Well, the people running the 21st Century Street design competition didn't cop out and go for some easy Brooklyn spot. They could have always picked a tougher spot, but the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street is by no means an urban oasis, even though the avenue has been insanely optimistically referred to as Brooklyn's Park Avenue. The contest, which is open for the public and sponsored by Transportation Alternatives, is looking for "new conceptual and physical approaches to the planning of public streets...The street will be re-imagined as a healthy, safe, and sustainable 21st Century street." It's steps from the Fourth Avenue Station whose own redesign was recently tossed into the trash bin by the MTA. The registration deadline is July 18, entries are due by August 18 and there will be a public show in December. The top entry chosen gets a $6,000 prize. Everybody else, maybe, gets to envision what it might be like to cross Fourth Avenue without risking being pancaked by a turning truck.
· Designing the 21st Century Street [21centurystreet.org]
For those who enjoy keeping track of Park Slope issues, today's is certain to be of interest: the return of the annual threat of fundamentalist proselytizers going to local playground and asking the kiddies if they've "accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior." We're not sure what the age cutoff on the question is, but guessing that five or six might be threshold? From the always interesting Park Slope Parents email list comes the complaint of Playground Proselytization:
FYI, the fundamentalist Christian groups are back for the season proselytizing to children without parents consent in our playgrounds. Last year CEF handed out candy and coloring books but asked the kids first if they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. This national para-church (CEF, Child Evanglism Fellowship comes to urban playgrounds through local church sponsorship with the sole purpose of converting children.
People can finally move into the Novo Park Slope. Repeat...The long delayed Shaya Boymelgreen development on Fourth Avenue finally gained a temporary certificate of occupancy on Friday. Apparently it was just in time, as buyers would soon have been allowed to walk away from contracts. The certificate is only good through the 25th, though, and there are 23 requirements to be met before the building really gets the green light. [Brownstoner]
Another couple of weeks and Park Slope residents won't have the suspension of alternate side parking to kick around. Some have complained that it's made it harder to park. Others have suggested it has led to "filth" in the streets. But an awful lot of people have said that neither has been too bad and that it's been great fun not having to move the car around. Late yesterday, however, the city announced the end to the parking holiday on July 14, way earlier than it was originally supposed to end. The good news is that it will be coming to Gowanus, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens starting July 6, which will probably enjoy the parking holiday through Labor Day. The rules have been suspended so that all the parking signs can be changed to reflect new days and times. (The time's been reduced from three hours to 90 minutes; in some areas the cleaning days will be cut from twice a week to once a week.) The next complaint from the Slope is likely to be about the changes themselves, of which there are many. Meanwhile, we have faith they'll take this in stride in Gowanus and that there won't be a rush to park cars on streets where something left for many weeks is stripping and burning bait, but will Carroll Gardens be as cranky as Park Slopers about parking problems and filth?
· Park Slope parking pass to end early [NYDN]
· Park Holiday Expands [Brooklyn Paper]
· 'No Alternate Side' Heaven or Hell in Park Slope? [Curbed]
To refresh the memory, the building rising on First Street in Park Slope just off Fourth Avenue (next to the McDonald's drive through window) was tentatively supposed to be called The Gowanus. No longer. It is now....Elan Park Slope with the marketing slogan "Style & Substance," which is all well and good except that Elan is right next to McDonald's and could lead to a profusion of jokes about instant Big Mac and Egg McMuffin deliveries being one of the building's many amenities. Oh, but wait, Gramercy by Starck has a McDonald's on the ground floor, so Elan and McNuggets might go together after all.
· Elan Park Slope [elanparkslope.com]
· Rendering vs. Reality: Park Slope's Gowanus Condo [Curbed]
· Park Slope #2: Big Mac Tower on First Street [Curbed]
And now the latest from Racked, covering retail from the sidewalks up.
1) Soho: Another day, another shopping line. Today's action is at the Botkier sale. Up to 70 percent off bags, shoes and wallets. Line up in an orderly fashion to the left.
2) Red Hook: It's on, as of 9AM yesterday. But after the Ikea shopping is over, it's time to get the goods home. Assuming, of course, a resident tired of giving directions doesn't grab a blunderbuss.
3) Park Slope: The boutique Bird is leaving Seventh Ave. for the hipper environs of Fifth Avenue. Markdowns through closing on July 28.
4) Chinatown: Brooklyn-based bag and accessory label Ananas is bringing its BK goodness to a pop-up shop on Canal Street.
The most interesting thing about the new PriceChops on the remaining units at the Crest in Park Slope may not be what they'll do move the rest of the inventory in the building, but what they'll do to its friend just down the block, the Novo Park Slope. Novo itself has seen major buzz saw action and, worse still, is beset by delays in allowing buyers in that they are on the verge of mutiny. The tipster who brought our attention to the PriceChops listed on Streeteasy writes:
Whenever there was a Novo discussion, Crest always came up as a convenient comparison. Looks like they are ready to put it to sleep once and for all by attempting to clear out the remaining inventory with a wave of pricechop. If the chop succeeds in selling out the building before Novo even gets its C of O, it'd be another straw on Novo contract holders' backs.
Comments
For those who enjoy keeping track of Park Slope issues, today's is certain to be of interest: the return of the annual threat of fundamentalist proselytizers going to local playground and asking the kiddies if they've "accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior." We're not sure what the age cutoff on the question is, but guessing that five or six might be threshold? From the always interesting 
