When You Control the Mail, You Control INFORMATION!

Are you getting those magazines a week late? All your ‘do not bend’ letters folded in half? Swapping mail with the people across the street every day? Are you even getting any mail at all?

Photo by Gareth Saunders
Photo by Gareth J.M. Saunders

Park Slope is starting to feel like that Seinfeld episode where Jerry completes Newman’s mail route with gusto, and is later scolded by Newman after he gets flack from his fellow carriers: “Too many people got their mail! Close to 80%… Nobody from the post office has ever cracked the 50% barrier! It’s like the 3-minute mile!”

Mail service in the 11215 zip code has been varying wildly of late. Reports on the Park Slope Message Board range from a few stating they’ve gotten of excellent service, to posters like Christina who have spent too much time peering into an empty box. After several phone calls and complaints, Christina finally got an answer: “I got a phone call back (from the mailman’s supervisor)…his reason for not having delivered my mail recently is that “IT SLIPPED HIS MIND”.

What else? jenntrixie and sweetpea both report mail being dumped into an unsorted pile in the hall. And with the holiday season coming up, mail service will likely slow down for all of us.

How does your mail carrier rate? Report it on the Park Slope Message Board

Am I the only person who hates the store circulars that litter our stoops!?

It’s Wednesday again – the day that mountains of store circulars, or as I like to call it, corporate litter, are tossed onto our stoops to simply sit there in ever-growing, moldering piles until they are thrown away by the most disgruntled neat freak in the building (yours truly.) Is there any way to stop this?? Our block looks like a total junkyard after the Trash Fairy comes by. I have no idea who actually wants these things, so maybe we can get it outlawed – like telemarketing. The circulars are sponsored by Lowe’s, Pathmark, Fairway, Home Depot, Pathmark and Duane Reade – all companies that can afford real advertising. I realize this may not be the most pressing political issues facing our nation at this time, but man, is it ever annoying!!

I personally will not shop an anyplace that sponsors this trash.

Reasonably Priced Framers in (or Near) Park Slope?

Parksloperox writes on the Park Slope Message Board: “I’m looking for a reasonably priced framer here in the Slope… Quality is super important (I just received a super nice print and I want it to be done properly… of course). Does anyone have any places that they’d recommend?”

nunu-framing.jpg

Here’s a few to start with:

1. Old standby: Yale on 5th Ave. near Greenwood Cemetery. Only open during weekday business hours (no weekends) but are very good on price.

2. San Art (7th Ave. one block south of Flatbush Ave.) has a huge selection of frames and mats.

3. NuNu Gallery on Union St. does good work (which may not come cheap).

4. That great shop on 7th Ave. between 11th and 12th Sts. Can be busy.

Stuff comes recommended on the Park Slope Message Board

Image: nunuframing.com

No Sleep for Brooklyn: Should Baby Get to “Cry It Out”?

Photo by estrojenn.


Does your neighbor’s bundle of joy = sleepless nights for you and everyone else in your building?

Recent proud parent Willregistersoon asks on the Park Slope Message Boards: “We just had a baby about a month ago (first one, boy). We live in an apartment building. I’ve always been abnormally concerned with keeping quiet and being courteous and considerate to my neighbors wherever I’ve lived. But now, with the baby, this is proving much harder…No neighbors have said anything so far – and even if they do say something, what can I actually do? I’m just dreading the inevitable night(s) where we try letting him ‘cry it out.’ ”

Well, at least you asked… BrooklynJack replies: “Thanks for your consideration. If he does wake in the middle of the night and you let him cry it out, please, please take him to the living room. My downstairs neighbors let there child cry it out in the bedroom, just under where we are (trying) to sleep. Sorry you have to have a bad night, but why must I?”

Parents: Never mind the neighbors… should you let junior scream till he’s spent? Linusvanpelt says yes: “It’s not just hard to stop a crying baby, it’s inadvisable…Going to get the crying baby in the middle of the night teaches him to cry every time he wakes up… which is worse for everyone’s sleep in the long run.” Apparently there are also studies that show that babies who learn how to soothe themselves to sleep end up being more self-secure and confident adolescents and adults.

