Open Thread Wednesday

By on September 1, 2021 12:13 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Andrew Porter

    Wet out there! Nature’s way of giving the Heights a good scrubbing, a deep cleaning…

    Here’s a 1969 photo I took of the docks and Manhattan, from the Promenade. If you wait long enough, I guess, most scenes start to recede into history:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c06cdec793d234a039377493207393b751d3a92bbcb42c271a3eccf34110b20b.jpg

  • CassieVonMontague

    Undocumented Construction Worker Falls to His Death and Developers Deny It

    https://documentedny.com/2021/08/30/a-public-death-eric-mendoza/

    (Have to enter email to read article)

    On the morning of April 10, 2019, he was working on the rooftop of One Pierrepont Street, a luxury apartment building in Brooklyn Heights, replacing the bricks of a column that enclosed a rooftop water tower. He fell 13 stories to a concrete courtyard below.

    After Eric’s death, Skyline Restoration received a $25,000 fine from the Department of Buildings for failure to institute/maintain safety equipment measures. The company is still disputing the violations. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration imposed a $41,106 fine for five unspecified “serious” violations concerning Eric’s death, which the company is also contesting. This agency also slapped Skyline’s subcontractor at the One Pierrepont Street renovation project, Jaen Restoration, owned by Skyline executive Jason Geraghty, with a $23,000 penalty. Jaen Restoration could also face a fine from OSHA, which is still investigating the incident.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Brooklyn Through English Eyes by J. H. Plumb, January 23, 1972

    nytimes.com/1972/01/23/archives/brooklyn-through-english-eyes-brooklyn-heights-seen-through-english.html

    And if one compares the Heights with Chelsea in London, as one should, for the income brackets are about the same and the inhabitants show the same strong mixture of the literary, the bohemian, the liberal and the rich, then the shops are dim indeed: no antique shops of merit, one good bookshop, the clothing shops and supermarkets tedious, ugly and boring.

    And at nights, the Heights are beautiful; as in Amsterdam, the undrawn curtains and the half‐open louvres give glimpses of mysterious, elegant interiors, glittering with chandeliers, adorned with books and pictures that bespeak sophistication and urbanity. The dappled light of the sidewalk that moves with the wind is quite haunting. One is enfolded in a sense of privacy, of intimate living as one might be in en oasis. I feel at times, that alone and forever I could walk these streets day and night.

  • GA

    I have to get blood work for my one-year-old. Are there any good labs in the neighborhood that seem to have good Covid safety protocols?

  • RickP

    Beautifully written. But, if he thought that Mexican Restaurant on Montague had good food, what couldn’t he be wrong about?

    My theory is that they were serving TV dinners from the Bohack on Henry.

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

    It’s a shame, unscrupulous contractors like this give all the good people in this business a bad reputation. Hopefully they will be sued into nonexistence.

  • KBells40

    Neighborhood pet people: Rocco & Jezebel reopened today with Jo and her partner Steve at the helm – let’s show them our support! The store looks great, and I know my pup was *thrilled* to reunite with his buddies at daycare!

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Bless you – sincerely – for posting a working link to SUCH an engaging piece. Only very few, I suspect, of current BHB readers, can even remember that far back in the Heights, but here’s a bit more that doesn’t focus on eating and shopping for food:
    <<
    The natives of the Heights … bear with broken‐down subways, buses like prison vans; their nights rent by the howl of sirens; and everywhere the taunting virility of gun‐happy cops who seem to entice violence. A tough city, indeed, that is met with sharp wisecracks or worried understanding. No society is so self‐critical, so preoccupied or so haunted by social problems….

    Of one thing one can be certain. If people can live in New York, they'll be in the Heights. I expect they'll be there even if Manhattan becomes the first Nineveh of modern times. And I hope that I shall still be staring at it from the Esplanade. <<

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

    “And everywhere the taunting virility of gun‐happy cops who seem to entice violence” What a load of revisionist, hooey.
    The threat of violence was indeed ubiquitous, and I saw a few guns pointed at me back in those days, though never by a cop. Not that I didn’t have my encounters with them as well, even getting a beating or two. They were a tough lot indeed, they had to be, NYC was a virtual war zone back then.

  • Andrew Porter

    Try Mt Sinai Associates, at 300 Cadman Plaza West. They have several floors there, including a Pediatric Care department. See:

    https://www.mountsinai.org/locations/msd-brooklyn-heights

  • Andrew Porter

    Any reports of damage and flooding from the storm? I spoke to my Super a few days ago, reminded him that there was water in the basement during another storm a while ago. He assured me everything was okay; drains had been cleaned.

    But last night: sign in the elevator: don’t take elevator to basement because of flooding!

    I leave you with a watery GIF:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32dc57d22f881ec2741e1114999cd61a472184d8629670ce044ae3401b53fc95.gif

  • Andrew Porter

    I do remember when everyone came to the Heights to steal metal—railings and ornamental pots on stoops; the copper downspouts on the building at the corner of Hicks and Cranberry, the bronze chains around the lawn in Cadman Plaza Park.

    Everyone had window guards.

    A woman in my building was raped: she lived on the first floor, they came in her window.

    Gradually, things got better. But it took a long time…

  • CassieVonMontague

    As far as I know, British police have never been armed, so the sight of cops with guns has always resulted in strong reactions from the British.

    Also, I have to point out if cops “entice violence” is hooey, then the beatings you received must’ve been well deserved.

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

    As far as I know, British police don’t face the likelihood of facing armed criminals, to nearly the same degree as our officers. And some of them are indeed, armed.

    Yes I’ll admit, the Arch has a checkered past. Though the beatings only made me stronger!

  • Banet

    This is allegedly Brooklyn Heights last night:

    https://twitter.com/fnole/status/1433249663814152192?s=21

  • Andrew Porter
  • Andrew Porter
  • Andrew Porter

    I can’t see anything—just a blank post below the words.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Website up- (AND DOWN-) time?

    There have been several outages this week that I’m aware of. I believe there are free or low-cost services that ALERT whoever is responsible for “business continuity” that it’s absent. I’d like to think that

    a) something like that *is* being used; and
    b) the root cause of the outages has been tracked down … so that the “lights will stay on,” even when it’s raining.

  • rdgesq

    Anyone know what’s up with CVS on Montague? Sign on door says closed until further notice

  • rdgesq

    Anyone know what’s happened with CVS on Montague? Sign on door says closed until further notice

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    It had some flooding due to Hurricane Ida but its back open now (with some areas roped off).

  • Arthur Bates

    Wait till they pull this thread. Jaen/Skyline are alter ego companies and appear to exist for the sole purpose of money laundering and insurance and tax fraud. Word on the street is that the feds are investigating too