The New York City Department of Correction (DOC) invites the community to attend an open house at the Brooklyn Detention Complex, more commonly known at the Brooklyn House of Detention or the “House of D’.”
…

The open house in being held in advance of the phased re-opening of the House of Detention. Approximately 100 inmates per week will be transferred to the facility beginning in February. This will be an opportunity to meet Warden Walter Nin, ask questions and tour the facility.

To take advantage of this (we hope) once in a lifetime opportunity, please RSVP to Delilah Ortega in the DOC Department of Public Information at Delilah.Ortega@doc.nyc.gov or (718) 546-0631.

A Cobble Hill man was walking on Boerum Place towards Bergen Street  and a hoard of local teens.  One of the group accosted him, yelling “Boo”.  The amplitude of the youth’s taunt nearly knocked the victim over.  When he confronted the thug, he was met with a big fat knuckle sandwich:

Brooklyn Paper: The victim, who was wearing glasses, was hit in the left eye. His lens shattered, damaging his cornea.

“I fell backwards,” he said. “I couldn’t see anything. I was so dazed and confused that I fell against the wall. But the kids just laughed and hurried off.”

Cops are investigating, but assaults like this are not uncommon in Boerum Hill, where historic multi-million dollar brownstones are cushioned between the Wyckoff and Gowanus housing projects and there are cavernous gaps in the neighborhood’s median income level — from $23,900 to more than $108,000, according to the 2010 census.

The paper lists at least 5 additional attacks by youths in the area this year.

And how does that saying go?  ”Out of the mouths of babes…”:

“My friends like to f–k with people. They find it funny,” said Tatiana Chambers, a ninth grader at the School of International Studies on Baltic Street between Court and Smith streets. “Some kids are really high-strung, and if they feel disrespected they’ll hit somebody.”

Update: “To be a part of it, you’ll need to pick up a free immersion card at By Brooklyn or Brooklyn Tattoo/Urban Folk Art Gallery starting at noon on June 18. There will only be 500 in circulation, so appoint a responsible friend to pick up yours if you can’t get to Smith St. early. (They go fast!)” There’s a list of participating stores giving discounts here.

Brooklyn Paper: The mourners came from all walks of life, including councilmembers, college-aged strivers, judges and public housing residents flooded the funeral to console family members and each other over the untimely death of the lifelong Boerum Hill resident.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn honored the deceased with a posthumous city proclamation, and Rabbi Joseph Potasnik urged mourners to honor Reichbach’s memory by helping people in the community.

Other attendees included Assemblyman Vito Lopez; dozens of members Lopez and Levin’s collective staffs; former Councilman, now Taxi Commissioner David Yassky, Councilmembers Brad Lander, Letitia James, Jumaane Williams, Mark Weprin, and Domenic Recchia; Comptroller John Liu; Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio; Borough President Markowitz; state Sens. Eric Adams and Daniel Squadron; Assemblymembers Joseph Lentol, Dov Hikind and Joan Millman.

via Grub Street

Photo courtesy Brooklyn Eagle

A city probation officer fired a shot during a scuffle with a suspected car thief who was armed with a 2-by-4 in downtown Brooklyn … Police said two probation officers – a man and a woman – spotted the would-be thief outside of 14 Boerum Place near Adams St. outside the Brooklyn Civic Center. The suspect was trying to break into a light blue BMW that had Probation Department parking placard inside.

The would-be thief was not shot, but he was arrested. The Brooklyn Eagle also has the story here.

Curbed: We’ll let the brokerbabble explain what’s going on with this new-to-market townhouse at 350 Baltic Street in the Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill DMZ: “This sunny and beautiful Civil War era rowhouse has nurtured a family of artists, as its unique renovation shows.” It’s a two-family property, but the garden apartment is currently set up as a painting studio. We assumed “unique” was a euphemism, but we kinda like the atrium, skylight, and yard. The asking price, at $1.275 million for 1,968 square feet, is a bit more average than the decor.

The event is part of the Shop & Dine Late Nights promotion happening along Atlantic Avenue this month. For more information on Hope Veterinary Clinic, visit their web site.

image via Remodelista.com

Boreum Hill delicatessen Mile End is offering customers holiday specials on their shipped-from-Montreal bagels. Regular pricing is $25 for the first dozen and $15 for each additional dozen. During the holiday season, bagels will be available at $36 for two dozen, $60 for four dozen and $85 for six dozen.

