Results tagged “clintonhill”

This tweet from Laura Holder just caught our eye: "Seen at polling station (e.g. grade school): 1 man, over-6-foot tall, towering, 100% naked. Number of police: 12. Number of police cars: 4." The Local also heard about the naked man, and a volunteer for Bill Thompson says he saw the unidentified man near PS 56 in Clinton Hill, which was closed for Election Day. The volunteer says the man approached "talking all kinds of crazy stuff — he said he was a direct pure-blood descendant of Jesus." (Sounds like a Rev. Billy voter?)

The NYPD Hate Crime unit is investigating the latest in a series of incidents wherein Brooklyn sidewalks have been strewn with "Kill Jews" notes. The anti-Semitic notes previously appeared in Boerum Hill and Clinton Hill earlier this month; now they've turned up in Bay Ridge. Yesterday morning, residents along Third Avenue discovered the sidewalk littered with hundreds of two-inch pieces of paper with "Kill Jews" written in black marker.

For at least a decade, Pratt's made a big deal about how its 25-acre grassy campus doubles as a much-needed public oasis for the Clinton Hill community. But the gates to Eden are closing. In June the campus was shut to the public to accommodate a major "beautification" construction project, and when it reopens again in a month only authorized visitors and those with Pratt ID cards will be welcome. Well, outsiders will be allowed to cut through the campus to get from DeKalb to Willoughby, but they're no longer invited to linger. Some wonder whether the change is in response to a perceived crime spike in the neighborhood; last month a Pratt architecture student wound up in a coma after a violent mugging near campus. Whatever the motivation, neighbors are already up in arms, and there's even talk of a petition! But one Pratt student, commenting on The Local, wants the neighbors to know they're not alone—"there are a lot of rules for Pratt students on campus, too. For example, we’re no longer allowed to skateboard." Which reminds us; student sit-in season is almost upon us!

That 22-year-old Pratt architecture student who was savagely beaten during a mugging in Clinton Hill on August 4th is in the early stages of recovery after coming out of a coma. To observe the one month mark, community members, students, and Pratt faculty held a candlelight vigil last night at the site of the attack at Grand and Lexington Avenues, where Eduardo Sanchez was violently robbed by four or more teens. It's being reported that Sanchez, who was beaten with a crowbar, is showing signs of recovery, and is now breathing on his own. His mother tells The Local, "One day at a time he is getting better. The medical and living expenses, I haven’t even thought about." On August 12th, police arrested 16-year-old Eugene Adams, but have not made any further arrests in the case. Also attending last night's vigil was City Councilwoman Letitia James, who told NY1 she thinks the attack was an isolated incident, but reminded New Yorkers to be aware of their surroundings and avoid flashing expensive iPods and cell phones on the street.

In what is considered an unusual move in cases involving a shooting by the police, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly invited the family of Shem Walker down to his offices at police headquarters. Walker was the man fatally shot by an undercover cop last month after an altercation where Walker tried to chase the plainclothes officer away from his mother's stoop in Clinton Hill. Despite Kelly's attempt to reach out, Walker's family was not pleased with the results. A spokesman said, "This family has walked into this meeting with high hopes of getting some answers and walked out of this meeting highly disappointed...The story the commissioner was presented with has as many holes as Swiss cheese. It has not answered the fundamental question about why the police when asked to leave private property did not do so." The Brooklyn DA's office continues to investigate the shooting, but there has been no indication whether it will be submitted to a grand jury. Councilwoman Letitia James said, "We're dissatisfied with version of the facts as reported by Commissioner Kelly. They belie the truth as we know it. They belie common sense. And they belie the community."

Detectives from the 88th Precinct have arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with last week’s assault on Eddy Sanchez, a 22-year-old Pratt architecture student who is still in critical condition in a medically induced coma at Kings County Hospital Center. The suspect, Eugene Adams, is charged with assault, robbery and criminal possession of stolen property. A police source tells The Local Adams resides at 1100 Bedford Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, three long blocks east from the site of the August 4th attack at Grand and Lexington Avenues in Clinton Hill. After releasing surveillance footage of teens attempting to use Sanchez's ATM card at a bodega, police tracked down Adams through a tip called in to the Crime-Stoppers hot line, (800) 577-TIPS. According to ABC News, as many as four other teens may have been involved in the attack, but no other arrests were immediately made. It's being reported that the suspects beat Sanchez after he refused to give them money, and one of the assailants used a crowbar.

Just over a week after an undercover NYPD officer fatally shot 49-year-old Shem Walker, loved ones and community leaders gathered around his mother's Clinton Hill stoop, the site of the deadly altercation in which the details still remain unclear. Bitterness over the incident was clearly in the air yesterday with the harshest words coming from Councilwoman Letitia James, who said, “I say to the NYPD, get your lies straight." The Brooklyn DA's office is currently investigating the shooting as the identity of the officer remains unknown—just that he is a seven-year NYPD veteran and is also black. A minister at the vigil yesterday said, "Police officers are paid to protect and serve, but they are also paid for their judgment. Too often it is the case that their judgment is off with people of color." Tonight a funeral will be held for Walker at Full Gospel Assembly of God with Reverend Al Sharpton delivering the eulogy.

