Developing: Is Lime closed?

As Gabriel noted in the comments section below, there is a For Lease sign covering the hand-painted lime on the security grate at Lime Bar.

If it is closed, I'm very disappointed. Lou, the owner, is a really nice guy. While I didn't drink there very often (there is something unfair about going out for a beer when one's wife is pregnant) I did perform at Stand-Up Fridays once and really enjoyed myself.

More info as I find out more.

UPDATE: Lime is for sale on Craigslist.

PLG Foreclosure on Hawthorne

Brownstoner is reporting that 99 Hawthorne is in foreclosure.

In the two-plus years that I've been living on Hawthorne I've seen that building cycle through various iterations of FSBO and a number of different brokers trying to move it. According to Property Shark, the house appears to have been sold to a family member in January - who promptly stopped making payments on the new mortgage. So that looks a little shady. I'm just sayin'...

I'm concerned that, post-foreclosure, 99 is going to be a tear-down. There is already the skeleton of what I fear is going to be a Fedders box halfway up the block and two wood-frame houses in between the limstones on the South side of Hawthorne that were apparently (I have only second-hand knowledge) being marketed as a joint sale to developers seeking a large lot.

The future of Hawthorne Street is going to be... interesting.

(Thanks, Matt!)

Rumormoger: Chain stores on Flatbush?

Pssst... a birdie told us that the vacant storefront on the corner of Flatbush and Westbury Court is going to be a Dunkin' Donuts. Would it be considered too easy to make a joke about the increased NYPD foot patrol in the neighborhood? Yes, yes it would.

I'm ambivalent about getting a DD. We already have a Subway and someone left a comment with the further rumor that Mike's International is going to become a Starbucks. If you include the two Popeye's, the McDonald's, and Wendy's that is now at least 7 fast food* chain stores in PLG. The opening of chains can signal one of two things: a franchisee considers the neighborhood a worthwhile investment (good!) or the neighborhood will become known as a chain-restaurant wasteland (bad!)

At the very least, I'm glad the defunct beauty supply store wasn't replaced with another beauty supply store. I have nothing against the current businesses — long may they thrive! — but I am not interested in another storefront turned to products that either (a) already exist aplenty in the nabe or (b) I don't want. Selfish? Sure, but it isn't like I'm requesting a ... a ... what is it that white people want?

Help for Haitian Hurricane Victims

With aid from the U.N. having only reached 2 percent of its funding goal, and almost 160,000 people in Gonaives without shelter, help is desperately needed by Haitian residents who have witnessed the descent of four back-to-back tropical storms in the last weeks.

Donations will be accepted by Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, 335 Maple Street between Nostrand and New York, on Monday and Wednesday of next week, between 2:30 and 8:30 pm (enter through rear entrance on Lincoln Road). (718)735-4660. Thanks Gwynne!

Donated goods may also be brought to the Bedford Armory (New York Army National Guard) in south Crown Heights at 1579 Bedford Ave, from Monday to Friday, between 8am and 5pm (enter on Union Street between Bedford and Rogers).

Recommended items for donation include: dried beans, rice, first aid supplies, new undergarments, new hand towels, sterno canisters, nylon cord, mild soaps, toothpaste and other personal hygeine goods. Canned goods will not be accepted.

Community Board Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 7 pm

Community Board 9 (which would be ours) is having its first public meeting since the summer break next week. At the meeting, the Board will entertain community member ideas for what it should be spending money on in 2010. Want more trees in PLG? Day care slots? Open spaces? Better commercial strips? If so, now's your chance to speak up. Call the Community Board at 718-778-9279 before noon on Tuesday and ask to speak about your suggested budget item at the meeting.

PLG Public Works, a group we founded to promote traffic calming in the neighborhood, will be there to pitch our pet project: a study to improve the Ocean & Parkside intersection at Prospect Park. I'd also personally love to see something happen with the plaza outside the Parkside subway station: some trees, a few benches with awnings, perhaps — you know, something more than a concrete wasteland.

Also on the agenda for Tuesday: "Mr. Scott Codey, Director of Advocacy at the Citizens Committee for New York City will advise on the fall New Yorkers for Better Neighborhoods grant applications and the launch of their annual neighborhood survey." You can find more info about the grants here.

