Brooklyn Today: Happy Election Day!

November 5, 2019 Brooklyn Today

Tenants at 30 Columbia Heights have a near front-row-view to the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane

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THE LEDE: Good morning! Now that New York finished its first early voting election process — which consisted of nine days and 248 polling sites across the state — how did it go? Manhattan had the most voters participate with more than 19,800 votes cast. Brooklyn came in second with nearly 18,000 votes being cast across 18 polling sites.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ RACIST HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS A SYMPTOM OF BED-STUY’S GENTRIFICATION, SAY NEIGHBORS: More than 100 people gathered at Bed-Stuy’s Bedford Academy High School on Saturday for a meeting organized by ArtShack, the creative studio at the center of controversy caused by racist artwork in the home window of its former co-founder Dany Rose.

~ ACCUSATIONS FLY AS ELECTED OFFICIALS JOIN IN HOUSING WORKS UNIONIZATION FIGHT: In an emotional confrontation on a sidewalk in Downtown Brooklyn on Monday, elected officials charged the non-profit Housing Works with union busting, while Housing Works CEO Charles King accused officials of being at the beck and call of the “politically powerful” Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

~ EARLY VOTING IS DONE. HERE’S HOW IT WENT. (DON’T FORGET: ELECTION DAY IS TODAY.): According to the preliminary numbers from New York City’s Board of Elections, which operated 61 early voting sites, more than 60,000 people voted across the five boroughs.

~ PRESERVATIONISTS REDOUBLE CAMPAIGN TO LANDMARK WALT WHITMAN’S CLINTON HILL HOUSE: Preservationists renewed their call for the city to landmark Walt Whitman’s Clinton Hill house during a street co-naming ceremony for the famous poet and former Brooklyn Eagle editor.

~ FROM STUDENT TO CEO: ANTI-VIOLENCE PROGRAM FUNDS TEEN BUSINESSES | PHOTOS: Dozens of students from across Brooklyn graduated from the first Teen Entrepreneurship Explosion on Saturday, after learning to draft business and marketing plans, meeting entrepreneurs and community leaders, and receiving a $1,500 grant to start their own businesses.

~ TO INCREASE DIVERSITY AT SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS, CITY COUNCIL GREENLIGHTS NEW TASK FORCE: The City Council has authorized the creation of a task force to address racial and ethnic inequities in the city’s specialized high schools, including by reexamining the controversial Specialized High School Admissions Test.

~ CREATIVES FLEE MANHATTAN FOR BROOKLYN’S, UH, CHEAPER RENTS: A new report confirmed a trend you’ve probably already noticed — that rising rents have pushed creative professionals out of Manhattan and into Brooklyn over the past decade.

~ MAN CLAIMS COPS SHACKLED HIM TO HOSPITAL BED IN WRONGFUL ARREST, LAWSUIT SAYS: A man is suing Brooklyn cops over a hospital arrest that left him allegedly shackled to a hospital bed in Brooklyn for four days as he was treated for a punctured lung, according to a lawsuit filed against the city in Brooklyn Supreme Court Monday.

~ STUDENT SUSPENSIONS FALL SHARPLY IN NEW YORK CITY, REVERSING AN UNUSUAL BUMP THE YEAR BEFORE: Suspensions handed out to New York City public school students last year fell significantly, reversing an unusual uptick the year before. (Chalkbeat)

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ “Brooklyn charter students lose chance to study at Google because of budget crunch” (New York Post)

~ A Williamsburg diner with just one menu item will open next week. (Brooklyn Paper)

~ U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her support for the anti-police protesters in Brooklyn. (Fox News)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: “Blood Gold in the Brazilian Rainforest: Indigenous people and illegal miners are engaged in a fight that may help decide the future of the planet.” (The New Yorker)

~ EAT: Here are the 20 best French bistros in New York City, including three in Brooklyn. (Eater)

~ CARTOON: Mark Zuckerberg’s grand plan backfires. (The Week)

~ RUN: Here are some amazing photos from the New York City Marathon over the weekend. (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

6:30PM — New Art Histories for Some Kind of Tomorrow at The Guggenheim Museum. Details.

7:00PM — Notes on Fiction: The Hands Free at The Center For Fiction. Details.

8:00PM – 10:00PM — Book Launch with Gloria Steinem and Ronan Farrow at Pioneer Works. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1947, the Brooklyn Eagle reported, “Left-wing control of New York City politics by balance-of-power rule appeared effectively broken today by off-year election returns reaching a climax in a majority decision of the voters to kill the Communist-supported Proportional Representation City Council voting system.”

📔 IMPRINT
Emma Watson poses in an extravagant dress on the December cover of Vogue U.K.

👑 ROYAL WATCH
“Meghan and Harry planning another documentary despite royal family’s disapproval” (Radar Online)

🏀 SPORTS
Here’s the incredible story of how Taurean Prince went from being homeless to a Brooklyn Nets player. (New York Post)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Tilda Swinton, Sam Rockwell, Tatum O’Neal, Kevin Jonas, Elke Sommer, Art Garfunkel, Corin Nemec, Javy López, Bryan Adams, Jerry Stackhouse, Geoffrey Wolff, Bubba Watson and Chris Sununu!