“We recently found a confirmed bed bug in your child’s school,” the letter reads. “Finding a bed bug does not mean that our school is infested. Bed bugs are often unknowingly brought into schools by building occupants and as a result we may have future sightings.” The notice also includes a description of the symptoms of a bed bug bite.

Patch contacted the school, where a source acknowledged that “a single bug” had been identified on a child and that a technician will be coming in for a second time later this week to check for a potential… second bed bug.

New York Post: SUNY Downstate Medical Center announced tonight that it will have to perform extensive “financial” surgery to slash jobs and eliminate redundant services at its three medical facilities to stem red ink.

The scalpel will be used at University Hospital in Flatbush, Long Isand College hospital in Brooklyn Heights and its facility at the former Victory Hospital site in Bay Ridge.

However, the Post story says, a task force report to SUNY Downstate noted that LICH is “severely under-utilized” and that SUNY Downstate should “consolidate its inpatient services at the LICH campus and scale back University Hospital.”

Encompassing 416 square feet, the outdoor space has seating capacity for 30 patrons. Current hours of operation are from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., with food served until 11 p.m. Though it has yet to be officially named, the new establishment is already serving up a menu of tapas devised by Chef Jehangir Mehta, owner of Manhattan eateries Graffiti and Mehtaphor. Offerings include braised pineapple, lamb and pork belly buns and mustard seed shrimp with cucumber and yogurt sauce. A full lunch and dinner menu will be available later this month.

“We’re extremely thrilled to have one of the largest sidewalk cafés in Downtown Brooklyn opened for business and look forward to becoming a neighborhood destination spot,” NU Hotel General Manager Javier Egipciaco told us.

In addition to light fare, the sidewalk café also features an extensive selection of cocktails, thanks to the concurrent reopening of the hotel’s revamped bar space. The drink menu will vary by season, with original cocktail recipes concocted by Master Mixologist Milos Zica, principal bartender at Manhattan restaurant Employees Only.

A drink naming contest is currently being held to coincide with the opening of the café. A tequila-based signature cocktail is the focus of the competition, with a $100 bar tab to be awarded as the prize for the winning drink moniker. More details can be found on NU Hotel’s Facebook page.

NU Hotel Brooklyn is located at 85 Smith Street, on the corner of Atlantic Avenue.

According to the NYC Private Schools Blog, “That’s a big expansion, but school officials note it is necessary to keep up with growing demand for the Montessori method of education. More parents are seeking out a Montessori education for their children and Brooklyn Heights being one of the most prominent schools in New York City means they are poised to increase their student body in the next few years.”

Brooklyn Heights Montessori School opened in 1965.

Please come with questions and ideas, so that the committee can discuss interested individuals’ potential for filling one of the seven positions on the executive board.

New York Post: A 5-year-old boy ran into a Brooklyn street and was hit by a taxi before the horrified eyes of his deaf parents, who then carried his seriously injured body half a block to an emergency room.

The child darted between two parked cars onto Hicks Street…at around 4:40 p.m. yesterday and was struck by the SUV cab, police and witnesses told The Post.

According to the Post story, the boy “was transferred to SUNY Downstate Hospital.” Since LICH is now part of SUNY Downstate, it’s not clear if this means he was admitted to LICH or taken to the hospital’s other campus. The story also notes that the taxi driver was not charged.

The Post located the accident at “Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights”, but Carroll Gardens Patch states it was at Amity and Hicks, which concurs with the statement that the boy’s parents carried him half a block to the LICH emergency room.

Update: Today’s Post identifies the boy as Timothy Keith, of Washington, D.C., who is here with his parents on a visit. Like both his parents, he is deaf. He is reported to be “on a respirator in very critical condition”.

The website offers access to maps and hand-written info about every known address in all 48 states in the Union, allowing you to find census maps and descriptions to locate an enumeration district, browse census images to locate any household interviewed in the 1940 Census and then save and/or download images. The Search page is here.

Warning: The site is slow, if not clunky, as hundreds of thousands are discovering this fascinating window to the past all at once. It’s also a bit unnerving to navigate. The best tutorial I found is at Gawker.com here.

Happy hunting! Be sure to share anything revealing with all your friends here on the Cobble Hill Blog. We’ll also be scouring for tidbits over the next several weeks.

(Image: Gawker.com)

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”.

Previous conventions have seen productive discussions on topics of particular interest to Cobble Hill residents like traffic, helicopter noise, schools, Brooklyn Bridge Park (Sen. Squadron is represented on its board of directors), and neighborhood preservation.

There’s more information and a list of topics for this year’s convention, and you can RSVP if you would like to attend, here. You can also RSVP by calling 212-298-5565 or by e-mail to squadron@nysenate.gov.

