Yesterday, we noted in a post on Curbed that Thor Equities and developer Joe Sitt had parted company with spokesperson Lee Silberstein and the Marino Organization. It was unclear who had initiated the split. This morning we can report, based on a tip from another reliable source, that Thor has also parted ways with Kramer Levin, the firm acting as its land use attorney. In fact, our source reports that the lawyers “abandoned ship,” which would seem to indicate that they jumped rather than were pushed. However, the cause of the abandonment is unclear.

Even if you are not into personnel moves, the changes are interesting. With the Coney Island process and negotiations seemingly at a critical juncture, the departure of key team members certainly would seem to raise the possibility that things may not be going as well as the developer had hoped. Or that they may, in fact, be going quite badly and that creatures are abandoning the USS Sitt. This is pure conjecture on our part, but it would seem odd that team members would be quitting or being fired if things were going well and the developer was on the verge of announcing that things will be moving forward as planned.

Here are some links to coverage of the story:
Red Hook food stands get a reprieve [amNY]
Food Vendors Get a Break [AP/NYP]
Red Hook Vendors Golden Through October [Lost City]
Red Hook Ball Field Vendors Clear Through 10/21 [Eater]
Red Hook Food Vendors Given a Temporary Reprieve [CityRoom]

It’s hard to know what to make of these two items that we came across in discussions at the Daily Heights, but we certainly noticed them. First, the one about the skateboarders. Then, the one about the bicyclist:

Terriers Beware: Light-Skinned Asian Skateboarders in BoCoCa

I for one think that skateboarders can reach speeds of more than 50 mph… I was walking through BocoCa last wed and several light skinned Asian men flew by me on these boards almost killing my Boston Terrier. Police in this area should really not hesitate to bring in these characters and charge them with whatever crime they probably committed.

We’re not sure what the ethnicity of the skateboarders has to do with anything, but even more than that, you don’t actually see people describing the neighborhood as BoCoCa every day. So, did it happen in Bo or Co or Ca?

Next up we have our bicycle rant from Prospect Heights or ProHi, to borrow from the previous post:

Prospect Heights Bikers: Learn How to Ride

Okay, so what’s the deal with you people? As a driver, day after day it amazes me how inept so many of you are at riding bikes in the streets of the city, particularly in this, and surrounding neighborhoods.

Here’s what I see: you don’t ride at the speed of traffic, preferring to leisurely pedal at 5 mph, without a care in the world. You often ride two, or even three abreast, in order to better facilitate conversation with your biking buddies as you make your way down streets. You even ride against traffic on narrow streets and get mad when honked at. You have been seen riding so far from the curb and parked cars that you end up in the path of moving cars. You don’t use headlights at night (illegal), hand signals, bells, and you almost never look over your shoulders.

To top it all off, most of you don’t even wear helmets, which baffles me.

As a former bike messenger, daily driver, and native New Yorker, the only thing that makes me curse out loud in my car is how so many of you bike like you’re on a sun-dappled, suburban sidewalk. It makes me furious, really.

I don’t know when this happened in New York. Used to be, bikers and drivers had an understanding, and a certain rhythm in the streets of this city. Sure, there have been accidents, and middle fingers flipped, and filthy words hurled, but jeez, at least traffic used to move.

Last thing I have to say to you “bikers” is: learn how to ride those super cool, retro metro, “I bought this $25 bike so I can sport a $100 Kryptonite chain,” bikes. It would make a lot of pedestrians, and drivers a lot happier.

There you have it.

Community activist and former Community Board 13 Chairman Brian Gotlieb announced that he would be leading a protest in support of Astroland Amusement Park’s efforts to remain open for the 2008 season. The protest is scheduled to held on Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 12:00 pm at the Surf Avenue entrance to Astroland.

