This from New York 1:

Crime in city parks is on the rise, according to figured released by the NYPD Sunday.

The department looked at figures in 20 parks and found 68 crimes
reported during the second quarter of the year. That’s compared to 48
last year.

Thirty of the crimes were grand larcenies, or property that was
taken when left unattended. There were no murders in the parks during
that period, police say.

Flushing Meadows Park had the highest number of crimes, 21, followed by Prospect and Bronx Parks.

Crime citywide is down seven percent compared to 2006.

At least they meet Federal safety standards. This from New York 1:

Prompted by Wednesday’s dramatic bridge collapse in Minnesota that left at least four people dead and dozens of others missing or injured, city transportation officials reassured New Yorkers Thursday that all crossings within the five boroughs are structurally safe.

Transportation officials say all of the 787 bridges maintained by the city met federal and state safety standards in their most recent inspections last year, however three are considered to be in poor condition, including the 150-year-old Brooklyn Bridge.

DOT officials insist the span itself is safe, and say the problems deal with joints on the ramps leading to the bridge itself.

“The rating could involve different parts of the bridge and it depends what parts we’re talking about and how it pertains to the structural integrity to the whole system,” said Michel Ghosn, a professor of civil engineering at the City College of New York. “So if it’s just one part, that does not mean the whole bridge is about to collapse.”

The city has scheduled renovations on the Brooklyn Bridge for 2010.

The other bridges receiving a poor rating are a pedestrian bridge across the FDR Drive at 78th Street and a crossing in Flushing Meadows Park across Willow Lake at 76th Road.

The state inspects the city’s bridges every two years and the city has invested $3 billion in the infrastructure in the last decade, with $2 billion more scheduled to be put into bridge rehabilition in the next few years.

Experts say local bridge safety has improved vastly over the last decade – with a total of 40 bridges in poor condition just 10 years ago.

“This is a once in a lifetime event, hopefully,” said Ghosn. “We don’t know what the cause of the accident was, but generally speaking our bridges are very safely designed.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s governor has ordered an immediate inspection of all bridges with a design similar to the one that collapsed in Minneapolis, killing at least four people during the evening rush.

Investigators are treating the site as a crime scene until an exact cause is determined but authorities say it appears to have been a structural collapse. Police fear the final death toll could be much higher.

“This is not a rescue operation any longer,” said Chief Jim Clack of the Minneapolis Fire Department. “It is a recovery operation, which means we move slower and more deliberately.”

“We are estimating anywhere from 20 to 30 people that could be unaccounted for, but that’s an estimate based on the number of vehicles that we are estimating to be on the bridge,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan. “So that’s a lot of estimates.”

Surveillance video released today shows the 40-year-old span crumbling into the Mississippi River, taking at least 50 vehicles along with it.

Senator Charles Schumer said Thursday that the incident in Minnesota should serve as a necessary wake-up call as the Senate considers $5 billion for bridge replacement and rehab across the country.

This from New York 1:

The circus has all the most popular attractions with them, including clowns, animals, jugglers, acrobats and trapeze artists.

“We have performers from the Ukraine, from Brazil, from China, you know we have it all here,” said Cole’s Bros. Ringmaster Chris Connors. “Different cultures – we are a giant melting pot on wheels, just like new York City, and that’s what makes us so perfectly wonderful here.”

“A lot of people see elephants and all sorts of animals on TV, like on all the animal stations and everything, but when they actually see them in person, it’s like an overwhelming experience,” said Cole’s Bros. elephant trainer George Hanneford III. “It’s a sensation.”

The circus will be in Coney Island until August 5th

Ths from NY1’s Jeanine Ramirez:

The barbed wire fence blocking the Williamsburg waterfront will soon be coming down, giving the community access to this area for the first time in more than a century. The fence sits on the site of the old Domino Sugar Factory – which closed in 2004.

The plant, once one of the world’s largest sugar refineries, will now be turned into housing.

“What’s best about New York is creating a community where people of diverse backgrounds, of diverse incomes, can live together and prosper as a community,” said Michael Lappin of the Community Preservation Corporation. “And this is what New York City is about. This is what the new Domino will be about.”

The not-for-profit Community Preservation Corporation is overseeing the development, along with the Katan Group, a private developer – which bought the factory after it shut down.

