DailyHeights

We have on an update on Barrette Bar’s First Sunday’s party on December 7th. The theme is festive, “Homo for the Holidays!” From Ms. Bloody Belle herself:

What’s that you say? You want another Sunday Night Mass to ward off that incoming chill? To provide the kinda heat that doesn’t bang out of a radiator, but will keep you up at night all the same?

Then come on by to the next Sunday Night Mass at Barrette on December 7th for Homo for the Holidays: an all-inclusive holiday bash for the homosexual, the bisexual, the transgender, the fuck-your-labels-kid, the been-there-done-that, the straight-but-not-narrow, and all other manner of queer-friendly folks looking for a little skin, a lot of dancing, and drink specials all night long.

Where: Barrette, 601 Vanderbilt at Bergen
When: Dec 7, 8-1AM
No Cover. Lots of go-go by Bloody Belle. Holiday funk and soul brought to you by DJ Tanner.

Spread the word! And friend us on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sundaynightmass. Or sign up for our email list by sending a request to [email protected]!

Baby it might be cold outside, but Barrette is just heating up.

The giving season is upon us and, with the economy crashing around our ears, giving now is more important than ever. Old Time Brooklyn stopped by the discussion boards to ask for options beyond ye olde Salvation Army:

Not so sure I want to give to the Salvation Army anymore based on their ideology and practices so….what other local options do people use?

EasternPkwyQ suggested Housing Works. Other suggestions included the Women’s Prison Association and Dress for Success.

Plug your own favorite charity or share your charity-giving experiences on the boards: Prospect Heights Message Board – Donating clothes :: Brooklynian.com.

I tried all morning to come up with a clever way to analogize the developer’s most recent scam, but it never came, so I’ll just say that this is shameless — even for Bruce Ratner.

Fans For Fair Play, a group fighting the Atlantic Yards project, reports that Ratner wants to give free Nets tickets to people without jobs. Scott Turner writes on the Web site that 1500 tickets are being offered over the next two months, or the next 18 games. If you do the math, that boils down to only 83 tickets a game. Says Scott:

“Offering Nets tickets as an inducement is a lot like paying someone with Monopoly money. The team, gutted of star players in a desperate bid to land LeBron James two years from now, is mediocre at best. Pre-season prognosticators don’t have New Jersey even making the playoffs.”

There has been little to no coverage of the ticket scheme. A Google News search today turned up only one item, a USA Today blog post applauding the effort.

Add your two cents at Brooklynian.com: http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46186

Nightclubs, churches, amateur rapping and 4th grade basketball games, without commentary or score reporting are all part of the complex web that is Brooklyn Community Access Television.    It seems everyone has a favorite oddity on Brooklyn’s own channel.  BCAT is a window into the lives of our neighbors from the devout to the depraved and everything in between.  A fellow by the name of billtron stopped by to ask what BCAT shows he should Tivo now that he has Tivo.  Some responses:

Hatemail: “American Friends! Best show on Public Access. “

Jack Krohn: “Some of the religious programs are entertaining. It’s sort of inspiring to see people so passionate about their beliefs. Plus, every so often you see some cute women. ”

Trainsmoke DeLeon : “every so often I catch a show that appears to be entirely comprised of a girl with a microphone giving shout outs. love it.”

What BCAT shows are you Tivoing? Prospect Heights Message Board – What should I tivo on BCAT? :: Brooklynian.com

A topic that has generated a lot of discussion at Brooklynian.com, the Atlantic Yards development project, was mentioned today in an article in Pro Basketball News:

“While current developments suggest that the $3.5 billion Atlantic Yards arena project is in doubt, the mere prospect of a LeBron [James] defection to Brooklyn should ensure that it remains on course for completion.”

The article is somewhat misleading because the arena is only one small part of the $4 billion project at Atlantic Yards. The cost to build the arena – which would serve as a new home for the New Jersey, er, Brooklyn Nets – has been estimated at $960 million.

