Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: One Day Later…
Filed under: 11222, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Wow, WTF
April 9, 2014, 5:00 pm
April 10, 2014, 11:00 am
As you can see, someone has seen fit to divest 977 Manhattan Avenue of its sign. Steve, the owner of Goldscholle and Garfinkel (and therefore, if one wants to be a stickler, said sign is as well), was surprised by this. Not that he was the one who discovered this has come to pass: he was not. He opted to take today off from cleaning out the space. He heard about it from a Greenpoint citizen. Speaking for myself, I am not the least bit surprised. Let’s face facts: $3,000,000 $3,900,000* (or even a 6% commission thereof) is a pretty strong motivator to have such an item removed. Just sayin’.
Here’s what has been learned: per the fine folks at the Fresh Stop (which is located next door) two men arrived between 8:00 and 8:30 am with a ladder and commenced to take the sign down. These two men, per the folks from Fresh Step, were not familiar faces from the neighborhood (and trust me: if anyone is in a position to know, it is someone who operates a produce stand). In any case, I serious doubt these fellows wanted this item— at least in its “new” state— to grace their home. It is was really, seriously, UGLY. It was intended to be as such.
It’ll be interesting to see if their “handiwork” damaged the Bronx cable which provides power to the gate. I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow…
UPDATE, 7:31 pm: it was intact when the Mister left for work this morning at 8:10 am.
*Per the listing at Miron Properties:
The building will be delivered vacant. Trust me. The “new” owner has done everything imaginable to make that happen.
Ms. Segal was the lady who not only asked Mr. Goldscholle to ask me to refrain from my “artistry”, but she later admitted to him (as he turned the keys over) that she had the sign removed. What’s a little petty larceny when there’s big bucks to be made, right?
The Word On The Street: PROGRE$$
Filed under: 11222, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Hooliganism, Stuff The Makes Heather Sad, The Word On The Street
Many of you are probably not aware of this but after a business calls it quits it is required by law to paint over its sign. Such is this fine city of ours: if you can imagine it, there’s probably a law on the books pertaining to it. As you can see, gentle readers, some artistic license has been taken here by yours truly. Yes, this is my handiwork. I volunteered to do this for Steve Goldscholle. He is a friend of mine. You are probably thinking this sullen utterance of revolt garnered a great deal of attention and curiosity (being as it is located on Manhattan Avenue and all). It most certainly did. Without argument the most amusing was an agent from the real estate office across the street (which has a listing for this building, the asking price is $3,000,000) running over and imploring Steve to make me stop. He replied that he was simply obeying the law.
This one’s for you, Steve.
New York Shitty Video & Photos Du Jour: On The Waterfront
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Newtown Creek
Today since the weather is amenable, I decided to see what’s happening in far north ‘Point. After revisiting my favorite urban artifact (as seen above, she can be found on Commercial Street not terribly far from the kitty condoplex) I swung over to the Manhattan Avenue Kayak Launch.
First, I encountered this. I do not know when this happened. But it did.
I was stunned at how many boats were moored, illegally I’ll add, on the Queens side of the creek. I have it on excellent intelligence that yes, some of these boats are being pressed into service as residences. Residences on Newtown Creek. Please take a moment to mull this one over, gentle readers.
I do know when this happened: June 9th, 2013. As you can see it has yet to be repaired. No one seems to know if, much less when, this will come to pass. That seems to be the “Greenpoint Way” nowadays.
I was rather distressed to see this: a tree in a clear state of distress. Onward I walked.
No exploration of the utter absurdity that is the Greenpoint waterfront is complete without a visit to the North Brooklyn Boat Club.
Lest any of you are wondering what this is, it is the “Ed Shed”. The “NBBC” (via Open Space Alliance North Brooklyn— remember the latter handles money for the previous) secured a $25,000 grant for this educational facility. Yes, you just read me correctly. This structure will feature a “Sewer In A Suitcase”, material/date about water quality and various art projects for the edification of school groups.
I found this rather large vessel moored to the west curious— but not as curious as…
this one which is affixed to the premises of the Department of Transportation directly under the Pulaski Bridge. Is this legal? No, it probably is not. While we’re on the subject of questionable legality, 51 Ash Street (the premises of the North Brooklyn Boat Club and the new location of the Greenpoint Boathouse) appears to have an al fresco kitchen…
… replete with a barbecue pit…
and “kitchen sink”.
