Results tagged “fortgreene”

A Brooklyn man who serves as religious director for his local church was arrested for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy. Police say 58-year-old Angelo Serrano molested the boy, a family friend, in the child's Williamsburg home. It was unclear if the abuse was connected to Serrano's role volunteering for St. Lucy-St. Patrick Catholic Church in Fort Greene. A neighbor said of Serrano, "He's a beautiful guy. He really loved the children. He spent a lot of time with them and all like that."

Plans for Michael Jackson's burial have finally been set for August 29th, the same day the King of Pop entered the world, and would have been celebrating his 51st birthday. While the private ceremony takes place at 10 a.m. on the West Coast (in the Great Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California), the East Coast will be celebrating his life in a different way.

Last week, a 22-year-old Pratt student was robbed and brutally beaten at Grand and Lexington Avenues in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill section. Eddy Sanchez had been walking towards to the Pratt campus around 10 p.m. last Tuesday night when, WCBS 2 reports, five teens surrounded him—"They demanded money, and when Sanchez initially refused, the suspects punched and kicked him into submission, and took what they wanted." The Daily News adds that one teen used a crowbar to beat him when he tried to fight back. Now Sanchez is in a coma at Kings County Hospital.

What once housed the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, a slew of dentist offices, and now luxury condos, will take on yet another purpose: wedding hall. The Brooklyn Paper reports that "the landmark ground floor of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building will open in September as a sumptuous catering hall for weddings." Mmm sumptuous. They'll also host your bar mitzvahs, corporate Christmas party, or any other high-end special events. Prices start at $15,000 to book the beautiful space in Fort Greene, which will be called the Clocktower at One Hanson (despite being many floors below the clocktower); the booker called that figure "Brooklyn-sensitive pricing."

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.

A public school principal in Fort Greene was arrested at P.S. 20 yesterday for allegedly assaulting a teacher during a meeting to discuss allegations of corporal punishment against a special ed teacher. Principal Sean Keaton has been the target of intense criticism from parents lately—many of them newer, more affluent arrivals to Fort Greene, who see him as authoritarian and resistant to parental involvement. According to The Local, "the community conversation about him often seemed to break down along class lines... with working-class parents defending him. There was often a racial component to the debate as well (Mr. Keaton is black)."

One day in June 2007, maintenance man Robert Lopez was taking out the trash at the Cadman Towers in Brooklyn Heights when he found some fake dynamite sticks attached to a clock. "I thought it was cool," he tells the Times, and so he took it home to make a piggy bank out of it. That idea landed him in Riker's Island (where inmates called him the "Mad Bomber") and an indictment on charges of "placing a false bomb or hazardous substance," a felony that carries up to four years in prison. A transit worker had spotted him carrying the fake dynamite and called police, who arrested him outside his Fort Greene apartment. Which he no longer rents; he lost his job and he's been homeless for a month. Sometimes he cleans a McDonald's in Brooklyn. Sad enough yet? In a teary interview with the Times, he explains, "On 9/11, from my roof of my building I could see the top of the towers smoking... I’m not a terrorist. I wouldn’t hurt nobody like that. Never." The Brooklyn D.A. isn't convinced, and Lopez is due back in court on Wednesday.

reBar: This spacious bar/restaurant isn't new, but the chef and the menu are, so it's worth a mention for those making dinner plans in somewhat dining-deprived DUMBO. Self-described hippie owner Jason Stevens, who quit his job trading mortgage-backed securities at Merrill Lynch just before the crash, opened reBar in December 2006 in an old tea warehouse dating back the later 19th century. With an elegantly weathered, post-industrial design by the same guy who did the Zipper Factory Theater (RIP), the place has become a favorite watering hole for the locals. ($2 pints from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.!)

       

Photographer Nathan Kensinger got inside the nooks of the landmark Williamsburgh Savings Bank recently. Brooklyn's Tallest (also known as One Hanson Place) is now home to luxury condos, of course, but Kensinger notes that "few have seen the interior of the bank since it was closed in 2005. Over the last four years, the building has been renovated into a luxury residential complex. Work is still not finished and many residential spaces remain empty, including Penthouse A, with its two private observation decks. Soon, though, the building will be completely filled and permanently closed to the public."

