Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
The Word On The Street, Part I: All Apologies
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, The Word On The Street
As spotted this evening on the premises of the Franklin Corner Store. A couple observations:
- This is one very polite— or at least apologetic— thief.
- Where did he/she get the post-it note and sharpie marker? Were these purloined as well or does he/she keep ’em handy for just these occasions? Anyone?
From The New York Shitty Inbox: What Is This?
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Urban Artifact
Jilly Ballistic, who took the above photograph, writes (in an email entitled “That’s a new one”):
At the corner of Huron and Franklin.
There’s an explanation behind this. I assume.
Another tasty angle of this find.
I was so intrigued by this when I arrived back in Greenpoint (Yes, I do leave it— more about that later) I swung by and checked it out.
Yup. If I had to hazard a guess as to what this is, I’d go out on a limb (or would that be ledge?) “Branson” and say he’s a buddy of this guy.
Spotted On Manhattan Avenue: Spider Man
Filed under: 11222, Criminal Activity, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Hooliganism, Newtown Creek, Wow, WTF
If these images (which a lady named Lisa was kind enough to bring to my attention) are any indication, it was a lively evening in the Garden Spot last night. My tipster kicks the party off as follows:
So…as we’re leaving (a) party… I see fucking Spiderman scaling a building, out of costume, on Manhattan ave. SPIDEY, YOU’RE DRUNK, GO HOME!
We first see him climbing up the fire escape ladder and assume, OK, he made it, he’s home. Not so much…
There were, of course, extensive comments on what would be happening if he was not Caucasian…
Spidey proceeds to move behind the staircase and onto the ledge, AROUND THE AC UNIT – nice effing moves – and works his way to the next building
I moved to video, showing poor judgement as it was too dark, so I did not get pics of the rest. Spidey moved to the next building where we thought “no way, that window has child guards on it, he can’t get in there,” but we were wrong…he opened the window and climbed OVER the child guards, OVER THE CHILD GUARDS, through the window, where he was welcomed with cheers from a party. THIS WAS AWESOME! I should post the video just for the Stephanie and Jerry show commentary, but I won’t. But this shit was funny. Damn. Jerry, did anyone believe you when you got back? Here is our proof!
A few thoughts:
- Given there have been a number of break-ins hereabouts wherein the thieves accessed the apartment(s) in question via the fire escape, this fellow is lucky no one called the police.
- He’s doubly lucky he didn’t fall and seriously hurt himself. I’d say he was tempting fate— and subsequent notoriety courtesy of the New York Post— in a big, big way.
- Greenpoint is becoming more and more like the East Village/Lower East Side every day. God help us.
UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that this morning someone in a BMW drove off Manhattan Avenue, presumably via the Kayak Launch, and into Newtown Creek. Wow. Just wow. You can read Gothamist’s take on this bizarre turn of event by clicking here.
Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Freeman Street
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Stuff The Makes Heather Sad
Taken June 7, 2013. (previously)
Urban Artifact: Franklin Street
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Urban Artifact
Taken June 7, 2013.
New York Shitty Street Art Du Jour: C215
This morning as I was walking past 77 Commercial Street I had the feeling I was being watched. Sure enough, I was!
Quicklink: Dog Attacked In North ‘Point
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Stuff The Makes Heather Sad
Sadly, Arlo died of his wounds. You can get the whole run-down of what happened— and how you can help— by clicking here. Keep your eyes peeled— and be vigilant— Greenpoint dog lovers…
From The New York Shitty Inbox: Greenpoint’s Got Gospel…
(Music, that is)
A very nice lady named Beth writes:
Hi Miss Heather!
Would you mind posting something about this community gospel choir happening at Greenpoint Church? Thank you!
Greenpoint Community Gospel Choir
You know you love gospel music. Secretly. Or not so secretly! Aretha Franklin? Mahalia Jackson? America’s best music has come from the gospel tradition.
