Will School Buses Be Running Monday in New York City? Don't Expect the City to Know

Photo: Vincent Desjardins

New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott on Sunday afternoon told parents to get ready for a school bus strike, as bus drivers threatened to walk off the job.

But all Sunday evening, parents trying to figure out if buses would be running Monday got no information from the city. Even at midnight, calls to 311 and visits to the city's web site yielded only the same press release put up Jan. 4, warning that a strike might happen and urging parents to make other travel arrangements.

Several news sites however, quoted the union as saying that drivers will show up to work on Monday as usual.

If CBS and NBC could talk to the union about Monday's bus service, why couldn't the city?

The union has threatened to strike because a new contract the city is shopping does not include job guarantees for the most experienced drivers of disabled/special-needs children, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Hundreds of parents and drivers gathered at City Hall Park on Sunday to demonstrate support for the bus drivers, according to DNAinfo.

The supporters were chased from the park by police.

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Woman's Burnt Body Found in Gerritsen Beach /Marine Park

Atrocity: A young woman’s burnt body was found along Brooklyn's Gerritsen Beach shoreline on the border of Marine Park, near Gerritsen and Lois Aves. on Sunday morning.

More at the Daily News and the New York Post.

Related: Body Found at Point (2011) GerritsenBeach.net

Photo courtesy Google Maps

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EPA Decides to Leave Old Navigational Marker for Sailors in Place, Saving Money and Probably Saving Lives

Photo by Google Maps

The Department of Environmental Protection reversed its plans to destroy a 78-year-old navigational aid between Manhattan Beach and Breezy Point that mariners say makes them safer and shows them the way home, according to Sheepshead Bites.

According to documents released under a Freedom of Information Law request filed by Sheepshead Bites, the DEP decided to leave a wastewater diffuser pipe that locals affectionately refer to as the “roundhouse” after sailors and other mariners strongly objected to its removal.

The agency decided the roundhouse served a crucial purpose for vessels both afloat and under the water. More at Sheepshead Bites.

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Shiny, Flash Gordon-Style Spaceship on Flatbush Ave. Extension Grounded

It was too bright and bold for this world: The 21-story high spaceship planned for 85 Flatbush Avenue Extension has been grounded.

Brownstoner and the Brooklyn Eagle report the residential project -- with a new owner and architect -- has been cut roughly in half -- from 21 stories to 12.

What happens next?

According to Nathan Shumate, Ming will instruct the sharkmen to take Flash and Dale prisoner on the submarine where the octosac will attack them.

Flash, without a spaceship, is taken prisoner.

The octosac, however, will be distracted by  aggressive sharks and Flash and Dale will continue their journey to Kala, king of the sharkmen.

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Cops Shot on Fort Hamilton N Train; Suspect Dead

Photo: Jim Henderson, Wikimedia

A police officer was shot three times and another was hit in his vest when two transit officers were attacked by a man on the Manhattan-bound N train at the Fort Hamilton stop in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, according to a number of news sources.

The officers stopped the man who was walking illegally between cars; he then started shooting at them. As subway riders screamed and scattered, the officers returned fire, killing the man.

Police believe the suspect purposely fired below the bulletproof vests of the officers, 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported. The most seriously injured officer was shot in both thighs and in the scrotum.

Both officers have been taken to Lutheran Hospital.

More about this story at the NY Daily News.

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Have You Seen Howard McLean from Prospect Lefferts Gardens?

Have you seen this guy? NYPD has issued a Silver Alert for the disappearance of Howard McLean, male, black, 63 years old, 5'7", 140 lbs., from Flatbush Ave and Hawthorne Street in Brooklyn.

Mr. McLean was last seen wearing a blue jacket, black pants, a red and black striped shirt, black sneakers, and labels on his shirt and pants with his name and Safe Return # 256814.

Mr. McLean suffers from dementia, Alzheimer's, and seizures. If you see him, please call 9-1-1.

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'My Brooklyn' Opens at reRun Theater in DUMBO Friday

IFP & Filmwax present 'My Brooklyn' at the reRun Theater at reBar in DUMBO from Friday, January 4 through Thursday, January 13.

My Brooklyn follows director Kelly Anderson's journey to understand the forces reshaping her neighborhood. The film documents the redevelopment of Fulton Mall, the African-American and Caribbean commercial district that - despite its status as the third most profitable shopping area in New York City - is "maligned for its inability to appeal to the affluent residents who have come to live around it."

