“You miss the most beautiful time of the day,” said artist Dylan Williams, who frequently heads to the park to paint the Manhattan skyline. “It should at least be open until dark.”

The park closes at 8 p.m., though rangers begin asking people to leave about 7:45 p.m. It opens at 10 a.m.

In addition, as in other state parks in the city, dogs, bike riding and roller skating are not allowed.

“This is ridiculous,” said Ana Ruiz-Castillo, who was turned away last week when she tried to take her Labrador mix, Paca, for a walk in the park. “I won’t come back. This is insane.”

The park is the second state park in Brooklyn whose hours and rules have touched off complaints. Last summer, the Daily News chronicled similar frustration at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in DUMBO, which closes at dusk, prompting state officials to promise to install lights so it could be open later.

The punchline is that the lights weren’t installed and that there are no longer plans to do so. State park officials blame the hours and lack of lights on a lack of money. Maybe it’s us, but one would think that a state rolling in so much extra tax revenue from New York City could find a few extra dollars to invest in some lights and adequate staffing for its flagship New York City parks. On the other hand, given the public embarrassments and vaguely scandalous priorities that everyone already tolerates, what’s some New Yorkers angry because their parks are being nickeled and dimed to death?

The band World Inferno played Cha-Cha’s in Coney Island last night but the show was stopped when the crowd started literally tearing apart the venue. From an eyewitness:

“The crowd caused several thousand dollars in damage in about ten minutes. The owner of the club asked the band to make an announcement to the audience to stop. Instead, the band broke into a song called ‘Zen And The Art of Breaking Everything in The Room’ and the audience did just that. Members of the audience pulled pieces of the ceiling and crowd-surfed with it, ripped out all the wiring from the ceiling, punched holes in the wall, broke all the ceiling fans, disco balls and light bulbs. One person got an entire light smashed in his face and had his nose ripped open…. The owner pulled the plug on the sound system (which may have been the worst idea ever). Meanwhile, the band grabbed their saxophones and led the kids outside pied-piper style. There, the audience began singing ‘Anarchists are Pretty’ until the police broke up the crowd.”

The vid below is the crowd out on the boardwalk singing ‘Anarchists are Pretty.’ Definitely a different scene for Coney Island.

The 17th Annual Sand Sculpting contest, which was sponsored by Astella Development Corp., was held in Coney Island on Saturday. Here are a few great shots of the event and the fun sand sculptures that were posted on flickr.

[Photo courtesy of Sarah Paradise/flickr]

[Photo courtesy of dietrich/flickr]

[Photo courtesy of treether/flickr]

We keep returning to these properties whose official addresses are 157 and 173 Kent Avenue and 224 Wythe Avenue because the demolition process of both the cement plant that originally occupied the site and the building you see reduced to rubble above, has been so weird. About 2/3 of this full block in Williamsburg–across the street from 184 Kent and Northside Piers–is owned by the Chetrit Group. Some of the early demolition appeared to have been done without permits and, now, it’s been done without a fence. We know: picky, picky. Anyway, to recap: A full fence went up. Then, it was taken down, making the full lot quite the spot for photo shoots. Since then, work’s been going on with a partial fence around the site making it one of the most wide-open sites we’ve seen anywhere in Brooklyn. We can only assume the Department of Buildings approves wholeheartedly, because this has been going on for months.

If you’ve ever been on the Belt Parkway, perhaps you’ve noticed the big hills along Jamaica Bay near Starrett City that don’t seem to be natural parts of the landscape. If you’ve ever thought that they look like capped landfills, well, they are. (And if you’re a longtime resident you actually remember when they were active landfills.) Here’s the latest detail from the Bay Ridge Courier:

Two giant mountains of rotting garbage in Brooklyn are being converted into remarkably beautiful public parks.

The former Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue landfills, just south of the Belt Parkway near Starrett City, are the subjects of a $230 million makeover.

Recently, neighborhood residents and stakeholders were given a rare “sneak peak” at the two colossal sites…According to construction manager Nayan Shah of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, the 100-acre Penn Park is on track to open in the fall of 2009.

Its big sister, the sprawling 300-acre Fountain Park, is a year behind and could be unveiled to the public in the fall of 2010, pending state approval. The parks will become part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, which is managed by the National Parks Service. The Department of Environmental Protection is describing the project as “ecological restoration.”

