What You See in Sunset Park: Rolls Royce

I thought these were only let out in public for weddings. But no. This one (from NJ) was parked right on the side of the park. It was pretty stunning, I must say.

And don't the trees look really cool reflected in the hood?

41st Street Parking: Trashed Car

Thanks to Kelli and Mike for sending in this photo of someone's idea of clever parking on 41st between 7th and 8th. The plates and stickers are no longer part of this car's existence. Clearly, someone doesn't want to take responsibility for destroying City property.

What You See in Sunset Park: Fury

I'm guessing it's 1960, based on its four doors and fins. Anyone know for sure?

Three Pedestrians Struck, One Killed on 4th Avenue

Updated with links below.

According to NBC:

Early this morning a black mini-van struck three pedestrians on 4th Avenue by 39th Street. One woman* was killed, and the two other pedestrians were taken to Lutheran Medical Center. The driver remained at the scene, so no charges were filed.

Walk carefully, drive carefully out there.

*It was a man, according to a commenter and other sources.

FoxNY has a short blurb. It states the driver has not been found; all other news sources say that the driver stayed and was questioned by police.

CBSTV has a lengthier article. It includes the group's destination: the 24 hour restaurant Los Tres Potrillos. Apparently, there are a lot of people out on 4th Avenue at 4:30 AM!

What You See in Sunset Park: Buy American

This van scoots around Sunset Park quite often. Can you name the four different ways this van owner is telling you he LOVES THE USA? (The 800 number is just bonus - if not original - attitude.)

Lock Your Car, Don't Let Your Kids Play in the Car

Yesterday, on my way back from a neighbor's house, I spotted a child of about 8 years enter a car and slam the door behind him. The windows were tinted, but I saw that he was alone in the car, and kind of just exploring the seats and playing with the steering wheel.

I turned to the woman next to me, and basically said that if I didn't check it out I'd be worried that the nightly news would have some tragic story about a little boy who suffocated in a car on 6th Avenue.

So, I went back to the car and asked the boy if he was okay. Nods head. Can you open the door? Shakes head. (Smart, considering I am unknown to him.) I tried the door, and it was locked. He had keys in his hand. I stopped a man who had come out of the house next door to the car and asked him if he knew the car or the boy inside. He started talking to the boy by name and asked him to open up. Nope. So he knocked on a house and talked to the kids that came out, asking them to get their parent. I thanked him and left.

Hopefully, I did enough. It was Noon, and the windows were all closed tight. The stories about kids who are left in cars or fall asleep after playing in cars are too, too sad.

So, lock your car and don't let your kids play in it. (Apparently, hide your keys, too.)

Smashed Car

Torched, stripped, and now smashed. Whoever did this to this car last weekend was pretty careful about cracking up every single window. Only the windshield wasn't completely smashed in. The back window sprayed glass all over the car behind it, but that car wasn't touched otherwise.

Thankfully for the car owner, he parked right outside the car wash/car repair place on 4th Avenue. What luck!

Look Both Ways on a One-Way Street

The irony, of course, is that I do look both ways on one-way streets. It's just habit, and good sense, really. And don't worry, I feel an immense amount of guilt about what happened yesterday. No one needs to lecture me about being more careful. Go ahead, if you must, I'm a traumatized mother right now.

Here's the short version:

Yesterday afternoon, I and my two cherubic imps were crossing 44th Street at 6th Avenue to enter Sunset Park at its main entrance. As we must because of the steep incline, I poked my head around the parked cars to look for on-coming traffic. Thanks to a double parked car loading items and another car backing up into a parking space down the street, it looked even more safe than usual. Phew. Then I looked up the street and saw an Elegante car service car backing up at 6th Avenue.

They often idle by the fire hydrant or the entrance of the park, so I figured this guy was backing up to the hydrant. I waited. He stopped, took it out of reverse, and sat there. Okay, so he's staying at the entrance. I looked back down 44th - all clear - and I started across the street.

When we were almost across the street, the Elegante car started backing up again. Into my stroller-bound kid. The handle of the stroller was pushed into my other kid (who was strapped to me), and the bumper of the car and the wheel were pushing my stroller and my son's legs along.

Now, I promised my husband a while ago that I would watch my language in front of my children. Sorry, honey. As I was tried to pull the stroller out from under the bumper, I started screaming about the car hitting my kid. (That was probably the most terrifying second and a half of my life. You can imagine what flashed through my head.) Then the palabrotas began.

