War On Fun – Brooklyn Bugle

Tone Deaf: City Removes Banksy’s Twin Towers Tribute From Fruit Street Sitting Area In Brooklyn Heights

October 18, 2013

While most of Brooklyn Heights is littered with graffiti from no talent taggers, the city was quick today to remove the Twin Towers tribute at the Fruit Street Sitting Area created by world famous street artist Banksy earlier this week.

It had quickly become a beloved part of the neighborhood with many rushing to take photos of it while pausing to remember those who perished on 9/11/01. However, the Parks Department has a different point of view. After all, we can’t have world famous artists defacing our neighborhood, right? That right is reserved for no talent punks as evidenced by the countless number of meaningless tags in and around Brooklyn Heights.

So with no consideration of this being a new, notable addition to our landmarked district, the Parks Department destroyed real art. Heckuva job fellas!

The NY Post has created a time lapse image of the destruction.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/63246

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Brooklyn Heights

Pervasive ‘Delivery Man’ Film Shoot Hijacks The Heights

October 23, 2012

Consider this the week that the “Delivery Man” took over Brooklyn Heights. Locating a street where the feature film shoot from 533 Kids Productions isn’t shooting in the neighborhood is easier than naming all those where it is. Tuesday’s scheduled filming near and along the Promenade was postponed until Wednesday because of cloudy weather—meaning that vehicles forced to move Monday on Montague Terrace, Pierrepont Place, Pierrepont Street and Remsen must repeat their desertion act Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, vehicles were banned Tuesday along parts of Orange, Cranberry, Clark and Henry streets, as filming ensued (with an abundance of kids present) early afternoon along Orange Street. “Delivery Man,” due in 2013 and starring Vince Vaughn, Ben Bailey, Cobie Smulders, Britt Robertson and Chris Pratt, centers on a man whose life is turned upside down when he learns he’s fathered 533 children as a sperm donor. When a bunch of the kids want to meet their dad, he must decide whether to reveal his identity.

See vehicle restrictions for Tuesday at 10 p.m. below the jump, along with more pics from Tuesday’s shoot. For questions or concerns, call 533′s Location Department at 646-513-2360. (Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Cars must be moved tonight by 10 p.m. on both sides of Clark Street between Cadman Plaza West and Henry, Pierrepont Street between Monroe Place and Clinton, Clinton between Pierrepont and Remsen, Montague Street between Cadman Plaza West and Clinton, and the west side of Cadman Plaza West between Pineapple and Clark.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49637

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Brooklyn Heights

Is Filming In Brooklyn Heights ‘Out Of Control’?

October 22, 2012

Ask the Mayor’s Office about the inundation of shoots for movies, TV shows and commercials and you’ll get this response: “The industry provides high-quality jobs in an era when low-paying service jobs have become the norm.” According to the Boston Consulting Group, NYC’s film sector is the strongest in history, generating $7.1 billion in 2011, while employing 130,000.

But some residents of brownstone Brooklyn have a different take, saying that they’re paying the price for the boom. According to a story in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, with “the streets of historic Brooklyn Heights clogged with film trucks on a regular basis, local businesses and residents are fuming.”

Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, says she’s losing count of the multitude of shoots in the neighborhood. For one, filming of flick “Delivery Man” is taking place at Plymouth Church, the Promenade, Brooklyn Historical Society, Henry Street, Montague Terrace, Remsen Street and Pierrepont: “How many blocks? No answer. I think it’s excessive. More consideration needs to be given to little neighborhoods like this one. Last week, ‘Law and Order’ and a Lottery commercial were shooting at the same time. The Lottery trucks blocked Montague from Court to Henry street. That really did affect merchants.”

Andrea Demetropoulos, who owns Rocco and Jezebel pet shop at 89 Pineapple Walk, has launched a cease-fire petition, and tells the Eagle, “Filming is out of control. Three customers and the UPS guy this morning told me they couldn’t park anywhere. They’re killing the people who live here. This entire neighborhood is only 5 by 13 blocks. There needs to be a moratorium.”

