Update: What the House of Supply is Supplying

Spotted this morning: Resource, House of Supply has Grand Opening bunting and ... is open! I didn't get to look around inside but peeked through the window. The inside is spotless. Sure, the store just opened, but everything was neat and organized, as if someone actually cared.

My first impression of the wares, from the Winthrop Street window, was "99-cent store." The second impression, from the Flatbush Avenue window was "not horrible, but not-my-style casual wear." A strange combination, to be sure.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Resource. Good luck.

Demolition, Large and Small

On my way to the Prospect Park station this morning I saw change in progress on two buildings that have been lying empty for a while.

First, scaffolding is going up at 33 Lincoln Road, which means the demolition is about to begin in earnest. As mentioned earlier a 20-story condo with retail and offices on the first two floors will soon fill the space.

Second, and far less significantly, the SE corner of Flatbush and Fenimore, former home to Rases of Adwa, is currently being gutted. Word on the street was that utilities had been cut off long before  eviction, which explained a summer of business conducted entirely on the sidewalk. I never bought anything at Adwa because, even though the grilled corn was tempting, I could never stop seeing the place as the go-to spot for stolen plants.

When I asked one of the demo guys what was going to fill the space. Answer: a deli. I wish the owner the best of luck with his slice of the American Dream but can't believe that he looked up and down Flatbush and decided that what the neighborhood really needed was another deli.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Subway (as in sandwiches) shop on Flatbush at Beekman Place is almost ready to open.

Grand Army Plaza discussion on WNYC today

On WNYC's Leonard Lopate show today, reps from the Design Trust for Public Space and Prospect Park will talk about their plans for Reinventing Grand Army Plaza.

This is a call-in talk show, so if you have any ideas, they'd be glad to share them with people in radioland.

One thing I'd personally like to see near Grand Army Plaza is a space around the park entrance where street artists may perform on weekends. It seems like the only places in NYC where you see break dancers, musicians, magicians, etc. is Washington Square Park, Penn Station, and a couple of other subway stations. There's really no place like that in Brooklyn.

Parking permits coming soon?

For those of us who missed the Park Slope meeting about residential parking permits (RPPs), Streetsblog has a handy summary. Since residential parking permits have been attached to the city's congestion pricing plan, the chances of permits coming our way is pretty high. Under an RPP plan, only residents who've registered locally and paid for a permit (estimated at $75-125 annually) will be able to use free street parking in a given neighborhood.

There are a number of advantages to such a plan:

• Reduced traffic (one study found that nearly 50% of traffic in Park Slope comes from drivers hunting for free parking spaces)
• Reduced competition for parking spaces for those in the designated area
• No more parking for drivers who register outside of Brooklyn in order to cheat insurance rates. This may help reduce insurance rates for Brooklynites who play by the rules. (According to one DOT study, 41% of parked cars in Park Slope and Prospect Heights were registered out of Brooklyn, and 29% were registered outside NYC.)

The key, of course, is HOW permits are implemented.  At the meeting, participants divided into small groups and evaluated 4 different options, each involving the 4 different categories of parkers:

Rundown of PLG speed humps forum

In case you weren't able to attend the meeting last Thursday, here is our somewhat subjective take:

* The reps from the DOT and 71st Pct. support speed humps in general and say they are an effective traffic calming device. The 71st Pct. rep suggested that on the long blocks TWO humps be placed to prevent drivers' instinct to speed up after a hump to try to make the light. No suggestion that patrolmen hate driving over the humps.

* The FDNY was unable to attend, but DOT said that speed humps on designated fire routes are a non-starter.

* The DOT rep said that the agency is "complaint driven" and will respond to requests for speed humps by doing an independent assessment of their appropriateness.  Under certain conditions—like the presence of a school, or a consistent speeding problem (though the DOT rep was a little fuzzy on this one)—the DOT will build without going through the community board. (The speed limit on residential streets without schools is 30 mph.) If the conditions for a quasi-mandatory speed hump are not met, the DOT will seek the approval of the community group, which asks for a petition signed by residents of the block.

* The general feeling appeared to be pro-traffic calming, but there were a couple of very VERY vocal opponents. From them we learned that cars don't kill people, people who don't get out of the way kill people.

* Much of the crowd was interested in hearing about other forms of traffic calming, but neither speaker was able to answer their questions. Though Transportation Alternatives was billed as one of the consultants, the organizer mistakenly forgot to notify TA that the canceled January 10 meeting had been rescheduled.

In the end, there were no conclusions or decisions made. Since most people left with questions, we're going to plan a followup meeting and have Transportation Alternatives discuss a variety of traffic calming methods that could work in our neighborhood. Stay tuned.

NYT profile of Enduro owner

Today's New York Times has a profile on Jim Mamary, the restauranteur behind Enduro. Apparently, he's opening up a new French bistro (as of yet unnamed) near his home in Ditmas Park (on Newkirk Ave. and Argyle Road, to be exact). The other restaurants he owns include a bunch of places in Carroll Gardens  (Patois, Uncle Pho, The Red Rail, the Gowanus Yaught Club, Pacifico ) and Sweetwater in Williamsburg.

Feral Caturday: Update on Ethel

Per reader request, we asked the new owners of "Ethel" — a formerly feral cat who lived around the apartment building at 15 Hawthorne Street (just off of Flatbush)—to write an update on her progress. Here's an edited version of what they had to say:

BACKGROUND: Some of you may remember a skinny, white and grey cat that hung out with a colony of ferals near Flatbush. Ethel is unusual in that she was feral since birth, yet people-friendly (though she strongly preferred women, and would run from most men and children).