Brooklyn Today: ‘I don’t know anything about Islam.’

November 18, 2019 Brooklyn Today

The Williamsburgh Trust Company Building is now a city landmark. Eagle file photo by Lore Croghan

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THE LEDE: Good morning! Brooklyn sculptor Hank Willis Thomas is scratching his head over recent claims that his striking new artwork, installed last week at Tillary and Adams streets in Downtown Brooklyn, has anything to do with Islamist symbolism or ISIS.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ VENDOR BAN SHOULD MAKE DYKER LIGHTS TOLERABLE, OFFICIALS SAY: A new city law banning street vendors from selling food and souvenirs in the prime viewing area for the Dyker Heights Christmas lights display will face its first test at this year’s holiday event — and local officials said they’re confident it will make a big difference.

~ ARTIST BEHIND BROOKLYN’S NEW PUBLIC SCULPTURE BAFFLED BY ISIS COMPARISONS: The 22 1/2-foot-high bronze arm, topped by a single pointing finger pointing to the sky, is called “Unity.” It has been capturing the imagination of motorists and pedestrians, some of whom stop to take selfies near the sculpture with their own hands extended.

~ CONSTRUCTION AT BAY RIDGE STATION RIPS THROUGH HISTORIC TILE WORK: A local history buff is blasting the MTA after its contractors ripped through century-old mosaic tile work while renovating the 86th Street station in Bay Ridge.

~ ONE YEAR AFTER BLAZE, FAMILIES DISPLACED BY FIRE GET SMALL RELIEF: Nine months after a massive blaze destroyed their building, 18 displaced tenant families got a mixed verdict in court on Friday.

~ WHAT DOES THE CITY’S NEW QUIET NIGHTLIFE CAMPAIGN MEAN FOR BROOKLYN?: The Mayor’s Office is asking club and bar goers in the Lower East Side to keep the noise down in a poster campaign that could appear in other parts of the city.

~ THE WORLD’S BIGGEST STUDENT HACKING CONTEST HITS 16 YEARS IN BROOKLYN: The winners of the world’s biggest student hacking contest received cash prizes, scholarships and cyber cred, as the results were announced on Tuesday.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ Brooklyn Tech and Poly Prep were rated among the top 500 STEM schools in the country. (Newsweek)

~ “The white flight that wasn’t: New data reveal that Brooklyn school integration is working” (Daily News)

~ Jewish residents want more female-only time at Williamsburg pool. (Brooklyn Paper)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: “Hundreds of Florida inmates are serving drug sentences no longer in state law” (Tampa Bay Times)

~ EAT: Here are the 15 best Caribbean restaurants in New York City, including seven spots in Brooklyn. (Eater)

~ CARTOON: Gym motivation. (The New Yorker)

~ TRAVEL: Here are tips on how to move abroad. (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

11:00AM — Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO Neighborhood Tour at Tweed Courthouse Building. Details.

6:30PM — “And in the End:” The Beatles Fifty Years Later at Paley Center for Media. Details.

6:30PM — Performance and Dialogue: JazzPlasticity at Dear Mama Coffee. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1918, the Brooklyn Eagle reported, “New and official boundaries for time zones in the United States, unifying existing lines and removing them slightly westward, were announced today by the Interstate Commerce Commission, to become effective at 2 a.m., Jan. 1.”

📔 IMPRINT
Emilia Clarke graces the latest cover of Wonderland.

👑 ROYAL WATCH
“Prince Andrew says he let the royal family down in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein” (NBC News)

🏀 SPORTS
Here’s why the Nets should rest Kyrie Irving. (New York Post)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Margaret Atwood, Owen Wilson, Megyn Kelly, Allyson Felix, Chloë Sevigny, Warren Moon, Susan Sullivan, Gary Sheffield, Linda Evans, Brenda Vaccaro, Katey Sagal, Kevin Nealon, Andrea Marcovicci and Elizabeth Perkins!