Photographer Nate Kensinger, whose work we love and whose forays into places that are hard to access have brought us great visual joy, sent us some photos of a condo in Fort Greene called the Verdi on Adelphi. It has been featured many times by our friends at Brownstoner, who have not minced words about its aesthetics. Phrases like “a mix of generic-looking brick and an over-the-top swaths of blue mosaic tile” and “an over-the-top eyesore” have been used. Mr. Kensinger wondered if it’s “the ugliest building in Brooklyn” in sending us photos. The “Ugliest in Brooklyn” competition is beyond our scope here and would have dozens of nasty contestants, so we’ll just share a bit of his love for the Verdi:

This is the Verdi on Adelphi St, near the Navy Yard… they have been working on it for a while… but you really have to get up close to see how horrendous the tiles on this thing are! Its would be like living inside of a disco ball, or a fragmented oil slick. Its being touted as “a modern compliment to the rich history and lush streetscapes of fort greene.” Haha. How does a mirrored tile jukebox complement a classic brownstone?

Mr. Kensinger also checked out the website of the architect Gene Kaufman, whose latest work will include a hotel and two residential buildings on N. 12 Street in Williamsburg, and writes:

He is working on some truly awful buildings, and has great descriptions of the neighborhoods he is trying so hard to gentrify. He calls Bushwick a “recently troubled neighborhood” and is helping a client in “re-homesteading a deteriorated area” on 11th and A in the East Village. He is also building on “a derelict contaminated site in the hip Williamsburg neighborhood” and is doing all sorts of waterfront glass boxes…

The tiles kind of remind of us the Gowanus Canal near the Union Street Bridge where oil bubbles to the surface and puts a nice sheen on the water.

The first group to announce a bid for the huge Starrett City development is a community-based one made up of the Christian Cultural Center, the Central Labor Council, and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. They say the goal is keeping Starrett City affordable. The bid is said to be “well below” the $1.3 billion bid last year that failed after it created a firestorm of opposition because of the threat to affordable housing at the complex.–Crain’s

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

Visual

• Court Street Windows [Park Slope Street Photography]
• Soft Storm [Atomische]
• Urban Gravestones 3 [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Gowanus Untitled [Elizabeth Weinberg/flickr]
• Borough of Found Toys [New York Shitty]
• Eye on Seventh Avenue [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Shack [Atomische]
• Coney Summer [Lornagrlphotos]
• Golden Hour [f.trainer/flickr]

Less Visual

• Are Public-Private Partnerships One Sided? [AYR]
• Naked City Screenwriter Passes Away in LA [NYP]
• Brooklyn and the Stroller Solutions [Gothamist]
• Happy Birthday: Inky the Roebling Oil Field Cat at One [Bad Advice]
• ‘sNice in Detail [OTBKB]
• R Train to Run 24 Hours a Day to Manhattan [Bay Ridge Blog]
• Flat Screen TVs, iPods, Etc. Blamed for Record Electricity Use [NYDN]
• 1050 Broadway Open House [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Grows in Brooklyn [Brooklynometry]

[Courtesy of Eric Provost]

Speaking of interesting effects on visual things like the Super8 shots of Coney Island in the vid below, Eric Provost, who supplies us with many wonderful photos, sent us this photo of Dumbo taken from the Manhattan Bridge that he processed using a “fake model photography” creation trick on Photoshop. The trick was featured on Dumbo NYC last year to wonderful effect.

There is a modest opportunity to recycle electronics at PS 321’s Winter Carnival today in Park Slope. From 10AM-4PM cell phones, cell phone chargers, cell phone batteries, PDA’s and MP3 players can be dropped off for recycling. As far as we understand, they are not accepting computers or other large items. PS 321 is on Seventh Avenue between Second and Third Streets. There will be games, prizes, face painting, food, entertainment and a rummage sale with children’s clothing, games, toys, books and DVDs. There will be a raffle with money being used to buy math books that have been cut from the education budget.

Here’s an odd little vid shot in Coney Island in Super 8 in 2004. We do love atmospheric Coney Island videos.

“The Park Slope Civic Council hosted a great Sustainability Meeting titled PlanPS2008: How You Can Start Fighting Climate Change Today last night, well attended by over a hundred people. Introductions were by PSCC trustee Eric McClure and Ken Freeman, PSCC’s president.”–I’m Seeing Green

[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 a group of several photos of Clinton Hill.

