Looks like the scaffolding surrounding 60 Henry Street, aka "Corner of Cranberry", finally FINALLY is being taken down. Trying to track down details now. If you have any info on this, post a comment or send us an email. Thanks to "Christina" and "Jenni" for alerting us to this.
The scaffolding had been around forever, and had become an eyesore. Think this will improve the businesses situated there? Or does the curse transcend construction woes?
Photo by christinabean via Flickr
The elm tree on Hicks Street will live another day… for now. Brownstoner reports that the 145 Hicks (Mansion House) coop board meeting last night was held in the basement to avoid the general public from attending. "Tensions ran high" according to reports but the coop board did agree to further investigate tree-saving options while not rescinding its vote to chop. Mansion House attorneys were also reportedly on hand to discuss the legal issues surrounding saving the American elm.
The Brooklyn Eagle reports on the reaction of Joralemon Street residents to the sudden flood of folks using their street to access the Floating Pool Lady. The article claims the source of anguish is the fact that many of the poolitizens who walk by are "half-naked". We wonder if that's only "half" the story. What do you think?
Brooklyn Eagle: Scantily Clad Swimmers: “The problem I have is that I don’t want to look at men naked from the waist up, with boobs as big as mine,” said Doris Walton, a 40-year resident of Joralemon. She said, while the pool is a very good idea and is a great attraction for children and their parents, she’s upset with the slew of people who use her block as a main pathway to the pool…
Shortly after the pool opened a few weeks ago, a young lady wearing only her bikini, apparently en route to the pool, spread her blanket on Joralemon Street near Garden Place, where she said she was waiting for a friend. A long-time resident of Garden Place walking by told the woman to “please confine your sunbathing to Brooklyn Bridge Park,” and continued in a huff.
Interesting quote from Judy Stanton in today's NY Daily News story about the new Ricky's on Montague Street:
NY Daily News: New Beauty Shop…: The glitter and glitz of Ricky's cosmetics stores are coming to quaint Montague St., producing mixed reactions from residents.
The Ricky's chain, which sells cosmetics, hair dye, wigs, bachelorette party fare and has a killer Halloween costume collection, is slated to open its first outlet in Brooklyn around Sept. 1.
"We are very excited to be in Brooklyn Heights, we can't wait," said Dominick Costello, president of Ricky's, adding that the company is also looking into opening branches in nabes such as Park Slope in the near future. The chain already has branches in Manhattan, East Hampton and South Beach, Fla.
"Usually, where there is a good demographic, there is money to be spent," he said of the somewhat strange location choice. "You want to open in areas where people aren't just going to window shop."
Costello also told parents not to fret about the bachelorette party section – where gag gifts and some sex toys can raise eyebrows.
"It is in a back room hidden away," he said. "And we will only carry a limited amount of this stuff here. We know how to be responsible, and do not take the concern lightly."
Judy Stanton, of the Brooklyn Heights Association, hopes Costello is right.
"As long as they keep their promises that children will not be allowed in that area unless accompanied by an adult, then it is fine," said the mother of two.
Homer Fink, publisher of Brooklyn Heights Blog, is excited to announce that the folks at Magnetic Field (97 Atlantic Avenue) will be playing host to the BHB First Anniversary Party on August 8.
"It's a great date for me as I'd be there anyway for the Dick Swizzle Sudden Death Game Show at 8pm," Fink says.
In addition to the Swizzle show, Fink will take to the "ones and twos" at 7pm and 10pm playing everything from "The Shangri-Las to Art Brut".
(click on picture for larger flyer)
When we were looking for a place in Brooklyn Heights, it became a running gag that everyone who was selling was moving to Montclair. What was the big deal about Montclair? Heck, it's in New Jersey!
Today's New York Times has a story about the fight for a public middle school in the nabe so that parents don't feel like they need to get outta town once their kids are done with P.S. 8:
New York Times: Wanted a School of Their Own: For a long time, Public School 8 in Brooklyn Heights was so troubled, it served as a sort of benchmark for local parents: If your child was old enough to attend, it was probably time to move out of the neighborhood.
Then, starting in 2003, a new principal and a new team of teachers, along with parents and community groups, pursued a spirited revival by investing their energy and, in the case of many parents, their children. The school’s resurgence is credited with both bringing families to the neighborhood and keeping them there. The enterprise has yielded a happy crop of local residents, bound by the shared experience.
But even success stories can bring complications.
“We’ve now reached the point where the students that sort of gambled a little bit on going to P.S. 8 are aging out of that school and would like to stay in a district middle school, but there isn’t one in the area,” said Robert Perris, district manager of the local community board.
The coop board of 145 Hicks Street (Mansion House) will hold an open meeting tonight to share with residents its plan to cut down the 80 year old American elm tree in the building's courtyard. (Note: The meeting is not open to the public. It's an open board meeting for MH residents.)
The discourse over the board's vote last week to chop down the tree has been lively to say the least. Comments on BHB have exemplified the passion on both sides of the issue:
Andrea: First, we are extremely lucky to have an American Elm tree this old and this large still alive. There have been millions upon millions of American Elm trees cut down due to Dutch Elm Disease. So this tree has survived that and other circumstances that would effect this tree. Plus, trees give us so much in return from clean air, shade, creating a wonderful haven for wildlife, saving energy, keeping buildings cool and more.
