Away This Weekend

I'll be out of town for the next 3 days. 

I'm going, for the first time, to my mother's family reunion, held this year in Mountain View, Arkansas. 

Back on Sunday night. 

As always, thanks for reading my blog. 

Are You a Locavore?

The founders of the developing Bay Ridge Food Co-op have invited members, friends and neighbors to celebrate the anniversary of the co-op's incorporation at a potluck picnic featuring locally-sourced food on August 1 from Noon to 4 PM at Shore Road Park and 79th Street in Bay Ridge.

Bring food, made with as many locally-sourced ingredients as you can find, that won't melt in the heat. Bring chairs, blankets and bathing suits for kids. Coolers will be available, but space is limited. Bring your own utensils and dishes.

Musicians are welcome.

Featured kids’ activities include balloon toss, tug-of-war, and kickball.

The event also highlights the New York State Locavore Challenge to eat only locally and sustainably produced food during the month of September. A prize will be awarded for Most Local Dish of the day.

The co-op now has over 300 member/owners and is working to recruit more. If you're interested in joining, the co-op hosts information sessions at the Bay Ridge Library at 73rd St and Ridge Blvd at 6:30 PM on the 1st Thursday of every month, as well as on the 3rd Saturday of every month at 10:30 AM.

Visit the co-op on Facebook, Twitter or Meetup.

For more information about the picnic, contact David Marangio at 347-274-8172 or email him at hello@foodcoopbayridge.com.

What's It Going to Take?

Hot enough for you? 

Well not, apparently for the U.S. Senate, which recessed -- in the hottest summer on record -- without even trying to take up clean energy and climate legislation.

That probably means that nothing will be done about climate change this year.

The U.S. Clean Air Act, which requires manufacturers to install air pollution equipment when they build new factories, is now our best bet to limit carbon pollution.

The EPA will release new regulations to limit global warming pollution as early as January 2011.

Maybe that's why some people in Congress are trying to repeal or suspend the Clean Air Act.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is asking voters to call their senators and tell them to oppose any attempt to repeal the Clean Air Act or to stop the EPA from regulating global warming pollution -- and to move global warming legislation forward.

Two Offshore Lease Sales Cancelled

In the wake of the as-yet-unresolved Gulf Oil Disaster, the Obama administration has taken the proactive step of canceling 2 offshore oil and gas lease sales, one in the Atlantic off the Virginia coast and another in the Gulf of Mexico.

The administration says it is canceling the lease sales to "allow time to develop and implement measures to improve the safety of oil and gas development in Federal waters, provide greater environmental protection, and substantially reduce the risk of catastrophic events.”

But the pull-back isn't enough for environmentalists, who want the administration to halt its entire plan to expand new oil and gas leasing in the eastern Gulf, the Atlantic and the Arctic.

On the Gold Coast

On the Roof: Mad Scientist Filmmaker Prof. Nieto

This Thursday, July 29, Rooftop Films will present the world's first mad scientist filmmaker, Professor Nieto, for one night only on the Roof of Brooklyn Technical High School, 29 Fort Greene Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. (G to Fulton, C to Lafayette, 2,3,4,5 to Nevins or B,M,Q, R to Dekalb.)

Doors open at 8:00 PM.  Live music at 8:30 PM.  Screening at 9:00 PM.

During the Professor's illustrious career, he has documented the education of filmmaking monkeys, taught Brazilian bugs to play soccer, and created mice that multiply like earth worms when cut in half.

At Thursday's Rooftop show, the Professor will attempt to reanimate a chicken.

Following the experiment, the film Capucine, his documentary about a filmmaking monkey, will be screened.

Click here for more information.

Natural Gas or Drinking Water?

Click here for the rescheduled dates and times of the upcoming EPA hearings in Binghamton, N.Y.

Advocates of the powerful, controversial hydraulic fracturing ("hydrofracking" or "fracking") drilling process say there is enough natural gas locked deep in the Marcellus Shale, a dense rock formation beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio, to power the East Coast for 50 years.

But there's a catch:  the brew of toxic chemicals mixed with millions of gallons of water that fracking requires could both pollute and deplete our water supply.

First used commercially by Houston oil giant Halliburton in 1949, fracking injects a pressurized mix of water, chemicals and sand into shale, fracturing the rock, with the sand holding it open so that gas can flow up the well.

Every fracking job uses an average of 4 million gallons of water, delivered to the drilling site by hundreds of tanker trucks. As much as 90% of wastewater from the process remains in the well.  The briny, chemical-laden, possibly radon-laced water that comes back up the well is stored in open pits until it's trucked to treatment plants or to other wells.

In the late 1990s, advancements in horizontal drilling and fracking technology, which increased yield and ROI, started the natural gas boom in Texas' Barnett Shale.

The industry now sees fracking as the key to unlocking big natural gas reserves across the U.S. Ignoring the environmental costs of extracting natural gas, it is a cleaner alternative to coal.

The Marcellus Shale, spanning 50,000 square miles, is 10 times the size of the Barnett. It is also, at depths up to 900 feet, 3 times thicker than the Barnett, and holds an estimated 10 times more gas (500 trillion cubic feet).

But, in the aftermath of the Gulf Oil Disaster, as natural gas speculators swarm the Marcellus Shale and blast into other shale reserves across the country, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has begun a $1.9 million study of fracking, previously exempted from federal regulation under the so-called "Halliburton Loophole" in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The industry denies there is any evidence that blasting fracking chemicals, including suspected human carcinogens, into the Marcellus Shale will harm our drinking water.  Fracking, they say, is essential to the country's energy independence. The federal government, they say, doesn't have to worry.

But people no longer trust the oil and gas industry not to cut corners.

In 2005, after an EPA study found that fracking posed a minimal threat to underground drinking water supplies, Congress exempted it from federal regulation.

Numerous reports of "water quality incidents" in residential wells, homes or streams in Alabama, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming have been dismissed by the EPA as "inconclusive".

Now the EPA, stung by Congressional criticism and allegations that its 2005 study was politically tainted bad science, is holding hearings on fracking around the country, including one in Binghamton, N.Y. on August 12.

It held hearings this month in Fort Worth, Texas and Denver on the fracking boom in the Barnett Shale in Texas, Colorado and Wyoming.

