Open Thread Wednesday

In other restaurant news, I saw an application notice on the doors of the former Maison Kaiser on Court Street from Le Pain Quotidien. It appears they’re looking to do something with that space – it was unclear from the notice. I read that LPQ’s parent company bought out Kaiser after it went bankrupt, so maybe there’s hope that they’ll revive the bakery there?

Another Wednesday (and my first visit to the Botanic Garden since last year, my first time in the subway since October).

Here’s this week’s Old Photo: corner of Montague and Clinton in 1913, before the block-through bank building was erected on the east side of Clinton:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e160763980a3b5b5421422c5a1779346b10e98d685fe430c618286f6c46483e.jpg

I saw that several years back & had the same reaction. We can have a contest for who thinks the least of the D.O.T., but I haven’t a doubt in the world that they are aware of something THAT OBVIOUS. What I don’t know – nor, I suspect, do you – is what matters … structurally.

I’m at a point in my life – final third ? – where I’ve gotten past “Ain’t science grand?” to “What were they thinking when the bolted something carrying millions of vehicles (some of them monster trucks) onto a rock face?”

Sure, we’d all like to believe that the engineering and construction were world-class, … and that they concluded that 1950’s level traffic (by weight) could grow 10-fold without the structure “being at risk,” but I surely do have my doubts.

BTW, I would give 5-to-1 odds that if you combed the archives, you would actually find (I think I remember it) an APorter photo just about a twin of yours going back c. 5 years!

Hi Neighbors. There is a new Indian restaurant, Mint Heights, in the space recently vacated by Asya at 46 Henry St. (347) 916-0325.

Nice pic. Shot taken about a year before the new York & Sawyer design was built.

Same bank though. If you zoom this pic you can see the sign off the corner: Brooklyn Trust Company

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6f89fa35ab1343054ca678c07d7d40f525be3eb0879b970b2458be326b6bee1.jpg

Norton Juster, Who Wrote ‘The Phantom Tollbooth,’ Dies at 91

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/books/norton-juster-dead.html

Homer Fink wrote about Juster sharing a “big old decrepit duplex apartment” in Brooklyn Heights with the illustrator Jules Feiffer when he wrote it

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/32688

In 2017, a big old [renovated] duplex was for rent in the same building, 153 State Street, for $3,500 a month.

https://streeteasy.com/building/153-state-street-brooklyn/3

Actually, it MAY have gotten worse. Who can say? But it is VERY fair to compare it to teeth. Cavities (like rebar showing through) are not the worst thing that can happen in there.

And remember, “repair-in-place” can take hundreds of forms. Yes, if they limit it to weekends and 2 years (just picking a number), they’ll have 100 “sessions.” The engineers have obviously concluded that there’s no need for “root canal.” That is, what’s holding the cantilever up and out has “stood the test of time.”

You’d think, however, that there’d be photos of some huge truck “stopped and weighed” in the year or so since that was recognized as crucial in reducing the risk in this game plan. I’ve never seen one. It defies belief that an industry where time is money would have no bad actors.

Major literary and children’s fantasy news. I shared the NYT link with a whole bunch of news blogs and individuals. That he was a Local makes it even more newsworthy. BTW, it’s a wonderful book (the movie, a little less so)!

If you go to this link, you’ll find three recent stories about local BH streets at the top of the page:

https://forgotten-ny.com

We have Spectrum and have been experiencing at least two 2 hour internet outages per month in the last several months. I’m wondering if other Spectrum customers in the neighborhood are experiencing the same unreliability or if it’s just us?

Spectrum subscriber here. Every few days or so the internet goes out at around midnight. Usually it’s back before morning. Twice I had to reset my router and modem before it came back.

Also have spectrum and have noticed these outages are happening very frequently. Am trying to get Fios for my building

Jm

Our service has been out most of the day, since NOON. Hours long outages have been happening to us 2x/week for a few months. I’m livid.

Same here, including tonight. Right now (9:15pm) I can see Spectrum guys working inside a service opening on the sidewalk downstairs from our apartment.

This afternoon from my window I counted five Spectrum trucks parked within a block, with multiple guys working.

I forget the date, but a month or 2 ago there was an intense fire on Hicks Street, with flames shooting out of one of the Spectrum underground access points. The fire department did come and put it out, but it may have started this problem.

And a Spectrum tech guy I spoke to said that each subsequent outage could fry a different part of the neighborhood system, so it becomes like wack-a-mole for them.

But they still have no system for automatic credits to our bills. They say they are working on one, but for now one still has to waste time calling them to get a credit for each and every outage. Really irritating.