Yesterday, we had post from a Park Slope Parents member about the teens terrorizing people at the Sunset Park Pool (and follow up about the teen turd at the Red Hook Pool) by jumping over and over into the pool. Blogger Best View in Brooklyn, who often posts about the pool and all the activities there, tried to put the incident in perspective, noting that there are a lot of kids at the pool, including teens, and that stuff happens. Here’s a bit of what BVIB wrote:

Apparently, the sort of incident described has happened a few times (not just at the Sunset Pool) because the teens know that if one or two do running jumps into the pool (against the rules) they’ll be thrown out. If a large group does it together, no one person gets in trouble. Of course, then the whole pool get shut down and everyone’s fun is ended. However, some teens (like some adults!) couldn’t care less about other people’s fun or safety. In another recent incident, a few teens were thrown out of the pool and proceeded to throw glass bottles into the pool area from outside the fence; no regard for other pool goers safety or fun was clearly demonstrated. The best advice I can offer about the pools in general is to go early. The 11 AM – 3 PM session has far fewer problems than the late afternoon session. Also, I’ve heard from another parents that sticking close to the ramp area is “uncool” for the older kids, making it perfect for the littler ones.

In regards to towels being stolen, it stinks, and theft happens all the time. It’s why the rules keep us from bringing much of anything into the pool area (or the locker area, for that matter!). Even the highest cost gyms have plenty of folks who help themselves to other people’s stuff. May all towel thieves one day learn what it’s like to have soaking wet kids and no towel with which to dry them.

And there you have it, summer life at city pools. A GL operative, meanwhile, visited the very well-run Red Hook pool yesterday and reported it to be turd-free.

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

This is an AVP Volleyball Tournament pregame going on in Coney Island. The actual games start on Friday and run through Sunday. More info here. The pic comes from Rubys Host via our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool.

We’re a little late with this one, having posted it over at Curbed yesterday, nonetheless it’s a fun, short vid from Street Films about the Bastille Day celebration on Sunday on Smith Street.

[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack/Matlack Photography]

There are only a few community gardens left in Coney Island and they are threatened because the city is looking at the property for use as parking lots. Regular GL Contributor Deborah Matlack, whose photography is superb, has visited one of these gardens many times and is checking out the others for GL. This is the Surfside Garden. Ms. Matlack writes: “For the past several years, I have parked on West 29th Street and Surf Avenue whenever I go to the beach. I’ve gotten acquainted with the people at the Surfside Garden on that corner. I really feel for these folks who are very spiritual people with very little money, trying to save this wonderful garden from the greedy hands of the City/developer(s).” This garden was featured this year in a segment of A Walk Around the Blog, the excellent series produced by Brooklyn Independent Television that uses Brooklyn bloggers to report stories. In this case, Ben Nadler of Kinetic Carnival visited to the Surfside Garden and talked to some of the residents. We’ll have another garden tomorrow.

More shots of the Garden, right ahead.

[Photo courtesy of STG54/flickr]

The Philharmonic played Prospect Park on a night that escaped being marred by any storms. There was a large turnout for the annual show and it concluded with a small fireworks display. There were picnics, many families and, of course, the sounds of the Phil. STG54, who shot the photo above, has a full flickr set of the evening, which is totally worth checking out.

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

· Read this F, G & C Train Service Change Notice & Figure It Out [CityRoom]
· Cool Playground Opens in Brownsville [NYDN]
· Deconstructing a Sports Economist’s Brian Lehrer Appearance [AYR]
· Inside the Nu Hotel [Brownstoner]
· Sight with Crashing Fence Gets Rid of It Entirely [BVIB]
· This sad puppy needs a home [Bad Advice]
· 360 Van Brunt Getting a New Tenant: It’ll Be an Italian Restaurant [Lost City]
· 4th Annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival [Clinton Hill Chill]
· The Court Street Chocolate Room [ABL]
· Fresh Fruit on Atlantic Ave [Clinton Hill Blog]
· Mikey’s Hookup Coming to Front Street in Dumbo [Dumbo NYC]
· Last 2 Weeks for “Bridge as Icon” at Sunset Park Gallery [BVIB]

“Around 11 a.m. Monday, a bucket of wet cement fell from a scaffolding at 66 Court St. and crushed a Department of Environmental Protection vehicle. The roof was destroyed and the windows were shattered on the Toyota Prius. A pedestrian was taken away in an ambulance with an eye injury sustained from flying debris…In a scene that was eerily reminiscent of a similar incident from years ago when construction material fell onto a local lawyer, killing him on Court Street, pedestrians and passers-by were startled by the loud impact and the sound of shattered glass…”–Brooklyn Eagle

[Photo courtesy of Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

This is a photo of the Time’s Up Sunset Ride to Coney Island that took place over the weekend that was sent to us by Brit in Brooklyn blogger and valued GL Contributor (and all-around nice person) Adrian Kinloch. Check out a few more shots over at BIB.

