Open Thread Wednesday

By on September 7, 2022 7:51 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • CassieVonMontague

    Had to look her up. Queen of the United Kingdom, blocks from the Heights, irrelevant to local concerns IMHO.

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

    Needs some leather and a riding crop!

  • Andrew Porter

    I bet you thought that was a clever reply, but in my eyes, makes you less. Congratulations on your witty post—not.

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

    I thought her post was clever and, as they say across the pond, Spot On.

  • AEB

    Do you take all your queens so seriously?

  • Andrew Porter

    I take this one very seriously indeed.

    Has no one noticed how many references to England there are in the Heights, from street names to those of, say, one Hotel St. George. Probably not named for George Bush.

    By the way, I post under my real name, which is one of the few things I own that means something. I do not hide behind clever screen names—ever.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Had to look him up. A Greek soldier in the Roman army born in the late-3rd century CE in what is today the country of Turkey, blocks from the Heights, irrelevant to local concerns IMHO.

  • Neighbor

    Stopped by today. Brooklyn farms has been painted blue. Doesn’t really have the look of a place closing. And upstairs they put in some nice light fixtures and appear to be renovating the empty space for real. Anyone have true insight on what’s going in? Anyone from the BHA or montage BID want to comment?

  • Mary Kim

    Brooklyn Farm is permanently closed. New owners are taking over and opening another Thai restaurant.

  • Moni

    Ding dong . . .

  • Ebenezer

    I usually walk my dog late evenings and always saw rats scurrying around the sidewalk between Brooklyn Farms and their sidewalk shed. On the day they closed, I saw two official looking men inspecting the area. They spoke about the rats and said that it was surprising that the place stayed open for so long (paraphrasing). The sidewalk area is filthy and smelly. That evening I saw 4-5 rats on the Montague side fighting over some trash. One big fellow ran underneath my dog. You could hear the rats rustling around the bags dumped in the back yard. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fda9234884546841c534a8f6c9bfbc4abfc3e57f475e2c081ad21612c3412ec.jpg

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

    Royalty is a prime example of:
    If you repeat a lie long enough it will be widely accepted as truth.

  • CassieVonMontague

    That corner has been a rat problem long before Brooklyn Farm and it will be a problem long after Brooklyn Farm until someone cleans up the rear yard. You can see the holes to the rats’ nests when you walk by on Clinton St

  • CassieVonMontague

    CBS New York interviewed the photographer, the mother, and the now 21-year-old son in the famous September 11 photo taken from a Brooklyn Heights rooftop

    https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/iconic-september-11th-photo-look-back/

  • Cadman Park Neighbor

    Ok, so this has been a gripe of mine for several years, but I’ve reached the boiling point in the last two weeks.

    How is it that that adults can take over Cadman Plaza for soccer on the weekends?

    As far as I know from browsing: https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/map Cadman Plaza is not a permit-able park .e.g. you can’t reserve the park or take it over for organized sports. Yet that appears what is happening over and over by adult leagues of soccer players. They bring their own nets, dress in uniforms and take over the entire park.

    Take today for example, there were two back to back games going on across the entire length of the park for at least 90 minutes — but I suspect it was even longer— I just wasn’t there longer. So on a Saturday afternoon, no neighborhood kids could use the park. Worse, the adult players have no care for any of the other park patrons. Balls fly at full speed into pedestrians strolling around the park. There is no separation between the game and the public.

    There are alternatives for organized play, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park where one can get a permit and play. So why is it that we must give up our limited and precious PUBLIC space for use by a few.

    I have lived in cities most of my life and understand the importance of sharing our space, but on more than one occasion, I have been at the park with my kids playing on the turf. And along come some adult soccer players that just set up their nets and start playing where the kids are, forcing them to either move, leave the field or get hit by a ball at full speed. The adult players ignore anyone at the park who may be sitting in the area of their play, or already using that area and just muscle them out.

    I’m all for youth access and for informal schools, pickup games, etc. But this adult, league style play is not a pickup game that casually comes together. In fact, it’s preventing any kind of pickup game. And as a consequence is taking away from the neighborhood and endangering the users of the park, from people who are sitting on a blanket with their family, to those learning to ride a bike for their first time, to those just hanging out in the area with their neighbors. This adult league play takes from our children and from our communities. One of the only large, safe spaces to play in our neighborhood is taken away.

