Best Comment Of The Day: "Shameful"

Smdc has left the following comment on the post "Warning: NYPD Ticketing Commuters $100 At Bergen Street F/G Train Station For Jumping Over Broken Turnstyle During Rush Hour":

"I was there and it was shameful. There was lines of commuters extending up the stairs, but the officer yelling at me insisted we were lying about the inoperable fare gates. I've never skipped paying a fare.... except I could not. I had to get to work, and the officers' solution was to further delay commuters needless swiping cards for minutes before the turnstile would temporarily work. Another display of abuse of power and an inability to problem solve, work with the community, and work FOR the public. The attitude that they are out against us is disgusting and further damages the nypd relationship with th e public they pretend to serve. No one was made safer here; rather, the nypd protected the state/mta's coffers and penalized the taxpayer for mta's failure to maintain their fare gates. SHAMEFUL."

Read more response or leave your own comment regarding on this morning's NYPD ticketing at the Bergen Street subway station in Boerum Hill here.

You can also follow the lively conversation on Pardon Me For Asking's Facebook page.


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Best Comment Of The Day: Once A Funeral Home

Philip Van Cott left the following comment on the post: "Blue&Black, The New Barber Of Court Street":
That was a funeral parlor when I was a kid. The chairs facing the mirror was where the deceased was laid out, coffin , flowers and all. It was one step down from the sidewalk and the window was always open in the summer revealing the coffin and the body within. I always looked the other way while passing that window . It still gives me the creeps.



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Best Comment Of The Day: We're Gradually Turning Into An "Urban Suburb"

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post : "Tony's Hardware And Plumbing Supply Store On Smith Street Closing? Say It Isn't So."

"Happy retirement wishes to Tony. All we have left now is Mazzone and Bruno's, each at the opposite far ends of Court Street. I don't foresee either of them closing for many, many years to come, but it won't be long before Carroll Gardens lacks the vital everyday neighborhood services that its residents need. We're gradually turning into an "urban suburb"... need hardware items, a supermarket, or non-artisanal, grossly overpriced groceries? You'll have to get into your car (if you have one) and drive elsewhere."




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Best Comment Of The Day: I Find It Curious

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "Sign Petition To Curb Excessive Construction Noise At Lightstone Group's Mega Development In Gowanus":

"I find it curious that people would try to dissuade our fellow neighbors from circulating a petition and being active community members. Maybe start your own petition advocating Lightstone go back to their original 7AM start time. It became quite clear that without this community engagement, Lightstone would have kept their 7AM start time. If you do not hear the pile driving or your home is not vibrating then you probably don't care and those that don't care might later when they are unable to enroll their child in a nearby school or the subway platform becomes dangerously crowded."



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Best Comment Of The Day: Remembering Carroll Gardens Stores

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "TD Bank Coming Soon to Court Street":

"It's really sad that all our vital services (like supermarkets and grocery stores) are either being squeezed out or not being replaced by similar establishments when the owners retire. When I was growing up here, there were dozens of different stores to get your groceries: Rainbow Market (where you got bunches of parsley and basil for free whenever you shopped there); Aiello's; Pastosa (and its predecessor whose name escapes me); Tony's Meat Market; Fran's Fruits & Vegetables; Bohack's Supermarket; Sal Cusimano's Fish Market; Mastellone's (all within 3-4 blocks of each other on Court); Martino's Meat Market; Pete's Grocery Store; Tony's Grocery Store; Joe's Superette (in its hey-day); Gabriel's Grocery Store (ditto on Smith). And these are the stores I remember where my parents shopped on a regular basis -- I know I'm missing a few.
We had an abundance of places to shop, and all of these stores did very well and stayed in business for decades. If you couldn't find what you wanted here, you probably wouldn't find it anywhere. Of course, many of the owners retired in time, but no one filled their absence. Granted, Met on Smith is not a jewel (and its manager doesn't deserve any awards), but it is a large grocery that serves a purpose -- whether you shop there on a regular basis or just run in for a few last-minute staples for dinner on your way home from work.
While Union Market may be fancy and has a nice selection of items, most of its prices for produce, meats and fish (not all of which are of the utmost freshness) are obscene. Trader Joe's is "fun," if you can tolerate the lines. K&Y Vegetables is ok when their produce is at its freshest. Aside from these places, we now have only Met on Henry, Sahadi's and Key Food on Atlantic as our local supermarkets...and possibly Pacific Green if it survives its lawsuit against its landlord. And thank heaven for Fish Tales which sells the freshest fish I've seen here since Sal Cusimano retired 45 years ago.
If you don't have a car, grocery shopping is becoming more challenging. We truly need a good-sized, local supermarket to fill the void being left by Met/Smith when it closes later this year."




