From the Boerum Hill Group, comes word of a sinkhole that is forming as we speak on Bergen Street between Hoyt and Bond. Here’s the news:

There is a sinkhole forming beneath the pavement of Bergen Street between Hoyt and Bond, in front of #135 Bergen, just at the corner of Hoyt. The hole in the pavement is only 16″ or so in diameter, but the hole is at least 8 feet deep, and increases with each rainfall. Passersby have stuck sticks in it to make it visible, but this just adds to the hazard, especially for
cyclists. I called 311 last week but they are obviously dragging their feet on this one, as their definition of a sink hole is ‘an opening in a street at least two feet wide’. This is a dangerous situation; if a car were to hit it an axle could break on the vehicle and send it out of control. If a cyclist hits it they’d go over the handlebars. It’s going to require a bunch of us to make some noise to get them to fix this and address the underlying cause of the collapse.

Apparently, sinkholes need to be two feet wide before the city will respond. Eight feet deep is not alarming enough?

The latest installment of Forgotten New York takes a look at Green-Wood Cemetery environs (with the environs being in the image above). Here’s a sample:

For years, Green-Wood Cemetery was called just plain Greenwood Cemetery, on most maps, anyway, and though officially, it’s always been Green-Wood, the hyphen has begun to make more inroads of late. I think old-fashioned spellings are fairly pretentious — no-one spells “to-day” or “to-morrow” anymore, except for effect. I suppose, though, that Green-Wood, which turns 170 years old in 2008, has earned the right to spell its name any way they want. In fact, on their website, it’s “The Green-Wood Cemetery,” thank you. When in the cemetery, wander the hills and meandering roads and sit by the still ponds where benches are provided. The cemetery has heavily wooded regions, and wide-open plains where the wind can howl on fall and winter days. There are many hills, but none that will be exhausting to climb. Mausoleums hold a particular interest for me: if you stroll up and peer through the window that often appears in a mausoleum door, you will often observe a small, exquisitely-designed stained glass window with, more often than not, a religious theme.

Always worth a visit.

We reported, based on a Brooklynian post back in July, about the Park Slope Flier Ripper. The issue has come back thanks to a series of emails on the Park Slope Parents Group. Now, someone who says he’s the brother of the man known in the neighborhood for tearing down fliers has come forward on Brooklynian. (The explanation is at the end of a long thread.) It does put a very human face on who the person is. It’s soooo worth reading through the very end, with compassion rather than anger or ridicule:

The man that you refer to – the man that pulls down signs in Park Slope – is my brother. To answer your questions and (hopefully) put an end to the debate here, I’d like to clarify a few things about him. First: my brother is, indeed, autistic. Thank you to the poster named “ljnd” who recognized this as a possibility. As a child, my brother displayed all the classic signs – signs that would be recognized and treated today. But it was the early seventies, and my mother couldn’t get a definitive diagnosis – much less a straight answer – from any of the various pediatricians, psychologists, or specialists to whom she brought him for help. He wasn’t diagnosed until he’d reached his late teens – significantly late in the developmental processes affected by the disorder.

Read more about the Park Slope flier ripper.

We do love our stories of restaurant food that shows up with some extra protein. So it is with the alleged Chicken Parmigiana con Cockroach from Tutta Pasta on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. This appetizing tale comes from a Park Slope Parents email and we present it in the interest of keeping the dining public on its toes. What we find especially interesting, as is the case in most such cases, is the described reaction of management:

Last night my husband, 4 yr old daughter & I ordered 3 entrees from Tutta Pasta. I went to take a bite of my Chicken Parmagiana with pasta & noticed a lovely, sizable
cockroach in the container. My husband called the restaurant to let them know & demand a refund for all the entrees and the owner said ” Only 1 entree had a bug, the others are fine.” So, I guess that is the level of quality & service one gets from Tutta Pasta. Just thought I would share that with you all, as I was completely sickened from this experience.

Definitely a good call on the part of management, given that thousands of people now know that they’re serving up cockroaches with the Chicken Parm at Tutta Pasta. Or is it Tutta Roacha? Bella Roacha?

Here’s a notice that’s been posted in a building at Fourth and Bond in Gowanus that was passed along by a GL reader, who writes: “A friend in the bldg on 4th and Bond sent me this.” Yes, Gowanus is a bit different than other neighborhoods.

