God bless this Big Ass fan. A Kentucky company with a wicked name – Big Ass Fans – is putting one of its industrial-sized machines in an unlikely place: a Brooklyn Catholic church. The nearly century-old Our Lady of Refuge Church in Flatbush, where the congregation dwindles every summer because of scorching heat, plans to install the 240-pound fan next weekend. ‘Oh my gosh!’ church business administrator Judy Agard said. ‘We might have to change the name. It’s a church!’ Parishioners hope the fan will end three decades of 90-degree heat inside the church…” Big. Ass. Fan.–NYDN

Want to learn about some of Prospect Park’s most noteworthy trees and perhaps visit these venerable citizens? Then, check out the new Online Tree Guide. We got an email from the Oracle of Prospect Park, Eugene Patron, about the new interactive map: “Prospect Park’s website has just added a great new feature: a ‘tour’ of the Park’s notable trees. 14 of the Park’s rarest, most unusual, oldest, and tallest specimens are displayed on a simple, clickable map. Each click triggers a window with more information and three beautiful images.” For instance, there’s Tree #5, The Camperdown Elm, “planted near the Boathouse in 1872, has developed into a stunning specimen. No more than 12 feet high, it resembles an oversized bonsai. It is the most famous specimen tree in Prospect Park.” Click here for the map. By the way, there are more than 150 species of tree in the park.

We reread this news release a number of times to make sure that (a). we weren’t seeing things and (b). it wasn’t dated April 1. The thumbnail is that two professors from New York City College of Technology think that some of the gunk in the Gowanus Canal could be the source of new antibiotics or drugs. (Insert joke of choice here. Laugh hysterically. Say to someone nearby: “Jesus Christ. Get a load of this.” Fondly recall the stories about how the Gowanus harbors strains of the clap. And, now, continue reading.) For those who don’t wish to read more, here’s the money quote from Professor Nasreen Haque: “Despite the canal’s toxicity, which includes cancer-causing chemical agents, microorganisms are surviving by adapting to the harsh environment there that shouldn’t survive at all. Working in synergy, they seem to sense if nutrients are available; they exchange genes and secrete substances — some of which operate like antibiotics. I believe these substances may provide clues that lead to the development of new drugs to combat human disease.”

To find out how the Gowanus Canal may save humanity, click here.

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

· Did Lawyer Close to Democrats Rip Off Church for $218K? [NYDN]
· Need to Use a Credit or Debit Card for a Metrocard? [NYT]
· More Detail on the Widely Reported A&S Pork Store Closing [NYDN]
· ‘A Modest Proposal’: Have Bruce Ratner Bunk on Dean Street [AYR]
· Connecticut Muffin Coming to Schermerhorn [Brownstoner]
· Stick a Fork in Busy Chef, It’s Done [McBrooklyn]
· Long Island Restaurant Update [Lost City]
· God is in the Laundry [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· PS 8 Annex in Brooklyn Heights Will Be Built [DITHOB]
· Heights Books is Moving, Not Closing [BHB]
· A Little Memorial in Wallabout [Clinton Hill Blog]
· Considering Holy Basil [Brooklynometry]

[Photo courtesy of threecee/GL Flickr Pool]

The Atlantic Terminal Mall in summer is a great place to chill and think thoughts about the future. This image comes from Tracy Collins, of course, via our GL Flickr Pool.

The Straphangers Campaign has rated the L Train the best in the system (and the W as the worst). “The L was rated particularly high for its regularity of service and the quality of announcements; the line, which runs from Eighth Avenue in Manhattan to Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie, Brooklyn, has seen its tracks and cars replaced in recent years.”–NYT

[Photo courtesy of rosweed/GL Photo Pool Flickr]

This church on Nostrand Avenue comes to our GL Photo Pool from rosweed. Come one and all and be saved.

Behold the latest Gowanus hotel, which will be coming to Degraw Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. Brownstoner revealed it yesterday, noting that work will be kicking off in eight weeks and that it should be done in a year. The hotel is from Kutnicki Bernstein. A hotel at President and Third Avenue will be open sooner. In addition, work, is already underway on a Fairfield Inn at Third Avenue and Douglass. All in all, Brownstoners says, it’s “seeming likely” that there will be six Gowanus Hotels up and running in a year.

This bit of thoughtful philosophy comes from a construction fence on Union Avenue in Williamsburg. The fact that it is a development-related thought makes it even more meaningful.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory this morning the sun is once again shining. The forecast calls for it to be party sunny, warm and more humid with a high of 89. (It will feel like 98.) There will be some thunderstorms around tonight and the low will be 74.–Accuweather

The reader who sent us this photo calls it “Midnight Couch Photo,” presumably having something to do with the time of the photo. In any case, what’s interesting is the where the couch was located: at Raccuglia’s funeral home at Sackett & Court Streets in Carroll Gardens, making it our first funeral couch.

