THIS WEEK: Poetry And PADL BATL

Yesterday I awoke with a nifty little head cold. Imagine that. It is spring and I get a fucking cold. So it goes. In any case, today’s offerings are going to be lite as it is difficult to type when one has to blow one’s nose every five minutes.

When I finally got my sniffling ass out of bed today I spied this item in my inbox from Dillon de Give. He writes:

Are you tired of the same old racket sports? Feel the need to trim those excess pounds now that the warm weather pretends to be here? Well luck is on the way. Hi my name is pingpong. You may remember me from such internationally famous tournaments as PADL BATL, PADL BATL 2, and PADL BATL 7.5. I’d like to tell you about

Pingpong. Wednesday nite!

Those of you who are interested in a little ping pong this evening should make your way to…

PADL BATL (8.0?)
129 Russell Street (across from McGolrick Park)
Brooklyn, New York 11222

The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. and no R.S.V.P. is necessary.

Next up, East Coast Aliens will be hosting A Chair Burning Retrospective Friday, April 18, at 8:00 p.m. This event will celebrate the four years and more than 150 poets who’ve represented the Burning Chair Readings with a night of poetry and music from eight poets and two musical groups. Readers include Greenpoint’s very own Andrea Baker (Like Wind Loves a Window, Fence Books) Gawker’s Kreepie Kats creator Jim Behrle (She’s My Best Friend, Pressed Wafer), and director of the MFA program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Dara Wier (Remants of Hannah, Wave Books).

Music will be performed by Walter Baker (the proprietor of Claank, which is just down the street from ECA), whose life is the focus of the soon-to-be-released documentary A Rubberband is an Unlikely Instrument, and the band the dreams [ of the congregation of details.

East Coast Aliens
216 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the suggested price of admission is $5.00.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Bedford Avenue

Why not have a little vodka while you wait?

Miss Heather

Transmitter Park Meeting Notes

I attended last night’s meeting of the “Friends of Transmitter Park”. There wasn’t much in the way of news, but I’ll relay the highlights.

The concept for this park was formed by a “Community Vision Meeting” in 2005. Per Rich Mazur, the point person for the park that is Transmitter, three points were particularly germane to its design:

1. It should have a pier with waterfront access…
2. so people can fish.
3. It will be a “low impact” park, e.g.; no concerts, noise, etc. It should be a place for relaxation.

As I mentioned in this post, the final schematic should be released by the Parks Department June of this year. That said, a few items have been excised from the above rendering:

1. The bird islands, because they are bad for fish.
2. No climbing wall for children. (DUH)

Here’s what is in:

1. Fishing piers (!)
2. Bird gardens

At this point in the meeting a woman voiced her concerns about “security*”, e.g.; will it be a gated park?

Per Jeff Sandgrund, the newly appointed Parks employee deemed with overseeing parks development in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the answer is yes.

The aforementioned woman then asked if the community can be charged with opening and closing the park.

Mr. Sandgund advised against it. (I agree. This should be left to the city, not citizenry.) He also pointed out a few more changes that have been made to the original plan. They are as follows:

1. The pier will be straight and bereft of “pods”.
2. The schematic closest to what might be approved is this.

Note the annotations my fellow meeting goers saw fit to make on this map. They are a wee bit off.

One gentleman asked about the time table/financing for this park. Here are the answers we received:

1. The “schematic” is to be rolled out June of this year.
2. Ground-breaking will come to pass 2009. There was some debate as to whether this would be the beginning or end of 2009 .
3. It has a budget of “10-12 million dollars”. Per Stephanie Thayer (of the Open Space Alliance) it will be “fully funded” and there is a “contingency amount”.
4. It will be finished in 1-1/2 years (2010)

Then it was asked if the above funds included the pier. Answer:

It includes park.

Apparently the state has to approve the pier.

Then questions were raised about the India Street Park pier. There will be no pier because:

1. With the new zoning the developer will get FAR for building a pier.
2. What does this mean, you ask? Simply put: under discretionary zoning this developer can build over the alloted limit of 24 stories. How high can they go, you ask? FORTY stories.

Objections were made to calling this park “Transmitter Park”. Some thought it should be called WNYC Park. Mr. Sandgrund pointed out that the name of the park will be determined by the local community board.