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Comment Of The Day: One Of A Kind Florist

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Old Time 'Gloria Flower Shoppe' Looking For New Owner on Court Street":

I'm 53 and knew Sal my entire life, personally, and as a florist. Sal was a good man, quiet, honest, nice guy. He did originally carry more of a selection until little deli's opened nearby and then he just went into plants, funeral, roses, etc. The flowers were always fresh, and he never "upped" the price on holidays like other do, ie Valentine's Day. He would always take people on their word. If you ordered over the phone, you could just go in and pay him when you passed by, whether it was a day later or a month later. As far as I know, he always operated in the same location - it was his Mother's florist from back in the 40's. Unfortunately, he was a one of kind and he will never be replaced.

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Best Comment Of The Day: Imagine

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Yesterday's Board Of Standards And Appeals Hearing Regarding Proposed Rock And Roll Playhouse On Bond Street Went Well For "We Ae Gowanus":

Imagine you work your 10 hour day, 35 minute commute from midtown to Carroll St eat dinner and finally settle down at 9pm and you open your windows and "oh there's that damn music again". Now try and relax while it continues till midnight or up to 2AM. Everyone would agree we would love to see the neighborhood expand and prosper, but when ambient noise from live bands starts invading your home forcing you to close your windows at night and then hate the neighborhood you moved into 10-15 years ago its time to stand your ground. Sound will travel further especially late at night in this otherwise quieter part of the area and irritate homeowners and renters on Degraw and Sacket St. Maybe those dozen families don't mean much but they deserve quiet at night too. Here is an example, Clover Club has a 3 piece band playing on occasion, I live a half block away and can still here it over a busy Smith Street.
Lifelong NY'r didn't move here from Ohio suburbs. Im just a homeowner who lives the first part of my post everyday. Just sayin'.


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Best Comment Of The Day: Room For Everyone

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Two Green Grocers On The Same Court Street Block. Will Both Survive?":

"Rainbow, Frances, and Jim&Andy all survived for several decades despite being a few blocks of each other. Union Market, K&Y, and Big Apple may be a bit too close to each other for comfort, but considering how many boutiques and restaurants have replaced food stores in our neighborhood in the last 10 years alone, I welcome them all. They don't all necessarily carry the same seasonal produce at the same time, so I will continue to shop at K&Y and Big Apple when either one has what I'm looking for at good prices (similar to Pacific Green's fresh artichokes, cremini mushrooms, Italian chestnuts for the upcoming holidays, and the like). Personally, I think most of Union Market's prices are obscene, but the option is there for those who want it. I think there's room for everyone, and I was thrilled to read last month that Pacific Green was opening an outpost in the Mastellone space. I hope all of them will flourish."

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Best Comment Of The Day: Approaching Standard

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "A Monumental Day For Gowanus: EPA Releases Its Finalized Plan To Clean Up The Gowanus Canal Superfund Site":

"The city has been collecting massive levels of water taxes from Brooklyn for a very long time, and spending in on improvements for all that Manhattan development. The city does have a choice on how they spend the sewer tax money. So far they have been choosing to let the highest rate of sewage run through our neighborhood while others get infrastructure to ensure they are sewage free. Well, this superfund will now require the city to use funds in Gowanus to that we might also have a community that beings to approach the standards most of the sewer rate payers enjoy."



