Electoral College Letter Writing Site Goes Viral; Sex Crimes on Subways Jump; Uber Stalking and More Brooklyn Briefs

Gone viral: #Brooklyn man's website helps people contact #ElectoralCollege before #Trump vote. #TheResistance https://t.co/Hxkt94UohP pic.twitter.com/drUnt0DA5f

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) December 13, 2016

- Brooklyn shop owner's son hit with stun gun by cops after threats to kill himself, tense standoff. [Daily News]

- Sex crimes on the city’s subways jumped 28 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2015. [NY Post]

- More details emerge about southern Brooklyn's Backwards Wheelchair Lady (read the comments). [Bensonhurst Bean]

- Brooklyn man convicted of raping 82-year-old woman in her Brighton Beach home. [Pix11]

-  Now anyone can track affordable housing in NY using this new data mashup. [Brownstoner]

- Internal Uber employees helped ex-boyfriends stalk their ex-girlfriends and searched for the trip information of celebrities such as Beyoncé. [Reveal News]

- Will the Brooklyn-Queens streetcar benefit developers more than locals? [Curbed]


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

The Stuffed Animals on Truck Bumpers Thing, Brooklyn Style

Photo by MK Metz

Truck drivers have a tradition of strapping stuffed animals on their grills and bumpers.

Some trucker upped the ante, however, with the mannequin above, seen on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights.

Below is another take on the concept -- Banksy's "Sirens of the Lambs" truck stuffed with crying stuffed animals.

Catch the reaction as the truck drives by Staubitz butcher shop in Cobble Hill. (This video has more than 4 million views on YouTube.)




Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Nude Shakespeare; 'Love Pimpin' Gets Slammed; BBQ'd Eel Thieves; and More Brooklyn Briefs

This morning #Harbor #SCUBA pulled this dog from the waters of Gravesend Bay. If you recognize him, call @NYPD62Pct pic.twitter.com/X149K5XRdJ

— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) August 19, 2016

- Female Shakespeare troupe bringing a free, all-nude Tempest to Prospect Park. [Brokelyn]

- Former Thomas Jefferson H.S. basketball star sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting his friend and basketball rival in Sheepshead Bay. [Sheepshead Bites]

- A Brooklyn man known as ‘Love Pimpin’ was sentenced to 30 years Monday for prostituting minors and producing child pornography. [Pix11]

- Man found dead in Bay Parkway home with cuts on neck and arms. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- 108 Wycoff Street isn’t your typical Brooklyn brownstone. It delights people from all over and has become a wall of hope and beauty. [CBS local]

- Three men caught in Brooklyn with $360G worth of -- what else? -- stolen barbecued eels. [Daily News]

- Gross: An X-ray technician was arrested Saturday on suspicion of groping two female patients at Kings County Hospital. [Pix11]

- The “healthy food chain” Honeygrow will be opening its first New York City restaurant on Joralemon St. in Brooklyn Heights. [BHB]

- Jalapa Jar breakfast taco shop opens in the arcade at the St. George Hotel and Clark Street subway 2/3 station Tuesday morning. [Gothamist]


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Where to Find Harry Potter Parties in Brooklyn; De Blasio and LICH; Apple's First Brooklyn Store; and More Brooklyn Briefs

#Brooklyn residents speak out on the probe into #deBlasio's role in the closure of #LICH. https://t.co/OVuqLRWia6 pic.twitter.com/wIWle4aOFg

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) July 29, 2016

- The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has reportedly lied about the horrific water quality of Newtown Creek in city reports—and former employees may sue. [Greenpointers]

- How to die in Brooklyn: This NYC woman gave her former teacher a powerful lesson on coping with mortality. [Daily News]

- Peek inside Apple's first Brooklyn store. [Fast Company]

- A string of brutal sex attacks took place in north Brooklyn over the past week. [NY Post]

- Online finance school opens branch in Downtown Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Mugglemania! Where to celebrate the new Harry Potter release in Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Paper]and [Brokelyn]

- Members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers were spotted shooting a music video for “Go Robot” on 86th Street wearing (almost) nothing. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- This Bushwick Pokemon Go party features a celebrity trainer and free booze. [Brokelyn]


