Here’s a detailed and photo-filled look at 18th Avenue and Bensonhurst that includes a walk on Christmas Eve. “A source of endless fascination to me has been the depiction of animals wearing crowns, chef hats, or similar anthropomorphism. At 61st Street, the Bari pig, captioned ‘King of the Sausage’ on other signs in Brooklyn, holds a string of encased relatives, wearing a slobbering, maniacal grin. Oh well, some animals are known to occasionally eat their young.”–Forgotten New York

The “Atlantic Yards Photo Club,” a gathering of photographers exercising the right to take photos around the Atlantic Yards footprint after a videographer was harassed by the MTA police last week, got together yesterday afternoon. The photo above shows Katherin McInnis, who was stopped and questioned by an MTA officer. The MTA police were around, but stayed in their car and didn’t try to interfere with any photographers. There’s a full photoset of the Photo Club in action here and there’s a post on the event over at Dope on the Slope.

“At the hight of the wind, firefighters checked out the scaffolding built around 20 Henry Street — the Peaks Mason Mints building (also called the Candy Factory). Urban Realty Partners paid $19.6 million for the site last year.” Photo of firefighters walking on the scaffold included.–McBrooklyn

• Forest City Ratner Reverses Course & Is Now Giving Campaign Cash [AYR]
• Brooklyn Latin School Requirements Are Tough [NYDN]
• Wrongly Convicted Man Who Spent 22 Years in Prison Suing for $22M [NYP]
• Scam Bargain Rentals on Craigslist [NYDN]
• Park Slope Community Bookstore Update [OTBKB]
• Arrivederci Park Slope Launder Center? [Brooklynometry]
• 475 Kent Artists Want to Get Back to Work [Metro]
• February Brooklyn Blogger Meetup [Flatbush Gardener]
• “Flying Carpet” in Bed-Stuy Playground [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• What to Do with Those Nasty Blunt, Cigar Leaves in Bed-Stuy? [New York Shitty]
• Very, Very Interesting Thing About Marco Polo Restaurant on Court Street [NYP]

Always count on high winds to cause some sort of construction-related issue. For instance, in Midwood, where a scaffold collapsed yesterday, “leaving a big mess on a nearby sidewalk but causing no injuries, firefighters said. The collapse happened at a site near East 12th Street and Avenue O in the Midwood section.A witness said the scaffolding was all the way up a new, six-story construction, and it crushed cars on both sides of the street.”–wnbc.com

Community Board 1 will be making a decision about whether to support the Brooklyn Greenway along Kent Avenue and West Street. Because the waterfront esplanades that aren’t wide enough, the bikeway would have to go on the street and, as a result, some parking would have to be eliminated. A letter from the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative says, in part, “We have undertaken a parking study and determined that the number of spaces that would be affected can be re-created on adjacent streets by updating parking regulations in industrial areas that are now becoming residential…Building the dedicated bikeway would add over 200 new street trees on these streets, situated on new planted medians that will separate cyclists from moving traffic. It will mitigate the truck route quality of the streets, turning them into places that will be more attractive to pedestrians and conducive to thriving new retail activity.–Green Brooklyn

This contribution to our Say What series of street signs that have been compromised for a wide range of reasons (with our favorite being construction and second favorite being vandalism) comes from photographer Tracy Collins. This is a temporary sign announcing the closure of the Carlton Avenue Bridge, which is now shut down for Atlantic Yards-related reasons. It comes from Flatbush Ave. near Sterling Place. And, yes, the bridge is closed.

Of all the structures in Coney Island, one of the most interesting ones to many visitors is the ruined Playland arcade. It sits on Surf Avenue at one end of the big lot that was once occupied by the demolished Thunderbolt roller coaster. Viewed from the boardwalk, it is far away, at the end of a vacant lot that is either overrun by weeds or full of trash, depending on the time of year. Within the last two days, some great photos of the interior, as glimpsed through a hole in the wall have been posted. The excellent photos above were posted on the Coney Island Message Board by Poci. There is also a new, small set on flickr posted by lornagrl, who generally takes some very nice shots of our favorite Brooklyn waterside locale. We find such abandoned “resort” places riveting in their own way. Anyone interested in looking at shots of the exterior can find 209 photos on flickr tagged “playland” and “coney.”

