Wall of Words in Sunset Park

sunset park, originally uploaded by f.trainer.

This photo from flickr.com was taken by f.trainer on 3rd Avenue in the mid-thirties. The detail on f.trainer's entry shows various names, titles, and seemingly random words. Click on the image to see it. Pretty cool.

FYI: Test Your Tap Water for Lead (and other fun contaminants)

A friend asked about testing tap water in her apartment. Since we've done this in our place already, I figured I'd share the information.

You don't need to go and buy a water testing kit; the City provides a free kit and the postage and service is all included. Whenever you are ready to take the plunge, call 311 to request that the Department of Environmental Protection send you a free water test for lead. You can also request a fact sheet about lead in your home.

The instructions are pretty simple, but make sure to follow them closely. Testing water should take place in the AM, before you use any water in the household.

Some other general tips are to let water run for a little bit before drinking it; that way any traces will be lessened. Cook with cool water, not hot water. Hot water dissolves lead faster, so it can sneak into your cooking. There are a bunch of other fun tips at NYC's website for the Department of Environmental Protection.

Benches are Repaired in Sunset Park

I noticed recently that several benches, especially on the central promenade, have received new pieces in the form of pristine boards to replace the old ones. It would be nice if they weren't painted in that institutional beige, but that's just my preference. The wood looks really nice just as it is.

This is the bench right next to one of the "fixed" benches.

Either someone was taking out aggression on the wood or it's next in line for replacement.


Some benches along the promenade were covered in yellow Caution tape over the weekend, so perhaps the entire lot of benches are being inspected and repaired. Let's hear it for fewer splinters!

Litter Bugs from the Department of Sanitation

I know this goes under nit-picky, but come on, do you have to add to the trash while you're on the job?These two guys were enjoying an early lunch in the cab of their sanitation truck while parked on 44th by Sunset Park. Usually I like to see people who decide to turn off their trucks relaxing and enjoying our park. Today, however, the guy in the driver's seat decided to toss some of his used napkins out the door. Why? He didn't throw out the styrofoam tray, so why the napkins? Perhaps there was some leftover treat in the tray that he wanted to save for later.

The beautiful irony, of course, is that both sides of the truck say "Don't Litter" in clearly labeled black on white lettering. (I know, the photo doesn't show it well, but I think the guys in the truck have seen it a few times.) Maybe we need to add a "Pretty Please" to the imperative to make it more effective.

Just because you don't live in a neighborhood, gentlemen, doesn't mean you treat it like your personal garbage bin. We have plenty of residents to take care of that for us.

Playground Action by Parents in Bay Ridge

The NY Daily News has a short article about how parents have dealt with ugly behavior in Bay Ridge playgrounds.

Here's the link: Bay Ridge Moms...

The problems had come up recently on the Bay Ridge Parents board. The most egregious mentioned involved a teenage girl cursing and making vulgar sexual motions towards a toddler who was (gasp!) loudly enjoying the playground.

For those of us in Sunset Park, people in the playgrounds without children is a common sight. The folks in the photo from this morning were having an intense conversation for the entire time we were there. No children attached to any of them, as far as I could tell.

Many adult residents also use the equipment in the AM to stretch and do pull-ups and headstands. They have usually cleared out by 10 AM or so, and most seem happy to move over when children get in their circle of fitness. I suppose that technically, we could call 311 about these folks, but would that be productive?

I've called 311 about people sleeping on the benches in the playground in the afternoon, and I heard that tickets were issued to vendors who consistently enter the playground to sell toys/treats. They come right back later, of course, but at least it's more official than a parent. For the most part, I've just asked (okay, told) adults and children who use the playground as their biking short-cut or scooter space to leave the playground. And usually I'm met with a blank stare (Language barrier? It couldn't be each time.). I've also tried closing the gates when I enter (it actually works to keep bikes and some unaccompanied adults out), but inevitably they are left open within a few minutes. Admittedly, I've gotten lazy about all of these responses because I don't see a change. Maybe I'll try once more. The "official" response in the article is encouraging, but what is said to the media and what is actually done can be very different.

from the article:

A Parks Department spokesman said that the parks in question are made strictly for kids, and called on concerned parents to help them stay that way.

"Teens or adults can only be in a playground area if they are accompanied by a child under the age of 12," said spokesman Phillip Abramson. "This is a citywide rule put in place to protect our children."

Residents who see anyone lurking at the park without a child should call 311 right away, said Abramson.

Very Specific Grocery Store: "Delicious Healthy Vegetarian Food"

UPDATE: Looks like this place went the way of ethics in real estate. Too bad. I really liked those spring rolls.


