Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Hanging out in Bay Ridge! (Reddit)

Here's a new twist to make the sequel to the lackluster reboot of Spider-Man more interesting: If you manage to get yourself down to Bensonhurst before 2 a.m. tomorrow morning, you might catch a glimpse of Andrew Garfield or Emma Stone as they shoot The Amazing Spider-Man 2: London Calling.

Well, according to the intrepid Redditors who went to the scene earlier this morning, the trucks have already departed, though they still have a permit to come back and shoot until well into the wee hours.

This fits with the stealth model of shooting that the sequel has kept up for the best month or so, showing up with permit signs in Queens and the UES before being quickly whisked away, with no one able to gather photographic evidence of any of the stars milling about.

The casting notices for extras list exterior shots running all the way through May 20 in New York, so it's inexplicable what kind of London is doing the calling here. It's pretty difficult to confuse Piccadilly Circus with Dyker Beach Park, but what do we know?

The "Green Church" looks like it is slated for demolition despite the last ditch-effort of local activists; a seven-story apartment building will soon rise from the site of the Bay Ridge Funeral Parlor; and the board of the Bay Ridge Jewish Center is shopping for a buyer.

To Bay Ridge lifers like Steven Diahy, these developments and the squat, tightly packed generic brick buildings scattered among the rowhouses off Third and Fourth avenues signal the neighborhood's transition from a sleepy, suburban community into a mini-Manhattan, and, equally important, make finding a parking spot nearly impossible.

Mr. Diahy still lives with his mother Lorraine in the house he grew up in on 77th Street between Third and Fourth avenues, which she bought from her mother 49 years ago.

He used to know everyone on the block, he said, but over the years his elderly neighbors have passed away and their homes have been sold. A gleaming, nine-unit McCondo has replaced two single-family homes down the street that had fallen into disrepair, but still sold for upward of $900,000 so they could be demolished, Mr. Diahy said. Though he doesn't fault the sellers or the young couples who have moved in, he is "not very happy" about the building itself.

"It's an eyesore, first of all," Mr. Diahy said on Sunday evening. "And, if you take down two houses and put nine in their place, you don't have parking for all of them."

Whether or not the apartment buildings are to blame, Mr. Diahy, like many other people born and bred in Bay Ridge, misses the smalltown of his childhood.

"We were just telling my brother's kids about how all the kids in the neighborhood used to play stickball in the street when we were young," Mr. Diahy said. "Now all the kids are inside playing those electronic games. The whole neighborhood thing is really changing."

OTHER LOCALS FOCUS ON the quality of life issues the condo development boom has exacerbated. In an incident heavily covered in the local media last September, the Basile Group enraged residents of 74th Street when it reneged on its pledge to restore three century-old Victorian homes on the block, and demolished them to make way for five three-unit townhouses occupying nearly every inch of the subsequent site's16,200-square-feet of usable space.

The Basile Group owns seven other condo buildings in Bay Ridge, according to The Brooklyn Eagle, which locals have dubbed "Feders" because their most distinctive architectural attribute are the Feders, air conditioning units jutting from the windows.

A 28-year resident of 74th Street accused the construction crews of placing buckets of cement or building materials in parking spots in front of the construction site at 318-334 74th Street to block other cars from parking, and endangering the safety of the multiple elderly and disabled residents of the block by obstructing the sidewalk with exposed building material.

She would not allow her name to appear in this story because she "did not want to get in trouble with the contractors" at the site and provoke a "flat tire" or something.

Her neighbor, John, said he had called 311 early Sunday, because the fence surrounding the construction at the Basile Group's site had collapsed. By Sunday night, it had not been repaired.

Joseph Cerrano, a project manager at Basile, was reluctant to comment, but did say that “nine times out of 10 we have permits from the [Department of Transportation] to occupy spots in front of our projects.” The Corcoran broker for the 74th Street condos would not comment

Though the McCondo boom has certainly strained Bay Ridge's infrastructure, some preservationists are loath to compromise to accommodate the needs of a new population drawn by the boom.

Nancy Morgan, who lives on 80th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues with her husband, the Reverend Craig Miller of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, played a leading role in the neighborhood rezoning a few years ago. She appears to have distanced herself from local preservationists since then.

"There is a delicate balance of needing to supply housing so that the local population is not priced out of the city, versus making sure that a neighborhood's buses, subways, and parking can accommodate more people," she said on her front porch.

"A lot of the activists in the neighborhood don't want things to change, which is impossible; but I don't see anyone working to find solutions to ease the pressure, like building new parking garages."

A reader emails this photo of Rep. Anthony Weiner at a St. Patrick's Day parade yesterday in Bay Ridge, just outside his district.

In case you thought 2009 hadn't started yet.

-- Azi Paybarah

Tomorrow morning, Christine Quinn addresses the Crain's NY Business Breakfast Forum at the Grand Hyatt.

