(Today’s GL Analysis comes from contributor Vaduz Uvunt, who is a Red Hook resident and has a lot more meaningful things to say about her community than our own rantings ever could.)

If you missed the What’s the Hook exhibition and a chance to view “Hole in the Fence,” then it was your loss. Fortunately, for a little while longer at least, you can still come to Red Hook and see the real thing…or what’s left of it. Red Hook really is like no other neighborhood in any of the boroughs. It’s not like any other neighborhood in any metropolitan neighborhood in the world. It’s not that it’s paved in diamonds or money grows on trees or it’s full of do-gooders… a lot of the residents in “the Back” (as the old time natives of the Red Hook Housing Projects call the gentrifying area) take some pride in being less than friendly to interlopers, and quite frankly would prefer the popularity of the neighborhood to not have gotten as far as its come.

When talk started about a Fairway coming in 2006, a lot of people were more than just pissed. As it turned out, Fairway is pretty damn great. I can only imagine what people would have actually done if it were a Food Emporium. But, nonetheless, it wasn’t wanted. After the opening, there was plenty of evidence why people didn’t want it in the first place, traffic being first and foremost. Van Brunt St., the main thruway to Fairway, doesn’t have a lot of street lights, no stop signs and doesn’t really have any hills or curves. So, the cars were coming, flying down the street, paying no mind to the speed limit, disregarding the residents concerns and, unfortunately, barely a month after the opening of Fairway, a woman was hit and killed by a Fairway customer.

Thing is, that after Fairway, we weren’t up for more big changes.

On Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. Cheery.

“Work at Avalon Fort Greene marches on, economy be damned! As you can see from this photo (click to expand) the first-floor structural form work is in place, a marked advance from the way it looked in early September. How psyched are the developers right now that this has always been slated to be a rental building? Granted renting 650 units is no easy task, but it sure is easier than selling that many condos!”–Brownstoner

Marathon Day is a tough one. What to do after the running passes you by? Well, here’s one idea: Go to Miro’s Run Annual Howl-o-ween Fundraiser. It takes place on Sunday, November 2nd from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. Per their email:

Join us at the dog run for cider and donuts, a dog costume contest, dog games, photo booth and raffle. Costumes are optional but if you dress up your doggie you may win a prize for Best Costume, Best Handmade Costume, Cutest Costume or Scariest Costume. $10 suggested donation, all proceeds go towards improving and promoting the dog run. Sponsored by Monster Mutt, Mobile Mutts, Walk This Way and Hope Vet. Miro’s Run is located in DiMattina Park, on Hicks Street between Rapelye Street and Hamilton Avenue (next to the baseball field). It was the first official dog park in Brooklyn, established in 1997.

Of course, one could follow the runners through Greenpoint, where the race takes on a different flavor, but this is a nice local option.

[Courtesy of CNN.Com; click to enlarge]

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s Electoral Vote lead over Sen. John McCain continues to grow based on state polling results. Since yesterday, the Illinois Sen. has picked up another 5 electoral votes, as Nevada has switched from being a tossup state to “leaning” Obama. Mr. Obama now has a possible 291 electoral votes versus Sen. McCain’s 163. 270 are needed to win the election, including ones that come from hanging chads in Florida. One of the most incredible moments in American history is almost upon us.

New Brooklyn Trailer from Pablo Cerda Adaro on Vimeo.

Here’s an intriguing trailer for a new film called New Brooklyn. If you know the Burg and Greenpoint, you definitely know the scenery. We’ve featured some teasers for the film that were posted on YouTube in the past. This is the Wikipedia entry about it.

There were a lot of other signs in the window of this store on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn that’s going out of business, but we found this one saying they’re selling down to the “bare walls” the most compelling of them. We know this kind of stuff happens all the time and that there are places that have permanent going out of business sales, but times are tough, friends and we didn’t get the impression they were joking.

Someday, this will be the Indigo Hotel, the Duffield Street lodging designed by our favorite Brooklyn architect Karl Fischer, who thrills us by giving Downtown Brooklyn a Hot Karl. After all, why should Williamsburg get all the Hot Karl action? (Answer: Everybody needs some Hot Karl. Even you, Park Slope.) The Indigo will be at 237 Duffield and have 180 rooms. (Brownstoner had a look at this spot a few weeks ago too.) Now, the irony is that by the time it’s ready to hit the market, the entire NYC hotel market should be crashing back to reality and rooms will be going for $100 instead of $500. (Note to Hotel Le Bleu: We will eat our shorts if you are still charging $300 a night in two years.) After all, there are cities like Washington where spectacularly nice rooms in cool hotels are going for $100 a night. We’re going to guess that when the going get tough, it’s going will get gruesome in Brooklyn.

