By this time tomorrow, everyone should have a very good sense of what the city has in mind for Coney Island and what, if any, deals have been cut with developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. Significant Event Number One will take place at Noon at Gargiulo’s Restaurant when Mayor Bloomberg is scheduled to speak at a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. He is expected to make some announcements regarding Coney Island. In today’s Daily News, Jotham Sederstrom puts it this way: “Mayor Bloomberg will announce the sweeping rezoning and redevelopment plans…” Significant Event Number Two will be a meeting of the Coney Island Development Corporation board at 6:30PM. That will happen at Our Lady of Solace Auditorium, which is located at 2866 West 17th Street. The CIDC “will present ideas for the amusement district,” in Mr. Sederstrom’s words.

The extent to which the Mayor will be specific is unclear and whether the zoning recommendations will actually finally be released at the CIDC meeting is also unknown, but it should be an interesting day for Coney Island watchers.

Updates later today as they become available.

We have previously reported activity in the last week on the heavily polluted Public Place site between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal. Vegetation has been cut and barrels often used for the storage of hazardous and non-hazardous waste have been scattered around the property. Yesterday, we spotted a drilling rig and a work crew on the land from the F Train as it made the sweeping turn from the Smith-9th Street Station to the Carroll Street stop. (Our apologies for the lack of photo as we couldn’t get to it and shoot a pic in time.) It’s safe to assume the crew was taking soil samples from the site, where toxins left behind by a manufactured gas plant are believed to run as deep as 150 feet. While development of the site is still in the future, the soil samples would be a prerequisite for crafting a cleanup plan for the site, which presents a host of environmental issues. In the meantime, the Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG) group is speaking out against development of the site for housing, saying that an agreement dating to the 1970s designated the land for recreational use and that the city should not even have put out RFPs without a public hearing. A developer is expected to be announced next month.

There have been many issues with increased traffic and pedestrian safety in Red Hook in the last couple of years. So, while we don’t frequently report traffic accidents and the like, but the following story passed along to us by a GL reader gets at a broader point about what is going on in the neighborhood. Our reader emails:

A cyclist was almost killed in front of my house yesterday around noon. He was crossing Columbia Street at Carroll. A car zooming down Columbia, knocked him into the air, cracking the windshield, and throwing him onto the street. I think he broke his neck. This is more common as traffic increases in this residential area. If you remember we had no stoplights on van brunt until someone was killed. It is a nightmare these days. One of the problems is that there are blind spots since they allow parking right to the corner.

We have seen all the blind spots on Columbia Street and, further along, on Van Brunt Street. There is a need for some new regulation of parking near corners as well as additional traffic lights in places. Last year, there was a prolonged fight to install a traffic light on Van Brunt Street, but it is not the only intersection in the neighborhood in need of an upgrade to keep up with the growing amount of traffic. The day’s of deserted streets in Red Hook are a thing of the past.

Everyone in Greenpoint knows the man who takes the Number Five spot as the rollout of the Greenpoint Ten continues. He is that “shirtless guy who lives on Franklin Street” or “Blow Torch Harry” to some.–New York Shitty

There is movement to report, via amusing sign, on Bedford Avenue. Lawanna’s, which is at Beford and N. 6th Street is, as can be seen in the photo, haulin’ ass. The shop is haulin’ to 155 Grand Street between Bedford and Berry. Its next door neighbor, John Gabriel already hauled, as of about a month ago. The Gabriel Salon is now at 115 N. 7. The changes will continue an almost total transformation of the businesses around N. 6 and Bedford that has happened over the last two years. In some cases, the businesses now leaving are part of an earlier round of retail gentrification on Bedford.

At least one Manhattan-based budget car rental outfit thinks “The Carroll Gardens” is a good place for tourists to visit. The Carroll Gardens “has captured the American dream almost perfectly,” in fact. Sadly, nothing about The Park Slope or The Red Hook.–Pardon Me for Asking

Yes, they’re only photos of a fence with information about a project and its developer, and construction equipment. They are of interest, however, because of the particular site and developer. Work has gotten underway on the first phase of Quadriad Development’s controversial plan in Williamsburg that could result in several high on Berry Street and Bedford Avenue between N. 3rd and N. 4th Streets. The part of the project that is under construction, however, is not controversial. It involves housing in buildings that will be five stories tall. Construction equipment is on site. Quadriad would need major zoning changes to build its highrises as the part of the neighborhood where they want to build was downzoned to prevent highrise development.

