Greenpoint
Cafe Cito Bogota
New York Shitty Day Ender: Summer Fun
I cannot think of a better way to close this lovely weekend than with a few shots of my neighbors (which, yes, includes a sock monkey) having a little fun in the sun… north Brooklyn style!
Miss Heather
East Williamsburg Photo Du Jour: Summer Time…
Filed under: Williamsburg
and the living’s easy at Caffe Capri!
Miss Heather
Notes From The 94th Precinct Community Council Meeting
Last night’s meeting of the 94th Precinct Community Council was, curiously enough, not very well attended. This certainly came as a surprise to yours truly as I thought a woman being struck and killed by a stolen car would elicit more interest in our community. Go figure.
Regardless of turnout there were plenty items of interest brought up at this forum as you will see in the following video footage. For the sake of brevity (hey, I like a break from ye olde keyboard as much— probably more— than anyone reading this) I have embedded my You Tube footage below along with a synopsis for each segment. Before we get to them here are some facts/observations from this meeting which merit mention:
1. Per D.I. Fulton although crime is (still) “down” overall compared to last year grand larceny auto, burglaries (13) and robberies (7) are up. The car of choice for auto thieves here seems to be the good ol’ reliable Honda Civic. On the burglary front, the police recently made two separate arrests of four suspected thieves.
2. Per D.I. Fulton traffic accidents are— believe it or not— down (47).
3. Now that the weather is getting warmer we were admonished to exercise caution when wearing jewelry in public, watch our personal belongings (especially hand bags, credit cards and i-Pods) and be hyper vigilant about destroying any and all financial records before placing them in the trash for pick-up.
4. On the subject of Violetta Kryrzak’s death:
- Although he expressed his condolences to her family numerous times during the course of the discussion the overall perception of people present was that D.I. Fulton’s recitation of the events leading up to Violetta Kryrzak’s death did not “jibe” with other accounts from those who had witnessed the event. For example:
- D.I. Fulton claimed there was “no pursuit”. Rather, two officers on patrol noticed the minivan driving erratically at Frost Street and Graham Avenue. It was ascertained the vehicle was stolen and the man took off. The police followed him.
- For those of you who are wondering, the distance between where this man was allegedly spotted and where Mrs. Kryrzak was hit is 1.2 miles.
- When queried about whether or not there was any “back and forth” between the squad car and police headquarters P.I. Fulton said there was. Apparently a number of higher-ups were aware of the situation.
- D.I. Fulton made it clear the police did not follow the stolen vehicle all the way up to Dupont Street. One person present contested this although the accounts I have heard bear Fulton out: the police stopped following the car once Mrs. Kryrzak was hit.
5. On the subject of the Abundant Life Assembly incident D.I. Fulton professed no knowledge.
6. I found two Williamsburger’s firsthand accounts of drug overdoses (in one case finding a man with a needle stuck in his arm in the bathroom of the pizzeria across the street from Oasis) and squatting in the Northside particularly troubling.
7. On a lighter note: You wanna know what really pisses one Greenpoint citizen off? No, it ain’t Mister Softee— it’s honking school buses! I strongly advise each and every person reading this to watch this touching and piquant testament to democracy in action. Sure, our system may be obtuse. Some would go so far as to even say it’s downright dysfunctional. But that doesn’t mean it cannot be fun on occasion!
Without further ado here are the videos!
PART I: In this segment D.I. Fulton gives a general run down of the crime stats for the last 28 days and a discussion ensues about honking school buses (Be sure to watch this one to the end kids, you will not be disappointed!)
Well. Who can argue with that?
Yeah, I posted this before. I really like the movie Blazing Saddles. Is this a crime? What’s more what we beheld at last night’s meeting was genuine Greenpoint gibberish.
PART II: After D.I. Fulton (and everyone present) took a moment to absorb the previous rant about honking buses a discussion about the circumstances leading up to Violetta Kryrzak’s death commenced. First we get Fulton’s take.
PART III: A continuation of the discussion about the circumstances leading up to Violetta Kryrzak’s death and truck traffic.
PART IV: Junkies and Squatters at North 7th and Bedford.
PART V: Bikes attached to street signs, car services honking their horns at 3:00 a.m.
All things said and done I suspect I speak for many present when I say I came away from this meeting with more questions than answers. You can (and should) read Graham T. Beck’s take on this meeting over at Streetsblog.
