Murder on Linden Near Flatbush

From the Daily News.

to comments from below:

Anon 10:14. I posted the story because it's very much in my neighborhood. I don't know where you live, and I don't know what your definition of neighborhood is, but I know my definition is about walking distance, and a sense of place, not what the map or some historic guidebook says. My post office is on Church at Bedford. I have friends who I like to visit on Bedford at Lenox. Linden is the street we turn down to go the airport. I like strolling down Flatbush because there are so many great, crazy shops down that way. The original "church" is down there, and Erasmus Hall, and some beautiful "terrace" blocks behind it. The name of this blog is The Q at Parkside, and were it to be solely about Lefferts I would have called it that I suppose. Really anything within a mile or so of the train is fair game. This incident was about a half mile from the train, in the 70th Precinct, but then the 70th is also the south side of Clarkson, and if I had two heads and two 24-hours a day I would spend more time getting to know them too.

To the question of safety, I can't answer. None of these most recent shootings, nor most shootings here or anywhere, involve thugs randomly going after honest Joes and Janes or god forbid children. The targets, if the multiple close-range shots are any indication, are clearly intended to kill specific people. This is more like a gang war. I'll be speaking with everyone I can in the next few days to find out more. Given what I've heard in the past, this is likely people who know each other killing each other, over "respect" and "turf" or "retribution." It's gruesome; it must be stopped. It's dangerous for all involved. But as I've said before, I don't think I or anyone reading this blog is an actual target, nor do I think anyone should hesitate to call the cops with anything they know about anything, even minor details.

I suspect there will be an attempt to formalize what has been pretty piecemeal to date: an Impact Zone, perhaps inter-precinct using the larger Brooklyn South Task Force (which is already VERY MUCH on the scene - check the BSTF on a lot of the cars around here), to identify who's got a beef with whom and why folks are resorting to violence to settle their disputes.

Finally, and I'm being honest about my own experience now, there are many options to create the illusion of safety, but (and I understand you may disagree) I don't believe there is such a thing as a "safe" place, or a "safe" way to live or eat or be. Accidents happen all the time. I don't own a car for instance; statistically, this makes me safer. I ride a bike; statistically, this makes me less safe. I could go on with my sick little safety calculations that I make it my head, but again, I think this is entirely personal. If you don't want to think about crime, don't think about it. I for one wouldn't blame you. But I won't stop talking about it, because I still think it's better to have information and organize than to lock ourselves in or just move.


But one should still be safe and aware at all times. One suggestion? Don't get lost in your headphones or cellphones. At the very least, you're less likely to get them stolen! Here's hoping they get to the bottom of this madness, and soon...

125 Maple - A Video Tour

It's been called House Porn, and for good reason. 125 Maple is available to rent for $7,000 a month. If you haven't had a chance to see the inside of this local mansion, here's your chance!

http://vimeo.com/63959274



125 Maple Street from Steven Halpern on Vimeo.

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UPDATE: HE'S BEEN ARRESTED: Wanted Poster - Rapist Still On the Loose

UPDATE: 4/20/13: From Vinnie at the 71st: 

There has been an arrest made in regards to the rape pattern on the photo that was released to the public. Perp was arrested and positively identified.

It's never fun to post these pictures. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't. This guy is likely responsible for at least two other rapes within the area of the 71st and 69th Precincts, Call 911 or 718-230-4421 for Detective Jonathan Cruz:

And from the NY Times comes word that he's still at it. Scary stuff. Please note that he's been "luring" people - don't know what that means, but please don't let anyone talk you into going anywhere!!

Know Thy Neighbor: Saul Bolton

Chester Court remains one of the odd treasures of the neighborhood. A series of Tudor-style townhouses on a cul-de-sac just off the "Low-Line" of the rumbling Q train, Chester is one of those blocks you WANT to walk down on a sunny afternoon, but you'd feel a bit odd doing it. Like Beekman and Westbury and Parkside Courts, Chester is a bit of a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a roti. And of the number of interesting families living down yonder, one of those cute houses belongs to the Bolton family. Never heard of the Boltons of Chester Court? (sounds pretty regal, doesn't it?) Well, the patriarch is heralded worldwide as one of the greatest American chefs - Saul Bolton.

