Open Thread Wednesday 8/5/09

By on August 5, 2009 12:30 am in Brooklyn Heights
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Flickr photo by shaun hawk

What’s on your mind?  Comment away!

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  • Dodger

    The scaffold is down from the Nathan’s-KFC-Tim Horton’s etc multiplex on Court Street. Does anyone remember when it went up? I can’t remember ever seeing the storefront without the scaffold.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Dodger: You’ve got me on that one. It’s been a lo-o-o-ong time, indeed. I can say that there was scaffolding up around parts of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church when I moved to the Heights in 1983, and it’s still there. The day it comes down, I expect to hear a blast from Gabriel’s trumpet.

  • David on Middagh

    Scaffolding is a blight on the city.

  • ME

    Those of you still being punished by the abominable St. George BEEEEP! BEEEEP!:

    DEP inspectors were supposed to come today – twelve days after I filed the complaint. But one of them got sick! So they’re coming tomorrow.

  • anon

    Claude-perhaps the next longest scaffolding is on Court St & Livingston St where it seems there is always renovations/construction going on. After 2 deaths in front of O’Keefe’s in the early 90s from falling debris, I can’t say I blame them.

  • Jen

    ME, which BEEP BEEP do you mean? The one you can hear from side of the building that backs up to the dorm and the water tower? I hope so because it’s driving me crazy.

  • ME

    Jen – I would think we are talking about the same beep. There are many beeps (nine a minute! Nine!) and it seems as if they are coming from different parts of the St. George, which is amazing. Are you IN the St. George? I can’t tell which part you mean. There is a water tower over the dorm (I assume the water tower-like structure with the arches and door houses it). From Henry street, you can hear one beep louder than others and it seems to come from that side. From Clark, you can hear the whole nine-a-minute symphony very, very clearly.

    If you are IN the St. George, I have an idea. Would you possibly be available when the inspectors come? Hearing the noise from different vantage points could help them. I don’t know how much they’ll be willing to do to track the source down. But I’m willing to take any measures at this point to make the thing stop. It’s like high-pitched GUNSHOTS ringing out. It’s becoming a frekken emergency.

    The nice St. George super, Danny, and the very lovely lady at the front desk, Sylvia, have made an effort to find the source. But they are busy, they’re not really affected by it themselves so it’s probably not urgent for them, and I don’t know how hard they’ve looked. But it is weird that the building staff can’t seem to figure out where it’s coming from.

    Our previous discussion on BHB (mostly me off topic ranting about 311) is at http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/11593 .

    For all you doubters out there who think people are imaging it: none of two St. George employees, my own super, or the policeman who came last week had difficulty hearing this noise. At all! And now THREE people on this blog have attested it’s driving them to distraction.

  • Jen

    ME, I’m actually in 111 Hicks Street. My windows are face Henry Street and I hear either BEEP or BEEP BEEP every 30 seconds (I just timed it). I think this has been going on for more than a year. It’s obviously more annoying when the weather is nice and windows are wide open. I’m not sure if anyone else in my building has complained (I can’t imagine that they haven’t) but I will talk to my super also and I can DEFINITELY be available for inspectors to listen to it from my apartment. I would be so happy to have this figured out once and stopped.

    Can you post your email address so we can coordinate?

  • ME

    Thanks- if you’re on Hicks, you’re farther from it than I am and the DEP folks (if they’re willing to head out and try to pinpoint it) will want to try to approach it, not head farther away. This has been going on for 14 days, no longer than that. That said, the regular intervals and the double-beeps suggest you’re hearing the same beeps, but fewer of them. I can be reached at clarkbeep at gmail.

  • seriously

    ME: I admit now I have been hearing it as well after you mentioned it. There is just always so much other noise in that section that I never paid attention to it before. But I noticed they are now all over the place regardless where you stand in that intersection or street. I even hear a loud beep out of the walkway between 20 henry and the church. I even thought at one point they are coming out of the empty house on Clark and Monroe. Good luck finding the sources.

  • ME

    HELL BEEPS STOP AFTER TWO WEEKS

    Thanks to the good staff at the St. George with the help of DEP inspectors (aiming to help, not punish) and some folks at the borough president’s office (same)…

    Time to sleep peacefully…

  • promenade

    Me – congrat’s – your due diligence paid off!
    Let us know, WHAT was it making that confounded noise?

  • T.K. Small

    I know it’s not Wednesday, but does anyone know what’s going on with Verizon FiOS in the neighborhood? I am so sick of Time Warner!

  • ME

    promenade – I dunno, something on the cooling tower gone awry. Don’t know what it was.