Monday, May 14, 2012
Is a 2 a.m. last call too late for the 18,000-seat arena? Is a 10 p.m. cutoff time too early?
The answer to this question may help keep the surrounding neighborhoods more quiet: At what time should the Barclays Center stop serving alcohol? Last week, Community Board 6 voted to recommend an absolute cut-off time for all alcohol sales at 2 a.m. during all events at the arena. However the recommendation, which will go to the New York State Liquor Authority, came with two conditions that follow the policy already in place for the 40 NBA games: But, BrooklynSpeaks , a coalition of civic organizations surrounding the arena, has a petition that requests all alcoholic beverage sales be cut off at 10 p.m. at the absolute latest in all areas of the arena, reflecting area residents' fear of drunk pedestrians and drivers flooding the streets…
Monday, March 19, 2012
We talk with Bike Snob NYC about his new book, "The Enlightened Cyclist"
The following column was written by Wall Patch editor Keith Brown. You can read more of Brown's columns here. I had for once remembered to bring my camera on a recent ride through town. There were some offbeat landmarks I wanted to get photos of for work, but I almost never remember to bring the blasted camera with me. Today I did. And so pleased with myself for remembering to bring it, I nearly rode past one of the landmarks I wanted to shoot. As I stopped on the side of the road, rather abruptly, I noticed another cyclist up the road a piece heading in my direction. I pulled out my camera, snapped a couple of quick shots and jammed the thing back into my side pocket. Right about this time, the other cyclist approached on the opposite …
Friday, March 9, 2012
Judging the aesthetic merits of the city's newest sports arena.
Designed by Ellerbe Beckett and SHoP Architects, Barclays Center's mirrored glass and aged steel exterior continues to rise just a stone's throw away from some of the oldest and most historically significant housing stock the city has to offer. So as the arena begins to take its final shape in the middle of Brownstone Brooklyn, a question: Is Barclays Center ugly? Or is it a welcome, intrinsically modern, addition to the landscape of the borough?
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Ruling undercuts this week's deal to allow for livery cab hails in Brooklyn.
A federal judge has ordered the city to increase the number of handicap-accessible taxis in its fleet, reports the New York Times. The ruling throws into question the city’s plan to create a new class of livery cabs able to pick up street hails in Brooklyn and the other outer boroughs, which the Times reported on earlier this week. Under the new ruling, the city will be able to issue permits only for livery cabs that are wheelchair accessible—at least until the judge re-assesses the city's progress toward wider taxi access for the disabled. The plan announced earlier this week would have created a new class of livery cabs with payment meters and credit card machines. Unlike existing car services, these cars would have had the legal right…
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Sexual Desire Doesn't Abate, So Sate
The other day I saw an elderly man pushing his walker down the steep public library ramp. “Do you need help?” I asked. He looked up at me quizzically, his weathered face more wrinkled as he squinted against the sun, his full head of grey hair waving slightly in the wind. “Are you good?” I said, changing the way I phrased the question so as not to embarrass him if he should be so stubbornly self-sufficient as the elderly often are, as I hope to be. He stopped his slow careful descent and looked up at me, checking me out from the bottom up, up my bare legs, up past my dress and on up my body. Then, he mumbled something. “What’s that?” I said, leaning slightly forward from my spot in the parking lot as I strained to hear him. “Oh, just my …
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The first step of sustainability is recycling the right way.
The very first thing I decided to do as part of my new commitment to sustainability was to be a better recycler. I decided to redouble my efforts by simply recycling more. In fact, I decided to recycle everything—so long as it fell roughly into the categories of paper, plastic or metal. What I did not know at at first is that following New York City’s recycling program is not simple. (For a detailed description of what can and cannot be recycled check out the Department of Sanitation's website or the Natural Resources Defense Council for surprising recycling restrictions.) A big surprise for me were the restrictions for screw on bottle tops. The plastic bottle tops cannot be recycled, but metal ones can. Another surprise was that aluminum…
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A personal sneak peek into Jack's education.
I signed up for Learning Leaders this year at my son’s school. It’s a volunteer program in which adults (primarily parents) offer classroom-based support in literacy, writing and math. I found out about the program through an email from the parent coordinator at PS 58, where Jack just completed kindergarten. Having gone freelance a couple year’s ago, this was precisely the kind of thing I was looking to do now that my time was my own. The clincher for me was the documented research that said children of parents who are Learning Leaders fare better in school. The connection was clear to me; a parent in the trenches has specificity and relevance to offer his or her child. But what happened to me was even better, and more specific. The one …
Monday, August 15, 2011
A recollection of 9/11 ten years later.
With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 just weeks away, many in Park Slope are bracing themselves for the onslaught of commemoration—media and otherwise—of a day with many raw memories. "I can't believe it's been ten years" is probably the most common response to the impending anniversary. "In some ways it feels like it just happened but in many ways it just feels like it was a bad dream so far in the past," write Pat Tambour, a NYC performer now living in Nashville. "Witnessing the whole event outside my apartment window has made it difficult in terms of not dwelling on it too much." Many watched the towers fall from the rooftops. Dust, ash and debris from the fallen buildings floated over the neighborhood. People lined up to give blood at …
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Going green isn't always easy.
My name is Kim and I do not live green. An earthy brown perhaps, maybe with a hint of moss. But a true emerald? Not even on my best day. There. I’ve said it. I’ve come clean. To be honest, it’s kind of a relief. But before the ecologically virtuous among you try to run me out of Park Slope on a rail, know this: I want to change. You see, in other areas of my life I am not selfish or boorish. I actually aspire to choose right over wrong. I have committed myself passionately to a range of causes, political and personal. I care about the condition of my neighborhood and the future of our planet. And I believe that it is the obligation of each one of us to do our part to ensure our children inherit a thriving world. My actual …
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Swinging, but not single.
A few years back, my new friend from a writing class, I’ll call her Nancy, invited me out for a drink in the West Village. Before too long, in front of a curious bartender badly pretending not to pay attention, she let on about her passionate pastime, her inclination to stray in plain sight of her husband at “lifestyle” parties of the type most of my married Park Slope friends only joke about with a fair bit of longing or at least curiosity catching in their voices. Strangely, her writing had not made mention of such intriguing material, which I questioned her about immediately. “It’s hard to write about without sounding cheesy,” Nancy said. Plus, much as she wasn’t ashamed to talk about it with me, she offered up nervously, with big …
Gregory
8:47 am on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Why serve any booze to potentially 18,000 drunks being served. more ›