Brookbit: Action at Court Street Blockbuster?

Something was going on yesterday at the old Blockbuster location on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. Blogger PMFA photographed a contractor wearing a dust mask going in and out of the building. The building, however, is still listed for sale for $3.8 million and also for rent, presumably whichever comes first. Also, no building permits have been filed. There were early rumors of McDonald’s being interested in the space, but the mystery continues.

Upcoming: Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association Meeting

The Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association is having its monthly meeting tonight (2/11). 360 Smith developer Billy Stein is expected to be there and, presumably, will offer updated renderings of the structure that we once nicknamed the Heavy Metal Building. The meeting will run from 7:30PM-9:00PM. Anyone that’s been should know that the meetings are no longer at the Scotto Funeral Home, depriving attendees of the unique pleasure of walking into a wake by accident rather than the CGNA meeting. (Yes, we did this once and, yes, it was an odd feeling.) The new location is the St Mary’s Residence, which is located at 41 First Street (between Hoyt and Bond). Other topics including a Carroll Gardens downzoning and expansion of the tiny local landmark district will be discussed.

Weeks Later, 340 Court Posts an Asbestos Sign

After several weeks of work removing asbestos at the Clarett Group’s 340 Court Street in Carroll Gardens and a host of reports of bags of unknown substances being tossed from the roof after midnight, asbestos removal signs have finally appeared. Our correspondent notes:

This sign is at 340 Court street on the Union street side. The dumpsters are gone. This sign put up a few weeks too late, I’d say. It’s also taped to a rotten piece of plywood, held in place by a drawer. It was flapping in the breeze…

We had photos on Monday of an enormous pile of bags on the roof, which were later reported to be tossed down to a dumpster at night.

Carroll Gardens Rezoning Rally Set for January 24

City Council Member Bill de Blasio, who is introducing a resolution in the City Council calling on the Department of City Planning to fast track a downzoning of Carroll Gardens and on the Department of Buildings to impose a moratorium on developments more than 50 feet tall, is also holding a rally on January 24. The rally will take place at 11AM at City Planning’s Brooklyn office, which is located at 16 Court Street. Downzoning and expanding the tiny neighborhood landmark district are major issues in Carroll Gardens. A draft of the resolution written by Mr. de Blasio, says in part:

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the Department of City Planning to commence immediately a downzoning study of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn and upon the Department of Buildings to not issue permits that would allow any new construction or alteration to an existing building to exceed a height limit of 50 feet until the Carroll Gardens neighborhood downzoning is complete.

The resolution, of course, would not have any teeth, but could turn up the political heat on the department to move faster on downzoning the neighborhood. Mr. de Blasio held a rally last summer

Carroll Gardens Activists and Democracy Wall on Local TV Today

Some of the founders of the CORD group, which established itself as a voice in Carroll Gardens development issues after it coalesced around the controversial 360 Smith Street building, will be on News 12 this evening. Group members were interviewed at the Carroll Gardens Democracy Wall in the plaza at the Carroll Street subway stop. The report will include the role the space we named the Democracy Wall has played in getting messages out in the community. It’s actually the second News 12 segment on the wall and 360 Smith Street development. The tentative first air time for the segment is 5:30PM.

Carroll Gardens Group Drafts Letter to Borough President

One might agree or disagree with the activists over at CORD in Carroll Gardens, but they are one of the most tireless groups in South Brooklyn. (Not to mention the fact that they are the community activism story of the year, having come out of nowhere in late May.) The group’s latest effort is a letter to Borough President Marty Markowitz that they are encouraging residents to send. Here is some of the text:

Dear Borough President Markowitz,

I am a Carroll Gardens resident. I am very concerned about the out of context development in my community. I understand that Amanda Burden, Chairperson of the Department of City Planning, has indicated that your guidance in setting priorities that appropriately address the critical need for zoning adjustments within the borough would be welcomed…

…I appeal to you, Mr. Markowitz, as our Borough President, and as a fellow Brooklynite, to request that Carroll Gardens be positioned for immediate study. I further request, that once the study has begun, all projects which would be inappropriate under the new zoning, be halted as not to mar our community any further.

My neighborhood is, for all intents and purposes, under siege. What could be more critical than that?

For those unfamiliar with the Carroll Gardens School of Community Activist Art, the photo above is of one of their most recent works.

