Jeff Newell, a musician and music historian, teaching the kids about how music of the early 20th century relates to music they may hear today. He has a studio in Vinegar Hill.

Samara Gaev, a NY-based poet and educator, working with the 5th graders to brainstorm as they write (and at the end of the week record) their original songs. Samara is on the board of Project Rhythm, which was founded by Jamin Gilbert, president of Ishlab Music Studio in DUMBO.

Blake Harrison of DUMBO-based Flocabulary, teaching the 2nd graders vocabulary words by rapping about a cat named Biggie. Blake and Alex Rappaport talked to the kids about how music sticks in your head and can help you learn.

(Photos courtesy of Jam On DUMBO)

Jam On DUMBO provided the first Music Week at P.S. 307, five days of music programming for the elementary school’s students, from May 21st to May 25th, 2012.

During Music Week, Jam On DUMBO is bringing more than a dozen musicians, educators and performers to P.S. 307 (209 York Street, Brooklyn). Students will be exposed to different types of music and movement and have the opportunity to explore the importance of music in their own lives.

“We understand the value of children having access to the arts. At a time when budgets are cut so drastically from schools, community partnerships like the one with Jam On DUMBO are crucial,” says P.S. 307 Principal Roberta Davenport. “This event is at the core of what we believe – this idea of expanding the worldview of children, and bringing to them unique experiences that they otherwise wouldn’t have.”

The week culminates in a Friday assembly where the fifth graders will perform their original songs. Funmilayo Chesney, an award-winning Congolese dancer and instructor at the Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance, will also perform.

More from the press release after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »

(Photo by Chris Frank)

Con Ed will brief neighbors on the recent fire and findings of the investigation into the fire tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 7pm at Phoenix House.

The environmental reports by ConEd’s Environmental Health and Safety ChemLab showed elevated PCB contamination in the surrounding area.

All are welcome. Thank you to ConEd and the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association for setting up this meeting. Please RSVP to vinegarhillbklyn@gmail.com.

When: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m. sharp
Location: Phoenix House, 50 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
(between Water & Plymouth Streets)

Related:
{ConEd Substation Explosion Collateral Damage, 14May2012}
{Fire at ConEd Plant in Vinegar Hill Yesterday (Again), 30Apr2012}
{ConEd Transformer Explosion in Dumbo, 16Sept2011}

Apparently during the 89 John Street Con Ed substation explosion and subsequent fire on April 29, collateral damage was done to surrounding cars parked on Plymouth Street. In addition, a few residents are concerned about the hazardous threshold level of PCB contamination as a result of the explosion and fire. The owner of the car damaged during the explosion (in the upper right corner of the photo above) sent us the following note:

We’re writing to warn you of potentially hazardous levels of PCB’s released during the April 29th fire at ConEd’s Farragut Substation in DUMBO/Vinegar Hill, which you reported on in an April 30th post.

Our car was parked directly opposite the Farragut Substation gate on Plymouth Street at the time of the fire. Its rear window was destroyed and the interior contaminated with transformer components, debris and soot as a result of the explosion and subsequent fire at the facility. Knowing that ConEd hazmat crews had tested the area for PCB’s in the wake of the fire (including our car), we requested a copy of the environmental testing report. After first ignoring repeated requests, ConEd finally released the report to us yesterday afternoon, Friday May 9.

The day after the fire, we were told by Sean Monaghan of the ConEd environmental department that our car was clean and that we could pick it up. When we asked what “clean” meant, he told us that it tested below 1 ppm (parts per million), which he said was ConEd’s threshold for hazardous PCB contamination. Not wishing to expose our 20-month-old son to ConEd’s ‘acceptable level’ of contamination without first seeing the test results, we did not pick up the car. As it turns out, according to the report, the interior of the car was never tested.

What is likely of primary concern to you and your neighbors is the data on page 5 of the attached report, which indicates that curbside water outside the gate tested at 3 ppm, triple ConEd’s stated hazardous threshold level of PCB contamination. We understand that this is the second fire at this facility in the last six months. Given the reckless disregard they’ve exhibited toward our family’s safety and the contempt with which they’ve treated us in their fire’s aftermath, we have little doubt this level of concern extends to the community at large. We thought you should know.

We’re not environmental experts, so we don’t want to comment on what this means. If anyone can speak to it, please chime in. The EPA’s “Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Site Revitalization Guidance Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)” document addresses clean up and disposal requirements for PCBs pcb-guid3-06.pdf (PDF).

wikipedia entry on PCB

(Photo courtesy of NY Times)

An article in the NY Post yesterday reported a brutal barfight between party promoters a few weeks ago in Dumbo. A follow up Daily Mail article grabbed photos of the promoters. This is a throwback to the old Dumbo, except with pretty girls. For those who have been around Dumbo for a few decades, this NY Times article earlier this year is more of the old old Dumbo, when people were left in bags or on the shores of Dumbo. Ah, the good ole days of Dumbo.

