Brooklyn Today: Your CB likely lacks diversity

November 27, 2019 Brooklyn Today

A Bed-Stuy block. Eagle file photo by Lore Croghan

A Bed-Stuy block. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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THE LEDE: Good morning! Community boards, which translate neighborhood needs to City Hall and city agencies, play a vital role in the functioning of New York City. But in Brooklyn, many boards don’t accurately reflect the districts they serve, according to an analysis by the Brooklyn Eagle and Measure of America of a new report on community board membership.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ NEW MIDWOOD CHARTER SCHOOL SPARKS RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS TENSIONS: A charter high school that serves as a last resort for struggling students is facing outcry from its potential new neighbors in Midwood, who say they’re so concerned that they’re willing to buy out the school’s lease.

~ HOW WELL DOES YOUR COMMUNITY BOARD REPRESENT THE DISTRICT? NOT VERY.: Data reveals a lack of Latinx and Asian people serving on Brooklyn’s community boards, as well as a shortage of young representatives and women.

~ AS THE CITY PREPARES FOR MORE FREQUENT EMERGENCIES, A NEW EMPHASIS ON TECH: New York City’s emergencies are becoming more frequent and more complex than they were in the past, says the woman in charge of handling them — and it’s not going to get any easier. Her solution? Prioritizing technology.

~ TOMORROW IS THANKSGIVING. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.: Thursday is Thanksgiving, which means a few things: turkey, football and potentially awkward conversations with your in-laws. It also means that, as a national holiday, there will be closures and suspensions. Here’s what’s happening and not happening.

~ STAFF PICKS: BROOKLYN’S BEST SLICES OF PIE: Pie brings people together. Whether it’s the butteriness of the crust or the sweetness of the filling, a good pie can soothe old wounds and plaster over new fissures, can unite the young with the old and the vegetarian with the carnivore. We’ve hand-picked eight local pies you’ve got to try.

~ NEW YORK JUST CHANGED HOW STATE ELECTIONS WILL WORK. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.: The New York State Public Finance Commission approved a duo of proposals on Monday that will change how state elections are run. Here’s what you need to know.

~ SUNSET PARK WATER MAIN BREAK ANOTHER IN A GROWING LIST OF LOCAL STREET ISSUES: The massive water main break on Sunday is just the latest in a series of infrastructure issues that have plagued the neighborhood and its residents over the past few years, creating massive headaches for people living and doing business in the neighborhood to go with the massive sinkholes and water main breaks.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ A local comedian served a full Thanksgiving feast on the L train. (Yes, you read that correctly.) (NYT)

~ “John Krasinski and Emily Blunt quietly seek privacy in $15.3 million Brooklyn home” (Showbiz Cheat Sheet)

~ At HiHi Room in Boerum Hill, Cincinnati chili is all the rage. (Grub Street)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: Remember having to buy those $100 calculators? Here’s how Texas Instruments “monopolized math class.” (GEN)

~ PLAY: Here are the nine best ice skating rinks in New York City, including two in Brooklyn. (Thrillist)

~ LAUGH: A true New York moment. (The New Yorker)

~ LIVE: “How to defuse tension at the dinner table during the holidays” (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

1:00PM – 3:00PM — The Dance Historian Is In: Ishmael Houston-Jones at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Details.

9:00PM — Hito Steyerl, “In Free Fall” at Bar Laika. Details.

9:00PM — Thanksgiving Eve Party with A$AP Rocky at Avant Gardner. Details.

THE WRAP

🔎ASK A HISTORIAN
What happened to the famous Ebinger’s bakeries?

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1938, the Brooklyn Eagle reported, “A few weeks ago when Orson Welles put on his radio version of the ‘War of the Worlds,’ the nation was swept into widespread panic as thousands of hysterical men and women made preparations to flee from invading Martian monsters.”

📔 IMPRINT
Vanessa Hudgens grins on the latest cover of Who What Wear.

👑 ROYAL WATCH
“How to watch the real, disastrous royal documentary from ‘The Crown’ Season 3” (Harper’s Bazaar)

🏀 SPORTS
Monday’s Nets game showed just how much Jarrett Allen has grown. (New York Post)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Jaleel White, Carolina Kennedy, Sharito Copley, Callie Khouri, William Fichtner, Bill Nye, James Avery and Kathryn Bigelow!