Open Thread Wednesday

By on October 11, 2022 10:26 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Photo by Martha Foley: window box at the BHA Show House, 145 Columbia Heights.

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  • RW

    I’m seeing more and more cars parked in No Standing zones and on “Parking Permitted on ___day Only” sides of the street. Especially the spot on Hicks/Love Lane and all along Pierrepont. Are they not giving out tickets like they used to or are tickets cheaper than parking lots these days?

  • Cranberry Beret

    The NYPD has engaged in a work slowdown for the past 2 years. They’ve decided they don’t feel like enforcing the traffic laws to create a climate of disorder that justifies more deference/funding to themselves. The traffic agents will give out tickets when they walk by, but you’ll be hard-pressed to get the regular NYPD officers to respond to a traffic/parking complaint through 311 etc.

  • nomcebo manzini

    You’re right…. And it goes beyond traffic enforcement – which, face it, probably isn’t “cost effective” – to dealing with the kind of crimes (because that’s what they are) like turnstile-jumping that really DO send terrible messages to both law-abiding riders & the young men involved.

    I thought that there might be ONE silver lining to Mayor Adams’ election – that NYPD officers would emerge from the funk that diBlasio & Covid put them in.

    Doesn’t look like it. And face it – the precinct that includes BH (on Gold St.) is way “above average” in terms of serious crime stats … and probably is a place where high-seniority, low-ambition cops wind up. I’m sure there are some “model” policemen (and women), but the reality that most cops live 90-120 minutes away from the nabes that depend on them is probably an impediment of olympian proportions – to their doing their job well!

    It’s the same with “sanitation” – can you imagine YOURSELF with those duties for 20 years?! – and, sadly, most cops deal with people a lot of the time that THEY would describe as “garbage.”

    The answer CANNOT BE “Improve their compensation & pensions!”

  • Banet

    Signage going up for Books are Magic. Looks fantastic! (I tried attaching an image but it kept giving me errors. Sometimes Disqus sucks.)

  • Banet

    I agree that the police have generally sucked at their job for a few years now. That day-to-day crime has backslid a number of years is terrible. One silver lining is that the murder rate for NYC looks like it may come in at an all-time low. I take heart in that as most other crime stats can be manipulated one way or another but a murder? Murder is murder. Kind of hard to downgrade it to “misdemeanor assault” or “criminal mischief”.

  • CassieVonMontague
  • karateca2000

    There is no enforcement and drivers know it. They park wherever they want, even blocking ramps, crossings, fire hydrants, you name it.

    It would be fantastic if we could report them through an app, just like idling trucks.

  • CassieVonMontague
  • AEB

    “And celebrities are now everywhere….”

    Everywhere! Yes! En route to throwing my garbage away the other day I had to dodge LeBron James, Kylie Jenner, Robert Downey Jr, Lizzo, Taylor Swift….

    A perfect storm!

    Please! The use of (minor) celebrity habitation to denote “cool” or “desirable” is just…just…silly!

  • Cranberry Beret

    FYI, the DOT is proposing truck loading zones on Atlantic Avenue, moving the bus stops, adding metered parking to Clinton Street, and more. (Hopefully this will eliminate rampant double-parking!)

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/16eL_GlOQZjjUS5KAX-FDr__l-erWD_eV/view
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WeYVM28GkuNYlwMMeAjBSz2VQVWv20wM/view

    According to Community Board 2, DOT is currently soliciting public comment on the proposal here:
    https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/contact/contact.shtml

  • KDHicks
  • KDHicks

    Lol amazing — I also love how they’re like it’s a wonder paparazzi aren’t all over the neighborhood — well now they will be! Thanks NYT…

  • nomcebo manzini

    Anybody have any ideas re the 3 biggest (I’m pretty sure) spaces for rent in the vicinity – the 2 previous drugstores on Clinton (one @Montague) and the ex-Loft’s at Henry & Montague?

    I know “retail” is more than a little in flux for several reasons, but … What’s the asking cost per sq. foot? I used this space months back to suggest that one of the 3-4 big “hospital systems” (presumably, Mt. Sinai is happy at 250 CPW) strikes me as “logical,” but maybe if someone suggests something clever here, it might spark something.

    A Best Buy? Whole Foods? It’s GREAT that Books Are Magic will be open soon, but these bigger spaces are suitable for something very different As the BHA once asked, “What would make Brooklyn Heights an even better place to live?”

  • Monty

    This is pretty accurate although it leaves our a few things (probably on purpose). Like the fact these are almost all parents who are sending their kids to a private school know for catering the children on a-listers. They didn’t mention BD Wong even though they also did a piece on him a few weeks ago and his enjoyment of eating at Grand Canyon. And yes, Matt Damon always has his baseball cap pulled down to his eyebrows. He’s not fooling anyone.

