Downtown Brooklyn's Emergency Health System Crumbles

Long Island College Hospital (LICH). Photo: MK Metz

Attention folks who live, work or play in:

Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Red Hook, Columbia District, Navy Yard, Williamsburg, and related areas (Tech Triangle, Brooklyn Bridge Park, BQE):

There are no emergency medical services serving these areas.

If you are sick or feel you are likely to need emergency health services in the foreseeable future, please make every attempt to relocate to an area that provides these services.

SUNY Downstate has banned ambulances from bringing patients to Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Cobble Hill in order to hasten the closure and sale of LICH.

Brooklyn Hospital Center's ER has been on diversion for the last two days due to the heat wave.

Methodist Hospital is overcrowded, with ambulances stacked outside the ER.

Paramedics warn the system is cracking.

If you become ill and live or work near LICH, WALK into the ER if you are able. It is fully staffed and the doctors and nurses there will provide full care. (SUNY personnel will attempt to intimidate you into leaving the hospital, but you do not have to leave if you don't want to. The Dept. of Health inspects LICH daily and certifies that everything is up to snuff.)

More here.

All LICH posts here.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Madonna's Bra; New Gas Pipeline; Holiday House Decorations; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Court issues restraining order for Carroll Gardens homeless shelter. Brooklyn Eagle

- Coming to the Brooklyn Museum: Madonna’s provocative conical bra that she wore on her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. NY Daily News

- A new natural gas pipeline is coming to Brooklyn and Queens, after President Barack Obama cleared the way for it to be built on Tuesday. DNAinfo

- Looters stole over $100,000 worth of equipment from schools after Hurricane Sandy. Gothamist

- The 10 best Dyker Heights holiday house decorations. The FW

- Awesome ‘Global Rainbow’ over NYC honors Sandy victims. Brooklyn Eagle  

 - Mock all you want, but if you want to write literary fiction or poetry, "Brooklyn is still the place to be." The Millions 

- A U.N. report says sea levels are rising faster than projected. Reuters

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Homeless Shelter in Carroll Gardens; Baby Doctors Move to Brooklyn; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A company run by a former Bloomberg commissioner wants to put a homeless shelter in Carroll Gardens. Brooklyn Eagle  (In a Scarano-designed building. PMFA)

- Zipcar leaves Brooklyn Heights customer stranded with expired car registration. NY Daily News

- Tech firm, ditching Soho, heads to DUMBO. TRD

- Fertility doctors are flocking to Brooklyn's baby-making neighborhoods. Modern Health Care

- Secret recording of NYPD stop-and-frisk: "I'm gonna break your f***in' arm." Gawker

- Both Prospect and McCarren parks cancel ice skating this year! BkMag

- Here's a list of all the bus changes coming to Brooklyn. Brooklyn Eagle

- TSA agents humiliate woman dying of cancer. Gawker

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Orthodox Abuse Cover Up? Williamsburg's New Concert Space; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Brooklyn DA Hynes accused of failing to tackle Orthodox Jews' cover-up of sex abuse. The Guardian via Failed Messiah

- Renderings released of Williamsburg's newest summer concert space. Brooklyn Eagle

- Will you renovate the Carroll Gardens library -- or fix the bathrooms at P.S. 124? If you live in Brad Lander's district (Columbia Waterfront, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Park, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Borough Park) cast your vote on how to spend a million dollars. Brad Lander via Brownstoner

- Brooklyn's Whole Foods to face City Counsel next week. TRD

- A project that would have CB 10 teaming up with hundreds of high school students to clean local parks is facing a possible postponement -- due to the crazy, hectic schedules of the teens. Brooklyn Eagle

- Montague Street Starbucks is moving. BHB

- How one couple traded their way up to a $2.3 million, 2,187-square-foot, three-bedroom penthouse in DUMBO. Dumbo NYC

- Occupy Wall Street to hold a 6-month anniversary march to commemorate the Brooklyn Bridge arrests -- on April Fools Day. OWS

- OWS protest: free subway rides for everybody! Brooklyn Paper

- You are not going to win the lottery, you fool. Gawker

- California man attacked by lion, rescued by bear. NY Magazine

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Rally Against Cobble Hill Charter School Saturday - 'Success Academy Cobble Hill'

Parents from several District 15 public schools say they will protest the planned Success Academy Cobble Hill charter school at an 11 a.m. rally Saturday.

The protesters will gather outside a planned presentation by Success Charter Network chief Eva Moskowitz at the Cobble Hill Library as she pitches the community on the new school.

Parents say that the charter school -- which applied to open in District 13 or 14 -- aims to take over prime real estate in Cobble Hill's District 15 instead, sucking resources and facilities from existing students.

Cobble Hill Carroll Gardens Library is located at Clinton Street between Union and Sackett, Brooklyn.

