DailyHeights

joseph11 is nervous that a house fire on Classon and St. Marks is a sign of bad times to come.
“I hope that building owners aren’t starting fires because they cant sell them,” he writes.  Naturally this begets a discussion on other signs of what the failing economy will do to the neighborhood.  whynot_31 wonders “what will become of all these [WaMU] branches? You can only have so many bars called ‘The Vault’. Surely, we are going to have to be more creative.”
And a list of potential uses for former WaMu branches follows:

1. Meat lockers
2. Saunas
3. Opaque Fish Tanks
4. Rent-a-Jails
5. Day cares
6. places to cry alone in the event that McCain wins.
7. Places to make love if Obama wins.
8. Sets for magicians/escape artists to do their tricks.
9. Hardware stores? All the little drawers could hold bolts, screws and such.
10. places to hold a “free party” for Republicans from PA and OH on November 3.
11. places to announce that “due to the pending takeover of WaMu by
Chase, we have encountered a temporary lapse of service on our remote
lock release contract. We expect the doors to open at the stroke of
midnight, November 6th. Please enjoy Caahyoko’s fish and all the
vintage WaMu pens in the meantime.”

Add to the list at Prospect Heights Message Board: This Gets Me Nervous (Brooklynian.com)

pwaltman_1972 asks on the Prospect Heights board at Brooklynian.com: “Manhattan Drinking Liberally and the Young Democrats are sponsoring an event at The Tank in Chinatown, but I’d prefer something a little closer to home… Does anyone know of a place in PS or PH that’s planning on showing it? I just called The Commonwealth in PS, which normally will show political events, but since it’s a Friday the bartender wasn’t 100% sure…”

Here are a few ideas for starters:

• Check with David at Tavern on Nostrand in CH. Every time there’s been a debate (democratic) and I’ve been in there its been on,” (tip: homeowner)
• Plan B on Vanderbilt will probably show it. (tip: Old Time Brooklyn)
• If all else fails, rtraindweller is offering up his apartment for the event (famous last words).
• There’s an Obama watch party at Cafe Shane on Washington that night (apollonia666 will be there).

Get your politically correct drink on – over at the Prospect Heights Message Board: Where to Watch Friday’s Debate? (Brooklynian.com)

Joyce closed… Christie’s closed… El Gran Castillo de Jagua (home of the Meat Vent) closed… What’s next?

meganlibrarian writes:

Last night I arrived back in NYC after 2 weeks away. I went for a quick walk, at the end of which I decided that I wanted a coco bread to go with dinner. Walking toward Christie’s at 7PM, I noticed that their gate was down and signs were up in the windows. Heart sinking, I walked up and read one of the signs: on vacation from 7/14-7/21, opening again on 7/22.

I damned near had a heart attack. Meat Vent’s DOH’ed and Christie’s is closed for vacation? What in the hell do I do for my weekend lunches?!?

LINK: Christie’s closed! (Prospect Heights forum on Brooklynian.com)

RBG writes on the Prospect Heights message board at Brooklynian.com:

WHICH LOCAL REAL ESTATE AGENT … is showing apartments in a building on St. Johns place that is infested with bedbugs?

She’s not telling unsuspecting renters why the apartments are vacant although the mattresses, bedding, futon, and furniture outside of the building should be a dead giveaway. Buyer beware.

Sadly, a moving truck was outside 349 St. Johns this weekend. If you walk past the building, you’ll see a ton of furniture with the word “bedbugs” spraypainted in red paint. I think these are the third tenants to move out in a month. The unidentified real estate broker continues to knowingly re-rent apartments in the infested building. The word on the street is that old-time tenants in the building are very angry. For years, they lived in the apartments (albeit with drug dealers, noise, etc.) and didn’t have bedbugs until new people moved in and started bringing in old furniture from off the street…

LINK:  BLIND ITEM….WHICH LOCAL REAL ESTATE AGENT… (Prospect Heights message board at Brooklynian.com)

whynot_31 writes on Brooklynian’s Prospect Heights Message Board:

I’ve requested the remaining letters of the as_oc_i_ted, want one?

For those of you who are not aware, the run down former Associated on Underhill has closed, and will soon re-open as an organic fruit and veggie store.

To me, the event symbolizes the final blow to the previous version of my corner of Prospect Heights. As one walks on Underhill, Sepia (and the resturant next door) arrived a few years ago, and ice cream place recently opened.

Is this an event to celebrate or mourn? It doesn’t matter, as the subtitle reports, I’ve requested the remaining letters (plastic, gross, perhaps roach infested…). The contractor said “sure, they come off next week and I’ll save ’em for you”

If I end up actually getting them, I hereby pledge to give them to anyone interested in celebrating (or mourning) the end of an era on Underhill.

