The House Tour. The House Tour. The House Tour! More info at the Brooklyn Heights Association website.
There are several activities at Brooklyn Bridge Park this weekend. The Green Team meets tomorrow (Saturday, May 12) from 10:00 a.m. until noon. At the same time, there will be a MillionTreesNYC community tree giveaway on Pier 6, near the foot of Atlantic Avenue. Continue Reading →
The Brooklyn Heights Association calls to our attention two opportunities for recycling as we do our spring cleaning. There will be an e-waste recycling event the weekend after next at First Unitarian Church, Pierrepont Street between Clinton and Monroe Place. Bring your no-longer-useful electronics to the Church on Saturday, May 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 6 from noon to 2:00 p.m. A list of items that will be accepted for recycling is here. Continue Reading →
Tonight from 8:30 to 9:30 is Earth Hour, during which we’re asked to turn off electric lights and appliances. Reader Ori, who gave us the heads-up, says: “Besides participating by turning off our lights, we’re sure to have a great view of Manhattan going dark from the Promenade, the park, etc.”
On Tuesday, I saw a large pile of logs piled next to the curb in front of 146 and 148 Hicks Street. I later received an e-mail from a reader who lives in a nearby building, saying that a healthy tree behind 148 Hicks was being taken down for no apparent reason. The reader described this as a “tree of heaven,” presumably Ailanthus altissima.
The next morning, I went to the same spot and saw (see photo) logs loaded onto a truck, and another truck, with the hopeful name “SavATree” emblazoned on the side, but with a wood chipper behind. A worker came from behind 148 Hicks. I asked him if the whole tree was coming down, or if it was just being trimmed. He said it was coming down. I asked if the tree was unhealthy. He said there were some problems near the bottom. More photos and text after the jump. Continue Reading →
My heart soared when I saw the display on the upper half of the photo to the left, pitching for new advertisers on the probably legal bilboard that dominates the view from the north end of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. This made me think that Apple, which has had ads on it for the past several years, perhaps fearing the wrath of David on Middagh, travy et al (scroll down to comments), had decided to give it up.
Might this then make other prospective advertisers, fearing boycotts and torchlight parades by enraged Heights residents, have second thoughts about using the space? Alas, my hopes were to be dashed. Continue Reading →
That bombastic noise around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning along Montague Street that sounded like the second coming, was actually the City Parks Department continuing its once-a-decade tree pruning in Brooklyn Heights.
Under the Parks Department’s current schedule, this will take place on blocks from Pierrepont Street southward. However, as we previously noted, thanks to funding by the Brooklyn Heights Association, trees on six more streets north of Pierrepont will also be trimmed.
Please see the BHA link on tree pruning at thebha.org.
The Brooklyn Heights Association tells us that the City Parks Department has begun pruning street trees in Brooklyn Heights from Atlantic Avenue to Pierrepont Street. This is done on a ten year cycle. Thanks to funds contributed by BHA members and earmarked for tree maintenance, pruning will be extended to include six more blocks north of Pierrepont. The BHA regrets that funds aren’t available to cover pruning for all of Brooklyn Heights. More details are here.
A few weeks ago Ben Petok, the communications director for City Council Member Steve Levin, whose district includes Brooklyn Heights, contacted us to set up a get-acquainted meeting. This past Friday morning, your correspondent went to Levin’s district office at 410 Atlantic Avenue and conversed with him for about an hour. Here are some of his thoughts on various topics he thought were of interest to our readers:
Education: Levin considers this his primary interest, and he sits on the Council’s Education Committee. He is proud, he said, of his role in bringing about the addition of a middle school to P.S. 8. As a general observation, he said that he believes the pendulum on education policy has swung too far. Where there was once an out-of-control, too often corrupt bureaucracy running the schools, there is now a monolithic technocracy that is unresponsive to the concerns of parents and others with a stake in the system. Continue Reading →
This in from Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association:
1) Tomorrow, Monday, February 13 (Lincoln’s Birthday) is a holiday for the NYC Sanitation Department. No garbage will be picked up in the Heights until Wednesday.
2) Wait until Tuesday night before putting any garbage out on the curb.
