Results tagged “boerumhill”

Apparently the residents of Boerum Hill got themselves some fancy sidewalk extensions to make the place more pedestrian-friendly (jealous, UWS?)—but then the added sidewalk added "a huge swatch of ugly gray to the neighborhood." Will people ever be happy? Anyway, to combat this problem the Boerum Hill Blog reports that artist Christina Kelly "has submitted plans to the city to plant native northeastern varieties of corn throughout Boerum Hill, where Native Americans used to grow corn. The first spot she has submitted is for the northwest corner of Smith and she expects the planters to be raised off the pavement in 5′ x 5′ planters." If approved the corn will be sprouting by next May; but won't this make the sidewalks less pedestrian-friendly again?

We recently interviewed chef Saul Bolton, whose eponymous restaurant in Boerum Hill just celebrated ten years in business. Today Pete Wells at the Times bestows two stars on the place, where the elegantly understated atmosphere provides a modest frame for Bolton's culinary ambition: "One of the first restaurants to bring a contemporary sensibility to Brooklyn when it appeared on Smith Street in 1999, it has neither faded, nor stood still, nor sought a personality transplant. Instead Saul Bolton, the chef and the owner with his wife, Lisa, has upgraded just about everything in their modest storefront. Saul is the same restaurant, but better."

The NYPD Hate Crime unit is investigating the latest in a series of incidents wherein Brooklyn sidewalks have been strewn with "Kill Jews" notes. The anti-Semitic notes previously appeared in Boerum Hill and Clinton Hill earlier this month; now they've turned up in Bay Ridge. Yesterday morning, residents along Third Avenue discovered the sidewalk littered with hundreds of two-inch pieces of paper with "Kill Jews" written in black marker.

Ten years ago Saul Bolton and his wife Lisa opened Saul on Smith Street in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill. At the time, the location probably seemed a little too remote for fine dining, but the restaurant has since become a favorite of locals, epicureans from other boroughs, and—since becoming one of only three restaurants in Brooklyn to receive a precious Michelin star—a destination for European tourists. Bolton spent his early years in the kitchens of David Bouley and Eric Ripert, and the meticulousness of his seasonal menu reflects those experiences.

A Brooklyn resident walking his dogs on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill found files containing the personal information—including Social Security numbers and other confidential information—of hundreds of people. Luckily, he called WABC 7 Eyewitness News; Nat Hendricks explained, "The first one, I saw a person's name and address and date of birth, social security number and I closed the file." Eyewitness News found out the files were from a lawyer who had moved out of his office; the lawyer left the files, so his landlord just dumped them on the street! The common thread found was the name of the lawyer, Neda Imasuen, whose registration status is delinquent; Imasuen's landlord admitted he put the boxes on the street on Saturday and claims he scheduled them to be picked up on Sunday. Lawyers are supposed to be responsible for properly getting rid of files; identity theft experts suggest that clients ask their lawyers how their files are destroyed—or to request them back. And now the Attorney General's office is investigating, too.

The Department of Corrections spoke with us today to clarify that "there is no timetable" for the reopening and expansion of the "House of D" in Downtown Brooklyn reported on yesterday. The original assertion that it would reopen shortly came from a Daily News claim that a letter to the state from the DOC stated the jail would reopen in a few months.

The Post reports: "A one-legged hooker was killed in Brooklyn after a john hit her over the head, causing her to fall backwards out of her wheelchair and slam her skull against the wall. Investigators believe she had been servicing a client in the hallway who then hit her on the head with a heavy object." Elizabeth Acevedo, 38, a homeless prostitute who lost her leg in a train accident, was found on Thursday morning at the Wyckoff Gardens houses in Brooklyn and died yesterday after being taken off life support. The Post adds, "She wore a prosthetic leg, but also used a wheelchair." Police are still looking for the killer.

          

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has picked through the weeds for the 14th time, to find The Greenest Blocks in Brooklyn, and they announced the winners of the annual contest this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, a few manhole fires caused a load of problems for Brooklyn residents in the middle of a sweltering weekend.