The EPA cites rapid industry expansion and serious concerns about the impact of fracking as the basis for its peer-reviewed study, which it says will draw upon the best available science, independent experts and public input.

More than 13,000 wells have been driven into the Barnett Shale in the past 10 years, raising fears of contamination by the carcinogen benzene, and prompting environmental testing and a drive for better state regulation.

Colorado residents say that fracking has destroyed their drinking water.

Congress and the EPA, facing the question how to regulate a new technology as threatening as it is promising, have got to get it right. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey is among the sponsors of the "FRAC Act", which would close the Halliburton Loophole by mandating that the EPA regulate fracking under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Pennsylvania, still living with the environmental consequences of unregulated coal mining, is seeing, just 2 years into the natural gas rush, a new wave of environmental insults. With more than 3,500 permits issued, about 1,500 wells drilled, and thousands more planned, reports are coming in of methane leaks, contaminated wells, fuel and chemical spills, contaminated waterways and fish kills.

Last month, after a well blew out in north central Pennsylvania, spewing natural gas and toxic fracking water out of control for 16 hours, the state found that operator EOG Resources Inc. of Houston had failed to install an effective blowout prevention system -- in order to cut costs.

New York State has imposed a virtual moratorium on drilling permits for the Marcellus Shale for 2 years while it completes an environmental review. For now, at least, the Delaware River watershed in southern New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, which provides drinking water for 17 million people from Philadelphia to New York City, is off-limits.

The article from R and D Magazine via the AP.

Malliotakis and Hyer-Spencer Spar on Fundraising

Democratic State Assembly Member Janele Hyer-Spencer, facing Republican Nicole Malliotakis in a closely-watched race for the 60th AD, has charged first-time candidate Malliotakis with taking illegal cash contributions.

Malliotakis returned the cash -- a total of $2,000 from three separate donors -- after the Staten Island Advance questioned her about it, calling it a misunderstanding of campaign finance regulations.  Her donors reissued their contributions in the form of checks. (Cash contributions are limited to $100 or less.)

Hyer-Spencer questioned the fact that 3 of Malliotakis' contributions, totalling 9,300, came from the same business address in St. George, Staten Island.

Malliotakis countered that the businesses were separate entities that did not exceed the $3,800 individual limit.

Malliotakis charged that half of Hyer-Spencer's money comes from special interests.

Hyer-Spencer countered that her contributions -- from unions -- are legitimate.

Hyer-Spencer, who has been criticized in Staten Island for not doing enough local fund-raising, has raised $36,384 to Malliotakis' $40,527 -- which Malliotakis says reflects her grassroots support in the district.

The article from SI Live.

Saving Jamaica Bay

New

New York City's Jamaica Bay, between Brooklyn and Queens, is a wildlife refuge, the only one of its kind in the National Park system.

The Empire State Building stands in the distance, the A train runs by it, and planes from JFK fly overhead, but Jamaica Bay is another world -- a refuge for humans as well as animals.

You can hike wooded trails, kayak through wetlands and do world-class bird-watching: 330 bird species, an estimated 20% of North America's total, have been seen here.

The Bay is also home to 60 butterfly species and 80 species of fish, as well as reptiles, amphibians and small mammals.

This magical retreat -- in the city but not of it -- faces formidable threats. If the Global Warming trend continues, the Bay's beautiful and environmentally-important marsh grass islands are expected to be gone within 15 years.

Four New York City sewage treatment plants flood the waters of the Bay with nitrogen-laced effluent. The nitrogen you may use to fertilize your lawn or garden ends up in storm drains and is washed into the Bay, where it causes algae blooms that cut off oxygen and suffocate the fish and other aquatic creatures that birds and animals up the food chain depend on for food.

The giant dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, which used to be the Gulf's biggest environmental problem before the Gulf Oil Disaster, is caused by nitrogen fertilizer runoff into the Mississippi River. Virtually nothing lives in the dead zone, which is estimated this year to be 6,500 to 7,800 square miles -- roughly the size of New Jersey.

The dead fish regularly found floating in Jamaica Bay are evidence of nitrogen pollution, which may also contribute to the disappearance of the marsh islands.

The city has agreed -- in principle -- to a sewage treatment plan to nearly halve nitrogen discharges into the Bay and to improve water quality monitoring. The city has also committed $15 million over the next 5 years for marsh restoration, which the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to match 2-to-1.

The ACE, working with the National Park Service, is restoring marsh islands with mud dredged from the floor of New York Harbor to deepen shipping lanes. And the National Parks of New York Harbor Parks Conservancy is expected to launch a Campaign for the Bay, leveraging government funding with private sector support for the Bay and for community programs and activities.

Oysters, a keystone species once abundant in the Bay and throughout New York Harbor, eat algae and filter nitrogen from the water. Restoring oyster beds could play a significant role in healing the Bay's ecosystem.

The Bay's future is still uncertain, but its prospects have brightened.

The post from This Green Life.

Landmarking Carroll Gardens a Bad Thing?

In 1973, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission designated a tiny historic district in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens, including the blocks bounded by Court Street, Henry Street, Huntington Street and First Place.

The LPC is now considering expanding the Carroll Gardens Historic District.  The new, non-contiguous "District B" would include the blocks bounded by Court Street, Huntington Place, the BQE, Henry Street, and First Place.

Some local residents, who believe that landmarking will force them out of the neighborhood, have formed an organization called "Citizens Against Landmarking" to fight the proposed historic district extension.  They argue that landmarking will drive up their ownership costs.  (The fact that it will also make their properties more valuable does not seem to be part of the calculation.)

The Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association and the Brooklyn Preservation Council support the expansion of the landmark district, which would complement last year's contextual rezoning of the neighborhood.

The post from Brownstoner.

More from the New York Post, which applies back-spin to an IBO report often cited by historic preservation advocates in support of landmarking.

More from the Brooklyn Paper, citing scofflaw John Quadrozzi's opposition to landmarking.

Gray Stone and Green Leaves

DeBlasio: DOE Ignores Impact of Co-Location

A report released last week by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), weeks after an appellate court stopped the city's Department of Education from closing 19 public schools, examines the DOE's decision-making process in closing public schools and in moving charter schools into public school buildings -- known as co-location.

As did the appellate decision in the school closure case, the Public Advocate's report finds that, in the case of charter school co-locations, the DOE fails to follow legally-mandated parental engagement requirements or to adequately evaluate the impact these changes have on schools.

