So where is the action in Prospect Heights now?
It’s on the Daily Heights message boards, which are completely out of hand lately. In a good way.
The action is also in the Flickr Photo Pool for Prospect Heights.
Just don’t expect much new stuff on this page for the next two weeks. Keep checking back, though - maybe you’ll see a random post or two appearing on this page (hint, hint).
Jose checks in with a follow-up on that mysterious “Hispanic Shampoo” section on Aisle 4 at the Flatbush Ave. Duane Reade: “Some of the products are made in Latin America (the DR, Honduras, Panama, Miami). However, other so-called Hispanic products are made in Germany and–get this–by special decree of Her Majesty, the Queen of England. The products range from cod liver oil capsules, gel, tonic, ‘Hongo Killer’ athlete’s foot powder, and, yes, shampoo. Or as my mom used to say, champu.”
[“Hongo Killer”? qu’est-ce que c’est? Fa fa fa fa, fa fa fa fa fa fa…]
ALSO, we got this note from noisefootprint: “I was in there recently, and a couple of young [Latina] women got riled at that sign … they were in that aisle getting their hair-care products, and kept making loud remarks about how they were reduced to the ‘ethnic’ section. ‘The ETHNIC section! We have to shop in the ETHNIC section now’…”
Actually, the weird thing about the “Hispanic Shampoo” section is that it contains only ONE type of shampoo: Mirta de Perales (Lemon Fresh and Herbal Fresh varieties, along with Hair Conditioning Rinse and Oil Treatment).
Maybe de Perales lobbied Duane Reade to change their signage? After all, she is quite the entrepreneur… Somewhere out there, you can find a Miami Herald article from the early 1990s that profiles de Perales’s Algeresque rags-to-riches story. It begins like this:
“On July 15, 1987, President Reagan, speaking at the White House, pointed to Mirta de Perales at a special function honoring minorities and said: ‘That’s the American dream.’ … Perales, Miami’s undisputed exile cosmetics queen, smiled. Fifty years ago, she began her career in the beauty business charging a nickel for a haircut in her hometown. Today, she owns one of the 500 richest Hispanic businesses in the United States–her own line of beauty products.”
PET PEEVE: NYC photobloggers… I’m calling you out. I’m saying this because I love you like brothers and sisters. This hurts me more than it hurts you.
You all can do AMAZING THINGS with your digital cameras. And you have clearly reinvented the way people look at the city. But cities are not about things - they are about people. People like Best Friend of DisasterTube, pictured in this “Birthday at Beast” photo uploaded to the rapidly expanding Prospect Heights Photo Pool!
Flash! Isa did a bit of investigative reporting (she picked up the phone) and found out that this Craigslist post about a restaurant for sale is actually Biscuit, the Flatbush Ave. BBQ joint that has ProHo Foodies deeply divided (does it suck? Is it awesome?). “This is the ideal opportunity for a hands-on owner to expand on an already profitable business. 7 years left on the lease,” the advertisement says. Could this be the beginning of the end for Biscuit? …or just the beginning of a BBQ renaissance?
In an unrelated but related matter, sje reported on Saturday that Mama Dukes (Flatbush at 6th Ave.) has closed, maybe for good: “I’ll miss the excellent ribs … Ms. Combs (yes, she’s puff’s mom) was very supportive of mine and other local businesses, and I’m sorry she couldn’t make a go of it there.” Then we have a completely unsubstantiated rumor that Combs & Co. are leaving because their landlord–Pintchik, apparently–raised their rent from 5k to 7k. Shame, shame on you, anonymous guest, for spreading unsubstantiated rumors in the message boards… but thanks for the Unsubstantiated Good News: That Mama Dukes is looking to reopen on Vanderbilt.
Links:
Biscuit is for Sale [Isa in Daily Heights Forums]
Mama Duke’s is Closed (for good?) [Daily Heights Forums]
Biscuit Sucks; Biscuit Rocks; Sucks; Rocks; Etc. [Ranjit’s Flickr Photo Quiz by way of Daily Heights]
Seriously… to paraphrase the Unity guys: what kind of a project has “community benefits” so vague and dubious that you have to get it in writing that there will actually be some kind of benefit to the community?
From WNYC: “Under the Community Benefits Agreement, Ratner pledged half of the 45-hundred apartments he plans to build for middle and low income residents, and promised to set aside 45 percent of the project’s construction jobs for minorities and women.”
And this is different, how? Brooklyn is a city of minorities. Don’t most of the construction crews you see on the streets of Brooklyn have at least 45% minority representation? Seriously, I’m asking here.
