Brooklyn Today: Push for safe streets intensifies

October 1, 2019 Brooklyn Today

Brighton Beach. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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THE LEDE: Good Morning! Safe street advocates joined Brooklyn State Sen. Julia Salazar outside City Hall Monday to call on the City Council to pass a package of bills aimed at reducing traffic fatalities throughout the city. A rash of cyclist deaths, which have more than doubled already in 2019 compared to all of 2018, have led advocates to demand swift changes to the city’s streets.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ TENS OF THOUSANDS RUN ANNUAL TUNNEL TO TOWERS RACE: Approximately 30,000 people ran, walked and rolled through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel on Sunday, retracing the steps of Stephen Siller, a New York firefighter who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

~ PUSH FOR SAFE STREETS INTENSIFIES AS CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERS BILLS: The activists were rallying behind three bills that would change the fabric of the city’s streets, prioritize the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, while also moving to hold some of the city’s most dangerous drivers accountable for repeated speed zone violations.

~ A FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR THE CLIMATE CRASHES ATLANTIC ANTIC: Dressed in black and bearing coffins labeled “Our Future,” some 50 activists from Brooklyn chapters of the climate-crisis advocacy group Extinction Rebellion made their way down Atlantic Avenue, accompanied by musicians playing the bluesy funeral songs of a New Orleans second line.

~ DOT BACKS DOWN FROM NO-PARKING PLAN OUTSIDE CHURCH AVENUE SYNAGOGUE: The city’s Department of Transportation has amended a dedicated bus-lane project on Church Avenue in Flatbush that would have caused problems for members of a neighborhood synagogue.

~ DITMAS PARK RESIDENT LAUNCHES PRIMARY CHALLENGE TO REP. CLARKE: Attorney Michael Hiller is running to oust U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke — the daughter of former Councilmember Una S. T. Clarke, a political powerbroker among Brooklyn’s black and Caribbean communities.

~ EXPLOSION AT KENSINGTON HOME INJURES THREE: Three people were injured — one seriously — after a reported home explosion in Kensington on Monday afternoon.

~ SCENES FROM ATLANTIC ANTIC 2019: Brooklyn’s oldest street fair took place Sunday, and thousands turned out to shop, snack and celebrate the occasion along Brooklyn’s “Main Street.”

~ THOUSANDS OF TINY ELEPHANTS FLOAT INTO DUMBO STREETS: Brooklyn’s most-photographed block continued to be the center of attention Friday night when thousands of miniature blue elephants floated down onto the cobblestones below.

~ NEW RENT LAW DELUGES BACKLOGGED TENANT OVERCHARGE CLAIMS: A key task of the state housing agency just got a lot tougher with a new rent law that expands tenants’ rights and the time they have to file complaints alleging their landlords overcharged them. (THE CITY)

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ “Mayoral hopeful Eric Adams breaks ethics rules again while hitting up donors” (New York Post)

~ The City Council is considering a new bill that would limit after-hours construction. (Gothamist)

~ The L train slowdown will finish three months ahead of schedule, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (6sqft)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: “What if your abusive husband is a cop?” (New York Post)

~ DRINK: Here are New York City’s 14 hottest cocktail bars this month, including one in Williamsburg. (Eater)

~ CARTOON: Rudy Giuliani goes on the air. (The Week)

~ TRAVEL: Larry Callies used his life savings to open a museum in Texas devoted to restoring black cowboys into the western narrative. (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

1:00PM — A Conversation with the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Details.

6:30PM — Greening of the American Funeral at Green-Wood Cemetery. Details.

8:00PM — Hillary and Chelsea Clinton: The Gutsy Women Tour at Kings Theatre. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1951, the Eagle reported, “The second pennant playoff in National League history opened at Ebbets Field today as the once high-flying Dodgers entered a best-of-three series with the New York Giants with the odds against their winning.”

📔 IMPRINT
Solange Knowles poses in a chair on the latest cover of L’Officiel U.S.

👑 ROYAL WATCH
“Why we’re so obsessed with the British royals’ fashion” (Yahoo)

🏀 SPORTS
Kyrie Irving says he “failed” his former Celtics teammates. (ESPN)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Julie Andrews, Brie Larson, Sarah Drew, Esai Morales, Stella Stevens, Jimmy Carter, Theresa May, Zach Galifianakis, Tim O’Brien and Rod Carew!