“Coney Island’s cheap, sure, but keeping it around ain’t. That’s why multitudes of tireless seaside talent—mermaids, roller girls, and so on—will be swallowing swords, spinning from ropes, and generally raising hell next Wednesday at the Coney Island USA Spring Gala, at the Angel Orensanz Center….”–Runnin Scared

On the left is a little something from Faux Reel. We believe the right hand dance is FKDL. They’re on N. 6 on a fence around the site of the former Faile Wall.

There’s a community meeting coming up on May 29 about the city’s contentious plans to expand and reopen the Brooklyn House of Detention. It will take place at 7PM at the Belarusian Church on the corner of Atlantic Avenue & Bond Street. Here’s a bit from the House of Detention Stakeholders group that’s sponsoring the meeting:

More vision, less prison! The Brooklyn House of Detention Stakeholders invite the community to attend an open forum to discuss the future of the Brooklyn Jail. The Department of Corrections and the City of New York want to reopen the jail and double the inmate population at the gateway to Brooklyn, shutting out all community involvement in the process. There ARE options. Join us to learn what else can be done on the site that will serve both justice and the community!

The group includes 53 Boerum Place Board of Managers, Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, Atlantic Avenue LDC, Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Vision Foundation, Cobble Hill Association and State Street Houses Association. The group’s website, which has a great deal of information about the issue, is here.

“The former Galapagos space in Williamsburg is being taken over by some new folks. There was also talk that the venue’s fresh blood was going to call it “Natural Selection,” which, as it turns out, is not the case. “That name was just sort of a joke,” says Matt Roff, who is also one of the people who runs the show at Southpaw and Franklin Park.” And so, there’s a naming contest.–Brownstoner

[Photo courtesy of F. Jasmin Adams]

Our Carroll Gardens Correspondent went out of territory today and returned with this image from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden of bird and folliage: “The fleck of red is a Scarlet Tanager seen in the Native Flora Garden, today”.

There’s a reading from the Brooklyn Was Mine collection of writing tonight at 7:30PM at Greenpoint’s wonderful WORD bookstore at 126 Franklin Street. Contributors including Philip Dray, Rachel Cline and Joanna Hershon read and sign books at Greenpoint’s WORD. Proceeds from the sale of Brooklyn Was Mine go to support Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. More about the book here in a post we did when it was published.

More upcoming events at WORD listed here.

The view from the Brooklyn Weather Observatory this morning is one that we hope will improve. The forecast calls for it to be partly sunny with “a shower in the area.” The high will be 72. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low of 56. Tomorrow = rain.

[Photo courtesy of geminicollisionworks/flickr]

This is an older photo (meaning March) dropped into the GL Photo Pool, but we like it for the atmospheric quality of pre-spring fog.

The Brooklyn Public Library weighs in on the internet porn issue with a post on its own blog today. Here’s what they have to say as a follow up to a number of posts quoting what some residents have been saying about the issue:

…since we’ve been a topic of discussion over the past few days, we wanted to address recent postings about porn in the library. Brooklyn Public Library is a community space not just for one group of people but for all. Not just a place to get books but a safe haven for the exchange of opinions and ideas. While some topics and content may be unpopular it is our job not to judge, just to provide.

Read the rest by clicking here.

Will Bushwick Inlet Park, the 28-acre park planned for land north of East River State Park in Williamsburg & Greenpoint around the Bushwick Inlet, happen? Putting the land together for the park and securing all the funding is a complicated issue. GWAPP (Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning) has been working to do some community advocacy and will be having the first meeting tonight of a group tentatively called Friends of BIP. The park was one of the major promises to the community that accompanied the major Williamsburg-Greenpoint rezoning with the waterfront open space being one of the trades for buildings up to 40 stories tall along Kent Avenue. The city is working on Phase I of the park, but has not acquired property for the rest of it. We talked recently with Evan Thies, who is running for David Yassky’s seat on the City Council and is a member of Community Board 1. Mr. Thies argues that the Bloomberg Administration “has completely reneged on the community-based promises it made in the rezoning.” Many involved affordable housing that hasn’t been built, but one of the projects that has lagged, and that could be threatened by a change in administration is Bushwick Inlet Park. Two of the biggest parcels of land are privately held–one by an owner willing to work with the city and the other held by TransGas, which has been waging an unsuccessful campaign to build a power plant. There is also land on the north side of the inlet whose fate is far from settled. Mr. Thies said the city “isn’t having the conversations yet” with the landowners. (He favors taking the TransGas property by eminent domain.) “The rezone was in 2005,” he said. “It is getting really late in the Bloomberg Adminstration to start some of the projects.”