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

BAM Park Toxic? Landmarks Looks at Green-Wood, and More Brooklyn Briefs

Is this Brooklyn criminal defense attorney the real-life Better Call Saul? https://t.co/wjJNa4dbZl https://t.co/1J20h0zPDS

— VICE Videos (@VICE_Videos) February 23, 2016

Is this Brooklyn criminal defense attorney the real-life Better Call Saul? [Vice]

- Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson is moving to vacate the second-degree manslaughter conviction of Vanessa Gathers, convicted in 1998. [Pix11]

- The scene at the wake for 'Big Ang' Raiola in Bensonhurst. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Nicole Byrdson has written an in-depth look at gentrification in Bushwick, as personified by artists with galleries "named for themselves in a neighborhood they recently came to inhabit." [Brooklyn The Borough]

- Neighbors: What’s under the ground at BAM Park? (Hint:It's toxic.) [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Tesla Motors’ very first showroom in Brooklyn will open in Red Hook, at the former Golten Marine Terminal. [Curbed]

- Study: Some creams, shampoos, after-shaves and toothpastes made by groups such as L'Oreal and Procter & Gamble, may contain potentially harmful substances. [Reuters]

- Landmarks Preservation Commission will decide the fate of seven Brooklyn historic sites on Tuesday -- including Green-Wood Cemetery, Lady Moody's House and others. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- 100 reasons everyone should live in Brooklyn. Reason #4: Because if you don’t live here for at least a little while, how will you ever write your own “Goodbye to All That” essay? [Brooklyn Magazine]

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Family Shooting in East Flatbush; Live Poultry Markets; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Father brings kids to East Flatbush Thursday night, where those kids watched their father shoot their mother and her current boyfriend, then himself. [abc7]

- The freshest turkey In Brooklyn: Inside Bensonhurst’s live poultry markets. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- Rampant development and lack of city planning key topics at Squadron’s open house. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Protesters picketed the Brooklyn headquarters of Hillary Clinton, hoping to bring to light the ongoing series of hunger strikes at federal immigration detention centers. [Observer]

- After Rangers / Islanders game at Barclays, cursing crowds, fights, drumming and chanting ... [Atlantic Yards Report]

- Brooklyn-born Dascha Polanco, 33, who plays pregnant inmate Dayanara Diaz on Orange is The New Black, was accused by a 17-year-old girl of assault. [Ameripublications]

- There have been 38,000 hit and runs in NYC this year. In 4,000 of them, a person was injured or killed.  [NY Magazine]

- Senate approves bill repealing much of ObamaCare. [The Hill]

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Four Indicted for Kidnapping 13-Year-Olds; Brooklyn Is Totally Unaffordable; and More Briefs

- Four people have been named in a 32-count indictment in connection with the 2014 kidnapping of two 13-year-old girls in Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Groups from oppressive countries and authoritarian regimes are among the candidates looking to acquire the Brooklyn Nets from a Russian oligarch.  [Sports Illustrated]

- Emotions ran high at a town hall meeting on illegal home conversions, a growing crisis in Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Bay Ridge. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- This map shows you how unaffordable it is to live in NYC. Brooklyn is the worst, of course. [Curbed]

- Pacific Park/Atlantic Yards’ first condo building, 550 Vanderbilt Avenue, will launch sales this summer. Prices will start roughly in the range of $550,000 and go all the way up to around $5,500,000. [Brownstoner]

- Boerum Hill resident Ethan Hawke’s movie “Maggie’s Plan” will be shooting on Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights tomorrow and Wednesday, screwing up parking as usual. [BHB]

 - Friggin' inspirational Brooklyn guy. [WYDNKBYANM]

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

A and C Train Troubles Ahead; Brooklyn Heights Cinema; 'Kung Fu Judge' Lawsuit; and More Brooklyn Briefs

Driver in custody after striking & killing 14 year-old Mohammad Uddin and fleeing scene on Caton Ave. #NYPD #Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/WuLNucY34R
— Allison Papson (@AllisonPapson) November 21, 2014

-After community input meetings, the draft "Gowanus Bridging" initiative will be presented by Councilman Lander this Monday. The Pardon Me for Asking Blog says it's a sham.