Then, Riverkeeper announces their intent to file suit against Entergy Nuclear Northeast because of an alleged radioactive leak at Indian Point.

In the afternoon, Local 32BJ workers march from 79th Street and Fifth Avenue to 83rd Street and Park Avenue for a contract.

In the evening, Democracy for NYC holds a Monthly Mixer, and Stonewall Dems and Drinking Liberally present Drinking Liberally Steps Out.

—Nicole Brydson

Bay Ridge is losing its last remaining theater, the Alpine Cinema. It's going on the chopping block for $10 million, says the Daily News.

-Matthew Grace

"This race is the only truly contested seat in Brooklyn and is a major priority for the WFP. That's why we are mobilizing phonebanks in downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan as well as sending people to help with activities in the district...

"This race is awfully close. It could come down to a handful of votes. We are very worried because of the major Republican and Conservative resources being mobilized against Vinnie. In order to keep this ally in City Hall and to stop the Republicans in their tracks, WE NEED YOUR HELP!"

That doesn't sound good for Gentile. But the rallying cry seems a bit of a stretch: "The way I see it, losing this seat would have a negative impact on national politics. It would aid the re-election efforts of Republican Congressman Vito Fossella, since Vito's congressional district encompasses a large part of Vinnie's council district. Defeating Republican members of Congress is extremely important to all of us next year."

Also in the post, Freddy plans a Flatbush motorcade.

He writes:

If there's one thing Vinny Gentile and Pat Russo can agree on, it's that New York's cross-endorsement system opens up great lines of attack. Russo took a beating for being on the Republican/Liberal, Conservative, and Independence lines simultaneously.

"It makes no sense how [Russo] is running," Gentile said. "A militant activist, a hardcore conservative, and a Republican liberal. ... [He] will say anything or do anything to get his name on the ballot as many times as possible."

But when the very next question asked Gentile about his own cross-endorsement by the Working Families Party, his tone changed abruptly.

"I don't agree with every position, and I will stand up when I don't agree with a position.... I don't have a problem taking the WFP's designation."

Russo said essentially the same thing, that he had "agree[d] to disagree" with Mike on taxes and senior services, among other issues, and he equated Gentile's WFP support with illegal immigration and non-citizen voting, neither of which plays well in southwest Brooklyn.

He recently spent some time in Bay Ridge, and filed this report:

It's been a rough season for Vinny Gentile, what with the publicized sexual harassment allegations, and here's another one to chew on: Bay Ridge residents have been going to his opponent's campaign to get help with city services.

Republican candidate Pat Russo told the Politicker on Sunday that his office volunteers have been been fielding complaints about noise and potholes. The Politicker was skeptical, but as if on cue, a middle-aged woman emerged from a nearby church and let Pat know she'd called his office about noxious odors from the Owl's Head wastewater treatment plant. Pat said he was on the case.

For legislators at any level, leverage with the bureaucracy is one of the pillars in the so-called incumbent protection program. We're not saying Vinny doesn't have it, but if voters think Pat does, it certainly means his challenger candidacy is more credible.

Reached later, Gentile campaign manager Chris Lanier said defended his boss's pothole operation and added, "Pat Russo appears magically on the scene whenever an election is coming. People know that. When there isn't an election imminent, he's nowhere to be found."

Freddy, the ad tells us: "is consistently progressive," "lacks the arrogance and self-righteousness of so many other politicians" and "will represent all of us: white, black, brown, red, and yellow; Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and others...."

Not exactly salsa trucks in Bay Ridge (a famous dirty trick played against Herman Badillo), but the Ferrer campaign must hope the Campaign Finance Board doesn't decide this is a campaign expense.

Relatedly, Democrats are smiling at a rare unforced error by team Bloomberg: a print ad focusing on crime in the latest West Side Spirit has Bloomberg's name in Hebrew letters and list the Borough Park Office. Because Jews on the Upper West Side like being grouped with Borough Park's Chasids. Really.

Met: 1997

Engaged: Aug. 1, 2004

Projected Wedding Date: Nov. 12, 2005

Keith Miller, an ad-sales employee at Disney with big brown eyes and long lashes, is marrying Christine Pala, a slender blond account executive at the high-end publicity firm Paul Wilmot Communications. We sure hope Uncle Walt approves ….

The bride will wear a dress designed by a client, Monique Lhuillier, to her reception at the New York Botanical Gardens, following a ceremony at Fordham University, where the couple, both 27, got their bachelors' degrees. "We always ran in the same group," Mr. Miller said. "We now always joke about her having a crush on me, but I think, really, I always had a crush on her."

"Keith was extremely good-looking," Ms. Pala said. "I think my version of flirting was to call him Sugar Ray, 'cause he looked like [lead singer/current Access Hollywood host] Mark McGrath." Now that's a compliment!

