Brooklyn Today: Protests erupt over Drag Queen Story Hour

June 7, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

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THE LEDE: Happy Friday! In response to an organized outcry against the Gerritsen Beach Library’s first iteration of Drag Queen Story Hour, other residents took part in a counter-protest to show their support for the event on Thursday afternoon. Demonstrators on both sides brandished signs and screamed and chanted at each other over police lines.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ COMMUNITY BOARD MANAGER ON TRIAL FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING $38K IN RAISES: Craig Hammerman served Community Board 6 for more than a quarter-century when he allegedly began giving himself raises using the electronic signatures of the chairpersons of the board without their knowledge.

~ DEMOLITION OF HISTORIC RED HOOK WAREHOUSE PUT ON HOLD: Following high-level executive conversations with U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, UPS ordered a new engineering analysis of the portion of the 1880s industrial building that faces Valentino Park.

~ FOR SUNSET PARK TENANTS, IMPROVEMENTS MAY MEAN DISPLACEMENT: Major Capital Improvement is designed to make renovating dilapidated rent-stabilized buildings more attractive to landlords. But critics of the program say it’s abused to raise rents and push out low-income tenants.

~ CUOMO CALLS ON STATE POLICE TO INVESTIGATE BROOKLYN HATE CRIMES TWICE IN ONE WEEK: Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose late father’s name was scrawled alongside an anti-Semitic message left by a vandal on a Bay Ridge mailbox on Wednesday, said he will put the resources of the New York State Police on the case.

~ PROTESTERS CLASH OVER DRAG QUEEN STORY HOUR IN GERRITSEN BEACH: As the Gerritsen Avenue branch of the Brooklyn Public Library began advertising its first local installment of the story hour, outraged neighbors started pushing a flyer of their own.

~ ‘MASTERMIND’ OF 2014 KIDNAPPING AND MURDER SENTENCED TO 24 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON: Erskin Felix was convicted of kidnapping, murder and tampering with evidence for masterminding and carrying out the fatal kidnapping of Menachem Stark, whose murder roiled Williamsburg’sJewish community.

~ TOUR SOME OF THE CITY’S OLDEST BUSES THIS WEEKEND: The New York Transit Museum’s annual family-friendly Bus Festival will once again park itself under the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday. There, for the 26th year in a row, Brooklynites can tour selections from the organization’s vintage fleet that spans nearly a century of old busses.

~ BROOKLYN PRIDE PARADE IN PARK SLOPE ON SATURDAY: It’s been 50 years since the Stonewall uprising, so this is a special year for the 23rd Annual Brooklyn Pride Parade. The event will bring top officials from across the city and state to march, observe a moment of silence and party in Park Slope.

~ NEW YORK’S ONLY REMAINING BROOKLYN-QUEENS DAY PARADE: Since New York public schools were out of session Thursday for Brooklyn-Queens Day, community leaders held a parade through Bushwick.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ A Williamsburg Burger King sold beef burgers to customers expecting “Impossible” Whoppers. (Eater)

~ A Subway sandwich shop in Downtown Brooklyn is closed down because of roaches. (Patch)

~ A 25,000-square-foot private park is coming to DUMBO. (New York Post)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: Here’s a look inside Nogales, Mexico, the city where thousands of Mexicans are deported to. Many choose to stay in shelters, while others prefer to plot their way back to the states to join their families. (GOOD)

~ EAT: From Sunset Park to Greenpoint, here are the 12 hottest restaurants in Brooklyn this month. (Eater)

~ LAUGH: The Queen’s Guard soldiers break their silence. (The New Yorker)

~ LIVE: “Practical ways to improve your confidence (and why you should)” (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

12:00PM — Let’s Talk About Art: Jean-Michel Basquiat at 92nd Street Y. Details.

7:00PM – 10:00PM — Concerts in the Catacombs at Green-Wood Cemetery. Details.

7:30PM — New Voices at Brooklyn Historical Society. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1933, the Eagle reported, “The International Olympic Committee decided unanimously today to hold the 1936 games in Berlin, settling definitely a controversy that has raged over Jewish discrimination in Germany.”

IMPRINT
Australian actress Margot Robbie poses in green on the July cover of Vogue.

ROYAL WATCH
Meghan Markle will be bringing her son Archie to the U.S. to spend time with his grandmother. (Daily Express)

SPORTS
D’Angelo Russell knows that all he can do is wait for the Brooklyn Nets to decide whether he fits into their plans next year after leading the franchise back to the playoffs for the first time in four seasons in 2018-19.

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Roberto Alagna, Michael Cera, Louise Erdrich, Bear Grylls, Bill Hader, Damien Hirst, Allen Iverson, Jenny Jones, Tom Jones, Anna Kournikova, Bill Kreutzmann Jr., Mike Modano, Liam Neeson, Orhan Pamuk, Mike Pence and John Turner!

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