Open Thread Wednesday 6/4/08

By on June 4, 2008 6:00 am in Brooklyn Heights

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Flickr photo by ledona

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  • http://paperskies.com e

    How about the garbage fire that raged last night, at 113 Joralemon? http://tinyurl.com/49j78l Anyone else live close to it?

  • GHB

    Anybody else notice that garbage cans are getting more and more difficult to find in BH?

  • Weegee

    Word to the wise: When you want Fire Department, don’t call 911. Call the borough fire number directly (in our case 718-999-4444.) 911 gets you a Police Communications Technician, who will take your information first, and THEN transfer you to a Fire Alarm Dispatcher who will take your information again. The PCT is often a study in futility, particularly with our oh-so-difficult street names. “Joralemon” is beyond the comprehension of most.

    This lensman, in an effort to prove that ethics are not dead, called the Fire Department BEFORE saddling up and photographing the mini-conflagration, which had a little bit more significance than otherwise — few New Yorkers know that last night was the final hurrah of the Brooklyn Fire Communications office. Located at 35 Empire Blvd. at the south end of the BBG, adjacent to the site of Ebbets Field, this office has handled fire traffic in the borough for decades. The building even served as a temporary morgue for victims of the Malbone Street subway disaster of 1918.

    The net effect is that the city wants to consolidate the fire dispatch operations of all five boroughs into one room at the department’s MetroTech headquarters, thus eliminating the safety net of redundancy that can currently be put in place if one borough is overloaded or has a catastrophic failure, i.e. if the Brooklyn fire dispatch office is on fire, calls can be routed to and dispatched from the Staten Island office, etc.

    I’d like to think I was the only caller that night who, at the conclusion of the report, said “hope the farewell party went well!” The dispatcher was slightly taken aback.

  • nabeguy

    Hmmmm, vandalism seems to be rampant in the nabe. Weekend before last, someone went on a mini-rampage and broke the planter in front of Noodle Pudding, knocked over the planter in front of the Assumption rectory, and pulled over several garbage cans along Middagh Street. Not quite as scary as a trash fire, but disturbng nonetheless.

  • Weegee

    In other news, what was the story with the Goodnik Squad and the lawn chairs on corners in the South Heights yesterday? Silently watching cars, clicking a counter, and writing on clipboards while wearing orange vests.

  • Nelson

    Does anyone know anything re: the steel structure built at the end of Montague St. just beyond the Promenade on the water? Is this permanent?
    Thanks

  • spm

    Has anyone contacted the BHA regarding posting signs on the Promenade about no cycling? I’m not sure if it’s their responsibility or the Parks Department but now that the weather is nicer, there are a lot more cyclists – most, I believe, do not know there is no cycling as the signs are small, blanked out or obscured. Any recommendations?

  • nabeguy

    Nelson, it’s the waterfall installation (one of 4 on the river) . It’ll be up through the summer.

  • nabeguy

    Have you tried a stick in the spokes?

  • Chris

    Weegee – they’re counting cars to assess street traffic on the corner. Probably has to due with whatever they are putting in the huge vacant space on that same corner.

  • CJP

    And what’s the latest on last week’s hottest topic which vanished? Not sure if the BIGGER story around here was Vespa dog walker or its sudden disappearance as a topic of conversation!

  • nelson

    Nabeguy
    Thanks…is this structure to be moved to the Brooklyn Bridge?
    It seems to be on a concrete base which makes it look sort of permanent where it is.
    Thanks

  • nabeguy

    Nelson, I’m not sure of the final positioning of these waterfalls, but I believe they’re being erected in situ. The concrete base is most likely for support or perhaps to house the plumbing.

  • nabeguy

    Seems that the vandalism spree I mentioned back on the 4th continues on. Last night, someone turned over the public trash cans on the corners of Henry and Cranberry/Middagh Sts…they didn’t dump them out, but somehomw managed to flip them over completely, contents and all, which is a pretty mean feat given the weight of a full metal garbage can. Oh, and they pulverized the same planter in front of Noodle Puddiing. Somebody’s got it in for that particular stretch of Henry

  • Cyrus P. Smith

    Have you called the 84th precinct? They devoted a lot of on-the-street resources to the recent break-in spree – this is obviously on a different level, but they’re responsive.