Just as the temps get into that muggy, incredibly hot territory in the 80s and 90s, New York City pool season approaches. Funny how that works. In any case, New York City pools open on Saturday. The “Double D” Pool in Thomas Greene Park is located between Nevins Street, Third Avenue and Douglass & DeGraw Streets. The Friends for Douglass/Greene Park are celebrating the opening of the pool with free lemonade on Saturday from noon to 2:00PM and looking for ideas about renovating the park and pool with things like a skatepark, a “water feature” and other amenities.

In any case, we’ll probably do this more than once this summer, but we figured this was a good day to present a list of city pools in Brooklyn and of city beaches. The entire guide (which also includes wading pools and “mini-pools,” of course, is available at the Parks Department site:

Outdoor Pools

• Betsy Head–Boyland, Livonia and Dumont Avenues. (718) 965-6581. 330′ x 165′ x 4.25 (Olympic)
• Bushwick Houses–Flushing Avenue and Humboldt Street. (718) 452-2116. 75′ x 60′ x 3′
• Commodore Barry–Flushing and Park Avenues, Navy and North Elliot Streets. (718)243-2593. 75′ x 60′ x 3′
• Douglas and DeGraw–Third Avenue and Nevins Street.(718) 625-3268. 75′ x 60′ x 3′
• Howard–Glenmore and Mother Gaston Blvd., East New York Avenue. (718) 385-1023. 75′ x 60′ x 3′
• Kosciusko–Kosciusko between Marcy and Dekalb Avenues. (718) 622-5271. 230′ x 100′ x 4′ (Olympic)
• Red Hook–Bay and Henry Streets. (718) 722-3211. 330′ x 130′ x 4′ (Olympic)
• Sunset Park–Seventh Avenue between 41st and 44th Streets. (718) 965-6578. 259′ x 162′ x 3.5′ (Olympic)

Indoor Pools

• Brownsville–Linden and Mother Gaston Blvds. and Christopher Avenue. (718) 485-4633. 75′ x 30′ x 8′
• Metropolitan–Bedford and Metropolitan Avenues. (718) 599-5707. 75′ x 30′ x 8′
• St. John’s–Prospect Place, between Troy and Schenectady Avenues. (718) 771-2787. 75′ x 42′ x 9′

City Beaches

In addition, of course, there are our public beaches. The major Brooklyn beaches, which stretch for miles, are in Coney Island and Brighton Beach, from W. 37th Street to Corbin Place. If you go a tiny bit off the beaten path from the most crowded stretchs in Coney Island, you can actually find somewhat less packed stretches of sand and water. The information number for Coney and Brighton is listed as (718) 946-1350. Manhattan Beach is located along Oriental Boulevard, from Ocean Avenue to Mackenzie Street. The phone is (718) 946-1373.

We would be remiss in leaving out our favorite non-Brooklyn beach: Rockaway Beach in Queens, which runs for miles, from Beach 1st Street, Far Rockaway, to Beach 149th Street. The number is (718)318-4000. If you’re so inclined, you can also hit Jacob Riis Park or even the beaches in Belle Harbor (a hike via bus).

Cost: FREE!

Hours: 11 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., 7 days a week

What’s there to do? Take a dip in the 25 meter, 7 lane Floating Pool Lady, a floating swimming pool moored in the East River. Run your toes through the sand on the 40,000 square foot Brooklyn Bridge Park Beach. Grab a burger, rent an umbrella and enjoy the spectacular views of New York Harbor. Get your game on for pick-up beach volleyball and sand soccer or contact MetroSoccer to sign up for a league!

Where: Between Piers 4 and 5 (Furman and Joralemon Streets), one block north of Atlantic Avenue. Mapquest: 334 Furman Street.

It doesn’t appear that the exact opening date has been officially set, although July 4 has often been mentioned. So, now the question is: How crowded are the barge pool and the beach going to be? We see this having the possibility to be immensely popular and while the beach area may be big, the pool itself is not so big. Here’s hoping that everybody that wants to use it can get in.

