Open Thread Wednesday 7/7/10

By on July 7, 2010 12:30 am in Brooklyn Heights
Flickr photo by nicolelovelye

Flickr photo by nicolelovelye

What’s on  your mind? Comment away!

Share this Story:

,

←  Older Comments
 →
  • epc

    I got tired of Time Warner’s RoadRunner service and got a DSL package from Speakeasy. Now it took three separate attempts to get Speakeasy, Covad, and Verizon to work together to get DSL in DUMBO (at various times we were told it was absolutely available, absolutely impossible due to Verizon’s use of fiber optics as trunk lines and so forth), but I have 6Mbs down/ 1Mbs up ADSL for the absolutely low, low price of $150/month.

    Yeah, I know, 150 isn’t exactly cheap but my business lives/dies by having network access and Time Warner was killing me.

    If you don’t need dedicated bandwidth and are a relatively light network user, you might also consider wireless broadband, which tends to be about $60/month for a typical 5Gb monthly capped account (it’s not capped, but every 1Mb over is something insane like $0.25/Mb).

    w/r/t FIOS, in DUMBO we’ve been told that FIOS is available along Jay Street and portions of Front Street, but that they’ve held off moving further into the neighborhood until contracts have been negotiated with the various buildings. It isn’t as simple as swapping in fiber optic equipment for the existing wired lines as the FIOS equipment requires more space and power, and someone has to pay for dragging the cables to units/offices. VZ won’t wire a building until it has a commitment for a percentage of installations.

  • TK Small

    I also called Verizon/FiOS and they basically gave me the same story. On the bright side, they said that there was a new bundle of services which are better and $10 cheaper. So, there could be a benefit to current Verizon customers if they call and complain.

    While both of the customer service people that I spoke with were much better than average, I think that the “non-answers” are unsatisfactory. I’m going to write to the CEO to register a complaint.

    Verizon Communications Inc.
    Ivan G. Seidenberg
    Chairman/CEO
    140 West Street
    New York, NY 10007

  • DrewBurch

    Yeah the woman I spoke to was very apologetic about not being able to give me a straight answer and admitting that it was a pretty ridiculous way to do business. Here I am, a co-op board member begging to have our building wired, and they can’t even give me a rough time line. Pretty lame way to do business if you ask me.

  • EHinBH

    To North Heights Res regarding kids clothes with bridge on it…

    Have you tried calling Heights Kidson Pinapple Walk — 718-222-4271

  • Andrew

    FIOS is definitely available in parts of the Heights, though not yet everywhere. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade over TWC, if you can get it.

  • Clarky

    Last week I asked about the new cafe opening up on Clark Street. Nobody replied on the open thread, but the day after I posted, I noticed a new awning was put up, with the name “FreshCafeBar.” The side of the awning mentions frozen yogurt, salad bar (not sure how there is room in that space for a salad bar), crepes, and organic coffee. I am a big fan of frozen yogurt, and so I’m very excited about the prospect of having a place to get some in the North Heights. Here’s hoping for a great new addition to the nabe!

  • caitlin

    hi everyone,

    i moved into the neighborhood on june 30th (i am so happy to be here!), and i’m having a hard time finding / figuring out where to do my laundry. i feel like i’ve seen a lot of dry cleaners, but no laundromats. (i haven’t been looking too hard, so maybe i’m wrong). can you all help me out?

    thank you!

  • Andrew Porter

    Caitlin, a lot of the dry cleaners also offer bulk washing services. The laundromat that used to be next to the liquor store on Montague was burned out, and is in the process of moving to the former Korres store on Montague.

    I’ve got machines in my building, so this is all academic for me.

  • AEB

    Caitlin, the best–and at the moment only–laundromat in the nabe is at 6 Columbia Place, just south of Joralemon. It’s large and seldom if ever crowded.