Parents surveyed for the report included Lydia Bellachecne, president of the PTA at Brooklyn's PS 15, who said that 1/3 of students in her daughter's school, who were in special ed, got "lost in the shuffle" during a co-location; and Evette Chico, vice-president of the PTA at Brooklyn's Maxwell High School, who said that the DOE did not tell parents at her daughter's school that the school was being closed.  Chico found out about the DOE closure hearings only after the fact.

The report is available for download here and at www.aqeny.org

Third World, Here We Come

You may not like the message coming out of the Tea Party movement, but you have to give the Tea Baggers credit for smellin' what the Rock is cookin': America's middle class is dying. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at an alarming rate.

Never mind illegal immigration, global free trade, which the politicians and business leaders told us would do us good, has thrown American workers into the global work force -- in direct competition with educated, English-speaking people living in countries with no minimum wage and few labor regulations. In China, for instance, a garment worker makes about 86 cents an hour.

For 30 years now, big global corporations have been free to exploit Third World labor pools -- it's called "outsourcing" -- on the backs of middle-class American workers. Here are some of the results:

• The average time it takes a U.S. worker to find a job is now a record 35.2 weeks;
• There are now about 6 unemployed Americans for every new job opening;
• More than 40% of working Americans are in the low-paying service sector;
• 61% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, up from 49% in 2008;
• 36% of Americans are saving nothing for retirement, and 43% of Americans have less than $10,000 in retirement savings;
• 24% of American workers couldn't afford to retire this year;
• More than 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, up 32% over 2008;
• More than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, with 3 million more enrollments projected for 2011;
• Approximately 21% of U.S. children live below the poverty line - the highest rate in 20 years;
• The bottom 80% of American households hold only 7% of America's liquid assets;
• The bottom 50% of U.S. workers now collectively own less than 1% of the nation’s wealth;
• 83% of all U.S. stocks are owned by 1% of Americans;
• 1% of Americans had 66% of the income growth between 2001 and 2007;
• Banks, for the first time in our history, own more residential housing than individuals do.
• The average executive once earned 30 dollars to every dollar a worker earned --  since 2000, that figure has exploded to as much as 500 to 1;
• Only the top 5% of U.S. households can keep up with the increase in housing costs since 1975;
• The average Wall Street bonus went up 17% between 2008 and 2009;
• The average U.S. federal worker earns 60% more than the average private sector worker;
• The top 1% of U.S. households own nearly 50% more of America's corporate wealth than 15 years ago;
• The number of U.S. millionaires went up 16% to 7.8 million in 2009;
• The top 10% of Americans now earn about 50% of the nation's income. 

The world's labor market is fundamentally changed.  In today's global market, it doesn't matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how dedicated American workers are, they cannot compete with a global workforce willing to put in 12 hour days and earn less than a dollar an hour.

U.S. workers are slowly being merged into this global labor force, a process I (and a lot of other observers) call the "Third-Worldization of America", which is eroding every aspect of middle class American life.

U.S. workers are comparatively less attractive in the global workforce: they cost more, and the labor rules and regulations enacted to protect them now deter overseas employers from hiring them. So corporations are moving their operations out of the U.S. -- which they are free to do without penalty.

Truth is, most Americans are not really making it these days.  Long-term unemployment has soared, and those who do find work often make less money than they used to. More Americans now work at low wage retail and service jobs. Try raising a family on a Wal-Mart paycheck.

The politics of the global age are fascinating.  The American Right blames the American Left and vice-versa, and so on and so on and blah, blah blah, but neither side offers any real answers. I see no real leaders and no new thinking behind the shrill and sometimes outright paranoid rhetoric coming from both sides -- only crass opportunism of the kind that got us into this mess.

The article from Yahoo News.

More from the Economic Collapse Blog.

Linkage

The usual suspects turn up at Bay Ridge Night at MCU Stadium.

Beehive Hairdresser reminds the 5th Avenue BID that you have to water those plants stranded in street corner planters on these hot summer days.

DiNapoli takes a campaign swing through Bay Ridge [Brooklyn Daily Eagle].

The Bay Ridge Food Co-op celebrates its birthday [Brooklyn Daily Eagle].

To make New York City safer for airplanes, the U.S.D.A rounds up and kills the Canada Geese in Prospect Park [BK Southie].

An interview with Imam Abdul Feisal Rauf [Huffpost].

Rooftop farming takes root in Gowanus [Brooklyn Paper].

Five died when an illegal conversion in Staten Island burned [Queens Crap].

Charlie Rangel's ethics troubles could hurt the Democrats in midterm elections [Washington Post].

The tragedy of Phoebe Prince, bullied to death [Slate].

The Coney Island Talent Show

Thirsty Girl Productions and Miss Saturn will host the Coney Island Talent Show, on the boardwalk (between 10th and 12th Streets) on Saturday, July 31st from 4-8 PM.

The event is free.

Categories this year are:

• Drag or Celebrity Impersonator
• Circus Freaks and Sideshow Geeks (includes all variety and novelty acts)
• Dance your Pants Off (includes soloists, troupes and step teams)
• Creative Kids, 9-12 years
• Sassy Seniors, 60 and up.

The 1st prize in each category will be $200, a season pass to participating Coney Island Amusements and the chance to perform before a Brooklyn Cyclones Baseball Game, The 22nd Tattoo and Motorcycle Festival, or The 8th Annual New York Burlesque Festival.

The 2nd prize in each category will be $50, and day passes to participating Coney Island Amusements.

The 3rd prize in each category will be day passes to participating Coney Island Amusements.

The best dressed performer in each category will receive a special mystery prize.

Featured performers include:

• Comedian/musician Jessica Delfino
• (I love this one) Jelvis, the Jewish Elvis Impersonator
• The Amazing Amy, a Yoga Dancing Contortionist
• The Rhinestone Follies, a showgirl troupe from Brooklyn
• The Minsky Sisters, a vaudeville tap dancing duo
• 10-year-old Carly Rose Sonencla, who sang in the opening ceremonies of last year's US Open; and
• 12 year old Phineas, who juggles knives.

Visit www.thirstygirlproductions.com for details.