Shot-Up Car Parked at Carroll Gardens Bus Stop for Two Weeks

The photos of this SUV were sent to us by a GL reader. We posted one the pics on Curbed yesterday, but a shot-up vehicle parked at Union and Henry in a bus stop for two weeks deserves more photos. Our tipster is a resident upset about a car with bullet holes and a bloody interior (that is police evidence) being left on the street. She writes:

If you take a walk by Mazzolla on Union and Henry you will see parked in the bus stop a silver Audi SUV with a smashed rear window. If you walk around the car you will see that it is riddled with bullet holes on the drivers side, each one labeled and numbered, and inside you will see it is blood spattered!…It is right in front of the bus stop that all the Brooklyn New School kids take and of course Mazzolla is a big magnet for kids. I am really getting my neighborhood ire up about this car. It is clearly some sort of evidence of a crime but it is just so wrong to keep it there. I have called 311 and have also talked to a local cop who says it is not the precinct’s car. So…what should we do?

Logic tells us that the shot up car belongs to the 76th Precinct, which is several hundred feet away on Union Street. The question is: How long will it be parked in the bus stop?

Tis the Season, Part II: Snowperson

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
We invite our readers to share holiday photos of interesting decorations or things they see around Brooklyn with us. We’ll run the photo anonymously or with credit to you and your website, as you prefer. Send your pics to thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com. You’ll have our gratitude and your fellow readers will love you for sharing.

Brooklyn Chatter: Does Time Warner Road Runner or Verizon DSL Suck More?

There are few topics that provoke more reaction than the quality, or lack thereof, of internet service (except the Postal Service). So, we were amused to come across some emails getting at the topic of crappy internet service in Carroll Gardens & Boerum Hill and whether Road Runner is better or worse than Verizon DSL or vice versa. (What about FiOS? Well, that would seem to be an alternative that will take some time.) Regardless, here is some of the first email:

I have been having a serious problem with my internet connection for the last 2 weeks. Internet is part of my Time Warner Cable service. For the last 2-3 weeks it comes and goes. I have had 2 repairmen out who have said there’s nothing wrong. I’ve replaced the modem. And still this morning it was out for 2 hours. When I was on the phone with them just now the agent said that as far as he could see 10% of the modems in my immediate area were out at that time! That’s a ridiculously high percentage that regulators would like to know about!

And a response:

I was having connectivity problems for many months. On and off from minutes to hours to days…I got tired of calling, tired of waiting for repair to arrive, and it was preventing me from doing some of my job. I can’t imagine how people who always telecommute cope with the service disruptions.

Which leads us to an opinion about DSL:

Verizon can be a total nightmare. Ask anyone on Warren St. between Bond and Nevins. I also have a friend who has DSL who says it was great at first, but as they add more customers it has slowed considerably and goes out often. After all they don’t add cable. They just add demand. That is why most of us gave up on Verizon for phone service (or the lack of it).

It would seem to be a case of picking one’s poison and living with it. Our own experience with Road Runner is that it has been fairly reliable in the last eight or nine months after being nightmarish for five or six months before that. A technician was able to make some wiring-related tweaks that greatly improved reliability.

Are the Rats Back in Charge at Carroll Park?

Last year, there was a big anti-rat campaign in Carrol Park, where the rat problem was so disgusting that they were said to be running around in the trees and practically forming buffets lines to eat in the trash cans and demanding people give them take out containers. “Anti-rat” trash cans were installed. Vegetation was cut to make it easier to find their holes. A major poisoning campaign ensued. And the problem got better. Well, it’s hard to keep good Brooklyn rats down, as this email making the rounds via the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association email list notes:

At about 6:45 in the evening I was sitting on a park bench waiting for someone when a Rat jumped on top of a garbage can then jumped off. I noticed the Rat posion signs but I also noticed that the garbage can was not one of those Anti Rat types. I also noticed a great deal of low lying vegetation. Carroll Gardens was very successful in Carroll Park with getting rid of their rat problem by coming together and dealing with obtaining the proper garbage cans and cutting back the vegetation to make it easier to find the Rat holes. Now that the problem has been dealt with the vegetation has returned. Just a suggestion for a very difficult problem.

A lot of people in the community had made an effort to get rid of the rats, so one does hope that the Rat Olympics aren’t underway again.