Drink Up


CB1’s Public Safety Committee is meeting this evening to review liquor license applications. There are 26 applications on the docket (11 new, 14 renewals and 1 alteration) – a pretty light month by CB1 standards.

Here’s the full list:

Alterations:
Small Giants Inc. – 197 Bedford Avenue (alteration)

New:
302 Metropolitan Avenue Inc. – 302 Metropolitan Avenue
645 Manhattan Avenue – 645 Manhattan Avenue Breukelen Bier Merchants Inc., dba Breukelen Bier Merchants – 182 Grand Street
Brooklyn Winery LLC, dba Brooklyn Winery – 213 North 8th Street
Fidel Corp., dba Le Barriquou – 533 Grand Street
North 12th Restaurant Co. LLC – 74 Wythe Avenue
Parish Hall LLC, dba Parish Hall – 109A North 3rd Street
Peck Sheb LLC, dba Crif Dogs – 555 Driggs Avenue
Queen Bear LLC – 188 Havemeyer Street
Vertuccio’s Pizza on the Park Inc – 232 North 12th Street
XXXVII Inc., dba Sebastian – 340 Bedford Avenue

Renewals:
659 Grand Street Inc., dba Last chance Saloon – 659 Grand Street
Cyn Inc. – 216 Bedford Avenue
Justyna O. Ruszczyk, dba Northside Liquors – 105 Berry Street
La Nortena Restaurant Corp. – 170 Marcy Avenue
Mykonos Grill Corp., dba Santorini Grill – 167 Grand Street
Pates & Traditions LLC, dba Pates & Traditions – 52 Havemeyer Street
Polmost Food Corp, dba Associated – 802 Manhattan Avenue
Raul Lopez dba Tecate Restaurant – 133A Harrison Avenue
S & B Restaurant Corp – 194 Bedford Avenue
Sakura 6 Inc. – 837 Manhattan Avenue
Segundo Heras, dba Undici Restaurant Corp. – 929 Manhattan Avenue
South End Distributing Corp., dba A.B.C. Beverages – 73 Montrose Avenue
The Subway Inc – 527 Metropolitan Avenue
Zebulon LLC – 258 Wythe Avenue

When: Thursday, June 3 (6:30 p.m.)
Where: CB1 District Office (435 Graham Avenue, corner of Frost Street)



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M Train Makes Its Debut in Orange

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Above is a section of the MTA’s new-and-improved subway map, due to be released into the wild next month. Of particular note to residents of North Brooklyn is the orange line that now runs alongside the familiar brown of the J/M/Z line. That’s for the newly revamped M train, which is now part of the 6th Avenue IND system – running from Bushwick and points east through the Lower East Side, and then directly north to the 6th Avenue line and on into Queens. That turn to the north that the M train now makes just west of Essex Street station is known as the Christie Cut – it has been unused since the late 1960s, but has been put back into service to give Williamsburg and Bushwick a direct connection to Midtown Manhattan.



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Edge Celebrates Opening of Affordable Housing

Levine Developers and the City held a ribbon cutting for the affordable housing component at the Edge – the new waterfront condo development on Kent Avenue between North 5th and North 7th Streets. The Edge is the largest inclusionary housing development constructed to date in the City, and it represents a significant step forward on some of the City’s promises from the 2005 zoning.

Amanda Burden, the Chair of the City Planning Commission, had this to say about the project:

This important development epitomizes many of the goals of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg rezoning plan: a significant number of badly needed permanently affordable housing units, magnificent new public waterfront access and outstanding architecture.

I don’t know if the public waterfront access is actually open yet, but assuming it is, Burden is right on two out of three. But unless you really (really) like blue-glass balconies and a never-ending materials palette (seriously, did they reject any material sample?), “outstanding architecture” is a serious stretch. I’m sticking with my earlier assessment that the Edge is Goofus to Northside Piers’ Gallant.



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New Movie Theater for Kent Avenue

Just down the block from Glasslands, at 285 Kent, Marco Ursino is opening a 93-seat small screen theater. The theater will open next week as part of the Brooklyn International Film Festival – Ursino has plans to add a bar and food later in the year.

Construction Worker Falls to His Death

The Daily News reports that Luis Zaruma of Williamsburg fell to his death at a Clinton Hill construction site. The accident happened yesterday afternoon at a construction site “on Bedford Avenue in Clinton Hill” (I’m pretty sure the site is 892 Bedford Avenue, just south of Myrtle). According to a DOB spokesman quoted in the News article, Zaruma was not wearing a safety harness at the time of the accident.



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We’re #2!

According to this report in the Times, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is now the nation’s largest:

If the team’s estimates are accurate, this spill would be far bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 and the worst in United States history.

But as we all know, the Exxon Valdez pales in comparison to Greenpoint’s own stealth oil spill – the one that the state and the oil companies have taken decades to acknowledge, let alone clean up.

Brooklyn may yet retain its title. The estimates for the Greenpoint oil spill are 17 to 30 million barrel; the latest estimates for Deepwater Horizon (after 35 days) are 17.6 to 28 million.



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Parks & Wrecked?

There’s just one little nagging detail with these expanding parks: There’s not enough money to fund their upkeep, and, for the most part, no one quite knows where it will come from.

On the bright side, at least Brooklyn Bridge Park, Hudson River Park and the High Line were built. North Brooklyn still has over 30 acres of promised parkland that is nothing more than green magic marker on a map.

Ten Things We Love About Graham Avenue

Nice guide to local shopping on Graham Avenue (although skewed entirely toward the arrivistes – how about some of the long-timers?). Of course my favorite is Siri:

Jewelry and dresses at Treehouse Brooklyn Owner Siri Wilson crochets copper, gold and silver in her edgy collection of necklaces and earrings ($48-$280). We also dig Feral Childe’s silk shift dresses ($200-$280). Mention TONY to receive 15 percent off Sirius Lux jewelry and 10 percent off Feral Childe dresses through May 31.

Taste Williamsburg Greenpoint A Delicious Success

By all accounts, yesterday’s Taste Williamsburg Greenpoint event was a huge success. The event benefitted Northside Town Hall, a joint project of NAG and People’s Firehouse to reopen the former Engine 212 firehouse as a community center. It was a smashing success financially, and it brought a lot of people together.