We’ve been featuring a lot of busted up and stripped bike, but we found this beauty parked on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope of all places and felt compelled to feature it.

Pedal Boat season on the lake in Prospect Park is almost upon us. The start of the season is Sunday, May 4, and pedal boats can be had from 12 Noon-6PM from Thursday through Sunday and on holidays. The rental location is the Wollman Rink and the cost is $15 (plus tax) for a one-hour rental. Also, there’s a $10 refundable deposit. Per our email: “Cruise Brooklyn’s only freshwater Lake in a pedal boat – it’s so much fun, you won’t even notice you’re getting exercise! Rentals at Wollman Rink, near the Parkside and Ocean Ave. entrance. Free parking. Pedal Boat season runs through mid-October.”

UPDATE: Because of the spectacularly nice weather, the Pedal Boats have started early. They’re now open!!!

From Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg. The JFK on the door is a Dain and we’ve have done a closeup but the scene in its entirety with the furniture on sale is just so nice.

Meet 36 Otsego Street in Red Hook . The 1,600 square foot house started out on the marking in January at $1.2M. Then it was cut to $995K a couple of week later. Now, it’s gotten another buzz cut to $850,000. To recap: a $350,000 reduction.–Brownstoner

Last week, we had a special sneak preview of the Center for the Urban Enviornment‘s cool new Gowanus headquarters. The public grand opening takes place on Saturday, May 10 from 11:30AM-4PM. Per an email:

The Center for the Urban Environment opens the doors to its new green building with hands-on fun for the entire family. Participants can tour their amazingly green facility, create green building models, view a neighborhood puppet theatre, join a walking tour of the Gowanus, hear live music from blue grass funk band “Astrograss” and watch a special screening of Twilight Becomes Night. Bring all items to recycle: CDs, pagers, PDAs, plastics, clothes, cell phones and the like and find out how you can be a part of Brooklyn’s green movement.

The location is 168 7th Street, which is between Second and Third Avenues.

Spring is also springing, of course, in McCarren Park allowing for the interesting juxtaposition of blossoms and Karl Fischer Row. The background, in this case, is 20 Bayard.

This lovely scene, of course, comes from Prospect Park on a gorgeous evening in spring as things turn green and blossoms are still on many trees.

The view from the Brooklyn Weather Observatory was featuring a very pinkish sun coming through clouds a few moments, which is a lead in to a day that is going to be sunny and very warm with a high reaching 80. Tonight will be clear with a low of 56. Did we mention, 80 degrees?–Accuweather

This collection comes from Greenpoint and we will let Miss Heather explain: “This melange of discarded furniture is located in front of Ladder 106 on Greenpoint Avenue right off McGuinness Boulevard. This is arguably one of the noisiest–and when the wind is just right–smelliest sections of the Garden Spot. The magazine rack is a nice touch.” We can vouch for the crappy smell from the sewage plant.

The Robert Scarano building on Bond Street, which we last heard from when a guard dog got loose and mauled a dog being walked, has gotten a name: Satori. It will be marketed by the Developer’s Group. The building has had an interesting history, starting with the demolition of an historic carriage house and continuing through more than three dozen complaints, Stop Work Orders and a construction process that has carried on more than three years. We nicknamed it “The Bunker” early on because the small windows on the Bond Street side reminded us of big gun placements. Little did we know that The Bunker would go on the market as Satori. About 2.5 seconds after getting this photo from a reader, we hit up Google to find out what the hell “satori” means. (Our first guess was “dog bite” followed by “tiny windows.” Sadly, we had forgotten the Bauhaus song, Satori.) Per Merriam-Webster, “satori” means: “Sudden enlightenment and a state of consciousness attained by intuitive illumination representing the spiritual goal of Zen Buddhism.” Therefore, we now have the attained the ability to say “enlightment,” “Zen Buddhism” and “Robert Scarano” all in the same sentence. Wikipedia explains further: “Satori is the raison d’être of Zen, without which Zen is no Zen. Therefore every contrivance, disciplinary and doctrinal, is directed towards satori.” Or, you know, selling condos in Gowanus. We heard a rumor that they really meant to name the building “Sayonara,” but that the sign maker was hard of hearing and feeling very Zen, so it ended up as “Satori.” We can say this rumor is untrue, however.

Sudden enlightenment. Truly.

This is the plan for Sponge Park. We pulled out the image above to allow a better view because it contains some interesting elements. Of note, is the part of the park envisioned to surround the old power plant near the canal. This is property that was proposed as Gowanus Village by developer Shaya Boymelgreen that is now back on the market for $20 million. The plan includes creation of new water features around the plant. The area above the plant (photo of the building, below) was once a turning basin for the canal that was filled in with unknown material.

