A tipster passed on to us the tip that long awaited Draft Barn has finally opened up on 3rd Avenue between 12th & 13th Streets in South Slope. And of course we have to put it out there for all who read here to know–beer is here! Apparently 200 different kinds to chose from.
As he put it:

It’s the sister bar of a place down near Bay Ridge [317 Avenue X] and is owned by the same guys. It just opened Sunday (my friend and I happened to be walking by, taking bets on when in 2009 it would finally open) and it’s great. Nice, oak interior with a general ‘draft haus’ style. They also have food (which isn’t blowing the doors off anything) and the owner told us he’d be opening for brunch soon.

We think it’s time to stop working for the day and head over for a pint or two… or three… or nine.
—Vaduz Uvuvnt

More beery photos after the jump.

Remember the Adoptable Cutie Emergency vid we posted yesterday? Well, there is a very happy ending to report. Per the person who rescued the kitties:

Dear Gowanus Lounge,

Thank you so much for posting our Free Kittens! video on the blog this morning. Thanks to you, our video was viewed nearly 1500 times. As of 9 PM today, all of the kittens have been adopted! Each kitten is living with either a sibling, or a role model cat. It could not be a happier ending (and the NY Times pickup was the icing on the cake…)

Thanks to our wonderful GL readers for being so kind hearted!

Yesterday we noted that a number of people–Park Slopers prime among them–were directing people to an online petition urging President-Elect Obama not to name NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein as US Secretary of Education. Since then, the number of signatures has more than doubled and is approaching 2,000. Among other things, the petition says that Mr. Klein has “repeatedly championed and implemented policies that support corporate interests as opposed to children.” It also accuses him of running his administration “like a ruthless dictatorship.” The full text of the anti-Klein petition is after the jump. For those interested in the anti-Klein Manifesto, which is being heavily promoted by members of Park Slope Parents, we present the full text after the jump. A quick glance at those signing shows people from all over the city with many educators represented.

The anti-Klein petition here

We noted this development near Restoration Plaza in Bed-Stuy on Curbed yesterday, but figure we’d post the rendering of the Nzinga Townhomes from Garrison Architects as part of our overall interest in really stepping up our coverage of Bed-Stuy, Fort Green and Clinton Hill. The developer is hoping to break ground in early 2009 on then and 2,900 square foot condo would have 2,000 square feet for the owners and 900 square feet that could be rented. The building will have a variety of green bells and whistles. The development is named after a a famous 14th-century African queen. The development will be at New York Avenue and Fulton Street.

[Photo courtesy of Spiffae/GL Flickr Pool]

Here’s a gorgeous shot of the Atlantic Basin in Red Hook courtesy of Spiffae and our GL Flickr Pool.

“Just after Tropical Storm Hanna, we reported on the growing situation with the possibly predatorial plant that is taking over certain parts of Sheepshead Bay. A few weeks later, I interviewed a vigilante property owner, known as Kam, who was single-handedly taking on the culprit. Without any help from anyone else, Kam cut down and bagged at least 20 feet of this stuff. He said that he does this at least twice a year in a futile attempt to inhibit its growth. Kam didn’t know much about the plant, but what he did know is that it drops its leaves, flowers, stems, and fuzz profusely onto the ground, clogging up the drain. He said that he has had to call plumbers and spend his own money to help with the flooding problem caused when the drain gets clogged.”–Sheepshead Bites

The Cobble Hill Association will be meeting Thursday (11/13) at 7:30pm at the Long Island College Hospital Conference Rooms A and B for its fall meeting. The main focus is LICH: Hospital in Crisis (dun dun dun duuuuun) to discuss the ongoing threat of the closing of LICH. Featured guests will be State Senator-Elect Daniel Squadron, Arnold Licht, MD and Toomas Sorra,MD of the LICH doctors’ group, and Dominick Stanzione, the president and CEO of LICH.

The Edge, the huge project on Kent Avenue was topped out, on schedule yesterday. What fascinates us is the comment of Douglaston Development’s Jeffrey Levine: “For those who think the world’s gonna end – fugedaboutit!…We’ll be living, eating, breathing, and shitting long into the future.” Well put.–Curbed

[Photo courtesy of megunski/GL Flickr Pool]

Call them Prospect Park Chess Tables in Fall.

We have no idea, but it was on Bedford Avenue and we found it oddly compelling enough to photograph and post.

From the Boerum Hill Group comes a report of (more) gunfire in the neighborhood. Here’s how the story goes:

Well, we definitely heard 6 or 7 shots Sunday night around 8:30, I was hoping someone had more information about it. Apparently it all happened at Nevins and Warren, which is pretty much in our back yard (we’re at Wyckoff and Nevins). Yikes. Isn’t the first time we’ve heard the sound of gunfire since we moved in a few months ago…

And the answer is:

Man shot and wounded on Nevins Street (Jurisdiction of the 78 Precinct).on Sunday night.The victim is not giving out information.The event is under investigation. Strong possibility the victim knows the shooter.

Just another night in the big city.

[Photo courtesy of F. Jasmin Adams]

It is clearly prime Ginkgo Tree Menace (or soup ingredient) season in Carroll Gardens. Enjoy the smell and/or the soup.

Damn the man and his desire to take away the little bits given to others. Turns out rather than provide the security and grounds keeping during the cold months, the city would prefer to lock everyone out of the East River State Park.–Curbed

In a few years, the neighborhood around 184 Kent Avenue will be quite crowded and very unlike the unpopulated wasteland that it once was. This is 175 Kent Avenue, which is now rising out of the ground across the street. It is being developed by the Chetrit Group and will be six stories tall with 112 units and a lot of retail space. An early post about it is here.

