BCAT will be broadcasting the “State of the Borough Address” by Borough President Marty Markowitz on Thursday (2/7). It will air from 7PM-8:30PM on Time Warner Channel 56/ Cablevision Channel 69. Here’s a bit from BCAT:

Don’t miss Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s final State of the Borough Address, live from the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal in Red Hook. Hosted by Brooklyn Review’s Megan Donis and Brian Vines, the 90 minute telecast will include the Borough President’s speech in its entirety; remarks by Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham; commentary, and on-the-spot interviews.

The speech usually has some interesting tidbits.

Pay a visit to Canarsie, check out the photos and consider the debated etymology of Varkens Hook Road. “Varken simply means ‘pig’ or ‘hog’ in Dutch and is attributed to any domestic swine (or person resembling one). Varkensvlees means ‘pork meat’ as well. Hook, which the English adapted from the Dutch ‘hoek’ does mean corner.” Or, check out Congregation AAA.–Fading Ad Blog

Developer Shaya Boymelgreen has sold the hotel at Smith Street and Atlantic Avenue that was to be called The Smith to Hersha Hospitality Trust. The Smith will henceforth be known as the Nu and is supposed to open sometime in the third quarter of the year.–Brownstoner

Here are some very cool, almost timeless, photos of Coney Island culled from contributions to the “Goodbye Coney Island?” flickr group. The Coney Island Sunset photo and Time to Rain, in particular, are gems.–Brooklyn Museum

We thought we’d pass along a comment left by a GL reader that encountered a less than ideal situation when trying to vote this morning. Our reader writes:

Voting chaos! I went to vote this morning at my polling place in Park Slope (8th Ave and 13th St) and was met by absolute chaos. After giving the woman at the front desk my address, she sent me to booth 17. The woman in line in front of me at 17 was sent in to vote w/the wrong card (Dem rather than Rep; no one had asked her what party she was registered with) and none of the volunteers or the coordinator knew what to do to solve the situation. They couldn’t find me in the books at 17, and after reverifying my address, sent me to 14. At 14, the woman in front of me (who had likewise voted at this location last year) wasn’t found on the books. They sent her to 13. They couldn’t find me either, and sent me to 13. At 13, they could find neither of us. I was sent back to the front, where the woman barked “I don’t make mistakes!” But she does! When she rechecked my address, she told me to go to 14. At that point, I decided it was best to leave and come back after work with hopes that the second shift is more competent than the first. Is it legal for polling places to be staffed with untrained, incompetent volunteers?

Hopefully, it’s just an isolated problem, but we thought it was worth passing along. The location of your local polling place is available by clicking here.

An abandon car lasted a record 4 days on Beard Street this week without getting torched, then disappeared without leaving any debris behind. This compared to my favorite Red Hook car-torching story: A van (filled with Water Taxi fliers) sat on Beard for a week, and we were all amazed it didn’t get torched. Then one morning we woke to see the street swarming with firemen. Naturally, we assumed the van had been set ablaze. Instead, when I went to look, it turned out the firemen were using the van to practice with the Jaws of Life. Basically, they cut the van into pieces, then left the pieces on the side of the road, and went home. Well, coming home from Sunny’s that night, I noticed a familiar smell as I stumbled upon the wreckage of the van, and guess what? Not to be out done, somebody had torched the chopped up remains of the van.

Will auto infernos be a thing of the past when Beard Street goes fully Swedish? Stay tuned.

A video artist and teacher taking photos and video of the Atlantic Yards development site was stopped and questioned by an MTA police offer this Sunday. The incident is throughly reported in Atlantic Yards Report. Here’s a bit of what Norman Oder writes about the disturbing little story:

Though a good number of photographers regularly shoot around the Atlantic Yards footprint and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Vanderbilt Yard, a video artist/teacher on the first week of her visit to Brooklyn found herself on the wrong side of an MTA police officer Sunday. He attempted to confiscate her camera, questioned whether she was part of an anti-AY organization, and more than once reminded her that the project was proceeding, according to her account…I called the MTA public affairs office early yesterday afternoon and outlined the incident, as recounted by McInnis, named the officer, asked if there was an incident report, and asked for the MTA policy. I didn’t get a response by the end of day, but when one is forthcoming, I’ll add it.

The MTA police have a track record of harassing photographers. A 3/17/06 article on the web site of the National Press Photographers Association reported that the MTA had pledged to the New York Civil Liberties Union that it will remind its staff and law enforcement officers that there is no photography ban on MTA property.

There are full details of the incident at Atlantic Yards Report. The photographer says she will file a complaint. We wonder how many other photographers have had incidents where MTA officers or others tried to stop them from taking photos or in other ways harassed them or tried to get them away from the property.