Hope to see some of you there:

Tuesday, 9/23, 7 pm
Middle School 61
400 Empire Blvd (between Nostrand and New York)
Brooklyn, NY 11225

Block party on Hawthorne tomorrow - Sat. Sept. 13

Church of the Evangel is holding its annual block party on Hawthorne between Flatbush and Bedford tomorrow, from 10 am to 5 pm. The festivities include the NY Knicks van, a book mobile, clowns, vendors, food, games, and walking back and forth down the middle of the road with abandon.

Garbage on Maple Street

In an earlier post about the new garbage corral at 15 Hawthorne I erroneously reported that 11 Maple had recently received a similar structure.

How wrong I was! One person is so fed up that he has posted a slideshow of a month in the life of the trash outside the building. The author gives kudos to the management at 10 Maple, an identical building, for responsible trash handling so we will as well.

Good luck getting the street cleaned up, Kyle.

Not Enough Styling on Flatbush

Tales of New York has a post about the tough times for hairdressers on Flatbush in the current economy. The increased cost of supplies - from human hair for braiding to hair care products - is coming at a time when the clientele is tightening their purse strings and haggling over price.

It also can't help that there are so many hair salons. The competition probably makes it a lot easier to haggle and hurts loyalty to a favored stylist. The article refers to the stretch between Flatbush Junction and Cortelyou as "Hairdressers Lane." I would have put Lincoln-to-Parkside against any stretch in the city for haircare density - but I would have been wrong:

The influx of Haitian, Jamaican and Trinidadian women skilled in the crafts of braiding, straightening, and sewing in hair extensions in the eighties and nineties revitalized and expanded Flatbush hair industry. The two dozens hair salons and eight hair suppliers crammed on a one-mile stretch from Nostrand Ave. junction to Cortelyou Road have earned Flatbush Ave. the nickname of “Hairdresser Lane.”

But all is not lost on Flatbush Ave. Even if going to a salon feels like an extravagance, that doesn't mean that people will go out looking like hell.

The recent economic downturn does not evenly hurt Flatbush hair industry. Suppliers, who sell artificial and natural weaves, wigs and other hair extensions, might even benefit from the hairdressing slowdown. Because it takes less time, less money and lasts longer to get a wig than a perm, economical customers are inclined to visit hair supply stores rather than hair salons ...

I can't say that I am doing my part. I'm pretty sure I haven't had a haircut in the about three months.

Image via polychrome. For the record, Nass's (67A Fenimore St.) was chosen because I liked the picture, not because I know of any signs of financial distress.

Para-transit in New York City

In a rare moment when my brain wasn't being eaten by my baby, I managed to not only download but read the Open Planning Project's ambitious plan for solved New York's traffic woes. "Using Information Technology to Achieve a Breakthrough in Transportation in New York City" is a brief outline of how "smart para-transit" could make things easier on everyone who uses NYC streets — which is to say, everyone.

The idea behind para-transit is to use technology to organize a variety of cars, buses, and vans to move people. Unlike the mass transit we know and love, para-transit vehicles don't run on predetermined routes. "Instead, a central computer collects information about requested trips, figures out how best to group passengers, and dynamically dispatches to service the required trips."

Take, for example, the group of people who want to travel from Tribeca to Montclair, NJ around 5:30 PM on a Tuesday. There might be a dozen people who plan to make this trip by car in a 15 minute period. These dozen people might require 8 separate cars for their trips. Instead of 8 separate cars, one large van could fit 12 people and consolidate these 8 vehicles into just one vehicle. The van could make 3 quick stops in Tribeca, pick up all 12 people and head directly to Montclair. Once in Montclair, the van could stop at a couple of central transit points, and then continue directly to some passengers houses.

A commenter on Streetsblog, where the paper was originally posted, pointed out that a simple way of executing this sort of plan would be to enlist taxis (already wired centrally with GPS) and to switch to a zone system, allowing cabs to pick up more than one customer at a time. (They've been doing this in New Jersey for ages and it works well, and it's relatively simple, tech-wise.) On the downside, cab users will need to share rides. On the upside, they'll be more likely to catch a cab when it's raining, rides would be cheaper, and there'd be less traffic.

Anyway, it's an interesting idea and hopefully it's help get pols thinking up new ways to solve traffic congestion and MTA shortfalls.