3) If Monday is your recycling collection day, hold back all recylables until further notice from the BHA, because another Monday holiday follows this one. Continue Reading →
This in from Promenade Gardener Jonathan Landsman:
This Thursday at 12:30 PM, the Promenade Gardeners are hosting the first of our winter gatherings: Plant Trivia from Brooklyn and Beyond. We’d love to invite interested members of the public to join us for this first class and snacks. We sit, chat, look at photos of plants, and Koren and I ask some tough and not-so-tough questions about plants we interact with in daily life in literature, medicine, popular culture, and our walks on the Promenade. Half of the 90 minute meeting is devoted to plants of the Promenade, with a special emphasis on what was bought and planted last year using funds raised by the Promenade Gardens Conservancy and through our bake sales. Joining the group will give one an early taste of spring and a little extra appreciation for plants in our day to day life. Those who’d like to come should RSVP to the hostess, Koren Volk, at volkkoren@hotmail.com and she will provide location details.
Following up on our inquiry, prompted by reader Andrew Porter, Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Judy Stanton got on the phone and found that the City Department of Buildings has no jurisdiction over the billboard (see photo) near the north end of the Promenade, because it is affixed to a building owned by the Transit Authority. Ms. Stanton then called the TA, and was told “that the sign is securely bolted to the wall and is level with the rooftop to minimize wind resistance and was installed under MTA/NYCT structural engineering specification.” Since it is evidently a source of revenue for the cash-strapped TA, it’s unlikely they’ll yield to community pressure to remove it. (Photo: McBrooklyn.)
Update: Federal legislation may provide another means of getting rid of the billboard. See BHB Ten honoree Tony Manheim’s comment on this post.
An open backyard on Henry Street has become an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord for rats and other vermin, with piles of trash, discarded furniture, construction remnants, bottles, bags and broken glass overrunning the one-time manicured outdoor space.
Located behind Montague Street’s Andy’s Chinese restaurant, Dashing Diva nail salon and the Heights Vision Center, and across from Corcoran real estate on Henry, the cluttered dump is easily accessed through an open iron gate. For years, residents have been complaining to landlords and business owners, to no avail, as it continues to accumulate garbage strewn & stacked at liberty. Continue Reading →
The Times has a story about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that recounts the frustrations of drivers who use it–”It’s a nightmare”, it quotes livery cab driver Wilifredo Torres, who suffered a blowout that caused his fare to miss a flight–as well as of Brooklyn Heights residents:
New York Times: The highway has also been an irritating neighbor for Lucille Plotz, 85, of Columbia Heights and her husband, Charles, 90. Take, for instance, a recent afternoon inside their apartment. First came the vibrations, then a loud crash; her butter cookies toppled from the counter to the kitchen floor, and the radiator cover dislodged and fell onto a wooden chair. Continue Reading →
Sorry to be late with this, which arrived in your correspondent’s mailbox as he was returning from a New Year’s weekend on (yes) Cape Cod. Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association gives us this update:
Dear Neighbors:
This is an updated reminder of the irregularities of NYC DSNY collection times, due to the consecutive holidays interrupting our usual Monday service. Continue Reading →
We’ve received this update from Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association:
Dear Neighbors:
1) All regular trash will be collected tomorrow (Wednesday), starting possibly at 6 AM. Please disregard what you may be seeing on the DSNY website, and wait until after dark tonight to put your non-recycling trash out on the curb.
2) WEDNESDAY RECYCLING will be collected as per the norm. Continue Reading →
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brooklyn Bugle Cobble Hill Blog
Open Thread: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Packer Institute SAT Scandal Gets More Egregious
Brooklyn Heights Rallies For Montague Street Retail Corridor
Adam Yauch Park Closer to Reality: On State Street In Brooklyn Heights
Roof Cornice Breaks Off At 7 Old Fulton Street
Montague Street Revitalization Continues With Launch Of Ruby And Jenna
BHA, Other Groups Settle with City and State over Park Land
Parade of Ships Opens Fleet Week Tomorrow
A Peek Inside Montague Street’s New Starbucks
Film Shoot Moratorium Short-Lived: Remsen Street Site For ‘Amish’
Open Thread: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
A Peek Inside Montague Street’s New Starbucks
Adam Yauch Park Closer to Reality: On State Street In Brooklyn Heights
Heights’ Resident Lena Dunham’s HBO ‘Girls’ Renewed For Second Season
Tips for New Dog Owners from Brooklyn’s DogBoy Robert Haussman
Taxi Commission Supports 20% Cab Fare Hike
BHA, Other Groups Settle with City and State over Park Land
Parade of Ships Opens Fleet Week Tomorrow
Get BHB in your inbox everyday. Enter your email below.
Nabe Chatter