Monday, January 11, 2016

Voice: Barclays Center an 'Epic Train Wreck'?

Photo by MK Metz
 Neil Demause for the Village Voice says the Brooklyn real estate debacle known as Barclays Center is a money-loser that hasn't brought any new businesses or housing to the area that wouldn't have come there anyway. (Demaus credits Atlantic Yards Report blogger Norman Oder with digging out the financials.) Ratner recently sold his last bit of Barclays to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

Demause says, "As for Brooklyn residents, we now have a terrible basketball team to watch, and a pretty decent hockey team, and a garish arena and some growing housing towers on a site that otherwise would probably have something similar anyway, given that pretty much every possible site in Brooklyn now has a ginormous apartment building going up on it..."

He ends, "It’s probably too simplistic to say of the Brooklyn arena that everybody ended up a loser, but we certainly haven't seen any slam-dunk winners yet. So for now, man, is this turning out to be an epic train wreck, or what?"

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Even Spider-Man Gets Into No Pants Subway Ride in NYC

The 2016 No Pants Subway Ride attracted thousands of pant-less riders on Sunday. Some participants, such as Spider-man, above, showed a little comic imagination.

Other folks stuck to the pants-off script, or went above and beyond the call of duty, like no-pants no-shirt guy above.

The event is hosted by Improv Everywhere. According to the group (theme: "We cause scenes."), 4,000 riders participated this year.

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Thursday, January 7, 2016

Brooklyn Sex Perv Teacher Gets 5 Years; Carjacking Leaves Trail of Mayhem; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Brooklyn Tech teacher gets five years in prison for sharing pornographic images with seven students, kidnapping one. [Daily News]

- East New York residents worry that de Blasio's rezoning plan will end them up in homeless shelters. [NY1]

- Politicians are calling for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to fulfill promises the group made in 2004 to fix a DUMBO park and subway station. [Brownstoner]

- Tough Russian cookie: A carjacking in Brooklyn leaves a trail of mayhem. [NY Times]

- Map: How crime ridden is your Brooklyn neighborhood? [Patch]

- Manhattan is so ho humm: Brooklyn is becoming an increasingly attractive option for corporate conferences. [Skift]

- Brooklyn wedding shop closes, leaving customers scrambling. [NBC NY]

- Brooklyn has more walk-up apartments than any other borough. Bed-Stuy had the highest percentage in the city. [MetroUS]

- Covered in gold? Williamsburg restaurant sells $100 donuts.  [Fox]

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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

CEC Vote Approves P.S. 8, P.S. 307 Rezoning in Brooklyn


The District 13 CEC approved on Tuesday night the rezoning of P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights and P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill.

Kids living in DUMBO and Vinegar Hill will now be going to P.S. 307, rather than P.S. 8.

For more details, visit Patch's blow-by-blow live blog of the hearing.

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Violence at Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Ave.

Photo: MK Metz
 Two inmates were stabbed in the stomach and an officer was punched in the head hours after correction officers found three blades inside the Brooklyn House of Detention at 275 Atlantic Avenue, according to the Daily News.

The Brooklyn jail has been called "a hotspot for violence" since last year, the News says.

Built in 1957, the jail can house 815 adult males, most undergoing the intake process or awaiting trial in Kings County (Brooklyn) and Richmond County (Staten Island) courts. (According to www.cobanyc.org)




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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Robot Shop in Williamsburg; Community Gardens to Developers; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A 15-year-old Brooklyn girl was charged Monday with murdering her mom and her mom’s boyfriend in Sheepshead Bay. [Daily News]

- Two robbers who viciously beat a 60-year-old man in an attack in Midwood last week are under arrest, but police are still looking for the getaway driver. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- New Williamsburg pop-up shop Geek Forest is a one-stop shop for robots. [Fox]

- There's a lot of opposition to the Bushwick 200 project. [Bedford and Bowery]

- At least 9 community gardens in Brooklyn and Manhattan will be turned over to developers. [City Limits]

- You're probably entitled to commuter benefits now that could save you up to $1,000 a year. [Brooklyn Eagle]


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P.S. 8, P.S. 307 Rezoning Vote Tonight in Brooklyn


P.S. 8. Photo by MK Metz
The District 13 Community Education Council (CEC) will vote on the proposed rezoning of P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, and P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill, at a special meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting will take place at P.S. 56, 170 Gates Ave. (A crowd is expected, so arrive early.)

