Old Fulton Ferry Landing; GoogaMooga; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Cyclists will be racing like maniacs through the streets of Red Hook Saturday night. [Gothamist]

- 'For-profit’ hospital in Brooklyn shot down in state budget. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- The GoogaMooga Festival returns to Prospect Park, after last year's debacle. [DNAinfo]

- Booze spots in Bushwick will be facing a midnight curfew on Sundays. [Brokelyn]

- Best places to eat and drink in Red Hook. [NY Times]

- 14 photos of Fulton Ferry Landing from the 1970s. [Gothamist]

- We knew we'd seen those hands somewhere before... [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Teen's wild dash across subway tracks ends in tragedy. [NY Daily News]

- Old man Astor is headed for the slammer. [NY Magazine]


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Worst Bathrooms; Cheap Apartments; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- 10 worst NYC bar bathrooms, with 5 right here in Brooklyn. [NY Daily News]

- The daughter of the multimillionaire former owner of the NY Post /MTA chairman Peter Kalikow was arrested peddling heroin. [NY Daily News]

- After 25 years, the Celeste Diner on Tillary Street has finally bit the big one. [Brownstoner]

- Brooklyn owners of East Hampton property say home has become ‘House of Ill Repute.' [Brooklyn Eagle]

- How to get an apartment for $600 a month in Downtown Brooklyn. [Brownstoner]

- The ‘Brooklyn hipster musical’ doesn’t totally suck after all. [Brokelyn]

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If You Want to Get Away with Murder in NYC, Hit Them with Your Car

Photo: Edwin Martinez

Who needs an assault rifle? The way to get away with murder in New York City is to run your target down with your vehicle.

Almost any story -- "I dropped my cell phone;" "I got dizzy" -- will get you off with absolutely no charges. Meanwhile the statistics keep rolling in:

According to Streetsblog, there were 2,942 serious injury crashes involving pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists in 2011, with 250 of them fatal. That’s an average of just under nine per day.

Five motorists jumped the curb and killed pedestrians on the sidewalks of New York this month alone, and no charges were filed, as usual.

These include Martha Atwater, killed by a pickup truck driver on the sidewalk at the corner of Clinton Street and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn in February.

It has since come out that the driver who ran down Atwater was John McKinney, an ex-con with a history of drug arrests, according to the New York Post.

- Much-Loved Martha Atwater Dies Tragically in Brooklyn Heights

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No Bailout for SUNY Downstate; Home Collapses; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- SUNY Downstate has lost its bid for a bailout from state lawmakers. [NY Daily News]

- Circus at Barclays Center kinda pricey. [Atlantic Yards Report]

- Prospect Park Passover bread notice upsets some Orthodox Jews. [CBS]

- Brooklyn home under construction collapses, hurting workers. [NBC]

- It's going to snow Monday. [Gothamist]

- Don't plan on visiting Ellis Island anytime soon.
[New York Magazine ]

- Mayor Bloomberg: "In five years, the technology is getting better, they'll be cameras everyplace . . . whether you like it or not." [Gawker]

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Thousands Rally Against Gun Violence in Cadman Plaza Park

Photo: MK Metz

Thousands of Seventh-Day Adventist youth gathered in Cadman Plaza Park on Saturday for a rally against gun violence and for compassion, part of an annual "compassion" event in New York City.

After speeches and prayers, the crowd, accompanied by several drum troupes, marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to various sites in Manhattan.

MK Metz

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the participants came from ten states to pray for the city and carry out compassionate works, like donating blood.

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Squibb Bridge Open; Black People Leaving Bed-Stuy; and More Brooklyn Briefs

Squibb Bridge at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Photo: Leigh Trucks

- Squibb Bridge and Squibb Park is open. [BBP]

- Gowanus finally getting its subway station back. [NY Magazine]

- Williamsburg's Domino site getting a bike course, reading room, urban farm. [Brokelyn]

- Sunset Park teacher sentenced to 35 years for sexually abusing students. [Brooklyn Eagle]

-  Man charged in attempted rape at G train station Bedford Ave. stop. [CBS]

- Kimani Gray's mom 'not pleased' with DA investigation. [DNA info]

- White people are flocking to Bed-Stuy, black people are leaving. [Gothamist]

- Tough Mudder is negotiating for office space at 15 Metrotech Center. [TRD]

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'Murder in Manhattan' Films in DUMBO

Bridget Regan, Legend of the Seeker

The ABC TV movie 'Murder in Manhattan' was filming in DUMBO, Brooklyn yesterday on Washington, Front and Jay streets.

