Downtown Brooklyn 'Genius School' Campaign; God Kills Hasidic Man? And More Brooklyn Briefs

- New ad campaign backs NYU bid to build city’s "genius school" in Downtown Brooklyn. NY Daily News

- The Brooklyn DA's office has arrested 85 sexual predators and identified 117 victims after an investigation into sexual abuse in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community. NY Magazine

- What Abe Lincoln and the G spot have to do with Brooklyn. Atlantic Wire

- Bikers and pedestrians are increasingly victims of fatal accidents and drivers have been getting off nearly scot-free. Brooklyn Eagle

- Authorities shut down two subway lines under Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Saturday night after an iPhone thief dashed into the tunnel. Gothamist

- A rabbi says that a Hasidic (Jewish) man hit by a car in Williamsburg Friday night was killed by God because he used the eruv, a "fence" made up of wires that encloses an area so Orthodox Jews can carry objects outside on Shabbat. Failed Messiah

- After a park ranger was dressed down for arresting a pervert in Prospect Park, all park rangers are getting stepped-up police training. Brooklyn Paper

- Now the government is occupying Zuccotti Park. WYDNKBYANM

- EPA's report on hydrofracking in Wyoming may influence debate in New York. Gothamist

- Norway is entirely out of butter because a fad diet has them stuffing their faces with it. Really.  Gizmodo  

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Live From the Statue of Liberty

We shot this view of New York Harbor (lower Manhattan on the left, the Brooklyn shoreline on the right) and we didn't have to leave McBrooklyn headquarters to do it. We grabbed the photo using one of the live webcams at the top of the Statue of Liberty.

EarthCam provides several different cams providing live, streaming video from different parts of the statue as well as from across the harbor. In panorama mode you can magnify and scroll around the image.

It's fun to look around the harbor and see what's going on. Visit EarthCam to try it yourself.

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Thousands of Drunken Santas Invade New York City, Overwhelm New Apple Store, at SantaCon 2011

They were everywhere.

Thousands of boozed-up Santas, reindeer, elves and other Christmas icons invaded New York City Saturday for SantaCon 2011 -- the annual Running of the Santas through the bars and BBQ joints of NYC.

Half of the Santas started out in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn at 10 a.m., (see video by Karl Junkersfeld at the Brooklyn Heights Blog) and drank and sang their way through six bars open at that ungodly hour: the Water Street Restaurant, Galapagos Art Space, Pub One, Rebar, 68 Jay Street and Superfine.

Then they made their sloppy way over the Brooklyn Bridge to join the Manhattan Santas at South Street Seaport, where tourists thought they had stepped into an alternate North Pole universe.

The crowds of zany Santas intensified in waves as the day wore on. Pubs and BBQ joints had long Santa lines. Rick's Cabaret and Striptease was overwhelmed. Thousands were  heard singing dirty Christmas carols outside the main branch of the New York Public Library.


Tens of thousands invaded Grand Central Station, where they tried to take in the huge new Apple Store, which just opened Friday.

While the majority of the revelers wore Santa costumes, other personified the spirits of domesticated elves, dreidles, sugarplum fairies, biblical figures and Christmas trees.

And other things.

After a day of non-stop debauchery, one tired Santa heads home.

The Brooklyn Cacophony Society was the original sponsor of Santacon in 1998. The secretive Society said in 2005 that SantaCon is: “a not-for-profit, nonpolitical, non-religious demented Santa Clause convention. We do it for no reason. SantaCon happens in major cities all over the world.” (Here's a photo from that first SantaCon.)

SantaCon participants donate cans of food to charity and patronize bars that give a percentage of their proceeds to Toys for Tots.

UPDATE: Now that hipsters have discovered SantaCon, is it sooo over? Gothamist 

More photos of Santacon 2011:
SantaCon Revelers Say 'Ho, Ho, Ho!' DNAinfo
Photos at Gothamist
Drunk Santas Take Over NYC for Christmas: Daily Mail
Photos at NBC

Past Articles:
- You Better Watch Out: SantaCon Is Coming to Town
- SantaCon 2010

Photos by MK Metz
Video by TechServeUSA

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City Council Agrees with OWS: Banks Should Turn Over Foreclosed Properties

Following the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in East New York Wednesday, the City Council called for big banks to turn over vacant foreclosed properties to nonprofit groups involved in affordable housing.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, council members, and representatives from VOCANY and NY Communities for Change were "responding to the growing demand by the 99 percent to hold the banks responsible for the damage that foreclosures cause to neighborhoods in the city."

Occupy Wall Street and elected officials chose East New York because that community has a foreclosure rate five times the citywide rate.

More here.

Photo by MK Metz

- Occupy Wall Street's Day of Mass Action
- Occupy Wall Street's 99% March Over Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn Heights
- Occupy Wall Street Protesters Arrested Inside Brooklyn Supreme Court
- OWS Protesters Occupy Cadman Plaza Park and Get Arrested On Brooklyn Bridge
- Livestream OWS March Oct. 5
- More here
- More here.

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P.S. 8 Holiday Craft Fair Saturday

Tomorrow (Saturday, December 10, 2011) from noon – 4 p.m., P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights will host a Holiday Craft Fair featuring homemade crafts, jewelry, toys and more. Come hungry – the event includes yummy food, pies and other treats.

The event includes live music, fun activities for kids, family photographs and a reading by children’s book author and illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg.

P.S. 8 is located at 37 Hicks Street between Middagh and Poplar in Brooklyn Heights.

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Where to See Santa in Brooklyn

They're only kids once. Bring them to see Santa while they still believe.

