Open Thread, Wednesday, March 7, 2012

By on March 7, 2012 12:01 am in open thread

It’s another Wednesday, giving you the opportunity to let out what’s been brewing inside for the past week. Have at it!

Editor’s note: While March typically comes in like a lion, this forum need not be an open door for ferocity and back-and-forth barbs. Please be kind, keep it clean and maintain an air of respectfulness. We’re neighbors; can’t we all just get along?

(Photo: Chuck Taylor/Willow Street)

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  • mlo

    Right so also isnt the rat poison harmful to the dogs??

  • Hicks St Guy

    so unfair! don’t they know that dogs are people too!

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Corporations are people too, my friend.

  • Matthew Parker

    Dog is my co-pilot.

  • Christie

    There’s a ginormous dog run maybe 2 blocks away. If you are walking your dog off leash in a human park….well that’s just lazy. You are kinda asking for snotty remarks and dirty looks. Though on the other hand you have to be petty and a half to take time out of your day to be pissy about a dog who has never come within 50 feet of you and who’s urine you couldn’t point out unless someone
    stuck a survey flag in the grass as they squatted.

    Just sayin….

  • Ex-Heightster

    Why are people letting their dogs frolic in Cadman Plaza Park, when there’s one of the biggest dog runs in NYC about a 7-minute walk away, at the northern end of Columbia Heights? There’s even a second fenced-off area located within the Columbia Heights dog run for smaller or frail dogs.

  • Big Dave

    Stepped over a BIG PILE near the Casino yesterday. REALLY. Are we going back to the pre-pooper scooper law era? Mayor Lindsey is rolling over…

  • Ex-Heightster

    When someone responds to a very serious issue regarding HIV/AIDS activism with these foolish, rather libelous opening lines:

    “@Ex-Heightster- You are just a little insane. Don’t believe me? Ask your therapist. Don’t have one? That’s the problem…”

    One can be quite certain more rubbish will follow. This is exactly the case with Master of Middagh in the thread on “Housing Works Protests” 3 pages back.

  • mouse_mom

    ok, change of topic. Has anyone seen the new Pier 5 plan on the BBP website? Does it look like the area which was previously not funded (uplands) now is? From the original plan it looked like they would only build out the pier and a narrow strip of land adjacent to it. Almost too good to be true…

  • Columbiaplaceres

    Did anyone notice the mini parade with the bag pipes yesterday? They went up Hicks and turned on Montague St. Anyone know the reason?

  • Columbiaplaceres

    Also, has anyone been to Layali Dubai Sheesha, also on Atlantic Ave?

  • David on Middagh

    Columbiaplaceres,
    That could have been a St. Paddy’s parade, with the bagpipes and all, but it was a few days early. I wonder if it was a memorial?

  • weegee

    It’s the annual pre-St. Patrick’s Day parade held by the clerks, court officers, and other affiliates at the Brooklyn courts. Usually starts out at St. Charles, goes through the neighborhood, and terminates at Columbus Park.

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Ex-Heightster- Really? You want to spill that over into here? Fine. Go get a law degree from one of the top schools in the country and then you can presume to tell me what is “libelous”.

    And my comment that you complain of was perfectly reasonable in context. Frankly? You ARE a nut. YOU were the one who described those who disagreed with your position with the following phrase: “Too many self-centered, snobbish, protect-the-status-quo types on this thread!

    Don’t go crying about it when you’re forced to eat the same strong-arm tactics you like to use on others by someone just a little tougher than yourself. :)

  • Matthew Parker

    @Ex-Heightster: To answer your question about why some dog owners allow their dogs to frolic in Cadman Plaza Park–because the law allows it.

    Some people (and some dogs) prefer park offleash recreation to dog runs like Hillside, and the City has determined that it’s a good thing that early in the morning and late in the evening people (with their dogs) can congregate and use certain areas of certain NYC Parks for that purpose.

    From 9pm until the park closes, and then from when the park opens until 9am, on the north side of the Brooklyn War Memorial, dogs are allowed offleash, within certain rules (e.g. must be licensed).

    This rule is not just in Cadman, but in 88 other NYC parks in all five boroughs. The rule was formalized by the Health Department in 2006 and by the Parks Department in 2007, though it was unofficial in many parks for decades.

    More info about the policy here: http://www.nycoffleash.com

    (disclosure: I wrote that website under the auspices of the New York Council of Dog Owners Groups, a non-profit organization).

    The Parks Department has information about both dog run and park offleash recreation here: http://tinyurl.com/796ywtu

  • Jorale-man

    @mouse_mom – interesting questions about Pier 5. I noticed yesterday that they appear to be doing some work on the “upland” area off the pier, breaking up the concrete, etc. There also appears to be a barge with huge piles of soil sitting next to the pier, so perhaps they’re finally moving to the stage of laying down the actual ground. It would be nice to see the adjacent area landscaped as well.