    This has got to stop. What say you Lincoln Restler? Lara Birnback? I’d love for our elected official and neighborhood groups to chime in. This seems to be a community access issue. And I’m not sure why the resource is being consumed by a few to the detriment of the community as a whole.

  • Brooklyn Heights Parent

    Ok, so this has been a gripe of mine for several years, but I’ve reached the boiling point in the last two weeks.

    How is it that that adults can take over Cadman Plaza for soccer on the weekends?

    As far as I know from browsing: https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/map Cadman Plaza is not a permit-able park .e.g. you can’t reserve the park or take it over for organized sports. Yet that appears what is happening over and over by adult leagues of soccer players. They bring their own nets, dress in uniforms and take over the entire park.

    Take today for example, there were two back to back games going on across the entire length of the park for at least 90 minutes — but I suspect it was even longer— I just wasn’t there longer. So on a Saturday afternoon, no neighborhood kids could use the park. Worse, the adult players have no care for any of the other park patrons. Balls fly at full speed into pedestrians strolling around the park. There is no separation between the game and the public.

    There are alternatives for organized play, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park where one can get a permit and play. So why is it that we must give up our limited and precious PUBLIC space for use by a few.

    I have lived in cities most of my life and understand the importance of sharing our space, but on more than one occasion, I have been at the park with my kids playing on the turf. And along come some adult soccer players that just set up their nets and start playing where the kids are, forcing them to either move, leave the field or get hit by a ball at full speed. The adult players ignore anyone at the park who may be sitting in the area of their play, or already using that area and just muscle them out.

    I’m all for youth access and for informal schools, pickup games, etc. But this adult, league style play is not a pickup game that casually comes together. In fact, it’s preventing any kind of pickup game. And as a consequence is taking away from the neighborhood and endangering the users of the park, from people who are sitting on a blanket with their family, to those learning to ride a bike for their first time, to those just hanging out in the area with their neighbors. This adult league play takes from our children and from our communities. One of the only large, safe spaces to play in our neighborhood is taken away.

    This has got to stop. What say you Lincoln Restler? Lara Birnback? I’d love for our elected official and neighborhood groups to chime in. This seems to be a community access issue. And I’m not sure why the resource is being consumed by a few to the detriment of the community as a whole.

  • MaggieO

    Not helped by the fire and now construction in the rear yard. Without a coordinated effort by all the folks with backyards along that stretch the rats will always win.

  • BK Heights Concerned Parent

    Ok, so this has been a gripe of mine for several years, but I’ve reached the boiling point in the last two weeks.

    How is it that that adults can take over Cadman Plaza for soccer on the weekends?

    As far as I know from browsing: http://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/map Cadman Plaza is not a permit-able park .e.g. you can’t reserve the park or take it over for organized sports. Yet that appears what is happening over and over by adult leagues of soccer players. They bring their own nets, dress in uniforms and take over the entire park.

    Take yesterday for example, there were two back to back games going on across the entire length of the park for at least 90 minutes — but I suspect it was even longer— I just wasn’t there longer. So on a Saturday afternoon, no neighborhood kids could use the park. Worse, the adult players have no care for any of the other park patrons. Balls fly at full speed into pedestrians strolling around the park. There is no separation between the game and the public.

    There are alternatives for organized play, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park where one can get a permit and play. So why is it that we must give up our limited and precious PUBLIC space for use by a few.

    I have lived in cities most of my life and understand the importance of sharing our space, but on more than one occasion, I have been at the park with my kids playing on the turf. And along come some adult soccer players that just set up their nets and start playing where the kids are, forcing them to either move, leave the field or get hit by a ball at full speed. The adult players ignore anyone at the park who may be sitting in the area of their play, or already using that area and just muscle them out.

    I’m all for youth access and for informal schools, pickup games, etc. But this adult, league style play is not a pickup game that casually comes together. In fact, it’s preventing any kind of pickup game. And as a consequence is taking away from the neighborhood and endangering the users of the park, from people who are sitting on a blanket with their family, to those learning to ride a bike for their first time, to those just hanging out in the area with their neighbors. This adult league play takes from our children and from our communities. One of the only large, safe spaces to play in our neighborhood is taken away.

