Open Thread Wednesday 10/2/13

By on October 2, 2013 12:25 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • wally haskell

    Is that a Claude Scales photo?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales
  • Philo T. Farnsworth

    Forgotten NY did a visit to Middagh. Worth a read:
    http://forgotten-ny.com/2013/09/middagh-street-brooklyn-heights/

  • Mr. Johnson

    Does the Packer School have a dress code? I saw a couple female students dressed like expensive call-girls yesterday. If the parents don’t care if their kids look like hose-bags, maybe the school should make rules to direct the girls not to look like tramps. Does Packer offer a degree in pole-dancing?

  • GHB

    At least they didn’t look like cheap call-girls!

  • Bloomy

    Anyone been able to get through the NY Health Exchange yet?

  • Peter

    I’ve gotten as far as the page where they ask my address and phone number… but the pulldown menus for county and state don’t work so I can’t get past that page.

    Frustrating to say the least!

  • Bloomy

    I get stuck at the exact same spot.

  • Mr. Johnson

    All the more tempting. Even if it is consensual, servicing a high-school girl is illegal in this country. Jail-bait.

  • Andrew Porter

    The sidewalk shed at the corner of Clark and Henry has finally come down, but there are plenty more throughout BH. My feeling is that the shed around the church on the corner of Clinton and Montague has been up the longest—at least ten years. Am I right, fellow BHB netizens?

  • MonroeOrange

    Mr. Johnson…sounds like you need you need to stop staring and drooling

  • MonroeOrange

    CitiBike has now had the first lawsuits filed against it, due to two people tripping and falling over the racks. Hmmmmm, and still the one in front of 10 Clinton, which forces pedestrians into the street is still there at the same length, even after numerous complaints have been filed.

    And yes, we all know my feelings on citibike and my main reason, was safety and that the city wouldn’t listen to complaints, both of which are still issues.

  • Joe A

    ahhhhhh Monroe Orange with one of his silly posts. You recall MO was screaming about how unsafe the bike share program was going to be. And here is is pointing to two people that tripped on the racks because they were too stupid to look where they were going. Great evidence of the dangers of bike sharing. Lol

    So why doesn’t MO post about all the deaths and injuries that he predicted? Well maybe because the program has been incredibly safe.

    As of the afternoon of August 21st, the program had some 247,000 users, including nearly 74,000 annual members. Riders have taken approximately 2.4 million trips and traveled more than 5.2 million miles. On Saturday, August 17th, NYCDOT reported that riders took a record-breaking 44,000 trips. This new population of bike riders is, by itself, the size of a small city.

    “Regarding your safety inquiries,” said NYCDOT’s Mosquera in an email, “in those millions of trips, there have been reports of eight incidents involving Citi Bike riders, none of them serious.

    New York City’s Cycling Risk Indicator, which calculates the level of risk for fatalities and injuries based on the number of riders, indicates that levels of risk decreased 73 percent in the last decade. “As commuter cycling numbers quadrupled over the previous decade, the risk of serious injury to cyclists plummeted by 75-percent,” says Mosquera. “In short, as New York and cities around the world have experienced, more cyclists mean safer streets.”

    http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/city-cycling-boom-creating-bangs-article-1.1457289#ixzz2gbMMJfBP

  • Mr. Johnson

    Teasing.

  • Joe A

    Citi bike share program hugely popular with New Yorkers

    Recently the NY Times did a poll on Mayor Bloomberg and many of his signature policies. As you can see, the bike share program is approved by 73% of New Yorkers. Sorry Monroe Orange but you are in a tiny, tiny minority.

    Eighty-two percent approve of his smoking ban inside restaurants and bars; 81 percent approve of his requirement that fast-food chains post calorie counts on menus; 85 percent approve of his mandate that restaurants display the letter grades given to them by the city; 72 percent approve of the pedestrian plazas he ordered installed around the city; 64 percent approve of the bike lanes he had constructed; and 73 percent approve of the bike-sharing program he created.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/nyregion/what-new-yorkers-think-of-mayor-bloomberg.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

  • Bloomy

    It has only been up for a year or two at most.

  • ghb

    The one up at Willow and Pierrepont has been up for ages, and the sidewalk is broken and dangerous.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    If it’s not your kid, maybe you should mind your own business.

  • BrooklynBird

    I think the person who tripped was blind.

  • Joe A

    Correct. And his argument is that the bike racks were the color gray making it too hard to distinguish from the sidewalk.

    Give me a break. I’m sympathetic to his being blind but the city was not in any way negligent and he should not receive one penny.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Who cares.

  • BrooklynBird

    I wasn’t arguing with you, just wanted everyone to be clear on the case.

  • MonroeOrange

    Joe A…if someone trips over the sidewalk in front of your house, you are held responsible for poor maintenance…the city should be held responsible too for instituting these racks, where 2 people tripped and fell over them.

  • MonroeOrange

    Joe A…if you were included in the sample size, i don’t give much credence to the results.

  • Joe A

    Understood.

  • Joe A

    Of course that is ridiculous and just demonstrates your utter ignorance of the law. For the city to be liable they would have to be shown to have been negligent in some manner creating an unreasonable hazard. Installing the bike racks is not being negligent any more than the installation of street signs, mailboxes, fire hydrants, bus shelters, park benches, etc. would be.

    You are not the swiftest trout in the stream are you MO?

  • Paesan

    Had a fantastic meal at Sociale last weekend. We split 3 appetizers – the grilled octopus, the gnocco fritto con salumi e formaggi and the bufala fritta. Octopus was perfectly cooked and delicious. Gnocco fritto salumi/formaggi was wonderful – nice assortment of mortadella, prosciutto, speck, cheese and honey raisins. Bufala fritta was amazing….fried, but not greasy at all. And the tomato/basil/anchovy sauce that accompanied it was incredible. I would love to have that sauce over some perciatelli or bucatini! Very, very nice. We also enjoyed a nice bottle of wine (nero d’avola). Wine list is great with very reasonable price range.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this place and can’t wait for our next date night to go back! It’s important to have this quality of food in our neighborhood and owner Francesco’s pride in his business is obvious. Be back soon!

  • DIBS

    Entrees are even better…perfectly cooked halibut, a pork tenderloin wrapped in prosciutto and one of the best crispy skin chickens I’ve ever had.

    I agree with you on the wine list too plus they have half carafeswhich can be nice sometimes like when I can’t polish off a whole second bottle!