  • grrlgeniusbk

    Dog Etiquette: Ah blistering heat of summer….well a few weeks ago it was not so bad.
    I was enjoying a lovely walk on the promenade, walking down the Clark Street entrance to take in the view and shazam- stepped in creamy (yeah it was disgusting) pile of poop that covered an entire tile. That means the dog who made it was enormous. Folks, it’s illegal not to clean up after you dogs aside from being disgusting. As a fellow dog owner I can’t believe the amount of poop that has been left which is another way dogs can get sick.

    What do people think about doggie bag dispensers to stop this? I’ve seen it in other places like LA. I don’t know if it actually did much to help the situation. At the very least, having a dispenser at the non-shady-hope-my-dog-doesn’t-get-heat-stroke-dog-park next to One Brooklyn. I went there and a guy’s German Sheppard was a poop machine and he didn’t even have 1 bag on him. It was $85K for those burn-the-children-covered-orbs at Pier 1 can’t we get a few doggie bags to improve this situation?

  • my2cents

    I caught a woman who was about to leave her dog’s droppings on the sidewalk at the corner of Middagh and Hicks a few nights ago. When I asked her if she planned to pick up after her animal, she said she was “looking for a piece of paper” to pick it up with. REALLY? Looking for a piece of paper?? I told her that’s why most people carry something with them. Just pathetic. I wish I was a cop so I could have written that lady a fat summons.

  • my2cents

    Oh, and she made motions of rummaging through the garbage can for a piece of paper until I walked away. I think she just stood there til I was out of view and then left it. What a loon. People like that shouldn’t be responsible for the care of other creatures.

  • nabeguy

    my2, that’s my territory and I happen to have found a lot of droppings on or near my property lately. Do you remember the breed of dog?

  • AmyinBH

    The poo situation has been around since I moved here 12 years ago (and I would suspect longer than that). I don’t think putting bag stations around the neighborhood is going to change the behavior of the rude people. Someone concerned about cleaning up after their dog will leave the house prepared.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    That’s funny nabeguy, just the other day you mentioned that very thing, dog poo around your property. Since my window faces that very area, if we had a time approximation to go with breed we can make a wonderful movie. lol

  • my2cents

    It was a small flat-nosed type of dog with light colored fur. i am not too good at breed identification. Owner was a heavy-set woman in her 50s, I would say.

  • Matthew Parker

    http://tinyurl.com/33e9kvc

    Temperatures in Brooklyn Bridge Park recorded at 171 Degees F.

  • caitlin

    @ andrew porter and aeb – thank you!!

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Just came back from Pier One and it is perfect with the breeze. Annie Hall is packed and turnout couldn’t be better. This is one successful park

  • y

    Since my2cents is in the sign-making business, maybe he could go through the neighborhood putting some up saying something like “Don’t poop here. You will get a ticket.” People did stop parking at 20 Henry after he put up the signs.

  • my2cents

    Yes, but the parking signs were to help people, not scold them. Picking up after one’s dog should be self-evident.

  • Andrew Porter

    Hey grrlgeniusbk, when did you step in that pile o’ poop? Reason I’m asking is because the Clark Street entrance to the Promenade has been closed for several weeks, with the sinkhole still there, still not fixed.

  • y

    my2: Same thing. You are just helping both to interpret the signs they are clearly not able to understand on their own.

  • nabeguy

    y, as far as I know, dogs can’t read, although I used to put “curb your dog” signs around my property at about a foot off the ground in the hopes that they could. If I could figure out what a dog’s natural presdator is, I’d put a picture of that to deter them.

  • No One of Consequence

    Lions

  • y

    nabe: since you know that dogs can’t read, it was quite a fruitless effort and waste of time on your end, but on the other side you apparently got rewarded with lots of waste, not smelling like lemons though.

  • mommy

    718madeinbrooklyn has kids shirts with the brooklyn bridge. they look like a nice option and are designed by a BH parent

  • Andrew Porter

    I was in CVS and they have “Snugglies” for dogs, kid you not, with the selling point “keeps your paws free” on the front of the package. What I want to know is, what dog reads English, and why aren’t these on the bottom shelf, at dog-eye level?

←  Older Comments
 →