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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

The mother of a 5 month old baby will not be charged by the Brooklyn DA for abandoning the child in an apartment building hallway.

Tenants in the Coney Island apartment complex heard the child crying and went out to see what was going on. Upon finding the child they immediately called police. There seems to be no news of where the baby’s father is and almost no information on how the authorities were able to identify the mother of the abandoned child.

While the Brooklyn DA is not pressing charges because the child was not harmed, I feel this is a mistake. This is reckless endangerment at the very least. This is not some fantasy world where Tinkerbell will swoop down and carry your abandoned child off to Never Neverland, this is New York City. The atrocities that this child could have faced are unspeakable and the fact that a mother just left her baby to the elements is astonishing.

The baby is remaining with child protective services for the time being and it is doubtful that she will be returned to her mother. I hope, at the very least, this woman is reprimanded for her act of abandonment.

Photo by David Castillo Dominici

Every now and again you get a local participant hoping to make change on a bigger scale. This time we get Charles Hynes’ opinion on violence against women and domestic abuse claims. As Brooklyn DA, he states that in his years years of service he has dedicated his time to helping victims and find justice for them– meaning their assailants are charged, and the victims receive proper support for recovery from trauma.

The Violence Against Women Act was originally passed in 1994. It funds law enforcement agencies in providing proper care and services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence crimes. It fosters the collaboration with community groups, hospitals, and law enforcement. Ultimately the law is meant to provide safety and refuge for those vulnerable.

The DA believes that the renewal of the law is crucial to continue these efforts and considers it instrumental in the creation of the Brooklyn Family Justice Center, a safe place for women to speak with prosecutors, social workers, and counselors. This is meant to help those women needing assistance in their transition away from the attacker.

A VAWA grant was also responsible in developing and launching the Central Brooklyn Violence Program, which assisted immigrant women facing domestic violence.

To sum up the call to action, the large scale decisions affect our local areas. That is why people from all levels of influence should speak up when they feel it is necessary.

Who would think to find love on an obnoxiously crowded subway? Well I’ve certainly been hit on during a morning subway ride which isn’t as flattering as one might think. If you’re going to be alone tomorrow for Valentine’s Day, maybe you should check out the New York Transit Museum. They are holding their second annual Love-in-Transit party, inspired by the “Missed Connections” section of Craigslist. Worker Marcia Ely hopes the party will celebrate the train’s “unique ability to bring people together.”

Brooklyn artist Sophie Blackall has been asked to showcase some of her illustrations from her book Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found. They are her interpretations of the infamous Craigslist posts. She began her own drawings after suffering her own missed connection encounter. Now you can check out her work on her blog.

Without the worry of your future potential love getting off at the next stop, there is much more hope for us lonely New Yorkers at tomorrow’s party. Blackall comments, “It’s a fun idea to meet up there and not really go anywhere.” The party will run from 6-8pm tomorrow. Also enjoy the sounds of You Bred Raptors?, a cross between classical and heavy metal. It’s sure to be a good time and it’s better than sitting alone at home eating a box of chocolates you purchased for yourself.

This weekend I had the pleasure of drinking. Sure, I have the pleasure of drinking most weekends but this past Friday’s binge drinking ended happier than normal. Some friends and I found ourselves in a random dancing/bar space somewhere on North 6th in Williamsburg. We spent some time there swigging Brooklyn Brown Ales and plastic cupped shots of Jameson. We went to Union Pool, the Target superstore of hip Brooklyn bars.

The end of the night however was the highlight. Usually we make our way to the Tex-Mex establishment San Loco but someone had a different idea. We hit up the Meatball Shop, a cool place that was loaded with customers even at the late night hour of 3am. We all dined on meatballs because that is just what this particular place serves. Just meatballs.

You can order meatballs made from a number of meat options dowsed in a number of sauce options. There are also great delicious sandwiches and meatball sliders. Everything though is meatballs! And they were delicious! Even my sober friends were shoveling these balls of meat in their faces like they had the cure to some disease. It mioght not be important Brooklyn news but you should be checking out the Meatball Shop soon!

The Meatball Shop’s Brooklyn location is at 170 Bedford Avenue.

No matter what borough you live in, speeding always seems to be a problem. A lot of people think they can take the roads as fast as they’d like. And while New York City’s overall speed limit is 30 mph, it’s rare that people ever observe this. Brooklyn is not exempt from the crazy drivers and now neighborhoods are applying to have slow zones installed, to curb speeding and keep pedestrians safer in general.

Claremont is one of the first neighborhoods to have it installed, as drivers are greeted with large white signs that show a 20 mph speed limit as well as speed bumps that will certainly force them to slow down or risk destroying their cars. Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights are three neighborhoods who have put in an application for their own slow zones, similar to the one in Claremont.

While driving fatalities have been lowered by 35% since 2001, New York City is still looking to lower them even more. Because we all know how we still hear constantly on the news about people getting hit.

Hopefully, this will make the streets of Brooklyn safer for everyone.