Open Thread Wednesday

By on October 6, 2015 11:39 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Karl Junkersfeld
  • Jorale-man

    Brownstoner has a good post on the construction of the marina (said one commenter, “now the people in Pierhouse will have a place to dock their yachts.”)
    http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2015/10/brooklyn-bridge-park-marina/

  • gcarl

    Sunday NY Times Lovers

    This is just a heads up for folks who like to get the Sunday NY Times on Saturday night. The Deli Convenience store on the corner of Montague and hicks (up the steps) is one of the only ones in the neighborhood who get it then, but over the last few weeks the papers they have had were missing key sections. Still, they were selling them at full price and NOT telling customers they were incomplete. You wouldn’t know sections are missing if you didn’t go through the paper before buying it, as i have learned to do. When confronted about this, the owners did not seem to care and have not changed their practices.

  • Andrew Porter

    At the end of September, performance artist Carla Kasumi created an enormous spiral artwork in multicolored chalk on the southern end of the Promenade, listing how many days she has been alive. Last week’s heavy rains washed it all away, but you can see images of its creation and purpose here:

    http://www.carlakasumi.com/days2015

  • Concerned

    I feel badly for the kids in that school, both the ones trying to get an education and the trouble makers. But moving a “persistently dangerous” group of teenagers to one of the nicest areas of DUMBO does not sound like a good idea to me. But what the heck do I know? Can someone tell me why it is a good idea.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    A morsel from today’s construction work on Pierrepont Place.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Thanks for bringing attention to local artists.

  • MaryT

    At 5am today, I’m woken by loud sound. It’s a generator or compressor noise. I look out, and there are several trucks parked by Cadman Park. People are setting stuff up. This goes on for 3 hours. More trucks and buses arrive. Then, at around 8am, loud music and announcements. The park is swarming with kids and grown ups in red t-shirts, arriving constantly. NY1 reports that it’s a rally for charter schools. I go out, and traffic is backed up on Cadman, Clinton, and Tillary. The noise is deafening. This goes on until after 12pm. They’re still breaking down the equipment as I write.

    How the heck can a public (private) education group afford to spend the kind of money this event must have cost? And why was it allowed to exceed the 4 hour limit on park events (set up included)? Ask Eva Moskowitz, I guess.

  • Guest

    The DOE is also delaying the formal proposal of rezoning for PS 8, but say they still plan to settle the issue for 2016/17,
    http://www.wnyc.org/story/city-will-hear-more-parents-rezoning-two-brooklyn-schools/

  • AEB

    It’s rare indeed when a construction project–in this case the renovation of the building on the SW corner of Hicks and Middagh–turns out to be successful, but this has happened spectacularly.

    What was once a false-front white-“brick” monstrosity has been restored to full nineteenth-century glamour, or reinvented in that vein.

    I’d be interested to know if anyone has any idea whether former tenants have returned to their apartments, or if the building has been, so to speak, repopulated.

    As I live across the street, it was fascinating to watch the project proceed over the summer, from the stripping of the old facade to replacing with the new. As I find it difficult to get my blender off the shelf, this was a revelation!

  • Sheila Kaplan

    Please SHARE this information & protect children & families. It’s Domestic Violence month & the excerpt below & link is from NBC Herb Weisbaum’s “Privacy Quiz” & highlights why it’s important that DV victims & survivors opt out of directory information. NYC schools 9-12 disclose contact info w out consent & many schools outside NYC & nationally disclose P-16.

    [[“When there are situations where the survivor has left with the child
    and has custody of the child and they’re living elsewhere, they want to
    know that their abuser doesn’t know where they are living,” said Kaofeng
    Lee, deputy director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network
    to End Domestic Violence. “If this information is available, the abuser
    could get access to where this child is going to school which will
    pinpoint exactly where the family is now living and make it possible to
    find them.”]

    http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/student-privacy-n423466

  • Checo

    And how are they allowed to make that kind of noise so early? I live on Monroe Place, and it was so loud in my apartment (with the windows closed and a white noise machine on), that I heard every word coming from their speakers. This has to be a violation of the noise code.

  • Sheila Kaplan

    One more post on directory information to protect kids. Again, NYC schools claim to only share 9-12 contact info however I’m guessing readers have friends & family outside NYC. Thanks in advance for sharing — this is my 10th year looking at this problem & your help can make it the last year I have to think about non-consensual disclosures via schools.