- Controversial Cobble Hill Charter School Raising Eyebrows Brooklyn Eagle

- Success Charter School Co-Location Threatens Improving School for Global Studies Carroll Gardens Patch


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Brooklyn Waterfront Residents Petition City to remove Salt Pile

 Residents of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill are petitioning the city and the Port Authority of NY and NJ and ASI to remove the salt pile on Pier 9 at Kane and Columbia Streets.
The petition reads: 

Covering the salt pile is NOT a solution. The salt pile is uncovered for months at a time while being used, loaded and unloaded, and on windy days when the covering comes loose. This substance gets airborne and disperses throughout the neighborhood.

Salt is an irritant, can irritate the respiratory tract and causes hypertension. Some pet advocacy groups claim that road salt is harmful to dogs, and aquatic life may be particularly susceptible. Canada has considered listing road salt as a toxic substance due to the salinity itself.

Some evidence suggests that sunlight and bacteria can trigger a toxic substance (cyanide) to be released from road salt.

Salt entering the port of New York in 2005 was of Chilean origin. It contained perchlorate, a contaminant regulated by the EPA. Perchlorate may affect the functioning of the thyroid gland in humans. In addition, the use of this location for the storage and loading of this corrosive substance is incompatible with the new waterfront park and greenway development plans.

WE ARE NOW FACING A 3RD YEAR OF THIS HAZARD as a new huge mountain of salt is loaded onto the site.

There are 60+ signatures so far. One commenter wrote:

PLEASE remove this salt pile. For 3 years I have been calling 311, local representatives, American Stevedoring and have had no positive result. My dog's paws have been damaged by this salt, and on windy days the salt has been an irritant to my asthma. I am now pregnant, and we are seriously considering whether to stay in our apartment if this salt pile is not removed as we know this is a hazard to our baby . . .

Petition here.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Carroll Gardens Zipper Artist Thrives

Some people don't get even one good idea.

Carroll Gardener Kate Cusack has built zippers into a "flourishing jewelry-making career," says the Brooklyn Eagle. Her zipper work has been featured in New York Magazine and fashion publications, but her creativity extends beyond zippers to costume design and custom displays which have appeared in windows from Tiffany & Co. to an Atlantic Avenue.

She also knows how to make a hell of a bunny. Check out the great bunny costume here.

More zipper art can be seen on her blog, www.katecusack.blogspot.com.

Photo courtesy of Kate Cusack

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Stroller Mafia Alert in Downtown Brooklyn, and More Brooklyn in Brief, Presidents' Day Weekend

- Has the Belltel lofts' private Google forum been "hi-jacked by a bunch of stay at home moms with Entitlement Complex?" Should couples who contemplate having children even live in Downtown Brooklyn in the first place? Do we hate the Stroller Mafia? Is "imposing the will of your ovaries and whoever's sperm you're drunk on on the rest of the building in which you live beyond selfish and irresponsible?" Curbed

- Comment alert: A new, inexpensive, Indian buffet has opened in Dumbo. DumboNYC

- The nine luxurious Clocktower Residences at One Hanson Place are ready to roll. Prices range from $2.750 million to $5.875 million. Talk about views! Curbed

- Some idiots (for want of a better word) have destroyed seven trees at the Seba Avenue park, and they're not likely to be replaced. Gerritsen Beach

- The block is zoned residential only, so how is it that plans for an oyster bar at 303 Hoyt Street, next to the Black Mountain Wine Bar, are proceeding? Pardon Me For Asking

- So what is the reason for Schnack's "descent from glorious burger haven to rundown, just-about-to-be-closed burger shack?" A Brooklyn Life

- An assault takes place at the Pavilion movie theater. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

Hunchback of Notre Dame TONIGHT in Brooklyn

Saw a notice about this in the Heights Press. It's tonight (one night only) at Plymouth Church on Hicks Street corner of Orange, which is a cool setting for a Halloween event. (Last year they did something similar -- it was excellent):

Friday, October 26 at 7:30 pm
The classic 1923 silent screen version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with live organ accompaniment by composer-organist Bernie Anderson Jr. THRILLS AND CHILLS!

The gypsy girl Esmeralda, the hunchback Quasimodo, and Hollywood’s magnificent take on old Paris: here’s one of the great “beauty and the beast” stories of all time. And when the amazing theatrical organist Bernie Anderson adds a whole new layer of live music and effects, the end
result is a Halloween event of monster proportions...

Plymouth Sanctuary, Orange Street between Hicks & Henry Streets, Brooklyn Heights
Tickets $10, available at the door
718-624-4743
www.plymouthchurch.org

What's Happening This Week in Brooklyn?