Many diehard dumpster divers would delightedly devote a down day to digging for a diamond in the disposable rough. But for 39-year-old Queens rubbish remover Nick DiMola, he was actually hired for a task that led him to discovering "treasure in another man's trash," treasure worth over $16,000 and all his to keep. DiMola was brought in almost five years ago to clean out the apartment of the late abstract artist Clinton Hill, who despite his name had lived in SoHo. After keeping one barrel of Hill's Mexican artifacts stored in a warehouse for years, DiMola recently decided to have it appraised and learned of the their high price tag. The Ridgewood man thinks that he'll sell the pricey art, telling the News, "I don't see the beauty in this, to be honest with you. I like things about history, but this pottery doesn't grab me." More surprising than the cleaner's good fortune is that the foundation formed by Hill's friends and family are not fighting him for possession of the goods. A lawyer for the group said, "If he is given a contract by the owner of property to remove and dispose of certain things, if the owner makes the mistake, that's the way it is. I'm not happy for him."

More on the story of the Brooklyn army veteran who was killed by an undercover cop during a drug sting in Clinton Hill. The Daily News now reports that the "undercover cop was wearing earphones to keep in touch with his NYPD team and didn't hear an irate Brooklyn homeowner's command to get off his stoop until it was too late...When the undercover officer didn't budge from the Clinton Hill stoop Saturday night, resident Shem Walker kicked the man he thought was a vagrant in the back of the head, sources said." One source said, "With the earphones on, the cop just didn't hear anything. The next he knew, someone had kicked him, and the fight starts, with a tragic end." The police have contended that Walker grabbed the cop's gun; some witnesses say they didn't hear the cop identify himself as a police officer.

It's been over a day since news first broke that a man had been fatally shot outside his mother's Clinton Hill home by an undercover cop and there are still many more questions than answers. We know that 49-year-old Shem Walker stepped outside his mother's brownstone on Lafayette Avenue for a cigarette and discovered a plain clothes cop sitting on her steps. A witness says that he heard Walker shout, "Get out of here or I'll move you myself!" and that the two then tumbled down the steps. Walker is said to have had a reputation of shooing people off the family's steps with success.

A 49-year-old handyman who was up from Pennsylvania visiting his sick mother in Clinton Hill was shot last night by an undercover cop in a separate drug bust that went awry. Shem Walker had just finished cooking his family dinner when he told them that was going out to buy cigarettes in the Brooklyn neighborhood around 8 p.m.

The Department of Education announced that it would be discontinuing the gifted program at the Clinton Hill public school where the principal was arrested for beating a teacher during a meeting last month. The removal of the program is the result of tensions that had been boiling over for some time before the incident between Principal Sean Keaton and many parents at the school. The Times has an in-depth look at the history of the conflict where they note: "Mr. Keaton is black, as are three-quarters of the students, while many of the families who said they found him hard to work with are white." The paper says that despite the cancellation of the program and the fight allegations (including the teacher having a stomp mark on his face), many of the parents at PS 20 stand by him. At the 5th grade graduation ceremonies this week, one parent said, “He’s straightforward and he pulls no punches. He gives it to you in the raw, and I respect that.” Keaton has been transferred to administrative duties elsewhere while an investigation is underway.

      

The Department of Buildings continues to investigate what caused a four-story Clinton Hill building to collapse on Sunday. DOB Commissioner Robert LiMandri told reporters, "We are right now zeroing in on what happened, what work was being done and what caused the building to collapse."

A little before 2 p.m., a four-story building on Myrtle Avenue, between Hall and Ryerson Streets, collapsed in the Clinton Hill/Bed Stuy neighborhood. Vesper Bar & Lounge was on the first floor. It's considered a second-alarm "Major Emergency." Apparently the Fire Department has accounted for all people who were inside the building.

Last night, the police shot and wounded a man who apparently pointed his gun at them. The AP reports that plainclothes police officers heard or saw a shooting near DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood: "Police say the officers confronted the suspect, ordered him to drop his weapon and chased him as he ran off. They say the officers fired after he turned toward them with his gun in his hand." The suspect is in the hospital—and in police custody—while the victim of the earlier shooting is also in the hospital.

Brooklyn Born noticed the "elusive Downtown Brooklyn Raccoon" last night in Clinton Hill and took photographs (one above) and video. He writes:

The Raccoon was chillin, hard. Strolling across streets, through crosswalks, it made a pit-stop at Moe's and was basically more comfortable looking on Lafayette than most Pratt Students. Now for all you suburban folks, country heads and new-comers, I know you can throw a rock in the woods and hit a family of raccoons, but I'm impressed by the fact that at 9pm on crowded streets this raccoon was holding sway. I marveled at how a fat fuzzy creature that didn't seem interested in sprinting, could navigate city streets until I saw it wait for the light at South Elliot.

Leval Lyde, a 36-year-old Brooklyn rapper who went by the street name "Kevlar," was gunned down yesterday on the corner of Clinton Ave. and Fulton St. in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. Lyde was shot just before 5 p.m. on the street corner and declared dead on arrival at Brooklyn Hospital. Lyde had just exited Fish & Crustaceans Quality Seafood and was walking with his sandwich towards the maroon Jaguar (owned by the mother of his child) when he was shot once in the torso.