    This has got to stop. What say you Lincoln Restler? Lara Birnback? I’d love for our elected official and neighborhood groups to chime in. This seems to be a community access issue. And I’m not sure why the resource is being consumed by a few to the detriment of the community as a whole.

  • Lucas Collins

    Nah it’s ok they are always nice leave them alone there’s plenty of space to play and no one getting hurt by flying balls, im there with my kids every day for several summers without a single problem.

  • Concerned BK Heights Parent

    Ok, that’s mature. This is the fifth time my comment has been labeled as spam. This is obviously hitting a nerve.

    Reposting below:

    Ok, so this has been a gripe of mine for several years, but I’ve reached the boiling point in the last two weeks.

    How is it that that adults can take over Cadman Plaza for soccer on the weekends?

    As far as I know from browsing: https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/map Cadman Plaza is not a permit-able park .e.g. you can’t reserve the park or take it over for organized sports. Yet that appears what is happening over and over by adult leagues of soccer players. They bring their own nets, dress in uniforms and take over the entire park.

    Take today for example, there were two back to back games going on across the entire length of the park for at least 90 minutes — but I suspect it was even longer— I just wasn’t there longer. So on a Saturday afternoon, no neighborhood kids could use the park. Worse, the adult players have no care for any of the other park patrons. Balls fly at full speed into pedestrians strolling around the park. There is no separation between the game and the public.

    There are alternatives for organized play, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park where one can get a permit and play. So why is it that we must give up our limited and precious PUBLIC space for use by a few.

    I have lived in cities most of my life and understand the importance of sharing our space, but on more than one occasion, I have been at the park with my kids playing on the turf. And along come some adult soccer players that just set up their nets and start playing where the kids are, forcing them to either move, leave the field or get hit by a ball at full speed. The adult players ignore anyone at the park who may be sitting in the area of their play, or already using that area and just muscle them out.

    I’m all for youth access and for informal schools, pickup games, etc. But this adult, league style play is not a pickup game that casually comes together. In fact, it’s preventing any kind of pickup game. And as a consequence is taking away from the neighborhood and endangering the users of the park, from people who are sitting on a blanket with their family, to those learning to ride a bike for their first time, to those just hanging out in the area with their neighbors. This adult league play takes from our children and from our communities. One of the only large, safe spaces to play in our neighborhood is taken away.

    This has got to stop. What say you Lincoln Restler? Lara Birnback? I’d love for our elected official and neighborhood groups to chime in. This seems to be a community access issue. And I’m not sure why the resource is being consumed by a few to the detriment of the community as a whole.

  • Save our play spaces

    Lucas, what i would say is this. I might feel different if they shared the field.

    Yesterday there were two games going at the same time that TOOK THE WHOLE FIELD. There was no space for kids.

    The weekend before they started setting up and played right in the area my kids were and hit one of them with a ball.

    There are fields where organized adult play is allowed. This is not one of them.

  • BK Heights Parent – not spam

    This is getting ridiculous. Obviously a sensitive topic but this is not spam. This is now the 6th time and counting that this post as been deleted as spam.

    Andrew Porter and others is there a way to stop this post from being labeled as spam and being deleted? Reposting again?

    Please tell me what’s so offensive about what’s below?
    +++++++++++++++++++++

    Ok, so this has been a gripe of mine for several years, but I’ve reached the boiling point in the last two weeks.

    How is it that that adults can take over Cadman Plaza for soccer on the weekends?

    As far as I know from browsing: https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/map Cadman Plaza is not a permit-able park .e.g. you can’t reserve the park or take it over for organized sports. Yet that appears what is happening over and over by adult leagues of soccer players. They bring their own nets, dress in uniforms and take over the entire park.

    Take yesterday for example, there were two back to back games going on across the entire length of the park for at least 90 minutes — but I suspect it was even longer— I just wasn’t there longer. So on a Saturday afternoon, no neighborhood kids could use the park. Worse, the adult players have no care for any of the other park patrons. Balls fly at full speed into pedestrians strolling around the park. There is no separation between the game and the public.

    There are alternatives for organized play, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park where one can get a permit and play. So why is it that we must give up our limited and precious PUBLIC space for use by a few.