The Brooklyn Eagle counts more than a dozen major films and TV shows being shot locally over the last two weeks: “Delivery Man,” “Smash,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn,” “Noah,” “Golden Boy,” “Zero Hour,” “Orange,” “666 Park Avenue,” “Carrie Diaries,” “Person of Interest,” “How to Be a Man,” “Infamous” and “Made in Jersey”—along with a number of commercials, like the New York Lottery spot being filmed on Montague Street. Much more in the Eagle piece here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49580

From the Web

What’s That Loud Noise Under the Promenade?

August 29, 2012

Longtime nabe resident “politegangsta” investigates the source of a really loud noise under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in a YouTube video posted earlier this month. What is it? Find out after the jump.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46553

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Police Blotter

Montague Street Parking Ticket Overkill? Come On!

August 28, 2012

Are you kidding? This UPS truck parked on Montague Street Monday afternoon across from the AT&T store was adorned with not one, not two, but three parking tickets, each strategically placed so as not to overlap. I’ve never known a UPS truck to dawdle for so long that it merits this kind of overkill. Really? No, really? (Detailed pics below the jump)
(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46474

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Brooklyn Heights, Kids

One Mom’s Battle Against the Wack Jobs of Brooklyn Heights

August 27, 2012

We received a fiery dispatch from a BHB reader/Mom over the weekend. Given the fact that Mrs. Fink and I have had similar brushes with the “eccentric” side of Brooklyn Heights since Baby Fink was born in 2010, we wonder if any of you have had similar experiences. Check out our reader’s tale of Brooklyn Heights Crazy after the jump.

In my 20′s and 30′s I lived on the Upper East Side. I lived with my boyfriend, we were artists had no kids and were not ashamed to eat Ramen Noodles. So, I would bristle every time a perfectly manicured and accessorized UES mom suddenly stopped their $700 stroller in the middle of the crowded sidewalk to give their darling, adorably dressed charges a cookie. I would grit my teeth and think, “JUST PULL OVER.” So, now that I’m a mom respectfully do my best not to block the narrow jagged sidewalks of my beloved Brooklyn Heights. I say I succeed about 90% of the time.
Now, I’m not proud of this but I have from time to time, been know to shoot my mouth off. Combine that with a mom’s fierce, primal instinct to defend their child and it’s a volatile combination.
But I have NO idea what happened this past week. Maybe Mercury was in retrograde or the planets aligned in some horrible way, but the wack job haters were out in force. And they found ME. Let’s just say I now know how a person could lift a car off their kid.
1) Starbucks arty woman in black says to my friend twice, “2 kids? You should keep your legs shut!” I said “Eccentric is one thing, rude is another. How bout you keep your mouth shut!”
2) Sidewalk on Pierrepont (Mom and daughter push in between stroller and my son and actually moved my son out of the way. The words excuse me never crossed their lips. I am, for once, speechless but when one of them turns around to give me a dirty look from across the street I scream “Don’t touch my kid, how bout “Excuse Me?!”
3) Eastern Athletic (With PLENTY of room on the sidewalk a man pushes between my friend, my stroller and I, steps on my friend’s foot and yells at me “You must have a very strong sense of entitlement! You’re taking up the whole sidewalk” Honestly, we weren’t. He even dared to take a step toward us with my son in the stroller. I turned the stroller away and said “you are going to get in my face when I have my child in the stroller? What is WRONG WITH YOU?!” He kept screaming and entered the club. I almost called the cops to have him arrested…my call to the club manager was pointless. They won’t intervene if an incident happens on the sidewalk, only inside the club.
I’ve given up hope that people will hold doors for us. And it’s only when I have an expression of total panic on my face that someone will assist us down the Subway stairs. But, these incidents this week put me over the edge. So to answer the psycho from Eastern Athetic’s question: YES I do have a sense of entitlement! I am entitled to defend my child! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? How is it ok to TOUCH another person’s child? What happened to “excuse me?” Why is there so much hostility toward women taking care of children? Knowing that any clever retort (real or imagined) I make can’t change bad behavior, why can’t I keep my cool? Has anything like this happened to you? Mama needs a glass of wine.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46388

