Picture Of The Day: Extreme Dashboard Decorating

Dashboard of a car parked in Cobble Hill.

Got to love the saints next to the Homie figures.

Read More

A Fond Farewell To Neighborhood Feline 'Clump'

Spied on a stoop on Sackett Street by friend and reader Mary.  A little memorial for Clump, a neighborhood cat that obviously was well loved.

Read More

Carroll Gardens Kids Organize Funday In Carroll Park

Kathleen Henderson, Carroll Park Playground Associate with her little friends

Kids For Carroll Park Committee.

Grace O'Keefe  (on far right) with her friends.

Though summer is almost over and the beginning of school is just around the corner, the fun has not stopped at Carroll Park. On Tuesday, Kathleen Henderson, beloved Playground Associate, hosted a "Funday" party, completely funded by the Kids For Carroll Park committee.

Kids For Carroll Park was founded by young Grace O'Keefe and her girlfriends in the spring to help raise money to provide Kathleen with more funds for additional art materials and toys for the park.

The girls held a bake sale and, as Grace proudly told me, they made $170. Some of the proceeds were used to organize yesterday's Funday, but the group also donated $65 to Friends Of Carroll Park, which will go towards an improvement project in the park.
Well done, girls!

Yesterday's party was also an opportunity for the kids to say good-bye to Kathleen. Yes, alas, her summer program ended today.

Judging by the giggles and smiles on everyone's face, the party was a huge success.

Read More

Best Comment Of The Day: Holding Brad's Feet To The Fire

Anonymous has left the following comment on the post "From Condo To Rental: The Lightstone Group Present Its Gowanus Project To Community Board 6":

"People have a lot of legitimate concerns about this project and its impact on our neighborhood and we need to hold Brad Lander's feet to the fire when it comes to infrastructure and schools. Give him a call. 718-499-1090. Good luck."

Read More

Courtyard Improvement: Capital One Listens To Carroll Gardens Community

May 2012.  From this...

this in August 2012.

Before and...

after.

The deep courtyards in Carroll Gardens are what makes this Brooklyn neighborhood pretty unique. Most of them are lovingly planted and taken care of by their owners. Some of them, however, have been totally neglected like the rather unsightly 'blacktop' yard attached to Capital One at 420 Court Street at the corner of Second Place. Several months ago, Jordan, one of my readers pointed this out to me.  In an email, he wrote:

"It is such a shame that they just do the cheapest, ugliest thing possible with that garden space rather than beautify it. To me it shows a disregard and disrespect for the neighborhood. I kind of doubt that your average Capital One branch in the suburbs doesn't have even the most basic landscaping outside of it. I did call them a few months ago and spoke to a manager and while the conversation didn't go anywhere (it's up to corporate, no one's ever even suggested that, etc.)Getting them to do something with the garden would be a major win for everyone."

I couldn't have agreed more, so I took a few photos of the paved-over courtyard and in May, I posted them on PMFA.
And shortly afterwards, Capital One did something about it.  Apparently, Corporate heard about the complaints. A few weeks ago, the blacktop was taken out, fresh earth and plants put in, and now that corner looks beautiful.

Well done, Capital One. And my sincerest thanks goes out to Jordan, who took the initiative to bring it to their attention.  The newly planted courtyard in now worthy of the neighborhood and something we can all be proud of.

Read More

From Condo To Rental: The Lightstone Group Presents Its Gowanus Project To Community Board 6

363-365 Bond Street 

CB6 Landmark/Land Use Committee meeting last night

Committee Chair Peter Fleming

Lightstone Representative 

Steven Lenard and Aline Fader representing New York City Planning

David Von Spreckelsen, senior vice president at Toll Brothers

After seven weeks in France, the last place I wanted to be last night was at the Community Board 6 Landmark/ Land Use Committee meeting, but The Lightstone Group was presenting its plans for 363-365 Bond Street on the shores of the Gowanus Canal. And well, it was too important to miss.

As many of you probably know by now, Lightstone is reviving the former Toll Brothers project. Back in 2009, after a Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) that was set in motion by Toll Brothers, the property was successfully spot re-zoned from manufacturing to special mixed-use by the City of New York despite the protests of many members of the community who pleaded with city officials to first clean the Gowanus Canal thoroughly before rezoning the area.

Shortly afterwards, however, the Environmental Protection Agency came to the community to inform residents of the toxicity of the Canal and declared is a Superfund Site.
It did not take long for Toll Brothers to abandon its plans, stating that the Superfund designation made it impossible to go forward with the 447 unit condo project.

If Toll Brothers got cold feet, the Lightstone Group is ready to charge ahead with a 700-unit rental building. The developer came in front of CB6's Land Use Committee last night as a "courtesy" since the "relative minor alterations" apparently do not need a new ULURP nor a new Impact Statement.
CB6 Land Use Chair Peter Fleming was quick to tell board members and residents that this was an 'informal presentation' by Lightstone. "They are looking for input from the community, so try to be productive with your comments."