Waterfront Weekend in Red Hook

Portside Ship Tours

This year for the first time, City of Water Day has expanded beyond Governor's Island, with waterfront activities in Red Hook's Atlantic Basin on Saturday, July 24 from 10 AM to 4 PM. (Enter at Pioneer and Conover Streets).

Not-for-profit waterfront organization Portside will offer its first-ever tours of the steamship Lilac, as well as its home the Mary A. Whalen, throughout the day.

To volunteer, email research.portsidenewyork@gmail.com

Historic Walking Tour of Industrial Red Hook

On Sunday, July 25 at 11 AM, industrial historian Mary Habstritt will lead a walking tour of the Red Hook waterfront.

Discover the many remnants of the area's maritime and industrial history during the 19th and 20th centuries, from the New York Dock Co. to Lehigh Valley Railroad Barge #79 to Todd Shipyards.

Habstritt is Past President of the Society for Industrial Archeology, Museum Director of the Lilac Preservation Project, and a historic preservation advocate.

The tour is about 2 hours long, so wear walking shoes, dress for the weather, and bring a water bottle.

The tour will end near Fairway Market, where you can buy lunch at the waterfront café.

Space is limited, so RSVP here.

Sunset on the Mary A. Whalen

Portside will host a sunset open house on Sunday, July 25, from 5-9 PM.

See Portside's complete summer calendar here.

Golden Proxy Challenges DiSanto's Petitions

Update (Friday, July 23):  According to L Magazine (which got the lead from Atlas Shrugs in Brooklyn, the Golden camp has changed its mind and withdrawn its petition challenge.

In a post to the Albany Project blog on Tuesday, Democrat Mike DiSanto, running for State Senate in Brooklyn's 22nd District, reported that Democrat Bridget Riley of Bay Ridge has challenged his petitions.

Bridget Riley is the daughter of Raymond Riley, Chairman of Raymond Riley and Associates, an employee and campaign contributor of Republican/Conservative state senator Marty Golden.

DiSanto, who is running for Golden's State Senate seat, said he wasn't surprised, worried or intimidated by the challenge.

Golden ran uncontested in his last election in 2008, receiving a total of 42,804 -- mostly Republican --  votes, with 3,815 votes on the Independence Party line and 40,559 blank lines.

There are 77,881 Democrats, 33,494 Republicans and 40,059 Independents enrolled to vote in the 22nd District in 2010.

The Democratic advantage is 44,387, although, as one local observer noted, many of those so-called Democrats are stealth Republicans.

The 22nd Senatorial District includes parts of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, and Marine Park.

For more information about Mike DiSanto and his campaign, visit www.DiSanto2010.com.

The post from the Albany Project.

More from the Courier.

More from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

No Republican Votes for Greenhouse Gas Cap

Lacking a single Republican vote, Senate Democrats have abandoned an energy bill that would have capped the greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming.

Democrats tried for over a year to pass legislation making big polluters pay for their carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming.

But Republicans called the energy bill a "tax" and a "jobs killer", arguing that we would end up paying the cost and that manufacturers would outsource their operations.

The Democrats will likely introduce a new bill likely focused on holding oil giant BP PLC responsible for the Gulf spill, improving energy efficiency, boosting incentives for natural gas vehicles, and spending more on land and water conservation.

The article from the AP.

Rooftop Premieres Swedish Films

The Ape

On Friday, July 23, Rooftop Films, in partnership with the Swedish Film Institute, will present the New York premiere of  Jesper Ganslandt's new film The Ape (Apan), on the roof of Brooklyn Technical High School, 29 Fort Greene Place in Brooklyn. (G to Fulton, C to Lafayette, 2,3,4,5 to Nevins or B,M,Q, R to Dekalb.)

Doors open at 8:00 PM. Live music at 8:30 PM.  Screening at 9:00 PM. 

The Ape is an intense and riveting psychological thriller from one of Europe's most daring new filmmakers.

For more information, click here. 

Greetings from the Woods

On Saturday, July 24, Rooftop Films will present the New York premiere of Greetings from the Woods, in which filmmaker Mikel Cee Karlsson captures the dreams, relationships and everyday lives of the people of his hometown, a tiny village deep in the Swedish forest.

The film will be screened on the roof of The Old American Can Factory in Gowanus /Park Slope, 232 Third St. @ 3rd Ave. in Brooklyn. (F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union.)

Doors open at 8:00 PM.  Live music at 8:30 PM.  Screening at 9:00 PM. Courtyard reception at 11:00 PM. 

Greetings from the Woods has been described as an entrancing and masterful documentary of Swedish small-town life.

For more information, click here.

Cat on Curious Green Bench

Too Many of Us

There are 6.8 billion humans on the planet, and while fertility rates are falling in most countries, there are enough humans of breeding age now alive to push the world's human population to 8.3 billion by 2030 and 9.2 billion by 2050.

The U.N. has now upped that projection to 10 billion.

To give you a sense of what those numbers mean, that's roughly equivalent to 2 more Chinas or 8 more Americas.

Much of that population growth will be in sub-Saharan Africa, where some of the poorest nations on earth could see their populations double -- even triple -- over the coming decades.

It will take 50% more food and energy and 30% more available water to meet the demands that another 1.5 billion people -- 10,000 births an hour -- will make on our planet in the next 20 years.

Many countries have already lost the sustainability battle -- they can no longer provide their people with adequate food, water and land. By one estimate, 77 out of 130 countries could be classified as "overpopulated", in that they consume more resources than they produce and depend on imports to make up the difference.

In an era of growing shortages – food, energy, water – a nation's dependence on other nations means geopolitical vulnerability.

Human population has skyrocketed since the Industrial Revolution. There were only about a billion people on the planet in 1800.  By 1900, there were 1.7 billion. Then, within a century, the human population, enabled by medical and public health advances, cheap fossil fuels, and mechanized food production, shot up to 6 billion.

Scientists believe that the time has come for politicians to confront the problem of human population growth.

Britain's Royal Society, the country's premier scientific organization, has begun a 2-year study of the world's human population.

A working group established by the Royal Society and headed by Nobel Laureate Sir John Sulston will draw up a list of recommendations on human population that could become the political agenda for addressing the global threat humans pose to the planet.

Sulston, a leader in decoding the human genome, warns that if we fail to confront the problem of human  population growth, human life would be universally degraded. "We may survive, but we won't flourish," he said.

