Greenpoint
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Culture on the Cheap
Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Art
This lovely lass can be found on Manhattan Avenue north of Ash Street.
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: It’s Alive!
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Street Art
From Ash Street.
Miss Heather
P.S.: Special thanks go out to the guys at Pom Wonderful for giving permission to photograph this!
An Ash Street PSA: Of B*lls & Courtesy
This primer on P’s and Q’s comes courtesy of Hong’s Seafood Corporation.
Miss Heather
Greenpoint Street Art Du Jour: Know Hope
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Street Art
From Ash Street.
Miss Heather
P.S.: This post goes out to Teresa. Happy birthday!
Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: Fat Boy R.I.P.
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Newtown Creek
Ever since I got the sad news about Fat Boy last night I have not been able to get him off my mind. More specifically, I was wondering exactly what the fuck he is. Or perhaps that should be what he was? Anyway, I just got back from a sojourn to the Manhattan Avenue park. Sure enough, he was still there.
Wait a minute. Didn’t our local Parks guru tell me he was going to be picked up this morning?
Well, I guess it is morning somewhere. In any case it would appear that in this mortal coil Fat Boy was a gerbil…
and true to his name, he is was rather rotund.
Goodbye, little fella.
Miss Heather
UPDATE, October 8, 2009: Fat Boy has been removed— presumably by the Parks Department.
LAST GASP: Greenpointer Shows 11222 Gratitude For New Park
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Newtown Creek
(Or, Fat Boy: R.I.P.) Last month at Manhattan Avenue Park we beheld a strapping chap sunning his buns in a pink Speedo. This month it would appear that Greenpoint’s newest park has been pressed into service as a pet cemetery.
Love you fat boy
RIP
Laura writes (in an email copied to North Brooklyn’s Park Poobah):
Well, tonight Mike & I visited the Manhattan Ave street end park. Mike saw some cardboard sticking out of the dirt. Being a good park steward, Mike began to pick it up when he noticed R.I.P. written on top. Turns out to be a final resting place. We weren’t about to throw the dearly departed away. Nor did we choose to bury it. We’ll leave it to the Parks Dept discretion to find a proper burial plot for “Fat Boy”.
R.I.P.(North Brooklyn’s Park Poobah),
Fat Boys remains can be found to the right of the entrance near the truck yard
I have lived in Greenpoint for ten years. In this time I have seen some seriously strange shit. SERIOUSLY. STRANGE. SHIT. We’re talking people fucking on sidewalks, drunk couples making out and stomping on cars, old Polish women lifting up their skirts and pissing on vacant lots. You get the idea. The previous having been written this makes the top ten. Easily.
Nonetheless it is a touching (if somewhat abject) tribute to Fat Boy. Whatever he was in life, he was clearly loved. And I have little doubt Open Space Alliance North Brooklyn will be pleased as punch to know the new park at the northern terminus of Manhattan Avenue (which they take credit for opening**) is, in fact, being used.
Albeit not in the manner they envisioned.
Miss Heather
*Apparently this is not the case: I have just received word “Fatboy” will be removed tomorrow.
The Poobah writes:
Will be removed tomorrow.
While she’s at it maybe she’ll get someone to find a more appropriate resting place for the dead rats and detritus at Bushwick Inlet?
**This too, is not true: someone (not me) got liquored up and pissed off and tore down the fence. The next day people started using the park— and shortly thereafter it was “opened” by the Parks Department (to save face).
Citypoint Photos Du Jour: Why?
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Long Island City, Queens
Okay— I will be the first to admit that although I know “work” is being done on the Pulaski I am pretty ignorant of the scope of said “work”. Getting “up-to-speed” on this matter has been on my “to do” list for some time but has been sadly lost among the numerous other things I have to do. Today it was cleaning the apartment in anticipation of my brother-in-law’s visit.
After spending the afternoon exorcising our refrigerator, picking up stuff and arguing with each other the Mister and I got a bit peckish. We decided to go to Creek and Cave for dinner. To this end we hopped on the B61 bus* and headed to Long Island City without delay. Afterward— since the evening was nice and cool— we decided to walk home. This is when I noticed something was amiss on the Pulaski.
It would appear the pedestrian walkway has be demarcated into “Queens bound” and “Brooklyn bound” lanes.
Or not. It was pretty much business as usual: bicyclists tearing down the walkway shouting at pedestrians to get out of the way.
This is what you’ll find at the Borden Avenue stairwell. I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Walk at your own risk?
