The garden behind the landmark Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg is very much starting to bloom.

“Sleepy old town, sleepy old town. A couple weeks ago, Blue Ribbon and Blue Ribbon Sushi put an end to the chainlet’s signature late-night hours on 5th Avenue. Blue Ribbon, which stayed open until 2am Monday through Thursday and 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, is now only open until midnight Monday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.–Brownstoner

The daffodils are in bloom in Carroll Park as per this photo filed by our Carroll Gardens correspondent. Very yellow.

The pre-dawn view at the Brooklyn Weather Observatory promises sunshine and blue skies. Today’s forecast calls for it to be mostly sunny, breezy and cooler. The high will be 58. Tonight, look for clear skies with a low of 35.–Accuweather

The 11 property owners and tenants fighting the use of eminent domain for the troubled Atlantic Yards project have filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition asks the Court to hear the appeal of the eminent domain case, which was dismissed on February 1. Goldstein v. Pataki was originally filed in October 2006. The Atlantic Yards opponents argue that hearing the case “provides the Court with an important opportunity to address the appropriate constitutional limits on the government’s power to seize private homes for the benefit of powerful real estate developers like Bruce Ratner. The group’s legal argument is that there is only a “pretext of a public purpose” for taking land for Atlantic Yards via eminent domain where the “actual purpose” is “to bestow a private benefit.” The full petition and other paperwork are here. The Court only accepts a handful of cases each year, but the group plans to pursue the legal fight in state court if the Supreme Court does not accept the case or if they lose. The state court process could delay any possible start of the project by an additional 1-2 years. More coverage at Curbed and Brownstoner.

Gowanus Lounge has learned that the city has engineered a huge land swap to simultaneously address major Gowanus, Atlantic Yards and Coney Island development issues. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way we’d like and we all have to deal with it,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in announcing what he called the Brooklyn Three Way. The Three Way was worked out by departed Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who brokered the arrangement as a volunteer working while on a business trip in Japan. The City Ethics Board okayed Mr. Doctoroff’s shuttle diplomacy.

The broad outline of the arrangement is that Mr. Sitt, who is reviled in Coney Island, will replace Mr. Ratner, who is disliked in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and other surrounding neighborhoods. Mr. Ratner will, instead, develop Gowanus, freeing up the Toll Brothers, for whom there is little neighborhood love, to work in Coney Island, where they have no known opponents. Mr. Doctoroff acknowledged, however, that Mr. Ratner would have some remedial work to do on his image in Gowanus.

The Sitt Switch would work like this: rather than swapping city land in Coney Island for Mr. Sitt’s holdings in the Coney Island Amusement District, the city will trade land held by Forest City Ratner at Flatbush & Atlantic Avenue. Mr. Sitt will develop a Coney Island-themed condo project called The Boardwalk at Prospect Heights that will include seven 40-story towers designed by a Starchitect All Star team including Renzo Piano, Daniel Liebeskind, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and Mies van der Rohe. Mr. van der Rohe’s posthumus participation is made possible because of the discovery of a building known as The Lost Mies. “The Mies is mine,” Mr. Sitt said. The development will include a 4 million square foot shopping mall called the Great Mall of Coney that will include the nation’s largest Ferris Wheel, an indoor ski slope and a harness racing track. It will also include the Flatbush Sea, the world’s first wave pool with an artificial, year-round controlled environment built over a rail yard. “I’m thrilled,” Mr. Doctoroff said. “We couldn’t have found a better shopping center developer.”