Saul does not look the part of a chef known as one of the pioneering folk who put Brooklyn on the culinary map. When I met him last week for a coffee and chat in the park, he looked more the part of Soundgarden Fan circa 1993 than One-Star Michelin restaurenteur. (Not that I had been expecting Mario Batali,

whose rosy mug I shan't miss if I never saw again, his foppish self depicted to the right for reference. While his signature "crocs" are out frame, I imagine that "sausage muffler" extending all the way to his toes. ewww. Toe Sausage. Ewwww! Though I suspect neighbor Saul could manage to make it quite tasty, even a serving of Mario Batali's toes.)

It seems that after a stint at #7 most hippy school Reed College in Oregon, Bolton saw David Bouley's picture on the cover of a magazine and realized he could not only practice his craft and love for cooking, he could make a nice name for himself doing so. So off to NYC he trekked, to apprentice for the master himself. And after a time, Bolton set up shop in the just-awakening Smith Street in 1999. Mrs. Q and I ate there not long after it opened, and were so impressed we've recommended the place to countless others, never really going back due to restricted funds and pure laziness I suppose. The Michelin Man gave him a star, which unlike record reviews means you've pretty much surpassed every colleague around you for superior food, service and presentation. There's only one other "new" restaurant in all of Brooklyn to earn the coveted "Michelin Star" - Colin Devlin's Dressler out in Billyburg. That's how intense is the competition! (Luger and River get one, but they've been listed for ages apparently).

But I'm not a foodie, and have no desire to watch celebrity chefs prancing about on the TV, cable or otherwise, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that Saul's the kind of smart local dad that you can talk to about just about anything, including Wendy's hamburgers and my own specialty, toasted Monterey Jack quesadillas. I started to realize while talking to Saul that there's a lot in common between the food and music bizzes, and so it's not surprising that "FOOD" has been called the new "ROCK N ROLL," though I can guarantee I've never boogied down to anything made of quinoa or back bacon.  (I'm trying to picture Grand Funk Railroad singing "We're an American Bistro," and the picture's kinda fuzzy, even with my Radio Shack rabbit ear antenna).

But yeah, lately music rags have been really, really into top ten lists, and top 100 lists and complicated rating systems (Pitchfork.com) a la Zagat's. And I'll take it a step further and say that cheffing seems very much akin to songwriting, a craft that I'm still trying to perfect after 35 years at least two hundred completed attempts at "the perfect dish." Clearly Saul Bolton has one of those rare gifts that come along only so often, and he love-love-loves the feeling of putting it all together and getting it just right. The Q's idea of a perfect song? Check out "Daughter" by Loudon Wanwright, III, though of course I'm a little biased given my four-year study in hands-on parenting. "Penny Lane's" not too shabby. "Tangled Up In Blue?" "Everyday" by Buddy Holly?" Just about anything by the young John Prine? "Waiting for the Silent Boatman" or "Can You Get to That?" by Parliament/Funkadelic? "Bye Bye Pride" by the Go-Betweens? "Beep" by Pylon? "Have You Forgotten" by Red House Painters? "Edelweiss?" "Maybe" from the musical Annie? Or beyond Edelweiss, ust about anything by Rodgers and Hammerstein? (Wow, I'm really showing my background now!) Hey, I was in "Oklahoma" twice growing up, playing Jud AND Will, then Emil in "South Pacific." That stuff really stays in your ears like wax!

Bottom line, I think it's pretty darn cool that one of NYC's greatest chefs lives right here among us. He loves taking Dollar Vans, especially after a long night at the restaurant he started, Saul. He's also opened The Vanderbilt (on Vanderbilt!) and Red Gravy (neither on Red Gravy street, nor named after someone named Red Gravy, though I am considering changing my name). If you want to explore Brooklyn's culinary revolution, you'd be well served to try all three.

NOW...to the all-important question that I was so inclined to ask that I forgot during our actual conversation and had to email him later for an answer.

Q's Q: What food could you recommend right here in the neighborhood, if you could choose but one joint?

SB's A: Anything from Scoops- he rocks - ital.