- Buyers of Brooklyn Heights Cinema building going for condos. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- A 28-year-old NJ woman was found dead in a parked sedan yesterday in front of a bakery in Bensonhurst. [BensonhurstBean]

- The Cranberry Street Tunnel, which is used by A and C trains between Brooklyn and Manhattan, will be closed for 40 weekends starting this spring. [Gothamist]

- Shut out of P.S. 8? P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill is hosting open houses (209 York Street) on Nov. 21 from 9-10am, December 8 from 6-7pm, and December 12 from 9-10am. They have pre-K. [DumboNYC]

- Wrongful death suit of Brooklyn ‘Kung Fu Judge' Phillips moving ahead. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Another round of voting took place Thurs. to determine how $19,500,000 from the Exxon-Mobil oil spill will be spent on Greenpoint. [Brownstoner]

- After flurry of excitement, Bed-Stuy man tests negative for Ebola. [News12]


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

DOH Issues Rabies Alert in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

The New York City Health Department issued a Rabies Alert on Wednesday for Bensonhurst after a dead raccoon found on 16th Avenue tested positive.

The raccoon may have infected feral cats and kittens before it died, DOH said.

DOH offers advice for residents, including keeping your dog on a leash and your cat indoors, and avoiding wild animals, especially is they act sickly.

Also: Make sure your pet's rabies vaccine is up to date.

Full Health Dept. alert here.

FAQ about rabies answered here.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

NYPD Investigates Anti-Muslim Leaflets in Brooklyn

The Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating another disgraceful anti-Muslim incident in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Eagle and NY1 report that anti-Islamic fliers -- reading "Islamists go to your country. USA hates you. You are terrorists and bastards. You are the second Holocaust,” were left in a Bensonhurst apartment complex on July 26.

This comes after similar incidents in Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay last week.


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

River Cafe Reopens after $3 Million in Repairs; and More Brooklyn Briefs

Under the Brooklyn Bridge, 1918. By Eugene de Salignac pic.twitter.com/psxX7lXOwW (via @History_Pics) #NYC
— NYC (@NYC) January 2, 2014

- Billy Joel leads hometown sing-along at New Year's Eve show in Brooklyn. [Rolling Stone]

- Guests flock back to The River Cafe, finally reopened after more than $3 million worth of repairs (including a custom-made Steinway piano) after Hurricane Sandy. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- First Brooklyn homicide of 2014: 17-year-old fatally shot in Bushwick. [News12]

- First NYC baby of 2014 born in Brooklyn. [Pix11]

- Police are investigating whether crooks parked a boat in the inlet behind the Best Buy in Bensenhurst to carry away $65,000 worth of stolen electronics. [NBC]

U/D Brooklyn: 63 St & 6 Ave NYPD ESU advising Perp is in custody. Scene being investigated. pic.twitter.com/g1ahRilShX
— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) January 1, 2014

(Above) "Brooklyn: 63 St & 6 Ave A Vehicle is currently stopped on train tracks Perp is wearing marine fatigues. Big NYPD response to the scene."  [NY Scanner]

- De Blasio and Cuomo: allies or adversaries? [City and State]

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Barclays Noise Complaints; Gas Pipeline Protest; and More Brooklyn Briefs

Did you miss 'Sharknado'? Here's the trailer.

- Multiple noise complaints about Barclays Center, and commenters say it's going to be intolerable for years. [Atlantic Yards Report]

- A 79-year-old woman talking on her cellphone and crossing against the light was fatally struck by a car in Bensonhurst. [NY Post]

- Opponents protested Sunday against a planned natural gas pipeline that would pass through Brooklyn and the Rockaways. [CBS local]

- Video of FDNY rescuing a dog from a second story window. [Carroll Gardens Patch]

- Aging NYC stickballers keep street game alive. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Park Slope not thrilled with Methodist's plan to knock down 16 buildings to expand the hospital. [Brownstoner]

- Manhattan is not impressed with Brooklyn's newest tall buildings. [WSJ]

