A 19-year-old woman was arrested for shooting the cab driver in the face last week. More info here. Hopefully she'll be held very accountable for believing that a $9.80 cab fare was worth ruining / taking a life.
She couldn't have just run away without paying? What the fuck was she thinking?!
Most of you have probably already seen this, but a cab driver was shot in the face early yesterday morning at Lafayette and Franklin. Some disturbing information has been updated, including that the suspects are three young women who hopped in the taxi on Flatbush Ave in Fort Greene, and the driver may lose both of his eyes.
Robbing someone is one thing, and it's wrong. But imagining a group of young women acting so violently, in a way that prevents the driver from returning to his livelihood, really disgusts me. What the fuck goes through people's heads? It is worth a few bucks to ruin someone's life?
I try to stay neutral here in this space, but I just feel so bad that someone in our community did something like this to an innocent person.
(Also, can't find a single piece of info in the news about the shooting on Myrtle and Washington Pk!)
Links:
A commenter recently asked me why I haven't given any coverage to the flea controversies. Really, it's just because everyone else in NYC has already written about it. I'm not really interested in repeating stuff that's been posted in a zillion other places -- I'd rather observe quirky stuff and solve neighborhood mysteries -- but here is a link from the NY Times. When I first heard there would be a meeting to protest the flea, I assumed it would be an old-timer, new-timer thing. However, it sounds like the meeting was driven by the members of the church across the street. Some of their gripes sound legit -- having flea visitors use their restroom facilities and having parking taken up. Surely there could be a resolution there -- resident-only parking stickers (or not -- do the parishioners have the right to park over flea shoppers?), or welcome flea visitors into the church's facilities for a donation (hey, you have to pay in Coney Island to use most bathrooms! Why not raise some cash for the church?). One complaint is that church attendance has dropped since the flea began. Has the church polled it's non-attending members to see if this is the case? Perhaps it's due to the fact that people are out of town during the summer?
I wasn't at the meeting, but it does seem that the flea management has taken a lot of steps to accommodate feedback and complaints -- security, clean-up, an ATM, more food vendors. Plus, it seems like local businesses, especially restaurants, are benefiting from all the neighborhood visitors.
I'm not sure the chastisement of having the flea on the sabbath is all that valid. I mean, it's not the sabbath for everyone, and I'm just not cool with feeling like religious morales morals (whoops! sorry, multitasking at work! ) are being imposed on me outside of the church building.
I only saw one sign for the recent gun buyback program that happened a few weekends ago. Participants were paid $200 per gun, no questions asked. A reported 700 guns were turned in during the program.
Brown Memorial Church in CH was one of the buyback locations, and the wait for turn-in was more than an hour.
I noticed this nicely-designed sign on Fulton and Putnam over the weekend, and I hadn't noticed it before:
This is a shockingly pretty sign coming from the city. Additional irony is earned from the crappiness of Fulton Street and the ridiculousness of the street renovations that have been going on now for, oh, two or three years.
I have high hopes, now that we've been afforded a city B.I.D.
Thanks to the Pratt Area Community Council for their hard work on making this happen!
Many thanks to reader Philip for emailing me a camera phone picture of the cop cars in front of the 88th precinct on DeKalb Avenue at Classon. After I posted about their cars blocking the street's new bike lane, they've switched to regular old parallel parking (you know, like the rest of us have to!).
Thanks also to Gothamist and Streetsblog (and I'm sure many others) for picking up this story.
Let's hope this is a permanent gesture. It's days like today that I'm really psyched to be a community blogger. (BTW, where did they put the other cars?)
Command Security, who is operating the Clinton-Washington Neighborhood Patrol, found my blog post and emailed me a recent article written by the Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Courier. Click on the link to enlarge: clinton_news.jpg
The Brooklyn Paper offers a podcast about the process of using the Hollenback Community Garden's new composting toilet. Nice. (The garden is located on Washington Ave between Greene and Gates!)
(I'm going to try to compile CH-related new stories in print and online, weekly.)
Frank White was recently nominated for Best New Coffeehouse in NYC by TimeOut Magazine! Congrats to them for pioneering a beautiful, unique space on Atlantic Ave.
Their huge back yard is now open. (Yay, spring.)
Frank White 936 Atlantic Ave (at St. James Pl.)
(A post to come soon highlighting the best outdoor spaces at local establishments!)
