Battle For Brooklyn: Free Screening At Issue Project Room In Gowanus

If you have not yet seen "Battle for Brooklyn" by husband-and-wife-team Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky, here is your chance. 

Gowanus Institute, Rooftop Films and Issue Project Room present:

Battle for Brooklyn

the Oscar shortlisted and critically acclaimed documentary film about the Atlantic Yards project

Tuesday 31 January 2012 

Doors open 7:00, Screening 7:30 

Free admission. 

Run time 93 min. Panel discussion and Q &A to follow 

Issue Project Room at The Old American Can Factory 

232 Third St corner Third Ave Gowanus, Brooklyn

  Battle for Brooklyn follows the story of reluctant activist Daniel Goldstein as he struggles to save his home and community from being demolished to make way for a professional basketball arena and the densest real estate development in U.S. history. Along the way, he falls in love, gets married and starts a family while living in a vacated building located at the heart of the project site. Over the course of seven years, Daniel spearheads the movement against the development plan as he and the community fight tenaciously in the courts, the streets, and the media to stop the abuse of eminent domain and reveal the corruption at the heart of the plan.

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A Moment In Time: Hurrying Home

Hurrying home before dark

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'Burger On Smith' Opens In Former Faan Space On Smith Street

Burger on Smith at 209 Smith Street just opened its doors a few days ago in the space once occupied by Faan, one of the first Asian-Fusion eateries on Restaurant Row. 
The menu features a selection of  burgers, wings, fries and shakes, but as Kyle Huebbe and Blessing Schuman-Strange, the culinary team behind this new farm-to-table eatery, will point out the food is "New American, but elevated."  The burgers are made from grass-fed beef, ground daily and supplied by a local butcher.
The selection includes the 'Friday Night', which is topped with fried egg, caramelized onions, oven roasted tomato, arugula, truffle vinaigrette.  There's also the "Left Coast",  topped with gruyere cheese, avocado, oven roasted tomato, arugula and garlic aioli. 
For lighter options, there are turkey, lamb, chicken and trout burgers, and for vegetarians, the menu includes a nut-vegetable-quinoa burger.
Don't see what you want?  You can create your very own, by choosing from various toppings.
Kyle Huebbe, a Ditmas Park resident obviously knows a thing or two about food and burgers. He is a former short-order cook with stints at restaurants like Picket Fence.  In 2009, he beat out four other contestants to win Brooklyn Paper's first Burger Bash contest..
Blessing Schuman-Strange, a Brooklyn native, who moved to California five years ago, just came back East to help his best friend Huebbe with Burger on Smith.  "My background is more in fine dining" he told me.  "Mine is in burgers and wings" chimed in Huebbe.
Sounds like a perfect team.  
Good luck, guys!

Burger on Smith

209 Smith Street

718 694 2277

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P.J. Hanley's Sanitation Inspection Grade Not Quite So Pending

One of my readers recently pointed out to me that P.J. Hanley's at 449 Court Street at the corner of 4th Street, has been displaying a sign in its window indicating that its Sanitation Inspection Grade from the New York City Department Of Health was 'pending'.  
The sign, according to the reader has been there for quite some time, although the Health Department has issued the bar/restaurant a C grade in August 2011, when Hanley's earned 33 violation points during an inspection.  A re-inspection on January 4, 2012 did not improve matters.  It was still issued 32 violation points for, amongst other things, adulterated, contaminated raw and cooked meat, as well as evidence of mice and filth flies.
Just a few days ago, someone else sent me a photo taken of a make-shift open fire pit, which had been assembled on the sidewalk last week-end right in front of Hanley's.  (When I walked by two days ago, it was disassembled and stored in the side courtyard.)  
Besides pointing out the obvious health and fire hazard, the reader wrote: "I can't for the life of me understand why this community puts up with their flagrant abuse of the law."

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Bococa's Café on Court Street Bids Farewell

"Bococa's lease has finished" reads the simple announcement on the door of this small café at 195 Court Street.  Its doors had been closed for the last few weeks, but the handwritten note only appeared a couple of days ago. The large "Store For Lease" sign from Cpex, on the other hand, has hung above the storefront for a while now.

As I peeked into the place, a man sitting on the bench in front of the defunct café said: "The landlord wouldn't renew the lease."