All gift orders will be shipped with a customizable holiday greeting, directions for freezing and a history of Montreal bagels. Or if you’d prefer to pick them up in person, use the promo code GO HABS GO and get a third dozen free when ordering two for pick up on December 10th or 17th. The promotion is in part a thank you to customers on Mile End’s first anniversary.

Brooklyn Eagle: Now it is Boerum’s Hill turn. In an e-mail to his neighbors, Boerum Hill Association President Howard Kolins said that the association’s “proposal to downzone our neighborhood to R6B [maximum height of 50 feet with a setback] is moving forward so that future development remains consistent with today’s low-density character of largely three- and four-story brownstones.”

Kolins explained that the Boerum Hill “effort began when much of Carroll Gardens was rezoned R6B . . . and we realized that Boerum Hill was the last brownstone area that was not more fully protected.” The Carroll Gardens enterprise “set a fire under us,” Kolins told this newspaper.

Dwight Smith, a Boerum Hill Association (BHA) vice president, took the leadership role, and after Community Board 2 gave its blessing, the BHA approached the Department of City Planning.

After a couple of years of consensus-building, the effort has started to make some very concrete progress in the form of public support from Community Boards 2 and 6 recently… Once established, the BID would cover all properties fronting Atlantic Avenue from the BQE to 4th Avenue and one block north and south on all side streets within the district. (Properties from Court Street to Smith Street on the north side are excluded—they’re in the Court-Livingston-Schermehorn BID.)

According to the Atlantic Ave. BID web site, the organization would provide

marketing and promotion services to bring additional foot traffic to the Avenue, beautification and streetscape improvements, sanitation and improved advocacy work.

The BID committee next has a tentative meeting with the City Planning Commission on December 1st.

via Brownstowner

Jazz &Jill photo

Nabe bloggers Jazz & Jill report on the opening of Athena Mediterranean [213 Smith Street, 718-625-2616]:

Jazz & Jill: Spiro Hiotis chose the perfect name for his restaurant. Athena is the virgin goddess of wisdom. Well, Spiro was wise indeed for choosing Cobble Hill for his third restaurant. The area has been in desperate need of Greek cuisine.

Last night Athena Mediterranean officially opened for business and it was quite the family affair. Spiro’s sister Helen introduced herself, showed us the space & offered us a glass of wine. We had just met, yet magically she knew the way to our hearts! The perfect start!

Although the restaurant is narrow, they handled it well. A few small black leather mini booths (very comfy!) are across from the bar. About six more booths are in the back, as well as the ‘vip’ area. This lounge section has white banquet seating with crisp blue walls, it feels like a little piece of Santorini. Although pretty and and a welcome concept, it honestly had us a little perplexed until Helen told us some fabulous news: on weekends they will be open until 4am and serving food until 1am. Aha! That explains why WKTU & Mediterranean house music were coming from the speakers! (note to Spiro: we much prefer the Mediterranean house music)

Usually the thought of Greek and open till 4am stirs up bad memories of a Long Island diner – chicken fingers, a guy with spiked hair hiccuping somewhere, pastel mints near the register. Not here. Everything was phenomenal.

Jazz & Jill photo

Nabe bloggers Jazz & Jill report that a Greek place called Athena will be opening in the old 213 Mexican space on Smith Street:

Jazz & Jill: We couldn’t be any more excited! At the old 213 Mexican address – 213 Smith Street – the new spot looks almost ready for opening. Tonight there was a logo projection moving across the sidewalk. Tacky, yet eye-catching! It was introducing Athena Mediterranean. The front of the building has a Greek relief type sculpture. Again, could be tacky – but in Carrie Bradshaw’s words “Most people would say she’s Eurotrash, but I think she’s fun.”

Brownstoner: According to the new business’s Facebook page, Pardes, as it is called, is scheduled to open at the end of September. The menu looks Asian-inspired, with heavy Indian and Japanese influences. Based on the comments on the Facebook page, it looks like there’s a big pent-up demand for some good kosher food on this stretch.

Photo: Keith Olsen/The Brooklyn Ink

Brooklyn Ink dives deep into the story of that corn at the corner of Smith and Bergen created by artist Christina Kelly:

Brooklyn Ink: Nestled just steps away from the Bergen subway stop, across the street from a Dunkin’ Donuts and adjacent to a Domino’s, the raised-bed garden has become home to what Native Americans called the three sisters: corn, beans and squash.   The term is derived from how all three plants grow by complementing one other: the beans fix nitrogen for the corn and soil, and the squash keeps the soil moist.

