Around Brooklyn: BP Eric Adams testifies on bias in NYPD

December 21, 2020 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle

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BP Eric Adams testifies on bias in NYPD
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams testified last week before the City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigations in a hearing on racism, bias and hate speech in the New York City Police Department. The hearing comes after a report in The New York Times in November found several hateful posts on a popular law enforcement message board from a user by the name of “Clouseau.” It turned out that this was the pseudonym of Deputy Inspect James F. Kobel, who was placed on modified assignment after the report was publicized. “Since I co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care when I served in the NYPD, I have been intimately aware of the systemic racism within the department. The unmasking of ‘Clouseau’ only underscores how far we have yet to go in tearing down the barriers standing in the way of Black and Brown officers,” he said.

YouTube takes Dyker Heights worldwide
Brooklynites have been aware of Dyker Heights’ spectacular Christmas displays for years, but now, thanks to a 17-minute YouTube video tour of the neighborhood, Dyker Heights’ Christmas lights have gone worldwide. The video contains classic Christmas tune, and according to the website Fatherly, “will make you feel like you, yourself, are walking the neighborhood that bedecks trees in crystalline lights and bright colors and trees and icicle lights and massive Santas. It might not cure the holiday blues, but it is truly a sight to see.”

Brooklyn Women’s Exchange open every day
The Brooklyn Women’s Exchange on Montague Street is open until Christmas for holiday shopping. Among the items for sale are kids’ Christmas clothing, stocking stuffers, Christmas Tree ornaments, jewelry and accessories, food items and Brooklyn-branded items. The Exchange dates back to 1854, an era in which women didn’t usually work, and widows and other unmarried women were left with no means of support. The Exchange sought to teach these women to do needlework and embroidery, giving them a way to earn money.

Park Slope brownstone selling for $7.5M
A gut-renovated Park Slope townhouse built in 1901 is selling for $7.5 million and is being featured on Mansion Global, a luxury housing website. The designer home, renovated by brother-sister duo Bill Caleo and Lyndsay Caleo Karol, features a private elevator and a gourmet kitchen that received an award from NYCxDesign. The home is one of the few townhouses in the area that offers parking, although not on the property itself — it’s in a condo building just steps away. In addition, it has a lush garden, a terrace and a roof deck.

Colton, CB 11 oppose park plan
Assemblymember William Colton (D-Gravesend-Bensonhurst-Bath Beach-Dyker Heights) has shared the information that the city’s plan to turn I.S. 228’s playground (on Avenue S between West 4th and West 5th streets) into a public park was opposed by Community Board 11 at its most recent meeting. The meeting was attended by a number of the community leaders, neighborhood residents, and I.S. 228 PTA President and School Principal Dominick D’Angelo. “The community is outraged by such a careless proposal due to a number of reasons. The streets are narrow at the location, there is a public park already within 5 blocks and the major fear of the community is that this project will create serious safety, health, and quality of life issues not only for the neighborhood but also for I.S. 228,” Colton said.

Brooklyn couple sued for Airbnb rentals
A Brooklyn landlord couple whom the city accused last month of trying to evict tenants during the pandemic is being sued by the city again, this time being accused of running illegal Airbnb rentals out of nine buildings. The city wants to stop former yoga studio owner Loretta Gendville, 46, and green builder Gennaro Brooks-Church, 49 from operating “an illegal and hazardous transient … rental operation involving at least nine buildings in the city” that couple have been running for four years, the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit charges. Court papers say the couple illegally converted 14 permanent units into short-term rentals. The city has tried to stop the operation several times since 2016, according to the New York Post.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer