It’s turning out to be an excellent week for street sofas after a long dry spell. From our Greenpoint correspondent comes what she calls the DIY Street Sofa. It is sort of sad to see such a homespun endeavor meet such an ignominious end, but it certainly looks nice sitting there.

So, which food retailer is coming to the new space at State and Court streets? The only hint is that they’ve been in the food production business for 100 years and both Balducci’s and Citarella fall a few years short, which leaves Gristede’s, according to one of the nearly 70 comments.–Brownstoner

It’s hard to say whether the allegations of pigeons being slaughtered in Park Slope are a case of animal cruelty or lunacy or a little bit of both, but the photos show signs that popped up along Eighth Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets over the weekend. There are more than a half-dozen of them. The signs allude to a situation in which someone is said to be running down pigeon en masse in the Slope and/or poisoning them. As for the, um, curious part, it suggests that “surveillance cameras” are being installed to catch the pigeon killers and that “community police” are making checks to nab the avian homicidal maniacs(s). This all has its roots in what may be a neighborhood feud of epic (and, now, deadly) proportions between a resident who feeds pigeons and a neighbor that doesn’t like them so much. The bird lover was dubbed the “Pigeon Advocate” by neighborhood blogger OTBKB. The pigeon person feeds the birds and has had many run ins with a neighbor who she calls “a maniac” and with what she calls “goons” who work at neighboring Methodist Hospital who apparently don’t like birdseed or pigeons either. The Pigeon Advocate claims that “there have been 10 to 20 run-over pigeons found in piles” over the last week at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Sixth Street.

Here’s where it gets very interesting: This is not the first time that pigeon murders have been alleged in this block of Park Slope. Back in 1998, pigeons living on Eighth Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets were shot with darts from a dart gun. The grisly attacks made the New York Times. It was around the time someone was poisoning pigeons and squirrels in Gramercy.

Back in 1998, the Times wrote of the Park Slope Pigeon Dart Attacks:

A flock of pigeons roosting in the oak trees along the eastern side of Eighth Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, has become the target of someone with a blowgun. At least six birds have been seen in recent weeks with metal darts as long as five inches stuck in various parts of their bodies.

”It was like something in a horror film,” Stacy Griffin, a 44-year-old receptionist, said about one sighting. ”This pigeon was flying around with a dart right through its neck.” Ms. Griffin lives in the Roosevelt Arms, a six-story apartment building that is shaded by the oaks.

Are the SUV Attacks of 2007 and the Dart Gun Attacks of 1998 related? Does this little stretch of Eighth Avenue harbor a Pigeon Serial Killer who has come out of a long slumber to kill again? Could the child who did this to a pigeon in Prospect Park this summer have gone on a rampage?

In the meantime, both the Sun and amNY report this morning on a proposal in the City Council to outlaw feeding pigeons. The proposal comes from Councilman Simcha Felder, (D-Brooklyn), who will announce a bill today to make it illegal to feed pigeons. A “pigeon czar” will handle all the pigeon-related complaints.

We haven’t seen the piles of dead pigeons and we certainly wonder what kind of effort needs to go into running down that many of the birds with a car or SUV, but the allegations of animal cruelty are certainly troubling and we’re sure there will be many opinions on a pigeon feeding ban and how it would be enforced–even with a Pigeon Czar.

On a recent swing past the construction site of 80 Metropolitan, the building rising on the site of the historic, demolished Old Dutch Mustard Company building, we found the construction site wide open. The good news is the gate is closed. The bad news is that it’s only tied closed with a cord that anyone can open. (We believe that poorly secured or wide open construction and demolition sites are a serious injury or death waiting to happen, which is why we keep featuring them.) Could it be that the nearby 80 Metropolitan sales office is offering tours of the site and doesn’t want to be bothered with a closed up site? Or could it be that developer Steiner Equities can’t afford a lock and chain? Perhaps the credit crunch is hitting harder than one suspects.

