Preliminary Bike Share Locations

Locations Map Apparently we're not to worry that they haven't "finished" identifying spots near Prospect Park. But this is very, very good day for hipsters! Actually now that I think about it...why would you announce your locations before you're finished? The Q is shocked they would leave out bike-crazed Park Slope, in particular. I suspect that installation will take some time, and they wanted to announce so they could start placing them in the most obvious spots asap.

Their Loss, Our Gain?

Moses Fried, the owner of somewhat-soon-to-be-up-and-running long-stay hotel at 205 Parkside, was forced to take down the signage at his dirty little hotel, the Lefferts, up at 127 Lefferts Place at Classon in Bed-Stuy. Jonathan Butler of Brownstoner lives nearby and has been "on the case" for nigh on five years now. Here's the latest from his blog: Brownstoner on Moses.

If Mr. Fried is feeling thrifty, he could just lug his old sign over to Parkside Avenue, affix it to his new brothel, and call it Lefferts as well, referring this time to the neighborhood rather than the cross-street of its last home.

This Saturday - Flowers For Flatbush Needs You

The good folks at PLG Civic (and many other local groups and electeds) have created an amazing day (and poster!) for all of us to head out to the Flabenue and do our part to make it look all purty. In particular, if you can help "man" the check-in tables at the four stations along Flatbush, that would be incredibly helpful.

Skei Saulnier says they need at least four more people for check-in duties. You'd have to get a bit of extra info before the start of the event, but generally it'll be a chill gig getting volunteers started on their jobs. You can plain old volunteer to work too of course. Contact Skei at PLG Civic's email. Or just show up.

Also, if you have experience as Street Tree Steward, or just happen to be an expert at taking care of them, you could help show people how to care for the trees in the long-run.

See you Saturday from 10AM!

Mr. Apple Grows a School In Lefferts

His name is Noah Apple Mayer. He's a puppeteer and a teaching artist. And now, he's starting a school in a Lefferts Gardens townhouse basement - self-styled One Room School for the current millenium.

The Q had a great chat with Noah this evening. His enthusiasm for the project is clear; this is a plan that makes tons of sense to him - it's a bit of a calling. And after years of being the "craftsy-creative" teacher in classrooms all over the City, he feels he can bring his hands-on project-oriented approach to families who want a more progressive, holistic, less bureaucratic, artsy learning experience for their kids day in and day out. And did I mention...puppets?

The school is called Brooklyn Apple Academy, and while the word "academy" might be a bit of a stretch, this IS Brooklyn and his given middle name IS Apple. You may be wondering how a dude just up and starts a school in somebody's basement, but the fact is the home school movement has grown considerably and isn't appealing just to born-agains - the "left" has embraced the model as well as a way to opt out of what some people see as the failure of mainstream education. To boot, this really is just a formalization of the do-it-yourself "dream of the 1890s" spirit that seems to have crept into everything from pickle-making to indie-rock. Plus, tons of parents have been creating coop pre-schools in their homes, so this is really just extending that into kindergarten. You may picture homeschooling as an environment where the kid never leaves the house and rarely sees a proper teacher or anyone else for that matter. But homeschool parents often solicit outside teachers and support, and by extension little schools crop up all the time either in such a support role or as full-fledged daily teaching environments. What's unique in this model is that when such a school starts up, a parent isn't signing up so much for a school, a school system, or a principal, or a district...but rather for a specific teacher and his/her philosophy. Some parents will obviously be repulsed by the idea of so much independence (and intense involvement), but a sizable number of Americans are now actively taking their kids educations into their own hands. And that leaves room for people like Noah Apple to step in and start a school in your neighbor's basement. It's not for everyone - if it were every tenth Brownstone would house a school. Actually, come to think of it, around my part of Flatbush every tenth Brownstone already has a school of sorts - usually called a Day-Care.


