Greenpoint
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Culture on the Cheap
Fedders Friday: The Gruesome Twosome
Yesterday I had a epiphany. One of those fleeting moments when one stops what he (or she) is doing, takes a few steps back and asks him (or herself):
This is my life?!?
This moment came to pass while I was sorting through my rapidly expanding collection of substandard architecture for this week’s installment of Fedders Friday. I shit you not, this process took one full hour of my time. During which I found myself sizing up the virtues of one pile of prefab shit or another. Exasperated (and coming to the realization that I am in dire need of a vacation) I decided to showcase a couple of beauties from East Williamsburg. Here they are.
Maujer Street
This thoroughfare is rapidly becoming a veritable Fedders paradise. Believe it or not, this is one of the more attractive offerings to be found here.
As you can see this building is lavishly appointed with all the luxury trimmings we have grown to expect in north Brooklyn: surveillance cameras, exposed gutters and, lest we forget, Fedders boxes.
It also sports a nice cement front yard from which one can contemplate the finer things in life, such as overflowing garbage cans.
Lorimer Street
I have been watching this monstrosity cutting edge piece of architecture with a mixture of horror, confusion and fascination for months.
I spent ten whole minutes trying to decipher the seemingly random placement of Fedders boxes on this wing. Then I came to the conclusion there are some mysteries in life one simply will never comprehend. As Donnie Rumsfeld so sagely stated:
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.
Add to that: There are things we know we don’t want to know.
I wonder which street gang this chap is referring to? Crips or Bloods. Given the copious use of red brick on this building, I’m going to say Bloods.
Whoever they are, I am certain they will make their new neighbors feel right at home.
Miss Heather
P.S.: I’d like to give a special Fedders Friday honorable mention to this property on Stockton Street.
Newly constructed homes for sale.
Make that a lot of newly constructed homes for sale.
It’s like a dream come true! Where’s the grass?
Bed-Stuy Photo du Jour: Sandford Street
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
It simply doesn’t get any more American than this. Where else but in the good ol’ U.S. of A. can dump your house, divorce your wife and grab a sandwich all at one handy location?
Miss Heather
A Novel Approach To The Illegal Parking Problem
Filed under: Bed-Stuy
As many of your are well aware, illegal parking is a serious problem in our fine city. How to discourage miscreants from blocking one’s driveway or refrain from double parking is something our public officials grapple with on a daily basis. Sure tickets are copiously issued, but they are often thrown away by scofflaws. Occasionally law enforcement professionals see fit to tow an errant car, but only after much pomp, paperwork and circumstance.
What New York City lacks is an effective deterrent against this very inconsiderate practice. I would like to humbly suggest that we as citizens and policy makers need to think outside the box and take a more direct “hands on” approach.
Which brings me to this sign on Sandford Street. If what I saw yesterday was any indication, this is a very effective tactic. There was nary a motor vehicle to be found anywhere near this chap’s driveway. You can always leave it to good ol’ Bed Stuy to cut the crap and get right to the heart of the matter.
Miss Heather
Bed-Stuy Photo du Jour: Kitty Cat
Inasmuch as I try to keep my crazy cat woman ravings to a minimum on New York Shitty, I cannot resist posting this serendipitous bit feline imagery via vandalism from Walworth Street. I give it two enthusiastic paws up!
Miss Heather
Animal Planet Lands In Greenpoint
The slightly older newcomers to this neighborhood will recognize this storefront. It used to belong to The Vortex* until February of last year. That’s when the landlord decided to double the rent from $2,000 to $4,000 a month. As a result, this property (which is located between Eagle and Dupont Street) stayed on the market for an entire year. It is an enormous (if ill-maintained) space. I would love to know what these people are paying for rent. I doubt it is four grand.
For pet owners in far north Greenpoint I suppose this is good news. I am cautiously optimistic. We already have Pets On The Run, NYC Pets, Petland, District Dog and (for those you willing to cross the bridge to LICLand) City Dog Lounge. I fear pet supply stores are going to become like Thai restaurants or banks here: too much of one thing.
Animal Planet
1084 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
(718) 349-0602
Nonetheless, I wish them the best of luck and look forward to checking out their wares.
Miss Heather
*Which has moved to 222 Montrose Avenue Brooklyn, 11206.
MTA: No One Rides For Free
Filed under: Bushwick
I always dread when the Metropolitan Transit Authority sees fit to cut off subway service and presses “free” shuttle buses into service. This arrangement has always bothered me. Maybe it was waiting in a long queue to get vouchers? Or was it being packed into said said buses like so many sardines? Something about the whole set-up struck me as being very, very wrong.
In any case, yesterday my long-harbored suspicions about this shady practice were finally confirmed.