[Seriously, DeeDee is answering here: “the agreement will mean set-asides for minority- and women-OWNED contractors to do the work. This is a very important distinction…”]
And while we’re at it… “affordable housing” sounds suspiciously like one of those terms designed to make you think the exact opposite of what they really mean. Affordable to who? Does the “CBA” define price points for “affordable”? Can obscenely rich people like Mike Bloomberg actually have a realistic concept what “affordable” means?
PHOTO: Billionaire Mike Bloomberg vouches for Bruce Ratner, Real Estate Developer with a net worth exceeding $400 million: “You have Bruce Ratner’s word, and that should be enough for you and for everybody else in this community.” [New York One]
Lucas writes: “Wow! Ms. James is reading her email… She responded in under three hours! Thought DH readers might appreciate this.”
“Dear Ms. James: I’m writing to ask that you take a look at the state of crime in our precinct (the 77th) this summer. Though it appears that overall statistics are down (almost across the board) St. John’s between Underhill and Classon is an area of growing concern…
LETITIA JAMES RESPONDS: You are absolutely correct, there have been a number of shootings in the precinct, and I suspect, an increase of unreported low level crimes being committed in our community…”
Click below for the whole exchange.
(more…)
Have you seen him [CLICK HERE FOR FULL FLYER]
Please call
718 282-3254
718 856-1966
917 204-6357
917 204-0656
JPanton asks: What exactly is the story behind this? My best guess is that this guy has disappeared, and his family is looking for him. The flyer was posted on Vanderbilt Ave. Click the picture to see the full flyer.
Check it out! Daily Heights regulars EmilyM, Isa and Susan made it into the Brooklyn Downtown Star’s article about of Atlantic Yards Smackdown 2005, the tournament-level Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) competition we organized at Freddy’s in Prospect Heights. PICTURED: First-place finisher Midnight Rider, hailing from parts unknown, delivers a crushing blow to EmilyM.
The article is by Theodore Ross, a reporter with a great eye for detail: “…in a hotly contested final, a young man known only as the ‘Midnight Rider’ defeated the lovely Amanda, a six-foot tall blonde from Williamsburg whose day job is as a crochet and knitting instructor… Rider described his victory to a reporter from Tokyo’s ‘News Forest’ television program, which came to Freddy’s to film the Smackdown: ‘This is a fantastic victory for me, for my students, and my school. And to the rest of the world of competitive RPS: notice has been served.’”
“The Midnight Rider … was something of a media darling. I interviewed him, as did the News Forest folks, another camera crew from VH-1 of all places, and a reporter with New York Magazine [Article] (another tourney participant, who, after his elimination from the Smackdown following an unfathomable run of seven consecutive paper throws, attributed his loss to being “caught up in the passion.” And he meant it).”
LINKS: One-Handed Warriors, of a Sort [Brooklyn Downtown Star]
Rock, Paper, Psyche [New York Magazine]
OK, it was only 10:47 PM… but on a Sunday! What could possibly be so important?
Next time, we will stop in and ask.
Or at least make some color copies for only 65 cents apiece.
Over on 9flights, Susan asks whether chickens are the new rats in Prospect Heights: “A few nights ago, it was pleasant enough to sleep with the windows open … Sometime in the middle of the night I was awoken by a ruckus that sounded strangely like chickens. This evening, as Matt was out watering the plants on the fire escape, he heard someone next door open her window and yell out, ‘Get outta my yard you stupid chicken!’ We looked around, and sure enough–Chicken!”
Should you be concerned? One poultry sighting is surely an anomaly. But two is a trend, and three is prima facie evidence of a poultry crisis.
LINK: Chickens: The New Rats? [9flights]
daveb writes in the Daily Heights Forums: “Does anyone know anything about the accident today (Sun. 26th) on Vanderbilt and Prospect? Looked like someone on a bike got hit. Saw a lot of blood on the ground and what looked like more than one person being taken away by ambulance. It didn’t look good.”
Follow-up from anonymous Guest: “I saw the accident (heard it and then looked). It looked like a young woman was hit by a car on a bicycle. It did not not look good for her. There were also a few people in the car that hit her, it was a hard impact, so I would not be surprised if the driver or other passengers were injured/shook up.”
“Say a prayer for the woman who was hit. I could not bear to stay and watch….it shook me up too much.”
UPDATE! Looks like the prayers worked. We just got an anonymous tip that the biker passed through a local ER today and is doing fine.
Links:
Accident on Vanderbilt [Daily Heights forums]
Elizabeth Padilla Killed by Ice Cream Truck on 5th Near Flatbush [Daily Heights]
Mike writes: “Hello from San Francisco. Just wanted to let you know that I really like what you’ve done with your neighborhood blog. I just started one up for my neighborhood in San Francisco, Potrero Hill, and will probably borrow some of the ideas from your site.”