Back in the 1980s, there were reports of PCB issues at the landfills because of illegal dumping, including oil, that had gone on. Regardless, there are said to be great views from the top of the, uh, man made mountains. And, if you’re interested in a WNYC report on the landfill parks from earlier this year, click here.
[Image courtesy of Berger World]

• Echoes of Atlantic Yards in New Domino Plan [AYR]
• Before You Reinvent a Place, Try Equaling It [No Land Grab]
• NYT Eminent Domain Story Doesn’t Even Mention Brooklyn?!? [Duffield St. Underground]
• Is the Domino Plant a Museum Piece? [Lost City]
• Anatomy and Pete’s Candy Store [newyorkshitty]
• Suspected Guinea Fowl in Prospect Park [OTBKB]
• Check Out the Walk Score of an Address [53 Boerum]
• Another Car Break-In? [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Arches of Wonder in Gowanus [Velvet Sea]
• Ancient Grocery on Second Avenue [Big Sky Brooklyn]

For this week’s Brooklyn Missed Connection we offer up this tale that we know is a fabrication, yet stands out for its desperate attention-getting qualities. It rings a bell too, so we may be onto a serial Missed Connection poster. Regardless, it amuses. In its bizarre way:

I was the man who was born with two penises at Pete’s Candy Store – 29

You were the nice woman at the bar with whom I was speaking about my problem. As I told you, it is rare, but it happens. Doctors have wanted to remove “it” (I sometimes call penis no. 2 “Herrmann”) many times over, but first my parents and then I refused. After all, a penis is not a mere wisdom tooth, and both of mine are fully endervated and functioning. There would be urological complications in getting rid of one, plus I fear the “phantom limb” effect. I am otherwise a normal man – I work for Fox and am good at what I do; women wonder why I am not seeing anyone and want to date me. But I find it hard to ask a woman out because of my two penises. I know that if I date someone at work, she will tell others, and they will tell others, and so on and so on. The end result will be that people will stare at me as though I were some freak. A man in my position cannot afford to be looked at in that way, so I felt that maybe I could open up to someone at a bar in Williamsburg, which is where all the artists types really live, rather than attempt to date someone at work or through church socials or MySpace.

Alas! I got shy and failed to tell you all of this, which I should have, since I’m afraid you looked at me like some sort of a freak. In fact, I am normal in my wants, which include being with a nice girl who can teach me things and not laugh at my two penises. I want to be coupled. I’m not looking for a freaky woman – just a nice normal girl, and you seemed like a possibility. If you are the one who met me, you know it. Or you told a gf who is reading this and remembers her friend’s story. Please write back. I want a second chance to start things. Remember, what they say is true: two heads are better than one.

Okay.

Interesting Missed Connection Factoid: This week the Siren Festival generated 22 missed connections. Alas, they were all very run of the mill. Nonetheless, it seems Siren produced more posted Missed Connections than the Mermaid Parade, which is interesting.

The ever-popular promenade is now riddled with holes, rotting wood, wobbly boards and exposed nails. In some parts there are wooden planks that jut up several inches, almost inviting someone to trip.

The Parks Department says it’s making repairs (the strategy this year seems to be nailing planks over the holes in the boards, presenting a brand new way for people to break their faces while enjoying the Brooklyn outdoors). They sent a statement to the Bay News saying “we continue to repair any hazards to ensure a safe pedestrian experience along the boardwalk.” The pedestrian experience is so safe, in fact, that seven injury lawsuits were filed in 2005 and 2006 and $157,000 in settlements have been paid in nine cases filed since 1997. The problem is said to be “on the radar” at City Hall and some extra money will be put in place for emergency repairs. A major repair job, which the boardwalk desperately needs, would cost millions.

• Times Has Major Blind Spots in its Eminent Domain Coverage [AYR]
• Urban Explorers Exploring [NYT]
• Out of Control Car Hits Scaffolding, Met Food, Maggie Moos on Seventh Ave. [OTBKB]
• Even Muppets Offended by Greenpoint Sewage Smell [newyorkshitty]
• Newtown Creek Scum [Lex’s Folly]
• Picture New York Without Pictures [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Civil Liberty Issues [I’m Seeing Green]
• Smiley Brooklyn [Brooklynometry]
• Brooklyn Hghts Residents Want Middle School to Avoid Moving to Montclair [NYT]
• Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn [Joe’s NYC]

• DIY Bicycle Policy in Greenpoint (above)
• Behold 502 Metropolitan in Williamsburg: It’s a Keeper
• Bushwick’s ‘Nightmare on Grove Street’?
• Checking in on Red Hook’s Big Blue Friend
• A Look Around the Old Domino
• Whole Foods Has Open Door Policy at Gowanus Building
• Holdout No More: Bayard Street’s ‘Beauty Addiction’ OD’s

Here we go again–another proposed city rule that is raising serious civil liberties concerns. This time, the target is people shooting video and taking photos. The issue has been out there for a while, but it’s coming to a head now that the deadline for public comment is approaching.