The purge of Community Board 6 members several weeks ago by Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Council Members David Yassky and Bill deBlasio continues to reverberate a bit. It’s worth noting that some people are now calling for board members to be elected in order to end the kind of political control that led to the purge. The removals of members were believed to be related to votes against Atlantic Yards and an effort to shape the board in a way that will be more favorable to a more high density Gowanus rezoning. In any case, the Bay News writes:

Community boards are supposed to represent the voice of the neighborhoods they serve, but according to an increasing number of residents, they are hardy the bastions of democratic discourse they’re cracked up to be.

The purging of nine members from Community Board 6 opposed to the Atlantic Yards project has only solidified that view and sparked new calls for changes in the way people make it onto their local community board…Under the current system, prospective candidates are appointed to the community board either by the borough president or their City Council member.

Advocates calling for change say that the process needs to be opened up, replacing political appointments with elected community representation.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer proposed a community board reform package last year. A version of the measure was also presented to Borough President Marty Markowitz by the Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance (which works on overdevelopment and preservation issues outside of Manhattan). He has rejected it. Some of the the reforms deal with helping the boards cope more professionally with the onslaught of complicated issues with which they deal. For instance, a professional planner would be available to work on big development issues. Council Member Bill de Blasio, who is often mentioned as a likely candidate to replace Mr. Markowitz, did not embrace the reform ideas when the Bay News asked him about them, saying “right now this is our system and I am doing what I think is best to make it more workable to achieve the goals I think are important.”

If you are not already involved in the Greenway, this is a great chance to get in on the ground floor of shaping the future of Brooklyn’s waterfront and, in the process, creating a more livable city.

Tickets are not inexpensive as this is a fundraising event, but you can buy tickets online here, and the after-party from 8:30-10:30 is $25. The fundraiser itself runs from 6:30-8:30 and those tickets include the after-party. You can check out Streets Blog’s item about the event by clicking here and you can visit the Greenway site by clicking here.

The sharp eyes and lens of lexacor caught this image of a “Thor Summer 2007” t-shirt in Coney Island on Mermaid Parade Day. While anti-Thor forces used the day to protest Thor’s plans in Coney, the developer had a presence too. Thor sent in the parade’s only bona fide marching band, the Highsteppers from East New York, to march among the semi-dressed mermaids and other interestingly costumed participants. We believe that’s the front of the “Thor Summer 2007” t-shirt in the photo below, which we retrieved from our overflowing Mermaid Parade folder.

CONEY ISLAND BONUS: For those that are interested, tonight is Thor’s “Town Hall Meeting” in Coney Island at which it will be making a presentation of its plan. It will take place at 7PM at United Community Baptist Church, which is located at 2701 Mermaid Avenue.

If you have been following the saga of the Red Hook vendors, you know that the main issue is the refusal by the Parks Department to continue issuing temporary use permits to them. Instead, the city is going to put the concession for using the park out for competitive bid. Sounds like a good deal for the city, right?

Perhaps not.

An audit by City Comptroller William Thompson found wide range of problems, not the least of which is that the city failed to collect almost $23.8 million from firms holding concessions and others. (You can view the PDF by clicking here. You can also find the report via Gotham Gazette.) “It is apparent that the agencies do not adequately monitor the parties granted these agreements, as required by the City Charter,” the audit concluded. “It appears that as long as these agreements provided revenue to the City, lax or no monitoring occurred from the oversight agency.”

The Parks Department, for instance, left $8.9 million it was owed concessions uncollected. Among those that owed the Parks Department money are Shellbank Restaurant Corp. which paid just $48,944 of the $615,586 assessed for its concession in Battery Park, owing $566,642. Izadi Enterprises paid $7,575 on its $96,726 assessment for running a parking lot, leaving $89,151 outstanding. The United States Tennis Association, ended up owing $248,763. Some of the money was repaid after the audits, but the Parks Department is still owed $1.08 million city is still owed more than $7 million overall.

Even the Brooklyn Baseball Corporation LLC, which holds the lease rights to KeySpan Park in Coney Island was found to owe the city $16,602 because it did not report actual turnstile attendance at Cyclones games and at special events. They repaid the city $7,538.

Among the problems the Comptroller’s Office found with the concessions programs were underreporting of receipts and poor record keeping.

