There are nine stops on this year's tour, spread out on Ocean, Lefferts, Midwood, Maple, Hawthorne, and Rutland. This year's tour is coupled with a PLG Arts Group Show at K-Dog & Dunebuggy, among other events.
PLG House and Garden Tour
Sunday, June 1, 2008 Noon to 5 PM $20 in advance, $25 Day of Tour
The Lefferts Manor Association has all the information you need — including where to buy tickets (via paypal, in person or by mail), slide shows of the 2007 tour and descriptions of the houses on the
2008 tour — here.
I don't want to post any phone numbers on line, so if you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments and hopefully someone from the LMA will answer.
PLGNA and a new group called "Concerned Residents of Greater Prospect-Lefferts Gardens" are holding an open meeting to discuss the proposed Lincoln Road Tower and its potential collateral effects.
Wednesday, May 20th at 7:30PM Grace Reformed Church 1800 Bedford Avenue between Lefferts and Lincoln
Hawthorne Street's bloggers have previously stated that we are generally in favor of the Tower, though we know that the feeling isn't universal. The tone of the flyer for the meeting implies to this reader that the hosting groups oppose the Tower. Notwithstanding Hawthorne Street's opinion, the issues raised in the flier—housing displacement, environmental impact and community preservation—are issues that need to be considered in any new development.
This movie will probably turn out to be bad, but who cares; it's a great premise. Even just knowing that there's a fictional character out there living my fantasies is somehow cathartic.
Some help may be on the way for the Ocean & Parkside intersection at Prospect Park: park reps have informed us that the entrance will be redesigned as part of a massive Park development project due to begin next year.
Of course, how it will be redesigned remains to be seen. We'd urge anyone and everyone concerned about the Park entrance to attend the upcoming public meeting: Monday, May 19, 6:30 p.m. at Wollman Rink.
The focus of the new development is Lakeside Center, a modern, "green" facility with two ice skating rinks set to replace Wollman Rink. Fortunately, the plan isn't just about ice skating:
The two rinks will also be available for warm weather programming.
The outdoor rink may include water features like fountains for children
to play in. The covered rink may be used for roller-skating, as a place
to show movies, and for community events.
Exciting, huh? You can see more renderings of the proposed Center at Prospect Park's Lakeside Center page; the design, however, is "very preliminary" and will reportedly be at least partially shaped by public meetings like the one on Monday.
Please come and have a voice is the largest municipal development project planned for our neighborhood.
If any PLG block associations are interested in getting free tree guards for their block, now's a good time: Marty Markowitz has just sent out the applications for Brooklyn's Neighborhood Beautification Fund. Since I couldn't find the form online, I scanned the one they mailed me, which you can download here.
Who can apply for free tree pit guards?
Block associations and other civic and community organizations... We will favor applications which include all of the street trees located on a particular block. Property owners adjacent to a street tree must indicate on attached consent forms whether they wish to participate in the program....
Commercial streets are not eligible to receive tree guards under this Fund...
Projects will be awarded based on the following criteria:
a demonstrated ability and commitment to provide for long-term maintenance of trees;
a previous participation in Brooklyn's Greenest Block competition;
have not received tree guards from the Brooklyn Borough President in the past;
a commitment to plant and maintain flowers and greenery in tree beds
There's more information on the application. Deadline is by June 6, 2008... and you can only include trees located on residential blocks as of May 15, 2008.
The NYC Department of Sanitation is holding an electronic recycling day in Prospect Park on Sunday, May 18th from 8AM to 2PM, rain or shine. If you've got any electronic equipment to get rid of, now's your chance to do so without driving all over town.
The dropoff is on Willink Drive (next to the carousel, near the corner of Flatbush Ave & Empire Blvd). Cars can enter at the corner of Parkside and Ocean.
You can also donate clean, gently used clothing and linens here. Tax-deduction receipts will be available from Goodwill upon request.
