Is Bed-Stuy Abortion Central? and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Are a hospital's diesel generators causing respiratory and other health problems? Neighbors say yes. Brooklyn Eagle

- More than half of pregnancies in Bedford-Stuyvesant end in abortion, one of the highest ratios in the city. The Brooklyn Ink

- Home sales in Brooklyn climbed 18 percent in the third quarter. Business Week

- Williamsburg's Santorini Grill is going to try out the "pay what you want" model for a month, starting Nov. 4. Consumerist

- Funk music mastermind George Clinton -- who can forget Parliament and Funkadelic? -- is coming to Brooklyn Law School. Brooklyn Eagle

- Moo Burger opens on Court Street. Brownstoner  

- Take a look at one of New York City's flashy new benches. Gothamist

- Conference will examine future of Brooklyn waterfront. Brooklyn Eagle

- That's it: Time to stop eating salad. Gothamist

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Brooklyn's Obituary, From 1897

An editorial ran in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on Oct. 19, 1897. It was a commentary on the imminent consolidation of the city of Brooklyn with the city of New York, the move that made a mere borough out of Brooklyn.

The piece, reprinted in yesterday's Brooklyn Daily Eagle, is an obituary for Brooklyn, but also reassures that Brooklyn, as the people of the time knew it, would not disappear:

"We shall not have to bar our windows lest the New York police department visit us with jimmies and dark lanterns, nor go to our rest in nightly dread that some member of Tammany Hall may cross the bridge . . ."

"We have some of the most home-like homes in the land, and we would not change them for blocks of stewing tenements. We have great beaches, drives, a superior railroad service and a park system nearly equal to that of New York, with advantages of situation not possessed by most of the pleasure grounds in the metropolis . . ."

Has Brooklyn become less than it was during the time of the Big Mistake? Or are we better off?

Read the whole editorial here.

Currier and Ives print courtesy of Wikipedia

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Stanley Bosworth's Memorial Line; Fight Over Norman Mailer's Apartment; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Sex abuse charges dropped against masturbater guy in Brooklyn. Pot changes still on. CBS Local

- Huge line of people waited Saturday to get into the memorial celebration of Saint Ann’s School founder Stanley Bosworth. Brooklyn Heights Press

- The BushwickBK blog bids adieu with a few choice words. BushwickBK

- Brooklyn parents tired of sending their sick kids to school because they can't get time off. Brooklyn Eagle

- Beloved Fort Green coffee shop Tillie's is on the market. Gothamist

- Photos: Washington Street in DUMBO now, and in 1973. Brooklyn Heights Press

- Fight breaks out over Norman Mailer's apartment in Brooklyn Heights. NY Times

- House Obama visited for sale for $13.5 million. BHB

- Savvy Brooklyn Heights businesswoman / major property owner dies after 107 years of good health. Brooklyn Heights Press

- Turns out that making women -- or anyone -- ride in the back of the bus is illegal, even in Williamsburg. The NY World

- Brooklyn knitters: These birds need your help! Really! Gothamist

- Student loan debt is unimaginably huge and you will never get out from under it. Gawker

- Scientists have found a direct link between the number of "friends" a person has on Facebook and the size of certain brain regions. Reuters

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Casting 'Fabulous Brooklyn Families' with Nannies and Mannies

On Brooklynian we hear that Vinnie Potestivo Entertainment and a major cable network "are seeking fantastic families with nannies and au pairs with dynamic personalities in the Brooklyn area for a new docu-series that will document the relationships between nannies and families they help."

A slightly different angle to it on Vinnie Potestivo's website:
"Cameras will document a select group of nannies and 'mannies' as they work for the wealthy by day and socialize with their friends and fellow nannies by night."

Vinnie Potestivo has recruited cast members for The Real Housewives of New Jersey; Pregnant in Heels; Punk’d; an untitled Plus Size Series; House of Consignment; Newlyweds: The First Year and many more shows.

Photo courtesy of Playing with Brushes, Creative Commons license

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Travel+Leisure: Brooklyn Heights One of America's Most Beautiful Neighborhoods

Brooklyn Heights is listed first in Travel+Leisure's survey of the ten most beautiful cities in America.

The article, which notes that "design and green spaces go a long way toward making a neighborhood attractive," describes the grandeur of the Brooklyn Bridge, the view from the Promenade, the neighborhood's brownstones and "regal prewar condos on leafy streets," the generations of literati and more than 600 houses that date to before the Civil War —- surpassing better-known areas in Philadelphia and D.C.

Other beautiful neighborhoods listed include the Garden District of New Orleans, Pacific Heights in San Francisco, and South of Broad in Charleston.

