[Photo courtesy sabeth718/GL Flickr Pool]

From the good, old National Weather Service…”MAJOR SNOWSTORM TO IMPACT TRI-STATE AREA TONIGHT AND MONDAY….LOW PRESSURE ALONG THE CAROLINA COAST THIS EVENING WILL TRACKNORTHEAST…PASSING TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF LONG ISLAND MONDAY MORNING. THE LOW WILL THEN PROCEED UP INTO THE GULF OF MAINE BY MONDAY EVENING. STRONG CANADIAN HIGH RESSURE TO THE NORTH WILL PROVIDE THE COLD AIR FOR A MAINLY SNOW EVENT…WITH SOME SLEET MIXING IN LATE TONIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING OVER FAR SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT AND THE TWIN FORKS OF LONG ISLAND……WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST MONDAY…A STEADY SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE TRI-STATE AREA FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST THIS EVENING. THE SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT AND INTO MONDAY MORNING. THERE MAY BE ENOUGH WARM AIR ALOFT FOR SLEET TO MIX IN ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT AND THE TWIN FORKS OF LONG ISLAND AT THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM…BUT FOR THE MOST PART THIS WILL BE AN ALL SNOW EVENT. THE SNOW WILL THEN TAPER OFF MONDAY AFTERNOON…FOR THE NEW YORK CITY METRO AREA…8 TO 12 INCHES Of SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED. SUSTAINED NORTH WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 30 TO OCCASIONALLY 35 MPH WILL RESULT IN BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WITH VISIBILITIES OF LESS THAN A QUARTER OF A MILE.” [Accuweather]

From our friends at Sean Casey this week comes the beauty, who’s named Ozzie:

Ozzy is a two year old German Short Haired Pointer/Labrador Retriever…he is neutered, dewormed, treated with Revolution to prevent fleas, ticks, ear mites and heartworm and is up to date with vaccinations. His adoption fee is $200.00 and he’ll get one free exam at our vet’s office, one free month of pet health insurance and a microchip. If you’d like to adopt Ozzy please email us at nyanimalrescue@yahoo.com for an adoption application. We are conveniently located close to the F train in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn and we’re open daily from 11am to 7pm. Ozzy can’t wait to meet you!

Our organization offers 24PetWatch microchips, which include free registration into the 24PetWatch pet recovery service. For more information visit www.24petwatch.com or call 1-866-597-2424. This pet also is eligible for 30 days of pre-paid ShelterCare pet health insurance. For more information please visit www.sheltercare.com or call 1-866-375-PETS.

We normally don’t post this late on Saturday, but we just got an email announcement that East River State Park is reopening tomorrow, a month earlier than planned. The release was entitled “”Spring hsa Sprung! Friends of the East River State Park Succeeds in Getting Park Open Again.” Here is what it says:

With spring right around the corner and weather getting warmer, we’re happy to report that the East River State Park on Kent Avenue between North 7th and 9th Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn will be open in time to enjoy. The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (aka State Parks) plan was to close the East River State Park until the beginning of the next fiscal year (April 1st). The Friends of the East River State Park with help from Assemblyman Joe Lentol has been working to get the park open. After a letter from the Friends Group to the State Parks Commissioner—signed by thirty-two elected officials and statewide and local open space advocates—meetings and numerous phone calls, State Parks finally relented. With the support of the Friends Group doing clean ups at the park, the East River State Park is now able to be open again starting this Sunday, March 1st at 9:00 am. Come join us Sunday, March 1st at East River State Park. We need Volunteers so email us at friendsoftheeastriverstatepark@gmail.com or call us at 914-799-1832.

It’s a travesty that North Brooklyn’s only major waterfront access was taken for the winter, to save what amounts to pocket change for the state, but it’s a small victory everyone doesn’t have to wait until April 1 to get back in the park.