The mutual admiration remained unspoken, and after graduation the two went their separate ways, he to his native stomping grounds of Bay Ridge, she to the Upper East Side. In the spring of 2001, fate brought them both to McFadden's, a saloon in midtown ("the scene of many a crime," said Mr. Miller, a bit ruefully). "There was some heavy flirting," Ms. Pala said.

He drove her home at the end of the evening (guys from Bay Ridge have cars), but fumbled a bit on the follow-up. "I didn't really even notice it when the phone calls stopped," Ms. Pala said.

A little over two years later, Mr. Miller found himself a bit thirsty while spending the Fourth of July at his uncle's house in Sag Harbor. He wandered into a back-street tavern called Murph's, and there was you-know-who, sitting with a few friends. "I was stunned when he walked in," said Ms. Pala. "He came over right away, and we started talking and talking and talking some more."

He gave her a ride back to the city a couple of days later and took her to dinner at Bistro le Steak, where they finally discovered their similar family backgrounds (Irish and Italian) and rapidly hurtled forth into total commitment.

"It just felt normal and right almost immediately," Ms. Pala said.

To secure permission to wed from her Pop, Mr. Miller staged a barbecue at his house in Bay Ridge. "I was sweating and running around like a maniac," he said. "He was acting a bit strange," said Ms. Pala. "I mean, it was really hot, but he was still acting a bit funny."

Afterwards, they repaired to her pad in Manhattan, where she hopped into the shower, emerging to find the place ablaze with candlelight. "Have you been lighting something on fire?" she asked reasonably.

"You saw how hard I worked today at the barbecue for our family and friends," Mr. Miller said, dropping to one knee and whipping out a brilliant round diamond set on a six-pronged platinum band. "That's how hard I plan to work for you every day if you become my wife." Excuse us while we bum some Kleenex ….

"I remember he was saying something about working hard," said Ms. Pala. "But when I saw the candles, I think my brain stopped working."

Diane Stockwell and Christopher Lima

Met: Dec. 6, 2001

Engaged: July 15, 2004

Projected Wedding Date: Feb. 26, 2004

Christopher Lima had reached his mid-30's and just about given up on love. "I got to the point where I felt I was never going to get married," said Mr. Lima, now 37, a medical researcher at Sloan-Kettering. "Not in the cynical sense, but I just decided: 'I don't need it.'"

It was in this spirit that he walked-unshaven-into 9C, a now-defunct bar in the East Village, to listen to honky-tonk with a buddy. In college, Mr. Lima had played horn in a ska-punk deal, but the band broke up after the bass player decided to pursue orthopedic surgery.

Playing fiddle in the Hank Williams' Lonesome Cheatin' Hearts Club Band that night was Diane Stockwell, a boisterous brunette who had also reached a certain point of jadedness in her dating life. "Men would often make comments about the music," said Ms. Stockwell, 37, by day the founder and president of her own publishing company, Globo Libros, "though this led much less often than you might guess to an offer of a date. In fact, it never, ever did."

Mr. Lima's friend brokered an introduction at the bar, and at the end of the night, the two agreed to share a cab. With beer coursing through his system, Mr. Lima lurched out of the taxi as it neared the corner of his Upper East Side apartment building, throwing a wad of money at the driver and instructing him to "make sure she gets home O.K." Miraculously, Ms. Stockwell-a resident of Sunnyside, Queens-found this charming.

Over Christmas vacation, she Google-stalked him, procuring an e-mail address that she used to inform him of upcoming shows. A few weeks later, he showed up to watch her play at Rodeo Bar, officially asking her out soon after. The pressure-filled rendezvous took place at Aqua Grill on Sixth Avenue. "The solution to nervousness after dinner is usually: 'Well, see you around.' But that didn't happen," Mr. Lima said.

"The first date was the best first date I ever had," Ms. Stockwell said, "Here was someone who was smart, but also not a total geek."

She sensed it was getting serious when he took her scuba-diving a few months later on the Cayman Islands (alas, Ms. Stockwell prefers snorkeling). Another high-water mark: meeting his sixtysomething parents on a small island off the coast of Venezuela. But Mr. Lima proposed spontaneously on dry land, in front of a 10th-century fortress near Salzburg, Austria, in the middle of a lecture series he was giving in Europe. "Totally unplanned," he said. "I didn't even have a ring." Ah, who needs it?

They'll be married at the Alger House in the West Village. Ms. Stockwell, who has joined her swain on the Upper East Side, is sweating a bit over the choice of bridal gown. "I just feel that white makes me look too pasty," she complained. "I tried to find a dress in a color that suits me, but I think I'll just tan instead."

The groom-to-be, meanwhile, is aglow with a new understanding of what love means. "I can come home in the crappiest of moods," he said, "and she'll help me get through that."

-Daisy Carrington