Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
From The New York Shitty Inbox: Muggings & A Toy Drive
Rose writes:
Hi Heather,
I’m a frequent reader of your blog and a fan!
I was just going to email you about a toy drive at Matchless this Sunday, but then I heard about a bunch of people getting mugged in the neighborhood lately, so here is 1 email with info on 2 things – opposites!
1. A group of local parents have organized a toy/baby item drive this Sunday at Matchless from 11-3. Many local parents found themselves with gently used items or doubles of things and wanted to donate them to two organizations that will put them to good use! People can donate clean stuffed animals, gently used clothing up to size 4T, childrens books, strollers, high chairs, boosters, kids cds, playmats, etc… The toys collected will be donated to these 2 places:
We ask that people consult the following web sites as there are some things that aren’t accepted.
TOY DRIVE
October 4, 2009 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Bar Matchless
557 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Then Rose goes on to write:
2. 6 people have been mugged in the area around St.Stans/Newell/Diamond Street. Apparently there are 2 guys in a car and one of them has been jumping out and grabbing purses and wallets quite violently. I don’t know if weapons are being used. If you feel so inclined to ask the precinct they might be able to give you more info. They are on the lookout for 2 vehicles – a black durango and a purple/burgundy van. These muggings have mostly taken place around 10/11am! They are checking surveillance videos from St. Stans and they may have one of them on video using a credit card. Please tell people to watch out and help their neighbors if they see someone getting mugged! My upstairs neighbor was one of the victims and there was a man near her on the street and he didn’t do a damn thing.
Thanks Heather! I’ve lived in the 11222 for almost 10 years, and I hate seeing our crime rate go up. Your blog is a VERY good resource and I appreciate the fact that you care!
Thank you, Rose, for bringing these muggings to my attention. Be mindful of your surroundings fellow Greenpointers.
Miss Heather
From The New York Shitty Inbox: Tit Tours?!?
Open House New York is a little ways off (October 10-11) but once my buddy over at The Newtown Pentacle brought the following to my attention I had to pass it along. STAT:
Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
329 Greenpoint Ave/ Humboldt St, Brooklyn
neighborhood: Greenpoint
Sat: 10:30 am – 3 pm
Sun: 10:30 am – 3 pmContinuous open access, first come basis, lining up if necessary
Regular open tours, first come, first serve basis – open dialogue tours of digester eggs, Sat & Sun 11 am – 1 pm, every half hour with Greg Clawson, project manager, Polshek Architects and Jim Pynn, DEP plant superintendent.
Maximum people: 20 per tour
Building date: 2009
Architect: Polshek Partnerships
Dominating the local skyline with its stainless steel digester “eggs,” this wastewater treatment plant is the largest of the 14 NYC Department of Environmental Protection plants. The new facility is also home to a Nature Walk andVisitors Center.
Yes kids, weekend after next the Garden Spot will represent at this year’s open house by letting the people access explore her, uh, more infamous assets. I can hardly wait!
Miss Heather
P.S.: VISITOR’S CENTER?!?
New York Shitty Day Ender: Welcome To Queens
Filed under: 11101, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Long Island City, Newtown Creek, Queens
From the Pulaski Bridge.
Miss Heather
THIS WEEKEND: Two Oktoberfests To Consider
After this post I will be signing off for awhile so as to get a little housework done before my inlaws arrive tomorrow morning. In anticipation of their visit I have been researching activities for us to enjoy. The Chile Pepper Fiesta (October 3) is a distinct possibility, Atlantic Antic (October 4) is a must-do— as are the following two items.
Yes folks, your eyes are not deceiving you: this weekend there will not be one, but TWO Oktoberfests in the Garden Spot. Check ’em out!
Oktoberfest at T.B.D.
Dates: October 2-4, 2009
224 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Octoberfest At Brouwerij Lane
Date: October 3, 2009
78 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
That’s all for now, dear readers. The refrigerator awaits my loving touch. *shudder*
Miss Heather
A Conversation With The New Owner of The Greenpoint Hotel
I have received a great number of reader emails regarding the recent happenings at the place formerly known as the Greenpoint Hotel. Many of them more or less are along the lines of the following, which was written by a chap named Dave:
hey, i thought you would be interested to know that the greenpoint hotel got a face lift today…i was grabbing a coffee at champion and noticed scaffolding and painters updating the beige-y pink building of sin. Gone was the foreboding “HOTEL” sign, which may only be missing during the painting. Later in the day I noticed the paint was extended to the next door laundry mat. I guess the two are connected.
For those of you who are not in the know, the Greenpoint Hotel was sold earlier this month. What you may not know is who bought it: a man named Jay Deutchman. I spoke to him on the telephone this morning about the future of this, one of Greenpoint’s, more dubious establishments. Follows is a general outline of points were discussed.
THE BUY
- He purchased this property on September 2nd.
- The DEA had apparently seized the property from its prior owner: Max Stark.
- It was a hostile buy, e.g.; Mr. Deutchman was provided very little background information about the place. (As he jokingly remarked at the end of our conversation: I wish I would have read your blog before buying it. I might have had second thoughts.)
CHANGES AFOOT: As Dan (and many of you, dear readers, have noted) a number of cosmetic changes have been made to this complex since— much as painting the facade and removing the “Hotel” sign. Here are few more changes Mr. Deutchman is implementing:
- Curing the numerous standing Department of Buildings/Fire code violations including: a hazardous wall, repairing the fire safety doors (which would not close) and replacing 170 sprinkler heads. The latter most were done with the consultation of the Fire Department. By his own guesstimation Mr. Deutchamn thinks her has completed about 75% of the work required to bring this building into compliance.