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Photo Pool]

This is the Ring of Fire ride on land owned by developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities in Coney Island being dismantled. It comes from the roving camera of Rubys Host. The ride was one of those that was supposed to be in Coney Island all summer as part of the developers “Summer of Hope,” but the attractions have been slowly leaving. It is unclear whether any of the rides will be replaced as the season has a long way to go before the Labor Day weekend.

There’s been a lot of depressing violence on the Southside of Williamsburg in recent months, and there’s going to be a rally and concert on Saturday, August 2. It will take place from 5PM-10PM at Continental Plaza at Roebling and South 5th Street. There’s a mass at 7PM and it’s sponsored by a number of local churches. The image comes from Brooklyn 11211, which has a post up about the rally.

The Gowanus landscape has been slightly redecorated with this banner that has appeared atop the old power plant (aka the Bat Cave) between Third Avenue and the Gowanus Canal. The building, which is an old subway power plant, sits on property that was once the possible site of developer Shaya Boymelgreen’s Gowanus Village but that has been put on the market for about $27 million. As for the new banner, sent to us by a special GL Correspondent, it’s visible from far and wide, as the building is one of the most prominent in the area. Excellent viewing of the “No More Corporate Rule” message from the F Train!

“Calling the section of 8th Ave. off the N train ‘Chinatown’ is like calling The Wire ‘a TV show’ or foie gras ‘food.’ It doesn’t do it justice. Yes, you can get great dumplings and buy glazed tripe and chicken feet from street food vendors. There are the usual bins of tiny dried fish and tanks full of live frogs. Fried pig’s head? They have you covered. But what sets the Brooklyn Chinatown apart (and the Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, but this isn’t called Queens Based, now is it?) from its Manhattan counterpart is the stuff that is not the missionary position Ten Ren bubble tea and Custard King.”–Brooklyn Based

[Photo courtesy of sabeth718/flickr]

According to Transportation Alternatives, the Williamsburg Walks program doubled foot traffic on Bedford Avenue. The program involves closing a long stretch of Bedford Avenue to cars: “Foot traffic on Bedford Avenue was 96% higher than the average Saturday, based on pedestrian counts. The number of children and seniors using the street also increased. And because so much more space was available for walking and sitting, the street felt open and uncongested.” Streetsblog adds: “The numbers come from pedestrian counts conducted on two Saturdays earlier this summer, which averaged 240 people per 15-minute span, compared to a count of 470 pedestrians during the same interval on the first day of Williamsburg Walks.”

Sometimes, when we find Brooklyn Missed Connections that get our attention in one way or another, we like to feature them on days other than Sunday. This is one such remainder written by a dude in a “whte shite” from a Bushwick party this weekend.

danger party european for maybe italian – m4w – 25 (danger)

I’m not sure if you were with your bf or not. I’m a 25 european man had some jeans, with a white shit no collar. Saw you upstairs near the door dancing with that boy. I really think you were italian… but then maybe not. Anyway, at a certain point we stood back to back in the door that lead to the terasse. Would really want to see you again…cheers.

More to the point, how was the event?

[Photo courtesy of meL in Progress]

The Fifth Avenue Farm, a store at Fifth Ave. & Fifteenth Street that was known for having friendly owners and a good selection of produce, closed a couple of weeks ago. The blogger who produces the meL in Progress blog emailed us to say:

It used to be a fruit and vegetable store owned by a really nice Korean man. The people at Young’s Market next door said that business on the block has been suffering because of gentrification (according to the lady, yuppies don’t shop at their stores). I miss the 5th Ave. Green Market! Any idea what might pop up there next?

She also wrote on her own blog:

I, grudgingly, admit that I am part of this new wave of yuppies in nice, remodeled apartments. The neighborhood is gentrifying as the boundaries of Park Slope have extended past 6th Ave. to 5th Ave. and from 9th St. to Prospect Ave. The news of Green Farm’s closing, the lady’s fear that she and her husband would have to close Young’s too, and all the shuttered storefronts in the blocks nearby, make me feel part of an immigrant-pushing tidal wave that’s sweeping Korean and Latino business owners and residents alike.

While there are a lot of businesses left on this strip of Fifth Avenue it’s been undergoing a tremendous amount of upheaval the last couple of years.

