[Photo courtesy of Gary Mirabelle]

Whenever we find an email in our inbox from artist and sculptor Gary Mirabelle, we know we are in for a visual treat. Mr. Mirabelle took his camera into Prospect Park yesterday morning and the result is photos like this one that show the park’s special winter beauty. If you haven’t already checked out Mr. Mirabelle’s work, definitely click over and you will understand why were are thrilled to have him as a contributor of photos to GL.

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

Visual:

• Long Williamsburg Walk [Atomische]
• Coney Beach in Winter [Park Slope Street Photography]
• Coney Island Creek [seriously excited!]
• Covered Cars [Blue Jake]
• Stone Park Pigeons [Velvet Sea]
• Communal Seclusion [Atomische]
• Sheepshead Bay Winter [Sail Brooklyn]
• Sugarland [A Test of Will]
• Friday Night Brooklyn Sky [Brit in Brooklyn]

Less Visual:

• No Temporary Restraining Order for Carlton Avenue Bridge Closure [AYR]
• AIA Zoning Tweaks Draw Heat [Brownstoner]
• How Was Greenpoint During Prohibition? [New York Shitty]
• Brooklyn South Narcotics Cops Busted [NYP]
• Column About PLG Missed a Lot [Across the Park]
• Coney Hoopla Links [Kinetic Carnival]
• Searching for Dumplings in Sunset Park [Sunset Park Blog]
• Next Imagine Flatbush Meeting, 1/24 [Brooklyn Junction]
• Gothamist Turning Five, Celebration at Union Hall in the Slope [Gothamist]
• MLK Day at Old First in Park Slope [OTBKB]
• Show Us Your Reel Vid Contest for Teens [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Brooklyn Barbecue Contest on Memorial Day Weekend [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Lenora the Book Shop Person [Brooklynometry]
• Melville House Opening in Dumbo Today [Dumbo NYC]

We love the dancing on the boardwalk in Coney Island in summer. We especially love to remember it in the middle of January and think about how it will be back beore we know it.

This sign isn’t a sign. It’s a bit of a display station for street art and stickers and the like. It is at Manhattan Avenue and Ash Street, which is located near the end of Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint near Newtown Creek. It goes without saying that the image comes from the busy camera of our Greenpoint correspondent.

Our friends at Racked received photos and observations about the new Union Market on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope: “Surely much needed by South Slopers who feel like the poor cousins of the Real Park Slope. I stopped in briefly for a few things, lots of MILFs on hand including a few with baby carriages that were WAY too big for the rather small aisles. Still it remains to be seen if the South Slope demographic can afford the ‘line-caught’ Chilean Sea Bass at $22 per pound (considerably more expensive than the north Slope competition, I might add).”–Racked

[Photo courtesy of Gary Mirabelle]

Artist and sculptor Gary Mirabelle, who we are honored to have as a frequent GL photo contributor, spent some time with his camera in Prospect Park one morning this week capturing the special beauty of the park in winter.

When some people talk about the changing demographics of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, they don’t talk about in terms of race. Some use terms like “pure poor people” and “gentrification people.” Take, for instance, someone working at City Jerk and this description: “Since he started working at City Jerk in November, the food prices have gone up and the clientele has become more ‘mixed.’ ‘I don’t want to say the white people or black people,’ he said, searching for a politically correct word. ‘Yesterday I served more of the ‘gentrification people,” mimicking quotation marks around the euphemism with his hands. ‘They’ve been trying to kick out all the non-gentrification types.’–The Local/TRE

[Photo courtesy of Mangy_Cur/flickr]

Ah, bed bugs. This is the first photo we’ve ever seen of a street sofa wrapped up like this, trying to keep people away. It comes from the streets of East Williamsburg and there’s actually a full photoset that functions as a kind of short chronicle of bedbug infestation. Regarding a different kind of vermin, the same photographer has a series of photos called Rat Overdose showing a dead rat in Bushwick artistically posed with a Heineken bottle cap and a bottle of brandy. Fun.