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

City Loses Tests; Empire Stores; MakerBot and More Brooklyn Briefs

- City loses tests, almost forcing Bensonhurst students to attend summer school. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- Hearing on DUMBO’s Empire Stores and Tobacco Warehouse set for Thursday. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- John Catsimatidis, the monorail candidate. [NY Magazine]

- The Senate and Assembly may vote Thursday to bring back the old lever voting machines in the primary and run off elections. [NY Daily News]

- Brooklyn 3D printer company MakerBot is merging with Stratasys. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Brooklyn man suspected of fatally stabbing cabbie in the eye denied bail.[NY Daily News]

- Browse Brooklyn's brunch scene on bikes. [Business Insider]

- Dinosaur Bar-B-Q opened its first Brooklyn location in Gowanus yesterday. [Eater] 

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Last Brooklyn Blockbuster, Body in Water, and More Brooklyn Briefs

Cadman Plaza Park. Photo: MK Metz

- Brooklyn's last Blockbuster video store is closing, and some customers are shedding tears. Bensonhurst Bean

- Two Brooklyn firehouses -- one looks like a castle -- have been named as landmarks. Brooklyn Eagle 

- A man was shot by police yesterday in Brooklyn after he turned a gun on the officers. NY Post

- Body found in water near Caesar's Bay. Bensonhurst Bean 

- Heartbreaking: Young woman hit by bus in Bushwick taken off life support. Gothamist

- Video: Shortly after Pope's resignation, ominous lightening bolt strikes St. Peter's Basilica. Gawker 

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Brooklyn Principal Found Guilty of Sexual Abuse; Rabbi Describes Another Alleged Victim As a Whore

NYC.gov

The former principal of a a private Jewish school for Russian-Americans in Bensonhurst, Emanuel Yegutkin, was found guilty in State Supreme Court on Monday of sexually abusing three young boys over the course of a decade, the New York Times reports.

The Times says the case is among "a wave of sexual abuse cases involving Orthodox Jews" that the Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes is prosecuting "after decades in which such prosecutions were rare."

A similar trial involving Williamsburg's Nechemya Weberman, accused of molesting for years a girl he was "treating" (without a license) continues Tuesday in the same courthouse.

Sadly, Rabbi Aharon Titelbaum, one of the two Brooklyn Satmar rebbes, on Saturday night categorized the the girl who has accused Weberman of raping her as a whore, reports the Failed Messiah blog.

"When they go down [into impurity, darkness and sin], they go down all the way," he told his fellow Satmar men.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Did You Know You Can Stand Your Car at a Fire Hydrant During the Day but Not at Night?

Photo: David Boyle

In the legal weirdness category: Currently, drivers in New York City are allowed to temporarily stand at fire hydrants during daylight hours, but not at night.

Councilman David G. Greenfield (44th council district: Bensonhurst, Boro Park, and Midwood) says in an email that he heard from irate constituents who received tickets after dropping off passengers near fire hydrants at night.

So yesterday he introduced what he calls "common sense legislation" in the City Council that would allow motorists to temporarily stop at fire hydrants at all times as long "as they are ready to immediately move their vehicle in the case of an emergency."

“Allowing drivers to temporarily stop at fire hydrants to pick up and drop off passengers will reduce emissions from vehicles circling the block, free up other parking spaces and reduce double parking, which often brings our commercial strips to a standstill," he said.

Earlier this year, the City Council passed Greenfield’s legislation ending the city’s use of neon stickers (remember them?) to punish drivers violating alternate-side parking laws, and he says he played an instrumental role in passing legislation to give drivers a five-minute grace period when paying for parking at a nearby Muni-Meter.

Greenfield also supported a law allowing the use of Muni-Meter receipts on different blocks than where the receipt was issued. All of these bills were passed unanimously by the City Council over the objection of Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

The Fastest Internet Zip Codes in Brooklyn -- and the Slowest

Photo: Mangrove Mike

The Communications Workers of America reports that the median Internet download speed for the nation is 3.0 megabits per second -- equivalent to 3, 072 kilobits per second.

Which led us to wonder about Internet speeds in Brooklyn. Do some zip codes have faster download  speeds than others? (Upload speeds are slower.)