One of the strategies that park advocates are pushing in North Brooklyn is to get money spent on starting park projects so that they will be too far along for a Bloomberg successor who might oppose them to stop. The Friends of BIP group meets tonight at The Gutter Bar, which is lcoated at 200 N. 14 Street, at 7PM.

Every now and then an online back-and-forth comes up that is compelling. So it is with the Library Porn Debate, which started with the subject of children seeing some adult images that adults were viewing online at the Pacific Branch Library in Boerum Hill. The public library does not filter adult content on First Amendment grounds, but the subject has lit up the Park Slope Parents list for days, producing a lot of forwarded emails in our GL Inbox. We’re going to go back to it again for those that haven’t tired of it yet, as we find the debate quite interesting. Here’s another view on the topic:

I’ve stood at the check-out line at 9th St. (Park Slope) branch library, from which the adult section computer monitors are easily viewed. And I’ve certainly seen people surfing sites that would, under most classifications, be called “hard-core”. We’re not talking about a glimpse of a nekkid lady or the nudie magazines you see at the deli. We’re talking moving images of multiple partners, positions, extreme close-ups, and . . . er . . . props.

The First Amendment reinterpreted, and more, ahead.

Yesterday Brooklyn Based ran a round up of organized open paddles and boat rides on the Brooklyn waterfront (and Prospect Park), but we ran out of room to mention anything about sailing, because it’s not something you just get out on the water and “do” — there’s all that lingo to learn (jib, keel, leeward), and all those sails to figure out… But if you’ve ever wanted to sail, the Sebago Canoe Club in Canarsie offers its members classes June 28 and 29. Details are on Sail Brooklyn, which also tipped us off to the fact that the only time non-members can sail in Jamaica Bay with the SCC is during their open house May 24th.

But another hidden perk of membership is the club’s Depression-era cabin at Lake Sebago at Harriman Park near Bear Mountain (home of the original SCC), which is open to members who want to spend the night there and perfect their paddling. There are tiny fees and fine print (listed here) but it’s still a cheap upstate getaway.
—Nicole Davis

We were expecting major fireworks at tonight’s Community Board 6 meeting regarding the liquor license of that Park Slope nightspot called Union Hall, but it could turn out to be even more contentious than last week’s committee meeting on the topic. Supporters of the venue are trying to rally the troops sending out JPEGs of signs that can be printed and urging a big turnout. Here’s some of the email, which says the decision “could change Brooklyn nightlife as we know it.”:

Community Board 6’s advisory board lead by Lou Sones (the owner of Brazen Head) is taking action against Union Hall of Park Slope. They are recommending the removal of their liquor license based on a group of about 5 people from Union street, with no facts generated to prove any violations. I repeat… THEY ARE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY UNION HALL’S LIQUOR LICENSE WITHOUT A SINGLE VIOLATION! If this is allowed it could set a chain-reaction through the night life scene. If they can deny the renewal of a liquor license for an establishment with no violations they will be able to close down anyone they like.

The meeting is at Brooklyn Borough Hall and starts at 6:30PM.

We recall an uptick in stories of around this time two year ago about gangs of teens robbing and/or terrorizing people in Prospect Park. We’re hoping it’s an isolated incident, but someone posted a very unsettling account in the Park Slope Forum on Brooklynian about an attack in the park yesterday by a large group of teens that involved a beating, but no robbery:

short version: guy was beaten but not robbed by large group of teens in the park during the day on the road.

long version: Around 3:30 this afternoon while walking my dog on the footpaths over near the zoo in the park, I heard tons of laughter and yelling up on the paved road that goes through the park. As we got to the road I saw about 20 teens making the noise. There was one guy on the ground being kicked and punched. A lot. As I walked up they were “finishing” and running off, still tons of laughter. No apparent mugging or attempt thereof (and the guy had a bag and phone, at least).

Click here for the rest of the disgusting details.