Yes, friends, it’s cat and kitten adoption day today noon to five PM. The even, which is cosponsored by the Empty Cages Collective and NYC Pet Supplies is happening at 241 Bedford Avenue, between N. 3 and N. 4 Streets. You know what needs to be done. Go forth and do it. You can see some of the cats and kittens available here.

The full flyer with all the details right this way, kittie lovers.

[Photo courtesy of Jack Szwergold/GL Flickr Pool]

Devoted reader and contributor Jack Szwergold writes: “This is in front of a church that is right across the street from the sweatshop my mom worked in. My parents never really talked in detail about their workdays, but my dad mentioned a few times how my mom would go to a nearby church to rest during lunch breaks in the sweatshop. We’re a Jewish family, but I think she found comfort in this place not because she was secretly religious—she considered all religion ‘bullshit’—but I’m pretty sure during World War II she spent her fair share of time hiding out in churches. And I’m sure the folks who ran the church heard her talk about her life as a teen on the run from Nazi’s during World War II. R.I.P. mom.” Thank you for those moving words,Mr. Szwergold.

From the GL Inbox last week, this only goes to show how much neigbhoborhood activism it takes to get a some stop signs insgtalled. For real:

A quick note with the text of the letter that has gone out from CB7 to NYC DOT. Great letter by our Dist. Manager. *I am hopeful our elected
officials who were CC’d on this letter will also write correspondence to NYC DOT in support of CB7’s unanimous resolution for the installation of the 3-way stop at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue…Dear Commissioner Palmieri: At the February 18, 2009 meeting of Community Board 7, our Board Members voted to support a community petition effort to install a three-way stop at the intersection of 6th Avenue and 23rd Street in Brooklyn. More than 140 local residents have signed a petition or added their names to an electronic petition to make this change and make the intersection safer. This is an unprecedented action in our community.

There is more mirth ahead.

[Click to enlarge]

The GL readers who took this shot and emailed it it us writes that “the attached was hung tonite on second st and smith. Its a winner in the best flyer i have seen in a very long time seen category!” Indeed, it is. If you have it, give it up and save a wedding if not a marriage.

[Photo courtesy of Eugene Gannon]

There she is. Brookln’s Grand Canal

[Click to enlarge to full size]

Brooklyn, meet Greenpoint Lodge. Lodge meet Brooklyn our out of town tourist friends. Now, go play. This is The Lodge ag 95 Norman Sreet, which has benn advertising on Craigslist and that we found via a commengt left on a New York Shitty Post about a failed condo turned luxe hostel on New York Shitty. The lodge is a “gorgeous, furnished, one-bedroom apartment.” It goes for $135 “until the end of February” (uh, March?) and $175 a month starting in April. And you though the only Greenpoint lodging option was the Greenpoint Hotel.

[Photo courtesy of New York Public Library Digital Collection]

This Bernice Abbott photo is described as “Billboards and signs, Fulton Street between State street and Ashland place, Brooklyn. (October 29, 1936).”

Collina Italina will open on March 16 on Garfield Place and 6th Avenue bringing a touch of bellissimo to the Slope. According to their website:

At Collina Italiana (CI), we offer Italian language and culture programs both on- and off-site. Lovers of Italian language and culture are finding that CI classes offer a unique opportunity for a comprehensive learning experience without leaving the city.
We offer group and private lessons, tutoring services, children’s programming, andspecialty classes such as Let’s Dance: a class in rhythm training and Italian language for children. And for adults our Survival Kit, an intensive language and culture program, prepares you in Italiano for both business and pleasure. Registration for group and individual classes is ongoing. 

–E.C. Stephens

Check it out. This one is fun.