The Katan Group says it plans to invest more than a billion dollars to turn the former factory into 2,200 apartments, both rentals and condos. It says 30 percent of the apartments will be affordable for people making as little as $21,000 a year. Others will be set aside for seniors, moderate income earners, and those who can pay market rate.

Community activists say they are pleased with this news.

“This is the last hope of our community for affordable housing,” said community activist Luis Garden Acosta. “We’ve been under assault by the kind of development that only, practically speaking, responds to market forces.”

This from New York 1:

Standing with a crowd of supporters that included the Reverend Al Sharpton, City Councilman Charles Barron announced his campaign for Brooklyn borough president yesterday.

Barron says one of his priorities would be keeping housing affordable in the borough, and if elected he vowed to take care of the black community.

“Am I gonna be a borough president for all the people? Absolutely. But I’m letting you all know now. I’m taking care of black folk,” said Barron.

Barron has recently taken jabs at current borough president Marty Markowitz, dismissing him as a “cheerleader for Brooklyn.”

Markowitz’s term ends in 2009, and he can’t run again due to term limits.

New York 1 reports that an Olympic athlete has confessed to raping five women in city parks, including Prospect Park, over the last four years.

Police arrested 30-year-old Alvin Henry of Springfield Gardens Sunday.

According to the Associated Press, Henry admitted to attacking two women in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. 

The former sprinter for Trinidad and Tobago’s national Olympic team
was brought in after police matched him to a composite sketch.

"It did have something to do with contact that this individual had
with a victim," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "After he
victimized this young woman he did contact her, there was an exchange
of phone numbers."

Henry faces several charges, including rape and sexual abuse.

The latest happened on June 15th in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, when
he allegedly raped a woman at gunpoint. Police say he managed to
separate the victim from a male friend.

This from New York 1:

            
            
            
            Police have arrested a Queens man they say is a serial rapist who has struck five times in the last four years.

Alvin Henry, 30, of Springfield Gardens faces several charges, including rape and sexual abuse.

He was arrested Sunday after police linked a recent rape to four others.

Police say they were able to link Henry to five attacks on women –
the latest happened on June 15th in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, when he
allegedly raped a woman at gunpoint. Police say he managed to separate
the victim from a male friend and attacked her.

Henry is accused of raping a teenager in the park back in April.
Investigators say he also committed three rapes in two Queens parks.
Two happened in Roy Wilkins Park – one last month and one in August of
2003.

Another rape happened in Baisley Park in June of 2003.

This from NY1:

The city has put some new guidelines in place to help fight the infestation of the Asian Longhorned Beetle.

Any residents of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan who want to dispose
of tree branches or firewood will now have to schedule a pickup by the
Parks Department.

The Department of Sanitation will no longer be disposing of those
items. Officials hope it will slow the spread of the beetle, which
kills trees.

Residents in parts of Staten Island will also have to call for a pickup if their property has been quarantined.

To schedule a pick up, call 311 or log on to www.nyc.gov/parks.

This story by Luis Perez for Newsday:

Liviu Librescu’s coffin came Wednesday afternoon to a place he had never been.

In the heart of Borough Park, Brooklyn, the unadorned wooden coffin was shouldered by Jewish men who had not known the science professor, but whose fathers and grandfathers were, like Librescu, Holocaust survivors.

A community leader called Librescu a "hero of the Jewish people" and a former Virginia Tech student living in Manhattan arrived unannounced and said her former professor’s stand against a campus gunman on Monday did not surprise her.

Here, Librescu’s wife, far from her Virginia home, spoke to those who had never met him.

"He was a very human person. He was a hard man also. He wanted everybody to be 100 percent," said Marlena Librescu, 72, a small woman in a colorful knit sweater. "His life was only his family and his students."

Mourners inside the nondescript hall of Shomrei Hachomos Orthodox Chapels spoke in awe of Librescu’s reported efforts to block a gunman from entering his classroom, allowing an untold number of students to flee.

"We all know in our community that to save one life is to save the world," said City Councilman Dov Hikind, a frequent spokesman for the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, the largest in the nation. "Look at the final act of Professor Librescu."