After months of waiting, Brooklyn finally has its own flea market. Clinton Hill resident Brownstoner has set the whole thing up and it kicks off SUNDAY. The market will be open every Sunday, rain or shine, from 10am-5pm at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School (Lafayette bt Clermont and Vanderbilt). Two hundred (!!!!) vendors have signed on, and vendor categories include vintage furniture and salvage, antiques and vintage clothing, records and music, new furniture and lighting, a Design*Sponge collective (featuring my personal friends Lena Corwin, Sesame Letterpress and others), new clothing, jewelry, bicycles (awesome!) and more.
I can't believe how lucky we'll be to have this resource in our 'hood! So many of Brooklyn's coolest shops, vendors and artists have signed on. I envision myself doing all of my Christmas shopping right here.
Market layout and a list of vendors can be found here. NY Mag article on the flea here.
Gotta love the Onion and their scathing satire. Fort Greene made a recent issue. Check it out here.
From Gothamist:
Leval Lyde, a 36-year-old Brooklyn rapper who went by the street name "Kevlar," was gunned down yesterday on the corner of Clinton Ave. and Fulton St. in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. Lyde was shot just before 5 p.m. on the street corner and declared dead on arrival at Brooklyn Hospital. Lyde had just exited Fish & Crustaceans Quality Seafood and was walking with his sandwich towards the maroon Jaguar (owned by the mother of his child) when he was shot once in the torso.
The NY Times describes the rapper of little renown as a holdover from Fort Greene's grittier days, and sees his killing as a foil for the transformation that has occurred in recent years. "The shooting was a reminder of rougher times in Clinton Hill, where gentrification has turned crack houses into wine bars." They quoted one resident who noticed the crime scene tape only after observing that a new French restaurant had opened on the block. He figured it must have been an accident and was surprised to hear that there had been a murder.
Info from the NYT here.
WTF???? A murder at 5pm on Fulton? Could this be related to the gunfire on Lexington a few days ago? OMG!
Happy news here in the NYT today about the delay of Atlantic Yards.
A CH resident is reporting that a news van has been camped out next door to his building on St. James Place asking about someone named Tameka Lewis. His diligent research led him to this article, which states that this woman was involved in setting up "client appointments" for "Client No. 9."
Read the full account here.
Check out this article from the Daily News, Via SavetheG: Summer hike in subway, bus services
BY DONALD BERTRAND DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, February 26th 2008, 4:00 AM
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a message for Queens subway and bus commuters: Ride on!
It looks like the dollars are coming in faster than expected to the MTA, thanks to increased ridership, particularly in Queens.
Under a new plan, NYC Transit would begin implementing increased service - valued at approximately $46 million annually - as early as June.
The proposals will not be implemented until after the financial results for the first quarter of 2008 have been received, Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said.
Starting in June, the 7 and W lines will see increases in service to accommodate boosts in ridership on those lines.
The 7 line would increase Saturday service frequency from six to 10 minutes to five to eight minutes, and Sunday service frequency from six to 10 minutes to six to eight minutes starting in June.
W service would be extended from 9:30 to 11 p.m., and there would be an increase in peak hour service frequency from four to five minutes to four minutes.
In December, the G and R lines will see increases in service frequency.
The G would increase service frequency by 50% weekday evenings (from 12-15 minutes to eight minutes); 20% weekday middays (from 10 minutes to eight minutes); and 33% on weekends (eight-10 minutes to six minutes).
This boost will require terminating the G at the Courthouse Square station in Long Island City, because the Queens Blvd. line does not have capacity for more G service.
Extended R service would operate to Forest Hills-71st Ave. at all times; replacing the G along Queens Blvd. and allowing the N to operate via Manhattan Bridge at all times.
Queens bus lines also will see service increases, and will include a new Bx50 limited-stop bus route between Fordham Plaza in the Bronx and LaGuardia Airport, and a new Q94 super-limited service between Flushing and Fordham Plaza to reduce travel time on the route by up to 20 minutes and meet growing demand for Queens-Bronx travel.
Public hearings must be held before the Bx50 and Q94 services can be implemented. Plans call for the Bx50 to begin service in December, while the Q94 would begin in September.
Transit officials said 10 other Queens bus lines will either see increases in hours or extensions to their routes.
They include the: Q12; Q27; Q31; Q42; Q59; Q75: Q76; Q77; Q79 and Q84.
50% increase?! YES, YES, YES!
What do you think about the permanent termination at Court Square? For me, if it means way more G service, fine by me!
Apartment Therapy (one of my favorite blogs!) has some additional info on the opening of Root Stock & Quade on Myrtle Ave (my original post here). Looks like they're facing a mad rush to open as scheduled, but they plan on maintaining the historic feel of the storefront.
Clinton Hill Blog published from 2006 - 2010. Please enjoy these archives - a love letter to the neighborhood.