Community members and lawmakers asked the NYPD to increase its presence in Fort Greene after a doctor was raped on Thursday morning. City Councilwoman Letitia James said more foot patrols are needed in the community and added that more recruits should be sent to the "understaffed 88th Precinct." James also said, "We will find this criminal."

Details are scant on a stabbing at a Brooklyn senior center Sunday, but it merits mention as a cautionary tale for those who would confront line-cutters. According to the Post, 55-year-old Leroy Skette Sr. was displeased when 37-year-old Byron Bells cut the line at a fundraiser buffet at the Fort Greene Senior Citizens Council. But when Skette called him out, the cutter got stabby, throwing a cranberry-vodka drink in his elder's face, then allegedly slashing him with a knife. Skette needed 84 stitches on his face and neck! He tells the tabloid, "I thought he hit me. But I felt my hand, and there was blood." Other than that, the only other salient detail he remembers is "using the word 'manners.'" It's unclear whether Bells is still at large, so today might be a good day to just let civilization decline a little further.

A hair stylist said he played dead as two men shot one person dead and wounded four others yesterday afternoon in Brooklyn. Glen, who works at De Lux Gallery hair salon, told the Post, "I thought [one of the shooters] was ... a madman killing people - I was basically waiting for my turn to be shot."

Wire reports say that five people were just shot at 91 Hanson Place in the Fort Green neighborhood of Brooklyn. One witness described it as a "shoot-out"--this is just blocks from the Fulton Street G and Lafayette Avenue C subway stations and right by the Atlantic Center. Brownstoner hears that cops are telling people to stay inside. Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have been experiencing a spike in crime recently.

Candle 79, the fancy vegan restaurant on the Upper East Side, "takes a limited larder and stages an impressive show, reminding the pork-stuffed, duck-spoiled diner how much else is out there, and how much of it has never relied on animals or fish in the first place," according to Frank Bruni at the Times. He's no vegetarian, so he's thrilled to discover that the place is "largely satisfying, leaving an omnivorous interloper with a sense not of deprivation but of relief. Can an experience this meatless really be this painless?" Could they speak, most animals would say, "Yes!"

Daniel: After a major renovation, chef Daniel Boulud has reopened Daniel with a flashy new look, courtesy designer Adam D. Tihany. Eater, which has gorgeous photos, deems the new space “cleaner, brighter, less stuffy.” And, presumably, still cost-prohibitive for dogs like us. But if you’ve got the Euros, by all means, enjoy the four star French-stasy. 60 East 65th Street, (212) 288-0033

The Brooklyn Flea was back in business for another Sunday, and The Daily News reports from the front lines, noting that the clash between "hipsters and old-timers" continued. While the Flea isn't really a hipster thing, the clash between the two sides did continue, even though the two attempted to reconcile at a meeting this past Thursday.

Angry encounters over parking between shoppers and local churchgoers nearly ended in blows yesterday.

Continue reading "Brooklyn Flea Still in Business"

The Brooklyn Flea gets the NY Times treatment today, which succinctly breaks the market's presence in Fort Greene down to this: the old timers just may not like the yuppies much. The dichotomy in this neighborhood drama is that Flea founders Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby are, per the Times, themselves "protectors of so-called Brownstone Brooklyn, defending their adopted homelands of Fort Greene and Clinton, Cobble and Boerum Hills from rampant, insensitive gentrification. So it is disorienting, to say the least, to be cast as the local villains ruining a neighborhood." On Thursday, they told the community members, “Dictating the hours of our business does not seem reasonable. We want to hear your specific concerns. If you just don’t like us, there’s not a whole lot that we can do.”

