That Dry, Needle-Shedding Tree In Your Parlor?

Katia will tell you where to stick it. 

http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2013/01/two-ways-to-recycle-your-christmas-tree.html

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Feds force city to keep sewage out of Gowanus; call for giant canal-side basins • The Brooklyn Paper

The Brooklyn Paper has the first longer-form article on the EPA's
Gowanus cleanup proposal that landed in our inboxes last week.

I know that CB6 will be submitting comments and I'm looking forward to
the public participation sessions on January 23 and in February.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/36/1/all_gowanussewage_2013_01_04_bk.html


Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Winter Wonderland

We're enjoying a few days up in the mountains.  Santa was kind enough to deliver over a foot of snow, on top of a few pop-culture goodies I was coveting:

The Avengers Blu-ray and DVD Combo

11/22/63 by Stephen King (Trade Paperback)

Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin

That last one I have been looking for in used bookstores for about six years, with no luck.  Thanks to the popularity of Game of Thrones, it's been reissued and ended up in my stocking.  Now, it's a hot cup of coffee, a fire in the hearth, and some good entertainment.  I wish you all the same!
(EDIT: Updated with Amazon links for my Christmas goodies - already tearing through Fevre Dream)

PPW Bike Lane Haters Have No Shame

At long last sir[s], have you no decency?  

For Jim Walden, Iris Weinshall, Norm Steisel and the rest if the gang, the answer is no. No shame, either. 

http://gothamist.com/2012/12/21/park_slope_bike_lane_haters_offer_t.php

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Condos in Brooklyn Bridge Park: An Unnecessary Evil

Perhaps evil is a strong word but it does make for a nice turn of phrase. 

There has long been consistent, strong and reasoned opposition to building condos in the park. Park space is scarce enough as it is, it's a tenuous financing scheme, it amounts to a quasi-privatization of parkland.  It also happens that the park will flood during a storm surge, as was made abundant clear by Hurricane Sandy. 

The Bloomberg administration has remained stubbornly wedded to the idea of a self-financing park. The recent storm experience gives the Mayor an opportunity to rethink his position, and I hope he takes it. 

And if we just can't shake the concept of a self-financing park, a version of the re-zoning finance plan offered up by Senator Squadron could make it work, without shoehorning condos into parkland. 

http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2012/12/brooklyn-bridge-park-condo-development.html

* The case of One Brooklyn Bridge Park is an exception.  Leaving a solidly constructed existing structure actually makes economic sense. 

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Smith/9th Street Opening Delayed

Sometime in Q1 2013, we're told.  I'd read that as "late March". 

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2012/12/21/another-delay-mars-smith9th-rehab-project/

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Traffic Calming on Court

I'm not sure when this was installed, but I was happy to see it this
morning. A two-fer: improves visibility at the dangerous Pacific
Street intersection while adding bike parking. Nice.