The city is looking to save some money by trimming Community Board budgets, a move that will save the city under $1 million but that could be devastating to the boards in the context of tiny budgets. Says CB6 District Manager Craig Hammerman, who is one of the candidates running to replace outgoing Council Member (and Brooklyn Borough President candidate Bill de Blasio): “The only thing I can speculate is that the mayor doesn’t like us.”–Brownstoner

The Prospect Park Youth Council Pre-Earth Day Celebration will take place on April 19 from 10AM-3PM at the Youth Resource Center at Bowling Green Cottage (Prospect Park Parade Ground). “Get a jump on celebrating Earth Day (April 22) with the Prospect Park Youth Council! Activities include gardening, removing of invasive weeds and plants, and reconstruction of flowerbeds and veggie gardens. Learn about what we can do as individuals and families to reduce waste and conserve energy. And soothe what ails you by learning holistic remedies to common ailments. Free.”

Also on April 19, an event called Hands on New York happens from 10AM-2PM at the Endale Arch on the north end of the Long Meadow. “In partnership with New York Cares, help shore up walking paths along the Long Meadow and manicure its magnificent trees. Walk-ins are welcome. Call (718) 965-8960 for more information.

Earth Education Day takes place on Sunday, April 20 from 12-5PM at the Audobon Center. Per the email: “Start off your environmental education week at the Audubon Center with a day of learning about your local ecosystem in Prospect Park. Make crafts with recycled materials, take a Discover Tour, and learn how nature can make you happier!”

Meanwhile there will be different events at the Audobon Center from April 21-27 from Noon-5PM every day. “Earth Week at the Prospect Park Audubon Center will have a different theme each day, with programming for environmentalists of all ages. Learn how to do your part through lectures, tours, activities, film screenings, workshops, recyclable crafts, and a daily exhibit. View works and an installation by artist Jessica Baker, who prints geometric designs on leaves found in Prospect Park and other parts of Brooklyn.

Full details on all activities at the Prospect Park website.

Ah, Gerritsen Beach. “Situated on a peninsula in southeast Brooklyn is an enclave characterized by bungalows nesting on small lots, fishing boats and houses outfitted with American flags, wind chimes, lawn ornaments and holiday decorations. Only one road, Gerritsen Avenue, leads in and out of the neighborhood, which is often compared to a sleepy New England fishing town.–amNY

“Mother-and-daughter team Yeworkwoha Ephrem and Sosinna Degefu open a Park Slope spin-off of their Nolita Ethiopian restaurant this week. The menu will skew lighter than Manhattan’s, with grilled meats and fish replacing sautéed dishes…348 Douglass St at Fourth Ave.–Time Out New York

We’re looking at another clear, cool-looking early morning here at the Brooklyn Weather Observatory with a current temperature of 35. Today will be sunny but there will be increasing clouds later. The high will be 53 and it will feel a couple of degrees warmer. Tonight’s outlook is for plenty of clouds with rain overspreading the area late. The low will be 40. Tomorrow looks like it will be umbrella day.–Accuweather

WNYC Radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show has been recognized with a George Foster Peabody Award for broadcast excellence in 2007. Although Mr. Lehrer’s show needs no introduction in New York here’s a bit from the WNYC announcement: “The Brian Lehrer Show is New York City’s popular daily news and talk call-in program. The show serves as a town square for New York and beyond, with newsmakers and agenda-setters, journalists and listeners conversing at length on the local, national and international news and cultural and social trends of the day.” Congrats to Mr. Lehrer and his entire incredible production team.–GL Inbox

Opponents of the controversial rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem, which has been bitterly criticized by some community residents, have turned to an obscure provision of the City Charter to try to derail it. The Harlem rezoning would allow up to 2,500 new apartments in the dozens of blocks that it covers and for buildings 120, 160 or 290 feet tall, depending on where they are located. The rezoning was approved by the City Planning Commission last month and the City Council has until the end of April to vote on it. This is where Page 74, Section 200, Subsection 3 of the City Charter come into play. It says, per the New York Times:

that if signatures opposing a rezoning are obtained from the owners of 20 percent of the property, as determined by square footage, in one of three different areas — the area to be rezoned, the area adjacent to the property being rezoned, or the area “opposite” the property (for example, across the street) — then the City Council must approve the rezoning by a three-fourths vote, instead of by a simple majority.

Since yesterday morning, two emails from Carroll Gardens and Gowanus groups have mentioned the possibility of using Section 200, Subsection 3 “on Bond Street” and “the Gowanus sites.” Given the intensity of opposition among some property owners in the immediate Bond Street area, the method could find a receptive audience.

