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

Spring:

• Spring Comes to Smith Street [McBrooklyn]
• Catching a Glimpse of Spring on Court [PMFA]
• Crocuses on Cortelyou [Flatbush Gardener]
• Buds in the Park [A Year in the Park]

Not Spring:

• Waiting for the Atlantic Yards Community Advisory Committee [AYR]
• Polytechnic University to Merge with NYU [Sun]
• Brooklyn Rapper Will Play Biggie Smalls in Film [NYDN]
• A Nice Photographic Encounter at Ward Bakery [Not Another F*cking Blog]
• 81 Ocean Parkway Coop of the Day [Brownstoner]
• Appreciating the Juliete on 12th Street in the Slope [Brooklynometry]
• Theater in a Fort Greene Funeral Home [General Greene]
• BBQ and Ribs [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Last Night in Park Slope [OTBKB]
• Sonny Carson Ave. is Alive in Bed-Stuy [NYDN]
• Check Out the Brooklyn Homeshow in Park Slope [About Brooklyn]
• Horses Co. of Park Slope [Fading Ad Blog]
• Sock Monkey Fun for a Cause [New York Shitty]
• And You Thought Mac & Cheese Was Ass Broke Survival Food [BK 11201]
• Spicy Pickle Taking Over Armand’s Space on Montague [BHB]
• Fundraising Time for Brooklyn Public Library Group [NYDN]

There will be a “Town Hall Meeting on Predatory Lending” on Tuesday, March 11, in Park Slope sponsored by City Council Member Bill de Blasio and Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes “to discuss the growing problems of Predatory Lending and Mortgage Fraud.” It will take place from 7PM-9PM at PS 321, which is located at 180 Seventh Avenue (between 1st and 2nd Streets). Topics will include spotting and protecting oneself from predatory lending and tactics.

PS 321 in Park Slope is having its annual Winter Carnival this Saturday (3/8). There will be games, prizes, face painting, food and entertainment. There are supposed to be pony rides if the weather is good, but the latter is not looking very promising. there is also 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. Among the prizes are Wii games, an iPod Nano and an American Girl Doll. Raffle tickets are 2 for $5. PS 321 is on Seventh Avenue between First and Second Streets in Park Slope.

Which Williamsburg waterfront highrise project will win the battle for the hearts and wallets of Brooklyn condo buyers? “Two of the biggest developments on the Williamsburg waterfront are about to face off on the sales market. First up, the Edge (a Brownstoner advertiser), which is going on sale next month…A cross-section of the 575 units will be on sale…The average price in the condo is going to be around $900 a square foot and it’s on track to be move-in ready by summer ’09.” Meanwhile, the Toll Brothers are ready to start selling a second Northside Piers Tower by April or May.–Brownstoner

“So now that the red chair is in its temporary position in the dining room next to the doorway to the kitchen, I keep bumping into it. To put it succinctly: It’s in the way. But it does make a great place to dump coats, backpacks, electric guitars and cereal bowls (with the Raisin Bran caked on – gross)…Still, the red chair bump into me, stubs my toe, looks longingly my way overflowing with leather jackets, books and other detritus of life in the apartment. What will become of me? it seems to say. What will become of me?”–OTBKB

There will be increasing clouds today with a high of 50. Rain will develop in late afternoon and it will be rainy tonight with a low of 43. The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch from tonight through early Sunday morning. Rainfall of 2-3 inches is expected. It could be time to get the hip waders around the Gowanus Canal.–Accuweather

The McCarren Park Flood Lights around the field are finally installed and were turned on last night. All six of them (looks like Yankee stadium). But quite interestingly they have been on all night and all day today. What is the cut off time is my question?

Last night I couldn’t get a wink in because the lights flooded our apt. Indeed. incredibly bright…At 5 am, I called 311 to complain to find no number that we could call to get them turned off. Just a women saying that they have to resolve the situation in 10 days. 10 days of this and I will be going nuts. Curtains just don’t cut it.

They are still on now. A waste of electricity!!! Last night it was pelting with ice at 3am. If any of those bulbs busted, that’s precious tax payers money. I guess it would have been good for us residents if the lights busted anyway.

The lighting plan has apparently been in place for years, long before the condos of Karl Fischer Row were ever built. We wonder how many buyers were told they’d be lighting up the night outside.

The people who own the cheese shop with the unfortunate name of Stinky and the wine store with the equally silly name of Smith & Vine have taken over the the painted blue brick corner bar, Quench. Three’s a charm with names. The Jake Walk has been painted pale yellow and windows have been punched out of the side and a wood paneled door installed. An improvement over the slinky meat market style of Quench.

