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.
Tuesday, 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 38th Annual PLG House and Garden Tour is coming in a little over two weeks. 
The NYC Department of Sanitation is 
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