KiwiSweat Popped Up in DUMBO, Briefly

We were surprised to find a gym with cycling equipment at 81 Front Street (Gair Building No. 6) over the weekend. It turns out that KiwiSweat pop-up gym was only there from Thursday till Sunday (yesterday) for an exercise "experience."

KiwiSweat says they use the “pop-up” model to keep their fitness content amazing. "Because we focus on short-term individual events, we’re constantly reinventing ourselves. This allows us to integrate the latest fitness trends, feature the best instructors, and respond immediately to customer feedback."

Details regarding pop-up locations and schedule are kept secret until they are released online a few weeks before the event begins. KiwiSweat says they get the hottest instructors, and people pay per class with no membership fees. (More at DumboNYC.)

Next stop: Invisible Dog, from November 17th - November 20th.

Photo by MK Metz

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

'Occupy Brownsville' Marches Over Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall

Marchers brought coffins to Cadman Plaza Park in Downtown Brooklyn and marched over the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday to bring attention to the unacceptable level of gun violence in the city. The "Ride. March. Rally." started out in Brownsville where Zurana Horton, a mother of 12, was recently shot and killed as she shielded children from a hail of bullets.

City Councilman Charles Barron headed up the march over the bridge to City Hall. Many of the participants carried signs bearing photos of children killed in gang violence.

Marchers said that poverty, unemployment and the lack of centers for youth create a climate of violence. The event was organized by the National Action Network (headed by Rev. Al Sharpton), with the groups Man Up, King of Kings Foundation, and I Love My Life.

Photos by MK Metz

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Cadets, Saturday, Brooklyn Bridge Park

It appeared on Saturday that military cadets were taking over Brooklyn Bridge Park but it turned out that numerous Quinceañera groups were flooding the park for photo shoots.

Quinceañera is a 15th birthday coming-of-age celebration for Latina girls.

According to various Internet posts, in Mexico cadets would often participate in the ceremony. Today cadet uniforms are often worn in honor of this tradition.

Photo by MK Metz

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Park Ranger Arrests Pervert Carrying Loaded Gun in Prospect Park

A park ranger leading an educational tour for school children in Prospect Park averted a potential tragedy by arresting a man carrying a loaded gun who was exposing himself, A Walk In the Park reports.

Park patrons spotted 53-year old Glen Perouza of Queens masturbating inside Prospect Park between 3rd and 4th street Saturday at approximately 3:30 p.m. Perouza was carrying a loaded 9mm Taurus Pt. 99 hand gun.

Read the full story at A Walk In the Park.

Photo courtesy e-gun.net

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Two Trees to Break Ground on Dock Street in DUMBO Next Summer

Two Trees Management Co. will break ground on its controversial Dock Street DUMBO project (shown above next to Brooklyn Bridge) next summer, “if all goes well,” reports the Brooklyn Eagle.

Jed Walentas, a principal at Two Trees, broke the news at the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable luncheon on Tuesday.

More than a dozen high-profile local and national preservation groups opposed the 18 story private development just 92 feet from the Brooklyn Bridge “that will forever alter New York’s legendary landscape," according to Doreen Gallo, Dumbo Neighborhood Alliance executive vice president.

- Dock Street Sides
- School 'Not Allowed' in Brooklyn Bridge Park
- Dumbo Dock Street Public Hearing Tonight (past)
- Put Middle School in Brooklyn Heights' P.S. 8, Says Yassky

Image courtesy of Two Trees Management


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Fake Meat; Hipster Litmus Test; Grandma's Ashes; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- How to tell if you're a hipster. tumblr via reddit

- Five spots to get your fake meat fix, all in Brooklyn. Gothamist

- Fabulous police work: Brooklyn woman reunited with grandma's ashes, stolen from her car. NY Daily News

- Bay Ridge has eerily similar twin -- in Norway. Brooklyn Eagle

- Charter school scam in New York City? Huff Post

- Josh Rubin, owner of Whisk Bakery Cafe on Newkirk Avenue, has gone missing. NYS Missing Persons and Ditmas Park Blog