As it turns out, “The Jake Walk” is a name with a rather macabre history, referring to people who were poisoned by bootleg alcohol and left with physical disabilities. Jake was a Jamaican ginger extract with high alcohol content that was used to skirt laws banning alcohol. In 1930, manufacturers decided to add an industrial chemical to dilute Jake that turned out to be highly toxic. Victims were partly paralyzed and the resulting walk was known as “the Jake Walk.” Here’s a bit we found online about it, although we had no idea when we went looking:

Jake is actually Jamacian ginger extract, marketed and sold as a medicinal tonic for any number of ills. It was available in the United States since about the time of the Civil War, and Americans quickly realized that the nearly 70% alcohol content made “the jake” a way to skirt local or federal laws banning the consumption of liquor…Jake sold between 1920 and 1930 caused no health problems. In the spring of 1930, however, the manufacturers of jake decided to add a new ingredient, an industrial chemical called tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate.

The new ingredient was added to help adulter, or water down, the jake. It was tasteless, soluble with alcohol, and cheap. It also turned out to be highly toxic, particularly to the spinal cord…It is estimated that some 50,000 people were crippled with partial paralysis, mostly in their legs, as a result of drinking “jake”. In some cases the paralysis proved to be temporary, but nearly all victims were forced to walk with in high-stepping, foot-slapping style that quickly became known as the “jake walk” or the “jake leg”

There are many songs about the Jake Walk Blues. So, that’s the story behind the name on Smith Street. Cheery.

Yesterday, there was much conversation on the Park Slope Parents list about whether there’s a Park Slope in Boston. We posted something, as did OTBKB and Curbed. Among the questions we asked was whether there was a Park Slope in Seattle, Atlanta, Denver and other cities. Today’s question on the Park Slope list: “Is There a Park Slope in Denver?” Here’s the question:

A friend is wondering if there is a Park Slope in Denver? Realizing of course that the housing and transportation will be totally different, but curious about the arty, progressive, kid-friendly vibe.

The first response is that the Park Slope of Denver is actually Boulder. Our questions for today is: What’s the Park Slope of Baltimore? What is the Park Slope of Providence? And, of course, what is the Park Slope of Wilmington? Also, what is the Park Slope of Wisconsin? Ah, we know. Madison!

The 3rd Annual Brooklyn Blogfest will be on May 8th, 2008 at 8 p.m. at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Fourth Avenue and Union Street right on top of the R train’s Union Street station. Cool venue for a cool event.–OTBKB

BCAT, BRIC and Brooklyn Independent Television celebrated a second season of new programming with a reception and presentation last night at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Borough President Marty Markowitz spoke and three winners of the Reel Teen contest were announced. About 40 Brooklyn high school students submitted vids for the contest showing their visions and version of Brooklyn. The program featuring the teen vids is called “BK 4 Reel.” GL was there and the young participants were really proud and really happy. BCAT produces some great programming. Check them out.

The Union-Sackett Block Association will be having a meeting on Saturday (3/8) at 11:30 AM. The meeting will take place at the Carroll Gardens Public Library, which is located at Clinton & Union Streets. There will be a review of an executive meeting with the Clarrett Group, which is building the controversial project at 340 Court Street on the site of the old International Longshoreman’s Association building. There will also be planning for a community meeting with the developers which is slated for late March or early April. The developers will be presenting plans for the new building, which is being designed by Rogers Marvel.

• Atlantic Yards Financing Documents Signed [AYR]
• Debit Card Scam Guy Arrested in Sheepshead Bay [NYP]
• Get Your 160 Schermerhorn Lottery Ticket [Brownstoner]
• With the Brooklyn Freelancers [Metro]
• Crown Heights Real Estate [amNY]
• All Quiet Again at 333 Carroll Street [PMFA]
• Woman Gets Face Full of Roach Spray for Complaining About Noise [NYP]
• Dumbo in NY Mag’s Best of NYC [Dumbo NYC]
• Fifth Avenue Honor System [Brooklynometry]
• Buh Bye Armando’s [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• OTBKB on Brian Lehrer’s TV Show [OTBKB]
• The Theology of Bed-Stuy [New York Shitty]
• Let’s Hear It for the G Train [General Greene]
• The Ghost Horses of Verandah Place [Lost City]

Once, there were many hotels in Coney Island. One of them was the Half Moon Hotel on the Boardwalk at W. 29th Street. It was “meant to be a vanguard of western boardwalk expansion, but this plan was derailed by the Great Depression. The hotel served as a naval hospital, the Harbor Hotel, and the Hebrew Home for the Aged, before being demolished in 1996.” There was a nasty mob-related defenestration there once.–Ask Mr. Coney Island via Kinetic Carnival

It’s official, “A week from now, Atlantic Ave will be irrevocably changed. Mark those calendars.” The new Urban Outfiters is opening on March 13 and there is photographic proof.–Racked