Satterfield: …if these people have leaks in their basement and they are in the foundation – any home owner can tell you – that’s a big deal! And any idiot that tells you that you can waterproff from the inside is fooling himself. If they can’t cure the leaks because the tree is in the way, and the tree has moved electrical conduits – I think that there is a lot left unsaid here.
eak: Engineering studies completed for the Mansion House portico project indicate that the tree’s roots do not threaten the building. A landscape architect consulted on the matter notes that Elms do not have invasive water-seeking root systems, like red maples and other trees have, so it is not a threat to our foundation. Since the tree is so old and mature, any damage from it would have occurred by now.
member: The misinformation in this blog and the Brooklyn Paper is mindboggling. The board has spend the better part of this past year obtaining expert opinions on how to save the tree and waterproof the leaking foundation wall next to the tree. We have been told by several experts that waterproofing must be done from the outside. We have also been told by the tree experts that we cannot dig near the tree or its roots lest we risk damaging the tree. Therein lies the problem. We would happily reroute the electrical conduit it that would solve the problem, but it does not.
Resident: If it were just about saving a tree vs. movig a ConEd feed, I think it would be a 7-0 vote to save the tree. However, there are other issues. First of all, they can’t do the necessary waterproofing to stop a leak into the building due to the tree. But an even bigger issue is the continuing growth of the tree. As an engineer, I can tell you that the tree will continue to cause problems, eventually irreperably damaging the structural foundation of the building. Lastly there is a liability issue. With the direction in which the tree has grown and will continue to grow the large leaning branches WILL eventually break and hit something. Hopefully it would just be a car, but it could just as easily be a person and that’s a risk the board isn’t willing to take. As a resident of Mansion HOuse, although a relatively new resident, I’ll be sad to see the tree go, but I don’t think the board had a whole lot of choice.
We welcome comments from both sides of the issue, especially from Mansion House residents. If you are planning on attending the meeting tonight, please post any new developments here.
New York Times: Robert De Niro has his own film festival. Why shouldn’t Paul Giamatti? After all, it’s been 15 years since Mr. De Niro was nominated for an Oscar; Mr. Giamatti made it to the big dance just last year (with a supporting actor nomination for “Cinderella Man”). The Brooklyn Academy of Music agrees: Beginning Wednesday it presents “PAUL GIAMATTI SELECTS,” an eight-movie series, stretching over six weeks, chosen by Mr. Giamatti, the actor’s actor and Brooklyn Heights resident. In keeping with the smart but less-than-sunny characters he is known for playing, these films share an — anxious? clammy? all right, paranoid — outlook and a tendency toward the darkest of dark comedy.
This week’s selections are the necktie-murder-and-mistaken-identity shocker “Frenzy” (1972), Alfred Hitchcock’s penultimate film, on Wednesday, and the sainted nuclear-war satire “Dr. Strangelove” (1964) on Thursday. Later films in the series are less familiar: the Robert Altman oddity “Brewster McCloud” (1970) on Aug. 27, the film-noir newspaper mystery “The Big Clock” (1948) on Aug. 28 and the atmospheric Mark Robson thriller “The Seventh Victim” (1943), starring Kim Hunter and produced by Val Lewton, on Sept. 4. Best of all: on Sept. 10, the seldom-seen 1978 “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Philip Kaufman’s terrifically witty and scary farewell to the American counterculture. To put it in terms Mr. Giamatti’s best-known creation, the tortured oenophile Miles Raymond, would understand: If that were a wine, it would be 100 percent pinot noir.
For more information check the BAM Website
The controversy surrounding the removal of the huge century old American elm tree at 145 Hicks Street continues with the Brooklyn Paper shedding some light on the coop board's decision:
It’s the latest salvo in an ongoing battle that appeared to reach its climax on July 18, when the co-op board at Mansion House, at 145 Hicks St., voted 5–2 (in private) to cut down the tree rather than spend $8,000 to reroute electrical pipes that were caught in the path of the tree’s extensive root system.
On Monday, the board will hold an open meeting to discuss its ruling, and residents expect it to get ugly. One shareholder said five or six residents have already agreed to chain themselves to the tree to prevent its removal. “I’m not sure [the board would] like to see that,” the shareholder said. “Especially when the New York Times … shows up.”
The coop board (only 7 people in a building that large… are we missing something?) seems to be very direct in its desire to save some money by choosing to cut down the tree rather than reroute electric pipes. However, the B'Paper reports that the cost of the building's current renovations are running off the rails of the Crazy Train going from a proposed $150k to recent estimates of $400k. So this is really a budgetary CYA maneuver on the part of the 145 Hicks board. The $8k to save the tree is literally the last straw in a bigger financial calamity.
While there seems to be very strong opposition to the tree chopping within the coop itself, it's clear that Brooklyn Heights residents at large feel that this elm is part of our neighborhood's overall character. And in a landmark district, shouldn't it be necessary for decisions like this to be vetted via Landmarks?
And therein lies the point — is this any of our business? Is this a private matter between a coop, its board and nature? 145 Hicks coop board member/tree choppin' supporter Phyllis Dicker thinks so, telling the paper that this is “a private matter between the board members and the shareholders.”
What do you think?
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