Brooklyn Today: ‘Thank God we found another way.’

September 27, 2019 Brooklyn Today

Row-houses on Irving Avenue would be included in the Northeast Bushwick historical district suggested by the Bushwick Community Plan. Eagle file photo by Paul Stremple

Irving Avenue in Northeast Bushwick. Eagle file photo by Paul Stremple

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THE LEDE: Happy Friday! During an emotional, five-hour City Council hearing on high-stakes testing, education advocates spoke out against the notion of “teaching to the test” and called on the city to help rebalance the scales of a school system that labels students like actor Anthony Ramos as underperforming.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ HEAT ISSUES AT BROOKLYN JAIL WEREN’T CAUSED BY FIRE OR POWER OUTAGES: INVESTIGATORS: The fire and partial power outage in January at Brooklyn’s federal jail did not cause the heat failures that left incarcerated people in the cold for weeks, a new report from the Office of the Inspector General found.

~ HAMILTON’S ANTHONY RAMOS, BENSONHURST GRAD, TESTIFIES AGAINST HIGH-STAKES TESTING: Anthony Ramos — the New Utrecht High School graduate who went on to act in Broadway’s Hamilton and the 2018 remake of “A Star is Born” — told the room Tuesday that he barely made it out of high school after failing many of his Regents exams.

~ AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS FOR HIGH EARNERS ON LIU’S DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN CAMPUS: Developers RXR Realty started constructing this summer a 34-story, 476-unit apartment building at 196 Willoughby St., where 70 percent of the units inside will be market-rate rentals.

~ AS MAYOR PULLS BACK FROM SHSAT PLAN, BROOKLYN POLS CALL FOR GIFTED PROGRAM EXPANSION: The news that Mayor Bill de Blasio is suddenly open to the idea of keeping in place the admissions test for the city’s elite high schools after months of calling for its elimination elicited a swift reaction in southwest Brooklyn, the epicenter of the pro-test movement.

~ PIZZA AND PARADES: 10 THINGS TO DO IN BROOKLYN THIS WEEKEND: It’s officially fall, but it still feels like August, so why not soak up the last rays of summer sun at an outdoor event this weekend? There’s the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Chili Pepper Festival, the Third Avenue Festival, the Mexican Independence Festival and the Atlantic Antic.

~ ATLANTIC ANTIC 2019: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW: Atlantic Avenue is gearing up for the city’s biggest street festival, the Atlantic Antic, this Sunday. Starting at noon, the 45-year-old street fair will span the strip from Fourth Avenue near the Barclays Center to Hicks Street near the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

~ PLANNED WILLOUGHBY PARK COULD BE RENAMED TO HONOR DOWNTOWN BK ABOLITIONISTS: After designs for a planned park in Downtown Brooklyn were met with pushback from local historians for not doing enough to honor the area’s involvement in abolition, Community Board 2 came up with an idea.

~ LA MAN ALLEGEDLY POSED AS BROOKLYN DOCTOR AND STOLE $30K+ FROM PATIENTS: A Los Angeles man posed as a neuropsychologist in Brooklyn for years and treated children and adults throughout the borough, scamming the patients out of at least $30,000, according to Brooklyn prosecutors.

~ MAN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON FOR KINGS PLAZA PARKING LOT ARSON: A Brooklyn man was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to setting a vehicle on fire in the Kings Plaza Shopping Center parking garage last year.

~ 5 THINGS TO MAKE WITH FRESH-PICKED APPLES (OTHER THAN APPLE PIE): We asked Brooklyn bakers for their favorite apple-related recipes that aren’t apple pie. Whether you favor Fuji, Granny Smith, McIntosh, or really, any type of apple, we think you’ll want to take a bite out of this list.

~ OPINION: WE NEED TO PROTECT NY’S HOMEMADE RENEWABLE ENERGY: “If New York is serious about doing everything we can to address climate change, we need to start by keeping our homemade renewable energy right here in New York,” writes State Sen. Kevin Parker.

~ JAILERS SHOULD CALL DETAINEES BY NAME, COUNCIL BILL DEMANDS: City correction officers would be required to call detainees by their names instead of referring to them as a number or a “body,” if a City Council bill proposed Wednesday passes.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ “Lead inspections neglected in nearly 10K buildings where kids were exposed: Stringer” (am New York)

~ Wegmans and other public spaces will open at The Brooklyn Navy Yard next month. (Curbed)

~ A Park Slope community meeting about bikes lanes turned into a fight. (Curbed)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: “Cash/Consent: The war on sex work” (n+1)

~ DRINK: Here are the 25 best wine bars in New York City, including five spots in Brooklyn. (Eater)

~ CARTOON: Bop It, the popular children’s toy, gets a modern reinterpretation. (The New Yorker)

~ TECH: Here’s an unconventional review of the new iPhone 11. (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

6:30PM – 8:30PM — 30 Years on: Achievements & Challenges Since the Peaceful Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall at Deutsches Haus at NYU. Details.

6:30PM – 8:30PM — Comedy Carnival at Muchmore’s. Details.

7:00PM — Lauren Duca: “How to Start a Revolution” at The Strand. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1910, the Eagle reported, “Infantile paralysis is increasing to some extent in Brooklyn. Many cases recently have come under the observation of the physicians, and their ability to cope successfully with the disease gives them great concern.”

📔 IMPRINT
Demi Moore’s hair blows in the wind on the October cover of WSJ Magazine.

👑 ROYAL WATCH
“Here’s how Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s first family royal tour is different from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s” (INSIDER)

🏒 SPORTS
Countdown underway for Isles’ Brooklyn exit

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Avril Lavigne, Lil Wayne, Carrie Brownstein, Meat Loaf, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Francesco Totti, Bello Nock, Mike Schmidt, Steve Kerr, Shaun Cassidy and Wilford Brimley!