Brooklyn Today: May 18, 2012

May 18, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Good morning. This is the 139th day of the year. So you think that electric cars are a new idea? The May 18, 1902, issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle contained an ad from the “Electric Vehicle Company” for “broughams, Victorias and business vehicles.” “Physicians find our runabouts economical, safe, and with three times the working capacity of a horse-drawn vehicle,” the ad states.

Well-known people who were born today include writer-comedienne Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live”), actor Dwayne Hickman (“Dobie Gillis”), Hall of Fame baseball player Reggie Jackson, Hall of Fame tennis player Yannick Noah, and Hall of Fame baseball player and manager Brooks Robinson.

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Today at 10 a.m., Borough President Marty Markowitz will welcome the Beijing Guo Sheng Peking Opera Troupe to Borough Hall. … Today and tomorrow at Chelsea Piers, Manhattan, more than 600 political, business and civic leaders will focus on the harbor at the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance’s 2012 Waterfront Conference. The Brooklyn waterfront is sure to be discussed, and several Brooklyn notables, such as Councilman Brad Lander, are on the panel. … Tomorrow and Sunday, the Prospect Park Zoo is hosting its 18th annual Fleece Fest celebration, featuring live shearing of the zoo’s sheep and alpacas. This promises to be a fun-filled event for people of all ages. Weavers will demonstrate wool working, and the Otter Brothers will entertain the crowd with live country music. … The Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College will conclude its 2011-12 Target Family Fun series with the American Family Theater’s production of “Cinderella” on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Whitman Theater.

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Carroll Gardens Patch reports that the school’s administration sent parents a notice earlier this week saying that there are bed bugs in the school. “We recently found a confirmed bed bug in your child’s school,” the letter, signed by Principal Giselle McGee, reads, followed by a description of the symptoms and aftermath of a bed bug bite. While McGee would not comment when contacted by Patch, another employee said a technician will be coming to the school soon.

A Hasidic art gallery, the Betzalel Gallery, moved yesterday from Borough Park to Empire Boulevard and Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights, according to WNYC. The gallery’s themes include rabbis, Talmudic scholars and scenes from Israel. The community is divided on what constitutes Jewish art: Some say that Jewish-themed art is Jewish art even when painted by non-Jews, while others say the art must be painted by Jews.