First opened in 1962, Astroland Amusement Park is scheduled to shut its doors forever on September 9, 2007, for a lack of a new lease. Negotiations on a lease for the 2008 season have broken down and there is no resolution in sight. The breakdown apparently centers around the issues of Thor Equities’ desire to secure zoning changes and increase Astroland’s annual rent from $170,000 to $3 million.

In response to this situation, Gotlieb created an online and paper petition drive asking Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Markowitz, each of Coney Island’s elected officials, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Coney Island Development Corporation, and, Mr. Joseph Sitt, owner of Thor Equities, to join together and negotiate a fair and equitable lease with Astroland’s owners that would permit Astroland to remain open beyond the 2007 summer season. To date, more than 5,000 people have signed the petition that can be found at: SAVEASTROLAND.COM or SAVEASTROLAND.ORG.

Astroland, which sits on property that was sold to Thor Equities in November of 2006, is to be replaced as part of a proposed $2 billion Coney Island make-over designed to transform Coney Island into a year-round tourist attraction with hotels and indoor attractions. Despite the sale, there has been hope that arrangements could be made to allow Astroland to stay open for the 2008 season and beyond while plans for the site were still being developed and approved.

According to Gotlieb, “Thus far, it seems as though Mr. Sitt is more anxious to pave paradise and put up a parking lot while the future of the site and community hangs in the balance.”

Should be an interesting day.

We’re fixated by old buildings being torn down and Williamsburg is the epicenter of our fascination as something is always being torn down. These images come from the old industrial building on the corner of N. 9th Streets and Driggs that is part of what is to be a huge development site that will take up about 2/3 of the block between N. 9th & N. 10 Streets and Driggs & Roebling Streets. The N. 10th Street side of the site is directly across from our old friend, the Roebling Oil Field & Building.

Tonight is the first performance of Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” on the deck of our favorite converted tanker, PortSide New York’s Mary A. Whalen. The production has gained wide notice in New York City, as one would expect for an opera on a boat that will include real stevedores. It’s also in today’s Christian Science Monitor. Here’s an excerpt from the excellent story:

In most productions of Puccini’s maritime opera “Il Tabarro,” you do not see a seagull swoop down and mysteriously levitate its way across the stage. Nor do you find singers shifting their balance as a commuter ferry rushes by. But those are the chances you take when you stage Puccini on the deck of an oil tanker.

The Vertical Player Repertory, a small opera company in Brooklyn, is taking the notion of Italian realism to a new level in a new production of “Il Tabarro” (“The Cloak”) set on the Mary A. Whalen, a retired 1938 oil tanker docked in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Marine Terminal.

During the run of four performances, which begin Friday and continue through Sept. 16, the performers not only must master the vocal and emotional nuances of Puccini’s tragic love story – set on a barge on the River Seine in Paris – but they must do so without getting seasick.

“In a normal opera you have so many things – lights, costumes, sets, audiences to deal with. It can be chaotic,” says Peter Szep, the company’s music director. “On top of that you have winds, boats, tides, helicopters, and just the acoustics of this odd space, which you don’t normally have to deal with.”

You can read the full story here. Performances are today (9/7) and Sunday (9/9) as well as next Friday (9/14) and Sunday (9/16). Performances are at 7PM. There is a reception each day at 5PM. Opera tickets are $25 and reception tickets are $35. Tickets for both are $60. If you want tickets, you can click here.

If you’re looking for anything from doorknobs to reclaimed flooring, you’ve got to check out the First Annual Salvage Fest that our friends at Brownstoner have put together for tomorrow (9/8) in the yard at PS 11 in Clinton Hill. Among the architectural salvage operations that will be represented are Moon River Chattel, Olde Good Things, Demolition Depot, Black Dog Salvage, Build It Green, Eddie’s, Old Soul Architectural Salvage and Reclaimed Home. Build It Green will be collecting building-supply donations too. Closest subway stops are Clinton/Washington on the C and Classon on the G train. You can check out more at Brownstoner here and here.