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

• Security Study Urged for Atlantic Yards [NYT]
• Atlantic Yards Security Study Request Press Release [No Land Grab]
• 160 Schermerhorn Tops Out [Brownstoner]
• Rep. Yvette Clarke, Guest Blogger [BHB]
• Keeping an Eye on Thor [Kinetic Carnival]
• 93rd Street Drug House Update [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Bay Ridge Walking Tour Coming Up [Brklynstories]
• Subway Missed Connection Found [NYP]
• Serious Brooklyn Car Trouble [Z. Madison]
• Windsor Terrace Gets an “F,” Is Grounded [Icky in Brooklyn]
• More Schooling [Brooklyn 11211]
• Retailers Not Following Buyers to North Crown Heights [Sun]
• Brooklyn Variety Shows [Brooklyn Based]
• Emergency Happy Hour at Mooney’s [Daily Heights]

Here is a list of upcoming Brooklyn Community Board general and committee meetings, from a list compiled by Denise Romano in the Daily News:

• Community Board 14 will hold a meeting of its Environment, Public Safety and Youth Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at the district office, 810 E. 16th St.
• Community Board 1 will hold a general meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 6:30 p.m. at 211 Ainsley St.
• Community Board 2 will have its monthly meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. at the Phoenix Career Academy, 50 Jay St.
• Community Board 6 will hold a general meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 6:30 p.m. at Public School 58, 330 Smith St.
• Community Board 11 will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Holy Family Home, 1740 84th St. A permit for a sidewalk cafe at the Mona Lisa Cafe, 86th St. and 15th Ave., will be discussed.

The full list of Brooklyn Community Boards is available on the nyc.gov website.

The city unveiled a $15 million Brooklyn Navy Yard Historical Center yesterday that will go into a renovated historic building on Flushing Avenue in the Navy Yard. (Brownstoner covered the announcement and has additional photos and renderings.) There is also a short item about the plan in today’s Times. The 25,000 square foot building will also house the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, whose tours and other activities are superb. The facility is scheduled to open in 2010.

If you want to help out people trying to help out Newtown Creek, then you might consider a benefit raffle tonight (11/8) at the Diamond bar in Greenpoint for the Newtown Creek Alliance. First Prize is 2 tickets to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden on November 13. Second Prize is a $50 bar tab at The Diamond. And Third Prize is a $25 bar tab at The Diamond. Tickets are $5 each, and only 100 tickets are being raffled. Union Beer Distributors is matching total ticket sales with an equal contribution to the Newtown Creek Alliance. So if all 100 tickets are sold, the Alliance will get $1,000. The drawing is tonight at 10PM and tickets are available at The Diamond, 43 Franklin Street between Calyer & Quay in Greenpoint.

There is concern in Brooklyn Heights about a significant increase in assaults. Assault has gone up 31 percent in the last two year, reaching 150 this year. The good news is that assaults are down 82.5 percent from 14 years ago and robberies are down 60.5 percent.–Sun

Prospect Park, Brooklyn
This cool photo of the late fall that Prospect Park is experiencing comes from Gary Mirabelle of Mirabelle Studios, who is a regular GL photo contributor. Read more about Mr. Mirabelle, who is an exceptionally accomplished sculptor, by clicking here.

Red Hook’s bar and restaurant scene has been taking a bit of a beating this year, but there are reports of activity at 360, which has been closed since early summer.–Eater

While the venerable Park Slope Civic Council’s “buy local” campaign, which will kick off on November 13 interests us, what absolutely fascinates us is a brave social experiment that will accompany it. The group is buying umbrellas that will be left in stores that people can borrow for use when it’s raining on the presumption that they’ll return them. The yellow umbrellas are a marketing tool for the Civic Council’s Buy Local campaign that will say “Buy in Brooklyn, Shop Local in Park Slope” and have the group’s logo. Stores that want them will have them available to customers, who can borrow them when it’s raining and then return them to a participating store. The idea is similar to “community bicycle” programs in Holland and other countries in which bicycles that can be borrowed for use and returned. (The more successful big city programs, however, generally include cards with computer chips and other tricks to help encourage honesty.)

