Episode: #271
Episode: #271
Zach Duffey is an expert on mold. After working as a home inspector and going on to manage a mold remediation franchise, Zach realized there was a need for more honest service, and created Mold Mentor.
In this episode, we discuss the in’s and out’s of mold, how to tell if it’s a concern in your property, and what to do about it. You will understand what mold is, what the truth is about black mold, and how to properly test for mold.
Zach Duffey is an expert on mold. After working as a home inspector and going on to manage a mold remediation franchise, Zach realized there was a need for more honest service, and created Mold Mentor.
In this episode, we discuss the in’s and out’s of mold, how to tell if it’s a concern in your property, and what to do about it. You will understand what mold is, what the truth is about black mold, and how to properly test for mold.
Columbia County
Columbia County
Columbia County
Columbia County
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Brooklyn Neighborhoods
Brooklyn was an independent city until January 1, 1898 when, according to the Charter of Greater New York, Brooklyn was consolidated with the other boroughs to form the modern City of New York. It continues to maintain a distinct culture, independent art scene, and unique architectural heritage. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves where particular ethnic groups and cultures predominate. Brooklyn’s official motto is Eendraght Maeckt Maght. Written in the (early modern spelling of the) Dutch language, it is inspired by the motto of the United Dutch Provinces (currently the official motto of Belgium) and translated “Unity makes strength”. The motto is displayed on the borough seal and flag, which also feature a young robed woman bearing fasces, a traditional emblem of Republicanism. Brooklyn’s official colors are blue and gold.
Bedford- Stuyvestant
History
The neighborhood's name is a combination of the names of the Village of Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights neighborhoods. The name Stuyvesant derives from Peter Stuyvesant, the last governor of the colony of New Netherland. Beginning in the 2000s, the neighborhood began to experience gentrification. The two significant reasons for this were the affordable housing stock consisting of brownstone rowhouses located on quiet tree-lined streets.
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Herbert Von King Park - Lying in the heart of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Herbert Von King Park is a lively town square with a storied history. Originally called Tompkins Park, Von King is one of the first parks in the history of Brooklyn, with a design submitted by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.
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Akwaaba Mansion - Make yourself at home in a glorious 1860s landmark mansion. The meticulously restored Italianate villa features exquisite architectural details, including 14-foot ceilings and ornate fireplaces, while the décor is a blend of antiques and Afrocentric elegance.
Boerum Hill
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History
Is named for the colonial farm of the Boerum family, which occupied most of the area during early Dutch settlement. Most of the housing consists of three-story row houses built between 1840 and 1870. The Boerum Hill Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983
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Boerum Park
This playground honors Simon Boerum (1724-1775), whose family farm occupied the surrounding area in the 18th century. Boerum not only held large amounts of land, but also served as a delegate to the Continental Congress of New York State.
Brooklyn Heights
History
The neighborhood is largely composed of block after block of picturesque rowhouses and a few mansions. A great range of architectural styles is represented, including a few Federal-style houses from the early 19th century in the northern part of the neighborhood, brick Greek Revival and Gothic Revival houses, and Italianate brownstones. A number of houses, particularly along Pierrepont Street and Pierrepont Place are authentic mansions. Brooklyn Heights was the first neighborhood protected by the 1965 Landmarks Preservation Law of New York City. Brooklyn Heights stretches from Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge south to Atlantic Avenue and from the East River east to Court Street and Cadman Plaza.
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Brooklyn Bridge Park: Spans 85 acres of the East River waterfront in the Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO neighborhoods of Brooklyn. The park is divided into eleven sections: Piers 1 through 6, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn Bridge Plaza, Empire Fulton Ferry, Main Street, and John Street. Each of these sections features unique topographies, plantings, amenities, and cultural artifacts and installations. Piers 1 and 6, Empire Fulton Ferry, Fulton Ferry Landing, and Main Street are currently open to the public. Two Civil War-era structures, Empire Stores and the Tobacco Warehouse, have also been integrated into the park.