Folks, I don't need to state the obvious. One of the most trusted chefs in town just gave you a rock solid recommendation for a local take-out hole-in-the-wall on Flatbush that also serves fantastic vegan ice cream. If you haven't tried Scoops ital (pronounced eye-tahl, also known as Rastafarian) food, get thee over there and don't be shy. If you need further evidence of Scoops' reputation, there's always this NY Times review.

And to Saul, all I can say is, see you at one of your joints right soon.

Reflections On a Day of Comments

It must be painfully obvious to anyone who reads the Q regularly that I have a great interest in the quality of life issues affecting us all. Public safety I've discovered, from the various fora and meetings I've attended, to the Community Board committees and hearings, to the Envisioning CB9 shindig we held recently at the BBG (the second coming soon at the Jewish Museum), is absolutely the #1 priority across the neighborhood. Whether you're new to the neighborhood or have lived here more than half-a-century - maybe even from birth - the question of whether you feel safe in and outside your home and on the streets of your neighborhood, this is of paramount concern. Not surprisingly, I find that this is the case throughout the City. I bet you could find that it is similarly true throughout the country, or certainly in areas of high density.

And despite all the talk, per capita this is STILL a safe neighborhood. We in Brooklyn are constantly looking over our shoulders at other 'hoods or boroughs, but if you filter out the noise you're still less likely to be the victim of a violent crime here than in most cities of the country. The cops are reacting right now in a big way, but Son of Sam isn't out there and there's no reason for us to stop living life normally. It's a rise in crime, not a foreign invasion.

Each morning (I've become in middle age one of those early even-before the kids risers), I look out my front first floor window and watch dozens of people walk by. Most are going to work; a few are walking their dogs. And yes, a tiny few are stumbling home from a late, late night out. By 7am, the parade is pretty constant. Without exception, they seem like nice people going about their business. I wouldn't hesitate to smile or chat with any of them, though they often look very busy and lost in their own thoughts or plans for the day. Soon, lots of kids are in tow, being taken to day cares or schools, parents (and I relate to this) often struggling to keep the kids on target for their drop-off times. Some parents seem to possess a preternatural patience of Job; others lose their cool quickly. I've been both parents, sometimes in the same day, so I have to chuckle at the epic battles for control.

Point? These are my neighbors. They are the ones I think about when I write this blog, when I think about raising a family here, and staying and fighting for the good things, through the best and bad. They're why I love Brooklyn, THIS part of Brooklyn, this version of America. It's very inspiring actually, to live among every flavor of person, all trying valiantly to live a good life and provide for their families and maybe even give something back to the culture and people that helped them grow. I believe that one of my jobs now that I'm one of the adults (eek!) is to lead by example, to live the ethical and moral equivalent of a good life and to try to guide the next generation a little bit, without coming across too pedantic. I know, I know, I fail on that last point regularly. Remember, I'm writing a blog here! It's kinda what they're for, not the pedantry, but definitely the opinionating.

And so when an issue comes up about crime, I'm often saddened to see how quickly we go from talking about the relative few bad guys to big questions of race, class and gentrification. It's not that I don't see how they play a role - I do. But imagine with me, for a moment, that we were living in, say, Nebraska, that was experiencing a rise in crime and gang-like behavior. Would we have to start talking about skin color in order to discuss the issue of lawlessness? Would it be possible to focus just on the bad apples, the bad houses and buildings, the bad landlords, even the bad extended families, the police and police tactics, the relationship between the police and the law-abiders, the coming together to form block watches and block associations, keeping our eyes out for illegal activity, creating drug-free zones, working with cops and families on crisis intervention, finding jobs for young kids at risk, developing community centers, looking for money for smart after-school programs...the list is long. But none those solutions has anything to do with race. Even all-white suburbs deal with this stuff. We're just not that special.

