Tying up Loose Ends

Loose Ends:

I've been woefully negligent about blogging when there have been things to blog. Here, without further ado, are some of the things I've been meaning to post.

1) Billy Sunday's has been renamed Whiskey Sunday. It turns out that while it is ironic to name your barbecue joint / bar after a prohibitionist preacher, the irony wears thin when it turns out that he was also a racist. The Village Voice recently reviewed Whiskey Sunday and, while the author took the time to imply that bloggers like me were racists for wanting more than roti as a dining-out option, the review of the restaurant is mostly positive. In addition to the "shockingly good [albeit] shockingly inauthentic" chipotle-blueberry sauce, here are the reviewer's highlights:

The best of the meaty bunch is the beef short rib. It's so big that it looks like a femur, a one-pound behemoth with large-grained meat that pulls off the bone in moist shreds and tastes richly bovine and faintly of hickory smoke. The "well-peppered" pork belly is an oddly likable thing: I expected it to come thickly cut and goopy with fat, as usual, but this is more like well-done bacon (which it basically is, having been smoked), very crispy and even a little bit tough, but well-peppered as advertised—it would be great in a BLT.

2) The PLGNA Annual meeting is Friday, March 6 at 7:30PM at The Church of the Evangel (corner of Bedford and Hawthorne). The meeting will include the election for the Board of Directors. Minimum dues to be able to vote are $5. You can find the meeting flyer here (pdf).

3) A recent walk around the neighborhood reveals that Culpepper's is up and running again at what my rickety memory believes is the old location at Nostrand and Lincoln. If anyone can report on whether anything has changed, it would be most appreciated.

4) The last of the three men tried forcrimes in connection with the murder of Officer Russel Timoshenko was sentenced yesterday. Dexter Bostic, convicted of the aggravated murder of Timoshenko and attempted murder of his partner, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Codefendant Robert Ellis was acquitted of the top counts but convicted of weapons possession charges, resulting in a 15 year sentence. The last of the accused, Lee Woods, received a mistrial when a juror became sick during deliberations; his retrial began on Wednesday.

5) We earlier reported rumors that a Dunkin' Donuts was going to occupy the former space of Mike's International on Flatbush, south of Lincoln Road. It is true that a franchisee is opening a DD's in our neighborhood, but the location has changed. A "Coming Soon" banner now adorns a storefront on the East side of Flatbush south of Parkside Avenue, across from the Duane Reade. No idea when it will be open for business.

6) Last but not least, we reported that the Landmarks Preservation Commission was voting on whether to calendar the Ocean Avenue rowhouses for a hearing to grant the "Ocean by the Park" district landmarks designation but did not report the result. On February 10, the LPC voted unanimously to calendar a hearing, as reported by Bob Marvin in our comments section to that post. When that hearing will be, I do not know.

Comments

[Timmy]

7:30 on a Friday?

Hmm this sounds like a great time to: (1) Go out to dinner w/ friends and family; (2) Go home and eat pizza w/ friends and family; (3) go home and crash from a long work week or (4) Go to a community meeting to elect a board of directors. Just another example of how pathetically non-community based and out of touch PLGNA really is.

[Ceelledee]

The LPC has scheduled a public hearing regarding the proposed Ocean on the Park Historic District for Tuesday, March 24th. More details later.

[Midwoody]

What about this as a loose end?

http://www.fabrikantre.com/properties/details.php?id=51&region=

Discuss?

[Charles Star]

Thanks, Ceelledee.

We try not to be too much of a real estate blog, Midwoody. Not that I mind if you generate comment traffic, but I'm unlikely to promote a house listing to the main page.

[Bob M]

Charles,

I think that Midwoody might have had a point beyond real estate promotion. His/her link is to an ad for 1860 Bedford which has been a major neighborhood eyesore for years. It's potential sale is of interest, I think, to a far greater number of residents than a run of the mill RE listing.

[Jeffrey]

To add to Bob's point, Midwoody may have posted the listing for yet another reason:

The listing price has been cut from the original $900K (!) down to $750k, which is definitely worth noting.

Not sure if that's even close to a fair price for a burned-out, neglected shell of a house even before the present economic/market factors are weighed in, but at least they have come down somewhat.

[kendallgaia]

re PLGNA: maybe someone involved w/PLGNA could post a couple of paragraphs about what it (currently) is, what it's up to, who's involved, etc. Otherwise hard to know whether it's worth the time/effort to attend. And agree that Friday evening mtgs - unless intended as an intimate dinner party - might not yield optimal participation...

[Darren]

This is Darren from Sterling Street.

First, an important update.

The PLGNA meeting has been moved to Grace Church at the corner of Bedford and Lefferts. The time is still 7:30 PM.

The rest is a repost from the Lefferts Yahoo Group.
I have been working closely with Bob Thomason, one of PLGNA's founding members, to breathe life back into the organization after a period of dormancy. While I am only a recent transplant to PLG (I have lived in the neighborhood since 2006) it is clear that this a vibrant and unique community which deserves institutions that match the desire of its residents to become and remain involved in planning their space, shaping their community, and working together to improve life in the neighborhood. I like to think of this as our Right to the City.

Some context: PLGNA was incorporated in late 1969 (It remains a 501(c)3
not-for-profit). In the 1960s, amid drastic outbursts of urban violence
catalyzed by vast racial inequalities, the founding members of PLGNA perceived
an urgent need to create an organization which could work toward the
rehabilitation, stabilization, and preservation of a racially and economically
diverse neighborhood. PLGNA's work seized upon Dr. King's dream of racial
reconciliation by deliberately seeking to conduct programs which promoted what
Bob often calls "a working interracial neighborhood." These programs included:
Commercial revitalization, public safety (including security grants at one
time), tenant rights and organizing assistance, homeowners' concerns, housing
rehabilitation, and entitlement protection (IE ensuring the neighborhood had
access to its share of government programs).

Because my memory doesn't reach back very far, I cannot tell you about the
mechanics of these programs, the history of the spaces that PLGNA has occupied,
or the shifting landscape of its membership. (Bob will be bringing his amazing
neighborhood scrapbooks to the meeting, which are worth seeing regardless of
your interest in PLGNA.) What I can tell you is that PLGNA has a solid
structure and a clear framework for action; now it needs neighborhood residents
from all strata to come together in order to rebuild its funding and adapt its
programs to meet the needs of the neighborhood today. To wit, PLGNA must elect
a Board of Directors (I believe there are currently 3 of 15 spaces occupied).
This is a critical step toward rebuilding the organization which so effectively
worked for decades on a variety of initiatives.

I must make it clear that I do not officially represent PLGNA. It is my
intention to run for the Board this week because, after more than a year of
participation in community organizing and activism (PLGCSA, Concerned Residents,
Voices for Peace and Justice on occasion), I have come to see PLGNA as an
abandoned asset. PLGNA has the ability to raise funds, to administer programs,
and to act as a central resource for more specialized neighborhood groups. If
we fill it with interested residents, community-minded people, anyone who can
lend a hand, it can fill a void for PLG. I see PLGNA as an addition to other
groups, not a replacement for them.

While the Friday meeting will primarily be concerned with electing a Board of
Directors, there will also be preliminary efforts to establish committees that
can begin crafting specific initiatives. I hope to see you there and I look
forward to working with all of you in the years to come.

Warm regards and I hope to see you there.

Darren