• NYS Politics: A Brand New Day [DITHOB]
• On Spitzer [Brooklyn Junction]
• What Will Be Spitzer’s Second Act? [OTBKB]
• It’s Not Unusual: NY Screwing You [Duffield St. Underground]
• “They Tell Me This Spitzer Guy Resigned” [Brooklyn Streets]
• Two Missed Morsels in the Feeding Frenzy [Brooklyn Optimist]
• Real Estate “Angst” About Paterson to Extend to Atlantic Yards [AYR]
• Spitzer’s Ho Ho Ho [Left in Bay Ridge]
• Spitzer Resigns [Bay Ridge Rover]
• David Paterson Welcomed by LGBTQ Community [Fading Ad Blog]
• Eliot Spitzer, Monster and Criminal, Resigns [Bay Ridge Blog]

We’re sad to find that the Greenpoint blog 11222 is shutting down. The blogger writes, “It is with regret I announce that I plan to take 11222 down within the month. When I first started the blog, I imagined no end of things I wished to write about. I probably still wish to write about as many things, but time is my enemy. Between my day job, my fiction writing, my baseball writing, and my music writing – something was going to suffer. That casualty is what you’re looking at right now. I can’t do a job half-assed and feel good about it…” We’re sad whenever a blog we check every day is no longer there.–11222

Want to see a “Band Organ Rally”? Sunday is your moment. Coney Island USA and the Lady Liberty Chapter of the Automated Musical Instrument Collectors’ Association are helping kick off the Coney Island season with its annual Band Organ Rally. It takes place on Sunday, March 16 from Noon to 4:30PM at Sideshows by the Seashore and the Coney Island Museum, which are located at 1208 Surf Avenue in Coney Island. It may be winter for another week, but the Coney Island 2008 Season is upon us.

This image from Van Brunt Street comes from our wonderful Carroll Gardens. Easter decorations are clear signs that the winter is almost over.

There’s a Purim Carnival coming up in Park Slope on Sunday, March 16 from 12:30-2:00PM. Here’s a bit from an email about it:

Bring your kids to Park Slope Jewish Center’s incredible Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 16th, from 12:30–2:00 p.m., followed by a sing-along with the fabulously fun, Jody Prusan, for kids aged 2-6 from 2:00-2:45 p.m. The carnival (for kids and adults of all ages!) will feature games, food, arts and crafts, face-painting, a clown, prizes, and more…Admission for the carnival (includes admission to the sing-along) is $5 for kids 2 and up (kids under 2 are FREE!) and includes 5 game/food tickets. Adult Admission is a suggested donation of $5-$10. Extra game/food tickets will be available for purchase. Park Slope Jewish Center is at the corner of 8th Avenue and 14th Street.

Ah, winter is ending.

If you were one of the people hoping that all that ground floor space in the Novo Park Slope on Fourth Avenue (which many people have compared aesthetically to a psychiatric facility, hospital or dorm) was going to be a restaurant or retailer, you are SOL. It’s going to be an ambulatory care facility for Methodist Hospital. While we’re sure the facility is needed, the irony, given hundreds of comments about the Shaya Boymelgreen building, is thick.–Brownstoner

The word from the Brooklyn weather center is that today will be a day of blending of sun and clouds, with sun predominating at times. The high will be 49. Tonight might feature a passing shower, with a low of 42. Otherwise, look for a wet Friday and Saturday here in the Kings County homeland.–Accuweather

Borough President Marty Markowitz’s statement on the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer: “In what can only be called a personal failure and tragedy, Governor Spitzer leaves office with great promise unfulfilled…I join all Brooklynites and New Yorkers in supporting our soon-to-be-Governor David Paterson. David and I served together in the Senate, and I have no doubt this Harlemite born in Brooklyn will prove to be a very effective Governor—by bringing people together, working with both Democrats and Republicans, and restoring people’s faith and trust in Albany.”–GL Inbox

A lot of us who were evicted from 475 Kent stored belongings there and two weeks ago some part of the StorageMart apparently flooded and partially collapsed – the rumor is that it happened because there were 20,000 pounds of chopsticks stored in one of the units.

My former roommate has been trying for two weeks to get his stuff out but he has been told that the city has shut part of the complex down because of “flooding”. If you walk around the building – you can’t see what happened – it must be in the interior that the damage happened…There are a lot of other storage places down Flushing and I talked to some of them and they all have heard about it but don’t want to talk about it.

Followers of the 475 Kent saga will recall that one of the major issues in the building was the illegal matzo bakery in the basement. And, now, they may have been victimized by ten tons of chopsticks? We already know that nothing will come along today that will amuse us more than the Great Wallabout StorageMart Chopstick Mystery.