My buddy Celeste likes to remind me that race is at the heart of many of our conversations and lurks under the surface and can't be denied, and I don't disagree. But that doesn't mean we can't parse this stuff out a bit. Actually, one thing I've learned in life that's been EXTREMELY important is how essential it is to parse stuff out, lest you run around willy nilly reacting without reason. You can't look at our neighborhood of (depending on how you draw the boundaries) 20K - 50K people and say assuredly what it IS and ISN'T. And yeah, it's in flux, bigtime. But even that flux is only gonna take into account a swing of 10 or 20% in the next few years, because most people tend to stay in their homes for a long time. Ownership and rent stabilization laws encourage this, and it's why (in principle anyway) I support the idea of rent price controls. (Yes, I'm aware of the arguments for and against). I know things are going to change, but I don't want them to change so fast that we have the reverse happen of what happened in the '50s and '60s, when the earlier generation, often through deceitful blockbusting, left so fast they took much of the bedrock social infrastructures of neighborhoods with them, all throughout NYC, leaving a bankrupt and corrupt city behind them. Suddenly so many instrumental people were gone, and house prices fell so fast and furious, and vacancies shot up, that good folk had to struggle to retain some hold on civil society. But here's the thing - they DID. Look around. The reason this neighborhood is still so livable and great? It's not because of people who moved in when I did ten years ago, that's for sure, though I do hope I haven't hurt. Nor is it the movers from five years ago, or last week. It's because of the generation before us, like Celeste and Bob and Elaine Marvin and Bob Thomason and Lindiwe Kamou and the dozens of African and Caribbean-American board members that I've had the pleasure of getting to know. And on my block, there's my friend and block association mate Janice, and Pat across the street, and Vietnam vet Mr. Mathews, and Mr. Sam who just loves to garden, and countless others that I've had the pleasure to get to know. Please remember them when you're talking about the neighborhood - they may not be commenting on this blog or even reading it, but they're here, very much invested in what's happening now and next.

I love the way Eric Adams, our State Senator and soon to be Borough President (go get 'em Eric) took on, for instance, the low-riding pants of young black men. Talk about parsing it out! He took the time to recognize "the Sag" as part of a historical narrative, and then just needed to say "we're better than that." If you haven't seen it, you kinda got to. It's pretty amazing: STOP THE SAG.

That to me is successful parsing. When you don't do it, you end up making statements that you regret, or that get "taken the wrong way," because you start to globalize things that are actually very specific and often very local.

O.K. That's enough from me for today.

PLG - Policing Lefferts Gardens

So you can't have missed it. Cops on nearly every corner of the neighborhood, from Clarkson/Flatbush to New York and Eastern Parkway. It would be easy to mistake this as a response to the shooting on Hawthorne, but point of fact the mobilization plan was being set a week earlier - the timeline just got pushed up. Jack Lewis, our Commanding Officer at the 71st had been "called downtown" just about the time I'd written him a note about the striking rise in crime in the precinct this year over last. He told me I wasn't the only one who'd noticed. I asked if he might finally get the reinforcement he'd been asking for. I'd say we have our answer. In a message to the community from a couple hours ago, he wrote:

We will have big presence out there for the next few weeks. we are going to rtry and set the tone for the summer. When we loose the extra help, we will need your help in identifying Soproblem spots before they manifest themselves as acts of violence.

So I suppose that's all for the best, for now. It's a shame it took the last few major events to get the fuzz to wake up. Two years ago, members of the community started noticing an increase in gang activity. And I'm not talking about middle-aged guys hanging on street corners drinking beers or playing chess. I'm talking about drug dealers and gang bangers. To anyone with eyes it was clear, especially to longtime African-American and Caribbean-American residents I've gotten to know, who'd lived through tough times in the '80 and '90s. (Newcomers have their suspicions too, but sometimes they're not as quick to judge the good guys and the bad guys). We as a larger PLG community started meeting in churches in the neighborhood and talking to one another, and at State Senator Eric Adams Office. Adams even produced an ambitious (overly if you ask me) plan to  A forum was hatched by the Councilman, then the D.A. then...then I got annoyed and posted this. If you go back on this blog you'll see one meeting after another, trying to develop a response and bring people together. They were all fascinating in their own way, but clearly nothing was happening. Really, nothing was happening but talk.

So I got sick of it and started a petition. Please sign it...when I presented it to Jack he was very impressed by the number of folks (325 so far) right here in this part of the Precinct who'd taken the time to sign in and vote their concern. He got a couple more cops, but frankly they've mostly been driving around - not exactly the Officer Friendly with a billy club we were hoping for. Still, a start.

