'
You may remember Ben Patterson and Susan Leopold, the young Carroll Gardens couple who recently launched Here's The Thing, a technology and gadget specific website that aims to help answer questions on how to fix your crashy iPhone, how to force a frozen program to quit on your PC or Mac, or how to download all your Facebook posts, photos and videos to you computer. And that is just a short list.
From now till tomorrow, if you sign up for Here Is The Thing's email newsletter, you can win an iPad.
So don't loose any time and enter to win here.
'Here Is The Thing' iPad SweepstakesWhat to do to enter: sign up for the newsletterhttp://heresthethingblog.com/subscribe-win-free-ipadContest ends: Saturday! Cost: free
31 Aralık 2012 Pazartesi
Carroll Gardens-Based 'Here's The Thing' Holding Sweepstakes To Win iPad
To contact us Click HERE
T'was A Rainy Night, But Once Again, Trinity Pipes Harmonize And Carol Through Carroll Gardens
To contact us Click HERE
Saturday night's rain and cold did not deter the Trinity Pipes from upholding their tradition of caroling in Carroll Gardens and from spreading some Holiday cheer. Their amazing harmonizing delighted everyone who ran into them as they made their way around the neighborhood.
The Pipes, are all former members of Trinity College's A Cappella group, who independently moved to Brooklyn and reconnected in our fair borough. This was their sixth year of caroling through the neighborhood. Their Holiday tradition is quickly becoming a tradition in my family as the Pipes have been kind enough to stop at my house for the past three years.
To the Pipes: It just wouldn't be the Christmas season without you guys! Thank you so much and hope to see you in 2013. And Greg, you better be there!
Don't Miss "A Christmas Carol", A Radio Play By Smith Street Stage
To contact us Click HERE
Want to do something truly wonderful and festive for the Holidays right here in Carroll Gardens?
Then get your tickets for "A Christmas Carol", currently being performed at the Robert Acido Park House in Carroll Park.
Smith Street Stage, a theatre group based in Carroll Gardens, has adapted Charles Dickens' perennial classic into a live radio play set in the 1930's and have transformed the park house into an intimate little playhouse, complete with period decor, christmas lights and sparkling tree. Seven actors slip effortlessly into the roles of thirty-four characters and take turns creating special sound effects to accentuate the tale.
The actors are superb. Patrick McCarthy plays mean-spirited miser Ebenezer Scrooge who amends his avaricious ways to perfection. Charlie Kravits is a wonderful Tiny Tim and Jonathan Hopkins' portrayal of kind-hearted over-worked, under appreciated clerk Bob Cratchit is just right.
In the past, Smith Street Stage has brought 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Macbeth' and "Twelfth Night" to Carroll Park.
Smith Street Stage Presents: Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol" at the Robert Acito park house in Carroll ParkCorner of President Street and Smith Street
Starring: Patrick McCarthy, Susanna Baddiel, Jessica Weiss, Charlie Kravits, Pete Mc Elligott, Sam Rosenberg and Jonathan Hopkins
December 14th, 7:00 p.m.December 15th, 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.December 16th, 5:00 p.m
Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for children.
To buy your tickets, click here http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/289393
In PMFA's Mailbox: Stockpiling Mail
To contact us Click HERE
I have been trying to contact the post office to make sure that they are back to normal, but have only gotten a busy signal.
Has anyone else had issues with mail delivery lately?
A Carroll Gardens reader contacted me to find out if others in the neighborhood have had trouble receiving their mail in the last few weeks. She writes:
"There was a lot of talk at our book club about the mail problems post-Sandy. We are not getting a good deal of our mail, especially magazines. And a number of us have had problems mailing out checks but the recipients still not receiving them weeks later.What's up with the post office? Where are they stockpiling all this mail? Should we be hand delivering our Christmas cards?"The Red Hook post office at 615 Clinton Street was closed for a while after the storm, which certainly delayed some mail delivery.
I have been trying to contact the post office to make sure that they are back to normal, but have only gotten a busy signal.
Has anyone else had issues with mail delivery lately?
27 Aralık 2012 Perşembe
T'was A Rainy Night, But Once Again, Trinity Pipes Harmonize And Carol Through Carroll Gardens
To contact us Click HERE
Saturday night's rain and cold did not deter the Trinity Pipes from upholding their tradition of caroling in Carroll Gardens and from spreading some Holiday cheer. Their amazing harmonizing delighted everyone who ran into them as they made their way around the neighborhood.
