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!

(Photo: Chuck Taylor)

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.

State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D–Brooklyn Heights), declared, “The New York City firework show should be city-wide. Right now, New Jersey gets to enjoy the fireworks while Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are left out of the party. That is simply unacceptable.”

As The Brooklyn Paper reports, “Brooklynites can’t fathom why a borough with a booming waterfront that could boast perfect views of rockets red glare from Red Hook to Greenpoint—not to mention acres of new parkland ideal for fireworks-gazing at Brooklyn Bridge Park—keeps seeing its July 4 dreams go up in smoke.”

Doreen Gallow, executive director of the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, added, “It is long overdue that the Fourth of July fireworks return home to the Brooklyn Bridge, an iconic setting that typifies the spirit of July 4 and represents the unity of NYC.”

Macy’s response is the same as last year: It says the current location isn’t set in stone. “Exclusively limiting the show to any particular area would greatly hinder the creative freedom that has made it the nation’s best and largest Independence Day display,” said spokesman Orlando Veras. “Macy’s Fireworks will continue to take place in and around all of New York City’s waterways, and will not be a permanent fixture in any one location.”

Boom… hiss…

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 Cranberry Street, between Willow and Columbia Heights.

The descriptor: “At the conclusion of the Battle of Brooklyn, as British troops encircled the Continental Army’s encampments on the Heights, Washington and his men beat a daring retreat across the East River back to Manhattan, marking the last time anyone willingly vacated real estate in this neighborhood.”

Hmmm, if that’s the best they got, perhaps Brooklyn Heights was spared, not overlooked.

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 and left the SUV lodged across the median. At least a half dozen fire engines responded, as the driver remained inside the car, unscathed, albeit perhaps in need of remedial driver training.

When BHB questioned a Fire Department crew member about what had gone down at the scene, adding, “Are you kidding me?” the officer’s response was, “You’re seeing the same thing we are,” accompanied by a dedicated smirk. That would be about the same time the word “nitwit” appeared in your reporter’s mind’s eye… recognizing that utilizing such language on the Brooklyn Heights Blog might be deemed editorializing… albeit the god’s honest truth, yes?

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.

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.

“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.”

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? What happened to the spirit of conservation, particularly in Brooklyn Heights, where that feeling was once so infectious it brought Robert Moses to his knees? I can see the Willow Street Dawn Redwood from the window of my apartment, and its towering, lush presence is a quiet sign that maybe the country isn’t so far away after all. That, and the chickens that crow each morning, are subtle reminders that nature and city life need not be mutually exclusive.

What do you think about the downed tree? Should the public have had a say before the Dawn Redwood was chopped? Is this a sign of things to come?

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. 

As I got to Atlantic Avenue, near the on-ramp, a taxi was barreling down – blasting his horn.  In the midst of this confusion, a man was running across the street/on-ramp carrying a small child.  This is almost exactly the scenario that causes my concern. 

While there is clearly a new sign, not one driver followed the new instructions and all operated their vehicles with the old sign in mind.  In the 15-20 minutes that I sat there making my surveillance, easily 50 tickets could have been issued.

In the distance I could see a police car and I headed in that direction.  I reported to the police officer that there was a new sign and what was going on.  Other than, “I will let the guys know” I did not get much of a response.  So, in addition to the dangerous condition we got to pay for a sign that is completely ignored and not enforced.

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.

In my new capacity as a member of Community Board 2, I am reluctant to promote the opinion that people with disabilities are always complaining. I would like to think that as a concerned resident of Brooklyn Heights, I should not have to “ghetto-ize” myself into the de facto leader of the disability community, only being begrudgingly listened to in matters concerning accessibility. But for the time being, I’m going to embrace my new position as “disabled complainer” and make some observations.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation have dramatically failed in preparing an adequate plan for getting people to/from the park. At both Pier 1 & Pier 6 there is a serious accident waiting to happen. Having people cross a busy on-ramp to a major highway or walk in the street while construction is occurring, is simply a bad idea. A number of my friends have been injured (corner of Clinton & Montague) or killed by being hit by automobiles. Consequently, I pay very careful attention to pedestrian safety considerations. Is it too much to ask that foreseeable problems related to pedestrian safety be addressed by the Conservancy and Development Corporation?