Borrow away! I’ve taken a look at PHSF… Mike “gets it,” as they say, and it’s based in San Francisco, so naturally, it will take off like wildfire. Go, go, “citizen journalists”! (And BONUS POINTS if you offend a Potrero Hill beat reporter by using that term.)
Originally uploaded to Flickr by dailyheights.
In response to Forbidden Phrases: Do Not Use Them, hollywood_african asks: “I agree that some of these phrases [”my bad”, “dawg”] are the kind of talk we hear from undesirable neighborhood non-whites all the time. isn’t that why this blog exists? to secretly whisper about the lifestyle issues [of] newly relocated non-non-whites face in ProHo [Prospect Heights]? I’m really glad that you’ve created a safe space here where the King’s English can thrive…three cheers for keeping our utopia blog-garden WEED-FREE!!!”
A. Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! However, DAILY HEIGHTS is not entirely convinced that overuse of the phrase “my bad” is endemic to neighborhood non-whites.
We have undertaken a careful investigation of the etymology of “my bad” and the cultural forces behind its popularity. Our research suggests the following: “my bad” may possibly have roots in games of “spades” played among prison inmates, and in Neighborhoods of Lower Socioeconomic Strata (NoLSS, or colloquially, “Hoods”).
However, multiple authoritative sources agree: overuse of “my bad” is directly attributable to “Clueless,” a 1995 movie that focused on the values and lifestyles of white, upper-class society. The fires of “my bad” were further stoked through inclusion in subsequent Hollywood screenplays and television programs, including at least 7 uses between 1998-2002 on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Example: “She killed him! Oops, my bad. It’s just dust I forgot to sweep under the rug.” [Cordelia]
While a thorough investigation of the term “dawg” has not been undertaken, anecdotal evidence suggests that this term, too, may have roots in NoLSS, but has become old and tired through repetition, ad nauseum, in mass media channels that celebrate the values of middle- to upper-class (and often white) suburban society, including American Idol, and most “reality” programming on MTV.
DAILY HEIGHTS thanks hollywood_african for the opportunity to clarify this matter.
whocares@boring.com checks in from New Zealand to write: “This citizen journalism site [Daily Heights] was mentioned on the BBC WORLD NEWS web site in the Magazine section as being so good that the New York times often reports on the same issues a few days later. Awesome. You guys rock! Good luck.”
[Update: Uh… “whocares” got it a bit confused. BBC didn’t specifically mention us — they linked to an article in Poynter Online that mentions Daily Heights.]
I didn’t know about the New York Times… but I do have a growing list of articles based on tips reporters got on Daily Heights, that as far as I know, have never mentioned DH as the source.
Example. I just found a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article about some unspecific “uproar” in the community over the New York Times misreporting the height of the planned Union Temple parking lot condo as 30 stories. I suppose it’s theoretically possible that the reporter stumbled upon an uproar somewhere in the neighborhood (be careful where you uproar–you never know when there might be a reporter lurking around, ready to report on you!). But from my admittedly myopic view, the only uproar I’m aware of was right here on Daily Heights and on Curbed and Curbed again via Daily Heights. (OK… there were also some updates on the PHNDC Yahoo! Group, and I think ProspectHeightsParents, but I don’t recall the discourse being uproarious.)
Don’t get me wrong… I am totally cool with this practice, and I totally encourage journalists to hang out here and contact DH users (say hello to … Private Messaging in the message boards!!!)
…But is it TOO MUCH TROUBLE to give us credit somehow? Some sort of “secret nod” that only we will get and say, “hey, that’s us!!” Maybe some old-fashioned attribution?
Come on, already. Make my weekend.
Recently, the phrase “my bad” was used unironically in the Daily Heights Forums, prompting an emergency investigation to identify other potentially-typeable phrases that are clearly outside the limits of good taste and proper online expression. To date, phrases banned on Daily Heights include, but are not limited to:
-“Don’t go there” (Obvious!)
-“I am so ____” as in, “I am so loving this discussion about Home Heating Oil!!”
-“Yeah!” said in three syllables, with the accent on the first, so as to suggest “no duh” in response to an obvious statement by another party (admittedly, it would be difficult to type this… if you were to defy the ban, it would probably look something like this: “YEah-uh!”)
-Referring to anyone as “dog” or “dawg”
More forbidden phrases will be posted as they come to our attention. Thank you for your patience during this difficult time of transition!
Special note: Daily Heights is seeking an injunction to enforce Internet-wide bans on the phrases “A ______ grows in Brooklyn” and “If you ______ it, they will come.” To shield your publication from future liability, please discontinue use of these phrases, effective today. Thank you!
