Brooklyn Boro

Brooklyn Today: Are there ‘secret’ transfers to Rikers?

September 16, 2019 Brooklyn Today
The 12th floor terrace of 25 Columbia Heights offers panoramic views of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
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THE LEDE: Happy Monday! Activists accused the city’s Department of Correction Friday of secretly moving detainees from the Brooklyn Detention Complex to the jail complex on Rikers Island “in order to fast track building new jails.” But in a letter sent by top DOC officials to the staff at the Boerum Hill facility, the department denied the allegations.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ WILLOUGHBY PARK DELAYED AFTER HISTORIANS SAY DESIGN LEAVES OUT ABOLITIONIST HISTORY: Community Board 2 voted on Wednesday to temporarily put off approving a design for a new Willoughby Square Park in Downtown Brooklyn after hearing claims that Brooklyn’s abolitionist history was being shortchanged.

~ BROOKLYN LEADS CITY IN TRANSFERRING YOUTH OFFENDERS OUT OF CRIMINAL COURT: In Brooklyn, the new law has had early success, with 16-year-olds transferred out of criminal court and into family court or the new youth section of criminal court 92 percent of the time, according to state statistics. The citywide statistics hover around 79 percent.

~ JAIL OFFICIALS DENY ACCUSATIONS OF ‘SECRET’ TRANSFERS TO RIKERS FROM BROOKLYN: The claim came just weeks after union officials told reporters at THE CITY that the Brooklyn jail would close by the end of the year to facilitate the building’s demolition. In the letter, DOC officials denied that any time frame for closing the jail had been decided.

~ SUNSET PARK’S EIGHTH AVENUE IS GETTING SOME CLEANUP CASH: Following reports that overflowing litter baskets in the heart of Sunset Park’s Eighth Avenue were causing a stink, Councilmember Carlos Menchaca announced a $50,000 allocation to go toward extra garbage pickups along Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth avenues.

~ NEIGHBORS DEMAND POLICE PRESENCE AS MORE NEEDLES ARE FOUND IN CADMAN PARK: Parents and other park-goers were appalled to hear Tuesday that park workers discovered syringes stashed in rat holes in Cadman Plaza Park on Aug. 26, just a day before children found half a dozen additional syringes discarded under the bushes. Now, they are asking for a larger police presence in the area.

~ HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2019 BROOKLYN ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR: The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair recently took over the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint, overflowing the 60,000-square-foot venue with curators, book dealers, pulpy paperbacks, rare editions and retro book fanatics.

~ NEW YORK CITY LOOKS TO REPEAL ‘GAY CONVERSION THERAPY’ BAN: A New York City law banning so-called gay conversion therapy would be repealed under legislation introduced Thursday over concerns that a pending federal lawsuit could lead to a decision unfavorable to the LGBTQ+ community if the case were to make it to the Supreme Court. (AP)

~ CITY’S IDNYC SMART CARD CHIP PLAN SLAMMED AS SECURITY RISK: Pushback against adding a banking chip to new IDNYC cards intensified Thursday, with a demand from immigration, civil liberties and consumer groups to scrap the effort and introduction of a City Council bill to block it. (THE CITY)

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ A 45-story tower opens on the former Domino Sugary Refinery site in Williamsburg(NYT)

~ Is DUMBO becoming overdeveloped? (The Real Deal)

~ “As NYCHA redevelopment looms, public advocate proposes task force to address tenant concerns” (Gothamist)

STAFF PICKS

READ: “The myths of the ‘genius’ behind Trump’s reelection campaign” (ProPublica)

DRINK: Here are the 10 best Oktoberfest parties in New York City, including three in Brooklyn. (Thrillist)

CARTOON: E-cigarettes vs. AR-15s (The Week)

EAT: Here are the 12 hottest restaurants in New York City right now, including two in Brooklyn. (Grub Street)

WHAT’S HAPPENING 

6:00PM – 8:00PM — Disrupt, Discredit and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy at NYU School of Law. Details.

6:30PM — TimesTalks Dealbook: Stephen A. Schwarzman at The TimesCenter. Details.

6:30PM — Artist Books in Action: Politics, Race, Gender at Central Library. Details.

THE WRAP

 ON THIS DAY
In 1921, the Eagle reported, “Franklin D. Roosevelt, former assistant secretary of the Navy, who was taken to the Presbyterian Hospital, Manhattan, yesterday, suffering from a mild attack of infantile paralysis, was said at the hospital this morning already to be improving.”

📔 IMPRINT
Actress Margot Robbie graces the September cover of Grazia.

👑 ROYAL WATCH
Here’s why the Queen refuses to turn on the heat. (Daily Express)

🏀 SPORTS
“Sources: Spencer Dinwiddie to convert his NBA contract into a secured digital investment.” (The Athletic)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Amy Poehler, Jennifer Tilly, Susan Ruttan, Tim Raines, Janis Paige, Molly Shannon, Richard Marx, Orel Hershiser, John Bel Edwards, Nick Jonas, Mickey Rourke and Robin Yount!

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