My Brooklyn premiered at the Brooklyn Film Festival in June 2012, and after two sold-out screenings it took home the festival’s Audience Award. Since then, the film kicked off Filmwax’s Brooklyn Reconstructed series and went on to win Best Documentary and Best Director at the Red Hook Film Festival. It screened internationally at the Architecture Film Festival in Lund, Sweden and the This Human World Human Rights Film Festival in Vienna, Austria.

More at www.mybrooklynmovie.com/

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Villiage Voice Has a Problem with D.A. Hynes; BP Markowitz's Swag; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The Village Voice says Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes needs to be replaced. 

- Outgoing Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is going to auction off most of his office swag for charity.  NY Daily News 

- A 40-year-old man wielding scissors was shot in the chest by the police after he threatened a woman in a building across the street from City Tech H.S. NY Times

- An education commission appointed by Gov. Cuomo recommended the creation of statewide full-day pre-kindergarten. Brooklyn Eagle

- Overheard on Boomer and Carton's morning show: "Brooklyn is a joke." CBS Local

- MTA dismisses Koo’s proposal for subway station safety barriers.City & State

- The Three Kings will be riding live camels along Graham Avenue this Sunday in Williamsburg. Brooklyn Eagle 

- Stop everything and watch this video of a baby going for a ride on a Roomba. Gawker


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Comptroll Liu Explains What the Fiscal Cliff Agreement's Gonna Cost You

Yesterday City Comptroller John C. Liu explained what New York City taxpayers will pay as a result of the Congressional agreement to avoid the so-called Fiscal Cliff.  

The agreement will cost the average Brooklynite $770 annually. Manhattan taxpayers will pay an average increase of $1,125.

“Like any compromise, the deal to avoid the so-called Fiscal Cliff has some bright spots and dark patches for New York City taxpayers," Liu said.

On the positive side: “Thousands of struggling New Yorkers will not find their extended unemployment benefits abruptly and cruelly cut off. And some 900,000 New Yorkers can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Alternative Minimum Tax has been permanently fixed.

On the negative side: “We must properly fund Social Security and unfortunately the 2% increase in the Social Security Payroll Tax will cost four million hard-working New Yorkers, on average, more than $800 out of pocket this year, taking more than $3 billion out of the City’s income stream.

Estimated Cost of 2% Increase in Social Security Payroll Tax

Borough	# of Workers Affected	Estimated Cost	Average Increase
Bronx	630,000	$425 million	$674
Brooklyn	1,135,000	$875 million	$770
Manhattan	995,000	$1.12 billion	$1,125
Queens	980,000	$800 million	$816
Staten Island	230,000	$220 million	$956
TOTAL	3,970,000	$3.44 billion	$868

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New Gowanus EPA Cleanup Plan Calls for Armor, Tanks

Photo: Dept. of City Planning

The Environmental Protection Agency released last Thursday a new half-billion dollar plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal, lay down cement and "armor" layers to cap contaminated sections, and install 3 - 8 million gallon retention tanks to prevent raw sewage from overflowing during storms.

The EPA will accept public comments on its proposed plan until March 28, 2013. Public meetings will take place on January 23 at 7 p.m. at Public School 58 (the Carroll School), 330 Smith Street, Brooklyn and on January 24 at 7 p.m. at the Joseph Miccio Community Center, 110 West 9th Street, to discuss the proposed plan and answer questions.

Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator, encouraged residents to attend one of the meetings.

The EPA is proposing to dredge approximately almost 600,000 cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment. In some areas where the sediment is contaminated with liquid coal tar, the agency is proposing to mix the sediment with concrete, then cover it with multiple layers of other material.

In other sections, the canal will be capped with an "armor" layer and topped with a layer of sand to help restore habitat.

In 2010, the Gowanus Canal was added to the Superfund list of the nation’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites.

More than a dozen contaminants, including PAHs, PCBs and heavy metals were found at high levels in the sediment in the Gowanus Canal -- but consumption of fish from the canal continues to this day, according to EPA.

For information on how to comment, visit the EPA website.

Related:
- Quadrozzi Wants to Expand Brooklyn Shipping Empire with Toxic Sludge
- Join In On New Gowanus Canal Hurricane Flood Map
- Hearing on the Lightstone Group's Gowanus Project

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