As of 7:30 this morning, the petition calling on the Mayor to allow the 200 residents of 475 Kent Avenue to return to their home had attracted 3,732 signatures. The reports yesterday describing a matzo factory fire early Monday morning as being “close” to 475 Kent were off by more than a mile. The fire was at Kent and Flushing Avenue.–475 Kent Petition

On Nov. 8, 1909, a celluloid comb factory at 150-152 Columbia Street was hit by a devastating fire that took ten lives. There were no fire escapes and workers couldn’t get out because of iron bars on the second floor windows. The owner committed suicide ten days later.–Fading Ad Blog

While the B&B Carousell itself was saved and will someday reappear as part of the city’s planned Steeplechase Plaza, the sign for it that has been on Surf Avenue since the days of Luna Park is now gone. It fell victim to a paint job that was photographed by the Coney Island Message Board’s Captain Nemo, who calls the destruction of the sign “a crime.” The sign was painted on metal that was bolted to the building and, apparently, couldn’t be removed without causing a lot of damage and the subject of saving it had come up in the past. Saving it is no longer an issue, however, as this small yet significant piece of Coney history has been obliterated via paint roller. While one can appreciate that it might have been difficult or impossible to remove from the building, you certainly have to wonder if there was a way to restore the sign and make it part of the new building and whatever ends up there. No matter. It’s now another bit of Brooklyn’s past that is just a photograph.

We have seen many raccoons sauntering around Brooklyn, but we’re always amused by tales of raccoon sightings and reactions to them. This email comes from the Boerum Hill group on Yahoo:

I saw a large raccoon last night, proceeding calmly down the south side of State between Smith and Hoyt, going up and down each stoop and investigating each area, while keeping casually ahead of me and out of my way. It was a little alarming to see such a large feral creature in our front yards and to wonder where it lived, if it had a family, etc. Has anyone else seen raccoons around lately, or know how common they are in our neighborhood? I would greatly prefer, for its sake and ours, that it lived in a less urban setting.

Let’s just say that they’re around, in general.

Remember when it snowed on President’s Day? It was 2003.

There’s been a matzo factory fire on Kent Avenue near Flushing. The blaze shows up on Gothamist Maps as a three alarm fire and an AP report on 1010WINS says that “a fire in a building along the Brooklyn waterfront erupted in a basement that contained a matzo bakery” and that it “is not far from” 475 Kent, which was evacuated in January after a bunch of fire code violations, including an illegal matzo factory, were found in the basement. The address, however, is 799 Kent which is on the other side of the BQE and is more than a stone’s throw from the waterfront and is a significant distance from 475 Kent. Today’s blaze began at 4:32 AM. A third alarm was reported at 6:40 AM.

• “Brooklyn Vagrant” Rescues Father, Two Sons from Blaze [NYP]
• Will Vince Carter Now Step Up for Atlantic Yards? [AYR]
• Another Ocean Avenue Building Coming Down [Hawthorne Street]
• Salvage Fest ’07 Photos [Brownstoner]
• Lost on Madison Street in Bed-Stuy [New York Shitty]
• Miss Brooklyn is Back [Gothamist]
• Sun Sets on Red Hook’s Sunset Music Series [Brooklyn Paper]
• I Was Interviewed by the Bryant Park Project [OTBKB]
• 1010 WINS Revists 227 Duffield [Duffield Street Underground]
• Today’s Local News [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Many Architectural Styles in Gowanus [Velvet Sea]
• Bizarre Evening at Restaurant New Orleans [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Steeple Power [Dope on the Slope]

“A Brooklyn agency that’s supposed to help the disabled spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on fancy cars, flat-panel TVs, business trips and a $100,000 no-show job for the director’s close friend, a report charges. Despite the scathing findings, the Sunset Park group’s longtime executive director, Seibert Phillips – who lied about his education credentials and allegedly let his son, who lives in Atlanta, rack up nearly $18,000 in gas charges on an agency credit card – is still at the agency. Most of the board members at the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need (SPIN) are also still in place – even though many are longtime Phillips cronies who failed for years to rein in the lavish spending…”–NYDN

Every week, we take a look at a few comments left during the previous seven days by GL readers. Here are a couple from the last week for this President’s Day:

Bklink: Terrorist Photographers. “It’s fun to imagine witty replies to such coercive tactics, such as “Is this a police state” “Are you a fascist?” “Aren’t you supposed to be protecting my rights?” but there’s no point as cops do not engage in any kind of repertoire. In fact, most cops do not think and I don’t mean that as an insult. They’re paid to do as they’re told. They are told to man a wasteful and expensive toy bought by the city, that’s what they do. The current policy by the commissioner is to intimidate and harass peaceful protestors and photographers – and that’s what they do. If tomorrow they got orders telling them to stand in front of the skywatch and smile for pictures… then that’s what they would do. So the next time you’re engaged by someone like that, just have a laugh because “are you a terrorist?” is the equivalent of “do you want fries with that?” for NYPD. [Jamie]

