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Brooklyn Today June 25: Activists Fear High-Rises Could Cast Shadows on Botanic Garden

June 25, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Happy Monday, Brooklyn! Renovations begin at the LIU Brooklyn Paramount Theater, a pedestrian plaza opens in Clinton Hill, and a group of activists get arrested. Plus, a Bushwick tenant outwits the “worst landlord in NYC,” Brownsville is turned into a virtual reality game, and high-rises could cast shadows on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Finally, we recommend the best BBQ joints in the city, Brownsville doesn’t have enough parks, and historianNell Painter speaks at Greenlight Bookstore tonight. Have a great week.
 
IMPRINT: American model Taylor Hill poses in pink on the July cover of Elle U.S.


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The Rundown
 

~FAMILIES OF PEOPLE KILLED BY RECKLESS DRIVERS ARRESTED DURING PROTEST: Amy Cohen should have been snapping photos of her son Sammy at his high school graduation on Thursday. Instead she was part of a group protesting outside of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Midtown office in support of legislation that could have saved his life. After a speeding driver crashed into and killed her 12-year-old son in Park Slope four years ago, Cohen is pushing for the state Senate to vote on a bill that would install more cameras to catch and ticket speeding drivers. “People are dying and they are treating this like a game. They are playing Russian Roulette with people’s lives,” said Cohen. The group blocked traffic, and nine people were arrested.(via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~RENOVATIONS BEGIN AT LIU BROOKLYN PARAMOUNT THEATRE: At long last the LIU Brooklyn Paramount Theatre is getting a makeover. A groundbreaking ceremony took place last week to launch the renovation of the theater located at the intersection of Flatbush and Dekalb avenues inDowntown Brooklyn. “The refurbishment of the LIU Paramount Theater is a major milestone in the history of Long Island University,” school President Dr.Kimberly Cline said. “It brings our commitment to the arts — and our role in the arts community — to an entirely new level for our students, faculty and alumni, and solidifies our role as a major cultural driver in Brooklyn.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~PEDESTRIAN PLAZA OPENS ON MYRTLE AVENUE IN CLINTON HILL: With the first day of summer, the Myrtle Avenue Plaza in Clinton Hillofficially opened on Thursday, turning a section of a dangerous street into a tree-lined pedestrian area. The $7 million project, funded by DOT, is located between Hall Street and Emerson Place on Myrtle Avenue, “Welcome to the Myrtle Avenue Plaza,” Meredith Phillips Almeida of Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership said. “We are going to program this plaza with so many community events, making it a vibrant community place.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~BUSHWICK TENANT SHAMES ‘WORST LANDLORD IN NYC’ TO GIVE SECURITY DEPOSIT BACK: An unhappy tenant in Bushwick got his $2,550 security deposit back in a very unorthodox way. Seth Callaway and his wife moved out of their apartment and expected to be reimbursed for their security deposit. The apartment belongs to Silvershore Properties, whose owner,Jonathan Cohen, was named the worst landlord in NYC in 2017. When two months passed with no response, the miffed tenant started the websitewww.silvershorted.com, which is dedicated entirely to venting his frustration with the company. His site went up on June 14, and in only four days, SilverShore Properties gave Callaway his money back. (Bklyner via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~BROWNSVILLE RESIDENTS DESIGN VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE OF THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD: A team of 40 Brownsville residents have created a virtual reality game about their Brooklyn neighborhood. ‘If you’re from Brownsville, you’d recognize it,” said Ray Graham, 20, who’s been involved with the project, named “Fireflies: A Brownsville Story,” since its inception in 2016. “And the people of Brownsville that we got in, you’d recognize [them].” Working out of the Brownsville Community Justice Center, the team has spent the past two years digitally rendering the streets and buildings in their community block by block and interviewing residents.(Engadget via Brooklyn Eagle) 
 