It looks like Urban Outfitters, which is opening a new store on Atlantic Avenue, has tried to hit a whole bunch of Brooklyn images and themes with the poster it has distributed locally. Think Wonder Wheel, L Train, Dumbo the Elephant, Jay-Z, Welcome Back Kotter, the Domino Plant, etc., etc. Also, think cut outs on the cover of TV Guide, circa 1984.–Gothamist

As noted, Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference this morning in Boerum Hill to announce a new residential parking permit plan proposal as part of congestion pricing. He was joined by Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. The press conference took place at about the time Gov. Spitzer was announcing his resignation. Per a press release, the program “is designed to give local residents priority for on-street parking in residential areas and to discourage park-and-ride activity by commuters. It will be tailored by neighborhood to address specific needs, and restrictions will vary based on neighborhood parking patterns.” Parking permit legislation will be introduced in the City Council and in Albany. Neighborhoods will have the opportunity to “opt in” to the program via a Community Board vote and other sign offs, and parking by non-residents would be limited to 90 minutes at certain times. The Mayor and DOT Commissioner noted Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Long Island City, and the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan as places where there is interest in the idea. (We would add other Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope.) The Mayor said: “This is a promising and proven parking management strategy that together with congestion pricing will help us achieve one of the key goals of PlaNYC – cutting down on pollution-creating traffic and creating an environmentally sustainable transportation system for New York City.”

“Congestion Pricing is vital to the future of New York City and a Residential Parking Permit program will help to ensure that neighborhoods are not overrun with commuters looking for parking before they get on a subway to enter the pricing zone,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “The Residential Parking Permit program will give parking priority to local residents while also balancing the need for some visitor and commercial parking.”

A new bill being introduced in the City Council could give some teeth to community-based planning for rezoning and other initiatives. The legislation, which is an offshoot of a Municipal Art Society effort, would give extend the influence of what are known as 197-a plans. Currently, the plans developed by the community have no legislative weight.–Brownstoner

As we’ve previously noted, there will be a forum tomorrow night (3/13) on Dept. of Education Budget cuts. A group called Friends of Bill de Blasio has sent out another big email blast today about the session to “bring together members of the community to strategize about stopping the Department Of Education (DOE) school budget cuts. We will hear from all different groups at the event- including constituents, members of the Community Education Councils (CEC), PTA and other education leaders.” It takes place tomorrow from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at St. Francis College, Callahan Center, 180 Remsen Street, 1st Floor (Between Court and Clinton Streets).

The Mayor’s press schedule for today only says that Mayor Bloomberg will be making an announcement at Bergen and Bond Streets this morning at 11:30AM. The announcement, however, is one of interest: The Mayor and DOT Commissioner will announce “residential parking permits as part of congestion pricing.” It is unknown right now which neighborhoods will be included. There has been significant sentiments in some quarters in Brooklyn for a residential permit plan as part of congestion pricing, particularly because residents in some neighborhoods feel their streets will be used for commuter parking. The source that alerted us to the announcements says, “This should be interesting.”

“Now comes the hard part for the plucky Red Hook taco vendors. A day after city officials announced the popular food stands won the right to stay in the Red Hook Ball Fields for six more years, vendors are scrambling to find as much as $30,000 needed per stand for professional food trucks to bring the market up to code.”–NYDN

Lola Staar’s owner, Dianna Carlin, has won an amazing contest sponsored by Glamour Magazine and Tommy Hilfiger!! In celebration of Tommy’s new fragrance, Dreaming, they hosted a contest to make someone’s “dream come true!!”

Dianna dreamt of transforming the enchanted, vacant, historical landmark building pictured above into a magical Roller Rink full of color, life, energy, art and fun. Along with Taconic Investment Partners, Glamour and Tommy Hilfiger are helping her to transform this dream into a reality and filming a fabulous documentary movie about her exciting journey. On March 22nd, the spectacular Childs Building will become Lola’s magical roller skating Dreamland!

The Childs Building is a wonderful space with a great view of the beach and the water on a beautiful evening. We can’t wait for it to be filled with lights, music and a fun vibe.

What where you thinking handing out your logo stickers? Where did you think they would end up? They are so annoying. They are everywhere on Smith and beyond. On every parking meter pole, on every public telephone, even on traffic signs…Please stop handing them out. And if you placed them around the neighborhood yourself, shame on you.–Pardon Me for Asking

“The Department of City of Planning has the rezoning of ‘East Greenpoint’ next on their list…a large 170+ block area east of the BQE…City Planning has promised to have the larger rezoning (covering an area roughly from Maujer Street north to Newtown Creek) into the public review process by Autumn of this year.”–WGPA

The first step for the Toll Brothers firm in trying to win approval for its big proposed development in Gowanus will occur tomorrow (Thursday, 3/13). That’s when a “Scoping Hearing” to determine the contents of an environmental impact study (or its scope) will take place at the Department of City Planning. The scoping document is a technical, yet important, one and opponents of the Toll plan are organizing to speak against the controversial development. The project needs to go through a full city land use review process because the developers are looking for a zoning change in advance of rezoning the neighborhood. There are two sessions on Thursday, one from 2PM-5:30PM and the other from 6PM-8:45PM. It will take place at 22 Reade Street. Attendees can make statements of up to three minutes about the project and written statements can also be submitted through March 24. There is vocal, if not bitter, opposition to the big Gowanus development from within the community. Residents are concerned it will be too big and exacerbate current flooding problems among other things.

In case anyone had a shred of doubt remaining, the new Kent Avenue will be nothing like the old one, which certainly didn’t have any pools with terraces looking over the East River and Manhattan. Although, it did once have piers and locomotives and warehouses.–Curbed