We love the work that BARC, the Williamsburg-based Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition, does. So, we’re glad to note that some of the cats and kittens will be available on an adoption day at The Beehive Salon on Lorimer Street. Here goes:

The Beehive Salon is hosting a cat and kitten adoption day on Sunday, September 9th. Come by and meet some of the neighborhood’s cutest cats and friskiest kittens. You may even be tempted to give one a forever home. BARC cats have been spayed or neutered, are dewormed and current on their vaccinations. All have been tested for Feline Leukemia and FIV. For adoption information: http://www.barcshelter.org/adopt/index.html

The event takes place Sunday (9/9) from Noon until 5PM. The Beehive Salon is at 494 Lorimer Street, which is on the east side of the BQE between Powers and Grand.

That’s BARC’s featured cat Brenda in the photo, by the way, who is available. You can always visit BARC at 253 Wythe, which is at N. 1st Street. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer, help out and, of course, adopt.

• Digging Begins at Ratner’s 80 DeKalb [Brownstoner]
• Judges Still Parking in Public Park [NYDN]
• Miss Heather Visits Park Slope, Hilarity Ensues [newyorkshitty]
• Adams Street Greenery [McBrooklyn]
• Jane Jacobs Exhibit Coming Up [AYR]
• F Train Follies [Z. Madison]
• Endangered South Slope Signage [Brooklynometry]
• DumboNYC’s One Year Birthday [Dumbo NYC]
• Rename Your Restaurant with Spraypaint [BK 11201]
• Happy About BookCourt Expanding [123 Smith]
• Foodtown Renovation Presentation [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Bushwick Crap Sales are No Crap Shoot [Bushwick BK]
• Weekend Events [WPA]
• Things to Do and Buy This Weekend [Brooklyn Based]

If you thought this was a done deal, you were wrong. The Red Hook Vendors food season was officially extended today as the Parks Department announced it was giving a six-week extension on the temporary permits the vendors use. The extension will allow them to work at the Red Hook Ballfields through the end of October. The development was reported this afternoon by the Associated Press. Presumably, the Department of Health, which has also targeted the vendors for stepped up enforcement, won’t make the end of the season impossible for them. A long-term permit will be up for bid at the end of the season and the Parks Department has said the criteria would be written in such a way that it will not be a strictly monetary decision.

Bring yourself, your friends and family. Don’t forget to make signs! If you don’t have materials, come early (11am) and create your own sign. I’ll have foamboard and markers on hand. Wear colorful clothes- this is not a wake or a funeral! We will march through Astroland to celebrate our attachment to the park and express our desire that it reopen for the 2008 season! Remember how the B & B Carousell was saved on the eve of the auction? We’re hoping for another last minute reprieve.

The demonstration is being organized by Brian Gotlieb, who started a petition drive to save the park that has garnered 5,000 signatures. Astroland’s is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at Noon. On Friday, children’s rides and the Cyclone open at Noon, with other rides open at 4. On Sunday, the Hungry March Band is scheduled for 6 PM and mariachis will be on the boardwalk from 4PM to 6PM.

Paper copies of the petition can be signed at the Coney Island History Booth, which is located on Surf Avenue, beneath the Cyclone. (It will be open from Noon-6, Friday through Sunday). The petition can also be signed and also downloaded from the Save Astroland website.

GL Analysis
GL will go out on a limb and suggest that the premature closing and demolition of Astroland is another PR disaster in the making. While the developer would gain a significant amount of goodwill by agreeing to keep the park open until the land is legitimately needed for development, early closure is unlikely to win any friends in New York City or Brooklyn. One would hope that an agreement on a lease extension at a reasonable rent (the current rent is $180,000 and Thor Equities was said to be asking for $3 million for next year) is forthcoming. While we are fully aware that the owners built their own coffin, so to speak, by selling to Mr. Sitt, the developer has the ability to delay digging the hole and lowering it in. It is, in fact, a very simple way to cultivate support.

