Around Brooklyn: Councilmembers seek to stop flooding

December 9, 2020 Editorial Staff

The eye-catching facade of National Sawdust, a music venue in Williamsburg. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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Councilmembers seek to stop flooding

Councilmembers Chaim Deutsch and Kalman Yeger, Assemblymember Simcha Eisenstein and State Sen. Simcha Felder, all of who represent Southern Brooklyn districts, sent a letter to the Departments of Environmental Protection and Transportation calling for the immediate fixing of conditions that lead to flooding in Borough Park and Flatbush. “The safety hazard this poses to children, seniors and individuals with disabilities is of great concern. The approaching winter weather will quickly turn rain and snow to dangerous black ice. While the drainage system throughout our districts is undoubtedly in dire need of updating, the most heavily affected areas must be addressed quickly,” the lawmakers wrote.

Fort Greene senior center gets award

The city Department for the Aging and Department of Emergency Management recently presented the Ready New York Older Adult Center of the Year award to the Grace Agard Neighborhood Senior Center in Fort Greene. During the pandemic, the center coordinated food distribution with its NYCHA residents, creating virtual classes for its members that served as a cooling center during extreme heat during the summer. The Agard Center is part of the Fort Greene Council, a nonprofit organization that provides services for various age groups in the area.

New ‘holiday village’ at MetroTech

A new “Holiday Village,” courtesy of Brookfield Properties, has opened at the MetroTech Commons and will run each weekend until Christmas. The open-air market includes more than 25 vendors displaying clothing, accessories, home goods, beauty products, jewelry, plants and more, Brookfield said. The village joins several other new outdoor markets in Brooklyn, such as Prospect park’s Caribbean-themed market at the LeFrak Center and a “Winter Wonderland” in Marcy Plaza in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to Patch.

Brooklyn Heights Christmas tree arrives, with difficulty

A Christmas tree has arrived at the Montague Street entrance to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the lights will go on this Saturday, but there will be no tree-lighting ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the truck carrying the tree had some problems unloading it because barriers were in place to deter any drivers from entering the Promenade, as one drunk driver did last Wednesday. The crane operator was able to remove the barriers, and the truck headed into the Montague Street entrance and lowered the tree to its traditional spot, according to the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

Four Brooklyn bars have liquor licenses yanked

Four Brooklyn bars — one in Bushwick, one in East Williamsburg and two in Cypress Hills — were among 23 in New York to have their liquor licenses temporarily suspended by the State Liquor Authority this week. One of these was the Monarch on Meadow Street in East Williamsburg, where city sheriffs found hundreds of people partying on Halloween. In an Cypress Hills bar known as Paper Rain, a “stripper party” was in progress last Tuesday with exotic dancers performing lap dances as well as “a host of fire and life-safety violations.” At Gate Way Beer Garden in Cypress Hills, inspectors found 14 people congregating without face masks and without social distancing. And at NY Pizza Café in Bushwick, people were carrying on without face masks behind a locked roll-down gate, according to Yahoo News.

EMS crew lured to apartment, robbed

An EMS unit was lured to a Brownsville apartment by a phony phone call, and the EMS workers were robbed at gunpoint. The two workers were called around 11 p.m. on Tuesday to 365 Sackman St. to respond to a person who was having difficulty breathing. Police say there was no patient. The paramedics took the elevator to the 11th floor, where they were met by a masked man with a gun. The crook took their supply bag and let them go. The bag was later found with a radio and tablet missing, according to Fox News.

COVID outbreak at Brooklyn federal lockup

Last week, at least 55 inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Federal Defenders of New York, a legal advocacy group, said officials aren’t following basic public health guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. The group says corrections officers aren’t properly wearing masks, and that sick inmates aren’t receiving proper medical attention and are being placed in cells with healthy inmates. The group also says that water in at least one part of the jail isn’t drinkable and that the emergency call buttons in some cells aren’t working, according to The New York Times.

Bridge Park art installation addresses climate change

Those who go to Pier 3 in Brooklyn Bridge Park may hear the sounds of the tides coming in. The sound, however, may not be coming from the East River. It will be part of “Waters of a Lower Register,” a work by the artist Allison Janae Hamilton, which will play on five 70-inch screens, beginning Dec. 16 and continuing until Dec. 20. The artist juxtaposes the rural area of Florida, her home state, which is also affected by floods, with New York City. The exhibit is meant to express the turmoil of this year, with its health crisis, frequent hurricanes and instances of racial injustice, according to The New York Times.

Barbershop worker shot in attempted robbery

A worker at an East Flatbush barbershop was shot and injured during an attempted robbery. Police say two men entered the shop on Nostrand Avenue just after 8 p.m. Monday. One of them pulled out a gun and shot the 24-year-old employee in the right shoulder. The worker was rushed to Kings County Hospital and is expected to survive. As of press time, police were searching for the gunmen.

Bullet goes through floor, hits woman below

A 30-year-old woman was shot in the leg by a bullet fired in an apartment upstairs from hers. A suspect appears to have fired a shot inside a second-floor apartment on Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights around 1 a.m. on Monday. The bullet when through the floor and struck the victim in her first-floor apartment. She was rushed to New York Methodist Hospital in stable condition. Four people in the second-floor apartment were taken into custody, but no charges were immediately filed, according to ABC7.

Gillibrand meets with Yellen

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday released the following statement after her meeting with Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen, originally of Brooklyn. “Today I had a productive meeting with Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen about the incoming Biden administration’s approach to the economic challenges facing our nation. Not only is Janet an accomplished, crisis-tested and eminently qualified public servant, but she is a trailblazer; she was the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve and if confirmed, she would be the first woman to lead the Department of the Treasury,” said Gillibrand.

Ballet Hispanico to hold online holiday celebration

Ballet Hispanico, the nation’s renowned Latino dance organization, will hold a virtual holiday celebration of “Club Havana” on Wednesday, Dec. 23, at 7:30 p.m. on YouTube and on Facebook. “Club Havana” is a celebration of Cuban music and dance, including rumba, mambo and cha-cha. Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Villa will chat with special guests who have been involved with the work since its 2000 premiere. Ballet Hispanico also has a new online campaign running through Three Kings Day, Jan. 6, 2021.

Video shows shooting of FedEx driver

A video newly released by police shows a FedEx driver walking out of a Brownsville NYCHA building as a man pulls a gun and opens fire. The 44-year-old driver was delivering packages to 395 Livonia Ave. at the Van Dyke Houses when he was hit by gunfire around 11:15 a.m. in what appeared to be a targeted attack. The video, tweeted by Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison, shows the gunman opening the door for the driver and a woman, pulling out his gun after the driver left the building. The driver is at Brookdale Hospital in serious but stable condition, according to the New York Post.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.