- Today is Astroland's closing day, the Gowanus Lounge reports. A demonstration calling on Thor Equities to keep the park open for another year is scheduled for noon. There will be Mariachis on the boardwalk from 4-6 p.m. and the Hungry March Band will play at 6 p.m. GL

- Triada Samaras from CORD ("Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development") tells us there will be a Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association meeting Monday, Sept. 10, at Scotto's Funeral Home at 7:30 p.m., 106 First Place (at Court). Cord is pushing for a moratorium on buildings over 5o feet tall in Carroll Gardens.

- Brooklyn Community Access Television (BCAT) looks at the controversy over the new Arabic-themed school in Brooklyn and other topics Monday night at 9 p.m. BCAT

- Next Sunday, September 16, don't miss the second annual Brooklyn Book Festival. It will take place at Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., featuring readings and panels with a huge number of respected writes like Phillip Lopate, Pete Hamill, Bernice McFadden and Jonathan Letham on multiple indoor and outdoor stages. See if you can get invited to the VIP night Saturday (with Paul Auster).

The Brooklyn Skinny Dipper, and More Monday Briefs

- Brooklyn skinny-dipper found au natural by Coast Guard after all-night search in Long Beach. Forbes

- Buying a condo for your business instead of renting seems to be an idea that's catching on. Hundreds of deal-makers and businesses attended the grand opening of Greenpoint Lofts. Brooklyn Eagle

- Bikers: Ride from Manhattan to the Coney Island Amusement Park on August 24 at 7 p.m. . Riders should get there just in time for the fireworks. Streetsblog

- The Housing Authority swears it has no plans to convert the Whitman/Ingersoll Houses into private condos. Why, then, have these rumors persisted? Blame the blogs. The Brooklyn Paper

- Amanda H. Burden, Director of the Department of City Planning, wrote to CORD: We are aware that members of the community are concerned about the proposed building at 360 Smith Street... We agree that such a study makes sense, and are committed to pursuing it, but ... we are unable to commit to a precise timeframe. Carroll Gardens Petition

- Visit some of Bay Ridge's finest restaurants on BCAT. "Neighborhood Beat: The View from Bay Ridge," premiers Tuesday, August 14 at 8:30 p.m. bcat.tv

A Dozen Brooklyn Restaurants Make New York's 'Best Cheap Eats 2007'

The list is out -- and Cobble Hill's Hibino (pictured) at 333 Henry Street near Pacific has been listed as just one of a dozen Brooklyn eateries in New York Magazine's "Best Cheap Eats 2007." Hibino offers home-style small plates, "Japanese comfort food" and various oshi, or pressed sushi, such as "the one layered with shiso leaves, microgreens, and egg, topped with soy-marinated fish."

Other picks include Bocca Lupo in Cobble Hill, Choice Market in Clinton Hill, and Petite Crevette in Carroll Gardens. See the whole list here.

Photo by MK Metz

Brooklyn Wednesday in Brief

- DeStefano's Steakhouse in Williamsburg might be the one to vanquish Peter Luger, says Bloomberg. And the servers are women ... friendly women. Bloomberg

- Mystery Bride of Fourth Street: She was dumped because “she was bi-polar and wouldn’t take her medicine." The Brooklyn Paper

- You can ride one of those very old subway trains on display at the Transit Museum (the ones with the straw seats?) on a special Nostalgia Ride. The next excursion will take place on Sunday, August 12. The Brooklyn Eagle

- Yesterday was one big day for preservation and development in Williamsburg and Brooklyn. The Landmarks Preservation Commission decided the future of both the Eberhard Faber complex in Greenpoint and McCarren Pool. And in Williamsburg, architect Raphael Vinoly gave a presentation about the future of the historic Domino Sugar Plant. Whew! The Gowanus Lounge

- The permits on 360 Smith Street are NOT imminent, says the group CORD after a meeting with Councilman Bill de Blasio. Carrollgardenspetition

- It's down to the semifinals in Brooklyn Botanic Garden's greenest block in Brooklyn contest. ABC-7Online

Joke or No Joke? Deck Over BQE to Connect Cobble Hill, Columbia Street District

The Post broke this rather unbelievable story: As part of his plan to create space for housing, Mayor Bloomberg is proposing "the biggest coverup in city history."

The mayor said his administration would consider constructing decks over rail yards, rail lines and congested highways -- including the sunken stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway bordering Hicks Street, dividing "Carroll Gardens West" (the Columbia Street District, mistakenly called Carroll Gardens in the illustration above) from Cobble Hill in Brooklyn.

"A platform could be constructed over the below-grade section of the BQE to create nine new blocks of housing reconnecting two neighborhoods," said a mayoral panel, according to the Post.

This would reconnect the Columbia Street District once again to Mother Brooklyn, leading, we suspect, to skyrocketing property values. But rather than nine new blocks of housing, we would like to suggest a nine-block swath of greenery: a new public park with all the amenities.