Herewith a small selection of musical events to take us through the weekend:

Thursday 10/30/08
Europa Night Club: Color Is The Keyboard (Art & Music Collaboration) Halloween Costume Party Featuring: Ande Sedwick, Douglas Bradford Quartet, The Rich get Richer, The Dang-It Bobby’s, Collective Pusuit(Jazz/Indie/Experimental) –$5, 8:00pm

Friday 10/31/08
BAM Café: Antarsia Ensemble & Luminescent Orchestrii (Gypsy-Punk/World-Folk) Free!!, 9:00pm

Union Hall: Neva Dinova, McCarthy Trenching, Faces on Film (Indie) $10, 8:00pm

Saturday 11/1/08
The Bell House: Royal American, Fugu, Greta Gertler (Indie/Pop/Singer-Songwriter) $8, 8:00pm

Southpaw: The Rub Halloween Costume Party!! (even though it’s the day after, why not get the most for your money and break out that costume one more time!!) Free!!, 10:00pm 21+

Sunday 11/2/08
Union Hall: Tearing The Veil of Maya with Eugene Mirman and Friends (Not music, but well worth the price of admission) $7, 8:00pm
—Dan Bennis

Hey, it’s lunchtime, and we’ve already had a Brookyn-style pizza vid, so now it’s time for the real Brooklyn thing. Junior’s cheesecake porn. We couldn’t resist taking the cheesecake shots when we passed by the other day and damaging our Nikon with drool.

More hardcore Junior’s cake porn ahead. Parental discretion is advised.

This may fall under the category of waaaayyyyy to much information, but it’s amusing in its own way about Domino’s (kinda’ offensive) Brooklyn-style pizza.

If you live out by Prospect and Eleventh Avenue in Windsor Terrace and were startled awake around 11pm Sunday (10/26) night by the horrible sound of a car crash, you thought right. Luckily, no innocent bystanders were hurt by the collision of one car racing into two parked cars. With every bad situation, something good comes of it, tho. IN this case -neighbors coming together and starting a communication about making positive change for their neighborhood. (Note: the image here is not of this particular accident, but a different one in the general area.) Here’s some of the flavor from the Windsor Terrace Forum on Brookynian:

About 11pm there was sudden sound of screeching brakes and then the loud, terrifying and unmistakable boom of cars colliding. I believe there were 3 successive booms of an impact. I rushed outside from my apartment near the intersection of Prospect and 11th Avenue and many others had come outside as well. Down Prospect Avenue at the northwest corner of Prospect Avenue and Terrace Place a Honda Accord coupe with only the driver inside was sitting sideways in the street after it had viciously slammed in to 2 parked cars….[Prospect Avenue and Terrace Place] is a very dangerous intersection and stretch of road. The traffic light is behind a sharp curve and the traffic signal is also obscured by trees. People speed up and down this stretch of Prospect Avenue often… there is also an elementary school nearby on 11th Avenue and children cross with no guard at Prospect Avenue and 11th… Is this something that would be best brought up to the community board or the NYC Department of Transportation?

This isn’t the first post we’ve put up about automotive insanity in Windsor Terrace and Kensington, particularly on the streets that drivers tend to treat like raceways. Here’s hoping for some solutions before people get killed.
—Vaduz Uvunt

Just a friendly reminder to do you part and come out to Cobble Hill’s PS 29 schoolyard this Saturday (11/1) from 10am to 4pm to turn over your old and broken electronics. We are quite passionate about voicing the importance of properly recycling our old computers, cell phones and other electronic gadgets instead of just throwing it out with the trash. This is serious, folks – so many chemicals and poisons can get released into the water and atmosphere, and a lot of metals get wasted when we just throw these things out with the rest of the wasteful trash that we collect in our daily lives. So, as we slowly ease off our soap box, we kindly say – we hope to see you and your e-waste Saturday!!!
—Vaduzuvunt

Well, we’re pretty sure it ain’t Superman (though he would seem to prefer you to think differently), but what are those freaking loud noises that some people in Prospect Heights are hearing? The first indication on the Brooklynian’s Prospect Heights Forum in a thread called “Big Booming Noises” was this: “i keep hearing big booms from outside somewhere. are they doing demolition at the (possible) AY site? it’s been going on until quite late at night.” It has been followed by many responses, most pinning the noise on Atlantic Yard-related infrastructure prep work. Maybe it’s street construction? Or maybe we can go with the last poster’s comment that it’s the demolition construction going on at PS 9? Or speculate that it’s a porta-potty equipped with an monstrous amplification system activated when a worker sits down to do his business to mess with residents minds.
—Vaduzuvunt