What kind of local blog are we when Brownstoner scoops us on a story in our own backyard? Literally.
Today's Brownstoner Garden of the Day is diagonally across from our own garden. Since the owners weren't named on Brownstoner, we won't name them here without their permission, but we will continue to enjoy our live view of their yard.
As mentioned earlier, we here at Hawthorne Street are behind PLG Public Works, an effort to improve public spaces and streets around PLG. We're starting off by focusing on Ocean & Parkside, one of the most dangerous intersections for cyclists in all of Brooklyn, and one of the most heavily trafficked entrances into Prospect Park.
I'm no filmmaker, but I thought a video could help illustrate the need for our proposed changes... and so we bring you this YouTube number.
We're eager to find other people to help with this effort. If any of you readers are game for volunteering to help ruffle some feathers, let us know: brooklynite282 at gmail.
During the special election for the seat in the 40th Councilmanic District, Mathieu Eugene relied heavily on his leadership of the not-for-profit "Youth for Education and Sports" when listing his qualifications. It is worth wondering what those qualifications actually were, as the NY Times is reporting today that the Department of Youth and Community Development has refused to approve Eugene's allocation of discretionary funds to the group.
According to the Times, "The city’s auditors expressed concern about the group’s performance on
prior contracts and criticized the way it kept its records, including
its inability to produce timesheets for one of the employees, Mr.
Eugene’s brother." The Youth Department further recommended canceling all extant contracts with Y.E.S.
At least some of the problems, according to the Times, dated to when Mr. Eugene was still running the organization. All of this is worth keeping in mind when Mr. Eugene's term ends in 2009.
The May 2008 issue of Time Out for Kids has a nice piece (by Alexander Basek) on PLG in its "Where to Buy Now" Real Estate Issue. PDF here. But since when do kids care about the real estate market?
Now that one of the young trees at the triangle on Lincoln and Flatbush is dead and gone, the "green street" is now host to but one sad and lonely evergreen. Both trees there were hit by a car a few weeks ago.
When I first noticed the fallen trees and went to look at them, a passerby told me not to worry, that the Lefferts Manor Association maintains this space and would fix it. According to someone on the Lefferts email list, the Parks Department is responsible.
Whether any person or group does in fact maintain this space remains a mystery. Even before the trees were hit, the small garden resembled a scraggly brown patch. When I talked to someone at the Parks Department last summer, the rep told me that the Parks Department can only handle initial plantings and that it's up to community members to maintain street trees and green streets.
So what shall become of Lincoln's little green street? If the green space is effectively orphaned — as I suspect it is — it'll stay that way until someone volunteers to care for it.
I noticed a few days ago that Cherry Beauty Supply is now closed, and the corner store at Flatbush and Westbury Court is now for rent. This ranks among one of the least surprising business closings in our neighborhood's history, and I say that with no knowledge whatsoever about the specifics of its wares.
Cherry Beauty Supply was at 676 Flatbush Avenue. Directly across the street, at 671 Flatbush Avenue?
And just across Westbury? At 686 Flatbush Avenue?
Staying between Westbury and Parkside at 696 Flatbush sits the shuttered storefront of Sweet Mother's Place African Market, formerly featuring "beauty supply." Across the street at 703?
And if you go all the way down to 712 Flatbush, there is this:
All of this is within two city blocks! I'm no economist, but I sense that this market is saturated.
First off, I apologize (once again) for the really awful photo, which you may remember from this post on Hawthorne Street a while back. I was caught sans camera today when I was happening by the new Step Too Cafe and was invited in for a sneak peek at this new dining establishment. Did someone say "dining"? Why yes, I think they did.
Let me just start by saying that this place is looking pretty darn good! The walls are painted in a warm butterscotch tone, the wood bar and accent areas have a pleasant cherry finish, and there's a welcoming glass paneled wood entrance door. They were working on the stain and finishes when I stopped in. Swank! It's looking like a great place to grab a snack and chill out.