In terms of the features within Brooklyn Bridge Park, it does not appear that much thought was given to ensuring that all people could enjoy Brooklyn Bridge Park. In the Design profession, there is a concept called “Universal Design” which strives to create products, buildings and public spaces which are usable by everyone. The team that has been working on this facility seems to be unfamiliar with this concept. Additionally, this idea of Universal Design is important, because as the population ages, there are more people with varying disabilities every day.

Although there are a few features that are obviously accessible, (accessible port-a-san and some parking spaces), accessibility is not all that important. For instance, the crushed rock surface material at Pier 6 is a problem for many people with a variety of mobility impairments and, might even be illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Likewise, from my limited investigation, I did not see any playground equipment that kids with disabilities might use. Another simple example of the failure to incorporate principles of Universal Design is with the telescopes found at Pier 1 which are inaccessible.

In the 1989 film “Field of Dreams”, Kevin Costner made his cliché statement “If you build it, they will come”. Logically, the opposite of that statement is that if something is not constructed, people will not come. If accessibility is not more visibly included in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklynites with disabilities will not come and not have the same opportunity to enjoy this world-class public space, which has been under consideration for more than two decades. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation needs to do a much better job of proactively creating a public space that all people can use and enjoy.

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.

Empire Fulton Ferry Park closed down at the beginning of the year for a $3.5 million reconstruction project, but no work has been done since then.

A standoff between state and city officials is to blame for the delay, sources said.

According to the Daily News article, the heavy in this story appears to be State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who has refused to allow the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation to proceed with construction work because of a technicality involving contract wording.

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.
 

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:

NYT Cityroom: This delicate dance can be a joy to watch, but it becomes infinitely more complicated when a wild card — in the form of a frisky-in-the-snow dog — is thrown into the mix. Such was the case at the Hillside Dog Park in Brooklyn Heights on Friday, according to one reader of Pardon Me For Asking, as sledders took to the slope inside of the run. The reader, and puppy owner,took umbrage at being chastised by parents for the puppy’s behavior:

… We brought our 5-month-old puppy to Hillside Dog Run in Brooklyn Heights, which was covered in snow. As usual dozens of parents show up with dozens of kids to sled down the hill inside the dog run. My very well behaved, if not excitable, puppy, got enthused by the action and at one point, playfully nipped at a kids arm. To which the obnoxious parent tells me that my dog should be trained to not bite children!!! And of course, explaining to this person that his child is SLEDDING IN A DOG RUN, so he should maybe expect that to happen some times, because dogs are trained while on leads, NOT WHILE RUNNING OFF-LEASH IN A DOG RUN WHERE YOU’RE LITTLE BRAT SHOULDN’T BE SLEDDING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

This advice was seconded by a Yelp reviewer of the dog park, Robin G., who gave the park five out of five stars (!) but also cautioned, “I would be slightly careful with a kid in the dog park, since there are wild rumpus moments where a kid could get knocked over by some enthusiastic mutt.”

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.

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.

“You never know”, he said.

I said, “But aren’t you supposed to write them a ticket?”

He replied, “Look, I know some people such as yourself may not be happy with this. So you should contact someone like the Civilian Complaint Review Board.”

“I’d rather just see everyone treated equally. We both know he shouldn’t be parked here. I can’t convince you to write this guy a ticket?”

He said, “If I do, he’ll call the precinct, and I’ll get in trouble.”

“So this guy will raise a beef if you ticket him?”

“Yes”, and he again referred me to the CCRB.

So that probably explains this Mercedes-driving doc doesn’t even bother with a placard:

The good news is that since the publication of “Dashboard Divas” in the New Yorker, and my posting the pictures of the car with the bogus Amtrak surgeon placard, at least that car has not been parked for a single night on Pierrepont Street. To the owner: you’re not banished – just park like the rest of us.

“I am not the law, but I represent justice as far as my feeble powers go.” – Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Three Gables

Brooklyn Heights based blog Ink Lake is irked about parishioners of the First Presbyterian Church blocking the Henry Street bike lane every Sunday.  He claims that church brass told him that they have an “understanding” with the 84th Precinct:

Ink Lake: Every Sunday, the members of the First Presbyterian Church park their cars for several hours down the length of Henry, between Clark and Love Lane. You would think that would be a lot of revenue for the city, right?

