Category: Linked

Photo: Dave G.

Another piece of Williamsburg’s character was carted away today. Reader Dave G. passed on these photos of Slick’s bikes tagged for removal by the Department of Sanitation. Without tags and inspection stickers (and seats, controls, tail lights, etc.), the bikes were, of course, illegal. The bikes also seem to have become a bit motlier since Slick passed away last year, and over the past few weeks (or more), they have seemed to be pretty stationary. But for decades, Slick (and Mike) did maintain this small stable of machines, moving them back and forth across the street.

The photo below is a little bit of Williamsburg irony – on the right is 184 Kent, 175 Kent under construction and the 80 Met sales office, and on the left are Slick’s bikes, tagged for towing, and his soaped up storefront.

Photo: Dave G.

Empty Cages Collective is having a “van adoption event” at Bedford and North 7th, Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. (No, you can’t adopt a van, but you can adopt an adorable kitten or cat.)

Greenpoint Gazette gets the scoop – JellyNYC is working to bring the pool concert series to East River State Park. This is something that I have been hearing for awhile (and which Brooklyn Papers has some confirmation on).

Grub Street geography aside (Grand and Lorimer = “a dead zone in East Williamsburg”?), this sounds like a place to try.

On Saturday, John Dereszewski is giving a walking tour of Bushwick Avenue in Williamsburg. Bushwick & Metropolitan is pretty much ground zero for the origins of European settlement in North Brooklyn. Through some twist of historical fate, when Williamsburg was made an independent town from Bushwick, the original Bushwick settlement was included in Williamsburg. Its that part of Bushwick Avenue – from Woodpoint Avenue to Flushing Avenue – that Dereszewski will be discussing.

I had no idea that it had become “the former Lucky Cat space on Grand Street”. Sorry to see that LC is gone, but I hope this another good addition to Grand Street.

As mentioned yesterday, guerilla gardening comes to Williamsburg.

NAG is holding a town hall meeting tomorrow night (26 March) to give an update on its 2009 organizing agenda. I’ve posted a few items on one of these organizing issues, the North Brooklyn Story Project oral history project. Other organizing issues are affordable housing, transportation and improving open space and access to the waterfront (check out their seedballs project – a bit of guerilla gardening for the neighborhood).

The response so far has been great, with more and more people joining the various issue projects every week. Each of these groups will be giving an update on their work to date, and hopefully bringing on even more volunteers.

Among Jewish communities in Brooklyn, Williamsburg has the highest level of poverty, with 64% of households earning less than $35,000, according to a UJA-Federation study.

Wow – more incredible when you consider that household sizes in the Hasidic community probably run at least twice that of the city average.

As much as DOT is doing a good job of proactive planning for better bicycle access, the booming bike population is still putting the agency in a reactive mode.