Open Thread Wednesday

By on January 17, 2017 11:52 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Jorale-man

    So who’s tried the new self-checkout lines at Key Food? They’ve really made some big changes in there. I like that the back of the store is less cramped than it used to be. Also, check out the singing fish on the wall above the yogurt area.

  • Bongo

    Does anyone know if it’s National Grid or Verizon that has turned Clark Street into a BMX track? I know people were happy to get rid of the steel plates, but the unfinished road is like part of an assault course.

  • GHB

    Anything to avoid the surly cashiers at Key is a good thing!

  • Jane

    Does anyone have an update on the recent burglaries and whether they have caught both suspects?

  • e

    I heard that one of the burglary suspects was caught by a doorman / porter who held the suspect in an apartment he’d broken into until the NYPD arrived.

  • e

    I noticed that the flags on the promenade flagpole are in some disrepair. The American flag is hanging by a thread, and the POW / MIA flag has blown away entirely. Does anyone know who the caretaker for that flagpole is?

  • Maggie
  • Maggie

    i put in a maintenance request for you.

  • David on Middagh

    I tried the self-checkout, but as I prefer to pay cash, and hate waiting for a chipped card to be processed, I’ll go back to the regular lines.

  • Diesel

    Report them to the local VFW.

  • Diesel

    Perhaps you are the one who’s surly. They are always nice to me.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    If you are nice to them and treat them like human beings, I find, they are quite friendly. I was sad to see the self checkouts, expecting it must have put some of them out of work.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Neighbors, I’m curious as to whether signs on front doors warding off the placement of unsolicited promotional materials are effective.

  • Diesel

    About as effective as the signs saying “Curb your Dog”

  • Jorale-man

    Don’t the self-checkouts take cash? Usually they do. The U.S. has long been behind other countries in adopting chip technology and it’s still got a ways to go in making the readers as efficient as the old-fashioned swipe method.

  • e

    Thank you!

  • gc

    Our experience has been mostly positive. You can generally avoid the once a week package of circulars, and also around 75% of the other flyers.At least that’s how it’s worked for us.

  • Andrew Porter

    I will use the self-check-out lines when the store puts in a parking lot for us to use. I also refuse to use the self-serve lines at the CVS, which has real live humans at the registers in the pharmacy.

  • Andrew Porter

    13 Pineapple Street is for sale for $10.5 million. Article with lots of photos on Curbed, where I’ve made an acerbic comment:

    http://tinyurl.com/hewpr7t

  • Andrew Porter

    I saw four guys with a drone on the Promenade at Pierrepont this afternoon. Told them not only was I pretty sure it was illegal, but it was right across the river from the Wall Street Heliport. They assured me they’d registered the thing with the FAA. So, was I right, or just paranoid?

  • Moni

    Putting checkers out of work is the whole point of self checkouts, which is why I will never use one.

  • David on Middagh

    If you want to pay cash at the self-checkout, you have to see a human being about it. Also, apparently, if you want to buy loose produce. What is the point of the self-checkout, then? I dunno. Sometimes, automation is a fatal error that kills a place; sometimes it is a last-ditch effort to save a place, I suppose, tho’ I hope KF isn’t in trouble.

  • Jorale-man

    Brooklyn Bridge Park just released a new rendering of the Pier 5 uplands. They also say that work has begun on Pier 3 (finally) and the bouncy bridge (cc: Claude). http://ny.curbed.com/2017/1/19/14320034/brooklyn-bridge-park-pier-5-rendering

  • Jorale-man

    Wow – it sounds like they didn’t invest in the right technology. I’ve been to plenty of grocery stores with self-checkouts that allow you to pay with cash or enter produce. It seems like the renovations as a whole aren’t going as far as they should. They’ve basically brought it up to the standard of a 1990’s store, from a 1970’s one.

  • KXrVrii1

    I bought loose produce there, you just browse or search for the SKUs and the machine weighs and calculates the price.

    If you’ve been to suburban grocers and other retailers, they’ve had this technology for a while, and there are still lots of regular checkout lines with cashiers. At this point, I think it is complementary technology, not disruptive.

  • Diesel

    I would have told them “You guys seriously need to get girlfriends”…

  • KXrVrii1

    This seems to say flat out illegal in NYC: http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/5521/drones

    But this makes things more complicated, as it appears the FAA only has regulation over airspace: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160424/ENTERTAINMENT/160429942/so-you-wanna-fly-a-drone-in-new-york-you-just-might-be-able-to

    However, this map seems to show the promenade within one of the FAA no-fly zones. https://hivemapper.com/40.69785166022132/-73.97968099999942/zoom10.4

    So I’d say, on balance, you were probably right.

  • MaryT

    According to the nyc.gov website, drones of any kind are illegal in NYC, whether they’re FAA registered or not:

    “If you see a drone being flown in the City, call 911. Drones are more formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and are illegal to fly in New York City.”

    I doubt that FAA general approval trumps local ordinances.

  • Andrew Porter

    I did in fact call 911, and got a call back from the 84th Precinct, alas several hours afterwards.

  • B.

    Reinforcing and grassing over the roof of the basketball courts would be helpful. The roof is ugly, a startling contrast to the loveliness of our harbor. And if benches could be added, you’d have people watching ships pass; gazing at the sunset; maybe even reading books.

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