[Photo courtesy tobsen212/flickr]

[Photo courtesy of nifty_pete/flickr]

A really cool picture of the train as it passes through Carroll Gardens.

We posted something a few days ago about joining CB 6 itself, but there’s also an opportunity to join the commmunity board’s committees. This email comes from Craig Hammerman:

It’s that time of year again when Brooklyn Community Board 6 (CB6) reconstitutes the composition of its standing committees. Although CB6 committee membership must be composed primarily of a majority of Board Members, membership is also open to Non-Board Members as well. This allows for broader, grassroots public representation on the Community Board’s standing committees, and encourages and facilitates citizen participation in local government within our communities. The Brooklyn CB6 district includes the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street District, Gowanus, Park Slope, and Red Hook.

More info on the committees you can join, ahead.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather/New York Shitty]

This beauty comes from Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg and we think it blends very nicely with the lovely building in the background. Oh yes.

Hot Karl Fischer’s 64 Bayard, which is a half-block removed from Karl Fischer Row, is now a couple of stories out of the ground. It will be near the Aqua condo and across from the new skate park going in at McCarren Pool. It will end up being two seven-story buildings with 64 units. And, it going to be a beauty folks.

Found under the BQE in Williamsburg and about as messed up as a bike can get.

It’s not just a ride on the F Train on a snowy day above Carroll Gardens, it’s a ride that includes a sermon.

We return to our occasional GL Lost & Found series today thanks to a reader who wrote us yesterday about finding a Canon Powershot-I camera “near Prospect Park” that has family photos on it. So, if you lost a camera near the park like that one with family pics, we’ll be glad to put you in touch with him. We’re sure if you describe the pics that are on the camera, you will get your camera back from this kind person.

We always love this house on Union Avenue in Williamsburg and the way the Christmas cheer goes nicely with the warning against parking a bike there.

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Crush & Lovely on Vimeo.

Give this one a whirl. It’s fun.

There is so much happiness in so many workplaces that it sometimes warms the heart. For instance, here’s a rant we found on Craigslist that was post by someone working in an unnamed NYC public school:

MY STUPID FUCKING G-DDAMN SACK OF SHIT BOSS (The toilet)

Yep, I’m still pissed. So are my colleagues, but few to none will take a stand with me at our job.

I absolutely MUST ask: how do some people manage to get themselves out of bed and to a job in one piece? How do some people manage to totally fuck over people who work under them and get away with it for so long? How does someone even get into a position of authority in the first place (and no, it wasn’t from sleeping with anyone, trust me on this… even though someone was fucked-up enough to plunk it in her a couple of times to result in kids, there’s no man in our solar system who’d consider it now)? How is it that when someone tries to take a stand against such a horrible individual, others let them go it alone even though they were bitching and felt the same injustices and got hurt all the same? How can she be so racist and play favorites while harassing others without thinking that nobody will notice?

Oh, yeah, so you know: I work in a NYC public school.

You know there’s more.

· Kids Letters to Santa Break Hearts [NYDN]
· Former School VP Used A Lot of Money at Victoria’s Secret [NYP]
· Dullsville on Verandah Place [Lost City]
· Last Minute Shopping on Atlantic Ave. [McBrookyn]
· Who’s Leaving Bushwick for the Holidays? [Bushwick BK]
· Car Robbery? [Ditmas Park Blog]
· Sunset Snowman [BVIB]
· View from the Pod [Brookynometry]
· Showing Brooklyn to Mom [Liberty on 10th Street]

Here’s a fun one from our friends at the Municipal Art Society that shows the Carroll Street Bridge, one of the few surviving retractile bridges left, opening and closing. It’s a fascinating thing to watch if you’ve never seen it and it is, without question, our favorite bridge in Brooklyn.

There was some unhappiness last week that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development scheduled a key hearing in the middle of holiday party season, but more importantly, failed to make sure that work got out in the community about the meeting. The department has extended the public comment period for the draft scope of work on the Environmental Impact Statement until January 23. Here’s an email about it:

We wanted to remind you that HPD has extended the public comment period on the draft scope of work for the Gowanus Green (Public Place) EIS to January 23, 2009. The comment period has been extended to allow the public opportunity to comment during and after the holiday season. The draft scope and other environmental documents are available for download on the HPD website at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/developers/Gowanus-Green-proposal.shtml You may also submit your comments in writing to HPD at the following address: Patrick Blanchfield, AICP; Director of Environmental Review; NYC Dept of Housing Preservation and Development; 100 Gold Street – Room 9V-3; New York, NY 10038. Thanks very much and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

We still think it doesn’t make up for the shoddy way in which the public was pretty much not informed, but it’s something.