Note that this fixture does appear to be fully functional— and begs a number of questions:
- Where is the water coming from? (Educated guess: 49 Ash Street).
- Were the proper permits filed to do this? (Educated guess: No.)
- How is it that an “educational facility” located on private property (which is under lock and key) can receive a $25,000 grant (and assistance from our local parks conservancy group) and public park whose fence was seriously damaged ten months ago is seemingly not worthy of attention— much less the funding— required to conduct repairs and routine maintenance?
Anyone?
The Word On The Street: Special Pulaski Bridge Edition
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, The Word On The Street
Taken April 8, 2014.
From The New York Shitty Inbox: And Now A Word From Our City Councilman
Filed under: 11211, 11222, 11249, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
A person whose identity I am going to keep anonymous writes:
No mention of CB1 meeting tomorrow … Did I miss it?
I checked Community Board 1’s handy online calendar and…
sure enough there is a meeting at Community Board 1 tomorrow, April 8th 2014. The Combined Public Hearing and Board Meeting* no less. Whoops.
*Whose agenda you can view here!
New York Shitty Photos/Video Du Jour: Wish You Were Here
Filed under: 11222, Fuck This Shit, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
Today yours truly decided to take a stroll along the waterfront and see what’s shaking (in addition to the pier).
Unlike my previous visit, the pier was open to the public.
Whether or not it is supposed to be is anyone’s guess.
I’ll leave you, gentle readers, to draw your own conclusions.
I quickly ascertained I was not alone.
Evidence of recent merry-making was spotted.
Welcome to Greenpoint.
For shits and giggles I decided to hang around until the next ferry came by. Sure, we Greenpointers do not have (direct) access to this amenity— but we can wave at it!
For those of you who are wondering Greenpoint has been without ferry service since February 13, 2014. If there were, say, a few luxury residential towers here— more specifically, residents inhabiting said towers who(se wallets) will get the ear of their elected officials— do you honestly think this situation would have been allowed to persist as it has? Really? But of course we do not have luxury towers much less luxury tower residents— at least yet— so we, the hoi polloi, will just have to wait. And wait…
Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: India Street
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Stuff That Makes Miss Heather Happy, Urban Artifact
Taken April 7, 2014.
For Sale In Greenpoint: Mayberry
New York Shitty Analysis:
- I never thought I would see the words “McGuinness” and “Mayberry” employed together. Now I have.
- The rather stringent email requirements this person has established is going to require a great deal of creativity on the potential buyer’s part. I am particularly perplexed by the “no work email policy”. If one say, has a job, he/she may be in a better position to have $2,100,000 to buy a house. Just sayin’.
- No looky loos.
Image Credits: Advertisement comes courtesy of Craigslist and image of Barney, Opie and Andy enjoying a little fishing on Newtown Creek hails from here.
Mark You Calendars: Newtown Creek Environmental Benefits Progress Meeting
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Newtown Creek
I have no doubt there will be many questions asked at this meeting. If I may take the liberty of suggesting one, it is as follows:
Why did I have to find out the Greenpoint Boathouse (“Boatel”) was relocated from a blog?
From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part III: E-Waste Recycling (& Raffle)
Filed under: 11211, 11222, East Williamsburg, East Williamsburg Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
This comes courtesy of Artineh Havan, who heads the Grand Street Business Improvement District. She writes:
Dear Miss Heather,
I hope that you are well. We would greatly appreciate it if you could include a public service announcement about our electronics recycling event (in partnership with the Lower East Side Ecology Center) on Grand Street between Graham Avenue and Humboldt Street this Saturday, April 5th from 10 am to 4 pm, rain or shine.
As you know, if put in the trash, these items end up in landfills, leaching toxins into our ground water.
A list of acceptable working and nonworking electronics is below or here:
• Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
• Monitors
• Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
• Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, cords, chargers, etc.)
• Tablets and E-readers
• Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
• TVs, VCRs, DVRs, & DVD Players
• Digital Converter Boxes, Cable/Satellite Receivers
• Portable music players
• Audio-visual equipment
• Video-games
• Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
• Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)In addition, participants can be entered into a raffle to win a MacBook Air courtesy of TekServe.
Thank you so much in advance for your help.
Done!
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