Phew! Best Local Pharmacy Just Moving Across the Street!

Saw the "Store for Rent" sign and nearly had a heart attack, which would have meant staggering into Lincoln Brown's Lincoln's Neighborhood Pharmacy for some nitroglycerin and a 911 call. Turns out he's merely relocating across the street to the old Glenn's Hardware Store which tragically closed at the top of the year. Don, or Peter, depending on which of his two names you called him, just couldn't make a go of it anymore and closed his dusty but friendly little-bit-of-everything hardware shop without so much as a going-out-of-business sale. I'd been going to that hardware store since moving here in '03 and called him Dan the ENTIRE time until last year when I heard someone call him Peter and asked what gives and someone said you can call him Peter or Don but not Dan and I threw up my hands. The lady laughed and said "it's Jamaica and everyone has two or three names so what's one more?"

So the block in question is still my vote for most chaotic in the 'hood - in a good way (my wife might beg to differ) - Flatbush between Woodruff and Parkside. On the west is kinda of a sort of Hip-Hop row with the two gansta fashion boutiques blaring music, the gloriously delirious Closeout Heaven, the thugs-hang-out-with-the-funny-awning-a-friend-calls-pancakes-in-hell, the world's most insane cell phone store where I learned everything I needed to write my post on the cell phone industry,  Peppa's notorious jerk chicken, the Macy's of Lefferts GEM, the Don Reade as my daughter likes to call it. On the east, the "notary public driver's school dunkin donuts soon to be balloon and party store dunkin donuts soon to be lincoln pharmacy sneaker king jamaica pride envy nails subway etc etc" I mean c'mon folks we ain't in Kansas and thank the good lord.

Here's a pic of Lincoln again. And congrats on negotiating cheaper rent for more space! (give him a try and say good-bye to corporate drugstore chains and long lines):

Arrested

They got the guy who pulled the trigger from the senseless shooting around 3am last Friday am. The victim is clinging to life. Thanks to the many neighbors who called in tips. Detectives had to be careful not to tip off the shooter by picking up his buddies to soon; that's why they didn't rush out to grab that one dude in the vid.  By the way, if there's one thing I've learned in my brief introduction to the inner workings of law enforcement, most the bad guys are very, very well known to the cops. This is not a reason to stop calling. Far from it. One of the guys from the video had been picked up the night of the shooting, and unfortunately released due to lack of whatever, only to go out and drinking and hang out with the dude who shot the guy. The cops need the calls in order to pick up the bad guys within the limits of the law and a silly little document known as the constitution. They need our help in identifying when laws have been broken, when guns have been fired, when people have been robbed and when narcotics are being dealt. And occasionally, they also need help identifying people or as witnesses. So much fear and distress. On all sides.

Rooster Killer Needed ASAP

This is not a joke. Repeat, this is not a joke. There is a neighbor, lives round here. Had five boy chicks. Grew into roosters. Four have since been taken to farms. One is about to become coq au vin, as neighbor is a superb cook. But, this neighbor needs to kill the rooster first, since humans haven't eaten meat live since a long long time ago. I don't even think our teeth are "cut" out for the job, as currently configured. So she's asking if anyone out there has any experience killing, er, preparing, birds, roosters in particular I guess. Please email me if you have. If you've forgotten what a rooster looks like, here's a picture, not of this particular bird, but of the Platonic ideal. Magnificent, right?

Don't Miss This Opportunity To Put Your Street Tree In Jail

I'm not going to mince words. That street tree in front of your house has been very, very bad. It should be placed behind bar. An iron bar. And for a limited time, VERY limited time, you can put him and his whole no-good green-wearing gang, you know those "shady" characters hanging out on the block, every few meters from each other, you can put them all in solitary, for free, just by signing a petition against 'em. But you must act right now.

A representative from your block must attend a workshop either tomorrow night from 6-8 pm or Thursday from 1-3 pm at Brooklyn Borough Hall in order to get the application. Only one person needs to go to the workshop to the get the piece of paper, but the app can't be submitted by one person for one tree. It is intended as a full block initiative, and you will need to get signatures from enough people on your block, both sides, in order to process the application.

Folks, it doesn't get any easier than this. We don't want to hear any complaints when the tree pit guards go in! (okay, okay probably a year or two from now, but still...)

Here's the flyer.

Details Emerging - Video Shows Thugs Faces

The bizarre random senseless facts are emerging, and they just get weirder. I've heard a lot of random details from various insiders to date, but the Daily News seems to have put together most of the relevant narrative here. And this chilling security cam vid that the NYPD has released of some of the alleged thugs suggests the cops don't have them apprehended yet. Any info, please, 800-577-TIPS or 311 will get you there. The man, indeed a neighbor, may survive. He lives on Flatbush and was on his way home from work. The detail that really gets me, and I had to read it three times to be sure I read it right, was that they shot up the deli, went outside for a bit, mugged around, then shot the guy. So that footage is AFTER they shot the first two rounds and in any reasonable situation they should have been running, since gunfire should have had 911 calls streaming in sending cops there immediately. Right? Right? Right? Tell me I'm right?