    Please SHARE & LIKE video. The information is accurate. Parents need to know their kids’ contact info, DOB & additional ‘directory information’ can be shared w out consent unless they opt out.

    https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1102885979752259/?pnref=story

  • 1969

    The devil is in the details — problem is in figuring out how to do the transfer in a way that supports the creation of a successful school. As with elementary capacity in D13, you can’t just build new schools/capacity without also addressing in some way the existing schools/seats that are available but people are not choosing (there are lots of middle schools with many available seats in D13, but they apparently don’t offer the programs or other things D13 families want, because D13 families are voting with their feet and are opting out of D13 middle schools in pretty large numbers). Moving this currently very undersubscribed middle school into a new building could offer the opportunity to strengthen and resource it in powerful ways, creating something that attracts more D13 middle school families, and at the same time open up much needed elementary school seats in 307, giving that school room to grow with the rezone.

    But the DOE hasn’t acted in a way to build much confidence to “trust them; they’ll have a good process over the next some-odd months . . .”

  • HereToStay

    Didn’t you hear about the giant march in Cadman Plaza Park about schools… Horrible nightmare. It’s like the 60s or something. See here: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-stand-for-school-equality-rally-at-cadman-plaza-park-on-news-photo/491692328

  • HereToStay

    You have to complain to Community Board 2 and the Police that give the permits.

  • MaryT

    Already did that for other loud events, @HereToStay. They swear the decibel levels are within code – when clearly they are not. I will contact CB2 tomorrow, hope others do too. @Checo is so right. Why were they allowed to start so early and stay so late? I’m thinking – $$$ and pull.

  • Boerum Bill

    If I hated education as much as you do, I’d blast my Perry Como LPs out the window to disturb the proceedings. This is the big city, Darling. Adapt!

  • HereToStay

    Do you even have the slightest idea as to what you are talking about? Do you even live here?

  • Cranberry Beret

    I think this was an exterior-only renovation, so the tenants were able to stay

  • AEB

    Well, there was complete window replacement, so it looked to me that the apartments were vacated–or empty–for a considerable time.

    But thanks.

  • Carla Kasumi

    Thanks, Andrew! In April 2016, I’ll be launching a new audio-guided walk through Brooklyn Heights. It will be a two-person walk, where each participant will listen to one side of a love story set during WWII to present date, all around the neighborhood. More details and date coming soon!

  • Frown of Passion

    I didn’t hear any of the noise from the Cadman Convention this morning. I did hear, at approximately 4 AM Tuesday, a gentleman singing hymns outside the the Clark St. Station. Did anyone else here this?

    Speaking of Clark St., does anyone know what is going on next door to Tazza?

  • CHB

    I just walked through the intersection of Hicks and Pierrepont, where a film crew was set up, and saw a large cardboard sign saying that, by walking by that sign, you are consenting to appearing on a Warner Bros. TV show. This strikes me as awfully invasive. Does anyone have information about it?

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Standard operating procedure as far as I know.

  • Concerned

    I wouldn’t sweat it. The sign is probably there to 1) attempt to cover themselves in case of a lawsuit and 2) attempt to scare away anyone trying to get in their shot. There’s nothing binding about a private sign on a public sidewalk corner that I know of.

  • Roberto Gautier

    Marinas present both revenue opportunities for NYC as well as environmental impact issues. Has the DiBlasio administration included an environmental impact assessment of the marina project? Components of this study include: “marina flushing” and consequent stagnation of water; water quality & habitat assessment; stormwater runoff; fueling station design and spill containment; sewage facilities with pumpout station and restrooms at the marina; solid waste disposal; boat cleaning impact. It’s best to require a full environmental impact study BEFORE, not AFTER. Increasingly, the EPA and others are becoming aware of the potent impact of marine sources of pollution from tugboats, cruise ships, water taxis, barge traffic and pleasure craft. It’s clear that pollution is generated by terrestrial vehicles, airborn transport AND marine sources.

  • Willow Street Watch

    The environmental super pass the BBPC is being given is parts of the, well, BBP Super Scam. The details of the enviornmentals are almost as difficult to dig out as the (real, total) financials of the park.

    And, that was one of the issue raised, and briskly brushed aside by the BHA and the entire upper level of the casino 23 Years ago during repeated public meetings.

  • Roberto Gautier

    Are there elected officials or agency people who might help with this problem?

  • heights res

    Eva Moskowitz and Families for Excellent Schools plan a mass rally in Néw York City on September 30 to promote their goal of increased privatization.

    Familes for Excellent Schools is not an organization of poor families of NYC, but an organization of hedge fund managers and billionaires who support privatization.

    http://dianeravitch.net/2015/10/07/eva-rallies-in-my-backyard/

    http://dianeravitch.net/2015/07/31/hedge-fund-manager-gives-8-5/

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