The piece by Joseph De Avila offers a complimentary persona of the nabe’s “tree-lined blocks, stately townhomes and highly regarded schools,” while boasting that it’s become “a tough place to buy a home. Over the past decade, Cobble Hill has become one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The arrival of new families into the historically Italian-American community has been followed by scores of new restaurants, bars and boutiques.”

In addition, the Journal reports, “More recently, Cobble Hill’s popularity has led it to become one of the most competitive neighborhoods in Brooklyn to buy residential property. When the rare townhome hits the market, it tends to get bought up quickly. Large three-bedroom condos are also quick sellers.” The current median asking price for Cobble Hill homes is $875,000 according to real-estate site StreetEasy. In Boerum Hill to the east it is $968,000 million, and in Brooklyn Heights to the north, it is $825,000.

The story also describes Cobble Hill’s parks, schools, restaurants, bars and entertainment. Read the piece here.

(Photo: Wall Street Journal)

Hi – it’s Zippi from the Downstate LICH. I was away on vacation last week, and only just now saw the post and chatter about the torn swing seat. It’s been replaced (see photos) and I also gave out our special email address for issues of this sort (downstateLICHinfo@downstate.edu – which I personally monitor). I posted a reply to the original story. Will people who saw that post in their inbox also see my note that the problem has been rectified? I want them to see that hyper-local media works: an issue was raised via the website, it was noted, corrective action was taken, and the public has the satisfaction of knowing they effected a positive change in the community.

Thank you, Ms. Dvash, for your response, seeing that the problem was rectified, and your kind words about CHB.

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.

Next Monday, December 12 at 10:00 a.m., Congressman Nadler, along with representatives of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, NARAL, Planned Parenthood NYC and others, will assemble on the steps of City Hall to demand action to relieve this hazard to public health. For more information, contact kterenzi@NYLPI.org

“We were told by the state that the BQE was in danger of collapsing in the 80s,” CHA President Roy Sloane tells 1010 WINS. “It’s also pathetic that they put all these years and effort in, spent money on all sorts of designs and are now dropping it.”

NYT/Schoolbook: Though a handful of Cobble Hill parents said they wanted the school to open to mitigate waiting lists at other nearby schools, a majority of the audience was composed of parents and teachers from the two secondary schools, who criticized the plans’ effects on their schools.

The Brooklyn School for Global Studies and the School for International Studies share most of the school building.

Under the new plan, which will be voted on at the Dec. 14 meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, each school would lose 10 to 12 regular-size classrooms over the next several years as the charter school expands.

Jeff Tripp, a teacher at the School for International Studies, criticized the city’s plan for giving more gym time to the charter school students than either of the secondary schools’ students. Mr. Tripp said the city’s space-sharing plan was like that of a “fire marshal giving a concert.”

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.

NY Daily News:  Success Charter Network CEO Eva Moskowitz‘s plan to bring a new charter school to Brownstone Brooklyn is getting mixed reviews.

In recent weeks, Moskowitz has been pitching Success Academy Cobble Hill to the booming population of young families in Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens using a slew of community meetings and flyers.

Network officials last night handed out flyers at the annual Halloween parade in Cobble Hill Park.

But the former councilwoman isn’t always getting the warm reception she wants for what would be SCN’s second school in an upper-middle class neighborhood.

An initial meeting held last week at a house on Bergen Street was filled with 18 receptive parents who wanted to learn more about the proposed school.

“You’ve got a lot of schools here that aren’t working for a lot of families,” Moskowitz told the group last Wednesday night. “We see our schools as identifying talent and nurturing that talent.”

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.”

In an NYTimes article entitled, “The Outcast of Brownstone Brooklyn” a detailed examination of the negotiations concerning restitution in the now notorious PS 29 embezzlement scandal is provided.

Putting aside Ms. Providence Hogan’s admission to stealing $100,000 from the PS 29 PTA  to pay for rent, for her home and business, as well as fertility treatments, the question remains, when and if restitution will occur.  Alternatively, should she go to jail?  What do you think?

According to the NYTimes: “Both the district attorney’s office and parents at the school have argued that Ms. Hogan continues to live too well. She and her family occupy a carriage house in Carroll Gardens, for which they pay $3,600 a month, she told me. When I asked her why she hadn’t moved, she said that moving would, in itself, be too expensive, and that she sought to make amends where she lived. Ms. Hogan doesn’t buy clothes for herself or her daughter, she said, almost never leaves the neighborhood and walks everywhere she goes. Still, some members of the P.S. 29 community were furious, one mother said, when Ms. Hogan was spotted coming out of the Union Market, a gourmet grocery store near her home.”

Today, respected techblog Gigaom asks – How long can AOL stay committed to Patch?

Gigaom: But are there enough bloggers who can fill that gap? And will AOL be sharing any of the advertising revenue it hopes to generate with them?

