Open Thread Wednesday

By on November 22, 2023 9:43 am in open thread

Happy Thanksgiving! What’s on you mind? Comment away!

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  • Kristina

    Anyone have recommendations on the best spot to buy a christmas tree in the neighborhood? We’re at Clark and Hicks.

  • Matt

    Does anyone know the date/time of the Christmas Tree lighting on the Promenade?

  • Cranberry Beret

    I saw online that MS915 (the former MS8 / middle-school offshoot of PS8) is considering leaving its downtown BK building at Westinghouse and moving to a school in Atlantic Yards. Anyone have more details? I’m not in the know as to the pros/cons behind the desire to move. I do know it seems a shame that many in the Heights community worked hard to get a local public middle school option only for it to go away after a few years.

  • Andrew Porter
  • Andrew Porter

    And here’s the church next door. Note the two priests wearing their oldtime clerical garb:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/012d54e7479ab2f21fd02e7cc1e305c04870d6655c0e621fae630b80ae4ec03e.png

  • Downtown Dad

    Last Xmas was our 1st in the neighborhood but the tree we got from the Vermont Tree Farm guys next to St Ann’s Church was the best tree we had in 30+ years living in NYC

  • Downtown Dad

    Just walked by the former RiteAid space at Joralemon & Clinton and noticed the windows are now papered up and I heard construction going on inside. Didn’t see any clues on their Building’s Dept paperwork taped to the door. Anyone know what’s going in there???

  • Jorale-man

    The neighborhood is the subject of one of the Times’s “Living In” features this week: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/realestate/brooklyn-heights-nyc-neighborhood.html
    A very positive portrait with some shout-outs to Montague businesses.

  • Mary Kim

    They are setting up on Saturday morning starting at 9:30 a.m.

  • Banet

    While the Mary McDowell school on Sidney is undoubtedly a useful institution for the city, I still say it was a huge loss for the neighborhood that the city didn’t buy that building for a middle school.

    Another missed opportunity? When the old 84th precinct house sold on Poplar. There are only so many locations suitable for a school – the precinct house became condos – something totally interchangeable with thousands upon thousands of other buildings.

    (And yes, I’m going back 20+ years. Soon I’ll be an angry old man yelling at kids to get off my lawn! Not that I actually have a lawn.)

  • Mary Kim

    According to an email from the administration, the relocation will be to a brand new building with access to outdoor space, auditorium, gym, and classrooms with new and functional technology. In their current location, there are 2 high schools in the same building, and the middle school has no outdoor space, auditorium, or access to the gym.

  • Andrew Porter

    I noticed that the mattress store on Montague, a fixture for many years, has closed, joining a bunch of other empty stores on the street.

    Meanwhile, the Happy Days diner was in the process of being emptied of all the interior fittings, dishes, etc., yesterday. The former Verizon store next door was also emptied out, and a “rented” sign is in the window.

    Anyone know what’s coming for these?

  • Effective Presenter

    Clinton Street and Atlantic Avenue they have nice trees.

  • Banet

    I’m honestly surprised that the mattress shop lasted as long as it did. Especially when it opened when there was already a Mattress Discounters up Montague a stretch. Just how many mattresses does one purchase in life? How can a store survive selling an item that each household purchases maybe once a decade?

    I also noticed that while the mattress shop has emptied, there was already a crew in there painting the walls so I’m hopeful that the space turns over quickly. It is a great location that it is the only empty storefront at street level on that very busy side of the block.

  • Funk & Wagnalls

    Can you post that email?

    Sincerely,
    An interested parent of future middle schoolers

  • Andrew Porter

    They also have nice wreaths; I like their long needle ones.

  • Mary Kim

    This is the first part of the email. The rest of it asks for parents to voice support at a CEC meeting. The CEC has to approve the move.
    Many parents looking for a middle school were discouraged by the current building, with the co-located high schools and metal detectors at the door. The middle school students had gym in a multi-purpose room, because the gym was monopolized by the high schools. Not ideal. The new building sounds better, although further from the Heights. Good luck in your search! (Last comment deleted because I attached a wrong photo.)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/87b3299005e659ba687cba3419d476bb667db6744ca2ed4eeced2d89fffd6e4c.jpg

  • Angela De Marco

    The former St Charles Borromeo Catholic School on Sidney Place could not be turned into a public school for the city. There are very specific uses for former Catholic Schools and churches, but the first and overriding concern is that the new use (school) needs to teach according to Catholic principles. (no gay marriage, no abortion, etc) I was on the parish council and was a parish Trustee when the contract with Mary McDowell was written. We were approached by several schools (and real estate owners for development) but the rules did not fit the projected use of the space.

  • NManzini

    Here’s an interesting link on the subject : https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2023/11/would-new-school-coming-at-b15-at-dean.html

    The proposed address is 491 Dean, and Google says it’s a little more than a 1/2 hour walk from 100 Remsen (just some place central in the Hts) or 12 minutes via the 2-3 from Boro Hall to Bergen. Obviously your time may vary. Also, of course, parents’ comfort with that subway ride (to or from) is likely to vary. Last, if one went via the B41, it’s about 20 minutes door-to-door.

  • Effective Presenter

    Yes, beautiful wreaths also.

  • NManzini

    I noted with interest Karl’s “rave review” of the Langone facility on Atlantic. Does anyone know how it compares with LICH – just in terms of services offered? I remember having gotten a “stress test” there (in the LICH era), which meant, I guess, that they either had a cardiology unit or they allowed some MD to “set up shop” there.

    Oh yes, what’s with that row of buildings on the S. Side of Atlantic between Henry & Hicks? Many/most look unoccupied – not residential, not stores, not MD’s offices. I ask, because that seems to be current “model” elsewhere in the City – it’s convenient for both doctors & patients to make Kips Bay, say, have a BIG healthcare footprint.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    The variety of medical services in this building were extensive.

    https://www.hospitalmanagement.net/news/nyu-langone-opens-multispecialty-facility/

  • NManzini

    Thanks so very much. Radiology alone would be enuf to get me there at some point. “Lenox Hill” is too “low rent” for words, and 300 Cadman/Mt. Sinai invariably says, “Your insurance didn’t pay enough – you’re responsible for $X.”

  • Banet

    Good to know. Thx. Explains a lot.

  • Andrew Porter

    Article with many photos about the Heights, “Brooklyn Heights: A Historic Waterfront Community Minutes From Manhattan,” ran in the NY Times:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/realestate/brooklyn-heights-nyc-neighborhood.html

    Her’s the map from the article, showing the wrong location for the BPL branch:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/df6502f286ef1183ecf775a6f222cfcc7f1ce48b24c1b32887b9fab1679c75a3.png

  • clarknt67

    Ridiculous that the Church felt they could dictate that their failed ideology be taught in perpetuity by virtue of selling the building. I doubt that would be enforceable anyway.

  • clarknt67

    There’s the theory that all mattress stores are money laundering operations.

  • clarknt67

    Is that the temporary location of the library while the Clinton street was under construction?

  • Angela De Marco

    it is enforceable otherwise the school would have been rented as a middle school to the BOE.

  • Andrew Porter

    The smoke shop at 84 Henry Street, which was raided by the NYPD recently, had a large notice on the window placed there by the police, advising people to report if they see illegal cannabis sales happening.

    Now the store has covered over the NYPD notice with ads on the outside of the windows. I’ve reported this to the 84th Precinct, and to the BHA.

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