And that’s when things wound down. Here’s a few points to close with:

1. The next “Friends of Transmitter Park” meeting is tentatively slated for April 28, 2008 at Word Books.
2. There will be a GWAPP meeting this Thursday, April 17, 2008 at the Warsaw (261 Driggs).
3. Word Books is building an “Independent Business Alliance”
4. There is talk of having a Bedford Avenue “Promenade” Saturdays from (and this was disputed) North 3rd Street to Metropolitan Avenue OR North 3rd to North 8th/9th Street.

Miss Heather

*Apparently there are concerns that this park (which will be located at Greenpoint Avenue west of West Street) might attract certain elements that see fit to hang out at the American Playgound (which is located at Franklin Street and Noble Street). Empty crack vials were discussed.

News From The Greenpoint Grapevine

(with an emphasis on grape)

1. 153 Franklin Street is well along its way to becoming a wine store. All they are waiting for is the liquor license. Per the owner they hope to open by the end of the month, but as you can see they’re hedging their bets. In any case I love the name!

2. Cafecito Bogota got their liquor license! They will be be re-tooling their restaurant (as I understand, it will be a Tapas Bar). More to come.

Cafecito Bogota
1015 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
(718) 560-0077

3. A new art space has set up shop in the Garden Spot. It is called “The Creamery” and is located 390 McGuinness Boulevard (just north of Dupont). They had their grand opening Saturday before last. I can’t wait to see what they have cooking. Or would that be churning?

Miss Heather

The Fun Has Begun at 200 Franklin Street!

Earlier today I announced the fugTABULOUS Karl Fischer slated for 200 Franklin Street has borne the chrysalis of creation: scaffolding and permits. This evening (at 6:50 p.m., to be precise) I got a taste of the hilarity to come.

Mister Heather: They’re going to try to park that earthmover in that garage.
Miss Heather: No way.

YES WAY!



Here’s a nice snippet of these chaps trying to defy one of Newton’s Laws, e.g.; no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time. In this case it is the entrance to this garage and the top of an earthmover. Don’t worry, they didn’t fuck up the building. They scratched up the street instead.


Undeterred, they then tried to get it in this way.

When I walked by later (8:30 p.m.) they had clearly given up…

and now we have an earthmover obstructing Franklin Street!

Miss Heather

Good News For All You Karl Fischer Fans Out There!

Just in time for spring 421a tax abatements, a new Karl Fischer masterpiece is poised to blossom on Franklin Street. It’s going to be a real beauty too. (Caveat: Do not click on the previous link if you have eaten recently.)

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: 110 Green Street

Looks like someone at Magic’s new digs decided to enjoy last Saturday’s lovely weather with a little al fresco television watching.

Miss Heather

THIS WEEK: Mets By Numbers

This Thursday, April 17  at 7:30 p.m. Word Books will be hosting a must-do event for Mets lovers. Jon Springer, the author of Mets By Numbers and Spike Vrusho, the author of Benchclearing: Baseball’s Greatest Fights and Riots will be giving a presentation moderated by none other than metsgrrl. Beer and snacks are in the offering. Check it out!

Word Books
126 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
(718) 383-0096

Let’s give these guys a big ol’ Greenpoint welcome. As it would happen, I know one of the previous authors hails from the Garden Spot of the Universe. Which one, you ask? That’s for me to know and you to find out Thursday night!

Miss Heather

Crosstown Local Chicanery: Who Moved My Cheese?

Yesterday the Heathers took a day trip to south Brooklyn. Mr. Heather took the usual precaution and looked up the MTA service advisories for the almighty G before we left. All was clear, he said. The Mister is fanatical about such things. He loves structure and order.

This is unfortunate given the Crosstown Local is our subway line. The capricious nature of the G has taught me to take a certain Zen approach to rapid transit. Does a bunch of people berating the crappy service on said line at City Hall make a sound? No, not really. Does a subway entrance for the Crosstown Local unencumbered by tape mean there is service? Not necessarily. Anything goes on the G. It is a joy ride of the absurd, as you will see.

We ducked into the Smith and 9th entrance for the G at India Street. It was open for all to enter. This would lead a reasonable person to believe said platform was in service. But the Crosstown Local does not toe the line of reason; it was closed. So we schlepped to the Queens-bound platform. That’s where we were met with the following piece of transit-related hilarity.

Let’s think about this for a moment. If one is standing on the Queens-bound platform waiting for the Smith-9 St bound train on a Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. what good does this annotated sign do— other than to confuse?

Miss Heather