Earlier this week, the Parks Department removed 16 controversial signs in the predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of South Williamsburg because they were screwed into public trees. The Yiddish signs, first reported on Failed Messiah, roughly translated to: "Precious Jewish Daughter: Please move to the side when a man approaches!" Today the Daily News checks in on the neighborhood and finds that some of the locals feel the city is suppressing their civil liberties. more ›

Some Hasidic families in south Williamsburg are upset that the new East River Ferry doesn't provide enough life preservers to handle the large families common in the community. more ›

The Hasidic community in South Williamsburg has been very vocal about scofflaw cyclists blowing by school buses picking up and discharging children, but a new video shows it's not just bike riders acting like jerks. The video, shot with a helmet camera, shows a Hasidic school bus driver nearly running a cyclist off the road, and when the cyclist confronts the driver, he's asked, "Do you stop for bus signs?" The cyclists says yes, at which point the driver apologizes. But hey—when in doubt, assume all cyclists are "jerks" and crush them like bugs, right? (We're guessing this driver's a Gothamist commenter in his spare time.) more ›

Two teenagers were arrested earlier today following the brutal beating of a 45-year old Hasidic man as he left a South Williamsburg Hannukah party last night. It's unknown if the suspects have any connection with the Thanksgiving night beating of a Hasidic teacher, 26-year old Joel Weinberg, on the same street, but police sources tell Brooklyn Paper they're "confident" that they were indeed behind both attacks. more ›

Ex-con Jaquan Vaughn was arrested on Friday for an August 10th mugging of rabbinical student and rabbi's son, Baruch Halberstam. However, the crook profited just $5 from the crime. The 25-year-old father of four fought back when Vaughn confronted him on South 9th Street and was shot once in the stomach. Vaughn swiped the five bucks and drove off in a van with his accomplice. Halberstam remains hospitalized, but in stable condition. Vaughn had been on parole for another robbery; it's unclear if his chosen career of crime had been any more profitable in the past. more ›

After a demonstration last weekend drew more police officers than protesters, cycling activists will rally again to show their support for the Bedford Avenue bike lane — but this time they'll do it in less clothing. more ›

The saga continues: At some point last night or early this morning, the impromptu bike lane painted by activists on Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg was painted back to black by the DOT. This Sunday, bereaved cyclists will hold a "New Orleans-style funeral procession" for the deceased bike lane, so perhaps the black paint is fitting? Baruch Herzfeld, an Orthodox Jew who runs a South Williamsburg bike clubhouse, tells us, "I can't believe they are dedicating resources to make sure cyclists are less safe than more safe. There are tons of bike lanes that need repainting and they spend their time repainting one away? Whoever is in charge of the DOT bike lane painting must have a consignment deal with the Malach ha'mavess (angel of death)." more ›

Two cycling activists suspected of repainting the Bedford Avenue bike lane turned themselves in at the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg yesterday. According to the Post, 26-year-old Quinn Hechtropf and 24-year-old Katherine Piccochi were among the bikers who used paint rollers, spray paint and stencils to recreate the South Williamsburg cycling path, which was removed by the city last week with little explanation. more ›

The biking activists responsible for repainting the Bedford Avenue bike lane have shared video of their actions with Gothamist. After the city controversially decided to remove the bike lane from a 14-block stretch of Bedford Avenue last week, the guerilla cyclists walked up and down the avenue with paint rollers and spray paint to recreate the cycling route. more ›

We haven't been able to verify this one with the NYPD yet, but sources tell Gothamist that police — and South Williamsburg's Shomrim Patrol — arrested two men suspected of attempting to repaint the recently-removed Bedford Avenue bike lane this morning. more ›

Just when it seemed like the hoopla over bike lanes in Williamsburg had come to a close, Gothamist has learned that the Department of Transportation is planning to remove a 14-block section of the Bedford Avenue cycling route. A spokesman said that the agency will remove the "small portion" of the bike lane between Flushing and Division avenues in South Williamsburg "as part of ongoing bike network adjustments in the area." more ›

A shootout in Bushwick yesterday afternoon left a woman dead—an innocent bystander who was watching her 8-year-old nephew play nearby. 44-year-old Jesselle Page was shot in the upper torso around 4:45 p.m. when two men began firng at one another as she was walking into her housing project on Moore Street. A neighbor told the News, "The blood was all over the floor." Page was rushed to Woodhull Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The Post reports that in nearby South Williamsburg yesterday another shooting at a children's birthday party at South Second and Havemeyer streets left a young mother injured. more ›

The Hollywood lights have been shining down on South Williamsburg a lot lately, so much so that the neighborhood is being given a three-month reprieve from the action by city officials. Several projects got the greenlight to finish up filming before being tossed out of the new no-film zone, after which they'll certainly be able to find that "gritty urban look" Williamsburg offers in other areas of New York City. more ›

Hey South Williamsburg residents, a heads up courtesy of The NY Post today: the gangs are still around, even if you haven't spotted a machete lately. The paper reports that the neighborhood has got its own "offshoot of the notorious Bloods gang" and they're going up against the machete-wielding Trinitarios. The Pretty Boy Goonies (aka the PBGs) are about a dozen strong, and allegedly have a continuous turf war going on with the Trinitarios in Rodney Park. Councilwoman Diana Reyna says, "This is not fist-fighting we are talking about. They are using machetes to stab and slash, and screwdrivers. There are brawls in the streets, in broad daylight, stopping traffic." Police have upped their presence in the area, on the streets and on rooftops, and have also installed a Sky Watch at Marcy and South 5th Street. more ›

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Earlier there was news of a luxury condo leveling a church and digging up graves, now word is in that the South Williamsburg power plant on Kent Avenue will meet the same fate. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Con Edison has finally admitted its plan to demolish the defunct power plant and neighborhood landmark.