But the response I got from him at that meeting still rings in my ears. I think it was middle of December, and he said "Tim, I know that folks have a feeling about that part of the precinct, but I just don't see the numbers yet to justify a wholesale change in tactics. We're getting killed on Utica, so we're focusing on that right now. But yes, we'll do our best to get more beat cops."

Well, now you've got the numbers, at least overall in the precinct, to backup wholesale change. Here they are: 35% rise in robberies. 55% rise in felony assaults. Grand Larceny up 32%. Overall crime up 22%. If the Lincoln Road victim dies, plus the Hawthorne shooting, that'll be 5 murders to 0. That's an...infinity rise in murders. All this is year to date year over year. THAT's why you're seeing all those officers.

You know the craziest part? When you talk to cops in the know, they'll tell you that a huge amount of crime can be traced back to two extended families. You heard right. One of them I'm very familiar with, all with the same last name, and they've menaced my block and others around it for years. Let's call them the Hatfields since I've no reason to get into details here. The McCoys are apparently no pussycats either, and are located a little north and east of me.

There are a couple other avenues of response that have worked elsewhere - the D.A.'s office and the Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, a broader group led by Asst. Chief Chan that doesn't adhere to strict precinct boundaries. I just wrote to Chan today, on the suggestion of Detective Martin Brown. The narc squad is already deeply involved. Don't know what it was about, but a kid got collared right in front of my house today.

One last thing. Pearl Miles, cantankerous but almost always truthful District Manager said tonight at a committee meeting: "It used to be every block had its watch. Every block association took care of its own and phoned in the trouble directly to the precinct. Now, all people ever do is plan block parties. There's none of that old working together to solve problems on the block." Food for thought.

District 17 Superintendent Buffie Simmons - You Should Be Ashamed Of Yourself

Tonight I had the pleasure of joining a few hundred parents, teachers, leaders and kids at the 60+ year old PS92 Auditorium for a forum to discuss the proposed permanent co-location of the Lefferts Gardens Charter School within the building historically known as K92, or PS92. What this means is that the two schools, which have been sharing the building since 2010, will be formally married to each other. For better or worse. And if you stayed through the first 45 minutes of the meeting and got to the part where actual parents and teachers and grammas talked about the schools, you could see that mutual respect has been the norm, and the problems few. Sure there's work to be done, including considering how to better coordinate time, budgets and other resources and school rules. BUT...

District 17 superintendent Buffie Simmons did not allow parents to set the tone for the evening. Rather she chose to give members of her Community Education Council the floor to start, the dais as she called it. This group was so hell-bent on firing up the crowd against the LGCS co-location that they resorted to name-calling, false accusations, and general vitriol. Did Ms. Simmons step in to ask them to tone down the rhetoric to help preserve a civil demeanor for the evening? Not at all. Since she gave each of these three speakers more than 10 minutes to deliver their diatribes, she didn't even respect the 100+ community members who had taken numbers to speak, each of whom was to be given a max of 2 minutes. In reading about other meetings of this sort in other districts as well, and thinking back a few years to the first time this LGCS/92 co-location proposa took place even before the charter school moved in, this is just classic District DoE bashing, still pissed as they are that the City took back control from them and their local boards. Almost nothing the CEC folks said was true, and almost all of it was intended to give the impression that more people were against than for co-location.

I left halfway through the speakers, but at that point well over 3/4 of the people who came out were fully in favor of co-location. And even those not in favor of co-location showed way more respect and civility than did Superintendent Simmons or her chosen speakers.

Best (or worst) of all, when she finally gave someone from LGCS a chance to speak, and invited interim school leader Mark Dicus to come up, she then mangled his name thusly: Mark Dick-us. That's right. As any potty-mouthed kid or potty-mouth-thinking adult will tell you, that's a really insulting way to pronounce the guy's name. So clearly she made no attempt to meet with him or learn the proper pronunciation. (Does anyone remember the Monty Python movie Life of Brian, wherein Michael Palin plays Pontius Pilate? You'll need to view it to get the reference.) Mark took all of one minute to sum up LGCS's position:

"PS92 is a public school. LGCS is a public school. The PS92 building is a public building. Some folks like strawberry. Some folks like pistachio. This is about giving families in District 17 another choice."

