Those that have been waiting for a public information session about the Coney Island plan since the original meeting was shut down because of people bused in by State Sen. Carl Kruger (paid for with his campaign funds) will get their chance next week. The Coney Island Development Corp. will be having sessions for the public:

Monday, January 7, 2008 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

The Monday and Tuesday evening sessions will take place at Lincoln High School Auditorium., which is located at 2800 Ocean Parkway. The Tuesday afternoon meeting will happen at the Coney Island Hospital Auditorium, which was the location of the ill-fated meeting that was canceled. All three sessions will have the same format, presentations and information. There will be an opportunity for comments and questions from the public. Individuals wishing to speak will be asked to sign-up at a registration table at the entrance to the auditorium.” The sessions are formally called Public Information Sessions on the Coney Island Zoning Framework.

Will they be raucous? Will more busloads of paid protestors show up? Will the public finally get to hear the details of the plan without any disruptions? Stay tuned.

Good news for Park Slope vegetarians. West Village veggie outpost ‘sNice will be opening on Fifth Avenue at Third Street. Tempeh Reubens and Philly-style seitan sandwiches by February.–Brownstoner

From the email flow of the BoCoCa Parents Group comes word that an awful lot of cars on Pacific Street were either broken into or vandalized on Wednesday night. Here the short, to the point email:

walking on pacific street between court and boerum place this morning we noticed there was broken window glass by every car. most cars had already been moved, but there was an still one car left with the window smashed out.

Clearly, much crumbled auto glass on Pacific Street.

• Borough Hall Admits to Massive Rat Problem [NYDN]
• Firefighter Killed in Brooklyn Blaze [NYT]
• Long Island College Hospital Enabling Brooklyn’s Desecration [Lost City]
• No Action Necessary Upon Physical Inspection [PMFA]
• Baby on Ocean Parkway Killed by Family Dog [Sun]
• Great News: Plans to Build Offshore Liquid Natural Gas Island [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Sheepshead Bay Winter Swans [Sail Brooklyn]
• Mulchfest ’08 in Prospect Park [Icky in Brooklyn]
• This Day in Coney History [Kinetic Carnival]
• Construction in East-Central Stuy [Brooklyn Junction]
• Dumbo Galapagos Space Gets Bricked [Dumbo NYC]
• Community Board 14 Calendar [Brooklyn Junction]
• Saturday Night at the Brookyn Museum [About Brooklyn]

There’s going to be a Transportation Forum at the Grand Prospect Hall on Prospect Avenue next week that will cover transportation and traffic issues including the effect of congestion pricing on Windsor Terrace. The meeting will take place on January 10 from 6:30PM-8:30PM. Here’s the email we got about it:

Community Board #7 and the Windsor Terrace Alliance invite you to a public speak out on traffic and transportation issues. Come share your thoughts about the local community!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008, 6:30 TO 8:30 PM AT GRAND PROSPECT HALL, 263 PROSPECT AVENUE, BETWEEN 5TH AND 6TH AVENUES

People can speak for up to three minutes and also submit written testimony. Lauren Collins of the Windsor Terrace Alliance emailed with more information:

The WTA’s interest in co-sponsoring this meeting grew from the group’s recent online survey to identify local traffic concerns (results of the survey are posted on the group’s wesite, under “Issues”). A number of issues were raised, many of them about streets with a history of traffic problems, such as Prospect Park Southwest and Caton Avenue.

All members of the community are invited to attend and share their thoughts and concerns about traffic, transportation and parking issues in Windsor Terrace. Residents will be allowed three minutes to speak and written testimony (of any length) is encouraged.

For more info, call Community Board 7 at (718) 854-0003.

The British are coming. The Chip Shop, of Park Slope and (more recently) Atlantic Avenue fame, is opening up a Bay Ridge branch on Third Avenue. “But will the chips hit the fan for this expanding English eatery empire as it opens its doors in traditionally Irish Bay Ridge?”–Right in Bay Ridge

No, we don’t note every appearance of Monk Parrots in a new spot in Brooklyn. But, when someone posts pics of the birds in Coney Island, we think it’s post-worthy. This picture was posted by The Great Fredini on the Coney Island Message Board. He wrote: “We saw 5 of Brooklyn’s wild parrots hanging out in This tree near the Surf & Turf Grill. I’ve seen them before in Manhattan Beach or near Brooklyn College, but never in Coney Island. I think its a good omen for 2008!” That would place the birds near Surf Avenue, a block from the beach.