Zagat's updated Best of Brooklyn 2008 guide was released yesterday, filled to the brim with all that the city's largest borough has to offer, including 216 restaurants, 141 nightspots, 355 shops, 25 tourist attractions and more. Like all Zagat guides, this one is a complilation of surveys from the public and each entry is rated on a scale of 1-30. The guide is broken up into five sections: Dining, Nightlife, Shopping, Gourmet Shopping & Entertaining,...

Up above you have Park Slope #17 and Carroll Gardens #13, respectively. Jennifer Loeber is bringing nude photography close to home with her series that show different Brooklynites in the flesh, in their apartments. They could even be your neighbors! And her inspiration? It came from a flasher on the subway, of course: "The idea to shoot nude portraits came about as I rode the NYC subway and pretended not to notice, across the aisle, a man fumbling to remove his clothes and expose himself to me. He looked distinctly uncomfortable yet wholly determined in his goal. His great drive to reveal himself to the commuting populace was made more palpable by the fact that he hadn't quite worked out the logistics." An unlikely muse, indeed. We recently asked Loeber some more questions about her ongoing project...

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 87th St. and Central Park West in Manhattan, a DOA in a tree off Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens, and a burn victim on 42nd St. and Vanderbilt Ave. in Manhattan. Sidewalk chalk outline artist Ellis G[allagher] was arrested by police and held overnight as he was being filmed by a PBS crew last week in Boerum Hill. Charges were dropped the next day and Gallagher...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue off West St. at Battery Place in Manhattan, missing children on Grimsby St. on Staten Island, and a DOA floater in the Harlem River off Manhattan.
• New Yorkers may have just seen their water bill rates hiked 11.5% three months ago, but officials are now saying property owners can expect a rate increase of another 18% as early as the start of next year.
• Idle speculation at Eater about the future of the Brooklyn Inn in Boerum Hill is not appreciated by the bar's manager. [Caution: strong language]
• Mayor Bloomberg worked out a tentative new contract with the NYPD detectives union that promises a 20% pay raise over the next four years via higher salaries. A first grade detective with more than 20 years on the force will be able to earn more than $118,000 a annually.
• Fare Wars II: The Taxi Strike's Back. NYC cab drivers will have another go at striking in protest of GPS devices in their cars this Wednesday.
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker has a special vested interested in improving living conditions for young people in his city. He serves as a Big Brother to three teen-aged young men, attempting to mentor them towards the straight and narrow.
• The Daily Intelligencer locates a rather large TBS billboard that will be salt in the wounds of disappointed Mets fans.
• A man was shot to death by the man he was playing dice with outside a building on West 131st St. in Manhattan this morning.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on York Ave. and Richmond Terr. on Staten Island, another pedestrian struck on 37th Ave. and Union St. in Queens, and a missing child on 12th Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Three teenagers were hospitalized after being stabbed immediately after school let out in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn yesterday afternoon. Two of the injured were also slashed in the face.
• The City is introducing a new public awareness campaign to help reduce accidents and fatalities of bicyclists in New York. "Avoiding a crash comes down to one simple action: LOOK," is the tag line that will appear on taxi roofs, bus stops, and phone booths.
• A murderer and her sugar daddy rapist victim finally receive headstones 150-odd years after being buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. "Never in my life have heard a story that incorporated so much dysfunction and sociopathic behavior between a man and woman."
• The New York City school district won the lion's share of the $1 million Broad Prize for proving to be "a model of successful urban school district reform." The $500,000 the district won will be distributed as scholarships to graduating students.
• Home foreclosures were up 30% year over year in New York City, with Brooklyn leading the way in people losing their homes. There were 1,032 foreclosures in the borough last month.
• A state appellate court overturned a New York man's conviction after he was arrested with a large quantity of heroin in his possession because the judge in his trial interfered excessively in the questioning of witnesses.
• A freelance photographer was shooting pictures in a garbage-strewn alley in Newark for a story about illegal dumping when he discovered the body of a dead woman wrapped in plastic. After reporting his find to Newark police he was questioned about his immigration status and had his camera confiscated when he admitted that his visa had expired.

Earlier this month it was reported that Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams called it quits, and the big question was: will their Boerum Hill home be on the market soon? A resident of that area took the above photo this morning, apparently the house on the corner of Dean and Hoyt Streets is the home of the New Victorian royalty. We wonder if they just Googled "celebrities moving" and that's what came up.

