It has been a long time since there was a clear victory for unionized workers in New York. It seems that over the last few decades politicians have vilified labor unions more and more, making  workers less and less likely to vote for unionization even as their wages have done a poor job of covering expenses and benefits have become increasingly scarce.

So any fans of labor unions would be proud of some local Brooklyn news coming in this week. This week Brooklyn Cablevision workers have voted to unionize. 282 workers mostly  technicians and dispatchers voted on Thursday to join the union the Communications Workers of America. The union is the largest telecommunications union in the world and includes 700,000 other workers. Cablevision of course released a statement that they were “disappointed” about the results of the vote.

The effort to unionize apparently began on December 2nd 2011 when more than 70% of the company’s workers submitted union registration cards. The results of this vote could reverberate throughout the cable industry and have an affect on customers prices. For the workers the results will be a leg up in contract negotiations.

With a wealth of non-native New Yorkers forever influxing to the five boroughs and especially Brooklyn etiquette that should have long ago been established as consistent and never wavering sometimes gets mucked up. Staying to the right on the sidewalk for example to allow the faster and crazier New Yorkers to jut around you is a pretty standard “rule” that gets ignored all too often.

More significantly though is the new New Yorker’s disrespect of bagel culture. It is not that they do not appreciate the greatest carbohydrate New York and Brooklyn have to offer, it’s that they do so all wrong. Some of these people do something that would have any self respecting Brooklynite feeling defeated and angry. They have the nerve to toast perfectly good bagels ruining their doughy softness and making them into just some regular old toasted bread.

A Brooklyn bagel is not the same as those dumb things you get in a frozen bag at your local supermarket and to toast one is a crime against culinary justice. A nefarious and vile act that should be grounds for sending people to some Brooklyn salt mine deep in East New York.

This might not be Brooklyn news but apparently it is to some.

To protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Wikipedia, Reddit, and a host of other sites will conduct a blackout of their sites today.  Bored you won’t be able to find funny articles on Reddit?  Worried you won’t have anything interesting to read or edit on Wikipedia.  Fear not!  There are lots to do in Brooklyn!

Start off the day by visiting the Brooklyn Museum.  There you’ll see the “African Innovations” exhibit.  This exhibit houses a collection of 200 pieces of African art which spans over 2500 years of history and the entire continent.  Arranged chronologically, you will see everything from ancient to contemporary works of art.  While in the Museum you can also visit the “19-Century Modern” exhibit which boasts 40 items from its collection of American and European decorative arts, which spans the early to late 1800s.

From there you can take a trip to the Brooklyn Historical Society where you can see the “Inventing Brooklyn: People, Places, Progress” exhibit.  This exhibit showcases a collection of documents, artifacts, photographs and more spanning over 400 years.  These works on display examine how ethnic groups, places, and historical events in Brooklyn have shaped it.

To end the day you can take a trip to Brooklyn Public Library and attend the “Made in NY” Industry Series where you can learn the ins and outs of breaking into the film and TV industry.  Who knows, maybe you can have a shot at showbiz!

Here's Leighton Meister sitting in a hallway.

Just before 9/11 many writers had contemplated what they called “The End of History.” We lived in relative peace and prosperity and progress be it technological or sociological had sped up so much that keeping track of it was no longer tenable. Of course now we know that those who predict the death of history are doomed to be rocked to the core by it.

Then there are slow news days. Lately, post #OccupyWallStreet, I’m feeling a bit of a lack of history locally. Of course am I asking for trouble simply by mentioning this dearth of eventfulness? Probably.

Brooklyn news these days can be tragic on a hyper local scale(a man was shot by the police in his own home last night) or almost about the fact that nothing is happening(have your heard the Nets are a thing that will eventually happen here). What it is not in the last few weeks is world changing important cultural, political and economic shifts. Where are those stories?

The last decade Brooklyn has played a big role in the collective consciousness. Perhaps we have now entered into a period of cultural insignificance. More likely though the sky will cave in in some way or maybe something huge and good will happen.

The New York City Opera announced last year that it was entering a “new era” of bringing opera to the masses. It was a time of excitement and opportunity. Or at least that’s what they said out loud. With problems with the Lincoln Center location and with the company being unable to come up with the money to even rent the space, they set out to create a “living presence” in the places like the Upper West Side, Harlem, Central Park, and Brooklyn.

But it doesn’t look like you’ll be hearing La Traviata at Brooklyn‘s Howard Gilman Opera House any time soon. The cash strapped company has run into even more trouble with the unions.