Need some Veggie Bacon? Veggie Miso Broiled Eel? How about some Veggie Lobster Balls? Well, this is the place to come for all things Vegetarian that imitate fish and meat. There's even a Veggie Mutton on the menu list. It's located at 4915 7th Avenue, and its name really is Delicious Healthy Vegetarian Food. Let's hear it for clarity.

For the more conventional, there are frozen vegetarian spring rolls (really good), ten for $1.99. There are also selections like pineapple cake, cup of noodles, green tea cookies, and Poland Spring water. The small bottles sell for just 50 cents...that's a savings of 50 cents from down the block! They also have aloe and other selections in the cooler.


Now, not everyone is a fan of the "imitation" culture in vegan and vegetarian food choices. Despite carrying seitan shaped into a duck (complete with head), there are also less animal-like choices of protein available.

This place is relatively new (a couple of months) to 7th Avenue, and this was the first time I managed to stop in. It's very clean, and well organized. They supply several restaurants, and it seems like that's where most of the income is generated. However, with the friendly and helpful people behind the counter (at least on Monday), it will probably pick up.

They are open at 9:30 AM every day, and they close at 7:30 PM every day except Tuesday. On Tuesdays they close at 5:30 PM.

Former SRO Tagged with Signage and Paint

The corner of 7th Avenue and 43rd Street (directly across 43rd from PS 169) has been an eyesore for a while. It has had SRO status for a long, long time, and it has been affectionately referred to as "That Crack House" for several years. It's been quiet for a while...a long while. Back in January of 2007 an application was filed to convert the SRO to a six family dwelling. But the most recent application/approval for work was back in November of 2007. The building has stood, fairly quiet and unmolested, for many months.

However, a week or so ago, these ominous signs turned up on both the 43rd Street and 7th Avenue sides of the building. Not terribly encouraging.


The signs remained quite pristine until this weekend. Now this building has been re-baptised (old graffiti had been removed/covered) by amateur graffiti artists. There was some silver graffiti on the ground that included a three-pointed crown, and considering the various arrows and such around, we can safely call this gang graffiti and probably Latin King graffiti. Or an attempt at it.
The graffiti extended to my favorite non-construction site at 713 43rd Street as well. (See below.) Still nothing going on there, although the stop-work order has become a partial stop-work order. Nothing like abandoned buildings and empty lots to encourage nefarious goings-on. Gotta love that it's right next door to PS 169. LOVE that.

Human Waste in the Playground - photos included!

I thought this looked suspiciously human (not that any animal should be pooping in the playground), but I got a second opinion from another frequent playground attendee. She was decisive: "Oh, that's human. That's human. Definitely." She then promptly removed her charge from the playground and they went to the large sprinkler. She pointed out that kids will run in the poop and then climb on the playground equipment, slide down the slides, run around "clean" areas - all the while dragging excrement about with them. Pretty darn stomach-churning. They were gone within 45 seconds.


The playground doesn't get locked overnight*, so it's no wonder that it's a hangout for teens and other "too old for the playground" folks after dark. I'm not saying that people can't/won't make a poo-poo (it's a playground, so baby talk is appropriate enough) during the day, but daylight and other attendees tend to be a deterrent, of sorts.

One deposit of human excrement was left pretty much at the base of the double slides on the grassy side entrance. The other was closer to the squiggly orange and yellow things that kids like to climb on and run around. Mmmmmm.


I mentioned my finds to a Park worker, and she said they usually hose down discoveries of this sort. The sad thing is that the playground looked pretty darn good otherwise: the sun sprinkler was finally shut off, so that area could be cleaned well. Also, the rest of the grounds looked nicely picked-up. Perhaps the storms today will take care of it...and maybe I'll take a can of Lysol into the playground with me next time. I don't think plain water will take care of
all the goodies that come with the poo.

*Another issue: Why doesn't the playground get locked overnight? Can't this be something that is part of the rounds/closing routine of the Park? The gates aren't particularly high, especially where the swings attach to the other equipment, but at least it would be a message that the playground is closed.

Before the Storm

A little after 10 AM, the sky grew noticeably darker. The color was incredibly beautiful, so I snapped a couple of photos. You can just barely see the Statue of Liberty to the right of St. Michael's if you enlarge the photo. Sadly, my cheapo camera didn't catch the lightning strikes that hit New Jersey. We (along with the 40 or so dancers by the benches and tables) hightailed it out of there after seeing them.

