Around Brooklyn: Couple has dinner on Brooklyn Bridge

August 17, 2020 Editorial Staff

From left to right, these distinctive Victorian homes are 57 to 69 Bay 11th St. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

From left to right, these distinctive homes are 57 to 69 Bay 11th St. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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Couple has dinner on Brooklyn Bridge

Dean and Jasmin Gaskin of Brooklyn recently had a dinner date in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge (hopefully on the pedestrian path), explaining that they weren’t ready to eat out at restaurants just yet. The two of them, who have been married for five years, have been setting up their own outdoor dinner-dates since July. One of their earlier dates was in Coney Island. They bring plates, cutlery, dishes, even furniture, getting stares from the crowd, according to Fox 5 News.

Live theater returns to Brooklyn

As theaters begin to test out live performances in the COVID-19 era, one of the first productions in NYC is ready to welcome audiences. The Mexican-American coming-of-age story Quince, created by director Ellpetha Tsivicos and writer Camilo Quiroz-Vazquez, will run for four performances August 21 and 22 at The People’s Garden in Brooklyn. The play will include a series of health and safety measures to protect both the performers and the audience, including face masks and social distancing. “Quince” fuses Chicano imagery with the interplay of European and Indigenous ancestry, according to Playbill.

TLC yanks license of co. that employed accused rapist

The city on Friday shut down a Brooklyn car service that hired the unlicensed cabbie who is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in the back seat of a taxi. Rafael Martinez had no Taxi and Limousine Commission license, but was driving for Evelyn Car Service at 587 Vanderbilt Ave. in Prospect Heights. Martinez allegedly picked the girl up at her parents’ house, then at some point stopped the car, took out a gun, then jumped into the back seat and beat the girl unconscious. She reportedly came to as he was raping her, the Daily News reported.

Man shot to death in Flatbush

A man was shot to death in broad daylight on Friday afternoon outside his Flatbush apartment building. Deshawn Reid, 28, was talking to a friend of his near the building on Ocean Avenue near Crooke Avenue on Friday afternoon, not knowing that a silver Nissan Pathfinder SUV had been waiting for him for about 20 minutes, police said. When Reid’s friend left, someone inside the SUV rolled down the window and opened fire. Reid was shot in the chest, tried to walk down the street and collapsed. He was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he died, according to the Daily News.

8-story building planned for Williamsburg

Permits have been filed for an eight-story building at 403 Metropolitan Ave. in Williamsburg. The site at the intersection of Metropolitan and Marcy avenues is currently occupied by a one-story office building, and is two blocks from the L and G trains’ Metropolitan Avenue-Lorimer Street station. The building is slated to have 123 apartments, most likely rentals, as well as some manufacturing and commercial space. It will also have a rear yard and 54 enclosed parking spaces. Mattone Investors is listed as the developer, and Daniel Bernstein of Kutnicki Bernstein Architects is listed as the architect of record.

Colton compares Black Lives Matter to KKK

Brooklyn Assemblymember William Colton (D-Bensonhurst-Bath Beach) shared a post on his Facebook page calling Black Lives Matter a hate group and comparing it to the Ku Klux Klan. “I support my Black friends, but not BLM. I support my white friends, but not the KKK,” he said. Later, Colton said he put up the post to “generate discussion.” He added that “bad actors” who hate police and smash property could ruin the movement, according to amNewYork.

Cyclist injured in Gowanus shooting

The NYPD is seeking assistance in finding those responsible for a drive-by shooting earlier this week in the Gowanus area. Police said they received a report early Tuesday morning that an unidentified vehicle fired several times from the passenger’s side of a white four-door car near Baltic Street and Third Avenue. A 50-year-old man who was riding a bicycle through a courtyard was struck twice. The man was taken to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in stable condition.

Cops seek suspect in chokehold robbery

The NYPD recently released video footage in their search for a suspect in a chokehold robbery in Crown Heights. Police say the suspect walked up behind a 55-year-old man early Friday on Pacific Street and put him into a chokehold. The robber then stole the victim’s credit cards from his pocket as he was lying on the pavement. Later, the victim managed to get away from the suspect, according to WABC.

Kids draw up blueprints for damaged store

A group of kids in Borough Park are making unofficial blueprints and drawings for a store that closed last month after a roof collapse. The cause of the fire in the store, which is known both as Breadberry Market and Kosher Eataly, is still unknown. Employee Aziza Mitralipova told her husband that the store needed permits and blueprints to rebuild. Soon afterward, her 12-year-old daughter Kamila brought her “blueprints” for the store. Within a few days, kids started showing up with their own drawings and blueprints until the number reached 100. The store still has no reopening date, according to the New York Post.

Jewish women’s group can operate ambulance

After years of fighting to operate their own ambulance, a medical group for Orthodox Jewish Women in Brooklyn now has been given a license to do so by the New York State Regional Emergency Medical Services Council. The state agency on Thursday granted an ambulance permit to Ezras Nashim, which means “Women’s Aid” in Hebrew. “We hope this is the end of the long journey,” Leah Freier Levine, the group’s director of outreach and development, said. Another one of the group’s founders is Judge Ruchie Freier, the first Hasidic woman to become a judge, according to the Times of Israel.

Three boats burned at Brooklyn dock

Three large boats were destroyed on Friday morning at the Brooklyn Yacht Club on Knapp Street and Avenue Z in Sheepshead Bay when a fire broke out on one of them and spread to the other two, according to FDNY officials. Two people suffered minor injuries while escaping from one of the boats, and two firefighters were also treated for minor injuries. The fire broke out shortly after 11 a.m. An FDNY fireboat pulled into the Gerritsen Beach channel to help extinguish the fire, and firefighters also used Purple K, a chemical typically used to extinguish fuel and electrical transformer fires. When the smoke cleared, all three boats had been destroyed, according to amNewYork.

Man dies in Coney incident

A 74-year-old man died after an unknown incident in his Coney Island apartment, where he was hanging out with friends, police said. Police were called to Joseph Breina’s apartment on Surf Avenue near West Fifth St. around 2 a.m. Saturday. The caller described the incident as an assault in progress. When police arrived, Breina was unconscious. EMS crews rushed him to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he died the next day. Breina was with four friends, and it wasn’t clear whether he had been beaten or fell, according to the Daily News.

Sheriffs bust raves in Sunset Park

The New York City Sheriff’s Office broke up two illegal raves in Sunset Park, an area where there has been an uptick of COVID-19 cases. More than 180 people were found at a party on 47th Street near Third Avenue. The organizers were arrested and charged with several alcohol beverage control violations, narcotics possession and violation of a local emergency law. Another rave was shut down nearby on 51st Street near Second Avenue, where there were more than 100 people inside. Deputy sheriffs arrested the organizer on alcohol beverage control law violations and a violation of emergency law, according to PIX11. Although the state is witnessing record low levels of COVID hospitalization, levels have been increasing in Sunset Park.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.