Mud Sling Alert! It was called an “Open Letter to Landlords”, but Young Snitch’s recent post on the Prospect Heights Message Board was more like a perversion of those words on the Statue Of Liberty: “Don’t rent to yuppies, to frat boys, to investment bankers yearning to breathe free…”

Should landlords have the responsiblity–nay, obligation–to pick WHICH newbies get to gentrify Brooklyn? Even if it was legal to do so? If Snitch had his way, Prospect Heights landlords would cherry pick artistic types, and wouldn’t rent to “anyone that was in a frat or sorority … anyone who wears black pants, a blue shirt and a gold tie to work … anyone who gushes about the opening of a sushi restaurant on Franklin, without at least considering that every new business catering to recent arrivals ratchets up the cycle of neighborhood replacement … anyone who works in equity trading, i-banking or finance in general…”

Nobody wants to see Brooklyn’s tres-cool nooks and crannies turn into Upper Blandhattan… But maybe even pierced tongues should get held once in a while. Whether you think the treatise is spot-on or arrogant, it certainly struck a chord. People hating and defending their neighbors are going at it now Go watch mud get slung on the Prospect Heights Message Boards!

 EastofFlatbush linked to a streetsblog article stating the DOT has synched  the crosswalk signs on the corner of Flatbush Avenue between the Brooklyn Public Library and Prospect Park. Until recently, people crossing the busy intersection were forced to wait on a concrete island that bisects the avenue. At the prompting of the surrounding community, the DOT has finally coordinated both traffic lights, allowing pedestrians to cross in one pass. In addition, the DOT has extended the red light by 20 seconds, giving pedestrians more “walk” time. This is welcome change that has been met with enthusiasm on the Prospect Heights message board.

Rob Witherwax of Prospect Heights states in the article:

“Momentous news, people: this morning I crossed the entire width of Flatbush Avenue, from the Library to the Park, in one movement – without waiting on the island, without running across, and without disobeying traffic laws. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it happened. The crosswalk signs, from the library to the island and from the island to the Park, turned ‘walk’ at the same time. I was astounded, and the woman alongside of me audibly gasped.” 

Chefsgirl06 agrees. “That’s an amazing accomplishment. No sarcasm intended. I’ve dealt with that hazard for over 30 years. Now I can enhance my literacy without running for my life. It’s the little things that keep me happy.”

Photo by streetsblog.

According a streetsblog link posted to the PHMB by Laura B , Forest City Ratner will now expand it’s (proposed) Atlantic Yards project to include a large suburban-style parking lots aimed at providing an 944 parking spaces for those visiting the soon-to-be-built Nets arena. Forest City Ratner states the lot is “temporary” and will only be in place until 2016, when residential construction is slated to begin (ironically, to replace the buildings that will be torn down to build the lot) . In addition, two more “temporary” lots are planned, replacing existing buildings along Atlantic Avenue between Carlton and 6th Avenue. In total, there will be an estimated 3,600 parking spots created by all three lots, located directly above Brooklyn’s largest public transportation hub: the Atlantic Avenue subway station and LIRR.

Critics worry that if FCR’s project doesn’t go through or economic conditions change before construction begins, Prospect Heights may end up with a not-so-temporary patch of asphalt three times the size of Fairway in Red Hook. Brooklynspeaks also points out that “The more parking provided, the more people will chose to drive – and the more traffic created,” which would exacerbate conditions on an already congested Flatbush Avenue and increase traffic along surrouding residential streets.

Worst of all (according to rogersma), Ratner will charge his own construction workers to park. How’s that for chutzpah?

Cobwebs, spiders, and jack-o-lanterns aren’t making kids wet their pants anymore– so thank goodness for St. Ann’s Hellhouse with it’s mock-up of Evangelical church haunted houses that peddle fear better than FOX News! This month’s terror level? Orange! How festive. Getting knocked up in high school is horrifying! Oh, the pure evil of homosexuals! Oh, the LOL.

Has anyone checked this out yet? Don’t be a halloweenie. Get in on the discussion of local haunts before the gig is up and you’re picking miniature Butterfingers out of your upper molars.

Mirabito, originally uploaded by dailyheights.com.

It’s such an odd little island of retail storefronts in an otherwise residential location… and from the looks of this photo that
cbukster just posted on the Prospect Heights Message Board, it was home to at least one amazing shop, at 180 Underhill Ave.

