"Our objective is to assist in forming new relationships and exposing your work to a greater public audience.   In the past, Open Studio Weekends have been great successes and lots of fun too.  Our May 2009 tour had many visitors who spanned across multiple studios.  We even had a visit from the Appalachian Mountain club!   Pair that with the Vespa convention on Hicks street and the weekend was filled with plenty of art, action and fun!

We will provide the main publicity, posters and maps.  In addition to our efforts to publish and post these in any and all local areas, websites and blogs  (including but not limited to all major Brooklyn neighborhoods, NYC – Chelsea, Flat Iron, Village, etc.), we ask your help in taking our materials and posting in your favorite locations, send some to friends and relationships, posting the information on your websites, blogs, emails, etc.  Our current distribution lists are now well over 2000 people.  All we need from you is your agreement to open your studio those days, your name(s), address with cross streets (so we can mark the map) and your medium. "

Honoring a local Boy in Blue

Living in one of the safest neighborhoods in Brooklyn certainly has its advantages, although one can't help but question if it makes people feel a bit too safe. One of the reasons we all feel so safe is the continuing work of the 76th Precienct. Captain Corey does a fantastic job of keeping the public informed, and now we learn that Oliver Lopez, a Carroll Gardens officer, does an equally good job helping the area's children. From Courier-Life:

"Lopez, his sons and wife Julissa were all in attendance at Patrol Borough Brooklyn South headquarters on Snyder Avenue last week when Chief Fox handed the award to Lopez, showing that his years of professionalism and strong work ethic didn’t go unnoticed.

An arrest of a mugger in January and the September pinching of a notorious career burglar who used the neighborhood as his happy hunting ground for months before his apprehension is all the same to Oliver. Through the years, most of which have been on the streets of Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, he’s never received a civilian complaint, his captain noted.

“He treats everybody with dignity and respect — even the criminals,” Corey said.

A true role model indeed."
Image from NYC.gov

Old Nino's get reviewed: Francesco's

Francesco's, the old Nino's, on the corner of Henry and Union Streets, is a bit of a mystery. Nino's was well-run and beloved until the owner had to flee for unforeseen circumstances and wound up wearing a Sicilian necktie. I've been hesitant to go back in, but Eat Brooklyn Food wasn't.

"The plain slice is passable, that generic New York slice that would be at home on any corner in Manhattan, but you’d be foolish to skip the lard bread slice - order a pie if you have the time and audience. The pie resembles those Elio’s-like cafeteria slices you loved in Grade school because you didn’t know any better, but there’s a sleek thinness that avoids the Sicilian style label the pie’s shape demands. The drawback, what keeps it from serious discussion, is apparent on grabbing your first slice, as that first piece separates reluctantly from its whole. The pie is blanketed by a down quilt of industrial strength, bargain basement mozzarella, a chore to contend with even straight out of the oven. But the canvas is the attraction, like its obese cousin at L&B Spumoni; cheese is entirely beside the point."

You had me at obese.

Prime Meats: Ironically reviewed

Bloomberg has an extensive review/critique of Prime Meats which is ironic in it's irony. Every one knows that the hipster and yuppie invasions of older neighborhoods bring with them a heavy sense of irony. Well, the irony contained in the fact that Prime Meats got a good review which was ironically critical of it's clientele is, well, ironic.

"If that’s all old school, Prime Meats balances things out with some laid-back cool. No reservations. The wait was 90 minutes on the first Friday of Lent -- curious as this is the famously Roman Catholic Carroll Gardens neighborhood; the steakhouse is adjacent to the church where Al Capone was married. Wonder if he abstained from meat."

"Sometimes the hip slacker factor goes overboard. Lines formed at the single bathroom. A window crank doubled as a toilet paper spindle. And Prime Meats, like Luger and certain parts of the Siberian Tundra, doesn’t take major credit cards. You’ll spend 10 minutes waiting for the server to write out your check by hand. The management, who also run Frankies next door and in Manhattan, tell me a credit-card system is coming in the spring. 

A sign asks patrons to leave strollers outside. That’s bold for a family-friendly neighborhood. Prime Meats is crammed with pretty girls and their plaid-clad, bearded boyfriends, along with a bartender who complains about Robert Moses (a pastime in these parts) and the patrons who drink his expert libations. Try an unusually sour Rye Manhattan constructed with citrus Buddha’s Hand bitters made in-house."

"I asked my companion, a svelte hipster from Fort Greene, if she recognized the woman with Momofuku chef David Chang. 

“She’s the creative director at Vogue,” she replied nonchalantly. “I modeled for her when I was a teenager. She said I was too skinny.”"

Image from the Daily News.

Springtime Walking Tours of Carroll Gardens Announced!

Lost City blogger, Brooks of Sheffield, will be starting up his Springtime Walking Tours with a tour of Carroll Gardens at the end of the month.  Whether you've lived here six months, six years, or sixty years, I'm willing to bet that Brooks can shed light on some good neighborhood truth and particulars.

Click here for all of the information.    

Are the MTA service cut projections using faulty logic?

Benjamin Kabak at Second Avenue Sagas recently penned a good summary of the situation surrounding the latest round of MTA service cuts. But, of course, this blog is about Carroll Gardens, so we care about how they will affect us, right?

"I’ve looked at the B71 elimination and determined that, by and large, walking to Carroll Gardens from Park Slope will serve me better than taking bus routes along Bergen or 9th Sts. would. The revenue loss along these bus routes could be quite significant."

