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

· Guy Breaks Into Apartment, Leaves Wallet and Comes Back for It [NYP]
· Teen Dead, Two Wounded in Brownsville Shooting [amNY]
· Nets Making Roster Moves in Case Team is Sold? [AYR]
· Still Pretty “Mellow” at the Montague Street Pedestrian Piazza [McBrooklyn]
· Seba Avenue Skate Park Sucks [GerritsenBeach.Net]
· Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]
· Sunset Park Greenmarket [Best View in Brooklyn]
· Dick Zigun to Address “State of Coney Island” on Sunday [Kinetic Carnival]
· Welcome. Here’s Some Prospect Park Greatest Hits [A Year in the Park]
· Exactly Who Goes to Tripoli on Atlantic Ave.? [Lost City]
· Angel Street Thrift Shop Comes to Greenpoint [Greenpointers]
· A Rave for Cafe Tibet [Ditmas Park Blog]

[Photo courtesy of jplpagan/GL Flickr Pool]

Here’s a shot of yesterday’s Bastille Day activities (yes, a day early) on Smith Street, which included a Petanque-athon. McBrooklyn also has a post up about the event with nice pics.

Things on Williamsburg’s Southside continue to be interesting. Over the weekend, “a machete-wielding mob marching down a gritty Brooklyn street stabbed a pair of teenagers Saturday.” We’ll allow the Daily News to do the honors:

About 15 suspected gang members, wearing T-shirts over their faces, stormed down S. Third St. in Williamsburg around 2 a.m. brandishing 18-inch blades and yelling for their intended target to show himself, witnesses said. “People were screaming; they were saying, ‘We want Melvin!'” said one witness too afraid to give his name. But when they reached Melvin’s home, the gang couldn’t find him. So the rabid crew – who said they belonged to the Trinitarios gang – turned on two of Melvin’s friends. “They tried to defend themselves – they were getting killed!” said the witness.

One of the two unidentified victims was stabbed in the arm and the other was slashed in the back, witnesses said. They were taken to Woodhull Hospital and are expected to survive, police said. It was unclear whether the attack was linked to a shooting at the nearby Williamsburg Bridge Plaza bus terminal 90 minutes earlier. In that incident, an unidentified man was shot once in the stomach after two large groups clashed near the intersection of Roebling and S. Ninth Sts., witnesses said.

Meanwhile, the Post reports that residents are concerned about a “crime spree” and that felonious assaults were up 21 percent as of July 6, compared to the same time period in 2007. Last weekend, we came upon the aftermath of a shooting in roughly the same area.

[Image courtesy of Sail Brooklyn/GL Flickr Pool]

Here’s a shot of a sumer Saturday in Gowanus, with a concert at the Yard and some people watching from the Carroll Street Bridge. The image comes from Sail Brooklyn via our GL Photo Pool.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory early this morning we have clouds and showers. The forecast calls for “clouds yielding to some sun with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm; warm and humid.” The high will be 84. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of 70.–Accuweather

It’s over. As previously announced, alternate side parking regulations will return to Park Slope tomorrow, including a myriad of changes that are likely to drive many residents even more insane than not having have the regulations since May. (The DOT page on the changes is here.) As for the reaction from residents (some of whom have previously complained of it being harder to park with out the regs and of trash piling up), here’s a sample from a Park Slope Parents email:

I’m really upset about the new parking rules. We used to have to move the car 2 days a week and now it will be 3 days a week. On Fridays won’t have the ability to double park because it will only apply to PPW. Any chance we can all make a stink here and see if we can get back to 2 days? Car parkers unite!

We posted a guide to the new regs and days, street-by-street, which can be found here.

We haven’t had a Sunday Brooklyn Missed Connection related to flatulence in a long time. Today’s concerns that always interesting event one might call Fartus G Trainus. Here it is, short, uh, sweet and to the fragrant point:

you smelt it and RAN… – m4w – 23 (Gtrain 8am)

i sat across from you this morning playing on my crackberry and you started to cover your nose…then bolted to the other end of the car as the smell enveloped the area…i was going to ask if that was you…:)

So, who cut the G Cheese?