We’ve beein seeing these listings on CL for weeks but were too dumb to put two and two together until Miss Heather just did. $75 a night at a failed condo. Nice. [New York Shitty]

em>And now, it’s time for our weekly feature from Eat It: The Brooklyn Food blog. This week’s review is of Aliseo in Prospect Heights:

< Lucky me! I was taken to dinner at the wonderful Aliseo (665 Vanderbilt Avenue, between Prospect Place & Park Place, 718-783-3400), an amazing and romantic Italian restaurant in Prospect Heights where the food is top notch. It’s a tiny sliver of a place, with barely a sign, but once you walk in you know it’s going to be good. Ornate decorations abound with huge vases and cornucopias in the corners bursting with shafts of wheat. The lighting is low, so it’s perfect for a special night out for two, but they also easily accommodated us, a boisterous party of seven. The owner is frequently there and is a gregarious, friendly man who is happy to talk food and wine with you. He’ll make recommendations, pairings, and will let you know where to find a bottle of your favorite vino. The menu is extensive and offers more creative combinations than your average pasta & sauce spot. Salad with squid and fennel, baby meatballs covered in sesame seeds (this was delicious – tasty morsels and slightly juicy, coated with sesame seeds which added a nutty flavor, in a lemon arugula pesto), whole fish, honey pasta (this was a bit of a miss for me, it was too sweet for my brain to to make sense of it as pasta) and meat dishes, all in good sized portions and robustly flavored. There are daily specials as well.

The use of specials sauces and fresh herbs (like a roasted squash entree in a dark, thick mushroomy sauce) make the flavors of the food pop, and everything is well balanced and subtle, yet defined. I highly recommend Aliseo for anything from romantic nights out to big family dinners as the food is high quality and lovingly prepared in a lovely and comfortable space. Closed Mondays. Click here to see photos and more descriptions of the Branzino, Ravioli, Squash and more!

The Tempo Presto on Seventh Avenue in the Slope went early last year, eventually becoming the pretty succesful Barrio Restaurant. Well, adding to the growing amount of retail or restaurant space that is available on Fifth Avenue in the Slope is Tempo Presto’s take out branch. It first came up on Brookynian about a week ago and we passed by yesterday and there was a “closed” sign in the window. Tempo, the restaurant itself remains open, and seems healthy. The bar across the street closed a while back. That pic is below.

A month ago, Brownstoner reported the presence of a big porable steam generator outside the Novo Park Slope on Fourth Avenue. Well, a check yesterday, reveale that it is still there, leading one to conclude that there are big Boymelheat issues at work. We can’t wait to see the summer brings in terms of the Boymelconditioning. Also, apropos of nothing, people are wondering why the dog run at the Boymelpark behind the building has no seating for people. Just another one of those details (like lack of lighting and barking dogs outside luxe condos( that went into planning the structure.

· Legal Victory for Atlantic Yards Developer [CityRoom]
· Appellate Court, with Misgivings, Dismisses EIS Case [AYR]
· All Hail the Bedbug Sniffing Dogs [NYT]
· And Brooklyn Has Biggest Increase In Bedbug Complaints [NYDN]
· Crap Cakes: Lovely 133 Water Street Goes Bankrupt [Brownstoner]
· Con Ed Says Don’t Park Here, Capsice? [PMFA]
· Brooklyn Needs a New Slogan (Among Other Things) [Free Williamsburg]
· Nice Mess on 43rd Street [BVIB]
· In Bed-Stuy, B57 is “fucked,” etc. [New York Shitty]
· That’s Going to Be Quite a Sleepy’s on Montague [BHB]
· Last D’Agostino’s Remnants Vanish for New La Bagle Delight [Here is Park Slope]
· Please Sit Down: Markowitz Supports Dock St. Project [Dumbo NYC]

It just might work and it will certainly help people forget about things. In any case, this is the sign in the window of Bierkraft on Fifth Avenue in the Slope, which is a sort of a paradise for breakwki lover interested in a a part of the economy recovery President Obama failred to mention earlier this week. We don’kt know if they carry Hop Obama or not.

