Brooklyn's TD Bank Rolls Out Red Carpet for VIPs

The red carpet was rolled out Saturday at the new TD Bank on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights night in preparation for a holiday VIP party. When an employee was asked who the VIPs were, he said he didn't know for sure, but probably, "Big depositors."

In November, TD Bank replaced Commerce Bank on Montague Street and at 575 other locations.

- TD Bank Gives $100K for Affordable Housing in Flatbush
- Commerce Bank Disappears Overnight, Replaced by Canadian TD Bank

Photo by MK Metz

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This Weekend in Brooklyn: Arts, Sales and Mustaches for Kids

Show change in Dumbo: The "Rachel Trachtenburg's Homemade Holiday World" show -- originally intended at Galapagos Art Space for this Saturday, Dec. 13 -- has been canceled. In its place is Chinese Theater Works' puppet production of "Ti-Oh-Oh" at 3 p.m. Galapagos says, "Bring your children to experience this magical Chinese fable." 16 Main Street, Dumbo

Support Living Artists for the Holidays Sale: Sat. from 11-4PM, and Sun. from 11-6PM, over 50 artists and 'Create Brooklyn' artisans will be presenting newly created works – attractively priced for gift giving, most at under $100. Adding to the atmosphere, carols, hot cocoa and Christmas classics will play in the Screening Room. Ground floor gallery, handicapped accessible, at 499 Van Brunt St, across from Fairway and down the block from IKEA.

smART Brooklyn Gallery Hop: Sunday 12/14, from 11-6 PM, presented by BWAC. Free hop on/off shuttle buses running on four different loops offering attendees a chance to experience galleries throughout Brooklyn. The "Gold Loop," for example, starts from Borough Hall and covers Dumbo, Boerum Hill and Red Hook. Reserve a seat on the bus.

Brooklyn Women's Artisan Holiday Sale: You can do some shopping for "Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn" (DDDB) T-shirts and also shop for other fine goods from local woman artisans, Saturday. Live music, free food. 11 am - 6 pm, 137 St. Felix (between Hanson Place & Lafayette). Just around the corner from BAM.

Temporary zone in Dumbo: The audience of “Vessel of Polis” will become citizens of a temporary autonomous zone within New York. This new, anonymous city will exist for 15 minutes at sunset (4:15) on December 13, after which only its ruins will remain as a trace of what it once was. On the hill of Empire-Fulton Ferry Park. More at DumboNYC.

Open Editions: On Saturday and Sunday, December 13 and 14, reBar will be hosting open editions, an all-weekend art extravaganza in Dumbo with over 20 local artists selling their work at $100 or less. More here.

Mustaches for Kids: For the last four weeks, men across the country have been competing to grow the fullest, thickest, and sweetest mustaches for Mustaches for Kids — all with the aim of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for public school classrooms. Saturday, they all converge at Galapagos Art Space to show what they are really made of.

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Nice Graffiti in Downtown Brooklyn

Ever walk by Finish Line when the security gate was pulled down? Nice graffiti!

Finish Line, on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn, sells sports shoes.

Photo by MK Metz

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Rain in Brooklyn, Snow in New Orleans

While Brooklyn is experiencing a dreary, rainy day, New Orleans is blanked in snow and (not knowing how to deal with it) the city has practically shut down.

The whole world is turned upside down!

Photo by MK Metz

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Macy's Shopping Spree May Land Brooklyn Wife in Jail

So the wife of a Brooklyn business owner goes on a $20,000 pre-holiday shopping spree at Macy's, and charges it to the company credit card — her husband’s company.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, when the credit card statements finally arrived at the offices of her husband’s business, the Clinton Realty Corporation at 271 14th St., 51-year-old Willy Gonzalez galloped straight to the 78th Precinct to press charges against his wife.

If convicted, Mrs. Gonzalez could get seven years.

Who does she think she is -- Sarah Palin?

More of this story here.