As I approached the Kings County border I noticed the lines had stopped.
Perhaps this hilarity will be confined to Queens?
I thought to myself.
Nope.
Can someone please explain to me what this is supposed to achieve? Painting white lines along a pedestrian walkway on a bridge strikes me as being redundant. If one is to cross these lines he (or she) will either end up in Newtown Creek or McGuinness Boulevard: a one-way ticket to Woodhull. All the previous strike me as being much better deterrents to stay on the walkway than a pair of white lines.
The same goes for dividing the entrance ramps. Does the city honestly think this is going to change anything? It isn’t.
Before all the bicycle enthusiasts reading this tome get their collective panties in a wad I want you to think about the following before you comment (and/or criticize); I am not against bicycling. I am simply tired of almost being run over by bicyclists and/or being shouted at to get out of the way when I walk across the Pulaski Bridge. This is not a matter of bicycles or “green” transportation; it is one of being a good neighbor. What I have experienced on the Pulaski Bridge is anything but neighborly.
Pedestrians are just as entitled to use this walkway as bicyclists— but given the behavior I have experienced on the part of most bicyclists who use this thoroughfare this would not appear to be the case. It’s a simple matter of respect. I respect the right to ride bicycles. In turn, I would like to have my right to walk across the Pulaski in peace respected.
Painting lines on the pedestrian walkway is not going to teach people common courtesy. For this reason I am becoming increasingly of the mindset that dedicating one of the lanes of McGuinness Boulevard as a bike lane might be the most practical (and palatable) solution to this problem.
Miss Heather
*Where one individual managed to break the Metrocard reader by dumping a bunch of dimes in it. So we rode for free. Thank you, idiot.
An Ugly Incident At Greenpoint’s New Park
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Some of you no doubt recall how long it took this park (which is located at the end of Manhattan Avenue) to happen: just shy of two years. After an inexcusable series of delays it is open now, much to the pleasure of Greenpointers new, old, or simply passing through.
Like these EMT workers taking a much needed break on a Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately where are others who not only are treating this sorely needed bit of open space as their own beer garden, but when confronted they became belligerent.
Laura writes:
Mike & I have been going to the new park at Manhattan Ave, practically every day. It’s beautiful. Sunday evening, we were there with some family members. There was a group of young Slavic guys & gals drinking beer and tossing the beer bottles onto the lawn and in the high grass. My son sensed that I was upset and went over to pick up any visible bottles. He said to the group, “There’s a garbage over there, you know.” One of the guys responded with a few sarcastic comments and the group continued to drink and litter there. I was looking at the group, hoping they would feel uncomfortable and leave, but that didn’t happen. I proceeded to call the police. Then the same sarcastic guy hollered over “Are you calling the F%#@@ Police on us, you bitch?”. I replied, “Yes”.
With that, the same guy started to approach us with threatening motions. He was clearly trying to start a physical confrontation with my family. ( My granddaughter was there. ) My son, of course stood up ready to defend us. I didn’t want a fight to break out so I stood between the guy & my son & continued to call 911. The guy started to make threatening motions toward my son. He threatened to hit my son & Mike ( cane & all! ). I pulled out my camera. And he moved away. Mike took the phone to complete the call. The others began to scatter. I started to take photos of their vehicle & license plates. One of the guys tried to block the photo. With that, they scurried out of the park ( still holding the beer bottles)…
while I continued to take pictures. One of the guys and one of the girls, came walking back.
The girl was cursing and coming toward me until she realized that I had two daughter in laws with me. They left. There’s a witness… She gave me her name & phone number…
As previously stated Laura called the police— and guess what? After taking an hour to show up they didn’t seem to care!
The police got there over an hour later. The PO ( Ferguson ) said that we couldn’t make out a report. He did however give me the precinct phone number (after some push from me) so I could call in the license plate number when I enlarged the photo. I enlarged it and did leave that message… I don’t believe that I couldn’t fill out a police report just because the offenders left. I feel that I was denied a police report. Technically, there’s nothing on record at the 94th about this incident. And that’s how the precinct likes it. I called 911, so it’s in their system… I’m really tired of not getting help from the 94th Precinct. These youths know my family’s faces. And they are evidently a nasty group. The last thing we need is a nasty group of drinkers at that park. The lack of police interest makes me feel like we’re in the position to defend ourselves…
Welcome to life in the 94th Precinct.
Miss Heather
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