Park Slope Parents Announces Membership Fee, Tempers Flare

Park Slope Parents, "Your resource for raising children in Park Slope," announced recently that they'll be charging a $25 yearly membership fee for access to the site's Yahoo message boards, and the news has naturally upset a lot of people. 

On one hand, I'm sure that the boards have become a community gathering place, as forums of that nature tend to do. On the other hand, most of the information is available for free on other sites, and free Park Slope message boards exist as well. 

Charging web users for board access isn't new or profound, and it's been done in the past, with varying results. Some forums, like Something Awful, charge users and seem to be doing quite well. 

Park Slope Parents currently has about 13,000 members, so if even a quarter of those agree to pay, that's $81,000 that didn't exist before. My guess is that loyal devotees of the site will hand over the $25; it's really not that much for access to what is most likely an essential part of life for them. Others will be so outraged and offended that they'll just take their online parenting discussions elsewhere, which probably wouldn't be such a bad thing. 

Too Much Garbage on the Streets?

There was a rather animated board on Brooklynian yesterday debating Park Slope’s garbage situation. The trash on the street has become more noticeable recently, and everyone seems to have a theory to the cause and/or a solution to the problem.

Some place blame on demolition crews and car rental companies, some blame John Jay students, some blame the garbage collectors themselves. Others blame everyday Park Slopers of bringing it on themselves by purchasing too much bottled water and not bringing tote bags to the market.

The real reason is most likely a combination of all of the above. There also aren’t enough garbage cans on the sidewalk, especially on Sixth Avenue, and that probably contributes.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the reason is. If you see a piece of trash, pick it up. If a construction crew or business is dumping garbage onto the sidewalk, call 311. Go to a Civic Council meeting and ask for more garbage cans. If you finish your bag of chips or bottle of Sprite and don’t see a garbage can to toss it into, hold onto it until you get home. If we all do our part to make sure that we don’t contribute to the problem, then we’re doing our best.

And while we’re on the subject, the year’s first Berm clean-up will take place this Saturday, March 28^th, from 9:45-noon. Meet at the corner of Plaza and Vanderbilt; gloves and tools will be provided. 

Scary: Fourth Ave Pit Bull Attack

Many thanks to reader Veronica Neilan for this email about what sounds like a pretty vicious pit bull attack on another dog on Fourth and Degraw. Watch out!

"I was walking south on 4th Ave this afternoon when I saw a pitbull attacking another dog on Degraw just east of the intersection.  The woman, walking her 2 dogs and little boy, was fighting for her dog's life while it appeared the owners of the pitbull looked completely clueless.  I lingered as long as I could after the attack ended, waiting for some sort of law enforcement to show up.  A passerby did help her get her dog out of the pitbull's jaw and someone pulled over with a stick, to try and help.  I feel bad for just gawking, but it took me a while to figure out what was going on.
I'm not anti pitbull or anti any breed of dog, but seriously if you're going to own a pitbull, please know how to control it.  Imagine how YOU'D feel if some other dog killed your dog or tried to do so in front of your little kid."

I agree.