The Civic Council is spending about $2,000 to buy 400 umbrellas, and there will be some signs that say “Please enjoy this community umbrella and return it to a participating local merchant.” The yellow color is intended to make them stand out. As for the important buy local campaign in Park Slope, which retains large numbers of community-based merchants, we will note that the standard rule of thumb is that every dollar spent with a local merchant is recirculated in the community three times.

The brave social experiment with the umbrellas, however, raises many fascinating questions: Will Park Slopers return the umbrellas? If not, how long will it take for the umbrellas to dwindle, if not vanish? Will Slope residents be hiding schwag umbrellas in their apartments and condos? What will a visiting person from, say, Carroll Gardens or a far off place like Bay Ridge that needs an umbrella do? And, of course, which Brooklyn neighborhood would host the most successful community umbrella program in terms of them being used and returned?

We should have a sense of all this in a few months.

This is the Con Edison building on Fourth Avenue that has been under construction forever. The horrendous brick wall at street level could be in a planning and architecture textbook as an example of what not to do in terms of streetscape and street-level design. We’re certain there’s a reasons for this fortress-like exemplary use of brick at street level, we’re not certain what it is, however. The building is slightly–but not entirely–less atrocious once the eyes rise above the first floor. However, it’s expanse of brick, broken only by solid steel doors, at street level that boggles the mind. This is the stretch of Fourth Avenue that developers of buildings like the Crest on Second Street, directly across Fourth, and the Novo Park Slope are trying to market as the Park Avenue of Brooklyn. Upon further consideration, it may fit in quite nicely.

While architects like Robert Scarano (see below) seem to garner an inordinate amount of headlines both online and in print, other architects are making a significant impact on both the Brooklyn streetscape and skyline. One of them is Karl Fischer, whose work is almost everywhere one turns in Williamsburg, and can be found in South Brooklyn too. The building rising in the distance of this photo, for instance, is the Karl Fischer building at 100 Luquer Street on the far side of Carroll Gardens. This is the view from the F train as it goes from the Smith-9th Street Station to Carroll Street. We posted a ground-level view from Hamilton Avenue on Curbed last week. It is an 11-story building in a neighborhood of 2-4 story structures, so it will cut quite a profile when it reaches its full height.

Brooklyn’s most well known architect, Robert Scarano, finally has his say on a wide range of topics in an interview that’s part of an excellent story in the November issue of the Real Deal. It’s fascinating to see the gentleman who has embraced some controversial building techniques and put up some buildings about which people have strong opinions, and who has been targeted by both the press and some local officials in a way that his peers have not, quoted at length.

First, the snark. We were astounded to find that Mr. Scarano refers to the Finger Building in Williamsburg as, well, the Finger Building. Now, everything else. It is interesting to hear Mr. Scarano speak out on issues like giving up the right to self-certify has plans and being blamed for construction mishaps at buildings he designed. Whether one likes or loathes Mr. Scarano’s work, his work is everywhere. He has 350 active construction projects, although an astounding 20 percent of them have Stop Work Orders. Those looking for a contrite or apologetic architect won’t find it in the story. In fact, he seems defiant most of the time, saying for instance that despite giving up self-certification, “we still push the envelope.” He also says, in the context of talking about mezzanines–a technique that landed some of his projects in hot water, “You have to be able to take a certain level of risk; if not, you won’t get ahead — you’ll be paralyzed and never really do anything.” Mr. Scarano calls the case of the stalled Finger Building “a tragedy” and says that the story in about workers excavating the site on N. 7th Street in Williamsburg for The Modern drilling into a subway tunnel was untrue (which we’ve heard before). Mr. Scarano says that workers only drilled into a sewer line. Regardless, he says that architects can’t be held accountable for everything that happens on construction sites: “The reality is, architects are hired to produce a set of plans for construction entities to build.” If you follow development in Brooklyn, the Real Deal Scarano story needs to be on your reading list.

