Here’s a very random “Best & Worst” of Brooklyn list that is probably more notable for what we’ve left out than what we’ve included. In any case, here’s our take on the obligatory end of the year list: Achievement in Hellish Construction/Demolition1) 143 Huron Street. This building appeared to have been virtually above the law.2) […]

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We took a look back at 2007 on Friday, now here is a look ahead at some stories that we think will make news or that will keep making news in 2008: 1) Coney Island. If the city is committed to it audacious Coney strategy–rezoning, buying out developer Joe Sitt in the amusement district and/or […]

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The abandoned Gowanus Whole Foods site closes out the year the way it spent much of the last half of 2007: wide open to visitors that want to check it out. The environmentally-challenged site got some attention in November when Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and others criticized the grocer for maintaining a public hazard. Well, […]

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The fencing around The Crest in Park Slope has come down. The mindboggling results are above. We will refrain from a long diatribe about how such architecture is the equivalent of saying “screw you” to the streetscape and how people that design residential buildings this way should be held up to professional ridicule for designing […]

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From the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Best & Worst of 2007 list comes “Brooklyn Under Seige.” Needless to say, Brooklyn is included on the “worst” list. Topics covered include Ikea, Coney Island and Ward Bakery.–Preservation Nation via No Land Grab

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The year is ending and the new year beginning in Greenwood Heights in much the same way that 2007 did: with residents keeping an eye on a new development in their neighborhood and creating an interesting model for other neighborhoods. The Greenwood Heights crew used YouTube vids documenting construction issues on development to great effect […]

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The New Year’s Firework are GL’s favorite Brooklyn New Year’s thing.

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. Happy New Year to all. May all be well in the 365 days to come. Atlantic Yards 2007 Year in Pics [No Land Grab] The Times on Atlantic Yards in 2007 [AYR] 2007’s Big Atlantic Yards Stories [DDDB] Wild Ride for Brooklyn in 2007 [NYDN] […]

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Our latest Street Couch Series installment is more of a van seat than a sofa, but it is, nonetheless, street seating. This specimen, from Noble Street in Greenpoint, comes to us courtesy of our Greenpoint correspondent.

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Politics makes strange bedfellows, and the most bizarre of all may turn out to be the odd alliances forged by the Bloomberg’s Coney redevelopment plan and its effort to dislodge developer Joe Sitt from the amusement district and to swap the parking lot next to KeySpan Park for the developer’s property. The rub, of course, […]

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From Roebling Street in Williamsburg comes one of Brooklyn’s many, many violated alternate side parking signs. Oops.

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Things may be literally quiet in Coney Island except for the barking of guard dogs, but there is activity to report. Entrepreneur Lola Staar, who was almost forced from her boardwalk shop last year by developer Joe Sitt, has sent out an email announcement saying that she will be opening a “new boutique in Coney […]

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It’s Sunday, so we turn again to our Brooklyn Craigslist Missed Connection. This week we not only have our first Bocce Missed Connection, but our first Bocce Injury Missed Connection. Here it is: Hit in the face with a bocci ball? – m4w – 24 We were at a bar on union street in brooklyn, […]

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For a nice guide to New Year’s possibilities in Brooklyn, have a look at this thoughtful compilation. You might just get an idea or two.–About Brooklyn

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Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images: Short-Term Becomes Long-Term at Transitional Facilities in Coney, Other Places [NYT] Two Suspected Brooklyn Hit-and-Run Drivers Caught [Gothamist] Carroll Gardens Moody Motorcycle Repair Shop [PMFA] Eight Things to Watch in 2008 [Brooklyn Junction] Things to Like About 2007 [OTBKB] Stabbing Pains in Bay Ridge [Bay […]

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Once a week, we take a look at some comments left by GL readers during the previous seven days. This week, a post relating a local professor’s experience at Central Booking in Brooklyn generated a huge number of comments. Brooklyn Jail Nightmare: One Woman’s Story: “Brooklyn Central Booking is manned and maintained by the NYPD. […]

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We’ve posted about this a while ago, but now that New Year’s is upon us: the 2007-2008 New Years Fun Run will be happening tomorrow night (12/31) at 11:15PM Prospect Park. The start and finish line of the 3.3 mile race is the park’s Grand Army Plaza entrance. It’s sponsored by the Brooklyn Road Runners […]

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A few vids of fireworks in Prospect Park, in honor of tomorrow night’s annual show.

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In contrast to last winter, when developer Joe Sitt’s bulldozers were working to demolish a square block of the amusement district, Coney Island is very, very quiet this winter. The land that Mr. Sitt cleared last winter is empty and surrounded by a blue fence. Several of the buildings he owns remain boarded up, adding […]

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Some of the founders of the CORD group, which established itself as a voice in Carroll Gardens development issues after it coalesced around the controversial 360 Smith Street building, will be on News 12 this evening. Group members were interviewed at the Carroll Gardens Democracy Wall in the plaza at the Carroll Street subway stop. […]

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“The classic corrugated signage which read “Donuts Coffee Shop” had been taken down and all that was left was the broad white background. The woman behind the counter said someone had bought it and taken it down the previous day. There was a good crowd inside. About three-quarters of the stools were occupied. A photographer […]

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[Photo courtesy of Flatbush Gardener/flickr] Brooklinks is a weekly selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. More Atlantic Yards Context [AYR] Icky Reflects on 2007 [Icky in Brooklyn] Greenpoint Terminal Market Blueprint Used by the FDNY on eBay [Greenpointers] Photo Du Jour: Cup, Cult, Kool Aid [New York Shitty] Wow. New Shoes “Has Arrived” [Right in […]

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Have some old or (newly made old by holiday gifts) electronics devices? Well, here’s another opportunity to get rid of them in an environmentally friendly way: Sustainable Flatbush’s Post-Holiday E-Waste Recycling Event. It will take place on Saturday, January 5 and on Sunday, January 6 fromm 1PM to 5PM. The location wil be 462 Marlborough […]

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The suspension of East River service by New York Water Taxi is not sitting well with others. There’s a meeting this morning at Schaeffer Landing in Williamsburg to talk about getting some service restored before May 1, 2008.–Brooklyn 111211

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Our Greenpoint correspondent found and submitted this exceptional specimen, which comes from Roebling Street in the center of compromised signs, Williamsburg. Doesn’t look like a turning truck did violence to this one, does it? Update: The sign is the work of artist Brad Downey, who has installed some very cool things around Brooklyn and Queens.

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