Pamela Liebman, president of the Corcoran Group, said this pattern was typical of any slowdown. “When buyers become more cautious, the first markets to feel it are those that have been considered to be emerging neighborhoods,” Ms. Liebman said.

More declines to come as the year goes on?

It’s been a while since we checked on artist Angel Hess and his Purple 53 truck. Mr. Hess, you might recall, spent nearly a year living at Bedford & N. 11 Street in Williamburg before heading south. A look at his blog reveals that he is in Mississippi and is heading for Texas. This post shows that life in Mississippi is not like like in Brooklyn:

…the area is the most quiet place I’ve visited yet. The horses are beautiful, all different sizes and kinds. Today the farrier was putting new shoes on the horses. Also Dale’s mom came by, she is hilarious; some of her quotes: I live with all the puffed up cotton heads (a nursing home I’m guessing.), and she also wondered how many miles per inch I get in Purple53. The weather in Mississippi is much warmer than Georgia. When the horses are fed they are fed in a stall and they run right into their own stall on q. I think I am now the new web designer for Wind Child Farm because the last one is out of commission.

More updates as the trip continues.

Five swastikas were found in Williamsburg yesterday, on Bedford Avenue between Park and Flushing Avenue in a heavily Jewish part of the neighborhood. City Council Member Bill de Blasio issued a statement saying he is “disgusted that hate crimes such as these have become so prevalent throughout Brooklyn. It’s appalling that in 2008 we are still seeing this type of repulsive behavior. Intolerance, whether it comes to the Jewish community or any other group, is not acceptable.”–Sun

This is a new condo tower designed by SOM called Toren that is currently going up on Flatbush Avenue at Myrtle (150 Myrtle) that will clock in at 38 stories. A very heavy-duty marketing campaign for it has just kicked off. It’s fair to say that it’s the most distinctive tower proposed for Brooklyn so far and it’s certain to inspire a variety of reactions from strong like to something quite the opposite. We like the way the rendering makes the building appear to be in the middle of an empty and verdant park rather than surrounded by buildings on Flatbush Ave.

There was a dramatically smoky fire at the Gristede’s in Brooklyn Heights last night. The blaze apparently started ivia an electrical malfunction near the deli section, perhaps in a unit that keeps bakery products warm. Excellent photos at Brooklyn Heights Blog, which wonders about the toll on “the vermin population” and at McBrooklyn.

As it turns out, one of the latest casualties of Williamsburg development is Zipcar. A parking lot at N. 11 & Bedford is being turned into an eight-story Karl Fischer building and is closing on April 15 (a couple of weeks later than first mentioned). The Karl Fischer building (which is 95 Bedford Avenue) will have 180 apartments and, ultimately, 140 parking spaces. The lot has been open a little over a year but has proven quite popular. It was the home of the Purple 53 truck for about a year as well. In any case the closing prompted the following email from Zipcar that has been circulating around:

The tsunami wave of development in Williamsburg has claimed its latest victim—Zipcar’s beloved Williamsburg lot at North 12th and Bedford. We have just been notified that the lot will be closed April 15th and will metamorphize into yet another luxury condo. That’s got us scrambling to find new locations for 24 vehicles so that we can continue to serve the northern part of the neighborhood.

Zipcar is offering a (rather cheap, we think) $50 of rental credit. They couldn’t go to, you know, $100?

The South Slope has gotten a new children’s store. In mid-March we reported that a children’s store was taking over the space of the quickly-shuttered Fashion Cafe. Well, the new store a branch of Boing Boing called “Boing!” has opened. It is on Seventh Avenue near 16th Street and includes nursing accouterments and space for nursing moms in the back as well as handmade clothes. Classes are coming. In the meantime, a review of Boing Boing on Sixth Avenue just posted on Citysearch says the store has great products but is less than complimentary about the staff, calling the some of the people that work there “the epitome of park slope stroller nazis. Uber-Mommies, everybody else is doing it wrong-i know how to raise your child better types. Blahh!” Just noting what we came across while looking for the address of the existing store.