  • BH’er

    @lori, I think you spoke a little too soon…

    As for the crawling babies in the park – the dogs’ mess should be the least concern if there are rats running throughout the park all night long!

    But I agree, the turf is better used by feet with sneakers – that’s pretty expensive turf and it would be great to have it in excellent condition for years to come – it really makes for a great playing surface in any weather!

    I love dogs and think they should be able to roam off leash! Please help protect our parks!

  • Ex-Heighster

    @Master Of Middagh: (Or should I address you as self-described “Tough Guy”?)

    I don’t need a law degree from anywhere to recognize a personal, libelous attack upon myself! It’s in the same way I understand many of your posts to be the claptrap they are.

  • Ex-Heightster

    @Matthew Parker:

    That’s a fine discourse on how it’s legal for dogs to be given free rein through Cadman Plaza Park.

    However, is it really best to have loose dogs urinate, defecate, & potentially bite in a park that is used by many people, including lots of school children, when a huge, specially-designed dog run is just a 7-minute walk away?

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Ex-Heighster-

    Wrong again. :) By saying “libelous”, you say that I made a statement which would be actionable in a court of law. Allow me to school you- calling you a “nut” or in any manner casting aspersions on your sanity is not something you can sue over. And even if it were, the fact that the statement was true is always a complete defense to an action sounding in defamation. I don’t think I’d have any trouble convincing a court that you aren’t all together there.

    You’re so bombastic for someone who doesn’t even live here anymore (according to your name) and whose opinions, therefore, are worth less than nothing on matters concerning actual neighbors…

  • Master Of Middagh

    Oh, and by the way? I’m no “self-described ‘Tough Guy'”. A bunch of upperclassmen back in high school (all of whom were tough guys) once officially dubbed me a “tough guy” and I’ve been one ever since- can you say the same? ;)

  • WillowSt.Neighbor

    Ex-Heightster,
    Master touched on something that has been on my mind for quite awhile now. You no longer live here and yet you continue to post. Nabeguy no longer lives here either and yet we welcome his intelligent well thought out remarks. Your remarks on the other hand indicate that you might be a bit irritated by what is being said on this board.
    What gives?

  • Ex-Heightster

    @Master Of Middagh:

    I’m within my rights to bring a libel suit against you for making false, defamatory remarks & accusations about my mental health, about whether I see a therapist or not. etc. It’s debatable whether I’d win the suit or not, but that would be up to a judge/jury. Would you like me to proceed?

    Furthermore, you’re not in high school any more, even though your sophomoric remarks do make it seem that way.

  • Ex-Heightster

    @WillowSt.Neighbor:

    Are you suggesting that I shouldn’t post here because I no longer live in the neighborhood, after having been born, raised & lived 52 years of my life alongside the Promenade?

    And yes, I was very irritated by those bloggers here who trashed & vilified the activists who protested/demonstrated to the bureaucrat who is cutting services to people living with HIV/AIDS!

    Mr. Doar’s life has not been ruined because some people walked beside him, held placards, & chanted while he was on his way to the bureaucracy one morning.

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Ex-Heightster: Once again, I shall correct the flaw in your logic. You do NOT have the right to file a frivolous lawsuit because I offer my perspective on the mental health (or lack thereof) of your anonymous persona on the internet. I would welcome you to file a lawsuit against me, but you’d never find a lawyer to take the case, I guarantee you. Is this your first week on the web? Can you imagine if courts actually allowed defamation suits for such common remarks passing between people using pseudonyms? Only a moron would sincerely believe they had a case here.

    And it sounds like your problem with Mr. Doar stems solely from him being a bureaucrat, and not from any evidence of a character flaw or lack of ability. That IS crazy.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Wow. I keep up with Open Thread Wednesdays pretty regularly, but this one really has to take the cake. Thanks for providing just the distraction from work I was looking for this Monday morning.

  • GHB

    Speaking of Open Thread Wednesday… anybody hear from Topham Beauclerk? Was he banned from the site for his virulent anti-semitism? Frankly, I miss reading that fringe lunatic!

  • Ex-Heightster

    @Master Of Middagh:

    I’m not responding to your vitriol here any more. Enough already.

    Everyone should be paying more attention to Dr. Hershberger’s article above, a very informative, worthwhile read.

  • Knight

    @GHB: Don’t poke the bear!

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Ex-Heightster: Well, I’m hardly finished with you. You’re the one who wanted to pick a fight with me- I accept your surrender. You give people vitriol? Don’t cry when you get it back in spades…

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