  • Banet

    Alas, none of these spaces are remotely large enough for a Whole Foods. Sinai and Weill/Cornell already have space in the neighborhood and again, they have MUCH larger space. Union Market could go for one of the ex-drugstore locations though.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Brooklyn Landlord to Pay Tenants Thousands for Harassment, Creating Dangerous Living Conditions

    The landlord is Greenbrook Partners. The buildings in our neighborhood involved in this dispute include 75 Pineapple St, 32 Pierrepont St, 109 Montague St, 269 Henry St, 287 Henry St, and 309 Henry St.

    I would link to the articles and complaint but then my comment would be flagged.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Yes, the private schools only receive one mention when they are likely the biggest driver of this phenomenon.

  • CassieVonMontague

    I am always disappointed with the responses to articles about people discovering Brooklyn Heights. The commentariat always cry out, “But Brooklyn Heights has always been gentrified!”

    I wish some local historian would correct their uniform views of our neighborhood’s complex history. We’ve come a long way from Edmund Wilson’s description of Brooklyn Heights in 1925, blanketed by the smell of factories and strewn with dead horses, as a place where “the respectable have disappeared and only the vulgar survive.”

  • TeddyNYC

    Whenever I see a well dressed person wearing a baseball cap, that person actually gets more attention from me. Sometimes I figure it’s because the guy is getting bald or is bald so there’s not much more than that. When the guy has a lot of hair…

  • TeddyNYC

    It looks like restaurants on the north side of Atlantic bet. Henry and Clinton would have to remove their dining sheds if the proposed TLZ there was approved. Double-parked trucks on Atlantic have definitely been an issue so I guess something like this has to be done.

  • RickP

    When I first lived in the Heights in 1969 or 70, it was in a rent-controlled, roach infested, 4 floor walkup in a brownstone. I recall that the building next door was renovated nicely. So, there was some gentrification — some. That building is still apartments — I don’t know if they ever cleaned up the vermin.

  • Banet

    That would be a crushing blow to what’s become a pretty successful strip of restaurants. Colonie, Pips, chez Moi, Al Badawi, and Brado. The first two are jammed outdoors. The other three are doing well two. The other side of the street has no sheds – I would imagine that makes a ton more sense.

  • nomcebo manzini

    Glad I asked…. Weill/Cornell is a new (186 Joralemon) option for me in terms of awareness.

    I’m also guessing that the “Loft” space might be dividable in ways that they others aren’t.

  • Jorale-man

    The article cobbles together a couple of unrelated phenomena: a handful of celebrities who own a home in the neighborhood being one, and a few decent new shops and restaurants on Montague St. being the other. Aside from the rumor of Amy Schumer eating at Inga’s Bar, I’m not sure that it all adds up to much.

    I for one welcome our new celebrity overlords…

  • nomcebo manzini

    I know there are some who post here who would pretty much wish all cars away, but there is a delicate balance when it comes to deliveries. (Nothing delicate about the need for emergency vehicles to proceed at speeds > 5 mph.)

    Our neighborhood isn’t yet severely impacted negatively by sheds (AFAIK), but just because these are “small businesses,” and most of us patronize some of them, the City giving away – seemingly permanently and with no compensation – scarce space strikes me as ill-considered.

    Atlantic has given some of the places you mention LOTS of foot traffic, thus very profitable businesses. It’s high time that restaurants & bars are NOT accorded quite so much of a subsidy. Grading restaurants was a good idea. Grading “sheds” should be child’s play. D-level sheds should be “upgraded” or torn down – simple as that.

    On a recent warm day, wife & I asked if we could take a table in a nabe shed. The waitress said, “Bad idea – we’re dealing with rats.” That, “the unhoused,” noise and sanitation – collectively – are huge downsides. What was once a “lifeline” is now something altogether different.

  • Andrew Porter

    Why would it be flagged? It’s in Brownstoner. Here’s the Tiny URL:

    https://tinyurl.com/2p9en72w

  • Andrew Porter
  • SongBirdNYC

    I’m very happy to have frequent Paul Rudd sightings. He’s entertained me for decades and never fails to make me smile. Wet, Hot, American Summer is one of the funniest movies. Ever. He seems pretty genuine. Would never bother him. But I’d love to thank Amy Schumer for bringing some realness to Autism awareness if I had the chance.

  • TeddyNYC

    I do agree that the other side of Atlantic would make more sense for a TLZ. However, these sheds were never meant to be permanent and some have become a magnet for rats. A better solution would be to allow restaurants to only place tables, chairs, sun umbrellas and a protective barrier that can all be removed easily in case of inclement weather, street cleaning and utility work. I read that’s something the city is considering along with charging a fee for restaurant owners who want to take advantage of using the street for their business.

  • TeddyNYC

    It would be nice if a Union Market occupied one of the spaces. Whole Foods would be great too, but as you mentioned, a larger space would be required. Maybe the new building that will be built at the former house of detention site?

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