'Tree Deserts' of Brooklyn; Perverted Pervert Test; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- 18 wheeler tractor trailers are illegally idling for over 24 hrs at a time next to Barclays Center. [AY Report] and [AY Watch]

- Huge development site at the corner of Franklin and Dean in Crown Heights going for $18,000,000. [Brownstoner]

- Someone is stealing catalytic converters in Carroll Gardens. [PMFA]

- New tree map of shows the "tree deserts" of Brooklyn. [NY Daily News]

- Court rules sex offender should not be subject to oddly perverted penile test [Brooklyn Eagle]

- A 46-year-old man was found shot to death in a car in Crown Heights Sunday night. [NBC]

- Green-Wood Cemetery is offering a pre-Halloween tour with gorgeously ghoulish appeal: a tour inside a mausoleum. [About]

- New Coney Island YMCA to create a time capsule. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- Yeah yeah: Lhota says he'll cut the city's work force but won't reduce services. [Crain's NY]

- The FDA isn't inspecting food during the government shutdown. [Gizmodo]

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You Need to Sign Up for Sandy Food Stamps by Tuesday

Many New Yorkers are unaware that they may be eligible for special disaster-related food stamps (actually a card) -- but the deadline to apply is Tuesday (tomorrow!).

Residents of the following neighborhoods are eligible:

• Coney Island, Brooklyn (zip codes 11224 and 11235)
• Red Hook, Brooklyn (zip code 11231)
• Gerritsen Beach South of Allen Avenue, Brooklyn (partial area of zip code 11229)
• Lower East Side, Manhattan (zip code 10002)
• Staten Island: Southeast shore (zip code 10306), and North Midland Beach South of Seaview Avenue (partial area of zip code 10305)
• The Rockaways, Queens (zip codes 11691, 11692, 11693, 11694, and 11697)

In Brooklyn, applicants must apply in person at 495 Clermont Avenue from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. In Staten Island, the application location is only open today (Monday!).  More information here.


Past article:
- How to Apply for Food Stamps in Brooklyn

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Brooklyn Public Library Funding Restored, Bloomberg's Phony Crisis Averted

Part of Mayor Bloomberg's panic-inducing budget proposal called for cutting $27 million dollars from Brooklyn Public Library in 2013 -- or one third of its entire operating budget.

Late Monday a deal was worked out by the Mayor and the City Council that would restore $25 million of those cuts.

Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library issued a very polite statement saying, "Thank you to the countless patrons, volunteers, staff members and elected officials who advocated on the Library's behalf. Your dedication to our cause is the reason why we will be able to keep our doors open and continue to serve our communities."

While we're all thankful, we'd like to ask the Mayor: What kind of idiot would cut one third of the budget from a major metropolitan library threatening every single educational program for its children and irreplaceable resources for business and taxpayers -- when it wasn't necessary? How can this possibly be construed as rational governing?

The same budget nonsense went on with countless essential city programs and services that were eventually restored.

So now that we've all ignored our day jobs and disrupted business trying to save the library, fire houses, child care, after-school programs and teachers, the pretend crisis that had the whole city lurching around trying to save itself just disappeared.

The Mayor plays his governing games, having one hand of the city fight its other hand in fruitless, time- and money-wasting battles.

The charitable view is that good government bores him. We'd hate to think he has a nefarious goal in all this disruption -- like keeping people who really care too busy to notice things like no-bid contractors looting the city's coffers of billions of dollars.

Photo by Pharos, Wikipedia

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