Usually, our GL Day Enders are sort of routine posts, but this one brings us pleasure because it involves a friend and fellow blogger who does great work, Flatbush Gardener. He will be giving a talk about Community Blogging at the Monday Morning Coffee Talk sponsored by the Historic Districts Council. It’s on Monday, Feb. 2, from 8:30-10:00am at the Neighborhood Preservation Center, which is located at 232 East 11th Street (that’s in Manhattan). Here’s a bit from the email:

Community bloggers are increasingly the voice of local neighborhoods. As larger newspapers focus less and less on the day to day, neighborhood-based blogs have assumed the role of providing updated, detailed accounts of the issues that directly affect built environment and quality of life. With little more than an internet connection and a digital camera, these activist reporters monitor communities with a passion and in the process end up mobilizing their fellow neighbors to
take action and make change. Join Chris Kreussling, otherwise known as the Flatbush Gardener, as he recounts his blogging experiences since launching his site in 2006. Mr. Kreussling’s blog covers a number of local issues in great detail – including the proposed Flatbush rezoning, citywide greenspace concerns, and Brooklyn community gardens – and he’s learned a great deal along the way. From attracting new readers, to launching related email list-serves, to understanding what “Twitter” and other social media sites are all about, February’s talk will tackle the blogging industry head-on and give you the tools for starting your own.

The even is free, but space is limited so reservations are needed. This can be done by contacting Lauren Belfer at (212) 614-9107 or lbelfer@hdc.org.

Toren had a head start and is winning the race, but Avalon Fort Greene, which is across the street is going up at an amazing pace or as a tipster put it “Both of these buildings are going up quick!” Avalon is going up at about two stories per week. Toren, meanwhile, is almost completely glassed over! The Flatbush Avenue extension will never look the same. Check out the pics, they’re pretty cool.–Brownstoner

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

All we can say is Thank God this couch on India Street in Greepoint was wrapped to protect it from the elements the other day.

Trust us and check out a close up of the wrapping. Seriously.

[Click to enlarge image]

We weren’t at last night’s public meeting about Brooklyn Bridge Park, but by all accounts–and there are several–it was not a happy scene. There was shouting. There was finger pointing. There were “I told you so’s.” There was also an admission of the obvious: for now, only Pier One and Pier Six of the vast park will be built and they will be connectect by a path running through what could be a wasteland. Also: revenue generated by One Brookyn Bridge Park can only sustain maintenance through 2012. After that, public money will be needed. The Brooklyn Paper’s Mike McGlaughin offered a rundown of the park’s monstrous $350 milliion cost, a significant portion of which is unfunded:

• So-called “base costs” would gobble up $194.3 million for things like installing utilities, bulkhead repairs, demolition of existing structures from the bygone shipping era, legal fees and architects’ contracts.

• “Core costs” — building the lawns, ball courts and playgrounds — $121.6 million.

• “Unique costs,” like wave attenuators, other landscaping such as sound-proofing berms, and a wetland require about $32.9 million.

Still, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benape called the park “a bargain” compared to many city-built open spaces.As we’ve joked in the past, we’ll be dead and our ashes scattered in the Gowanus Canal before this park is ever finished unless there is a serious cost-cutting effort and a public commitment to maintain the park with public money with serious citizen oversight. (A 32-page presentation of the full mess is available by clicking here—WARNING: PDF.) There is also coverage of the meeting over the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

Click here for our happy GL ANALYSIS

[Photo courtesy of Betty Blade/GL Flickr Pool]

The photographer, whose documentation of Brooklyn in the not-so-distant past we love, writes: “These were painted on the subway wall to celebrate the Bicentennial a few years earlier. Photo 1980. Avenue C and McDonald Aves.”

Athena, a new Mediterranean restaurant, opened at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Fourteenth Street in the South Slope the first week of January. We’ve known about for a while, and early word has been positive, but have been waiting for a chance to wander by and grab a pic before posting about it. Well, we finally did and here it is. There’s a discussion about over on Brooklynian for those into the chit chat about it. The address is 535 Sixth Avenue and you can find their website here.