And, now, the latest flap surrounding Barclays Bank, which owns the naming rights to an Atlantic Yards area: “BARCLAYS is bankrolling President Robert Mugabe’s corrupt regime in Zimbabwe by providing substantial loans to cronies given land seized from white farmers. The British bank lent £750m to the country’s new landowning elite in the first half of this year, mostly through a government scheme to boost farm productivity. This weekend Barclays was under pressure to say whether it had lent money to five of Mugabe’s ministers — each named in European Union sanctions.”–Sunday Times (London) via McBrooklyn

The top is the newly-released city vision of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island. The bottom is one of the batch of renderings released a year ago by developer Joe Sitt. The juxtaposition of what one might call Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff’s Coney Island and developer Joe Sitt’s Coney Island is interesting, no?

Related Post:
New Coney Plans: Play Up the Coaster, Downplay the Highrises

If you read GL, you know we have a long standing fascination with street sofas that are dragged out to the sidewalk for a variety of reasons, mostly having to do with disposal. We haven’t had one for a while, but our Greenpoint Correspondent has restarted the series with this photo that she filed last night. And, it’s a prize winner: the biggest sofa we have ever seen on the street. Anywhere. She found it on N. 13th Street between Kent and Wythe Avenues and calls it the Uber Couch, which may actually be an understatement. Woah.

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

• An Arena by 20011-12? [AYR]
• Frank Gehry on the “Uplifting Effect” of “Real Architecture” [AYR]
• An Historic Park Slope Laundromat [Lost City]
• Coney Island Redevelopment Plan Circa ’07 [Newyorkology]
• “Gentrification” Aside, Windsor Terrace Still Pretty Diverse [Icy in Brooklyn]
• Coney Island Community Information Session is November 19 [Kinetic Carnival]
• Weekly Dumbo Links [Dumbo NYC]
• Astral Mattress Shop Daily Special [New York Shitty]
• Fall Rules [Callalillie]

Here’s an interesting tidbit for Brooklynites bothered by after-hours construction noise. It comes courtesy of an email from the Boerum Hill Association, saying that the city’s recently enacted noise ordinance still allows citizens to pursue action “against construction noise violators and share in the fees (which can be substantial).” The emails says in part:

After a bit of back and forth with the general counsel’s office at DEP, including a consultation with the City Attorney’s office, it is now clear that the new noise code left the private right of action provision intact, and it will be interpreted to refer to the appropriate relocated code provisions (including after-hours construction noise). So folks, it’s time to get out there and VIDEOTAPE THOSE NOISE VIOLATIONS…DEP wants to get rid of this provision because past complaints have been of “low quality.” Let’s show ’em!

One assumes that many high-quality examples can be found. There is a full post on the subject here at nycblight.org for those that are interested.

In case anyone doubted that winter is closing in on us, ice skating time in Prospect Park is almost here. The Wollman Rink opens for the season on November 21. It will be open for skating through March 16, 2008. Skating hours vary daily:

• Monday, 8:30 AM-2:00 PM
• Tuesday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM
• Wednesday, 8:30 AM-3:00 PM
• Thursday, 8:30 AM-6:00 PM
• Friday, 8:30 AM-9:00 PM
• Saturday, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM, 2-6 PM & 7-10 PM
• Sunday, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM, 2-6 PM

The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children and teens, 14 and under. Skates are $6 to rent.

For more information check out the Wollman Rink page on the Prospect Park website as well as About Brooklyn.

[Photo courtesy of ginatrapani/flickr]

Gowanus Canal fans will not want to miss Something Bright, Then Holes, a collection from LA-based poet Maggie Nelson. Why? The section called “The Canal Diaries,” which draws rich parallels between the debris and decay that flourish around the Gowanus Canal and a romantic breakup.–Brit in Brooklyn

The last fews times we checked in on Urban Green in Williamsburg, we were motivated to call it Urban Death because of its poorly secured gate allowing unfettered public access to its deep hole and construction equipment. The first big hole was partly filled after a Stop Work Order because Urban Green was destabilizing a neighboring building, but the fence on N. 6 Street was finally brought up to standard and one on N. 5 Street was moved back from an edge that threatened to swallow up the sidewalk. All of that is background to reintroduce the huge construction site, which now features a very deep hole and some sort of pump or mechanical device that is running 24/7 and must clearly be loved by neighbors. There have also been two recent complaints lodged against the site–one for after hours work and one for moving construction equipment in and out at night. The Department of Buildings checked out the latter of the two complaints a week after it was made and found “no construction activity at the time of inspection.” Duh. For now, we’re going to call it Urban Noise.