More here.

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'Before I Die' -- Express Your Dreams In Downtown Brooklyn

Surrounding the construction site for Shake Shack in Downtown Brooklyn (409 Fulton Street), artist / TED fellow Candy Chang has created the public participation installation "Before I Die." Locals have been writing up their bucket lists on the giant chalkboard. Here are a few:

Before I die I want to . . .

See my mom happy.

Pay my student loan.

Find balance.

Marry Andrea.

Be a millionaire.

Be saved.

Love more.

Trust more.

Make the banks give back.

Go back to Yosemite.

Get paid.

Make my dream a reality.

Make Christian love me.

There's more about this project on Candy Chang's blog.
Before I Die Toolkits here.

Photos by MK Metz

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Brooklyn Real Estate; Park Slope Food Co-op; Giant Spiders and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Artist wants to bring creepy 60-foot spider to the web of the Brooklyn Bridge. No word on giant fly. Gothamist

- Better investment than the stock market: Price of Brooklyn apartments and condos in the third quarter increased 11 percent over the third quarter of last year. Brooklyn Eagle

- Someone has something good to say about the Park Slope Food Co-op. Mostly. WYDNKBYANM

- Underwhelming response to Occupy Brooklyn. Brooklyn Ink

- Romanian artists have been working seven days a week to restore and recreate rare "sgraffito" ornamentation on a Brooklyn Heights co-op. Brooklyn Heights Press

- Video offers possible explanation for that weird buzzing sound near St. Johns and Washington. Brooklynian

- The Fort Greene Association‘s proposal to expand the Fort Greene Historic District has annoyed some residents. The Local

- City officials and real estate heavy lifters (including City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Two Trees' Jed Walentas, Michael Kaye, Chris Havens, Jason Muss and many more) will be participating in the final 2011 luncheon of the 2011 Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Brooklyn Heights Press

- If you missed The Creator's Project in DUMBO, here's a synopsis. South Brooklyn Posts

- Hinsch’s Confectionery, the famous Bay Ridge ice cream parlor-luncheonette that closed Sept. 29 after 63 years, is reopening. Brooklyn Eagle

- According to the NYPD, the biggest cause of car crashes in August was cell phones. Gothamist

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New York Comic Con 2011 -- Amazing Geeks Visit Planet Earth

Every comic aficionado, cosplayer, anime fan, troll, ghost buster (above), superhero, geek and cyborg in the city landed at New York Comic Con 2011 at the Javitz Center this past weekend.

Talk about freaking amazing!

Some superheros defy understanding.

The movement #ZombifyWallStreet was represented. Not to get political, but did you know that 99 percent of the world's brains are consumed by 1 percent of the world's zombies? Think about it.

Avengers' stars Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill) and Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson)

Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg and Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige appeared to answer questions and screen some bits from The Avengers, due out in 2012. We didn't make the panel but we did see some of the stars at the Marvel booth, above.

This man built a mechanical arm from wood and gears. When he flexed his human fingers (hidden inside a little round box) the giant fingers flexed. It was huge and awesome. It probably weighed a ton, but he demonstrated it and posed with anyone who wanted him to.

Hundreds of fans of the web comic Homestuck showed up -- many wearing yellow-orange horns.

A giant Homestuck photo shoot broke out.

They're not from Brooklyn.

But these guys might be.

More on Brooklynites at NY Comic-Con here.

New York Comic Con 2010

Photos by MK Metz

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Occupy Wall Street Protesters Arrested Inside Brooklyn Supreme Court

At least nine Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested inside Brooklyn Supreme Court, the Brooklyn Eagle reports. The protesters had interrupted the weekly foreclosure auction by continuously singing and refusing to leave.

About 100 protesters demonstrated outside and inside the Downtown Brooklyn courthouse.

The OWS protesters were there to demand that “all foreclosures be halted until loans are modified, made fair and accessible, and banks and lenders be held accountable.”

See full story here.

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Ward: 'Red Hook Must Be Connected to Governors Island'

Christopher Ward, departing head of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, said Thursday that "one of the final open questions facing the city is what to do with the Brooklyn waterfront."

Mr. Ward compared it to Vietnam, a place where no one has been able to declare a victory, reported Crain's NY.

According to Crain's, Mr. Ward said, "Red Hook must be connected to Governor's Island," adding that if that doesn't happen, the island “will never reach its full potential.”

He also suggested moving the Red Hook container terminal somewhere else, like Sunset Park. More insight into this speech at the Observer.

Photo of Red Hook from Governors Island courtesy of Google Maps

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