Hi DumboNYC readers. BlankSlate, based in Dumbo Brooklyn, manages advertising for DumboNYC. They’re an important part of why I am able to keep DumboNYC up and running. They’re fast growing network of premium sites focusing on urban audiences (including Brownstoner, Brokelyn, The L Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine and many more. BlankSlate is excellent at connecting local merchants and businesses to DumboNYC and we hope the ads have been useful for you. The revenue from the ads are recycled back into the community to support non-profit organizations. We hope it’s a win-win-win for the readers, small businesses, and organizations.

BlankSlate is growing and is looking for a Digital Sales Assistant. The Digital Sales Assistant will work closely with BlankSlate’s ad sales team on all aspects of the sales cycle, from lead generation to media proposals, to social media, as well as campaign management and ad trafficking. You’ll gain knowledge of all aspects of digital media advertising as well as the ability to create your own path with a unique and growing media company.

For details, go to Blankslate.com. Be part of the Dumbo community and contact them or forward to someone you know who would be interested.

(Side note: Contact brad [at] blankslate.com for advertising options. For advertisers, not only will you be sending your message to a targeted crowd in Dumbo, ad revenue is donated to support the Dumbo community. If anyone would like to be a one time or regular contributor, guest writer, or photographer, please contact me.)

Happy New Year and march into 2013! Thank you for reading and emailing me throughout the year. In 2012, the DumboNYC site had 520,000 unique visits and 1,121,000 page views. Dumbo Brooklyn still brings interested residents, visitors, businesses, workers, and tourists looking for events, housing, and information. I hope this site helped to bring the community relevant information. It can be better, and if there’s anything specific I can do, I welcome feedback to DumboNYC@gmail.com.

To another great year, Dumbo!

- Hide @DumboNYC

(Photo by jasonhawkins)

What? What?! The area in Brooklyn around Flatbush Avenue Extension in downtown Brooklyn is known as “RAMBO” (Right After the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) has showed up on Google Maps, according to NY Post. Google has set the boundaries to be between Nassau Street and Tillary Street and Flatbush Ave Extension and Gold Street. But don’t look for it anytime soon on the MTA maps, as when Dumbo was included in 2010, says a DOT staff who asked not to be named.

While we’re on Google Maps, the correct location for the F subway station (York St) has still not been fixed. The map shows that the station is on the corner of Jay and Sands Street. The correct location is on the corner of Jay and York Street. We’ve submitted this error for many months.

Do you know how Dumbo got its name?

Related:
{Google Map Adds Dumbo POIs}
{Walk Around Dumbo Using Google Maps Street View}
{The New MTA Subway Map And Yes, Dumbo Is On It}

(Photo of Washington Street without power after Hurricane Sandy by Guillaume Gaudet Photography)

A significant storm is forecast to impact NYC from mid-day today through Thursday morning. Although only an inch of rain is forecast, sustained winds will reach 25 to 40 miles per hour, with gusts up from 55 to 65 miles per hour. The wind will cause a storm surge ranging from 3 to 5 feet at high tide Wednesday afternoon. The City is working to help New Yorkers recover from Sandy. Shelters will remain open until residents can safely return to their homes.

NOTE: Due to the impending Nor’easter – the Help DUMBO Rebuild Fundraiser will be postponed by 1 week – until Wednesday, November 14.

The NYC government:

“Because Hurricane Sandy weakened trees and caused extensive damage and debris, the predicted wind speeds present an increased risk of more downed trees and tree limbs, as well as windblown debris. All New Yorkers are urged to stay indoors during inclement conditions.

In light of the beach erosion and other damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, some of the lowest-lying areas in the city – particularly the areas flooded by last week’s storm – are vulnerable to storm surge today.

No general evacuations have been ordered, but if you experienced significant flooding during Hurricane Sandy, you should consider taking shelter with family and friends, who do not live in low-lying areas, or go to one of the City-run storm shelters.”

All bridges and tunnels in the region are open, except for the Holland, Hugh Carey/Brooklyn-Battery, and the Queens-Midtown tunnels.

Most subway service is running. Some service is available on the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad. Check with MTA.info for the most updated information.

The East River Bridges are open to traffic in both directions. No occupancy restrictions are in effect.

Alternate side parking is suspended Tuesday, November 6 and Wednesday, November 7. Parking meters are in effect.

Most private ferries, including the East River Ferry are running. Service changes may be in effect.

NYC.gov Severe Weather Alert

Dumbo has been written up in a few media outlets lately and wanted to compile in this post.