“Eminent domain abuse is an abuse of our civil rights,” says Lumi Michelle Rolley of No Land Grab, which chronicles eminent domain news locally and from around the nation. “New York State has a reputation of being one of the worst abusers of eminent domain in the nation. In New York City, it’s reaching epidemic proportions. We haven’t seen this level of eminent domain abuse since the days of Robert Moses. With eminent domain abuse as policy it is no surprise that New York is one of only a handful of states that has failed to reform its eminent domain laws since the infamous Kelo Supreme Court decision two years ago.”

“The Bloomberg Administration’s policy has been to misuse and abuse eminent domain, with the support New York state and this policy has gone too far,” says Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s Daniel Goldstein, whose condo would have to be seized in order to allow the Atlantic Yards project to move forward and who has become the public face of the opposition to the project. “We’re taking a stand, not just for ourselves, but for all New Yorkers who believe in the American dream and the importance of homes and businesses.”

Among the participants: Home and business owners, and tenants from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; Duffield St., Brooklyn; West Harlem, Manhattan; Willets Point, Queens;
Councilmembers Tony Avella and Letitia James. Also, activists from: Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, No Land Grab, Willets Point Business Association, Historic Districts Council, New York Community Council, Society for the Architecture of the City, Harlem Tenants Council, Coalition to Preserve Community, West Harlem Coalition
550 Riverside, 55/69 Tiemann Pl. Tenants Alliance, Duffield Street Block Association
Green Party of Brooklyn, Park Slope Greens, United Neighbors for Brooklyn, Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association and the Brownstone Revival Coalition.

You can find more on the rally here at DDDB and at the Historic Districts Council Newsstand Blog.

If McCarren Pool can have concerts and dance performances, the Red Hook waterfront can have opera. Specifically, Giacomo Puccini’s Il Tabarro. The performance will be staged on the Mary A. Whalen, a former tanker that is being converted to a floating exhibition space and headquarters by PortSide New York. Set your iCals for September, which is when the performances will take place at the Red Hook Container Port, which is operated by American Stevedoring (and whose future is the subject of ongoing debate.) The performance will be staged by the Vertical Player Repertory Opera.

A release for the performance says:

Vertical Player Repertory (VPR) came to prominence in The New York Times 2003 feature article, “Never Say Die in Indie Opera” written by opera critic Anne Midgette. Offering fully staged opera in alternative settings, with an emphasis on theatrical integrity and unconventional staging, VPR “…has developed a following for its intense performances of unusual works.” (The New York Times) Since VPR’s sold-out production of Il Tabarro in its intimate theatre last season (hailed by The New York Times for “…some serious singing”), VPR has sought a way to stage this opera outdoors on the Brooklyn waterfront. PortSide NewYork, a young waterfront-themed non-profit in Red Hook, has provided the solution: the Mary A. Whalen, a retired oil tanker docked at the Red Hook Marine Terminal, one of the last container ports in New York City.

Il Tabarro is a searing portrait of the troubled marriage of a ship’s captain and his restless wife. The psychologically acute libretto dramatizes the lives of the rough, hardworking people of the waterfront. New York opera lovers had an opportunity to see Il Tabarro at the Metropolitan Opera this season. But the VPR production set in Brooklyn and staged on the deck of the Mary Whalen, offers a dimension that cannot be found in any opera house: the excitement and mystique of a real working port.

With actual stevedores and professional opera singers sharing the stage, surrounded by views of gantry cranes, containers, the lumber port, passing vessel traffic and a spectacular view of Governor’s Island and the lower Manhattan skyline, this will be an unforgettable on-site experience for audience and performers alike.

An opera about a ship’s captain set on an actual ship docked in Brooklyn! The VPR Opera website lists the dates and times as Sept. 7, 9, 14 & 16 at sundown.

