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Brooklyn Today October 16: De Blasio ‘Blindsides’ Brooklyn Heights on BQE Rehab Plan

October 16, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Happy Tuesday! Mayor De Blasio “blindsides” the Brooklyn Heights Association, Dan Donovan and Max Rose go head-to-head in their first debate, and an MTA bus driver is arrested for exposing himself to minors. Plus, Rose plays up his military experience, Gov. Cuomo blasts PresidentTrump, and NYCHA lawyers say parents are to blame for their kids getting lead poisoning. Finally, two professors want to revolutionize Brooklyn’s bus routes, and Daniel Radcliffe becomes a fact checker at The New Yorker.      
 
IMPRINT: Actress Claire Foy poises in black on the October cover of Porter Edit.


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The Rundown
 

~DE BLASIO BLINDSIDED US ON BQE, BHA FUMES: The Brooklyn Heights Association sent out a searing statement on Sunday condemning Mayor Bill de Blasio for “blindsiding” the community by supporting a radical BQE reconstruction plan — even before the public comments are all in. On Friday, the mayor voiced his support for a proposal to temporarily replace the Heights Promenade with a floating, six-lane highway during reconstruction. BHA President Martha Baker Dietz said she was “stunned” to read of the mayor’s endorsement. De Blasio characterized the faster but more painful alternative as “kind of the pull-the-Band-Aid off approach.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~DONOVAN, ROSE BATTLE IN FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE: In theirfirst debate in a closely watched congressional race, Republican U.S. Rep.Dan Donovan and his Democratic opponent Max Rose hit each other with charges over campaign contributions tied to Big Pharma and carpet-bagging. A questioner noted that Donovan had accepted campaign contributions from Perdue Pharma, the company that manufactures OxyContin. Donovan countered that it was not Perdue Pharma that gave money to his campaign, but “two individuals who work for the company.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~MAX ROSE JOINS WAVE OF VETERANS AIMING TO FLIP THE HOUSE:He’s an Army veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan, criticizes New York’s liberal mayor and doesn’t support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Those are winning attributes for a politician in Trump Country, but the candidate in question, Max Rose, is a Democrat trying to unseat the only Republican member of Congress from New York City. For all the national talk of a liberal “blue wave” in next month’s midterm election, Rose is part of a large corps of moderate Democrats who are playing up military experience and independence from their own party in districts that voted for President Trump in 2016. (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~MTA BUS DRIVER ARRESTED FOR EXPOSING HIMSELF TO YOUNG GIRLS IN BAY RIDGE: An MTA bus driver is being accused of exposing himself to two young girls in Brooklyn. Police said Sunday that 28-year-old Matthew Wohlfahrt was driving a minivan in Bay Ridge on Monday when he exposed himself to a 14-year-old girl while asking her for directions. Three days later, police say he was inside a parked SUV when he exposed himself to an 11-year-old girl. Wohlfahrt was arrested on public lewdness, endangering the welfare of a child, and grand larceny charges. (AP via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~GOV. CUOMO BLASTS PRESIDENT TRUMP, REPUBLICANS IN MANHATTAN PROTEST CLASH: Gov. Andrew Cuomo questioned Sunday why state Republicans would have invited the founder of a far-right group to speak in Manhattan, and he blamed them and President Donald Trump for violent clashes that took place after the speech. In a conference call with reporters, the Democratic governor called the invitation to Proud Boys founderGavin McInnes to speak at the Metropolitan Republican Club a “political tactic, because what they’re trying to do is fire up their base” ahead of the midterm elections. (AP via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~NYCHA LAWYERS ARGUE THAT PARENTS ARE TO BLAME FOR KIDS GETTING LEAD POISONING: A judge lost his patience with NYCHA lawyers in court on Thursday when they claimed that NYCHA residents should have known their kids were at risk for lead poisoning. “Tell me how a lawyer can responsibly assert such a claim,” Judge William Pauley III said. NYCHA is fighting back against a class-action lawsuit coming from three mothers who are holding the city agency responsible for their kids getting lead poisoning. The Eagle reported in July that roughly 12,000 Brooklyn NYCHA units could be contaminated by lead paint, and the city has estimated that approximately 820 children have been poisoned. (New York Post via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~TWO PROFESSORS WANT TO REVOLUTIONIZE BROOKLYN’S BUS ROUTES: Two scholars at NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management have developed a daring new plan for Brooklyn’s bus service, which they say would bring ridership to its highest peak yet and save the transportation network from collapse. Dr. Alon Levy and Dr. Eric Goldwyn have introduced in a story in New York Magazine, a three-pronged approach to improvement, which would finally allow New Yorkers to “plan their day around the bus, confident that it will get them to work, school, or a doctor’s appointment on time.” (New York Mag via Brooklyn Eagle)

