Moscot, Iconic Manhattan Eyewear Store, Now Open On Court Street, Brooklyn

Moscot, the nearly hundred year old New York City eyewear institution with flagship stores on Orchard Street and 14th Street in Manhattan, just opened in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, this week after a tasteful renovation to the old storefront at 159 Court Street.
According to its web site,  Moscot, a family business,  was started by patriarch Hyman Moscot, "who arrived from Eastern Europe via Ellis Island in 1899.  He began selling ready-made eyeglasses from a pushcart on Orchard Street on Manhattan's famed Lower East Side."

One wonders why it took so long for the Moscot family to have ventured into our fair borough.

Wilderness Survival Training In Prospect Park

photo credit: Daniel Avila, NYC Parks & Recreation

Prospect Park can hardly be considered wilderness, but here in the city, it's the perfect place to learn a thing or two about survival skills.  The Urban Park Rangers will be teaching valuable techniques on how to stay alive if you ever get lost far from the nearest Starbuck.
Here is more:
"What would you do if you found yourself lost in the woods? Do you know how to build your own shelter, or start a fire without matches? What would you eat and where would you find water? Do you have what it takes to survive in the wild? Our Urban Park Rangers are skilled in the techniques of wilderness survival and emergency preparedness. On these fun, family friendly programs you will learn tips and tricks that will enhance your knowledge of the natural world, and might just save your life.Whether you are preparing for an extended journey through the woods or just want to be more prepared for any situation, a wilderness survival program is perfect for you. Wilderness survival programs feature hands-on activities in an outdoor setting. Emergency Preparedness provides families and individuals with helpful information on how to be ready when an emergency situation arises. All programs are family friendly, but are recommended for ages 8 years and older. Please dress appropriately for cold weather."

Click here for further information.

Wilderness Survival

Saturday, February 11, 2012

1 PM

Prospect Park Picnic House (in Prospect Park)

West Drive and Third Street., Brooklyn

(718) 421-2021 

Free

Columbia Waterfront Residents Get Opportunity To Meet New Red Hook Container Terminal's Stevedore

On February 9th, Columbia Waterfront residents will have the opportunity to meet with Phoenix Beverage Company, the new stevedore of the Red Hook Container terminal at a community meeting to "help build and maintain a good relationship between the port and its neighborhoods."

This past fall, the beverage distributor replaced American Stevedoring, Inc. (ASI) as the group responsible for operating the Red Hook Container Terminal on behalf of the Port Authority.

This meeting has been organized by the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association (COWNA), Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Councilmember Brad Lander, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman as well as Community Board Six.

The is an opportunity to talk with about building and maintaining a good relationship between the port and its neighborhoods.

Meet The New Stevedore!

Thursday February 9, 2012, 6:30 pm

Postgraduate Center for Mental Health

177 Columbia Street at Degraw Street

Carroll Gardeners Enjoying Mild February 1st

Having a drink at an outside table in front of Abilene's on February 1st? Better than shoveling snow, I say.  Obviously, many Carroll Gardeners took full advantage of the balmy weather by spending some serious time outside.

Notes On EPA's Presentation Of Gowanus Canal Feasibility Study To Members Of Community Advisory Group