Let’s say a woman is screaming bloody murder at 5AM outside Royal Oak at Union Avenue & Richardson in Williamsburg, which is still open for after-hours business, and is being manhandled and possibly being set up to be raped. Let’s say you call 911. Let’s say that 15 minutes later, they still haven’t shown up…–Bad Advice

This compromised parking sign on Richardson Street might the victim of demolition activity at the old Manhattan Chocolate Factory next door. Regardless it goes nicely with Karl Fischer Row’s 20 Bayard.

You probably remember the “Sensation” show furor at the Brooklyn Museum in 1999. But what about Stanford White, the prominent architect who designed the “The Palm House” and other structures at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He was shot by his wife because he had an underage lover. Ring a bell?–Icky in Brooklyn

The last we had heard the building housing Lundy’s, the closed venerable Sheepshead Bay restaurant, was rumored to be coming back to life as an Outback Steakhouse. GerritsenBeach.Net relates news that was deep in a Courier Life story a couple of week back about a WWII memorial plaque on the site the local civic association wants back that the building is slated to become a “‘Whole Foods’ style market selling both international and organic products.” The new market will open sometime next year. It’s not clear if part of the space is still slated for an Outback’s or if that deal fell through. What is certain is that Lundy’s, which dated to the 1930s, is done and that neighboring businesses in the building are gone too.

We don’t know if our Brooklyn Missed Connection of the week is for real or is BS (it has some vague echoes of a serial poster from earlier this year), but it is certainly entertaining:

American Apparel Wearing Dude and the Scientology Hipster Girl – m4w – 26
I met you on Bedford Avenue while we were both walking over to the pool. You complimented me on my clothes (yeah, I wear a lot of American Apparel, but only in a non-ironic sort of way) and I asked you about the brochures you were carrying, which had some funky artwork about a fist grabbing the globe and such. You told me you were a Scientologist and I guess I snorted the wrong sort of response which turned the whole attempt at getting to know you into some sort of a long winded rant about the merits of Raelianism (my thing) verses your scientology versus marxism and critical feminist queer theory as developed by the thinkers of the seventies. But all I really wanted was to get to know you better, hipster Scientology girl of Williamsburg. I sort of have it in my head that if I, a Raelian dude, and you, an LRon Hubbardite Scientology girl, got together, that something awesome would result. So if you are out there or if you know of a hipster looking girl in the hood who is into Scientology, you have to write back to me. Or the thetans win.

Okay, then.

Every week we highlight some comments left by GL readers during the past seven days. Here’s a sampling from this week:

GL Analysis: City Shows Its Hand in Coney, Now What? “another chapter in the continuing history of land grabs at Coney. we’ll be lucky if our grandkids get to ride the rides in the new Coney.” [Anonymous]

Truck Sucks Muck From Beneath Burg’s Grand Street. “I live on Degraw Street and work for a civil engineering firm. I have worked with Allstate Power Vac before, and they primarily clean sewers and catch basins. This is most likely the case here – those giant trucks are cleaning the sewer, after which they will probably send in a remote probe to inspect the structural integrity of the sewer. What instigated this cleaning and inspection? It could be that basins were backing up or that there was an unexplained settlement in the roadway prompting the City to dispatch these guys to see if there is a sewer collaps in the area.” [Anonymous]

Bloomberg, Doctoroff & Burden Drop Coney Island Bomb: Sitt Out of Amusement District. “With Thor out of the amusement zone, that is a great thing. Whatever you think of the city’s politics, I’d rather have the same folks who—for better or worse—redid Times Square involved than Thor Equities who does nothing but buy land, make promises, flip property and destroys community.” [JackSwzergold]

