Fewer drunk Santas, amazing Verrazano photos and other civic good news

November 17-23, 2014

Happy 50th Birthday, Verrazano Bridge

Photo by Dave Frieder, Bensonhurst Bean

Amazing photos from atop the bridge [Bensonhurst Bean]

Gay Talese describes how it was built [WNYC]

Borough presidents boycott anniversary to protest tolls [NY Post]

By Teresabergenbasinrealty via Instagram

And in Other Bridge Related News….

Another tourist scales the Brooklyn Bridge [DNA Info]

Pols: enough with the bridge climbing! [Brooklyn Eagle]

Amazing photos from atop the Williamsburg Bridge [Animal NY]

“You would think that when you’re sitting on top of the Williamsburg Bridge, looking down at the lights of New York City, the view of the skyline is overwhelming. And it is, but when I was up there, I was far more taken by the enormity of the century-old bulk I had just climbed.”

By Aymann Ismail in Animal New York

DeBlasio’s Shifting Support

New marijuana policy popular but he’s losing white voters [DNA Info]

“Black voters think the mayor is terrific. White voters don’t approve. And the racial gap gets wider every time we ask”

Bratton gets only 47% approval rating in poll. Sharpton’s fault? [NY Post]

Violence

In separate incidents, stray bullets injure 71 year old woman on way to doctor and 54 year old man driving on Eastern Parkway

Video: Cop clubs turnstyle jumper [Pix11]

78-year-old woman charged in hit-and-run killing of 14 year old boy in Windsor terrace [NY 1]

Nervous police rookie accidentally kills unarmed man [Daily News]

The dilemma of East NY: fearing crime AND police [BKLYNR]

‘We want more police, but we want them to be more respectful’

15-Year-Old arrested for hate crime attack against Jewish man [DNA Info]

Dull But Important

Brooklyn Community Foundation does sweeping assessment of borough’s concerns [BK Community Foundation]

Main problems: “Consequences of gentrification; opportunities for young people; the criminal justice system; immigrant communities; and racial justice”

Most jarring BK facts:

3rd most economically unequal county in NY State
30% of Brownsville youth not in school or employed
5 of 10 poorest NYC census tracts are in BK
Black and Latinos = 57% of BK youth but 95% of those in juvenile detention
50% of households speak a language other than English at home

Report has mostly negative view of gentrification: “Escalating housing costs and displacing tens of thousands of long-term residents from their homes…People feel they have lost agency and voice in their own neighborhoods, and are exacerbating inequities in housing, transportation, education, health, public safety and other areas of community life.”