Al Qaeda in Brooklyn Court, Airbnb Gets Blasted, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- An al Qaeda operative appears before a judge in Brooklyn. Among other charges, he plotted to attack the LIRR. [The Daily Beast]

- City Council blasts Airbnb executives in contentious hearing. [NY Daily News]

- Renderings: The Cobble Hill Association has gotten copies of the modified plan for the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Henry Street (where the Shell gas station now stands). [CHA]

- Brooklyn and Barclays are a logistical and ethical minefield for the Democratic Convention, says Norman Order. [NYT]

- Forbes: Brooklyn Nets valued at $1.5 billion, 6th most expensive NBA team. [NetsDaily]

- More than 130,000 pages of declassified documents relating to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) from the U.S. Air Force have been published online by man who spent 20 years filing Freedom of Info Act requests. [abc7]

- "The unemployment rate among recent IT graduates at the moment is actually twice that of theater majors." [WSJ]

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Cuomo's Curious $700 Million for Central Brooklyn Healthcare

Gov. Cuomo, at a SUNY meeting.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Budget released on Wednesday includes $700 million in capital funding for health care in central and eastern Brooklyn. His outgoing budget director, told Capital NY, "I think it's pretty clear that a new hospital is required.”

Curiously, officials in Brooklyn (or in the rest of the city, for that matter) haven't heard anything about this plan.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told the Brooklyn Eagle late Wednesday, “I haven’t heard from the Governor’s office on this matter."

He added, "I appreciate Governor Cuomo’s attention to health care in Brooklyn, though I will need to examine the specific concept of building a new hospital when so many of our existing facilities need support, on top of our having just closed Long Island College Hospital (LICH).”

It's curious how a $700 million capital investment is suddenly pulled out of the hat by the governor who is still in the middle of selling a 20-building hospital in Brooklyn for about a half a billion dollars.

It's curious how no elected officials know anything about this plan.


Cuomo budgets $700 million for health care in central Brooklyn [Brooklyn Eagle]

Cuomo considering building new hospital in Brooklyn [Capital NY]

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Anchors Away: Anyone in Brooklyn Heights Know Where to Put a Monumental 19th Century Anchor?

Photo data © 2015 Google Maps

The familiar anchor that's been resting outside 76 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights for decades needs to find a new home.

For many years the building was known as Sirius House; then it was the home of Design Within Reach. Soon, the venue will become the Friend of a Farmer restaurant, and the new owners say they would like to donate the anchor to the Brooklyn Heights community.

Problem: Where to put it?

Monumental 19th century anchor seeking suitable public spot to honor Heights shipping heritage [Brooklyn Eagle]

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'Brer Rabbit The Opera: A Funky Meditation on Gentrification' in Brooklyn

Image by LaRonda Davis, courtesy of BRIC

BRIC is taking a look at gentrification in Brooklyn:

Brer Rabbit The Opera: A Funky Meditation on Gentrification looks at the isssue through the lens of black folklore hero Brer Rabbit.

Plot: The story of a black middle-aged professional "at the tipping point in his battle to claim the American dream," moves into a "notoriously dangerous black neighborhood, at the tipping point in its battle with gentrification."

Performances: Thursday and Friday, Jan. 22 and 23, at 8 p.m.

Brer Rabbit The Opera is part of the Brooklyn In Transition series of events taking place at BRIC House in January.

Relared event: Brooklyn for Sale: The Price of Gentrification, A Community Town Hall
January 28, 7 - 9 p.m.
BRIC House Ballroom

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84-Year-Old Nun in 'Squalid' Brooklyn Jail, and More Brooklyn Briefs

Elvis' gold piano, Country Music Hall of Fame.* Photo: MK Metz

- 84-year-old activist nun imprisoned in "squalid Brooklyn detention center" which is also home to an Al Qaeda terrorist. [Daily Mail]

- Brooklyn man finds solace on a golf course made of trash. [NY Times]

- Allegations of malacious prosecution by a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Tangeez, Squinks, Not-a-Cameras etc: NYCEDC’s Next Top Makers program wraps up a NYC tour at the Urban Future Lab in Downtown Brooklyn. [Technical.ly]

- A town called Ypsilanti feels it is just like Brooklyn. [MLive]

- Brooklyn Hospital Center's CEO Dr. Becker hits the road. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Cops are looking for a gun-toting Brooklyn teen who's been robbing people. [NY1]

- Rev. Al lays a wreath for shot Brooklyn cops. [DNA info]

- It appears to be Brooklyn Hotel Week (plus, a discount code for Nets tickets). [Riverhead News]

* We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame during our recent trip to Nashville and saw Elvis' piano, painted with 24-carot gold. Its owners may have to sell it soon.

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Brooklyn Students to Talk About Police-Comunity Relations via Google Hangout

Today at 10:45 a.m., Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will launch a series of "digital youth dialogues" with Brooklyn students on the issue of police-community relations.

The conversations will take place online via Google Hangout. Moderators will remotely pose questions to students from Bishop Kearney High School in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Academy of Science and Environment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn Amity School in Sheepshead Bay, and Sunset Park High School in Sunset Park.

The media was invited to hear Adams' remarks, but the students' discussion will not be open to the press.

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McBrooklyn Is Taking a Winter Break

Photo: BiblioArchives, Flickr

 It's been a busy 2014, and McBrooklyn is taking a break and heading south for a couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading folks -- we'll check back in as soon as we return around Jan. 19, 2015.

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Turnout High for 'Save the View Now' Meeting in Brooklyn Heights; and More Brooklyn Briefs

On a wall in DUMBO. Photo by MK Metz

 - About 70 Brooklyn residents attended the "Save the View Now" meeting at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue on Saturday.  [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Hamill: Brooklyn neighborhood mourns NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu. [Daily News]

- Brooklyn Heights Blog publishes its Ten Most Influential list. [BHB]

- Body parts found floating in Gravesend creek. [NY Post]

- Police are looking for a man they say shot another man outside a Brooklyn nightclub early Friday morning. [NY1]

- Neville Walker, a 73-year-old black male, disappeared from Herkimer Place and Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. He was last seen at approximately 3 PM on 1/4/15 wearing a blue jacket, gray slacks, black sneakers. and a black felt hat. Mr. Walker is  5'4" tall and 130lbs with gray hair. A photo is available at http://i.imgur.com/3wNV0RF.jpg.


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Meeting Saturday: Saving Promenade's Brooklyn Bridge View

Pier House from Squibb Park. Photo:MK Metz

 A meeeting of a group working to save the iconic (and supposedly protected) view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade is set for Saturday, Jan. 3 at 1 p.m. at the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

As of Wednesday, more than 600 Brooklyn residents and visitors had signed the Change.org petition started by Steven Guterman.

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Happy New Year Brooklyn!

Here's to a healthy, happy, prosperous 2015!

(Yep, that's what those fireworks, tug boat horns and cheers you heard at midnight over Brooklyn were all about!)

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