Remember that digging that upset some of the neighbors of the 340 Court Street Clarett Group development back in December? A contractor brought in an excavating machine to dig some holes and the neighbors started complaining bitterly. One neighbor on Union Street that we spoke with this week told us that his house shook so violently that it caused some hairline cracks in the wall. Not too long after the digging, a cornice on the building started to fall off. He went inside to get “before” and “after” photos for us to see. Coincidence? Perhaps. But there is more likely a causal relationship between what a number of neighbors say was violent pounding that caused buildings to vibrate and the damage to the structure. (A big hole was being dug next to his home by an excavating machine.)

When we ran into the elderly couple to whom this happened they didn’t seem angry, but appeared very concerned that their home, which dates to 1850, will be seriously damaged by construction next door, no matter how many precautions are taken. The 340 Court development has been an issue in Carroll Gardens since fears developed that a 21-story building would be built there by the Clarett Group. The structure will actually be 6-7 stories, but more traditional neighborhood-developer tensions have developed.

As for the digging that happened and caused the damage, “I felt like I was in San Francisco during an earthquake,” the neighbor said.

The cornice is now attached to the building at an uncomfortable angle. When the neighbor tried to have it repaired, he got a visit from a Department of Buildings inspector threatening a violation. In fact, the resident alleges the inspector “practically had his hand out.” The neighbor said he stopped the repair work.

The couple says they are worried their building will be damaged and that there will be nowhere to turn because the Department of Buildings won’t respond in time to prevent damage. They are active in the new Union-Sackett Block Association that is trying to establish communications with the developer. “This was our retirement home,” he says. “We don’t want to see it destroyed.”

If only Anthony “Tough Tony” Anastasio were around to have seen the big inflatable rat outside the former International Longshoreman’s Association Building on Court Street yesterday that once bore his name. (Mr. Anastasio, who died of natural causes in 1963 and kept his position with the ILA even after his brother Albert Anastasio was killed, ruled the Brooklyn docks and the Longshoreman’s union with an iron fist.)

We have said many times that the 340 Court Street project is going to be fodder for many blog posts this year, but we didn’t anticipate the delicious irony of a big blow up rat protesting the use of non-union labor at a building named in honor of a mob-related union boss (that’s him in the photo above on the right). Seriously.

The photos here came to us from our Special Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Correspondent, who captured images of both the rat and the flier that union members were handing out. Remember that asbestos removal that we mentioned last week? Well, it’s ongoing, and it turns out that its being done by a non-union contractor. Hence the rat and the flier below. Demolition of the building is slated to start around January 28 (no permits have been issued yet) and we are certain that process is not going to be uneventful, if only because many of the neighbors are less than cheerful about the development that is about to get underway. The most recent complaint to DOB was Wednesday, for asbestos being removed from the building at 12:15 AM. The project has already logged eight complaints.

Proponents of the plan to tear down the historic structures on Admirals Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard are upset that the Federal government will not be making a quick decision about the property. The National Guard Bureau of Cultural Resources is required by law to review whether the mansions can be preserved or whether they can be turned over the city for demolition and it says it won’t start holding a series of meetings with officials and preservationists until March. Preservationists are cautiously optimistic that the agency is considering saving the buildings. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the tear down has been “delayed indefinitely.” Here’s an excerpt:

A plan to tear down 10 historic houses at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and replace them with a supermarket has been delayed indefinitely thanks to a decision by federal officials to review whether the dilapidated 150-year-old mansions can be saved.

“There is absolutely no way we can give any sort of end date at all … there is no mandated time limit,” said Kristin Leahy, the manager of the National Guard Bureau Cultural Resources Program, which is investigating the mansions’ historical integrity — to the frustration of those eager to see the run-down buildings torn down.

