Markowitz Hands Out Toys, Books to Tots

On Tuesday, Dec. 20, Borough President Marty Markowitz turned the Rotunda of Brooklyn Borough Hall into a festive holiday toy store and distributed hundreds of new toys and books collected during the annual Borough Hall toy drive.

Brooklyn-based service organizations, including churches, youth groups, and women’s shelters, received an amazing selection of new toys and books donated by scores of individuals and corporate sponsors.

St. Ann’s Warehouse Finds a New Home

When the theatrical group St. Ann’s Warehouse found its bid for a new home at the Tobacco Warehouse within Brooklyn Bridge Park stymied by community infighting, many people feared that the troupe would leave the borough altogether. Now, however, St. Ann’s has signed a three-year lease for 29 Jay St., DUMBO, just three blocks from its current location.

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Bikers, Pedestrians Increasingly Are Victims of Fatal Accidents

Advocates Want Cops To Get Tougher on Reckless Drivers

A “ghost bike” memorial for Elisio Martinez, killed by a car in August 2009. There are hundreds of memorials like this one throughout New York. Eagle photo by Zach Campbell.

By Zach Campbell

BROOKLYN — “I didn’t see him.”

This was the explanation given by the school bus driver who struck and killed a 57-year-old man in the Bronx last Tuesday. A day later Katherine Yun, 25, was hit by a garbage truck on Broadway in Williamsburg. Yun died later that night at Woodhull Hospital. Neither driver was charged with a crime — according to the NYPD there was “no criminality suspected.”

Mathieu Lefevre, a Canadian artist living in Brooklyn, was struck and killed by a flatbed truck while cycling down Morgan Avenue in Bushwick this past October. The driver left the scene, only to be tracked down later by the NYPD. He claims to not have been aware he hit anybody, and has also not been charged with a crime.

BP: Reinstate Studies on BQE And Gowanus

Borough President Marty Markowitz Thursday asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to override the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) decision to terminate environmental impact studies for the “cantilever” section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway near Brooklyn Heights and the elevated Gowanus Expressway in the southern part of the borough. Markowitz reminded the governor that the studies were ordered because these roadways were plagued with “insufficient capacity and structural decay.” If the studies are not performed, he said, plans for renovations can’t go forward, and these problems — as well as pollution — will only get worse.

FURTHER READING:

Brooklynites Slam State’s Canceling Of BQE Studies

 

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The Feast of St. Nick … and St. John’s

Brooklyn Alumni Chapter of St. John’s Law School Gathers Holiday Toys on Montague Street

Court Street attorney Susan Iannelli (left) and Kings County Supreme Court Justice Patricia Di Mango. In addition to Justices Rivera and Di Mango, other judges in attendance at Tuesday night’s holiday party were Appellate Division Justice Randall Eng, Kings County Civil Court Judge Robin Sheares and Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Charles Troia.

 

By Ryan Thompson

MONTAGUE STREET — After searching through the hundreds of toys that lined the restaurant’s walls, Anthony Butler finally found the toy that he was looking for — the renowned “Magic 8-Ball.”

“Will Sponsor-a-Family be a success this year?” Butler asked the fortune-telling toy ball.

“Concentrate and ask again,” the ball told him.

The Magic 8-Ball clearly didn’t know what it was talking about. Of course the Sponsor-a-Family program that delivers dinners and toys to needy families during the holiday season would be a success. It is a success every year, thanks to the St. John’s Bread & Life Program and Butler, who is the executive director.

Much of that success can be attributed to the Brooklyn Alumni Chapter of the St. John’s University School of Law, which hosted the holiday party and toy drive on Tuesday night at Eamonn’s restaurant and bar in Brooklyn Heights. Every year, the alumni chapter gathers and donates hundreds of toys to the Sponsor-a-Family program at Bread & Life in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Opponents Slam Location of Vote On Charter School

Cobble Hill Parents Must Travel to Queens

By Mary Frost

COBBLE HILL — The anger over placing a Success Academy charter school inside a building housing three schools in Cobble Hill reached a new high this week.

Following last Tuesday’s raucous charter school co-location hearing in Cobble Hill, where former Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz plans to open her new charter school, local parents expressed outrage when they learned that the Department of Education (DOE) has moved the Dec. 14 Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) vote to a location inaccessible to District 15 parents — Newtown High School in Queens.

Subway and bus times to Newtown High School from District 15 (which runs from Red Hook to Sunset Park) can add up to almost two hours from some areas. The temporary closure of the G train station at Smith and 9th streets exacerbates the situation for families living in Red Hook and Gowanus.