This is the corner of Bedford Avenue and N. 9 Street in Williamsburg and the business that was once there. This postcard came from an older gentleman who has purchased it and who walked up to the corner to compare it with the current view (below).

The Center for the Urban Environment in Gowanus is going to be hosting Brooklyn Green Drinks on Wednesday, September 17, from 7PM-9PM. Per the explanation on the website:

The idea of Green Drinks is simple, and universal: Gather together like-minded individuals, and talk. It’s as familiar as the local dive, completely organic, and a fertile scene for societal progress and the deployment of sustainable ideas. And it’s growing exponentially each month. This idea thrives here in Brooklyn, USA, thanks largely to a general warm, familial, progressive attitude. “BK” is also host to many of the country’s hippest hangouts, spread to all corners of this huge borough. At BKLYN Green Drinks, we’ll take full advantage of these defining Brooklyn traits as we chase down the blossoming Brooklyn sustainability scene.

CUE is located at 168 7th Street between Second and Third Avenues in Gowanus.

The Carroll Gardens group CORD is circulating a letter that it emailed to City Council Member (and Brooklyn Borough President candidate) Bill de Blasio about the upcoming Board of Standards and Appeals hearing about 360 Smith Street. The developer is looking for an okay to build the planned 70 feet rather than the 55 feet allowed under a zoning change. Here’s the letter:

“Where are you Councilman DeBlasio?”, we ask, as residents of Carroll Gardens who fought long and hard along with you to pass the zoning text amendment. This amendment which limits building height to 55 ft. will have no value, non, nada, if we allow even one new development to be absolved from its mandate. The claims of loss at the 360 site which is barely started, are incidental, and we need our Councilman to stand by our side at the BSA hearing to show his support. “Our efforts through the past year will be futile if we let this go. You have been a strong force in our arduous endeavor to save our neighborhood and we appreciate all that you have done. It is vital that all our Politians who were proponents of the amendment show their courage and determination by supporting their constituents at the BSA hearing. Where are you Councilman DeBlasio?” Can we count on you to be there?”

Clearly, the group is seeking the Councilman’s support at the BSA hearing. The Board has a history of siding with developers in such cases although it has sometimes been known to deny their requests for exemptions.

And, responses from residents start rolling in.

If you haven’t seen Lavender Lake, the documentary about the Gowanus Canal, there’s an opportunity coming up on Sunday at the Gowanus Studio Space. Here are the details:

This Sunday, September 14th, as gossip flies about the Gowanus Canal’s development, retail, and dredging, The Gowanus Studio Space sheds light on this watershed with a screening of Lavender Lake, a 1998 documentary about New York City’s dirtiest and most beloved waterway. Filmmaker Allison Prete will be here with Marlene Donnelly – a founding member of Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus – to answer questions after the film!

The screening is at 7PM and the Q&A is at 8PM. There’s a $5 suggested donation. The Gowanus Studio Space is located at 119 8th Street, #202. Take the F or G to Smith-9th St. or the F, M or R to Fourth Ave./9th Street.

There has, over time, been some anger in Williamsburg directed at Northside Car Service on Bedford Avenue, most of it concerned cars idling and the driving practices of its employees. This week, a Northside car hit a bicyclist on Kent Avenue at N. 7 Street, reigniting some controversy. Here is an email circulating via the Community Board 1 mailing list. It is mostly about bicyclists and the need for bike lanes, but it even calls for a boycott of the car service:

Yesterday there was another bicycle accident on Kent and North 7th in Williamsburg. A hit and run. The cyclist was going straight and a Northside Car Service made an irrationally fast turn and almost hit the cyclist. The cyclist, with little time to react, had to slam on the brakes, flipped completely over the handlebars, and landed under the hood of the car. The car drove off. The cyclists was taken to the hospital with a broken elbow and collarbone – and, thankfully, no worse injuries than that. Also, Big Kudos to a construction worker nearby who flagged the license plate number and confirmed the car was a Northside vehicle.

The cyclist was a dear friend of mine, an active community member, and a fellow citizen that wants to live and enjoy this city. They, alongside myself, are now unfortunately a statistic to the increasing numbers of us who are being affected by the aggressive driving and lack of accessible and safe bike pathways in the 5 Boroughs.

The call for the boycott of Northside, ahead.

[Image courtesy of With LOve/flickr]

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

· Former Owner of Brooklyn Mortgage Firm Said to Steal $44M [NYP]
· More on Fort Greene’s Effort to Get an Indie Bookstore [NYDN]
· Tax Issue Wasn’t a Problem for Brooklyn Civil Court Judge Candidate [NYT]
· East New York Farmers Market Celebrates 10 Years [Sustainable Flatbush]
· 9/11 Lights from the Williamsburg Bridge [Williamsburg Nerd]
· The Commemorative Grove at Dusk on 9-11-08 [A Year in the Park]
· The Lights from Franklin Street in Greenpoint [New York Shitty]
· Retail Doings on the Slope/Prospect Heights Border [Brownstoner]
· Cops Telling Cyclists to Dismount on Brooklyn Bridge [Streetsblog]
· Green Church Stripped [Bay Ridge Journal]
· The Freak Bar is Finally Made Over [Kinetic Carnival]
· There is Unity in BBQ [Bed-Stuy Banana]