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New York Transit Museum: Is a museum which displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, bus, commuter rail, and bridge and tunnel systems; it is located in a decommissioned Court Street subway station in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City. There is a smaller satellite annex in Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan.
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Brooklyn Historical Society: 128 Pierrepoint Street, is a museum, library, and educational center preserving and encouraging the study of Brooklyn’s rich 400-year past. Founded in 1863, it is located at the corner Pierrepoint and Clinton Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. It houses materials relating to the history of Brooklyn and its people. These holdings supply exhibitions illuminating the past and informing the future. Brooklyn Historical Society hosts over 9,000 members of the general public at its exhibitions each year.
Carroll Gardens
History
Settled by Irish Americans in the early 19th century and, in the mid-19th century, by Norwegian-Americans, who founded the Norwegian Seamens' Church, an imposing brownstone structure on the corner of First Place and Clinton Street that was once visited by the King of Norway during an official visit to the United States.
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Carroll Park - is a block-long area of playgrounds, walkways and sitting areas between Court and Smith Streets, with Carroll Street as its southern boundary and President Street on the northern side. It was constructed in the 1840s as a private garden and purchased by the State in the 1850s. It was named after Charles Carroll, before the neighborhood took his name, to honor the Maryland regiment which had helped to defend the area during the Revolutionary War Battle of Long Island
Clinton Hill
History
The area’s European history began in the 1640s, when Dutch settlers laid tobacco plantations near Wallabout Bay. Bedford Corners, situated just southeast of Clinton Hill, was incorporated in 1663, and the settlers (both Dutch and French Huguenot) purchased surrounding lands from the native Lenape in 1670. By the 1840s, Clinton Hill and neighboring Fort Greene had become fashionable neighborhoods for the wealthy of Brooklyn, who could commute to Manhattan by way of stagecoach to the Fulton Ferry. The area was originally devised for those “determined to escape from the closeness of city life”, as Walt Whitman put it in 1846. George Washington Pine had bought up the land in the area and broke it into lots, selling them to those who wanted to lead a quiet life not too far from the conveniences of the Navy Yard.
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St. Mary's Episcopal Church - is an historic Episcopal church at 230 Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York, New York. It was built in 1858 in the Gothic Revival style. It is constructed of Belleville brownstone.
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Clinton Hill Historic District - is a national historic district in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York, New York. It consists of 1,063 contributing, largely residential buildings built between the 1840s and 1930 in popular contemporary and revival styles. Buildings include freestanding mansions, row houses, and apartment buildings. Other contributing buildings include churches, schools, a former home for elderly women, and stores
Cobble Hill
History
Cobble Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States. A small neighborhood comprising 22 blocks, Cobble Hill sits adjacent to Boerum Hill to the east, Brooklyn Heights to the north, Carroll Gardens to the south, and the Columbia Street Waterfront District to the west. was originally settled during the 1640s by Dutch farmers. The name “Cobble Hill”, according to local tradition, came from cobble stones being disposed in the site. The cobble stones were used as ballast on trading ships arriving from Europe, South Brooklyn being a major cargo port. The high elevation point at the corner of present day Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, where the largest mass of cobble stones was disposed, was used as a Fort during both the American War of Independence (1775–1783) and the War of 1812 (1812–1814).
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Cobble Hill Cinema - One of Brooklyn's oldest and loveliest Rio Theater stands on Court and Butler Streets in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn
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St. Paul's Church - Located at Court and Congress Streets was designed and built about 1838, allowing the claim that this church is the oldest Catholic church in continuous use in Brooklyn. The steeple was added in the 1860s, and other enlargements were made. The church fronts on Court Street, the chapel and former rectory on Congress Street.
