Open Thread Wednesday

By on November 19, 2019 11:04 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Cranberry Beret

    AEB, if you miss the former Middagh/Hicks crossing guard, you can visit her down at the Dock Street School in DUMBO. FWEET FWEET!

  • Jorale-man

    Walk into Espresso Me on Tuesday morning and the place is silent, with everyone working at their laptops, except for that one person. He’s holding a loud business-type meeting, apparently on the phone and using lots of corporate jargon (“deliverables,” “management team”). The whole place was subjected to this guy for what must have been an hour. Who does this?? I like to patronize local coffee shops but it only takes a few bad apples like this to turn me away.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Post, Response, & Reply. On Middagh St.

    https://i.imgur.com/RhthGKk.jpg

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    A friend of mine who lives nearby posted this on Facebook about a week ago (maybe closer to when it happened?). It weirds me out.

    Who gets so worked up that (a) they arrive at such a catastrophically bad-faith interpretation of what’s going on that they (b) they write something like that on the parish sign in Sharpie?

  • StoptheChop

    While I don’t like being subjected to other people’s phone calls, it’s equally creepy to meet a friend at a cafe that’s totally silent because everyone else there is working on their laptops.

  • Cranberry Beret

    What’s up with the Joe Coffee sign? They covered up the word “JOE” on the awning with a black plastic bag, and put a sign on the sidewalk that says “Joe Coffee.” Weird

  • Rick

    A couple of days ago, a presumably homeless man was standing on the northeast corner of Hicks and Montague and begging. He yelled “Hey” at me as I passed him, and when I didn’t stop, he screamed “c***sucker!” at me. A couple of weeks before, the same guy saw me looking up at the top of one of the beautiful old buildings there and yelled angrily “What the f**k are you looking up for?”. He’s yelled obscenities at my wife, too.

    I know life isn’t easy for poor or homeless people in our city, and I donate when I can. But I’ve taken to crossing the street to avoid any more confrontations with this particular man.

  • aconcernedneighbor

    As the end of the year approaches, wouldn’t it be great for BHB to do a “Best Of BH” type thing where we all can rank our favorite places and people? I think so. Anyone with me?

  • cool

    Greetings bhb- does anyone know what’s going on with the street and sidewalk work at Cadman Plaza West between Clark and Tillary? Seems somewhat related to the work on Tillary and that intersection, except over there seems to have some improvements and not just replacement.

  • Mike Suko

    GREAT IDEA. And modern technology would make it pretty easy to “administer,” absolutely critical for this seriously under-staffed operation.

  • AEB

    A thousand thanks, Cranberry Beret! I plan a visit–and will of course bring friends!

  • Jorale-man

    Totally agree. Ideally, a coffee shop should have some ambient sounds – maybe some soft music playing. When there’s silence + a boorish person’s loud phone call, it’s a bad mix.

  • Mike Suko

    I asked the same thing a month or 2 back at a different stage in the process and “good old Andrew” answered (accurately, I think) that this was all part of a giant DOT project to “improve” Tilllary – VERY heavily trafficked to be sure – between Flatbush (where Manh. Bridge traffic “flows”) and Cadman P.W., where thousands of buses turn each day and a significant number of cars & trucks turn north or south to “do something” (park or other) in Brooklyn.

    A few good things will surely eventuate. Others will have vocal supporters – as a cyclist, I’m happy – and a comparable number of naysayers.

    You’d probably get a nearly unanimous “$300 Million – or whatever – could have been better spent,” but that’s one of the things about NYC finances – nobody EVER comes up with those numbers. It’s why taxes are what they are and why the real estate/construction complex is our version of Citizen United – they have a giant role in who’s on the City Council … and they get “paid back” year after year after year!

    Speaking of which, anybody know what diB.’s Commission decided re BQE? or when we’ll learn how the construction industry wants to see $50 Billion spent … to “maximum advantage.”

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Back when it existed, my one complaint about Siggy’s was the way the owner insisted on blasting music at a repulsively loud volume. So many restaurant and coffee shop managers seem to have zero sense of how to create the right level of aural ambiance. It perplexes me. (Maybe even more than Middagh’s Sharpie Warrior)

  • Cranberry Beret

    Vineapple had a great mix of music, quiet-working and conversation. Sigh.

  • Heightsguy77

    That walkway connects two streets!?! Awesome! I’m definitely going to start using it. Don’t worry! I’ll make sure I genuflect to Allstate, State Farm, and Farmers Insurance on the way in and out.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Come to think of it, you know where they actually play really good music and at a perfectly acceptable volume? Five Guys. And Chipotle. I wonder if large casual dining chains do more research on this stuff and therefore get it right?

    In the retail category my favorite is all Target stores, where you can go and shop to the sweet sound of silence.

  • Guest

    Yes, I have had similar encounters with him even with young children present. He use to hangout in front of Keyfood then moved down to the corner. Now he is across the street on a very regular basis. He has become quite aggressive.

  • gc

    Five Guys has always struck me as way too loud. Maybe my experiences have come at a different hour of the day.

  • Concerned

    This act appears have the intent of a hate crime type action. I wonder if the NYPD Hate Crime unit needs to be made aware as religious persecution is not OK.

  • ionFreeman

    Hey, has Harry Chapin playground reopened?

  • ionFreeman

    Per my wife, a lady came to the PS8 PTA meeting this morning and said they’d let us know “before Christmas Break.” Officially, it was supposed to be this fall, which ends on December 19th. The last weekday before Winter break is December 20th.

  • http://profiles.google.com/brooklynbrett Brett Cooper

    Its open!

  • Taq Man

    I also have been approached by a guy who tends to stand near Key Food or on the corner of Hicks and Montague, bu this guy I encountered is very unintimidating and soft spoken. I wonder if you are talking about the same guy or if there is someone else? In 20 years of living in BH, I have not seen as many homeless begging as I have recently. I wonder if there is a reason for this. Either way, when someone begging shifts to harassment or aggression I see no issue with calling the 84th precinct.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    LOL, A bit snarky perhaps but “Hate Crime” nah.

  • Taq Man

    Agreed. Maybe some immature adolescents, but not a hate crime.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    One of the best ways to stop or to “let-em-know”
    is too visually take notice of their conversation and get involved, nodding in approval, shaking head, rolling eyes, etc. even ask a question or give advice.

  • Taq Man

    Don’t forget we are also waiting for City Council to get their assessment from Arup, which was just hired in Sept to do their own evaluation of the BQE plan. https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/09/16/city-council-to-hire-independent-firm-to-review-bqe-rehab-plan/

  • El

    Anyone know what’s going on with the group of people in Cadman Plaza Park chanting at night behind the war memorial? (rally type chants, nothing spooky as far as I can tell! But I can’t tell what they’re saying) It’s happened a handful of times in the last few weeks at 9pm or later.

  • brooklynbull

    The homeless guy who lives evenings and nights in the St. Ann’s doorway has been on occasion very threatening – shouting, threatening to ‘f— you up’ when I stopped to read poster taped to the church door. He also is bring in more overflowing shopping bag

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