Leahy said the earliest that she could hold a meeting with the city, area residents and preservationists is March. And that meeting would be just the first of a series.

Supermarket supporters say the need of local residents for a supermarket outweighs preserving the buildings and that they are working behind the scenes in Washington to try to speed the process of turning over the land to the city for development.

GL Analysis:
We have said before and we will say again that if Brooklyn officials can not be entrusted with the proper stewardship of an important historic asset, preferring to bulldoze it and build a supermarket and parking, then we would prefer the Federal government to hold on to the property until public officials take office that see the value of Admiral’s Row. The National Guard Bureau’s approach would indicate that they are interested in helping to work out a compromise that would accommodate the interests of all sides or, at least, that there is some interest in having a public process that appears to be fair.

Admiral’s Row is not just a piece of Brooklyn history. It is part of American history, and as such, part of the decision rightly rests with the Federal government. We are not particularly big fans of Federal interference in local affairs or believers that Federal bureaucrats possess wisdom that local officials do not. Quite the contrary, in most cases. Yet, the sad plan to demolish Admiral’s Row, which could be an asset for future generations, needs to be stopped.

We believe that any transfer should include a mandate to preserve these historic buildings and that a compromise that would allow for the preservation of Admiral’s Row and the construction of a supermarket for residents can be developed. All it requires is the willingness to do so. It might not be the most expeditious or inexpensive solution, but it would be the right thing to do. Much of the historic Navy Yard is slowly falling to the wrecking ball, with photos and pieces of buildings to be displayed in a new historical center. In a city that thought creatively about preserving and capitalizing on the past, parts of the Navy Yard would be an asset that could be preserved and re-purposed.

The least we could expect, though, is that this small and important piece of our heritage be saved so that our children’s children can go there someday and understand that something very, very important to the country’s history once took place at the Navy Yard. And, that they be able to see some evidence of it that is more real than pictures hanging on a wall in a historical center.

We hope the Federal government brokers a compromise that saves Admiral’s Row.

The results from last night’s Atlantic Yards Quiz competition are in. The winning team was put together by No Land Grab. Atlantic Yards super-expert Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report, who would have been our odds on favorite because his mind is like a machine when it comes to Atlantic Yards, came in second. (Although we will note that a team of five people beat him.) The team from the Brooklyn Paper came in third. It is also believed that the competition supplied Mr. Oder with libations before the start of the competition in order to soften him up.–No Land Grab

News 12 did a report on the Times Plaza Station in Boerum Hill that we’ve been posting about all week (and it turns out that some of the emails we from residents that we related were featured in the story). Someone posted the vid to YouTube, so check out the embed below, especially noting the woman talking about how it can take hours to get things done.

Related Posts:
Boerum Hill Assoc. Wants Times Plaza Post Office Replaced
Going Postal: The Times Plaza Post Office Chronicles, Part II
Going Postal: The Times Plaza Post Office Chronicles, Part I

This is 380 Baltic Street, about which there was a small uproar back in 2006. There was even a protest/press conference outside at which Robert Scarano (who is not the building’s architect) made an appearance. Nearly two year later, the 11-story tall building is at an advanced stage. In November, Brownstoner reported that one of the most vocal opponents of the building ultimately sold his property to the developer for $1.25 million. That site will turn into a five-story building with seven condos. 380 Baltic, meanwhile, which we think kind of looks more like a hotel than a condo building, will have 36 units.

