Originally located on Myrtle Ave., Sid's was the first retailer to move to MetroTech in 1991. The only store that carried lumber and a full array of paints, plumbing supplies, lighting and professional building equipment in the Downtown area, their closing is a loss. 
The Nets are set to launch the sale of 104 luxury suites at the future Barclays Center next month, according to The Real Deal.
It's not yet clear what the suits would go for. At Madison Square Garden you can rent a private hospitality suite for the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament for roughly $12,000 for a full day (4 games) or $50,000 for a full tournament (that's 8 sessions =15 games). Food and drinks are not included. But MSG is scheduled for a renovation over the next couple of years, and the new suite pricing is anybody's guess.
Luxury suites at the new Yankee Stadium run from $600,000 to $850,000 a season. Yankee Stadium's suites include access to the private lounge, personal concierge service, a private entrance, elevator and concourse, Wi-Fi and Sony HDTVs and more.
In response to the bad economy, according to the Wall Street Journal, teams are "offering financing for season tickets, shortening contract commitments on luxury suites, and in the case of the Yankees, re-designating seven unsold suites as 'party suites,' sold on a game-by-game basis."
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After a man was killed by a snow-laden falling tree branch in Central Park earlier today, the city's Parks Dept. advised pedestrians to avoid walking under trees and through parks.
Branches are down across the city, according to NY1.
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Remember how you laughed at those folks loading up at the supermarket yesterday?
According to the National Weather Service, parts of Brooklyn could get up to a foot of snow and Manhattan could get 13 or 14 inches today. The snow will start at rush hour and accumulate all day.
The westernmost parts of Brooklyn are expecting from 5 - 9 inches of the white stuff. Moving easterly towards Brooklyn Heights, we're looking at anywhere from 6 - 12 inches. Midtown Manhattan could get from 6 - 14 inches.
Further west, to East Orange, NJ, expect from 7 - 15 inches of snow.
Another 1 - 3 inches may arrive on Friday.
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- Community Board 1 Land Use Committee voted against the $1.2-billion redevelopment of the old Domino Sugar factory on Tuesday night. Brooklyn Paper
- Borough President Marty Markowitz’s former speechwriter is suing him for discrimination. Brooklyn Eagle
- The Brooklynian boards are buzzing about this new restaurant behind Loki Lounge.Brownstoner
- Gov. David Paterson has suspended a close aide and is asking for an investigation after the NY Times published a report linking the aide to a claim of domestic violence. Huff Post
- Nearly 15 percent of NYC job-seekers are willing to leave the city. Crain's NY Business
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Folks were pretty psyched to hear Brooklyn Bridge Park details from its architect, Michael van Valkenburgh Tuesday night at the Brooklyn Height's Association's 100th Annual Meeting. The BHA has helped "move the park forward" for about 20 years.
For example, 1,000 benches are being constructed from the remains of the old Cold Storage Warehouse on Pier 1 that is now slowly being dismantled.
Another interesting factoid: all the trees that will be planted – including many that already have been -- are raised to prevent salt-water damage to their root systems in case of storms or climate change.
For more details see the Brooklyn Eagle and also the Brooklyn Heights Blog.
Photo by MK Metz
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- Cindy Jasmin, a “person of interest” in the investigation of the hit-and-run that left Brooklyn resident Erinn Phelan gravely injured, has met with New York City detectives. Brooklyn Eagle
- Pratt Station Post Office is closing temporarily. Councilmember Tish James has more details here.
- Whole Foods has begun cleaning its toxic site along the Gowanus Canal. But that doesn't mean they'll build there. Brooklyn Paper
- It started with two naked bodies in a blood-soaked bed in Marine Park. It continued with a million-dollar fraud ring, bizarre wills, crooked law firms and a "curse" put on a partner's gun . . . Brooklyn Eagle
- All NYC parades to be cut 25 percent and limited to five hours to save $$$ -- including the eight-hour East Indian Day parade. NY Daily News
- Like fresh vegetables? The Urban Meadow team is setting up a CSA (community supported agriculture program) in the Columbia Street District. The Word On Columbia Street
- DUMBO/ Vinegar Hill is holding a meeting about their CSA, too. Dumbo, NYC
- Girls, there are only two days left to apply to become 2010’s Miss Brooklyn! The winner will be crowned on March 28 at Brooklyn College. Brokelyn
- Someone got shot at Classon Bet Dekalb and Lafayette. Clinton Hill Blog
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New York City's MTA has decided to lay off 450 station agents and more than 600 administrative workers to save about $50 million, according to the NY Times and the Daily News.
Further cuts are expected this summer to the city's bus lines, and student MetroCards are being eliminated.
