Calling 311: Mangled Street Sign Remains For Months

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Calling 311: Mangled Street Sign Remains For Months

By Chuck Taylor on April 24, 2012 2:10 pm in Lame Excuses, Streets

Despite repeated calls to 311 since the beginning of March, a mangled street sign at the high-profile corner of Montague Street & Montague Terrace in Brooklyn Heights remains a disreputable eyesore.

Whether a keen example of psychokinesis (think spoon bending) or a careless truck turning the corner, this signage, which marks one of the Promenade’s grand entrances, merits repair. If anyone else cares to rally, I’d be thrilled for a 311 blitz from Heights’ residents. My attempts have obviously amounted to nothing. Power of the people! Continue Reading →

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For Fourth Year, Macy’s Says Nope To July 4th Fireworks Over Brooklyn

By Chuck Taylor on April 4, 2012 11:34 am in brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Events, Lame Excuses, War On Fun

Once again, Macy’s has decided that its annual 4th of July Fireworks spectacular will entertain viewers along the Hudson River facing New Jersey, rather than the West River toward the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

A public rally Monday from elected Kings County officials and neighborhood leaders from Brooklyn’s waterfront communities gathered a collective voice to show disdain over the NYC-based department store’s ongoing snub. In 2009, Macy’s relocated its Independence Day tradition to the Hudson to commemorate Henry Hudson’s exploration of the waterway 400 years ago—and has kept it there ever since. Continue Reading →

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Non-Quote Of The Day: L Mag’s “50 Best BK Blocks” Ignores Heights

By Chuck Taylor on March 27, 2012 12:08 pm in Arts and Entertainment, Lame Excuses

Despite the fact that it’s based in neighboring DUMBO, bi-weekly arts & culture freebie The L Magazine apparently doesn’t think much of Brooklyn Heights. The pub ran a feature on “The 50 Best Blocks in Brooklyn,” including the likes of Best Secret Block, Best People Watching, Best Block for Brownstones, Reddest & Bluest Blocks, Best Blocks for Pretending It’s the 1970s & the 19th Century, and Most Literary Block.

While there’s a decidedly hipster demeanor to the piece, it’s surprising that with inclusion of most every nabe imaginable—from Fort Greene, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge to East New York, Cobble Hill and Park Slope—Brooklyn Heights merits not a single accolade in L’s top 45 tally. A second list to cap the top 50 offers the 5 Best Blocks To Live On, which does offer the Heights a shout-out. The block the L Word showcases is Continue Reading →

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Traffic Snarl At Cadman Plaza & Pierrepont: Just In Time For Evening Rush

By Chuck Taylor on February 21, 2012 5:26 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Lame Excuses, Police Blotter, Traffic

One nitwit driver, six fire engines… A motorist behind the wheel of a Dodge SUV apparently decided the 4 p.m. hour Tuesday would be an ideal occasion to drive over a median strip along Cadman Plaza West at the intersection of Pierrepont Street, snarling traffic just in time for the evening rush.

The female driver, who was by herself in the silver Dodge Journey, was making a left turn from Piereppont and drove clear over a triangular concrete median on Cadman Plaza West, which dismantled the majority of her front bumper Continue Reading →

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Two Souls Get Raptured in Brooklyn Heights

By Homer Fink on May 21, 2011 6:32 pm in Lame Excuses, Lost and Found, Religion, War On Fun

BHB tipster “Sara” sent us this photo of what appears to be “evidence” of two souls who were “called home” during today’s Rapture. As for the rest of us, we’re still here.

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Papa John’s Invades Brooklyn Heights — With Fliers

By Homer Fink on March 8, 2011 11:11 pm in Lame Excuses

It’s one thing that anyone who lives in Brooklyn – home to some of the country’s best pizza – would order “corporate fun” pizza like Papa John’s. Sure, it’s okay for folks from Wisconsin but for New York natives “forget about it” as we believe is the vernacular.

So it’s particularly insulting when our wonderful neighborhood is inundated with fliers for said corporate pizza. Heck, in the commercials “Papa John” is just referred to as “the founder”. WTF? Is he in witness protection? One thing is for sure, Andrew Porter and David from Middagh will totally be collecting and trashing these tiny pieces of propaganda/garbage ASAP.

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Sex, Lies, and the Busted Chef

By Claude Scales on December 28, 2010 12:13 pm in crime, Lame Excuses

“Awesome Slut”, whose eponymous site won the “best sex blog” award from the Village Voice this year, tells all in her confessional “the mistakes we make” about an affair with Daniel Kaufman a/k/a Daniel Kay a/k/a Daniel Katze a/k/a the Busted Chef, whose true identity she discovered through a Google link to BHB.

Caveat: the language in Ms. Slut’s post is, in Homer’s words, “very Penthouse Forum.”

