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Other Brooklyn

Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Events, Police Blotter

84th Precinct: Crime Down 78% In Past Two Decades, 10% Over Past Year

August 10, 2012

Crime has caved 78% in the 84th Precinct over the last two decades and 10% over the past year, according to the 84th Precinct Community Council—comprising the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, DUMBO and Vinegar Hill. An all-out celebration of safety was held Tuesday at Borough Hall for the 29th-annual “National Night Out Against Crime,” which builds relationships between cops and the communities they police.

Leslie Lewis, president of the 84th Precinct Council for 22 years, told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “We’re here to celebrate the success of the partnership between the community and the police. When this all started, it was too dangerous to walk around at night; nobody was on the streets. Now there are people on the streets, development everywhere. It’s a very different world. Because of the success of the partnership, developers started to spend money and encourage people to move here. It’s directly related.”

Cops from the 84th precinct grilled up hundreds of burgers and hotdogs at Tuesday’s celebration, with Deputy Inspector Mark Di Paolo serving as ringleader. He told the Eagle, “When it first began in 1984, this was a night where the community came out to feel safe, not victimized. Now, 29 years later, it’s more to celebrate how this partnership brought safety to the community.”

Crime is down 10% in the 84th Precinct overall this year, and down 5% in robberies, 22% in felony assault, and 60% in stolen cars.

Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that the 84th Precinct “is very responsive to local community needs as well as keeping a handle on the bigger issues in the precinct—terror targets, the bridge, etc. They give equal attention to big and little stuff.”


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45411

From the Web

Brooklyn’s First Pier 1 Imports Coming To Atlantic Avenue

July 17, 2012

Pier 1 Imports has signed a lease for a space just beyond Brooklyn Heights at 252 Atlantic Avenue and Boerum Place, a block past Court Street. The home furnishings chain will set up shop in a new two-story commercial building called Atlantic Galleria, along with gym chain Retro Fitness. It’s the retailer’s first location in Brooklyn. Read more on the Cobble Hill blog here.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/44331

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Food

Industry Group Takes Message To Streets To Oppose Bloomberg’s Proposed Sugar Soda Ban

July 7, 2012

A group created by the American soft drink industry is fighting back against NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s latest Nanny State mandate: to ban sugar sodas larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts. New Yorkers for Beverage Choices has been sending its message out across the city—including the local Regal/United Artists movie theater in Brooklyn Heights.

An article in The New York Times highlights efforts coordinated by the industry and several national movie theater chains in what is likely to be a major PR campaign against the ban’s insistence that adults cannot make their own decisions. On July 4th, an airborne banner flew along the Rockaways and Coney Island beaches, saying: “NO DRINK 4 U.” Likewise, at a Battery Park AMC movie theater, ushers, ticket-takers & concession workers wore T-shirts with the message, “I picked out my beverage all by myself.” And on the marquee outside the Regal Theater in Brooklyn Heights was a call to arms: “Say No to the NYC Ban.”

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser insists the the city’s Board of Health “make(s) decisions about public health based on science.” That’s simply not true: All members of New York’s Board of Health are personally appointed by Mayor Bloomberg, insuring that the deck—and the vote—are stacked in his favor. Bloomberg’s latest war on fun looks to ban the sale of any cup or bottle of sweetened drink larger than 16 fluid ounces. The Board will vote on the mandate following a July 24 public hearing.

New Yorkers for Beverage Choices will continue its efforts, including high-flying airplane banners at area beaches again this weekend. And inside the Heights theater on Court Street, movie-goers can sign a petition against the mayor’s plan. Information cards and posters will also be displayed in United Artists and AMC venues. AMC spokesman Ryan Noonan notes, “We are bewildered by the proposal to choose an ineffective gimmick to address a critical health issue.”

(Photo: New York Times)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43705

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

As Brooklyn Bridge Park Eases Forward, Parks In Greenpoint & Bushwick Stall

June 21, 2012

As progress on Brooklyn Bridge Park continues to ease forward—however controversial—other areas of Brooklyn are apparently not as fortunate. City officials admit that two stalled North Brooklyn parks will likely see little to no progress before Mayor Bloomberg’s term runs out in November 2012, because funding was allocated to other projects.

A long-promised waterfront recreation area in Williamsburg’s Greenpoint and a planned open space at Bushwick Inlet Park are both at risk of simply never materializing. The Brooklyn Paper reports that two top Bloomberg aides deflected a barrage of questions from Brooklyn council members over the projects, refusing to estimate when or if they might be completed, citing budget constraints. Parks Assistant Commissioner Joshua Laird: “We don’t have a bottomless pit of money. It’s just not possible to acquire property. The city has an obligation to its taxpayers.”

