Brooklyn Fund Manager in the Black, But Not Allowed to Take Securities Exam

Brandon Conley is a fund manager who operates out of his Brooklyn home. He and his staff are raising money from outside investors and developing relationships with companies in order to beef up the fund, Mariner Investment Advisers. Mariner gained a tidy 30 percent over the last six months.

So why can't Conley take the Series 7 exam to trade securities?

Because he has to finish school first. That's middle school. Conley is only 14.

See the full story in the Wall Street Journal.

New Charter School in Brooklyn's District 15?

Academically inclined students in Brooklyn often travel far from their neighborhoods in search of decent middle and high schools, and parents say that the recent influx of new families into Brownstone Brooklyn has overcrowded existing schools.

Now, the state has authorized up to 100 new charter schools, and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn brings us word of a move to start a new charter school in District 15 to be called Brooklyn Prospect Charter School.

District 15 is located west of Prospect Park and includes Sunset Park, Park Slope, Gowanus, Red Hook, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and parts of Brooklyn Heights and other neighborhoods.

The new school would be a combo high- and middle-school, and admission would be by lottery. Interested? Sign the petition by the June 27th deadline.

Photo: "School Bus" by Fluzo, Creative Commons license.

Lunch Is On Us at Brooklyn Bridge Park

A seared tuna platter here, a skirt steak there, and before you know it -- whoops! -- thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on fancy lunches, courtesy of the as-yet-unbuilt Brooklyn Bridge Park's capital budget, according to an article in Friday's Brooklyn Eagle.

Invoices obtained by the Eagle through the Freedom of Information Act show that insiders like the former president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and architects from the firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates ordered lunches like seared tuna and slow-roasted pork from expensive Manhattan eateries (Ennju, Union Square Cafe) several times a month while working on the park, courtesy of the park's budget.

But this is small change compared to other expenses that have since 2003 "whittled at least $30 million away from the park’s $153 million capital budget," says the Eagle.

In one invoice, a lawyer billed $79 for two private car services to chauffeur him between 599 Lexington Ave. and the ESDC’s office at 633 Third Avenue. (BTW, this is roughly a distance of .7 mile each way.)

In another example, $9,443 was spent in one day to serve the heads of containerport operator American Stevedoring eviction notices for Pier 5.

Good work if you can get it? Outright fraud? Story here.

More food for thought at Curbed.

'Protect Our Homes in Carroll Gardens' Petition

Concerned Carroll Gardeners and Gownus residents worried about the development of 360 Smith Street -- where a controversial 70-foot-tall Scarano building is proposed at the corner of Smith Street and 2nd Place -- have posted a petition at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/crlgrdns/petition.html

The Coalition to Respectfully Develop will also be collecting signatures by hand at this Sunday's Smith Street Fair.

At a June 6 press conference to protest the proposed building, Carroll Gardens Councilman Bill De Blasio called Scarano a "bad actor" and urged New York State to revoke his architect’s license.

The petition reads in part:

"We the undersigned Carroll Gardens homeowners and residents, are appalled by the 'as of right' ruling which allows owners and developers to erect buildings in our neighborhood with no regard to the impact they will present to our quality of life and the value of our homes."

The group is demanding an immediate moratorium on all buildings and alterations in the neighborhood where the ultimate height of any structure to be built will exceed a height of fifty feet, pending a decision on rezoning and or landmarking in Carroll Gardens.

De Blasio: Scarano 'Bad Actor' and Cheat

Hills & Gardens: Ask Dismissal of Architect: Brooklyn Eagle

Carroll Gardeners Post Online Petition: The Gowanus Lounge

Brooklyn in Brief

Developers and community groups are criticizing a city plan to reopen the Brooklyn House of Detention, reports the NY Sun. A community meeting is scheduled for tonight.

The former home of the 84th Police Precinct in Brooklyn Heights, which is undergoing a residential conversion, will be called the Stationhouse Apartments, says the Brooklyn Eagle.

Brooklyn Republicans are excited about their new web site: http://www.brooklyngop.com/

Greenpoint stinks. Curbed

NewYorkology takes a walk-through of the new exhibition at the Brooklyn Historical Society chronicling the creation of Brooklyn Heights as the first historic district in New York City.

A developer was caught trying to bribe a Department of Buildings inspector. We are simply shocked. Brownstoner

$100 Jeans Come to Brooklyn

It was only a matter of time before Lucky Brand Jeans landed on Smith Street.

The hip jeans company -- a division of Liz Claiborne, Inc. along with brands like Juicy Couture, Kate Spade and Mexx -- is on that wave of "upscale retailers" predicted to transform the area frighteningly called BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens).

Brooklyn is gearing up for a surge in new retail development driven by a growing population and strong housing market, according to Crain's New York Business. "Restaurants and high-end retail will certainly be strong in the next 12 to 24 months in Brooklyn," said J.D. Parker, regional manager at Marcus & Millichap.

He said neighborhoods like Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Park Slope will see an influx of new restaurants and retail, as new housing goes up in those communities.

The shop will open at Smith and Dean.

Update: Lucky Brand Jeans won't necessarily be the priciest jeans on Smith, says Ariella Cohen, reporter for the Brooklyn Papers. That distinction belongs Watts on Smith at DeGraw Street, where a pair of Paul Smith “Red Ear” men’s jeans can be had for $280. More here.

Photo by MK Metz

"A New (24-Hour) Brooklyn If There Ever Was One..."

"Had all the details and dimensions of all of the development projects under way today in Downtown Brooklyn been fully known in 2004, when the new zoning plan was approved, it might not have been," says Brooklyn Eagle's resident pundit Dennis Holt.

"No one then conceived of 14,000 new housing units, 1.6 million square feet of more retail space or the same space for offices, and 1,553 new hotel rooms."

Downtown Brooklyn will become a 24-hour city, with all the positives and negatives that this brings, Holt says. Whatever happens, "we are talking about between 40,000 and 50,000 people making the new Downtown their home within about a little more than one square mile. That’s a new Brooklyn if there ever was one."

Full story here.

Should We Be Surprised? Mayor No Longer a Republican

Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a press release this evening saying, “I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party. Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our City."

Now that he's no longer a Republican, the question is: will Bloomberg run for the White House?

According to ABC News, Greg Strimple, a Republican strategist in New York said, "If he runs, this guarantees a Republican will be the next president of the United States. The Democrats have to be shaking in their boots."

The CityRoom blog at the New York Times has more.

Video Explains All: Brooklyn's Duffield St. Houses

You missed the tour and didn't have time for the book: Here's an intriguing video that sheds light onto the Duffield Street Underground Railroad controversy.

This 28-minute documentary (by Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse) provides an in-depth look at the Duffield Street houses and provides some creditable scholarship that bolsters the claim that they were part of the Underground Railroad.

With context provided by Robert Swan, PhD, and interviews with a variety of Duffield Street homeowners and historians, you may soon question consulting firm AKRF's claim that no evidence exists to link the houses to the hotbed of liberation that existed in the area.

Past posts on this topic here.

Update: Prospect Park Rape Victim's Boyfriend Is a Cop

The NY Post reports that the victim of the brutal rape in Prospect Park early Friday was sitting in a parked car with her boyfriend, off-duty NYPD Officer James Randolphe, when her attacker shined a flashlight into the car.

Randolphe jumped out, but became seperated from the victim after a scuffle, leaving her open for attack. More here.

Rape Reported in Prospect Park