We’re seriously behind the curve on this, but our friends at Racked posted an item earlier this week detailing an awful story of a woman who says she was falsely arrested for shoplifting at the Target at the Atlantic Terminal Mall. Racked writes that she was “hauled handcuffed out of the store, thrown in the back of a police car and taken to a jail in Bed-Stuy, where she spent ten hours in a jail cell and was charged with Petty Larceny, a crime that could land her in the clink. Deciding to fight back, she’s hired an attorney and is blogging about her plight.” Her crime? Talking on a cell phone and straying over a “Point of Sale” line in the store. A bit of her story, as recounted by Racked:

Nicola is shopping at Tar-gét, Brooklyn, using a reusable canvas Wholefoods bag. The items in the bag include a Jovovich-Hawk dress, a book by Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan, and a twin sized inflatable mattress. She steps into the Customer Service area to check her messages, still in the store, by the trolleys and the 1 hour photo, never leaving the shop floor…Suddenly she feels a hand on her shoulder. “Come with me now” the average sized, red shirted man rushes her to a room forcefully, and Nicola protests “I have to listen to my messages” followed by “I’m not finished shopping – what is this about?”. It transpired that she unknowingly crossed the “Point of Sale” and rather than look her in the eye or listen to what she has to say, they say they are going to press charges.

She has started a blog, but it seems to be devoted to raising some money to pay for a lawyer. Be careful where you shop and what you do while you’re there.

Meet Kennedy Rivera, who knows the many details of tenant harassment as Bushwick gentrifies. “His work is to ensure that he and other tenants on modest incomes can stay living in the neighborhood. He is a housing specialist with Bushwick Housing Independence, a nonprofit group that by its own account takes on 30 clients a month fighting eviction by landlords eager to rent to younger, hipper and better-off tenants.” There are many fascinating details.–CityRoom

According to a report released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, the recent influx of exceedingly affluent powder-wigged aristocrats into the nation’s gentrified urban areas is pushing out young white professionals, some of whom have lived in these neighborhoods for as many as seven years.

Maureen Kennedy, a housing policy expert and lead author of the report, said that the enormous treasure-based wealth of the aristocracy makes it impossible for those living on modest trust funds to hold onto their co-ops and converted factory loft spaces.

Fun reading, priceless Slope photo aside.

Mayhem:

• Baby Shot and Injured in Brownsville [Sun]
• Two People Stabbed to Death in Sheepshead Bay Apt. [NYT]
• Sheephead Bay Psycho Rampage [NYP]

Not Mayhem:

• Latest BAM Addition Complete [Brownstoner]
• Digging Into the Atlantic Yards Supreme Court Appeal [AYR]
• Borough Hall Rats Thriving [PMFA]
• Sunset Park Agency’s Money Being Probed [NYDN]
• The Didik Lone Ranger of Concord Street [INSIJS]
• Ruminations on Old Bushwick [Brooklynometry]
• Bed-Stuy Banana Starts Chinatown Blog [Singkek]
• Community Board 3 Meeting Coming Up [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Old RH Macy & Co. Warehouse in East Flatbush [Fading Ad Blog]
• Paul Simon’s Month-Long BAM Residency [OTBKB]
• Coney Events: The Old City Sideshow [Kinetic Carnival]
• Environmental Justice Photo Show at St. Francis [Green Brooklyn]

The New York Aquarium in Coney Island has lost one of its oldest residents, a 43-year-old sand tiger shark believed to be one of the oldest in any aquarium. Her name was Bertha and the aquarium staff is very sad about losing her. Bertha was euthanized Saturday after a month-long illness. The cause of death is still unknown, but it may simply have been old age or age-related. Aquarium director Jon Forrest Dohlin called her “A beloved resident of Coney Island.” In 1965, a local fisherman caught Bertha in a net brought her to the New York Aquarium. The staff believes she was a baby at the time. She spent her days in a 90,000-gallon tank that is about 30 feet in diameter. Sand tiger sharks eat fish and are not aggressive toward humans. She leaves no survivors.

Bertha Coverage:
In Coney Island, One of Oldest Sharks in Captivity Dies [NYT]
Coney Is. Shark Dies [NYP]
New York Aquarium mourns Bertha the tiger shark [NYDN]
Coney Island Loses Long-Time Resident Shark [Gothamist]

Delta has new service to Latin America and it is being advertised on the G Train. Among the destinations are San Jose, Guatemala, Panama and, uh, Liberia, which has apparently left Africa crossed the ocean. Hey, it’s the G Train.–New York Shitty

“i just found a puppy – looks like a pitbull mix, black with brown stripes, approximately 2 months old. I found him near the church on the corner of 6th Ave and St. Johns. I rang a few doorbells nearby to see if the puppy had runaway but no one seemed to know anything. I picked him up and brought him home with me and he’s in company of my own dog. If anyone has lost a puppy, please contact me at paagal2@yahoo.com. I unfortunately had to leave for work but will go home this evening and put up some signs around the neighborhood. If no one claims him, i’ll have to take him to the ASPCA (can’t keep another dog in my apartment). Would love to cause he’s adorable!”–Brooklynian