On Thursday, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus will perform in Columbus Park, in front of Borough Hall, from 11 am to 1 pm. Watch as performers juggle, swallow swords, walk on wires, and do comedy.
For more info visit, the Shop Downtown Brooklyn website.
We got the following email from Councilman Yassky’s community liaison, Rami Metal, today. If you want more information or have questions, call the Councilman’s office at 718-875-5200, x14 for Metal. The full letter is attached as a pdf here.
In response to the Department of Building’s recent publication of all the stalled construction sites in the City, Council Member David Yassky has sent the attached letter to Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler. The letter addresses the overwhelming amount of stalled construction sites in the 33rd District and in Williamsburg in particular and it urges the administration to take a number of measures to improve the quality of life issues that have come as a result.
The Citizens Union will host a debate for candidates for the 33rd district City Council seat on Tuesday night from 6:30 to 8 pm. The event is held at St. Francis College, in its Founders Hall (180 Remsen St., between Court and Clinton streets). The seven candidates — Isaac Abraham, Ken Baer, Doug Biviano, Ken Diamondstone, Steve Levin, JoAnne Simon, and Evan Thies — are invited, and the debate is open to the public. To RSVP, email events@citizensunion.org.
This just in — the State Senate has voted 47 to 8 to renew legislation that allows Mayor Bloomberg to have control over the New York City schools. According to the Times: (More at the Observer’s Politicker blog and Daily News Daily Politics blog)
The legislation largely leaves the mayor’s total power over the schools in place, though there are changes in the way contracts are approved and it allows for more oversight by the city’s Independent Budget Office.
The Senate also passed amendments that, among other provisions, would establish a parent training institute and an arts council for the city. The Assembly would have to approve those amendments for them to take effect, though the city has promised to begin implementing them immediately.
But the changes do little reassure the mayor’s critics, who say his power has gone unchecked for the last six years.
>> Andrea Mocci and Giovanna Fadda plan to open a new Italian restaurant at the old River Deli by October (BHB/Sarah Portlock)
BHB caught up with Andrea Mocci and Giovanna Fadda yesterday, who are the new leaseholders at the former River Deli at 34 Columbia Place, at the base of Joralemon Street. The couple, who moved to New York from Sardinia nearly three years ago, hopes to open an Italian restaurant or café in the spot by mid-October.
“We’ll have pasta, pizza, steaks, and fish,” Mocci said.
The pair has applied for a liquor license, but Mocci noted that he doesn’t plan to open a loud bar, as neighbors sometimes fear.
Last summer, a miscommunication among gardeners led to a mob-like hit on two local trees: these juniper trees at the corner of Remsen and Hicks streets were buried alive in concrete. But local activisits — including the Brooklyn Heights Association — lept to action, reached out to local media, and saved the trees. We checked out the plot yesterday, and looks like everything is ok. Whew!
>> 72 Poplar Street, as of last week
Owners behind the 72 Poplar Street conversion project have been sent back to the drawing board once again.
Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission “strongly recommended” that the owners behind a plan to convert the former precinct house into a rental building rethink their designs.
“The commissioners felt that the addition was too big and asked them to seriously restudy the proposal for the project,” explained Landmarks spokeswoman Lisi DeBourbon. “The application wasn’t expressly denied, and there was no vote, but they did strongly urge the applicant to go back to the drawing board.”
>> Lights out at 1-800-Mattress on Montague Street (BHB/Sarah Portlock)
The brick-and-mortar outposts of the 1800Matress.com company are closing down nationwide after the company filed for bankruptcy in March, now marking yet another vacant storefront on Montague Street.
Sleepy’s then acquired the telephone and Web properties of Dial-a-Mattress in a $25-million deal, but shuttered its remaining 20 showrooms, according to a Montague Street Sleepy’s salesman and an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that details the company’s demise.
Thanks to Bornhere for pointing out 1-800-Mattres’ closing.
What would you want to see in the spot at 136 Montague St., near Henry Street?
Notice that the Tazza café on Henry Street, near Atlantic Avenue, is missing its sidewalk café?
An owner told BHB this morning that there was some confusion over zoning and the café had to reapply for its sidewalk café license, but now things are clearing up.
“It should be back towards the end of the month,” she explained.