 
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Staff Picks:   
 

LONG READ: Politicians rarely reach across the aisle anymore. You can thankNewt Gingrich for that, aka “the man who broke politics.” (via The Atlantic)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: Meet the people who voluntarily choose to live in Chernobyl, the Ukrainian town that experienced a nuclear disaster in 1986.(via BBC)
 
WEATHER: Hurricane Michael devastated Mexico Beach, Florida, destroying many houses in its wake, except for one, which stood practically undamaged.(via NYT)
 
EAT: Actor Daniel Radcliffe became a fact checker at The New Yorker. On one of his first assignments, he made sure everything was accurate in a piece about a Greenpoint Mexican restaurant. (via The New Yorker)

  
  
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) grabs a student’s phone while being asked about voter suppression…A painting of PresidentTrump having drinks with past Republican presidents is now hanging in the White House…And the bodies of 11 infants are found in the ceiling of a Detroit funeral home. (via CNN, Time and Detroit Free Press)               
 
FOREIGN FLASH: Flash floods kill at least 13 people in France…Former French Queen Marie Antoinette’s jewels are up for auction…And a python falls through a bank’s ceiling in China. (via USA Today, NYT and The Independent)         

 
 


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ROYAL WATCH: Meghan Markle is expecting a baby in the spring. (via BBC)


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BROOKLYN TONIGHT     
 

12:00PM — The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic at 92nd Street Y. Details.
 
5:00PM – 7:30PM — Family Party at American Museum of Natural History.Details.
 
6:30PM — Beyond the Kremlin: The Pro-Democracy Movement and What the Russian People are Really Thinking at The New School. Details.
 
6:30PM — Jane Sherron De Hart, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life at The New York Society Library. Details.
 
6:30PM — Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding at New-York Historical Society. Details.  
 
6:30PM — The Not-So-Sweet History of Sugar at Brooklyn Historical Society.Details.
 
7:00PM — TimesTalks: Jill Soloway at The New School. Details.
 
7:00PM — Little Cinema No. 40: Secret Halloween Special at House of Yes.Details.
 
7:00PM – 9:00PM — Celebrate Mexico Now: El Juego de las Transformaciones at Museum of Food and Drink. Details.
 
8:00PM — An Evening with Vice President Cheney and Secretary Madeleine Albright at Temple Emanu-El. Details.
    
 
 

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EAGLE SPORTS: The Brooklyn Nets have exercised the 2019-20 contract options for center Jarrett Allen and guard Caris LeVert. Allen appeared in 72 games (31 starts) in his rookie season, registering averages of 8.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 20.0 minutes per game. The 20-year-old was selected by Brooklyn with the 22nd overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. LeVert has appeared in 128 games (36 starts) in his first two seasons with the Nets, recording averages of 10.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 24.2 minutes per contest. (AP via Brooklyn Eagle)


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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Melissa Louise Belote, Barry Corbin, Juan Gonzalez,Gunter Grass, Paul Kariya, Angela Lansbury, Kellie Martin, John Mayer, Tim Robbins, Suzanne Somers, Bob Weir and David Zucker!
 
Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at[email protected].


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