The Prospect Park raccoon that bit a woman on which we reported yesterday was caught and euthanized, Patrick Gallahue reports in today’s New York Post. The raccoon was not rabid. Mr. Gallahue reports:

The odd attack by a rampaging raccoon happened as the victim enjoyed a Sunday outing with her family at The Lake, officials told The Post yesterday.

The animal had been lurking unusually close to people when it struck, sinking its teeth into the woman’s thigh.

Her husband managed to pull it off and then it fled, according to the blog Gowanus Lounge.

Parks officials credited the NYPD with catching the attacker, which was found to be not rabid. It was euthanized.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe speculated the raccoon simply got hungry. “If you see a raccoon coming toward you walk the other way,” he advised. “These are tough New York City raccoons.”

Benepe pointed out that the animals are native to the area, noting, “They were in the parks before they were parks.”

So, you see, we have hungry and “tough” New York City raccoons. No comment from Mr. Benepe, apparently, on the “very aggressive” ducks and geese that were also noted in our post.

Related Post:
Why Brooklyn is Better: Aggressive Geese and Attacking Raccoons

Normally, such topics would elicit yawns–and the headline probably just scared people away–but they’re important to those that care about new development and construction in New York City and, particularly, Brooklyn. So, we’ll note that despite the Governor’s rejection last week of a bill to require more re-inspection of building sites by the Department of Buildings, bills that could help crack-down on self-certification and on construction that damages neighboring buildings have been signed.

The “Self-Certification Bill” is called the “Scarano Bill” by some activists after the Brooklyn architect who gave up his right to self-certify his plans last year after many issues arose about his buildings. Assem. Jim Brennan, who has sponsored a package of building and construction measures, said in a press release that the bill gives “DOB new power to crack down on shady architects who file illegal building plans.” The bill authorizes the Buildings Commissioner to refuse to accept plans from an architect who in the past was proven to have knowingly made false filings with the Buildings Department.

Meanwhile, the “Shoring & Excavation Bill” requires contractors doing excavating of any sort to provide protection for adjacent properties and to carry insurance for damage caused by construction, demolition and excavation.

• Judith Zuk, Beloved Former Head of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Passes Away [NYT]
• $7,313 Monthly Rent-Stabilized Apartments at Atlantic Yards? [AYR]
• Markowitz Interview Circa 2001 [DDDB via No Land Grab]
• Small Businesses Being Priced Out of Downtown Brooklyn [NYDN]
• Quinn Tries to Block Starrett City Mitchell-Lama Opt Out [Sun]
• Brooklyn Boy Dies After Tonsillectomy [NYP]
• Brooklyn Gets a New Mega-Landlord [Brownstoner]
• Red Hook Vendor Update and Contacts [Porkchop Express]
• ‘La Scala in Red Hook’ [Metro]
• Greenpointers Alter Subway Fashion Ads [newyorkshitty]
• Things We Would Have Paid to See [Ditmas Park Blog]
• House of the Day [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Former Sopranos Actress Threatened with Eviction in Williamsburg [contactmusic]
• Greenpoint Manuf & Design Center Makes Its Case [Brooklyn Downtown Star]
• Salcedo Grocery [Brooklyn 11211]
• Gowanus Shadows and Light [Velvet Sea]
• Brownstoner’s First Annual Salvage Fest is Saturday [Brownstoner]

Columbia Street in Red Hook, which has been in a state of serious street construction for more than a year, will be getting some new housing if a “pre-approved” Department of Housing Preservation and Development goes ahead. The plan is for 152 units of housing, 40 percent of which would be affordable. The plan was to be discussed at a Community Board 6 committee meeting on August 23. The presentation was canceled because it conflicted with a Carroll Gardens “Town Hall” meeting hosted by City Council Member Bill de Blasio. The Brooklyn Downtown Star has a new story on the plan. It may not be greeted warmly by residents, some of whom may object to plans for buildings up to 60-80 feet tall in a community where most structures are only two or three stories. It is similar to the issue which led to the Carroll Gardens meeting, in fact, where plans for a building of similar height at 360 Smith Street built support for downzoning the entire neighborhood.
[Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Downtown Star]

