Time is quickly melting away for this beloved creamery!

The owners of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in Brooklyn Bridge Park must close their store inside the historic fireboat station at Fulton Ferry Landing by the end of the year, after green-space stewards handed the keys to the property to the folks behind another borough scoop shop, Ample Hills Creamery.

“They made a choice, I have until the end of this month to vacate,” said Mark Thompson, who owns the Dumbo creamery with restaurateur Buzzy O’Keefe of the famous River Cafe next door.

News of the Factory’s imminent end came as a cold slap in the face to dozens of fans of the creamery at the Dumbo end of the park — which opened in 2001 back when the city’s Economic Development Corporation operated the station — many of whom left comments lamenting the change on an Instagram post announcing its closure. https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/41/50/dtg-ample-hill-brooklyn-bridge-park-2018-12-14-bk.html

Your correspondent was deeply saddened, on arriving for his and his wife’s (this time joined by some neighbors) usual Friday night dinner at the Chip Shop, to find at the top of the extensive beers, ales, and ciders menu a note that the place would close at the end of this weekend, having lost its lease. I returned today to enjoy one last Full English Breakfast and the company of others who had been regulars there, as well as some I hadn’t met before, and of long time bartender Liz Drobits (photo).

Atlantic Avenue has lost one other watering hole. Last weekend, as I was walking past, I saw a notice in the window of the empty (on a Saturday afternoon) Roebling Inn, announcing that its last night was the Friday before. Atlantic has thus lost two venues in which fans of English Premier League football (soccer to us Yanks) could gather to cheer their favorites: London’s Arsenal club at the Chip Shop; Liverpool at Roebling.

Reader Haley Geftman-Gold has notified us, on OTW, that the space at the northeast corner of Montague and Henry, above Pinto, formerly occupied by Vegetarian Ginger, is being taken by a chain called Otto’s Tacos. Reader Jorale-man has helpfully given us a link to their menu. There’s another interesting development taking place at 76 Montague, the former Friend of a Farmer location, that’s hardly a secret anymore, but our Teresa Genaro, who has the inside track on this, will be posting about it soon. -Brooklyn Heights Blog

Back to the drawing board, please: The Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) on Monday met with top Department of Transportation honchos and pushed them to consider alternatives to the city’s plan to replace the Promenade with a six-lane highway during the $3.4 billion reconstruction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). They also challenged DOT to drop several restrictions that limited engineers’ ability to spare the venerable esplanade, known as the jewel of Brooklyn Heights. DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg along with other DOT officials, project engineers and elected officials met with BHA leaders for two hours. BHA presented its alternative plan conceived by Marc Wouters Studios, a Heights-based architect-urban planning firm. The Wouters design would move traffic to a temporary two-level structure west of the existing triple cantilever, as opposed to DOT’s six-lane highway on the Promenade.

BHA said in a statement that the alternative design would impact Brooklyn Bridge Park’s noise-attenuating berms — steep, grass-covered hills — to some extent but would not affect the park’s usable space. It would also involve noise protection features so that the area now occupied by the berms could become useable parkland post-construction. BHA Executive Director Peter Bray told the Brooklyn Eagle on Wednesday that Trottenberg “was receptive to having her engineers analyze Marc’s concept and for a later meeting with them to enable us to go into the technical aspects of the alternative proposal — what we call the Parallel Highway vs. DOT’s Promenade Highway. We anticipate that that meeting will occur once DOT has done a preliminary analysis.” Read entire article here:

Brooklyn Heights Association presents alternative BQE plan, challenges DOT to think outside the box

The BHA has organized a meeting with DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and the engineers overseeing the BQE Project on November 19th. At the meeting, we will press DOT to abandon the 6-lane highway on the Promenade in favor of a better approach to rebuilding the BQE.

The BHA has retained engineering consultants to evaluate alternatives to DOT’s plan and assess ways to reduce traffic on the BQE during the construction period. Their expertise will greatly assist the BHA in showing DOT that viable alternatives exist and warrant its consideration.

The outcome of Tuesday’s election and the leadership change in the State Senate could potentially pave the way for passage of a long-delayed congestion pricing plan that would place tolls on the East River crossings. This measure would reduce traffic on the BQE, making alternative construction approaches more feasible and mitigating their environmental impacts. With this new political opportunity, the BHA will advocate for the passage of this congestion pricing plan.

