At least one more test well has been sunk to check for oil on N. 11th Street adjacent to the Roebling Oil Field and Roebling Oil Building in Williamsburg. It bring the total number of test well in the immediate area to about a dozen. The lastest well was so new when we came across it that there was a cone there to keep cars away from the fresh concrete. In the meantime, one can see the oil stains on the sidewalk in the photo of another well, below. It seems to be an indication that the ground around the Roebling Oil Building is still giving up Black Gold.

Related Post:
Environmental Technician Calls Roebling Oil Spill “Huge”

Why let Williamsburg dogs get all the attention? Here’s something we found on the Park Slope Message Board about a urinating dog-related confrontation:

So into a major argument this weekend because my dog pissed in front of someone’s house on the sidewalk. Here’s what happened: I was walking my (large) dog as I always do in my neighborhood in the north slope. I have one of those really big goofy friendly dogs that never causes any problems and most people stop and pet him on a daily basis. I try to be a good dog owner and ALWAYS pick up after my dog. Well, a few days back I was walking my dog and he stopped in front of a house that had a lot of vegetation growing out of the front fence…you know, the kind that hasn’t been maintained much and shrubs are taking over half the sidewalk. Anyway, my dog starts to pee on the shrubs (btw, I usually try to always get him to pee on the trees away from the house, but in this case, one he starts, it’s hard to pull him away) and the owner comes out and starts yelling at me. Keep in mind that I was on the sidewalk the whole time and outside this guys house. I usually try to avoid arguments at all costs, so apologized and started walking away. As I was walking away, he kept yelling obscenities and then said, “Next time I see you, I’m going to fucking kill your dog”. This is when I got upset and confronted the man and told him that it was completely unnecessary to make some stupid statements and that I had already apologized so he should have let it go. He went on yelling and came really close to hitting me, when a passerby broke up the argument.

Here’s my question: Are there any laws against my dog peeing on the streets (we were clearly on the sidewalk and not trespassing by any means)? Has any one else ever experienced anything like this before? Was I wrong in arguing back with this guy?

So many issues with urination, like this and this, in Park Slope.

Williamsburg’s Finger Building, whose official address is 144 N. 8th Street, gets another turn before officialdom today. It is going before the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) for an extension of time to build a taller structure. The Community Board has voted against a taller building. The hearing takes place at 10AM at 40 Rector Street, which is between Washington Street and the West Side Highway, on the Sixth Floor. Members of the public can make three minute comments. The BSA can overrule decisions made by the Department of Buildings.

UPDATE: The BSA had been expected to give the go-ahead to the Finger Building, but opted to continue the discussion on November 20. A significant number of Williamsburg residents opposed to the building testified.

Last week, it was Foghorn, the lovebird. This week, it was Sugar the cockatoo. After posting about her deep fears of being rendered homeless as the Giant Fart Cloud Building is brought down, blogger Bad Advice writes of the loss of Sugar:

If you’ve ever gotten your haircut at the Brooklyn General Barber Emporium, you might recognize Sugar. My neighbor Meredith is his owner and tonite the crazy bird flew the coop!…He was last seen flying out the window at North 11th & Roebling, headed in the direction of the Roebling Oil Field. We’re hoping he took refuge there for the night. But if you’re wandering around Williamsburg and see a funny little cockatoo, please get in touch.

All’s well that ends well, however. Early this morning we got an email that Sugar was recovered unharmed. Otherwise, if you believe in the power of prayer, say a couple for Bad Advice in terms of the impending Giant Fart Cloud Building’s demise

If you object to something more than 24 hours old, it’s okay to skip this item. We post it because on Sunday, the BARC Dog Parade and a more traditional Polish parade passed each other briefly on Bedford Avenue near Greenpoint. The dog paraders were already on their way into McCarren Park. The Poles, who were clearly taking part in some sort of military parade, were on their way to a monument. It was what one might call a fascinating juxtaposition.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