The future of the building is still up in the air, no matter what our old friend, developer Bruce Ratner, says. It’s no secret that he still needs to find investors to back those tax-free bonds the federal government recently cleared for him. And we don’t think NBA superstar LeBron James will be enough to convince weary investors to help move the floundering New Jersey Nets to a new home in Brooklyn.

The story, however, shows just how many people are following the progress (or lack thereof) at Atlantic Yards.

Mark Griffith, a community activist in Brooklyn, is monitoring the project. Griffith laments in an interview today with the Brooklyn Rail:

“What I don’t like about Atlantic Yards is that it didn’t start with a conversation. No one said, ‘We’ve got this land here that’s been underutilized, how do we fulfill its greatest potential? How do we build on it and develop it in a way that’s going to build the surrounding community, that is going to be respectful of the surrounding community, and is going to be healthy environmentally, physically, economically, and that’s going to include a lot of different people in the revitalization of this area?’”

Griffith warns that if the project falls by the wayside, Atlantic Yards will no doubt slip further into blight. That’s a frightening but very real scenario because, as I say above, the future of the arena is uncertain. Moreover, Ratner told the Times (in March!) that construction of the residential complex, the meat of the project, will be on hold “for years.”

Our solution? One word: park. If you want a third term, Mr. Bloomberg, take it back and turn it into a public park.

Discussion about the Atlantic Yards project continues on Brooklynian.com.

I recall a few years back when recycling in my Brooklyn neighborhood was suspended. A travesty of waste. But, recycling is back as Brooklyn residents do their part to recycle bottles, cans and paper and in turn help our immediate environment.

Are we in…France? Canvas shopping bags, the bain of the European market troller, are now seen slung on the arms of the most savvy Brooklyn shoppers at Fairway, Trader Joe’s or the neighborhood farmer’s market. Being eco-concious is not just for the gourmand: Humble Key Food has plastic bag recycling canisiters in front of every store, now, due in large part to Mayor Bloomberg signing the NYC plastic bag recycling bill. Canvas sacks are sold inside. Saahadi’s on Atalantic was quick to follow suit with the eco-fine bags, then D’Amicos Coffee on Court Street.

Health food stores like NY Naturals in Prospect Heights carry a variety of eco-friendly products and most of the other uber markets like Union Market have aisles dedicated to eco friendly product like Ecover and Seventh Generation. One of my personal favorites is the tiny 3r LIVING on 5th Avenue near Garfield Place that sells farm made natural soaps as well recycled onion sack cell phone cases and doormats made of recycled flip flops just to name a bit of their eco goodness.

Remodeling that ugly bathroom? Why not skip the Home Depot madness and re-use contractor cast-offs from Build It Green (as recently discussed on Brooklynian), or The Green Depot. Inside the Build It Green facility is Film Biz Recycling, the premier source for cast-offs from TV and film shoots produced in Brooklyn and New York City. Sinks, chairs, cabinets, bath tubs. Build It Green, Green Depot and Film Biz Recycling can can get you on your way to an eco friendly lifestyle all while saving a buck or two.

With all these options, it’s a shame more people don’t take advantage of them. Or even care what happens to their plastic bottle of POM. I am constantly sorting my neighbors trash and the offenders on my block alone are plenty! I’m from Northern California and recycling has always been part of my lexicon. I don’t see it as something hard to do. Should be second nature and calling 311 to report garbage complaints doesn’t always solve the problems.

For more information on recycling glass, paper, Christmas trees and leaves in your neighborhood see the New York City Dept of Sanitation website.

“Did anyone hear about the Bloods’ initiation that’s supposed to take place today? They are supposed to kill 31 women. Is it real or a hoax?”

This question was posted at Brooklynian.com on Halloween. The consensus was that the story was a hoax, and not surprisingly, that turned out to be the case. Many of those that commented on the site all seemed to have heard a version of it when they were kids.

Nevertheless, the fake story inspired real fear. A couple teachers wrote in to say that there were very few girls in their classes on Halloween. That says a lot about the power of urban myth, but it also raises an important question: What should we be afraid of? This, after all, is Brooklyn, and while it’s not Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, there are very real dangers here.