Outside the building, the kaddish, the Jewish prayer of mourning, was hummed by hundreds as the coffin was placed into a black car. Some noted that the professor was killed on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

His body arrived in Brooklyn at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, a process facilitated by Rabbi Edgar Gluck, a member of the non-profit organization Chesed Shel Emes, which conducts burials for Jews around the world. Gluck said Librescu’s body was to be flown out of Kennedy Airport on Wednesday night and would be buried in a cemetery near Ranana, Israel, by sundown Thursday.

This from New York 1:

            
            
            
            Mathieu Eugene will remain on the ballot to fill the vacant City Council seat in Brooklyn.

A State judge rejected a lawsuit that called for Eugene to be removed from the race.

The lawsuit had claimed Eugene is ineligible to run again for the
seat that he won in a special election. He was never sworn in because
he failed to show documents proving he lived in the district at the
time of the election.

The City Council has called for another special election later this month to fill the seat.

Eugene is once again running and will face Harry Schiffman, a director at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.

This from NY1:

The state’s housing chief rejected Clipper Equities’ second attempt to buy Starrett City in Brooklyn.

The Housing Commissioner Deborah Van Amerongen says her office rejected the developer’s proposal Saturday, saying it does not protect the residents.

The original $1.3 billion plan to purchase Starrett City came under fire from advocates concerned over losing affordable housing in the neighborhood.

The commissioner says her agency believes Clipper wants to obtain market rates for almost 6,000 apartments, meaning rents would also go up for the subsidized housing.

Last month, federal officials rejected the deal over fears the new owners would not be able to keep the complex affordable.

This from New York 1:

For the first time in the city’s history, an African-American woman was appointed as the head of a major public library system Thursday.
Dionne Mack-Harvin will serve as executive director of the Brooklyn Public Library, the fifth largest system in the country.
She was voted in unanimously by the board of trustees earlier this week.
"I have to tell you Dionne earned her position the old fashioned way: she earned it, very, very simple," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
“My vision for Brooklyn Public Library is that every Brooklyn library will be the center of the community,” said Mack-Harvin. “We will increase access so that the library doors are open at all 60 of our locations when they should be."
Mack-Harvin started her career as a librarian at the Crown Heights branch more than a decade ago.

This from New York 1:

Residents rejoiced Sunday after blocking the construction of a
high-rise apartment building in their low-rise neighborhood in the
Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

After pressure from the Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors, a
proposed 12-story building that was to go up on a former parking lot on
42nd Street will instead be trimmed down to five and half stories.

The group calls it the first of many victories.

"We created an organization, Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors, to
mobilize this effort and push our elected officials to make that
change, and it worked,” said Ivette Cabrea.

"I think that when the community come united and unified against a
project with the same objectives they know they can accomplish a lot,”
said Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz.

The group says it plans to keep fighting what it calls "out of context development" in Sunset Park.

This from NY1:

A one time powerful political leader was found guilty Thursday of planning to solicit and then pocket contributions.

Clarence Norman Junior, the former head of the Democratic Party in
Brooklyn, was found guilty of one count of grand larceny, but was
acquitted of five other counts.

The jury deliberated for three days at Brooklyn Supreme Court before reaching the verdict.

This is the last of four criminal cases against Norman. In two of
those trials, he was found guilty of stealing funds from his own
re-election campaign and concealing contributions made to him.

He had been sentenced to two to six years in prison, but was out on bail fighting the remaining charges.

This from New York 1:

The Atlantic Yards redevelopment
project has been the subject of a lot of debate, but it is now finally
the subject of some construction.

The first stages of construction began Tuesday.

The first stage of the Forest City Ratner project includes
decontaminating a bus depot, which will be demolished and then replaced
by a temporary Long Island Rail Road yard. A giant platform will then
be built on top of it, which will support much of the new development.

"[We need to] get the site graded to begin some of the
infrastructure work on a temporary yards, to start demolishing
structures that’s on our property, and to also to begin to move
utilities," said James Stuckey, the president of the project.

Thirteen people who live or work within the project site have filed
a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to prevent their properties
from being taken through eminent domain, but the lawsuit that has yet
to be heard.

Those who have fought the planned Nets arena construction project were surprised to see work has begun at the site.

"What today is doing is making it clear to us that Forrest City
Ratner wants to use scare tactics against the people who live here and
send a signal to their investors that they are moving forward," said
Daniel Goldstein, a community activist.

"They have a license agreement to start some preparatory work, but
their agreement to own the rail yards is contingent on whether or not
they win the suit we brought against them," continued Goldstein. "And
we expect to win it, and if we win it, they cannot build the arena, the
super blocks, and they can’t build the towers.”