P.S. 8 is overcrowded, while P.S. 307 is undersubscribed.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the P.S. 8 PTA supports the rezoning, calling it "the only plan on the table to address the problem in time for the 2016-17 school year."

The DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance (DNA), however, has called for a delay in the vote. Doreen Gallo, DNA’s director, told the Eagle the alliance is against the proposal “moving forward to the CEC without the DOE answering very basic questions and needs of both communities.”

More here.

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Monday, January 4, 2016

Murder in Sheepshead Bay; Boro's Cheapest Gyms; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A man and his girlfriend have been found dead inside a bloody Sheepshead Bay Houses apartment late Sunday (above). Police have taken the dead woman’s 15-year-old daughter into custody, but no arrests yet. [CBS]

- Brooklyn restaurant getting rid of tipping, paying servers $27 an hour. [PIX11]

- ICYMI: 100-story building is moving in next to Juniors. [TimeOut]

- Cops nabbed a Brooklyn gang member who pistol-whipped his ex-girlfriend Friday near their 1-year-old daughter. [NY Daily News]

- Guide to 17 of Brooklyn's cheapest gyms for 2016. [Brooklyn Magazine]

- Trappers break city law, release Brooklyn's hoard of raccoon invaders -- in Brooklyn. [Orange Co. Register]

- Two teenage boys were nabbed for brutally beating a man in Brooklyn were each ordered held on $25,000 bail. [NY Daily News]


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Sunday, January 3, 2016

Recycle your Christmas Tree at MulchFest in Brooklyn This Weekend

Help the environment and recycle your Christmas tree:

On Saturday, January 9, or Sunday, January 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., bring your tree to the Third Street entrance of Prospect Park or the Park Circle entrance at Parkside Avenue and Prospect Park Southwest, and it will be turned into environment-friendly ground cover. You can take home free mulch for your own garden.

While you wait for your mulch, you can enjoy hot chocolate, served by the Park Slope Civic Council or become a Civic Council member.

Can't make it? If you live in the area bounded by Union Street, Sixth Avenue, 15th Street, and Prospect Park West, you can leave your tree at either end of your block before 11 a.m. on Saturday and volunteers will pick it up and bring it to the 3rd Street entrance of the Park.

To volunteer, e-mail the Civic Council's Sustainability Committee, sustainability@parkslopeciviccouncil.org or come to the Third Street entrance of the Park.

MulchFest is co-sponsored by the Park Slope Civic Council in partnership with the Prospect Park Alliance, with special help from 1-800 Mr. Rubbish and U-Haul.
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Update: To check out other parks holding their own Mulchfest events, visit: nycgovparks.org/highlights/festivals/mulchfest
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Update 2: If you can't make it to MulchFest, the Department of Sanitation will begin its annual Christmas tree curbside collection program from Monday, January 4 through Friday, January 15.
Clean, non-bagged Christmas trees left on the curb will be chipped, mixed with leaves, and recycled into rich compost for the city’s parks, institutions, and community gardens.  


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Gunplay, Commotion Across the Street from Brooklyn's Barclays Center Early Sunday Morning

Map data copyright Google
From the Scanner:

Cops were dispatched at 12:40 a.m. Sunday morning to Tony Roma's Restaurant at 673 Atlantic Ave., catty-corner from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, to investigate a complaint about a male with a firearm.

According to the dispatcher, the gunman had been inside the restaurant but then left the scene.

Dispatch said that the restaurant manager was currently holding the gun, and someone might be bleeding. (This has not yet been confirmed.) The perp fled East along Atlantic Ave. in a white sedan.

The gunman was described as black, wearing a dark hoodie and dark jeans.

Shortly after this assignment, another call came in reporting a "big commotion," a "dangerous condition" and a crowd at that location.

The 78th Precinct transferred this to the 88th Precinct, according to dispatch.


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