A second round of heavy rainfall is expected to move over the region by late Saturday morning and into the afternoon. The rain will end by Saturday evening, but not before 2 to perhaps as much as 4 inches of rain has fallen. Some locally higher amounts are possible, especially if thunderstorms develop on Saturday…Saturated soils combined with moderate to heavy rainfall will likely produce flooding of area rivers and stream.–National Weather Service

There is demolition and new building action to report at the far end of Court Street. A GL reader sent us these photos of 517 Court, which is at the corner of Ninth Street, and is clearly coming down. At the same time, demolition permits have been issued for 523, 525 and 527 Court, slightly down the block. The properties are owned by two different corporations and are independent projects. An application has been filed for the long, narrow Court Street corner property pictured here. The initial application was rejected (as often happens before plans are approved), but it is for a six-story building, 70-feet-tall that would have 11,458 square feet of space. Meanwhile, 523-525-527 Court will be a seven-story building with 33,000 square feet and 18 units designed by Henry Radusky’s Bricolage Designs.

Is Fifth Avenue going one-way in Sunset Park? We haven’t seen anything about this, but a reader sent us the photo above, which shows a new one-way sign waiting to be uncovered at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street that bears all the signs of some temporary changes. (That’s Green-Wood Cemetery in the background.) He writes:

Today I noticed new “do not enter” (DNE) and “one-way” signs on 5th avenue at 34th street. In the picture, the “3” in “34 St” is obstructed from view by the one-way sign, but you can clearly see greenwood cemetery in the background. The one-way is pointing south-bound and the DNE facing north-bound traffic at 34th st suggesting that south of 34th 5th ave would continue to be two ways. The new pattern is not in effect as of yet–I presume they make changes like this in the dark at night.

I’m not sure how far north this extends or whether this is a temporary thing…I called 311 and was told that in order to verify a street sign or traffic change I would need to submit it in writing. I figured I’d ask you first since you seem to know the ins and outs of our fair and gentle borough so well.

Given the furor last year about one-way changes around Park Slope, we doubt that it’s a permanent change. In fact, Fifth Avenue was left off the one-way list. So, we assume it’s a construction-related issue. Anyone know what’s up?

We were amused to find that someone found the inherent humor in the ongoing “Is There a Park Slope in (Fill in the Name of City)?” discussion at the Park Slope Parents group. This email clearly takes the prize in this week’s discussion:

I checked the archives and can’t find any neighborhood quite like Park Slope in Iraq. They all seem to have drawbacks…The streets of Baghdad are too bumpy for our Mountain Buggy, Mosul doesn’t seem to have a Red Hot equivalent, and Basrah isn’t getting a Trader Joes until 2062 (according to their webpage). Any help would be appreciated.

Indeed. Excellent stuff.

UPDATE: There are those that have taken umbrage with the original post. One poster retorts that the post is “in incredibly bad taste….I’m all for legitimate criticism, making light of a war in which hundreds of thousands have died in this way should not have a place on a listserv of this kind. Im frankly disappointed that the moderators allowed it.”

Another poster, responds to that sentiment writing, ” i think it’s a mischaracterization to say that she was ‘making light’ of the war. quite the contrary…the post puts our “problems” into perspective. and i, for one, am not the least bit ashamed of laughing at it. oh, and for what it’s worth, i have family native to that part of the world who have been bombed, who have had their government dismantled and manipulated and who have lost their lives– not on the american side of things.”

The work at Oshima on Seventh Avenue is ongoing. We took this photo of working going on yesterday afternoon, as we were making the rounds for our Friday Park Slope Focus reports which have covered: Yogo Monster, the Maggie Moo’s space, ‘sNic’es opening today, Purity Diner and the tagging up of the Bank of America Space.

Brace. The staff at Yogo Monster on Seventh Avenue near Union Street in Park Slope was busy getting the store ready yesterday. As the sign says, they open on Saturday, and there’s a free gift with a purchase. Oko vs. Yogo Death Match in the making or is Park Slope big enough for both of them? We’re thinking the latter.

A Park Slope old timer–a gentleman who looks to be in his 70s–strolls down Seventh Avenue last night. He walks up to the shuttered Red Hot Szechuan at Tenth Street and see that it is closed. He clearly has dinner in mind. He stops and stares. He puts his face against the locked grate and looks inside. “Jesus Christ,” he says out loud. “What happened to this fuckin’ store? Jesus Christ.” Eventually he walks off. A block later he is still shaking his head. “Jesus Christ,” he says. So it goes in Week Two of Park Slope’s Post-Red Hot Existence.

This is the scene outside the former Seventh Avenue site of Maggie Moo’s (and a lot of other businesses that have passed on in this Storefront of Death) work is ongoing .and dumpsters have appeared on an off. There is no word on the future of the location, and utterly no truth to rumors that anyone has been contracted to try to break the spells that doom businesses that open here. The business listed on the permit as doing the work is called Doric Designs. Souvlaki and spanakopita, anyone?

UPDATE: OTKB follows up with a report that it will be…drum roll…a nail salon. Either that, or the workers were indicating that the work was really messing up their hands.

