Early Monday Morning at the WIlliamsburg Waterfront: Mayor Bloomberg Inaugurates Launch of East River Ferry Service

We were at the Williamsburg Waterfront -- specifically at the new pier at North 6th Street -- for the inaugural launch of East River Ferry service,

with Mayor Bloomberg,

other dignitaries and lots of media aboard for the event.

It was great to see off this wonderful new transportation service linking downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City and Manhattan. That's right, "see off."

As we told News 12 Brooklyn, "You're not getting me on that thing. I'm old enough to remember Gilligan's Island."

People around here may live on The Edge, but not us.

Having endured seasickness on the ferries to Staten Island and Fire Island, we long ago vowed never go on a boat again. We're hoping for a bridge to Governor's Island someday.

But the new ferry service should take some pressure off the rush hour commutes for us subway-taking landlubbers in congested north Brooklyn.

And it's always great to see Hizzoner,

Mr. Bloomberg, lost amid a sea

of much taller pols and media types.
Our friend Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand, too, natch.

We overheard him complaining about his constituents in Coney Island who hate music concerts and "don't want them anywhere."

People are really enthusiastic. These neighborhood kids have started a new gang and are aiming to become today's Leo Gorceys, Huntz Halls, Bobby Jordans and (sigh) Billy Halops.

Anyway, there had to be at least a couple of us to shout "Bon voyage!" and throw confetti to those boarding the gangplank.

This little blond child was the last to board, presumably so that he and his life jacket could be the first off.

This guy actually did said say, "All aboard!" before raising the gangplank (disappointingly, without any community board member being asked to walk it).

We waved goodbye to the Greenpoint-bound boat. The ferry at first looked like it was going the wrong way, but the guy next to us said it probably had to go out a certain distance before turning east.

Presumably it made it to India Street for the scheduled arrival five minutes later. As we recall, Christopher Columbus thought he was sailing for India, too.

And with Mayor Bloomberg aboard, in the event of a hometown emergency, the ferry might have to suddenly set sail for Bermuda.

Anyway, we're seriously grateful to NY Waterway for providing hipsters with a new way to leave Brooklyn.

Wednesday Afternoon near Stuyvesant Town: Demonstration Against School Budget Cuts on East 16th Street and First Avenue

We were on our way to a meeting, crossing First Avenue from Stuyvesant Town at East 16th Street heading toward Stuyvesant Square around 3 p.m. yesterday when we spotted this demonstration against the New York City schools budget cuts outside the corner convenience store.

There was a bullhorn and chants like "Books, not bombs!" The old Stuyvesant High School, which now houses Health Professions and Human Services High School and the Institute for Collaborative Education, is down the block.

Handmade signs read "Bloomberg Thinks Education is a Business," "Don't Make Schools Like MLK" (?), "Protest Budget Cuts" and "Steal From Banks, Not Schools."

We don't know who sponsored this demonstration, but we do know ones like it are going around all over the U.S. as schools face drastic budget cuts.

Monday Morning in Williamsburg: Groundbreaking at the McCarren Pool

We've just walked back down Lorimer Street from this morning's groundbreaking ceremonies at the McCarren Pool.

Although there should be lots of mainstream media coverage, we need to type fast right now to keep our fingers from getting frostbite and we wanted to post a few pics.

The $50 million renovation is part of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative.

By the way, no ground was literally broken today. It's all symbolic shoveling of dirt, so a couple of hundred people were watching a metaphor.

Mayor Bloomberg apparently confused the pool with a brand of children's stroller since he kept calling it "Maclaren Pool" for the first half of his speech.

Only in the middle of his prepared address did he notice the correct spelling in the text, apparently, and he said, "McCarren, McCarren," as a look of relief came to the face of Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Seriously, though, as an old-timer who can remember when there was water in the pool and lots of people splashing around and all that - the last Brooklyn groundbreaking ceremony we attended was 40 years ago when Mayor Lindsay inaugurated the construction of the Kings Plaza Shopping Center - we're thrilled to know that the hipster haven of recent years will be returned to the community for its original purpose - and then some.

Mayor Bloomberg invoked the spirit of the WPA and Mayor LaGuardia's remarks upon the opening of the pool during the Depression. Later, Marty Markowitz would pointedly refer to LaGuardia as "the second-best mayor the city's ever had, a nod to Bloomberg's calling him "the best borough president Brooklyn ever had," we guess.

There was a big crowd of people,

lots of media,

the tent from the indispensible Open Space Alliance giving out needed hot coffee,

and even a dog sitting next to us in the front row.

We think canines will not be allowed to go in the water, though Bloomberg and Markowtiz pledged to be the first ones in the pool in a couple of years.

Marty did speak about opening the pool for the now-legendary JellyNYC concerts, the L Magazine Summerscreen films, and other events, saying the pool drew "hipsters, indie bands, cool people... everything Mayor Bloomberg and I are not."

Marty also said that the reopened pool will undoubtedly feature the best people-watching in New York City. We guess that means he won't be wearing a bathing suit. Only kidding - we have loved Marty since our Brooklyn College student government days in 1970, and he did say that it was good that the community didn't just "dive into" the planning for the pool and then proceeded to spout some more terrible puns, ending with the observation that everything had gone "swimmingly."

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape also spoke, saying the pool would provide exercise to kids and prevent diabetes. Sweet.

Also speaking were outgoing Councilmember David Yassky and Assemblymember Joe Lentol. Mayor Bloomberg came back to sum things up in his Spanish; his pronunciation is about at the level of ours after five years of classes at J.H.S. 285 and Midwood H.S.


Our friends here in the neighborhood actually never went to the pool in the 1960s and 1970s, instead coming to our backyard above-ground pool. But private swimmng pools in Brooklyn are rare; the only one we know in Williamsburg is on our block, which a neighbor got from a developer as compensation for allowing access to his backyard during the construction of the monstrous condo building next door. It's been mostly empty since it was finished, but we're certain that the new McCarren pool obviously will be filled with people on the first day.

When the mayor took questions, the woman in the red slacks said she lived just behind the pool on Bayard Street and complained about the noise. Mayor Bloomberg sent over an aide to get her name and no doubt solve the problem.

Other questions from the press dealt with the non-pool issues of the day, so we got to see what amounted to a regular mayoral press conference while we were freezing in the wintry winds. Below are Community Board 1 District Manager Gerry Esposito and other community bigwigs.

Former Community Board 1 Chair, 91-year-old Vincent Abate, who had the dream of reopening the McCarren Park Pool years and years ago, got the last word and the community's thanks.

The pool is scheduled to open in the summer of 2012.