Results tagged “downtownbrooklyn”

The man who is suing the NYPD for $220 million after alleging that cops at the Prospect Park subway station sodomized him with a police baton has been involved in another altercation that left him with a knife wound in his left arm. 24-year-old tattoo artist Michael Mineo was stabbed in Downtown Brooklyn yesterday after telling the suspect to leave Mineo's girlfriend alone. A witness told the News, "The girl let it be known she was bumped and upset. The guy she was with wanted to be chivalrous and went back and forth with the first guy." 41-year-old ex-con Alejandro George was allegedly drunk when he took out a knife and took a swipe at Mineo's kidney but ended up stabbing him in the left forearm. George was arrested and charged with assault. A lawyer for Mineo suggested that George indicated he knew who Mineo was and "threw a couple of epithets" during the altercation. Mineo was treated and released from Kings County Hospital.

    

Brooklyn Fare, a new non-chain Downtown Brooklyn grocery store, will open tomorrow. The man behind the refrigerated counter is Cesar Ramirez, a Bouley/Bar Blanc vet who’ll create and maintain Brooklyn Fare’s line of hot and cold prepared foods. Next month, Brooklyn Fare will also introduce a small restaurant inside the store’s standalone commissary kitchen, located a few doors down on Schermerhorn Street. Its single dining table is actually one seamless, stainless steel table in the center of the kitchen. Here, Ramirez says, he will serve five-course meals for a “super reasonable price.”

The Department of Corrections spoke with us today to clarify that "there is no timetable" for the reopening and expansion of the "House of D" in Downtown Brooklyn reported on yesterday. The original assertion that it would reopen shortly came from a Daily News claim that a letter to the state from the DOC stated the jail would reopen in a few months.

Even though the area once home to the House of D is now better known as the House of TJ's, City Councilman David Yassky and Controller William Thompson are still trying to block the city from the reopening and expansion of a jail in Downtown Brooklyn that has been closed since 2003. The two filed a lawsuit against the city trying to stop $430 million deal planned by the Bloomberg administration to add 720 beds to the the Brooklyn House of Detention in a move they say is a "waste of taxpayer money and would have a destructive effect on the local economy.". The suit claims that the city "secretively and illegally" re-populated the jail when it sent 31 prisoners there over the weekend in order to claim that it never closed. The Dept. of Corrections says it would like to have the jail reopened by early next year.

Downtown Brooklyn has a new aggressive marketing initiative, and at the top of the press release it's noted that the area will be promoted "as a College Town." Allegedly the plan is to expand and diversify with some new tenants, companies and retailers. Sure, they've got an Urban Outfitters and Trader Joe's, but they're looking to make the area "a vibrant, 24/7, live-work urban center". (Hoboken has allegedly been stealing their business over the past 10 years!). So Marty Markowitz has officially stated they're "'open for business' and—with all due respect to our friends in Jersey—our borough is the very best place for companies to locate and employees to live, work, and raise families." The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership promises "a mix of advertising, direct marketing, promotional events and other activities" to help attain their goal. So, a round of Jäger shots to celebrate?

Eight-year-old Alexander Toulouse was struck and killed by a mail truck Saturday afternoon in Downtown Brooklyn. Alexander, known as the "little professor," was biking near his Cobble Hill home with his father, Fordham University political science professor Christopher Toulouse, when a postal truck turning on Livingston Street and Boerum Place hit the boy without ever having seen him. A witness said that the driver "wasn't going real fast" and was not charged after staying on the scene following the accident. Witnesses said he appeared devastated. The NY Daily News says that Alexander had just begun third grade at P.S. 29, was a big fan of Dancing With the Stars and a fervent supporter of Barack Obama.

Yesterday afternoon, an 88-year-old man crossing Court Street in downtown Brooklyn was hit by a car. The man was on the car's hood/windshield and witnesses told police the driver swerved for a block to shake the victim off.

Breathe a sigh of relief Carroll Gardens, The Real World's newest seven strangers won't be moving in to your neighborhood after all -- the original report of the cast heading to Downtown Brooklyn is now confirmed.

Merging urban exploration with something akin to La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, the below video gives a glimpse at what's hidden in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel underneath Downtown Brooklyn while performer Greg "Cosmo D" Heffernan scores the journey.

Brooklyn Surrogate Court Judge Diana Johnson is the first African-American to be elected to a Surrogate Court judgeship in New York history. With only weeks on the bench, however, someone spray painted racist graffiti inside two separate elevators at the Downtown Brooklyn courthouse. One message read "Judge Diana Johnson is Dumb," and the other read "Judge Diana Johnson is a Dumb (n-word)." Dozens of lawmakers and judges held a rally to support Johnson in the wake of the offensive and criminal acts.

By the end of next year, downtown Brooklyn will have a new upscale steakhouse to rival Peter Luger in Williamsburg; it was recently announced that Morton’s will be occupying the ground floor of a new Marriott annex tower on Adams Street. The Chicago-based restaurant chain will dish out their beef, seafood and sandwiches in a 300 seat restaurant near the Brooklyn Bridge.