Plastic Bag Recycling Bill

I haven't noticed the official plastic bag recycling bins in the C-Town on 8th or the Key Food on 5th, but then I haven't really looked for them. I will next time I stop in. Both stores (and most larger food stores now) sell 99 cent reusable bags, which are much more pleasant to fill up than old, crinkled plastic bags. Even so, I'm better at reusing than recycling them. I know the bins are at some locations around Brooklyn. Here's proof.

So anyway, this email came to me via Christine Quinn's occasional updates, and I figured some people might be interested. It has to do with NYS passing legislation that would weaken the NYC law about recycling plastics in certain sized/chain stores. Enjoy.

from Quinn's email:

Earlier this year, the Council, together with Mayor Bloomberg, passed the New York City Plastic Carryout Bag Recycling Law (Local Law 1 of 2008), requiring stores across the City to establish in-store recycling programs for plastic bags and film plastic, such as plastic wrap, dry cleaning bags and newspaper bags. The law, which officially went into effect on July 23rd, applies to stores that use plastic bags and occupy 5,000 or more square feet or have more than five branches operating in New York City.

Despite all the hard work that went into making this law a reality, last month the State Legislature quietly passed a statewide plastic bag recycling bill that, if signed by Governor Paterson, would eliminate the City's program and replace it with a far weaker one dictated by Albany. For example, the State's bill would significantly reduce the number of stores in New York City required to recycle plastic bags. The State's bill also only applies to carryout bags (and not film plastic) and would do away with the City's ability to enforce any bag recycling law or ensure that businesses are in compliance.

Because you have been such an important ally in our efforts to help make New York a greener, more livable city, I am hoping you will join us in calling on Albany to take the necessary steps to ensure that the City's plastic bag recycling law remains in full effect. Please contact the state representatives below and urge them to modify the State's bill to allow the City's more robust plastic bag recycling program to continue:

Governor David Paterson
New York City Office
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: (212) 681-4580
E-mail: http://161.11.121.121/govemail

Speaker Sheldon Silver
New York State Assembly
250 Broadway, Suite 2307
New York, NY 10007
Telephone: (212) 312-1420
E-mail: speaker@assembly.state.ny.us

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos
New York State Assembly
55 Front Street
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
Telephone: (516) 766-8383
E-mail: http://www.senatordeanskelos.org/9/Contact.aspx

Assembly Member Robert Sweeney
Chair, Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee
270-B North Wellwood Avenue
Lindenhurst, NY 11757-3708
Telephone: (631) 957-2087
E-mail: sweeney@assembly.state.ny.us

Senator Carl Marcellino
Chair, Senate Environmental Conservation Committee
250 Townsend Square
Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Telephone: (516) 922-1811
E-mail: http://www.senatormarcellino.com/5/Contact.aspx

Meanwhile, if you haven't begun to already, we encourage you to recycle your plastic bags and to let your friends and neighbors know about the program as well! If a store you believe should be participating in the program refuses to accept your plastic bags, please call 311 to report the problem.

Thank you in advance for helping us to preserve the City's plastic bag recycling law. If you would like to receive additional news and updates from the Council, please visit us online at www.council.nyc.gov. Just click on the "Sign Up for E-mail Updates" link at the top of our website and select the issues that most interest you and your community.

Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
New York City Council

Fun Friday Mentions Involving Sunset Park

The New York Times included 23rd Street in Sunset Park for a positive event! Let's hear it for murals.

The Brooklyn Paper highlights The Mumbles, a Sunset Park-based band (even though they are performing in Williamsburg).

Sunset Park Green Market Has Eggs (but you have to look for 'em)

The 59th Street and 4th Avenue Green Market continues tomorrow! According to an earlier commenter, Rexcroft Farms has eggs under its table in a cooler.

Lizzie B. said:

"Rexcroft Farm, the vendor that is usually set up the furthest south in the row (at the corner of 4th Ave. and 60th St.) actually DOES have eggs. They are kept in a cooler under one of the tables, and you usually have to have to ask for them, but they're there! Yum."

Photos of 72nd Precinct's National Night Out

We didn't go because it was too far (Greenwood Playground) to get back in time for a little guy's bedtime routine. But this year's National Night Out looks like it was a lot of fun, and hopefully we can get there next year. Well, that or they move it to Sunset Park. ;)

Did anyone from Sunset get there? How was it?

Gowanus Lounge has a short blurb about it, and kmf221 has 95 photos of the event. Enjoy.

Light Industry hosts Public Opinion Laboratory

First thing: This photograph apparently has nothing to do with the performance on Tuesday, but it came attached to the email. Besides, considering the strange preamble to the announcement for this event, I'm inclined to doubt what is said about the image. And I like how it looks. It was photographed by Brook Sietsinsons. Enjoy.