Julie & Julia has been shooting in Park Slope this week. The film involves a woman who tries cooking all of the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One in a year. The film is using Cafe Moutarde as a stand in for a cafe in Paris in the 1950s. Ironcially, Cafe Moutarde itself, while having quite the retro look, is only a few years old. Blogger Velvet Sea, who has a report on the filming and who shot the photo that we thumbnail to the right, reports Meryl Streep sightings on the set. Ms. Streep plays Julia Child, which we are certain will be a fascinating performance.

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A proposed Park Slope charter school, which was turned down the first time around, has gotten the okay to open in the 2009-2010 school year. It would be a middle school and serve neighborhoods including Park Slope, Gowanus, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, Red Hook, Cobble Hill and parts of Downtown Brooklyn.–Sun

The 110 Amity Street proposal in Cobble Hill, which had been dubbed the “Horror” by critics, is coming back after going back to the drawing board for what was said to be a serious rethinking. The developer and architects will be making a presentation to the community on Monday, May 19 from 7PM-9PM at Long Island College Hospital, Conference Room C, on Hicks Street. The new Cobble Hill Association Blog says: “This will be the developer’s second attempt to win us over. Let’s hope he has learned from his experience.” The original proposal was withdrawn after getting heavy criticism in the community and failing to win friends on the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

[Photo courtesy of F. Jasmin Adams]

Who says that Park Slope is the stroller capital of Brooklyn? Well, statistical analysis might reveal more Maclarens per capita than elsewhere, but there are other neighborhoods that can give the Slope a serious run for its money in terms of stroller jams. Our Carroll Gardens Correspondent captured this little scene outside the Tea Lounge on Court Street in Cobble Hill yesterday. We think a survey is in order to determine if the Park Slope Tea Lounges have more strollers parked outside at midday than the Cobble Hill one, or is there an unknown neighborhood champion out there?

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

· Boy Hit by Car in Bed-Stuy in Critical Condition [NYP]
· Little Boy Hit By Car in Bed-Stuy [NYT]
· The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate [NYO]
· About the NYO’s 100 Most Powerful People in NY Real Estate [AYR]
· Windsor Terrace Project Defying Stop Work Order? [Brownstoner]
· Burg’s Broadway Gets Bike Lanes & Beauty [Curbed]
· Coney Vid: Sideshow School [Kinetic Carnival]
· Shop Bed-Stuy [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· Meet Your Neighbors, Part IV [Bed-Stuy Blog]
· Ghosts [Brooklynometry]
· BKLYN Designs 08 Photo Recap [Dumbo NYC]
· Edgy Moms Reading Tomorrow at Montauk Club [OTBKB]
· If You Haven’t Heard Yet: Real World to Brooklyn [MTV Newsroom]

Here’s a segment of Brooklyn Independent Television’s Brooklyn Review that aired on Monday night that takes a look at how blogs are having an impact on development in Brooklyn. The full show will air again on Thursday (5/15) at 1pm & 9pm and on Friday at 3pm & 11pm. If you haven’t seen the show, it’s always interesting.

Here’s a fun weekend event that combines several things: art, a local Brooklyn brew and a Gowanus artists work space. It’s “A Night of Brooklyn Art and Beer–Free Beer Tasting and Opening Reception for a Unique Installation by the Gowanus Studio Space at Kelso’s of Brooklyn’s 5000 Square Foot Brewing Space.” The event takes place on Friday (5/16) from 6PM-10PM and the art is only on view on Friday and Saturday. Kelso of Brooklyn is located at 529 Waverly Avenue, which is between Atlantic and Fulton. Curated by the Gowanus Studio Space, the show features installations by Rose Nestler, Ben Cohen, Tom Watson, Emily Elsen, Wennie Huang and Kate Elliot.

We have a hard time believing that a couch as perfect as this wasn’t placed beneath the BQE deliberately as a kind of street art statement, but there’s always a chance that it was dumped there. In any case, it comes to us via the camera of Miss Heather who has a knack for finding the best ones that North Brooklyn has to offer.

The chances to see Richard Nixon street art are few and far between, so this Tricky Dick from Williamsburg is appreciated. It’s been up for a while and acquired some things like the roach on the forehead along the way.

A reader writes with a reminder that the Community Board 6 General Board Meeting is taking place tonight (5/14) at 6:30 PM. It will be held at Borough Hall, which is located at 209 Joralemon Street.–GL Inbox