Brooklyn Today April 8: Brooklyn Today: Once the city’s top polluter, this Brooklyn factory will close after 89 years

The Lede

Good morning! It’s crazy what you find in your own backyard. A small Boerum Hill business that makes chemical products for the screen printing industry was NYC’s top polluter in 1988. That year, 66 companies were responsible for 2 million pounds of 48 different toxic chemicals in the air. Eight of them accounted for two-thirds of the total pollution, with Ulano Corp. coming in at number one. “It’s safe to say historically, for many years, this company was one of Brooklyn’s largest localized sources of toxic air emissions,”Eric Goldstein, co-author of “The New York Environment Book,” said.

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The Rundown

A YEAR AFTER SAHEED VASSELL’S DEATH, HIS PARENTS ARE STILL SEARCHING FOR JUSTICE

It’s been one year since cops shot and killed Saheed Vassell, a black man carrying a pipe police mistook for a gun on aCrown Heights street. The case reignited anger about police shootings. “The first thing the NYPD did was blame him for his own death,” said Lorna Vassell, Saheed Vassell’s mother.

A BROOKLYN FACTORY, ONCE THE CITY’S TOP POLLUTER, WILL CLOSE AFTER 89 YEARS

Ulano accounted for roughly 17 percent of toxins released into the city’s sky in 1988. A WARN notice published in March stated that the 110 Third Ave. location would close, laying off all 45 employees.

TEX-CZECH LIVES IN BED-STUY

Brooklyn Kolache Co., a mom-and-pop coffeehouse and the first kolache eatery in New York City, serves more than 25 varieties of the Texan-influenced Czech pastry, a delicacy hard to come by outside the Lone Star State. Think of it as warm challah filled with anything from candied pecan to melted cheese and sausage.

FOIL FIGHT OVER FORT GREENE PARK TREE REMOVAL

It’s a caserevolving around 58 trees and one heavily redacted report. “We continue to ask, ‘What is the Parks Department hiding?’” said one Fort Greene resident.

BROOKLYN POLS TALK TRANSIT WOES AT ROUNDTABLE

State Sen.Zellnor Myrie organized a discussion in Sunset Park to discuss issues with New York transit — so perhaps it was fitting that he was stuck on the subway and arrived late. “Sorry,” he said as he walked in, aware that his tardiness was a perfect illustration of the problems residents face with public transportation.

More Brooklyn News

Fast food chain Tony Luke’s is now serving its famed Philly cheesesteaks inDowntown Brooklyn. (Gothamist)

Here are the 11 oldest buildings in Brooklyn. (Untapped Cities)

The new Deputy Mayor Vicki Been says she’s going “to move the needle” on affordable housing. (Crain’s)