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Best Comment Of The Day: Fighting Over Less Public Place

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "Gang Turf War In Carroll Park?":

The population of Brooklyn is way up. Ten years ago Carroll Gardens was said to have the highest population under the age of 8. Well those kids are now teens and they have to share less space with all the baby's and young children in our very small park. Why haven't the city planners anticipated the quality-of-life issues that were bound to emerge? The most fearful aspect of a deBlasio administration is his plans to pack thousands of new housing units in the area around the canal.
More people (and kids) fighting over less public space will require more aggressive policing just to keep a lid on things. So what can we expect from an administration that will pack us more densely together and lighten the policing at the same time? Will we all be able to live more peaceably together because the babies have pre-k classes being payed for by the wealthy?

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Best Comment Of The Day: On Most Sundays...

A Reader has left the following comment on the post "A "Grove" No More: Gowanus Site Entirely Cleared Of Trees. Is Construction Next?":

"I understand the desire to build there, in lieu of the blight that is allowed to stand for most of the week, but i do think it's also completely fair to praise the organizers of the weekly MISTER SUNDAY event.
I've gone at least a dozen times over the last few years, i live here in the neighborhood, and i've always felt that the manner in which the event has been organized and presented to its guests has been exemplary. it's too bad that these days are over, here at the "gowanus grove."

The folks behind mister sunday were transparent and interested in providing a relaxed vibe, where everyone could be welcome. If one RSVP'd before the event, the entrance fee was reduced, allowing more people to afford to go. there was no door policy, no sense of exclusion. Quite the opposite.
It was one of the few places in carroll gardens were one could truly encounter the wide diversity of brooklyn, which certainly means that it was not just hipsters.

Not all of the guests were good enough to honor the terms that the organizers expressed, and some Sundays were less appealing than others because of that, but on most Sundays, dancing and hanging out here was a real treat - a way to wind down with friends before the work week starts up. It was certainly better than watching NFL.

I understand that there are few readers of this blog who will be sad to see the departure of mistersunday, while others will not be eager to welcome a new development, but i hope that in the void that is left behind, somebody else will seize the initiative to bring another gathering based on inclusion into our neighborhood."

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Best Comment Of The Day: Disservice To A Beautiful Old Building

Anonymous has left the following comment on: "It Took A Long Time, But Warehouse Conversion At 333 Carroll Street Getting Closer To Completion":

"I live across the street from this project and have had the misfortune of watching them in real time as they do a disservice to this beautiful old building and the neighborhood in generalCase in point…each one of those units will be getting its own street facing window unit air conditioner. Who does that? Any idea if that was in the renderings?Same question for the Juliet balconies?"

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Best Comment Of The Day: Having Both

Musical Mom has left the following comment on the post "Rock And Roll Playhouse": More Details About Peter Shapiro's New Gowanus Venue:

The idea of a music venue is great, but there are plenty of spaces available to create such a place and still preserve the quality of life that we all enjoy. Why [did] Mr. Shapiro decided to create this venue in the middle of a residential block? It will be open 7 days a week until 1:30 and 2AM. How many families and kids will not be able to get a good night sleep? Why not choose one of the many interesting industrial buildings around Union and 3rd street.

It is silly to think that we cannot have both.




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Best Comment Of The Day: Amazing Display Of Arrogance

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "Mayor Bloomberg Holds Press Conference On NYC Water System Improvements Just Steps Away From A Very Foul Gowanus Canal":

"An amazing display of arrogance..How can a mayor that puts new "m[a]ndates" on its citizens for what we can eat, how much soda we can buy, where we drive, what we pay in rent, where we may smoke etc etc have the gall to complain about the federal government issuing mandates to enforce a 1972 law for the city to clean up its waters by getting the human sewage out.. just 6 more months of little general."