Mr. Ratner, meanwhile, has acquired development rights to all of Gowanus and promised to develop a new stadium near the Carroll Street Bridge whose working name is the Gowanus Dome. The state will seize all land between Third Avenue, Bond Street, Ninth Street and Butler Street via a new program called Maximum Eminent Domain. The city also agreed to give the developer naming rights to the entire Gowanus area and there were reports that he had met with Apple’s Steve Jobs to discuss the rebranding of the once reviled and toxic neighborhood as the iHood. In the scheme, the Gowanus Dome would actually be the iDome and the Gowanus Houses, while being preserved to show Mr. Ratner’s commitment to affordable housing, would be renamed the iPads and slowly transition to market rate after undergoing a renovation and getting new interiors from Andres Escobar. Mr. Ratner is said to be weighing plans to fill in the canal and use the land as publicly accessible open space or turning it into the world’s first eco-realistic artificial rapids. “Eco-realism,” he said, “demands that we leave it in its current state so the rapids will be more exciting.” Mr. Ratner said he had rejected a proposal to rebrand the Gowanus Rapids as the Crap Chute. “The water will speak for itself,” he said.

The Toll Brothers, meanwhile, have been given the rights to redevelop Coney Island from Brighton Beach to Seagate, but will preserve a three-block core of amusements because, in the words of McMansion Guru Robert Toll, “everybody likes rides.” The developer showed plans that included a square mile of detached McMansions that would be built by a new Suburbs in the City branch of the firm’s urban development operation. The firm showed a rendering of a real estate-themed amusement park that would be built at Stillwell and Surf Avenues. It would have a real estate Roller Coaster Ride that would loop in and out of amusements designed to look like condo towers but that would actually be entertainment venues, games of chance and souvenir stands. The looping roller coaster, which is being designed by a new firm in Hamburg, Germany, would be called the Boom & Bust and would feature the worlds largest vertical drop–almost 90 degrees. It would include a Sub-Prime corkscrew and a series of 15 loops called the Market Apocalypse. The park would also include a new high-tech ride called Mr. Housing Bubble in which riders would be lifted 25 stories in the air in a huge clear bubble hoisted on a tower. The bubble would seem to explode at the pinnacle and via virtual immersion technology, riders would have the sensation of plunging in a free fall 25 stories to their demise. In reality, the bubble would gently fall via an attached wire and the riders would emerge into a virtual environment called Williamsburg of the Future, which is designed to simulate the waterfront neighborhood in 2020 after an economic and social calamity. As part of the plan the New York Aquarium would be converted to a new thrill ride called Waterworld 2060 which take riders on a survival adventure through Brooklyn after global warming raises sea levels.

Mr. Toll would only say that the attraction would involve the illusion of drowning, “just like the Boom & Bust and Mr. Housing Bubble. It’s a theme park? Get it?”

(Any resemblance in the preceding post between actual news events and those described is purely coincidental.)

It’s been so long since meetings were held last year to talk about the Gowanus rezoning framework that it’s almost easy to forget what was being discussed. In that sense, the discussion about the Toll Brothers Gowanus proposal has served to refresh the memory a bit. At the meeting in Carroll Gardens last week, members of the Toll Brothers team pointed out that their building, at a maximum height of 10-12 stories along the Gowanus Canal, was actually shorter than what the city was talking about possibly allowing. It was an accurate statement as the image above, from Page 42 of the Gowanus Planning Framework shows. The Department has identified six “deep blocks” between the Carroll Street Bridge and Third Street Bridge that would be suitable for buildings up to 12-14 stories tall. They are the structures in dark orange marked by green stars. The exact parameters will be unclear until the city’s proposal is on the table, but it will probably allow buildings as tall as or even taller than the Toll vision. The framework can be viewed here.

We found this rant about parents in bars and strollers interesting not so much for the subject matter–God knows that the Great Union Hall Booze & Stroller Debate left few stones unturned on this incendiary topic–but because it comes from Prospect Heights instead of Park Slope. We found it on the Prospect Heights Forum at Brooklynian and can’t resist posting it:

As many that read this blog and many other including Eater.com might know that there is a big controversy in The slope over establishments banning Strollers. As a parent myself and some one that works in the restaurant business i have to agree to owners of bar and restaurants banning strollers. Not only do they take a huge a mount of space but they make people uneasy of going in and being a patron. God how many times have i gone in to the Tea Lounge and found a playground, not only it is hard to walk around but try sitting getting a seat. Soda has the same problem, bunch of parents with their pimped out strollers hanging out in the back crowding the room, shit i am trying to have a beer and now i am surrounded by 30 mothers drinking cranberry and soda and their kids wailing away, i am not saying that it is wrong to take your kid out for a beer, i take mine but i never take a stroller, i never let her run around as if it were a playground, for that we have Prospect Park and the Library. But then again its up to an individual owner to make up their own mind. But i did get tired of going to Union Hall on Sunday afternoon and finding myself in the middle of a Stroller parking lot. I say bring your kids to the bar but at least do other patrons and establishments a favor, leave your strollers outside !!

Yes, it could be a troll post, but we present it for what it’s worth.

“Ever since the Daily News story on Prospect Park‘s own dog whisperer, Tyril Frith, the dog trainer has been fielding calls statewide from pooch lovers desperately seeking a cure for their out-of-control canines. ‘A lot of people have problems with aggression, and they’re scared because they don’t want to get in trouble,” said Frith, who’s known in the park just as Tyril. “They tried things before and it didn’t work … and they’re calling me as a last resort.'”–NYDN

The formerly backless and currently topless brownstone at 126 First Place in Carroll Gardens in growing again. The brownstone lost its head thanks to an ongoing project that will add three stories. The interesting thing is that Department of Buildings records show that there is a partial Stop Work Order on the building limiting it to interior work only. This would indicate that (a). the information is badly out of date or that we don’t understand it or (b). that the definition of “interior” work has grown to include exterior wall. We suppose the latter could be true since an exterior wall has an interior surface if one is standing in the building.

Yesterday afternoon, the Mayor’s congestion pricing plan passed the City Council by a vote of 30-20. The vote in the Brooklyn delegation was 9-7 against the plan.

Brooklyn City Council Members voting in favor were: Simcha Felder, Sara M. Gonzalez, Letitia James, Domenic M. Recchia, Kendall Stewart, Albert Vann and David Yassky.

Brooklyn Members voting against Congestion Pricing were: Diana Reyna, Charles Barron, Bill de Blasio, Erik Martin Dilan, Mathieu Eugene, Lewis A. Fidler, Vincent J. Gentile, Darlene Mealy and Michael C. Nelson.

Related Articles:

• A Major Victory for Congestion Pricing [Metro]
• Albany is Next Stop for Congestion Pricing [Sun]
• City Council OKs traffic congestion plan [NYDN]
• City Council Passes Congestion Pricing [Streets Blog]
• City Council Approves Fee to Drive Below 60th [NYT]

We got a tour of the huge Ikea site and store in Red Hook on Friday courtesy of Curbed and Racked and were able to walk the 6.5 acre site and get a look inside the blue-and-yellow structure that will work a dramatic change on the neighborhood. The waterfront promenade, which is close to a mile from end to end, is taking shape and employs remnants of the Todd Shipyard as part of the landscaping. (Lee Weintraub, who would do the landscaping for the Toll Brothers in Gowanus is the landscape architect.) We got our first look at the remnants of the Graving Dock and close ups of the gantry cranes as well as of work that is still going on to dredge around piers. One pier is being left intact and will be available for public access. Others are being severed from shore. While work on the site is far advanced, its huge size means there is a vast amount before the store opens.

More Photos:
· Ikea Inside & Out: Looking Out at Red Hook [Curbed]
· Ikea Inside & Out: A Store Walkthrough [Racked]
· Ikea Inside & Out: A Racked & Curbed Special [Racked]
· Ikea Inside & Out: A Racked & Curbed Special [Curbed]

“Well, you may not know it, but there’s a certain neo-con, knee-jerk, let-’em-build-the-fucking-crap contingent out there in Commentland who thinks you’re all from Kansas…You’ll see these on a regular basis on the real estate-based blogs, usually coming in defense of some crapitecture Scarano, Fischer, the Toll Brothers, Thor or some like-intentioned develo-raper is throwing up to blot out the noontime sun. Sometimes it’s Nebraska, or Iowa or somesuch. But usually it’s Kansas, which I guess is the anti-New York or the world. Kansas is apparently the place where skyscrapers aren’t built, condos don’t exist, ugly architecture is verboten and everything stays the same all the time, with nothing new ever built in anyone’s backyard.” Hmmm. We thought it was, “Go back to Ohio.”–Lost City

