D.U.B. Pies closing its Columbia St. storefront

We received a sad email today telling us that D.U.B. Pies aka "Let Them Eat Pie" will be closing its Columbia St. storefront soon. Not only was D.U.B. an important part of the diverse restaurant selection in our area, but also one of the first and only Down Under style bakeries in NYC.

The two pieces of good news in the closing are that they are having a sale today and tomorrow, and that they will also be opening a bakery (without a storefront) in Red Hook proper, which will be offering delivery eventually. Below are the details from an email they sent out to their list. Try to stop by tonight or tomorrow and bid them farewell!

LET THEM EAT PIE will only be open this week on Wednesday (all day) and Thursday (until 3pm) – we invite you to come and say goodbye with/to us at this store and as a last hurrah we re offering hot pies at $4 each and frozen pies to take home for the holidays at $3.50 each!! (Our lowest price point ever!)

This offer is only good if you come to the store – it doesn t extend to delivery, sorry.

One piece of good news is that we plan to continue offering free delivery to the area as our production space is in Red Hook proper (sorry, we don t have a a storefront there – you ll need to come to The Pie Shop in Windsor Terrace for your Flat Whites and Aussie/Kiwi groceries/snacks.) There may be a short teething period as we set this up – please bare with us.

New Years Eve at Sugar Lounge

All You Can Eat buffet for $35,
champagne Toast,
Times Square live on tv,
and dancing 'til dawn with live DJ'S...

What a great way to celebrate New Years without having to travel outside of the neighborhood!

Sugar Lounge is located at 147 Columbia St.

PS - "Come Celebrate Sylvester" refers to St. Sylvester, who is celebrated on December 31st in France and other European countries

Breakfast with Santa - Sat 12/19

Solar car & charging station come to Columbia Waterfront!

With all the salt in the air and danger on the streets lately, its refreshing to know that our neighborhood is also home to some forward thinking in terms of what we drive - and what we emit while doing so.

A couple months back I noticed an interesting development emerge on Degraw St: The walls of the space were painted white with strokes of green and pictures of plants, and the sign on the lot read "Beautiful Earth Group." Shortly after, I saw a car parked on my street from Beautiful Earth that boasted to be solar powered.

It turns out that Beautiful Earth is a solar powered car company, and their space on Degraw includes a solar charging station! The car is 100% electric and can be charged to full capacity in this charging station, which is constructed from a recycled shipping container (how fitting for our area!).

I was able to read details about it on a recent post from Inhabitat.com. Head over there to read all about it and see more pictures.

Images above from Inhabitat.com

Car crashes through storefront on Van Brunt

A car crashed through a storefront on Van Brunt near Dikeman today. I'm not sure of the details yet, but either way, this serves as a harsh reminder that traffic isn't just a Columbia st. issue, but a concern throughout the neighborhood. Much of the traffic on Van Brunt passes through Columbia St. to get there, and vice versa, and therefore the issue needs to be addressed on a neighborhood wide scale!


{Photo by Lisa C.}

RED Hook Holiday Specials 12/18-12/20

The RED group is back at it again with a wide range of specials being offered throughout the weekend of 12/18-12/20 (RED = Red Hook Economic Development). Restaurants, shops, and galleries all have something to offer.

The flyer below offers a full list of participating businesses and the specials that they're offering (click the image for a larger version):

Another accident today/ Columbia St. traffic update

There was another accident on Columbia St. and President St. this morning involving a car and a motorcycle. It happened during the 8 am hour, and it seems that the motorcyclist was taken away in an ambulance. Two reports so far say that he is presumed to have had a broken leg.

Given this incident, its probably a good time to give the community an update on the petition that we previously circulated and other related efforts.

Steps taken to date:

• A petition with 170 signatures was mailed to DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan last week requesting the implementation of traffic calming and safety measures along Columbia St. (thanks to everyone who signed!). Copies have also been forwarded to the offices of Brad Lander, Joan Millman, Marty Markowitz, Daniel Squadron, Bill de Blasio, and Community Board 6. This petition follows two previous letters mailed in by the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association to the DOT.

• We have confirmation from the offices of Lander (Councilman elect), Millman (State Assemblywoman), and Markowitz (Borough President) that they will support the community's request. Some of this support has happened already: Markowitz's office has had multiple conversations with staff from the Brooklyn DOT office to find out more information and look into options, Joan Millman sent a follow up letter to Commissioner Sadik-Khan in support of the petition, and Brad Lander will be bringing it up in upcoming meetings with DOT officials.
  

Next Steps:

• If you happen to see or have a relationship with any of the above confirmed supporters, express your thanks to them and remind them of the urgency of the matter

• If you happen to see or have a relationship with any of the elected officials that have not yet responded, please write in or mention the issue to them and ask that they provide some level of support

• Finally, please feel free to let us know about any other offices that we should forward it to. You can also send in your own letters, emails, and calls to urge elected officials and city agencies to support this.
  

Novel-Ts: A great gift for literature lovers

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way for literature lovers to show off their favorite characters and writers in a way that sports fans show off their favorite athletes? With the launch of Novel-T earlier this year, that dream can now be a reality!

Novel-Ts are jersey style t-shirts with a literature theme, featuring graphics and names that refer to writers and characters from classic books. There are currently 9 different designs available, with more to be released in the future.

Novel-T is a Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood operation - the creator behind the line lives here - and the shirts themselves are printed at Quist, a screenprinter located in Red Hook.

On top of all that, you can buy the shirts right on Columbia St. at our favorite local bookstore, Freebird Books. (People in other parts of the city can find them at BookCourt, Powerhouse, and the New Museum as well.)

To help ensure that there will always be new names to add to the Novel-T line-up, Novel-T donates $1 of the purchase price of each shirt to 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills.

Check out more details at their site here, or read reviews and interviews from the NYtimes, Brooklyn Paper, Time Out New York, the New Yorker, and more here. Also check out this new Novel-T video here:

Columbia Waterfront history presentation by Pratt students - this Thursday 12/17

On Thursday, 12/17, graduate students from Pratt will be making a presentation about the history of the Columbia Waterfront neighorhood, based on research they have been doing as part of their Historic Preservation Program

Thursday, December 17th, 2009 10am

@ Pratt's Higgins Hall North

Directions:

The presentation will be made in Room 406 of Higgins Hall North, located at the corner of St. James Place and Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill (near, but not on, the main Pratt campus). The building houses the School of Architecture, which includes the planning & preservation programs.

The closest train to to this location is the G train to the Clinton-Washington stop

Salt Pile Update

As of early yesterday the salt pile was returned to a (mostly) covered state. As we mentioned before, this does not appear to be a longterm solution, and we have thankfully heard word that efforts beyond this will be made in coming weeks. Please stay tuned for details about that as they are soldified, and be patient while the process is underway. Of course, if anyone is aware of the salt pile cover coming loose again before this happens, please let us and your elected officials know.

Thanks to anyone who made calls or sent emails to elected officials, as it seems they were instrumental in getting this problem resolved. Further details on that to also come at a later date.

Anyone who has leads in terms of getting lab analysis on salt samples done would also be greatly appreciated!