Tonight (11/12) is an important night for anyone who rides a bike, lives/visits in Williamsburg and/or partakes of the use of the greenway off Kent Ave. Please head over to the Brooklyn Community Board 1 meeting at 6:30pm at 211 Ainslie Street to help rally to bring more improvements to the Kent Ave bike lanes, installation of stop lights and voice your support in making the deathway a safer place for everyone. You can find more information from our Brooklynite friends at NAG. — Neighborhood Watch

[Photos for GL courtesy of 66squarefeet]

These fallen leaves come to us from Amity Street in Cobble Hill courtesy of the camera of Marie Viljoen, who is a GL Contributor.

[Photo courtesy of cathyerway/flickr]

A GL Reader writes in with the tantalizing tip that there will be some kick ass food available outside shows at the Bell House in Gowanus: “As you know, the [Red Hook] vendors were at the Bell House election party and apparently did bang-up business. Just heard from an employee that they will be coming out on a semi-regular basis for events there–starting with the AC Newman concert this weekend.”

Now, despite the fact that this surely will be posted on the many other blogs it’s been sent to, this truly is worthy of publicity. Heart of Brooklyn (aka HOB) has put together free shuttles to more diversified and cultural destinations throughout Brooklyn than the shuttles to that big blue Swedish box in Red Hook. The HOB Connection has a program of three different shuttles to get locals, tourists and local tourists out and about to see the splendor which we call Brooklyn:

Museum Mile to Brooklyn Style picks up passengers each Sunday outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art (at 10am, 1pm and 3:45pm), and on 42nd Street at Bryant Park (at 10:15am, 1:15pm, and 4pm). It then makes its way to central Brooklyn’s cultural destination, stopping at the main entrances of each of Heart of Brooklyn’s member institutions.
Saturday Scene provides free transportation to the cultural destination from select neighborhoods in Brooklyn on Saturdays, running continuous loops between 10am-6pm from Bay Ridge (second Saturdays), Red Hook (third Saturdays), and Williamsburg (fourth Saturdays).
Target First Saturdays Shuttle carries riders on the first Saturday of each month from 5-10pm between FREE Target First Saturdays at Brooklyn Museum and places to eat, drink and shop in surrounding neighborhoods.

You can go here for more detailed information about the HOB Connection times and locations.

The headline is only party in jest. We found these fliers for the Brooklyn Indie Designers Market, whcih is held on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens all over the place in Wiliamsburg this weekend. Trying to get some Artists and Fleas customers as the holidays approach? Hmmm?

· Slain Meals on Wheels Man Immigrated to U.S. to Flee War [NYP]
· ‘Club Med for Rats’ at One Burg School [NYDN]
· Brooklyn Biotech Lab Sets Up at Army Terminal [NYT]
· 16-Story Building Plan Filed for Albee Sq. Site [Brownstoner]
· New Coney Report: Avoid AY Scenario [AY Report]
· 4th Avenue Argyle Condo is 70% Sold [Eagle]
· Starrett City Sale is on Hold [Crain’s]

“I received a tip about Reginella, our new Atlantic Ave neighbors. It seems that the same owners and chefs from Saana, the Yemeni restaurant that formerly occupied this space, are behind this new Italian venture. While I’m hoping for interesting ‘fusion’ food – I’m sure it will fall into the same category as Bread for Jam, Busy Chef, and F. Martinella. Blah.”–Cobble Hill Blog

These are photos of Thor Equities property in Coney Island posted to the Coney Island Message Board by Captain Nemo. Our friends at Kinetic Carnival also had a post about it yesterday. We’re not suggesting that developer Joe Sitt is dumping garbage on his property, only that it is so poorly secured and maintained that it makes a convenient spot for illegal dumping. It’s among the many reasons that so many people are so nervous about the firm having a prominent role in Coney redevelopment. Kinetic wondered if this is what an empty Astroland lot would look like next year. It underscores the point that the city needs to act fast to develop an interim plan to keep Coney Island intact between rezoning and the point at which the economy recovers to allow any significant redevelopment–which could turn out to be many, many years from now. Thor demolished the rides on this property two years ago.

To say that NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein has enemies in Brooklyn and elsewhere in the city is an understatement. He has been mentioned as a possibility for Secretary of Education in an Obama Administration, and Brooklyn groups are busy trying to direct people to an online petition against a Klein nomination directed at President-Elect Obama. The petition had 974 signatures as of 7:34AM (and we’re going to guess there will be more as other blogs pick up this story and repeat it). The full text is after the jump. Among other things, it says that Mr. Klein has “repeatedly championed and implemented policies that support corporate interests as opposed to children.” It also accuses him of running his administration “like a ruthless dictatorship.” The full text of the anti-Klein petition is after the jump.

We have posted about community anger about the elite Berkeley Carroll School in Park Slope closing their child care center and some particular bitterness about the way it is being done. We found this email via our dear friends at Park Slope Parents trying to organize the community to prevent the center’s closure and to get local elected officials involved in pressuring the school. The email says that while the school’s decision is “deeply disappointing, we remain dedicated to doing all we can to preserve this unparalleled program, and with it, the valuable child care slots and dedicated teachers and staff. We have vowed to work as a group, with local political advocates, with other non-profit institutions, and with any other interested parties to find a solution that will preserve this important community resource under new stewardship.” We are going to post the full email after the jump, since we think it has a lot of valuable information about a very controversial decision by a Park Slope institution.

Read the full email by clicking here.

Free Kittens! from bmcds24 on Vimeo.

A GL reader who knows our soft spot for helpless creatures wrote: “Please help us find homes for these sweet kittens that were found in a bucket outside Key Food (on Fifth Avenue & Baltic Street) on Sunday morning. Unfortunately we are not in a position to keep them. We’d just like to see them find good homes. Here is a video of the 3 of them.” For more info, email kitties11215@yahoo.com.