Around Brooklyn: De Blasio confirms: Chirlane interested in Brooklyn BP job

February 26, 2020 Editorial Staff

The facades of Mount Sinai Baptist Church (left) and adjacent rowhouses. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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De Blasio confirms: Chirlane interested in Brooklyn BP job

New York City first lady Chirlane McCray is seriously considering a run for Brooklyn borough president, Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier this week. “She has gotten to a point where she has a serious interest in a particular office of Brooklyn borough president,” de Blasio said on “Good Day New York.” McCray has come under fire from good government groups for using city resources to boost her profile in the borough, according to the New York Post.

Malliotakis pumps up support for her DC run

Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis gathered support in Bay Ridge on Feb. 23 for her congressional race against Democratic incumbent Max Rose, according to the Brooklyn Reporter website. The Sunday brunch rally was held at Cebu Bar and Bistro, and guests included officials of both the Republican and the Conservative parties. Rose took over in January 2019 after defeating Republican Congressmember Dan Donovan. “This week, we got another boost when we found out that the National Republican Campaign Committee elevated this race and made me a contender, one of only 35 people in the country,” said Malliotakis.

Alec Brook-Krasny to run for City Council

A former Southern Brooklyn assemblymember who resigned to take a job in the private sector and was later charged with helping a crooked doctor run a $6.3 million “pill mill” is planning to run for City Council, according to the New York Post. Alec Brook-Krasny, who was found not guilty of the charges, wants to run next year for the 47th District seat representing Brighton Beach, Coney Island and nearby neighborhoods. Councilmember Chaim Deutsch, who represents the neighboring 48th District that includes Sheepshead Bay, told the Post he believes Brook-Krasny will make a “viable candidate” because he “always had the ear of his constituents.”

Studio 54-style ball planned for Brooklyn Museum

Studio 54 will be the theme and inspiration for the Brooklyn Museum’s ninth annual Brooklyn Artists Ball on April 21. Drawing inspiration from the famed disco-era nightclub and taking cues from the fashion, photography and set designs featured in the exhibit “Studio 54: Night Magic,” this year’s ball honors internationally renowned French artist JR as well as entrepreneur and Studio 54 co-founder Ian Schrager. No word on whether Chic will perform “Le Freak” or the Village People will perform “YMCA,” however.

Small restaurant has big agenda in Boerum Hill

There are more types of ramen than the ones you see in plastic containers in the supermarket, and Karazishi Botan at 255 Smith St. in Boerum Hill is where you can find them. The restaurant, which has only 18 seats, 10 of which are at the counter, is the work of Japanese-born ramen master Foo Kanegae. Among the dishes are ti amo, which uses a base of chicken and oyster broths; a Hawaiian wedge salad; Japanese pancakes made in a waffle iron and more. For drinks, the emphasis is on sake and sake cocktails, according to The New York Times’ Grub Street.

Gang leader ‘Nuke’ Mack gets ‘nuked’ in court

A gang leader who was convicted thanks to testimony from rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was given a 17-year sentence Monday despite his former high school teacher’s suggestion that he work as a mentor for local kids instead. Justice Paul Engelmayer imposed the sentence on Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack after saying that he had done “nothing to accept responsibility” for his leadership of the violent Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. Mack had pleaded not guilty to drug dealing and racketeering but was convicted of both crimes.

Stringer wants plan to cut cruise ship emissions

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer recently sent a letter to Economic Development Corp. President and CEO James Patchett asking for a comprehensive plan to reduce cruise-ship emissions. Last year, 214 cruise ships docked at the Manhattan and Brooklyn cruise terminals. While there, most of the liners sat idle while running auxiliary engines typically powered by high sulfur diesel fuel. “While cruise ships bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to New York City’s ports each year, these same ships are also responsible for spewing toxic, asthma-inducing exhaust fumes into neighborhoods that are already burdened with some of the city’s poorest air quality,” said Stringer.

Brooklyn couple’s app helps find black-owned restaurants

A Brooklyn couple has created an app that connects users to black-owned restaurants in more than 30 cities across the country, according to Black Enterprise magazine. Anthony and Janique Edwards decided in 2016 that they were tired of struggling to find black-owned eateries, so they created the app, which is called EatOkra. “We wanted to do something to help black people,” explained Anthony, a Fordham University graduate who served in the U.S. Army. The restaurants are divided into four categories: Caribbean cuisine, breakfast and brunch, soul food and “local eats.” The couple’s long-term goal is to use the platform to pair restaurant owners and chefs with community organizations, especially ones that help people put food on the table.

School bus driver arrested in wake of fatal accident

The school bus driver accused of fatally crashing into a 10-year-old girl with his bus in East New York has been arrested, according to the New York Post. Pedro Colon was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care in the Tuesday collision that left Patience Albert dead, police said. Patience and her brother, who survived, were on their way to school when both were struck at the corner of Wortman Avenue and Crescent Street.

Six-story building planned for Bed-Stuy

Permits have been filed for a six-story building at 96 Tompkins Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to New York YIMBY. The site, which is currently a vacant lot, is one block from the G train’s Myrtle-Willoughby Avenues subway station. The building is slated to include 12 residences, most likely condos, as well as 530 square feet of community facility space. Joel Leifer, under the name Farragut Associates LLC, is listed as the owner, and Peter Pizzimenti is listed as the architect of record.

From Staten Island to Brooklyn to upstate for thief

Traveling from Brooklyn to Staten Island to break into a home has earned a thief a trip upstate, according to silive.com. Christopher Boyce, a Bushwick resident, was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 months in prison for a 2018 break-in on Pelton Avenue in West Brighton, Staten Island. Cops found a key to the home in Boyce’s possession in addition to registration and insurance information for a car owned by the home’s residents. In 2018, Boyce was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, but later went to trial after receiving psychiatric medication.

Man shot dead after visiting son at Farragut

A man who was visiting his 8-year-old son at the Farragut Houses in the Navy Yard area was shot dead on Monday for no apparent reason, according to amNewYork. The man, identified as James Suggs, was shot in the face at point-blank range in the hallway of 191 Sands St., police said. He was taken to the Brooklyn Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead. Detectives have been going through video surveillance to identify the suspect. A friend, Anthony Rodriguez, told amNewYork that the victim, whose street name was Shug, had grown up in the area. Suggs drove a cross-country truck and rarely came to the area nowadays.

Rose’s bill would install sprinklers in older buildings

U.S. Rep. Max Rose (D-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Staten Island) introduced the bipartisan Public Housing Fire Safety Act earlier this week to install sprinklers in public housing high-rises across the country that were built before 1992. The Public Housing Fire Safety Act would create a competitive grant program under the auspices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development for public housing authorities that wish to retrofit older high-rise buildings with sprinkler systems.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.