Sulston's group will look beyond sustainable development to the wider issues of culture, gender, economics and law.

Britain's chief scientist, Sir John Beddington, has warned that human population growth could converge with other key environmental issues -- such as global warming -- to produce a perfect geopolitical storm in the 21st century.

Viewed through the lens of sustainability, Britain is the 17th most overpopulated nation in the world. If it had to rely on its own native resources, it could sustain only about 15 million of the 60 million people who now live there.

More from the Center for Biological Diversity's Overpopulation Website.

Bird House, Ovington Avenue

Linkage

No doubt we'll soon be wondering how we ever stayed in shape before Stephanie Mancuso brought pole dancing fitness to Bay Ridge [Brooklyn Daily Eagle].

More from L Magazine.

Who gets hired for plummy City Hall summer internships [Gotham Gazette]?

City opens its first electric vehicle charging station -- with more to come [NYC.Gov].

The mayor plans to consolidate city government functions and crack down on delinquent bill payers [Crain's].

Hipsters throughout history, from L Magazine.

Is the Bloomberg administration discouraging parents from choosing schools it has targeted for closing [Gotham Gazette]?

The city kicks booksellers out of the parks [New York Post].

The proposed mosque at Ground Zero [DNA] unleashes the demons of 9/11 [International Business Times] at the LPC.

The city's Economic Development Corporation re-trains unemployed Wall Streeters for the new Green Economy [Gotham Gazette].

The EPA is holding a public meeting on hydrofracking in Binghamton on August 12 [Cadmus Web].

The state ends the quarter in the red -- without a budget [Crain's].

Are ecovillages greener than New York City [Worldwatch]?

Bicycles begin to take their place as a 21st century urban transportation alternative [Worldwatch].

Why does Tim Geithner want to stop Elizabeth Warren from becoming the nation's consumer watchdog [Huffpost]?

The U.S. Senate passes extended unemployment benefits by 1 vote [AP].

News from Green Home NYC

GreenHomeNYC is the New York City chapter of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the nation's leading regional membership organization focused on promoting the understanding, development, and adoption of energy conservation and non-polluting, renewable energy technologies.

Go to nesea.org to learn more or to join.

July forum: Biofuels (AIA credit)

On Wednesday, July 21, 2010, from 6:30 -- 8:00PM, GreenHomeNYC and METRO Biofuels will host a biofuels seminar at the Hafele Showroom 25 East 26th Street in Manhattan.

New York City's METRO Biofuels, the biggest biofuel plant in the U.S., is producing biofuels from vegetable oil, plant oil and restaurant grease, putting a dent in carbon emissions and decreasing sulfur and particulates.

This alternative fuel is readily available for residential and commercial use.

Learn about using biofuels to power buildings and vehicles -- including how to convert to biodiesel, why biodiesel is an efficient resource, and what tax credits are available.

RSVP here. Space is limited.

AIA credit is available for this forum, click here if you are interested.

Speakers include:

• Catherine Barton, Principal, The Pinwheel Group Inc.
• Paul Miller, President, 308 E 79th Street Cooperative Board
• Gene Pullo, CEO, METRO Biofuels.

The New New York 
 
The New New York, a revolutionary interpretation of the typical New York street fair, is produced by GreenHomeNYC, Pinwheel Studios and the Auster Agency. The fair brings to the street the latest education, products and visions for a greener New York City and serves as a prototype for the green street fair of New York City's future.

The New New York green street fair will take place all day Saturday, October 2 on Third Street, between Bond and Hoyt in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. (Take the F or G train to Hoyt Street.)

More than 3,000 participants are expected.

For more on the New New York, click here.

City of Water Day 2010

The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance will host its Third Annual City of Water Day on Saturday, July 24 in and around New York Harbor, beginning at 10 AM.

More than 10,000 people from the Tri-State region are expected to float, sail, ferry, paddle, row, splash, canoe, and kayak their way to Governors Island and New Jersey's Liberty State Park for the festival.

Highlights include:

• Free boat tours on historic and educational vessels
• A convergence of kayakers, rowers, boaters and sailors
• Free public kayaking and rowing
• Fishing demonstrations
• Children's fair, including hands-on waterfront activities and events
• Waterfront Action Fair and advocacy workshops
• Car-free waterfront biking
• Delicious food from Vendy-award winning vendors
• Live music by local bands.

To sign up for upcoming meetings about boating and paddling and other volunteer opportunities at the City of Water website.

New Amsterdam Market

South Street, where New Amsterdam Market now takes place, has been home to markets for as long as New York has been a city. The Market is reviving and reinventing this tradition.

The Market will be open from 11AM to 4PM on Saturday, July 24.  See the vendor page for more details.

If you're going to the City of Water celebration on Governor's Island, the Ferry leaves from the Battery Maritime Building at 10 South Street, just south of the New Amsterdam Market site.  You can pick up the makings of a picnic lunch at the Market to take over on the ferry.

Marlow & Daughters is offering a $30 picnic tote, available by pre-order, to pick up at the Market. You can call Marlow and Daughters at (718) 388-5700. (The deadline for picnic orders is Thursday, July 22).

Portside 

Brooklyn's Portside will host a satellite City of Water event, billed as the "largest family waterfront event in the region", at Atlantic Basin in Red Hook on Saturday, July 24 from 10 AM to 4 PM.

Highlights include:

• Tours of the 172' Mary A. Whalen 
• Tours of the 173' Steamer Lilac
• US Customs explains port security with a VACIS container scanner, sniffer dogs and videos (final demonstration 2:30 PM)
• See how containers are moved with a reach stacker container-mover from American Stevedoring
• Underwater NY with SoundTank
• Urban Divers EnviroMedia Mobile marine museum and live underwater video feed 
• BookCourt, water-themed books
• Kevin's Restaurant (fish tacos, clams on the half shell, gazpacho, ice team and lemonade); Kustard King ice cream truck
• PortSide Paint Your Own Fish T-shirt booth
• Kiddie pools with boat models and rubber ducks
• Photo booth.

Rooftop Films Summer 2010

Rooftop Films is a New York-based non-profit that seeks to engage diverse audiences by showing independent movies in outdoor locations, producing new films, coordinating youth media education, and renting equipment to artists at low cost.