Last night the community board meeting concerning The Brooklyn Flea was held, and The Brooklyn Paper reports back that opponents and organizers alike "met in a heated, ethnically charged summit that ended without any solutions to the chasm that separates the sides." Essentially, local churches want the Flea gone, or at least no longer coinciding with services on Sunday (but really they just want it gone); many believe that the long-time residents are leaving no middle ground for compromise and are merely resisting any inevitable change.

For the love of all that is crafty and thrifty: Brooklyn's beloved Flea is in danger! NYMag reports that "the large church on Vanderbilt & Lafayette along with some FG residents are meeting this week to try to shut it down." This is their third meeting addressing the topic, and each meeting has grown in size and support. Yikes! Jonathan Butler, organizer of the Brooklyn Flea, confirmed the problems and told us the following:

At this point, as far as we know, it's a matter of a few residents and church members who feel inconvenienced by some quality of life issues that are the natural by-product of holding an event like this. Councilmember Tish James will be presenting a number of specific steps to address these concerns at the meeting on Thursday and we are optimistic that the community will be able to move forward from there. The Flea is a source of both economic stimulus and community building and the large majority of people in the area--including the Fort Greene Association and the Society for Clinton Hill--are in full support of it.

Mercadito Cantina: This is newest advance in the expanding Mercadito empire; besides the original Alphabet City Mercadito there’s also Mercadito Grove. This one is not far from the original, on Avenue B, and packs a lot of Mexican fixings into a dainty space that stays open ‘til 1 a.m. The main action here is at the make your own taco bar, where heavy rollers can choose from eight guacamoles and ten salsas, all made from organic and locally sourced ingredients. Most of the meat – which includes organic chicken, grass-fed beef, and Berkshire pork – is wrapped in maguey leaves before they're baked. For libations, try the 'Tric-quila', a sake-based tequila substitute. Photo via Thrillist, who has the menu. 172 Ave B, (212) 388-1750.

            

Yesterday Jonathan Butler unleashed the Brooklyn Flea upon the borough, and even Marty Markowitz showed up (perhaps to find replacement placemats for his wife?). Butler tells us that "While we could have asked for better weather, we couldn't have asked for a better turnout or better vibes from all the visitors and vendors."

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.

On the stretch of Dekalb Avenue in Fort Greene just east of Fort Greene Park is a stretch of reasonably priced, neighborhood restaurants including the local Middle-Eastern favorite, Black Iris. Cash only and BYOB, the friendly servers at Black Iris seat you promptly in a dim brick-walled room hung with tapestries at one of a dozen tables in a room made drafty by people constantly walking in and out.

Yesterday morning, a fire broke out in Fort Greene apartment, where seven family members lived. The NY Post reports three relatives - a father and his two sons - were saved by a "Brooklyn vagrant on a breakfast beer run."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at 104th Ave. and Remington St. in Queens, a bank robbery on Lexington Ave. and 45th St. in Manhattan, and a gas main break on Van Siclen Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Midtown Lunch considers why it was left off the positive press clippings wall of the new Goodburger.
• New York Shitty wonders about these Bed-Stuy guard dogs - they only have ten feet of leash and don't seem to have much food.

It's pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it's unclear who NYC's registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator representing Illinois has an edge.

Today's high winds may be to blame for a construction worker's death in Fort Greene. Around 10AM, the FDNY tells WNBC that a "construction worker had been working on the 13th floor when are large gust of wind picked up the scaffold he was standing on and blew him over the edge and on to a setback at street level."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Stuyvesant Ave. and Hart St. in Brooklyn, a multiple stabbing on West 49th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, and a car in the water on Beach St. and Rockaway Pt. Blvd. in Queens.
• After a 14% surge between 2005 and 2006, complaints about the NYPD from civilians dropped 1% last year.
• The lawyer defending the man on trial for killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter has been receiving phoned-in death threats. The defense attorney says that he doesn't bother reporting the threats anymore because cops don't seem very interested in investigating them, but is determined to defend his client to the best of his ability.

A group of business execs in the 34th Street Partnership are teaming up to build what would be New York’s first bikes-only parking lot; it would be located on space secured on West 33rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.