There was a mugging yesterday in the South Slope on 15th Street above Seventh Avenue. An elderly man riding a bike was robbed of a chain by some people who got out of a car, pushed him over and robbed him. The incident took place around 10AM.–GL Inbox

If you’re in Coney Island you’ve got to stop by the Coney Island History Project (well, it’s a cool place to stop in any case) and see the exhibition that starts on August 2. It’s called “THE ASTROLAND ARCHIVES
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT: Back to the Future. It opens on Saturday (8/2) and runs through September 1. If the photos included with the email are any indication, there will be some cool stuff to look at. Per the email we got from Tricia Vita:

The Coney Island History Project presents an exhibit of images and ephemera from the earliest days of Astroland, Coney’s space-age amusement park. During the early 1960s the Albert family transformed a square block occupied by Feltman’s Restaurant, birthplace of the hot dog, into a futuristic amusement park that exists to this day. The exhibit honors the Albert Family’s four-decade commitment to Coney Island and includes the original plans of the park and photographs of the construction of the Astrotower, Mercury Capsule Skyride, Diving Bells, AstroRocket, Water Flume, Cyclone, Space Orbit and the Astroland Restaurant, formerly Feltman’s.

The history project is located on Surf Avenue, under the Cyclone. It is open from 1PM-6PM, Friday-Sunday.

The Public Place project has led to new concerns in Carroll Gardens. Yesterday, we got a flurry of emails from several people about asbestos removal work that’s been going on a 455 Smith Street, which is a huge warehouse that was quietly added to the Public Place project after a development team to build Gowanus Green was selected, doubling the size of the project. While there are many clean up issues to come as contaminated soil and coal tar are removed from the deeply polluted site, the new concerns are about asbestos removal. One email we got, from someone who is a member of the Community Board 6 Environment and Public Safety Committee said in part:

Demo work has starting at the Abody warehouse portion of the Public Place site. Last week they removed 125,000 square feet of asbestos contaminated roofing in the open air with no DOB permits and no community awareness. As a nearby resident with a small child I feel at risk! What is going on here?…The work is clearly visible from the subway platform, and the cutting and sawing if the hazardous materials are introducing micro particles into the air- exactly the concern when dealing with asbestos. It is of extreme concern that this work is being conducted adjacent to a children’s park in open air with no protection and no community awareness.

The writer also raised a broader community issue, asking, “If we cant trust that the custodians of the public place process are able to handle this small example of construction and remediation, how and why should we trust that the larger project would be appropriate for our community?” Apparently, there was no public notice of the big asbestos removal job other than notices taped to the door of the warehouse. The project is supposed to wrap up in early September.

A pic of the notice, ahead.

“A caffeine-driven Bay Ridge man has lost his grass-roots battle to keep his local Starbucks from shutting down. But latte-loving Andrew El-Khadi said he will keep fighting, despite the chain’s announcement that its Third Ave. outlet will soon be closing. Saving the cafe has become a passion for El-Khadi, who’s been passing out flyers and has started an online petition to keep the Starbucks open…Though the coffee titan is “humbled” by Khadi’s gesture, the decision to close the store is final, said a Starbucks spokesman.
Still, El-Khadi shouldn’t have a problem getting his daily fix; Bay Ridge alone has as many Starbucks – four – as the entire state of Vermont. “I’m screwed,” said El-Khadi.”–NYDN

Five of nine developments in Carroll Gardens questioned by the community after the “narrow streets” zoning change was enacted last week have been hit with Stop Work Orders by the Department of Buildings. (The photo above is of 360 Smith Street before work was halted.) This is because they are not complete enough to be “vested” under the former zoning that allowed more density and building height. Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman writes:

the department identified 9 sites that were affected by the new zoning text amendment. 5 of the 9 sites were not “vested” per the department’s inspection. To be “vested” means that at least 50% of the foundation of the new building was in place at the time of the inspection, which would grandfather the project under the old rules…The department has placed “Stop Work Orders” on these sites. The property owners/developers of these sites will now have the option of seeking relief from the new zoning text via the City’s Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA). The BSA has an Administrative Appeal process, which typically does not involve a public review at the community level, where they hear cases of hardship from owners/developers. Whether or not these individuals choose to go that route, or alter their buildings plans to bring their projects into conformance with the new zoning text, is up to them.

The list of developments with Stop Work Orders provided by DOB are 360 Smith Street, 338 President Street, 120 3rd Place, 16 4th Place and 126 1st Place

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

· Oops: Atlantic Yards EIS Ignored Noise, Disruptions Faced by Residents [AYR]
· Brooklyn Paper Says It Didn’t Ignore Busy Chef Scandal [Gothamist]
· More Marriages at the Happy Brooklyn City Clerk’s Office [NYDN]
· Be@Schermerhorn Website Fleshed Out [Brownstoner]
· Williamsburg Ist Gut. Ja. [Williamsburg is Dead]
· Great Moments in Aluminum Siding, Part XVII [New York Shitty]
· Accountable Development Working Group Meets Wednesday [BVIB]
· New Fat Cat Wines Making Me Lazy [ABL]
· DIY Beautification [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· Tax Breaks to Lead to More Filming in Dumbo [Dumbo NYC]
· Green Church Interior Being Removed? [Bay Ridge Journal]
· Illegal Brooklyn Heights Banana Stand Wins a Round [McBrooklyn]
· Architectural Historian Interviewed About Coney Island [Kinetic Carnival]