Union Hall Fight Ends with Victory for Bar
[Photo courtesy of Bryan Bruchman/flickr]
The Battle of Union Hall, the embattled night spot in Park Slope played out before Community Board 6 in Brooklyn last night and when it was over, the full board rejected a motion against the liquor license voted by a committee last week, but passed a new motion to take an official stance in support of the license renewal before the State Liquor Authority. A "fake 911" call that ended up on YouTube was even part of the campaign against opponents.
· Union Hall Wins Over the Board at Borough Hall [Gothamist]
· Union Hall Wins! [Bumpershine]
· Union Hall Hearing Photos [Bryan Bruchman/flickr]
CurbedWire: St. Vincent's Coming Back on Monday, Brooklyn Booze & Zoning Screamfest Tonight
WEST VILLAGE—That was fast. Part of the big St. Vincent's-Rudin development that has become a lightening rod for criticism is already coming back with a resdesign. The new design for the condo complex east of Seventh Avenue (that's a rendering of one of the old versions, above) will be presented to Community Board 2 next Monday. Per CB2: "The revised plans are based on comments from the Landmarks Preservation Commission and reflect concerns expressed by local elected officials and Community Board 2 that the Smith, Raskob, Nurses Residence, and Spellman buildings be preserved as part of any new development of the site and that the height and bulk of the proposed condominium buildings in the original plans were not appropriate for the Greenwich Village Historic District." The email calls the change "a tremendous victory for the local community." [CurbedWire Inbox]
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN—People who think community board meetings are inherently boring, might want to check out tonight's potential screamfest at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Community Board 6 will be handling one toxic issue and one slightly hazardous one. The toxic topic is the liquor license for Union Hall. It comes before the full board for a vote tonight and both pro and con forces are expected to be out in force. The slightly hazardous issue is the zoning text amendment that would redefine some streets in Carroll Gardens that are barely wide enough for a car as "narrow" for zoning purposes, limiting the height of future development. The pro-amendment forces have been prevailing, but there's a dedicated group of opponents. [CurbedWire Inbox]
Slope Stroller Blowouts Lead to Line Cutting, Busier Bike Shops
So, a Park Slope Stroller Mom is pushing the little one down Seventh Avenue on her way to the Tea Lounge or, perhaps, Union Hall, when the unthinkable happens: the Maclaren has tire trouble. What to do? Apparently, go to a bike shop. Today's Post reports that Brooklyn nabes like Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights are on the cutting edge of a new trend: fixing stroller flats. Says the owner of a Slope shop: "They come in usually with one or two babies crying and sometimes demand to cut the line...We try to fix the flat right out on the sidewalk so they don't have to come into the store." One mom reports two blowouts and two flats on the mean street of the Baby Boom Brooklyn, including a nasty incident at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The bike shop owners say that "they never imagined that they would be fixing several strollers a day and even more on the weekends." Could all the flat fix shops on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope be a condo amenity marketing point, as in "steps to the renowned 24-hour Flat Fix."
· Bike Shops Now Stroller Pit Stops [NYP]
It Happened One Weekend: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
1) Now that the headlines regarding the Manhattan market have subsided, it's time to assess the outer boroughs. According to sales figures, it looks like non-Manhattan areas are more in line with the rest of the country, meaning a slight-to-major downturn. However, it's a complicated mess, because some things just can't stop selling at huge prices. We're looking at you, Brooklyn brownstones. ['Taking the Pulse of the Boroughs'/Christine Haughney]
2) Behind hippiesh leader Janette Sadik-Khan, the Department of Transportation is rethinking street planning in terms of pedestrians and cyclists, instead of just cars. Here are 10 ideas, some practical and some crazy, for the thruways of the future. The Woonerf! ['Taking Back the Streets'/Jeff Byles]
3) If, like us, you've ever been curious/amazed/frightened about Co-Op City up in the Bronx along the Hutchinson River, then here's everything you need to know about America's biggest co-op housing project. Like, for example, that it has three shopping centers. Or that the board is thinking about removing Co-Op City from Mitchell-Lama and opening it up to market-rate buyers. Controversy! [Living In/Elsa Brenner]
4) A young couple ready to rent their first joint apartments makes the usual Brooklyn rounds (she plays in the boccie league at Union Hall, naturally) before finally snagging an affordable one-bedroom on Fifth Avenue. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
5) Dudes, Upper East Siders want to ball. Can Asphalt Green bring back the courts already? [The City/Gregory Beyer]
Union Hall Succumbs to Boozy Park Slope Stroller Rage
That didn't take long. After enduring a week of controversy about its ban on strollers and scampering toddlers, not to mention significant mommy rage, Union Hall is beating a modified retreat. This week's Brooklyn Paper reports that upon careful consideration Park Slope parents and their spawn can hang out, have a sip of whatever and play some bocce. The bar's owner says that strollers can come back "a few afternoons a week" and says the original decision "was strictly liability." He went on to explain:
A lot of parents are great and mindful. But some are not that attentive to their kids when they’re in here. This is a bar with an open stairwell and a bocce court. This is a business and we don’t have the staff to police it.
Municipal stroller parking racks? >>
Hip Boozy Park Slope Parents Must Leave Progeny Behind
A minor controversy has broken out in Park Slope, where popular bi-level bocce ball bar Union Hall has suddenly reversed its policy of granting admittance to the small children that come attached to so many Slopers nowadays. Gowanus Lounge has the details, and apparently the story first broke on the Park Slope Parents list. According to GL:
The word comes via a Union Hall employee that says the bar and popular hangout has been having issues with minors being sent in as bait by the police without ID. They have apparently been threatened with closure if anyone under 21 is found on the premises. (Actually minors are legally okay if they are with a parent or guardian.) Infants are still allowed, but any kids that are old enough to walk are out as are strollers because of "fire codes."
Needless to say, a heated discussion on the topic is currently burning up the
Brooklynian board, tackling matters such as the appropriateness of bringing children to bars, as well as the nonstop stream of kvetching Park Slope parents. Writes one poster, "Oh please dear god not this conversation."
·
Mommies & Toddlers Eighty Sixed from Slope's Union Hall? [GL]
·
Park Slope Stroller Moms: On Second Thought, They Suck [Curbed]
·
Is Park Slope the Last Stop on the Line to Jersey? [Curbed]
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