Here are some upcoming Brooklyn Community Board meetings, courtesy of a list compiled by the New York Daily News:

Community Board 5 (East New York, Cypress Hills, Highland Park, New Lots, City Line and Starrett City) will hold its next board meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, at the board office at 127 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Community Board 9 (South Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Wingate) is meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, at Middle School 61 Auditorium, 400 Empire Blvd. The agenda will include a public hearing on the citywide statement of needs for city facilities for fiscal 2009 and 2010.

Community Board 10 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton) has its general meeting at 7:15 p.m. tonight (Monday, March 24), at the Norwegian Christian Home, 1250 67th St.

Community Board 12 (Borough Park, Kensington, Ocean Parkway, Midwood) has scheduled its next regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, at the Amico Senior Center, 5901 13th Avenue.

Community Board 13 (Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Seagate) will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, at Coney Island Hospital, 2601 Ocean Parkway.

Community Board 15 (Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Kings Bay, Gerritsen Beach, Kings Highway, East Gravesend, Madison, Homecrest, Plumb Beach) will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, at Kingsborough College, Faculty Dining Room, 2001 Oriental Blvd.

Community Board 16 (Brownsville, Ocean Hill) will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, at the Brownsville Multi-Service Center, 444 Thomas S. Boyland Street.

Matthew, the Bedford Avenue Dancer, was out doing his thing on Easter Sunday. He has a website too.

Saturday night’s show at Goodbye Blue Monday (1087 Broadway in Bushwick) was definitely the loudest and the most rocking one I have seen at that venue. Usually the small coffee shop/thrift store/venue features more experimental, ambient or folky music, but their sound held up with the change of gears, and the ambience went well with power pop of the Lame Drivers, a Brooklyn-based band made of recent Brown University alums on their self-made label, Less Cock, More Rock. The band and venue seemed to agree with each other, and both feature many home made products. Goodbye Blue Monday has Lame Driver’s tape, “Let Them Eat Tape,” plus all of its furniture, mugs and art is for sale.
–Owen Roberts

In addition to the Stop Sign and the One-Way Sign, there are No Pigs Allowed on Ten Eyck Street. The pic comes from Miss Heather, who also hit us off with this one last week.

From GL Correspondent Owen Roberts comes the following observation about two popular Williamsburg spots for pizza:

I’ve heard that Fornino on Bedford Ave (187 Bedford) has been called “the best pizza in New York.” I’m not one to create hierarchies, especially when it comes to pizza, but I went to Acqua Santa (556 Driggs) only a block away on Driggs and N 7th Street, on Thursday night, and the pie I got there was definitely superior to anything I’ve had at Fornino. I had the “Ballerina” pizza, which I would recommend to anyone. It’s a margarita pizza with (I forget the Italian names for everything) basically salad on top, which you spread out and then fold the slices over it and eat it like sandwich. Our server was more than happy to explain it to me—I think I looked a little confused when he brought it out—with a good sense of humor about it. It’s not cheaper than Fornino, but the difference in taste is worth the extra block.
–Owen Roberts

One has to love an orange barcalounger on the street in Greenpoint, even if it’s not a street sofa, per se. It’s from Greenpoint Avenue and the red bike in the foreground is just a bonus. From the camera of Miss Heather, of course.

It’s looking nice, if cold, right now at the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, and today’s official forecast calls for it to be chilly with sunshine mixing with clouds. The high will be 48. Tonight will feature clear to partly cloudy skies and a low of 34.–Accuweather

We are delayed in posting our Adoptable Cutie of the Week, but when we got this time-sensitive photo from the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition, we knew what we had to do.

Here’s some info about our heartbreakingly cute kitty:

Buddha arrived at BARC with a thick file of vet records and an amazingly sunny and sweet attitude. She has a condition called “pulled-tail syndrome” and had a 50/50 chance to regain total feeling in her tail and bottom. She has improved considerably, but is considered a “special needs” kitten. We don’t know what exactly happened to her, it may have been intentional abuse or an accident, but she holds no grudge for us humans and would love to have a real home. Anyone interested in adopting Buddha should contact me, her foster “mom” at lisacatv (at) yahoo (dot) com for more information.

General info about adopting from BARC can be found here. Also, there’s a very funny vid of her playing with those Easter eggs, here.