The old Con Ed Powerhouse on Kent Avenue keeps coming down. It is being demolished by the utility and it is expected they will sell the cleared land to the highest bidder. Destructoporn photo gallery included.–Brownstoner

[Photo courtesy of jplpagan/GL Flickr Pool]

Rain has never looked as nice as it does in this photo put into our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool by jplpagan.

You may have already seen this over at Brooklyn Vegan and other music sites, but we figure it’s worth posting the schedule for Saturday’s Siren Festival in Coney Island. Full info about the fest here.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, the sky is very blue and the sun is very bright. Today’s forecast calls for it to be mostly sunny and warm with a high of 88. Tonight will be clear with a low of 70.–Accuweather

Here are a few works from a popular street are wall on N. 8 Street in Williamsburg near Driggs. The work on the left is a Third Eye and the one on the right is a Dain, whose work has been popping up everywhere.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

This interesting addition to our Street Couch Series collection comes from Miss Heather in Greenpoint.

And now, a selection of concert events from today through Wednesday, July 16:

Monday 7/14/08
Prospect Park: The New York Philharmonic will perform in the Long Meadow. Program includes Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K.125a, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and Sibelius’ Finlandia. Fireworks at the conclusion. Free.

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

Tuesday 7/15/08
Barbes: Jenny Scheinman (Violinist/Composer)- $10, 7:00pm

Wednesday 7/16/08
Music at The Bridge, Tobacco Warehouse (Zebulon): Stuart Bogie/Superhuman Happiness, Charles Gayle Trio, Colin Stetson, Sharon Van Etten (Funk/Jazz/Folk)-Free!! 6:30pm

“Around 1 PM on Sunday, the plywood and metal fencing surrounding the construction of the new Amalgamated Bank on 5th Avenue and 45th Street fell to the sidewalk. No one was willing to say if any pedestrians or workers had been hurt; everyone was very grumpy and sullen. For good reason, I’d say.”–Best View in Brooklyn

Here, from our Park Slope Parents inbox folder that’s kept full by recipients who send along the newsworthy and/or interesting ones, is an exchange about the Sunset Park and Red Hook Pools. We begin with this:

I went to the sunset park pool less than 2 weeks on a tuesday around 5pm and there was an organized incident where about 30 teenage boys started diving and jumping into the pool all at the same time, over and over. The life guards couldn’t control them and two minutes later, police came out and shut down the pool–everyone had to leave. Thank goodness i happened to be in the middle of the pool with my two children when it started. When we came out, two of our towels were stolen. Now i have a bad taste in my mouth over sunset.

The kids took a dump in the Red Hook Pool?

Yesterday the three-ton Giglio statue on Havemyer St. in Williamsburg traveled a block, round trip. Here’s part of the journey.

The Animation Block Party kicks off next Friday (7/25) at Rooftop Films. Here’s some info about it:

New York City’s largest exhibition of the world’s best independent, professional and student animation begins Friday, July 25th and ends Sunday July 27th !! The official film lineups for the jam-packed three day annual festival is available on the Animation Block Party website at www.animationblock.com. Opening night kicks off at Rooftop Films with ABP’s most fun and fan friendly cartoons, including an exclusive excerpt from an upcoming Sundance Channel web-series entitled “BREAKFAST”, which was produced via Animation Block in conjunction with 2005 festival alum, Bob Fox.

We received the whole schedule, which is way too long to reproduce, but for more info, click here.

[Photo courtesy of Dietrich/flickr]

The Giglio statue was carried back and forth on Havemeyer Street yesterday as part of the 121st annual Feast at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. The Giglio lifts (yesterday and next Sunday) draw very big crowds. There will also be a “night lift” on Wednesday.

Check out a few more Giglio pics, ahead.

On Friday, we posted a photo of the A&S Pork Store on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. We put it up because it was a GL Flickr Pool picture and just thought it was a cool image. What we’ve learned since then is that the A&S Park Store, which is the last surviving butcher shop in Park Slope, will be closing soon. The blogger who does Adventures of a Gal, which often touches on Brooklyn real estate issues, emailed us to say that the stores, which has been in the same location since 1942, is being “forced to move out due to a skyrocketing rent, they only have 3 months to find another place.” Another source reports that the same landlord’s rent increases just led the closure of Lucia next door as well. Per Adventures of a Gal:I spoke to the owners at A&S and it seems to be a family squabble gone awry and now the daughter of the former owner (still all family) is jacking their rent up b/c she knows she can get more money for that space and doesn’t care that the family business won’t be able to afford it. They have 3 months to find a new place and so far, can’t find anything in this area that they can afford.