We’ve also avoided the complex topic of using Federal economic recovery funds to bail out the financially sinking Atlantic Yards project. Local backers have been pulling out al the stops to lobby the governor for money and to us–who fully support a massive Federal spending plan to rescue the economy–putting money into Atlantic Yards would represent a betrayal of American taxpayers. This is a not ony a deeply controversial project opposed by many in the local community, it is far from being “shovel ready” and would be as masive taxpayer subsidy of a private development. Call it the Forest City Ratner Recovery Act of 2009. To further editoriaize and oversimplify: Wrong. Wrong. Wrong and wrong again. Not a cent of recovery funds should go to Atlantic Yards, especially given compelling public needs everywhere that would also create and save jobs. Investing that money with entrepreneurs and small businesses woudl do far more to strengthen Brooklyn and create a diversity of jobs. With the President emphasizing oversight and accountability, Atlantic Yards is the kind of project that should immediately go before a government waste panel. DDDB has made the case against using stimulus money to prop up Mr. Ratner’s project. Here’s one tiny example. In any case–although history has shown that New York State government doesn’t really care what taxpayers and voters think about the Atlantic Yards project, there is a new online petition to demonstrate opposition to the governor. It says:

I oppose the use of federal stimulus money to fund the Atlantic Yards project. The design, schedule and benefits of the project have clearly departed from what were disclosed to the public in 2006. Any allocation of stimulus to Atlantic Yards at this point would not only further reduce the project’s already unacceptable standard of accountability, it would deprive the people of New York City investment in urgently needed public works. I therefore urge you to reject any request for stimulus funds to be granted to Atlantic Yards.

The petition can be found here. We strongly urge everyone that opposes the project to sign it and even supporters to voice opposition to a massive public bailout of a private developer’s project, which is the ultimate misuse of recovery funds. There are currently nearly 1,500 signatures and there should be a HELL of a lot more. Opponents should also be raising all holy hell in Washington to persuade officials that using taxpayer funds to bailout this project will come back to haunt them as symbolizing misuse of Federal dollars.

We’ve been too diverted by other subjects–some of them stupid–to wade into Atlantic Yards recently, but it’s time. Yesterday, the State Appellate Court Ruled for the Empire State Development Corop on the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement Appeal. Oppenents will now ask the state Court of of Appeals to review the case. There is a thorough and very insightful analysis of the ruling on Atlantic Yards Report by the brilliant Norman Oder. Meanwhile, DDDB has a lot to say about the decision:

26 community organizations led by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn—will be headed to the highest court in the state, the Court of Appeals, after a four judge Appellate Division panel ruled for the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) on their challenge to the environmental review and blight designation for developer Forest City Ratner’s floundering Atlantic Yards proposal in Brooklyn. (The court’s ruling is here.)

Is the ESDC “being used as a tool of the developer”?

[Photo for GL courtesy of Meg Groome]

Perhaps Coney Island can be the kind of pace where can chill out all year round. Our photographer writes of this group in front of the historic Child’s Buiding: “This group was basking in the sun and tucked in away from the winds.”

One of the post-punk classics from John Lydon and PIL: “Two sides to every story. Somebody Had to stop it. I’m not the same as when I began.”

[Photo courtesy of Aonghais MacInness/GL Flickr Pool]

The photographer writes that “Was walking though Ikea in Red Hook and saw lots of smoke in the distance. ” He lables the pic a “fire,” but it seems to have all the hallmarks of an incinerator, which release horrible amounts of sooty black smoke into the environnment.

As the possible Atlantic Yards site (also known as Propect Heights) is being demolished by Bruce Ratner, Guy Ambrosino is doing–or saying–something about it. (Bear in mind, however, his statement is more of the memory and the appreciation of communal statement than it is in protest and politics.) This Saturday (2/28) from 4-5pm Guy’s What Was will be the opening of his use of raw materials acquired (good word) from the deconstruction of the Yards at the Soap Box Gallery (636 Dean St, directly across from the Yards) with an after party at Barrette (601 Vanderbilt Ave.) from 5-7pm. For more information about these events or the artist himself, check out Guy Ambrosino.