Well said, Mark. Best of luck, and may the marriage bring many blessings to your families.

"No Sweat" Sewing Workshop This Saturday

Just when a guy starts to feel a bit down, what with the latest news of more violence nearby, a neighbor forwards a nearly perfect antidote to my suddenly somber mood. A group called  Flatbush Mutual Aid is offering a couple of enticing sewing workshops intended to get us (well, me, I'll speak for myself) out of the ridiculously wasteful habit of just going out and getting new things everytime a minor rip or tear appears or buttons come off. That first workshop (this Saturday at 1:30!) sounds incredibly practical, so head on down to the building behind the historic Flatbush Church (at Church and Flatbush, of course) in the basement gym behind the main chapel. Then the second workshop, two Saturdays later, things get funky, and the glue gun comes out, among others of course. Time to turn your old into gold.

I'm telling you, it warms my heart to see big-hearted folk getting together and giving it away - their time, their talents, their companionship. 'Swat it's all about, ya'll.

Who we are:

Flatbush Mutual Aid is a grouping of friends and neighbors who have been active in community-building projects here in Flatbush, including community gardening and composting; food rescue; freecycling; holistic health; community supported agriculture (CSAs); community meals; and sharing of skills and resources.

We come from all walks of life. What brings us together is a “ya!basta, this has to change” feeling about a way of life that is wasteful, soul destroying and unsustainable. We want to help people take responsibility for the stewardship of our planet. 

We believe a better world is possible. We believe all of us can have lives that are more satisfying and more interesting, less stressful and less wasteful. We can do this by extricating ourselves, to the extent we can, from this "rat race" and developing our own networks of support and cooperation based on mutual aid. Flatbush Mutual Aid is exploring alternatives aimed at making this possible. 

Proponents of mutual aid believe that cooperation and sharing, rather than dog-eat-dog competition, are the basis of human society. Without them we would never have survived. It is what we do every day with friends and family and in times of disaster and hardship. We think mutual aid is the most ‘natural' way human beings can exist and thrive, and the only basis for a just, sustainable world.

What we are doing:

We have begun to share services and items like food, clothing, household stuff, and tools freely among ourselves.

We hold regular afternoon potlucks and meet Saturdays for the community meal at Flatbush Reformed Church.

We put on workshops in which we share skills, tools and knowledge. These include:

- bicycle safety, maintenance and repair;

- sewing and mending; altering and revamping clothes;

- growing, preserving and preparing food;

- basic literacy and English.

These workshops are free and open to all. These activities take place at Flatbush Reformed Church and in people's homes.

What we are working towards:

More skill sharing. In the works … food preservation, home repair, food rescue.

Have something to share? Want to learn something? Get in touch.

Time Bank

Free exchange [seeds, clothes, household items, books, useful stuff)

Tool library

Movie nights, discussion groups and social gatherings.

A space of our own

MORE UPDATES on Apr 11: Murder on Hawthorne - ARREST MADE

From the 71st Precinct:

 Today at approximately 1230 PM a male black was shot multiple times as he sat in his van in front of 265 Hawthorne Street. The victim attempted to drive away hitting several parked cars and collapsing in the drivers seat. The victim was pronounced DOA at the scene. Anyone with information please call the 71 Precinct Detective at-735-0501. 

That's Hawthorne between Rogers and Nostrand. Details as they emerge.

As of April 10th, 4PM, from the 71st:

 Today at approximately 4 PM the 71 Precinct Detective Unit arrested four individuals who are responsible  for the homicide yesterday on Hawthorne Street.

As of April 10th, 5PM from Vinnie at 71st via text:

Turns out three of the guys lived on the block. One was from Rockway. 

As of April 10th, 6PM

I walked down that block of Hawthorne. I'd forgotten how bleak it was on the east end towards Nostrand - vacant lots and all. The building where the murder took place still had a few roughs hanging out. Cops were marching up and down Nostrand. And the cherry picker "tower" that the NYPD brings out when it really wants a hot spot to cool down? They were just setting it up:

And now this article from DNA suggests...oh well, you can read it yourself. It all seems like insanity to me.