· Case of Brookynite Claiming Hideous NYPD Abuse Before Grand Jury [NYT]
· Family of ‘Cyclone Accident Victim’ Suing City [NYDN]
· Millman Slaps Yassky on Term Limits Terpitude [BHB]
· FCR Exec Says: ‘Every Deal Dies Three Times’ [AYR]
· Long Before Smith St. Was Restaurant Row [PMFA]
· Pies ‘N Thighs Don’t Raise No Money on Millionaire [Eater]
· Ah, Yes, the Reopened Kellogg’s Diner! We Are Saved [Williamsburg Nerd]
· This Was the Inside of the Green Chruch [Bay Ridge Journal]
· How to Have (Cheap/Free) Fun in Recession Era Brooklyn [Brownstoner]
· Neighbor Needs Free Space for Fundraiser Event [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· Cobble Hill Haunted Brownstone [McBrookyn]
· Halloween in Brookyn [About Brooklyn]
· 313 Ready for Halloween [Clinton Hill Blog]

We love Christmas so much, that we wish they’d start putting decorations right up after July 4. In fact, the way things are going, we may soon see our dream come true. The decorations started going up weeks ago in Downtown Brooklyn and on Flatbush Avenue and, we have to assume, in other areas where there are a lot of lights strung across the streets. A bunch of shops downtown have Halloween paraphernalia across the aisle from Christmas decorations. Permanent Christmas. Hard to say what it does for you, but it kind of makes us wish there was a city ordinance banning anything related to Christmas until the Friday after Thanksgiving. But that’s our Inner Bah Humbug coming out.

A little pre-Halloween Christmas gallery right ahead.

The photo above comes from Jones Walk in Coney Island via the Coney Island Message Board where people are wondering what the markings–which clearly indicate the presence of underground cables and other lines–mean. Is there construction plannned? The ownership of the property is not even clear, although some neighboring structures are owned by developer Joe Sitt, leading to speculation that Thor’s bulldozers might be revving up for the same kind of wintertime fun they had two years ago. Another leading theory is that it has something to do with Verizon’s plans to instal Fios service in Coney. (Note to Verizon: We’re not sure the boardwalk should a priority for Fios service right now.) Meanwhile, the Coney Island Development Corp. sent out the first press release it’s distributed in a long time to tout its purchase of an acre of Wonder Wheel Park and promise that it’s the first in a series of planned acquisitions (that would, needless to say, seriously interfere with Mr. Sitt’s development plans should he choose not to cooperate with the city).

Read the CIDC release ahead.

“We’ve often focused on Smart Cars as symbols of gentrification, but this vehicle that we found parked on a street we will decline to identify east of theWilliamsburg BQE dividing line, raises an interesting question. Is a skull and cross bones on one’s vehicle a symbol of hipster gentrification and irony or is it, at the end of the day, a sign that trouble is brewing?”–Curbed

[Photo courtesy of Marie Viljoen]

This rose would be gorgeous under any circumstances, but it takes on an even nicer look in the Halloween season. It comes from Fourth Place.

“To the woman playing hard-core iPod porn on the L train this morning, thank you for such an entertaining journey under the East River. Seriously folks, from approximately Lorimer St. to 3rd Avenue, this woman was playing some serious, butt-humping porn and yelling at her iPod, giving some twisted commentary that could be heard from both sides of the train. “Oh, here we go, here we go, THERE YOU GO, GET IT, GET IT, OHhhhhhh Damn, let’s get a close-up, zoom in, wake up New York check this shit out, close-up New York City!!!”–Free Williamsburg

[Photo courtesy of Josh Derr/GL Flickr Pool]

Check out this ultra-gorgeous shot of the Brooklyn Bridge. The photographer writes: “Within minutes of taking the previous photo, the sun came through the clouds, casting a glorious yellow light onto the bridge and its surroundings…” Yes, it did.

Brownstoner dropped the bombshell yesterday that a house at 88 Remsen Street has sold for $10.8M, breaking the previous record of $10.75M (which was set more than two years ago in a very different market). The broker confirmed the sale price.–Brownstoner

[Map from CNN; click to enlarge]

This electoral map from CNN has been static for a few days, but today shows Barack Obama widening his Electoral Vote lead over Sen. John McCain. His edge in Colorado polling has doubled, changing the state from being rated a “tossup” to “leaning” toward Mr. Obama. With 270 Electoral Votes needed to win the Presidency, the map shows Sen. Obama with 286 votes in states that are solidly in his column or “leaning” his way. The math is beginning to look quite desperate for Sen. McCain, unless proclaimed Obama voters are either (a) lying or (b) don’t go out to vote.

Is there any spot in Park Slope that isn’t hosting a Barack Obama phone bank this weekend? Well, they’re key in helping to get out the vote and in tossup states. So, here’s another option at Flatbush Farm on Saturday from 12PM-4PM. The email says:

Feeling nervous about the election? Get to work: the Farm, all your friends, cell phones, making it happen. Come join us! We will be hosting a phone bank to support the Obama campaign in these last critical days. Don’t worry about talking to hostile Republicans – you will be provided with a basic script and most people are very happy to hear from you! At this point, the focus of our calls will be to Get Out the Vote in the battleground states. Yes we will.

Report to 76-78 St. Marks Avenue at Flatbush Avenue.