The idea of creating a swimming pool to go along with the new ice rink at the Lakeside Center in Prospect Park may have gone over like a lead balloon with the Prospect Park Alliance, but the organization says it’s considering a seasonal roller on the site. Local officials, including City Council Member Letitia James have been advocating for a new facility since the closing of the Empire Roller Rink. The Lakeside Center would include two ice rinks located in what is the current Wollman Rink’s parking lot, and a 38,000 square foot building. While the idea of a pool has been received lukewarmly because of the cost and the space it would require, the Prospect Park Alliance has been looking at possible summer uses of the ice rink space. Alliance President Tupper Thomas, who is spearheading the new Lakeside Center and accompanying renovation of a beloved part of the park that was destroyed by the creation of the Wollman Rink, told the Park Slope Courier that “We would have to look at acoustic issues,” but that “nothing is set in stone.” Apparently, roller skating in the park in the 1980s created noise issues with neighbors.

Still Coney:

• How Did Coney Become Such a Hot Property? [NY Mag]
• 2007 Mermaid Parade Hoopla [Kinetic Carnival]
• Mermaids on Parade! Vid [Daily Intel]
• The Coney Island Cyclone [Erica’s Blog]
• Coney Mermaid Parade [Brooklyn Heathen]
• Revelers on the Boardwalk [Jonathan Barkey/pbase]

Not Coney:

• Here We Go Again with the Minerva Building Site [Brownstoner]
• On the Trail of the Boerum Hill Crap Problem [NYDN]
• The Congestion Pricing Schism in Brooklyn [Brooklyn Heights Courier]
• Brooklyn Blogade Roadshow Podcast [Dope on the Slope]
• Among the Brooklyn Bloggers [Self-Absorbed Boomer]
• View of Brooklyn From Governor’s Island [110 Livingston]
• Annual Dumbo Business Improvement District Meeting Recap [Dumbo NYC]
• It Always Rains Under the BQE Now [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Sign the Carroll Gardens Petition [Found in Brooklyn]
• Ye Olde Bed-Stuy Pigeon Roost [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Adult Entertainment [newyorkshitty]
• Bengali Fair on McDonald [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Third Avenue Flea Market [Big Sky Brooklyn]
• Renovated Shore Parkway Bike and Pedestrian Path [City Room]
• Brooklyn Lead Paint Victims Win $13M [NYP]
• Envisioning the Gateway National Recreation Area [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Coming Soon: Barge Pool and Beach [BK 11201]

Sometime soon, a range of Brooklynites may be able to learn in the waters off Red Hook. PortSide New York, the Red Hook-based organization which run waterfront-related programs, is making progress on its proposal to start up a community sailing program. The program, which would operate out of Valentino Park in Red Hook, would offer a mix of free and low-cost sailing programs. The idea is based on a long-standing and highly successful program in Boston called Community Boating Inc. Community Board 6 recently voted unanimously to approve the proposal for the program and its request to the Parks Department for a mooring in Valentino Park. Last fall, someone donated at 24-foot Morgan sailboat to PortSide for the program. Adults would pay a low fee for lessons and there would be charter sails. Free sailing lessons would be offered to local young people. Ultimately, the program would have 3-5 moorings in Valentino Park. For more information, you can click here.

“Stories in the Garden” start tonight at the Hoyt Street Garden at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Hoyt Street. They’ll be taking place every Tuesday at 7:00PM from June 26-July 31 and are described as “delightful story readings by parents and neighbors.” The readings for kids include free lemonade and cookies are served. The gatherings tend to attract one or two dozen parents and children. The story reading program is sponsored by the Hoyt Street Association, which also runs the garden. The patch of greenery is described by the photographer of the photo above as being “just 25′ x 50′, but it is a beautiful community garden oasis located in Boerum Hill. It was created by neighbors and merchants in 1975 and is now one of the oldest community gardens in New York City. It is supported by the Hoyt Street Association and is maintained by members of the Green Team, a group of local volunteers who water and maintain the garden.”

-We want to PAUSE the erection of any structure or the change to any existing structure that is scheduled to be built taller than fifty feet high—PERIOD.

-We then want our public officials to present to us in the same mass manner they communicate with us when they are running for office, ALL OF THE REZONING and LANDMARKING OPTIONS, not just the ones they like.

The online petition has gotten about 175 signatures from neighborhood residents so far and supporters were out at the Smith Street Fair on Sunday collecting signatures as well. Something gives us the feeling the weather isn’t the only thing that’s going to be hot in Carroll Gardens this summer.