The Pipes, are all former members of Trinity College's A Cappella group, who independently moved to Brooklyn and reconnected in our fair borough. This was their sixth year of caroling through the neighborhood. Their Holiday tradition is quickly becoming a tradition in my family as the Pipes have been kind enough to stop at my house for the past three years.
To the Pipes: It just wouldn't be the Christmas season without you guys! Thank you so much and hope to see you in 2013. And Greg, you better be there!
Don't Miss "A Christmas Carol", A Radio Play By Smith Street Stage
To contact us Click HERE
Want to do something truly wonderful and festive for the Holidays right here in Carroll Gardens?
Then get your tickets for "A Christmas Carol", currently being performed at the Robert Acido Park House in Carroll Park.
Smith Street Stage, a theatre group based in Carroll Gardens, has adapted Charles Dickens' perennial classic into a live radio play set in the 1930's and have transformed the park house into an intimate little playhouse, complete with period decor, christmas lights and sparkling tree. Seven actors slip effortlessly into the roles of thirty-four characters and take turns creating special sound effects to accentuate the tale.
The actors are superb. Patrick McCarthy plays mean-spirited miser Ebenezer Scrooge who amends his avaricious ways to perfection. Charlie Kravits is a wonderful Tiny Tim and Jonathan Hopkins' portrayal of kind-hearted over-worked, under appreciated clerk Bob Cratchit is just right.
In the past, Smith Street Stage has brought 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Macbeth' and "Twelfth Night" to Carroll Park.
Smith Street Stage Presents: Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol" at the Robert Acito park house in Carroll ParkCorner of President Street and Smith Street
Starring: Patrick McCarthy, Susanna Baddiel, Jessica Weiss, Charlie Kravits, Pete Mc Elligott, Sam Rosenberg and Jonathan Hopkins
December 14th, 7:00 p.m.December 15th, 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.December 16th, 5:00 p.m
Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for children.
To buy your tickets, click here http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/289393
In PMFA's Mailbox: Stockpiling Mail
To contact us Click HERE
I have been trying to contact the post office to make sure that they are back to normal, but have only gotten a busy signal.
Has anyone else had issues with mail delivery lately?
A Carroll Gardens reader contacted me to find out if others in the neighborhood have had trouble receiving their mail in the last few weeks. She writes:
"There was a lot of talk at our book club about the mail problems post-Sandy. We are not getting a good deal of our mail, especially magazines. And a number of us have had problems mailing out checks but the recipients still not receiving them weeks later.What's up with the post office? Where are they stockpiling all this mail? Should we be hand delivering our Christmas cards?"The Red Hook post office at 615 Clinton Street was closed for a while after the storm, which certainly delayed some mail delivery.
I have been trying to contact the post office to make sure that they are back to normal, but have only gotten a busy signal.
Has anyone else had issues with mail delivery lately?
Happy Holidays, Dear Neighbors And Readers!
To contact us Click HERE
I would like to wish you and your loved ones a peaceful and harmonious Holiday Season.
Please accept my sincerest thanks for your continuing support and encouragement, which help make Pardon Me For Asking a true neighborhood site and for allowing me to be a small part of your day.
Though we may not agree all the time, I am reminded every day, through your comments and emails, that we all have one thing in common: a deep love for Carroll Gardens and for the community we all live in.
I am looking forward to bringing you more news and photos of the neighborhood in the coming months. And perhaps you will join me in getting involved and volunteering, be it in Carroll Park, community Board or through one of the neighborhood organizations to make the neighborhood even better.
See you back here after after the Holidays, some rest and family time.
EPA Region 2 Releases Its Proposed Plan For The Superfund Clean-Up Of The Gowanus Canal
To contact us Click HERE
As planned, EPA Region 2 just released its proposed plan for the clean-up of the Gowanus Canal. This is great news for the Gowanus Community. Even better news still is that the proposed plan also includes "controls to prevent raw sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup."
It's a huge step, which brings us ever so closer to actually starting the actual clean-up of the polluted waterway. The fact that the proposed plan addresses the Combined Sewer Overflow issue is a major victory for the neighborhood.
Below is the EPA press release:
EPA Proposes Plan for Cleaning Up Gowanus CanalMulti-million Dollar Cleanup to Revitalize Polluted Brooklyn Waterway
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a proposed cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal that includes removing some of the contaminated sediment and capping dredged areas. The proposed plan also includes controls to prevent raw sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup. The cost of the cleanup plan is expected to be between $467 and $504 million.