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Brooklyn Heights

‘Hail No’: Initiative To Bring Livery Cabs To The Boroughs Is A Bust (For Now)

August 18, 2012

In a rare defeat for NYC Mayor Bloomberg and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled Friday that the popular initiative to allow 18,000 livery cabs to take street hails from Manhattan to the outer boroughs and the upper reaches of the city is a no go. No doubt, this should have residents of Brooklyn Heights seeing red, since it can be next to impossible to convince yellow taxis to cross the Brooklyn Bridge late at night.

The decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron is also sour news for the city, which would lose $1 billion in revenue from 2,000 new medallion sales. NYC’s corporation counsel Michael Cardozo said he will immediately appeal the decision, according to The Wall Street Journal, saying city officials are “confident the appellate court will uphold” the law.

Taxi & Limousine Commissioner and Brooklyn Heights resident David Yassky also vowed to fight: “The court’s decision is a great loss to millions of New Yorkers outside of Manhattan, as well as for professional livery drivers whose ability to feed their families by providing a popular service their communities want and deserve is in jeopardy.”

The New York Daily News explains that earlier this summer, Engoron blocked the Bloomberg administration from selling the yellow medallions and taking applications for livery hail licenses after lobbyists for the yellow cab industry came up with the argument that the plan was illegal.

The judge determined that yellow cabbies would “suffer irreparable harm” if the plan were put into effect. Michael Woloz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, told WJS, “Thousands of individual owner-drivers and hundreds of small-business owners in both the taxi and livery industries are breathing a sigh of relief.”

Mind you, this is the same industry that just celebrated a whopping 17% fare hike. After Labor Day, the starting rate will remain $2.50, but the meter will climb 50 cents instead of 40 with every click, after one-fifth of a mile or 60 seconds. The flat rate from Manhattan to Kennedy Airport will climb by $7, to $52, and the surcharge from the city to Newark will escalate from $15 to $17.50.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46017

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Brooklyn Heights

Massive Mess: 111-115 Montague Street Sidewalk Will Be In Tatters For 3 Months

August 14, 2012

While the massive hole in front of 200 Hicks Street and Montague continues to get wider, deeper and messier, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Beginning this week, the entire sidewalk from the Chinese Hand Laundry and McCurdy Real Estate at 111 Montague up to Subway sandwiches at 115—which also encompasses retailers Peerless Shoe Repair and Connecticut Muffin—will be torn to bits.

The superintendent for the Berkeley and Grosvenor apartment buildings at 111 & 115 Montague tells BHB that infrastructure work below the sidewalk will endure for a minimum of three months. Oh, joy!

(Photos: Chuck Taylor) At top, the mess at 200 Hicks. Below, a last look at the sidewalk on Montague along the impacted area.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45728

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Clamorous Construction Continues Messing Up Montague

August 11, 2012

After crews spent a month widening the corners of Montague Street at Henry Street and another few weeks digging a sizable hole for telephone work in front of the Bossert Hotel—and separately replacing pipes & cables there—now the cacophonous construction mayhem has moved across the street in front of 200 Hicks Street.

You can’t escape the irony that some residents of that residential building are already fuming over potential noise from the Bossert Hotel’s conversion to a hotel… They must be loving this.

On Saturday, a gaping hole had been dug in front of 200 Hicks, as a yellow hydraulic bucket excavator darted with daunting speed about Montague & Hicks. Meanwhile, the majority of Montague Street is beginning to resemble a pastiche of paved patchwork. What a damn mess. (More photos below)

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45440

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