Neighbors of the abandoned Kent Avenue power plant knew something was up back in March, when workers started tearing holes into the 102-year-old red brick building, which has been inactive since the late 1990s.

There may be satisfaction on the horizon for fans of the southern comfort food dished out at Pies 'n' Thighs, the beloved South Williamsburg hole in the wall that shut down last month. Upon closing, the owners vowed to reopen a “bigger, better, more miraculous hole in the wall!” Eater caught wind of a local Community Board hearing last night, during which the owners' plans to obtain a license for beer and wine was scheduled for review. more ›

Michael Lappin, CEO of the managing company for what is being called the "New Domino", responded yesterday to our questions about the proposed project via email.

The iconic Domino Sugar sign is not included in these renderings. [We photoshopped it back in, above.] Is there any plan to preserve that somewhere at the site? We are making every effort to save the sign. We are looking at different engineering solutions regarding the “where and how.” It’s a complex problem.

A week after the illegally converted-for-residential use warehouse 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg was evacuated by city agencies, due to building violations including an illegal matzoh bakery (and combustible grains being stored in the basement), the building will be padlocked this afternoon at 4PM. There will be a "solemn observance of the shutting of a great arts community," according to a press release we received. More details:

Come and show your support for the 200+ displaced tenants of 475 and the live/work community as a whole. more ›

On Sunday Gowanus Lounge received frantic emails from tenants in a blocklong loft building at 475 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg who were being suddenly tossed out into the frigid night by the FDNY; we went to the building on Monday morning and talked to some of the shell-shocked residents as they moved out, one of whom told us, “Sheila [Properties] owns the whole lot and I don’t want to speculate but there’s a reason they want to empty the whole lot.” more ›

Over 150 residents of an eleven-story building at Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg were evacuated yesterday after the Fire Department and Buildings Department found a number of violations. The building had been illegally converted to residences and a matzoh factory, complete with two silos of (highly combustible) grain in the basement. A neighboring building was cited as well, and the violations ranged from non-working standpipes (which firefighters use to deliver water to fires), illegal partitions, blocked exits, inoperable sprinkler systems and others, including the illegal grain silos for the unauthorized basement bakery. more ›

It's a dark day for South Billyburg lovers of southern comfort food – dark as blackened catfish on a moonless Brooklyn night. Eater points out Peter Meehan's discovery that the beloved hole in the wall Pies 'n' Thighs, in the shadow of the Williamsburg bridge, will close tomorrow night. Party, or wake, to follow. more ›

Soon after the New Year, the inviting little café formerly known as Chickenbone will be reborn as Dram. So named for the unit of measurement in the apothecaries' system, the south Williamsburg bar will focus on specialty pre-prohibition cocktails made with all-fresh ingredients. Managing partner Tom Chadwick – who currently moonlights behind the bar at Bushwick Country Club – told us that his vision for Dram involves bringing the fastidious cocktail craze, popularized by exclusive... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A steam leak at 39th Street and Lexington in Manhattan, a car vs. building on Hoyt Avenue in Staten Island and an oil slick on Park Lane and 85th Road in Queens
• An unorthodox robbery in Brooklyn: a burly Hasidic Jewish man brandished a knife and threatened a woman in South Williamsburg.
• Defense lawyers for the men charged with shooting police officer Russel Timoshenko are wondering why Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes described their clients as "scum" in an interview
• Freak-out in brownstone Brooklyn: Someone is painting a brownstone white!
• Does Rudy hate video sharing? Former mayor Giuliani is skipping the YouTube debate
• Yet another reason to slow down when you're driving around in Douglaston: There have been deer spottings.
• The police officer indicted for reckless endangerment in the Sean Bell shooting is asking for his own trial. Earlier this week, Bell's fiancee filed a wrongful death suit against the city, NYPD and five officers involved; her lawyer says the lawsuit will be pursued after the trial.
• And the State Legislature finally voted to approve a commission to study congestion pricing.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Melrose Ave. in the Bronx, a lightning strike at 82nd Ave. and 249th St. in Queens, and a hate crime on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge.
• 25-year-old former model and current vice president of the Trump Organization Ivanka Trump was appointed to the board of directors of Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. A recent New York Times column noted that investors in Trump's casinos would have lost 93% of their money since the company went public in 1995.
• Two people were rescued from the Hudson River yesterday after they fell from a jet ski just south of the George Washington Bridge. A helicopter was needed to pluck a 25-year-old woman clinging to pylons after being swept downriver by the strong current.
• NJ State Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny Jr. was found severely injured on a street in Hoboken this morning. Kenny was jogging this morning when he stepped in a pothole and broke bones in his pelvis, leg, and face.
• A new limited bus line on Staten Island will enable mass transit between Eltingville in New York and Bayonne, NJ.
• NY Sen. Chuck Schumer thinks FAA chief Marion Blakey should be forced to resign, citing growing flight delays at area airports.
• Curbed notes some religious real estate development and marketing by Orthodox Jews in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• The area around the Chelsea Health Clinic on 28th St. and 9th Ave. is reportedly overrun by rats.

The NYPD just put out a radio alert that Moses Teitelbaum, Grand Rebbe of the Satmar sect of Hasidism, died at Mount Sinai Hospital. Teitelbaum was 91, and had been suffering from spinal cancer. He had been the head of the sect since 1979. Thousands of people are expected to throng the streets of Williamsburg once this announcement gets out-- and things could turn violent, as Teitelbaum's two sons are feuding over who will succeed him, and their followers have gotten physical a number of times in the past year. more ›