[Photo courtesy of Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

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

· Charter Schools, Public Schools Compete for Space [NYDN]
· Gehry Seeks “Small Percentage of Space” to Make Difference [AYR]
· Youth Gone Wild Ruins the Park (in 1871) [A Year in the Park]
· Brooklyn Has Two-Headed Turtle (Not from the Gowanus Canal) [NYDN]
· Bike Theft Epidemic in Kensington? [Kensington Brooklyn]
· Brooklyn Preservation Council Meets Tommorrow [Bay Ridge Journal]
· Our Favorite Bike Mechanic [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· Some Kosher Gourmet in Sheepshead Bay? [Sheepshead Bites]
· Reflections on Nipples [New York Shitty]
· Then & Now: Ritz Theater to C-Town [BVIB]
· Maha’s Middle Eastern is Closing! [Not Another F*cking Blog]

So, here’s a Beard and Mustache Competition coming up in Coney Island on September 6 (yes, this is post-Labor Day and by definition kind of depressing). Here’s a bit of info from the email:

Donny Vomit in association with Coney Island USA presents: The First Annual Coney Island Beard and Moustache Competition! All are welcome to enter the competition in the following categories: Best Beard Natural, Best Beard Styled, Best Moustache Natural, Best Sideburns, and Best All Around! Pre-Show and Registration begins at 7 PM at the Freak Bar! With live entertainment including: Razor Shaves with Michael Haar: Consorial Artist, come early and get a clean shave!…Awards and Variety Show at 10 PM in the Sideshow Theater. A unique show of NYC’s best bearded performers including: Donny Vomit, Master of Dementertainment and Sideshow Arts, Cowboy Chris McDaniel, NYC’s best Ropin’ and Whipin’ artist, Black Scorpion-the Bearded man with lobster hands, Nic Sin-the world’s smallest escape artist and MORE! Registration and cover to the show only $10, so come on down friends and be a part of Coney Island history! No beard is too small, no moustache is too long!

The full poster by clicking here.

[Photo courtesy of Trina356/GL Flickr Pool]

The photographer wrote “magritte like clouds roll by.” If you don’t look too closely and realize we’re looking at Gowanus, St. Agnes almost makes it look a little like Amsterdam.

[Photo courtesy of wzrdreams/GL Flickr Pool]

It’s a few days old, but we love this pick shot at the Wilco show at McCarren Pool the other night and put in our GL Flickr Pool by wzrdreams.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, the sun is shining bright. The forecast calls for a hot day with more humidity and a high of 91. Tonight will be mainly clear with a low of 70.–Accuweather

The issue of credit card fraud is close to an evergreen, with things happening everywhere. A few months ago, there were many reports of fraud that seemed to be originating at an unnamed merchant on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, thought no culprit was ever identified. This morning there’s the tale of a recent incident that seems to have originated at a “large warehouse” store. While earlier reports indicated some sophisticated theft rings with card information being distributed far and wide, this incident seems to be of the more homespun and inept, if not moronic, variety. It comes from a Park Slope Parents email and here are some excerpts:

I just wanted to post about a disturbing incident this afternoon. We found out that someone had fraudalently charged our AMEX account with over $1,000 worth of plane tickets to Mexico and the Carribean. After reporting the incident to AMEX and the police, my husband called the airline and was able to access the name of the person who purchased the plane tickets and the names of the passengers who traveled under the flights purchased. Fortunately, we only use our AMEX card at one particular warehouse type store and so it helped us narrow down where the theft may have come from. We called the warehouse store to inform their management of what had happened. Upon inquiring further with the manager, we found out that the person who purchased the tickets with our stolen credit card info, was in fact a current employee. All of this information was given to the police (including the person’s name)to aid in the investigation. While we are not sure if an arrest will be made, we wanted to put the word out and warn folks that credit card frauds are at large again.

We expect a fresh bunch of stories to follow.

We debated between an angry Brooklyn Missed Connection about a Hipster and a Herpster for this August Sunday and a romantic one and opted for the latter. Here it is:

Dumont Burger – u in a tube top dress with a smile as big as an ocean – m4w (bedford)

looking to craigslist as a way to postpone regret…i mean, how many times do two people need to make eye-contact before an intro is warranted? I suppose with us, it had to be at least one more…You were with your friends, two women and a man; I was with my roommate. Our tables were not that far apart, but the distance seemed like a vast abyss. When I left, I was prepared to forget. But then, on an Eastbound L-train, a moment before “stand clear of the closing doors..” i saw you again on the platform, waiting for the train to take you the opposite direction. If you see this, and you wish to make eye-contact with me at least one more time, write. Me: short hair, glasses, dark grey t-shirt, jeans, clunky black shoes– being clark kent (plain clothes to mask the superhero).

Please read and hook up.

[Photo courtesy of 66squarefeet; click to expand]

Here’s a killer sunset from the Brooklyn Promenade sent to us by the blogger who does 66 Square Feet.

Some vids from a few recent Brooklyn shows.

Today from 12PM-3PM, WBGO (88.3 FM) and the Heart of Brooklyn are cosponsoring an event at the Prospect Park Zoo called Samba with the Sea Lions. “It’s free with your zoo admission and perfect for everyone- the kids get to dance and watch the sea lions dance ( yes, they have learned how to samba) the drummers are great and the dancers are in costume and they will be teaching Samba. The weather is supposed to be nice too. Hope we see a lot of you at the Zoo. This is part of a series called Jazz: Brooklyn’s Beat that involves the local cultural venues- next up on September 27th is a family dance party with Felix Hernandez at the Bandshell.”

