Photo courtesy porbital

The Barclays Center, the soon-to-be new home of the Nets in Prospect Heights is looking for Brooklyn food vendors to serve goods. At this moment they are sending out surveys to find a variety in flavor for their establishment. They believe Brooklyn has a very dynamic and diverse food scene that could benefit the culinary experience in the facility.

If a business wants to qualify they have to be based in the borough and they need to keep a grade A from the health department inspection process. They also have to have the resources to participate on a larger scale. They need to be able to fill orders of 18,000 people– the total amount of seats in the arena.

The food doesn’t have to be from a specific genre, it just has to showcase Brooklyn in a way that’s inventive– stuff that may have gone under-recognized. It can be anything, pizza, pickles, fried goods. You name it.

There isn’t a set a proportion on how many of the total vendors will be Brooklyn based, but since it is one of the five boroughs, it is best that businesses get in contact with the arena sooner rather than later.

While the rest of the economy may still be suffering, one industry that continues to boom is the pet industry. Local pet stores in Brooklyn, and across the nation, has been doing just fine. In 2010 the American Pet Products Association said the pet industry is immune to recessions. Pet care saw a jump from $37.7 billion to $41 billion between 2009 and 2011. Predictions for 2014 put that number over $62 billion.

Pets are being treated more and more like children, some going a little too overboard with specialty foods, clothing, toys, mini-couches, and thousands being spent on veterinary care. People in Brooklyn and the outer boroughs feel they can spend a little bit more since they’re in more spacious, cheaper apartments. The pet population has increased particularly in Williamsburg, a town full of young people who can spare some time on pets rather than kids.

However, this isn’t the case in the Upper East Side. Pet ownership has decreased dramatically in the area and pet stores in the neighborhood are also suffering. Regardless, 2-5% of pet owners admit to spending more money on their furry friends than themselves. The best selling product right now is organic food. Seems our pets are eating healthier than some of us!

Rise and shine folks!  It is another Sunday and you should be out and about, checking out what is cool in the lovely borough of Brooklyn New York.  So what are you in the mood for?  Are you in the mood to laugh?  Are you in the mood to cry?  Want to ponder about art or the world?  Want to dance?  Want to learn something new or interesting?  If you are unsure or out of ideas here are some events and venues you should consider checking out today:

• From Brooklyn to the World: A History of BAM.  The Brooklyn Academy of Music opened its door during the 1861-1862 season and for its sesquicentennial the Museum has collected a bunch of rare films, photos, and promotional items taken from 1861-1867.  This time period will be examined through April 15.
• Grand Street Bakery.  Do not let the name fool you because you will not be finding freshly baked goods here.  Instead you will find wool sweaters, Pendleton plaid shirts, knit ponchos and other assorted clothing for sale.
• Brooklyn Navy Yard: Past, Present, Present and Future.  This exhibit showcases the yard’s historical significance and future plans in the works.  There will also be a “War Photojournalists” exhibit showing off the work of various photographers

This afternoon the New York Department of Education will be releasing records of teacher evaluations. This is virtually unprecedented in New York education. News organizations will make the records which will include teacher’s names public records and parents will get to see whether or not their children’s teachers are considered effective at their job.

Brooklyn schools will be considered along with the other five boroughs and the results could send shock waves through the entire New York public education system. The teacher’s union not surprisingly attempted to stop the publication of this information but were unsuccessful.

Getting ahead of the potentially controversial records School Chancellor Dennis Walcott has suggested that the records are old and inaccurate. The information is based on the school year which took place from 2007 to 2008, suggesting that many of those evaluated poorly have likely gone through retraining, been reappropriated within the system, or in some cases have simply improved their performance in one way or another.

Many outlets have highlighted the huge margin of error present in these evaluations and have publicly questioned their validity and the use in releasing them. That said, the cat is about to be out of the bag and it is sure to be big Brooklyn news!

Space within the New York City limits has been difficult to find for a while. There’s no question that this growing city is getting crowded. But there are trends starting showing that even the apartments in the boroughs outside of Manhattan are shrinking in average size. The more family-oriented neighbors no longer have the bigger rooms for their residents.

In Brooklyn neighborhoods like Fort Greene, apartments 1500 square feet are a rarity. The irony is that the Upper West Side in Manhattan actually has a much larger amount of sizable apartments. But what drives people away from seeking those are the prices that come along with them.

Developers overlooked the possibility that young families will be wanting to find real estate in these areas and thus they were building spaces for singles. All those studios do not help the needs of the average New York City family and the developers are left regretting their assumptions.

The idea that these areas belonged to the free spirits, artists, musicians, and savvy college grads was misinformed, forgetting the demographic of those who entered the new stage in life– marriage and family– who want to return to their comfort zone of yesteryear.

It looks like for now these Brooklyn families will have to settle for cramped living.

It’s that time of year again. That time of delicious, overindulgance that comes around at the same time each calendar year. Nope, not Thanksgiving or Fat Tuesday. I’m talking about Girl Scout Cookie time! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Alright, that might have been a little overboard.