Although the distance used in this example is very small, Mr. Kabak does have a good point in that a) Bergen and 9th Streets, as the East-West travel routes, are relatively far apart, and b) the existence of the Gowanus Canal and industrial area in between the two neighborhoods creates a psychological barrier to walking for some.

More Kentile

Brooklyn Bridge Park to have a lotta grub

Brooklyn Bridge Park (or, more accurately, the expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park) is slowly making progress. One of the fun things about the construction of this park is that the progress is so visible. Whether in a car on the BQE, walking along the Promenade, on the Brooklyn Bridge, in a Water Taxi or from Furman Street, there are many good vantage points from which to see what is going on in the (eventual) park.

The City (and sort of the State) are now looking for restaurants and food vendors who will sell delectables to the park users. From the New York Post:

"The Pier 1 concessions will include two locations for mobile food carts, a 130-square foot location inside the Pier 1 gatehouse at the park’s main entrance at the intersection of Old Fulton Street, and a 2,500-square foot elevated outdoor plaza that could serve beer and wine as well as great food.

So famished park patrons will have options other than the swanky, yet expensive River Café next to Pier 1 or Grimaldi’s pizzeria across the street, which is as famous for its long lines as it is for its brick oven pizza.

Interested respondents must submit proposals for one or more of these sites by April 1. The Pier 1 concessions are expected to be running by mid-summer 2010.

Food concessionaires are also being sought for the Pier 6 portion of the park, also slated to open this spring.

One request for proposal will be for a sit-down restaurant with almost 2,000 square feet of interior space, plus outdoor dining space on both the adjoining terrace and the rooftop. The other RFP will be for a 170-square foot space in Pier 6’s Gatehouse at the park’s southern entry off Atlantic Avenue."

Lets hope they include some nutritional thresholds for who the select! 
Image source: New York Times

Tan Tax hits em where it hurts: the skin

Of all of the initiatives President Obama has started, this is probably the best: a 10% tax on tanning. Now, this is one of the most non-essential things we, as a society, have come up with. Surely no one will have a problem with this, right? I mean, "The Situation" has already been interviewed in the neighborhood, we don't want to see any (more) Snookis roaming the streets, do we?

"“It’s just amazing how arbitrary it can be,” complains Robert Alimena, owner of The Tanning Room in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. “This is going to drive business completely the other way.”

“It’s just a bad idea. It encapsulates everything that’s wrong with Washington,” says John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, which apparently exists."

You stay classy, tanners everywhere. From the New York Post.

Atlantic Avenue BID gets off the ground

As a small business owner, I am aware of the pitfalls that can come with not being properly promoted, with all that it takes to get noticed, and what location means. It seems that local business owners on Atlantic Avenue have noticed as well, and have also noticed what success other Business Improvement Districts have had around the city. From the Brooklyn Eagle:

"“The city likes BIDs because they’re established by legislation and their boards are established by legislation.”

Sponsored by the AABID Steering Committee, the Feb. 23 event attracted about 100 business and property owners and residents to the Belarusian Church in Boerum Hill.

The Steering Committee, comprised of all volunteers who are also business or property owners along the avenue, began working on the BID formation process in 2008, according to Ariana MacPherson, project manager, in her overview

MacPherson outlined the major benefits, including improved local control specific to the Atlantic Avenue community; marketing and promotion for the businesses; capital improvements and beautification projects; and services that would be supplemental to what the city provides, such as sidewalk sweeping."

It's not that shops on Atlantic Avenue aren't thriving, rather it's that the businesses want to have their voices heard and want to pool communal resources together for communal services to benefit all of them.

Some Love for Jake Walk

Now the new owners of a sliding door on Sackett Street that evokes the old days when there was actually some manufacturing that took place in their neighborhood, Jake Walk has always gotten positive press. Now, some food loving bloggers are calling it their new favorite bar. It is a nice place to go for a drink before getting some actual food, but they do also serve a limited menu there as well. Between Courses:

"All dark wood and dim lighting, the JakeWalk has the feel of an old-school bar without the sour booze smell and lack of food options. A small space with a wrap-around bar and two rows of charmingly rickety tables, the JakeWalk offers up creative cocktails, great wine, and solid tap beers. It also has an enticing menu - one whole side of which is devoted just to cheeses and charcuterie (heaven!). We selected from among nearly 30 cheeses and a diverse selection of sausages. The food was delivered on a wooden cutting board; each cheese happily paired with a bit of fruit preserves. Favorites included the Seal Bay Triple Cream cow's milk and the hot, addictive chorizo coins."

World's Oldest Profession: Gowanus Style

A little noticed comment in Community Board 6's list of issues for a new charter school in the Gowanus/Boerum Hill neighborhood was: prostitutes. To be more accurate, it was reported that Gowanus was home to "roving bands of hookers and drug dealers"; sounds like my kind of town! Is it still true? From the Brooklyn Ink:

"...locals claim that streetwalkers still make their presence known. A receptionist at a nearby Holiday Inn Express would not confirm whether she’d seen any hookers or drug dealers on the block, but did say that she advises guests to “walk the other way”, to Third Avenue, when leaving the hotel rather than turning right toward the empty lot next door.

“After a certain hour, when all the businesses close up, it’s pretty much free business for prostitutes,” said Marlon Joseph, a supervisor at Petroleum Tanks, directly opposite an empty lot on Butler Street.

Of the hookers and drug dealers on the block at night, Joseph said, “I guess that’s their time to party, when we all go home for the day.”

An attendant at a gas station on the corner of Third Avenue, a block away from the intended location of the school, said during the daytime the area is safe, but after midnight it is “crawling with hookers.”"