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 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.
Read more …
Have you seen him [CLICK HERE FOR FULL FLYER]
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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.)
