New York Today: Obama’s Here

Uli Seit for The New York Times Shien Hunte, left, and Saquan Warlick are thrilled that the president is visiting their school.

Updated 6:22 a.m. | All week long, one Brooklyn high school has been buzzing.

The president’s coming!

It was amazing enough that President Obama used his State of the Union address to praise the school for its innovative spirit.

But today, Mr. Obama is visiting the school, the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, in Crown Heights.

“This is the first time I’m going to meet Obama,” said Shien Hunte, 14. “It’s been hectic.”

Latifa Morris, 15, said students have been chattering constantly about his arrival.

“They say they just want to touch him,” she said.

But to get that close, they’ve had to do a lot.

A partial list: clean out lockers, open desks, straighten classrooms, hang art, and make sure to arrive at 8:35 a.m., special tickets in hand.

“I’m going to wear a suit,” Saquan Warlick, 15, said.

Parts of Prospect Park will be closed from noon to 6 p.m. (not the entire park, as it seemed at first) for the president’s arrival by helicopter.

Obama plans to address students at 3:45 p.m. for 15 minutes.

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend:

WEATHER

Even (slightly) colder than the last couple of days, and cloudier, with a high of 53. Warming very slightly through the rainless weekend.

COMMUTE

Subways: Fine so far. Click for latest status.

Rails: O.K. Click for L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: Staten Island Expressway slammed eastbound. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

The president will disrupt traffic in Brooklyn from a little before 3 p.m. till sometime after 4, said Samuel Schwartz, better known as Gridlock Sam.

Eastern Parkway from the park to Crown Heights will close, as will parts of intersecting streets, including Flatbush Avenue.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Governor Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Walcott and Bill de Blasio go to P-TECH for the president’s speech. Live stream here.

- Joseph J. Lhota, the Republican mayoral candidate, critiques Mr. de Blasio’s “anti-school choice positions” in East Harlem at 11:30 a.m. He’s on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC at 7:20 a.m.

- Neil Degrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, explains how to defend the earth from asteroids, at 11 a.m. Watch here.

- Your big chance to jog in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. It’s suspending its running ban from noon to 6 p.m. to accommodate those displaced from Prospect Park.

- Last day to feast at Madison Square Eats. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

- A Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit opens at the Brooklyn Museum. It includes mannequins with interactive faces.

- Brooklyn Fare opens a Manhattan store at 431 West 37th Street. A 45-seat restaurant is coming next month.

- The Crown Heights Film Festival continues through Saturday. 6:30 p.m. at FiveMyles on St. John’s Place. [Free]

- Attention Brooklyn: Uniqlo opens in the Atlantic Terminal mall.

- Looking for Halloween events? We listed a bunch on Thursday.

- And don’t forget The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

THE WEEKEND

Saturday

- Volunteers: help clean up Hurricane Sandy damage in Queens and Staten Island with the Clinton Foundation. [Click for info]

- Junot Diaz reads and otherwise speaks at Brooklyn Public Library. 4 p.m. [Free]

Sunday

- The Tour de Bronx bike ride. Check-in at 9 a.m. Depart at 10:30 a.m.

- Put on Google Glass and embark on, and document, a citywide scavenger hunt. [Click for info]

- Actors from the “social-impact theater company” Outside the Wire perform the Book of Job in the Rockaways, where people know something about being tested, to commemorate Hurricane Sandy. With audience participation. 4 p.m. at West End Temple, 6:30 p.m. at Rockaway Theatre Company in Fort Tilden.

- If you’ve ever wondered what happens when 15 or so basset hounds get together, check out the North Park Slope Basset Association’s meetup at Prospect Park. 11:30 a.m. Bring earplugs. [Free]

Weekend Travel Hassles: Click for subway disruptions or list of street closings.

AND FINALLY…

It’s everything that may annoy you about the new Brooklyn.

A barge from Vermont.

A crowd-sourced barge from Vermont.

Arriving in Brooklyn with produce and artisanal goods.

The Ceres has traveled 300 miles along an old trade route from Ferrisburgh, Vt., picking up cargo along the way.

It will be in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Saturday for a big party.

The goal of the Vermont Freight Sail Project is to establish “a zero-emissions food trading network that builds community.”

The barge plans to leave with cocoa beans and locally roasted coffee.

Joseph Burgess and Andy Newman contributed reporting.

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