Access-A-Ride service for the frail and handicapped is also being cut. Instead of picking up the disabled at their doors, the service plans to cart some of them them to the nearest bus stop or subway entrance and drop them off. A prepaid taxi card system is also being proposed. The MTA also plans to "Apply more rigorous determination procedures for ADA eligibility."
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Later other teams latched onto the idea and started clearing away an area on the south end of the field -- not as completely, but we guess a little snow is nothing to a serious soccer man.- Brown University graduate Erinn Phelan, 22, a coordinator for Mayor Bloomberg's NYC Civic Corps initiative, was left brain dead in a hit-and-run accident in Prospect Heights. Village Voice
- Vice President Joe Biden and his wife pop into the River Cafe for dinner. BHB
- The Kosciuszko Bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Queens, is getting redesigned. Gothamist
- 108-year-old men's club in Bay Ridge finally admits women.. Brooklyn Eagle
- 738 educators collect city pensions of more than $100,000 -- and three make more than $200,000, according to the NY Post.
This video posted on YouTube by a person named "tderamus" is described as "UFO Brooklyn Jan 26th" and "Something odd floating in the skies over Bushwick."
According to Paranormal Daily News, "Some people in Brooklyn are convinced aliens are flying above the Big Apple. We have two videos that were posted on YouTube Monday showing two unknown objects floating in the sky. The person who posted the video writes, “Spotted from my backyard in Williamsburg. I watched for about 40 min. so I could tell they were moving but very slowly. They sort of looked like stars but were hanging too low and the blue one was a bit too sparkly.”
In related news, the folks over at The Disclosure Project have several demands:
- The dean of a Hebrew day school in Brooklyn was arrested Thursday in an alleged scheme to extort $4 million. WSJ
- A thank you note to an "awesome" Good Samaritan. Clinton Hill Blog
- A 40-year-old Park Slope woman has gone missing. Brooklyn Paper
- Choice Market cafe and takeout at the J Condo officially opened for business Thursday. Brooklyn Eagle
- Car windows keep getting smashed near Fulton Park. Bed Stuy Blog
- Toll Brothers to build in DUMBO? Brooklyn Heights Blog
- The Invisible Dog will be the site of the first Brooklyn Inventgenuity Festival for kids. NY Times
- Parents, be careful what face paint you use on your child. ACGIB
- The Vancouver Olympics is stocked with 100,000 condoms. Huff Post
Those poofy, shaky little full breeds get all the attention in Manhattan, but in Brooklyn we're nuts about mutts.
Now mutts will have their weekend in the spotlight at the Brooklyn Lyceum Mutt Show, Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14, 11am - 7pm
Say it loud, say it proud: "My dog is of dubious bloodlines!" Join the hairy masses as they celebrate and compete for prizes and treats, kisses and scratches. Enter your dog in as many classes as you like.
Guest judges will be overseeing categories of all kinds, like 'sloppiest kisser', 'looks most like your owner', 'best beard', 'best lap dog over 70lbs', 'best costume' and more. Browse through doggie retail goods for sale, get your face painted, grab lunch at the Lyceum Cafe, and support participating non-profit animal organizations. A percentage of all proceeds will go directly to benefit BARC (Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition), a no-kill shelter located in Williamsburg. Many other activities to be confirmed.
It's only $10 per class entered, and a very low ticket price to come and cheer them on. Register yer mutt in advance. (Activities/retail space admission is free.)
A few highlights: Comic book artist and famed toy designer Ami Bogin will be judging the t-shirt contest and signing her limited edition posters. BARC will be showing a video introducing people to their shelter and its important mission.
(Just joking about poofy dogs, btw. Here's a link to the Westminster Dog Show event that just took place at MS Garden.)
Top photo of Pepe from BARC
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CB6 sends us this:
On Feb 22, Community Board 6's Pub Safety/Environmental Protection/Permits/Licenses Committee is hosting a presentation and discussion with representatives of Whole Foods on the resumption of environmental remediation activities at the proposed Whole Foods site.
[Or rather, the site that was once the proposed Whole Foods site, as apparently Whole Foods is planning to clean the site but not build upon the site at the present time. Wait -- they are planning to develop the site. No -- they're not planning to develop the site. Hey -- they don't have a clue.]
That site is 210-230 3rd Street and 370-384 3rd Avenue (southeast corner 3rd Street/3rd Avenue) in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
The event will include a presentation and consideration of a letter of support for an application for a Gowanus Watershed Initiative grant that proposes various Combined Sewer Overflow reduction measures for the Gowanus Canal.
This should clear things up!
Details: PS 32 Auditorium, 317 Hoyt Street (between Union & President Sts), Brooklyn NY 11231, 6:30 p.m.
