Open Thread Wednesday 4/7/10

By on April 7, 2010 12:20 am in Brooklyn Heights
BHB Photo Club pic by Pat Bianculli via Flickr

BHB Photo Club pic by Pat Bianculli via Flickr

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • C.

    Anybody know the plans for squibb park? Any idea when that’ll be done along with the bridge to pier 1?

  • http://www cz

    hi there.
    i am thinking of getting a bike this spring/summer but I don’t want to lug it up my 4 story walk up everyday. I was wondering if anyone knows of type of bicycle ‘storage’/garage in the neighborhood?

    I read that you can pay around $25/month to store your bike at any parking garage but haven’t looked into it yet. Was hoping to find some insight here.

    cz

  • WillowtownCop

    Free Bike:

    I left a bike on Columbia Place by the laundromat hoping someone would take it. It’s leaned against a pole and hasn’t been locked for several weeks and no one has touched it. It’s a white Panasonic with a front wheel that needs to be aligned.

  • Arch Stanton

    WillowtownCop,

    That sounds like a set-up…. LOL

  • bornhere

    Uh,oh — today’s Daily News has an article about problems with the steel “muffins” at the new park —
    http://tinyurl.com/yfm3mz6

    I know a lot of us grew up burning our adorable little butts on steel swings at the “big playground,” but you would think that someone in the playground-safety-planning crowd would have considered the dangers of hot steel…..

  • harumph

    @bornhere – so right – how hot those things are going to get even today! and lets not forget how slick they are going to be when wet or spilled upon – clearly designed by a non-parent!!

  • Bartmann

    Last Sunday I visited my uncle who lives in Sunset Park. And I noticed all the young people with kids. Many of the parents looked like they were in their 20’s. Yet in the heights, people generally begin have children in their 30’s, and often in their 40’s. Just take a look around and you’ll notice that many parents are not spring chickens; grey hair and a general weatheredness is the norm.

    Why do we Heights residents wait so long to have children? For me it was financial, I had to earn enough money to buy a four bedroom apartment so each of my children could get their own room. Plus two kids at St Ann’s is more than $50,000 a year. So I had to wait until I was in my late 30s when I had enough money to give my kids at least the kind of life that my parents gave me: my own room and private education.

    I don’t know if I would feel like a failure if I couldn’t give my kids at least as much as my parents gave me. Perhaps this is just the immigrant ethic: each generation should be a little better off than the last.

    Just wondering….

    Bartmann

  • DrewBurch

    @C: I’ve read numerous places that they are planning on putting a skatepark in Squibb Park. Not sure if that is true, but I think it would be an interesting use for the space. Skaters won’t care about the BQE zooming by.

  • Joe

    Bartmann for me it was partly due to our finances, wanting to establish our careers, wanting to travel and wanting to enjoy our 20s living the city life. I was the first of my friends to have kids and you should see how fast everyone else followed when there were no one else to travel or go out with.

  • AEB

    Bartmann, protracted adolescence, protracted education, a need to establish oneself financially, effective birth-control, a looser sense that marriage must lead inevitably to having children….

    Of course this all applies to a certain demographic…..

  • Monty

    There is a well-established correlation between affluence and later births. It usually is the result of the exact situation that ou and Joe described. Also due to better access to family planning. My wife was 31 when our daughter was born and I haven’t met another mom younger than her. Just watch Idiocracy.

  • anon

    @bornhere: The kid playground in the new park doesn’t make sense, from the metal things for kids to play (and fall on), to the things that twirl around (but are hard to hold onto), to the swings meant for babies only (and not toddlers or pre-schoolers), to the hard concrete animals that lack any context or reason to be there. Even if trees do eventually grow to cover the steel domes, it ain’t that much fun and there was no need for so many of them to the exclusion of other items. The playground lacks imagination or whimsy, which is so easy to do (see, eg, the playground by BMCC in lower Manhattan, or any of the new ones in Hudson River Park). So poorly done in so many ways and my kids were not impressed and wanted to leave quickly. I’m not optimistic about Pier 6, which also reportedly has a playground.

  • Topham Beauclerk

    The picture of St Ann’s reminds me of the ruinous state the church is in compared to nearly all the other churches in the neighborhood. Why have the others been able to raise the money for a proper renovation but not St Anne’s? Imagine if it were done and the steeple – miracle of miracles – restored?

  • fishermb

    I’ve been living in north heights for a few years and have used Best Cleaners on Henry just north of Montague. This weekend I’m moving by Court and Atlantic and wondering if there are any dry cleaners closer by that you all can recommend.