The money woes have extended to the orchestras, chorus, and soloists of the company. Because according to the contractual union-contract scale, they must be paid a certain wage. A huge labor dispute followed and finally it appears that NY City Opera has broken down. This past Saturday the company locked down the rehearsals and did not let anyone practice for the February run of aforementioned La Traviata.

Could this really be the end of New York City Opera? Well, it might be, but there is no end in sight of smaller opera companies looking to take it’s place.

It’s January and though it is once again unseasonably warm here in New York it still feels like prime time for a cool refreshing Winter Ale. I have been spending the last few months doing everything short of binging on the excellent Brooklyn Winter Ale. Wandering around bars and music/comedy venues last week it seemed to be on tap at almost every place we stopped.

Good! I know it can get a little bland to keep getting the same beer at spots with upwards of 7 beers on tap and yet there I was. I think the reason I kept returning to it is the flavor felt full without ever feeling overwhelming and the beer was just heavy enough to allow for long sustained drinking. It may not seem like Brooklyn news at this point since the line started showing up in well stocked delis around October but I think they’ve hit a stride with this particular brew and I thought it seemed worth letting everyone know that now is the time to dive in.

Of course if you aren’t a fan of winter ales or Brooklyn Brewery in general I don’t know that we should even be talking to each other at this point.

Though not a recent occurrence, a lot of people don’t realize that the Brooklyn Public Library is offering a service of free e-book rentals. Instead of heading out to the library itself, you can download various novels for 14 days for free to read on your e-reader, Kindles and Nooks alike.

You can  check out their E-book catalog and browse for some novels to read, from new releases to old classics. The list is pretty comparable to the kind of selection you’d find on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. You may be missing a book or two from your must-read list, but you’ll be surprised how many you’ll actually find. And the beauty of it, you don’t have to do anything to return them. The e-book just disappears after your 14 days are up. That means no overdue fines! Just keep track of when your time is up so you can finish reading it before you lose it.

If you still love the feel of a real book in your hands, then by all means, take the trip to the library. But it’s nice to have the convenience of downloading books in the winter, when it’s just far too cold to make that trek.

Brooklyn is getting a little bit of Jersey in February. The basketball team the New Jersey Nets started moving it’s business operations to Brooklyn, New York a little over a year ago with the legal team setting up shop in the new MetroTech building. The business end will be moving in February.

The new offices are only one subway stop away from the new Barclay center. This new enormous sports center was once eyed as the spot for a new Brooklyn Dodgers location in the 1950s. However, this building, which was begun in March of 2010, is now going to be a state of the art, modern, and hopefully profitable location for the newly named Brooklyn Nets.

It’s been a long, hard road for those involved in the franchise. Several potential lawsuits and a nomadic existence have plagued the team. They started in the ABA in Teaneck, NJ before moving to Long Island. In 1977, they were admitted to the NBA and moved back to New Jersey. From that time on they lead a troubled existence losing four seasons in a row and being sued by their landlord, The Prudential Center. They’re finally getting a (hopefully) permanent home in Brooklyn, New York.

The Union Bar, which is appropriately located on Union Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is my new favorite spot.  I recently went to hear my friends’ band, The Big Takeover, play a gig there, and we all had the most marvelous time.

Both the upstairs and downstairs of the bar are refreshingly spacious. A very sizeable crowd came out to dance a few hours away as they played, and the experience was shockingly not claustrophobic. The bar serves food and drinks; I haven’t eaten there yet, but I would certainly recommend its beer on tap.  On Fridays, after the live music ends, there is a karaoke competition.

The crowning glory of the Union Bar is, without a doubt, the full size indoor Bocce court. We did not have a chance to play (waiting list was way too long), but it is yet another reason to return to the bar. The official bocce season recently ended, but you can still go to the bar and form your own unofficial team for the evening. During the season, the bar hosts league tournaments!

The Union Bar literally offers something for everyone; from the types of music it hosts and plays to the activities it offers. For more information on The Union Bar, visit www.UnionHallNY.com.

Get ready, Brooklyn: We’ve got our very own Jersey Shore coming our way. Lifetime has picked up 12 episodes of Brighton Beach, a Jersey Shore-ish, about the Russian-American community in South Brooklyn, to be aired next year. This show won’t focus on a select group of youngin’s; rather, it’ll be about the whole community. Fear not, though! The central point of focus will be a local nightclub, so you know there will be plenty of dancing, booze and bad decisions.

I’d personally like to see a showdown between the cast Jersey Shore and of this show. (No casting announcements have been made thus far, but I can already feel it — a battle royale à la Real World/Road Rules Challenge seems inevitable — inevitably amazing.