Construction of the new arena for the NBA’s Nets is scheduled to begin in the fall.

"[Forest City Ratner] cannot just come in and kick people and
businesses out of a well established neighborhood,” said another
community activist, Patti Hagan. “I mean right across the street here
is on the National Register of Historic Places. This is an historic
neighborhood."

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there’s no reason to wait to build the $4 billion arena.

"[I think it’s] good that construction is starting,” said
Bloomberg. “Some people are in favor, others aren’t. Brooklyn needs
housing, and jobs, and stores."

Stuckey would not comment on the lawsuits, but pointed out that
Forest City Ratner is abiding by the agreement it made to the community
to use a number of women or minority-owned contracting firms.

Stuckey also said 50 percent of the union workers come from the surrounding neighborhood.

The city and state have both given the project the go-ahead.
            
            
       

This from AM New York:

For gay couples and gay rights activists, it figures to be a day of celebration and lament. With the law in place, New Jersey is becoming one of just five states to offer all the legal benefits of marriage to gay partners.

The state, though, stopped short of calling the institutions marriage.

Civil unions emerged in New Jersey out of four years of litigation and a whirlwind few weeks of political dealmaking late last year.

In October, the state Supreme Court ruled that gay couples in the state were constitutionally entitled to all the benefits of marriage, but left it up to lawmakers to decide the details.

Instead of following Massachusetts, the only state that now allows gay couples to marry, the state Legislature chose to offer civil unions, as Vermont and Connecticut permit.

At least few hundred of the state’s estimated 20,000 gay couples _ those who have civil unions or marriages from other states or nations that allow them _ were automatically considered to be in civil unions in New Jersey at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Joan Hervey and Linda Geczi of Plainfield went to Canada to get married. For them, the recognition in New Jersey is mixed _ Hervey was glad to be getting the benefits of marriage, but is disappointed that New Jersey doesn’t consider them married.

“It’s just weird,” Hervey said. “It’s a weird place to be.”

The first civil union ceremonies were scheduled for the first minutes of Monday morning, when couples who have civil unions or marriages from elsewhere could reaffirm them in New Jersey.

At least one couple was planning such a ceremony. Steven Goldstein, the chairman of the gay political group Garden State Equality, and his partner Daniel Gross became the first gay couple featured on the wedding pages of The New York Times.

In 2002, the Teaneck couple had a wedding ceremony in Canada and a civil union ceremony in Vermont.

Goldstein said that even though he and Gross would have the benefits of a civil union in New Jersey because of their Vermont union, it might simplify matters in an emergency to have a certificate from New Jersey as well.

For couples who are not already in civil unions, there is a 72-hour waiting period after applying for a license _ just like with weddings.

Town halls in Asbury Park and Lambertville _ both communities known for welcoming gay residents _ were planning to open at midnight Sunday so couples could apply for licenses in time for ceremonies scheduled for early Thursday.

“It doesn’t necessarily matter to be first,” said Thomas Mannix of Asbury Park, who was planning one of the early morning ceremonies for Thursday with Kevin Pilla, his partner since 1983. “What is important is we want to take advantage of what’s being offered.”

The arrival of civil unions does not figure to end the debate over whether New Jersey should allow gay couples to marry, or even all the implications of civil unions themselves.

Some mayors, including Steve Lonegan of Bogota, have said they won’t perform civil union ceremonies. The state Attorney General’s Office says mayors can get out of performing the ceremonies if they don’t do any weddings, but if they take all wedding requests, they must take them from gay couples as well. Those who are picky about which weddings they perform are in a legal gray area, the state says.

Gay rights advocates say that making civil unions marriages would alleviate much of that confusion.

Conservative activists, though, are circulating petitions aimed at persuading lawmakers to amend the state constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. Voters would be required to have a say before the constitution can be amended.

Gay rights advocates, meanwhile, are promising to push the Legislature to allow gay couples to marry. Some are also considering filing lawsuits asking state courts to find that civil unions do not go far enough toward ensuring equal treatment for gay couples

This from NY1:

Residents of a massive Brooklyn apartment complex are rallying today to demand that it be kept affordable.

Starrett City – also known as Spring Creek Towers – went up for sale in December. Final bids are due in a few days.