  • Harry on Hicks

    @c – been wondering about squibb park myself. bloomberg is a jerk for axing the bridge connecting the promenade area via squibb park to brooklyn bridge park below.

    @Drew – sweet spot for a skatepark imo. the hill on columbia hts is extremely popular for downhill skateboarders already.

  • ratNYC

    Can anyone please recommend a place close by where I can bring my car for the NYS inpection without being ripped off? I already know the shell station on Atlantic is highway robbery. Thanks

  • Berkeley Grosvenor

    @Topham, wasn’t the steeple removed to accommodate the subway (see: http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/14835)? I guess you would propose using sky hooks to pull off this miracle of engineering… As for the ruinous state of the church, I seem to remember a much-loved, not-for-profit that was restoring the William Jay Bolton windows and produced great performing arts and music events at St. Ann’s before decamping to DUMBO.

  • Ari

    @ratNYC.

    State Inspection fees are set by the State not the shop that does the actual inspection.

    The fee should be $35.

    Agreed that that shop on Atlantic is filled with thieves, but any shop authorized to make inspections should all charge you the same $35.

    I have a foreign car and I use Bay Diagnostic in Gravesend for all my work, including inspections.

    Hope that helps

  • DrewBurch

    STAY AWAY FROM THE SHELL ON ATLANTIC. They charged me hundreds of $$$$ for work they never did. They also left my car parked on the street overnight, getting a ticket, and took no responsibility for it. Every time I took my car for inspection they found some expensive job that needed to be done. They are a complete rip-off.

    I now use Excel Motors on Old Fulton Ferry. Jok the owner is honest and reasonable.

  • since47

    Well, you can’t say they’re not trying. Right now, a white canopy covers each of the steel muffins, which would be find if the sun was directly overhead all day. When I heard that these muffins were made of steel, my first thought was, “but aren’t they going to get hot in the summer?” When this playground was in the planning stages, did that thought not cross anyone else’s mind? Canopies are just a high noon solution, and I think they’re going to have to go back to the drawing board on this one. What a shame.

  • ratNYC

    @Ari – Thanks for the info. By rip-off I meant shops that find expensive work to do which is “necessary” to pass the inspection.
    @DB – thanks for the info. Where is Excel Motors located exactly?

  • DrewBurch

    Sorry wrong spelling…

    New Xcel Auto Repairs
    718-625-4110
    60 Old Futon Street Brooklyn, NY 11201

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

    DrewBurch: see http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/4295 and the comment thread following.

  • T.K. Small

    For my auto repair/inspection I go to a mechanic on 3rd Ave. & 24th St. The shop is called Lopez Byway and the owner is Sergio. What I like about these guys is that they are very honest and thorough. I have referred my mother and sister and they’re both very happy as well. There is a subway over on 4th Ave., so if you need to drop off your car, it is not that difficult to get back and forth. I highly recommend them.

  • ratNYC

    Thank you all for the info.

  • DrewBurch

    @ Claude
    Yeah they really are terrible. I tried to get my money back from the credit card company after they ripped me off. The Shell station fought me tooth and nail. Finally was able to recoup most of the payment. What is really horrific is that I took my car in there, told them I was driving down to Florida and wanted a full check up to make sure all was well for the long drive. They charged me hundreds of dollars for work they never completed. When I got down to Florida the car wouldn’t run. I took it to a mechanic who said I was lucky to make it down at all. So Cobble Hill SS not only ripped me off, but out me in danger of a highway breakdown. Complete jerks!

  • cat

    Our one “inspection” at the Shell Sta. cost about $1500 for “necessary” repairs on a 3 y.o. car. Oh man, were we stupid! I can’t believe they are still in business. A couple of years ago I heard that they had ripped off a NYS policeman and were being investigated. But, alas, they are still there. I hope they are not still on the AAA referral list.

  • cat

    Who designed the playground on Pier 1? I’m sorry to hear they only have swings for babies. That’s a problem at Harry Chapin as well. I haven’t been to Pier 1 yet, but my 5 y.o. loves the swings so we won’t last long there.

  • anon

    @cat-At least Chapin Park is designed for small kids. BBP is designed for older kids, in theory, but then poorly designed to meet their needs. We originally thought the metal mushrooms were sprinklers, or were covering something much better underneath. Sad to see they are just nothing.

  • ABC

    Pier 1 is designed little kids/toddlers. The much larger Pier 6 is for older kids (swing mountain, sand village, water play, etc).

    Like Chapin is for toddlers, inner Pierrepont if for next age up, and outer Pierrepont for kids

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