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Brooklyn Today January 30: Brooklyn Hospital Center Is Selling $100M Property in Fort Greene

January 30, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Happy Tuesday, Brooklyn! A small but vocal crowd protests outsideMarty Golden’s office, the Brooklyn Hospital Center is selling a building inFort Greene for $100 million, and a nightmare traffic scenario is looming for Brooklyn. Plus, Ample Hills will open a new location in Park Slope, Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe will step down, and Russia is banned from the 2018 Paralympic Games. Finally, Americans are getting more sleep, paleontologists discover the fossil of a new dinosaur species in Egypt, and an Indian man dies after getting stuck in an MRI machine.  
 
IMPRINT: A star-studded lineup featuring Tom HanksReese Witherspoon,Oprah Winfrey and Nicole Kidman appears on the latest cover of Vanity Fair.

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The Rundown
 

~SMALL BUT VOCAL CROWD GATHERS OUTSIDE GOLDEN’S OFFICE TO PROTEST ‘GHETTO DRUG’ REMARK: In the modern era of social media, when an off-hand comment can turn into a major political gaffe, one veteran Republican politician from Bay Ridge is catching heat. The remark, made by state Sen. Marty Golden to the Brooklyn Eagle in an article published on Jan. 23, has since angered a portion of his constituency. “It’s not a ghetto drug,” Golden said of opioids. “It’s happening to doctors’ kids.” On Monday afternoon, a group of roughly 20 attendees gathered outside the senator’s Bay Ridge office to condemn the “racist comment.” In addition to denouncing Golden’s remarks, the demonstration was held to vocalize the need for more city, state and federal funding for drug treatment in impoverished communities. Golden, who apologized for his comment on Friday, was in Albany during the rally. “Golden is conflating being offended by his comments with the need for him to account for his comments,” Policy Manager at the New York branch of Drug Policy Alliance Dionna King said. “They are not just something that is harmful to say. It’s not only morally reprehensible to harbor these feelings, he’s a lawmaker and because of that he should be held to a different standard.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~TRAFFIC TIME BOMB LOOMS IF STATE FAILS TO AUTHORIZE FASTER, CHEAPER BQE FIX: Unless Albany acts soon, a nightmare traffic scenario is looming for Brooklyn and the entire metropolitan region. The $1.9 billion, seven-year reconstruction of a dilapidated section of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street must be completed by 2026. If it’s not, the city’s DOT will likely have to divert 16,000 trucks daily from the highway onto local streets. This would be an “unmitigated disaster” forBrooklyn Heights and beyond, according to the Brooklyn Heights Association and other community groups, which are pushing legislators to act before theclock runs out. The section of roadway includes the triple cantilever underpinning the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The BQE rehab can only be completed by 2026 if the state authorizes the city’s use of a streamlined bidding process called “design-build,” which will allow the work to be completed as many as two years faster and $113 million cheaper. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, however, did not include design-build authority for the BQE Reconstruction Project as one of his legislative priorities this session. (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~REPORT: THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER IS SELLING $100 MILLION PROPERTY NEXT TO FORT GREENE PARK: Ka-ching! The Brooklyn Hospital Center has lined up an approximately $100 million deal to sell a building located right next to Fort Greene Park. According to Crain’s New York Business, the publication to first report the pending deal, the Rabsky Group agreed to buy a medical facility known as the Maynard Building at 240 Willoughby St. in Fort Greene. As the Brooklyn Eagle has reported, the Rabsky Group is a prolific developer that bought a sought-after DUMBOdevelopment site from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, 69 Adams St., for $65 million in late 2016. The Brooklyn Hospital Center put 21-story 240 Willoughby St. up for sale in early 2016, a Curbed.com story says. According to that report, the hospital planned to use the sale proceeds to help fund the construction of a new urgent care center and do renovations at its main hospital campus. The Brooklyn Hospital Center, whose main address is 121 DeKalb Ave., is a 170-year-old institution. (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~AMPLE HILLS CREAMERY COMING BY PAVILION THEATER: A week after the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Hidrock Properties’ plans to restore retail space next to the former Pavilion Theater by Prospect Park, Ample Hills Creamery announced it would be filling the space. The 192 Prospect Park West spot in Park Slope will be the popular Brooklyn-based ice cream store’s sixth location in the borough. “This space housed an ice cream parlor in the 1930s, and it seems like a natural fit for us to perpetuate the legacy of a place where people can come together and enjoy ice cream with their friends and family,” said Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna, the husband and wife owners of Ample Hills. The pair opened their first location in Prospect Heights in 2011 and will also launch a storefront in Red Hook this summer.(via Bklyner)
 