Some history was made in Coney Island last night when Dianna Carlin opened her Dreamland Roller Rink in the landmarked Childs Building on the boardwalk. It was only the second public event the historic structure in the last half century. The building–which has been made available by Taconic Investment–was decorated in white lights and billowing pink and orange fabric. The event was sponsored by Glamour Magazine and Dreaming Tommy Hilfiger, which provided money for the rink, courtesy of a contest that Ms. Carlin won. They were shooting a documentary about the project last night. A rink was set up in the middle of the building and entertainment included what one would expect at a Coney event: hula hoop people, stilt walkers and a number of scantily clad performers. Singer Ashanti made an appearance, as did actress Marissa Tomei, who spent a lot of time on skates. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand for time, and most fixtures on the Coney Island scene, such as Coney Island USA’s Dick Zigun were there for a while. It was an excellent night.

[This photo courtesy of Brit in Brooklyn; check out his great photos of the night]

Here’s a vid of the opening last night of Lola Staar’s super cool roller rink at the Child’s Building on the Boardwalk. A significantly good time was had by all.

The “Dreamland Roller Rink” in the historic Childs Building in Coney Island opened last night. Here is a preliminary slideshow with some pics we took.

We’ve picked to items for our weekly Brooklyn Craigslist Missed Connection. They are oddly related in a first or second cousins kind of way. One involves an odd arrest at the Jay Street station and the other has as its focus a kumquat thief at Union Market in Park Slope:

You got arrested Jay St F train for helping me 1:45 am – w4m

I hope you are OK I am really sorry I just don’t understand the cops. I never figured the doors closing on you would qualify for an arrest, I tried to fix it and explain to them that you were just helping me find the right train, I’m sorry, really truly sorry. Guess thats what you get for being a nice person, its pretty unbelievable, guess i won’t dare ask anyone for directions again.

We also like the kumquat thief:

Union Market near the kumquats – w4m – 27

You were pocketing kumquats from the little cartons, and I was not-so-subtly having a dinner of olive samples, but I didn’t report you because I have a criminal record myself and know the system is against people like us. What’s a little petty crime? It’s all culinary, baby.

The guy got arrested for getting stuck in the door?

We knew the resdesign of the Coney Island Aquarium was pretty much dead, so the story in today’s City Section of the Times doesn’t break much new ground in that regard. However, it does contain some definitive statements and details on why aquarium officials want to invest in a new shark exhibit rather than put any money into revitalizing the facility’s depressing and awful very basic design. Here is some of the logic:

Early last year, the city chose a winning design: an airy, whalelike shell, spangled with thousands of pinpoint lights, that seemed to engulf the aquarium.

But last week, city officials said the whale design was essentially dead. “We are not proceeding on that concept,” said Madelyn Wils, the agency’s executive vice president for planning and development. Instead, she said, the city will contribute about $50 million for a new shark exhibit. Aquarium officials said their shark population would more than triple, to at least 40, and the exhibit would include an arching, 300,000-gallon tank that visitors could walk beneath. The aquarium, on Surf Avenue in Coney Island, is operated and partly financed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a nonprofit group.

The earlier concept was scrapped, Ms. Wils said, because the city was concerned about both the cost of the whale design and its practicality. “Once you built it, how would you make improvements inside of it?” she asked. “If you wanted to make a new exhibit, how would you do that, now that the space is covered?”…Said Ms. Wils: “Does the public want to look at a whale engulfing the aquarium? Maybe. But would more people enjoy the aquarium if there was a new shark exhibit? Probably.”

GL Analysis:

Count GL among those that would have liked to see the whale “engulf” the aquarium. Hopefully the Conservation Society will do something so that its facility does not continue to be an embarrassing visual blight on that part of the boardwalk. We love the aquarium, but its current design is an embarrassment to a world-class city like New York and a slap in the face to Coney Island.

Among the many bombshells in the Times story about the Atlantic Yards Stall on Good Friday, was the fact that the cost of the area has nearly doubled to just shy of $1 billion. No Land Grab lays out the interesting price history:

The price tag of Bruce Ratner’s controversial Brooklyn arena has been steadily rising since the project was first announced: starting at $435 million, tweaking upward to $555.3 million and then creeping up to $637.2 million when the project was officially approved. This week, Ratner gave no explanation to The NY Times when he divulged that the cost of the arena has ballooned to a whopping $950 million, more than twice the original projection and a figure suspiciously just shy of the magic $1 billion threshold. The cost of the arena has also mysteriously outpaced construction inflation in NYC, which is reported to be around 8%.

Is a $950 million single-sport arena financially viable? Stay tuned.

Blogger Brit in Brooklyn attended yesterday’s peace rally and sent us this photo of Brooklyn for Peace members participating. More rally shots at Brit in Brooklyn. The Times story on the march says that it “fell short” because not as many demonstrators as hoped where there. We can say, however, that Brooklyn was in the house.