If you’d like one, post how you will sterilize them, and display them proudly…. assuming the contractor follows thru as planned, the letters will be given away at Sepia next week….

Request a Letter (for the sake of preservation!) on Brooklynian.com:

“Noticed that M.O.B. was having a “moving-out” sale when I walked by this weekend. Hopefully something takes its place quickly…there are already a bunch of vacant storefronts on that block.”

LINK: Memories Out of the Box closing/moving (BROOKLYNIAN.COM)

On Gowanus Lounge:

The creation of a Prospect Heights Historic District is making progress. The Landmarks Preservation Commission will “calendar” the district this Tuesday (7/15), which is the first step in formally creating it…

The Chair of the PHNDC says: “The Landmarks Commission has obviously recognized the threat posed to the character of one of Brooklyn’s most well-preserved brownstone neighborhoods. The pressure from the Atlantic Yards project and other recent developments are of grave concern to the hundreds of local residents who have written in support of historic designation for Prospect Heights.”

LINK:

UPDATE: Read discussion on the Prospect Heights Message Board (Brooklynian.com)

Do you care so much about the environment (or your electric bill) that you would put up with dingy, soul-sucking fluorescent light in your most sacred of spaces? Or are Con Ed’s free CFLs really a great leap forward from the stark, buzzing, flickering blue bulbs that dutifully lit your grandfather’s utility shed?

dojoji writes on the Brooklynian.com Prospect Heights Forum | DailyHeights.com Message Boards: “Has anyone gotten the free light bulb exchange from ConEd? The guy is here right now–on a ladder–changing all my lightbulbs for me. They are called CFL (fluorescent) and they work fine and light the room in the same way that regular bulbs do. So I’m not complaining–and if my electric bill goes down then I’ll be REALLY excited.”

“He says it saves 75% on energy from the lights.
Funny story–he says Brooklyn residents are holding out because they do not trust Con Ed. LOL. They expect it to take 4 years for Brooklyn residents to fully convert.”

So are CFLs going to be recommended by HGTV designers any time soon? sweet tea responds: “i relented and let one of these guys replace some of my bulbs….enh. i didn’t do the lamps or the kitchen overhead because i hate the quality of light from the CFLs. yeah, they’re better than they were 15 years ago when my dad first started buying them from our neighbor with the solar roof, but they’re not that much better. i find the light ugly and depressing.”

Get used to a brave new fluorescent future on the Prospect Heights Forum | DailyHeights.com Message Boards

News from sterling2000:

Joined: 22 Jun 2005; Posts: 360
Location: The intersection of Blight Street and Gentrification Avenue.

Just this past week, the Board of our building (of which I am President) made the decision to switch to biofuel over oil for our heating needs.
With the cost of oil continuing to skyrocket, significant dependence on foreign oil and ever-escalating news of global warming impacts, we made the decision even though there is a slightly higher cost annually.

I would invite other buildings and homeowners to look into this for themselves at http://www.tristatebiodiesel.com/. The process has been easy thus far and we believe it will be of huge benefit to our 20-unit building and the neighborhood at large over time.

Read more on Brooklynian.com | Kings County Message Boards | Brooklyn, NY Forum Index -> Prospect Heights Forum | DailyHeights.com Message Boards

EasternPkwyQ writes on the Prospect Heights Forum | DailyHeights.com Message Boards:

“Mr. Mooney received an eviction notice on October 30th, giving him 30 days to get out. Apparently, the landlord raised the rent from $xxxx to $xxxx and Mooney countered with an offer of $xxxx. The response he received was the eviction notice.”

“Seems pretty extreme – I’m sure they’re hoping that American Apparel’s good buddies at Starbucks or some such place will take over the location. It makes me nauseous.”

“For me, this is a tremendous loss of a lovely neighborhood gathering spot. It may not be the hippest or the most glamorous, but it’s such a great place to meet and talk to your neighbors – people from all backgrounds gather there and actually interact with one another. I have met some wonderful people there who I now count amongst closest friends.”

“The landlord is Lina Fang of Johore Realty – the same person (or at least so I hear) that has evicted Royal Video. I don’t know what else they own, but I certainly plan to boycott whatever takes over these leases and I hope others will do the same. This isn’t Manhattan and we live here because it’s not Manhattan and we want local business owners who actually contribute to – and care about – the neighborhood and the people in it. Mooney’s does that and this is a tremendous loss to Prospect Heights and Park Slope.” Read more on this thread: Mooney’s Evicted! (Brooklynian.com)

Extra! Is it too early for a real Irish wake? Come mourn at the semi-official Brooklynian.com Happy Hour – 7 p.m. – Thurs, 11/15/07 – Mooney’s last hurrah