“Newtown Creek, the polluted estuary that separates Queens and Brooklyn, should be named a federal Superfund site, a move that could hasten long-stuttering cleanup efforts, a pair of New York lawmakers say. Representatives Anthony D. Weiner and Nydia M. Velázquez, whose Congressional districts include the contaminated area, are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to test the area for inclusion in the Superfund program. If the tests turn up a significant level of chemicals and other hazardous waste, the site could be eligible for millions of dollars in federal assistance. A Superfund designation would also allow the agency to go after the companies responsible for the contamination.”–NYT

This news about Lonelyville, the cool cafe on Prospect Park Southwest comes from Brooklynometry, a blog we like a lot. The Windsor Terrace cafe, it turns out, is being sold (which may or may not mean the space will have another cafe). Here’s Brooklynometry’s report, in part:

…It’s a gem adored by the neighborhood for all of the features that make is especially especial: the beautiful garden in back, the coffee, cupcakes, sandwiches, beer, wine, and don’t forget, unsalted popcorn for the ducks in Prospect Lake. They have adirondack chairs and a dog water bowl in front. There’s penny candy in antique jars and a collection of thermoses so commanding it has to be viewed as art. After 2 years of business it’s up, running, wonderful, and self-sustaining but the owners need to simplify their lives and hope someone will take it on…If you haven’t visited, go soon, if only to appreciate the thermos collection. I wonder if that will be included in the sale.

Sad news given the shortage of such places in that part of the neighborhood.

One of our favorite blogs, which we link to nearly every day, gets a long article in the Times today. It’s A Year in the Park, produced by Brenda Becker, which has been doing entertaining and informative coverage of Prospect Park since the beginning of the year. “More than 150 witty, engaging and informative postings (with photographs) have followed. And even though Ms. Becker has not completely fulfilled her vow to visit the park every day, her many visits have provided ample opportunity for foraging from one corner to the next, discovering much of its natural bounty as well as many of its man-made secrets.”–NYT

[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack]

We do love our Brooklyn flora and this flat rose from the Cranford Rose Garden captured on a rainy day by GL Contributor Deborah Matlack is gorgeous, just like the rose garden itself.

There are two folk dance workshops on Dances from the Arab World coming up this month, with the first taking place today from 2-6PM at the Bay Ridge Arab American Bazaar, at Shore Road Park, (79th and Shore Road). The second will happen on Sunday, July 20th from 2PM-6PM at the Arab American Heritage Park Festival at Prospect Park. Per an email:

BAC Folk Arts is pleased to cooperate with Arab American Association of New York and Yallah Youth of Arts, participating organizations in New York’s city-wide Arab American Heritage Week. Folk Feet dance workshops are held in conjunction with two Brooklyn festivals: Bay Ridge Arab American Bazaar and Arab American Heritage Park Festival.

More info by clicking here.

[Photo courtesy of jplpagan/GL Flickr Pool]

Here is some Brooklyn flora from Red Hook courtesy of frequent GL Flickr Pool contributor jplpagan. For a previous Red Hook scene, click here.

Here are a few vids of the Feist show a Celebrate Brooklyn the other day and of Cold War Kids recently.

This is how the big stuffed toys play in Sunset Park. Blogger Best View in Brooklyn, who contributed this pic via our GL Flickr Pool, calls it “Naughty, Naughty Monsters.”

Here’s an evocative shot of a gnarled old tree that has been around long enough to be able to tell some stories if it could. The pic comes from local artist and GL Contributor Gary Mirabelle.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory you can sense the return of some serious humidity. Today’s forecast calls for it to be sunny to partly cloudy and humid. The high will be 85. Tonight will be “mainly cloudy and humid; a shower or heavy thunderstorm in the area late.” The low will be 69.–Accuweather

The creation of a Prospect Heights Historic District is making progress. The Landmarks Preservation Commission will “calendar” the district this Tuesday (7/15), which is the first step in formally creating it. This would lead to a public hearing and a vote on the District on October 28. Per a release from the Municipal Art Soceity, which teamed with the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation to push for the district, the Chair of the PHNDC says: “The Landmarks Commission has obviously recognized the threat posed to the character of one of Brooklyn’s most well-preserved brownstone neighborhoods. The pressure from the Atlantic Yards project and other recent developments are of grave concern to the hundreds of local residents who have written in support of historic designation for Prospect Heights.”