The city has gone back to the drawing board with its plans for the Brooklyn House of Detention. Last week, it released a new RFP for the facility that, among other things, calls for “additional housing for 720 inmates in twelve dormitories of sixty beds each,” which is basically a doubling in size. We know this because the “Brooklyn House of Detention Community Stakeholders Group,” which has set up its own website, got hold of the RFP to double the jail and posted it. The group sent out an email blast yesterday saying the city hadn’t invited the community to a meeting on Thursday or told it about the RFP. The last RFP attracted an ambitious proposal for an alternative program on the site, condos, rental apartments and retail. It was not considered by the city. The timeline for the jail expansion takes it far beyond the end of the Bloomberg Administration. The Stakeholders group emerged in March and set up its own website with the catch name, brooklynjail.org.

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

• Ratner Announces “Midtown Mews” [No Land Grab]
• Trump Bay Ridge on the Way [Bay Ridge Blog]

Not Kidding:

• Forest City Disclosure: AY Delayed, Risky and Need More Subsidies [AYR]
• Brooklyn Moms Take Anti-Gang Fight to Streets [NYDN]
• Crest in Park Slope Almost Sold Out [Brownstoner]
• Tractor Trailer Hits Building at N. 11 & Kent in Burg [Gothamist]
• Coney Photo Dance Video [Kinetic Carnival]
• Fire Trucks at Waterfalls Condo [Brooklyn Junction]
• More on Thistle & Clover [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Foursome Diner No Longer Serving Food [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Looks Like Spring [A Year in the Park]
• Ridgewood Redemption [Brooklynometry]
• Yusef Hawkins Memorial Mural [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Goodbye Blue Monday Lineup [Bed-Stuy Blog]

The Gowanus Hotel District continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Yesterday, Brownstoner reported that a Fairfield Hotel will be going up at Third Avenue and Douglass Street not far from the Gowanus Comfort Inn. The nine-story building would bring the total of Gowanus Hotels to seven, including the already opened Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Inn and Hotel Le Bleu. A hotel is already under construction at President and Third and two more are planned on President Street between Fourth and Third Avenues. Brownstoner produced a cool hotel map of the neighborhood for those who wish to pinpoint the action. While the number of rooms in downtown Brooklyn will far outstrip the Gowanus supply, and there is speculation that some of the hotels are attempts to slip residential uses under the radar for eventual conversion, it’s clearly not crazy to talk about a Gowanus Hotel District or a hotel boomlet.

For a “Ditmas Park Alternative” look to…Staten Island. “I’m not sure if this is a compliment or an insult. On the compliment front, Ditmas Park seems to mean ‘charming old house.’ On the other hand, it seems to mean … remote. I mean, we may not live right over the bridge, but we don’t have to take a boat.”–Ditmas Park Blog

This spring flower comes from the Green Dome garden near McCarren Park in Williamsburg.

If you enjoy the idea of books and Green-Wood Cemetery, this could be your event: On Sunday (4/6), the Green-Wood Historic Fund will be presenting a book talk with author David H. Jones about his book Two Brothers: One North, One South. It will take place at 1:00 PM Green-Wood Cemetery’s Historic Chapel, which is quite a place if you’ve never been. Here’s a bit about it:

A Union officer. A Confederate solider. Joined by blood and united in
death. Clifton Kennedy Prentiss and William Scolay Prentiss were Maryland brothers who fought on opposing sides during the Civil War. Both were mortally wounded in the same late-War battle, as Clifton led an attack on the fort William was defending. Both were taken to Armory Square Hospital in Washington, D.C., where poet and military hospital volunteer Walt Whitman became the link between them.

