Around Brooklyn: Colton shows gratitude to voters

November 6, 2020 Editorial Staff

Bergen Street takes you past lovely Crown Heights homes, like this cluster of landmarked residences on the corner of New York Avenue. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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Colton shows gratitude to voters

Assemblymember William Colton (D-Gravesend-Bensonhurst-Bath Beach-Dyker Heights) recently thanked local voters who supported and voted for him in the general election. “I received 12,958 votes, which is about 57 percent of the vote. There are also absentee ballots that are still to be counted. I eagerly look ahead to continue serving the constituents in my district,” he said.

Montague St. BID annual meeting

The Montague Street Business Improvement District (BID) is slated to hold its annual meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. via Zoom. The meeting will feature a keynote speech by Randy Peers, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Members will review the FY21 budget, elect the Board of Directors and discuss the future.

Brooklyn Bowtie project has new partner

Real estate development and investment firm Witkoff is now a development partner in the planned “Brooklyn Bowtie” development at 547-557 and 559-589 Fulton St., according to the Commercial Observer. Steve Witkoff, principal of Witkoff, has not yet commented on the deal, but he reportedly was brought on to the project to contribute more ideas to it. The original idea for the development was mixed use with both multifamily units and retail space, but the ground-level retail may now be reconsidered in light of the coronavirus epidemic, according to The Real Deal.

Eugene provides free food, masks

Councilmember Mathieu Eugene (D-Crown Heights-East Flatbush-Flatbush-Kensington-Midwood-Prospect Lefferts Gardens) on Thursday partnered with local organizations to provide free food and masks to residents facing food insecurity and to help protect them during the COVID-19 pandemic in front his district office on Rogers Avenue. “The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a serious public health issue, and we still have friends and neighbors who are at-risk and need resources to stay healthy. By providing food and masks to those who are dealing with financial instability and food insecurity, we are helping numerous families get through this crisis,” he said.

Commemorative MetroCards will honor veterans

The MTA on Thursday announced 50,000 commemorative MetroCards featuring a Veterans Day image. The cards will be available at select MetroCard machines throughout the city. “It’s important for our riders to remember the sacrifices of the veterans among us, including those who how help keep the city moving,” said Sarah Feinberg, interim president of NYC Transit. In Brooklyn, the special MetroCards will be available at Crown Heights-Utica Avenue and Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center.

Brooklyn artist to exhibit at Native American-owned gallery

Brooklyn artist Jeffrey Gibson will be exhibiting at the opening of the new K-Art gallery in Buffalo. The gallery is the first and only Native American-owned gallery in the United States designed to showcase the artwork of Native artists. Gibson, who is of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, is a sculptor and painter who incorporates both Western and non-Western influences into his art. He has fine arts degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Royal College of Art.

Assault turned deadly in Boerum Hill

The NYPD’s 84th Precinct is seeking the public’s help in finding an unidentified man who is being sought in connection with an assault within the 84th Precinct (Brooklyn Heights-Boerum Hill-Downtown-DUMBO). On Sept. 13 in front of 46 Hoyt St., the man approached Angel Diaz, age 79, who lived at the nearby 48 Hoyt St. The perp punched the victim, knocking him to the ground, then started hitting him in the face. Diaz was taken by EMS to New York Methodist Hospital in stable condition, but then took a turn for the worse and died on Oct. 29 after he had been transferred to Bellevue Hospital, police said. A photo taken by surveillance camera shows the suspect as a tall, thin Hispanic or Middle Eastern man with a beard and wearing a backwards baseball cap.

Asian, Pacific Island art displayed in subway station

Colorful portraits of Asian and Pacific Islander New Yorkers have been posted in the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center subway station in Downtown Brooklyn as part of a new campaign by the city’s Commission on Human Rights. The public art campaign, titled “I Still Believe in Our City,” kicked off on Tuesday and will be on display for a month. The exhibit was put together by artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya and celebrates the resilience of Asian and Pacific Islander New Yorkers in the face of racial injustice, particularly coronavirus-related discrimination. “The pandemic opened up an ugly side of the city. So many of my friends and people who look like me have been harassed, told to ‘go back,’ had our basic humanity denied,” Phingbodhipakkiya said, according to Patch. There have been more than 566 reports of discrimination, harassment and bias related to COVID-19 since February, 184 of which were anti-Asian, according to the human rights commission.

Brooklyn College dean gives advice on cybersecurity

Dr. Qing Hu, an accomplished scholar on IT strategy and cybersecurity, is dean of the Koppelman School of Business at Brooklyn College. He said that among the main methods of internet attacks are identity theft, in which someone steals your personal data via online hacking; hacked online accounts, in which hackers steal money from individual and organizational bank accounts; and the relatively new ransomware attacks, in which a criminal makes a person or organization’s files inaccessible and demands money to get them back. To protect yourself, Dr. Hu recommends using sophisticated, long passwords; never sharing passwords with your co-workers, family members or friends; and changing your passwords every six months or so.

Adams featured on Thriver Thursday

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was recently featured on “Thriver Thursday,” a weekly series hosted by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. The segment, which focuses on people who have overcome difficult circumstances in life, talked about Adams’ childhood experiences with police brutality and his life of public service, first with the Police Department, then with the State Legislature and finally as Brooklyn Borough President. The segment also spotlighted Adams’ struggle with type 2 diabetes, when a doctor told him that he could lose fingers and toes, and his overcoming the illness through a plant-based diet, according to VegNews.

Brooklyn jerk chicken destination to expand to Manhattan

Well-known Brooklyn jerk chicken emporium Peppa’s is seeking to expand to Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The restaurant has submitted an application to the local community board for a liquor license at 90-96 Stanton St. between Ludlow and Orchard streets. The acclaimed restaurant, which has built up a reputation because of its recipe for jerk chicken, has grown to include several locations across Brooklyn, according a new outlet in East Flatbush, according to New York Eater.

Breakdown of Brooklyn presidential votes

Almost three-quarters of in-person voters in Brooklyn cast their presidential votes for Joe Biden, according to the Board of Elections. Donald Trump got approximately 25 percent, mainly in southern Brooklyn. The highest percentages of Biden voters were found in East New York, Brownsville, Canarsie, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy and Prospect Heights, with more than 90 percent of the vote. Incumbent Donald Trump won districts in Midwood, Borough Park, Brighton Beach, Bay Ridge and Gravesend, even though these areas are represented in Albany by Democrats, according to published reports.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.