After participating in similar gardening activities at the Lefferts House in Prospect Park last year, and at P.S. 115 in Canarsie, Kelly crafted a grant proposal to fund the project.  She chose the Smith and Bergen location after the city expanded the sidewalk significantly.   The larger sidewalk would allow for visitors to look at the corn, as well as maintain regular walking traffic.

(via Brooklyn Bugle Around Brooklyn)

“Brooklyn isn’t as transient as other parts of the city; it reminds me of home. Most people wouldn’t put Brooklyn and Birmingham in the same sentence, but they both have a sense of community and warmth. This lack of pretense – what I call “soul” – is the essence of our brand.”

The church was built in 1894 and rebuilt in 1917.   It is on the National Register of Historic Places (added 1995 - Building – #95001334).

Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman is pleased to announce that the Douglass-Degraw Pool will be open for summer beginning Tuesday, June 29th.  After the community and local elected officials rallied to protest the City’s plans to shutter the beloved pool, the City responded by abandoning budget cuts that would have closed the facility.  The Douglass-Degraw Pool is located in Thomas Greene Park in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn and serves a diverse population, including nearly 3,500 residents at the nearby Gowanus Houses, Wyckoff Gardens and Warren Street housing developments.  The facility is also the nearest public pool for residents of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Park Slope.

Flickr photo by CaptainKidder

USA Today: Based on a count of lists on Google and Yahoo, they seem to be more an urban than suburban phenomenon. “You live in New York City, you’re one of 8 million people, but yet you can feel all alone,” says Sheryl Braun, who founded the Bococa parents list for the neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn.

Parents tell Braun that they felt isolated and disconnected. But then they joined the list, which has 2,500 members, “and it made those things go away.”

Are you a parent? What local online resources do you use?

Eater:  A tipster claims that they overheard the management at Atlantic Gardens, a new business development in Boerum Hill, talking about a new Shack location moving in. If the thought of Danny Meyer and Co. setting up shop in the neighborhood sounds like a bit of a stretch, please note that the young development sits just two blocks from BAM, in an area that is not far from Fort Green, Cobble Hill and Grand Army Plaza that is easily accessible by no less than twelve different train lines, all within a five block walking distance. In its first few months of operation, Atlantic Gardens has already courted Nunu— an upscale new chocolatier and wine bar— as well as another cafe, a salon and an art gallery.

Both Atlantic Gardens and the Shake Shack remain elusive on the subject: A call to the development’s management confirms that the group has contacted the Shake Shack and shared information about the retail space.

Brooklyn Paper: The Department of City Planning plan would cap new building heights in a 29-block area generally bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Warren Street, Court Street and Third Avenue, preventing large structures in a quiet enclave of Greek revival and Italianate brownstones.

New buildings on side streets would be capped at 50 feet, while buildings on commercial strips such as Court and Smith streets, and Third Avenue, could rise 70 feet.

The plan would also allow building upgrades and limited “appropriate development,” according to the agency.

The rezoning has already glided through the initial stages, and is supported by lawmakers, Community Board 2, and the Boerum Hill Association, which first requested the change.

Brownstoner photo

A motorcyclist was killed this morning on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill:

NY Daily News: An out-of-control motorcyclist was thrown from his bike and killed when a sport utility vehicle slammed into him Tuesday in Brooklyn, sources and witnesses said.

The biker lost control of his silver Honda CBR Racing motorcycle and fell off, tumbling to Atlantic Ave. and Bond St. in Boerum Hill.

“I was looking at him, and he was just flipping,” said Abid Hussein, 20, manager of a nearby store.

That’s when the brown Ford Explorer came roaring in at 6:15 a.m.

“I tried to hit the brakes to slow down, and I swerved because I saw the
bike first,” said Dozie Flowers, 63, who was driving the SUV. “But I couldn’t miss him.”

The Explorer barreled into the victim and ran over him.

Please Join us to Discuss the Closings of:

Bethel Baptist Daycare Center

Strong Place Daycare Center

Gowanus Senior Center

Douglass/Greene Park Community Pool

Wyckoff Gardens Child Health Clinic

June 14, 2010

6:30-8:00 PM

Belorussian Autocephalic Orthodox Church

401 Atlantic Avenue

(Atlantic Avenue and Bond Street)

Photo from forgotten-ny.com