Brooklyn Today: Di Fara Pizza seized for unpaid taxes

August 21, 2019 Brooklyn Today

A Bed-Stuy block. Eagle file photo by Lore Croghan

A Bed-Stuy block. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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THE LEDE: Good Morning! Di Fara, the beloved pizzeria on Avenue J in Midwood was seized by the state yesterday for unpaid back taxes. This is the second time the iconic spot, which first opened its doors in 1965, has been shuttered this year, but the first for overdue taxes.

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THE RUNDOWN

~IN EFFORT TO STEM DEED THEFT, SHADY PRACTICES BANNED: A slew of reforms to ban behaviors connected to deed theft were signed into law last week, alongside a streamlined way for fraud victims to win back possession of their property.

~DI FARA, BELOVED MIDWOOD PIZZA JOINT, SHUT DOWN FOR UNPAID TAXES: New York State Department of Taxation officials shut down the famous Di Fara Pizza, located on 1424 Avenue J in Midwood on Tuesday for unpaid back taxes.

~BANNED! FLOATING BILLBOARDS FLUSHED FROM NEW YORK CITY WATERS: With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially banned floating billboards, which legislators and locals alike have been railing against since last year.

~SNEAK PEAK: A NEW LIFE FOR OLD WATCHTOWER HQ: Here’s a first look inside the Watchtower’s old world headquarters, which is being transformed into a cutting-edge office-and-retail complex with possibly a small hotel, too.

~EAST WILLIAMSBURG’S MOORE STREET MARKET TO GET A MAKEOVER: One of Brooklyn’s oldest public markets is getting a major makeover. City officials are pumping $2.7 million into the Moore Street Market, also known as “La Marqueta de Williamsburg.”

~WHERE TO SEE THURSDAY’S 24-JET MILITARY AIR SHOW FROM BROOKLYN: Brooklynites will be treated to a spectacular military air show on Thursday morning, when 24 jets trailing red, white and blue smoke will zoom in formation down the Hudson River towards the Statue of Liberty.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ Police seized a weapons arsenal from inside a Flatbush apartment (NY1)

~ “Beloved pooch snatched outside of Williamsburg supermarket” (New York Post)

~ The NYPD is searching for some Park Slope package thieves (CBS Local)

~ “First look at Moinian’s 26-story tower in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens” (Curbed)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: “How will artificial intelligence change literature?” (Longreads)

~ EAT: Here are the 27 top Chinese restaurants in the city, including five in Brooklyn. (Eater)

~ CARTOON: Capitalism ruins the summer. (The New Yorker)

~ TECHNOLOGY: “Three years of misery inside Google, the happiest company in tech” (Wired)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

7:00PM – 9:00PM — Wednesday Night Beer Run at Grand Army Plaza. Details.

8:00PM – 9:35PM — Movies Under the Stars: Teen Titans Go! To the Movie at Linden Park. Details.

8:30PM – 11:00PM — Comedians You Should Know NYC at The Gutter. Details.

THE WRAP

🔎ASK A HISTORIAN

John from Fort Greene asks: “Which battles of the American Revolution were fought around Fort Greene and the Brooklyn Navy Yard?”

⌛ ON THIS DAY

In 1949, the Eagle reported, “Representative Walter H. Judd today accused the State Department of ignoring a 1945 ‘top secret report’ disclosing Russian guidance of the Chinese Communist movement.

📔 IMPRINT

Kanye West featured on the cover of Forbes.

👑 ROYAL WATCH

“The Royal protocol on getting tattoos is pretty surprising” (Cosmopolitan)

🏒SPORTS

New York Islanders team President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello insisted this summer that signing his three restricted free agents would not be an “issue.” The Hall of Fame executive is two-thirds of the way to living up to that prediction. (Brooklyn Eagle)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Alicia Witt, Usain Bolt, Clarence Williams III, Steve Case, Peter Weir, Kim Cattrall, Melvin

Van Peebles, Jackie DeShannon, Jon Tester, Kenny Rogers, Brody Jenner, Hayden Panettiere and Jim McMahon!