(Photo above is on Plymouth Street in 1990. Here’s a Google image of the same place today.)

{dailymail.co.uk Article}
{NY Post Article on bar fight}

There is an open house at PS 307 Vinegar Hill (209 York Street) tomorrow, May 3, 2012 from 9:30am-11:00am and 6:00pm-7:30pm.

From the school:

Still looking for a school for your child to attend in September? Come learn what PS 307 has to offer – Violin & Keyboard Instruction, Social Emotional Learning, Dual Language Mandarin/English Program, Technology Based Instruction, Afterschool Programs, School Health Center, ASD Horizon (Autism Spectrum Disorder Program) and more

For Information, call 718-834-4748

We’ve heard positive feedback from parents in the neighborhood about the Pre-K through 5 Grade school.

PS 307 (Daniel Hale Williams)
209 York Street, Brooklyn NY 11201 (Between Navy & Gold Streets)

Teddy Goff (Digital Director) and Joe Rospars (Chief Digital Strategist) lead President Obama campaign’s digitial initiatives (website/apps). They will be in Dumbo for a reception and fundraiser at Powerhouse Arena on May 8. They will present an “inside look” on the campaign’s digital strategy.

To attend, please purchase tickets here.

(Disclaimer: DumboNYC does not endorse any particular Presidential candidates.)

The Powerhouse Arena
37 Main Street, Brooklyn NY 11201
Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 6:30pm

From Loftlaw.info:
Please Join
Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, (D-Bushwick & Williamsburg)
Councilmember Stephen Levin, (D- Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Greenpoint, Williamsburg

Panelists:

New York City Loft Board
New York City Department of Buildings

Co-Sponsors:

DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance
New York City Loft Tenants
Brooklyn Arts Council
East Williamsburg/Bushwick Loft Tenants Association
Neighbors Allied For Good Growth
New York Live-Work Coalition

Attend this event to learn about your rights and show support of the Loft Law.

7:00 PM Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Our Lady of Pompeii Community Room
225 Seigel Street, Brooklyn, NY

CrossFit Dumbo will be moving to a space at 48 Pearl Street (next to MotoDumbo). They are currently at 10 Jay Street and will be relocating in May to the 2,500 square foot space owned by Pearl Street Realty at 155 Water Street. Francis DeCarlo of Creative Real Estate was the broker.

We highlighted CrossFit Dumbo last year as a growing business, and they are now expanding their facilities to accommodate the fitness training needs for Dumbo and Brooklynites.

CrossFit Dumbo offers a fitness coaching facility with group and individual coaching, using the CrossFit methodology. CrossFit workouts are comprised of constantly varied functional movements (like pushing, pulling, squatting, lifting, running) executed at high intensity. If you want to get in shape for the summer (and for life), CrossFit Dumbo is a great place to start doing it with others in the community.

CrossFit Dumbo (CrossfitDumbo.com)
48 Pearl Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: 347.533.2439
crossfitdumbo@gmail.com

133 Water Street, (the silver building in the above photo), currently a rental building, has started to sell apartment units as condos. According to streeteasy, there are four units on the market, all offered by Brown Harris Stevens:

• $939k: #8A, 2 beds, 1,124sf, $838/mo maintenance ($835/sqft)
• $885k: #3B, 2 beds, 1,057sf, $1007/mo maintenance, ($837/sqft)
• $725k: #5E, 1 bed, 912sf, $680/mo maintenance, ($794/sqft)
• $700k: #10D, 1 beds, 802sf, $598/mo maintenance, ($872/sqft)

Seems they are within current prices in Dumbo (at least in price per square feet), which is currently at a median of $827 per square feet, according to Streeteasy.

In a story that makes you wish you did what they did, the NY Post wrote about one couple’s real estate sales in Dumbo in a span of 14 years. Victor and Athena Calderone bought in Dumbo in 1998 for $275 per square foot at 1 Main Street (when Two Trees redeveloped the building), a 1,700 square foot condo for $467k. For approximately the same cost today, you can get a 565 square foot studio at 205 Water Street.

The story continues with the sale of their place for more than double and upgraded to a two bedroom condo on the same floor, which was then sold three years later worth twice. They invested in two penthouse condos at 70 Washington Street (“one a two-bedroom for $2.2 million, or $1,269 per square foot; another a one-bedroom for $1.5 million, or $1,197 per square foot”), which we profiled in April 2010 and was sold in 4 weeks for under $4million.

They purchased a condo at One Brooklyn Bridge Park before buying back into Dumbo, a $2.3 million, 2,187-square-foot, three-bedroom penthouse (with two terraces, a balcony and a private roof deck that total 2,344 square feet.)

Karen Heyman handled all of their sales and purchases since their purchase at One Main in 1998.