Carroll Gardens 340 Court St. Building Gets Death Fence. “Stunning. I can’t wait for it to be covered with posters like the corner of Smith and Douglass has been for the past 2 years. Please let there be some useful retail as part of the plan and not another drug store.” [Ginger the Dog’s Dad]

The Starting Bell: Toll Brothers Reveal Gowanus Plans. “This is what my Psychic on 5th Ave. tells me: “Let’s see. 2011… that’s um… two years after the economic crash that will bankrupt new york city (once more)… which means they’ll be building the shells of buildings for the junkies and drug dealers who troll Bond Street at night. Public Housing, at long last!” Not my two cents – my five dollar psychic’s!” [Anonymous]

The Purchase Building under the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the first structures slated to come down as part of construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park. The building is now empty, so the police blockade of New Dock Street next to it is done too. Sadly, you still can’t get to the Esplanade on the water, though there’s an effort to get it reopened.–McBrooklyn

As we noted, weeks ago when the reports of credit card fraud hitting Park Slope residents started to surface, Detective Tony Shy at the 78th Precinct is investigating. An email that someone forwarded to us via the Park Slope Parents list urges “the 500 of you who have experienced the fraud charges on your cards to *actually call* Detective Shy of the 78th precinct at 718 636 6483 and let him know what happened.” [GL Inbox]

Last night, Friday 02.15.08 around 8pm. We’re inside making dinner and *POP*, *POP*, *BOOM*! Out the front door, look down the street to see some teenage girls yelling “*Oh, sh*t, that’s our car*!” Look up the block, still dark, but smoky and *BOOM*!

The car, a SUV or Mini-Van (hard to tell now) burst into flames. Corner of 7th Ave and 23rd St. The FDNY and 72nd Pct. were here in record time. No one was hurt, though a resident of 320 23rd St’s car suffered some minor damage due to the explosion. Quite a fire…not being a purveyor of car fires myself.

A long time resident swore it was an “insurance job,” since the car went up so fast…I’ll let the police, fire dept. and the insurance companies figure that one out.

This is a video from Aaron Brashear of Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights showing a vehicle that went up in flames on 23rd Street at Seventh Avene on Friday night. The vehicle went up in flames next to the site of the former Minerva Building, which itself entertained with dangerous-looking work a couple of weeks ago.

When a man notices a woman, it doesn’t matter that she almost ran him down when fleeing a bar. Attraction is attraction. The evidence is right here in our Brooklyn Missed Connection of the week, which comes to us from Bay Ridge:

You almost ran me over!!! – m4w – 38

I noticed you last night, I was sitting a couple of tables down from you with my friends…you were the prettiest girl at the bar, too bad your friends got you angry and you stormed out. I came out to talk and perhaps buy you a drink, but you ran to your SUV and drove off, almost running me over. Your night was ruined, I felt so mad, what an injustice to a beautiful brunette!!! I’m 5’8″ Dark Hair/ Dark Eyes half Italian / Half Brazilian, perhaps you noticed me too.. I know I can make you forget about whatever got you angry. Please tell me which Bar it was, so I’ll know its you. Ciao Bella, and I hope you have a happier Valentine’s Day!!!

The near miss vehicular homicide clearly wasn’t directed at the poster, so maybe he does have a chance with her, as long as uses mass transit on the first date.

Yesterday, we first reported a new tale of credit card fraud from Park Slope. By yesterday evening we found another new report added to the long, long list of cases reported at Brooklynian: “Hate to bring this up again, but the same thing happened to me recently, so it’s still going on. In my case it was a normal ATM/check card (no fancy device, just a swipe card), but it was used at some of the exact same places that other people have reported (the same gas stations across FLA). I went to file a police report the other day, but they said I needed a notarized affidavit from my bank before they would file it. I’m going to call the Detective mentioned above tomorrow.” Detective Tony Shy at the 78th Precinct was said to be investigating the fraud cases. We weren’t aware that police procedure required victims to jump through extra hoops before the cases would be investigated, which could account for the fact many people haven’t bothered.

• Gothamist Turns Five!!! [Gothamist]
• Mums the Word on Ratner Money to Democratic “Slush Fund” [No Land Grab]
• NYDN Grudgingly Prints Response Letter [AYR]
• Assault at the Pavilion in Park Slope [OTBKB]
• Prospect Park Station, Circa 1994 [Hawthorne Street]
• Congestion Pricing Debate Today [Ditmas Park Blog]
• Keep Bed-Stuy Beautiful [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]
• Greenpoint Reformed Church Children’s Clothing & Toy Swap, Monday [New York Shitty]
• A Moment at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket [A Year in the Park]
• Invasive Bamboo in Prospect Park [Brooklyn Bachelor]
• Rules of the Road for Strollers [Dope on the Slope]