At right is a random shot from the classroom at the Imaginary Space where Noah currently teaches, wherein the good ol' Billy Goats Gruff story gets an enthusiastic reenactment. Noah grew up in Maine, colleged at the New School, teaches all kinds of hands-on crafts, puppets, drama and other tools of creative learning. He said something that sounds about right to me - that bright, inquisitive parents tend to raise bright, inquisitive kids regardless of what kind of school they end up in. And so why not, goes the theory, give the kids what they really want? A fun, active, goal-oriented day full of imaginative play, role playing and thing-making. And of course, fe wer state-mandated tests, though the State of NY does have some fairly rigorous standards that must be met by home-school kids eventually. Ever wondered what NY State DOES require of homeschool kids? Here's some answers.

Does it all sound a bit precious, elitist, class-ist, pretentious,dippy, artsy-fartsy, hippy-dippy or utopian? Of COURSE it does. Heck a lot of good ideas fit that description. But Noah's project IS just primary school education at this point, which people seem to place an awful lot of emphasis on these days. No one's thinking of taking the homeschool model to Medical Schools! Surgery by puppets, anyone? Such an off-the-grid conservatory as Noah's ain't gonna be free of course, but it'll be way less than your average private school. Roughly $8,000 - $10,000 a year he thinks (maybe more in line with parochial schools?). So, if this sort of thing sounds like your cup of playdough, then give Noah a shout here. For more reading on the small-school model check out the NY Times piece awhile ago on the Rad School on which Noah says his model is based.

The choice to send your kid to Brooklyn Apple will likely depend on how much you like Noah and his approach. Here's a piece on him that might introduce you to the guy. The Q wishes him luck - educational entrepreneurs are in many ways like any business-folk. The success of Noah's school will rest on both his teaching and his skill working with his customers - in this case, young kids and their ever-anxious older parental-unit decision-makers.

Let's Replace the Dead Trees.

If you've got dead trees on your block, now's the time to let the Q know. I've got Pearl Miles of CB9's attention on this, and they're planning fall plantings for street trees NOW. She got us those two trees replaced on Parkside next to the Popeye's planted last fall. And we've got the dead trees on Lincoln Road near the Park on the docket for this fall. Why not replace every darn dead tree in the district? Either leave a comment or email me at: The Q.
with the precise location of the tree, house address included.

One day, you too could have something like this in front of your house or apartment:

Gnarly.

The Flatbush Flasher

Very interesting thread happening on Flatbush Family Network, a Yahoo Group serving a wide swath of central Brooklyn. Seems somebody's been exposing himself and many folks are (understandably) upset.

A photo was taken, but the moderator of the Group asked that the picture not be posted, presumably not wanting to incite the mob against someone innocent-til-proven-guilty. Other comments focused on whether it was appropriate to describe the culprit on the basis of race. Still others have wondered aloud whether he's a pedophile; others seem convinced by their advanced armchair psychologist degrees that flashing is unrelated to pedophilia, which is more a mental illness or fetish.

Worse, the flasher has a goatee.

Another saw him masturbating near Brooklyn College. Yes, THAT Brooklyn College.

As I followed the thread back in time I noticed others concerned about an unaccompanied older guy hanging out in the playground next to the school on Cortelyou. He was a ""creepy guy in the outdated suit who was hanging around the tot lot today, a camera dangling off his wrist, opening the gate for people going in and out but acting surly when his help was refused."

It's really quite remarkable what happens when private thoughts become public on a listserve or blog. The "good" is obvious - ideas shared, community built, old items sold or given away. But spreading fear or misinformation is troubling - like gossip gone digital viral wildfire.

I hope the cops catch the flasher. I hope the creepy guy turns out to be the non-harmful guy "who has the key to the tot lot and opens and locks it."

But just as creepy old Geraldo Rivera suggested that ALL young black men not where hoodies, the Q thinks it would be wise if old men not act creepy or incriminate themselves by wearing seriously outdated suits.   

Come to think of it, has Geraldo been seen sporting a goatee lately? Near Brooklyn College?

Bike Share Was a Cool Idea, Then...