The annual police anti-crime fair, National Night Out Against Crime, is Tuesday night and the 84th precinct will host its event at Borough Hall from 6-9 pm. The auxiliary police band will perform, Community Affairs officer Sal Ferrante will barbecue hamburgers and hotdogs and serve ice cream, and there will be pony rides and face paint for the kids. And, there will be lots of anti-crime-related information booths, including a spot to register your bicycle.
Ok, so we messed up; our apologies. There’s been some confusion over what boutiques are participating in Borough President Marty Markowitz’s new Shop Brooklyn “Boutique Nights” last night and tonight, July 30. We posted the wrong participants in an earlier post about this event — for which we profusely apologize to you, readers — and here now is a list of the correct shops, albeit none are in Brooklyn Heights proper. There are plenty in Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, and DUMBO, however — so check it out.
Per Marty’s full release:
Four defendants were arrested and charged in a $700,000 bank fraud case for a scheme in which they allegedly emptied their own bank accounts at ATM machines, reported the ATM cards lost or stolen, and then had the banks replace the money — and several of the targeted ATMs were along Court and Montague streets, a DA spokesman confirmed.
The banks included HSBC, Chase and Signature Bank.
The three men and one woman are charged with stealing $422,000 over five years by exploiting Federal Reserve Board Regulation E, which governs electronic banking and requires banks to reimburse accounts of customers who claim their ATM cards have been used without their permission, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles Hynes. The defendants allegedly made false claims totaling $700,000.
((The Poplar Street garden, looking toward the BQE from the koi pond; photo courtesy Bill Spier))
In a formerly-empty lot on Poplar Street sits one of the borough’s richest and lushest private gardens. It’s almost like the Heights’ own Gramercy Park, but here passersby can look in and see flowers from the sidewalk and still get that pleasant satisfaction of nature all around us. This week, BHB got a tour of the garden, and will post a video tour for you soon. A photography slideshow is below.
The 1-acre Bridge Harbor Heights Garden is home to more than 300 different plants; at least six species of birds (including migratory ones, season permitting); a koi from Fortune House (until recently, there were two); and a hive of bumblebees. The garden wraps around residential buildings on Poplar Street, between Hicks and Henry streets, and rests along Old Fulton Street (and the residents’ parking lot) to the north.
(Slideshow after the jump)
We’re reporting live from the Community Board 2 meeting tonight, and so far the executive committee has unanimously approved a liquor license for the potential Tea Lounge at 41 Clark St. and new facade designs within the Heights Historical District for the new Armando’s and a new Japanese restaurant at 78 Clark Street, in the former Sea Asian spot.
UPDATE 7/28/09:
Here’s more news from last night’s CB2 meeting, in which the executive committee met in lieu of a full board monthly meeting since it’s summer:
About the Tea Lounge approved liquor license: owner Jonathan Spiel assured CB2 that the café was primarily a tea and coffee spot, with muffins and sandwiches and the like. But, in order to spike tea or coffee with Bailey’s or kahlua, he needs a liquor license. “The main source of our business is the café,” he said.
As for the new Japanese restaurant at 78 Clark St., owner Aaron Liu told BHB he hopes to open Moritomo Japanese Cuisine “as soon as possible,” probably by September. He and his architect went before the Board with an application to change the facade by removing the brick columns and restoring the original stucco.
Maria Byros, who will manage the new Armando’s at 143 Montague St., also wants to change the restaurant’s facade by bringing in new windows that won’t have as many panes looking out, yet will have the same shade of painted wood.
The Board unanimously approved both Landmark applications, and Byros’s architect said this application was not related to the famous lobster sign.
Updated Thursday at 4:50 pm
BHB just got word that the state Division of Housing & Community Renewal has rejected the landlord’s proposal to build a garage at the Riverside Apartments at the westernmost end of Joralemon Street.
Ken Fisher, the attorney for landlord Pinnacle Group, told BHB, “While we are disappointed, this is only the first level of administrative review at DHCR and we are confident that eventually our Landmarks Commission-approved project will move forward and will meet the needs of both area residents for parking as well as the tenants.”
The Pinnacle Group will file an appeal with the state “shortly,” Fisher said.
We now have the state’s full decision, Continue Reading →
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BHA, Other Groups Settle with City and State over Park Land
Parade of Ships Opens Fleet Week Tomorrow
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