There’s finally additional information on that Sunday night standoff between an armed person on Ninth Street who refused to come out of his house and the police. Gridskipper, which followed the situation, reports:

We confirmed that an arrest was made following Sunday evening’s tense standoff in Park Slope when a man in a Ninth Street brownstone caused a commotion by following up an argument with some angry, allegedly drug-induced gunplay, then refusing to leave his home and disarm when the police arrived. Additionally, we were able to verify that, after more than six hours of negotiations, the situation was resolved without violence. Interestingly, those we spoke to in the police department also let us know about their frustration with the way some folks in the neighborhood responded to the situation. Officers described receiving “no help” from the Park Slopers who crowded the scene of the crime. Instead, they complained of residents who became irate upon being told their block was closed off, and others who were angered by the large police presence in the area.

In fact, we saw a large number of emails on a local group that will remain unnamed with neighbors complaining that the standoff made it difficult to sleep. For instance, this: “I did hear a shot, and the loud speaker with the negotiator until like 5:30 this morning. Very hard to sleep…Dogs barking, SWAT…”

• Brooklyn Teen Says He Was Beaten by Cops for Taking Photo [NYP]
• City Council Passes Plastic Bag Recycling Bill [NYT]
• Cat Call of the Day on Meserole [New York Shitty]
• Downtown Brooklyn DOT Meeting is Tonight [Clinton Hill Blog]
• About the Dog Next Door [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• New Arabic School Principals Hears About Problems [NYP]
• Parents Rip Unsafe Boerum Hill Preschool [NYDN]
• Tagged Up Door [Esthetic/Aesthetic]
• Thoughts on the Illegal Bay Ridge Milk Ring [Bay Ridge Blog]
• Trees Blooming on Montague Street [McBrooklyn]
• Cherry Bar v. NYC [Brownstoner]
• Brooklyn Deals [Brooklyn Based]
• “Lost in Transition” Opening Tonight at Brooklyn Historical Society [Kinetic Carnival]
• Greenpoint Syrup of Figs, Circa 1998 [Fading Ad Blog]
• Brooklyn Blogger Meetup in Clinton Hill on January 20 [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Repairs Will Slow Up L Train Even More [amNY]

Anyone interested in “calming” traffic on Prospect Park West or Eighth Avenue in Park Slope will definitely be interested in a meeting of the Community Board 6 Transportation Committee taking place next week with representatives from the Department of Transportation. It will happen on Thursday (1/17) at 6:30PM at the Prospect Park Residence, which is located at 1 Prospect Park West (at Union Street). The agenda is described on the CB6 website and Streets Blog as “Discussion with representatives for the Department of Transportation on pending traffic calming request for Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue, and for decongesting Union Street approach to the Grand Army Plaza.”

[Photo courtesy of stevendamron/flickr]

“How come the greatest schoolyard in the history of outdoor basketball is no longer in use? Where are all the ball players? Do they still play there? Do the students at Holy Name still use it for recess? I see two backboards up on the middle court but remember there used to be three full-courts? How about the handball court – what happened? Are those cars and vans I see?”–Container Diaries

Here are a few Brooklyn community board meetings coming up over the next few days from a list compiled by the Daily News:

COMMUNITY BOARD 8 (Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Weeksville) is holding its regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m. tonight (1/10) at Berean Baptist Church, 1641 Bergen St.

COMMUNITY BOARD 11 (Bath Beach, Gravesend, Mapleton, Bensonhurst) is having its regular monthly meeting at 7:30p.m. tonight (1/10) at the Holy Family Home, 1740 84th St.

COMMUNITY BOARD 14 (Flatbush, Midwood, Kensington, Ocean Parkway) will meet at 7:30p.m. on Jan. 14 at Edward R. Murrow High School, 1600 Avenue L. General agenda includes votes on special permit applications and reports from committees.

We don’t know exactly where photographer, sculptor and artist Gary Mirabelle shot this bent up one-way sign, although we believe it to be in the Windsor Terrace area. What we do know is that it’s the most gorgeous “Say What” shot we’ve ever run.

“The Old Stone House will open its doors to the community tomorrow and Saturday to discuss conceptual plans for renovating the Fifth Avenue side of the park. Plans for the Fourth Avenue side are underway.” A $2 million phase will include a large synthetic turf field by 2009.–Metro

Yesterday, one of the victims of the rash of Park Slope muggings we posted about on Saturday emailed OTBKB with her story of being mugged on Sunday. She noted that someone had been arrested in Prospect Park afterward. Yet, the details of the mugging sounded like different people might be responsible than the ones causing the mini-crime wave on Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue. An email via Park Slope Parents says that a 78th Precinct Detective says the case is still “open.” The email goes on to say that “from what I’ve heard it’s not yet a done deal.” In the meantime, the latest crime statistics from the 78th Precinct actually show only one reported robbery from December 31-January 6. There were 17 during the last 28 days, which is one more than during the same period a year ago.