With a crying baby strapped to me and a stunned toddler sitting in the stroller, I yelled in a colorful manner various versions of: car service cars are always backing up down the street, what does he think he's doing backing up on a one-way street, I was crossing at the crosswalk, my kids had better not be hurt, car service guys don't care about the residents they serve, blah blah blah.

I don't think the car service man was malicious. I don't even think he was particularly negligent. He explained he has children as well. He was so sorry. Are they alright. (In his nervousness he was smiling and trying to stop the baby's crying. Don't do that.) He was doing what the car culture of this block does. Yeah, I'm pissed off at him. Yeah, I think he was being careless. However, as angry as I am (maybe was) at this guy, I realized that mini-versions of this happen all the time. It's not a unique situation, and it's not something we cannot change.

That brought me back to the traffic calming issues we've been dealing with forever. A stop sign would not have changed this particular situation, but perhaps a painted crosswalk would have been a visual reminder to the driver that people cross into the park here. Look again.

So this morning, while my baby girl napped, I wrote to my friend Marty Markowitz to remind him about the traffic calming we have desired for so long. Perhaps a brush with injury will be enough to get something for our street here. Let's hope that it's not something more serious that draws attention to the need for traffic calming around the park.

So anyway, is anyone up for painting a few crosswalks ourselves?

Enjoy the weather, enjoy the park. Cross with extreme caution.

And, for good measure, here's the link for the traffic calming petition.

Even Sidewalks are NOT Safe - Longing for More Sunday Drivers

I mean, come on. How many of these insane stories do we need to hear before people take responsibility for driving a two ton machine around town? (And yes, I drive a two ton vehicle around town on occasion.) Even if you have the "right of way," even if you MUST make the turn with the yellow light, even if you bumped the car behind you while parking and you want to get away real fast - you are wielding an instrument that can cause serious and deadly damage.

Yesterday, a Brooklyn eight-year-old lost his leg while sitting on a stoop with his mom; a person attempting to parallel park forgot which pedal was the brake and which was the gas. This morning, another accident occurred when an apparent heart attack rendered the driver incapable of controlling his vehicle. It also hopped the curb and slammed into a building.

Add these very recent Brooklyn stories to tales of police chases ending in pile-ups, but not before killing a pedestrian, children on a library outing being killed, inebriated men driving into women who ignored their advances. Then consider older tales of drunk and exhausted off-duty cops killing families and trucks making turns with no disregard for the WALK sign, and we're living in the midst of a cycle of violence that is routinely down-played (it was an accident, he was drunk, the brakes failed) and excused. Cars don't kill people - unless they are wielded by people who don't respect the power of thousands of pounds of metal and rubber.

That's not to say that there aren't accidents. We can't help when heart attacks happen. Pedestrians are also insane at times. Brakes fail (although I seriously doubt the brakes fail as much as people claim.). Nevertheless, sitting on a stoop or waiting on a sidewalk ought to be safer than crossing against traffic. Take responsibility for driving a car before something happens, so you don't have to regret what might happen later.

Stay safe out there.

What You See in Sunset Park: Reminders That You Are Divine

I love this. I'm not sure I take it the same way it's meant by the driver, but I love it nonetheless.

What You See in Sunset Park: Coupe de Ville in Blue

I know it's a gas guzzler. I know it's a parking space hogger (it really is a huge car). I know it's wrong in so many ways. But this car, parked neatly in a space just the right size, is very pretty.

A man and his daughter got out of the car after parking it. After exiting the passenger side, the girl gave the hood a lovingly gentle rub with her sleeve. The man glanced back at least four or five times as they walked down the hill. He certainly looked the part of a Cadillac Coupe de Ville owner.

Car Hit on 5th and 34th - Was it Yours?

Was your car parked on 5th Avenue and 34th - right by the construction? A neighbor and I happened to be walking nearby when a two-level car transport truck (with a bunch of dented and sad-looking cars) barreled past the traffic agent who was directing traffic down 34th.

The driver soon realized he was going the wrong way down a one-way street and stopped, and then began to back up. As he was backing up, he smashed into a small, blue car. The crunching took off the gas cap and created a horizontal crater along the back end of the car.

He started down 34th, but then parked and stopped and headed over to the traffic agents. They seemed a little perturbed by the situation, but hopefully they handled it correctly.