Christos Tsiamis, EPA Region 2 project manager for the Gowanus Canal

Jeff Edelstein, Gowanus CAG facilitator

Brian Carr, EPA Region 2 lawyer

Victoria Hagman(l) and Natalie Loney,

EPA Region 2 Community Involvement Coordinator

Hans Hasselein, Gowanus Canal Conservancy

Eymund Diegel, Proteus Gowanus

Michelle De La Uz (l), Fifth Avenue Committee and Ludger Balan, Urban Divers

Christos Tsiamis, Environmental Protection Agency's site manager for the Gowanus Canal Superfund, presented the just-released Feasibility Study to the Community Advsiory Group (CAG) at a meeting on Monday night.
Many CAG members had also attended the EPA's presentation on the FS to the general public at PS 58 last week, so they were already quite familiar with the options available for cleaning and containing the highly toxic sludge that has been accumulating on top of the native sediment at the bottom of the canal. This allowed Tsiamis to take more time to take questions and to explain specifics, especially addressing the issue of re-contamination after the clean-up.
As Tsiamis pointed out, the Gowanus Canal cannot be cleaned effectively without eliminating the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) discharges from New York City's sewer system as well as the coal tar oozing from National Grid's three  MGP sites lining the canal. This, of course, involves a tremendous amount of co-ordinate with New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which is responsible for the CSOs and with NYS Department Of Environmental Conservation (DEC)  under whose supervision National Grid will clean up the MGP sites.
"This is an issue that has to be addressed. We need to curtail those sources of contamination," Tsiamis stated.
Quite a few CAG members seemed concerned that NYC DEP has, until now, not shown a willingness to take responsibility for their part in the clean-up. After all, Farrell Sklerov, a spokesperson for DEP told the Brooklyn Paper: “The evidence clearly indicates that the primary sources [of contamination] are the former industrial plants on the canal, and not ongoing sewer overflows.”

That seems laughable since most residents of the Gowanus area have witnessed CSO events such as this one.
"The CS0s have to be dealt with so that we have a sustainable remedy. That's a statement in the Feasibility Study." Tsiamis told the CAG. "We have been in talks [with the City] about ways that can be implemented to address this particular matter." 

A meeting has been scheduled between the EPA and DEP for February 2 to discuss specific technical possibilities.
One way to control CSOs within the framework of the Superfund would be to construct a retention basin to retain discharges after heavy rains, much like the facility completed by DEP in Perdegat Basin,

As a community, we should let the City know that its denial and delay mechanisms are not going to fly in this community.

Perhaps a letter writing campaign to Mayor Bloomberg and to our own city representatives, Councilmen Brad Lander and Steven Levin, is in order?

Gowanus Canal Superfund: EPA Releases List Of 'Notice of Potential Liability' Recipients

photo credit: Brooklyn Public Library 

The Environmental Protection Agency has just released a document revealing the names of companies  that have been sent  notices of potential liability and information request letters as of January 2012.   In addition to the twenty-eight companies that have received such a notice,  New York City, the US Navy, the US Postal Service, the US General Services Administration have also gotten word that they may be Potential Responsible Parties (PRP.)
The list includes such known companies as Amerada Hess Corp., Kraft Foods Global, Inc., ExxonMobil Oil Corp.,Verizon New York Inc. and Honeywell International Inc.
As per the agency's document:

"EPA has taken various other enforcement-related steps related to the Canal. In April 2010, EPA entered into administrative consent orders with New York City and National Grid to provide work in support of EPA’s remedial investigation. In September 2010, EPA entered into a judicial bankruptcy consent decree with Chemtura Corp. under which Chemtura paid EPA $3.9 million to resolve its liability with respect to the Site. Chemtura also agreed to perform cleanups at their former Court Street facilities in Red Hook under the oversight of the NYSDEC." 

The information on PRPs includes the following paragraph:

It should be noted that a notice of potential liability is not a legal determination that a party is in fact responsible, only a warning that EPA believes this may possibly be the case as of the time of the notice. EPA may revise a party’s status as additional information is received. A notice letter is also intended to provide a party with an opportunity to participate in the Superfund process.

To read the entire document on EPA's Region 2 web site, click here.

Historic District Council And Preservationists Continue Push Against Shrinking Coignet Building Site In Gowanus

’Historic District Council (HDC), the Citywide Advocate for New York's Historic Neighborhoods, is currently circulating a petition to be sent to the NYC Council's Landmarks Subcommittee in regards to the landmark Coignet Building on the intersection of Third Street and Third Avenue in Gowanus.
HDC is asking the Landmark's Subcommittee to not grant Whole Foods Market, the owner, a special dispensation from the New York City Landmarks Law that governs the historic building.
Whole Foods wants to annex part of the Coignet building site to make the design of their proposed food market fit on the adjacent site "without any consideration given to how that new structure will impose itself on the designated landmark building." If granted, there will only be a five-foot “buffer zone” between the Coignet building and the new WF bi-box retail store.
On January 24th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to reduce the size of the lot.
The Council's Landmarks Sub Committee (chaired by Councilmember Brad Lander)  will vote on this matter soon, before it is taken up by the entire Council.
HDC's petition reads:
"The Coignet building must be given the proper protection it currently has under the Landmarks Law. Whole Foods should comply with this law just as any owner of a landmark is required to. Whole Foods must make a proper Landmarks Public Hearing that shows just how their proposed development will relate to the Coignet Building."
If Whole Foods is allowed to alter the landmark site in order to avoid the normal Landmarks Preservation Commission review process, this will opens the way for all who want to build upon a landmarked site and avoid any LPC oversight. Maybe St Bart's Church can request a "Whole Foods" ruling and start building that glass tower they wanted to cantilever on their landmark church site 30 years ago.
We ask that City Council not damage Landmark Law by allowing any developer to manipulate and thus avoid the law in this manner."
On January 24th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to reduce the size of the lot.The Council's Landmarks Sub Committee will vote on this this week, before the matter will be taken upthe flu Council.
To sign HDC's petition, click here.