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Montague Terrace Horror! Beloved Dawn Redwood Downed in Brooklyn Heights

By Julie Kanfer on November 11, 2010 10:38 am in Brooklyn Heights, History, Lame Excuses, Landmark Preservation, Nature, Real Estate

Word on the street (in this case, Montague Terrace) is that one of the four Dawn Redwood trees in Brooklyn Heights was “removed” from the backyard of 2 Montague Terrace. BHB tipster Andrew Porter tell us it was cut down at the order of the co-op board, but we’re still investigating this claim. BHA Executive Director Judy Stanton has received inquiries from concerned Heights residents, and has “no idea” what led to the tree’s eradication. She’s on the case as well, but assured us that the Metasequoia Glyptostroboides, as Dawn Redwoods are officially known, in the front garden of 151 Willow Street is here to stay. Two others purportedly hold court on Pierrepont Street: one in the Monroe Place garden of the First Unitarian Church, the other in the Columbia Heights garden at 1 Pierrepont Street.

Is it possible, as this 2004 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article hints, that the tree came down because it obscured otherwise stellar views of the Manhattan skyline? Continue Reading →

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New Sign… Same Results

By TK Small on July 25, 2010 7:43 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Government, Lame Excuses, Transportation

New sign on Atlantic Ave./BQE on-ramp

In a moment of heat inspired insanity, yesterday I went out for a roll around the neighborhood and decided to go down to Pier 6. It was my mission to check out whether any improvement had been made in the pedestrian crosswalk situation since it had been reported on BHB that DOT was aware of the problem and working on a solution. Continue Reading →

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Brooklyn Bridge Park Access Denied

By TK Small on June 16, 2010 4:48 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Fun, Government, Lame Excuses, Legal

Barriers to Pier 1

By all estimation, Tuesday afternoon June 15, was one of those uniquely beautiful days which should be spent outside, walking/rolling around Brooklyn Heights. Since I had not been down to Pier 1 Park recently, that was my destination after conducting some errands. However, you cannot fully appreciate my rage when I discovered that it is practically impossible for a person in a wheelchair to now get into Pier 1, without making a very dangerous trip along Furman Street in heavy traffic. This is completely unacceptable.

Continue Reading →

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Another Bureaucratic Turf War Keeps DUMBO Park Locked Up

By Claude Scales on May 13, 2010 8:06 am in DUMBO, Government, Lame Excuses, News

BHB photo by C. Scales

We earlier reported how obstinate state officials appeared to have delayed the opening of the Pier 1 portion of Brooklyn Bridge Park in a battle over who could claim credit for it. Now, it appears, the heavy hand of Albany may be delaying work on the Empire-Fulton Ferry section of the Park, between the foot of Main Street and the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO.

New York Daily News: Bureaucratic squabbling is holding up construction at a shuttered DUMBO waterfront park, the Daily News has learned. Continue Reading →

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Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1′s Red Hot Steel Domes Covered Up

By Homer Fink on April 7, 2010 2:58 pm in Government, Kids, Lame Excuses

Brooklyn Bridge Park officials placed tents over steel domes in Pier 1′s playground because they become red hot in midday sun. The NY Daily News ran a story today saying children were crying out in pain after touching the shiny objects.

Raw video from WPIX-TV after the jump. Continue Reading →

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Sledding at Hillside Dog Park Gives Us Perfect Opportunity to Write a Kids Vs. Dogs Story

By Homer Fink on March 1, 2010 10:43 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Kids, Lame Excuses, Pets

Sure January and February may have been slow news months and the only headlines we had going for us were weather related. Nope, Jan/Feb didn’t yield a new Slappaccino Dad story or a rhubarb over parking. Ah, but wonderful March has already bestowed this wonderful sure-to-be-discussed-forever tidbit from the New York Times (an electronic newspaper now run by college interns) via Pardon Me For Asking upon us: Continue Reading →

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Park Progress, or Regress? Pier 1 Opening Pushed Back to Spring

By Claude Scales on February 8, 2010 3:07 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Government, Lame Excuses

BHB photo by C. Scales

Originally scheduled to open in December, then delayed to January, the Pier 1 portion of Brooklyn Bridge Park (see photo above), though evidently good to go, will not welcome the public until, according to the latest promise, sometime this spring.

The Brooklyn Paper: The long-awaited first permanent section of Brooklyn Bridge Park has been delayed — again! — and will now open “in the spring,” Borough President Markowitz revealed in his “State of the Borough” address on Wednesday night.

The waterfront development’s Pier 1 recreation area at the foot of Old Fulton Street — the fruit of decades of planning and controversy — was originally scheduled to open in late 2009, but was pushed back until January.

According to the report, no one has given an explanation for the delay.

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“They Take Care Of Us, So We Take Care Of Them”

By Peter Kaufman on January 17, 2010 5:39 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Lame Excuses, Transportation

Pierrepont Street

“They take care of us, so we take care of them.”That’s what Officer Reynoso, the very polite (and forthright) policeman from the 84^th Precinct told me last night, when I asked him why he was writing a ticket for the car on the left, but not for the one on the right.

He said no cop will write a parking ticket on a car with an MD plate, as “someday they may need to take care of us”.

“So you think that if you write them a ticket, they won’t save you if you get shot?”, I asked. Continue Reading →

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