As we all know, the Promenade is a draw for all New Yorkers, not just those in our neighborhood. The traffic congestion resulting from the BQE Project will affect everyone. To ensure that all stakeholders are supportive of our objectives, the BHA is consulting with our sister neighborhood associations to keep them fully informed of our efforts. The BHA values your ongoing support. This campaign to identify the right solution for our neighborhood would not be possible without this support. Your donations make a significant difference. Please contribute today to our https://thebha.org/donate/

Officers have been elected and committees have been formed.  Want to know who’s doing what? Just have a look at the column to the right.

A New York City appeals board has given the green light for a new sign to replace the former Watchtower sign on the Brooklyn waterfront. The Department of Buildings had earlier advised the new owners of the former Jehovah’s Witness office buildings, now called Panorama, that the sign was never approved and had to come down for good. The Watchtower sign, which had been visible to commuters on the Brooklyn Bridge for 49 years, was removed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in December 2017. A time and temperature sign remains in place. In an appeal to the Board of Standards & Appeals, evidence dug up by their Fried Frank attorneys showed that over the years, the Department Of Buildings had made numerous prior approvals and recommendations for work done to the sign which sat atop the 12-story building at 30 Columbia Heights. Read entire article here

The first Brooklyn location for gourmet bakery Amy’s Bread opened this week in Brooklyn Heights at 311 Henry St., the former location of Tazza. The store, which opened on Tuesday, offers bread, pastries, sandwiches and coffee, according to Brownstoner. Amy’s Bread has seven other locations, all in Manhattan. http://www.amysbread.com/locations/brooklyn

PLEASE JOIN US ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 8, 2018 AS WE HONOR BROOKLYN’S KOREAN WAR VETERANSAND REMEMBER THOSE WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE. 2018 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KOREAN WAR ARMISTICE CEREMONY HONORING BROOKLYN’S KOREAN WAR VETERANS

DATE: THURSDAY NOVEMBER 8, 2018
TIME: 11:00 AM – PROGRAM WILL BEGIN AT 12 NOON
(EVENT IS SCHEDULED TO RUN 40 MINUTES)
LOCATION: KOREAN WAR VETERANS PLAZA
(TILLARY STREET & CADMAN PLAZA – OPPOSITE POST OFFICE)

West Point Brass Quintet & West Point Color Guard
American Bombshell Singers
EVENT PARTNERS:
BROOKLYN WAR MEMORIAL – HALL OF HEROES
CADMAN PARK CONSERVANCY
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN PARTNERSHIP
MILITARY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE – BROOKLYN BAR ASSOCIATION
NYC DEPARTMENT OF PARKS & RECREATION

EVENT SPONSORS:
ONE CLINTON – BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
99 SOLUTIONS
COFFEED

EVENT HOST: TOBA POTOSKY
CELL: 646 872-1254
[email protected]

Have a look at the incredible Halloween Party enjoyed by CPN kids on October 26. A big orange thank you to Mabel, Carmen and all the volunteers who made this so special. In addition to the amazing decorations, the food, drink and treats were all donated by CPN volunteers! Thank You!

Remember,  Trick or Treaters will be knocking on your door October 31 ONLY if you have signed up at the front desk to receive them. Parents who wish to have their kids trick or treat, please sign up as well.

A proposal that wouldn’t shutter the Brooklyn Heights Promenade for six years to facilitate repairs on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway will be taken into consideration by city officials, Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week. The New York Post first reported on the admission, which the mayor made during his weekly appearance on WNYC.

This particular proposal is being pushed forward by City Council member Stephen Levin and Brooklyn Heights residents. As part of this plan, vehicles traveling on the stretch that needs to be repaired, would be diverted to a temporary road below the BQE, along a berm that was built to reduce traffic sounds. During his WNYC appearance on Friday, the Mayor said his administration was committed to fully evaluating this alternative.

The city’s Department of Transportation has proposed two plans to fix the deteriorating, 1.5 mile section between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street. The first would see the construction of an elevated roadway on the promenade, shuttering the pedestrian space for up to six years while the problematic section of the BQE is fixed. The second would see lane by lane repairs on that section of the BQE, but could prove far more costly, and take eight years or more, according to the city. The city’s preferred method has been denounced by local residents, and the other alternative didn’t fare all that well either.

Construction isn’t expected to get underway for at least two more years, and the city plans to host several more public meetings on their plans before that. -Curbed NY