It would appear that in the absence of regular subway service we rapid transit goers are expected to service the bus drivers.* No disrespect to the hardworking folks of the Transit Workers Union (I have met many a VERY COOL bus driver) but this is a little too up close and personal for me. Methinks I’ll walk instead, thank you very much.
Miss Heather
*MARK MY WORDS: The TWU’s grievances regarding pensions, wages and retirement during their last strike would have been swiftly and quickly addressed had this demand had been put on the table.
Bushwick Photo du Jour: Strike A Pose
Filed under: Bushwick
From the Canarsie bound platform at the Jefferson Avenue stop of the L.
Miss Heather
Back At It At P.S. 110
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
It would appear that our nocturnal contractors have progressed from earth moving and now have taken to pouring cement at 11:00 p.m. on Monday night. My informant (who has the dubious pleasure of living next to this site) writes:
There was another episode — this time involving concrete pouring — last night (Monday) around 11. I tried to take some camera phone pictures, but they just look like blob montages.
Anyway, I am happy to report that I navigated the slings and arrows of 311 and made a successful noise complaint. However, I was advised that public schools enjoy a different set of permitting criteria, and so the off-hours-ness of the construction may be entirely legit, and blah, blah, blah, call some other people during business hours. Which of course I have as yet failed to do, other income-generating parts of my life having taken a higher priority.
So there have you. Public schools are (ostensibly and) legally allowed to do what many developers hereabouts do anyway: raise an unholy ruckus in the wee hours of the night. I for one am happy to know the city cares so much about our little ones getting a brand-spanking new elevator. I am certain this will make standardized test scores go through the roof. It would be nice, however, if the powers that be would take into account the quality of life for us adults.
Miss Heather
THIS WEEK: United Friends of McCarren Park
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Thursday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. the newly formed United Friends of McCarren Park will be meeting at the Automotive High School Library. Some items on the agenda for this event are as follows:
1. The “group structure†subcommittee will present a proposal for an ongoing structure and format for the group. It is going to change the way you think about democracy.
2. If the structure proposal is agreed upon, UFMP will vote on members of a Steering Committee. Those interested in taking a leadership role in this new group will be asked to introduce themselves and say a few words about their interest in the park, etc.
3. Ideas for continued outreach to other park users, etc.
Those of you who are not familiar with U.F.M.P. is about will find this synopsis from their latest announcement informative:
The best way to get the parks we deserve is through persistent community attention to each park. GWAPP (Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks & Planning) wants to help kickstart a big (and sustained) Push for Parks all across our North Brooklyn neighborhoods by helping to create (where one doesn’t exist) support (where one does exist) and unite (where, as with McCarren Park, several active groups co-exist) park-specific Friends Groups.
The purpose of these groups will be to gather information about the way the community uses the park, the issues and needs of each park and, most importantly, establish a community representative (or two or six or twenty) of that park, acting as a watchdog and persistently (key word) pushing for improvements – whether from the city, the Open Space Alliance (www.openspacealliancenb.org), neighbors, local businesses, grants…
We have an opportunity, with this particular Mayor and the promises made regarding the McCarren Park Pool, Ice Skating Rink and Skate Park, to push for real improvements in McCarren Park. We need to make sure we have a unified and coherent voice in the way the park is maintained and plans made for future developments. With the Pool reconstruction underway (design-wise at least) it seems the various user-groups of this potentially wonderful park have a shared purpose. Let’s use it to make the park better
Anyone who is interested in attending April 3rd’s meeting, has suggestions for the meeting format and/or agenda or wants to suggest other park user-groups who might wish to participate should contact Dewey Thompson at:
dthompson (at) pickerelpie (dot) com
In closing, I will leave you with some materials I recently acquired that hail back to the McCarren Park of yore. I am not too certain when they date from (my guess is the 1980s), but they bear testament that to the fact that the only way we, as residents of North Brooklyn, are going to effect any real and lasting change regarding our public spaces is to unite and hold our public officials accountable for the promises they have made.
The more eagle-eyed among you will notice closing Driggs Avenue to vehicular traffic is not such a new idea after all.
Comfort Station– in disrepair
Despite the radical changes Williamsburg and Greenpoint have undergone the last ten years I find it perversely comforting (no pun intended) that some things remain the same.
Miss Heather
P.S.: Be sure to check out the enlarged rendering of the old park plan which graces the beginning of this post. It is quite interesting.
Back In Business!
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
As some of you might have noticed, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory experienced an electrical outage this winter which required them to close to make repairs. Well, as of my latest walk down Commercial Street Sunday evening I noticed they are back in business. Just in time for a spring time scoop (or two)!
Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
97 Commercial Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
All you sweet tooths out there should take note that this establishment keeps rather unusual business hours: Thursday – Sunday 3:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Miss Heather
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