Here are renderings of Sponge Park, which was presented by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy this week. The design comes from dlandstudio and is of a park that “would be aesthetically beautiful while working to reduce the problem of contaminated water flowing into the Gowanus Canal. The plan proposes a continuous esplanade running the length of the canal (and extending into the neighborhood at certain points) and designs for the publicly-owned street ends and bridge crossings that would connect to this walkway.” While the Gowanus plan will like mandate an esplanade along the canal, it will likely leave creation of the amenity up to individual developers as their properties are developed, as is the case in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Much of the property that Sponge Park would traverse is privately-held and some aspects of the plan–like the restored power plant–run counter to developers plans for property. (The land on which the power plant sits is on the market right now for $20 million.) All that aside, the renderings show a Gowanus future that is pretty darned nice.

The park at the end of Sackett Street.

Sponge Park from Third Street. Whole Foods would be on the left; property owned by Verizon is on the right.

A view of Sponge Park from the Third Street Bridge.

So, now that Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster has resigned, will the Department of Buildings do its job any more effectively or efficiently? Actually, it’s highly unlikely without systemic reform. Ms. Lancaster had become a lightening rod for criticism in the wake of the hideous crane collapse in Manhattan last month and the Department had been under more scrutiny than usual. But the issues that have led to 13 worker deaths so far this year and the worst construction accident in New York history are deep, systematic ones that will not be solved by Ms. Lancaster’s departure. In fact, some of them may get a lot worse as DOB goes through a bureaucratic shuffle.

On Monday, Mayor Bloomberg said “”I don’t think anybody should be fully satisfied with the Department of Buildings’ performance.” The statement was disingenuous at best and self-servingly cynical at worst. The construction boom and DOB’s laissez faire attitude have happened under Mr. Bloomberg’s watch and the placement of the agency under former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff’s purview for most of his administration symbolized the back seat that regulating building took to encouraging development. The city’s worst kept secret for much of the last six years has been the fact that DOB was expected not to interfere in major ways with development. If this meant looking the other way while safety, work hour and other regulations were violated with impunity, well, that was a small price for one of the biggest building booms in New York history.

All that having been said, Ms. Lancaster had made positive changes in an agency that suffered bureaucratic dry rot at the hands of the Giuliani Administration. The much-abused system of self-certification of plans was not invented by Ms. Lancaster, nor was a culture of corruption or a horrific lack of resources that continues. It is impossible to talk about DOB’s performance while not addressing the budgetary issues that have hobbled it. Even when DOB does try to do its job, it is outgunned and overwhelmed at every turn. If the FDNY was as dysfunctional as DOB and if the Mayor had turned a blind eye to it for nearly two full terms, most citizens would be screaming for his head on a platter. Yet, it is one of the most vital city agencies in terms of protecting public safety and quality of life.

We have said many times, both before and after the crane collapse, that the Department of Buildings is in need of a top-to-bottom overhaul. (Check out our post-crane collapse post on 12 Ways to Fix DOB for a few rough thoughts.) It is starved for resources. There is still blatant corruption. Its lack of responsiveness to citizen complaints in a timely way makes it relatively Kafkaesque to watch. As critical as we have been of Ms. Lancaster–as we believe that the person in charge should take responsibility if an inspector looks the other way while a developer ruins someone’s home–we feel that it is too simple and too easy to believe that things will now get better. There is a chance they will get much worse. Unless, of course, in the aftermath of the construction bloodbath taking place in 2008, the Mayor becomes truly committed to deep institutional reform at DOB.

It’s important to keep more cranes from taking out city blocks, but it’s just as important to keep entire Brooklyn neighborhoods from turning into free-for-all construction battle zones. Top to bottom reform is the only solution for the Department of Buildings.

Well, the space that was once occupied by D’Agostino’s and Gothic Cabinet Craft on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope is now two-thirds occupied. The biggest part of the space will be taken by Bank of America. Yesterday, we noted that Five Guys Burger chain is moving into the space, as well. A look inside and at the sign indicates the available space is being divvied up and that 2,200 square feet of the original 4,500 are still on the market.

Have some clothes you need to get rid of and, perhaps, turn into lunch money? Here’s a short guide to place that can help you with that, you known until the Economic Stimulus Check arrives in the mail.–Brooklyn Based

We mentioned on Monday that Thai Tony’s had opened in the South Slope between 15th Street and 16th Street on Seventh Avenue. We were wrong. So, we swung past and found it decorated with grand opening banners. It’s the tiny former Brawta space, meaning that there are only a couple of seats unlike the one on Fort Hamilton Parkway in Kensington, so it will be doing a mainly carry out and delivery business. There’s a full basic menu of Thai dishes.