Residents are calling on the city and state to stop any new owner from raising rents to market rate.

About 90 percent of the complex’s 12,000 residents are
rent-stabilized. A spokesperson for the current owners says the sale
won’t change that.

Starrett City is the country’s largest federally-subsidized rental housing complex.

This from New York 1:

The mayor’s office of film, theatre and broadcasting is warning
residents that live around the Brooklyn Bridge not to be alarmed this
week when military vehicles, army helicopters and a flood of people
swarm the area for a film shoot.

Officials say a scene from the movie "I am Legend" will be filmed near the span.

The office says Army and Coast Guard helicopters, mock police and
military vehicles, and more than a thousand extras will be used for the
film’s evacuation scene.

The action is set to get underway at around 4 p.m. Tuesday and continue on weekdays through the rest of the month.

The Future City Competition is this weekend in Brooklyn at Polytechnic University located at Six Metro Tech Center. Here’s an excerpt from the story in New York 1:

Dozens of seventh and eighth graders are taking part in the Future City Competition, an engineering program that lets students create miniature models of what they imagine the city will look like in the next century.

The 15-year-old contest is designed to foster teamwork and teach students that their actions are connected with the future…

The kids have been working on the projects every day after school and on Saturdays since September, learning some real world lessons.

“You have to do it to scale and you have to make sure it’s not too big, not too small,” said Empire City team member, Galina Espineo. “People are always putting in new buildings.”

Forty-four teams from 20 different schools, 15 from in the city, are competing in the regional competition, which takes place this weekend in Brooklyn at Polytechnic University.

The winning team will represent New York at the national finals next month in Washington, D.C., where the championship team will be awarded with a trip to Space Camp.

He was supposed to be playing BB King’s on New Year’s Eve but he’s appearing at the Apollo instead. This from New York 1:

The Godfather of Soul will get a New York-style tribute Thursday, when he lies in state at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Tomorrow afternoon and evening the public will get the chance to say their goodbyes to James Brown in person, starting at 1 p.m. His close friend Reverend Al Sharpton will deliver a sermon at 7:30 p.m.

The viewing brings Brown’s life and career full circle, since the Apollo is where he made his debut more than 40 years ago.

He will be buried in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, where dozens of fans gathered Tuesday to remember the rock legend.

There will be a private service for the family Friday in Augusta on Friday, led by Sharpton. Saturday, there will be a Homecoming Celebration at the James Brown Arena, which will be open to the public.

Brown died of heart failure Christmas morning at an Atlanta hospital, where he was being treated for pneumonia.

The revolutionary performer is often viewed as the inspiration for rap and funk music. His trademark dancing inspired other music greats, like Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger.

Sharpton, a longtime friend of Brown’s, says Brown was more than just an entertainer.

"I never had a father at home growing up, but I had James Brown,” said Sharpton. “I had him personally and I had him with the world. James Brown was not just a guy who made a lot of hits. He changed culture for us. He made the common man matter. We’ve lost more than an artist. We lost a way of life."

“He is one of few people that I have ever known that believed what he was doing,” said Brown’s personal manager Charles Bobbit. “He was all for children, all for America, and all for love."

Brown won several Grammies, including one for lifetime achievement. He was also one of the first artists inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Brown’s life was marred by drug addiction. He also spent time in prison in the early 1990s.

He was set to play BB King’s Blues Club in Times Square this weekend.

And, Director Spike Lee said Wednesday that he is on board to make a movie based on the singer’s life. The film, which will be produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment, is an authorized biography agreed to by Brown before his passing. Production could begin late next year.

Meanwhile, Brown’s widow says she hasn’t been allowed back into the home the couple shared.

Tomi Rae Hynie told the Augusta Chronicle that when she returned yesterday to the South Carolina home the couple shared, she found the gates padlocked and security guards barring her entrance.

Brown’s lawyer says the singer’s partner was locked out of their home for legal reasons. He says the couple was not legally married because Hynie was already married to another man when she married Brown in 2001, making her marriage to the singer null. Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown were never remarried.

Hynie says she does not own a deed to the house, but does have a legal right to live there with the couple’s 5-year-old son.

THIS FROM NEW YORK 1:

Brooklyn paramedics brought Christmas early to some of the city’s neediest children Sunday, continuing a tradition of their own.