Testing work has gotten underway at the site of the controversial building that will be going up at 360 Smith Street. An email we got said that workers were on the job by 8AM yesterday:

Residents were quite shocked to see two trucks on the site and one large dumpster. People counted “5 spots” that they dug. Some people say they are determining how far below the roof of the SUBWAY!! station is.

Apparently, an email went out from the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association saying that Council Member Bill de Blasio’s office told residents that testing work would be starting:

Tom sent a quick message today to let everyone know there would be some testing activity at the 360 Smith site. They will be digging at the site to test boundaries (the ceiling of the MTA station and the foundation); the testing will consist of digging and then refilling the test area.? This is testing only and not the beginning of
construction.

Pardon Me For Asking, from where the photo above came, has many photos of the activity.

The other day, Carroll Gardens blogger Pardon Me For Asking, posted some photos of the mess outside 340 Court Street. Meanwhile, the new Union-Sackett Block Assocation has a post about asbestos removal at the building. (A document filed with the Department of Environmental Protection shows that the asbestos removal project started on Monday.) Resident found out about the asbestos removal not because any signs have been posted or because neighbors have been informed, but because Deanna R. Bitetti from Rep. Yvette Clarke’s district office looked into it for them. Her email says:

Yes, the air monitoring was related to the asbestos abatement. They began asbestos abatement last week and that work will continue for a couple more weeks. Demolition activity should begin after that -towards the end of the month.

Also, on another topic: There was a concern about increased rodent activity during demolition. Their contractor has agreed to put additional rodent baiting in neighboring properties’ basements if they are requested and this is available to any neighbors who might want it.

It is going to be a long and very interesting process if (a). the activism prompted by the development continues and (b). the lines of communication are so non-existent that Rep. Clarke’s staff is called upon for information about a neighborhood project. On the other hand, it gives us yet another Carroll Gardens development that should prove itself to be fodder for many, many posts.

What goes up, must come down. In Dyker Heights, the process of taking down the over-the-top Christmas displays that draw crowds from far and wide is itself a complicated undertaking. “The neighborhood looked as if it had been struck by a neutron bomb that killed only Arctic animals. Cater-corner from Mr. Mazza’s house, a deflated polar bear lay at the feet of an animated wood-and-wire Rudolph that was frozen in midprance.”–NYT

One of the curiosities of Carroll Gardens is that very narrow streets such as Second Place are defined as “wide streets” because the gardens in front of the buildings are counted as being part of the width of the street. In reality, the street itself is barely wide enough for a car to make it when cars are parked, but the “wide street” designation allows development that is significantly taller than that on “narrow” streets. Neighborhood activists have been arguing that the designation needs to be changed. “How wide is ‘wide,’ anyway?” an email we got asks. “Only one car at a time can fit up Second Place and the designation needs to be changed so contextual development can follow.” Another email noted that “the wide streets legislation needs to be changed and can be changed quite easily! But we need the Councilman’s help to do it the fast way and the best way.” The “wide streets” issue has been part of the broader Carroll Gardens rezoning discussion.

Regardless, the driver taking the yacht through South Brooklyn tried to turn onto Second Place and didn’t make it:

This little yacht got rather stuck tonite trying to make a left hand turn (west) onto Second Place from Smith Street while many passers by gawked on the sidewalk.

The driver eventually gave up and made a right turn (east) down Third Street heading toward Park Slope where it is hoped hope he doesn’t try turning onto any of those “wide” streets either.

Maybe the boat was trying to get home from the boat show at the Javits Center?

“Could a Coney Express ever begin zipping passengers from Manhattan’s connecting point in a bee line to Coney Island? At Monday’s Coney Island Development Corporation meeting CIDC president, Lynn Kelly mentioned the need for an express line to Coney. For many years one of the main reason’s Coney Island could not so easily thrive as other places in Brooklyn like Williamsburg is the distance and travel time to Manhattan.” There is a history to the idea.–Kinetic Carnival

One of the interesting things about the Coney Island meetings this week is an organization that is calling itself Coney Island CLEAR. A poster on the Coney Island Message Board named Tricia made this observation from the Monday meeting:

The other interesting thing was a lot of people wearing shirts that said “Coney Island Clear” on the front and a slogan about jobs on the back. Someone sitting next to me said they were giving out the shirts in the lobby as you came in but I was late so I didnt see it. A few people wearing the shirts gave speeches and they seemed very sincere- basically they were asking for jobs. Good jobs. Their speeches sounded like their own words, not a prewritten script. Yet I wanted to ask who paid for the shirts and founded what one speaker referred to as “a new organization.”