More details may be forthcoming. A&S is said to be looking for another storefront in the Slope, but if they fail, the neighborhood will be butcher-free.

Addendum: The Slope’s other surviving butcher shop, Western Beef, on Fifth Avenue at Seventh Street, closed more than a month ago as originally reported by our friends at Brownstoner.

The Gold Era of No Alternate side Parking in Park has drawn to a close as alternate side regs are being imposed again as of today. Most stret have not only had the time needs for street cleaning cut from three hours to 90 minutes, but most familiar street cleaning times have been change. Check this for a guide to the new confusion. In the meantime, the Times revisits the Gold Age of Park Slope Parking today as well.

City Council Member Bill de Blasio picked up two important endorsements yesterday, from Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez and Yvette Clarke of his candidacy for Brooklyn Borough President. “Bill de Blasio has been a friend and ally for twenty years, and I am very proud to endorse him for Brooklyn Borough President today,” Rep. Velazquez said. “I have watched Bill as he fought tirelessly to provide quality education for our children and to keep our neighborhoods affordable. Bill truly understands the needs of my constituents and the needs of Brooklyn. Brooklyn needs a fighter like Bill de Blasio.” Rep. Clarke said: “Bill has worked tirelessly to expand access to child care, build affordable housing and create living wage jobs for Brooklyn residents. I am so proud to stand with him and give him my full support today.”

Mr. de Blasio has raised $621,891 during this election cycle, which creates a campaign chest of nealry $1 million with public matching fund.

The bitter feud between the two brothers fighting for spiritual control of Brooklyn’s Satmar community has spilled into the corridors of City Hall. Their battle centers on the fiscal-year 2009 budget. Through City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s discretionary fund, Brooklyn Councilmen David Yassky, Simcha Felder and Bill de Blasio dished out an unusually large sum to a new social-services group affiliated with Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, whose congregation is based in Rockland County’s Kiryas Joel community. Meanwhile, a rival organization tied to Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum in Williamsburg saw its funds slashed amid citywide budget cuts. Supporters of Zalman Teitelbaum are enraged that the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg received $150,000 less this year from the council – though it still managed to secure a hefty sum of $210,000 – as United Jewish Community Advocacy Relations and Enrichment (UJCARE), a six-month-old group affiliated with Aaron Teitelbaum, received $205,000.–NYP

We posted about the SEPTA car on Fourth Avenue next to the Lyceum in Park Slope on Friday. It’s an odd landmark that is currently being hacked up, but it could have been saved according to GL readers. On Friday, we had a sad photo of the car being ripped apart in preparation for a trip to the scrap yard. Earlier, Brownstoner had reported that a 10-story building was going on the property. There have been long standing reports of deep acrimony over development of the property. One GL reader noted, interestingly, that the SEPTA car was supposed to go to Lancaster, Pa to be put back in service rather than being cut up as scrap. Our reader writes: “This car was supposed to join its sisters in Lancaster PA for continued service. As seen in other Brownstoner posts earlier this month, the heated legal disputes between the parties involved appear to have cost 2739 its life. Similar situation to the eleven BNY trolleys that were scrapped by the city in 2005.” Another reader writes, generally, of refurbishment of such old cars and brings up the ones in Red Hook behind the Fairway:

Any number of trolley car museums would have taken this car for restoration and use as an operating attraction. The PCC cars, first developed in Brooklyn in the 1930’s by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (a division of the BMT Lines) trolley company, as a project to restore U. S. transit companies during the Depression, were the best streetcars ever designed in the history of electric rail transportation. They still serve in many U. S. and foreign cities (in modernized form), and are the prototype for the Light Rail Vehicles now being used on urban transit systems worldwide. It is a total disgrace that this former Philadelphia car, a city where similar rebuilt PCCs are operating today in revenue service, has been sent to the junkyard. Can the other cars over in Red Hook be saved? They were part of the Brooklyn Historic Railway project that folded a few years ago, and are sitting outside a warehouse on Van Brunt St.

We quite taken by the story, both because it represents the destruction of another quirky Brooklyn landmark, but because it could have clearly been saved if personal bitterness and the drive to develop hadn’t won the day.