Here is Arnold Baskin’s 1979 short film: “Brooklyn by the Sea.” Per the dear friend of GL, Jack Szwergold, who brought it to our attention:

This is amazing. Truly amazing. It captures all of the weirdness and magic of Brighton Beach in 1979 just before it became a 100% Russian enclave and was a mix of old Yids and Brooklyn youth. I would have been 11 years old at the time this film was made. Of particular note is one of the greatest street characters in the neighborhood is documented on film!!! Disco Freddy! He’s the one dancing with the radio and red shorts at about :45 seconds in. That’s basically what he did all day. And occasionally he’d do amazing feats. Like put a paper bag down on the boardwalk and do a build up to him jumping over the bag. That was his whole act. And in the film you see him chase kids which was funny and scary. Lord forbid if he saw me on a bike coming near him. He’d stop his “act” and just run like crazy.

And you know what’s also great? Brighton Beach which was never rezoned, never gentrified, which revived itself on its own still carries the same character it had. A lesson to be learned that some parts of Brooklyn will never die.

Really, watch this. It’s an incredible slice of life kind of thing. We’re indebted to Jack for bringing to our attention. Enjoy.

Who needs the big new ice center in Prospect Park? There’s a makeshift one in Thomas Greene Park in Gowanus that doesn’t cost a penny. During the summer this part of the park floods. During the winter, it floods, but it turns into an ice rink. We call the park toxic, by the way, because it’s built on the site of an old Manufactured Gas Plant and there are poisonously toxic substances under it. Of course, the park mainly serves residents of the Gowanus Houses, so cleaning it up may not be Item Number One on the city’s priority list. This summer they were drilling test wells to try to figure out what the hell is down there. Not to worry, though. Everyone insists it’s all underground and no harm to anyone unless its dug up. Eventually the site has to be detoxed by National Grid. We’re figuring all will be well by 2075ish.

[Photo courtesy of K. Lapp/GL Flickr Pool]

Click here to find out.

· City Gets Rest of Willoughby Square Park Properties [Brownstoner]
· City Gets Input on Tillary St Redesign [McBrooklyn]
· Slow Upward Climb at 16 Court [Brownstoner]
· Eh, Who Needs the Carlton St. Bridge Anyway? [AYR]
· Brooklyn Macy’s Elevators Rock [Lost City]
· Neglected President St. Brownstone Being Renovated [PMFA]
· Musings of a Junk Chick [New York Shitty]
· Watch Out for Fucks [Free Williamsburg]

Here’s a photo we shot on Monday of a bike chained to what used to be the entrance of now crispy critters Miss Williamsburg Diner. We thought it was a cool shot. Now, it’s also ironic. Speaking of which, local blogger INSIJS, who shot all the photos of the fire, notes that Rescue Me has been filming across the street.

We firmly believe that developer blight is going to emerge as one of the THE issues of 2009. We’re talking about construction sites that are either abandoned or left to fester for so long that they become ugly, dangerous to the community and a kick in the ass to quality of life. So, we’re starting a new GL Series today called Blight Me, in which we’re going to be featuring properties that in some way royally f*ck up life for their neighbors and neighborhoods. We noticed this one because pedestrians were walking in the middle of the street to avoid the ice built up in front of this site. This is what the inside of 314 12th Street looks like. It’s supposed to be a four-story building with eight units. The project had a stop work order, but that lifted in November. Now, there’s a brand new one, after this complaint: “CLR STE THAT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE IS NEXT TO HIS HM 316 12STREET.. NEXT DOOR THEY ARE DRILLING WHOLE IN THE GROUND AND IT CAUSED A BIG HOLE IN THE BACK AND FRONT OD 316 12 STREET.PLS INVESTIGATE.” They’re allowed to fix the BIG HOLE. The site has drawn a mightily impressive 28 complaints to DOB since work started in 2007. We could say the solution is to levy monstrous fines on the owners of the property, but that’s only going to lead to the next problem we will face: abandonment. In some ways, what we are facing over the next several years in Brooklyn will be every bit as bad as buidings being torched for profit in the 1970s and 1980s and the impact it had neighborhoods where it was going on. Only now, we’re talking about places like Williamsburg and the South Slope rather than Bushwick and East New York.