Annie Potts in 1989, by Alan Light

The plot: Mother Blythe Sutton (played by Annie Potts) and daughter Lex (Bridget Regan, pictured in her role in 'Legend of the Seeker') team up as amateur sleuths. Lex works in the Mayor’s office by day, and solves crimes with Blythe by night.



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Brooklyn Man Arrested in Sick Scheme to Open Babysitting Service to Abuse Infants and Children

Bebars Baslan

A Brooklyn man and his girlfriend were arrested in a Jersey City hotel room on charges that they crossed state lines with the intention of engaging in sexual acts with minors, NY1 reports.

In a disturbingly sick plot, Bebars Baslan, 35, an IT manager (and photographer), and his 25-year-old girlfriend, Kristen Henry allegedly wanted an informant to bring an 8-year-old girl, a 1 1/2 year old and a 3-month-old boy to the Jersey City hotel room to drug, sexually abuse and photograph.

According to the criminal complaint, the defendants were at the hotel Tuesday night so that Baslan could take pictures of his girlfriend sexually abusing a 16-month-old boy.

 Complaint here.

As a side note: Several years ago, as an IT consultant Baslan installed a program on computers in upstate North Tonawanda’s City Hall capable of remotely accessing classified information on city employees, including their Social Security numbers, taxpayer mailing addresses, telephone numbers and in some cases, bank account numbers.

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Elephants Dance and Smash Watermelons in DUMBO, While PETA Rallies

Photos by MK Metz, McBrooklyn.com

Eight Asian elephants danced and ate impressive piles of fresh fruit at Fulton Ferry Landing (not actually DUMBO) on Wednesday to advertise the arrival of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Clowns clowned, dancers danced and the King Charles Unicycle Troupe jumped rope while riding unicycles. Kids from P.S. 287 in Fort Greene were brought in to cheer and wave circus flags.

Ringmaster Andre McClain welcomed Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who issued an official proclamation declaring it Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Day in Brooklyn.

"Come one, come all, to see tantalizing tigers, exhilerating elephants and high-flying hijinks!" he said.

Clowns brought out watermelons, which the elephants smashed with their feet and snarfed up.

The elephants seemed used to the routine, and there didn't appear to be any abuse. But animal rights activists, including folks from PETA, held a small demonstration in front of the Eagle Warehouse to protest alleged mistreatment of young elephants during training. (This surveillance video of elephants getting hit with bull hooks by circus workers is a far cry from yesterday's pleasant affair.)

Ringling Bros. says their care "exceeds all federal animal welfare standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Animal Welfare Act."

The crowd seemed pretty happy with the show and hung around to watch the cleanup as the elephants were led to trucks parked under the Brooklyn Bridge.

More about this event at the Brooklyn Eagle, DNAinfo, and DumboNYC. 

Photos copyright MK Metz

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SUNY Reaffirms It Just Wants LICH to Die, Already

SUNY’s board of trustees voted on Tuesday again to close Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital (LICH), this time at a meeting in Purchase, New York.

This is the second vote to close the 150-year-old hospital. Judge Johnny Lee Baynes ruled last week that the original board meeting didn’t comply with the Open Meetings Law. With less than 24 hours notice and a venue 40 miles north of NYC, it's not likely this one did either.

LICH supporters filled three buses to testify again about SUNY Downstate's misrepresentations and mismanagement.

But in a pre-baked vote that stunk to high heaven, the SUNY board voted to administer the lethal injection. Supporters say they'll continue to fight, and the state Dept. of Health is supposed to have some say so.

There will be a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) outside LICH at Atlantic and Hicks in Cobble Hill.

Some memorable quotes from Tuesday's "hearing":

"You nurses should understand, sometimes we have to make sacrifices.” (SUNY Downstate’s head, Dr. John Williams.)

"We will fight this all the way to the governor's office."  (Loreto Gasmen, operating room nurse)

 “If LICH closes, Brooklyn will lose 16 fully equipped operating rooms and the only stroke center in the borough.” (Mickey Green of the New York State Nurses Association)

"Unbelievable. SUNY voted to close #LICH w/o a plan to replace the access to care it provided." (Sal Albanese)

 "We don’t have a real estate plan. It’s true that if LICH were to close the state would like to get their money back . . .” (H. Carl McCall, chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees)

 ". . . There are only 250 beds. Yesterday we had 230 in the hospital and 60 in the ER waiting to be admitted, notwithstanding their attempts to divert patients.” (Herdley Hill, RN at LICH’s Department of Psychiatry)

"We commend Dr. John Williams and his team at Downstate Medical for their commitment to preserving and ultimately strengthening this hidden jewel of the SUNY system." (SUNY statement)

"All these upstate people had our lives in their hands, but nobody there cared about the health of people in Brooklyn.” (Trudy Wassener, LICH patient)


Previous posts on LICH here.


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