Any day now they'll announce the 600 locations of NYC version of "Bike Share." The pricing is now known (see list). While Gothamist wants you to think the prices are outlandish ($77 For Four Hour Ride!!!), the fact is these bikes are designed for the FREE up to 30 or 45 minute rides from docking station to docking station; free that is, when you PAY for a daily, weekly or annual membership. All of which makes the location of these stations INCREDIBLY important. At a Community Board meeting a couple months ago, the NYC Bike Share folks were pretty clear that we'd be lucky to get one at Parkside; one at Prospect Park station is more likely. The first round of docks will cover Manhattan and parts of tonier, or rather hipstery, Brooklyn. No surprise there; the whole approximately $100 annual membership was never going to go over well in areas of entrenched poverty, nor in car-happy Mill Basin etc. BUT...the real story here is that Citibank nabbed the name and the logo on the whole system. This is the Citibank that the U.S. lent $45 Billion to in 2009. Now they've repayed the favor by letting you take a bike for 45 minutes, emblazoned with its logo of course. The bikes and docks will look something, or exactly, like this:

But here's the prob. The very people most likely to dig the Bike Share, at least initially, are just the sorts of people who wouldn't be caught dead riding a Citibank Citibike. Oh, these things will come in really handy, and some folks will go for 'em. But there are few corporations more "corporate" than Citibank, and I suspect many hipsters will be worried for their image. Not to identify myself too much in that category, but the Q is not particularly excited to ride about on a two-wheeled billboard for a loathsome poorly-managed company that we're all pretty much forced by its size to tolerate on a daily basis already.

Sigh. And yes, do be sure to return it promptly, or you will be paying some outrageous overdraft fees.

"New" Bike Racks Make It To Caledonia

Well I'll be hog tied if this ain't the orneriest lookin' hitchin' post I done seen!

Hipper parts of NYC may have gotten theres first, but the Q is happy to report that the City still considers Caledonian PLG Flatbush to be part of its overall bike-centric modernization campaign.

I gave it a go just yesterday, and I gotta say I think they're keepers. Not as goofy as David Byrne's set of novelty bike racks, like the $ shaped ones at Wall Street...just good common sense urban design. So far I've seen dogs and gramma carts tied up to them as well. Other uses, anyone?

70th Precinct Meeting, Via Ditmas Park Corner

Bloggers more hearty than the Q were in attendance last week at the 70th Precinct Council meeting held in "the" Church. That is, the original Dutch Reform Church on Church at Flatbush.

I'll let you read the account yourself, and welcome Ditmas Park Corner, which has taken over from the largely dismantled Ditmas Park Blog, which was subsumed by AOL Patch; thus it's new name, DitmasParkPatch.

Here's the account. 70th Precinct Council April Meeting.


Also last night, a meeting of the East 21st Street and Woodruff Block Associations took place at the very same Church, which is also used for religious services on occasion. Did anyone make it last night? I was busy singing "Que Sera Sera" over and over and over in an effort to put Little Miss Q to bed. Feel free to post about it here. The meeting, not the choice of bedtime song.

Hell Freezes Over - Speed Bumps on Hawthorne

It's the feel good story of the week! Local blog Hawthorne Street led the call for speed bumps on (you guessed it) Hawthorne Street (Flat to Bed) starting, like almost five years ago. And unless that sign in the above pic from Carrie is a May Fools Day joke, the City finally saw fit to give the block some much needed traffic calming. Kudos to y'all for going all Tenacious DOT on 'em!

But happy as the Q is for friends three blocks to the north, the victory feels bittersweet, for the Q knows that Clarkson Avenue (tween Flat & Bed) will never know such sweet dolce traffic calmness. For we live on a bus route, a mid-Brooklyn thoroughfare that makes Hawthorne, even now, seem like a windswept meadow by comparison. Oy, and the horns! The honking, the illegal trucks, the humanity. We invested in white noise generators in our bedrooms, and now even a full throttle shootout could happen on my block and I'd sleep right through it.

Bumps, baby, bumps!