Our Sunday Brooklyn Missed Connection this week isn’t so much about a Missed Connection as it is about wanting to make a connection at the Steve’s C-Town on Ninth Street in Park Slope. Here it is:

all the sexual tension at C town – m4w – 36
is it me, or does everyone who shops at c town want to get laid? i was shopping there earlier today and it resembled a fellini movie. anyone feel similarly? I’d gladly take the brunette with the stroller in aisle 3. Cheers.

This was one of the followups:

I have noticed that as well. I am going for groceries and suddenly want to make out with the guy with the fig newmans and beer in his red basket. It is a vortex, no kidding! Maybe I’ll see you there…I am the curvy brunette with green eyes and half and half in my little red basket!

Not as good as the Park Slope Food Coop, but tantalizing, nonetheless.

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

• The Atlantic Yards Camera Club Meets at 3PM Today! [Not Another F*cking Blog]
• The Right to Bear Cameras at Atlantic Yards [McBrooklyn]
• Bring Your Cameras Today [DDDB]
• Connecting Dots Between Local Pol & Atlantic Yards [AYR]
• Parole Overturned in Deadly 1973 Robbery [NYT]
• More G Train Poster Fun [New York Shitty]
• eBay Banks on Bay Ridge History [Right in Bay Ridge]
• Brooklyn Animal Groomer Accused of Animal Abuse [Gothamist]
• Golds and Greens at the GAP Greenmarket [A Year in the Park]
• At the Brooklyn Chess Club in Canarsie [NYT]
• NYT Screws Up Another Park Slope Story, Union Hall Stroller Edition [OTBKB]
• Trouble for a Book About Peace [NYT]
• Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]
• Today’s Local News [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• New Liquor Store on Quiet Windsor Terrace Strip [Brooklynometry]
• Cortelyou Vintage Closing [Ditmas Park Blog]

Every week, we like to highlight a few comments left by GL readers during the previous seven days. Here’s this week’s somewhat random selection:

No Spike in Park Slope Muggings (and a Map). “These statistics really aren’t helpful, because many, many, people who have been mugged have concluded that reporting the crime is more trouble than it’s worth. (I don’t agree, by the way, but I’ve heard this often enough to not trust the NYPD’s numbers).” [Anonymous]

Coney Island #3: Grimshaw to Design “Coney Island Center”. “This man is an awful architect. Especially his newsstands, how can people accept this trash? It’s like our Mayor is pushing a “new” new york on all of us! Stop it! Protest! Fight Back! Resist corporate takeover and the destruction of our communities!” [Anonymous]

Bklink: Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! “Before it was Schnack, it was a small grocery store run by a nice couple. Manny worked at fish markets when he was younger and every morning he drove to Fulton and picked the freshest best local fish that was available and arranged it lovingly in a small ice counter just inside the door. He’d sell it at a fair price to folks in the nabe, cleaned and filleted for free. I’d rather have Manny back than 100 Schnack type sh** shacks.” [Anonymous]

MTA Harasses Photographer at Atlantic Yards. “Yes, photographs are allowed of just about anything from a public sidewalk. Many property and store owners don’t know this (even some police don’t know this) and will give you trouble. It’s a good idea to be as polite as possible, but emphasize your rights and carry a copy of the Photographer’s Rights (a free downloadable PDF) and the phone number of the local precinct. Kindly offer to call the police if anyone hassles you. And she was right, they never, ever, ever have the right to confiscate your camera or film. You can successfully sue anyone who does so, including the police.” [Dalton]

There’s an “x-ray billboard” on the Dumbo side of the Manhattan Bridge. Well, a couple of the images have been tweaked a little, but some haven’t and it does look strange.–Fading Ad Blog