The Q's School Tool: Part 3: PS249 - The Caton School

In the past couple years of being a dude with a tot, the Q has heard a lot of talk about a lot of schools. I’ve heard such Brooklyn and NYC insider school shorthand as “Community Roots,” “Blue School,” “BNS,” PS10,” “St. Anns,” “Packer” "107," "School of Inquiry," "Friends," "Free School," "Greene Hill," "Coop School," "9," "11," "New American Academy," mentioned literally dozens if not hundreds of times. But, and this is a really big but, in all that time I’ve heard almost ZERO talk about PS249, the super cute looking school known as The Caton that’s tucked into the fabric of The Parade Ground along Caton at Marlborough Road. And what's nuts about that is that it's actually in District 17, the very district that "The Q at Parkside" is located within. There had to be a story here. Haunted? Restricted for those south of Caton only? Reserved for people who don't play at the Lincoln Road Playground? I mean, there must be a reason for the dearth of info, right?

As a crow flies, as a bike rides, or as a ball rolls, the school is definitely closer than any public schools to me, save PS92/LGCS and Explore Charter School.. And it gets a pretty darn impressive 9 out of 9 on the “satisfaction" index on School Book, the helpful but limited NYTimes schools blog and data machine. In fact, of all the data on that blog, I find myself drawn to that satisfaction number more often than any other. I find it hard to read a lot of the data provide by DoE and other sources in general, and if you look closely you'll notice that some schools that parents have practically drooled over don't score particularly high in various metrics. In fact, teachers whom I trust don't have a lot of faith in a lot of testing metrics either. (Interestingly, on our eventual school tour, Mrs. Q and I did have an awesome encounter with an enthusiastic first year science teacher at The Caton, whom I'll bet the kids adore, named Mr. Gonazales, who said the following: "the kids take the test at the end of the third grade year and it's awesome. All year long we're learning stuff that they're going to be tested on, but they don't need to know that. That's MY job. The common core is AWESOME. I wish I had it when I was coming through." Refreshing, given all the negativity about testing you hear. One man's opinion of course, but refreshing nonetheless.

But yeah, back to that "Satisfaction Index," which is truly remarkably high at PS249. I mean a 9 is higher than almost all the schools you'll see on the site! And after all is said and done, don’t you want to go to a place where parents and kids and teachers and administrators are happy, more than anything else? Food for thought...as in maybe I’m naïve, but I’m pretty sure my daughter is going to learn anywhere she goes. She seems super curious already (oy vey, is she curious) and like DYING to learn stuff every day. Every night this week she wants to play this "game" which is basically a test, these cards that ask all these questions, and she wants to get them all right, and I can barely keep up in fact, so I’m mostly just hoping that she will be happy to go to school every day, that she will make friends, that the teacher will be warm and encouraging and not hold her back or make her feel bad, that her friends will come from many different backgrounds, that she will have interests both in and out of school, that she will have friends both in and out of school, that she will begin to show us what are the things that she is most interested in so that we can help her find the right teachers and classes and extracurriculars, be it tennis or cello or dance or soccer or poetry or existentialist Dadaist deconstructionist jello sculpture.

The radio silence at The Caton was bugging me, so when I found out a friend on my street has a son who attends PS249, and she seems happy with the school, I peppered her with questions over the last year and when she told me there was a big Holiday Show last December I jumped at the chance to bring my family and help them raise some money and see the school on the inside. It was a b-l-a-s-t to see all the kindergarteners on-up dancing and singing and playing Suzuki violin and African drums in the remarkably well-maintained auditorium, and my curiosity was only stoked by the scene. Clearly, the on-site dance instruction is an important part of the school as is the collaborative relationship with outside arts groups from Ifetayo to Juilliard. All good.