This summer, Rooftop Films has scheduled 46 screenings and 150 films in 13 different outdoor locations throughout New York City.  Attendance is expected to top 25,000.

Click here for Rooftop Films' 2010 summer schedule.

The 14-year-old organization has mounted a campaign, through Kickstarter, to add free shows in new areas of New York, screen the film Gasland for free, and organize events in the secret Atlantic Ave. Subway Tunnel.

Support and campaign and get free tickets and passes.

Costco Sells Unsustainable Seafood

Costco is the biggest wholesale club operator in North America, and at almost every Costco warehouse, you’ll find freezers and coolers full of unsustainable ocean fish. (Sustainability refers both to the quantity of fish taken, and to the time, place and manner of harvest.)

According to environmental activist organization Greenpeace, Costco continues to sell 15 of the 22 types of fish on the Greenpeace Red List of unsustainable seafood.

Greenpeace has mounted an advocacy campaign to spotlight Costco's unsustainable seafood policies, urging Costco to adopt sustainability standards, label its seafood truthfully, and stop selling Red-Listed fish, starting with Orange Roughy and Chilean Sea Bass (a/k/a Patagonian Toothfish).

As the result of a similar Greenpeace campaign, Trader Joe's has stopped selling Red-Listed seafood.

Costco, in response to the campaign by Greenpeace and other advocacy organizations, has taken a major step away from selling Red-Listed seafood.

Ovington and 6th Avenue

I've been watching a demolition-by-neglect scenario play out on this corner over the past 4 years, which appears to be about how long it takes for a 4-story wood frame building in poor condition to ripen to the point of collapsing like a house of cards.

The now-demolished building was located just inches from the outer wall of the early 19th Century white frame house in the photo on the left.

According to a sign posted on the front of the construction shed surrounding the demolition site, the site is owned by the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, 6807 5th Avenue.

If a new mosque is built on the right, it seems like the family living in the white frame house would find itself caught in an ecumenical squeeze play between the Jehovah's Witnesses (Kingdom Hall is on the left above) and the Muslims.

Operation Pit

The ASPCA is looking for a few good dogs for its Operation Pit mission, which provides free wellness care for healthy pit bulls and pit bull mixes aged 3 months to 6 years.

Recruits are entitled to free vaccinations, free spay/neuter/vasectomy, free microchip, free K9 camo gear, other gifts, and awards upon mission completion and honorable discharge.

To enlist, call 1-877-900-PITS (7487).

Is This Your Dog?

He was found wandering in McKinley Park on the morning of Thursday, July 8. 

He hasn't been neutered and he wasn't wearing any tags, which, in my book, means you've got some 'splainin' to do.

Call 718-916-7831 or email greenteatori@hotmail.com.

Who You Callin' Fuzzy Face?

Why Demolish the Hotel Pennsylvania?

As posted here, the magnificent Hotel Pennsylvania, designed by McKim, Mead and White, is slated for demolition.

Vornado Realty Trust, which owns the building, plans to build a 67-story office tower, "15 Penn Plaza" on the hotel's footprint.

Manhattan Community Board 5 and the Save The Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation, fighting to save the hotel, have gotten zero support from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer or the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, which declined to designate the building a local landmark.

The City Planning Commission has approved the Vornado plan, subject to City Council review.

I got an anonymous e-mail today from a historic preservation advocate who read my post who is attending what may be the last biennial conference his organization will hold at the Hotel Pennsylvania. A group of people, he said, has been trying for years to expose what Vornado has been doing to this wonderful hotel.

He attached a PDF of the March 1919 Architectural Review showing the architectural significance of the building, noting that New York City, which demolished the hotel's sister building, Pennsylvania Station, appears to be about to repeat that tragic mistake.

I'm happy to publish this information in an effort to spread the word about this beautiful building, which clearly deserves landmark protection.

Click here to view the PDF of the Architectural Review article.

In researching the question why the Hotel Pennsylvania has been sacrificed to development, I came upon this fascinating article.  It's long, but it contains a lot of background information.

New Kings Democrat Restler Tops in Fundraising

New Kings Democrat Lincoln Restler, who has refused corporate contributions in his run for Democratic state committee, has raised 3 times more money than his opponent.

Restler is running on a reform platform for State Committeeman (a/k/a District Leader) in Brooklyn's 50th AD.

The outpouring of grassroots support from hundreds of voters throughout the district racked up a $46,484.85 campaign filing for Restler with the State Board of Elections, outstripping any other district leader candidate in Brooklyn.

72% of Restler's donors gave $100 or less.

Restler's reported 3,500+ petition signatures, 7 times the required amount, easily secured his place on the ballot.

NYC Council Members Letitia James, Diana Reyna and Jumaane Williams; District Leaders Jo Anne Simon, Alan Fleishman, and Joanne Seminara; and Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn have endorsed Restler.

For more information, visit the website: LincolnRestler.org.

Bay Ridge Arab American Bazaar

The Arab-American Association of New York is sponsoring its biggest event of the year, the 4th Annual Bay Ridge Arab-American Bazaar, from 1-8 PM tomorrow, Saturday, July 17, at Shore Road Park, Shore Road and 79th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

This all-day, family-friendly event brings the Arab community and its neighbors together in a celebration of Arab culture, featuring Arabic musical and dance performance, food and craft vendors, children's activities, and more.  

Transportation:  Take the R to 77th Street; B4 to 77th Street and Narrows Ave; B9 to 70th Street and Shore Rd; B16 to 86th Street and Narrows Ave; B64 to 70th Street and Shore Rd; or B70 to 79th Street and 3rd Ave.

To volunteer, contact Jennie at (718) 745-3523; jennie.aaany@gmail.com.   

The post on the AANY website.

Fifth Avenue, Bay Ridge

The Battle for the Brookyn GOP

For months now, I've been trying to understand the civil war raging within the Republican Party in South Brooklyn, but sorting through the barrage of verbal ordnance flying back and forth between the blogs mounted by the warring factions has been tough going.

Here's what I've come up with so far about the "Incumbents" and the "Insurgents": 

• The Insurgents are younger than the Incumbents -- in age or outlook; 
• Most of the Incumbents have a Bay Ridge axis;  
• The Insurgents accuse the Incumbents of, in so many words, being dodgy, bigoted old farts; and 
• The Incumbents accuse the Insurgents of, in so many words, being douche bags.