In case you haven’t heard (or seen the campaign paraphernalia everywhere), today is the New York Primary. The polls are open from 6AM-9PM. If you don’t know the location of your polling place and you want to find out, you can click here for the New York City Poll Site Locator and enter your address.–NYC Board of Elections

The city can’t seem to put enough cut on the stench that is making resident of Bay Ridge on Fort Hamilton Parkway between Marine Ave. and 99th Street a little sick to their stomach. The smell, they say, is coming from a former sewer pipe project. The city has tried tossing pine-scented deodorizer down there, but residents say the stench is worse than ever. The problem started after a $6.9 million city sewer project. “Residents are nauseated–and confused.”–NYDN

There are a number of community gardens in Coney Island that are particularly threatened by development. They are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and don’t have the protection of those transfered to the Parks Department or the Trust for Public Land–Flatbush Gardener

Super Tuesday:

• Voting in Brooklyn [About Brooklyn]
• Options for Watching Super Tuesday Results [INSIJS]
• Super Tuesday Green Guide [Green Brookyn]
• For Election Day [No Land Grab]
• Where to Celebrate Super/Fat Tuesday [Brooklyn Based]

Not Super Tuesday:

• City Planning Dept. is “Obdurate, Arrogant, Dismissive” [Lost City]
• Carroll Gardens Has to Wait in Line for Downzone [Brownstoner]
• Brooklyn Police Work Undone by Scandal [NYT]
• Curb Cuts for the Stroller Mafia? [Brownstoner]
• When Bad Things Happen to Good Buildings [New York Shitty]
• Fifth Ave. Park Slope Shoe Repair Shop Saved [NYDN]
• Bloomberg Comes to Fort Greene [General Greene]
• Carroll Street F Station Puts on a Happy Face [PMFA]
• Big Bird Leaves for Bushwick [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• B&B Carousel Rumors [Kinetic Carnival]
• Toilet Paper in Bay Ridge After Super Bowl Celebration [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Unsettling Crime on Lexington Ave. [Clinton Hill Blog]
• CSA Planned for Dumbo in June [Dumbo NYC]

It’s hard to know for certain where the chickens on the streets of Greenpoint come from, but most likely, they are coming from a chicken-related business in a building near the site of the burned Greenpoint Terminal Market. No matter. What can someone do when one of our feathered friends is being menaced by some neighborhood kids but call 311 and try to get the poor thing rescued. And, then, the cop that shows up turns out to be the one that hassled you for taking photos of Christmas decorations. Seriously.–New York Shitty

On Sunday, the Times described a certain building that many people in Park Slope consider a dangerous eyesore as “whimsy.” Not exactly. “Ya gotta be kidding. Dorothy Nash, the woman who owns that building is a menace to Seventh Avenue, as well as pedestrians who have been hit by materials falling off that falling down building…That building is more like the house that neglect built and she’s one of those people who thinks everyone should have to look at her garbage.”–OTBKB

Where do you go when you need 10,000 pounds of confetti for a Super Bowl celebratory parade? Red Hook, of course. “The confetti is recycled packaging paper cut into approximately 10-inch strips and is being provided by the Atlas Material Company in Red Hook. Downtown Alliance personnel spent today at the company’s plant, breaking down the 60-pound bales of packaging paper into 25-pound bags.”–The Real Estate

The Parks Dept. and OSA value the cultural contribution provided by the film, dance and concert performances. We are also sensitive to the related noise complaints from neighboring residences, and we are seeking an accommodation for both perspectives. We are thoroughly examining all possible options, both temporary and permanent, to provide an appropriate location within the neighborhood for large-scale performances for 2009 and beyond.

In the meantime, pool construction will be bid out, and will start in late 2008. McCarren Park Pool will continue to be used as a performance venue during the summer of 2008. In addition to the concerts of the past years, OSA would like to encourage greater diversity of programming for the coming 2008 summer.

The group is trying to raise money for opera and classical concerts this summer and will be looking for another venue for large concerts in 2009. It is unknown whether Clear Channel will be the company producing concerts again. There will be a second presentation to Community Board 1 on Wednesday, February 13th at 6:30 PM at the Swinging Sixties Seniors Center, which is located at 211 Ainslie Avenue (btwn Graham & Manhattan). Any work at the pool must be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which landmarked the pool last year.

We can’t imagine that anyone on the Landmarks Preservation Commission could possibly vote to approve Williamsburg’s Nightmare in Glass with a straight face and a clear conscience. It is an affront to the very concept of historic preservation. As for the overall project, we await clearer representations of Mr. Viñoly’s buildings before deciding whether they are truly as distasteful as they appear to be in these early photos. On Friday, a commenter on Curbed said they look like Pez dispensers. We tend to agree.

We hope that community activists gear up to make their voices heard during the land use review process that will start later this year. A good place to start is by challenging this architectural attack on the Domino factory. It will so fundamentally change a landmark that it would almost be less painful if they had torn it down. It is wrong on many different levels.

The Williamsburg’s Nightmare in Glass must go.

As of this morning, there are still no reports of the cute dog who was found seriously injured in Park Slope being reunited with his owner. The dog was found wearing a collar and with a leash, so he clearly belongs to someone. Still, the person who lost him and the good soul that found him and got him care after he was hit by two cars, haven’t hooked up. An ad has also been posted on Craiglist:

found a cute brownish/reddish dog on Sixth Ave & Sixth Street around 11pm January 31. He’s about 25lbs, and looks to maybe be a shiba inu mixed with something else (pitt?). He was hurt – had been hit by a car – and we took him to the vet. He’s still there. He had a black leash and a green and white checked collar with black buckle, but no tags or microchip. Is he yours? Do you know who he belongs to? I’m anxious to get in touch with his owner. We think he was first seen being hit by a car on flatbush & 7th Ave, and that he kept running after he was hit and then, devastating as it is, must have then been hit again on Sixth and Sixth. If he is yours please contact us!!! He needs you!

The good news is that the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals is taking the dog to a specialty vet tomorrow for surgery and will place him in a foster home when he recovers. The Brooklyn Animal Foster Network covered $450 of vet’s bills. There are many posts about this sad story at brooklynian.com. If this dog belongs to you or if you know anything about him, please email nicky (dot) agate (at) gmail. He’s very lucky to be alive, but he looks very, very sad.