A brief history of the Coignet building from HDC:

"The New York and Long Island Stone Company Coignet Building was constructed as a show case for what the manufacturer’s product could do, create a strong, elegant, detailed building at a cost less than real stone. It is easy to forget that this is the earliest known concrete building in New York City, and one of the earliest in the country, due to the fact it has been primarily covered over with faux brick. Areas of the west and south façades though are uncovered and the building’s reason for being, concrete, is visible. While these two walls are certainly secondary to the main façades on Third Avenue and Third Street, they are not plain and instead some of the same detailing including arched windows, quoins and stringcourse are carried over. The west façade also includes a bay identical in design to the bays on the primary façades. It is troublesome that after years of planning by Whole Foods, the company is only now dealing with the fact that it owns a designated site and is asking the landmark to bear the brunt of the project. As shown in renderings, plans and elevations presented to the Brooklyn Community Board 6 Land Use Committee in August, the Coignet Building would be engulfed by new structures, while the other half of the block would be a parking lot. Obviously there are other arrangements on this block that would be more appropriate for the landmark. Although buildings were once unfortunately built up against the Coignet Building, probably in the mid-20th century, as their ghosts on the side walls show, they were shorter. Other factory buildings on the block were described by Brooklyn Daily Eagle in June 1872 as 32 feet tall – about 20 feet shorter than the planned Whole Foods buildings. The Coignet Building was always allowed to retain its prominence on the block. HDC urges you to keep the boundaries as they are so that any alterations to the sight are overseen by LPC and sensitively help preserve one of the few landmarks in Gowanus."

340 Court Street Construction Project: A Community Update From Alchemy

Construction of the 7 story, 32 unit condominium building at 340 Court Street has been progressing swiftly in the last few months. The steel frame has been completed and a new phase of construction is about to begin.  In addition, excavation of the town homes on Sackett Street will commence soon.
Below is a community update on the 340 Court Street construction site from Joel Breitkopf of development firm Alchemy Properties Inc.   According to Breitkopf:
"We are placing concrete floors 7 and 8 and stairwells of condo building. There will be a pedestrian walkway change on Court and Union streets as we will be placing concrete and back filling for temporary sidewalk and hoist on Court and Union Streets. We will be commencing the hoist installation along Court Street. Finally, excavation will start for the Sackett Street Townhomes. Trucking and soil removal via the Sackett and Union Street gates."

Picture Of The Day: Looking Downhill

One of my favorite blocks in the neighborhood:

2nd Street, looking towards Bond.

What's your favorite?

An Unusual Back Yard Visitor In Carroll Gardens

My friend Joe was a bit startled to find a this large bird of prey in his Carroll Gardens backyard over the week-end.  The raptor was perched on an old clothesline pole, snacking on a bloody carcass.
Joe thinks it was a Peregrine Falcon.  To me it looks more like a hawk.  Any experts out there who can identify it?


**Reader and friend Phyllis was kind enough to forward the photos to bird expert Bob Candido, who replied:
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperi) - feed primarily on small birds in our area.
This photo shows a juvenile (first winter) female.
These hawks occasionally breed in NYC. They have bred in the Bronx and Staten Island in the last 10 years...they are very common winter residents in NYC - frequently seen in backyards where they like to catch birds at bird feeders...

Best Selling Author Patrick Taylor To Come To Carroll Gardens Public Library In Exclusive Appearance

Bestselling author Patrick Taylor, best known for his “Irish Country” series, will visit  the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, 396 Clinton Street, on Wednesday, February 29 at 7 p.m. for an exclusive appearance to discuss and sign his novels. The event is hosted by Friends Of The Carroll Gardens Library. The group writes:

 “We are so excited that Patrick Taylor will be visiting not only the library, but Brooklyn for this event,” says Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library secretary and event organizer Diane Saarinen. “We can only hope our ‘little village’ of Carroll Gardens is half as interesting as the Ballybucklebo that Taylor depicts in his colorful novels.”