Miss Heather
Williamsburg Photos Du Jour: I’m There
Filed under: Williamsburg
If loving this is wrong I don’t want to be right!
Miss Heather
Hot Tamale!
After giving the matter considerable thought I have come to the conclusion my life generally revolves around two things:
1. Consuming Mexican food
2. Searching for more Mexican food to consume
Incomprehensible as it may seem to some of you I not only can but often will eat nothing but Mexican food for days on end. Few things please me for breakfast more than a plate of enchiladas. That is save of course tamales but that’s where I hit an impasse:
1. I’m too lazy to make them.
2. Most tamales to be found are NOT vegetarian.
Therefore you can imagine my delight when I found the above announcement at the Beaner Bar. Mouth watering, I went in for a late morning fix.
Once I placed my order I busied myself with the cup of Homies. Whoever came up with this idea is damned genius, not unlike place mats at Denny’s these little guys kept me entertained as I awaited for my hunk of corn-husk wrapped, tomatillo slathered goodness.
This is what a Beaner Bar cheese tamale looks like. Note the two salsas to the right. The red one was tasty but a teensy bit mild for my taste. I am very persnickety about my salsas. What’s more I want the most bang for my $3.00, e.g.; I want it to burn coming in and going out. Twenty Four hours later I was happy to learn the green salsa fit the bill perfectly.
I could resist playing with the Homies as I enjoyed my meal. Here they are cheering me on as I knock back that shot glass of green salsa. In all seriousness (or at least as serious as one can be about eating tamales and playing with Homies) if any of you find yourselves on the other side of the BQE some Sunday afternoon give these bad boys a whirl. The vegans out there reading this take note: they do on occasion serve vegan tamales as well. Check it out!
Jose’s Momma’s Tamales
Sundays at the Beaner Bar
447 Graham Avenue
Brookyn, New York 11211
(718) 599-1063
Oh yeah, I would woefully remiss if I didn’t make mention of their bathroom. Better yet— I’ll show it to you instead!
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Ender: East Williamsburg Colors
From Graham Avenue & Moore Street.
Miss Heather
East Williamsburg Photo Du Jour: Packaged
Filed under: Williamsburg
From Graham Avenue.
Miss Heather
In Other News…
Filed under: Williamsburg
Those of you who happen to live in East Williamsburg and happen to be craving Thai food, I regret to inform you that I bear some very bad news.
Pagoda, which is located on Graham Avenue, is closed until further notice. Why is this so, you ask?
Let’s just say the they’re feeling a little under the weather.
CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Pagoda Restaurant
333 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11211
If you happen to walk by this establishment for god’s sake do NOT light a match!
Miss Heather
Williamsburg Photo Du Jour: Oy Vey!
From Graham Avenue.
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Ender: Redemption
Sunday is (ostensibly) a day of rest and spiritual contemplation in most of north Brooklyn. Hence why I’m going to end this day’s posts with the following.
Abandon all hope ye who use this pay phone (on Graham Avenue).
But redemption can be found down the street.
Sort of.
Per Captain Zorikh this is the place to get it. For the record 182 Graham Avenue is a SRO. Single. Room. Occupancy. Where, long ago, I had one of the most interesting— and curiously enough— least degrading (but odd) interviews for a sublet I have ever had. You can leave it to Dutch dominatrix to separate the wheat from the chaff. Or give me street cred for looking at a lavender wall replete with paddles, whips, chains and not being perturbed. In my (admittedly limited) experience the above-board sexual perverts (and I mean this in the kindest way) are benign. It’s the co-called normal ones, e.g.; bohunks wearing New York Yankees ball caps incorrectly (READ: backwards) who are dangerous.* But I digress.
A few years later I went to a party in same said building and told Mister Heather:
Had I not landed the apartment we have now, this is where I would have lived. You can still see the indentations where the restraints were anchored to the wall.
I failed miserably in the cooler-than-thou world that is the East Williamsburg apartment share scene. Which is curious because I excel at failure— something many East Williamsburg artists court— albeit ironically. I suppose I didn’t look stylish enough in my desperation. Or was *gasp* TOO OLD. So in Greenpoint remained. THANK GOD.
The Love Chapel: R.I.P. and available to rent!
But Jesus still saves.
And Satan is around the corner!
You want redemption? The best place I found today was on Navy Street in DUMBO. Good luck.
Miss Heather
*Those of you who seek them can find them in the East Village.
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