Baby Fink and I were there earlier today, stocked up on our favorite Ella’s Kitchen baby food (hey, great for grownups too if the Endtimes come) and bought two loaves of bread. We may have also tried to dissuade folks from buying candles in lieu flashlights as a backup for blackout. You know, so first responders aren’t rushing to a fire some Glade candle caused. Just sayin’. And Chuck, sorry about the bread…

Smoking Nun: I stopped in figuring I’d make a big pot of chili to enjoy for the next couple days, easy enough to reheat on the gas stove in case there’s no power.

As I walked the aisles, there was not a single loaf of bread nor a carton of eggs to be found. No ground beef (so I bought turkey; healthier anyway). Every single checkout line was open—a first at the Key—while there was a staffer directing folks through the express line, which must have been 25 deep, as if I was shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Good lord, almighty, last winter a blizzard passed through New York, dumping a foot of snow along with 40 mph winds. Public transportation wasn’t fazed, life continued to move forward and New Yorkers acted like… New Yorkers, without so much as a blink.

Reader Kylie sends us this photo of what appears to be Sad Panda suspended from a tree limb on Cadman Plaza West, near the High Street A/C subway entrance, taken this morning at around 7:00. Does anyone know anything about this?

Update: BHB tipster “REDACTED” sent us us a photo from another angle.  See it after the jump.

We didn’t need the BHB Decibel Meter to notice that  on July 23rd, the audio at  the The Big Lebowski screening  was very low in comparison to that of  Monsters vs Aliens the week before.  The high volume  of that event  rattled windows and nerves in the North Heights and many residents complained.   That prompted the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy to issue a statement  promising to manage the volume of the screenings at  Pier  1.   So far, so good. Kudos to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for keeping their word to manage the noise.

This Thursday’s (8/5)movie  is Brokeback Mountain.

McBrooklyn photo

McBrooklyn reports on a Smart Car parking dust up Monday in front of the Brooklyn Heights Cinema.  The lil “critters” were parked in front of the theater as part of a promotion around the Brooklyn Film Festival happening there this week.  Mickey B picks it up from there:

The idea was to show how the critters were so little you could park them sideways. But the Smart Car people ran into a little friction from local cops who saw . . .  cars parked sideways.

But officers! They don’t stick out any further than your average SUV! Who cares what way they’re pointed?

A discussion was held and points were made. Finally the police said they’d look the other way this time, but their commanding officers would take a dim view of the sideways parking.

The cars remained where they were till 11:30 p.m. Then off they drove, over to Williamsburg for the rest of the weekend, for the Kent Ave. film festival screenings.

Brooklyn Heights-DUMBO Brahmin/ Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition board member/ former Fulton Ferry Landing Association president Gary van der Putten is quoted in the report saying, ““I have lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and I have never objected to any new restaurant or establishment … But what happens is that these kinds of places get cabaret licenses then, all of a sudden, they deteriorate into clubs.”

In a blog post prior to the CB2 meeting, the FFLA reports that “over this last weekend, local Fulton Ferry residents complained about booming vibrations and shouting in the street from what appeared to be two all-night events at One Front.”

One Front owner Marcelo Pevida claimed that dancing [for the community!] would only be offered on the second floor of the venue while the first would remain dedicated to dining. Upon hearing that one DUMBO resident in attendance shouted “we don’t want to dance!”

Chopper noise is so bad now, Calet tells the paper that “[w]e can no longer sit on our balcony because even nose-to-nose conversation is impossible.”

The Brooklyn Heights Association has publicly stated that it wants an outright ban on the helicopter flights.

I live in Livingston at Clinton, and we are right now waiting for a dreadful night of road work, just like the one we had 10 days ago, when the pavement of Livingston was scraped out (by the loudest machines you can imagine) between 9pm and 4am. Yes, that’s 4 in the morning. The guys working the machines said they had the permits, and the police and the people on the phones in 311 seemed to agree. But that Friday, around midnight, two dozen neighbors were on the street on the verge of a riot. We’ll see what happens tonight. (We know it’s tonight because of the “No parking” signs, not because anybody in the city told us anything. Their official explanation is that Livingston –and Schemerchorn, they are doing the same thing to them– are “emergency and heavy traffic” streets, or something like that, so they have to work on them at night. But of course, the first block of both streets (ours) is purely residential and not very busy.

I’ll keep you posted. Last week, despite the hell of the cranes, it was fun to be on the street among our pajama-clad neighbors.

CUTE BUT PROHIBITED: A youngster wheels along the Heights Promenade, which is officially reserved for strolling.

Ouch.  See the photo here.

NEW POLICY NOTIFICATION:$2.50 Weekday Entry Fee
On Monday January 12th we will begin to charge a Weekday $2.50 per child entry fee (Monday – Friday from 9am to 5:30pm). The fee will allow for multiple entries for the whole day. Non-crawling/playing Infants will not be charged if they attend with siblings. We need to do this to help cover the costs of the materials and activities we provide.

In order to make things smoother for families, we will be offering Moxie Spot Value Cards. To reward our frequent customers, any value purchased of $100 or more will result in a 10% discount (i.e. you’ll buy a $100 card for $90). Any value can be put on them (up to $250), so that a caregiver will be more prepared to cover the entry fee.

