Cobble Hill Blog

Not interested in who wins at this Sunday’s Academy Awards, but feel the need to watch? Watch the awards show at the Bell House (149 7th Street) with WitStream, the comedy microblogging website. The event is free and begins at 7pm for the red carpet.

Gabe Liedman (Big Terrific) and Jenny Slate (Saturday Night Live) will serve as your MCs, entertaining during commercials with their hilarious analysis. Meanwhile, WitStream will run it’s LIVE feed of clever asides and scathing Oscar commentary from over 200 of the nation’s funniest comedians and writers PLUS we’ll have ballots and prizes for those who wish to predict the evening’s big winners.

Season 3 of Real Housewives of New York City with Cobble Hillbillies Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen kicks off tonight. Did you watch the premiere? Are you ready for the drama? Comment away!

This weekend, Manhattan Milk expands their delivery area to include certain parts of Brooklyn - DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and Cobble Hill. You can order the glass-bottled, organic milk, along with yogurt, butter, cheese, and other milk products at 917-388-2713 or online at manhattanmilk.com.

Flickr photo by beau-dog

What’s on  your mind? Any neighborhood news? Tips?

This morning, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would declare the Gowanus Canal a federal Superfund site. Read NY Times coverage here.

The Brooklyn Paper: The controversial designation sets into motion a half-billion-dollar, decade-long federally overseen clean-up of the polluted waterway, which cuts a sclerotic artery through the gentrifying heart of Brownstone Brooklyn. But it also raises questions about whether developers, who currently yearn to build residential housing in the canal zone, will ever exhibit quite the same ardor now that the area has been deemed one of the most polluted places in the country.

“This site has a very long legacy of toxic pollution that plagues this urban waterway,” said Judith Enck, the EPA’s regional director. “And because of that, the EPA is saying it is adding the Gowanus Canal to the federal Superfund list. We believe it will get us the most efficient and comprehensive cleanup of this waterway.”

Enck started her statement by declaring that taxpayers should rest easy that the feds went with a Superfund designation, which sets into motion a process of getting restitution from responsible polluters.

“The goal of Superfund is to ensure that polluters pay for cleanup, not the taxpayer,” she said.

As the first Wednesday of the month approaches, so does another monthly Cobble Hill Association Happy Hour. Stop by Watty & Meg (corner of Court and Kane Streets) this Wednesday from 6-9pm, where there will be reserved tables and drink specials, including $5 glasses of wine and $3 beers.

Filming Of Congressional Reality Show Disrupts Committee Meeting
The hilarious fame mongering of government officials and reality TV is the subject of this video parody from The Onion. Filmed before the reality TV driven “Crashergate“, this clip features a cameo from Cobble Hillbillies/ Real Housewives of New York City castmembers Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen.

Photo, the New York Times.

Mile End (97A Hoyt Street) will begin selling bagels from St-Viateur Bagel bakery in Montreal this Saturday. The bagels have been served since Mile End opened, but now they’ll be fresh out of the oven- driven down from Montreal on Friday night by two of the owner’s friends. Previously, the bagels were delivered via FedEx, and were missing some of  “that gooey awesomeness that Montreal bagels can have when they’re super-fresh,” says owner Noah Bernamoff. The bagel imports will cost $2.50 for one, $12 for a half-dozen and $22 for a dozen. They’ll probably go as quickly as the smoked meat, so your best bet is to pre-order them here. I’ll be picking up an order of half sesame, half poppyseed myself, if the snow doesn’t stop me (honestly, I can’t imagine a bagel being more delicious than one from Avenue N in Mill Basin). The New York Times put up the Montreal Bagels against New York’s very own - check it out here.