The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Friday, January 20, 2012

A Little Bit About A Lot Of Things

How many times have I said to myself...gee Q, it's nice living here, but there's no Renaissance Faire nearby. Fortunately this weekend, according to Ben of Caledonia, Barbara Rosen and the renaissance street singers will be singing in the lobby of 25 parade place from 2-4.  Says Ben: "beautiful music and a fun hang, and free.  come stop by and listen." That's just across from the playground, for ye with wee ones.

Nicole Fabri is back providing a Police Blotter of PLG over at the Lefferts Watch yahoo listserve thingy. LeffertsWatch is here, and you can sign up with a Yahoo ID. I'm crazy obsessed about police blotters. 0n this report, Envy Nails got burgled for $6,000 and basically gets blamed for not properly locking. And the Beverage store up near the Phat Albert's got robbed of $60,000! If that's not a typo, that's insane to have that kind of cash accessible. Not that I'm blaming the victim! Another sad blotter item was the mugging of a Chinese delivery guy...by a 15-year old kid.

Actually, if you're a need-to-know type, you really should sign up for LeffertsWatch (with 300+ members) AND the plain ol' Lefferts one as well (with 600+ members). Of all the very entertaining posts that go up on these listserves, my favorites are when someone puts something out on the curb as trash and lets everyone know. A veritable hoarder's paradise!

That DOT plan at Ocean/Parkside is undergoing scrutiny by both CB14 and CB9. CB9 is pretty favorable thus far, but CB14 (west of Ocean and South of Parkside) is expressing concerns about the proposed closure of the driving entrance to the park. What an effing shame it would be if the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists alike were derailed to accommodate the couple hundred drivers who use that entrance from 7 to 9 each morning. The darn thing is going to be closed soon ANYWAY due to the restructuring for the Lakeside Project. CB14 - please do the right thing and approve the plan as is...you'll be saving injuries and lives, or conversely, standing in the way of their prevention. Think about it. Hell, most of these drivers aren't even FROM Flatbush...they're coming from deeper in the borough. DOT planners are not crazy anti-car zealots...quite the contrary, it's their business to see that cars move easily and freely through the streets of NYC, and that accidents be kept to a minimum. Let sanity prevail for once.

Speaking of the Park, the Alliance is saying they're bidding out the plan to put bathrooms in the middle of the park along that road that runs north-south along the west side of the lake. You may have seen an old outbuilding there sort of tucked into the hillside...comfort station here we come! (It might be a while, so don't hold it til then...)

And word is (from those who've attended recent Park Community Committee meetings) that the BIG NEW EFFORT for the Park will be the potentially awesome northeastern part of our green oasis that includes the Vale of Cashmere. Once upon a time, the magical Vale and environs were favorite spots for families and children, but for the past decades no one goes, because that area and Rick's Place have become what my father-in-law refers to as "Pickle Parks." Let your imagination run wild on that one...apparently, the going rate is a recession-busting $40. $20 with applicable Groupon.

And go check out the progress of the new playground on Winthrop tween Bedford and Rogers. Amazing! If it weren't 30 below, I'd be out there playing chess and doing pull-ups!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude - the Veil of Cashmere has the potential to be the most beautiful part of Prospect Park. If not for all the discarded "pickle wrappers" I'd be taking my family there all the time.

Truly awesome news if they clean it up.

-Paul

Anonymous said...

oops - it's VALE not veil. Though somehow right now a Cashmere veil sounds more accurate.

-Paul

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Oops. So true Paul. Of Hill and Vale...I have taken the liberty to change it in the post. Though Veil of Cashmere is incredibly evocative and I'm half-hoping they'll change the name for me.

Bob Marvin said...

That outbuilding that's a potential comfort station is the old wellhouse, that held the steam engine that pumped water for the park's watercourse before it was hooked up to City water mains.

I was in there once, about 30 years ago. At that time it was full of canoes from a pre-WW II (or maybe pre-WW I) club. I guess they're gone now.

Kimi Weart said...

Next to the Vale of Cashmere are these circular terraces that used to be for a rose garden, I hope they'll be doing something with that area too! Something cool, like fountains you can run through on a scorching day. Why should kids at the playgrounds have all the fun?