DUMBONYC photo

Many Brooklyn blogs and media outlets received a dispatch yesterday from a resident at 7 Old Fulton Street, who really, really doesn’t want a new restaurant planned for his building to get a liquor license.  He’s urging residents to go to the CB2 meeting scheduled for Wednesday night at Brooklyn Hospital Center. The full text of the letter after the jump.

I’m writing to let you know about a liquor license hearing that will be taking place next week.

At 7 Old Fulton Street, in DUMBO/Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn, there’s a new restaurant opening at some time in the near future. I live in the same building, so I’ve spoken briefly with the owner of the new restaurant, and he’s told us that it’s going to be a sandwich shop.

The hearing is for a full liquor license to allow them to serve beer, wine, and spirits. I was hoping to let people know about this because I’d imagine locals wouldn’t be too happy about this. I can’t imagine why a little sandwich shop would need a liquor license, and It’s pretty clear that the guy opening this restaurant isn’t much interested in what is good for the neighbourhood. He and his construction crews have been nothing but disruptive to his neighbours, and we’ve had to call 311 countless times to report the unlawful and improper practices going on. It might be different if he were putting in something that people in the area would use, but he’s seemingly just trying to get some business from tourists down by the Fulton Ferry Landing who don’t feel like standing on the Grimaldi’s line.

As a reminder, in the last month, the community board denied a liquor license to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory on Fulton Ferry Landing because they felt it wouldn’t be a great idea to have more alcohol down there with all the tourists and kids everywhere. At present, within a one block radius of 7 Old Fulton Street, there are at least 4 other places with liquor licenses (River Cafe, Pete’s Downtown, Toro Asian, and 5 Front), and I’m not sure about the status of Grimaldi’s.

I represent the residents of this building, and we’d like to let anybody who might be affected by this place getting a liquor license that their liquor license hearing is coming up. Like I said, this guy has been completely indifferent to the needs and concerns of the residents of this building, and I’m pretty convinced that’s how he’ll be with the neighbourhood in general. So we’re going to be opposing his liquor license application, and we wanted to get the word out to anybody else who might be interested in having their voice heard too.

The hearing will take place on Wednesday January 7th, 2009 at 6pm. It is located at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 Dekalb (at Felix), 3rd Floor, Conference Rooms 3A and 3B.

Thanks,

NAME REDACTED BY AUTHOR’S REQUEST, Esq.

The Paping Soapbox Derby, which was scheduled for August 23 here in Brooklyn Heights has been killed.  A cryptic email sent out by organizer John Meijas arrived in the BHB Inbox late last night:

The Paping soapbox derby is no longer with us. Who killed it? The Brooklyn Paper? Jehovah? The city of NYC  film permits department? No, it was me, John Mejias for trying to make good things in this world legit when they should be kept underground.  No one is more sad than I. Sorry and thanks to everyone.   -John Mejias

Over two mildly warm days last month, The News took surface temperature readings at five synthetic fields across the city accompanied by NYC Park Advocates, a group that has been critical of the fake grass.

At all five, temperatures at the synthetic fields soared roughly twice as high as at nearby natural grass ones, from a low of 144 degrees at the Greenbelt Recreation Center on Staten Island to a scorching 162 at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

“It’s sadistic that the city is installing a product which gets so hot and is actually expecting the public to play on it,” said NYC Park Advocates President Geoffrey Croft.

We here at BHB HQ found this out the hard way last year during an impromptu bocce match at Cadman Plaza. We are still waiting for the Daily News’ hard-hitting report on the remarkable bounciness of the new turf.

Of course, the Parks Department are aware of the issues, and are considering installing signs warning visitors:

“The temperatures can get very high during the heat of the day. But people are smart. They are not going to use a place that is uncomfortable to play on,” said Liam Kavanagh, first deputy parks commissioner.

Artificial Turf: Toxic, bouncy, and unusable on nice warm summer days.

Community Board meetings are open to the public, so if you would like to say your peace, or see Democracy In Action, or just got nothin to do, drop in on the fun! Don’t know much about community boards? There’s helpful information at nyc.gov and Gotham Gazette.

Sidebar: the Community Board 2 website is quite lame when compared to Community Board 6 and Community Board 9. Discuss.

Update: According to Brownstoner, CB2 may be pulling a “Jon Crow” — by stopping the issuing of new liquor licenses in certain “over-saturated” areas. One of those areas: Atlantic Avenue near Henry Street. I kid you not:

District Manager Robert Perris told us his board plans to stop issuing new liquor licenses in certain areas where residents feel over-saturated with noisy bars. As a compromise, the board would suggest either a beer and wine license or an early closing time.

Note: Nothing has been decided, and the community board will be discussing the issue at tonight’s meeting. However, having spent a fair amount of time on that stretch of Atlantic Avenue, I have to say the noisiest aspect of that area is the traffic. It’s a major thoroughfare, the bars are all spaced apart, the restaurants aren’t open that late, and the craziest crowds can be found late Saturday or Sunday morning at Floyd when there is a particularly compelling soccer match. Given all the empty storefronts collecting dust instead of rent in that area of Atlantic, does the community board really want to place further restrictions?

Has The War On Fun begun?