If you don’t know any girls in green berets (do they still wear those? It’s been so long) you can simply head to one of the girl scout cookie pop up stores that will be cropping up over the five boroughs!

The Brooklyn pop up is going to be at the St. George Episcopal Church in the CDC building. You can find it at 452 Gates Ave Brooklyn, New York 11216.

You can calm your cravings every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:30pm until 7:30pm. The stores will be opening up on March 13th and will stay open until May! This leaves you plenty of opportunity to get your Thin Mint fix for the year.

The hardest part for me will be trying to only go once to get my cookies instead of returning every day for a new box or two…or three… Go on out there and get your cookie fix! It’s a fantastic time for your sweet tooth!

The radio is the pits. Unless you are a Hot 97 devotee there is not really much good radio going on in New York. Rock radio is virtually non-existent save for the getting the Led out school of classic rock, pop radio is whittled down to less than twelve songs at any given time, talk radio is strangely conservative given the general liberal nature of the city.

If you want high quality radio there is but one place to turn in Brooklyn. That place is WFMU. The only freeform radio station seemingly in the world anymore. There is a wealth of quality programming on the station. There is old timey anthropologically excavated records on the Antique Phonograph Music Program. There is high quality rock from DJ’s Even “Funk” Davies and Terre T. There is globe smashing dance music with DJ Rupture. There is also a number of exceptional comedy weirdness from 7 Second Delay and Shut Up Weirdo.

The show’s best contribution to our culture is an unironically titled program called The Best Show On WFMU hosted by Tom Scharpling. It is a boundless three hours of “mirth, music and mayhem.” The channel is completely listener sponsored and offers it’s programs and their whole back catalog for free. They are currently offering premiums for donations. It is their sponsorship marathon and they are worth any money you can spare.

DONATE HERE!

Presidents Day? President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? What the heck is the difference? What day is today? Firstly, there is a huge difference between all three. Secondly, today isn’t any of those listed before. Today is simply Washington’s Day. Yep, you’ve been lied to all these years by your teachers, parents, and retail stores claiming to have awesome sales today. Let’s talk about the grammar a bit first. Presidents Day isn’t really correct. Without the apostrophe, there is no possessive which implies the day belongs to Presidents, meaning more than one. President’s Day means the day is celebrating only one President, with Presidents’ Day meaning several Presidents are worthy of possessing a day. Basic grammar 101. Learn it.

If you want to get technical and legal, which you do, when the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 was passed, it never mentioned Lincoln at all, despite his birthday being this month too. All it did was move the observance of Washington’s birthday from February 22 to the 3rd Monday in February. The Act doesn’t even mention the term President’s Day (in any form) at all.

So what the heck happened? Most likely confusion since some jurisdictions celebrated Lincoln’s birthday as well. People just assumed the 1968 Act included both. And we all know what happens when you assume…So happy Washington’s Day to you all. Enjoy the pointless discounts!

Not sure what to do on Sunday in Brooklyn?  Need some ideas on an outing to spend with loved ones or with a significant other?  You are in luck because this weekend is chocked full of happenings and events that you should check out. You have to love Presidents Day weekend!  Here is a small list of things to do and events to see:

• “Inventing Brooklyn: People, Places, Progress” Sunday, noon-5PM.  Housed in displays is over 400 years of history encapsulated in artifacts, documents, and photographs examining how people, events, and specific locations shaped Brooklyn.
• Pretty Good Friends Sunday, 7:30PM.  Comedian Eugene Mirman and his pals spread laughter at Union Hall.
• “ElectriCity: Powering New York’s Rails” Sunday, 11AM-5PM.  This exhibit being held in the New York Transit Museum will show off what it takes to keep the city’s trains going.
• “Lunation: Art on the Moon” Sunday, noon-6PM.  Let the moon shine upon you as over 20 artists display their work in an art show that is inspired by the moon.  This event will be held in the Observatory.

These are but a number of things happening in Brooklyn.  If you are lucky enough to have a nice three day weekend you can spend Sunday checking out these interesting, and sure to be entertaining events.

Brooklyn is burning to the ground. There is a war breaking out on the streets of Flatbush. The people of Williamsburg have organized a gang of roving mobs to try and handle the two headed rat problem in MacCarren park. Park Slope moms are using their babies as weapons in dealing with the invading Canadian pirates. Somewhere in East New York a single violin plays reminding everyone why they are so desperately trying to stay alive.

Pretty eventful week in Brooklyn huh?

Actually it wasn’t. This week was all about morning Whitney Houston, fashion week, Jeremy Lin, the Santorum gushing from this week’s primaries and of course the stuff that happened on this week’s episode of New Girl. Look much as it’s hard to admit Brooklyn is not the center of the universe. Sometimes Brooklyn news is just going to be lost dogs and new bike lanes meaning who cares. Sure the dog owners and specific neighborhood cyclists but who cares about them? Sure their respective families but really who else?

Brooklyn get over your selves. This is some tough love from a Brooklyn events blogger who understands why you feel so superior but would just prefer it to stop. Get off your high horse.