• Bay Ridge Tornado Victims Still Waiting to Return Home [NYT]
• Hillary Clinton Meets with Brooklyn Dem Organization [CityRoom]
• Atlantic Yards Street Closures and Ombudsperson [AYR]
• Atlantic Yards Street Closings to Start Soon [Sun]
• Still Waiting for an Atlantic Yards Watchdog [NYDN]
• Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Landmarking Hearing Today [DITHOB]
• Will the Fart (Cloud Building) Be Deadly to My Home? [Bad Advice]
• Waterfront Advertecture Coming to Burg [INSIJS]
• Mr. Scarano on Greenpoint Avenue [Brownstoner]
• Rite Aid Whacks a Few Weeds on Smith Street [Pardon Me for Asking]
• 55 Berry Sold Out [Curbed]
• Fun with Zen Zombies in Williasmburg [Gothamist]
• Fresh Bones Every Monday, Free [New York Shitty]
• Or You Can Buy Some Street Steaks on Prospect Park West [Icky in Brooklyn]
• More About the Astral’s Colorful Super [Gawker]
• Naked Greenpointer, Part II [Greenpointers]
• Green Fort Greene [Clinton Hill Blog]

We think we know what this sign says, but that’s only because we’ve seen less altered specimens. We believe it has something to do with clean up after one’s dog. The sign comes from Williamsburg. Of course.

Anyone who got off the L Train at Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg this weekend may have seen this person. He danced and danced and danced and danced for hours. We posted a video of him yesterday and figured we’d toss up a couple of still photos too. We chatted briefly with a sixty something street vendor who totally enjoyed his performance. “He’s just like Danny Kaye,” she laughed. “Danny Kaye used to do this. You know who Danny Kaye was?” This is, by the way, the same person we posted about, dressed in a bunny suit, back in late August.

Here at Gowanus Lounge, we’re always on the lookout for hot informational tips from our readers. Have you seen something? Do you know about something that’s going on in your neighborhood? Have you run across an email from one of the many interesting mailing lists in Brooklyn that says something about your neighborhood or about what your neighbors are thinking? Do you have you shot an interesting photo? Help GL be the best we can be by sharing information with us. If it’s a good time, we’ll post it, and you will earn our undying gratitude. Email us at gowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com.

Click the embed to watch the BARC Williamsburg Dog Parade. We also have still shots of the event, available here.

[Photos courtesy of Jonathan Barkey/PBase]

DDDB held its fourth annual fundraising Walkathon yesterday. This year’s edition took place in Prospect Heights and included a pre-walk press conference in which organizers and neighborhood leaders called on the state to hold hearings on security and terrorism threats to the the planned arena in light of information about the vulnerability of Newark’s planned new area. “The terror risk for Forest City Ratner’s (FCR) planned Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn is potentially far greater than that faced by the Newark arena,” says DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “There is no reason that Brooklyn should play catch-up sometime down the road. The time for a review of the impacts of a terrorist threat against Atlantic Yards and a state hearing on the issue is now.” A large number of photos of the press conference, walkathon and entertainment at Freddy’s Bar, are available here, via photographer Jonathan Barkey. No Land Grab has a full set of photos here. Atlantic Yards Report has a detailed examination of the terrorism issue.

If it’s Monday, it means there is a 95 percent chance we have photos and/or video of illegal construction work in Williamsburg (at least, of work we believe to be illegal, having been unable to find evidence of permits for it on the Department of Buildings website.) Today’s Medal winners are two longtime favorites, 90 N. 5th Street and 525 Union Avenue. We had already shot photos and video of the crane hoisting steel beams on the roof of the Robert Scarano-designed condo at 90 N. 5th when we got the following email from one of our readers about it: “1:00 sunday, construction going on. full team on the roof.” Shifting gears to construction safety, we will note that the worker in the photo above is not wearing a hard hat even though a steel beam is suspended in the air near him. As a bonus, we caught the gate open at Karl Fischer-designed 525 Union Avenue as the the last worker was leaving the site after what we presume was a hard Sunday’s work. Also on the upside, both buildings seem to be making superb progress.

The rumored bank that was coming to Park Slope’s Seventh Avenue is reportedly still going to happen. Last week, a sign went up in the window of the closed D’Agostino’s market on Seventh Ave. advertising the availability of 4,500 square feet of space. The latest Park Slope scuttlebutt is that a bank (the early word was Bank of America) is still coming, but that it will mostly occupy the space that had been a Gothic Cabinet Craft storefront. The space was always said to be destined to be divided between a bank branch and a retailer. The two storefronts have been empty since spring.