“Stories like these rarely end well for artists. Dozens of residents were ousted from lofts in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn after the city found violations in 2000. The tenants fought bitterly with their landlord, Joshua Guttman, accusing him in a lawsuit of harassment and trashing their homes, which he denied. They eventually settled, but they had to leave. Tenants evicted in October from a warehouse at 17-17 Troutman Street in Ridgewood, Queens, have not been allowed back. But things have gone differently at 475 Kent, as the building is known. Granted access during the day, the residents have tackled some violations: clearing debris, fixing fire alarms, replacing light bulbs in exit signs. They say the landlords have helped as well, removing the matzo wheat and having the standpipes fixed….The immediate problem that stands between residents and their homes is the broken sprinkler system, city officials said. The repair and partial installation, the city said, could take three months. So residents resolved to hasten the process. Twenty people got together and updated plans for each 12,500-square-foot floor…”–NYT

“I took a few minutes during my travels in the past few days to both shoot some photos with my cell phone, and send some of the old ones that have been there for months to my email. Here’s a little slice of Brooklyn for the lot of youse who’ve never been here.” Definite slice of life.–Erica’s Blog

Here’s a short vid featuring some recollections of Coney Island in the old days.

Did you know that we have another animal rescue store front in our borough? Sean Casey Animal Rescue opened at 155 East 3rd street. You can go into the store, play with pups, kitties, snakes, bunnies, and take one home if they touch your heart. Or help socialize the animals, come pet and walk the little critters. They will fit better in their new homes if you do. The store also has great quality pet foods and toys. Stay tuned for the big opening party:

Sean Casey Animal Rescue
155 East 3rd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11218
718.436.5163

A huge welcome!!!

[Click to Expand]

Early yesterday morning, we ran an account of a mugging that occurred on Tenth Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues that occurred when a man followed someone from the Seventh Avenue station to his door. More about that in moment, but we checked on the 78th Precinct’s latest crime statistics and found there’s been no increase in muggings over last year and that, in fact, reported incidents are down slightly from 2007 so far.

Back to the 10th Street mugging, however, in which the criminal practically forced his way into the victim’s home. A follow up email on the Park Slope Parents Group that came our way indicated that at least one person recalled seeing the mugger in the Seventh Avenue station. She wrote that she was near the 8th Ave entrance of the station at about 6:30PM when “a tall, thin black man with orange pants was hanging around the turnstiles.” While she was buying a Metrocard, she says that he asked her if she was buying a single ride and that she assumed it was because he wanted to do a “pay & swipe” with her. The encounter seems to have occurred shortly before the mugging. “It wouldn’t have occurred to me to notify anyone, he seemed young and harmless, though I guess I might have thought otherwise if it was late at night,” she says. “Very disturbing!”

The map above is an interactive “mugging map” that has been created and posted to Google Maps. Click here to go to the map itself and we’ve placed a frame of the clickable map below. The map was created by someone at the Prospect Heights Forum and was also posted by Brownstoner this week.

The 78th Precinct is said to be aware of “a spike” in crime and has added foot patrols, however, a look at Compstat for the Precinct through Febuary 3 shows no statistical increase in reported robberies whatsoever. There were three reported robberies during the week of 1/28-2/3 versus two for the same week in 2007. Overall, there have been 13 reported robberies so far in 2008 versus 15 for the same period in 2007, which is actually a 13.3 percent decrease.The 78th Precinct Community Council meeting will be held on February 26 at 7:30PM at the precinct station house, which is located at 5 6th Avenue.

The Boerum Hill Association is having a “Quality of Life Meeting” on Wednesday (2/13) at 7PM at the Belarusian church on Atlantic & Bond Streets. Topics and presentations will include:

• Crime – 84th Precinct Community Affairs
• Sanitation — Department of Sanitation
• Noise — Department of Environmental Protection
• Rats — Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Graffiti — Mayor’s Community Assistance Unit
• Postal Service — Times Plaza Post Office

There will be a short Q&A for each speaker at the end of their presentation. There’s an online quality of life survey that residents can take by clicking here.

“Affordable-housing activists in Brooklyn, N.Y., are proposing eminent domain be used to seize a prime piece of New York real estate from Pfizer Inc. Pfizer is the same company that inspired economic-development plans in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood of New London after the pharmaceutical giant started building its Global Research & Development headquarters there nearly a decade ago.” In other words, the famous Kelo case.–theday.com