After years of what seemed like coupled bliss, Heath Ledger proved he could quit someone as he and Michelle Williams have officially split. Sources told People Magazine that "It was rocky for awhile. They did what they could to make it work."

Beautiful lawns, flowering bushes, and planters with lush greenery: This morning, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden announced the winners in its 13th annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest. The residential first place winner was MacDonough Street between Stuyvesant and Lewis Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant (pictured above) while first place for a business/commercial block was Hoyt Street between Atlantic Avenue & State Street in Boerum Hill (pictured below).

The NY Times takes a look at Smith Street and the corporate companies creeping into the area and setting up shop. The most recent big announcement is that Trader Joe's is taking over the old bank on Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. How long until more big fish come to feed?

The Observer has an interesting piece on The New Victorians, who are apparently bringing monogomy and early adulthood back. To get a mental image, think: Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger in Boerum Hill, Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss in Park Slope and Liv Tyler and Royston Langdon in the West Village. A new breed of 20-somethings in the big city, and apparently this new regime is more into nesting than late nights.

For those of you dreaming about brownstone Brooklyn, here's your stinky wake-up call: The "Mad Crapper" that has been leaving poop all around Boerum Hill is an actual person, versus a dog wanting privacy. Someone emailed Curbed and Brownstoner with a crazy account:

I just spent my morning cleaning poop off of my stoop. For the second time in two weeks I got pooped on. This time I saw her. I live on Dean St between Hoyt and Bond. 6:00am this morning my wife heard..... well peeing.... she woke me up and I went to the door. I live in the garden apartment so I looked up and saw butt—thus I yelled 'HEY MOVE YOUR ASS!!!!' This was the first time in my life that I literally meant it.

The New York Times has an interesting and somewhat melancholy article on the decline of street sports played by New York's children. Whereas there was once a time when adults had to bypass certain blocks while walking in their neighborhood, so as to not interrupt multiple games in play, a number of factors have contributed to the downfall of pastimes like stickball. Larger and less crowded apartments, both parents working, video games, air conditioning, fear of crime, a focus on structuring children's free time to advance them socially and academically, less cohesive neighborhoods, and more traffic are all suggested as possible reasons for a drop in most parents' shared summer vacation plea: "Why don't you go out and play?"

Earlier this year, The Sun reported that AvalonBay Communities would "begin construction this summer on a 42-story, residential market-rate tower with approximately 600 units. The property will have ground floor retail, which could house the borough's first Trader Joe's market." And even earlier this year it was suspected that TJ's would move into One Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The flurry of rumors that surrounded the Brooklyn Inn a few months ago have largely quieted. With no breaking news stories or insider tips, we decided to wander over there to see what had actually happened to one of the most cherished bars in Boerum Hill.

We can't possibly choose only one music event for the weekend, so check out OhMyRockness for the jam packed weekend listings. We will say, however, that one of the openers for Snowden at Maxwell's tonight...is We Are Scientists, trying out some new tunes. Though closer to home are The Clientele and Beach House at Bowery Ballroom. Listen: Apple Orchard.mp3 - Beach House

We've written a few pieces about the Khalil Gibran International Academy's attempt to find a physical home. The dual-language Arabic public school that has declared itself non-religious is, nonetheless, having trouble finding and sharing space with educational neighbors, who fear that they'll be hosting a terrorist academy. The fact that Khalil Gibran was an American-educated Christian poet seems to have drifted off into the ether of historical irrlevancy.

READINGS: Jonathan Lethem reads from his new novel You Don't Love Me Yet. In it, Lethem leaves Boerum Hill for LA "to recount the near-fame experience of a Los Angeles alternative rock band". A girl, a boy and a band - sounds like a hipster love story to us!

When there's a $150/month rent-controlled apartment around, you better believe there's a court fight about evicting the tenant. amNewYork has a story about 60-year-old Williamsburg resident Jeannie Kraph who has been trying to fight an eviction notice for the past six months.

March 10: Cantina-Style: One Pot Meals Cooking Demonstration and Luncheon

Since we've still got the old bus shelters in our neighborhood, we were interested in the rider reactions to the new shelters article in the NY Times City section.