New York City’s newest historic district is in Crown Heights. Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to create the Crown Heights North Historic District, which is Brooklyn’s 17th. The Commission’s press release called the decision “the cornerstone for establishing similar districts in the neighborhood.” The new district runs along Pacific Street to the north, […]

[Read more →]

Park Slope, Brooklyn

[Read more →]

Part of McCarren Park Mews–AKA the Roebling Oil Field–is about to hit the three-story mark. The oil underneath that part of the building is but a hidden memory now, although there are test wells in the street out front to keep the reality of the oil field alive. However, the western end of the site […]

[Read more →]

We don’t mean to fixate on micro issues like block-by-block construction issues, but the way that a development can come along and do violence to quality of life for its neighbors is fascinating in a car crash sort of way. These days, when we run into someone that we know lives near a construction site […]

[Read more →]

There was a meeting between community members and the Commissioner of City Corrections at Boro Hall yesterday to discuss details of the reopening and doubling in size of the Brooklyn Detention Center at Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street. Apparently, details will be released publicly next week. The writer of the email says: The DOC has […]

[Read more →]

If you remember the Koolman conflagration, then you know why this photo is such a hopeful thing. We caught Koolman tooling down Metropolitan Avenue and were cheered that some of the ice cream trucks survived the inferno or were repaired and are back on the road. Keep that ice cream coming in North Brooklyn, Koolman.

[Read more →]

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. Transportation: Congestion Pricing Announced: Backlash Continues [AYR] Stars are Aligned for Congestion Pricing [Sun] Congestion Pricing is Good for Brooklyn [Bay Ridge Blog] Advocates Rally to Support Congestion Pricing Plan [Metro] Debate Starts on 2030 Plan [amNY] Council Overrides Pedicab Veto [Streets Blog] Not Transportation: […]

[Read more →]

What is interesting about Urban Green on N. 6th Street isn’t the advertising pitch, but the fact you can now go swimming in the huge open pit that one can reach through the large opening that is consistently left in the fence. We note that the site has a Porta-Potty in case you really need […]

[Read more →]

Coney Island, Brooklyn

[Read more →]

The Landmarks Preservation Committee will be voting today on landmarking part of the historic Crown Heights neighborhood, the first step in a process of creating a larger Historic District to protect the neighborhood. The New York Times reports: …in a meeting this morning, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is expected to designate a long swath […]

[Read more →]

[Photo courtesy of Jonathan Barkey/Pbase] A crowd estimated by organizer at 100 gathered for an 8AM demonstration on Flatbush Avenue this morning to protest the start of demolition by Forest City Ratner within the Atlantic Yards footprint. On Friday, a judge declined to issue a Temporary Restraining Order before a challenge to the Atlantic Yards […]

[Read more →]

As we reported yesterday, we found Dianna Carlin, aka Lola Staar, in her boardwalk shop on Saturday, happily selling her merchandise on her first day back in business. “Being evicted is the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said, explaining that she had gotten her store back for another season while retaining the […]

[Read more →]

The massive Coney Island fence created by Thor Equities and developer Joe Sitt totals more than three blocks of street frontage, including a long chute-like area on Stillwell Avenue that could become a magnet for crime during the 2007 season unless ways are found to enliven the now-dead streetscape. Mr. Sitt’s Humongous Plywood Fence is […]

[Read more →]

Last time we checked on the quality of postal service in Boreum Hill, there were problems. Apparently, nothing has improved in the interim, according to this email we saw, especially if you like reading your New Yorker: I know there have been lots of discussions on these lists about bad post office service. I am […]

[Read more →]

Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. Trying to Put 15th Street’s Humpty Dumpty Bldg Back Together Again [IMBY] Demolition at E. 5th and Greenwood [Kensington Brooklyn] Were It Not for Prospect Park I’d Have Left Brooklyn [Brooklyn Masala] Prospect Park Parrot [Dope on the Slope] Yeshiva to Evict Elderly and Disabled in […]

[Read more →]

There was another meeting last week about the future of the so-called Public Place site in Gowanus, the highly toxic parcel between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal. It was once the site of a former Manufactured Gas Plant and is one of the more toxic parcels in Brooklyn, with contamination reaching as deep as […]

[Read more →]

[Graphic courtesy of the New York Post] The Mayor’s 2030 Plan [nyc.gov] Bloomberg Draws Blueprint for a Greener City [NYT] Mayor’s Vision of Green Apple [NYP] Bloomberg: If We Don’t Act Now, When? [Sun] Mayor’s Plan: Growth is Green [Sun] Congestion Pricing [NYP] Power Plans [NYP] Using Mussels to Improve Water Quality [NYP] The Silence […]

[Read more →]

Montrose Avenue, Bushwick

[Read more →]

Looks like advocates of the Department of Transportation plan to improve the safety of Ninth Street in Park Slope by creating left turn lanes and bike lanes have won a victory despite some neighborhood objections. The Park Slope Courier reports that it was told the plan is a go: Despite reservations expressed by the community […]

[Read more →]

We will let the picture speak for itself. The space between N. 4th and N. 5th Street at 237 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg that was previously noted as the site of a new restaurant is, in fact, going to be La Nonna, a pizzeria, paninoteca and trattoria. How did we know? Keen powers of observation.

[Read more →]

Havemeyer Street, Williamsburg

[Read more →]

Lola Staar is back on the Coney Island Boardwalk in her old space. You might remember that she became the most prominent victim of developer Joe Sitt’s Coney Island evictions and demolitions and subsequently led a “Save Coney Island” demonstration on the steps of City Hall. Dianna Carlin (AKA Lola) told us that Mr. Sitt […]

[Read more →]

The Atlantic Yards demolitions are on and so is the protest against them. Last week’s protest against Forest City Ratner’s demolition of buildings in the Altantic Yards footprint had been called off pending a judge’s ruling on Friday. Well, Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden refused to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that […]

[Read more →]

Sunday means another visit to the land of heartbreak and comedy knowns as Craigslist Missed Connections. This week, we turn to a little situation on the L Train. How did you know what stop I was getting off at? – m4w – 36 L Train to Brooklyn around 6 pm. So tonight I was kind […]

[Read more →]

Here are a few selections of Coney Island-related vids recently posted the YouTube. Watch ’em on the handy player below or click on this link to the get to the playlist. Enjoy.

[Read more →]