- Mr. Deutchman is also working with the 94th Precinct’s Community Liaison, Scott Adamo, in regards to the drug activity which has long plagued this building. Among the changes he has/is in the process of making are:a. Hiring eight “Safety Directors” (security guards) to monitor the building.
b. Installing a surveillance system.
c. Requiring all visitors to sign in and present identification.
d. Installing a swipe card system at the entrance of the building.
e. Removing all the unregistered sex offenders from the building. Mr. Deutchman did not indicate to me how many there were but I intuit there were quite a few. Yikes! - As my previous post indicated, he is in the process of vacating this property. There were 100 residents at the time he purchased it. He has since reduced this number to 70. In three weeks he estimates he will be at 95% vacancy. He is actively working with city agencies, the Veteran’s Administration and colleagues to rehouse those who are being displaced.
a. Needless to say, he is not renting rooms. He made it clear to me that he has no experiencing running a hotel and has no interest in doing so.
b. He specializes in the operation of SROs and made it very clear that this building will NOT be converted into a rehab facility.
All in all I came away with a positive feeling from our conversation. Mr. Deutchman seems to understand why the community is is in a tizzy about the changes he is implementing at this storied and notorious address. Aside from reaching out to the police department he wants to meet with our local community board (this has yet to happen) and any concerned neighbors to hear their concerns. To this end any and all are encouraged to call his office to schedule a meeting with him. Those of who want to take Mr. Deutchman up on his offer can do so by calling (347) 294-0110. Ask for Jay.
Otherwise, we have made a tentative “date” (ok, we agreed to make a date) to tour 1109 Manhattan Avenue so I can see the changes he is making in person. I can hardly wait!
To be continued…?
Miss Heather
New York Shitty Day Ender: After Dark
Filed under: 11222, Crosstown Local, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
From Manhattan Avenue.
Miss Heather
From The New York Shitty Inbox: Everything You Wanted To Know About Those Lines On The Pulaski Bridge
Filed under: 11101, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Long Island City, Queens
(and I do mean EVERYTHING)
Rick writes:
I’m a new-ish fan of the blog, 10-year Greenpointer (what I call “outer” Greenpoint — Morgan near Driggs — as opposed to “upper” Greenpoint, meaning along the Manhattan/Franklin corridor), and bike commuter. I’m also a journalist who just finished a year reporting on urban spaces and infrastructure for PBS and public radio.
So after seeing the markings on the Pulaski Bridge path — and reading your posts — I decided to call someone who’d know what was up: Wiley Norvell, Communications Director for bike advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.
I asked him about three things: (1) the “lane” markings on the ramps; (2) the seemingly-superfluous white lines along the main stretch of the path; and (3) the “Stop and Dismount — Walk Bike” signs.
Wiley checked with NYCDOT and got back to me with the following answers:
1. The lane markings at the entrances “are designed to provide guidance,” he said. Every bridge in the city handles cyclists and pedestrians differently: they’re segregated on the Brooklyn and Manhattan spans; pedestrians move counter to cycle traffic on the Williamsburg; and (iirc) they move in the same direction on the 59th. So, Wiley said, “the DOT’s trying to clarify the rules for the Pulaski.”
2. The white lines are an effort to get cyclists to chill out, for lack of a better way of putting it. “That’s typically done for cars,” Wiley said. “They visually narrow the space. That’s intended to get people to slow down and focus. It make it look like the space is only five feet wide, so it’s a visual traffic-calming cue.”
Of course, Wiley says, none of this deals with the underlying problem on the bridge: That the path is simply too narrow for the amount of pedestrian and cycle traffic it’s already handling. And things are likely to get worse: Between the impending completion of the Kent Avenue greenway (which I rode today and is coming along beautifully) and the coming greenway along the LIC riverfront, there’s likely to be a lot more traffic on the Pulaski path. “It’s like the Brooklyn Bridge path,” he said. “We’re running up against the laws of physics.”
The bridge’s roadbed has the opposite problem: It has too much capacity, Wiley said. The evidence: cars routinely exceed the speed limit over the Newtown Creek by 15-20 MPH. “And that behavior continues on McGuinness Boulevard and into Long Island City,” Wiley said.
So there’s a built-in solution that would solve both problems at once: Take a lane away from the roadbed and turn it into a dedicated cycle path. Wiley says Transportation Alternatives supports that idea, but it’s likely a long way off: The Pulaski Bridge was last rebuilt just 15 years ago, so any reconfiguration is likely years in the future.
3. The signs are mandated by a regulation, likely a federal one, Wiley said. That regulation governs how traffic is supposed to behave on drawbridges. The problem, he said, is that the signs are in the wrong place: Cyclists are supposed to dismount and walk their bikes over the expansion joint between the leaves of the bascule (i.e. at mid-span). The signs, however, are hundreds of feet away from the joint. Even so, Wiley said, DOT doesn’t enforce the rule. “They’re planning for the real world, in which cyclists are riding across the bridge.”
Hope this helps… Keep up the good work!
No Rick, thank YOU for taking the time to give us the 411! If anyone has a question for Rick you can leave them in the comments or contact him via email at: rick (at) technopop (dot) org.
Miss Heather
P.S.: Rick was also kind enough to forward me a DOT presentation regarding the Pulaski Bridge. You can view it in jpeg format by clicking here.
Reader Contribution Du Jour: Bows
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Street Art
When I stumbled this novel solution to Greenpoint’s crack problem* (which hails from Meserole Avenue and comes courtesy of Cafe Grumpy) on Flickr I simply had to post it here. So I asked for permission to use it and they were kind enough to oblige. Thanks guys (and gals!)— this really made my day!
Miss Heather
*Which appears to have been at one time a kite.
NYS Flickr Pool
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