There's a handy Internet Speed Report app at the union's speedmatters.org website. We fed in Brooklyn zip codes and found the fastest and slowest download areas in Brooklyn.

It turns out that the fastest zip code in Brooklyn, 11204, is 5.7 times as fast as the slowest, 11209.

In other words, the average Internet user in the Bensonhurst / Bath Beach area can download a movie on Netflix 5.7 times faster than folks out in Bay Ridge and Fort Hamilton, who are frankly getting screwed, Internet-wise.

Students at Brooklyn College have an excuse for handing their homework in late as well. (And Coney Island's Internet moves at a snail's pace, but maybe everyone's having too much fun on the beach to mind.)

Here are the figures:

Fastest Internet Zip Codes in Brooklyn
11204 -- 21,004 kbps (Bensonhurst, Bath Bch)
11212 -- 19,849 kbps (Bushwick, Brownsville)
11218 -- 17,830 kbps (Kensington, Ditmas Pk)
11239 -- 16,388 kbps (Starrett City)
11236 -- 15,741 kbps (Canarsie, Jamaica Bay)
11213 -- 14,653 kbps (Crown Heights, Weeksville)
11211 -- 13,273 kbps (Williamsburg)
11219 -- 11,872 kbps (Borough Park)
11234 -- 11,042 kbps (Flatlands, Marine Pk, Mill Basin)
11208 -- 10,801 kbps (Cypress Hills)
11201 -- 10,432 kbps (Brooklyn Hts, Cobble Hill, D'twn, DUMBO)

Slowest Internet Zip Codes in Brooklyn
11224 -- 4,050 kbps (Sea Gate, Coney Island)
11210 -- 3,771 kbps (Brooklyn College, Flatbush)
11209 -- 3,659 kbps (Ft. Hamilton, Bay Ridge)

Other Brooklyn zip codes fall somewhere in the middle. Visit speedmatters.org to look up your zip code's average speed.

BTW: The FCC's goal for the country is 51,200 kbps (50 mpbs) download by 2015.


Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Olympic Gold Medalists Coming to Barclays; More Bodily Fluids at McCarren; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Olympic Gold Medalists Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman and other members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastic team will flip at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center this fall as part of a nationwide tour. NY Daily News

- Borough Park's Orthodox Jews want to block police from seeing security camera footage. Failed Messiah

- Couple sought for questioning in merchant murders in Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge. Brooklyn Eagle

- Another bodily fluid closes McCarren Park Pool. Gothamist

- A vandal scrawled graffiti on the Holocaust Memorial in Sheepshead Bay. Brooklyn Daily

- DUMBO’s Beacon Tower has been hit with a $150 million racketeering suit. TRD

- Nine things to do to keep your online identity secure. Gizmodo

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Reward Offered in Murder of Isaac Kadare in Bensonhurst

Councilman David G. Greenfield and the Sephardic Federation have offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of 59-year-old Isaac Kadare.

Kadare was murdered Thursday night in his Amazing 99 cents Deals shop on 86th Street near 19th Avenue. Relatives said he likely was robbed for the cash he had just collected from a tenant. “He was a great man and a family man,” his widow Nancy told the Daily News.

The bullet found in Kadore was linked to the same gun used in the killing of another store owner a month before, the Daily News reports.

"By all accounts, Mr. Kadare was a kind, caring and devoted family man who never hesitated to help those in need," said Greenfield, who urges anyone with any information about this crime to contact the NYPD's tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Previous Post
- Body Found in Bensonhurst Thursday Night

Photo Google Maps

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Body Found in Bensonhurst Thursday Night -- UPDATE

A body was found at 86th Street and 19th Avenue in Bensonhurst Thursday evening about 9 - 9:30 p.m. Above is an image from Google Maps showing the intersection.

According to Bensonhurst Bean, NYPD have been there for at least an hour.

NY Scanner first reported the discovery.

UPDATE: Isaac Kadare, 59, was discovered DOA around 8:50 p.m. Thursday in his Amazing 99 cents Deals shop on 86th Street near 19th Avenue. More here.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.