Here’s a complaint about the Siege of the Kohl’s Fliers in Park Slope from our well supplied Park Slope Parents email bag:

Every week, walking around in this neighborhood, I pass hundreds of bundles of fliers in the Kohl’s bag. It’s pretty appalling to me that as many of us are trying to cut down on our waste and consumption, that this fat pack of fliers goes out every week to every address like
clockwork. It’s literally truckloads of paper and plastic every week. I’ve called the distribution company several times asking them not to deliver to my house. I’ve called 311. I’ve called Kohl’s. I’ve called Newsday. And yet every week — there it is. The main publication in the bundle is the Newsday Marketeer, put out by the Star Community Publishing Group. Apparently they send out over 2.6 million of these things every week across the NYC and LI regions. WHAT THE #$@-? Is anyone else upset by this? Please register a complaint about this! Here’s a link to Bloomberg’s email. Please also call the distribution company and ask them to stop delivering to your address (or neighborhood!): 1-800-376-6222. If enough of us call, maybe they will listen. I realize I’m getting a little obsessed, but it just galls me to have so much waste repeatedly dumped into my front yard as I’m inside changing my lightbulbs and reusing my plastic bags…

The interesting thing about the Kohls Flier Fest is that the closest Kohl’s is kind of in Bath Beach on Bay Parkway and we’re wondering how many Slopers are making the trip, fliers or not. The Park Slope Civic Council has a full list of where one can pick up No Fliers signs that they created, which are quite popular around the Slope these days. Other neighborhoods have their own versions too.

Here’s where you can get some of those

This week’s pet is from the wonderful Sean Casey Animal Rescue shelter in Kensington. They do wonderful work and have an abundance of great animals that need loving homes:

Here is Butta Bean’s story:

Butta Bean is a five year old American Bulldog mix. She survived in the City Pound for 51 days because the staff kept hiding her. She is a strong girl and will need a strong loving person to be hers. She is exceptionally sweet and submission to people, but will need to work on her manners. Petfiner: 4625720

Sean Casey Animal Rescue is located at 155 East 3rd Street in Kensington. Their number is 718.436.5163. Check them out. Last week’s Adoptable Cutie, Curious, was adopted the day we posted him!!!

Beach Volleyball season starts today in Coney Island in terms of competitive tournaments. There’s action today and tomorrow through 6PM. This weekend is the Parks Department’s Citywide Beach Volleyball Tournament. (More info by clicking here.) Next weekend is the AVP Crocs Tour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. More info about the latter, including tickets, here.

Yesterday morning, we first reported, based on a Brooklynian post (which deserves full credit for spreading the news), that Mediterra had closed and that a place called Corner Burger is opening. Several readers updated the info to note that the new place is owned by the same people that ran Mediterra and that they’re just undergoing a Cuisine Change Operation. We’re not certain if this modifies the Death Corner Designation or not, but we do wish the owners well with their relaunch.

These kitties, who have been named the Flatbush Five come with a sweet story and there’s a full photoset of them here. Apparently, they were rescued from a dangerous spot. Lisacat, who does heartwarming and beautiful work find homes for hundreds of creatures, writes:

Celia is a nursing stray cat from Flatbush. Her 5 kittens got stuck down in a very awkward and dangerous space. Though still young and tame-able, these little guys were skittish and fearful and elusive to say the least! The Mayor’s Alliance called PJ, of the Empty Cages Collective , and asked him see if he could get them to safety. First three, then this cutie, and finally today the last one, #5!

You can reach the Empty Cages Collective at emptycagescollective (at) gmail (dot) com.

“A pair of kayakers who paddled too close to the New York City Waterfalls installation under the Brooklyn Bridge nearly drowned when swift currents and the falls’ suction mechanism capsized their boat, police said. ‘I wanted to get a closer look at the waterfalls, and then it sucked us in,’ said Vladimer Spector, 37, one of the two men plucked from the East River by the NYPD Harbor Patrol. He and Bert Rosenblatt, 36, were part of a group of real estate developers who left Red Hook for a tour of the falls with the nonprofit Long Island City Community Boathouse. As they approached the waterfall, they started to lose control of their boat, police said.”–NYDN

Yes, Fourth of July is just a memory, but here a fun vid just posted to the YouTube of a little celebration on Coney Island Avenue.