For the past 17 years, EMT workers in Brooklyn have gone to the post office to read through the thousands of letters sent to Santa during the holiday season. They select about a dozen letters from the most unfortunate children, and then buy the gifts they want and deliver them in costume as Kris Kringle and his elves.

“We are able to save lives on a daily basis with our work as paramedics and EMTs but this is just a different way of touching a child’s life that normally you wouldn’t be able to do,” said paramedic Gary Smiley.

“This is the best Christmas ever,” said one gift recipient.

“I really can’t believe this,” added another grateful recipient. ”Thank you so much everybody for helping my family out.”

The EMT workers say the best part of the night is seeing the children’s faces light up when they realize Santa is real.

THIS FROM NEW YORK 1:

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly named Gerald Nelson the new Brooklyn North borough commander Tuesday.

Gerald Nelson, 54, is currently an assistant chief in charge of school safety.

Nelson is not the first black man to serve as a borough commander, but he will be the only one currently serving in that position.

“I’m looking forward to working here to working with the community and keep crime down and also look out for terrorism and working closely with the community and having an open door policy,” said Nelson.

At a press conference Tuesday at City Hall, some leaders said Nelson’s appointment is a good start, but they want to see more minorities promoted to higher office.

“One is good, but clearly one is not enough,” said Coucilmember Letitia James. “Particularly in a force where you have 38,000 officers. Someone of African American ancestry to the table, to a key leadership position is an important first step, but it’s just a first step.”

“The issue here is making sure we have individuals who understand the policies and experiences and their different cultures,” said State Senate member John Sampson. “Because at the end of the day, when we’re sitting at the table and trying to create and direct policies, we want individuals who have life experience to make those decisions.”

There has been a recent outcry to promote more minorities in the force, but Kelly insists he makes all appointments based on merit, not race.

Nelson will lead 3,500 NYPD employees in areas including Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and East New York. He will replace Joseph Cunneen who’s retiring today after 12 years at that position.

This story from New York 1 (ny1.com):

Rescuers in Oregon gave up any hope of finding a hiker from Brooklyn and his companion alive Wedmesdau.

The search effort is now considered a recovery mission rather than a rescue.

Icy conditions have already put Wednesday efforts on hold. That follows a week of on and off delays because of the weather.

Jerry Cooke of Brooklyn and his climbing partner, Brian Hall have been missing for over a week and a half. Searchers have found abandoned equipment and notes, indicating the men might have gotten lost while seeking help.

Fellow climber Kelly James was found dead late Sunday.

Rescuers say photos found in his camera showed the three men only had enough supplies for a few day

Breaking news from the Brooklyn Papers:
Delay on expected Atlantic Yards vote because Sheldon Silver has questions about the project’s financing. 

New York 1 is reporting that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) has delayed Wednesday’s expected vote on Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development because he “has questions” about the project’s financing.

The $4-billion project would require hundreds of millions in direct
and indirect public subsidies, but the actual size of the taxpayer
contribution to the project has never been released.

Silver, who controls one vote on the three-man Public Authorities
Control Board, has been feuding with Gov. Pataki, who supports the
project. In the recent past, Silver has used his PACB vote to block
other Pataki “legacy” projects, including the West Side stadium and the
Moynihan Station project.

Check brooklynpapers.com later in the day for the fully reported update.

This from New York 1:

The board of the Empire State Development Corporation is to vote Friday on whether to approve the $4.2 billion project plan for the Atlantic Yards project in Downtown Brooklyn.

The state agency will also decide on whether any condemnation orders are needed for the 22-acre site in Brooklyn.

The ESDC is likely to approve the deal, though the Public Authorities Control Board has the final say.

That board is likely to vote soon.

Hepcat thinks Steven Johnson is a very, very interesting. And he lives in Park Slope, too. There was something in the Times’ about him on Monday.

From the Times: In his recent book, “The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most
Terrifying Epidemic — and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the
Modern World” (Riverhead), Mr. Johnson explains how the mystery behind
the rapid spread of disease in the Golden Square area of London was
solved, largely by a local clergyman, Henry Whitehead, and a doctor,
John Snow. Through Whitehead’s knowledge of the residents and Snow’s
maps connecting the location of cholera deaths with street pumps in the
neighborhood, the disease was ultimately traced to a sick baby’s
diapers that contaminated a well on Broad Street.