The EPA will accept public comments on its proposed plan until March 28, 2013. The EPA will hold
public meetings on January 23, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at Public School 58 (the Carroll School), 330 Smith
Street, Brooklyn and on January 24, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the Joseph Miccio Community Center, 110
West 9th Street, Brooklyn to discuss the proposed plan and answer questions.
“The proposed cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal will make essential progress in removing toxic
contaminants from this heavily polluted and battered waterway,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional
Administrator. “Our overall goal is to reduce pollution and protect the health of people who live and
work in this community. The EPA encourages people to attend the January public meetings on the
proposed plan and submit written comments no later than March 28.”
More than a dozen contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals, including mercury, lead and copper, were found at high levels in the sediment in the Gowanus Canal. PAHs and heavy metals were also found in the canal water. PAHs are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage or other organic substances. PCBs were used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors and other electrical equipment and their manufacture was banned in 1979. PCBs and PAHs are suspected to be cancer-causing and PCBs can have neurological effects as well. Consumption of fish from the canal continues to this day notwithstanding fish advisories.
Completed in the mid-1800s, the Gowanus Canal was once a major industrial transportation route.
Manufactured gas plants, paper mills, tanneries and chemical plants are among the many facilities that
operated along the canal. As a result of years of discharges, stormwater runoff, raw sewage overflows
from sewer systems that carry sanitary waste from homes and rainwater from storm drains and
industrial pollutants, the Gowanus Canal has become one of the nation's most seriously contaminated
water bodies. In 2010, the Gowanus Canal was added to the Superfund list of the nation’s most
contaminated hazardous waste sites. The EPA has identified numerous parties that are potentially
responsible for the contamination including National Grid and the city of New York.
The evaluation of the alternatives for cleaning up the Gowanus Canal was divided into three segments
that correspond to the upper, middle and lower portions of the canal. The first segment, which runs
from the top of the canal to 3rd Street, and the 2nd segment, which runs from 3rd Street to just south of
the Hamilton Avenue Bridge, contain the most heavily-contaminated sediment. In the third segment,
which runs from the Hamilton Avenue Bridge to the mouth of the canal, the sediment is less
contaminated than sediment in the other segments.
For the first and second segments of the canal, the EPA is proposing to dredge approximately 307,000
cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment. In some areas where the sediment is contaminated with
liquid coal tar, the EPA is proposing to stabilize the sediment by mixing it with concrete or similar
materials. The stabilized areas would then be covered with multiple layers of clean material, including
an “active” layer made of a specific type of clay that will remove PAH contamination that could well up from below, an “isolation” layer of sand and gravel that will ensure that the contaminants are not
exposed, and an “armor” layer of heavier gravel and stone to prevent erosion of the underlying layers
from boat traffic and currents. Finally, clean sand would be placed on top of the “armor” layer to restore the canal bottom as a habitat. The plan also calls for removing contaminated material placed in the 1st Street Turning Basin decades ago.
For the third segment, the EPA is proposing to dredge 281,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment
and cap the area with an armor layer and a layer of sand to help restore habitat.
The proposed plan includes various methods for managing the contaminated sediment after dredging,
depending on the levels of contamination. The proposed methods include transporting the dredged
sediment to an off-site permitted disposal facility, transporting it to a location where the sediment can
be treated and the possible beneficial reuse of some of the sediment after treatment.
In addition, the proposed plan calls for additional controls to significantly reduce combined sewer
overflows into the canal. The EPA is concerned that such overflows would contribute to the
recontamination of the canal after its cleanup. The EPA is proposing that combined sewer overflow
discharges from two major outfalls in the upper portion of the canal be outfitted with controls to reduce
the total volume of discharges from those outfalls by 58% to 74%.
Contaminated land sites along the canal, including three former manufactured gas plants, are being
addressed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Other potential sources
of continuing contaminant discharges to the canal have been referred to the state of New York and will
be investigated and addressed as necessary.
Written comments on the proposed plan should be addressed to:
Christos TsiamisProject ManagerCentral New York Remediation SectionU.S. Environmental Protection Agency290 Broadway, 20th FloorNew York, New York 10007-1866e-mail: GowanusCanalComments.Region2@epa.govOR, contact Natalie Loney, Community Involvement Coordinator, at 212-637-3639,
To read EPA’s proposed plan for the Gowanus Canal site or for more information on the canal, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/gowanus/ or visit the EPA’s document repositories at the Carroll Gardens Library at 396 Clinton St. in Brooklyn or the Joseph Miccio Community Center, 110 West 9th Street, Brooklyn. The documents will be available in the repositories on December 28, 2012.