Yesterday was the 21st annual BARC Shelter Dog Parade and Show. It wound its way down Metropolitan Avenue to Bedford Avenue and, then, to McCarren Park where a lot of people hung out for a long time and played with dogs, listened to music, ate and saw the participants be judged. You can find our full flickr photo set from the parade here.

Nevermind the reported rats in Carroll Park. Anyone that wants to hang with the rodents apparently needs to go to Long Island College Hospital Park on Henry Street. Per an email circulating via the Bococa Parents Group, they’re a fun bunch:

You will not believe how many rats my friend and I saw at the bigger kids LICH park yesterday afternoon! So many it was really disturbing (approx 6)!! They are all running around the perimeter and towards the garbage cans. There are signs that it has been baited but I wonder if those are old signs.

Another email says, in part:

I have spent many hours over two years calling the LICH staff and the Parks Dept. in my effort to make the hospital maintain the playgrounds. LICH signed an agreement with Guilani to do so in exchange for land to build a garage. It has been an uphill struggle to say the least. The playgrounds are private but the city is supposed to supervise them. I just called the district superintendent of Parks and he said there next inspection is due within the month.

We’re not rat experts, but (approximately) six rats in broad daylight in the same place would seem to indicate the rat population is doing very well.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images.

Atlantic Yards Security:

• Will Atlantic Yards Security Get a State Hearing? [AYR]
• Atlantic Yards Opponents Want State to Consider Terror Risk [NYDN]
• Arena Foes Point to Security Problems [AP/Sun]

Not Atlantic Yards Security:

• Advertecture Attack at 72 Norman [New York Shitty]
• It’s Blog Action Day [Sustainable Flatbush]
• Times Underground Railroad Article Has Ripple Effect [Duffield St. Underground]
• Riding Ponies at Gowanus Harvest Fest [Brooklynomtery]
• 11 Hurt When NYPD Car Runs Red Light in Bed-Stuy [NYDN]
• Brooklyn Prays #3 [Big Sky Brooklyn]
• Haunted House of the Day [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Indian Festival Fireworks from Brooklyn Heights [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

It’s official. The scaffolding is going up on Williamsburg’s old cabbage processing plant, aka The Giant Fart Cloud Building, and the demolition crews are on their way. The real fun, however, will begin when excavation starts. The Fart Cloud site–formally known as 5 Roebling–is across Roebling Street from the Roebling Oil Field and potentially within reach of the underground oil plume on the block. There have been test wells near the building, but the results aren’t known.

A story about a six-year-old in Park Slope cited by the Sanitation Department for doing a chalk drawing on her front stoop after a neighbor called 311 has gone national. The story appeared in this week’s Brooklyn Paper before being picked up by AP and running in a number of media outlets. Per the Brooklyn Paper:

A 6-year-old Park Slope girl is facing a $300 fine from the city for doing what city kids have been doing for decades: drawing a pretty picture with common sidewalk chalk.

Obviously not all of Natalie Shea’s 10th Street neighbors thought her blue chalk splotch was her best work — a neighbor called 311 to report the “graffiti,” and the Department of Sanitation quickly sent a standard letter to Natalie’s mom, Jen Pepperman.

Can somebody stop these bureaucrats before they Kafka again?

“PLEASE REMOVE THE GRAFFITI FROM YOUR PROPERTY,” the Sanitation Department warning letter read. “FAILURE TO COMPLY … MAY RESULT IN ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST YOU.”

Since 2005, graffiti has been defined as “any letter, word, name, number, symbol, slogan, message, drawing, picture, writing … that is drawn, painted, chiseled, scratched, or etched on a commercial building or residential building.” The city says it isn’t going to pursue a citation against a six-year-old. In the meantime, perhaps the graffiti police might turn their attention to the Park Slope Satanic Graffiti Wall. It’s still there.