This Tuesday will be a two-pronged affair. The first presentation by the Public Opinion Laboratory is All Magic Sands: Reels 1+2 featuring LAMP/LICHT (which is an even more interesting name if you know German). It sounds like it's kind of an artsy version of Lost, except with a younger bunch of people. Maybe Lost meets Lord of the Flies? Check it out.

The second installment features Our Dream Deferred by Andrew Lampert (the LAMP of LAMP/LICHT).

Check out www.lightindustry.org for more detail, including the "letter" to the folks who run Light Industry. As always, shows are Tuesdays at 8 PM, and they are $6 at the door.

Light Industry
55 33rd Street, 3rd Floor

Dirty Diapers and Toilet Paper Belong in the Garbage Bin.

We were at the park pretty early this morning, and after doing a round of the park and admiring the dogs, we headed for the playground. Sadly, we passed on the play area because it was still filthy from people using it as a cafeteria/marketplace/dumping ground the day before, the sprinkler was on, the staff was very busily cleaning up the junk others left behind, and older folks were using it as a personal gym. I soon realized that I needed to brave the bathroom despite knowing it was too early for the AM cleaning. The last stall was surprisingly free of debris, but the other three were pretty gross.

This photo was taken at about 8:15 AM this morning. Not only is there a dirty diaper on the toilet, but the toilet paper has various shades of human (I think) secretions. Happily, they don't show in the photo. What is wrong with people? There is a huge garbage can right in the bathroom, and the TP goes in the toilet. If you can't be responsible for a diaper or getting your used TP into the proper place, don't leave the apartment.

The good news is that there was soap in the dispenser and the water faucet worked very well today.

Lost Dog: Bessie

These signs are on all the way from the 30's in 4th Avenue to the 40's on 5th Avenue and beyond. This may be late since the sign says the dog was last seen on July 24th, but it's worth a try. The signs look pretty recent, still. Call 908 591 0006 with information about Bessie. Cash reward is available, and unlimited karma will come your way. Don't worry, the area code is only in Northern NJ (I had to look that up).

An Article About Food in Sunset Park - NOT Mexican or Asian

Johnny's has long been my choice for baked ziti and eggplant and the occasional slice, although I still venture out to Cafe Europa or Il Colosseo if I really want a whole pizza.

The Papa John's that opened next door to Johnny's apparently helped Johnny's step more fully into the modern ages by encouraging a website and on-line ordering. While Johnny's prices have gone up, the dinners are still a great deal...always enough for lunch the next day.

Here's an article about the "turf war" in Sunset Park - Pizza Style: NY Times Article.

Con Ed Emergency at Rest

Seeing a conEdison Emergency Truck on your block is usually a sight met with trepidation. However, these photos sent in by a reader caused a different reaction.

It's not that the conEd workers were napping; everyone needs a siesta now and then. The aggravation stemmed from their truck idling (most likely for the air conditioning) for an hour, according to my neighbor. As she said: "The truck was on and both passengers were asleep for at least an hour! I thought it was interesting since they provide energy and were acting wasteful."

Thanks for the extra exhaust, conEd. Since they are parked right by the park, I'm surprised they didn't just rest on the grass; it's cool and the shade provides some effective sunblock and nap-time.

Cinderella Samba Returns to Close Out Wednesday Activities

The last in a five-week series of free events for kids is this Wednesday, the 6th of August. As always, beginning at 10:30 AM sharp, Cinderella Samba will entertain the children and their adults with music and puppets that reinvent the classic fairytale. A puppet making workshop will also be offered at 9:30 AM! The presentations are near the game tables/playground area, and event-goers are advised to bring a blanket or chair to sit on and some water (or other appropriate refreshment) to drink.

The last time Cinderella Samba landed at Sunset Park, a great time was had by all. Seeing it outdoors will be even more pleasant than in the Rec Center, I'm sure.

The free events are brought to us by the City Parks Foundation in cooperation with: Friends of Sunset Park and City of New York -Parks and Recreation.

Light Industry Hosts Cory Arcangel and his Glockenspiel

As always, the 8 PM show at Light Industry will set you back all of $6 at the door. This week's offering is for Bruce Springsteen fans and Glockenspiel enthusiasts alike.

from the email:
Artist Cory Arcangel appears at Light Industry to perform the first complete and authoritative version of his now-notorious Bruce Springsteen Born to Run Glockenspiel Addendum. This appearance marks the first time *and perhaps
last* that Arcangel will provide live accompaniment on glockenspiel to Springsteen's canonical album in its entirety, alongside the premiere of a new video featuring Springsteen and the E Street Band.

You can read more about the performance on the Light Industry website, and you can check out Cory Arcangel's home on the web here.