Open space advocates counter that the city also has an obligation to North Brooklyn after approving a controversial rezoning of 200 industrial blocks in Williamsburg and Greenpoint seven years ago in exchange for a commitment to build hundreds of affordable housing units, a mile-long esplanade abutting the East River and several new parks. Instead, a number of luxury residential towers have risen along the river’s edge.

For Bushwick Inlet Park, the city has only acquired half of the required lots to begins its buildout, while city budget planners reallocated $13 million of the $14 million intended for that park’s development for other projects. Bloomberg aides claim the city could raise funds by selling air rights to developers around adjacent commercial properties to fund the park.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/42746

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Events, Food

Saturday: Atlantic Ave. Extravaganza For Shoppers, Foodies & Families

June 14, 2012

Coming this Saturday, June 16, is the Atlantic Avenue Extravaganza, 1-5 p.m., from the BQE entrance to Fourth Avenue. The event is designed to draw shoppers, foodies, families and art lovers to the sidewalks of the thoroughfare with a lineup of special events, performances, tastings and games in the name of making all more aware of Atlantic Ave’s burgeoning commerce, culture and community.

More details on our sister Cobble Hill Blog here. The Extravaganza is sponsored by the Atlantic Ave. Business Improvement District.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/42352

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Bitch Fight: Brooklyn Dog Experts Weigh In On Taming Fido

June 10, 2012

While Heights’ residents have rightfully bitched about stepping in, jogging past or catching a waft of an irresponsible dog owner’s pooch’s poop on sidewalks and streets, the Sunday New York Post offers advice about dogs that become aggressive when they come bum to butt with other hounds. Two local Brooklyn experts are among those that weigh in.

John Squires, owner of Wag Club, a doggie day-care and grooming facility in the Heights, recommends that if your bitch gets bitchy, carefully “grab hold of the aggressor from behind, by the hips or back legs, and pull up so he’s on his front two paws. It will put him off-balance and make him look back to find out what’s going on.”

Cobble Hill’s Dr. Brett Levitzke, medical director at the Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group, adds to use caution: “Remember the natural instinct of the dog attacking is to follow, so you’re just bringing them close to you.” He also notes that “the biggest mistake people make is to reach in and try and grab their dog, but they can be bitten by the other dog or even their own dog in the heat of the fight.”

There’s more advice in the article from other Brooklyn experts, including Fort Greene’s Shannon Le Brun, founder of Waggy Walkers Pet Services.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/42132

From the Web

Food

Gotta Appreciate Our Key Food, As Windsor Heights Store Supplanted By Walgreen’s

June 2, 2012

The closing of a supermarket is always an unexpected phenomenon, particularly when they provide the neighborhood with one of its core services. In Brooklyn Heights, Montague Street’s Key Food has been around for decades… Can you imagine the neighborhood without it? (Gristede’s: uh, personal opinion, yes).

On June 30, the Key Food on Prospect Avenue in Windsor Terrace is closing its doors—to be replaced by pharmacy mega-chain Walgreens—and Marty Markowitz is not happy about it. According to the Windsor Terrace-Kensington Patch, a deal was finalized last week following the retirement of the grocery’s 80-year-old majority owner. Some 50 employees are now out of a job.

The Key Food closing is so dramatic for the region that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is weighing in: He calls it “a terrible blow to local residents left with few to no options for one-stop shopping access to quality, affordable food. It’s extremely difficult to compete with major drug store chains and banks that are over-populating neighborhoods.” See his full statement below.

The closing of Key Food on Prospect Avenue in Windsor Terrace strikes a terrible blow to local residents who are left with few to no options for one-stop shopping access to quality, affordable food. While I’m a firm believer in free enterprise, the unfortunate reality is that when it comes to buying, renting or leasing these locations, it’s extremely difficult to compete with major drug store chains and banks that, one could argue, are over-populating neighborhoods that are under-populated with full service supermarkets.

My office has long advocated for food justice and better access to supermarkets and fresh, nutritious foods in our most underserved neighborhoods, and this is a troubling reminder of why that fight has to continue. In fact, efforts will be made to convince Walgreens to provide a green grocer/fresh fruits and vegetables sub-tenancy or green market stall in Windsor Terrace as it has done in Bay Ridge and at other locations across the country to complement the limited food selection at their stores.

I have spoken with the president of Key Food Stores Co-op, Inc. and it’s my expectation they will make every effort to determine if another suitable site can be found to serve the residents affected by the loss of the Windsor Terrace supermarket.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41615

From the Web