Forgotten New York takes a long and interesting look at Kensington this week. Webmaster Kevin Walsh, who consistently produces one of the most compelling websites detailing New York neighborhoods, delves into Kensington’s past and present. Here’s a sample tidbit:

Some Kensingtonians may wonder why Church Avenue becomes a 6-lane behemoth between East 5th and East 7th Street, crossing Ocean Parkway. I had originally thought, several years ago, that it was in order to accommodate the extra traffic from the Prospect Expressway, which begins, or ends, depending on your POV, at Church Avenue. The real answer is because Church Avenue widened here to accommodate a trolley tunnel that conveniently ran cars under the busy parkway. Church Avenue’s trolley, the #8, later the #35, was one of the last remaining Brooklyn trolleys, hanging in there till 1956.

Definitely read up on Kensington.

From an email circulating in Boerum Hill Association circles comes the following email about setting trashcans on fire (and “kids” taking change and food from the corner coffee shop). Here it is:

Last night on Bergen between Hoyt and Nevins someone or group set fire to several trash cans that were put out for garbage pick-up. I saw a police officer who came by looked at the remainders and took a report. I have already received a call from the precinct. I urge any others whose receptacles were burned to make a report to the police. This is on top of several incidents where a group of kids have gone into our very friendly corner coffee shop (Nascent – Bergen and Nevins) and take food and tips off the counter. They are sometimes locking the door – a shame.

Well, at least they’re not burning cars like in Park Slope.

It’s Sunday, the day we turn to our favorite Brooklyn Missed Connection of the week. There’s something poetic about this one in its odd sort of way:

Dumont Burger phone-guy Tuesday night – w4m – 35
I couldn’t stop staring at you in the back there answering the phones, when you caught me staring you started mouthing something to me, then began coughing uncontrollably into your shirt, then the bartender came up to you and you covered by pretending to vomit into your shirt and fill it with your vomit- like a water balloon, but with vomit, and then the phone rang…”Dumont Burger” I could watch you say that all night.

Forget about that hunky blond Bartender, you’re the real thing. A give-me-what-I-want by taking-what-you-need ravenous Jewish man. A REAL MAN! Like Harry from Sex In The City but slightly less bald. Let me be your Charlotte.

If you know the phone guy at Dumont Burger, do let him know he has a fan.

A short Brookvid of our last ride on the Wonder Wheel of 2007. Will the scenery, such as it is, look the same next year? Only time will tell.

Anyone that’s been down Beard Street in the last week or so has probably noticed that the base of one of the old shipyard cranes on the Ikea site has been covered with black netting. The cranes are getting a paint job. The color in this photo is silver or gray. We don’t know if that’s primer and the cranes will be returned to the blue color they’ve been or if Ikea plans to do them in yellow and blue, which would be a very, very unfortunate color scheme for these Red Hook landmarks. At this point, they are the only remaining structures on a huge stretch of the waterfront. We will know the color scheme soon enough, although it may take some time to find out if they will be flying Ikea flags from the top.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images:

• Sandy Killing Shines Light on Plumb Beach [NYT]
• Ratner Supports Bed-Stuy Alive & Prospect Park Alliance, No Prospect Heights? [AYR]
• Ratner is Sponsor of Bed-Stuy Alive [No Land Grab]
• Bed-Stuy Bullet Grazes Three-Year-Old [NYP]
• A Blogged Week [Bay Ridge Rover]
• The Bay Ridge Time Capsule That Came Up Early [NYT]
• Bay Ridge Pastoral [Right in Bay Ridge]
• Pics from the Tom Otterness Studio Tour in Gowanus [Velvet Sea]
• The Joy of Catching a Cab to Brooklyn [Brooklynometry]
• Green for Halloween? [I’m Seeing Green]
• For Sale on Parkside Avenue [My Life in Brooklyn]
• Checking Out the Crossroads Cafe in Windsor Terrace [Icky in Brooklyn]
• Naked Greenpointer in Times Square Had “a Bad Day,” Also on Video [Gothamist]
• Naked Greenpointer Isn’t a Hipster? Right. [Greenpointers]

Some vids from the YouTube from Park Slope, Gowanus, Williamsburg and Red Hook. Click on them in the play and watch.