Our friends at Brownstoner are launching Brooklyn Flea and it promises to be Brooklyn’s biggest and best flea market in the spring in a 40,000 square foot schoolyard in Fort Greene. The new website says: “The Bishop Loughlin school yard is located on Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues, positioning the flea market just a block from “brunch row” on Dekalb Avenue and only four subway stops from Downtown Manhattan. Our goal is to create a destination event that gives people from all over the city yet another reason to visit Brooklyn. We plan to put together the best assortment of dealers across a wide range of interests, from antiques to crafts to vinyl records; we’re also hoping to create a food court of local and organic offerings.” It sounds like it’s destined to be a big success.

Architect Frank Gehry, who would design the Atlantic Yards projects including the towering building he has dubbed “Miss Brooklyn” is being sued by MIT. The school charges that a $300 million Gehry-designed building leaks, has drainage problems, has mold growing on the exterior and accumulates ice and snow that fall in a dangerous way. Among other things.–AP/NYT

Yesterday, we posted about people fishing in the Gowanus Canal, catching foot-long bluefish and eating the catch. The bird on the Gowanus in this photo is also fishing. In the past, we’ve posted about herons and other birds around our favorite canal, but we’d never seen one of them for ourselves. So, we were excited this weekend to see this one and get a couple of photos of him/her with our own lens. Sadly, we didn’t have our telephoto on us. This was taken from the Third Street Bridge looking South. We don’t believe that it is the Black Crowned Heron they call Manzana. We think it’s this bird, which our readers believe to be either a Green Heron or an American Bittern.

UPDATE: Two readers point out that the bird in question is a cormorant. One writes that “Cormorants are excellent swimmers and divers, and can be found in waters all around the Brooklyn & Manhattan waterfront.”

This is not in Brooklyn, but we found it on the Coney Island Message Board under the headline “What if Coney Did This?“, which creates a (tenuous) Brooklyn angle. As it turns out, the Chinese are building a mind-bogglingly big ferris wheel in Beijing that will be 682 feet tall and carry 1,920 passengers. By comparison, the Wonder Wheel is 150 feet tall. The Beijing wheel will be the third-tallest structure in Beijing. The BBC says:

Officials say visitors will get “an unsurpassed view of the city”, although some analysts have joked that pollution might stop visitors from seeing much.

When completed, the $99m (£50m) structure will eclipse the Star of Nanchang – the current highest wheel, also in China, which stands at 160m. The next-closest competitor, the London Eye, is more than 70m shorter, standing at a mere 135m.

Some early renderings of Thor’s Coney Island redevelopment plan contained a giant ferris wheel on a new pier. Should you want to learn more about the Beijing wheel there are a couple of dozen stories here.

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

• Is Fourth Avenue Losing Its Lustre? [Brownstoner]
• Gehry Lawsuit Story Schadenfreude [AYR]
• Brooklyn Firefighter Wins Iron Skillet Cook Off [NYDN]
• Bill Clinton and Franklin Street Gnomes [New York Shitty]
• Another Smith Street Business Bites Dust [Pardon Me for Asking]
• Neighborhood Gardening in Bloom [Sustainable Flatbush]
• Bay Ridge Businesses Try to Get Happy [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Brooklyn Heights Web Designer Creates Site to Find Missed Connection [NYP]
• Bath Beach Landlord-Tenant Dispute Gets Violent [7Online]
• Duncan’s Fish Market Opening in Bed-Stuy [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• G Train Moments [Err(or) Ink.]
• Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn Fundraiser Tomorrow [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Front Street Parking Regs Update [Dumbo NYC]
• Bedbugs Closing In [Escape Brooklyn]

This wall is brought to you by our Greenpoint correspondent who produces one of the more consistently compelling and entertaining blogs in New York City. We must say this is the first time we’ve seen this twist on the the old eat it and die message on a wall.

They won’t be doing Coke or Pepsi at the Barclays Center, they’ll be drinking Jones from the Seattle-based soft drink company. A Nets spokesperson says ” “Our goal has been and always will be to try to capture the culinary experience of Brooklyn and bring it into the building.” Which leaves a lot of people wondering what that has to do with Jones soda.–No Land Grab