Step Too plans to open in about six weeks, give or take. The menu will include tasty tidbits such as popcorn shrimp and chicken, among other items. When asked if they were leaning more towards bar or cafe, the answer was a definitive "cafe". My guess, based on the fact that they do have a built-in bar but answered in the negative when I asked about booze, is that they probably don't have a beer/wine or liquor license. But - full disclosure here - I'm just speculating on that. And who knows, things may change in the next six weeks.
The weather forecast for this weekend is looking promising, so I thought I might spend some time out of doors turning my back yard mud pit into something other than mud.
I took a stroll this week down to local Kings County Nurseries, on New York Ave at Fenimore, to check out the pickings. Things are
looking pretty green over there, and we hear that by this weekend there should be a good selection of annuals to choose from. King's County also sells a bunch of veggies if you're inclined to do some gardening for eating (be sure to plant any edibles in safe soil, ie; not your untested back yard).
I like to go local, and the guys at Kings County are great. But for items beyond your basic "garden variety" plants, you may have to search farther afield. If you don't have access to a car, some other Brooklyn nurseries (Gowanus, etc.) may deliver for a fee, or you can turn to the internet.
If shopping on the internet, make sure you know what size pot (if any) the plants are shipped in. Be warned: there are a lot of inexpensive internet nurseries out there, but many plants are shipped bare root, which means you'll be waiting eons (or at least a few seasons) for your plants to look anything like what the photo shows. Garden Watchdog is a good place to start weeding through the mire of internet garden suppliers.
A few weeks ago, we told you about a public meeting we organized to discuss ways to improve PLG streets and make them safer and quieter. Thanks to Will Sherman at Transportation Alternatives, we've come up with a working paper that describes some of the improvements we'd like to see, including some handy maps and illustrations. We're calling ourselves PLG Public Works (at least for the time being) and are eagerly seeking other locals to help with the cause.
This paper is only the first draft, but I thought I'd post it here for all PLG'ers for comment:
Traffic-Calming-Draft1.pdf
If you have any suggestions, either comment here or email me at brooklynite282 at gmail. Once we've got a final document, we plan on circulating a petition among local residents, soliciting endorsements, and submitting the proposal to various local officials and media.
I have, perhaps, an unhealthy obsession with poking fun at 99-cent stores. (See, for example, OneTwoThree) So it almost feels like karma that, as previously noted, another one is opening in PLG.
I had never thought I'd need a reason to shop there regularly, but that was before I found out about The 99-Cent Only Store Cookbook. According to Amazon, it features favorites such as Artichoke Spinach Bake on Homemade Pizza Bread, Green Beans Au Gratin, Chicken Tetrazinni and Pinot Noir Poached Pear Tart.
I almost feel like we don't need another restaurant anymore.
Those of you who don't often venture past Rogers may not have noticed this local watering hole on Nostrand Avenue near the corner of Rutland Road (Google map here).
Bell's, which, according to one local customer, has been here "a very very long time", has a casual atmosphere, a juke box featuring island music as well as some classics such as Sinatra and Otis Redding, and even features karaoke on Saturday nights (no cover). There's a friendly regular crowd, and the weekend bartender Gloria (no relation to "Gloria's" next door) will treat you right with some buy backs and occasional "shots" of red wine. Similar to the now defunct Brooklyn & Slim, the front door to Bell's is often locked, but fear not, the proprietors couldn't be friendlier and a brief knock will have them welcoming you in.
This past week I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bell himself, who was sporting some kick ass amber-vision glasses. Seriously. Without a hint of sarcasm, Bell tells me his bar has been here several hundred years, and admittedly the bathroom sure does look it, but I am always happy to drop in for a beer or two.
The 38th Annual PLG House and Garden Tour is coming in a little over two weeks. 
The NYC Department of Sanitation is 
Recent Comments