Open Thread Wednesday

Any thoughts on when DOT is going to come finish what they started at Clinton/Schermerhorn and Clinton/State and actually put the asphalt back around the new curb cuts they installed? The intention to create a more accessible streetscape is great but the resulting completely inaccessible streetscape is getting tiresome. It’s been ages. Weeks? Months?
Meanwhile the NW corner of Clinton/Joralemon was torn up, sidewalk with curb cuts poured, and new asphalt laid all in 1 day.

Another old photo of something not there any more: Furman Street, looking north toward the Brooklyn Bridge, Jan. 6, 1928. See then/now photo in reply:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/34303f629a36fec044d5e33687fb4606d6f6c25469c8c9647d021a2507d320af.jpg

Detailed article on Brownstoner about the French baker coming to 115 Montague Street:

https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/brooklyn-heights-french-bakery-lappartement-4f-gautier-coiffard-croissants-115-montague-street-opens-fall/

https://tinyurl.com/362etfa3

“At night, along the unlighted streets, one gives a wide berth to drunkards that sprawl out across the pavement from the shadow of darkened doors; and I have known a dead horse to be left in the road—two blocks from the principal post office and not much more from Borough Hall—with no effort made to remove it, for nearly three weeks. In the summer, warm sickening fumes from a factory that makes cheap chocolate gives a stagnancy of swamps to the heavy air. In the evening, an old woman steals through the streets, softly calling to cats, which she poisons and which die slowly of gripes in the areas of decorous houses from which the families have moved away.”

-Edmund Wilson, The American Earthquake: A Documentary of the Twenties and Thirties

311 generally isn’t set up to deal with ongoing problems of the type “the city is taking too long to fix something”

Your suggestion to call the local councilmember’s office is a good one, as would be a call to a neighborhood org like the BHA. Both have back-channel connections to the city agencies and can find out the story and/or prod the agency to move faster.

It’s been wonderful to see the coffee explosion over the last 5 years. Here’s my preferences:
Drip
Vineapple
Gregory
Joe
Coffee cart on Montague & Clinton
Tea (any)
Starbucks

I’ll have to give Drip a try. And I’d add Alice’s Tea Cup to cool’s list.

Consider giving Arabica on Old Fulton Street a try, their coffee is excellent but the vibe isn’t for me. I miss the original Brooklyn Roasting Company on Jay, the company never felt the same once they expanded past the location on Flushing.

IMHO — Porto Rico Importing on Bleeker Street will always reign supreme.

And Le Pain Quotidien just opened in the neighborhood again, in the former Maison Kaiser space on Court Street. Maybe not famous for coffee but a solid pastry option.

Just emailed Claude about making that a post of it’s own. For those who don’t know, composting will only return to our neighborhood if enough people register an interest in doing so. Go register!

Yes, I remember that service wasn’t always their strong suit. I’ll give it a try though – it’s close to my home so I’m hoping it will become a convenient option for baked goods.