Here’s what the rules will do: Require even small groups who film in one location for more than 10 minutes with a tripod or half an hour without one to obtain a permit. Industrial, fashion, wedding and architectural photographers will need a permit and insurance for anything that takes more than a half hour and two people to shoot.

Here’s what they won’t do: The rules will NOT prohibit an individual photographer from taking pictures.

That having been said, the rules run more than 10 pages and there are many and, if’s and but’s buried within. The bottom line is there was a protest against the regulations yesterday evening in Union Square (the photos above and below) and the opposition has gathered high visibility supporters (as you would expect in New York City). As with many such efforts, the new rules have their origin with a case involving a documentary filmmaker that was detained by the police in Midtown. You can go here to sign an petition opposing the rules and to read more about them.

It brings to mind the misguided effort to ban subway photography a couple of years ago. The fact remains, however, that the authorities can harass any photographer or videographer if they are so inclined. The rules, if they are enacted, would simply give them a powerful legal tool to selectively enforce regulations to stop people from shooting video or photos. Here’s a bit from the email we got:

An overnight, massive grassroots fight against these proposed regulations has sprung up under the name ‘Picture New York.’ Fighting back with YouTube videos, petitions, handwritten letters, a website, Flickr space and a rally and press conference this Friday in Union Square, this ad-hoc group of working artists, photographers and filmmakers vow to stop the regulations going into effect as scheduled in September from the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting (MOFTB).

Albert Maysles, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe and Amy Arbus are among the celebrated artists who have already signed on to demand the MOFTB extend the period of public comment, currently ending August 3, and eliminate the proposed regulations: 11 pages of single-spaced rules where none existed before.

Jem Cohen, the critically-acclaimed filmmaker whose alarmed e-mail prompted the first formal meeting of concerned filmmakers, says, “Because street photography is, by its very nature, inextricably born out of free and random movement through the city, street photographers cannot know exactly where and when they intend to work, or for how long. One cannot regulate an art form or activity by negating its very premise. The proposed rules, in refusing to recognize the spontaneity which is at the core of street photography, are untenable for that reason alone.”

Don’t be surprised that even if the rules are withdrawn or defeated, if they come back in revised form the same way the city’s “parade” rules did. In that case, they passed the second time around.

Photographers and videographers are asked to post pics and vids to flickr and youtube and to tag them picturenewyork and camerawars. (You can check out the flickr results so far here and here.) They’re also asked to email the links to jcho@film.nyc.gov and to us at info@picturenewyork.org

Every weekend, we survey the comments that GL readers have left in the past week. Here’s a look at a few of this week’s:

1) Got Time? Help Brian Lehrer Count SUVs on Your Block. “I know it is easy to pick on these oversized ego machines and feel all self-righteous about yourself. But also take a look at how much housing space you occupy (or dream of) and energy to heat/cool that space each year….and the huge refridgerators and all the other electronic junk we accumulate. Just sayin’, no need to be so smug. [Anonymous]

2) Report Details Williamsburg-Greenpoint Job Losses, Gentrification & More. “I don’t dispute the report, but comparing the loss of industrial jobs in these hoods to “other nearby North Brooklyn neighborhoods” is like comparing apples to oranges. the OTHER neighborhoods aren’t sitting on a coastline facing Manhattan. ‘This suggests that the industrial sector overall was stable and that something specific was happening in Greenpoint-Williamsburg.’ Yes, something specific called re-zoning. [Pretzel Logic]

3) New Controversy Over Thor’s Handling of Historic Coney Island Building. “Now, ultimately Thor is the villain here. Lying to people and generally being what is colloquially described as an “asshole” to others. But I can’t help but think that Dick Zigun might have been louder and more vocal about what is happening to Coney Island had he not be in tallks with Thor. Hopefully now that Thor has officially screwed everyone over, more and more people will speak out about what they are doing and how they are doing it.” [preworn]

4) Is This Why the Bunker on Bond Doesn’t Have Windows? “The upper floors have a great view. Most of the apartments are duplex enough windows to the front and light flooding in from the courtyard windows.” [devpro]

5) More Photos of the Mysterious Park Slope Brownstone Bride. “Very sad…but I am getting married & want to find a similar dress. Anyone recognize it?” [Anonymous]

We could use your help. It’s always fun around PortSide, and you usually get a great waterfront location in the deal. Folks of all ages, skill and fitness levels welcome. Next chance: this Sun 7/29/07 1-6pm, followed by BBQ. Please chip in at least two hours.