We know we’ll be hearing more.

If you want to help reinvent Grand Army Plaza and help create a kinder, gentler place, then here are some questions you can answer.–Streets Blog

Sen. Carl Kruger managed to cause quite a stir at the kickoff meeting on the Coney Island plan on Monday night by repeatedly referring to it as “Brighton Beach,” and drawing loud boos from the audience. The Senator, who Coney Island critics derisively call “Krazy Kruger,” created the biggest stir at the meeting and was reminded of the three-minute limit on remarks. The crowd cheered when he was called on the time limit. While Mr. Kruger had shut down a November meeting with bus loads of (possibly paid) protesters, he brought only a handful of supporters with him. If anything, opponents of developer Joe Sitt’s plan, who have ended up backing the Bloomberg Administration strategy to remove him from the amusement district, used the threat of busloads of Kruger-related protesters to draw a bigger turnout. At the meeting, meanwhile, the Brooklyn Eagle quotes Sen. Kruger as saying, “This is not Disney Land, this is not Epcot Center … this is Brighton Beach,.” Which is when the booing apparently started in earnest.

Sarah Ryley included this interesting passage in her Brooklyn Daily Eagle story on the meeting and on the State Senator–who previous to picking the Coney Island issue was best known outside his district for proposing to make it illegal to walk and listen to MP3 player:

Another of Kruger’s objects is that the Coney Island Development Corporation lacks representation from Coney Island, that it’s just another example of Manhattan imposing its will on Brooklyn. In fact, the agency president Lynn Kelly and Chairman of the Board Joshua Sirefman both live in Brooklyn, and of 11 the 13 board members also serve Brooklyn entities, many based in Coney Island.

The above example is not the first piece of misinformation on Coney Island redevelopment disseminated by Kruger, who has admitted not being familiar with the city or retail developer Joseph Sitt’s redevelopment plans. Janel Patterson, spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corporation, said Kruger “has refused our invitation to be briefed on the plan.”

The broad assumption in Coney Island circles is that Sen. Kruger has mounted protests on behalf of Mr. Sitt and Thor Equities.

• Atlantic Yards Ombudsman Faces Critical Audience [AYR]
• Khalil Gibran School Now On Its Third Principal [NYDN]
• Development Watch: 236 Livingston [Brownstoner]
• Hate the Stucco at the Hannah Senesh School? No Problem, It’s Peeling [PMFA]
• Coney Meetings Stay Tame [Metro]
• Our Neighbors [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• An Address Fit for a King [Lost City]
• Boar’s Head Cafe to Court & State? [BK 11201]
• Scaffolding Up at Cool Fifth Avenue Building [Velvet Sea]
• Bedford Avenue Park Update [Brooklyn Junction]
• Midwood Class for Gifted Shut Down [NYDN]
• North Slope Bar Giving Out Prizes to Drinkers, But Not Rebuilt Livers [Gothamist]
• “Brooklyn Was Mine” is a Good Read [Brooklyn Based]
• Events of Interest [A Child Grows in Brooklyn]
• A Good Recycling Weekend in Brooklyn [Sustainable Flatbush]

There’s going to be a “Town Hall” meeting sponsored by the Greenpoint Waterfront Assocation for Parks & Planning at Warsaw on January 17 at 7PM (261 Driggs Ave.). The email we got says:

The neighborhoods of Greenpoint/Williamsburg are at a point of crisis and opportunity. Crisis because rampant development threatens what little open space and parks we have. Promises of additional open space made in the 2005 rezoning have never materialized. However, opportunities abound. We have promises made for terrific park facilities all over the neighborhood. We just have to make it happen….This month, GWAPP will host a Town Hall meeting to update the community on parks and rezoning in the neighborhood. We’ll also update you on the TGE power plant fight (no, folks it ain’t over yet).

Here’s a sneak peak at the agenda:

* What is GWAPP? * TGE power plant fight *Sludge tank status * India Street End Park Project * Transmitter Park (end of Greenpoint Ave) *Bushwick Inlet park plans * McCarren Park Pool renovation* State Park at N7th * Tree Planting

More information on the group is available by clicking here. [Click on the image to see it a readable size.]

We’ve been watching the building being renovated at Fifth Avenue and Thirteenth Streets wondering what would go there, and now we know: a 7-11. It’s unclear how widely the news has spread in the neighborhood or whether the 7-11 will be welcomed or greeted with derision. Chains and bank branches have been slowly opening on this stretch of Fifth Avenue.–Brownstoner

Regular GL photo contributor and local artist Gary Mirabelle got this shot at 10th Avenue and 18th Street, just above Ocean Parkway.

Miss Heather takes a stroll on Maujer Street and what she sees in terms of architecture does not please the eye, the camera or the human spirit.–New York Shitty