A nanny was threatened with arrest in Prospect Park yesterday after some of her charges peed in front of the bushes rather than behind them, according to a Park Slope Parents email. The little ones–ages two to six–were playing soccer and had to go. A Parks Dept. cop saw the public urination. Words with the adult ensued. Before it was over he was threatening to arrest her and caused a lot of children to cry. Here are the sordid details of the incident we’re going to call Yellow Watergate:

This afternoon I went to the Nethermead with three other mothers, a sitter and a large group of children all between the ages of two and six to practice soccer. Some of the kids had to pee and since I have often found the Boathouse closed I instructed the nanny and the kids to use the bushes that are at the edge of the meadow and overlook the Lullwater trail. Apparently some of the kids dropped trou in front of the bushes as opposed to behind them. At this point a Park ranger came
over, demanded identification from the sitter – she had none and then threatened to “arrest her and take her away”. The children with her became very upset, crying uncontrollably and very afraid that their lifelong sitter was going to be taken away from them. I came over at this point, another mother took the children to a different point in the field and I spoke to the ranger.

He was rude and dismissive, mean & may have scared the children.

There should be plenty of reaction to the news that PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights, a very popular school with local parents, has gotten an “F” in the city’s school grading system. “This year, at a July 29 news conference announcing plans for an annex to accommodate the flood of students wanting to attend P.S. 8, a parade of public officials praised the school and its principal. Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein said, ‘You have built a very successful school here,’ and Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott added, ‘You have done a monumental job in both recruiting as well as maintaining a school where parents want to send their children.'” Significant react likely to follow.–NYT

By this time next year, the Williamsburg waterfront will have four residential towers in some stage of completion–two at Northside Piers, which is a Toll Brothers venture, and two at the Edge, the big complex to the north. Phase I of the Edge will have 575 luxury units and 347 affordable units. There will also be about 100,000 square feet of retail space. The buildings are rising at two stories per week and a topping off of the first twoer is planned by November. About 500 workers are on the site every day. We had a full photo gallery at Curbed yesterday.

[Photo courtesy of jplpagan/GL Flickr Pool]

“Although sales at the Isabella Condos ‘officially started’ at the end of July, the Grand Opening of the 63-unit new development at 545 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill is taking place this weekend. Go figure. Prices on the apartments currently listed range from $455,000 for a 710-square-foot one-bedroom to $840,000 for a 1,333-square-foot two-bedroom.”–Brownstoner

[Photo courtesy of weenieart/GL Flickr Pool]

This image from GL Flickr Pool Contributor weenieart comes from a laundromat on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park. It certainly does seem to capture the act of waiting.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory this morning it is gloomy. The forecast calls for today to be mainly cloudy with a shower or thunderstorm around from late morning on. The high will be 75. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms and a low of 67.–Accuweather

The development site at 95 Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg–the former parking lot and paint factory–whose toxicity has attained the status of urban legend still appears to be a mixed bag in terms of public safety. Some piles of dirt and rubble are covered and some are not. This is the current scene. The best we can say is that it looks like the mud was keeping down any dust. The lot will be become a large rental building designed by Karl Fischer.

“I was walking to my apartment tonight from the Union St- R train stop to my apt on 4th and Garfield. All of a sudden a golden retriever comes bolting down Carroll Street and runs straight across 4th Ave. Hopefully dog and master were reunited, and that the dog survived any other trips across busy avenues.”–GL Inbox

Are you a member of our wonderful GL Flickr Pool? If you haven’t taken the plunge please consider joining and/or tagging your photos “gowanuslounge.”

[Photo courtesy of Josh Derr/GL Flickr Pool]

This is a great view of Downtown Brooklyn as contributed to our GL Flickr Pool by Josh Derr.

We’ve been running vids of the Save Coney Island documentary that’s going to premiere at the Coney Island Film Festival as its been released. Here’s the latest installment with thanks to Kinetic Carnival for making us aware it had been posted to the YouTube.

And now, a selection of musical events taking place between today and Sunday:

Thursday 9/4/08
Union Hall: The Drones, Brothers & Sisters, The Tall Pines (Indie)- $12, 7:30pm

Friday 9/5/08
Southpaw: Maps & Atlases, Nurses, The Gang (Indie)- $10, 9:00pm

Saturday 9/6/08
Barbes: Live Broadcast of WFMU’s Transpacific Sounds Paradise. Featuring: Brooklyn Qawwali Party, Red Baraat (World/Trance)- $10, 6:00pm

Sunday 9/7/08
Union Hall: Tearing The Veil of Maya: Eugene Mirman & Michael Showalter (Comedy)- $7, 7:30pm ~Followed by~ The Gospel Train w/ Eli “The Paperboy” Reed (Indie/Folk)-Free!!, 9:00pm

It looks like the development known as Warehouse 11, the one we used to call the Roebling Oil Building because of what had to be cleaned up when the site was excavated, is getting a parking garage. (Yes, this is only significant because we’ve been following this development since there was still a warehouse on the block.) It’s on the N. 10 Street side of the property, adjacent to property along Driggs Avenue that’s been cleared for Part II of the project. Warehouse 11 itself seems to be approaching a condition of readiness nearly two years after the warehouse on the property came down.