…Fairway Market in Red Hook Brooklyn (450-500 Van Brunt St.) on Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11, from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. A photographer will be on hand to capture the kids with Santa. Pictures are $5.

…Kings Plaza Shopping Center, available for photos through Dec. 24, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Kings Plaza is at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U.

…Melt at 440 Bergen Street at Fifth Avenue (Park Slope) on December 18, 2-5pm

…Santa Parade and Pancake Breakfast in Greenpoint on Saturday, December 10th. Gather at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Greenpoint Y at 99 Meserole Ave (between Manhattan Ave and Lorimer St). March down Manhattan Avenue and back again to the Y for a yummy pancake brunch by Boy Scouts Troop 26, photos with Santa, arts/crafts for kids, a holiday concert by P.S. 34’s Chorus, a Greencycle Swap, and more. (718)789-3700

…the DeKalb Market through Dec. 24. The Sant-A-Box photo booth will be open every day through Saturday, Dec. 24, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On weekends, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Santa will be holding court in this specially decorated shipping container while wearing a suit designed by Sylvia Heisel and Scott Taylor of Post Modern Production. On weekdays, when Santa is not in residence, visitors are welcome to take their own photos at the Sant-A-Box photo booth, complete with costumes.

- My Brooklyn Baby and Habana Outpost (757 Fulton Street) are teaming up to bring you Santa's Village on December 10th and 11th from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Photos, arts & crafts, goody bag. $15

…and at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Children can have their photo taken with Santa in his sled for $7 on Thursday, Dec. 15, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 17, from noon to 3 p.m. The museum is at 145 Brooklyn Ave.

For more seasonal activities see the Brooklyn Eagle.

Photo by Tumbleweed, Creative Commons license

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Garbage Truck Kills Woman in Williamsburg; More Media Companies in DUMBO; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A garbage truck struck and killed a 25-year-old woman crossing a street last night in Williamsburg. Fox

- Brokelyn guide to Brooklyn holiday markets. Brokelyn
 
- Three more media production companies just signed leases in DUMBO. Brooklyn Eagle

- Outer borough street hail bill is dead. No it's not. Yes it ... Brooklyn Politics

- L Magazine goes inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard's new museum. L Magazine

- Sickening faux pot sold in Bay Ridge delis and tobacco shops. Brooklyn Paper

- Photos from the second annual Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival. Publishers Weekly  

- Ten of history's most insanely awesome gingerbread houses. Curbed

- NASA: About 1,000 asteroids big enough to cause catastrophic damage if they hit Earth are orbiting relatively nearby. Reuters

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You Better Watch Out: SantaCon Is Coming to Town

(UPDATE: Photos of SantaCon 2011 here.)

Some cities have the running of the bulls. New York City has its own death-defying event: the New York City Santacon, which takes place this Saturday.

That means hundreds (if not thousands) of Santas in cheap suits, along with gingerbread men, giant presents, Hannukah Harries, snowflakes, sugarplum fairies, frisky reindeer, toy soldiers, and Santa mash-ups will be rampaging along the streets of New York, lurching from bar to bar, dancing, drinking and engaging in general lunacy with gay abandon.

The Brooklyn Cacophony Society was the original sponsor of Santacon (since at least 1998). The secretive Society said in 2005 that Santacon is: “a not-for-profit, nonpolitical, non-religious demented Santa Clause convention. We do it for no reason. SantaCon happens in major cities all over the world.”

- SantaCon 2010

- The March of Zany Santas: From Downtown over Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn Eagle

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New 'Restaurant Row;' Brooklyn Heights Noise Complaints; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- New high-end "restaurant row" coming to Adams and Willoughby Streets in Downtown Brooklyn.  Brooklyn Eagle

- Poor old Brooklyn: Almost 21 percent of the elderly in Brooklyn live below the poverty line, compared to about 11 percent in NY State and 9 percent nationwide. The Brooklyn Ink

- Late-night construction at 25 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights has neighbors burning mad. BHB

- A Brooklyn bus passenger was robbed of his iPhone — but police found it using an app and busted the deli worker who bought it off the thieves. NY Daily News

- The Gap -- coming to 400 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn -- is moving full speed ahead. Brownstoner

- The renovation of Ozzie's Coffee, on Fifth Avenue and Carroll Street, has been well worth the wait. Here's Park Slope

- The L train has been shut down on so many weekends this year it's killed Williamsburg businesses. Crain's NY

- Here's the full cop Facebook page with negative comments about the West Indian day Parade, courtesy of Gothamist. 

- Con Edison has decided not to pull the plug on a holiday art show featuring “pagan”-themed pieces by a Park Slope artist. Brooklyn Paper  

- Bank of America says it has opened customer assistance centers in Brooklyn and elsewhere so that borrowers can discuss options for alternatives to foreclosure. Marketwatch . . . But Occupy Wall Street has developed a quicker, more efficient solution to the foreclosure crisis in Brooklyn. Gothamist

- Now there's an app to make complaining about the taxi that wouldn't take you to Brooklyn even easier. Village Voice

- Brian Lehrer to host school choice discussion at Pratt on Thursday. Brooklyn Eagle

- Amazon launches appalling attack on local shops. Gawker

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40-Foot Christmas Tree Lights Up Brooklyn Borough Hall

Brooklyn Borough Hall is looking spectacular.

On Monday Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz threw the switch and illuminated the 40-foot-tall Christmas tree in Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza. The balsam fir will sparkle with holiday colors each night through the holiday season.

Joining BP Markowitz at the tree lighting ceremony were elected officials and 4-year-old Akeelah Freeman of Bed-Stuy.

Free holiday cookies were handed out and, of course, there was a special guest appearance from Santa himself.

Photos by Kathryn Kirk

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