Background:
Pardon Me for Asking and also here
Brownfield Cleanup Program NYS
NY Daily News
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The video clip above is a reading from "The Cutting Den," a "modern day flood story" set in a well-known Brooklyn Heights barbershop/bookie parlor during the first week of the Major League baseball season.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, "The Cutting Den" written by playwright Ron Scott Stevens is a fictionalized version of the 85-year-old Cutting Den in the St. George arcade -- and the boss at the actual Cutting Den is disappointed by the play. (Probably something about the mob rub out rubbed him the wrong way.)
But he suggests that there is plenty of material for a future play, if anyone cares to tackle it: “A play about Truman Capote coming here, Norman Mailer, and Alan Alda… Arthur Miller,” he says.
Runs through Feb. 21.
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Central Amusement International will lease three City-owned parcels (6.2 acres) for ten years and invest nearly $30 million to build and operate the parks, with rides from Italy-based ride designer and manufacturer, Zamperla.
- Spending just $15 a week on food frees you up for a lot of drinking in bars at night. Brokelyn
- Creepy Brooklyn and Staten Island mortuary workers play with body parts, pose with severed head. NY Post
- Brooklyn couple sues Maclaren stroller company over toddler's finger amputation. Gothamist
- 'A Million Trees' in the city -- how's the planting going? Brooklyn Eagle
- A teenager’s leg was severed by a train while he was in a Brooklyn subway tunnel on Saturday night, planning to paint graffiti. NY Times
- A Brooklyn dog is held for ransom. My Fox NY
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Snow or no snow, the city has announced that all New York City public schools will be open tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 11. After school programs also will operate on a normal schedule.
Most private and parochial schools follow the city's lead on this. Sorry, kids. Back to school!
Photo by Lepiaf.Geo, Creative Commons license
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If the snow doesn't seem all that impressive this morning, just you wait. It's the afternoon rush hour that's going to be the big mess, forecasters say. Gusts to 45 mph and 10 inches or more of snow and ice are predicted. The snow will really pile up between noon and 5 p.m., according to the latest predictions.
All New York City public schools and most private schools are closed, as are all Brooklyn Catholic elementary and academic schools. (Catholic high schools make their own decisions.) Alternate-side parking rules have been suspended.
Above photo taken on Adams St. during a storm in Feb. 2008 by MK Metz
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A new energy plan drafted by Gov. David Paterson would allow drilling for natural gas near the city’s water supply -- one of the nation's cleanest -- and Community Board 10 member Alan Bortnick, among others, is raising the alarm.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, oil companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corporation are signing leases with landowners to extract the gas using disastrous techniques. Apparently the state will be making money off this plan -- and it could be one of the most shortsighted moves the state has ever come up with.
More here.
Photo by Woodleywonderworks, Creative Commons license
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- Choice Market is about to open "an ambitious eatery in the bottom of the J Condo in Dumbo." Are those bubbles coming out of the ceiling? Brownstoner
- It seems that robbers have been staking out the Macy’s shoe department. BHB
- Several new theaters will join BAM in Fort Greene, and construction will start this year. Brooklyn Eagle
- You can still find sleds in Park Slope. Brokelyn
- A Brooklyn boutique is looking for plus-size models for its 2010 ad campaign. Women must be at least a size 18. NBCNewYork
- Someone, possibly a terrorist, has stolen a Brooklyn school's fiberglass cow. NY Post via NY Mag
- After a decade of negotiation, the city of New York has backed off an offer it made to purchase a venerable Dutch farmhouse in Brooklyn. NY Post via Curbed
- Airport security's Big Lie: A celeb caught airport employees at Heathrow Airport passing around printouts of his naked body, as revealed by full-body security scans. NY Magazine
A Community Meeting with American Stevedoring Inc. (ASI) and Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association (CoWNA) to discuss community concerns regarding the Salt Pile on the Columbia Street Pier (Brooklyn) will take place Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, Community Room
177 Columbia Street (at Degraw Street), 5th Floor
Sponsored by:
*Councilmember Brad Lander
*State Senator Daniel Squadron
*Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman
*Councilmember Stephen Levin
For more information, please contact Michael Curtin in Councilmember Lander’s office, (718) 499-1090 or mcurtin@council.nyc.gov (Posted: February 08, 2010)
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MOTORISTS SHOULD SLOW DOWN AND USE EXTRA CAUTION ON
THE ROADS TONIGHT AS TEMPERATURES WILL DROP BELOW
FREEZING AFTER THE ONSET OF SNOWFALL...AND ROADS
WILL LIKELY BECOME ICY IN SPOTS. THIS WILL BE
ESPECIALLY TRUE ACROSS SECONDARY ROADWAYS...BRIDGES...
AND OVERPASSES.
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