[Photo courtesy of LarimdaME/flickr]

We missed the Idiotarod, which is a sort of winter version of the Mermaid Parade with shopping carts, which took place yesterday and ran from Clay and Franklin in Greenpoint to 45th Road in Long Island City. It apparently attracted a large police presence, including helicopters, in addition to a large number of participants and onlookers. Gothamist did some coverage as the “race” was going on that you can check out here and bluejake has a photo feature up. And as of this morning, there are 1,146 flickr photos up online from the 07 Idiotarod. More to come, no doubt.

Not every photo who shot Idiotarod photos (TresspassersWill’s, eva101, JefferyEl, LarimdaME) put them in sets, but very cool flickr sets were posted by:

• ultrahi (299 Photos)
• Verbavolant
• plemeljr
• Lindsay Beyerstein
• Gothamistllc
• mdpNY

Sunday = Our favorite Brooklyn Craigslist Missed Connection–pathos, comedy and heartbreak, all in one place–on Craigslist. We’ve got to say that we had a hard time making up our mind. We enjoyed this one, from the guy who found some panties in his laundry, but it was more of a weird lost and found than a Missed Connection. We also must say that we dug this one about the female talking to herself at Baked in Red Hook and this one to the guy who works out with a friend who reads Penthouse Forum on the treadmill at the Y and goes outside to smoke.

All that having been said, this week’s award goes to:

Pink hat, N Train, panty hose, black boots with zipper on the side? – m4w – 28

I feel dumb for doing this but I just have to! I hope you look on here hon. We got on the same time at the bay parkway station. You had pink furry gloves and hat,panty hose that i was looking at quite a few times heh , i think pink coat also. I know you had three different shades of pink on with those black boots. Sat about 3 feet away from each other…I really wanted to sit next to you and start talking…you were so lovely! But I was going on an audition so i had to go over my monologue to myself. We kept glancing at each other and you distracted me from my monologue very much!! I had a beard, longish dark hair, brown coat, and chewing gum later on during the ride. We had our eyes on each other when you got off and sat in the other train across from me. I hope you read this and are interested. I’d love to talk and continue together. Write soon
Ray xox

“I had to go over my monologue to myself.” That would mean you were talking to yourself while checking out her pantyhose? Cool.

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

Pics:

• Gowanus Coffee Cup [seriously excited!]
• Walsh’s Shoe Factory, Greenpoint [A Test of Will]
• Waiting for the Bus on Van Brunt [A Sad Day for Birds II]
• G’Night Remnants [jUSTINYC]
• Birds in Flight [Really Not Worth Archiving]
• Two Desktops [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Idiotarod 07 [Bluejake]
• Metal [Lex’s Folly]

Words:

• Pfizer’s Birthplace, No Pfizer [NYT]
• No Correction of Error in Sunday Times Story on Robert Moses [AYR]
• Brooklyn’s Basketball City Evokes Fear and Hope [No Land Grab]
• Coney Park HOOPLA [Kinetic Carnival]
• Gmail Can Kiss My Ass (or Help Me Get Back Into My Account) [Z. Madison]
• Will Smith Shoot Makes it Look Like a War at the Brooklyn Bridge [NYP]
• About the Vandalism of Street Art in Williamsburg [NYT]
• Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Residents Go Out of Nabe for Gourmet Goods [Myrtle Minutes]
• Errol Louis vs. Gersh Kuntzman [OTBKB]
• Former Party Boat Sinks in Sheepshead Bay, Spills Fuel [NYT]
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden Signature Plants [Flatbush Gardner]

Frank Gehry breaks some news by noting that his Miss Brooklyn is undergoing a serious redesign. “Miss Brooklyn” was supposed to be a 60 story building, but its size was trimmed at before the Atlantic Yards development was approved by the Empire State Development Corporation. Now, Mr. Gehry says, as quoted in the Courier-Life paper: “Miss Brooklyn – she’s gone. She’s a new one now. I have a new Miss Brooklyn. I haven’t showed it yet and she’s better…I’ve always loved a reason to start over again and I did it.”

You might remember Mr. Gehry’s original explanation of naming Miss Brooklyn: “When we were studying Brooklyn, we happened upon a wedding, a real Brooklyn wedding. And we decided that Miss Brooklyn was a bride.” Now, as it turns out, he says, “Miss Brooklyn got named when one of my guys was bringing the model from LA to New York and they had to buy a seat on the airplane, and when they sold the seat they needed a name so he said, ‘call her Miss Brooklyn’ and it stuck.”

