Brooklyn Today February 28: Demolition of Landmarked Brooklyn Heights Building Approved

The Lede

A landmarked Brooklyn Heights building could be demolished, the BQE rehab plan dominates the BHA annual meeting, and a high-rise tower is approved in Clinton Hill. Plus, Gov. Cuomo signs a “red flag” gun control bill, Green-Wood Cemetery gets a little bit greener, and MetroCard bonuses are a thing of the past. Finally, the Islanders hit a rough patch, and we recommend the best places to eat at before a Broadway show.

Imprint

Actress Gemma Chan drives a car on the March cover of Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.

The Rundown

LANDMARKED MONTAGUE STREET BUILDING’S DEMOLITION APPROVED BY CB2

CB 2’s Executive Committee unanimously voted Monday night to support new residential development at 200 Montague St. in Brooklyn Heights and allow the existing building to be demolished. Midtown Equities wants to tear down the landmarked Modern architectural-style bank building on the site to make way for a 20-floor apartment tower. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

HIGH-RISE TOWER NEXT DOOR TO HISTORIC CLINTON HILL CHURCH APPROVED BY CITY

On Monday, the City Planning Commission approved rezoning measures for a Clinton Hill residential project with an unusual proviso — the obligation to repair a neighboring landmark. Jeffrey Gershon’s Hope Street Capital is required to renovate the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew in order to obtain a special zoning permit for residential construction at 809 Atlantic Ave. The design calls for a 29-story, 337-foot tower and an adjacent four-story, 62-foot building. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

BHA PANEL ASKS: WHO IS PLANNING BROOKLYN’S FUTURE?

“Why aren’t we really thinking bold when we all know we have to drive less? Why aren’t we all talking about getting rid of the BQE altogether?” This question was posed byGinia Bellafante, a Brooklyn resident and New York Times columnist, at theBrooklyn Heights Association’s packed annual meeting on Tuesday. Bellafante led the keynote panel discussion “Who Is Planning Brooklyn’s Future?” The city’s plans for the reconstruction of the BQE was called “the most consequential development to affect this area for decades” by BHA PresidentMartha Bakos Dietz(via Brooklyn Eagle)


MTA: SAY GOODBYE TO THE METROCARD BONUS, BUT TRANSIT FARE WILL STAY THE SAME

The MTA voted Wednesday morning to keep the basic bus and subway fare at $2.75 a ride — but commuters will need to pay more for unlimited ride MetroCards. Riders will also have to say goodbye to MetroCard bonuses, the break on fares that comes when they refill their cards with $5.50 or more. Thirty-day unlimited ride MetroCards will now cost $127, up from $121. Straphangers buying 7-day unlimited ride MetroCards will also have to dig a little deeper into their wallets. The card will cost $33, an increase of $1 from the current cost of $32. The new pay structure will take effect on April 21.(via Brooklyn Eagle)

NEW YORK ‘RED FLAG’ GUN BILL SIGNED BY CUOMO

After years of effort from Brooklyn officials, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a “red flag” gun control bill into New York state law on Monday. The legislation is meant to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals. Cuomo had promised to sign The Extreme Risk Protection Order bill within the first 100 days of the new legislative session. He was joined in the ceremony by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son, Scott Beigel, was shot while trying to save his students in the Parkland, Florida, massacre last year. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY ROLLS OUT NEW TREE-CARE INITIATIVES

The trees that shelter the dead at famous Green-Wood Cemetery also work 24/7 to protect the living. The trees capture and store about 250,000 pounds of atmospheric carbon annually. That’s the equivalent of 88.3 cars’ greenhouse gas emissions for a year. The trees remove around 12,000 pounds of pollutants from the air annually: ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. They also capture about 2.5 million gallons of stormwater and keep it from flowing into Brooklyn’s sewers. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

Staff Picks

LONG READ:

Only in Texas would there be a “Rattlesnake Roundup” where hundreds of serpents are put into a pit for attendees to buy, watch and kill for food. Here’s a look inside the strange gathering(via Texas Monthly)

ANOTHER LONG READ:

“The Trauma Floor: The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America” (via The Verge)

EAT:

Here are the 12 best places to eat and drink at before a Broadway showin New York City. (via Thrillist)

CARTOON:

The U.S. government adopts a new negotiating technique(via The New Yorker)

NATIONAL BULLETIN:

A LIRR crash kills three people in Long Island…Chicagowill elect its first-ever black female mayor…And a police officer saves a dogthat fell through the ice in upstate New York. (via NYT, AP and RochesterFirst)

FOREIGN FLASH:

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is re-elected…Pakistan shoots down two Indian warplanes…And thieves decapitatean 800-year-old Irish mummy. (via NYT, USA Today and CNN)

ROYAL WATCH:

The queen can sometimes come across as austere, but she also has a lighthearted side. Here are all the times she made the royal family laugh(via Hello!)