We are installing PortSide’s offices aboard the tanker, so tasks include refinishing two metal desks, and moving file cabinets, bookcases, and boxes from pier to ship. If we get a lot of people, we’ll do some other work on the ship (moving stuff, putting chafing gear on docklines).

Wear clothes you can get dirty. Bring workgloves if you have them.

When n Where:

Aboard the Mary Whalen. Enter gate for American Stevedoring/Brooklyn Marine Terminal at Hamilton Avenue and Van Brunt Street. Due to port security regulations, you must RSVP so we can get a list of names to the Guard. RSVP to mail (at) portsidenewyork (dot) org Bring a photo ID to show the guard at the gate. We’ll pick you up at the gate if you don’t have a car.

If you’ve never been in the Container Port or aboard a ship docked there, donating your time to PortSide and the Mary Whalen is a great way to do it. You can check out a page on the Mary Whalen here if you’re interested.

[Photo courtesy of one of our absolute favorite photobloggers, seriously excited!]

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and, especially on weekends, images.

Images:

• Neptune Avenue [seriously excited!]
• Atlantic Yards Fence [Brit in Brooklyn]
• News Bench [A Test of Will]
• Next and Final Stop on the F [BK 11201]
• Hans Solo, Union Street [Atomische]
• Construction [No Words_Daily Pix/OTBKB]
• Benches, South Portland Ave [seriously excited!]
• Field in East Williamsburg [Blue Jake]

Stories:

• Excellent Idea of the Year: The Construction Catcall Project [newyorkshitty]
• The Possible Future Horror at 502 Metropolitan [Curbed]
• NYT Blog Inquires About Dumbo Demo, City Stops Work on Project [City Room]
• Reading About Land Use Choices [AYR]
• All Hail a Water Taxi at N. 7th Street [INSIJS]
• Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]
• Bike Vanishes Same Day Letter Goes to A-Hole Landlord. Hmm. [Esthetic/Aesthetic]
• Stairway Tagged, Images Posted [163 Ocean]
• Cyclone Junkie [Erica’s Blog]
• Bystander Prevents Abduction at NY Aquarium [NY1]
• More Detail on Coney and Brighton Beaches’ “Failing Grade” [Bay News]
• Parachute Jump in Cobble Hill? [Lost City]

The way things go from day to day in Brooklyn and New York City generally, “Outrage!” could refer to everything from the construction site next door to a plan to toss food vendors from a local park. In this case, it’s a photo contest being run by the Municipal Art Society, which is looking for the “dirtiest, most unkempt, most repulsive newsracks in New York City.” We’ll let the MAS explain:

The streets of New York City are littered with filthy, poorly maintained and decrepit newsracks that are both eyesores and potentially hazardous to New Yorkers.

Paris, London, Berlin and Amsterdam don’t tolerate this scourge on their streets, and Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami Beach, Houston and San Francisco have cracked down on the newsrack blight too. But New York City continues to tolerate it, and we think this is outrageous!

Ridding our streets of these nasty newsracks is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it, and the Municipal Art Society needs your help. Submit your photographs of the dirtiest, most unkempt, most repulsive newsracks in New York City to our OUTRAGE! contest and help persuade elected officials that filthy newsracks are rotting the Big Apple and that they must commit to regulating them.

Contestants are invited to submit multiple photograph entries of the most disgusting newsracks they can find in the five boroughs (amusing caption optional) with cross-street details of where the offending newsracks are. Photos of newsrack eyesores that are also illegally placed (within 15 feet of a fire-hydrant, in a bus-stop, within 5 feet of a corner area, etc., will be given special consideration!) The winner will be rewarded for finding the worst newsrack in the city with a $100 gift certificate for Urban Center Books.

So, grab your camera, hit the streets and send something perfectly horrible to newsrack (at) mas (dot) org, and we’ll pick the winning photo on the basis of sheer ugliness! Deadline for entries is Friday, September 14, 2007. Flickr users tag your pictures nastynewsracks or join our Nasty Newsracks group.

A couple of months ago, we ran a post about a solution that the Park Slope Civic Council is working on in Park Slope that has a lot of merit. The MAS push could help create sentiment for a solution.

Rezoning has turned these East River waterfront neighborhoods into two of the hottest properties in town. The gritty industrial strip is yielding to sleek high-rises and luxury condos. Experience some of the old industrial atmosphere and learn about changes on the horizon. Visit the ruins of the Greenpoint Terminal Market, a landmark-quality group of industrial buildings ravaged in a horrendous blaze, and the almost-landmarked Austin Nichols Warehouse designed by architect Cass Gilbert.

The picture above, of course, is the Greenpoint Terminal Market before it went farewell. Check the BCUE site for more info.