[Click to enlarge photo]

GL readers know of our love for the former Revere Sugar Dome and factory in Red Hook and our anger that developer Joe Sitt leveled the site, whereas something brilliantly creative could have been done with it by city officials with vision. But we digress. Late last night, Adam Suerte, the co-proprietor of Brooklyn Tattoo© on Smith Street sent us the photo above and an email that said:

I am local tattooer, painter, and co owner or Brooklyn Tattoo© on Smith Street. A few weeks ago I had a client come in, he and his wife had lived in Red Hook for over a decade, they were moving to Puerto Rico, and wanted to bring a piece of what had become home for so long. One of their favorite views down by the water was of the Revere Sugar Refinery (demolished in 2007). So, being a fan of my style, he asked me to do a drawing of the refinery, then tattoo it on him. and so it was. While I was working on him I told him of a time lapse video Gowanus lounge posted of the refinery being dissassembled, we all thought that was pretty cool. Anyway, here’s a picture of the finished product, hopefully he’s keeping it out of the sun over there.

Adam, we have two words for you: You rock. Brooklyn Tattoo is at 99 Smith. We urge someone from Coney Island or Red Hook to have an image of developer Joe Sitt, who demolished Revere and evicted Astroland, to have his face tattooed on their…you know. We’re certain Adam will do it as any true artist would.

[Photo courtesy of me-myself-i/GL Flickr Pool]

This is Astroland as it looked yesterday. What a heartbreaking sight and what an unneccessary thing. We do not have positive feelings about any of the people who collectively allowed this to happen.

[Photo by Kathryn Kirk]

There was a mock “funeral” yesterday for the M & R trains, which face nighmarish cuts. It happened in the Court Street subway station. Given that service on the M & R is already befitting a Stephen King novel, the cuts would turn it into a Wes Craven film. In photo (left to right): Bagpiper John Maynard; BP Markowitz; Michael Burke, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership; State Senator Daniel Squadron; Gene Russianoff, NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign; Paul Nelson, representing Assemblywoman Joan Millman.

[Photo courtesy of K. Lapp/GL Flickr Pool]

The photographer writes: “I think this device measures neighborhood-appropriate real estate development. Found on a fence in Gowanus.”

Crown Heights is being featured on Brooklyn Independent Television’s really cool Neighborhood Beat series. There’sa broadcast tonight at 8:30PM. Per an email:

In this debut episode, guest community producers and editors help Neighborhood Beat explore the Crown Heights community in all of its amazing diversity. Take an exciting Jewish walking tour and get a glimpse into a rich historic legacy; get creatively inspired by multi-disciplined artists Concep and Lichiban; drop in on the dynamic Richard Green of The Crown Heights Youth Collective; and finally, sample some street-inspired styles at About Time Boutique—all on January 29th on Brooklyn Independent Television. (Timewarner 56, Cablevision 69, RCN 84 and Verizon 44). Rebroadcast: January 30, Feb 6, 13, 20 at 12:30pm & 8:30pm.

We love the Neighborhood Beat shows, so this should be good.

Tips, photos and information from readers are the lifeblood of GL, just like other blogs. So, send us your tips. We always love hearing from our readers when they see or hear something interesting of get an interesting photo of something going on in their neighborhood. We like to span Brooklyn so all neighborhoods are of interest to us. All tips are absolutely confidential, unless you specifically want to be credited, in which case, please say so. You can reach us via thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com or the handy contact form you will find under the GL banner. We try to specialize in original news rather than copying what’s already been posted or published, so your help is ultra-important!!! Thanks for reading, thanks for helping and thanks for being part of the online community we trying to build. We’ll be having more interesting news coming up about us and GL very soon, but in the meantime, if you read GL and you see something around you that you think would be of interest to us–please, please, please take a pic and send the info or just send us the information and your thoughts.

[Photo courtesy of the Food of the Future]

The Moore Street Retail Market, popularly known as La Marqueta de Williamsburg, has been saved! It has long been threatened with closure and the mom-and-pop merchants there have charged the city didn’t care about them or their future. About two years ago, the city tried to shut the East Williamsburg market and move its vendors to a new location they rejected. The vendors came up with 25,000 petition signatures and also recruited a bunch of heavyweight Brooklyn politicians to protect them. The market is one of four built during the Great Depression that survive, but the city said that it had to go because it had lost $1 million over four years. A pending deal was noted in August.