This pilot builds on the already successful project at the Union Square Greenmarket, where over 27,000 pounds of clothing were collected-diverting them from landfills and incinerators. The donation of these items helps support Goodwill’s valuable programs, reduces export costs, and allows for the reuse of valuable clothing and textiles…Textile collections start January 5th, 2008 and will occur every Saturday through March 29, 2008, from 8 A.M to 4 P.M. at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket. Acceptable donations include used clothing, shoes, boots, hats, jackets, towels, bedding, and linens. Tax receipts will be available upon request. The donation of these items helps support Goodwill’s many programs that assist people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.

Sounds like a superb opportunity to clear out those drawers and closets.

There’s good news (of a sort) and bad news about No. 1 Laundry on Smith Street, the impending closure of which we posted about yesterday. First, the good news: The owner still has another shop on Smith Street. Now, the bad news: The laundry is closing because its owner is getting taken to the cleaners by a humongous Smith Street-style rent increase. Our special Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Correspondent stopped in to talk to the owner and reported back:

The owner of No. 1, who also owns Kim’s Dry Cleaners closer to 3rd Place on Smith, will move his whole operation to that spot. His new landlord has raised his rent a second time since buying 285 Smith Street. First, to $4000 a month. He is moving because they now want a whopping $8500 a month. $8500 a month!

One might recall that the new owners, who want to more than double the rent, bought the building at 285 Smith Street for $1.6 million and were the subject of a Brooklyn Paper article last year (which one commenter yesterday called “not only incorrect,” but also “completely bizarre.”) Quite the impressive rent hike, though.

Yesterday morning, an email went out with a number of renderings of the building proposed for 110 Amity Street (Amity and Henry) in Cobble Hill. The email said, in part:

The local community is vehemently opposed to this development that changes the block structure around to create a gated community shoe-horned into the block only to maximize profit. They call it a “mews”. The plans will be submitted to CB6 January 3 at 6pm at 250 Baltic Street. Please circulate this and tell everyone you know. Please come if you are able to. Following this meeting, the project is scheduled to be presented for approval at the Landmarks Preservation Commission on January 8 (time to be specified).

Back in December, Brownstoner called it a possible “Amity Street Horror.” The developer, Time Equities, would put an addition atop an historic 1903 building and build six very large “town houses” next door. Chances on this one getting through unscathed or not causing deep bitterness in the community: Zero.

There is evidence of rats at Borough Hall. A lot of evidence of many of them. Rat holes. Rat traps. Etc. “Everywhere I looked, I saw big rat burrows in the planting areas surrounding Borough Hall, including the garden along the Court Street side of the building.”–Pardon Me For Asking

A new book, Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology of the work of 20 writers including Jonathan Lethem and Phillip Lopate, was officially published yesterday. In addition to the writers included in the book, it’s notable because proceeds from the sale will be used to support Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. A release says:

The twenty novelists, memoirists, poets and journalists donating their work to Brooklyn Was Mine (Riverhead Trade Paperback Original; January 2, 2008; $15), were motivated by their commitment to Brooklyn and its future–a future threatened by a development that is overwhelmingly dense, grossly out-of-scale with its surrounding neighborhood and will divide and dislocate area residents….

Taken together, the essays provide a deeply personal view of the borough’s rich history, as well as intimate takes on contemporary life. In “Reading Lucy,” Jennifer Egan introduces readers to Lucy–a woman who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II and wrote almost daily letters to her husband overseas. Jonathan Lethem’s “Ruckus Flatbush” is a wild, dystopian ride into Brooklyn’s future, meant to serve as a warning shot to the barbarians at the horizon. In “A Coney Island of the Mind,” Katie Roiphe remembers the thrill of riding the famous Cyclone rollercoaster while on a date with her future husband. Colin Harrison’s “Diamonds” details Brooklyn’s, and his own, ongoing love affair with baseball. And in “You Can’t Go Home Again,” John Burnham Schwartz writes about the changing face of the borough his father left––only to return when his son took up residence there. With humor and insight these essays draw on the past and present to create a compelling collection––one that is as colorful and diverse as the borough that inspired it, and as generous of spirit as the cause it supports.

“Who is to say what will become of the place, or whether Brooklyn will retain its soul?” asks Phillip Lopate in his poignant introduction. “Whatever happens to Brooklyn,” he answers, “its literary soul is sound and robust, and its writers fiercely loyal.”