Take heart, neighbor of crying infant: at least you can look forward to a good night’s sleep…13 years from now.

Park Slope Parents: Cry it out on the Park Slope Message Board

Park Slope Renters: Military Need Not Apply

Is it legal? Is it binding? Is it discriminatory? What’s going on here? sloper111 writes on the Park Slope Message Board:

“I just signed a lease for an apartment in Park Slope… I know the Slope is liberal, and we don’t like that fucking Bush and his fucking war. But I can separate the asshole in Washington from supporting the troops. The landlord made me sign saying I wasn’t in the military and wouldn’t join the military. Now, I need an apartment… I can’t look for another now, so I signed.”

“This landlord won’t rent an apartment to someone in the military for fear of losing rent if they end up in Iraq. Am I the only one bothered by this?”

This may actually be pretty common. sarajean8 writes in reply: “Come to think of it, my lease had a whole page concerning this military topic…”

Read more on the Park Slope Message Board

park slope research

Hello!

My name is Sarah. I go to Parsons and I have to do research of an area in New York City. Our area is Park Slope.

What we have to do is ask residents of Park Slope:

*How do they feel about living there?
*If there was anything they could change (a.k.a problems with graffiti) what would help the community?

The second one is very important to our class! So if anyone could help out that would be great!

It has been real fun visiting the area and it is absolutely gorgeous. Especially with it’s architecture and nature. Plus everyone is so nice and friendly.

Thanks for reading,
Sincerely,
Sarah

Ask the Drunken Guest: Best (and Worst!) Bars in Park Slope

Hey! Original Drunken Guest is back with, well, another round of bar crawling advice for Park Slopers. Here are some excerpts:

Great Lakes — it is not the best bar in Park Slope… it’s just not, so get over it. It’s small, dark and crowded…

Sheep Station (4th Ave and about Sackett or so) — A really nice new place with limited Austrialian-esque menu. Lesbian-owned and friendly to all. A bunch of beer and a big back area.

Brooklyn Inn Not in Park Slope, but for a $7 cab ride, it’s worth the money you’ll save on drinks. $5 Jamesons, nuff said.

Patio — pretty good place. Sangria, if you like that shit… nice bartenders and a decent crowd.

Total Wine Bar first let me say Sample on Smith Street is where you really wanted to go … As for Total – it can be pricey, however … I like the 30 and over crowd for a change of pace, and the mac and cheese is amazing. And I don’t even like mac and cheese …

That pool hall place — A real gem. 5th ave and 13 or 14th… 8 ball over the door… downstairs opens into a huge, HUGE pool hall… over 20 pool tables and two ping pong tables…. a ten-seat full bar in front with an old school TV…. a barely dressed 18 year old Latina woman waiting the (pool) tables… great crowd, tons of seating for non pool players… the most welcoming pool hall around… Best example is when I saw a foursome of gay hispanic guys there… nobody looked twice or cared… the place leans slightly ghetto but is in no way feux ghetto fabulous.

BAR CRAWL: Read more about Buttermilk, Bar 4, 12th Street, Loki, Puppet Jazz, Lighthouse, Living Room, Commonwealth, Catty Shack, Blue Ribbon, Barbes, The Gate, Bar BQ, Union Hall, and more in the Park Slope Message Boards

Oh, and FYI — Maria’s Mexican Restaurant now has a bar…

City Fines for Leafy Sidewalks

Poor Guest. The post “I Am Not Messy” on the slope boards raised some blood pressure and concerns for the locals. Apparently, having some leaves and a candy wrapper on your sidewalk earns you a ticket– despite how windy it was last weekend when the trash mingled its way over to your property line.

The people living off of 5th ave. are cranked after their whole block got ticketed. And it doesn’t stop there. Marie says,” It’s a ridiculous scam and a ticketing blitz to meet their f#%$ing quotas. Check out this very recent article (10/23) about the Dept. of Sanitation scam in Bensonhurst…Fight it and cite their quota system!!”

Have you been ticketed? Did you fight and win?.”
Get a word in, edgewise, on the boards.