[T]hey’ve eliminated two of the potential alternatives which would have involved taking much of DUMBO and portions of Brooklyn Heights around Squibb Hill. The alternatives still on the table include:
– rebuild existing roadway & cantilever, making almost no changes to clearance or lane widths[;]
– a number of tunnel options: under the Heights (a couple of variants), under 4th Avenue, and a couple of options which run under the river (either cutting through DUMBO, right through [the] Dock Street development if I understand the map correctly, then under the park; alternately going under the river much farther north and returning inland around 65th St).

I haven’t been attending the meetings so I kept my questions to one: whether or not the various alternatives which rely on the existing BQE to serve as a collector road include renovation and the cost of renovation of the existing cantilever in the separate estimates, the answer was that they did (so the approximate $4bn for one of the tunnels included $250MM for renovating the cantilever).

The next meeting is expected to be in May. They will return with an analysis of the various options using funding and likelihood of funding as the criteria for making a determination.

We’ll keep you advised of further developments, including the date of the next meeting when determined.

It won’t be news to most BHB readers, but the helicopter noise problem, which we highlighted early last April, and which was apparently at least partially resolved at the end of that month with an agreement to ban tourist helicopters from flying over Brooklyn, is still with us. Citywide media are now noticing.

New York Daily News: Residents said that after a few months of relative peace, some helicopters again started flying over despite the ban. Some of the noise comes from transportation, emergency, or traffic helicopters, which are still allowed, but residents insist they’ve spotted tourist choppers as well.

“The greatly heralded agreement has been disregarded by many pilots,” said Christa Rice, 70, of Brooklyn Heights. “It’s like a giant screw turning over and over. It comes right into your bedroom, your living room. Everywhere you are you hear it.”

The Daily News article also quotes Brooklyn Bridge Park architect Michael Van Valkenburgh as saying the choppers are “ruining the park’s ‘zen-like connection to the openness of the water’”, and State Senator Daniel Squadron as proclaiming that nothing less than “100% compliance” with the April agreement concerning tour choppers is acceptable. In addition, the article notes complaints coming from Red Hook as well as Brooklyn Heights.

On New Years Eve, 1924 he left Flatbush, moving to 169 Clinton St. in Brooklyn Heights. Offering a snapshot of the era as well as his own psyche, Lovecraft despised the “decrepit” neighborhood (more so its immigrant residents) and may have suffered one of several nervous breakdowns in his tiny first-floor apartment on the corner of State and Clinton streets. But his imagination was never so alive: “Something unwholesome — something furtive — something vast lying subterrenely [sic] in obnoxious slumber — that was the soul of 169 Clinton St. at the edge of Red Hook, and in my great northwest corner room “The Horror at Red Hook” was written,” Lovecraft offered in a letter five years later.

As we noted here two years ago, the prior presence of Lovecraft in that apartment had a similar effect on its present day resident. Lovecraft’s description of 169 Clinton, at the corner of State Street, as “at the edge of Red Hook” may seem odd to Heights residents today, but in the 1920s “Red Hook” included all or much of what we know now as Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, as well as what we now call Red Hook. His phantasmagorical view of the place is expressed in “The Horror at Red Hook”, which you can read here.

Cabaret Red Light will present two performances of Seven Deadly Seas, one at 8:00 pm and one at 10:00 pm, on Gazela’s deck each evening Thursday through Sunday (Monday is the rain date). The show is described as “an adult thing” because it includes “a modest burlesque” at the close. Tickets are $25, and may be purchased here.

Gazela was built in Portugal in 1901, and served in that country’s cod fishing fleet until 1969, crossing the Atlantic to fish on the famous Grand Banks. In 1971, philanthropist William Wikoff Smith bought her and brought her to Philadelphia, where she is now maintained by the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild (your correspondent photographed her at her berth at Penn’s Landing four years ago). This is her first visit to New York.

Gazela’s visit is sponsored by PortSide New York, which maintains the historic harbor tanker Mary Whalen at Pier 11. Tomorrow evening, Mary’s deck will be the venue for Jalopy Theater’s Roots & Ruckus Show, featuring Two-Man Gentleman Band, Stephanie Nilles, Mamie Minch and Dayna Kurtz, and Feral Foster. Tickets are $10, and can be purchased here, where you can also get more details about the event (e.g. free lasagna!).