Huffington Post has also been rolling out more locally-themed topic pages, including several recent ones aimed at readers in Detroit and Miami — and these efforts have also caused speculation about whether the company is more interested in an aggregation approach rather than unique content, since the former is substantially less expensive. The problem for Patch is that the more its sites become lookalike aggregators rather than having a unique voice, the less likely they are to appeal to the market they are aimed at, and the less desirable they will be as an advertising vehicle.

AOL’s management may be committed to Patch for now, but the company can’t continue pouring money into an unprofitable entity forever, no matter how much Webster talks about a “long-term” investment. AOL doesn’t really have the luxury of thinking long term at the moment — Armstrong has to show some positive movement to investors or his job is likely in jeopardy, and without him Patch loses its biggest champion.

The NYPD nabbed a few skells in connection to burglaries in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and in areas covered by the 84th Precinct. A perp believed to be involved in the Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens jobs spent some time on ice this week but the 76th reports that he’s been released “due to problems with the identification.” However, the boys in the precinct ain’t fallin’ for no banana in the tailpipe (as it were) and will assigning patrol units to “monitor this individual in an effort to deter him from committing further crimes.”

Also, two alleged burglars were busted in connection to jobs pulled on the 84th’s turf. Both of these low lifes are still in jail and the folks at the 76th predict a “substantial reduction” in burglaries due to these arrests. It’s believe these pereps entered their brownstone targets via the front window next to the top step.

Ladies watch out there’s a mad grabber on the loose! During the last week, the 76th reports that two young women were groped in our area. The pervy perp is described as a male hispanic in his mid-twenties.

The 76th invites the public to attend its Community Council Meeting on September 13, 7PM, at the station house. In addition if you’d like your a residential crime prevention survey done on your home, call Police Officer Bredy at 718-834-3211.

Notification issued 8/29/11 at 2:00 PM. The NYPD has issued a Missing Senior Notification for Parvez Khan, male, of Pakistani descent, age 66. He is 5’5″, 155 lbs, with brown eyes and black balding hair, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and white sneakers. He was last seen near Baltic St and Columbia St in BK on 8/23/11. Mr. Khan is in good physical condition but poor mental condition. For a photo see the attached link. If you see Mr. Khan call 800-577-TIPS (8477).

The sender included the following attachment:

https://attachments.sendwordnow.com/Attachments.aspx?token=08a71e38-b159-4f17-81be-4beb4d8cfc66

Along with Senator Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman and City Council Members Stephen Levin and Brad Lander have agreed to the deal.

The New York Times: After months of uncertainty over the fate of the popular Brooklyn Bridge Park, city and state officials plan to sign an agreement on Tuesday that would allow limited private housing to be built there, to help pay an expected annual operating cost of $16 million.

The agreement ensures that the park, which now measures 20 acres, will be completed, eventually expanding to 85 acres on five disused piers along the East River.

According to the Times story, the agreement will allow a building planned for John Street in DUMBO to proceed, but at a greatly reduced scale. The story does not mention the planned combination hotel and apartment complex on the landward side of Pier 1, for which the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation has announced its intention of issuing a request for proposal this month, and which apparently will not be affected by the agreement.

The big news is that the city has agreed to consider revenues from the sale of Watchtower properties as a source of park funding. Under the agreement, to which the Watchtower is not a party, should the Watchtower sell all or some of its properties in conjunction with its planned move upstate before January 1, 2014, the city will consider tax revenue from those properties as offsetting the need for payments in lieu of taxes from the residential buildings planned for Pier 6. Under the proposed offset formula, according to the Times, it would take sales of 1.5 million square feet of Watchtower property to eliminate the need for both Pier 6 buildings.

State Senator Daniel Squadron, who has been a strong advocate of use of revenues from the Watchtower properties to fund park opeartion and maintenance, and who, under the earlier agreement between the city and state authorizing the city to take over development of the Park, has been given veto power over the construction of housing on park land, is quoted by the Times as saying the new agreement is “not as extreme as the plan that we’re changing, but a way to build a great new park in tough times.”

The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), as well as the religious exemptions included in the New York marriage equality bill, create a number of obstacles and questions for same-sex couples, even if they’re married under New York law – including social security, health benefits, federal pension benefits, tax returns, interstate travel and relocation, and adoption.

Accordingly, local elected officials, including Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Joan Millman, Councilmembers Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, and the Senate sponsor of marriage equality State Senator Tom Duane, will host a public forum on the challenges that remain for married LGBT New Yorkers following this year’s historic passage of marriage equality. The forum, titled “After ‘I Do’: What’s Next for LGBT New Yorkers?” will be held on Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 at 6:30PM at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. More information is here.

Under an instructor’s eye, a student kayaker does a roll behind One Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dependable is berthed at Pier 7.