Maggie Brown, the Myrtle Avenue comfort-food spot on the border between Clinton Hill and Ft. Greene, has become a popular attraction for nearby Pratt students and locals who pack the summer garden to sip spiked frozen lemonade. While better known for their fried chicken and ribs, we braved Maggie Brown on a busy Sunday morning, hanging in there for a 45 minute wait which climaxed with our party of five crammed into a table meant for four. Coffee is strong and refilled frequently, albeit in chipped mugs that typify the hodgepodge ambiance evoked by Maggie Brown's heavily textured vintage wallpaper, chandeliers, taxidermy, flea market art, and fireplace.

A cross between a cafe, bakery, market, and gourmet takeout shop, Clinton Hill's Choice Market is one of those places which, once discovered, you're not quite sure how you lived without. Baskets of flaky croissants, raisin danish, and turnovers grace the window, and upon stepping inside – where a single communal table littered with the day's newspapers can can cause labyrinthine lines – you will also find luscious-looking scones (the orange chocolate is a must-have), muffins, cannisters full of cookies and brownies, delicious doggy biscuits, and loaves of crusty, artisanal bread.

Manhattan real estate sales set a record in the fourth quarter of 2007, with residential sales averaging out to be $1.4 million (according to data from Prudential Douglas Elliman), an increase of 17.6% over 2006's fourth quarter. However impressive that statistic is, the growth was primarily driven by super high-end sales of at least $10 million.

Up above you have Park Slope #17 and Carroll Gardens #13, respectively. Jennifer Loeber is bringing nude photography close to home with her series that show different Brooklynites in the flesh, in their apartments. They could even be your neighbors! And her inspiration? It came from a flasher on the subway, of course: "The idea to shoot nude portraits came about as I rode the NYC subway and pretended not to notice, across the aisle, a man fumbling to remove his clothes and expose himself to me. He looked distinctly uncomfortable yet wholly determined in his goal. His great drive to reveal himself to the commuting populace was made more palpable by the fact that he hadn't quite worked out the logistics." An unlikely muse, indeed. We recently asked Loeber some more questions about her ongoing project...

For those not wanting to hit the big Halloween parade (led by today's interviewee) there are other options: Park Slope's Halloween Parade (info here), Clinton Hill's Halloween Walk (info here) Prospect Park South's Halloween Parade (info here) and Williamsburg's Witches Walk (info here).

Want to complain about your terrible neighbor to someone other than 311? Or want to know a little more about a neighborhood you're thinking of moving to? The website Rotten Neighbor aims to do both: Educate newcomers to neighborhoods and collect information about neighborhoods from the veterans. From their site:

Our goal is to be an exceptionally smart assistant when you are looking to move into a new neighborhood. We hope that you will be able to find your dream home in your dream neighborhood by using our data and information provided by other users such as yourself. We then hope you will return the favor to other home buyers by adding to our database.

Continue reading "Map of the Day: Map Your Rotten Neighbors"

Just a few blocks away from the Pratt Institute, a man died after being shot three times on Clifton Place yesterday afternoon. Lawrence Sumpter, a Staten Island resident who had grown up in the Clinton Hill neighborhood, was being chased by a gunman. Sumpter headed to 22 Clifton Place, a brownstone in renovation; a witness told the Post that Sumpter tripped and his pursuer "just got over him and emptied [his gun]."

TIP: According to Paper's Mr. Mickey, Chloë Sevigny is having a tag sale on her block this Saturday. We're guessing there will be lots of vintage Balenciaga. Check out her apartment in House & Garden...pretty nice!

On Friday, Brooklyn blog Brownstoner was alarmed about a Clinton Hill resident on Grand Avenue who was painting a brownstone's archway white. Though the second comment wondered "are you sure it's not primer?", the comments thread turned into a heated debate about the rights of owners of buildings in landmarked neighborhoods, calling the painting a "disgrace" and a "mortal sin," and whether publicly outing the owner was appropriate.

Last night, a fire broke out in a second-floor East New York apartment where three children seemed to be left alone. A first-floor neighbor, Tommy Campbell, managed to rescue a 2-year-old and 5-year-old, but couldn't get to 10-month-old Melanie Webb, who died of smoke inhalation.

Last week, Clinton Hill Blog founder Robin Lester posted her findings of a trip taken to the Greenpoint Beer Works, a large brick industrial tucked away on Brooklyn’s Waverly Avenue between Fulton and Atlantic. She and another blog reader met up with operations director and brewer Kelly Taylor, who revealed that in addition to filling Greenpoint’s regular daily work order for Heartland Brewery, he has also been developing his own small batch beer, Kelso of Brooklyn. Currently, Kelso is only available by the keg, in three lager varieties: Nut Brown, Chocolate, and Kelso Hop. Taylor’s web site features a list of local restaurants and pubs that serve Kelso; his ale was also served at last week’s unveiling of the world’s eighth wonder, the new Whole Foods on the Bowery.

Untitled, by Dogseat.