Dumbo was ranked 12 in The L Magazine’s 13 ‘most livable neighborhoods in Brooklyn’. The list included subjective rankings (graded on a scale of 0 to 10) on access, affordability, green space, culture, food, nightlife, and architecture. Since Dumbo is one of the most expensive neighborhood in NYC, affordability is 0. Culture, access, greenspace ranked high. Food is ranked a 5, but we think the food options are getting better. (We’ll post more on Dumbo food news soon.) If you’re wondering, #1 in the rankings is Fort Greene/Clinton Hill. Read about the other neighborhoods on The L Magazine.

(from WSJ)

The Wall Street Journal must love Dumbo, since they’ve published articles on Dumbo’s media agencies and tech companies, real estate vacancy rates, Gran Electrica, photo district status, NY Photo Festival, NYC tech boom, another tech company article, and even Chumbo, the Manhattan side of Dumbo.

The latest article discusses how Dumbo has grown up, sort of:

The charms of Dumbo as a spacious, relatively affordable, convenient, scenic and artsy neighborhood have made it the New York of Hollywood—a destination for wedding shots, music videos, television shows and movies.

But the section of Brooklyn, located mostly between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, is continuing to come into its own with restaurants, businesses and even quirky operating routines reflecting its popularity as an artists’ enclave.

Indeed, Dumbo has taken flight.

“We kind of think of it as what I imagine SoHo was like in the ’70s or ’80s,” said John Watkinson, 36 years old, who co-founded Docracy, a Dumbo company that provides legal documents and legalese workshops, mostly for the neighborhood’s sizable population of freelance web developers, writers and artists. “It is professional with skinny jeans,” he said. “It is for when the kids from Williamsburg get jobs, real jobs.”

They mention Singularity & Co as a business that bridges the professional and artistic community and compare Dumbo to the East Coast version of San Francisco’s Presidio. “And businesses such as Recycle-A-Bicycle, Rabbit Hole Yoga or Possum Paint Studio play into that.”

Time Out New York asked us for a few favorite spots in Dumbo in an article about the best of Brooklyn. I mentioned Zakka, Brooklyn Roasting Company, Shibui, and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Finally The Real Deal published an article in the October 2012 issue on NYC’s neighborhood blogs and how the smart real estate pros read hyperlocal news to keep up with building and neighborhood information. Fellow bloggers Brownstoner, EV Grieve, F’d in Park Slope, Bowery Boogie, Brooklyn Heights Blog, Pardon Me For Asking, West Side Rag, Queen’s Crap, and Ditmas Park Patch were featured (with DumboNYC too).

Yesterday, we mentioned the Dumbo Arts Festival starts tomorrow. The area is busy with preparation.

If you’re planning on coming to Dumbo via subway, according to the MTA (between 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon, Sep 29 – Oct 1), Brooklyn bound F trains are running on the A line between W. 4th Street and Jay Street/Metro Tech. This means if you’re coming from Manhattan to York Street in Dumbo, get off on High Street (A line) instead. Manhattan bound F still stops at York Street.

Thanks to our friends at Brooklyn Heights Blog for alerting us!

(Preview of www.codexdynamic.com)

Preparations for this weekend’s Dumbo Arts Fest have begun. For the weekend, Dumbo will be transformed with art on almost every part of the neighborhood. Festival officials are expecting over 225,000 people for the 3 day arts festival. The Festival will showcase installations in stores, lobbies, scaffolding, and alleyways, performances and exhibits on more than 50 stages, and tours of 100 open artist studios.

“The 16th Annual Dumbo Arts Festival will bring the entire neighborhood to life, transforming its streets, parks, bridges, buildings, waterfront, and even sky into canvasses, stages, exhibition spaces,” said Lisa Kim, Festival Director. “Best of all, it is completely free, enabling everyone to experience extraordinary local, national, and international art at a price that can’t be beat.”

Highlights of the 16th Annual Dumbo Arts Festival, which is presented by Presenting Sponsor AT&T and Two Trees Management, include:

• Superhero, an interactive projection mapping experience in which festival-goers exhibit superpowers, including flying over the multi-story façade of Empire Stores, shifting their size, throwing light beams, and more. Created by Wildbytes, Superhero is the 2012 AT&T Signature Artwork.
• Codex Dynamic (Leo Kuelbs and John Ensor Parker, curators) is a large-scale video projection exhibition presented on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage and Archway. Featuring video artworks by internationally renowned video artists, the exhibition is epic-size eye candy that transforms space, time, and our perceived reality.
• Bureau of Apologies 2.0 (Brent Birnbaum): At The Bureau of Apology, participants fill out cards with a series of questions and then drop them in a locked box. Stop by and leave feeling better about yourself.
• Inverted Sky (Erika Harrsch) – Taking place in the sky above Brooklyn Bridge Park, this musical performance will feature kites made of banknotes from different countries transformed into beautiful butterflies
• Tidal Voyage (Nathaniel Lieb) – A floating sculptural garden in the East River featuring large, reflective sculptures including a golden water lily, a disco ball and a satellite
• Bartertown (The Heather Hart Experience) – Participants haggle for something they want their own ideas, services, songs, stories, unwanted goods, handmade art, appliances, or anything they think may hold value.
• Flex is Kings Live – Flex is Kings LIVE is a rare chance to experience the excitement and power of the underground street dance culture of “Flex”. Flex is an East Brooklyn born dance movement made up of many unique styles. This will mark their first public stage performance with Juillard Faculty Jerome Begin and Electro-Cellist Chrissy Lancaster of Tranimal backing them with their quirky eccentric blend of beats bleeps and strings.
• First time this year, the festival is partnering with the Children’s Museum of the Arts to offer a wide-range of family art projects, free-form activities, media workshops, and exhibits themed around the DUMBO Waterfront, including a carousel-making workshop inspired by the beloved local landmark Jane’s Carousel.

The full Festival schedule can be found here. For the latest updates on artists and exhibitors, follow the festival on Facebook and Twitter (@dumboartsfest).

What: The 16th Annual Dumbo Arts Festival
When: Friday, September 28th to Sunday, September 30th
Time: Friday, September 28th – 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, September 29th – 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday, September 30th – 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
All outdoor projections are open from 6 p.m. to midnight all three nights.
Cost: Free
Where: Spans the neighborhood of DUMBO, Brooklyn, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, including the waterfront.
Web: www.dumboartsfestival.com

About the video:
Returning this year is “Codex Dynamic,” a massive projection on the Manhattan Bridge as part of the Dumbo Arts Festival. The same artists brought last year’s “Immersive Surfaces.”

Projected on up to 33,000 continuous sq. feet of the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage and Archway in Dumbo, Brooklyn. “Codex Dynamic” is curated by Leo Kuelbs and John Ensor Parker, and will be presented from 8pm-12am during Dumbo Arts Festival, September 28-30.

Brooklyn Magazine’s Neighborhood Power Rankings are out, and Dumbo moves up two spots to #6. They write, “The rents are still bonkers high, but interesting retail (surfboards!) and restaurants (Governor!) are still opening.”

Our beloved neighbor in Brooklyn Heights moved down a notch to #12 because of hot dog gate. Says Brooklyn Magazine, “When a hot-dog cart set-up on Mongague Street in June, residents responded on a local blog as though homeless junkies had burned down their homes. A hot-dog cart!”

In the latest issue (Fall 2012), articles include the new sci-fi bookshop in Dumbo, Singularity & Co, Brooklyn’s best local coffee roasters, and Brooklyn’s Tastemakers.

 [+] larger

Subscribe at Brooklyn Magazine.

Previously:
{Brooklyn Magazine’s Neighborhood Power Rankings (Winter 2011)}

[UPDATE: Cops have caught him]

Gothamist points out that the NYPD has released this surveillance photo of a man wanted for “USING HIS CELL PHONE TO FILM UNDERNEATH THE VICTIM’S SKIRT” in Brooklyn’s York Street F station—attractive to upskirt fiends for its very long ramp and steep staircases. Per Gothamist, “The incident happened on August 20th, and the detective handling the investigation tells us there are “no leads yet.” It may be that police have had trouble catching the alleged perv because, as the witness told us, “he looks like most people who work in Dumbo (a bit hipster-ish).”"

Anyone with information about the suspect, notify Det. Hubert Reyes at 718-287-3239.

A few real estate tidbits:

1) 222 Water Street

(222 Water Street, photo courtesy of Creative Real Estate Group)

222 Water Street, the address for the ground level retail space in the 220 Water Street building for 4200 square feet is available as office space. As first mentioned in August 2011, the building owner was trying to lease to a restaurant. However GDC Properties, the project owner and developer is open to leasing the space for offices after two potential tenants walked away. The cost is $35/rsf, and offered by Creative Real Estate Group.

2) 51 Jay Street

51 Jay Street, the warehouse that was put on the market in December 2011 is in contract for sale. No word yet on sale price or the buyer. Anyone?

3) Rice Restaurant, 81 Washington Street

(Photo courtesy of Dan Fimm)

It is rumored that Rice Restaurant on Washington Street in Dumbo is not renewing their lease. If this is true, a closing of the Dumbo location will follow the Fort Greene and Murray Hill branch location closings last year and the Nolita location closing in April 2012. Rice, in Dumbo since 2001 has been a reliable dining (and take out) option for residents and office workers in the past decade and will be missed.