It would appear to me, that these drunk guys are looking down the street to see if anyone noticed whether they just shot at the poor cowering convenience store worker, who is most likley praying for his life in the back of his store off to the left of the camera while they're laughing nervously. It's a very, very dark human moment that alcohol surely had a heavy hand in. That it's caught on tape...I can only hope it helps the case, because it's just too too strange for words.

Gympossible, You Say?

This is some really, really good news for those of you longing to run a long, long time and go absolutely nowhere, get really really hot doing it, pay very little money doing so, have a safe place to stash your stuff during the whole ordeal, be able to lift incredibly heavy things that you would never dream of lifting in real life, roll around on giant rubber balls the size of Smart Cars, and wear tight fitting plastic pants that remind you which gender you are every step that you take.

That's right. A real, honest to goodness, NYC style gym is coming to the neighborhood. And it's owned by the ueber-chic Equinox Fitness company, but priced for central Brooklyn. Blink Fitness has been around a few years and doing quite well apparently. Their first gym was in NoHo, which in my personal view is not an actual neighborhood but I'll forgive those who might think it is since I hear people use it more and more these days. OUR Blink Fitness opening in (probs) mid-June, will be at 843 Flatbush below Linden. It's a big space on the second floor, and will look thusly:

You might ask why I so blatantly gave them free advertising of their $15 a month price (for the 1 location only - I think it's $20 a month for all locations, even the "NoHo" location). Or why I'm giving you this phone number 718-704-1700, or the email flatbush@blinkfitness.com or telling you that if you go down there now and join before they open you can pay just $1 membership fee. It's a good questions, I guess. Um. Because they asked?

The Q is not in this for the money. I'm just telling you what's going on. I stopped in and the woman Monet was lovely and the gym sounds like the sort of well run no frills place that a lot of folks have been telling me they'd like to see around here. And if a few of us get fit as a by-product, what's the harm in that?

Internet Saves Day

In this one case at least, the internet made one person's and one cat's life better. The orange tabby with the long snout that I wrote about a couple post back? A match has been made and the two partners have begun the rest of their lives together thanks to the kindness of various rescuers and this here digital medium. May they have many snuggly, purry, yawny moments together.

Shooting In Front of Lincoln Park Tavern

Update: According to the precinct commander, it does not appear the man will make it. The shooters were apparently extremely intoxicated, had stopped into LPT for a "nightcap" and had just robbed the bodega of next-to-nothing and were attempting to rob the man they shot. (Do I need to say that a cop stationed in the area might have prevented this murder?) So they did intend to shoot him, not each other, though they were so drunk it's hard to say. The cops think they'll be able to apprehend them fairly easily. Talk about hangovers. This is just a horrible, horrible, horrible mess. The family of the man must be devastated. By the way, the helicopters overhead earlier in the evening were not related. That was about the ongoing fracas over the shooting of Kimani Gray.

In the wee wee hours, several shots rang out in front of Lincoln Park Tavern, according to a reliable witness whom cops interviewed this morning. Commuters were treated to still coagulating pools and streams of blood on the sidewalk as they made their way to the Prospect Park Q/B/S trains this Friday am. Apparently, an off-duty MTA employee was caught in the cross-fire of a thug dispute. The man, around 60, was rushed to Kings County Hospital. We pray he lives.

The Q came by the above information by a reliable source and I feel confident it is accurate. I'm not going to use another tragedy to hammer home all the points I'm always making on the subject of crime, and thugs and drugs and lighting and police. It's just a crying shame. The story tells itself.

By the way, in the course of the conversation about the incident, the subject of that damn candy store came up again. And the subject of the dismal lighting in front of the train station and along Lincoln Road. Let's use this as a rallying cry folks.

Wanted - Please Keep Your Eyes Out

If you see this guy, please call immediately. The crime took place within our precinct. In cases of involving sex crimes, details are not released. Please be vigilant. The cops need your help. Thanks.

Every Block In Lefferts Should Do This! FREE TREE PIT GUARDS!!!

Leave it to Beep Marty to leave with a parting gift. We'd all be fools not to graciously and enthusiastically take him up on it. If you want to see what these things looks like, go take a peek at the tree pit guards on Winthrop Street between Flatbush and Bedford. They look sweet, and trust me you do not want to have to try to raise the money to do this yourself!

All you have to do is to find one or two people on your block to attend one of the two mandatory sessions coming up NEXT WEEK. You'll only be able to get the applications there. Then you'll undoubtedly need to go around and collect a bunch of signatures. But folks, that's not only easy, it's fun. You're not asking for money, just John and Jane Hancocks, and you get to meet a bunch of cool people. Go in a team and it's even more fun. If you have a block association, you're already good to go. And if you don't have a block association, this a perfect excuse to start one.

Man oh Manischewitz!!! This is EFFING AWESOME!!!!!!!