This is clearly a generational battle, in which the Incumbents won't give way, and the Insurgents won't give up.

Here's who I think the players are:

The Incumbents

• Individuals

1. Marty Golden, Republican/Conservative State Senator, Brooklyn's 22nd District.
2. Craig Eaton, Chair, Brooklyn Republican Party, a Golden ally.
3. Jerry Kassar, Member of Executive Committee, Brooklyn Conservative Party, Golden's Chief of Staff.
4. Mike Long, Chair, Brooklyn Conservative Party (former owner of Long's Liquors on 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge), a Golden ally.
5. Peter Cipriano.
6. Clorinda Annarummo.
7. Jerry O'Brien, Eaton loyalist, runs Theodore Roosevelt Republican Club, believed to co-author the "Jig is Up, Atlas" blog with Stephen Maresca.

• Possible Incumbent Allies

1. Michael Alegretti, Bayside Fuel scion and "energy consultant", Republican candidate,13th Congressional District, endorsed by the Incumbents, Golden's choice to oppose Michael McMahon. Allegretti was formerly employed by the Bloomberg administration, which is alllied with Marty Golden, as an energy consultant.

• Blogs

1. The Jig is Up, Atlas 
2. Brooklyn Politico (?)

• Organizations 

1. Theodore Roosevelt Republican Club

The Insurgents

• Individuals

1. Lucretia-Regina Potter, Executive Committee Member, Fiorello LaGuardia Republican Club, Republican District Leader, candidate for State Assembly (49th AD), Insurgent leader.
2. Jonathan Judge, President, Brooklyn Young Republicans, Insurgent leader.
3. Roy Antoun, Insurgent leader, described, with Judge, as one of the new leaders of the Brooklyn Republican Party.
4. Justin Lee Brannan, local business owner (The Art Room) and community organizer.
5. Mike Harris.

• Blogs

1. Atlas Shrugs in Brooklyn
2. Bay Ridge Interpol
3. Brooklyn Revolution
4. Roy Antoun's Blog

• Organizations 

1. LaGuardia Republican Club
2. Brooklyn Young Republicans

Neither fish nor fowl

1. Based on what I've been reading on Atlas Shrugged in Brooklyn, I'm putting Rudy Guliani, a possible Incumbent ally, in a third column.  Guiliani may not even have a dog in this fight, although he has supported Grimm.
2. Rick Lazio, Republican candidate for governor, also goes in this column.  He's endorsed by the Incumbents, but also endorsed by the Insurgent Brooklyn Young Republicans.
3. Michael Bloomberg is a Marty Golden ally, but I doubt he would want to be publicly identified with the kind of stuff I've been reading on The Jig is Up, Atlas blog, so I hesitate to put him in the Incumbent column.
4. Mike Grimm is a tough call.  An outlier Republican candidate for 13th Congressional District, Grimm is supported by Rudy Guiliani, the Fiorello LaGuardia Republican Club, the Brooklyn Young Republicans, and the Brooklyn Conservative Party. Grimm calls the Staten Island GOP, which has endorsed Democrat Michael McMahon, a "corrupt organization".  Republican Borough President Guy Molinari is reportedly deeply tied to Grimm, while Republican Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro has endorsed McMahon.  So there's a Brooklyn-Staten Island as well as an Insurgent-Incumbent split over Grimm, who has been hanging with the Insurgents lately.

More from Atlas Shrugged in Brooklyn.

Another perspective from CNG, which points out that, for all the fuss, it looks like an incumbent romp this fall.

It is believed that for years, the Incumbents have made deals with South Brooklyn Democrats loyal to Vito Lopez in order to keep themselves in power. Have the Insurgents upset that arrangement by ignoring the backroom deals, or is the new political reality at least partly due to a corresponding generational split in the Brooklyn Democratic Party?  Marty Golden is being challenged this fall by upstart Democrats Mike DeSanto and Claudio DeMeo.

BP Caps Gusher

The AP reports that BP has finally capped the blown-out Deepwater Horizon gusher, stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

As many as 184 million gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf over an 85-day period.

Now begins a 48-hour vigil to see if the 75-ton cap will hold or whether the well will blow a new leak.

The worst-case scenario is that pressure from the rising oil will fracture the well and literally blow a hole in the sea floor -- a hole that could not be fixed.

If engineers find new leaks, they will remove the cap, allowing oil to spill into the sea again.

Even if the cap holds, the vents will be opened and oil released while engineers conduct a seismic survey of the ocean floor over the next 48 hours to make sure that oil and gas aren't leaking out of the well into the bedrock.

The Gulf spill, one of the biggest offshore spills in U.S. history and one of the nation's worst environmental disasters, has killed untold wildlife and decimated the livelihoods of fishermen, restaurateurs and oil workers from Texas to Florida.

The article from the AP.

Ovington Avenue

Weiner on a Roll

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is leading the pack of 2013 mayoral candidates in fundraising.

The 45-year old Brooklyn native, known for his humor, his smarts and his er, temperment, will disclose that he has $3.9 million in a city campaign account, $1 million more than his nearest potential rival to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Weiner's golden war chest is only part of his good news:  he got married this past week to glamorous 34-year-old Huma Abedin, a Muslim, who is Hillary Clinton's longtime aide. (Bubba officiated.)

The post from the Wall Street Journal Blog.

Kruger Faces Primary Challenge

Update:  I heard on Friday, July 16, that Oberman had withdrawn his candidacy.  I don't have any further information right now, but I'll update when I do.

State Senator Carl Kruger has more than just federal prosectors and wired-up club owners to worry about.

Russian-American attorney Igor Oberman is challenging Kruger in a Democratic primary.

Oberman and his family came to Brighton Beach in 1981 as part of the mass exodus of Soviet Jews to the U.S.

He is a graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School and Brooklyn College, the first member of his family to get a college degree.

A New York Law School graduate, he has been in private practice in South Brooklyn since 1997.

The first Russian-American Administrative Law Judge at the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission, where he was promoted to the Appeals Unit, Oberman now works at the Environmental Control Board as an administrative appeals judge, and will teach a course in administrative law at Hunter College this summer.

Oberman sees overdevelopment, pollution, congested roads, traffic and commuting delays, crowded classrooms -- and bad politicians -- as his neighborhood's biggest problems.