~REPORT: BROWNSVILLE LACKS PARKS AND OPEN SPACE: New Yorkers for Parks published a report that revealed there is not enough available parkland in Brownsville, and the parks that do exist are in poor condition. “Quality open spaces are important for all New Yorkers, but particularly in areas where parks are suffering from years of neglect,” said executive director of the group Lynn Kelley. Among the open space benchmarks looked at in the report were total amount of open space, tree canopy,  accessibility and overall maintenance. Brownsville failed 10 out of 14 of these markers. (City Limits via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~ACTIVISTS FEAR HIGH-RISES COULD CAST SHADOWS ON BOTANIC GARDEN: Crown Heights community activists are reportedly fighting to prevent the approval of several high-rise buildings that they say will cast shadows onto the nearby Brooklyn Botanic Garden and deprive plants of sunlight. Two buildings of at least 16 stories have been proposed for 40 Crown St. and 931 Carroll St. A preliminary application for a development at 960 Franklin Ave. that would rise as high as 37 stories was also proposed. “These shadows actually go past the garden and touch Prospect Park,” said Alicia Boyd, leader of The Movement to Protect the People, which is leading the effort against the developers. (amNew York via Brooklyn Eagle)

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Staff Picks:   
 

LONG READ: Alex Vardakostas is on a quest to create a burger bot, a robot that can make the perfect cheeseburger. The only issue is that it could put his loved ones out of work. (via Wired)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: “How the Case for Voter Fraud Was Tested — and Utterly Failed” (via ProPublica)
 
EAT: Here are the 16 best BBQ joints in NYC, including eight in Brooklyn. (via Eater)
 
CARTOON: Melania Trump asks for help choosing her outfit. (via The New Yorker)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: The Supreme Court says police officers can’t check your geolocation without a warrant…A whale dolphin washes up on the Oregon coast…And the New York Botanical Garden will soon smell like rotting flesh due to its new corpse flower. (via USA Today, OPB and Metro)                   
 
FOREIGN FLASH: Anthony Bourdain didn’t have narcotics in his body when he died…Women in Saudi Arabia can legally drive now…And fivecharity workers are kidnapped and gang-raped in East India. (via NYT, USA Today and Time)                       
 

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ROYAL WATCH: Inked Up: Here are the five royal family members whohave tattoos. (via Hello!)


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BROOKLYN TONIGHT     
 

9:30AM — Broadway Dance at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Details.   
 
1:00PM — Fernando Carpaneda: New Portraits at MF Gallery. Details.
 
3:00PM — Drag Queen Story Hour with Lola Lemon at The Park Church Co-op. Details.
 
5:30PM – 7:30PM — Reimagining Drug Policy Through Artistic Expression: Museums, Marches and More at Open Society Foundations–New York. Details.
 
6:30PM — The (New) Urban Resistance: Progressives Go Local at Brooklyn Historical Society. Details.
 
7:00PM — Modern Mondays: An Evening with Karimah Ashadu at Museum of Modern Art. Details.
                                                                                                                              
7:00PM — Brooklyn Winery 101 at Brooklyn Winery. Details.
 
7:00PM — Being Human: Creating Agency, Intimacy and Yes, Development, with Dementia at NYU School of Law. Details.
 
7:30PM — Nell Painter presents Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over at Greenlight Bookstore Fort Greene. Details.
 
9:30PM — Aliens of Extraordinary Ability Comedy Hour at Caveat. Details.  
 
      

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EAGLE SPORTS: The Brooklyn Nets have been creative in their attempt to start from scratch after selling away the future of the franchise five years ago hunting for a championship that never came. Two months after capping a third straight losing season, the Nets hope their latest acquisitions might be part of the solution. Brooklyn continued its rebuild Thursday night, selectingDzanan Musa with the 29th overall pick and Rodions Kurucs at No. 40 in the NBA draft. Musa was taken with the pick acquired from the Toronto Raptors in a trade last July, which also landed forward DeMarre Carroll. (AP via Brooklyn Eagle)


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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Linda Cardellini, Carlos Delgado, Ricky Gervais, John Benjamin Hickey, June Lockhart, Dikembe Mutombo, Willis Reed Jr., Carly Simon, Sonia Sotomayor, Billy Wagner and Jimmie Walker!
 
Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at[email protected].


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