LINK: Post #259, FORBIDDEN PHRASES (Was: Pic of Spalding bldg on Pacific?) [Daily Heights Forums]
CAN’T HANDLE THE RENT NO MORE
STOOP SALE
371 Park Place
6/19
Pack your bags, Dan…
DeeDee writes: “Just saw on CNN that the Supreme Court ruled in the eminent domain case in Connecticut. The Court ruled that local governments can seize private property (homes and businesses) for private economic development. This ruling would support the proposed Atlantic Yards development plan.”
Links:
Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes [Associated Press via Yahoo! News](Thanks to Ben for the tip)
Chaos Ensues in Daily Heights Forums [Daily Heights Forums]
FedUpMom writes: “Two Sundays ago I exited the 2 train at Bergen St. on the Brooklyn-bound side. I had my 18-month-old daughter with me in her small stroller. There was track work on the Manhattan bound platform, and so no token clerk on either side… No one was anywhere to be found when I pushed the bell to open the gate to leave the station. I was stuck in the station and unable to get out! This was a very dangerous and scary situation. I can’t push the stroller through the vertical turnstile, and I can’t carry the baby and fit the stroller through the vertical turnstile (even when folded).”
“I finally got lucky and someone helped me bring the stroller through, and I carried my daughter …”
“The answers I am getting from the MTA are ridiculous … It seems that the MTA is unwilling to acknowledge that on the day in question there was not a soul at the station, and that since it was Sunday, it could have taken 20-30 minutes before a conductor on the next train was due. This is not what customer service and safety are about. Something needs to be done, even if it means that the MTA has to admit that during repairs, some stations have no safe exit.”
1. daveb writes in the Daily Heights Forums:
“I was mugged and beaten up pretty badly on Saint Johns Place between Underhill and Washington (I also happen to live on this stretch) Sunday night (19th). The police did not seem too interested in getting a description of the attacker and seemed to me to stop taking notes after ‘tall, black and in his late 20’s,’ cutting me off when I offered descriptions of his clothing, what direction he ran in etc. My overall feeling was that they just didn’t care. I’ve also had my apartment robbed twice in the past year, both times eliciting a very lackluster response from the police. I’m very upset about the crime in this neighborhood and the lack of policing. It’s no fun having to eat through a straw and knowing that the guy who nearly killed you likely lives on your block, if not your street.”
2. BONUS! Arielbl writes in the same thread: “My next door neighbor was mugged and pistol-whipped in the vestibule of our building on st johns between franklin and classon, on a friday evening, between maybe 11pm and midnight. The guy must have been following him and pushed him into the vestibule when he unlocked the door.”
“I like to think that this kind of stuff is an anomaly. This is my first summer in ‘proho,’ and it seems like things are a lot worse with the warm weather.”
ADAM NICHOLS writes in the Daily News: “[Tristan] Charlier, 24, and [Leon] Roberts, 25, of Jamaica, Queens, were found at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday with multiple gunshot wounds by a bus stop in this Caribbean island paradise [St. Thomas]…The friends had arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands fewer than 15 hours earlier to attend the wedding of [Twumasi] Weisel, who is from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.”
WEISEL: “[Charlier] had some kind of altercation with someone. He didn’t say what had happened and I didn’t give it a second thought. Now I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Weisel’s marriage to Jessica Dukes, 35, went ahead on Saturday, but the festivities were dampened by the slayings… ‘ There was definitely a cloud hanging over the day, but I think it was good that we did something positive, that we moved on,’ he said.”
LINK: New Clue in Paradise Slays [Daily News]
thoversover writes Daily Heights:
“Go to curbed.com; scroll halfway down the page and vote for our new neighborhood name: FLATenD! Strike a blow for outscale development! Whee! Polls are only open till 1 pm today (Tuesday).”
LINK: Curbed.com “‘Hoodwinked” Contest Curbed.com]
Rita writes Daily Heights: “I saw this on TV this morning… apparently our 7th Ave subway stop is one of the cleanest in the city. Who knew?
From the NY1 report: “Meanwhile, the cleanest stations were found to be St. George station on Staten Island and the Seventh Avenue stop in Park Slope. Both of those areas have residents with median annual incomes of between $45,000 and $50,000 … NYC Transit says it won’t comment on the report because it hasn’t seen it yet.”
IMAGE SOURCE: [Transportation Alternatives]
The hits just keep on coming at Namaskar, Inc.
TODAY’S IMAGE: Muntu checks in with another eye-catching sandwich-board statement.
Namaskar, Inc. | 643 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238. 718-636-1967.
INTERESTING SIDE NOTE:
“In Sanskrit, ‘Namas’ means, ‘bow, obeisance, reverential salutation.’ It comes from the root Nam, which carries meanings of bending, bowing, humbly submitting and becoming silent. ‘Te’ means ‘to you.’ Thus ‘namaste’ means ‘I bow to you.’ the act of greeting is called Namaskaram, Namaskara and Namaskar in the varied languages of the subcontinent.
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