Gandhi: New Indian Restaurant Coming to Bedford

King of Tandoor is about to get some competition. A flyer (a lot of flyers, actually...) showed up on my doorstep yesterday from Gandhi, a new Indian restaurant that opens tomorrow (March 10). Gandhi will be at 2032 Bedford Avenue, between Parkside and Clarkson.

Gandhi is operated by the same people responsible for Joy in Prospect Heights. I am a big fan of Joy and am glad to have them in the neighborhood. Gandhi will have the same menu as Joy but the prices in PLG will be a bit lower.

The website isn't up yet but should be soon. Gandhi will be open from noon to 10PM (10:30 on Friday and Saturday) and, of course, will have delivery (718-282-7012 / -7016).

Book Documents a Year at a PLG Public School

While pecking around at Amazon, I was surprised to find Ms. Moffett's First Year: Becoming a Teacher in America (2004).

That the book follows the year in a life of a New York City Teaching Fellow wasn't what grabbed me. The surprise was where that teacher was working: at PS 92, right around the corner on Parkside.

The book was written by a New York Times reporter, Abby Goodnough, and much of it appeared in the Times' Metro section back when. It follows a first-year Teaching Fellow a decade ago, when PS 92 was considered one of the city's most troubled schools. (It no longer is, as Dept. of Education reports show a great deal of improvement.)

I don't know much about the book or PS 92, but I ordered a copy. If anyone else is interested in reading and discussing it, book-group-style, email me and let me know (brooklynite282 (at) gmail).

KA Deli's New Middle Eastern Menu

I am always hoping for more restaurant options in our neighborhood so I was pleasantly surprised last week when a menu showed up in our mailbox listing Middle Eastern goodies. I was a little surprised, since I thought I - or someone - would have noticed a restaurant under construction until I realized that it was KA Deli (on the NW corner of Flatbush and Clarkson) that had added baba hummus to the usual egg sandwiches and cold cuts.

A neighbor got there first and recommended the char and marinade on the chicken kebabs, though he suggested getting a platter since the sandwich was a bit sloppy. On Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner and went by to pick up an assortment so that we could see for ourselves.

The menu doesn't have any prices, which is a little disorienting, but I can tell you this: two chicken kebabs over rice with salad, two kofte kebabs (ground lamb and beef) over rice with salad, babaganoush, tabouleh, and a half-dozen stuffed grape leaves cost $25 and easily fed four adults (three thin, one fat) and what little amounts the three toddlers were willing to try.

In general, we were all pleased. The kebabs were very good, particularly the kofte. The baba ganoush and tabouleh were both great (though Carrie thought the baba had a little too much acid). The rice was a bit bland but well cooked. It may be a better option for lunch/early dinner until they get a sense of how popular this is because they've been out of hummus both times we've tried to go.

Short answer: a welcome addition to the neighborhood and I look forward to going back to try the falafel.

Job Openings at Lefferts Gardens Charter Schools

While messing around on the web, I just happened upon this job listing. The Lefferts Gardens Charter School is looking to hire kindergarten and first grade teachers. A bachelor's degree is required; New York State Teachers' Certification is strongly recommended but non-essential. Salary is between $35,000 and $55,000. More info at Idealist.

City Approves Co-Location of Charter School at PS 92

Last night, as expected, the NYC Panel for Educational Policy voted to approve plans for Lefferts Gardens Charter School to co-locate at PS 92. (See the Daily News.) For supporters of the charter school, it's a huge victory; if the vote didn't go their way, the school could have ended up being sited some distance from the neighborhood.

So what now? Certainly some celebrating is in order. But the charter school leaders need to also dig in their heels and get started on seriously building support in Afro-Caribbean communities around here. If the charter school student body is overwhelmingly white and relatively affluent (as it was at Monday's public hearing), it's going to make the tensions between the two schools at 601 Parkside all that more tense, particularly if the school draws a bunch of kids from out of the district.

There's been a lively discussion on the Lefferts Yahoo group about the local school situation. If you're not already on that list, you may want to sign up and read the archives. (Reading archives requires a Yahoo account but subscribing to the email list does not.)

One standout item was a post by Johnny Kline, a neighbor on Hawthorne, including a list of suggestions for building community support for the school. We like them so much that we're copying them here:

Our Educational Consultant Weighs In

Following up on our local schools discussion, I asked educational consultant Joyce Szuflita to comment on the possibility of parents working with local public schools to reform them, as well as considering the new charter school. Commenter Babs cited PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights as a possible public school model, writing:  "Ten years ago PS 8 was not a desirable school; the kids in Brooklyn Heights attended private schools… With the increase in real estate prices, however, private school tuition became less affordable and parents turned their attention to PS 8, resulting in a remarkable turnaround for the school.”

