Open Thread Wednesday

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • MPIERCE

    LET FREEDOM RING
    lovebrooklynlibrariesinc.org
    at this time wishes all followers, supporters
    as well as others a happy and festive July 4th.
    Enjoy the day, the festivities, the food,
    the fireworks and make it a safe Holiday.
    And, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook.

  • withering Heights

    Can anyone recomend a place in the neighborhood where I can donate women’s clothes and shoes? Thanks.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    This past Sunday at 5 AM, the fire department and the police responded to an incident that occurred in and outside of a building on Remsen Street between Henry and Clinton.

    Did anyone see anything unusual or suspicious between the hours of 1:30 AM Saturday night into Sunday morning? Thank you for any information you can provide.

  • Banet

    Housing Works on Montague just next to the Kiehls on the corner of Henry. They’ll take all of it.

  • Jorale-man

    An observation: Key Food on Montague should really do more to encourage customers to bring their own bags. A few days ago, I brought my own and it was met with rolled eyes and a grudging willingness to place the groceries inside it. Even when I started to help bag the items myself, the cashier tossed the perishables in with an obvious contempt.

    I sympathize that cashier jobs are pretty thankless and not well-paid but if a customer is trying to save bags and help the environment, it shouldn’t be so obviously discouraged.

  • DIBS

    Maybe instead of the typical passive-aggressive online shaming we see so much of today, you just mention it to the manager.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    They used to double-bag things like a loaf of bread, while standing under the sign that encouraged less plastic bag use. The sign has since been replaced by a different one, but I used to joke with them about the contradiction.

    I find a smile, a hello, and remembering the cashiers’ names can get you a long way at the grocery store. If you treat them like human beings they tend to respond in kind, even take a little pride in their work, thankless as it may be.

  • AEB

    Agree. A checker-bagger’s life is one of repetitious toil with zero compensation other than a paycheck.

    But, yes, some are nicer than others–more responsive. The hardest time I have is with those who say nothing, absolutely nothing. But it seems that, at least at Key Food, the checkers have been taught to greet customers–and do so more often than not. In my experience.

    Let’s not talk, however, about the looming life-size figure stationed near the store’s entrance and which I take, for a too long split second, to be real and obtrusive.

    How’s that for EXQUISITE
    complaining?

  • Poplar

    Housing Works or Plymouth Church’s Underground Thrift Store.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Doesn’t that guy have a name? I always regard him with a great deal of suspicion.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Oh come on.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    There’s also the Salvation Army drop on Atlantic and Bonds.

  • Jorale-man

    Who says I didn’t mention it?

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, I was probably put off by this particularly incident because I did smile and say hello and thank you and still got the complete silent treatment (literally not a word).

    But yes – the mannequin greeter. I like that someone takes good care to dress him in new outfits and accessories. I don’t know his name but they’re clearly proud of him.

  • Heights

    Gregory, I believe. I thinks it’s time for him to go!

  • Concerned

    Key foods can do whatever it wants because they have no real competition. The Garden of Eden is more of a specialty/finer foods market (and dirty in my opinion), and Gristedes is so overpriced I hate to even walk through their doors. The manager of Key Foods could punch me in the nose and I’d probably still shop there.

  • E280

    Has anyone heard that the BBPC is contemplating building another entrance to the BBP at Montague St.?

  • Banet

    This was explored over a decade ago and was dropped because of the regulatory hurdles involved in crossing over a federal interstate (the BQE). I don’t think it will ever happen.

  • groce

    In what possible way is Garden of Eden “dirty”? I’ve been there hundreds of times. It’s spotless and very much keeps up its reputation as high end. Key Food, I literally ***saw a rat scamper from the deli case and down an aisle***. With my own eyes. Maybe a year ago. Don’t get me wrong, I still go to Key for packaged essentials, but it’s BY FAR the dirtiest market in the Heights. And its produce is repulsive with fruit flies.

  • Concerned

    Not that key foods is clean, but garden of Eden always seems nasty to me. Just look a little closer. And there’s always this:

    “The grocery store with the most black marks against it during the same time period was the similarly highfalutin Garden of Eden in Brooklyn Heights, with 20, records show. Among other things, inspectors who visited the outpost — where the motto is “Temptation in Every Aisle” and Roquefort Papillon cheese goes for $28 a pound — found crusty meat residue on numerous surfaces and mold and grime on the seafood area’s ice machine.”
    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/stomach-churning-violations-city-high-end-grocery-stores-article-1.1485146

  • Brixtony

    The guys at “Peas & Pickles are always very willing to use my big orange bag.

  • bill

    Does anyone have rough guidelines for how early you need to try to stake a claim to see the fireworks from the north heights? I’ve been out of town in previous years but am in town this year and am trying to figure this out.

    I don’t need a spot for a blanket or anything but would like to be able to stand somewhere to see them.

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

    Overpasses crossing interstate highways are ubiquitous, so I don’t see how it would be that big a deal to build one. The Park might have been using the “red tape” as an excuse to build the foot bridge instead. Now that the bridge seems like its become a white elephant, they might be considering the Montague St entrance, which make much more sense, once again.

  • Jorale-man

    Trader Joe’s is still the best nearby option in my book. At least for prices and cleanliness. You just have to go at odd hours to avoid the lines.

  • StoptheChop

    Nydia Velazquez explored opening the Clark St tunnel at the Furman St end, but the conclusion was that it was too expensive.

  • Banet

    Agreed they’re ubiquitous but rarely added after the fact so maybe that entails a decade of red tape? I don’t know.

    But I do know this was told to me by a Conservancy board member, not someone working for the park corporation. And they told me this about 7 years ago — before Regina even had her job or the bridge was conceived of.

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

    The federal specifications for such structures are very strict and thus costly to build, they certainly would never have allowed anything like the Bouncy Bridge to be built over the BQE.

  • Wackadoo

    I would say pre-lunch. But I wouldn’t be tempted – it is really hellish here on the 4th when the fireworks are here.

  • Banet

    I’m sure they wouldn’t. What was envisioned at Montague at the time was a massive double staircase with a plaza halfway down and an elevator down the core.

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

    Yes, I remember the plan, I think it would be a good solution to alleviate some of the park traffic off the mostly residential streets, if it could be done.