Related Posts:
Carroll Gardeners Create Online Petition
New Shots Fired in Battle of 360 Smith Street

The building itself is a vast space. There is a terrazzo floor and original decorative terracotta survives on the inside walls, as do some of the decorative touches on some of the columns. (You can find some background on the building, which dates to 1923, here as well as here in an interesting New York Times story from 2002.) It was designated a landmark in 2003.

To some of Saturday night’s party goers it was probably just another building hosting an event with music and drinks, albeit one in an interesting location. To those who are aware of Coney Island’s past and future, its use as a venue was full of meaning. “This is a historic moment for Coney Island,” said entrepreneur Diana Carlin, whose Lola Staar Boutique was been the subject of much boardwalk drama when developer Joe Sitt first evicted her and, then, gave her another year in her store. As recently as five years ago, the building’s owner dismissed ideas that anyone would ever want to open a restaurant or other such business in the space, which for years was used as a chocolate factory and a book warehouse. Taconic Investment Partners now has a long-term lease on the space and the building is part of a large-scale project the developers want to build on that part of the boardwalk, west of KeySpan Park.

The fact that the Childs building fell into disuse as a public venue speaks to the sad fall of Coney Island. Its impending revival is a true bright spot in Coney Island’s future.

You can check out our flickr set focusing on the building itself here and our Mermaid Ball photos here.

Here’s a video moment at the Mermaid Parade Ball at the historic Childs Building in Coney Island. Enjoy.

The press release mentions the word “cultural” eight times, and “parking” twice. The plan would call for the creation of 2,000 new parking spaces, and 694 of those were envisioned for the properties currently home to the Chatel and other families.

The promotion of an Abolitionist museum on Duffield Street is much more consistent with the stated goals of the Department of Planning press release. The future of Brooklyn is not colliding with its past. We need to fully research the historical these properties before destroying them. Otherwise, it might be the parking lot that will “block a key component of the area’s rebirth.”

Last week, an Associated Press story about the buildings and the efforts to save them was picked up around the country.

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

• First Brooklyn Blogade at Vox Pop in Flatbush (above) [Flatbush Gardener]
• Brooklyn Bloggers Get Together at Vox Pop [OTBKB]
• The ‘Blight Excuse’ for Eminent Domain [AYR]
• Calls for Veto of 421-a Developer Tax Break Bill [Sun]
• Support the Underground Railroad? Then You Must be a Cynic [Daily Gotham]
• Protesting for Affordable Housing at Domino Site in Williamsburg [Metro]
• Coney Island Primer [Out and Back]
• Coney Fourth of July Hotdog Madness Just Around the Corner [McBrooklyn]
• Brooklyn Playgrounds #3 [Big Sky Brooklyn]
• Holes Drilled Near Notorious South Slope Developer Crack House [IMBY]
• Brooklyn Student Barred from School by Racial Quota [NYP]
• Fatal Shooting at Farragut Houses in Vinegar Hill [NYT]

This morning, Street Films offers up a riveting video of cars illegally Prospect Park during car-free hours at the Third Street and Prospect Park West entrance, which remains open past the official closing hour. The exact count is 45 from 7:0o PM through 7:15 PM. A bicyclist partially closes the gate, and cars continue to come in. At 7:15, Parks Department employees finally completely close barricades.

• 16,150 flickr Mermaid Parade photos posted since Saturday [flickr]
• A Host of Protests and Breasts: Mermaid Parade ’07 [Coney Island Reporter]
• Mermaid Mania: The GL Mermaid Parade Slide Show [GL]
• 2007 Mermaid Parade Photos [rsguskind/flickr]
• 25th Annual Mermaid Parade [NY1]
• 2007 Coney Island Mermaid Parade [Gothamist]
• 25th Mermaid Parade [ambrel.net]
• A Couple of Hundred 07 Mermaid Parade Pics [Pic Patrol]
• 398 Coney Mermaid Parade 07 Photos [Triborough/flickr]
• Happy Mermaid Parade 2007 [Coney Island Shortcakes]
• Mermaid Parade Characters [Brooklyn Ramblings]
• Mermaid Parade 2007 [ABL]