There is a reading on Wednesday, January 9 at 7:30pm at the Park Slope Barnes and Noble (267 7th Avenue at 6th Street) by Jennifer Egan, Susan Choi and Darin Strauss. There’s also a reading on Tuesday, January 15 at 7pm at BookCourt (163 Court Street near Pacific Street) by Emily Barton, Darcey Steinke and Alexandra Styron. The full text of the release can be found here.

The former landmark Lundy’s Restaurant in Sheepshead Bay is being gutted for conversion into a high-end food market. Check out the pics of a space that is impressive, even in a diminished statew.–GerritsenBeach.Net

The space in Carroll Gardens we named The Democracy Wall was the subject of a News 12 report before the New Year. (We named it after the Democracy Wall in China where the government briefly encouraged people to put up posters and political statements in 1978 and 1979.) It’s been posted to the YouTube.

• Carlton Avenue Bridge Closing January 16 [AYR]
• Albee (Garage) Totally Gone [Brownstoner]
• Babies in Midwood Left Alone Rescued from Fire [NYP]
• East New York Police Shooting Victim Was on Wanted List [Sun]
• Bay Ridge Condos Rebranded as Pier Pointe [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Dog & Cat Toy Hanging from Greenpoint Wires are Moving Around [New York Shitty]
• 240 Court Meeting Notes [Union-Sackett Block Association Blog]
• Among the Polar Bears [Last Year at Coney Island]
• Brooklyn College Playground All Locked Up [Brooklyn Junction]
• 2007 Recap [Sustainable Flatbush]
• Introducing Motorola Memories [Icky in Brooklyn]

For those who think the proposal to create a park at the Bushwick Inlet in Williamsburg and Greenpoint is a new idea, think again. The idea was first floated by a Member of Congress. In 1896. Also, check out the cool pics of the inlet at night.–INSIJS

There is something infectious about Amos Wengler’s unofficial Coney anthem, Save Coney Island. The video is freshly posted on YouTube and we think it’s a lot of fun. Have a look below.

It seems that people who live in the vicinity of Sackett and Smith Streets will have to settle for roast duck, aged brie or pinot noir to launder their oxford shirts. No. 1 Dry Cleaner on that corner is presumably going out of business. Another useful business leaves Smith Street. It should be mentioned here that this business at 285 Smith street is in the building bought by the rich retirees trading in their mansion and classic cars for a bit of Brooklyn Boho.

Another dry cleaner on Court Street, Trusting Tailoring & Cleaning, is also closing and residents are trying to save it. The building in question was the subject of an article in the Brooklyn Paper by Ariella Cohen last year. Here’s a snippet from it:

Two Westchester millionaires are selling their $1.7-million mansion — complete with a swimming pool, plenty of extra bedrooms for the grandkids and five lush acres to run around on — and moving to a nondescript, 1,700-square- foot apartment above a dry cleaner on Smith Street.

“We’ve been in the suburbs seeing more chipmunks than people for a while. We’re ready for a change,” said Mimi Miles, who, with her husband Jeff, recently bought 285 Smith St. on the corner of Sackett Street in Carroll Gardens for $1.6 million.

Make that “formerly above a dry cleaner on Smith Street.”

DeB’s ofc is calling for VOLUNTEERS in freakin’ IOWA!!! Has he left Carroll Gardens to the dogs? Umm, looks that way, yup. Go ask the folks at 333 Carroll St.

The 333 Carroll Street reference is to the controversial building with a large addition on top (aka The Carroll Gardens Hell Building) designed by Robert Scarano whose permits were reissued before the holidays by the Department of Buildings. Neighborhood blogger Pardon Me for Asking posted a long and interesting item on the subject of neighborhood issues versus Presidential politics and related matters, on New Year’s Eve. In the meantime, there’s the new artwork that has appeared at the Democracy Wall at the Carroll Street subway stop. It includes an image of a proposal for the Public Place development in Gowanus, the Council Member’s telephone number and the tart message: “Sorry, but he might be a little too busy with Hillary in Iowa.” (Before Christmas, there was word Mr. de Blasio’s office was promising “action after the holiday” in Carroll Gardens.) If it’s any comfort to residents, the primary scrambling should be over earlier than in the past, given the front-loaded election schedule.

The hideous chartreuse paint job at the Western Union on Court Street appears to have been short lived. The store front is now a less nausea inducing grayish blue. Now that that’s taken care of, when is the owner going to paint the rest of this peeling, ratty building?–Pardon Me for Asking