- Advocates say don't close those 47 failing schools, fix them. Brooklyn Eagle 

- Almondine’s macaroons "best in city." DumboNYC  

- The story of a spectacular fire, in a building opposite Brooklyn Borough Hall where the Supreme Court stands today. Brooklyn Eagle

- The mother of all margin calls: Up to 50,000 former customers of bankrupt broker MF Global must find some $1 billion in additional collateral by today (Friday), or be forced out of their trades. Vosizneias 

- We had so much fun with "do a barrel roll" yesterday. Here are more Google Easter eggs. Gothamist

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Mysterious, Glowing Well in Cadman Plaza Park

If looked at from the right angle and at the right time of day (mid- to late-afternoon when the sun is shining), Leonard Ursachi's "Well" -- a water-blue acrylic resin sculpture with a giant wooden bucket and rope-wrapped lever -- glows from within in a fetching, fairy tale kind of way. (The plastic water bottles embedded in the well's blue acrylic bricks kind of derail the illusion, but anyway.)

The well is meant to be suggestive of a traditional rural well with all of its mythic iconography. Ursachi made the wellhead’s base, bucket, and lever from wood he salvaged from the East River.

More details at the Department of Parks' Public Arts Program.

Photo by MK Metz

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Neighborhood Parking Permits; Brooklyn Nannies Are Doing OK; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The City Council committee voted in favor of allowing residential neighborhoods to designate up to 80 percent of their parking as residents-only. Next stop: full City Council.  Brooklyn Eagle

- Nannies in Brooklyn average $15 an hour, get 11 paid vacation days, and get paid mostly off the books. Park Slope Parents (pdf) via NY Times

- Remember the jobs, housing and independent monitor required by the Atlantic Yards community benefits agreement? HA HA HA HA HA! City Limits

- Too hard to fix the schools: NYC closing another 47 public schools. NY1
 
- The company that purchased five properties at Atlantic Avenue and Boerum Place this summer has turned around and flipped them. Brownstoner

- Union members stop traffic on Court Street. Carroll Gardens Patch

- Neighborhood jumble at Plymouth Church this Saturday. Brooklyn Heights Press  

- Another $20 million is going for a second phase of reconstruction of DUMBO’s historic Belgian block streets. Brooklyn Eagle

- Performances and discussion about the Occupy Wall Street movement will take place in Brooklyn Heights this upcoming Monday. South Brooklyn Post

- Halsey Street community garden in the works. Brownstoner

- They're finally going to make a bench out of all the broken glass they've cleaned up in Fort Greene Park. The Local

- Cops catch the guy who stabbed 16-year-old girl in a Brooklyn street in the middle of the night two months ago. MSNBC

- Why the B38 bus suddenly stopped and emptied out at Adams and Willoughby Streets in Downtown Brooklyn. Gothamist

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Everything You Need to Know About the European Bank Bailout

Via The Real Deal:
The 50 percent "haircut," a "credit event," "Europe exploding," and why aliens may be necessary to save the European economy in simple language anyone can understand.

And if there are no aliens?

"Then we are screwed."

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Topics at Brooklyn Heights Community Meeting with Daniel Squadron

For those who missed the community meeting with Sen. Daniel Squadron at the Dodge YMCA on Tuesday night, the Brooklyn Eagle provides a general wrap-up on the following issues:

- Positions on Brooklyn Bridge Park's board
- Dissolving the park's corporation
- The planned indoor recreation bubble on Pier 5
- Housing in the park
- The conflict between walkers and bicyclists on the Brooklyn Bridge
- Why motorcycle fatalities have gone up 34 percent in one year
- Problems with helicopters over the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhoods
- Security for the Concord Village entrance to the A train’s High Street station
- A conflict-of-interest question

For details see the Eagle.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.