Assem. Millman Fighting Fliers [Brownstoner]
Call for New Monitoring of Highrise Construction Sites [Sun]
Sex Related Things in Bushwick [New York Shitty]
More Talk About Blight and What It Is and Isn’t [AYR]
Detail on Court’s Refusal to Rehear Arguments After Judge Leaves Case [No Land Grab]
Jumper Stopped on Williamsburg Bridge [NYDN]
Traffic Calming Without Speed Bumps [Hawthorne Street]
Brooklyn HS Band Will Play for the Pope [NYDN]
History: How Subway Construction Helped Brooklyn Boom [PMFA]
A Blogged Week [Bay Ridge Rover]
So, Go Out of Business, Already [McBrooklyn]
Society for Clinton Hill Meeting Recap [Clinton Hill Blog]
Biodynamic Brooklyn: Permaculture Design Classes [Green Brooklyn]
Greenpoint Library Book Exchange [NYDN]
Flatbush Storefront [Brookly Junction]
Vids the Indie Stores Say We’re Watching [Brooklyn Based]
In the Cold at the Prospect Park Lake [A Year in the Park]

Tired of winter, even a mild one? Fear not. There are only 64 days until spring. And, in Bay Ridge, the traditional counting off of the days has begun at the True Value Hardware Store on Third Avenue. Frankly, we like the idea a lot because it gives us hope of longer days, green trees and flowers again. Wait. Didn’t winter only start a few weeks ago?–Right in Bay Ridge

We don’t normally post music videos, unless they have some local content we like. So it is with this song, called “Mannequin Legs” from Zucchini Drive. We think the music and images of Coney Island in winter go together like hand and glove.

It’s probably just a sign of the times that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has been sending out emails this week about the seminars it is holding about bedbugs. Complaints to 311 are skyrocketing, having doubled in the last 12 months. They are ten times what they were in 2003. Here’s the info on the Brooklyn session, which is one of three being held (the other two being in Manhattan and Queens). It takes place on Wednesday, March 12, 6-9 PM, at the Hope Gardens Senior Center, which is located at 195 Linden Street in Bushwick. It’s unclear if there are significantly more bedbugs around or if awareness and concern are just off the the scales.

There are four episodes, so far, of an online reality TV show called Born Ready that follows Coney Island high school basketball star Lance Stephenson. Episode Three is about the neighborhood in Coney Island itself. Give it a view.–Born Ready

We found these heavily stuffed black leather discards on Graham Avenue in Williamsburg looking rather forlorn in their discarded state. It’s unclear whether they were rescued, became refuse or street furniture somewhere.

This amusing example of a one way sign gone bad–or, at least, pointing in a direction which it was not intended to point–comes from Fayette Street and Broadway on the edge of Bushwick or of Bed-Stuy, depending. It is courtesy of our Greenpoint Correspondent.

The Library of Congress has a pilot project to put several thousand of the 14 million photos in its collection online. So far, there are 3,100+ photos in the Library of Congress photostream including a couple of dozen that have been tagged “Brooklyn.” A number of the photos are of Luna Park in Coney Island.–Gothamist

This is J.J. Byrne Park, which was the subject this past weekend of some public sessions to gather ideas for a redo of the Fifth Avenue side. The top photo is taken from Fifth Avenue. The tall building in the background is the Novo Park Slope development built by developer Shaya Boymelgreen. Which brings us to the bottom photo. That is the Terrapin Playground which the developer pledged to rebuild after using it for construction of the luxe condos. At one point last year, Community Board 6 urged the Dept. of Buildings to withhold a certificate of occupancy for the building unless the developer got moving on the park. The going has been very slow on what is supposed to be eight handball courts, two basketball courts, a skate area and a dog run. It looks like almost no progress has been made since Brownstoner checked up on it on December 18 and would appear from the photos below that a miracle might be needed to get it ready by spring. (Actually, at least one pile of soil appears to have been moved as well as several boards, a hose and a blue tarp.) The Parks Department was saying that winter weather might be a factor in pinning down an opening. Perhaps the delays are due to the bitter, bitter we have been having, plus the unrelenting heavy snow.

This story is came to us via an email from the Carroll Gardens group CORD. It is from a third generation Carroll Gardens resident who lives on Sackett Street. It is beautifully done and deeply moved us when we read it late last night. If anyone wonders what a real sense of place and community means deep in one’s heart, this begins to get it at:

I am a third generation Carroll Gardens resident. Both of my parents and both sets of grandparents were born and raised here.

