Cool or Not Cool: Using the YMCA free daycare while you run errands?

Photo by Flickr User Betty Blade

One of the great things about the Park Slope YMCA is that they offer totally free daycare for parents who want to work out, but don't want to pay a babysitter while hitting up that spin class. The "child watch" system, as it's called, is simple: parents drop their kids off in a designated supervised area, work out, and then pick them up on the way out. Easy, right?

But what you may not know is that some parents have been dropping off their kids at the YMCA daycare, and then sneaking out for some time away from their kids and their exercise routine.

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Cool Or Not Cool: Restaurants Charging a Delivery Fee?

 Steve Carell argues over money with that kid from GleeThese days, the world is riddled with weird, hidden costs. Some airlines charge a fee for reserving a flight on the phone or in person, while a few moving companies have been known to tack "environmental fees" onto their bills. We've got to keep an eye on the fine print, otherwise someday we may end up unknowingly paying a "poop disposal" fee at the vet's office.

FiPS reader Lisa recently wrote in about a local joint that charged her a delivery fee. 

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Cool or Not Cool: Asking Neighbors to Pay Your Back Taxes?

Photo via the Daily Slope

Remember when 2nd Street Cafe was pretty much the only affordable place to get a good frittata on 7th Avenue?  You'd leave, having created a masterpiece in crayon on your butcher paper tablecloth, and take a look at the building on the north-east corner of that intersection. God, you'd think.  If Miss Havisham decided to move into a Brooklyn storefront, I bet she'd choose that place.

That would have been years ago.  2nd Street Cafe is long gone, but the derelict building on that corner is still there, and it hasn't changed at all.  This is mostly because their 24 separate and distinct building code violations have still not been remedied.

The building is owned by an absentee landlord family --specifically sisters Rachel and Evelyn Nash-- and when CB6 tried to track them down to request they fix up the derelict shit-hole, the Nash Sisters were nowhere to be found. They own the building outright, but it seems they haven't been able to re-pay a loan taken out to pay the back taxes.  They are in now danger of losing the building entirely.  

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Cool Or Not Cool: Letting Your Kids Eat On The Subway?

 

Obnoxious kids in bars & eateries are one thing. But how about those families who choose to have the kiddos eat their meals on public transportation? What could go wrong, you might ask? Just witness the unfurling disaster in the above photo. Last Sunday, this familial unit's Happy Meals and 2 dropped coffees explode all over a Brooklyn-bound F Train.

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PORTLANDIA SAYS 'NOT COOL' TO TYING UP YOUR DOG

There's been a hell of a lot of debate on FIPS regarding whether or not it's a good idea to tie up your dog whilst you run into Ace Supermarket or Radio Shack or wherever the hell you're going. 

Thanks to reader 4th Ave of the Apocolypse, we were reminded of this hilarious clip from Portlandia (which is seriously one of the funniest new shows on TV). Clearly we'll be counting this as another vote for "not cool."

Cool or Not Cool: Private Charter goes after Public School Space?

Park Slope middle schoolers are in need of more schools, but a new charter school wants to take public school space away from the city.

The Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School is interested in making a public, 300-student, science-focused school to serve sixth to eighth graders in District 15 as early as next fall. Enrollment is done lottery-style though, so that doesn't really make it a public school. 

According to the Brooklyn Paper,

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COOL OR NOT COOL: ANIMAL EAR HATS?

 

Dorlumlux

OH MY FUCKING GAWD. 

If I see one more grown-up asshole walking down the street in a faux furry hat with bear ears, or kitty ears, or whatever the fuck those things are supposed to be, I'm going to set a hybrid car on fire. 

I mean, are you all on your way to goddamned rave or what? How is this trend in existence? HOW?

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