New York Post: After two decades of false starts, the city is finally back on track with plans to build a light-rail or trolley line connecting Brooklyn’s most transit-starved neighborhood with its downtown area.

The city Transportation Department expects to select a consultant within the next two months to study running the mile-long line from the Red Hook waterfront to Atlantic Avenue at the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is in walking distance to several subway and bus lines.

According to the Post article, the study will also consider extending the trolley line along Atlantic Avenue to Borough Hall, with its many subway connections. Bob Diamond’s dream may yet come true.

Update: Brownstoner has a piece on this, with a link to a map showing a proposed rote that has the trolley line starting at Fairway, proceeding up Van Brunt Street, jogging over to Columbia Street and following it up to Atlantic Avenue, where it turns and follows Atlantic to Boerum Place, then goes up Boerum to Joralemon Street, turns left and loops back to Boerum by way of Court and Livingston Streets.

While restoring the previous system in its entirety would be expensive and disruptive, advocates like Diamond think that trolleys could be a boon to neighborhoods like Red Hook that are distant from subway stations.

One might envision a system linking the Borough Hall and Jay Street subway stations, via Court Street and Atlantic Avenue, to the south entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park, and continuing south via Columbia Street to Red Hook, with a branch going northward from Jay Street and Borough Hall along Cadman Plaza to the High Street stop, then continuing down Old Fulton Street to the north entrance to the Park, Fulton Landing and DUMBO.

Similar ideas have been proposed in the recent past, and rejected; however, the concept may be worth reconsidering.

The BID will try to address the vacancy problem by promoting “pop-up stores” for which landlords will extend short-term leases either for a specific event–in this connection she mentioned master pumpkin carver and Heights resident Hugh McMahon, who would like to set up a temporary space before Halloween–or as a trial for a possible longer relationship. The BID will also seek to attract more visitors to Montague by repeating last summer’s “Pedestrian Piazza” experiment, which, Ms. Mauldin said, was successful in attracting more shoppers to the street, at least on sunny days, and also by promoting more cultural events that will get the street attention in the media. In this connection, she listed all of the newspapers, magazines and blogs (including BHB) that had coverage of the knitted cozies on Montague parking meters. She also mentioned plans for a “restaurant stroll.”

State Senator Daniel Squadron was the featured guest speaker at the meeting. He began by describing his own experience as a small business owner: before entering politics he ran a small bar and restaurant near the Columbia University campus that served “the best cheeseburger in New York” (he added that no one could challenge that statement because the place no longer exists). This had taught him the difficulties that small-scale entrepreneurs face in general, and in New York City in particular. He said he believes the state must establish policies to preserve and revitalize “urban retail corridors,” of which Montague Street is an example.

Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, asked him what the state is doing to help small businesses. Sen. Squadron said the State provides partial funding for some City programs that aid small businesses, as well as providing some direct grants. He also mentioned the Empire State Development Small Business Division. In addition, he said, there are continuing efforts to lift unnecessary regulatory burdens and restrictions on small businesses. For example, he said a new law is going into effect that will allow liquor stores to sell some non-alcoholic goods, such as tonic water and maraschino cherries. As an aside, he noted that one third of the maraschino cherries sold in the U.S. come from Red Hook. Tony Bates, owner of Bentley Shoes, complained of the difficulties he had dealing with State bureaucracy. Sen. Squadron said that anyone having such problems should contact Ellen Whelan-Wuest at his Brooklyn office, located in Borough Hall. The phone number is 718-802-3818.

Hmmm…methinks young Mike’s (we hope) temporary state of deprivation may be affecting his writing style.

Velvets and James Brown? Can’t fault his taste in music.

Gothamist: Opening Soon: What was previously storage space has been thoroughly overhauled into a French bistro called La Bouillabaisse, which owner Neil Ganic (Petite Crevette) hopes to have running in time for the June 16th grand opening of IKEA, conveniently located across the street.

Ganic operated the Atlantic Avenue location of La Bouillabaisse with Amanda Green most recently of the Wine Bar at 50 Henry Street.