Don’t you want to sing some old school gospel music in a grown-up choir? Come join us! All you need is a love of singing, the ability to clap, shout and just a pinch of soul. No prior experience or religious affiliation necessary. Not sure? Come to a rehearsal and try it out. You’ll be singing “Halleluyah!” before you know it!
Any and all who are interested in joining this endeavor should contact Beth via email at pricebeth99 (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also follow their Facebook page by clicking here.
Greenpoint Community Gospel Choir
Sundays from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m
Greenpoint Reformed Church
136 Milton Street
Brooklyn, new York 11222
From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part III: What To Do About Illegal Hotels?
Filed under: 10002, 10003, 11206, 11211, 11222, Bushwick, Bushwick Brooklyn, Criminal Activity, East Village, East Village Manhattan, East Williamsburg, East Williamsburg Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, New York City, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
More specifically: What do I do when I learn that a fellow tenant is renting out his/her apartment via Airbnb? E.g.; What recourse do I have when some drunken asshat breaks my front door lock at 2:00 a.m. in the morning or simply walks in and hands my husband his luggage?
A tipster writes:
Heather!
Illegal Hotels, formally known as transient occupancy units (TOU’s) are Class “A” residential units that have been converted for short-term stays of 30 days or less without adhering to the fire codes, tax laws, Certificates of Occupancy and zoning restrictions of hotel use. The illegal conversion of residential buildings into hotels presents serious problems for permanent residents, limits the supply of available housing – in particular, rent-regulated and low-income housing. By lacking the necessary fire-safety measures that legal hotels are required to have by law, which are more stringent than multiple dwelling buildings, TOU’s also present substantial safety hazards to permanent, legal residents as well as short-term guests; many are dangerous firetraps.
The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (“OSE”), headed by Kathleen McGee, pulls together the various enforcement agencies to go after TOUs when they are reported. I know people don’t believe it, but for this people need to file 311 Complaints, being sure to tell the operator that they want it to go to OSE. Kathleen has worked to get complaints that are incorrectly taken for HPD or DOB re-routed to her shop (and has been largely successful).
The District Manager or local elected officials can also forward complaints directly to Kathleen, and can even do so anonymously. It can be hard to get OSE out immediately, unless there is a present and imminent fire hazard, but they are very good at going out to problem locations (ie: repeated complaints or severe activity). They have been stepping up their enforcement recently.*
So far, there isn’t much proactive enforcement based off of sites like AirBnB, although with recent changes in the law, which raised the fines for landlords and allows tenants to be fined as well, some landlords have started to patrol the websites to catch tenants and proactively inform OSE.
*No shit.
From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part II: Grow Your Parks
Filed under: 11206, 11211, 11222, East Williamsburg, East Williamsburg Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
A number of folks have brought this to my attention. But I am rolling with this one as I found the “copy” the most provocative:
Hi, Heather…any chance you can do a quick thing on this on your site? Feel free to editorialize as much as you wish, but it would be nice to let people know about it. That way they can come and personally rip on the new OSA director if they wish.
PDF attached. Here is the copy I sent out along with it:
Friends and Neighbors,
The OSA Community Committee is pleased to announce the next Public Forum will be taking place on Wednesday June 12, 2013 at The Warsaw in Greenpoint at 7pm.
The Public Forum is your chance as community members to bring your ideas for maintaining, improving and celebrating our public parks in North Brooklyn both with your fellow North Brooklynites and with OSA leadership. Join your neighbors in discussing the state of your parks and generating priorities for the Parks Department and OSA staff.
This year you have a unique opportunity to meet and hear from the Executive Director of OSA, Ed Janoff. Ed will present his plan for addressing the ideas the community submitted at the last Public Forum as well as take your questions.
We hope to see you there!
Grow Your Parks: OSA Public Parks Forum
Wednesday, June 12th 2013 starting at 7:00 p.m.
The Warsaw
261 Driggs Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
NYS Flickr Pool
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