For a Google Earth aerial view of the Gowanus Canal, visit
http://www.epa.gov/region2/kml/gowanus_creek_and_gowanus_canal.kmz. (Please note that you must have Google Earth installed on your computer to view the map. To download Google Earth, visit
http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html).
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
20 Aralık 2012 Perşembe
In PMFA's Mailbox: Stockpiling Mail
To contact us Click HERE
I have been trying to contact the post office to make sure that they are back to normal, but have only gotten a busy signal.
Has anyone else had issues with mail delivery lately?
A Carroll Gardens reader contacted me to find out if others in the neighborhood have had trouble receiving their mail in the last few weeks. She writes:
"There was a lot of talk at our book club about the mail problems post-Sandy. We are not getting a good deal of our mail, especially magazines. And a number of us have had problems mailing out checks but the recipients still not receiving them weeks later.What's up with the post office? Where are they stockpiling all this mail? Should we be hand delivering our Christmas cards?"The Red Hook post office at 615 Clinton Street was closed for a while after the storm, which certainly delayed some mail delivery.
I have been trying to contact the post office to make sure that they are back to normal, but have only gotten a busy signal.
Has anyone else had issues with mail delivery lately?
Join Community Board 6 At Their Yearly Holiday Party Tonight
To contact us Click HERE
Community Board 6, which represents Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, the Columbia Street District, Gowanus and Park Slope, is holding its yearly Holiday party tonight. The event will take place at Sheep Station on 4th Avenue.
More from District Manager Craig Hammerman below:
Each year Brooklyn CB6 holds a holiday party as an excuse to put down our minutes pad, ignore Robert's Rule of Order and suspend procedures so we could simply socialize and spend some quality time together. We work hard throughout the year - many as volunteers - because of our fierce dedication and commitment to our community. It is only fitting that we play hard and share some quality community-building time together too every once in awhile.
Please consider joining us.
What: BrooklynCB6 2012 Holiday Party
When: Monday, December 17th, 6:00-9:00pm
Where: Sheep Station, 149 4th Avenue (corner Douglass Street)
Cost: $30 per person includes hors d'oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages (there is a cash bar)This event is also a fundraiser for our non-profit organization, Friends of Brooklyn CB6, Inc. so any contribution above the $30 per person cost would be appreciated. Raffle tickets will also be sold at the event for many fabulous prizes that have been donated by a variety of generous merchants and businesses throughout our district. Please consider making a year-end donation to FBCB6.In this post-Sandy holiday season it is more important than ever to shop locally and help our independent and locally-owned businesses as they continue to recover and rebuild.See you all Monday night!
Community Board 6 Ends The Year With Holiday Cheer And One Sad Good-Bye
To contact us Click HERE
Members of Brooklyn Community Board 6 gathered at Sheep Station on 4th Avenue last night for their yearly Holiday party. It was an opportunity to celebrate after spending many hours volunteering by representing the Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, the Columbia Street District, Gowanus and Park Slope neighborhoods throughout 2012.
CB6 was joined by many of their friends, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, Councilman Brad Lander, District Leader Jo Anne Simon and the Captain of the 76th Precinct, Jeffrey Schiff.
Many local businesses had contributed prizes to a raffle, whose proceeds will go to Friends Of Community Board 6.
Sadly amongst all the good cheer, there was a sad farewell to Celia Cacace, who was a Community Board member for many years.
Celia spent her entire life in Carroll Gardens Red Hook. ( Celia never adopted her neighborhood's new name, introduced by gentrifying real estate brokers in the late 1960's, early '70's) She raised a family here and became an advocate for the community's senior citizens, our local schools and Carroll Park.
For decades, she never missed a meeting and was involved in every issue.
Unfortunately, Celia will have to move out of her apartment by the middle of next month. Since she has not yet found another living arrangement in the neighborhood, she will be moving to Wisconsin to be with her son.
She does not want to leave, but does not have a choice.
Everyone who knows Celia knows what a big hole she will leave in the community. If anyone knows of a small apartment in the neighborhood, please contact me or leave a comment.
Let's help keep Celia right here where she belongs.
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