Around Brooklyn: Dinosaurs to invade Brooklyn this month

February 18, 2020 Editorial Staff

Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Photo: Lore Croghan, Brooklyn Eagle

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Dinosaurs to invade Brooklyn this month

Dinosaurs will be invading Brooklyn during the Jurassic World Live Tour at Barclays Center, according to the Brooklyn Reporter. Jurassic World Live Tour is an all-new arena show that combines live action, stunt work and puppetry with a storyline that is directly linked to the Jurassic World movies. “If you want to just go see dinosaurs, you can go to museums,” said Nicholas Moran ,who plays Dr. Eric Bordoff, the villain of the show. “What we give you is dinosaurs with a storyline that comes right out of the movies that you are already familiar with.”

Work wraps up at Domino Park building

Work is wrapping up on the exterior of One South First, a 45-story tower at 260 Kent Ave., Williamsburg, that is part of the Domino Park development, according to New York YIMBY. The project includes 330 rentals, 66 affordable units, 150,000 square feet of office space and 13,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. COOKFOX is the architect, and Two Trees is the developer, New York YIMBY said.

Winnie the Pooh would not approve

Detectives are looking for three shoplifters who beat up a dollar-store employee to steal batteries and an oversized teddy bear, according to the amNewYork. The incident happened on Feb. 4 at the Ralph Avenue Dollar Store, 1590 Ralph Ave., East Flatbush. Cops say the suspects, who are seen on video, got into a dispute with an employee while trying to return merchandise. During the argument, the suspects grabbed $89 worth of batteries and a teddy bear, then went for the door. When the employee confronted them, she was kicked in the abdomen, amNewYork reported.

Report says Brownsville has high homeless rate

Brownsville has one of the highest shelter entry rates of all New York City neighborhoods, according to a new report from the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness. The report explores how high rates of poverty and unemployment, insufficient and unaffordable housing, and high rates of domestic violence and incarceration can all result in high rates of homelessness. More than two in five residents are living in poverty, according to BK Reader. Student homelessness in Brownsville saw a 31 percent increase since 2011-12, with nearly one in five Brownsville students experiencing homelessness.

Allegations of cheating hit Brooklyn principal

A Brooklyn principal allegedly gave copies of embargoed exams to teachers, who in turn used them to coach their students, according to the New York Post. Addam Amauri Jones, a Spanish teacher at Parkside Preparatory Academy in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, claimed that his refusal to take part in Principal Adrienne Spencer’s scheme cost him his job, the Post said. Another employee, guidance counselor Ebony Valentine, claimed that when Spencer received the tests, which are not supposed to be removed from their wrapping until the day of the test itself, she had teachers physically cut up the test questions and paste them onto their own practice tests. However, the Department of Education dismissed the cheating allegations as unfounded.

New building planned in Brownsville

The Bridge Rockaway Housing Development Fund Co. plans a new mixed-use housing development in Brownsville that would include 124 affordable homes and 62 supportive housing units, according to New York YIMBY. Also included would be 39,000 square feet of light manufacturing space and 3,400 square feet for community facility space. The development designed by Think! Architecture would incorporate two residential buildings, one of which would be seven stories tall, the other of which would be six stories tall. A landscaped roof garden would be above both roofs.

Brooklyn Ballet to perform ballet with multiracial cast

The Brooklyn Ballet’s upcoming production of the classic ballet “Pas de Quatre” will be performed by four multiracial ballerinas, according to ABC 7. The dancers are Paunika Jones, who is black and Native American; Christine Sawyer, who is Japanese, black and Cuban; Courtney Cochran, who is black and Irish; and Miku Kawamura, who is Japanese. The school says this is the first time the ballet will be performed by a multiracial cast.

LIU-Brooklyn defeats Central Connecticut

Raiquan scored 22 points as the Long Island-Brooklyn Sharks defeated Central Connecticut 90-74 on Thursday night, according to The New York Times. Ty Flowers added 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks for the Sharks, while Jermaine Jackson Jr. had 15 points and seven assists. Jashun Agosto added 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Sharks improved to 2-0 against the Blue Devils this season.

Urban-based REIT acquires Midwood buildings.

Urban Edge Properties, a real estate investment trust focused on urban retail real estate, has acquired two mixed-use buildings in Midwood for $165 million. The company plans to increase the value of the buildings by attracting more tenants. Anchor tenants in the buildings include TJ Maxx, Target, Marshalls, New York Sports Club and Visiting Nurse Services. “We are excited about the acquisition of these high-quality, mixed-use assets in a prime Brooklyn location,” said Herb Eilberg, chief investment officer for Urban Edge.

Adams seeks airline rules against discrimination

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams joined last week with lawyer Roger Archibald and Archibald’s client Julie Goggin, who alleged that she was a victim of discrimination on a recent JetBlue flight. Goggin alleges that on Dec. 22, 2019, her two sons, both in their teens, boarded a flight from JFK to Long Beach, California. Even though she had paid for extra leg room for her sons, they were escorted to the back of the aircraft. When Ms. Goggin complained, a flight attendant asked for her to be removed. Adams said, “It’s clear that JetBlue must undertake far-reaching, comprehensive reforms, including racial sensitivity training for employees, to ensure this pattern does not continue.”

Thieves rob almost $90K from Kensington apartment

Four men broke into a Brooklyn apartment and robbed a woman of almost $90,000 on Thursday, according to the New York Post. Soon after she arrived home near East 22nd Street around 2 p.m., four young men who had been hiding in the apartment held her up at gunpoint, police said. At one point, one of them hit her on the back of the head with the gun. The thieves demanded that she open a safe and removed $35,000 in cash as well as jewelry valued at about $50,000.

Winning Lottery Ticket sold at Brooklyn grocery

A winning lottery ticket was sold at a Brooklyn supermarket, according to amNewYork. The winning Take 5 ticket was sold at J&W Supermarket at 9004 Avenue A in East Flatbush. The ticket is worth $55,868. The winning numbers for the Feb. 17 drawing were 07-11-15-16-28. Take 5 numbers are drawn from a field of one through 39.

A cottage for sale

An 1850s country cottage in upstate Gallatin, N.Y., transformed by Brooklyn’s Workstead firm is on sale for $549,000, according to Brownstoner. Founded in Brooklyn in 2009, Workstead is known for its custom interiors, like the public spaces in the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. Co-founders Stefanie Brechbuehler and Robert Highsmith purchased the Gallatin house in 2011 as their weekend retreat. The house was showing the toll of alterations over the years, Brownstoner said. It was covered with asbestos shingles and had a small porch added to it. The Brooklyn couple removed these outer layers, added a period-sympathetic front door, installed new windows, removed linoleum to reveal the original floor and painted the interior white.

Housing Works employees seek federal oversight

Employees at Housing Works are asking the government to oversee their unionization efforts after the nonprofit’s chief executive refused to recognize a companywide vote to organize under the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to the Brooklyn Paper. About a half dozen employees dropped off signed union authorization cards by 402 of the roughly 650 Housing Works employees at the National Labor Relations Board offices in Manhattan. Charlie King, the nonprofit’s CEO, dismissed a plea by a group of his employees to recognize the union voluntarily during a confrontation at Housing Works’ Downtown Brooklyn headquarters on Thursday, the Brooklyn Paper said. Housing Works has a network of thrift shops around the city, including one in Park Slope and one in Brooklyn Heights.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.