Take, for example, the Trinitarios gang. According to an article in the Nov. 2 edition of the Times, this Dominican gang has been terrorizing south Williamsburg since last summer. The Trinitarios are responsible for four machete attacks in less than two months, and in late October a young man was spotted with one during a shootout in which a 5-year-old girl was hit by a stray bullet.

An incident that for most of our readers occurred closer to home was a robbery at gunpoint in which the victom was accosted in the lobby of his own building, reports The Brooklyn paper. In Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, the police department reports that robberies have spiked from 7.6 percent last year to 18.6 so far in 2008, also in the paper.

Most shockingly, a cardboard box of bloody human remains was found in Washington Park last month. One man told the paper that the discovery reminded him of Brooklyn in the 1970s, when one morning he walked out his front door to find a dead body hanging from a nearby lamppost.

That last one actually sounds a bit like a hoax.

To partcipate in the discussion, visit Brooklynian.com.

Now that the post election euphoria is beginning to subside it’s time to start facing real life issues.  Sometimes you order a burger and it’s not as done as you had hoped.  You send it back.  Do you expect the same burger to be put back on the grill and then returned to you, or do you expect an entire do-over, new burger and all?  There seem to be two distinct camps on this hot-button topic, though the majority appears to be of the former view.

putz: “went to soda tonight to treat myself to one of their big burgers. i like ’em medium rare, but it arrived severely undercooked. the barmaid was very cool about sending it back, but then i was shocked when they redelivered the same burger! am i out of line, or is it reasonable to expect a new burger?? i had taken several bites and mangled it pretty good to discover how raw it was, so curious how they managed to reconstruct it…open to being told i am wrong”

It may be too early to call for an official propostition, but that doesn’t mean you can’t cast your vote.  New burger or same burger…which side are you on? Prospect Heights Message Board – another soda absurdity? :: Brooklynian.com

One important piece of news lost in the din of election coverage was the federal government’s decision to free up millions of dollars in tax-exempt bonds for the Forest City Ratner (our old friend Bruce) development project at Atlantic Yards.

The ruling gives Ratner access to $800 million in tax-free money to proceed with the construction of a new arena for the New Jersey Nets. The arena is only one part of a controversial $4 billion boondoggle that seeks to transform the yards into a sprawling commercial and residential complex.

But the joke may be on him — not to mention city and state officials that have blown taxpayer money fighting for him — because Ratner still needs to find investors willing to back the bonds. Jay-Z or no Jay-Z, the Nets were a hard sell before the market took a nose dive. With the economy writhing on the table right now, it’s going to be even more difficult to convince people to invest money in a basketball team that went 34-48 last year.

This story, however, has less to with a mediocre NBA team than it does a disreputable Bloomberg administration that snapped up Atlantic Yards by way of eminent domain, then handed it over to a private developer. We think the project has a lot to do with the mayor’s yearning for a third term. This is his legacy, and he wants to ensure its future is secure before he leaves office.

The Atlantic Yards saga will be an important story in the coming year, and Daily Heights will be keeping close tabs on it.

For now, visit Brooklynian.com to participate in the discussion.

There was plenty of revelry to be had in the neighborhood if your candidate was the big winner last night, and chances are he was given the numbers that came out of Brooklyn.  A number of people logged on to share the joy they were feeling amidst the impromptu parties in the streets.

Whatchuwant: “People everywhere! Cars honking! People shouting, singing, dancing in the streets! Gunshots fired into the air!! (good ‘ole Crown Heights!) So happy that everyone is so happy!”

Perhaps the first posting on the Crown Heights board where the gunshots were positive.

aleesha: “last night was truly incredible.. complete strangers giving high-fives and hugging each other, cheering and honking horns and every one of them with a huge smile on their face (even the cops and cab drivers going by couldn’t help but smile and honk).. i have never seen anything like this where everyone was just so HAPPY. and relieved!”  

And nearby in Prospect Heights:

raulism: “The crowds in front of Soda were cheering everything, from police cars, to delivery trucks, to garbage trucks.”

And he’s got the YouTube links to prove it.  Stop by Prospect Heights Message Board – police helicopters and sirens :: Brooklynian.com to check them out and share your story.