It is difficult for me to walk down almost any street in Carroll Gardens and not have some familiarity with at least one house. Whether it was the home of a family member or a childhood friend of mine, or perhaps it was the home of one of my sisters’ or parents’ or cousins’ friends. At one time or another, I had walked through its doors, climbed its stair and took a peek out the window to see if and how the view differed from my own.

Over the years, many family members and friends moved away. The houses that were once part of my life, were no longer open to me. They were renovated and restored inside and out. Instead of three or four families with anywhere from one to seven or eight children in each family living on one or two floors, now there were sometimes two adults and a tenant or two living in that same space.

Instead of families, friends and neighbors “visiting” one another on their stoops during the hot summer, sharing a lemon ice and some pretzels, there was now the hum of air conditioning on those hot nights and the smell of wood burning in those old, formerly sealed up fireplaces in the wintertime.

When the opportunity presented itself to enter into one of the buildings which I remembered so well, I would jump at the chance and try to recall, before I even entered, what I best remembered about that home. Could I remember the way it felt, smelled and what view I had from its windows? Sometimes, it would feel as if I had never been there before. Sometimes there would be some small thing that would trigger a vivid memory-someone’s laughter, the exact way someone sounded when they would say hello to me.

Somehow, over the years, almost all of my family’s homes were sold off. Tomorrow, I was going to have the opportunity to go to the house where my maternal grandmother was born and my mother raised. Throughout the years, it remained in the care of different members of my family and finally sold back in the eighties to a “stranger.”

Tomorrow, my work would bring me to that house again. No longer used as a family residence, I would be entering into the hallway on business.

I was the member in my family who was left in charge of the family photographs. I can see my Grandmother, in that house, sitting in her mother’s living room, a vibrant, young mom in the company of one or two of her many children; my Mother, a little girl playing in that backyard. My great Aunt Lizzie standing on the stoop, dressed to the nines, jewelry in place, to go food shopping on Court Street, some of my mother’s siblings, cousins and their kids at a family gathering.

Which part of the house would I be seeing tomorrow? Would there be some reason to enter the basement, the place where homemade wine magically appeared from each year? Would there be some way I would get a glimpse of the backyard? Maybe it would be the space where Aunt Lizzie lived to ripe old age. What will I remember? What will I feel? Will all those voices I sometimes cannot quite recall anymore come back to me? Will it show on my face if they do?

I will find out tomorrow….

Both very powerful and very pretty.

From the Boerum Hill Association comes an email calling for the replacement of the Times Plaza Post Office, the frustrations of which we featured in two posts (here and here) earlier this week. Here is the email making the rounds from the Boerum Hill Group:

The Times Plaza Post Office has been a source of neighborhood anger and frustration for decades now. Long lines, unprofessional staff, and of course, undelivered packages. BHA volunteers and many others have met with Times Plaza managers over the years (nobody seems to last long) and our elected officials. We are always promised improvements, but fixes, if any, are modest and short-lived.

For this reason the BHA now demands that Times Plaza be replaced. The facility was outgrown decades ago, but because USPS only rents the space, they cannot make the changes necessary to run it efficiently.Continued neighborhood growth, plus Atlantic Yards, will only make the situation worse. We’ve been patient for 30 years. It’s time to start fresh.

To make this a reality, turn your anger into action by taking the yearly BHA Post Office Survey, available here. We will organize the results and begin a public relations blitz to the media and our elected officials insisting that we cannot continue to have the worst post office in the city. We started this survey back in 2003 to give us hard data on the magnitude of the problems at Times Plaza. Each time we repeat it we strengthen our case that the problems are not getting fixed, and every response gives us a louder voice.

Thank you in advance for your help in this effort. Together we will one day have a real post office. The kind that delivers packages, restocks its stamp machine, and treats its customers with respect. Please spread the word.

Should be an interesting conversation.