~SUCCESS STORIES OF NEW YORK ESCAPEES: New Yorkers know that the city is filled with reasons to live here, but it’s no secret that its residents can score cheaper housing for more space in other cities. The New York Post highlighted four examples of New York escapees who are all smiles about their moves. Native New Yorker Justin D’Onofrio was tired of the subway-failing commute from his soot-covered 390-square-foot Bushwick apartment and lack of prospects for owning a home. As a result, he jumped ship to Pittsburg, where he pays $1,000 a month in a 430-square-foot Airbnb. Another couple hopped over to Los Angeles from Prospect Heights to spend $600 more a month, but they increased their space by 2,300 square feet. Cat Wennekamp-Tapper shared her thoughts about the move, “We wine and dine, and go out, and entertain and travel. It’s nice to put that money into something other than rent.” (via New York Post)

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Staff Picks:   
 

LONG READ: “The Plot Against America:” Here’s how Paul Manafortbecame the architect behind much of the corruption in Washington. (via The Atlantic)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: Meet Franklin Chang Díaz, an immigrant and astronaut who could bring America to Mars(via Texas Monthly)
 
CARTOON: Watching President Trump’s State of the Union is now a torture technique(via The New Yorker)
 
CULTURE: Here’s a list of the top 15 art museums in New York City. (via Time Out)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: Americans are getting 18 more minutes of sleep on a weeknight than they did in 2003…Amazon’s new spheres in Seattle are now open…And Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe will step down(via NYT, USA Today and WaPo)          
 
FOREIGN FLASH: Russia is banned from the 2018 Paralympic Games…Paleontologists discover the fossil of a new dinosaur species in Egypt…And an Indian man dies after getting stuck in an MRI machine. (via NYT, USA Today and The Telegraph)   
 
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 ROYAL WATCH:
 “Royal WhatsApp chat revealed: Royals discuss Katepregnancy and Harry and Meghan’s wedding” (via Daily Express)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT   
 

9:00AM — Brain Train Technology Class at Bay Ridge Center for Older Adults.Details.
 
10:30AM — Wall Street — From Windmills to World Finance at 92nd Street Y.Details.  
 
12:00PM – 6:00PM — Zach Blas Contra-Internet at Art in General. Details.
 
5:30PM – 7:30PM — Brain Plasticity: Changing Your Brain Can Be Simple & Fun at Coming of Age NYC. Details.
 
6:30PM — Eva Díaz: ‘Copies Have More Fun’ – A Lecture on Josef Albers’sPractice at Guggenheim Museum. Details.
 
6:30PM — Shaping Policy in the Era of Alternative Facts, Fake News, and Digital Disruption at Asia Society and Museum. Details.
 
6:30PM — In Conversation: Edmund Clark and Erin Barnett at International Center of Photography (Museum). Details.
 
7:00PM – 9:00PM — The Soap Myth at Museum of Jewish Heritage. Details.
 
7:30PM — Brooklyn Philharmonia Chorus Spring 2018 Auditions at First Presbyterian Church. Details.
 
8:00PM — Molly Brenner Is Not Coming at Vital Joint. Details.

 
 

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 EAGLE SPORTS: The New York Islanders will split their regular-season home games between Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center beginning next year while a new arena is built at Belmont Park. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the arrangement Monday. The Islanders plan to play 12 games at the Coliseum in Nassau County next season. The team will then decide about the next campaign, with tentative plans to play at least half their home games at the Coliseum. The new arena is expected to open in three years. The hockey team played in Nassau Coliseum from 1972 until 2015, when they moved to the Barclays Center. Fans expressed displeasure with the move, and last month the team announced plans for the facility at Belmont, home of the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. (AP via Brooklyn Eagle)

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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Phil Collins, Andy Milonakis, Eiza Gonzalez, Wilmer Valderrama, Brett Butler, Dick Cheney, Gene Hackman, Davey Johnson,Vanessa Redgrave, Boris Spassky and Jody Watley!

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