Downtown Brooklyn
History
Is the third largest central business district in New York City and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and residential buildings, such as the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. Since the rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn in 2004, the area is undergoing a transformation, with $9 billion of private investment and $300 million in public improvements underway.This area was originally inhabited by Lenape Native Americans, until the 17th century. At that time the Dutch arrived, gained control of the land, and called it Breuckelen.
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Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower - Located at 1 Hanson Place between Ashland Street and St. Felix Street in Brooklyn, New York City is one of the borough's architectural icons. It was once the tallest building in the borough, at 37 stories and 512 feet (156 m) tall, but has been surpassed in height by the Brooklyner. It is among the tallest four-sided clock towers in the world. The clock faces, 17 feet in diameter, were the world's largest when they were installed.
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Brooklyn Academy of Music - is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in 1908.
Fort Greene
History
Listed on the New York State Registry and on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City-designated Historic District. It is located in northwest Brooklyn, just across from Lower Manhattan and north of Prospect Park. The neighborhood is named after an American Revolutionary War era fort that was built in 1776 under the supervision of General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. General Greene aided General George Washington during the Battle of Long Island in 1776.
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Fort Greene Park - in 1897, was established as Brooklyn's first park in 1847 on a 30-acre plot around the site of the old Fort. In 1864, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, by now famous for their design of Central Park, were contracted to design the park, and constructed what was described in 1884 as "one of the most central, delightful, and healthful places for recreation that any city can boast."
Gowanus
History
The Gowanus area has been an active center of industrial and shipping activity since the 1860s. It is zoned for light to mid-level manufacturing. In 1636, Gowanus Bay was the site of the first settlement by Dutch farmers in what is now Brooklyn.
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Thomas Greene Playground - This small neighborhood fun-spot holds all sorts of sunny day activities for local families. Plentiful picnic tables make space for those eating or relaxing outdoors, while those who'd prefer to run around use the two basketball and four handball courts for more active recreation. In the summer, the adjoining outdoor Douglass-Degraw pool opens up for all the area's swimmers to enjoy.
Greenpoint
History
Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at the Bushwick inlet, on the southeast by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg, on the north by Newtown Creek and Long Island City, Queens at the Pulaski Bridge, and on the west by the East River. Originally farmland – many of the farm owners' family names, such as Meserole and Calyer, are current street names – the residential core of Greenpoint was built on parcels divided during the 19th century, with rope factories and lumber yards lining the East River to the west, while the northeastern section along the Newtown Creek through East Williamsburg became an industrial maritime reach. It is now known for its large Polish immigrant and Polish-American community, and it is often referred to as "Little Poland." There have been recent efforts to reclaim the rezoned Greenpoint/Williamsburg East River waterfront for recreational use, and also to extend a continuous promenade into the Newtown Creek area.
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McCarren Park is the site of endless games of kickball, soccer, baseball, bocce, handball, basketball, football, and tennis, not to mention running meets and playground antics. It is 35 acres of bustling activity, shared by families born into the neighborhood, recent immigrants, and young renters.
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Greenpoint Historic District is a national historic district in Greenpoint. It consists of 363 contributing commercial and residential buildings built between 1850 and 1900. It includes both substantial and modest row houses, numerous walk-up apartment buildings, as well as a variety of commercial buildings including the former Eberhard Faber factory, six churches, and two banks.
Park Slope
History
The neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Park Slope features historic buildings, top-rated restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as proximity to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and the Central Library (as well as the Park Slope branch) of the Brooklyn Public Library system.Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and Prospect Expressway to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary commercial streets, while its east-west side streets are populated by many brownstones. Park Slope is considered one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods. It was ranked number 1 in New York by New York Magazine in 2010, citing its quality public schools, dining, nightlife, shopping, access to public transit and creative capital.
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Prospect Park: 95 Prospect Park West, Is a 585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough. The masterpiece of famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park, Prospect Park features the 90-acre Long Meadow, the 60-acre Lake and Brooklyn’s only forest. The nation’s first urban Audubon Center, the Prospect Park Zoo, and the Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival are just a few of the cultural attractions that make their home here at the Park.
