Brooklyn Today: What is Brooklyn-Queens Day?

June 6, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

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THE LEDE: Good morning! Today is Brooklyn-Queens Day — and if you’re wondering why exactly your kids get to stay home from school, you’re not alone. Allow us to explain.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ DRAG QUEEN STORY HOUR AT LOCAL LIBRARY SPARKS OUTRAGE IN GERRITSEN BEACH: A popular library program promoting tolerance is sparking a furious demand from some Gerritsen Beach neighbors: stay away from our kids.

~ TREYGER SAYS THRIVENYC ISN’T CUTTING IT, PUSHES FOR MORE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT IN SCHOOLS: Students need emotional support – not consultants, according to one southern Brooklyn lawmaker who penned a letter this week to city officials demanding a substantial increase in funding for mental health services in schools.

~ PACKER IS PACKED: BROOKLYN HEIGHTS PRIVATE SCHOOL TO EXPAND: The Packer Collegiate Institute, which has been around since the 1840s, received the city’s permission to expand its campus, despite some pushback from residents of the historic district in which it is located.

~ THERE’S A NEW ROOFTOP BAR AT EMPIRE STORES, PLUS OTHER DUMBO STUFF YOU SHOULD SEE: Time Out Market just opened a rooftop bar at landmarked Empire Stores. The watering hole is at the top of a complex of seven post-Civil War warehouses where John and Charles Arbuckle stored unroasted coffee beans long ago.

~ WHAT IS BROOKLYN-QUEENS DAY?: Although most of today’s New Yorkers hardly know why the schools are closed, the holiday was once a hotbed of conflict.

~ BAY RIDGE MERCHANTS RAISE CONCERNS OVER DOT BIKE LANE PLAN: Robert Howe of the Merchants of Third Avenue said putting a bike lane on the avenue would likely interfere with deliveries to stores on the busy commercial corridor and could lead to mass confusion for merchants, delivery workers, bike riders and pedestrians alike.

~ SUNSET PARK MOM FOUND GUILTY OF DROWNING TODDLER: A Sunset Park woman was convicted of manslaughter Tuesday for drowning her 2-year-old daughter in 2016. The day before she killed her daughter, she held her 4-year-old son’s head submerged underwater, too.

~ WHERE DO NYC’S TOP-SCORING MIDDLE SCHOOLERS GO TO HIGH SCHOOL?: Where students end up in high school in New York City is based on a ranking and matching system, and in the case of schools with admissions criteria, whether they clear the required hurdles. (Chalkbeat)

PODCAST

~ DON’T FLUSH YOUR TOILET WHEN IT RAINS. HERE’S WHY: Combined sewer overflow, aka CSO. If you don’t know what that means, you’re not alone. On this week’s episode of “Brooklyn This Week,” we’re going to be exploring everything you need to know about this dirty three-letter acronym and what steps the city is taking to keep New York’s waters clean.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ A gas main breaks in Downtown Brooklyn. (ABC7)

~ 11 Hoyt in Downtown Brooklyn tops out at 620 Feet. (Designboom)

~ Students design a $1.5 million playground in Bushwick. (Bushwick Daily)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: At a Colorado maximum security prison, a portion of inmates are force fed and barred from telling their stories. One prisoner, however, is finally opening up. (Type Investigations)

~ DRINK: Here are the 35 best happy hour deals in New York City, including eight in Brooklyn. (Eater)

~ LAUGH: President Trump misjudges what D-Day is. (The New Yorker)

~ PROFILE: “Madonna at 60: The original queen of pop on aging, inspiration and why she refuses to cede control.” (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

5:30PM — Walk Up Kayaking at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Details.

6:30PM — Eatin’ Good in the ‘Hood: Nutrition, Access, and Inequality at Brooklyn Historical Society. Details.

7:00PM – 9:00PM — Riots in Writing at Brooklyn Museum. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1876, the Eagle reported, “Brooklyn enjoys few downright sensations, so when a wildcat … calls upon its residents, the occasion is noted as being specially fraught with interest. An animal of this not highly appreciated species was killed near the Prospect Park Fair Ground Club House Saturday night.”

IMPRINT
Actor Neil Patrick Harris poses on the LQBTQ cover of Entertainment Weekly.

ROYAL WATCH
“How Donald Trump for years used the royal family to gin up publicity for his properties” (CNN)

SPORTS
SFC Brooklyn’s Amy O’Neill inks pro contract

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Maria Alyokhina, Sandra Bernhard, Gary U.S. Bonds, Bjorn Borg, Marian Wright Edelman, Sonya Esman, Harvey Fierstein, Kenny G, Paul Giamatti, DeAndre Hopkins, Jason Isaacs, Vic Mensa and Amanda Pays!

Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at scott@brooklyneagle.com.