If this was your car, feel free to contact me at bestviewinbrooklyn@yahoo.com. At least two of us saw it happen, and the two traffic agents at the corner also saw it.

What You See in Sunset Park: Checkered Cab

This was on 8th Avenue and 50th Street. It's just cool.

Wildfire Rides Again in Sunset Park

I can't help it. Whenever I pass by this little buggy I start hearing Michael Murphey's "Wildfire." You know, "She ran calling Wildfire..." It's a depressing song, but there's nothing but warm, fuzzy feelings about this vehicle. I've never actually seen it moving; it just seems to move from one side of the street to another. And the inside isn't really warm and fuzzy. The seats are actually covered in plastic. Still, it's an excellent car.

If you want to hear Murphey's "Wildfire," go here.

I Love Karma

Parking is always a risk and a challenge in Brooklyn. Alternate side parking days often have harried residents dashing into the street 10 seconds prior to (or following) the posted times. There are also other hazards like getting blocked in by a double-parked vehicle, having love notes left on your windshield (BViB tip: always leave your number in the windshield to promote neighborly relations), and of course, having your bumper/mirror attacked by a desperate attempt at squeezing into a space. The fact is, double-parking is illegal, but how else can a gas-guzzling vehicle owner (of which I am one) survive? Those of us with cars know the risks, but that doesn't make the reality sting any less when it doesn't quite work out our way.
Well, I won't go into the details, but the photos in this post show what I think is the result of Karma. I didn't gloat when I saw this, but I wasn't particularly surprised either. Let's just say that the owner's unkind actions (No, not illegal. Just unkind.) and his very possible destructive actions (I can't PROVE it, but I KNOW it.) were re-paid just a little bit today. His colorful van was back within an hour, but it took up a good chunk of his morning. That's enough for me.

Car Windows Smashed on Friday Night

On 44th Street, at least three ** now it's five ** cars had windows smashed, and at least one car had its contents searched for valuables, on Friday night. On our way up to the park on Saturday we saw two tinted windowed cars with smashed windows, and up the block there was one more car with a window smashed in. One long-time resident, who claimed a tinted-windowed car, said that it had happened over night. He didn't volunteer any information about theft, but another resident said that her car had definitely been searched for items after already losing a window.

This block has not seen too many vandalized cars over the last few years, at least not on the house side. On Wednesday early evening, some youths were seen hanging around the block and acting like they wanted to smash in a windshield, but they ran off when they saw someone on the sidewalk. It doesn't seem like they'd be the ones who took the time to return and break into cars to steal stuff, but you never know.

A vandal and a thief has to have a pretty good feeling that no one will see them/notice them to break into and rummage through three cars on a residential street. Just one more reason for all of us to be vigilant and to err on the side of caution. If you see suspicious activity, even if it seems innocuous or just "out of place" and not serious, call the precinct or 911. Really! I have it on good authority that the 72nd Precinct WANTS us to do that.

from the June Community Council Meeting:

...suspicious persons on your block, looking into cars, or behaving in strange ways can warrant a 911 call. A passed out person on the street or in the park warrants a 911 call. The incident where a woman was being used by teens as a shield could be a 911 call. 311 should be used for nuisances and quality of life issues. We can also call the Community Affairs office at 718-965-6326 to report QoL issues. The phone is attended until 10 PM.

This was communicated by Captain Simonetti, and now we have Captain Jesus Raul Pintos. I am sure that Captain Pintos feels the same way.

Pre-Thanksgiving Repossession

Gunset Park, a blog that showcases various scenes around Sunset Park, has a reality check (as if we need one!) of economic consequences here. From the looks of the paint job, this van has been left to fester more than once.

What You See in Sunset Park: Vote Truck

This car from Michigan visited Sunset Park to remind us to VOTE. It's pretty cool, but wouldn't it be more useful in Michigan than here? Either way, do make time today to cast a ballot - or flick a switch - so that you can complain when things don't go your way. If you're eligible to register to vote but don't, you really can't complain when you don't like how things are going. I prize my right to complain...almost as much as my right to vote.

Ingenious Car Protection System?

While I wish I had purchased one of those bumper protectors a long time ago, I've resigned myself to having mauled bumpers and headlights due to inconsiderate fellow parkers. It never occurred to me that other options were available. I passed by this shrink-wrapped car on 41st Street. The back was much more protected than the front, but it was pretty well covered in plastic wrap.