Open Thread Wednesday

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Andrew Porter

    From 11/19/77 comes this photo of a bus at Water Street and [now] Old Fulton Streets:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb2838ff3c826d1cbe8c3280c2815c476837a2fcba3fc5081f30cd7ccf8bd48b.jpg

  • Andrew Porter

    And from 1900, the same intersection from a different angle. The imposing building is the Terminal Building for the old Fulton Ferry to Manhattan:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a3bbb900adb20e5d2840c3fdc1a5228f65ccfa3d0e6362046fad27caff6e5648.jpg

  • Banet

    Well, April 30 came and went. And – shocker! – The Bossert did not open.

    That said, there are signs of progress. The lights that have been on 24/7 for the last 5+ years in the deserted basement level have finally been turned off. Or maybe al the bulbs just burned out after 50,000+ hours of continuous use.

  • MM

    Heights Cafe is still closed… has anyone spoken to someone who works there and knows what’s happening? I saw lights on inside yesterday, but it’s still all papered up.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    And what about Teresa’s?!

    Seriously, anybody hear any rumors as to a new tenancy? … And what openings/re-openings count as “good news” on Montague Street now that we’re getting pretty much back to normal in 2 weeks!

  • meschwar

    I DEMAND a new ice cream place on montage to replace Emack & Bolio’s.

    I DEMAND IT.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Speaking of ice cream. The specialty flavors at Sahadi’s are very good. Try the cardamom and pistachio!

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Where do they keep the ice cream? Near the check out lines? What brand?

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    I heard from a manager at Dellarocco’s today that Heights Cafe is reopening with more of a concentration on pasta and Italian dishes, and with more integration between HC and D’s (same owner). Didn’t get a time frame though. Sorry!

  • Jorale-man

    PSA: When the CDC says vaccinated people can be outdoors without a mask, it is referring to open spaces away from other people – NOT strutting down a busy Montague Street sidewalk at lunchtime, nor jogging right up next to other people, heavily panting in the process. You may be fully vaccinated (as am I) but the rest of us can’t be sure of that. Gracias.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Freezers before checkout. Adirondack Creamery Kulfi-Pistachio Cardamom is my favorite

  • CassieVonMontague

    I’ve only been to Heights Cafe twice, in 2005 and in 2013. This might convince me to give it another try because Dellarocco’s is very good.

  • nope

    You are simply incorrect. There is zero risk of transmission on a sidewalk. The city is highly vaccinated, and it is time for everyone to get on with life. Coronavirus will never go to zero, so we either all adjust—or resign ourselves to masks forever. I diligently masked for a year. Now I’m fully vaxxed, and no way in hell I’m continuing it. If you all want to be neurotic, that’s your business. But every day you look more and more ridiculous to those of us who understand science and risk.

  • meschwar

    It may make you uncomfortable, which is reasonable, but the CDC guidance is pretty clear that walking around outside is safe. The exception for outdoor crowds refers to stadiums and really densely packed environment, not like montage street.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Here’s the CDC guide for outdoor activities:
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/participate-in-activities.html

    I think a busy Montague St sidewalks would constitute “a small, outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people” so the CDC recommends no mask for vaccinated people.

    That being said, I like wearing a mask. I don’t have to fix my face and my annoying neighbor doesn’t recognize me when I’m on the street. So don’t say I look ridiculous if I choose to wear one. If you’ve ever had to listen to a neighbor complain about their co-op board for a half hour, you’d want to go incognito too!

  • Jorale-man

    I wouldn’t say that 37% of adults in Brooklyn represents a “highly vaccinated” population (per the NYT). It’s pretty poor actually, and is underscored by the fact that 1200-1500 people a day in NYC are still contracting Covid and another 2000 are hospitalized.

    If I’m waiting to cross the street and an anti-masker next to me coughs or sneezes in my direction, that’s still a sizable and unnecessary risk I don’t need to take.

    But as we’ve seen throughout this pandemic, we can’t count on our fellow citizens to do the right thing.

  • LindaBK

    Hi- I walked past Pinto today and their sign and beautiful flowers were down (but their outside seating tent was still up). Have they closed? :(

  • Eric

    Well it’s very fortunate then that the vaccination rate in 11201 is much higher: 77% for the first dose and 61% fully vaccinated.

    https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data-vaccines.page

    You’ll conveniently be able to note that the vaccination rates are highest in areas of lowest total cases, and lower in areas of highest total cases, meaning that immunity overall is much higher than either number alone.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    There are a couple of recent articles about the CDC’s culpability in last year’s horror show, and it wasn’t ALL Trump’s doing. Now that the Cuomo pinata has showered us with merde, I think it’s time to revisit the hero-worship Fauci still enjoys. Fine human being, I am certain, but I remember him expressing strong personal caution at a time when the pressure – we love our restaurants, but face it, them, bars, movies, sports put profits way ahead of public health – to reopen was high. Now, of course, it’s even higher.

    Some things go beyond ironic or “oops”-ish – the CDC’s aversion to masks early on is up there with Galileo’s persecution for suggesting that Earth is not the center of the universe. (Plus ca change…)

  • CassieVonMontague

    Pop-up vaccination site at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 2 today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday May 8 and 9) from 1pm to 8pm.

  • CassieVonMontague

    My first thought was why is there a pop-up site on not very accessible pier in a park in a neighborhood where 67% of people have the first-dose, but then I remembered how crowded Pier 2 gets with basketball players. If we can vaccinate all those kids, it would be great for the city.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    New awning at Heights Cafe bears the name “Giulia.”

  • Angela De Marco

    amen

  • B.

    We are adjusting, Nope. We’re adjusting by wearing our masks on narrow, crowded sidewalks so that those with immune disorders or on chemo drugs can have an added layer of protection from people practically brushing against their shoulders. Actually, it is you who are not adjusting to the new normal.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    We can’t assume that every unmasked face we see outside belongs to a vaccinated individual. We know that risk of transmission outside is low, but we can’t assume it’s zero. We also can’t assume that even after having been vaccinated, our risk of transmitting to others, or even of being infected, is zero—especially if we have an autoimmune disorder or anything like that.

    I smoked for ten years. I have a good idea of how far from someone you have to be, even outside in a breeze, for them not to smell your smoke exhalations—so what I do is if I feel I’m within that range, I slip my mask up over my face as a courtesy. It’s not difficult and it continues to signal the respect for others that was a silver lining to all this (yes, tiresome; yes, exhausting) mask-wearing.

    As B. pointed out, we have every reason to treat mask wearing as a new normal, as it had been in other parts of the world for a long time already.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Be even greater if you could get their parents & grand-parents. Teens think they’re invulnerable (many of them), and I like the out-of-the-box thinking but imagine it was a bust. (Who wants to play BBall with a sore arm?!)

    But it WAS Mother’s Day, and maybe they let out-of-state tourists get one, too. Anybody know if some of the truly stupidest aspects of “states rights” are gonna be bent in an effort to save lives?

  • wrong

    Covid will never be at zero. I refuse to join a new normal where we wear masks for the rest of our lives. Have fun in your reality. I will be accepting the exact level of risk we all lived with before Covid.

  • wrong

    At least you’re forthright that you think masking should be forever. Do what you will. I will not be joining.

  • Cranberry Beret

    They’re open. I think they must’ve taken the signage down for repair.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    I didn’t say forever. I said it’s the “new normal”. Normal has always been in constant flux.

    I will volunteer, however, that the science I’ve read and heard is that pandemics, related to climate change and globalization, may become more common in the future.