Does “Hipster” automatically equal Brooklyn?


turtle95 writes on the Park Slope Message Boards: “In two articles in the NY Times recently (one about Fair Trade Coffee and the other about fixed wheel bicycles), the New York Times has equated “hipsters” with Brooklyn.”

“Is this a default now? Are there any hipsters left in Manhattan, or if they live in Manhattan, would they not be considered hipsters? What about Queens? Do they have any?”

“… If this was word association and someone said hipster, how many words it takes until you get to Brooklyn (or a subset thereof, e.g. Williamsburg)? … this isn’t an indictment of hipsters, just an exploration of what the term is coming to signify geographically.”

EXTRA!! Fun fact: the word “hipster” is used in 4 different articles in yesterday’s Sunday edition of the NYT.

Pontificate on hipsterism on the Park Slope Message Board

Park Slope Barack Obama Supporters

There are a few Park Slope & “Surrounding” Slope groups working with Brooklyn for Obama that are having get-togethers soon. The next one is on Wednesday next for the Gowanus/South Slope/Sunset Park folks. For more info, go here.
The Park Slope group is pretty active–to check it out, go here. And finally, The Obamathon is May 12th in Battery Park. Learn more here.

Time Warner Woes: 5 Steps to Actual Customer Service

uglyjohnny shares his Tips on dealing with Time Warner on the Park Slope Forum | DailySlope.com Message Boards:

“We’ve had repeated outages of TimeWarner broadband in our N Slope area for about four weeks… Getting a response has been frustrating. Here are some tips I’ve learned:

1.TW will not recognize an “outage” until a whole bunch of people have called to complain. (One CSR said the magic number is 10.) So if your service goes down (one or two lights on the modem blink monotonously), and you’re pretty sure it’s not just you (your neighbors are down, too; a number of open wifi networks are concurrently disconnected), you must call

2. Calling customer service (718-358-0900) is a real hassle, but you can make it easier. Again, if you’re sure it’s an outage and not just you, you can avoid the useless automated troubleshooting system (20 minutes easy) by refusing to respond to one of the recorded questions, or by saying something that’s not one of the listed choices. (“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” “None of the above.” “I want to talk to a human being.”) This may take some experimentation. After the first CSR tells you to bring in your modem or schedule an appointment, insist on speaking to a supervisor.

3. Call back the next day. Maybe that will count as two complaints.

4. Tell your neighbors to call, too.

5. Getting a credit for lost service? Good luck with that, but making the phone calls is a necessary first step.

What else works? Link: Tips on dealing with Time Warner (Park Slope Message Board)

Landmark Pub Update: Falling Glass, Lawsuits, and $5.75 Million FIRM

Pat Maliha and her convertible - Landmark PubAccording to the Brooklyn Papers, this woman (Pat Maliha, a Windsor Terrace preservationist) was “nearly decapitated” last week from a 36-inch piece of glass falling from everyone’s favorite Park Slope eyesore: the 10,000-square-foot brownstone on 7th Ave. that used to house the “legendarily wacky” Landmark Pub.

Apparently Maliha was in Tarzian West across the street when the guillotine fell. Now she is going to sue, according to Brooklyn Papers. Not sue the building owner, but the city, for not securing the loose and broken windows: “The city knew about the danger … But it didn’t do enough to protect people.” Well… maybe we’re a little late to the story, but there has been scaffolding around the building since at least the beginning of March. And one obvious question: how did the glass get from the window to the curb, especially with all that scaffolding sidewalk tunnel to catch it? Take a look at this photo and try to imagine the trajectory of the glass… Not saying it’s impossible, but if glass fell out of a combination of neglect and gravity, wouldn’t it simply fall straight down into the scaffolding??

Anyway… Is it right to sue the city? Drano writes on the Park Slope Message Boards: “On the one hand, it kind of seems as absurd as trying to sue the NYPD if you’ve been mugged… On the other hand, this particular ‘mugger’ has been in one spot, rotting away for the better part of twenty years… the condition of the building is plain to see.

Oh yeah – remember when that building went on the market for $5.75 million last fall? Ken Freeman, the realtor who was handling it, called the building a “disaster”, and said the owner refused to negotiate from that high price, according to the Brooklyn Papers.

Paging Bruce Ratner: Any interest in invoking eminent domain on this beast??
Read more on the Park Slope Message Boards