That is a rendering of a new 20-story building that is planned for Lincoln Road in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens near Ocean Avenue. The building would have 210,000 square feet of space and come from Gilman Architects. Yesterday, we talked with architect Tom Gilman who said it’s “a tall building, but in a way that it’s pulled back from the street” and said that he designed it with “a lot of glass to give people views of the park.” The building would sit at the edge of Prospect Park, not far from the 1876 Olmsted and Vaux Boathouse. It would include 17,000 square feet of roof space that would be a park for residents. The building would also have an LED light system with a lighting scheme that will change hourly. Mr. Gilman said the lights would be “an abstract urban clock.” It’s unclear if the Prospect Park Alliance had previously seen the plans and whether it approves or disapproves of the building’s impact on vistas in the park. The building would also be very visible from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

This is easily the most enjoyable altered sign we’ve seen in a long time. It comes from Seventh Avenue in Park Slope at Carroll Street. We honestly don’t know how long it’s been like this, but we enjoyed finally noticing if it’s been that way for a while. Superb.

‘sNice, the vegetarian cafe that is opening a branch on Fifth Avenue at Third Street in Park Slope is opening today. The menu is heavy on sandwiches and salads and choices include Brie, Pear & Arugula with raspberry mustard, a vegan Chicken Pot Pie Wrap, a Hummus Sandwich, a Philly Style Seitan Sandwich, Tri-Color Panini with Arugula and Goat Cheese, a Cuban Panini with soy ham and Swiss, and a whole lot more. More veggie options on Fifth Avenue!

The Manhattan Beach Community Group, which has provided amusement in the past, particularly with the idea of beach privatization last year, is now proposing to block renters from joining its ranks. An email says that it is “leaving us without a say in our own community. It is completely unfair and I’m hoping someone will take notice.” Notice has been taken.–GerritsenBeach.Net

We haven’t sensed a lot of Park Slope enthusiasm for the new Bank of America branch that’s going to be opening at Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue in the space that used to house Gothic Cabinet Craft and D’Agostino’s. We can report that the big red thing out front has been tagged up as has the side of the building, and Brooklynian reports an interesting story of police intervention with the kids that did the tagging last Friday:

I go to the window and what do I see? Six teenagers (five white, one black) standing across the street passing a joint around and being the usual obnoxious shits that teenagers are. And then one of the white punks spray paints a giant tag on our neighbor’s garage door. So, I call the cops and wait to see if they show up before the punks leave. As I’m waiting these idiots just stand around smoking more dope and videotaping themselves with a tiny camcorder (which makes me think they are some rich little white snots who probably live in mommie’s brownstone and like to go out “slumming”).

Anyway, the cops do arrive in force. Five squad cars, ten cops and they start talking to the kids (two of them got away by walking right passed the cars as they were pulling up)…The next morning I see tags all over the block- even on a giant, old tree (and the new Bank of America plywood which is sort of a mixed blessing).

Quite the police response for kids tagging stuff up (and there’s quite a long discussion about the entire incident), but the question is, will the upkeep be any better when the B of A branch opens?

This is the big Karl Fischer building rising at 405 Union Avenue in Williamsburg at Ainslie Street. It will offer 47 new Burg condos when it’s done, some of them with fabulous views of the Getty Station, the Kellog Diner and big building that will be rising behind it, and the comings and goings of the police, who are always parked in great numbers outside because of a station in the subway stop. The building has been going up pretty quickly. For a refresher on what it will look like, click here.

Yes, for a minute there, we thought another one Seventh Avenue had met its maker, but a look at the sign revealed that the Purity Diner is closed from March 3-11 for renovations. Until then, visitors to patients at Methodist Hospital and everyone else that wants a Purity fix either have to go to Little Purity down the street or find another dinerlike option. Seventh Avenue remains a hotbed of intrigue and excitement.

Depending on one’s point of view the dog named Miss Mordred in Greenpoint is either very cute or quite grotesque. It all depends on how one feels about chihuahuas and, specifically, ones wearing body length apparel that resembles a hoodie with a faux hawk. So, it’s either awwwwhhhh or eeewwwhhhh.–New York Shitty

The Park Slope Food Co-op will ban the sale of bottled water if its members vote to approve it. Bottled water has become a big environmental issue as an estimated 30 million bottles a day end up in landfills and manufacturing the bottle consumes an estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil a year. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the ban is expected to pass. A co-op member who started a discussion on the topic a couple of years ago via the Park Slope Parents group told the paper that “Bottled water is a completely unnecessary product for most people, and only serves to harm the environment.” Many co-op members suggest a switch to good old-fashioned New York City tap water, which is actually subject to higher purity standards than those set by the Federal government for bottled water. The ban wouldn’t apply to carbonated water or to other bottled beverages. Intense Park Slope debate to follow.