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THE LEDE: Happy Thursday, Brooklyn! NYC may abandon the BQX streetcar project, Starbucks sparks a debate in Bed-Stuy, and the Brooklyn Bridge is way too crowded. Plus, a couple raises three kids in a Carroll Gardens one-bedroom, Baltimore’s police department is corrupt, and we share two Playboy interviews with Martin Luther King Jr. Finally, Facebook says 87 million users were affected by the Cambridge Analytica data grab, Indonesia declares a state of emergency, and a dog kills a mother and son in Germany.           
 
IMPRINT: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson grills the camera on the most recent cover of Rolling Stone.  

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The Rundown
 

~MOVE OVER! THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE IS WAY TOO CROWDED: When the Brooklyn Bridge walkway was crammed to capacity this past weekend, it was just one of many instances of pedestrian and cyclists overcrowding on the famed overpass. One Twitter user, @makequeenssafer, posted on Saturdaythat “cops actually closed [the] bridge to pedestrians/bikes as it was too crowded. Has anyone ever heard of that?” Actually, it has happened before. On July 5, 2017, Streetsblog NYC, an advocacy blog for walking, biking and non-automobile transit, reported that the day before, on Independence Day, police blocked cyclists and pedestrians from using the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridge to prevent excessive crowding from happening. Even then, some bicyclists, flouting rules, reportedly biked alongside cars and trucks on the main roadway. Streetsblog, in another article published Monday, added that overcrowding has become so intense that in 2017, biking on the Brooklyn Bridge decreased slightly after increasing every year since 2007. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

~PAIR ARRESTED FOR SMUGGLING 26 FINCHES INTO JFK: Two men were arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday when U.S. Customs officials found 26 finches smuggled in their socks and hair curlers from Guyana, officials said. A Fish and Wildlife Services official wrote in a criminal complaint that the birds are prized for their singing voices that go feather to feather in public park singing contests throughout New York. While the winged vocalists can be found in the U.S., those from Guyana are believed to have better singing chops, according to the complaint. The bird crowned winner can then be sold for in excess of $5,000. If convicted, the duo faces up to 20 years in prison. And the undeclared birds will be singing their way to the United States Department of Agriculture for quarantine. (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~NYC MAY DITCH THE BROOKLYN-QUEENS CONNECTOR STREETCAR:With the feasibility of building the Brooklyn-Queens Connector streetcar shrouded in doubt since its proposal, the city may now leave the idea behind while studies remain underway. “Assuming that it does not pay for itself … then we have to decide whether or not this is the right use of capital money for a transportation project,” Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said. The studies will tell thede Blasio administration if it should go ahead with the $2.5 billion connector from Sunset Park to Astoria, Queens. The hope is that the project will pay for itself with increased property values, although many transportation experts have cast doubt about the viability of that method. (via NYDN and Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~BED-STUY STARBUCKS BECOMES POINT OF CONTROVERSY: Starbucks has gained a reputation of being a gentrifying force, so naturally when it opened its doors in Bedford-Stuyvesant – displacing part of a discount department store – the community raised diverging opinions on it. “The idea that they’ve been so closely associated with the negative tenets of gentrification sent a red flag up immediately in the community,” Councilmember Robert Cornegy said. But the coffee house at 774 Broadwayis part of the company’s initiative to invest in the local economy by hiring staff from the neighborhood and offering other community-based services. While some still oppose the shop, Cornegy sees the situation as an opportunity to set an example, saying, “My hope is that there’s a loud resounding message that the cost of doing business in minority communities across the country should be that … you have to be an asset.” (via amNewYork)
 
~RAISING A FAMILY IN A ONE-BEDROOM APARTMENT: Julie Chervinsky’s tale of raising three children in a Carroll Gardens one-bedroom with her husband shows that New York’s limited space can always be worked around. When Chervinsky and her husband moved into the 900-square-foot apartment, they loved the set up but had no idea that a baby was on the way. Soon enough one baby became two and the couple was exiled to sleep in the living room. But when a third child entered the world, they faced the problem head on and bought a three-tiered bunk bed to conserve space. “[It was] the worst and the best. There was nowhere to go. Fights, disagreements, preferences, everything had to be hashed out,” Chervinsky said. “We were together, all of us. We talked about everything. There was never silence. It was never boring.” The family has since moved out and bought a single-family home in Windsor Terrace with a backyard. (via Brick Underground)

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Staff Picks:   
 

LONG READ: Read the 1964 conversation between Martin Luther King Jr.and Playboy. It was the longest interview that King ever gave to a publication. Here’s Part I and Part II. (via Playboy)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: “When cops become robbers”: Inside Baltimore’scorrupt police department. (via BBC)
 
EAT: Is your birthday coming up? If so, you’ll want to take a look at these 82 restaurants that give you free food on your big day. (via Thrillist)  
 
TRAVEL: “36 Hours in Budapest, Hungary” (via NYT)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: Facebook says 87 million users were affected by the Cambridge Analytica data share…President Trump will send National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border…And a North Carolina day care worker pulls a 18-month-old’s hair out. (via Fortune, NBC News and WSOC-TV)               
 
FOREIGN FLASH: A dog kills a mother and son in Germany…Indonesia declares a state of emergency following a massive oil spill…And Russia performs missile tests in the Baltic Sea. (via USA Today, BBC and Reuters)                              
 
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 ROYAL WATCH: Here’s everything we know about Prince Harry andMeghan Markle’s royal wedding so far. (via CNN)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT   
 

9:00AM – 7:00PM — Constellations at Made In NY Media Center. Details.
 
10:00AM — Explore your dreams in this immersive playground at Dream Machine. Details.
 
11:00AM – 5:00PM — Jan Groover: Photographs at Janet Borden, Inc.Details.  
 
1:00PM — Campfire Activities at Fort Greene Park. Details.
 
1:00PM – 6:00PM — In Between Daylight at FiveMyles. Details.
 
6:00PM — Assault Prevention Class at Bay Ridge Jewish Center. Details.
 
6:00PM – 8:00PM — First Thursday Gallery Walk at Art in DUMBO. Details.  
 
7:00PM — Dr. Octagon at Brooklyn Bowl. Details.
 
7:00PM — Brooklyn Talks: Tony Visconti at Brooklyn Museum. Details.

7:30PM – 10:00PM — Classic Simpsons Trivia at Kings Beer Hall. Details.   
 
8:00PM – 11:00PM — Raycee Jones with Ryan Cole & The Paper Souls, The Fine Machines at C’mon Everybody. Details.

  

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 EAGLE SPORTS: So much for finishing strong. The Brooklyn Nets looked disinterested and disengaged throughout Tuesday night’s ugly 121-95 loss to the red-hot and playoff-bound Philadelphia 76ers in front of a sellout crowd of 20,710 fans at the Wells Fargo Center. In fact, the Nets appeared so apathetic that head coach Kenny Atkinson invented a word to describe the performance, which resulted in Brooklyn’s second straight blowout defeat. “It was a lay-up-athon,” Atkinson mused after Brooklyn became Philadelphia’s 11th consecutive victim. “From a physical and mental standpoint, we weren’t focused and ready to play,” he added. “It was evident. We were not engaged physically or mentally and that’s what happens.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)

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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Hayley Atwell, Sterling K. Brown, Roger Corman, Max Gail, Juicy J, Michael Moriarty, Mitch Pileggi, Colin Powell and singerPharrell Williams!
 
Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at[email protected].

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