    I have lived in cities most of my life and understand the importance of sharing our space, but on more than one occasion, I have been at the park with my kids playing on the turf. And along come some adult soccer players that just set up their nets and start playing where the kids are, forcing them to either move, leave the field or get hit by a ball at full speed. The adult players ignore anyone at the park who may be sitting in the area of their play, or already using that area and just muscle them out.

    I’m all for youth access and for informal schools, pickup games, etc. But this adult, league style play is not a pickup game that casually comes together. In fact, it’s preventing any kind of pickup game. And as a consequence is taking away from the neighborhood and endangering the users of the park, from people who are sitting on a blanket with their family, to those learning to ride a bike for their first time, to those just hanging out in the area with their neighbors. This adult league play takes from our children and from our communities. One of the only large, safe spaces to play in our neighborhood is taken away.

    This has got to stop. What say you Lincoln Restler? Lara Birnback? I’d love for our elected official and neighborhood groups to chime in. This seems to be a community access issue. And I’m not sure why the resource is being consumed by a few to the detriment of the community as a whole.

  • BK Heights Parent

    Ok, this is pretty incredible. This post has been deleted 7 times and counting. The soccer players must really be afraid of what all of our community members think of them.

    Claude and Andrew is there a way to prevent people from deleting an informative, and what must be provocative post?

    Reposting below:

    ++++++++++++++++++++

    Ok, so this has been a gripe of mine for several years, but I’ve reached the boiling point in the last two weeks.

    How is it that that adults can take over Cadman Plaza for soccer on the weekends?

    As far as I know from browsing: https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/map Cadman Plaza is not a permit-able park .e.g. you can’t reserve the park or take it over for organized sports. Yet that appears what is happening over and over by adult leagues of soccer players. They bring their own nets, dress in uniforms and take over the entire park.

    Take yesterday for example, there were two back to back games going on across the entire length of the park for at least 90 minutes — but I suspect it was even longer— I just wasn’t there longer. So on a Saturday afternoon, no neighborhood kids could use the park. Worse, the adult players have no care for any of the other park patrons. Balls fly at full speed into pedestrians strolling around the park. There is no separation between the game and the public.

    There are alternatives for organized play, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park where one can get a permit and play. So why is it that we must give up our limited and precious PUBLIC space for use by a few.

    I have lived in cities most of my life and understand the importance of sharing our space, but on more than one occasion, I have been at the park with my kids playing on the turf. And along come some adult soccer players that just set up their nets and start playing where the kids are, forcing them to either move, leave the field or get hit by a ball at full speed. The adult players ignore anyone at the park who may be sitting in the area of their play, or already using that area and just muscle them out.

    I’m all for youth access and for informal schools, pickup games, etc. But this adult, league style play is not a pickup game that casually comes together. In fact, it’s preventing any kind of pickup game. And as a consequence is taking away from the neighborhood and endangering the users of the park, from people who are sitting on a blanket with their family, to those learning to ride a bike for their first time, to those just hanging out in the area with their neighbors. This adult league play takes from our children and from our communities. One of the only large, safe spaces to play in our neighborhood is taken away.

    This has got to stop. What say you Lincoln Restler? Lara Birnback? I’d love for our elected official and neighborhood groups to chime in. This seems to be a community access issue. And I’m not sure why the resource is being consumed by a few to the detriment of the community as a whole.

  • Mary Kim

    Have you tried taking your kids to Walt Whitman park, right across the street? Lots of space to run around. Or on the other side of the monument? Both areas are a lot cleaner than that astroturf.

  • Brixtony

    I’m not sure what the original post was, but as someone who, with my very small dog, is there every day, I must disagree with this response. Cadman is full of kids 95% of the time. Which is terrific! The adults, however, ARE entitled to play there. As others have pointed out, there’s the north field (usually empty), the much more low-keyed Whitman Park and all the grass outside the plastic turf area. I am very child- centered, but this small gem of a park is shared, just not all at the same time.

  • Alex

    It was clever and you got burned as you should have.

