January 25 – February 1, 2015
The fight over a high rise in Prospect Lefferts Gardens turns noxious [Q at Parkside]
“What does that feel like? To call your neighbors racial epithets, accusing them of ignorance and being house slaves? Does that feel good?”
- Some background on the controversy, over whether to allow taller buildings in the area [Brownstoner]
Local beer mavens answer the question: If you could drink 1 local beer in 1 local bar, what it would it be? [BK Magazine]
Police seize famous Gowanus rabbits, who turn out to have bunny syphilis [Brokelyn]
The red hot rubble of East New York [NY Magazine]
“To both investors and public-policy-makers, the decrepitude of these neighborhoods represents a rare, and perhaps perishing, opportunity.”
DeBlasio puts Brooklyn seriously in play for Democratic convention by raising significantly more money than Columbus or Philadelphia [NY Times]. And Norman Oder makes the case against
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Quotes of the Week
“This class would not involve “ohms”. We would not be saluting the sun… but rather opening our hearts to Satan through physical worship.”
–Rossella Laeng about her experience with Heavy Metal Yoga in Bushwick [Brokelyn]
“I believe my dog is provoked by anybody he don’t know.”
–Kaseam Stanley of Brooklyn, pleading unsuccessfully that his dog Disel not be executed. [NY Post]
“Would the community be happy to have something other than the jail there? Sure! But would my neighborhood want to trade the jail for a 55-story condo? I don’t think so.”
–Howard Kolins, the president of the Boerum Hill Association, where BK’s jail is. [Daily News]
“One of them was stepping on my neck and my face. The other one was trying to break my leg. Then everything changed.”
–Christopher Graham, who was beaten up by police in Crown Heights until they learned he was a prison chaplain [Daily News]
By Ijulien on Instagram
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Collective Action
“Brownstone parents” attempt to re-shape ailing Boerum Hill school by enrolling en mass [DNA Info]
Orthodox Jews complain that DeBlasio is forcing all-day pre-K on them [Failed Messiah]
BK Heights project that might block view of Empire State building halted after local protests [Daily News]
The Pride of Brooklyn
Video: This week’s Broad City features Abbi running amok in Gowanus Whole Foods [Brokelyn]
Video: BK man teaches his rabbit to bring him beer [BK Mag]
Williamsburg now has the country’s only bar dedicated exclusively to Matcha [Free Williamsburg]
A record-breaking 1.5 million people visited the Coney Island amusement park last year [NY 1]
Neighbors raise $30,000 to fire ravaged bar [Ditmas Park Corner]
Prospect Park rink wins architecture awards [Brooklyn Paper]
Attorney General nominee from Brooklyn picks up GOP support [Brooklyn Eagle]
Lena Dunham to talk at BAM [Brooklyn Paper]
Politics
DA probes if Assemblyman Erik Dilan (Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, ENY) got subsidized apartment despite earning $178,000 [Daily News]
BK’s candidate for Assembly Speaker drops out [Brooklyn Paper]
Gentile is Democratic frontrunner for Grimm’s seat [Daily News]
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By Airzolo on Instagram
Dull But Important
Local lawmakers slam city property tax exemption program, saying It has lined developers’ pockets & paved the way for gentrification [Ditmas Park Corner]
More affordable housing may mean losing some BK community gardens [BK Paper]
Parks dept says new Coney Island boardwalk will be more green because it wont use, you know, wood [Brooklyn Eagle]
More BK prisoners will go to Rikers instead of Boerum Hill jail [Daily News]
Long line and low odds for NY’s subsidized housing lotteries [NY Times]
Obit
Rafael Pujols, 49. Shot while working in a bodega. “He was a beautiful person. He’d give his shirt off his back. Very beautiful person,” said customer Deborah Gomes [NY 1]
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Tales from the blizzard of 1888
Hit with a third snowball, the BK man whipped out a razor blade and slashed his assailant [Brownstone Detectives]