[Photo courtesy of Brit in Brooklyn]

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

• Heads Up: “Monster Cranes” in Every Borough [NYDN]
• Happy Easter from Greenpoint [New York Shitty]
• Palm Cross on Green Door [Brooklynometry]
• Eastertide [A Year in the Park]
• Peek-a-Boo Cornice [Lost City]
• Talking Trash & Signs of Spring [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Elvis Left the Building [OTBKB]
• Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]
• What’s Up at Madina on Coney & Beverley? [Ditmas Park Blog]
• “Horton Hears” + “Doomsday” = Horton Hears Doomsday [BHB]

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

Once a week, we select a few random comments from our readers. Here are this week’s choices:

Atlantic Yards: Miss Brooklyn & Housing to Die as Arena Lives? “Let’s see…1 Billion to Ratner for a basketball court. 800 million to Stienbrener for a baseball Field
300 million to the mats for another baseball Field. 200 million to the Dolans for a Hockey rink.”–My2Sense

“Um, everyone complains when the buildings are going to be built b/c the development was too large. Now that its shrinking b/c the time to act has passed, and everyone complains again. Where do I sign up for season tickets?”–Chris

Gowanus Attack Dog Follow Up: Settle It ‘Between Neighbors’. “A ‘neighbor/neighbor’ issue sounds like two residents having to deal with the problem. This is a business and a resident (civilian?). Somehow, it doesn’t seem correct for the CB to treat it the same way. At the very least, a letter to both the guard dog company and the contractor is in order.”–KDW

Bedford Ave. Report: Dunkin Donuts Coming? “I live in the Burg and would *LOVE* a Dunkin’ Donuts to open up! I’m sick of all the pretentious coffee shops in Williamsburg jammed with hipsters. (Or are they the homeless? The line is quite blurry.) And those little oven toasted hash browns. Mmmmmm mmmmm… bring it on!”

Graham Avenue, Williamsburg

[Photo courtesy of Gary Mirabelle/Mirabelle Studios]

This is another photo sent to us by sculptor, artist and photographer Gary Mirabelle, who is a regular photo contributor to GL, from Prospect Park West in Park Slope.

The huge Ikea property in Red Hook now has a lot of trees. They arrive by truck. “I saw the flatbed truck delivering some of these trees (or perhaps trees for another area on the site) the other day. It’s weird to watch nature being inserted. Note the pine trees in the background.”–Callalillie

Another tree starts to bloom.

Checking outside the Brooklyn weather observatory this Easter Sunday morning, our eyes tells us that the forecast is superfluous. It’s sunny and nice, if chilly. The forecast for today, of course, is mostly sunny and chilly. The high will be 47. Tonight, look for partly cloudy skies and cold temps with a low of 32.

The big Coney Island lot that once held go-kart tracks, batting cages and other amusements that was cleared by developer Joe Sitt last winter, may be getting some life back this summer. There’s word on the Coney Island Message Board that there will be rides and games on the developer’s property. (We presume it’s reliable, but haven’t been able to independently verify it.) Last month, there were signs posted for a flea market on the property. The site is between W. 12 Street and Stillwell Avenue and between the Bowery and stores on the Coney Boardwalk. Last summer a circus used the land for about a week and Thor Equities held movie screenings there. The poster known as Coney Island Barker writes on the Message Board: “Will be from 12 st to Stillwell games and a carnival with rides and games Sitt going in the right direction for now it looks like….also there will be two rides on 12th st in front of the old bank. For the summer. Also the games in the building on the bowery will reopen this season.” If the report is correct, it will reintroduce some life to a big block that Mr. Sitt cleared far in advance of any Coney Island development, although reactions among the Coney watchers–who were less than thrilled with last year’s inflatable Sitt slide, for instance–that populate the board has not been entirely positive.

We realize that this is Brooklyn/New York City and that muggings happens (less frequently than they used to, but often enough to make it an unpleasant possibility). For some reason, mugging tales that circulate via some of the neighborhood listserves are most unsettling than “police report” stories, possibly because of the personal accounts they contain. In any case, this one is about a mugging on Dean Street and comes from the Boerum Hill Group’s mail list:

…A fellow tenant and friend who lives in my building on Dean St. was mugged on her way home last night — approx. 9:15 PM. She was approached by two young men, one of whom grabbed her from behind and pulled her to the ground. My friend then started kicking and screaming and this scared them away. She is fine and didn’t get hurt. She is very lucky. Thank God the muggers did not have any weapons.

Also thought I should mention that this same friend had her car broken into on the same block 3 or 4 weeks ago — a GPS system was stolen….I must say it is extremely
concerning that this happened on the block, and mind you not that late at night. To quote my friend, “I want people to realize that if they heard something last night it was me and they should have done something and/or be more aware around the neighborhood.” I don’t blame her. She’s very shaken up.

The implication being that she was screaming loudly and no one helped or called the police.