Mouse Infestation Closes Birthplace of the Cronut

Mouse Infestation Closes Birthplace of the Cronut - NYTimes.com
By ASHLEY SOUTHALLAPRIL 4, 2014

New York City residents and tourists are apparently not alone in their love of Cronuts, those croissant-and-doughnut hybrids that have people lined up for blocks before dawn outside a SoHo bakery.

Online video showing a mouse running around in the Dominique Ansel Bakery on Spring Street, which shot to fame after its eponymous chef created the pastry, led health officials to temporarily shut the shop on Friday.

The closing was reported on Friday on the website Gothamist, which noted that the bakery had been open earlier in the day.

Inspectors from the city’s health department found a severe mouse infestation at the bakery requiring professional pest control, and the bakery cannot reopen until inspectors determine the problem has been fixed, an agency statement said.

No one answered calls to the bakery on Friday evening, butin a statement to Gothamist, a representative said employees had spent seven hours cleaning the bakery and the chef had been down on his knees searching for a mouse.

“They didn’t find anything and anticipate it may have come from the outside as we have a greenhouse and park with doors opened during the nicer weather days,” the representative said. “As you guys know, cleanliness is something that is of utmost importance to us and in the close to three years we’ve been opened we have received nothing but A’s on our health inspects.”

It was not the first time the bakery was cited for having uninvited visitors with more than two legs. It received an A grade after its last inspection in October, though inspectors found evidence of mice and flies in areas where food was prepared and served, according to health department records.

The video of the mouse was posted to YouTube on Thursday by a customer and had been viewed more than 50,000 times by Friday night.

The bakery will probably be closed over the weekend to allow workers to re-cement the basement, according to a bakery spokeswoman, who told WNBC that the bakery hoped to open on Monday after another inspection.

Pothole repair is in overdrive

Pothole repair is in overdrive

Spring is in the air

Ran into a pack of bike riders on their way to the boardwalk.  Spring is in the air but the air is cold and windy and the headwind brings tears to your eyes.  Only a few more blocks to go. Bike path is completed and a joy to ride down.

Just a bit more left to be done

When It Comes to Horse Carriages, Not All Council Members on Mayor's Side

When It Comes to Horse Carriages, Not All Council Members on Mayor's Side
WNYC News

Sunday, March 09, 2014

By Yasmeen Khan

More than a dozen City Council members or their representatives toured the Clinton Park Horse Stable on Sunday, to view for themselves how the 78 horses that reside there are kept and cared for.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for an end horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, which prompted the horse carriage industry to respond by flinging wide open the doors to its stables.

"We are an open book," said Stephen Malone, spokesman for the Horse and Carriage Association of New York. Malone said he has also invited the mayor to tour the stables.

Councilman Daneek Miller, who was last year elected to represent District 27 in Queens, said he is concerned about preserving jobs for the carriage drivers, and was not quite ready to see a piece of New York City's history fade away for good.

"You need to be able to come in and understand whether or not this is an industry that needs to continue to exist and whether or not they bring something to the city and its vibrancy, and I think that the answer is yes," he said.

The carriage industry employs about 300 drivers, not all of them full-time.

Tony Salerno said he started driving a horse-drawn carriage in Sicily when he was 16. He said he has been a carriage driver in New York City for 30 years and now manages the stable on 38th Street.

Tony Salerno has been a carriage driver for more than 30 years in New York City. (credit: Yasmeen Khan)

"When you work 30 years with a horse you become a horse too," said Salerno, adding that drivers treat the horses as their own children. 

"The horse? They love to stay in the city," he said. "It's nice, the city's very sexy now. Beautiful."

But animal activists have been working for decades to end horse-drawn carriages in the city, saying that subjecting the animals to urban life and city traffic is inhumane. The group NYCLASS wants the carriages replaced with electric antique cars.

Along with the mayor, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito supports a ban. She has not indicated when the issue would be put on the Council's agenda. She previously sponsored a bill on the issue but has yet to re-introduce the legislation to the new Council.

Brooklyn Boxer Rises, but Her Feet Stay on the Ground

Brooklyn Boxer Rises, but Her Feet Stay on the Ground - NYTimes.com

Heather Hardy tugged at her skirt as she explained what happened to it.

“The day after Sandy, we found this skirt floating around the living room,” said Ms. Hardy, 32, who was living on her mother’s couch at the time of the hurricane. The skirt had blood on it, she said, because “I’d fought in it three days before and gotten a head butt that needed stitches.”

Months before the storm, she and her daughter, Annie, 9, had lost most of their belongings in an apartment fire. The flood, which destroyed her parents’ house — along with others in their working-class neighborhood — took almost everything else.

But not the skirt. “I couldn’t get rid of it,” she said. “It was my debut skirt from my first professional fight.”

After years of struggle, Ms. Hardy is a rising force in professional boxing and has become a source of pride in Gerritsen Beach, the tightknit Brooklyn neighborhood where her family’s roots stretch back six generations.

She did not walk into a boxing gym until 2010, but has won all nine of her pro fights, the Universal Boxing Federation international super bantamweight title, a 2011 national championship and a 2012 Golden Gloves award. She is the first woman to sign a long-term promotional deal with Lou DiBella, a high-profile boxing promoter with a roster of top-ranked male boxers.

In the ring, the petite, 5-foot-5 boxer is a formidable brawler, wearing the colors of Ireland and two blond braids. “I’m not a pretty fighter,” she said. “I fight like a boy.” She is intent on putting on a good show: People may come to see the male headliner, “but I have to make them remember the girl,” she said. Her fans, especially those from Gerritsen Beach, are passionate at her fights. Celebrities — including 50 Cent, Rosie Perez and Susan Sarandon — have been in the audience.

Ms. Hardy is among a growing number of female boxers carving out space in a male-dominated sport. But it is not easy.

The Expert (Short Comedy Sketch)

So very, very funny especially if you've found yourself in such a meeting.

An overturned tractor trailer caused major backups on the BQE

 An overturned tractor trailer caused major backups on the BQE in Brooklyn early Wednesday.

The crash happened around 4:30 a.m. on the northbound side the highway, just past Atlantic Avenue, where the northbound lanes travel above the southbound lanes.