Bloomberg, Doctoroff & Burden Drop Coney Island Bomb: Sitt Out of Amusement District. “This isn’t good news in the slightest. They simply will trade one developer for another that is a crony of Doctoroff. Nearly every Doctoroff plan has been absolutely, incredibly, spectacularly: a huge financial gift to a real estate developer, a giant fuck you to the relevant community, completely uninspiring, catering to a wealthy minority, and so on, and so on. Doctoroff wouldn’t know how to pick a world-class developer for Coney Island if they turned on the lights on the Parachute Jump and stuck it up his tuckus.” [Red Hook]

Brave Park Slope Social Experiment: Will People Return “Buy Local” Umbrellas? “I like the spirit behind this idea a lot. My fear, however, is that these umbrellas are going to end up like all of mine: they’re never where I need them. Even a well-meaning citizen is going to take one home and then never ever remember to return it.” [Colleen]

Here are one woman’s recollections about growing up in Brooklyn in the old days.

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

• What if the City Treated Ratner Like Sitt? [AYR]
• Affordable Housing Contractor Did Crappy Work in Bed-Stuy [NYDN]
• Bed-Stuy is New York “As It Used To Be” [NYT]
• Six Flags Over Coney? [Karrie Jacobs]
• Green Scooter or Big Purple Rig? [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Daily Brooklyn Bread [Pardon Me for Asking]
• Bay Ridge’s Monumental Tie to World War I [Right in Bay Ridge]
• DDDB Klezmatics Benefit Pics [No Land Grab]
• Fort Hamilton Condos Now on Sale [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Brooklyn Doorbell [Blather from Brooklyn]
• South Williamsburg Firefighters Get Artistic [NYT]

Anyone in Brooklyn (or elsewhere in New York City) that has a bike and an opinion on parking it, might want to go over to the Bike Parking Website and take its survey. The explanation:

We are two Hunter College graduate students working with the NYC Department of City Planning Transportation Division to improve our understanding of the public’s bike parking needs and current bike parking resources. This survey is designed to engage YOU in the decision making process as the city ramps up its efforts to install thousands of new bicycle racks and other bicycle parking facilities throughout the five boroughs within the next few years. Please take a moment to complete our brief (less than 10 minutes) survey below!

Click here for the survey page.

Some Coney Island videos for your viewing pleasure in honor of a week of big Coney Island news.

Feeling nostalgic? Read about Ye Olde Gowanus Canal in 1998: “For decades the Gowanus Canal has been a dead zone, a post-industrial wasteland of garbage-strewn lots, dumped corpses and raw sewage awash in fetid water.”–NYT

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Before anyone starts picturing a Coney Island Tivoli Gardens, there are many things that need to be resolved, most significantly getting approval to de-map some city parkland so that it can go to a developer (hint: the name rhymes with, uh, hit). The “parkland” in question is the KeySpan ballpark parking lot (not that one can have a baseball stadium without parking, even temporarily) as well as land under the (presumably to be demolished) Abe Stark ice rink. (Which could, in turn, explain why an ice skating facility appears on the current Wonder Wheel park property in the new city plan.) The move is at the heart fo the Bloomberg-Doctoroff plan, but it requires state approval and a lot of machinations that one can easily see falling apart. Here is the scenario as described by Neil DeMause on the Runnin’ Scared blog:

The eight-acre, city-owned parking lot west of the Cyclones ballpark, which is currently mapped as city parkland (as is the stadium), would be demapped and readied for developers to turn into housing, parking garages, and stores. To meet the legal requirement that at least as much parkland be created as is eliminated, all 15 acres of land from the ballpark to the Cyclone, and from the Bowery to the boardwalk, would become public parkland. State legislation…would be required next spring to “alienate” the parking-lot site; the city would then transmogrify the amusement district into new parkland via its ULURP land-use process.

Other than looking forward to having fun with the concept of “alienated” parkland that is “transmogrified,” all we can say is that we would not wager significant money on this working out according to any timetable. The lawsuits alone, should anyone wish to challenge the plan, could take time to resolve if the courts are asked to determine whether the amusement park, hotel and retail plan is a permissible use of city parkland.