Oberman's website.

The post from the Daily Gotham.

Pacific Street

City's Online Water Meter Reader

New York City has launched a new automated meter reading system that allows businesses and homeowners to monitor their water usage online in real time. The online tracking tool is the latest step in the city's conversion to automated meter reading.

Nearly half of the city's 834,000 water customers now have automated meters. The new wireless automated meter reading system, consisting of small, low-power radio transmitters connected to individual water meters, will send readings throughout the day to a network of rooftop receivers citywide.

The receivers are part of the New York City Wireless Network, administered by the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT).

The $252 million DOITT installation will eliminate a $3.6 million-a-year meter-reading contract, while hopefully increasing collection rates as a result of more accurate billing.

Wireless water meters transmit water consumption data at least 4 times a day (in some big buildings, readings are hourly), ending estimated water bills and giving customers more timely and accurate readouts of their water usage.    

Using the online tracking tool, customers with wireless water meters can monitor their water usage in real time and view their past billing and payment history. Usage statistics will be available by day, week, month, year and billing period, allowing customers to compare usage during those time frames.

Phase-in of the wireless water meter readers started in the Bronx, where customers are now using them. Customers in the other 4 boroughs with wireless water meters will be moved online on a rolling basis: Queens starting July 26; Brooklyn starting August 9; Manhattan starting August 23; and Staten Island starting September 7. 

The city hopes to complete the wireless water meter rollout by January 2012, with between 7,000 and 9,000 customers being added to the network every week.

Once the rollout is completed, New York will be the biggest city in the world to adopt a wireless water metering system.

 See citywide installation schedules and an explanation of the free installation process here.

The automated water meter system fosters the City's PlaNYC sustainability goals by providing the city with better data for conservation and system planning initiatives.

The Bloomberg Administration has committed a record $21 billion in capital spending to water projects, including:

• $2.5 billion for the city's third water tunnel;
  
• Acquisition of nearly 70,000 acres of land upstate to protect the city's watershed;
• $5 billion to upgrade the city's 14 wastewater treatment plants;
• Nearly $1 billion to reduce combined sewer overflows.

This year, the New York City Water Board is proposing to increase water rates by almost 13%.  Legislation (A.5878 and A. 9770), sponsored by local State Assembly Member Janele Hyer-Spencer is aimed at stemming rate increases and reducing future debt service payments while continuing to invest in infrastructure.

Gail Goode Challenges Gillibrand

Gail Goode, shown at right next to her boss, New York City Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo, has announced a primary run against Democratic U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Goode, a former assistant DA, is Deputy Borough Chief of the Tort Unit in the Corporation Counsel's Office.

Goode accuses Gov. David Paterson, who appointed Gillibrand, of pressuring potential challengers out of the way to allow Gillibrand to run virtually unopposed as the candidate of the special interests and lobbyists who support her campaign.

Goode calls Gillibrand's voting record too weak and inconsistent to make her a competitive candidate.

Goode says she intends to challenge Gillibrand's integrity, leadership, voting record, and character.

A gun control advocate, Goode questions Gillibrand's support for the repeal of federal record checks for gun purchases -- a law Gillibrand originally supported.

Goode challenges Gillibrand's original vote on the federal bailout bill, her opposition to amnesty for illegal immigrants, and her position change on gay marriage.

More from Queens Crap.

FracTracker Launched

Digging for information about hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale? There's a new web tool out there.

FracTracker, run by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC), is a website that uses GIS (geographic information system) programming to aggregate hydrofracking data sets from across Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Ohio.

FracTracker is a free crowd-sourced tool that allows you to upload your own data on all things fracking-related to the website, where others can view your data in map form or download it raw.

CHEC came up with the idea for FracTracker while working with communities in Western Pennsylvania, which, like parts of West Virginia, New York and Ohio, sits on top of the Marcellus Shale, an extensive rock formation riddled with natural gas deposits.

People in those communities have become increasingly concerned about the environmental impacts of hydrofracking, but haven't always been able to come up with the hard data they need to make informed decisions. FracTracker, searchable both geographically and by subject, fills that gap.

The FracTracker blog helps users get the hang of using the new tool.

The article from Pro Publica.

Linkage

Protecting your home from burglars while you're away on vacation [Sheepshead Bites].

Check this out, people:  a rooftop truck garden in Brooklyn! [Brooklyn Grange]

The Center for an Urban Future has 10 suggestions to boost Coney Island's comeback.

The Brooklyn backstory of Left Banke's classic 60's hit Walk Away Renee [Ink Lake].

The "brutal weirdness" of a New York Times front page juxtaposing the phat Atlantic Yards development and dwindling city-funded services [Noticing New York].

Marty Golden's Summer Concert Series

State Senator Marty Golden, the Southwest Brooklyn Parks Task Force and CERT1 have announced the lineup for their 2010 Concerts in the Park series, set in local parks throughout the Summer.

Featured local bands include Risky Business, The Rockinghams, Disco Unlimited, Brooklyn Keys, Generation Gap, Frankie Marra and His Band, and Carl Thomas.

Here's the concert schedule from the senator's Facebook page:

• July 20 Risky Business (Oldies 60’s and 70’s) 79th St and Shore Road
• July 21 The Rockinghams (Best of the 60’ and British Rock) Marine Park (Fillmore Ave)
• July 27 Disco Unlimited (Best of the 70’s Disco) 79th St and Shore Road
• July 28 City Sounds (Old and New Dance) Marine Park (Fillmore Ave)
• Aug 10 Brooklyn Keys (Oldies and Disco) Dyker Park (86th St & 14th Ave)
• Aug 11 Generation Gap (Dance Music) Marine Park (Fillmore Ave)
• Aug 17 Frankie Marra and His Band (Top 40 Classic Rock Party Band) 79th St and Shore Road
• Aug 18 Carl Thomas (Best of Sinatra, Darren, Martin) Marine Park (Fillmore Ave)
• Aug 24 Family Day (Rides, games, karaoke and more) McKinley Park (75th St and Ft Hamilton Pkwy)

All concerts are free and open to the public.  Concerts begin 7:00 PM (Family Day starts at 5:00 PM).

Cancellations due to the weather will be posted on the concert hotline.  Call (718) 236- 7547, by 5:00 PM.

For more information, contact Golden’s office at (718) 238-6044.