BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today? Check here for Brooklyn weather.
CITY NEWS: Subway service was back to normal after a fire at the Atlantic Avenue Station disrupted Tuesday’s morning rush hour.
_Two polls show that Ferrer is leading in mayoral race against Bloomberg.
_FDNY to implement new procedures for safety ropes. This comes after
a fatal fire in January in which two firefighters were killed and four
others were seriously injured when they jumped out a fourth story
window.
_Bobby Short, classy and cosmopolitan jazz singer and pianist, who
frequently graced the keys of the Cafe Carlyle died of Leukemia
yesterday.
_Transportation Altenatives, an advocacy group for New Yorkers,
gives the city passing if not great grades for its performance as a
city hospitable to bikers.
_212, the area code with so much cache, will soon be available on cell phones. But who cares? 718 is way cooler.
_On Saturday, activists protested the Iraq
War on its second anniversary on the streets of New York and Brooklyn.
Three men and five women were arrested in front of a military recruiting station at 41 Flatbush Avenue. Read all about at Brooklyn Bomb Shelter. Tens of thousands protest across Europe.
_Report says one-third of city’s fourth graders are in danger of failing. Read all about it at NY1
_NYPD named nation’s best dressed police force. Read all about it at NY1
_New York’s favorite hawks, Pale Male and Lola, are expecting at least two little hawks.
BROOKLYN BEAT:
Brooklyn receives $1 million to spruce up Fulton Street. Congresswoman Nydia Valazquez was able to secure the money from the Transportation Appropriations Bill and a local developer. Improvements include better lighting, signage, sidewalks, and landscaping.
_Brooklyn woman suing the Daily News for its Scratch ‘n Win fiasco. The woman was led to believe that she won $100,000 in prizes. Sunday the news informed its readers of a misprint. "Our dreams were shattered. Our high was brought down to an extreme low," said Stewart.
_A sanitation worker was shot while working on a Brooklyn Street. He was
wounded by a richocheting bullet during an argument with a gun between
two men on the street. Another man was wounded as well.
_A student at Brooklyn’s New Utrecht High School was shot by a gun that went off in his book bag during an English class.
_Mayor Mike Bloomberg joined marchers at the Brooklyn Irish American parade in the rain.
_Coney Island’s Astroland opened on Sunday, two weeks earlier than
usual. Visitors will arrive from the newly renovated Stillwell Avenue
train station. Coney Island draws more than a million visitors per
day in nice weather.
_More than a 130 new buildings are being planned in Williamsburg and
Greenpoint, as well as large-scale development on the waterfront.
_Over 2500 runners ran the Brooklyn Half-Marathon from the world-famous
Coney Island boarwalk to the Nevermeade in Prospect Park. Ivan
Marionda, age 29, from New York City, won the race in 1:10:37. THe top
female runner was Michelle Bleakley, age 37, in 1:20:58. Thomas Deaver,
age 29, a wheelchair runner, finished the race in 1:41:28.
_English ex-pats love Brooklyn says the City section in the New
York Times. Mini Coopers, Fish and Chips joints and British accents are
cited as proof that there’s a British invasion of brownstone Brooklyn.
Interesting fact: the Park Slope zipcode has one of the largest numbers
of Mini Cooper owners in the country. The owner of Curry Source, an
Indian "takeaway" in Boerum Hill, told the Times’ reporter: "Brooklyn
is America without tears."
_Barrier installed at exit ramp at the Verrazano Bridge after accident. Read all about it at NY1
_Brooklyn rapper Lil’ Kim guilty of perjury in connection with 2001 murder. Read all about it at NY1
_City is facing $10 million in lawsuits from cyclists who say their
broken bones were caused by injuries caused by the bumps on the
Williamsburg Bridge. City officials are taking a closer look at this
problem. Read all about it at NY1
_ Marty Markowitz writes in response
to a recent New Yorker cover: "Marcellus Hall’s illusletters tration of Adam and Eve
being cast out of Manhattan by the hand of God is to be commended for
its prominent placement of the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s most
beautiful. I am concerned, however, that my copy of the issue may have
been missing a second panel, in which the couple realize that what
awaits them on the other side of the bridge is not a dark cloud of doom
but the promised land itself. High rents might push some residents out
of Manhattan, but we Brooklynites welcome these emigres with open arms
to our better quality of life, our unrivalled diversity, and maybe even
a nice brownstone. Just as Saul Steinberg’s famous westward view from
Ninth Avenue exaggerated Manhattanites’ perspective in 1976, your East
River scene in 2005 misleads by rendering gloom where there should be
a glow; crossing the bridge is actually a blessing in disguise.
Besides, what better than the hand of God to direct you toward the most
divine bagels and lox?"
_From an article called, "School Auction as Economic
Indicator," in today’s New York Times: "The Berkeley Carroll School in
Brooklyn combines the groovy independent film vibe –the "Sopranos"
star Steve Muscemi offered a tour of the set – with local color. One
family paid $4,000 to have lunch with Marty Markowitz at Bamonte’s in
Williamsburg. "The place is quintessential Brooklyn," said Henry
Trevor, an assistant head of school." At Packer, someone paid $100. for
a gift certificate to a company "dedicated to the spreading of sexual
enlightenment throught the promulgation of chosen playthings."
IT’S WEDNESDAY: Liquid Language performance of poetry and open-mic at the Seventh Avenue Barnes and Noble.
"Play Without Words," a dance theater piece by Matthew Bourne at BAM. Tonight through Saturday. 8 p.m.
WORTH TAKING A LOOK: The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month.
THIS SOUNDS COOL: Purim Festival at the Brookyn Lyceum. Sunday March 27th. Music by Golem and Jonathan Bayer. (see hand-picked below).
Catpathia Jenkins and Park Slope resident Louis Rosen perform their
song-cycle based on the work of Maya Angelou at Joe’s Pub. March 27th.
6 pm.
_From th New York Times: "Sears Beverley Road, an Art Deco cathedral of commerce christened by
the soon-to-be-first-lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932, has seen better
days. The Macy’s-size display windows that faced Bedford Avenue and
Beverley Road have long since been cemented over. The Munchbox is not
exactly a beauty spot, either. The plants in gold hangers are plastic,
the fluorescent lighting somehow both harsh and dim, the feeling of
windowlessness palpable. But where else in this land can you dive
into a generous plate of allspice-laced snapper beneath corporate-morale-building signs urging the meeting of sales quotas
("Can You Bring Home the Gold?") and framed letters from satisfied
vacuum-cleaner customers? And on the PA system: ‘Attention
all customers, attention all Sears associates. Our Sears cafeteria is now open for
lunch. We have boneless stewed snapper fish, stewed chicken, callaloo
and saltfish, a delicious homemade cowfoot soup.’ The Sears cafeteria is open to the public.
HERE/SAY: "I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired." Fannie Lou Hammer, Civil Rights Activist