After months and months of delays, the BAM Cultural District may be moving forward. The NY Times is reporting that city officials have chosen Harlem-based developer and Brooklyn resident Carlton Brown to create what the Times' Terry Pristin calls the "cultural district's centerpiece." This is the first Brooklyn project for Brown, who developed the Kalahari and 1400 on Fifth in Harlem and the Solaire, the city's first residential green building, in Battery Park City. The...

A rendering of Brooklyn's proposed City Tech Tower, designed by Renzo Piano, at Tillary and and Jay Street sent some into speculation mode, especially since its height seemed to be up to 1,000 feet tall. Which would make just about twice the height of the 512-foot tall Williamsburgh Savings Bank, currently the tallest building the Brooklyn. However, the rendering of the building is apparently old. A representative at Forest City Ratner, the development company which...

The NY Post has video and renderings of what downtown Brooklyn will look like in 2012. With $9.5 billion in development projects in the works, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is proudly touting its future. The DBP's president Joe Chan told the Post, "This sends a message to the entire city - and even the world - that Brooklyn is in a period of unprecedented growth."

The Real Deal (via Brownstoner) is reporting that, according to a recent court ruling, the city is taking two Williamsburg properties via eminent domain for Bushwick Inlet Park. The properties are located along the East River between North 9th and 10th streets. According to one real estate expert, the city will only pay about $100 per square foot, compared to the $200 per square foot it could garner on the open market, even though the owners are entitled to the fair market value. The Real Deal doesn't delve into why.

Last week Racked reported that there's word of an Apple store opening in Brooklyn. The question is, which neighborhood will iNvite them in. Dumbo NYC reports that Two Trees has reached out to Apple in the past, but they "weren’t ready". If they're ready now, their options in Dumbo would include the 6600 sq.ft space at 70 Washington Street and the 6700 sq.ft space across the street at Washington and Front Street.

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals.

Megan Montgomery was, apparently, the city's first personal chef for dogs (though were sure there are more than enough now). Preparing her meals in Downtown Brooklyn and using her dogs as guinea pigs, she's brought Dean & Deluca-esque dining to the doghouse.

We can't possibly choose only one music event for the weekend, so check out OhMyRockness for the jam packed weekend listings. We will say, however, that one of the openers for Snowden at Maxwell's tonight...is We Are Scientists, trying out some new tunes. Though closer to home are The Clientele and Beach House at Bowery Ballroom. Listen: Apple Orchard.mp3 - Beach House

What does the future of the Fulton Street Mall look like? If the Bloomberg administration and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership have their way, it'll look less gritty and more like Herald Square and Bryant Park in Manhattan. The Post has details on the city's $18 million investment to re-make the Fulton Street and Albee Square mall areas nicer.

A story in this week's Crain's suggests that the Visual and Performing Arts Library planned for the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene may never materialize due to lack of funding. The story ("Library Project in Doubt," p6) is based on an anonymous source, described as "an insider at the Brooklyn Public Library." Unfortunately we cannot post the link because Crain's requires a subscription.

Last night's Department of Transportation presentation to Park Slope's Community Board 6 brought out hundreds of residents. Streetsblog has excellent coverage, noting that CB6 rejected the plan to turn Sixth and Seventh Avenues into one-way streets and residents want comprehensive planning, versus "secretive, top-down, traffic engineer-driven planning." Streetsblog also has a bootlegged copy of the presentation that lacks many details.

In this plan you will find nothing about traffic calming, pedestrian counts the numerous activities that take place on the streetscape beyond the movement and storage of motor vehicles. You will find no attempt to measure street performance and neighborhood impact beyond the counting of cars and trucks. You will find no discussion of the transformative development curently underway in and around Downtown Brooklyn and the goals of the Bloomberg Administration's Long-Term Planning and Sustainability initiative. And if you are looking for any response to long-standing community concerns or acknowledgement of the forward-thinking, pro-active planning that our community has undertaken over the last couple of years, you won't find that either. All you will find here is a traffic engineer's monomaniacal focus on moving motor vehicles through a dense urban environment.

In 2006, over 10,000 pedestrians were hit by cars and trucks in New York City. One hundred sixty-six were killed. The City's pedestrian safety efforts are inadequate. Where is Mayor Bloomberg? He has spoken out about transfats, gun violence and smoking. If killing a pedestrian with a car was considered assault it would be the second leading type of homicide behind only gun violence. Where is his leadership on this issue?

The intersection of Third Avenue and Baltic Street, where 4 year old James Jacaricce was hit and killed by a Hummer SUV Tuesday afternoon, had actually been recommended for safety measures four years ago. During Tuesday's incident, both the SUV and the child, who was walking with his aunt, had the light; the SUV was making a right turn from Third to Baltic.

Follow the Bouncing Ball 1987, by Urban Photos.

Moon over Orchard, by Goggla.

Remember all the excitement surrounding the BAM Cultural District around, oh, 2001? Well, the NY Post is reporting that the previous plan for a theater and arts library has been expanded to include a dance studio, public park, museum and gallery, underground parking garage and residential housing.

September 16: Waldemar and Nadia at Telepan - Late Summer Cheeses