Prospect Heights
History
This is a neighborhood in the northwest of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Compared to other Brooklyn neighborhoods, Prospect Heights is relatively small and is notable for its cultural diversity as well as its tree-lined streets. Prospect Heights has seen rapid demographic changes over the last decade, and its shifts are exemplified by a mixture of older buildings under reconstruction, rows of classic 1890s brownstones, and newly built luxury condominiums. In the northern section of Prospect Heights, are the Vanderbilt Railyards, which could become part of the massive and controversial Atlantic Yards project. The Barclays Center, home to the NBA's Brooklyn Nets basketball team, is located in the northwestern corner of the neighborhood at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues.
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Grand Army Plaza - comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect
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Park in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City, and consists of concentric oval rings arranged as streets, with the outer ring being the namesake Plaza Street.The plaza includes the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, Bailey Fountain, the John F. Kennedy Monument, statues of Civil War generals Gouverneur K. Warren and Henry Warner Slocum, busts of notable Brooklyn citizens Alexander J.C. Skene and Henry W. Maxwell, and two 12-sided gazebos with "granite Tuscan columns, Guastavino vaulting, and bronze finials"
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Barclays Center - is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Brooklyn, New York City. It sits partially on a platform over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)-owned Vanderbilt Yards rail yard at Atlantic Avenue for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). It is part of a $4.9 billion future business and residential complex known as the Atlantic Yards.
Red Hook
History
Red Hook has been part of the Town of Brooklyn since it was organized in the 1600s. It is named for the red clay soil and the point of land projecting into the Upper New York Bay. The village was settled by Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam in 1636, and named Roode Hoek. In Dutch "Hoek" means "point" or "corner" and not the English hook (i.e., not something curved or bent). The actual "hoek" of Red Hook was a point on an island that stuck out into Upper New York Bay at today's Dikeman Street west of Ferris Street. From the 1880s to the present time, people who live in the eastern area of Red Hook have referred to their neighborhood as "The Point". Today, the area is home to about 11,000 people.
Rapelye Street in Red Hook commemorates the beginnings of one of New Amsterdam's earliest families, the Rapelje clan, descended from the first European
child born in the new Dutch settlement in the New World,Sarah Rapelje. She was born near Wallabout Bay, which later became the site of the New York (Brooklyn) Naval Shipyard. A couple of decades after the birth of his daughter Sarah, Joris Jansen Rapelje removed to Brooklyn, where he was one of the Council of twelve men, and where he was soon joined by son-in-law Hans Hansen Bergen. Rapelye Street in Red Hook is named for Rapelje and his descendants, who lived in Brooklyn for centuries.
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Valentino Park and Pier was once the site of an active shipping industry. Now it is surrounded by industrial, residential, and historic buildings. In the 1600s, the Red Hook district was settled by the Dutch. As the land became more developed and the population grew, the shipping industry began to take form. With the growth of the New York Harbor and accompanying changes on the waterfront, Red Hook became one of the nation’s premier shipping centers in the 19th century.
Williamsburg
History
A neighborhood of 113,000 inhabitants in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick, East Williamsburg, and Ridgewood, Queens to the east, and the East River to the west.Williamsburg is an influential hub of current indie rock, hipster culture, and the local art community. Many ethnic groups also have historically based enclaves within the neighborhood
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Arts Community - The first artists moved to Williamsburg in the 1970s, drawn by the low rents, large spaces available and convenient transportation, one subway stop from Manhattan. This continued through the 1980s and increased significantly in the 1990s as earlier destinations such as SoHo and the East Village became gentrified
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Music scene: Williamsburg has become a notable home for live music and an incubator for new bands. Beginning in the late 1980s and through the late 1990s a number of unlicensed performance, theater and music venues operated in abandoned industrial buildings and other spaces in the streets.