This issue deals with a number of New York City government buildings that some people consider to be a blight and to be interfering with efforts to improve the area. Here is an email we came across about 345 Jay Street that also deals with 370 Jay Street, which is the MTA’s Board of Transportation Building:

My sister walks around the scaffolding at 345 Jay Street on her way to work everyday at the Board of Elections. It is as dangerous as it is ugly, and is a drag on the progress that the Downtown Partnership is doing to upgrade the Fulton Street business corridor. The Governor and the legislative branch should not allow any increases to the MTA fares, without a stipulation that the blight of 345 Jay Street be immediately remediated. The following is from an email newsletter that I receive periodically from the Manhattan Institute from their Center for Rethinking Development. The story that follows, which is very long, shows government ineptitude at its very worst.

The document about government blight ahead.

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

In case you haven’t had enough Coney Island this morning, we present this gorgeous shot from Rubys Host of a Coney sunset with water on the left and snow on the beach on the left.

“With a record amount of commercial real-estate debt coming due, some of the country’s biggest property developers have become the latest to go hat-in-hand to the government for assistance. They’re warning policymakers that thousands of office complexes, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial buildings are headed into defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The reason: according to research firm Foresight Analytics LCC, $530 billion of commercial mortgages will be coming due for refinancing in the next three years — with about $160 billion maturing in the next year. Credit, meanwhile, is practically nonexistent and cash flows from commercial property are siphoning off….”–WSJ

[Photo courtesy of Kurackt/flickr]

This ominous looking shot has to rank among our fifty favorite Coney Island photos of all time. Here’s what the photo wrote about it: “I took this through the window of the Q train. it is grainy and noisy but i like its overall ‘feel.’ Notice the man towards the right side of the photo. It was a miserable day to take pictures because the snow turned into rain, and my shoes turned into puddles…i’m surprised i didn’t catch hypothermia.”

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/flickr]

We love photos of Coney Island in the snow and this one from Rubys Host of the Cyclone rocks.

A reader forwarded this listing to us from a Park Slope Parents Classified. It’s yet another opportunity to do some good this holiday season:

The Child Life office at NYU, which provides toys and games to sick kids year round, is woefully underfunded and in need. If you haven’t already maxed out your holiday giving, this is a GREAT cause. You will get maximum impact for your effort, I promise! Wish List for Tisch Hospital Pediatric Acute Care Unit: Child Life Department. They also welcome checks. If sending a check, please make it out to “NYU Langone MC Child Life” and send to: ATTN: Stacey or Ingrid; 400 E. 34th St. RG 34; New York, NY 10016.

Check out the wish list ahead and if you have the ability please help these children in need.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather/New York Shitty]

There is little add to this precious image other than to note that it came from Huron Street in Greenpoint.

[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library]

This is Luna Park in Coney Island 1906. It burned to the the ground in a spectacular fire in August, 1944.

[Photo courtesy Miss Heather]

There is something that captivates us about this photo of the weird sludge tank in Greenpoint in the snow. It is part of an incredible photoset of the Winter Wonderland of Greenpoint put together by Miss Heather. Check it out cause it’s beautiful

And, now, some musical selections on this fairly quiet Christmas week:

Monday 12/22/08
Jalopy: Country Blues Jam: Bring you fiddle, accordion, banjo, washtub, mandolin, guitar, or maybe even spoons and participate in an open jam session. Free!! 9:30pm

Barbes: Chicha Libre (Latin/Surf/Psychedelic) $10, 9:30pm

Tuesday 12/23/08
Bar 4: Open Mike Night: Hosted by Tanya Buziak. Pre-list @ 6:15pm, Sign up @ 8:00pm, Start @ 8:30pm (mostly Singer-Songwriters) Free!!
—Dan Bennis

[Photo for Gowanus Lounge courtesy of Deborah Matlack]

This is the late afternoon light on the first day of winter in Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge yesterday. Photographer and GL Contributor Deborah Matlack writes simply “winter light is beautiful.” Indeed it is.