Cpex's listing for the retail space reads: Opportunity to expand commercial space up to 1,500SF or a 1,200SF backyard for outdoor seating.
The Triple Net Lease is $5,900 per month. 
Bococa, according to another sign in the window, had been operating in this space since 2005. Before that time, it was 'Mazzola Bakery and Café', which was affiliated with the bakery at 192 Union Street, at the corner of Henry Street in Carroll Gardens.

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A Moment In Time: Exchanging Notes

This afternoon in front of the 2nd Place Subway entrance.

Four police officers exchanging notes.

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EPA Region 2 Presents Gowanus Canal Feasibility Study To Community

Walter Mugdan, EPA Region 2's, 
Director of the Division of Environmental Planning and Protection

Christos Tsiamis, EPA Region 2 project manager for the Gowanus Canal

Patty White, geologist for CH2MHill

Natalie Loney ,EPA Region 2 Community Involvement Coordinator

Brian Carr, EPA Region 2 lawyer

The Environmental Protection Agency's Region 2 team responsible for the Gowanus Canal Superfund clean-up hosted a public information meeting last night at PS 58 to present the Feasibility Study, which was released in late December 2011.

Walter Mugdan, Director of the Division of Environmental Planning and Protection, started the meeting by pointing out that his agency is on schedule. "This job is being done 2 or 3 times faster than it was plausible to expect, but the heavy lifting is yet to come, of course." he told the audience.

Mugdan praised the tremendous effort of the site's manager, Christos Tsiamis, who "is a stern task master. "  The audience gave Tsiamis a rousing round of applause.
Mugdan also acknowledged the very engaged members of the Community Advisory Group (CAG) for the Gowanus, the largest such group in the country.

Patricia White, geologist for CH2MHill, an independent contracting firm hired by the EPA, started off the presentation by reviewing background information about the site. She also explained the Feasibility Study process, which includes:
-Develop remedial action objectives
-develop preliminary remediation goals
-define remediation target areas
-identify and screen remedial technologies
-develop and screen remedial alternatives
-evaluate remedial alternatives in detail
White also pointed out that one of the key Feasibility Study consideration is re-contamination of the canal after the cl were source control from the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSOs) and storm water discharges, discharges from the three former MGP sites, contaminated groundwater discharge, street runoff and discharges from unpermitted pipes.
Christos Tsiamis took over the presentation to speak about the various technologies that were retained and combined into seven remedial alternatives and screened according to effectiveness, implementability and cost.
The sediment dredging and capping alternatives all include dredging of the highly polluted soft sediment at the bottom of the canal, but while some alternatives call for solidifying the top of the native sediment, and capping either with a two-layer cap or a three layer cap.
So far, alternatives 5 and 7 have been retained for further detailed evaluation.
The EPA is also currently evaluating the best treatment and disposal alternatives for the dredged sediment.
The alternatives include offsite disposal, offsite or onsite stabilization with beneficial use, thermal desorption, offsite cogeneration or offsite or onsite stabilization and disposal in a constructed Confined Disposal Facility (CDF)
Of course, Tsiamis pointed out, the Gowanus Canal cannot be cleaned effectively without eliminating the CSO discharges from New York City's sewer system as well as the coal tar oozing from the three National Grid MGP sites lining the canal. The CSO discharges "cannot go on from our perspective" Tsiamis stated.
New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been given a schedule by DEP. Tsiamis will meet with the City to discuss this matter further in February.  ***It is important to note her that the City, one of the major Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP) has not yet signed a consent order to take responsibility of their part of the clean-up.
As for the former MGP sites, EPA is coordinating and prioritizing with National Grid, which is responsible for the clean-up and NYS Department Of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the agency in charge of overseeing the remediation of those sites. According to Walter Mugdan, DEC has been very aggressive in moving forward.

Walter Mugdan diplomatically added: "In due course, we hope that all the involved agencies will recognize what needs to be done."
The next step? A proposed remedy will be presented to the public in 6 to 8 months, and a remedy will be selected by the end of 2012.
Last night's EPA presentation can be viewed online here.


**In one final note, it was announced last night that the EPA Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) for the Gowanus Canal Superfund was awarded to Friends And Residents Of Greater Gowanus.Congratulations to Marlene Donnelly, Bette Stoltz, Linda Mariano, Margaret Maugenest and Diane Buxbaum and all the members of FROGG for their hard work on behalf of the community.

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