The week-long citywide OpSail event kicks off at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday May 23, with the Majestic Parade of Ships—17 tall ships and 10 U.S. Navy and foreign military ships—sailing beneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Ships will arrive from Spain, Mexico, France, Japan, Canada, Finland, the U.K. and U.S. ports. More info is below:

Where: Red Hook Marine Terminal, Columbia Street entry at Congress Street
Public transportation is strongly suggested: B61 and B63 to Atlantic Avenue and Columbia St.

When: Saturday, May 26, Sunday, May 27 and Monday, May 28, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Ships
Tall Ships
Juan Sebastian de Elcano, schooner, Spain
Cuauhtemoc, barque, Mexico
Etoile, schooner, France
La Belle Poule, schooner, France

Navy Ships
HMCS Iroquois, destroyer, Canada
JS Shirane, destroyer, Japan
FNS Pohjanmaa, mine layer, Finland
RFA Argus, hospital/cargo, United Kingdom

US Coast Guard Cutters
USCG Seneca
USCG Willow

The event’s assistant producer Deborah Monlux tells CHB, “It’s like a visit to NOLA followed by some Acadiana without leaving Brooklyn. Bring your dancing shoes!”

Also featured: The Bayou-born sounds of Louisiana native and fiddler of the year winner Al Berard; young rising star Forest Huval; former File’ Darren Wallace; Brooklyn’s own Catahoula Cajun Band and Doctor Zsa’s Powdered Zydeco; Creole fiddler Cedric Watson teaches a tune or two on the fiddle; and on Sunday at noon, Offshore Aces, a rousing mix of twin fiddle, accordion, guitar, bass, frottoir and the opportunity to join in and play. In addition, 2012 event “Cajun Mom” poster artist Eric P. Richardson will feature his humorous paintings along the music hall walls.

The Cajun & Zydeco Music Festival also showcases dancehall bands, workshops, Culture & Community Jam sessions and Gumbo dinner.

Day passes are $15 or $35 for all three days. Children under 12 are admitted free. Workshops are $25. Festival pass includes all night dance hall bands, community jam sessions, art show and “Un-Written Stories” culture session.

The festival is sponsored in part by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Louisiana Culture, Recreation & Tourism, celebrating 200 years of Louisiana.

For more info and to pre-order tix, click here.

New York Daily News Cruise ships docked in Brooklyn continue to choke Red Hook with their fumes — despite a widely touted deal a year ago that was supposed to solve the problem.

The Port Authority approved $15 million to build a system allowing ships to plug into an electric grid — but costs have shot up another $4.3 million and the agency hasn’t shelled out the extra money, according to local elected officials.

The Daily News story quotes Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and other local elected officials as noting that “[a]sthma rates among Red Hook youth are high”. Red Hook resident Adam Armstrong, author of the blog A View from the Hook, accuses the Port Authority of “twiddling their thumbs.” A Port Authority spokesman says the agency is “evaluating options”.

Notification issued 11/14/11 at 12:00 PM. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will be testing their Early Warning Sirens at the Brooklyn Piers tomorrow, November 15, 2011 between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM. These sirens may also be heard in lower Manhattan. This is only a drill.

The notice doesn’t specify which “Brooklyn Piers,” but we’re presuming they include ones adjacent to Columbia Street and Red Hook.

Instead of just honking, try being less of an asshole and slow down.

New York Times: The mighty Queen Mary 2 will no longer be belching diesel fumes over Red Hook when it docks at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal next year. Instead, the cruise ship will shut its engines and plug into a giant electrical outlet built especially for the port.
…

Plugging in to an alternative hydroelectric source at the Red Hook port would eliminate nearly 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide, 95 tons of nitrous oxide and 6.5 tons of diesel particulate matter annually.

State Senator Daniel Squadron released the following statement:

With this agreement to bring shore power to the cruise terminal, Brooklyn can finally breathe a little easier. The noxious diesel fumes that cruise ships in port have been spewing are bad for Brooklynites and bad for the environment. I have worked with Council Member Brad Lander, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, our colleagues in government and the entire community to advocate for an expedited agreement to implement shore power. I commend Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo, the Port Authority, the New York Power Authority, the Economic Development Corporation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Carnival Cruise Lines for working together to find this important solution.