Also, Mr. Gehry says this regarding the Manhattanization of Brooklyn about which many residents are concerned:

It will be the Brooklynization of Brooklyn not the Manhattanization. Things are changing and growing, and people are attracted to the center — the cities, and whether you like it or not it’s happening here.

Somehow, we feel better knowing that it is inevitable.

Here’s a small (20 vid) playlist of Coney Island vids from youtube that we’ve put together for what we call GL’s BrooklynTV. You can click over to the playlist here or, better yet, check out the selections on the very cool player below.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Check out this report on CW11 about the “Coney Island Park” propsosal that Thor Equities floated this week. We found it thanks to a list of links on–what else?–Kinetic Carnival. The report is definitely worth checking out.

Related Posts:
Coney PR Material From Thor Hitting Mail Boxes
Here’s “Coney Island Park”
Gowanus Lounge Coney Island React-O-Matic

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

When a Park Slope warehouse on Second Street near Fourth Avenue was demolished recently, it revealed an old ad for the stomach remedy Castoria on the side of an adjacent building. The big site is slated to be a four-story, 21-unit building designed by Karl Fischer Architect, best known for his work on Bayard Street adjacent to McCarren Park.

If you’re a squash fan (the vegetable, not the game), there’s going to be a “Great Squash Cook-off” with twenty amateur Brooklyn chefs working to create a vegan dish with winter squash. It happens next Sunday (February 4) from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm at The V-Spot in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The release promoting the event says, in part:

Squash, often overlooked in favor of ‘flashier’ produce, is starting to get noticed. In an effort to encourage home cooking and seasonal eating, a local holistic health counselor is teaming up with Park Slope’s only vegan restaurant, The V-Spot, to host The Great Squash Cook-off…The contenders include new takes on the traditional ( Drunken Squash Soup ), to the sweet ( Butternut Persimmon Pudding ), to the exotic ( Indian Squash Halva ). Dishes will be judged for taste, creative use of ingredient, presentation, and ease of preparation. The grand prize winner will receive $200 in cash as well as the honor of having their recipe featured on menu of The V-Spot.

The judges include an impressive list of local food authorities and restaurant owners, including Anna Lappé, author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen; Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of Vegan with a Vengeance; Vikas Khanna, owner and consultant for some of the top Indian restaurants in New York City; KalaLea, co-owner of smooch, an organic café and wine bar in Ft. Greene; and Danny Carabano, owner of The V-Spot.

Admission of $15 includes samples of the entries as well as the ability to witness the inauguration of Brooklyn’s very first squash champ. For more information about the event visit www.cookinbrooklyn.com. Space is limited.

The V-Spot, which is one of our regular desert stops because it carries an excellent selection of vegan cakes, is at 156 5th Avenue in Park Slope.

Broolinks is a daily selection of information and, especially on weekends, information.

Images:

• Twin Beauties [Atomische]
• Awaiting Development in Coney Island [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Canal Mirror [Lex’s Folly]
• Brooklyn [Joe’s NYC]
• Apple Locksmiths [Bluejake]
• Photo Op: Too Many Strollers in Park Slope [Daily Intel]
• Park Place [Brit in Brooklyn]
• False Alarms Kill [seriously excited!]
• Winter Sunrise at Canarsie Pier [MalNino/flickr]
• OTB Corner [Park Slope Street Photography]
• End With Snow in Gerritsen Beach [GerritsenBeach.net]

Not Images:

• City’s $205M Atlantic Yards Pledge is Far Larger Than Original [AYR]
• Red Army (Yes, That Red Army) Hockey Team Playing in Brooklyn! [Daily Intel]
• Here Comes the Idiotarod [NYDN]
• Camera in the Kitchen at Greenpoint’s Brooklyn Label [Gothamist]
• The Demolition of 205 Water Street in the Press [Dumbo NYC]
• Brooklyn Heights Awaits Runs Brooklyn Runner [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Ain’t No Sunshine [Erica’s Blog]
• Speaking for Sheep’s Station [Brooklyn Record]
• PLG Historic District: What Is and What Could Have Been [Across the Park]

If you dig demolition porn, then by all means, you’ve got to check out this playlist of demolition porn (aka destructoporn) vids over at youtube. You can just click through them on the embedded player below to find the ones that, well, turn you on.

