Open Thread Wednesday: August 22, 2012

As the Summer of 2012 sadly edges toward its peak, the BHB Open Thread Wednesday remains as hot as ever. Drink in the joy of companionship with your fellow posters and share what’s on your mind today.

(Photo: Montague Street entrance to Brooklyn Heights Promenade/Chuck Taylor)

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  • Bob Sacamano

    Did anybody see that big bus that got stuck trying to make the turn from Joralemon Street onto Clinton? It took about 20 minutes to get the bus moving again. I have no idea why such a big bus is even allowed to go down these streets.

    Secondly, Joraleman Street between Court and Clinton is just a mess. Why do they allow parking on both sides of the street? It makes the road very narrow and always backed up with the access-a-ride buses that stop to pick-up and drop off passengers and other large commercial vehicles. Furthermore, there is usually 8 to 10 official cars that are parked on the street at most times. In another two weeks its going to be packed with parents picking up their kids at the Packer School. That block is just a disaster.

  • Bob Sacamano

    It was last Friday at around 5pm when the bus got stuck. Forgot to mention that.

  • HenryLoL

    We’re quickly becoming (have became) a NYC Disneyworld — like SoHo. There should be no tour buses. Sometimes 4 tour buses are parked along Cadman Plaza and hundreds are tourists are marched to the promenade. Then there are the double-decker tour buses that ride through the Heights all and and night until about 10pm.

  • Monty

    @Henry, the only reason the city can afford to build and maintain features like the promenade and BBP is because of all those juicy tourist dollars. Don’t like it? Move to a boring neighborhood. Cobble Hill is a nice area with no business district and no tourist attractions.

  • HenryLoL

    @Monty – that is a ridiculious comment, which is not based on any facts.

  • SPM

    Can we get more No Biking signs on the Promenade? Every day there are groups of tourists on rental bikes who don’t see the tiny signs (there seem to be fewer than before) and careen around the Promenade. BHA – help here?

  • HenryLoL

    The oddest thing about this blog is that there are people who instead of having an actual opinion, just love to tear down what other people think. Note people: you are allowed to not like something. you dont have to move — or just put up with something.

  • SPM

    Also, any one notice more rats than before? Especially at the corner of Montague Street and Montague Terrace running into that building’s front garden. Who can we contact about that issue?

  • Big Dave

    Yes!
    Have seen more rats of late…
    “Rodenticide” needed!

  • Bloomy

    @SPM Contact the Rat King, I heard he lives in DUMBO.

    On a positive note, my girlfriend and I really enjoyed the cat adoption that Pet’s Emporium put on Sunday. While we don’t have enough room for another pet, it is always fun to play with kittens for a while. And the store owner couldn’t be a nicer person.

  • AL

    Can anyone recommend broker or agent for co-op homeowners insurance? Preferably local but anywhere in Manhattan or Bklyn ok.

  • MJC

    AL

    The Heights Group, 143 Montague Street above Armondo”s Restaurant

  • WillowSt.Neighbor

    SPM,
    I am so glad you mentioned the fact that although there are “no biking” signs on the Promenade, they are too small and lots of people continue to bike which scares the heck out of me. It is very dangerous. Maybe Judy Stanton at the BHA can help. She has helped in the past with other issues regarding the Promenade.

  • heightsscientist

    The rats are escaping the poison that has been laid down along the Promenade.

  • WillowSt.Neighbor

    HenryLoL,
    There are some people on this blog who absolutely have to have the last word. They bash others all the time if we disagree with their opinions.
    Last time I looked Brooklyn Heights was a neighborhood. In the old days neighborhood meant that you were part of a community that looked out for each other.
    Now it appears that it’s an “every man for himself” mentality.
    How sad.

  • GHB

    Yes, I’ve noticed an increase in the rat population along Columbia Heights. Freaks me out when I’m walking the dog at night and one of them darts out of the garbage bags!

  • AmyinBH

    “Now it appears that it’s an “every man for himself” mentality.” When your neighbors who say hello to you everyday let you get into an elevator while they know there is fire in the your apartment building and the firemen are on the way, you learn this lesson quick. Btw-Elevator shafts do act just like chimmneys.

  • HenryLoL

    @AL – We got a really great rate from Allstate — Phil Bunin in Park Slope. Did the whole thing over the phone. Here is a link to their contact page:

    http://agents.allstate.com/philip-bunin-brooklyn-ny.html

  • Still Here

    AL

    Ellen Pitari of Dennis A Miller Insurance – Carrol Gardens – 718-624-9371.

  • Hicks St Guy

    @AmyinBH, neighbors like yours, who needs enemies?

  • http://brooklynpaper.com Danielle

    Hi,
    I’m a reporter at The Brooklyn Paper and I’d love to talk to some of you about this biking on the promenade issue. Please give me a call at 718-260-2511 or send me an email at dfurfaro AT cnglocal.com
    Also, please keep me in mind for any other story ideas you might have.
    Thanks,
    Danielle

  • HenryLoL

    @Amy — At least they say hello…

  • JoT

    @SPM re. the rats – I spoke with an exterminator a couple months ago and according to him, BH has a huge rat problem (duh). We even discovered they were gnawing through our building’s EXTERIOR. It’s like a horror film, I tell you. ;)

    Didn’t someone mention that THE RATS (cue scary music) were one of the things behind the disappearing trash cans all over the ‘hood? No, not that the rodents were stealing them – although some of them are big enough to – but that the cans were removed to control trash problems?

  • Bloomy

    Anyone have a recommendation for a good dry cleaner in the neighborhood, specifically for suits? Thanks.

  • Topham Beauclerk

    @ Bloomy

    I think very highly of the “Chinese Hand Laundry” across the street from Key Food.

  • SPM

    Thanks for your comments.

    a. Is there a city organization we can contact about the rat issue?
    b. Judy Stanton and BHA, can we add more No biking signs (with pictures as a lot of the bike offenders are foreign) ?

    Thanks!

  • WillowSt.Neighbor

    AmyinBH,
    Really? Your neighbors did that to you? How awful.
    I lived in a development on LI for 15 years and never knew 95% of my neighbors even though we took walks every evening in that entire development. I think people are alot friendlier here. Maybe that’s because of the density of the population. You are bound to find nice people and not so nice people.
    I would have asked your neighbors why they let you get in an elevator when they knew that the building had a fire. I would have called them on it. Why didn’t you?

  • Teddy

    @AmyinBH

    Some neighbors you have there. Sadly, that’s the reality here. People come and go and there’s a lack of cohesion in many urban communities. The pessimist in me fears things will only get worse, especially as our economic infrastructure falls apart (the optimist in me sees lower rents coming).

  • AL

    MJC, HenryLoL, Still Here – Thanks for the recommendations. Much appreciated.

  • AmyinBH

    WillowSt.Neighbor, They really let me go into the elevator. I didn’t ask why because there could not have answered in a way that wouldn’t have cause me to strangle them with my bare hands.

    The last building I lived in a different part of Brooklyn had a very small fire. My neighbors banged on every door to alert everyone.

    I do have a few neighbors I like and trust. The rest are a bunch of self-centered fools. I still wouldn’t let the fools go into a building with a fire (even a small fire). I guess I was just raised better.