Wrong.

Apparently, they have some ‘understanding’ with the 84th Precinct, whereby if they put a sign in their window that they are attending church, they don’t get ticketed. Last year, I traded some e-mails with the interim pastor, to no avail, and in June I raised the issue at the community precinct meeting. The captain agreed that praying to God in a specific building on Sundays does not confer special parking privileges, and he would ‘talk to them’. Well, you can see the results.

Calls to 311 produce nothing either, and meanwhile, cyclists on this busy stretch of street are forced to share their lane with cars.

The video is from this past Sunday, when more than 20 cars blocked the lane. I shot it a few minutes after services had ended, so there were actually a couple of empty spots.

Your intrepid correspondent is in the wilds of Maine for a few days, and will not be able to take his usual “park progress” photos this Friday, but will take them on his return next Tuesday morning. We thank you for your patience.

Update: Newman & Redford vs. the O’Neals & Madeline Kahn, and more. No sooner had I posted my apology above than the ever-helpful Nancy Webster, of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, supplied me with material for a post.

First, the ever-popular, and free, Movies With A View series suffered two rain cancellations during this soggy summer; however, only one rain date is scheduled: Thursday, September 3, with DJs starting at 6:00 P.M. and the movie commencing at sundown. BBPC needs to know which of the two rained-out flicks, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Paper Moon, you would prefer to see on the rain date. You can vote by going to BBPC’s website. Update-update: Movies With A View provides inspiration for this week’s New Yorker cover (scroll down to see).

Other future Park evnts are listed after the jump:

International Coastal Cleanup Day, Saturday, September 19, 3-5 P.M.

During the 24th Annual International Coastal Cleanup Day, hosted in collaboration with the American Littoral Society, volunteers around the world join together to clean their countries’ shorelines.

Help us remove trash and debris from the rocks and beach of Brooklyn Bridge Park. We will tally and record all the trash we collect for inclusion in an international report, helping us to understand the impact of trash on our precious waterways.

Please e-mail rsvp@bbpc.net to let us know you’re coming!

National Estuaries Day, Saturday, September 26, 9:00-11:30 A.M.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, with experts from the Coastal Marine Resource Center, will begin the day’s program with a special seining session from 9:00am to 10:00am. We will use a 30-foot seining net to catch fish and other remarkable species. Families and kids can take a good look at the fish before we release them back to their homes and keep a tally of our catch. We provide field guides, identification keys, and plenty of fun to go around. Previous catches have included flounder, striped bass, Atlantic tomcod, bay anchovy, green crabs, blue crabs, shrimp, comb jellies, silversides, pipefish, and even a seahorse.

The fun continues with a Rove the Cove adventure! Go on a guided tour of the Cove at Brooklyn Bridge Park from 10:30am to 11:30am, and investigate the health of the estuary with hands-on experiments. Rovers will get free t-shirts and copies of The Cove Guide to learn about and celebrate the Hudson River estuary.

All ages welcome, children must be accompanied by an adult. FREE, but space is limited. To reserve a space, please email rsvp@bbpc.net. Please include your contact info (email and phone number), the name(s) and age(s) of your child(ren), and your zip code.

It’s My Park! Day, Saturday, October 17, 1:30-3:30 P.M.

Participants will join volunteers working throughout the city in their local parks on It’s My Park! Day to enhance and beautify New York. Experts from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the Coastal Marine Resource Center will use a 30-foot seining net to catch, identify and discuss an amazing array of creatures that live in the East River before releasing them back to their homes. The group will then all work together to clear the shoreline of trash and debris.

All ages welcome, children must be accompanied by an adult. To reserve a space, please email rsvp@bbpc.net and include your contact info (email and phone number), the name(s) and age(s) of your child(ren), and your zip code. FREE!

All of these events take place in the section of Brooklyn Bridge Park located at the foot of Main Street in DUMBO, except for Movies With A View, which is on the lawn of the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park section, just to the south of the Main Street section (near the foot of Dock Street). For further information, see the BBPC website.