Update: Mayor Bloomberg’s press release, which came out after this was first posted, includes more information on timing:

The project includes over $15 million in onshore infrastructure, funded with about $12 million from the Port Authority and a nearly $3 million grant from the US EPA. Carnival Cruise Lines will spend up to $4 million to retrofit the two Carnival Cruise Lines ships that dock at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Under an agreement reached by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the City and New York Power Authority (NYPA) will provide NYPA electricity to Carnival at a fixed and discounted rate for a period of five years, which is valued at roughly $2 million per year. Approximately 40 ship calls per year will use shore power. Construction of the on-shore infrastructure will begin mid-2011 and is expected to be complete in 2012. Additionally, beginning in 2012, Carnival Cruise Lines will be required to use progressively lower-sulfur fuel for its ships, further reducing the relative cost of shore power.

So, given the time needed to install shore and ship-based infrastructure, it appears that the changeover to shore power is at least a year off. However, the reduction in the sulfur content of fuel used by the shipboard auxiliary generators in the interim should be of some benefit.

Photo of Queen Mary 2 docked at Red Hook by C. Scales.

New York Post: A Brooklyn woman was fatally struck by a commercial van yesterday as she was crossing a notoriously dangerous intersection during her morning walk to work.

The driver of the Dirusso Electrical Contracting van was inconsolable after hitting Caroline Turnage, 56, as she crossed Columbia Street at around 7:40 a.m.

The Post article doesn’t identify the particular intersection at which this tragedy occurred. Ms. Turnage lived elsewhere in Brooklyn and commuted by subway to Cobble Hill, then walked to her job as a receptionist at Time Moving & Storage, 158 Pioneer Street, in Red Hook.

A Walk in the Park: City officials hope to finally breathe some life into this long-isolated neighborhood by transforming a dingy, two-acre lot into a new waterfront park. Preliminary renderings show a Department of Transportation storage lot at the corner of Columbia and DeGraw streets being converted into new green space, including a dog run and tree-lined lawns and paths. Once a vibrant community, the neighborhood began falling on hard times in the late 1950s after being cut off from adjacent Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill by the construction of the Brooklyn-[Queens] Expressway.

A meeting was scheduled for yesterday evening at the Union Street Star Theater “to begin soliciting community input before coming up with a final plan.”

The market will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 7pm.  More information can be found here.

South Brooklyn Post: On windy days–of which there are many in the Red Hook/West Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Waterfront District, when tarps are removed from the pile for city Department of Sanitation trucks to fill up, the salt blows over the neighborhood. Residents, families, businesses, cars, plants and wildlife face a salty deluge that leaves a film on everything.
The mound, covered with tarp and weighed down with bags of salt, has been an eyesore in the most literal sense since February 2009.
“It started two years ago. It was a little hill, and now it’s a mountain,” said Freddy Saint-Aignan, who owns Sugar Lounge, directly across the street from the salt pile. The city uses the salt to spread on roads when the ice and snow come.

South Brooklyn Post photo

So what do you, people of the internet with day jobs and stuff to do think should be done to fix the ditch?

We’re so totally convinced Google already has time travel technology not to mention the fact that they’re thisclose to getting Skynet off the ground that it’s totally do-able to send Terminator back in time to whack Robert Moses. Whack Bobby, no ditch. What? Too much?

Comment away or tweet @cobblehill_blog with hashtag #fixtheditch .

Art Daily: CFASS has entered into a 50-year-lease of the 235,000 square foot (about 22,000 sqm) facility in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. This iconic building, formerly known as the New York Dock Co., has been completely renovated to house a state-of-the-art, highly-secure storage facility. Top-of-the-line environmental controls, simultaneous on-site and remote monitoring by two independent security centers, and back-up power generators provide a reliable and safe environment for the care of art, antiques and collectibles. Located across from Governor’s Island, with views of both downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, the CFASS New York location is easily accessible from major transportation hubs. The stand-alone structure is constructed of fireproof concrete and steel, and is bounded by a secured perimeter with tightlycontrolled access and 24-hour security. Custom storage rooms range from 100 to 15,000 square feet, with expanded height clearance for large sculptures and works of art. CFASS New York is headed by Mr. Joel Weinberg, General Manager, CFASS New York.

Photo from the New York Times.

Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge” opened on Broadway this week, and the New York Times has a review of the play starring Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber. The story focuses on an Italian American family in 1950s Red Hook, made up of a longshoreman and his immigrant relatives.

Recycle your Christmas tree at Mulchfest 2010 this weekend, and take home some mulch for your garden. Bring your trees to Cobble Hill Park (Clinton and Verandah Place) this Saturday and Sunday, January 9th and 10th, between 9:30 am and 2 pm. Please remove all lights, decorations, and garland from the trees; no wreaths or artificial trees will be accepted.

Bus Loops:

Check out NY1‘s story on Red Hook’s Bamboo Bike Studio, where you can attend a weekend workshop to build your own bike with a frame made out of bamboo, which the owner says is “stronger than steel.” The workshops start on Saturday and end on Sunday, when you walk out with your new, homemade, sustainable ride.

Photo, the New York Times.

The New York Times reports that upscale auction house Christie’s will be leasing a warehouse in Red Hook to store art, furniture, jewelry, and other valuables.

The neighborhood is about to land one of its odder residents — an enormous, high-tech warehouse with security worthy of James Bond, all to protect the multimillion-dollar artworks, manuscripts, furniture and even rare cars that Christie’s, the upscale auction house, plans to store on the docks.

The pearl-gray colossus, one of two former New York Dock Company loft buildings, is not much to look at now, housing piles of dust and detritus as it looms over the weeds and gritty businesses of Imlay Street. But come January, Christie’s executives say, the building will boast infrared video cameras, biometric readers and motion-activated monitors, as well as smoke-, heat- and water-detection systems.

Inside, the warehouse will hold the likes of van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and Brancusi, with each collection potentially worth more than the building itself.

NY1: “We’ll look into the feasibility of using the city’s old trolley tracks to create new streetcar service in growing waterfront neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn, starting in Red Hook,” said Bloomberg.

Red Hook is a prime candidate because development along the waterfront is growing, and because the area is underserved by mass transit. What’s more, Diamond says, is the fact that trolleys can hold about two busloads of passengers, and have zero emissions.

You can buy local produce (grown right in Red Hook Farm!) at the Red Hook Farmer’s Market, every Saturday through November, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. Check it out tomorrow at Columbia and Beard Streets.

Tomorrow, June 13, is the first-ever fundraiser held by PortSide NewYork, a young, innovative non-profit organization with diverse programs are about water and the waterfront. PortSide NewYork plans to create waterfront access, arts and recreational boating events, jobs, historical products and policy-programs for diverse economic groups and individuals. The fundraiser is taking place tomorrow evening from 6-9 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum (227 Fourth Avenue @ President Street in Park Slope). Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, a major supporter of all things waterfront, will speak at the event, which will include food and wine. A large format multimedia installation of images and sounds from PortSide and the harbor will bring the waterfront inside. Proceeds from the fundraiser will support planning and interim programming in Atlantic Basin and shipping of the last two engine cylinders for the Whalen from Seattle. Tickets are $50 and may be purchased here. If you’re free tomorrow, go and show your support!

This Saturday is the Summit Street Community Garden Tag Sale. All proceeds of the multi-family/neighbor tag sale go to benefit the Red Hook community garden. As the flyer above says, the sale takes place tomorrow, May 30, from 8:30 am to 2:oo pm, on the corner of Summit and Columbia Streets (rain date Sunday, May 31).

Freebird, a club based in Red Hook that meets to discuss how novelists and short story writers have employed the post-apocalyptic tale, is sponsoring the Crazy Joe Gallo walking tour through Red Hook and Carroll Gardens. The tour will be lead by writer Tom Folsom, whose book, The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld, “chronicles the rise and fall of the Gallo brothers, a trio of reckless young gangsters whose revolution against New York City’s Mafia was inspired by Crazy Joe Gallo’s forays into Greenwich Village counterculture.” Folsom will lead the tour “over the classic Gallo turf (the old docks, the shop-lined streets where Mondo the Midget walked Joey’s pet lion, the sites where the Gallo brothers “went to the mattresses” in a guerilla war against the Mafia, and the funeral home where he lay in state).” The tour runs the first three Saturdays in May, beginning tomorrow, May 9, at 1:00 pm in front of Carroll Park (Smith Street between Carroll and President). The tours are free and open to the public, but please RSVP to 718-643-8484 or info@freebirdbooks.com.