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Brooklyn Today May 18: Who Will Watch Over the City That Never Sleeps?

May 18, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Good morning on this very summery Thursday! In today’s briefing, Mayor de Blasio may soon need an adjustment to his title, and Fort Greene has a tricky choice to make about trees. Then, NYCHA picks up a hammer, and experts say “hmmmm” to the MTA’s six-point plan for improvement. Finally, a group of Brooklyn artists go head-to-head with theLoft Law and the Prospect Park turtles live the high life back home after narrowly escaping captivity. We’ll see you again on Friday!
 
IMPRINT: The doctor will see you now, on the cover of the NYT Magazine.

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The Rundown
 

~WHO WILL WATCH OVER THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS?: Mayor Bill de Blasio may soon have to amend his title to “Day Mayor” if legislation proposed by city Councilmember Rafael Espinal passes. Espinal is currently drafting abill to create an Office of Nightlife for New York City, which would be led by a “night mayor.” The new position’s responsibilities would include regulating the nightlife industry, helping DIY venues stay open and creating a safer partying environment. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) 
 
~IT’S ALL OR NOTHING IN FORT GREENE PARK: Take your pick: a park with both trees and toxins, or a toxin-free park with no trees. That’s the choice facing a long-closed Fort Greene park near Brooklyn Academy of Music. The park is chock-full of lush trees with roots that snake through 80 percent of the park…but it’s also chock-full of soil containing high levels of arsenic, mercury, lead and pesticides. Excavating the soil entirely would kill the trees’ vast root network…so experts recommend cleaning only a portion of the park, while fencing off the other areas and covering them with mulch and vegetation. (via Brooklyn Paper)   
 
~PASS ME THAT HAMMER: The New York City Housing Authority(NYCHA) is reaching beyond housing and has taken to training residents for well-paying jobs in construction, maintenance and janitorial fields. The program provides an avenue for residents to obtain vital certificates that could cost up to thousands of dollars outside the program. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)    
 
~THE FIRST STEP TO FIXING A PROBLEM? ADMITTING YOU HAVE A PROBLEM: The MTA admits that the subways are a mess, and the agency announced earlier this week a six-point plan to tackle the situation…but experts are giving the plan mixed reviews. John Raskin of the Riders Alliance says the plan is a good first step, but, “These short-term plans must also be matched with a long-term vision that acknowledges the scale of the problem and invests the billions of dollars we’ll need to get to reliable, quality service.” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)  
 
~LOFT LAW LOOPHOLE LEAVES ARTISTS LUCKLESS: After more than 20 years of living and working in a transformed industrial garage, the Loft Boardmay give a group of artists the boot, thanks to a quirk in the Loft Law. The loft, CAVE on Grand Street, technically has no external windows, which is a requirement under the 2010 adjustments to the law under Mayor Bloomberg.The artists run a choreography studio out of the loft and host annual art-filled block parties, and the Loft Board will vote on their case today. Says artist and loft resident Ximena Garnica: “That just means another DIY space gone, another live and work home gone from New York.” (via DNAinfo) 
 
~HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROOKLYN ARTS COUNCIL!: As BAC turns 50 years old, check out these archival photos of the impact the organization has had on our borough. (via Hyperallergic)

~PHOTO OF THE DAY: #TBT to the days of Coney Island’s iconic Parachute Jump. (via @brooklyndailyeagle)
 
~FREED PROSPECT PARK TURTLES LIVE THE LUXE LIFE: The turtles that were nabbed and bagged by poachers in Prospect Park earlier this month are back. After narrowingly avoiding a fate as domesticated pets – or, worse, turtle soup – the turtles were recently spotted sunning themselves in the park,basking in the glory days . (via Brooklyn Paper)
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Staff Picks     

 

HEAVY READ: “I had a family, a career, a house in the suburbs—the American dream. And then I had a slave.” Read this story of modern day slavery in America. (via The Atlantic)     
 
MOUTHWATERING READ: There are two kinds of people in the world: ice cream purists, and ice cream maximalists. (via the Village Voice) 
 
CURIOUS READ: What to do when you’re a bored, medieval, English soldier with some downtime between battles? Cut a slice of tree and throw spears at the rings. Thus, the game of darts was born. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) 
 
FOR FUN: Got a hankering for a game of darts now? Head to The Brazen Head for the Challenge the Pro: Dart Toss Competition on May 24 for a chance to win $100. Because what could possibly go wrong with a night of beer and darts?

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NATIONAL BULLETIN: ProPublica tests internet security at POTUS’ properties and reveals that “Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Mar-a-Lago”…The Dow tumbles 370 points as chaos rocks Washington…Today isInternational Museum Day, and Chicago is building almost more museums than it knows what to do with…And an Oklahoma jury acquits a white police officer of shooting and killing an unarmed black man with his hands above his head. (via ProPublica, Bloomberg, Crain’s Chicago Business and the AP) 
 
FOREIGN FLASH: The impending engagement of Japan’s Princess Makoraises questions about the country’s “looming succession crisis,” as the princess will relinquish her royal status once she says “I do”…Riot police in Venezuela grow weary…And as Asia’s population rapidly booms, the funeral industry trends toward “green funerals” with paper and wicker coffins. (via the NYT, the WSJ and the AP)
 
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 ROYAL WATCH: Guests of the royal garden party at Buckingham Palace boast quite the appetite: they slurp about 27,000 cups of tea, consume roughly 20,000 sandwiches and nibble nearly 20,000 slices of cake. (via People)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT
 

12:00pm – Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives: The First 1,000 Years at 92nd Street Y. Details.
 
12:00pm – 6:30pm – Women & China, A Forum on How Women are Shaping the Rising Global Power at China Institute. Details.  
 
6:00pm – Book Launch: Amanda Lapore: Doll Parts at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. Details. 
 
6:00pm – The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets at Museum of Mathematics. Details.
 
6:30pm – 10 Iconic Perfume Bottles: Culture and Design at Prospect Heights Brainery. Details.
 
6:30pm – My Soul Looks Back: Jessica Harris In Conversation with Nicole Taylor at Museum of Food and Drink. Details.    
 
6:30pm – Brooklyn Arts Council – Alive With Art at The William Vale Hotel.Details.
 
7:00pm – NYC Book Launch: What Is the Bible? by Rob Bell at PowerHouse Arena. Details.
 
7:00pm – Person Place Thing: Jim Shepard & Joshua Ferris at The Center for Fiction. Details.  
 
7:00pm – The New Up at Union Hall. Details.
 
8:00pm – What’s Your Damage? at The Grand. Details.   
 
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 ON THE PITCH: Get this. A Sporting Lisbon B team substitute conceded a penalty while he wasn’t even on the field. How does that happen you ask? Just take a look…


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