The new semester at the Language and Laughter Studio (139 Nevins St at Bergen) starts February 1, so this is the week to register. There are classes for pre-schoolers, elementary-school kids, and adults. Most courses focus on French or Spanish, although there is a Mandarin Chinese course and a Japanese calligraphy class. See the full schedule at the Language and Laughter Studio website.
BococaLand
It's your neighborhood
Posts by Josh
Winter/Spring Classes at Language and Laughter Studio
The P.S. and the Charter
According to Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News, there’s a “civil war” goin’ on at P.S. 15 over in Red Hook. Although to be more specific, the war is happening in the building that was once P.S. 15′s alone, but is now shared by P.S. 15 and a growing charter school. Gonzalez sees an alliance among Schools Chancellor Joel Klein (pictured), PAVE Academy director Spencer Robertson, and the Bloomberg administration that is slowly killing P.S. 15 — a healthy and esteemed public school. It’s privatization for its own sake, or rather, for money’s sake. We don’t doubt Gonzalez, but is there another side to the story? It’s not like P.S. 15 is being squeezed by robots or zombies — the PAVE kids are kids too, kids with parents who also want what is best for them. It would be nice to know what the PAVE parents think of what’s happening.
Sahadi’s Coffee Contest Ends Tomorrow
The deadline to enter the Sahadi’s Coffee Contest 2010 is tomorrow — if you’d like to win free coffee from Sahadi’s for the next six months (2 lbs./month), hustle over to the entry form at Sahadis.com. Don’t worry, it’s not really a “contest” — you don’t have to write and essay or perform a dance routine. Just sign up and you’re entered into a drawing.
While you’re signing up for a chance at swag … register at the BococaLand Forums and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a Leapster 2 handheld educational device for your kid.
Symbolism, With a Side of Curly Fries
Ah, unlovable Fulton Mall. The market has spoken, as Colbert would say, and it says you get an Arby’s in the landmarked former Gage & Tollner space.
In other words, “This is a fast-food street,” [new Arby's co-owner Raymond] Chera said. “It’s a mall. This is the kind of establishment that works here.”
Or in other other words — it’s nice to wish that something Gage & Tollner-like could inhabit the space, but it would be stupid to try. If you built it, they wouldn’t come. Even the reasonably-priced brass-and-fern T.G.I. Friday’s couldn’t last.
The “most beautiful Arby’s ever” opens Thursday. (And for the record, I like Arby’s — would prefer it not in the Gage & Tollner space, but I don’t bear its sandwiches any grudge.)
Here’s the Wikipedia page on Gage & Tollner.
Street Scenes
Hey, what’s that doodad at bottom right with the pictures? It’s a link to our Bococaland Flickr group, a gallery of pictures from around the neighborhood submitted by locals like you. Visit it to see what they’re shooting, and feel free to contribute your own. (This pugtastic image by the prolific James Wolberg — thanks for all the submissions, James.)
Gowanus Canal Becoming Brooklyn’s Freedom Tower
Everyone agrees the Gowanus Canal should be cleaned up — but there’s not a lot of agreement after that. We’re in the bickering phase, and reports aren’t good. The key issue is whether the site ought to be designated a Superfund project by the Environmental Protection Agency:
* Can the EPA do it quickly? Rep. Yvette Clarke is wary of empty promises, and fears a 20-year-arc.
* Would the city’s plan do it at all? EPA supporters doubt that Bloomberg-era developers can be trusted to meet the standards the EPA would.
* Should money trump? One longterm resident says there’s $450 million in private money sitting around waiting to do this, and that handing the project to the EPA would amount to turning that money down.
* What about responsibility? Wouldn’t the use of federal funds amount to letting polluters off the hook?
It’s a huge mess. And so is the canal.
Tweet My F Train
Following up on the previous post — you can also get your MTA service updates on Twitter. @BococaLand (that’s us on Twitter) follows @NYC_F_trains.
A guy named Pierre Bastien came up with it — he does all trains, find your favorites here.
(Cool F Train picture from Venus in Furs.)
Keep On Facebookin’
Uhmm… so we’ve been trying to get the word out about BococaLand (this site as well as our boards) and we were kicking around the idea of putting up signs or stickers. Apparently the city tries to slap you with $75 per sign. Or in the case of one unfortunate woman who put an envelope full of business cards out on Court St., $75 per card. After a nine-month legal struggle, her fine has been cut from $3,000 to $75. Hooray. (Paws-n-Claws in Clinton Hill is not so lucky, getting no relief for its $8,700 in fines for illegal fliers.)
So about those signs or stickers — let’s hold off. To those of you who’ve become Facebook fans: Thanks, and don’t hesitate to tell a friend. Don’t make us resort to vandalism.
(Infamous “Wanted: Vegan Drummer” sign stolen from Paolo Mastrangelo)
Shh — Don’t Let Norah Jones See This
Katia at Pardonmeforasking documents a truly controversial bit of reno in non-landmarked Caroll Gardens.
Union Market: Casing the Joint
| A visit to the new Court St. Union Market occupying the storefront formerly known as Blockbuster (between Degraw and Douglass). We entered in plain clothes, armed with a tiny camera made to look like a phone. They never suspected a thing. | 
|
| This is great: Throughout the store they’ve got little self-serve tasting stations. During our mission we sampled five different cheeses, two kinds of tapenade, marinated mushrooms, chips in a queso dip, pretzels in honey mustard, and some sort of cookie. Everything but the cookie was delicious. | 
|
| Some stuff they dug up. | 
|
| Thoughtful gesture or pandering? Eh, who cares — how does it taste? | 
|
| The cheese section at Union Market is large. | 
|
| You want fancy peanut butter? They gots fancy peanut butter. (They also gots Jif if you want that.) | 
|
| Lovely hunks of fish. | 
|
| More fish. | 
|
| The meats looked very good too, although the lighting in these two pictures doesn’t do them justice. A bit pricey — $3.99/lb. for hamburger. | 
|
| More meat. | 
|
| Background: rotisserie chicken, $3.99. Foreground: ham, price unknown. | 
|
| Fancy chocolates decorated with abstract designs. | 
|
| Fancy chocolates decorated with representational designs. Golf cart, people doing yoga, people walking dogs, and what appears to be a man playing a violin in a tree. | 
|
| Just about done — but there’s always room for cake. At bottom right is the famous Brooklyn Blackout from Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope. | 
|
-
Want to advertise on BococaLand? E-mail Tobey, tgrumet[at]gmail.com