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Fake, Oversized Breasts, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Continuum Health pirates are still not doing right by L.I.C.H., and Brooklyn could lose another hospital. Pardon Me For Asking

- Oh man; now they're talking $50 a year for a New York State drivers license! Second Ave. Sagas

- Today (12/10) marks the Fifth Anniversary of the announcement of the Atlantic Yards project. You mean it's not open yet? Gowanus Lounge

- Today also marks "A Day Without Gays." As in everyone who's gay may or may not show up for work. New York Magazine

- It's a post about how to carry around fake, oversized breasts. We think. New York Shitty

- A new DNA Footwear & UGG Shop should be opening soon on Fifth Avenue near President Street in Park Slope. Gowanus Lounge

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Brooklyn's Christmas Tree -- Great Color Blue

The 40-foot-tall Christmas tree in Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza was lit at a celebration Monday night with fabulous blue bulbs (they remind us of airport landing lights).

Inside Borough Hall, children and parents enjoyed a performance of “Jingle Bells” in 13 different languages, sung by the “Ericksen Elves” from Ericksen Translations. A flute trio from the Packer Collegiate Institute also played.

Santa heard children's wishes and kids got to pick a gift from the gift table. (Santa's helpers from Trader Joe's handed out cookies and other goodies.)

Make sure you swing by Borough Hall this holiday season. It's quite cheerful!

Photos by MK Metz

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Caroling on Montague Street, Brooklyn Heights, Wednesday

The Montague Street BID sends word it is sponsoring a community caroling walk this Wednesday, December 10th, beginning immediately after the Brooklyn Heights Promenade tree-lighting ceremony, at approximately 5:45 p.m.

Grace & Spiritus Chorale will provide beautiful voices, and Lassen & Hennigs will offer treats for all who sing.

Street lamps are twined with evergreen garland and sparkling white lights, and three dozen Montague Street trees are decked in an installation of solar-powered, green-color LED light strings.

Photo of carolers by The Wu's Photo Land, Creative Commons license

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$7,500 Fighting a Lousy $115 Parking Ticket, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Rupert Murdoch's Community Newspaper Group, reportedly New York City’s largest group of neighborhood newspapers (think Courier-Life) , is moving to the 10th floor at One MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn Eagle

- Failing PS 27, in Red Hook -- recently expanded by the DOE to a K-12 school -- is being shut down. NY Daily News

- Students in Brooklyn's District 13 prepare for disasters. Brooklyn Eagle

- A New York City man says he's spent $7,500 fighting a $115 parking ticket issued in Brooklyn because he's got "nothing else to do." NY Post

- The New York Times plans to borrow up to $225 million against its Manhattan Renzo Piano headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze. The Times owns 58 percent of the building; FC Ratner owns the rest. NY Times

- Toxic gases from the Greenpoint oil spill have been wafting into basements. Curbed And now, the sales begin. Curbed

- Brooklyn Flea moves to Dumbo for the winter. Dumbo NYC

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Brooklyn Leaders Weigh In -- 'How Bad Is It?'

The Brooklyn Ink (produced by students at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism) sends us word that it is going to address the impact of the economic meltdown onBrooklyn. Here's what they say:

How many people in Brooklyn have lost their jobs? What kinds of jobs are disappearing? How many have lost their homes? And in what neighborhoods are foreclosures rising?

But "How Bad Is It?" looks beyond the numbers to the human factor. What is it like trying to get married when you lose your job? What does it feel like to sit in front of a computer screen in a foundering investment bank and see millions of dollars disappear?

Beginning on Tuesday morning, December 9th, the Ink will host an online forum in which top economic, political, academic, labor and business leaders weigh in on a single question: If you could tell President-elect Obama what kind of economic stimulus Brooklyn needs, what would it be?

Some of the participants:
-Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President
-Carl Hum, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
-Julia Vitullo-Martin, Director, Center for Rethinking Development, Manhattan Institute
-Robert Padgug, Professor, Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College

The forum will feature both an online conversation among those leaders, as well as a chance for readers to pose questions and their own ideas.

More here.

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