It’s been a while since we noted any of the goings on at Proteus Gowanus, the “interdisciplinary reading room and gallery” on the Gowanus, so we’re happy to note the opening reception on Friday (9/14) from 6PM-9PM for a year-long exhibit called “Play.” Proteus emails:

It is with great excitement that we launch our 2007/2008 interdisciplinary theme “Play” at Proteus Gowanus. This year we will explore the versatile meanings of “Play,” investigating its history and future as the bedrock of culture; its regenerative power as the creative basis of every discipline and as the spark that ignites the child’s imagination; and its darker role in our entertainment-obsessed culture. The exhibit will include an array of play-related art, artifacts, objects, books and events. Check our website www.proteusgowanus.com for details. The exhibit will unfold over the course of the year generated by suggestions of visitors to the gallery, a growing number of “PG Correspondents,” and by the rich interdisciplinary resources of nine collaborating non-profit organizations.

If you haven’t been to Proteus Gowanus, which is located at 543 Union Street (at the corner of Nevins; the entrance is actually on Nevins), it’s worth a stop on one of your Gowanus rambles. There is a gallery space and a charmingly quirky Museum of Matches and Cold War Room. More info about all at the Proteus website.

This email caught our attention for two reasons: A Prospect Park raccoon biting someone and “very aggressive” ducks and geese. Here’s what it says:

My family and I were feeding the ducks & geese yesterday afternoon at the lake near the Vanderbilt entrance (something we won’t do again because they got very aggressive) and saw a raccoon moseying around in plain sight. I was disturbed that people were not moving away from it and was explaining to my son that there must be something wrong with the animal if it dares to walk around where people were. At the time it was crossing under a log where a woman was sitting with her family. I turned away momentarily, when the woman starts screaming, jumps up and I see the husband pulling the animal off her. The raccoon had bitten her on her upper thigh.

Later I spoke with a fellow who was closer to the incident and he told me that the police had arrived shortly after we left and that he had urged the woman to go to the hospital.

Ah, urban nature.

Years, if not decades, of observation of urban development and American cities has led us to conclude that plywood is never a good sign. Many people see the proliferation of Coney plywood as either (a). a precursor of demolition or (b). a way to make Coney Island look more vacant and blighted in order to increase pressure for a development deal.

Two more rides on Thor property–the Spider and Zipper–are being dismantled and removed this week, as noted by Coney Island USA‘s Dick Zigun on Sunday. They are bound for amusement parks in Central America. Astroland could also be dismantled in coming weeks if a deal to preserve it for the 2008 season isn’t reached. Many of the businesses in Thor-owned properties on the boardwalk could also be in their last weeks if the developer refuses to renew leases and gets permits from the the city to demolish buildings. Given the lengthy land use review process that is ahead, no development can begin before late 2008 or 2009, at best, so a short-term future of increased emptiness could be coming if developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities insist on evicting tenants and clearing land.

In any case, here are photos of the three Coney Island ThorWood Buildings (so far).

If you read Curbed yesterday, you might have noticed that we’ve made a transition. And, in case you didn’t, here’s the news: We are now blogging full-time at Curbed! We’re thrilled to be part of a Curbed editorial team that includes the inimitable Lockhart Steele and our editorial colleague Joey Arak, not to mention Ben Leventhal at Eater and Leslie Price at Racked. Gowanus Lounge, of course, is going ahead full speed too, just as its been while we’ve been contributing to Curbed for the last year-and-a-half. We’re beyond pleased about it all and thrilled and proud to be part of an online community of dozens of bloggers running dozens of different blogs that are literally changing the way information is disseminated in Brooklyn and in New York City.

Your informational tips are more important than ever here at GL, and we invite you to email us with your neighborhood intelligence and photos. To reach us, you can email gowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com. We’re always standing by and ready.