Mr. Johnson,
38, brings this same street-level awareness to his latest Web site,
outside.in, which collects and displays information based on ZIP codes,
from a real-estate open house to a police report to a parent’s
impassioned opinion of a neighborhood school.

“Intuitively, we
make a huge number of decisions about what’s relevant to us based on
geography,” Mr. Johnson said during a recent interview in his home
office in Brooklyn. “All the time we think about, ‘I’m interested in
this restaurant or this school or this park because it’s near me.’ But
the Web traditionally has not been organized around geography. It’s
been organized around information space.”

Mr. Johnson did not
start writing “The Ghost Map” with a related Web site in mind;
outside.in took shape as he was finishing the book. Nor is this the
first time he has developed Web sites linked — in his own mind at least
— to books he was writing.

While working on “Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software” (Scribner, 2001) Mr. Johnson developed plastic.com,
a Web site where people could discuss pop culture, politics and
technology; it became among the first sites to feature content
generated by users.

His book “Interface Culture: How New
Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate”
(HarperSanFrancisco, 1997) coincided with his Web site, Feed, which
offered news and commentary. (Plastic is still online, but Feed is
not.) Mr. Johnson’s other books are “Everything Bad Is Good for You”
(Riverhead Books, 2005) and “Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the
Neuroscience of Everyday Life” (Scribner, 2004). He also teaches at New York University’s
journalism school, has written for Wired, Discover, and The New York
Times Magazine and is currently spending a month writing for
TimesSelect, an online commentary service of The Times.

This from New York 1:

The company that bought Sponge-bob Squarepants to adoring kids
everywhere could be a major player in the planned redevelopment of
Coney Island.

The television network Nickelodeon has expressed interest in being
part of the multi-billion dollar proposal to turn Astroland Park into a
year-round tourist attraction.

Viacom, the network’s parent company is talking with the site’s new
owners, Thor Equities about opening a nickelodeon-themed hotel. A
similar plan for Governors Island was shot down last month.

Thor Equities hopes to begin the approval process for the project
early next year. If all goes according to plan the new park could be
open for business by 2011.

Here’s a story. This from NY1:

Police investigating a suspicious shoebox behind the Spring Creek
Apartments on Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn were surprised to find a
Caiman inside.

Caimans are part of the Crocodile family. Animal control officials
believe the reptile was illegally obtained through mail order.

“I’m guessing that the owners of this pet realized that they got in
far beyond what they can handle and they did not know how to properly
deal with the situation,” said Ruth Allen of Brooklyn Animal Control.
“So instead of trying to be a responsible pet owner and do the right
thing, they decided to tie the animal’s mouth and dump him in the
garbage.”

Animal control officials say the animal was cold when it was
brought in. They’re keeping it warm under a heating lamp until they can
give it to the proper recovery facility.

This from New York 1:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is being sued for allowing furniture
giant Ikea to build a parking lot over a Civil-War-era dry dock.

The Municipal Art Society lawsuit calls for a review of the effects
the Ikea project will have on all historic properties in Red Hook,
Brooklyn.

The Society says the Corps’ alleged failure to properly review the
site will forever tarnish the neighborhood’s historic character. But an
Ikea spokesman says the project has undergone extensive review and this
lawsuit is just an attempt to delay redevelopment.

The project is part of a $100-million plan to restore the Brooklyn waterfront that will be paid for by Ikea.

THIS FROM NY1:
A small plane made an emergency landing on a ballfield in Offerman Park
in Brooklyn Tuesday morning, but no one was injured .

The incident happened just before 11 a.m. on Cropsey and 27th
Avenue in Gravesend. Police say the pilot requested an emergency
landing after experiencing engine trouble.

The single-engine Cessna landed safely in a field used by Saint
Francis College. Although no one was injured, the incident did scare
nearby residents.

"I was in my driveway on 16th Street and I looked up and I saw this
single engine plane wobbling back and forth. It looked like it was
going to hit the building, and then it tried to get back up," said
resident Thomas Tornetto. "It was wobbling and then it made a turn
right toward Pathmark and it came down this way and came over here, in
the weeds back there."

"The gentleman who was flying was very lucky, and I’m very glad
that nobody was injured," said resident Chuck Richenthal. "The plane
seems to be completely intact."

Sources say the single engine plane took off from Linden Airport.