Around Brooklyn: Bichotte meets with Board of Elections

October 5, 2020 Editorial Staff

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

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Bichotte meets with Board of Elections

Assemblymember and Kings County Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Flatbush-Ditmas Park) held a meeting with Board of Elections Executive Michael Ryan and Kings County Democratic Party Executive Committee members to discuss the faulty ballots that were mailed to several neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The members discussed what caused the snafu and how to prevent it from happening again. They also discussed ways to ensure that voters will have their ballots counted in a secure and timely manner.

Brooklyn Friends strike has religious overtones

Faculty and staff members at Brooklyn Friends School are set to strike until the Downtown Brooklyn private school’s administration stops its efforts to dissolve the staff’s union. The strike is beginning today, say union organizers, and will continue until school administrators withdraw their petition to the National Labor Relations Board that seeks to decertify the union on religious grounds. Earlier, administrators sent out a letter saying that Quaker values promote settling disputes by “deep conversations” and individual dialogue, not collective bargaining. Faculty and staff launched the collective bargaining effort in 2019, according to the Brooklyn Paper.

City planning steps into waterfront issue

The Department of City Planning is in the midst of producing a comprehensive waterfront plan, and on Wednesday, it held workshops virtually with residents, community leaders and businesspeople from Sunset Park, Red Hook and Gowanus. “Through the next comprehensive waterfront plans, we’ll prioritize working with lower income communities and communities of color to ensure that their voices are heard and that there’s a strong role in the planning process and projected,” said Michael Marrella, director of Waterfront and Open Space for NYC Department of Planning, according to NY1 News.

J.C. Penney closes Kings Plaza store

The bankrupt J.C. Penney retail chain closed its Kings Plaza location on Sunday after announcing that it planned to close nearly 200 of its department stores nationwide. The company has been around for almost 120 years, but has struggled financially. It’s unclear how many people will lose their jobs. New York City locations that remain open include Brooklyn Gateway (in East New York), the Staten Island Mall, and the Bay Plaza Mall (near Co-op City, Bronx).

Adams ends African Heritage Month with celebration

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ended African Immigrant Heritage Month by holding the first-ever commemoration of its observance at Borough Hall. Borough President Adams, who marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to America with a trip to Senegal and sister-city agreements with Gorée Island and Malicounda, hosted an outdoor, socially-distanced cultural celebration that featured a display of flags, song, drumming, and remarks from a representative to the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations.

Colton hosts food distribution at Marlboro

Assemblymember William Colton (D- Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) together with Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz and Betty James, president of the Marlboro Residents Association, recently distributed food, masks, and hand sanitizer to the Marlboro Housing residents. “I would like to thank Fresh Direct who donated approximately 500 boxes of different kinds of food to the Marlboro Housing residents at such difficult times that we are all facing. New York City has suffered enormously during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need always help each other regardless of the challenges we are facing,” Colton said.

SUNY student assembly elects officers

Bradley Hershenson, a doctoral student from the College of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Emergency Preparedness at the State University at Albany, has been elected as president of the State University of New York Student Assembly. Hershenson will serve as a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees. “We are honored to represent — SUNY’s 1.4 million students during these challenging times as we all strive to overcome the impact of the pandemic. The voices of students must be heard in order to ensure we receive a quality education and student support services — which are needed now more than ever,” said Hershenson.

Brooklynites launch food deliveries by bike

Brooklyn residents Pavel Danilov and Anton Gladkoborodov have founded Fridge No More, a food delivery services in which food is delivered by electric bicycle. They claim to offer a 15-minute delivery within a one-mile radius of their Williamsburg headquarters. Later, they plan to open in Park Slope and in Manhattan. Fridge No More stocks about 800 items, but they plan to grow it to 3,000 or so in a warehouse, according to Time Out New York. “When people want to eat, they don’t want to wait,” Danilov said.

Housing lottery begins for Coney Island tower

An affordable housing lottery is now open for Sea Breeze Tower, a 20-story residential building at 271 Sea Breeze Avenue in Coney Island. The building has 114 rental apartments, with a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. The building features a doorman, bike storage, a laundry room, a children’s playroom, a gym, rooftop recreation and a 150-vehicle parking garage. It is also a LEED Platinum-certified building. The building was developed by Rybak Development and designed by Sproekt, according to New York YIMBY. The 34 apartments that are part of the current lottery can be found on NY Housing Connect.

Cyclist killed in Sunset Park crash

A female nurse who was riding a bicycle and approaching busy Third Avenue in Sunset Park was run over and killed by a motorcyclist on Saturday morning. The woman was riding east on 56th Street approaching Third Avenue when a man who was driving a Suzuki motorcycle northbound on the avenue ran into her. Both were thrown from their vehicles, and both were taken to nearby NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where the cyclist worked. While the cyclist died, the motorcyclist was treated for head and body injuries and was in critical but stable condition, according to the Daily News.

Seven story building planned for Williamsburg

Permits have been filed for a seven-story mixed-use building at 61 Metropolitan Ave. in Williamsburg. The site, now occupied by an older three-story residential building, is located between Kent and Wythe avenues and is within walking distance of the L train’s Bedford Avenue station. The building is slated to have 24 apartments, most likely rentals, as well as a rear yard. Gabriel Grunblatt is listed as the owner, while Francisco Nunez of Studio Gallos is listed as the architect of record, according to New York YIMBY.

4-year-old injured in East NY fire

Six people, including a 4-year-old boy, were injured in a fire that broke out early Monday in East New York. The blaze started around 1 a.m. on the top floor of a three-story apartment building on Pitkin Avenue near Barbey Street, fire officials said. The 4-year-old boy, two men and an adult women were taken to local hospitals, police said. Two firefighters were also hospitalized. The fire was declared under control at 1:40 a.m., according to the New York Post.

Bushwick building to be expanded upward

Excavation is under way for a project that would build four stories on top of an existing one-story building at 68 Eldert St. in Bushwick. The existing one-story building, until recently, served as a church. The new development will have 10 rental apartments, some with balconies. The owner is listed as Arik Bar-Chaim, according to New York YIMBY. The site is near the L train’s Wilson Avenue station.

90-year-old diner may close

A well-known Brooklyn diner that has been at its present location since 1928 is in danger of closing. The diner is the Kellogg Diner on Metropolitan Avenue in East Williamsburg. The current owner, Irene Siderakis, bought it with her now-deceased husband in 2013. While the diner is in a recently described COVID-19 hot spot, it is not in one of the nine areas that may be restricted. A GoFundMe effort is under way, and $5,000 has been raised, according to CBS New York.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.