We’ve come across many sentiments scrawled at construction sites, including a fair number in Williamsburg involving obscenities. This one, at 105 Metropolitan Avenue, a new site near Wythe Avenue, is one of the more interesting ones. (The building will be five stories and has claimed space next to the pretty backyard of Relish.) It’s been up for a few weeks and a look behind the fence did not reveal any inordinately large rocks. Then again, they had perhaps already been removed.

Just this morning I noticed windows finally being placed in these big cinderblobs, which had mystified me too. “Luxury rentals,” heh. This place looks for all the world like a college dorm, which I imagine is exactly the purpose it’ll serve if the stream of NYU students rotating annually through my building nearby is any clue. Certainly, this masterpiece was worth pissing off God by piledriving during mass services next door.–Karl Fischer Friday #2: 525 Union Avenue

[Photo courtesy of weenieart/GL Flickr Pool]

Someone somewhere in Brooklyn turned fifteen recently and the hot pink balloons were captured by weenieart and placed in our GL Flickr Pool.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, we’re seeing blue sky and sun. Today’s forecast is for a mostly sunny and warm day with a high of 89. It will be clear tonight with a low of 68.–Accuweather

[Photo courtesy of Tracy Collins/flickr]

Is your bus driver awake? Here’s on that wasn’t, per a post on Brooklynian:

On my way to work this morning, my bus driver on the B65 was nodding off at the wheel. I didn’t realize what was happening at first because I was sitting towards the back of the bus, but whenever we stopped in traffic it would take him an unusually long time to start the bus moving again. Then as we approached my stop at Flatbush, I moved up to the seat right by the front door. That’s when I noticed that whenever the bus was stopped he was falling asleep. He’d nod off and then wake back up with a jerk and look disoriented for a moment before moving the bus forward. None of the other passengers seemed to notice he was doing this.

The rest of the story, ahead.

Here’s this week Adoptable Cutie, from the Empty Cages Collective:

Her name is Theresa and here’s some information about here:

She was found wandering the streets of Jamaica, Queens. She was not part of a regular TNR colony and was most likely just dumped on the street. She’s about 3 years old and still playful as a kitten. Living in a shelter, she’s getting bored in her crate and impatient with us humans. She loves attention and gentle pets, but remember she is a feisty and clever calico! All Empty Cages Collective’s cats have been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, dewormed and tested for feline leukemia and fiv. She looks kind of glum in the photograph (because she is). She is starved for human contact. The video footage I shot of her today shows how friendly she is.

For more info about the Empty Cages collective, contact 1 (800) 880-2684 or email EmptyCagesCollective@gmail.com. Here’s a vid of Theresa below that will tell you more than the pic.

[Photo courtesy of Adrian Kinloch/Brit in Brooklyn]

There is no more quintessential Brooklyn/NYC summer pic than an open fire hydrant. Even one with a water-conserving sprinkler placed on top. This shot comes from Brit in Brooklyn blogger Adrian Kinloch, who we thank for the large supply of pics he gave us to work with over the last couple of weeks.

There’s a cool show called Maximum Perception: Contemporary Brooklyn Performance opening tonight at the English Kills Gallery in Bushwick. It runs through September 17. The opening reception is from 5PM-9PM.. Here’s a bit from the gallery:

English Kills Art Gallery is pleased to present Maximum Perception : Contemporary Brooklyn Performance, the first exhibition to cover the entire range of contemporary live art produced in Brooklyn. Featuring 30 artists producing over 20 newly commissioned performances, this exhibition thoroughly seeks to open and explore the crucial dialogue produced by these artists within Brooklyn and its artistic community. In addition to featuring traditional photo and video documentation, the exhibition seeks for the first time to create an entirely live environment for expression: at all open gallery hours, at least one performance will be taking place within the gallery. Within this goal, both Curators Dobill and Harding seek to substantiate and elevate the “live” aspect of the performance artists’ practice beyond the realm of “opening reception” and “special event” categories to the actuality of an available experience in a gallery setting.

English Kills is at 114 Forrest Street in Bushwick. More info at the gallery website.

Next week you can have the chance to take a canal ride on the Gowanus and learn about the Battle of Brooklyn. “On Thursday evening August 21 at 6:00 PM at 2nd Street and the Gowanus Canal the Dredgers provide free canoeing on the canal. [Vincent Favorito] will give a talk on the Revolution. The canal is important because of what occurred to the retreating colonial army. At the Union Street bridge at the site of the Freekes Mill and important battle happened. Many Colonials drowned while trying to cross the Gowanus. These colonials held off the advance of the 20,000 British Troops and permitted Washington to retreat across East River and on to New Jersey with troops. This action permitted Washington to eventualy save the country. Carroll Gardens Neighbor Association. Historic Preservation Committee.”