Here’s an unpleasant tidbit that landed in our inbox via our very reliable Carroll Gardens Correspondent. It’s sort of unsettling. All our correspondent, who is normally quite effusive, said is this: “My neighbor got salmonella from some eggs bought from the Carroll Gardens farmers market.”–GL Inbox

We do love sinkholes and we’ve been following the saga of the one on Bergen Streeet between Hoyt and Bond in Boerum Hill for a while. Here’s the latest, per an email on the Boerum Hill Group:

The sink-hole re-sunk almost as soon as it was filled with asphalt; only the contractors made it bigger and squarer, so now it’s a bigger sinkhole. About 8 inches deep at this point and big enough to swallow a regular car wheel.

Certainly, there will be more to come.

How about converting your car to run on Ethanol and, then, joining the Park Slope Ethanol Cooperative? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, here’s some info about it:

Our plan is to build a station in Brooklyn and run our vehicles on 100% ethanol. Our goal is to make the fuel from locally-based sources. We need people willing to participate in a revolution in energy. Volunteer help is appreciated but not required.

You car can be inexpensively made to run flexibly on either alcohol fuel or gas. Alcohol was the original fuel used in internal combustion engines. The needed conversion poses no danger to your car or to its current performance on gasoline…Help us reduce greenhouse gases and say no to the oil companies.

Kick-off meetings are at the Park Slope Food Coop at 783 Union Street on Tuesday (9/16) and Friday (9/25) at 7:30PM. Membership in the Coop isn’t necessary to attend.

A Brooklyn Heights reader wrote us this week about concern that Joralemon Street was about to lose the last of its beloved cobblestones, but it turns to have been a somewhat false alarm. The original email noted that there is no parking this weekend and that answers have not been forthcoming from the city. He writes:

I have a strong suspicion Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights is next. Between Hicks and Furman Streets, there are yellow placards on EVERY tree indicating NO PARKING from 6am 9/12 through 6am 9/15. That seems kinda strange. They have the DOT logo and the NYPD logo and all it says, “Vehicles will be towed at owners expense.” 311 had no info. NYPD had no info and I couldn’t find any way to contact the DOT directly. Sadly I fear we will be losing our cobble stones for some exotic asphalt.

As it turns out there is major working going on on the tunnel for the 4/5 lines that run under the street. He follows up and says: “They are doing major track work over three weekends in the coming months and this is one of them, they need to stage the new tracks and will be working 24/7 all weekend, and I was assured the cobble stones will be safe, albeit probably heavily damaged!!” Well, it’s way better than the original fear.

There’s been a rash of car break-ins in Windsor Terrace in recent months, but the police have arrested suspects who may be responsible for dozens of them. Per an email:

We received a call from Det. Mike Cleary from the 72nd precinct who attended last night’s Windsor Terrace Alliance meeting. Just hours after the meeting, at around midnight, several officers from the 72nd precinct arrested three young males breaking into cars in Windsor Terrace…The officers were in Windsor Terrace last night based on complaints from the community about the car break-ins and the officers observed the suspects. They gave chase and arrested one male (who works in Brooklyn but lives elsewhere) and he then gave up his two friends. The cars they were targeting last night were on 20th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues and on Terrace Place and 18th Street. The suspects admitted to breaking into 30 other cars in the past in this area. Great work by the 72nd precinct for a real problem in our corner of Brooklyn!

At least on neighborhood has a part of its problem temporarily taken care of. It’s unclear if they were responsible for break-ins in nearby Kensington.

Kevin Walsh and Forgotten New York take a look at some Park Slope scenes this week, focusing on old factories in the neighborhood, some of which have been converted (of course) to housing. Mr. Walsh writes:

There has been a gradual coalescing of my observations as I walk through Brooklyn in the mid to late 2000s. The era when Brooklyn worked — as in manufacturing and supplying the world with the fruits of American know-how and technical expertise — is coming to an end. It’s being replaced by service industries, housing, and tourism. I don’t even know if I should be all that riled about it, as long as the architecture where people formerly toiled now houses people who are primarily relaxing. I’ve taken to calling it the Eloi-zation of NYC, as toilers are replaced by partiers…My term Eloi-zation comes, of course, from H.G. Wells; the British writer’s first successful science fiction story in 1898, The Time Machine, depicts a time traveler (how he travels is not revealed; there’s only the description of his machine) who goes to the 803rd Century, by which time the class distinctions between the working and leisure classes of turn-of-the-century Britain have become so pronounced as to produce two separate devolved human species: the reclining Eloi, who sit in the sun all day, and the blanched underground Morlocks, who run the planet, providing the Eloi with enough food so they can prey on them…

In any case, there are some great Slope photos included.