 Lightsone's project looks very much like what Toll Brothers had proposed. The "minor modification" are reflected in the massing to allow affordable apartments to be distributed throughout the buildings and 'to accommodate the addition of the NYC waterfront Sponge Park at the end of 2nd Street."
However, the new plan will "reflect the current economic conditions and real estate market." It is a mixed-use, all-rental development with fully integrated affordable and market components.
There will be 560 market rate apartments, 140 affordable apartments. There will be two small retail spaces on Bond Street, community spaces on the Canal and on 1st Street as well as open space along the Canal. There will also be parking for 316 cars.
The buildings will range in height from 6 stories to 12 stories, with the higher buildings on the canal front.
The affordable component will be affordable in perpetuity and will be managed by the Fifth Avenue Committee.

It did not take long for CB6 members and local residents to address the environmental issues affecting this particular site during the question-and-answer period. According to Ethan Geto, Lightsone's public relations person, "the EPA has responded positively to the development project" and "supports remediation of the site by Lighthouse" because the proposed steel pile along the bulkhead, storm sewers and other site work will reduce pollution in the canal.

Steven Miller, Committee member and EPA Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group (CAG) member urged Lighthouse to set up a meeting with members of the CAG and representatives of the EPA "as soon as possible".

The community also reminded Lighthouse representatives that the Gowanus area used to be marshland and that it is prone to flooding. In addition, the sewer infrastructure is totally inadequate. "I have had 5 feet of raw sewage in my basement, "Richard Beanman , who lives on Carroll Street at the corner of Bond Street, stated. "I welcome you to come to my house when it rains. Before you build. Not after."
Another resident added: "You are increasing the sewer load by 700 units in the area."

It is interesting to note that Lighthouse has retained the services of both Lee Weintraub of Lee Weintraub Landscape Architecture and of AKRF a leading environmental, planning and engineering consulting firm. Both had previously worked on the Toll Brothers Project.

It was also strange to see David Von Spreckelsen, senior vice president at Toll Brothers, in the audience. Longtime resident Celia Cacase asked directly if Toll Brothers still had any involvement with the project.  A Lighthouse representative was quick to deny. "Toll is neither directly involved or indirectly involved."

Also, when asked if Lighthouse had already purchased the site or had an option to buy, their representative said that because of confidentiality, he could not answer the question, but that 'an option to buy would not be a misrepresentation."

Read More

Back To Brooklyn By Way Of Paris And Düsseldorf

After almost seven weeks, it was time to leave our small village in the Auvergne to come home to Brooklyn.  It had been a wonderful vacation, full of sun, new encounters, and new discoveries. 
The last few days passed way too quickly. There was just so much to do.  And as if to make leaving even more difficult, a warm wind from the South brought blue skies and high temperatures.

I won't lie, saying good-bye was hard.  "We will be back in ten months," we promised.  "Have a great fall and winter. And stay in good health."  A last wave to Michel, Claudine, Marinette, René and our other neighbors, and a special farewell to our little friend Evans...

...and we were off to Paris.

But before getting back to New York, we had one more day in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The stop-over made the transition to city life just a bit easier.

So, here we are back in New York, ready to get back to work and to life in Carroll Gardens.
Give me just a few days to make my way through the pile of mail that was waiting for me, to restock the fridge and to start weeding my garden, and I will be posting about the neighborhood again.

Hope your summer has been a good one as well.

Read More

Picture Of The Day: Early Morning Encounter

As I approached, all four came to the fence to pose for the photograph. 

They were stunning.

Read More

A Very Long Summer To-Do List

I don't mean to give you the wrong idea about our summer vacations in the Auvergne, dear Reader.  Sure there are the get-togethers with old and new friends. 

Sure there is wine. This 1956 Sauternes must have been the most spectacular bottle of the summer. (Merci, Alain!)

But there is also the yearly maintenance work on the house.

The iron gate needed to be sanded and repainted. 

 (Having an audience makes it less of a chore.)

There were tree stumps that needed to be removed because their roots were growing out of the foundation. (Merci, Michel, pour votre aide.)

There were the tries at removing the old lime between the exterior wall stones in order to replace it.  (How much did they want to do this work?" my husband Glenn asked after doing just a patch.
"Whatever the estimate was, it's worth it.")

Wood floors needed to be sanded and sealed.

And though it took a long time, it was worth it, don't you think?

An absolute must this year was to replace a badly rotted shutter with a new one .
"Is your husband a carpenter by trade?" asked Mme . M as she passed by.
"Non, non, Madame!" I replied. "Mais il a beaucoup de talents."

There were also some small projects that sneaked onto the list like this one,
just because Mr. Pardon Me wanted a round planter.

It looked so good that I suggested he could build me that tour I always wanted.

Our neighbor Michel chimed in: " Then you might as well build four towers and turn your house into a chateau." I like that way of thinking.

I did my own share of work, of course.

Between cooking, cleaning and tending to my garden, I white-washed a very rough wall with a small brush until my wrist hurt.  The result is spectacular

But would you like to know what was the first thing on our to-do list for the summer of 2012?

It was to dig a hole through many rocks to...

...intsall a post...

...to hang a hammock.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much time to relax in it that at all.
Perhaps next summer.

Read More