Just take a look at that place. No offense to the current line-up of bodegas and bulletproof Chinese takeaways… but if Mirabito Market was there today, is there anywhere else in Prospect Heights that you would rather shop??

The story starts like this: “Salvatore and Mary Mirabito, my great grandfather and grandmother, came to America in the late 1800’s from the small town of Salerno on the west coast of Italy…” More…

cbukster has a direct personal connection to the photo. His father was part of the Mirabito family and worked as a delivery boy, “taking packages on bicycle to the once majestic apartments on Eastern Parkway, gathering tips of nickels along the way for his trouble. Soon this delivery boy, Gil, Jr., would look toward the future and begin to imagine his own path in this world. Thanks dad.”

…Waiting for the “before/after” remix to appear on the Prospect Heights Message Board

Cyclists. Joggers. Dog-Owners. Dog-haters. Religious Zealots. Stroller Gangs. Barbequers. The apparently not-so-rare Public Urinators and Defacators.(Whoa.)

This recent Brooklyn Papers article. says it all:

“If the park is increasingly a battleground, it’s no surprise, given how many different constituent groups — from runners to sunbathers, softball players to soft-ice-cream eaters — are using the emerald expanse … The arrival of wireless Internet access two weeks ago may mean the emergence of an entirely new user-group … A trip to the park on any day shows that Brooklynites are a territorial — and irritable — bunch.”

It’s Civil War in Prospect Park, which is laden with characters who just can’t seem to get along (or play Bob Dylan on their guitars without inducing earshot wide cringing).

Whose petition are you signing? Should there be off-leash kid hours? Can we put small dogs on the Hibachi and use religious pamphlets for charcoal? Work it out on the P-Heights message boards.

What is the latest battle in the War for the Flyness of Prospect Heights? It’s not PH pedestrians vs the inexorable northward march of Park Slope strollers… sushi vs beef patties… or even $2.50 mini-cupcakes vs $15 manicures. It’s about normal footwear vs. overly casual fashion in the form of unisex plastic shoes with Swiss cheese holes.

Now that “Prospect Heights Ladies” have taken liftandcut’s advice to chill with the tight tapered pants, PHers are taking aim at footwear that, granted, may seem pretty cheap at $35 a pop, notes The Manolo, “until one realizes that they are manufactured out of the plastic rings used to hold the packs of six. Not the good value at half the price.”

If Crocs are a symptom, then the true disease may be comfort obsession, borne by our Park Slope neighbors to the south. Here is Erikka’s take: “PS has the least fashionable footwear per capita outside Burlington, Vermont. What is up with all this hippie ‘off the couch and out on the street’ shit?! People still wear those shoes from the 90’s that have velcro straps all over them–that shit wasn’t cool when ravers wore it…”

Erikka continues: “Don’t even get me started on the clogs–walking around with your cla-CLOMP, cla-CLOMPs like some sort of displaced yuppie Dutchman. And all those earth mother, various-shades-of-poop-brown recycled-everything sandals are the definition of ‘boner killer’. What is this obsession with comfort and being comfortable all the time? If god wanted you to be comfortable 24/7 he would have made you with marshmallows for feet. Take those hideous orange boats off your feet and put on some grown-up shoes!”

Um… OK. But let’s be fair. Judging from the sentiments expressed on the Prospect Heights Message Board, we are far from presenting a united front of hatin’ on comfort shoes: “Bring on the crocs and their bright, happy colors,” parrothead says. Likewise, VeggieQueen says she wears them exclusively in the garden because the dirt washes off so easily: “I’d love to wear them out in public, but i don’t dare… they are pretty ugly. My pair is dark brown… not neon puke green, or psycho clockwork orange.”

“I don’t think people are grasping the gravity of this struggle,” says young snitch, our resident Ayatollah of fashion. “In a neighborhood at the tipping point, we must cast fist-sized stones at infidels who seek to plunge Prospect Heights into a Park Slopian zeitgeist of ugly footwear, Cornell sweatshirts, faces dusted with cupcake crumbs, and general unflyness. wearing a messenger bag does not mean you’re ballllllliiiiin’. ”

Nice one, Ayatollah. What type of burka is most appropriate when one is rocking fake bapes? As homeowner implores: “could you PLEASE, PLEASE tell all the guys stylin’ around the bodega that patent leather belongs only on little girls’ Mary Janes? You can’t roll on me and try to eyeball me with patent leather high-tops. It’s not fly. Especially when your patent leather is blue or red.”

More helpful fashion tips on the Prospect Heights Message Board