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Best Comment Of The Day: Great Neighbors

Jim Kenna has left the following comment on the post ""Florida In Brooklyn: Part One Of The Carroll Gardens Chronicle By Neighborhood Resident Alan Lantz":

Hi Katia,Your story of the Lantz family, and your personal reference to Huntington High School, reminded me of the truth of "Six Degrees of Separation". I live on First Street. In 2011 my youngest daughter bought her home on First Street, consequently, two of my grandchildren are the sixth generation of my family living on First Street. During the 1950's and 60's my family had a second home in Northport. I became very familiar with and fond of the north shore of Long Island, including Huntington, which was a great town. My wife Joan and I bought our home on First Street in 1970 and our three daughters grew up here.
In the late 1970's Joan and I were looking for a summer rental in Northport and I believe we met the Lantzs, who were renting their home in Fort Salonga. They were charming and delightful, and their home was beautiful. We eventually rented a home in Eatons Neck from Mike and Corinne McGrady. Mike was a writer and the creator of the best selling novel, "Naked Came the Stranger". I have probably passed the Lantz home hundreds of times, never aware they were the fine people we met more than thirty years ago.
Great series. Great story. Great neighbors.

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Best Comment Of The Day: Fake Brownstone Or Cement

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post 'Union Sackett' Condo Development In Carroll Gardens Getting A Brownstone Treatment:

"I hate this behemoth. Thankfully the Sackett street side isn't hideous. At first I thought I was looking at the corner of La Brea and Melrose. It has always looked like an overturned tanker ship, belly up, no matter what skin it's in. Fake brownstone or cement. But, thankfully it won't block the view of the Brooklyn Bridge. DUMBO, people. Thankfully we are not in DUMBO. And a bank is a sorely needed addition to the area. It's been hard to throw a rock and hit one, these days. Usually lands on a nail salon."

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Best Comment Of The Day: Clearly Incompetent

Psternglass has left a new comment on your post "Incompetence? Construction Crew At Former Sokol Brothers Furniture Store On Columbia Street Strikes Water Main A Second Time":

"This is a very bad situation. This developer is clearly incompetent, and I can't imagine that this will be the only problem, and I doubt that the quality of this place will be very good in the end. I had always hoped that the old Sokol Brothers building would be put to better use, but now I miss it!Something has to go up there eventually, we cannot just have a hole in the ground, but it may not be with these people."

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Best Comment Of The Day: The Future According To Developers

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "Lightstone Group's Plans And Drawings For Gowanus Project Approved By City Planning, But Developer Still Needs Waterfront Certificate":

"I just looked at Lightstone Groups's new drawing for this project and they show a Gownaus Canal that even the US EPA had not envisioned, with nice blue waters and what seems like a wider waterway.It's so nice to see what the developers think the future will look like. However, their future seem to leave out raising sea levels, more storms and wadding through flooded streets along the beautiful Gowanus Canal. The next chapter in this story will be written in ten years when the water of the Gowanus take over the front yards of these new buildings."

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Best Comment Of The Day: Smith Street Becoming Like Park Slope's 7th Avenue?

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "Ecopolis Closes Its Door On Smith Street":

"Unfortunately, with the rapid rise of rents on Smith Street, I say there is at least a 50% chance we are going to see another nail salon in the near future, as they seem to be one of the few businesses with adequate revenues to afford Smith Street.

For some reason (which I do not fully understand) there seems to be an insatiable demand for manicures.
I fear Smith Street is going to become 7th Avenue in Park Slope. There used be interesting restaurants and shops on 7th Avenue, and now it seems there are nail salons, real estate agents and cell phone stores...and a few chain stores. All the interesting businesses migrated to 5th Avenue in search of more affordable rent."

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Best Comment Of The Day: Sad!

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "Gowanus Whole Foods Taking Shape":

"Yes sad! And we have Landmarks and CB6 to hold accountable.CB6 and the Landmarks commissions, who spend endless hours fussing over drawings of barely viable rear-yard constructions by private homeowners, allow this. They didn't even ask Whole Foods for one single drawing of what the big-box store would look like engulfing this Landmarked building. They made their landmark decision with blinders on and and it certainly says a lot about what their decisions are worth."

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