This is what Ms. Szuflita had to say:

Even though the school is called “Lefferts Gardens Charter School,” priority is given to all families living within District 17... If there are seats vacant, families from outside of the district may fill them. It is very likely that in the first couple years at least that there will be a sizable number of students from outside the neighborhood and the district (perhaps even the borough).

Public Turns Out for Charter School Hearing

Those of us who expected the public hearing for the Lefferts Gardens Charter School last night to be a love-in for the new environmental science school were in for a surprise: the opposition to placing the school at P.S. 92 was passionate and vocal.

Most of the opposition stemmed from parents of students at P.S. 92. The overwhelming concern was that sharing the space would create problems for kids already attending the school. "If your child can't take the seat next to my son, find another spot," said one of the charter school's critics.

To my mind, the most persuasive argument against locating the school at PS 92 was one raised by a few people who spoke at the hearing: though the Department of Education and LGCS insist that the charter school will only be at PS 92 for a few years while they raise money to build a permanent site, odds are that the permanent site will never materialize, the DOE won't kick LGCS out, and PS 92 will become overcrowded as LGCS continues to grow. At least, that's the typical pattern.

There were lots of positive things said about the charter school, too, but I was too busy chasing my toddler to write them down… and, frankly, I'd be preaching to the choir here.

In the end, the supporters of the school outweighed the opposition by a sizable margin: 21 pro, 10 against, and 3 neutral (arguably positive) by my count. That said, it was hard not to be troubled by the racial dynamic at play, with white people tending to support the school and black people opposing.

If the DOE elects to locate LGCS in the same building as PS 92, LGCS needs to seriously step up its community outreach beyond the Manor. The PS 92 student body is 0%  (yes, that's zero percent) white and 83% black. The Lefferts supporters are about as white as the PS 92 students are black, a situation that's bound to create tensions. As one friend of mine who attended the hearing wondered, "Are they planning on hiring bodyguards for all the rich white kids so they don't get beat up?"

LGCS also needs to do serious fundraising to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to build their promised "green" permanent facility. All the more reason for LGCS to get its house in order and rebuild its flagging board of directors.

A flyer posted on apartment buildings along Winthrop Street by one of Lefferts Gardens Charter School's critics

Lefferts Gardens Charter School Information Sessions and Website

If you missed the first information session, the Lefferts Gardens Charter School (LGCS) will be holding information sessions in the neighborhood at local library branches.

This Saturday, January 30, at 11AM, representatives will be at the Crown Heights library (560 New York Ave. at Maple St.)  Next Saturday, February 6, at 10AM, representatives will be at the Flatbush library (22 Linden Blvd. at Flatbush).

If you were paying attention, you saw that the name of the school is now a link, which means that the website is up and running. The LGCS website is http://leffertsgardens.org and includes a FAQ as well as applications for students and faculty. You can also get updates by joining their mailing list.

DOT Responds to Hawthorne Street's Traffic Calming Request

Those of you who read this blog know how we feel about the intersection at Ocean and Parkside Avenues. (Hint: hate it.) You probably also know that, under the aegis of PLG Public Works, our "sister" activist group, we've asked the DOT to find a way to fix it, to make it safer for pedestrians, cyclists and all users.

I am happy to report that we've received a response. According to a letter from Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri, the DOT's Division of Traffic Planning is investigating the location and will recommend appropriate action soon. The letter states that they'll respond to us directly by March 29, 2010.

So there you go. Fingers crossed!

PLG Group Asks DOT to Fix Ocean & Parkside Intersection

Over a year ago, some fellow travelers and I put together a proposal to urge city officials to make the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Parkside Avenue safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Perhaps you read about that here or here. At any rate, the project got put on hold due to the group members' having personal lives (two couples had babies) but we've recently resumed. We call ourselves PLG Public Works and aim to make PLG streets better, quieter, and safer for all users. In some circles, this is known as building "livable streets."

Our inaugural act is a letter to the Department of Transportation, cc'd to local elects and Community Board 9. I've copied the letter below, which was mailed out today. To read the full proposal, download the PDF here.

Future plans call for improving Parkside Avenue and weighing in on the DOT's stated plans to improve Flatbush Avenue south of Empire.

If you'd like to get involved, join our Googlegroup to find out about upcoming meetings. If you're part of a local organization or block association and would be willing to endorse our proposal, please email me at brooklynite282 at gmail.com. Thank you, thank you.

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