Taylor , author of the bestselling An Irish Country Village, A Dublin Student Doctor and more, is also looking forward to the February 29 event: “Although I have visited New York often, I am really looking forward to my first visit to Brooklyn--even if Ebbets Field is gone and the Trolley Dodgers who hired Jackie Robinson in 1947 have long been in LA,” the author says. “And where better to go than a library in a borough that has 58 branches of its Public Library system? I hope what I have to say will be interesting and entertaining.”

Seating is limited and those who wish to attend this exciting event must register for tickets here.  A donation of $10 per person at the door is suggested. Signed books will be available for purchase. 

Tonight, General Meeting Of EPA's Gowanus Canal CAG

The EPA's Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group is holding its general meeting tonight.  If you missed EPA's presentation on the Feasibility Study last week,  this is is your opportunity to hear  Christos Tsiamis, the project manager for the Canal, explain the different clean-up options for the polluted waterway. 

EPA Gowanus Canal CAG Meeting

Monday, January 30

at Borough Hall from 6 pm – 9 pm

 Agenda includes:

· Discussion of Feasibility Study

· WQ/Technical Committee report-out

· Technical Assistance (TAG and TASC)· Other business

Battle For Brooklyn: Free Screening At Issue Project Room In Gowanus

If you have not yet seen "Battle for Brooklyn" by husband-and-wife-team Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky, here is your chance. 

Gowanus Institute, Rooftop Films and Issue Project Room present:

Battle for Brooklyn

the Oscar shortlisted and critically acclaimed documentary film about the Atlantic Yards project

Tuesday 31 January 2012 

Doors open 7:00, Screening 7:30 

Free admission. 

Run time 93 min. Panel discussion and Q &A to follow 

Issue Project Room at The Old American Can Factory 

232 Third St corner Third Ave Gowanus, Brooklyn

  Battle for Brooklyn follows the story of reluctant activist Daniel Goldstein as he struggles to save his home and community from being demolished to make way for a professional basketball arena and the densest real estate development in U.S. history. Along the way, he falls in love, gets married and starts a family while living in a vacated building located at the heart of the project site. Over the course of seven years, Daniel spearheads the movement against the development plan as he and the community fight tenaciously in the courts, the streets, and the media to stop the abuse of eminent domain and reveal the corruption at the heart of the plan.

A Moment In Time: Hurrying Home

Hurrying home before dark

Burgersmith Opens In Former Faan Space On Smith Street

Burgersmith at 209 Smith Street just opened its doors a few days ago in the space once occupied by Faan, one of the first Asian-Fusion eateries on Restaurant Row. 
The menu features a selection of  burgers, wings, fries and shakes, but as Kyle Huebbe and Blessing Schuman-Strange, the culinary team behind this new farm-to-table eatery, will point out the food is "New American, but elevated."  The burgers are made from grass-fed beef, ground daily and supplied by a local butcher.
The selection includes the 'Friday Night', which is topped with fried egg, caramelized onions, oven roasted tomato, arugula, truffle vinaigrette.  There's also the "Left Coast",  topped with gruyere cheese, avocado, oven roasted tomato, arugula and garlic aioli. 
For lighter options, there are turkey, lamb, chicken and trout burgers, and for vegetarians, the menu includes a nut-vegetable-quinoa burger.
Don't see what you want?  You can create your very own, by choosing from various toppings.
Kyle Huebbe, a Ditmas Park resident obviously knows a thing or two about food and burgers. He is a former short-order cook with stints at restaurants like Picket Fence.  In 2009, he beat out four other contestants to win Brooklyn Paper first Burger Bash contest..
Blessing Schuman-Strange, a Brooklyn native, who moved to California five years ago, just came back East to help his best friend Huebbe with Burgersmith.  "My background is more in fine dining" he told me.  "Mine is in burgers and wings" chimed in Huebbe.
Sounds like a perfect team.  
Good luck, guys!

Burgersmith

209 Smith Street

718 694 2277