BROOKLYN — BSE Global, parent company of the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty, will launch Planet Brooklyn, a two-day music festival on August 23-24.
The event will include both free and ticketed performances hosted at Barclays Center, Brooklyn Paramount, and BAM. A free block party with local vendors and stages with even more performers will take place nearby, according to Pollstar.
“Planet Brooklyn was created to spotlight artists, creators and innovators from around the globe who represent the borough’s rich diversity, while connecting people through the creative energy of Brooklyn,” said DeJuan Wilson, Chief Products and Experiences Officer at BSE Global.
BROOKLYN — The Brooklyn Film Festival this year unveiled a new visual identity, “Welcome to Good Screen Time,” designed by Otherway. In an effort to put a positive spin on different types of media exposure, the branding features bold colors, dynamic typography, and motion design mimicking the overload of infinite scrolling, but presented in a more intentional way, according to Creative Bloq.
FLATBUSH — The Flatbush community is celebrating the return of Snowy, a white fluffy Persian bodega cat, at Prince Deli and Juice Bar. Stolen by an unknown person on May 8, Snowy had been missing for two weeks.
A tip led to the cat’s return, after the thief may have dropped him off three blocks away. Manager and Snowy’s owner Ali Alesaei hosted a reunion party, featuring a three-tier cake, cookies, balloons and relieved neighbors, according to CBS News.
MARINE PARK — A man was injured during a knifepoint robbery at a Dollar Tree between Avenue P and Troy Avenue at around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, police say. The suspect, described as a man in all black, fled with cash after injuring the victim’s finger, reports News 12. It’s unclear if the victim was an employee.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X @NYPDTips.
GRAVESEND — A 27-year-old man was attacked outside 158 Ave. U at around 4:30 a.m. on May 31, police say, after a suspect approached him and asked if he was in a gang. The attacker punched and slashed the victim’s face and stabbed his forearm before fleeing.
The victim was able to walk to Coney Island Hospital and is expected to recover, according to amNY.
BED-STUY — A 16-year-old was shot in the stomach inside the Brevoort Houses at 1831 Fulton St. around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, PIX11 reports. EMS transported the victim to Kings County Hospital in stable condition. The NYPD is conducting an investigation, but has not yet released suspect details.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website atcrimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X @NYPDTips.
CROWN HEIGHTS — TWO NEWLY-RENOVATED PLAYGROUNDS AT THE KINGSBOROUGH HOUSES got their ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, June 2, with Mayor Eric Adams, new Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt.
NYC Parks and NYCHA transformed the Kingsborough Houses playgrounds, one at 20,000 square feet and another at 16,000 square feet, adding new play equipment, game tables, benches, spray showers and landscaping. Additionally, NYC Parks created new entrances from the sidewalk to make it easier for the public to access the amenities.
The two agencies had met with residents of Kingsborough and five other complexes in Queens and the Bronx to best understand their needs, select specific locations for these transformations and help create the vision for their revitalized open spaces.
The city will also open the six playgrounds up for public use so that both NYCHA residents and the surrounding community can enjoy the public space, putting nearly 10,000 more New Yorkers within walking distance of a park. The Kingsborough Houses playground marks the final public space renovated through this investment.
The announcement continues Mayor Adams’ “We Outside Summer” — a new initiative that will include a series of announcements, events, investments and new programming across the five boroughs.
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — It’s not easy enforcing the city’s law prohibiting vendors on the Brooklyn Bridge.
That’s why Police Officer Michael Gargano was honored as April’s “Cop of the Month,” at the 84th Precinct’s Community Council meeting on May 20. The monthly event, open to all, is organized by Community Council President Peter Lanfranca.
The 84th’s Commanding Officer, Captain Thomas Maffei, praised Gargano for his quick work capturing a reckless vendor who endangered cyclists and drivers during a police sweep on the Brooklyn Bridge.
From left: 84th Precinct’s Commanding Officer, Captain Thomas Maffei; Cop of the Month police officer Michael Gargano; and 84th Precinct Community Council President Peter Lanfranca. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
Vendors on the bridge’s pedestrian walkway were banned in January 2024. This came about after more than a year of complaints about vendors spreading out their goods in the narrow, crowded walkway, posing not only a sanitary problem but a serious public safety issue — as on busy days pedestrians were trapped in “human traffic jams.”
“We were doing a vendor operation April 24, successfully stopping some vendors and seizing their property,” Capt. Maffei told the audience at the meeting. “However, one individual decided to make a very important mistake — he tried to flee from the officers with two very large garbage bags of vending property.
“This is where it got really bad,” Maffei said. “In an effort to escape, he then chucks the bags off the bridge onto the roadway. So you can only imagine what could have happened if it hit a bicyclist down there or even a car. Luckily, it hit the ground.”
From left: P.O. Michael Gargano, NCO Sector B, and Sgt. Hector Justinico, after a successful Brooklyn Bridge vendor sweep in March. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
The vendor then tried to jump down from the bridge and escape — but Gargano was faster, collaring him before he could get away, Maffei said.
“We’re acknowledging Officer Gargano’s work for catching that vendor and placing them under arrest — not just for the illegal vending, but also for felony reckless endangerment, because throwing that heavy object off an elevated surface is very, very reckless and dangerous,” Maffei said, adding, “When I saw the arrest, I thought it deserved acknowledgment. I thought it was a great arrest.”
Gargano is also the Neighborhood Coordination Officer of the 84th’s Sector B, which includes the Brooklyn Bridge, and as part of his regular duties responds to 311 calls on and near the bridge.
The pedestrian path on the Brooklyn Bridge can become impassible, especially during events. This scene took place following Good Friday’s Way of the Cross in April. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
“He’s been dealing with the bridge and the vendors for many years,” Maffei said. “He just successfully removed several trucks housing vendor property that we could not remove due to the large size of the vehicles. So he’s really doing a good job up there.”
He added, “He’s one of the senior cops in the 84. He’s a PBA delegate, a role model, a leader.”
Gargano received an enthusiastic round of applause and thanks from the audience, many of whom have been concerned about the bridge vendor issue for years.
Sign warns that vending is prohibited on the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
Being strategic in the face of manpower shortage
Maffei gave the audience insight into the challenges of enforcing the bridge vending law in the face of a manpower shortage and the need to deploy officers elsewhere in the command.
After the law passed, the New York Police Department was able to station a strong deployment on the bridge and the vendors disappeared, Maffei said. But as time went by, the number of officers stationed there started to decline “due to concerns elsewhere in the borough and in the command.”
“Right now, there are always officers on the bridge — just not as many as we need to have zero vending,” Maffei said. “That bridge is a mile long. So unless they see uniformed officers, they’re going to set up.”
Police confiscate a vendor’s merchandise on the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
Officers from the 84th are needed in Brooklyn Bridge Park to deal with crowds during the summer season, working alongside officers on loan from other precincts. The 84th is also conducting operations involving hundreds of stolen and illegal e-bikes, an uptick of bank scams in Brooklyn Heights, and crimes on or near the 84th’s border, he reported.
Maffei has also been informed that the July 4th fireworks will take place on the East River this year, “which means we’re going to have a major role. So we’ve begun to preliminarily set up the deployment for that.”
Before January 2024, vendors were a constant presence on the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
With all this in mind, Maffei is approaching the bridge vendor challenge strategically. “We’re in week 21, and I’ve had about 12 vendor operations on the bridge, about every other week. I’m gearing up to organize better operations every day, from seven in the morning to about midnight — I’ll have a minimum of four cops, sometimes six cops on the bridge.”