Those of you who read us regularly–and we thank you, as always–know that we post over at Curbed from Monday through Friday. Here are some of this week’s items:

• Tall Williamsburg #1: Another Finger Raised (above)
• Brooklyn Real Estate Office Really Hates “Edgy” Art
• Prospect Heights 101
• Do’s and Don’ts of Hocking Loogies in Prospect Heights
• Bay Ridge to Commerce Bank: Eat This
• Dumbo Residents Fight Demolition the South Slope Way
• Dumbo’s Beacon of Light Turns it Down a Notch
• N. 5th Street #2: The Big Red Dumpster Cometh
• Toll Brothers Show Their Glass on Kent Avenue
• N. 5th Street #1: Another Big Hole
• What Works Better: Youtube Destructorporn or Phone Calls?
• Now Playing on Henry Street: Hard Hat Opera
• Brooklyn Jogger Blogger Has Run Half of Borough

Kinetic Carnival posted this moody, gorgeous vid of Coney on a dark and wet winter day, earlier this week. It’s part of a seriers that he says he’ll be doing, which is encouraging, because it looks like we’ll be getting some great vids. In any case, click on the embed below or go over ot Kinetic Carnival’s item with the video here.

Brooklynites have started getting mailers from an organization identifying itself as “The Future of Coney Island.” The URL printed on the mailers is thefutureofconeyisland.com, which currently is a “parked domain” page. However, the domain name traces back to The Marino Organization, which is the PR firm of Thor’s and developer Joe Sitt’s PR person, Lee Silberstein. Mr. Silberstein is frequently quoted on Thor’s behalf. Hence, The Future of Coney Island is closely tied to Thor Equities, even if it will be set up as another organization on paper.

We haven’t seen the flyer–it is said to include renderings of the Cyclone, Parachute Jump and Wonder wheel, as well of photos of people eating, Nathans and other scenes. Its content was posted on the Coney Island Discussion Board. The verbiage is as follows:

Serving the community

Real Opportunities….

The future of Coney Island will tickle the senses and excite your taste buds. Residents of the area will soon have a variety of new restaurants, at all price levels to choose from. They will have a full-service hotel to accommodate visiting family and friends, a great selection of neighborhood and destination stores in which to shop…and a whole new modern amusement district made up of rides and games to enjoy (in boldface) throughout the entire year (end of boldface).

The new Coney Island will honor the colorful history of the Boardwalk as America’s amusement destination, and it will bring visitors back to a place that has brought joy to millions of people.

The mailer includes (shades of Atlantic Yards promotional material sent out by Forest City Ratner) a return mail postcard that says, “Let us know your thoughts” and asks the recipient to check any of the following:

Yes, my community needs jobs
yes, my community needs more amenities
yes, there should be more amusements in Coney Island
yes, the Coney Island season should be expanded

The promo mailer says nothing about housing or highrises, both of which are controversial parts of Thor’s plan. It was previously reported that Thor is planning a PR campaign for its Coney plans, including five mailers.

As with all previous releases of Coney Island renderings, yesterday’s information about “Coney Island Park,” which might rise on the site of Astroland, made a splash. We noticed that the plan contained a mass of highrise buildings that we presume would be the hotel part of the proposal, and were amused at the way the drawing made them vague, gray outlines. (Interestingly, it is said to be a six-acre plan, whereas the Astroland site is three acres.) In any case, here are a few reactions to the plan:

1) To me, it just sounds like a zillion other Six Flags and other amusement parks. Nothing New York-ish about it, nothing that nods to the heyday of Coney Island, nothing enjoyable retro. Pretty disappointing. [Popsurfing]

2) With this new report Thor seems to have gained many points to their side. Let’s hope Thor and company keep the promise and integrity of the importance of the amusements in Coney. [Kinetic Carnival]

3) What I’m very curious to see are Thor’s plans for the hotel and condos. It seems they are always these shadowy, undetailed blocks standing in the backgrounds of all these drawings. I’m sure they have very specific detailed drawings and plans for those – and very hidden away from the public. [ConeyHOP/Coney Island Message Board]

4) This is an awesome design with some awesome rides. [Im_a_ThrashHole/Coney Island Message Board]

5) Exciting news, even if the rendering makes Coney Island look like Atlantic City. [Gothamist]

6) Astroland will soon be transformed into a glittery hulking mass of commercialism and obsequiousness [Bridge and Tunnel Club]

We’ve put together a youtube playlist featuring some of the Brookvids that we’ve made since fall (which is not as many as we’d have liked to make, but it’s a start). You can access the playlist here or just flip through everything on the way cool embed below.

Today’s post is reporting that the early part of Brooklyn Bridge Park‘s life could be full of construction activity as the stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that runs above it is rebuilt. In addition, Furman Street will likely be used as a detour for traffic turning it into one very busy roadway. The bad news is reported in today’s Post:

The restructuring of a busy 2-mile stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway could wreak havoc on the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park – both for visitors and the owners of luxury condos to be built there, a recently released report suggests.

The state-commissioned report on the BQE Triple Cantilever Project – which would rehabilitate or replace the split-level portion of the highway between the Brooklyn Bridge and Gowanus Expressway – suggests the new park could be a “staging area” for construction equipment, The Post has learned.

Should all be cleared up by 2012 or 2015, give or take.

One of the more interesting places that figures in Gowanus redevelopment ideas is the site called “Public Place.” It is a vacant parcel between the Canal, Fifth Street, the Smith-9th Street Station and Smith Street that was once the site of a manufactured gas plant owned by the corporate ancestor of Keyspan. It is also one of the most toxic parcels in all of Gowanus.

The Gowanus Comprehensive Plan envisions several possible futures for the site, all of which involve a cleanup and redevelopment that includes a combination of retail space, hosuing, community facilities and open space. (That’s a diagram of the site, above.) The report says:

The Public Place site, including the adjacent warehouse to the south, offers the greatest potential due to its size, ownership and frontage along the canal. The controlling determinant is current contamination and the extent of clean up required (cost and time being critical issues). The best use of this area is shown…recommending residential uses, retail along Smith Street frontage, plus extensive open space and access to and along the canal.

Former manufactured gas plants in Gowanus (there were three) and around Brooklyn left behind a dangerous toxic soup that includes cyanide, but state environmental officials told Community Board 6 this week that the Public Place site can be cleaned up and “support virtually any development.” Not all of the toxins will be removed from the site. Instead, barriers will be put in place to minimize health risks. The cleanup will take less time or longer depending on how the parcel–which is publicly-owned–is developed.

One of the major pollutants on the site is coal tar, which has been found to depth of 135 feet. Coal tar gas, meanwhile, is said to have spread far beyond the site. Pollutants from the site continue to enter the Gowanus Canal.

The Brooklyn development war has moved further south in Sunset Park, and it could be a nasty fight. At issue is a 10-story, 31 unit building that would sit on a block of 3-story houses on 42nd Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues. Significantly, opponents say it would block views from Sunset Park, possibly including the view of Lower Manhattan from the 9/11 Memorial Grove in the park. Also of particular concern is blocking the view of historic St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church on Fourth Avenue from the park. St. Michael’s has an egg-shaped dome atop a 200-foot tower. It was featured in the 1985 teen flick “Heaven Help Us” with Donald Sutherland, John Heard, Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson and Kevin Dillon.

Yesterday, Brownstoner called the building a “non-contextual sore thumb” likely to provoke “a groundswell of opposition” in the community.” Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, which has led many of the fights against out-of-context neighborhood development and illegal construction practices, meanwhile, has been sending out multiple emails about the project. For a lot of great photos of the park and some of the views, click over to the Bridge and Tunnel Club’s photo page. There are more pics of the development and the neighborhood context here at CCGH’s photo gallery.

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

Atlantic Yards:

• Green and Jeffries Condemn Barclay’s Naming Deal [Brooklyn Paper]
• Errol Louis Takes Issue with Brooklyn Paper [Brooklyn Record]
• Louis Uses an “Everyone’s-Doing-It Defense” to Support Barclays [No Land Grab]
• Learning from Seattle [AYR]
• Want to Rent Barlcays Center for Community Use? It’ll Cost You [Brooklyn Paper]

Not Atlantic Yards:

• New Port Authority Chief Could Foil City’s Red Hook Piers Plan [TRE]
• Cyclone, Meet Leviathan [Gothamist]
• Asking $1.4M on Van Brunt Street [Brownstoner]
• Funny Fundraising Phone Call [OTBKB]
• A Culinary Tour of Red Hook [Chow]
• A Blog Grows in Brooklyn [WhiteTrash BBQ]
• 86th Street Station in Bay Ridge Will Finally Be Repaired [NYDN]
• Artist Dolphy Hazel on Dumbo Yesterday vs. Today [Dumbo NYC]

Riverkeeper is filing suit against ExxonMobil because it is dumping partly treated water containing toxic chemicals into Newtown Creek. The water comes from the site of the horrific Greenpoint Oil Spill–a 17-million gallon spill that is thought to be the nation’s largest ever. Apparently, the oil company has been dumping groundwater that it is removing the from the vast spill site contaminated with carcinogenic benzene into Newtown Creek. According to Riverkeeper, the company has been operating under a state “equivalency” program in order to skirt the Federal Clean Water Act. City Council Member David Yassky, who represents Greenpoint, called ExxonMobil’s “dangerous pollution” of Newtown Creek “nothing short of reprehensible.” Today’s Daily News reports that more local officials are announcing their support of the suit and roundly criticizing the energy company.