But unlike other schools that have entered the (how-do-I-put-this?) middle-class-integration-conversation, PS249 is clearly a school that’s running on all its cylinders, but off the digital-zeitgeist radar, because try as you might you just won't find this school talked about in the Montessori-Maple-Street-Progressive-Nursery-School-Circuit. Period. It's fully subscribed and well-liked, and for whatever reasons or non-reasons it's administration doesn’t consider it a priority to “reach out” to new families in the neighborhood. This is something that middle and upper middle class families may have a hard time understanding. In fact, I know they do. More than one parent I know have been so put off when trying to arrange a conversation with a principal or find out about a tour or open house at non-reaching-out local schools, that they ENTIRELY WRITE OFF A SCHOOL BEFORE THEY EVEN VISIT IT (or in one case a mom wrote off public school all together) because they're not getting the kind of customer service they'd expect from a school that will be serving their kid and family. Now, that might sound really silly to an outside observer, but I can assure you that parental nerves can get pretty frayed, so try not to judge too harshly. My experience with getting a tour at PS249 might speak to why it IS important to keep at it, parents, when trying to find a school nearby that's appropriate for kindergarten. I'm told that once I get into a school I'll be happy and engaged in it and won't want to be bothered sharing all this, so I'm trying to get it all out there NOW when it still seems to matter! So allow me tell you what went down.

After going to the fun Caton School Holiday Spectacular last December, I started calling pretty regularly to find out when there would be an open house to check out their pre-K and  kindergarten. This I determined was the best method to get a tour, since there wasn't a clear sign up on the PS249 website.  Maybe I got a bit lazy, but I really thought I was staying on top of it, calling every couple weeks. Somehow though, I missed the only Open House they had all Spring. Bummer! When I called a couple weeks ago saying I had a girl who was pre-K age and I'd like to put in an application and list it on my top 12 choices, but not having  met any teachers or principals, I felt funny about that. I was informed that all I had to do was "get accepted" and then I could take a tour. Well, I thought, isn't that backwards? Don't you look at the menu first and then put in your order? I mean at this point I'd been on some other tours (at schools in other districts even that I hadn't much of a chance of getting into, but even there it was really easy to sign up for the tour and the process was simple and clear and...well, I figured if I wanted to see PS249 I was going to have to be a bit dogged and just see it through to the end. So, I called the principal's office. And they asked who I was, and I didn't say I was a blogger cause I just wanted to be a parent and see how that would go, and so I ended up getting passed to the Parent Coordinator, and Miss Mackey was nice but gave me the same story as above, and I said I'd really like to talk to the principal, a beloved lady named Miss Brown, and she said if I insisted I'd have to stop by the school and fill out a request slip, and I said really? I have to fill out a paper form? and she said yes that's the procedure, and like I said I was going to see this through to the end, so that's exactly what I did the next day riding over on my bike on the way to work, and the security guard looked at me kinda funny and I asked to see Miss Mackey who came out and seemed sort of surprised to see me, like she couldn't believe I actually followed through, but then I made a joke about how I forgot how to make a cursive Q and pretty soon we were all cracking up, and about 10 minutes after I left I get a call from Miss Mackey asking if I wanted to come back tomorrow with my wife to take a tour of the school.

Bingo. I'm in! It appeared that just like people had told me all along, taking some initiative was paying off.

Mr. Gonzalez from PS249's Website

And the next day at 9am sharp Mrs. Q and I biked over with Little Miss Q's little toddler sister and had an absolutely gay old tour and time of it with Miss Mackey, checking out a bilingual pre-k class and meeting Mr. Gonzalez the popular science teacher and touring the cheerful halls, the delightful auditorium and classic school gym and cafeteria, hearing about how bi-lingual Spanish-English education is a BIG component to the school and probably explains the near 50-50 mix of students with Hispanic and non-Hispanic backgrounds. The school is not entirely "poor," an 85% free school-lunch population is hardly the highest in the neighborhood. The vibe is entirely friendly, and while no one is going to accuse the school of progressivism, neither should anyone from the outside accuse this "A" rated school of being a failed, failing, lagging, loser, unfriendly or troubled school either. You simply must experience it for yourself, and if you live nearby I highly encourage you to consider it. Even the building itself, built in the 1940s by the highly esteemed firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, has many of the features that you may remember as a child, and I suspect that more than a few of you will feel truly nostalgic upon entering. If for that alone, you should take a tour.

PS249, The Caton School. Another thumbs up from The Q, and I hope you'll share your experiences here.

Other posts in the series:

Part 2: Lefferts Gardens Charter School
Part 1: The Essay on Brooklyn and District 17 Kindergartens