David H. Jones gives a book talk and signing on his exceptionally researched fictionalized account of the Prentiss brothers…Admission is free but space is limited. (Suggested $5 donation at
the door.) Call for reservations 718.768.7300. Following the book talk, Green-Wood historian Jeff Richman will lead a trolley tour to adjoining graves of the Prentiss brothers, as well as
other significant Civil War gravesites. The trolley tour is $20 / $10 for Historic Fund members. A national historic landmark–Est. 1838– Our main entrance is located
at 500 25th Street (on 5th Avenue).

More information here.

Williamsburg is a center in Brooklyn of bikes that have been parked for the long term. In fact, it’s a showcase for bike that have been locked up and then disassembled piece by piece. Both of these bike are enjoying long-term parking. They have been decorated and if one looks, one of them is in the process of being deconstructed.

The ambiance at Zebulon, a small Williamsburg bar and cafe on Wythe Avenue, is very particular, from the small candlelit tables and hanging globes to the record covers hung along the walls. The decor is usually complemented by avant garde music and performance art, and the occasional noise rock band. But Zebulon also has more accessible acts, such as up and coming Francis and the Lights, indie favorite The Dirty Projectors and Richmond VA’s Bio Ritmo, a salsa band that’s a favorite because of their use of modern sounds within a traditional New York salsa framework. It’s free to get in and see great music, but the drinks and snacks are quite expensive. This is the closest I’ve felt to what I imagine it was like to see jazz or salsa in New York in the 50s.

The Pedestrian Upside Down Sign above comes from 147 Maujer Street in East Williamsburg. It was sent our way by Miss Heather, who also provided the shot of the actual pedestrians below. Whether one cares for the building in question is definitely a matter of taste. We’ll simply say that it is not to the liking of some people.

There is still much gloom outside the Brooklyn weather observatory, and today’s forecast calls for most cloudy conditions, breeze and (yay) warmer temps with a shower or thunderstorm around. The high will be a very nice 67 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy and breezy with a thunderstorm and a low of 40. The sun is back tomorrow, but it’s also cooler–Accuweather

The backlash over the Brooklyn Museum’s Gala honoring developer Bruce Ratner continues. There will be protesters at the April 3 event, and today an “Open Letter to the Brooklyn Museum” went out and was posted on the DDDB website. Here are a couple of excerpts:

It is uncomfortable to step up and point out why it is inappropriate for the Museum to be “honoring” Ratner, but it is crucial…I do not believe it is appropriate for a respected public institution like the Brooklyn Museum to be honoring Bruce Ratner. To many of us this is obvious but I will explain the many reasons why. A museum should be a good neighbor to its community. You cannot be a good neighbor by promoting the activities of someone who is a bad neighbor, and worse, to the community….Terrible time for the Museum; excellent time for Ratner- From this we may infer that the decision to honor Ratner was not driven by the careful considered judgment of those Museum board members with the best interest of the Museum at heart, but rather by those on the board with business connections to Ratner exerting influence.

The lengthy, full letter is posted here.

The city has responded to concerns about work underway at the Public Place site in a letter sent to City Council Member Bill de Blasio saying that the current preliminary work doesn’t pose a threat, but that a water truck and other steps will be taken to contain “fugitive dust” when concrete removal gets underway. Residents have already complained about “fugitive dust” being stirred up by work that has already taken place. Mr. de Blasio had sent a letter with a long list of questions to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. HPD responded with a memo from the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination answering the questions. The city says that some air monitoring will take place once concrete removal gets underway at the site and that it will take steps to minimize the dust including a water truck. In addition, it says measures will be taken to make sure soil “is not tracked into the community.” The memo says that clean soil will be placed at the site after the concrete is removed and that “underlying tar-contaminated soils will not be exposed during this limited concrete removal activity.” The city also says that it will not monitor air quality at the Smith-9th Street station because “fugitive dust will not be an issue at the subway station.” The actual site cleanup is still in the future as a plan must still be developed by Keyspan/National Grid.