Well, today the NYC Economic Development Corp. announeded an agreement with the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) to take over the operations of the market. There will be a five-year lease and NYCEDC is throwing in $180K to help with management transition. Per a press release from the NYCEDC: “The Moore Street Market has long been a center of the East Williamsburg community, bringing not only fresh foods and goods to the area, but also providing a meeting place for neighborhood residents,” said NYCEDC President Seth W. Pinsky. “Under the management of BEDC, I am confident that the market will not only continue to fulfill this role, but will do so even more effectively and on a greater scale. I thank Representative Velazquez, Assembly Member Lopez and Council Member Reyna for their enthusiastic support of this important project.”

Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez called the market “a local treasure where small business owners have thrived for more than 65 years.” The 15,000 square foot Moore Street Market is one of a number of public markets built by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in the 1940s to get street cart vendors off New York City’s congested streets. It currently has 11 vendors and about 40 employees (and some darned good produce at reasonable prices).

[The Performance Stair and Tidal Pool at Pier 2/Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates]

There has been much info floating around in recent days about Brooklyn Bridge Park and none of it has been very good. First, came a press release from a host of Brooklyn pols that would seem to have been an indication that segments of the park are going to be delayed because the condos and hotel that would fund maintenance of the park have been put on hold. Then, there’s the info about the park being so over budget that its future is in grave doubt. As we noted on Curbed, the park will cost $16.1 million a year to maintain, which would make it the city’s second most expensive park per acre to operate after Bryant Park. The newest cost estimate for the 85-acre park is $346.3 million. Gov. George Pataki announced the original cost as $150 million in 2002. About $230 million has been budgeted, but the nasty operating cost problem remains. This is all a way of saying that there’s an important meeting coming up tonight that’s being held by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. to talk about the park’s “financial model.” It’s at 6PM at Dibner Auditorium at NYU-Polytechnic University at 5 Metrotech Center. We could be dead wrong about this, but we’re not expecting good news to come from this meeting. We’re suspecting announcements of delays of the park that aren’t underway and scheduled for completion next year and 2010. While we disagree strongly with the way the park is being financed, we’ll be very happy if we’re wrong about the delays. We think the park will be a wonderful amenity for the borough.

Tracy Feith, whose dress shop closed up on Mulberry Street in Nolita, is getting ready to open a new dress emporium in Williamsburg. The surfer who became a designer is opening at 64 Grand Street and this was the scene a couple of days ago as Team Feith worked to get the store ready. It adds to the rapidly developing retail strip on Grand Street between Bedford Avenue and Kent Avenue. It’s near the A.P.C. Surpus shop and a whole bunch of other stores. Coming very soon to 64 Grand.

Since today seems to be fire in Brooklyn day, here’s a little something just posted to the YouTube of a fire in Boro Park.

[Photos courtesy of E.C. Stephens; click to enlarge]

We have run a photo of the single tire here in the past, but hawk-eyed correspondent E.C. Stephens went us one step better. She took pictures of the bike next to it. One of them is from December. The other is from a few days ago. This is on Fourth Avenue and Union Street. Careful about leaving your bikes out there too long kids.

[Image courtesy of Forgotten NY]

Forgotten NY takes a trip to Sheepshead Bay this week and features a mural from 1994 that still offers glimpses of Sheepshead Bay’s past and presumed future. Here’s a bit of what Master New York Factologist Kevin Walsh has to say:

Sometimes, NYC history can be preserved in the unlikeliest of ways and in the most unusual places. Take a large mural along West 15th Street in the shadow of the BMT Brighton line (B, Q) just north of Sheepshead Bay Road. The mural, entitled “Sheepshead Bay’s Historic Future,” depicts Emmons Avenue as it was in 1994 and how the artist, Faith Palmer-Persen (probably with the camera in the mural), apparently predicted the ways it would evolve. The mural was sponsored by the Bay Improvement Group (I’d link to their site, but the pages pretty much display a telephone number to call).

Check out the whole post. It’s pretty darned cool.

As noted, the once popular Miss Williamsburg Diner on Kent Avenue burned last night. The FDNY will figure out why, but for a couple of months there was free access to the lot next store between Miss Williamsburg and Duff’s. We had the pleasure of wandering around and shooting some pics a while back. When we passed by the other day, the opening was covered by a board that a five-year-old could have moved. Just sayin’.