About Claude Scales

Heights resident since 1983. Lawyer, with strong interests in history, philosophy, literature, music, architecture, astronomy, paleontology, ships and the sea, railroads, baseball, food and wine. Married, with one child.

Author Archive | Claude Scales

Purple Irises and Serviceberries

Your correspondent is off for a long weekend starting tomorrow. The Bugs and Blooms tour of Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 put me in a botanical frame of mind, so when I started on a short early evening walk today, I couldn’t resist photographing these especially lovely purple irises growing in the garden by the [...]

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Last Minute Weekend Suggestions: Brooklyn Heights and Nearby

If you’re in town for the long weekend, there’s some stuff going on. On Friday evening at 8:00 Bargemusic will present composer, pianist, and thereminist Rob Schwimmer (photo) in a concert in the Bargemix Series, “The Wild World of Piano, Theremin, Continuum.” On Saturday evening at 8:00 and Sunday afternoon at 2:00 there will be [...]

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Subway Service Alerts: Brooklyn Heights and Vicinity

The only planned change directly affecting service at any local stations over the long Memorial Day weekend is that, from 11:30 p.m. Friday until 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, there will be no service from Manhattan to Court Street or to the R/N platform at Jay Street-Metro Tech, as R an N (the N replaces the R [...]

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Brooklyn Bridge Park Prexy Regina Myer Mentioned as Possible City Planning Commissioner

City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden is expected to leave office when a new mayor is inaugurated next year. According to Crain’s New York Business, among those considered likely candidates to succeed her is Brooklyn Bridge Park President Regina Myer. The Crain’s article notes: Ms. Myer has received accolades for her work on Brooklyn Bridge Park, [...]

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Brooklyn Bridge Park’s “Blooms and Bugs”: Lots of Blooms, No Bugs, Some Birds

As we noted before, this was a big weekend for events at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Your correspondent chose to register for the early Sunday morning “Blooms and Bugs” tour around Pier 1. The tour leader was Matthew Wills (photo), who publishes the blog Backyard and Beyond. Matthew began by noting that we weren’t likely to [...]

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Mystic Whaler Arrives at Brooklyn Bridge Park

On my morning walk yesterday I looked out from the Promenade and saw the schooner Mystic Whaler approaching the reach of water between Governors Island and Manhattan. I knew she was supposed to dock at Pier 5, but her course seemed to be taking her into the East River, so I continued down to Pier [...]

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Willowtown Spring Fair a Lively Event

A few desultory raindrops weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of those who attended yesterday’s Willowtown Spring Fair (though some of these photos may be slightly blurry because one of those raindrops found your correspondent’s camera’s lens). City Council Member Stephen Levin and his Chief of Staff Ashley Thompson were on the winning tug-of-war team. [...]

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84th Precinct Community Council Meeting Tuesday Evening

Captain Maximo Tolentino, Commander of the 84th Precinct, has announced a meeting of the precinct’s Community Council this Tuesday evening, May 21, starting at 7:00 p.m., in Geraldo’s Room (named for Brooklyn Law alum Geraldo Rivera), Brooklyn Law School, 205 State Street (between Court Street and Boerum Place). On the agenda will be presentation of [...]

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Brooklyn Bridge Park’s “Sunset Ohana” is Thursday Evening, June 6

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is having “Sunset Ohana,” its 14th annual (which seems to go back to when the Park was still a gleam in some local citizens’ eyes) sunset party at Pier 1 on Thursday, June 6 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. This year the theme is Hawaiian. Our little slice of Hawaii [...]

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Brooklyn Federal Courthouse Target of Second “Anthrax” Letter

Lightning is said not to strike the same place twice, but the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, at Tillary Street and Cadman Plaza East, has twice this month received envelopes containing white powder. According to the Daily News, the second envelope arrived Wednesday afternoon and white powder came out after a courthouse employee opened it in a [...]

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