  • Poster

    Once again, someone deleted this. What is so scary to discuss? I’m not sure

    ++++++++
    Since the original post keeps getting deleted. Here are the concerns that were cited:

    1. The adult soccer players often passive aggressively push the children out of the space my kids are using. On more than one occasion my children have been playing in an area on the field. The adult players then choose to set up their nets in a way such that the soccer playing area overlaps with the area my kids are in are in, and the adults just start playing, ,knowing full well that a 4 year old can’t get a 30 year old adult to move and will get hurt if they keep playing in the same place. The adults don’t actually say anything, or even politely ask if we could move, they just set up their game in the same space we are using as if it’s it Ian entitlement And if you ask them to move, they haven’t responded kindly. On a separate occasion we were on a blanket and they set up their goal right in front of us, so all of their missed shots on goals would come right at us.

    2. These fields are only for pick up games. They are not designated for organized play that requires a permit. So the regular usage by adults in uniform playing goes against the actual rules. Moreover, there are designated spaces for leagues. Leagues should use them. e.g. that’s what Pier 5 is for.

    3. This past weekend, there were two separate games being played that took up the ENTIRE field at Cadman for hours on end So there was no area for kids to play on the turf. Sure we could go to to the fountain area, or play among the trees, or go to Walt Whitman, but we shouldn’t be pushed out of the space by 4 organized teams for hours on end. Moreover, the types of activities you can do at Walt Whitman are vastly different on a space that is not flat. If it were so ideal, why don’t the soccer players use it.

    4. This is not an indictment of adult play or all of the players. Of course, many are very nice, and adults are entitled to use the park, but league play on area designated for pick up should not be permitted. At the very least there should be an area permitted for league play and an area for free play and separation between both. The adults play aggressively in a way that’s not well suited for an area with a lot of children. E.g. balls are kicked at full speed and inevitably hit children — I’ve seen multiple kids hit. And let’s not forget the pedestrians taking a casual stroll around the park.

    5. This is not about dog walking in the park (which isn’t allowed as the field does not drain) and is kind of disgusting on field where so many kids play — but that’s a conversation for another day.

  • Plato Republic

    I’m not sure who keeps deleting posts, but it’s really a shame that people feel like that can view or read an opinion different from their own. If you disagree, just comment. There’s no need to delete an innocuous post. It must really have touched a nerve or they must be nervous that more people will agree.

    Reposting my repost. This is at least the tenth time someone has taken down these comments.

    —————

    Since the original post keeps getting deleted. Here are the concerns that were cited:
    1. The adult soccer players often passive aggressively push the children out of the space my kids are using. On more than one occasion my children have been playing in an area on the field. The adult players then choose to set up their nets in a way such that the soccer playing area overlaps with the area my kids are in are in, and the adults just start playing, ,knowing full well that a 4 year old can’t get a 30 year old adult to move and will get hurt if they keep playing in the same place. The adults don’t actually say anything, or even politely ask if we could move, they just set up their game in the same space we are using as if it’s it Ian entitlement And if you ask them to move, they haven’t responded kindly. On a separate occasion we were on a blanket and they set up their goal right in front of us, so all of their missed shots on goals would come right at us.

    2. These fields are only for pick up games. They are not designated for organized play that requires a permit. So the regular usage by adults in uniform playing goes against the actual rules. Moreover, there are designated spaces for leagues. Leagues should use them. e.g. that’s what Pier 5 is for.

    3. This past weekend, there were two separate games being played that took up the ENTIRE field at Cadman for hours on end So there was no area for kids to play on the turf. Sure we could go to to the fountain area, or play among the trees, or go to Walt Whitman, but we shouldn’t be pushed out of the space by 4 organized teams for hours on end. Moreover, the types of activities you can do at Walt Whitman are vastly different on a space that is not flat. If it were so ideal, why don’t the soccer players use it.

    4. This is not an indictment of adult play or all of the players. Of course, many are very nice, and adults are entitled to use the park, but league play on area designated for pick up should not be permitted. At the very least there should be an area permitted for league play and an area for free play and separation between both. The adults play aggressively in a way that’s not well suited for an area with a lot of children. E.g. balls are kicked at full speed and inevitably hit children — I’ve seen multiple kids hit. And let’s not forget the pedestrians taking a casual stroll around the park.

    5. This is not about dog walking in the park (which isn’t allowed as the field does not drain) and is kind of disgusting on field where so many kids play — but that’s a conversation for another day.

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