(To download Riverkeeper’s Press Release about the suit, which is posted online as a Word Document, you can click here). There are a variety of lawsuits against ExxonMobil and efforts to force a faster cleanup. The spill dates back to the 1950s, though it was only “discovered” in 1978 when the oily sheen was noticed on Newtown Creek, the body of water that separates Brooklyn and Queens. The original tanks that leaked belonged to companies that are now Exxon Mobil, BP and Chevron Texaco. The trouble dates to a time when 23,000 gallons a day of gasoline and other products were refined along the banks of Newtown Creek. (For an earlier overview of the spill we put together, click here.)

Nothing was done about the vast toxic plume under Greenpoint–which contains carcinogenic benzene, explosive methane and other dangerous substances–for nearly two decades. Exxon has removed about half the spill since 1995, but estimates another two decades to complete the cleanup at the current pace.

For nearly two decades, nothing was done while the toxic plume–containing carcinogenic benzene, explosive methane and other substances–spread under Greenpoint. Since 1995, Exxon has removed about half the spilled oil, but at the current pace, it will take another two decades to clean up the rest of the spill.

Apparently, ExxonMobil is dumping 100 million gallons a year of partially-treated water into Newtown Creek. The polluted water is groundwater removed as part of the cleanup. Stay tuned for a lot more activity on the Greenpoint Oil Spill this year.

Related Post:
A Short Greenpoint Oil Spill Primer

As Northside Piers, the Toll Brothers development on Kent Avenue and the first of the new highrises on the Northside of Williamsburg, heads toward the halfway point, it is already changing the neighborhood skyline. The building will eventually hit 29 stories. It’s the first of seven towers in the 30- to 40-story range that will be clustered between N. 5th and N. 7th Streets. A couple of more photos from different vantage points below.

Related Post:
Northside Piers, Going Up

[Photo courtesy of Montag007 on flickr]

We haven’t made it over to watch any of the I Am Legend movie shoot around the Brooklyn Bridge, but there are some cool pics posted Bluejake, BlueJoel, rebeccacrumley, Montag007 and others. (You can see all the iamlegend tagged flickr photos here, and we’re sure there are others tagged differently.) There’s also a post with great pics over at Gothamist and a post today at Brooklyn Record. A friend of Gowanus Lounge that made the trek down to the East River reports:

I wandered up to the Fulton landing last night and it was fun to watch. Well for at least 15 mins as the cold wind was blowing hard.

Lots of big lights set up on the landing and pointed towards the bridge so it was definitely lit a lot more than usual. They’d also set up ‘fake’ police lights. Lots of boats and tugs in the water with, I’m guessing cameras/lights and then safety vessels also. What was most impressive was two Black Hawk (I think) helicopters flying under the bridge. I think one was filming the other, hard to tell but very impressive ‘copter moves. Main point of the shoot at that hour – 10.30pm or so – was a very fast moving Circle Line boat, speeding from the Manhattan shores towards Brooklyn. And in between takes it looked like they had to let some of the huge cargo tankers through…them passing through the big movie spotlights was quite a good photo op. Had I had a camera!

Anyway I think it carries on for a few days – less spectators if those single digit winds hit our shores. But interesting to watch and see some people reacting when they didn’t realize it was a movie.

We wonder what people that don’t know about the film shoot think when they see all the action, like that Circle Line boat above packed with people in Montag007’s pic.

The vanguard of change has apparently landed on the shores of the Gowanus. Demolition crews are working to tear down a warehouse next to the Canal at 137 2nd Street (AKA 64 1st Street), which runs through to First Street. This is of particular interest because the building sits on land on which the Toll Brothers want to build their mixed-use Gowanus Village. You might remember that the firm pulled its application for a brownfield cleanup of another property in the neighborhood and has complained that the rezoning it (and other developers) want in the neighborhood that would permit residential construction has not yet happened. (The other building, on 1st Street, is a warehouse eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and could be the subject a local preservation fight, if it isn’t demolished first.) The demolition permits were issued on January 17 and the tear down was already underway by the 19th. Records show that the property hasn’t changed hands yet. Word of the demolition came via the blog The Food of the Future. The entire block (shaded in red, below) between First and Second Streets and between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal is under the same ownership.

Related Posts:
Toll Brothers Getting a Little Testy in Gowanus?
Toll Brothers Point Finger of Blame in Gowanus