Brooklyn Today: A crackdown on cars in bus lanes

October 22, 2019 Brooklyn Today

Views of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane

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THE LEDE: The MTA is instituting a citywide crackdown on cars illegally blocking bus lanes — and if the Manhattan test run is any indication, the agency’s new bus-mounted camera system could result in quite a few citations. The same cameras are coming to Brooklyn next month.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ MORE THAN 20 PERCENT OF BROOKLYN’S SMOKING COMPLAINTS COME FROM ONE BUILDING: Between August 2018 and August 2019, more than 500 complaints were lodged by Brooklynites to the city’s non-emergency hotline regarding smoking-related issues, according to an analysis by real estate data portal Localize.city.

~ NEW BUS-MOUNTED CAMERAS IN BROOKLYN AIM TO KEEP CARS IN THEIR OWN LANE: The 51 bus-mounted cameras installed Oct. 7 along Manhattan’s M15 SBS route, which runs from East Harlem to lower Manhattan, have already caught 1,529 vehicles illegally blocking the bus lane.

~ HOW TO TELL A SCARY STORY: It’s ghost story season, and nobody knows how to tell a story better than the experts at The Moth, the New York-based storytelling nonprofit.

~ DO-GOODER REPLACES PUMPKIN AT SITE OF SERIAL SMASHING: As police continue to search for the man who smashed a pumpkin outside a Bay Ridge home, a good Samaritan — or “gourd Samaritan,” one could say — has replaced the destroyed orange carcass, leaving behind only a hand-written note.

~ TEMPORARY BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY ANNEX OPENING IN DUMBO: The Brooklyn Public Library announced on Thursday that it will open a temporary annex in DUMBO while the neighborhood’s new library is being built. The permanent library is expected to open in late 2020.

~ NEW JERSEY MAN CONVICTED OF 2016 MURDER OF ROOKIE RIKERS GUARD: A New Jersey man was convicted on Monday for the 2016 murder of his ex-girlfriend outside her home in Bergen Beach.

~ MAN KILLED IN FIERY EAST NEW YORK CAR CRASH: A man died in East New York Sunday night after his car swerved into the wrong lane and smashed into a parked garbage truck, police said.

~ NO MORE EDPS: NYPD’S EMERGENCY PLAN TO DEAL WITH MENTALLY ILL NEW YORKERS: Trained mental health workers will finally start joining cops responding to 911 calls in a bid to reduce deadly encounters between the NYPD and New Yorkers experiencing psychiatric crises. (THE CITY)

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ “Domestic violence drives homelessness among NYC families: report” (Daily News)

~ More than 2,000 counterfeit items were seized at a flea market in Brooklyn. (New York Post)

~ Here is the schedule for Jimmy Kimmell Live! at BAM. (ABC)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: “The invention — and reinvention — of impeachment” (The New Yorker)

~ EAT: Here are the 76 Michelin-starred restaurants around New York City, including 10 in Brooklyn. (Eater)

~ CARTOON: Richard Nixon goes trick-or-treating. (The Week)

~ LIVE: Here are eight tips on how to give advice. (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

2:00PM — Changing Signs, Changing Times: A History of Wayfinding in Transit — Gallery Talk at Grand Central Gallery. Details.

7:00PM — An Evening of Humorous Readings at Caveat. Details.

7:30PM — Meghan Daum & Bari Weiss at Greenlight Bookstore. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1949, the Brooklyn Eagle reported, “Sixteen American and Canadian jet fighter planes successfully defended New York against an attempted mock atomic bomb attack yesterday, ‘shooting down’ 12 B-26 bombers twice each before the big ships gave up and returned to their base.”

IMPRINT
Chloe Grace Moretz graces the November cover of Marie Claire Korea.

ROYAL WATCH
“This map shows every single property the royal family own” (Country Living)

SPORTS
The Nets are still fatigued and jet lagged from their trip to China. (NetsDaily)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Ichiro Suzuki, Catherine Deneuve, Carlos Mencia, Bob Odenkirk, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Valeria Golino, Tony Roberts, Arsène Wenger, Jan de Bont, Brian Boitano and Derek Jacobi!