As it turns out, the photo of the Red Hook parrots that a reader kindly passed along to us this week has a back story. These aren’t the first parrots that have staked out real estate in the Hook. Our most knowledgeable Red Hook sources writes, “They were there a few years ago with a massive nest filling almost that whole rack. Nest was removed. Maybe more than once.” We can only think of one entity that might climb all the way to top of very tall light poles in a park to take down parrot nests.–GL Inbox

We thought that the perennial shit show at 33 Roebling Street was done when a serious metal fence took the place of the wretched wooden crap that had been falling over every time a car went up N. 10 Street at more than 15 MPH. We were wrong. The expensive metal one does no good when it’s left open. Oops. In defense of 33 Roebling, however, it’s nothing compared to the death trap next door.

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

Lancaster Resignation:

• Buildings Chief Resigns as Outcry Grows [NYT]
• Buildings Boss Booted [NYP]
• Lancaster Resigns After Wave of Accidents [NYDN]
• Lancaster Resignation is a Travesty [Sun]
• Buildings Commissioner Pays Price for Deaths [Metro]
• Lancaster Out at DOB [Brooklyn Streets]
• Bulletin: It Happened!! [Lost City]
• Hard Hat Hannah for Buildings Commish [New York Shitty]

Everything Else:

• How About a Domino Sugar Burg Hotel? [Brownstoner]
• Can the Nets Really Afford to Move to Brooklyn? [Bergen Record]
• Ratner Test Marketing Atlantic Yards at 80 DeKalb [AYR]
• Corrections Officer Fatally Shot in Possible Brooklyn Robbery [NYT]
• Another Nightclub Ingratiates Itself [New York Shitty]
• Latest Images from Brooklyn College Dorm Site [Brooklyn Junction]
• Meet Your Neighbors [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Details on the Brooklyn Peace Fair [Brooklynometry]
• Gowanus Yacht Club Special [Eater]
• Coney USA Spring Gala Coming [Kinetic Carnival]

There’s an interesting sounding meeting that’s being put together in Gowanus on May 7. It will take place on Second Street at the Gowanus Canal from 6:30PM-8:30PM. Per an email that’s been posted by Tom Gray from Council Member Bill de Blasio’s office:

I would like to invite you to be involved in an open discussion with professionals from various New York State and City agencies. The event will focus on the Gownaus Canal corridor that is outlined in the framework developed by the Department of City Planning and the future development of the Public Place site.

Topics can range from transportation, combined sewer overflow, traffic, schools and affordable housing and more. The event will also feature canoe rides by the Gowanus Dredgers…Groups Invited: Department Of Transportation, Metropolitan Transit Authority, Department of Environmental Protection, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Education, Department of City Planning, Department of Buildings, NYPD, FDNY and NYC Park and Recreation.

Definitely a more interesting location than the standard meeting spots in school auditoriums.

Check out this photo record of a day’s travel from Sheepshead Bay through Coney Island via subway to Bay Ridge. There are photo galore and they say something.–Erica’s Blog

So, if you have a bunch of stuff that needs to be shredded and no shredder, you might be interested in Shred Fest NYC. It’s happening on Sunday (4/27)from 10AM-4PM at J.J. Byrne Park, which is on 5th Avenue at 4th Street. Here’s some of the email we got about it:

Nine million Americans had their identities stolen recently. Be proactive and protect your identity by taking part in the City’s first-ever Shred Fest…Start collecting old papers now that contain personal identifying information and safely shred them for FREE. What Should You Shred? Shred papers you no longer need to save and might normally recycle that contain personal information, such as your Social Security Number, account numbers, password/PIN information, birth date, private contact information and signature.

Shred Fest!

Just another beautiful spring evening in Windsor Terrace. This shot comes from the far end of Prospect Park West.

There will be a seminar on predatory lending tonight. It takes place at 7PM at Boricua College, which is located at 186 N. 6th Street in Williamsburg. It’s described as a “Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Predatory Lending and Mortgage Foreclosure.” It will include Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, Assem. Joe Lentol, State Sen. Martin Connor and State Sen. Martin Dilan. Here’s a bit from the release:

District Attorney Hynes, Senators Connor and Dilan and Assemblyman Lentol are co-sponsoring a predatory lending seminar where they will discuss how to prevent predators from swindling you through high cost home loans and home equity theft. They will also discuss mortgage foreclosure scams. The goal is to inform homeowners and potential homeowners of their rights and what signs to look out for if they are being scammed. Some of the questions that will be answered include how to recognize that you are being targeted due to your race or national origin, or because you are economically vulnerable.

Predatory lending is an exceptionally nasty business that is related to, but that pre-dates the current credit and sub-prime crisis.

WHERE:

CONTACT: Sandy Silverstein

718-250-2300

This relatively recent Faile piece (which is one of a group of three of the one) can be found on N. 10 Street near Berry in the Burg on a door that has been a popular street art spot on and off over the years.