According to a NYC Dept of Health sticker, Water Street Pub & Restaurant has been temporarily closed by the city. The notice is dated 4/30/2012, but there are no details on the NYC Restaurant Inspection website (search for “Water Street Pub & Restaurant”).

The restaurant was most recently given a grade of “A” on 4/21/2012 and on 11/03/2010. When we stopped by late morning today, there were a few disappointed out of town tourists. We hope whatever happened are minor issues.

Water Street Restaurant (waterstreetrestaurant.com)
66 Water Street, Brooklyn NY 11201

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 Dumbo Gymnastics: Sign up with a friend and you both get 10% off the summer session.

A fire at the 89 John Street Con Ed substation in Vinegar Hill Brooklyn broke out yesterday (on Plymouth Street between Gold and Bridge Streets) at approximately 5:15pm. News first broke on Twitter before we called 911 to report the incident. Neighbors heard an explosion, followed by a fire and thick black smoke. FDNY controlled the fire by 6:30p and no injuries were reported.

This is the second such fire at the ConEd plant in the past year.

Watch the video of the fire:

By the way, anyone have any information on future plans for the John Street ConEd substation?

Photos and videos by Chris Frank

(Photo by NYCphotos)

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• 25 Jay Street Rental $3950, 25Apr2012, Brownstoner
• Rendering for the New St. Ann’s Warehouse, 25Apr2012, Brownstoner
• Toronto Couple Settles in 220 Water, 28Apr2012, Curbed
• Dumbo like Toronto’s Distillery District?, 26Apr2012, NYT
• 39 Bridge Street Townhouses Now on the Market, 27Apr2012, Brownstoner
• Dumbo’s Dynomighty, 25Apr2012, INC
• 183 Columbia Heights Acquired by Investors, 23Apr2012, Crains
• The Brooklyn Tech Triangle Growing, 243Apr2012, BetaBeat
• Brooklyn’s “Tech Triangle” A Real Draw For Startups, 26Apr2012, NY1
• With the Rise of Digital Dumbo, Do We Detect A Beef?, 23Apr2012, BetaBeat
• First Look: Gran Electrica in Dumbo, 26Apr2012, SeriousEats
• 5 Places to Visit During Fashion Swap Summer Tour in Dumbo, 23Apr2012, Hangersand
• artist Abby Goldstein Beautifies Streets, 24Apr2012, Brownstoner
• Building of the Day: 100-110 Bridge Street, 24Apr2012, Brownstoner
• Building of the Day: 24 Evans Street, 26Apr2012, Brownstoner
• The Case for ‘Adaptive Reuse’ at 370 Jay in Downtown, 27Apr2012, Brownstoner
• Construction on the Squibb Park Bridge, 27Apr2012, Brownstoner

Image courtesy of Jane Kratochvil on Flickr.

cnn.com on Space Shuttle Enterprise coming to NYC.

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The old photo above, courtesy of New York City Municipal Archives, from 1908 of Manhattan Bridge shows the bridge under construction. 870,000 photographs of New York and its municipal operations have been made public for the first time on the internet. The city Department of Records officially announced the debut of the photo database yesterday.

Above is one of the photos that was released (on Yahoo News):

“In this June 5, 1908 photo provided by the New York City Municipal Archives, the superstructure from the Manhattan Bridge rises above Washington Street in New York. Over 870,000 photos from an archive that exceeds 2.2 million images have been scanned and made available online, for the first time giving a global audience a view of a rich collection that documents life in New York City. (AP Photo/New York City Municipal Archives, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures, Eugene de Salignac)”

Construction of the Manhattan Bridge started in 1901 and was open to traffic at the end of 1909. This view looking down Washington Street is a well known one. This 1908 photo also shows the buildings on Plymouth Street, which still stand today (left one is 30 Washington Street and right one is 25 Washington Street).

Here’s another image of the photo from 1908, 1974, and 2009.

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{Dumbo Then and Now, series, DumboNYC}

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

DUMBO Improvement District and Tech Triangle partners (the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and the Brooklyn Navy Yard) commissioned an an economic impact study on the economic impact of the “Brooklyn Tech Triangle”. Here’s what they had to report:

The numbers speak for themselves: more than 9,000 jobs; $3 billion in economic output; and all of it could double by 2015. We couldn’t be prouder of how this industry is shaping the future of the Brooklyn (and New York) economy.

A few key take-aways:

• 188 tech/creative firms responded to the survey and DUMBO Improvement District Members made up 83% of them.
• More than 77% of our firms report that more than half of their employees live in Brooklyn. More than 31% say that 100% of their employees live in Brooklyn. Yah, we love it here too.
• 99% of firms already here want to stay and grow here and more than 76% of firms not yet here want in. Today the industry occupies 1.7 million square feet of space, primarily here and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. That number will increase to 3.1 million by 2015. Wow. That’s a lot of demand. We know the market around here is tight already and we’re working to make more space available. Please reach out if you or a startup you know is having trouble finding space.

An infographic based on data from the study was created above.

Related, there are two venture capital and startup related events on Wednesday, April 25:

1. D3: Dumbo Demo Day, hosted by Digital DUMBO & NYU-Poly at 6:15pm at 20 Jay Street, Suite 312
2. Dumbo Startup Lab – VC Steve Berg Speaks on the state of NYC as a place for startups. 8pm at 68 Jay Street, #718

A link to the full report (Economic Impact of the Brooklyn Tech Triangle) can be accessed at brooklyntechtriangle.com/the-study/