Community Corner

Bridging Brooklyn: Your Weekly Roundup of Big Stories

Here's a rundown of stories from our sister sites that we thought were a good read.

What are the big stories going down in neighboring neighborhoods? Here’s a rundown of articles from the other Brooklyn Patch sites that we found either intriguing, amusing, shocking or just plain interesting.

Prospect Heights

Charter School Showdown!

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A plan to move a charter school into a building already housing two public schools has parents outraged. The city says that the building on Classon Avenue between Park and Sterling places, which already is home to P.S. 316 and M.S. 353 still has enough room to accommodate students from Explore Charter School. But parents of kids attending the two schools scoff at that claim, saying that the the school would make the facility an educator’s nightmare. A final decision is expected in March, so this story will likely keep heating up.

Bedford-Stuyvesant

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What Lies Ahead for the Sumner Armory?

Community members and politicians alike envision the massive Sumner Armory being partially converted to a community space with an athletic facility, but the Department of Homeless Services may have something else in mind. Currently, the armory serves as a homeless shelter, and some observers have cried foul at rumors that the DOH has begun setting up cots and other equipment in spaces that were being considered as recreational space. Locals envision the Sumner Armory being converted into a space similar to the Park Slope Armory. But that comparison may be more apt than locals realize, as it seems a protracted fight between various city agencies, locals and politicians may be on the horizon, just as occurred in Park Slope.

Park Slope

City: Prospect Park West bike Lane a Success!

The controversial Prospect Park bike lane has had its fair share of vocal detractors, but now its supporters can point to city statistics that show that the project has succeeded as a traffic-calming measure. The study found, among other things, that the number of speeding vehicles on the avenue have decreased from three in four to one in five, that the average number of crashes in a six-month period is down 16 percent, and that crashes causing injuries over a six-month period have dropped by a staggering 63 percent. But that hasn’t calmed lane opponents, who say the city has bad data. The opponents point to their numbers, which reflect a much different state of affairs in Brooklyn’s most discussed bike lane.

Carroll Gardens

Court Street Flooded!

Were you unfortunate enough to try and drive down Court Street on Wednesday? One of Carroll Gardens’ main thoroughfares between 1st and 2nd Place was flooded by a broken water main and part of the street caved in. (The city says the cave-in was not the result of the damaged water main — but then what in the world caused it?) By Thursday one lane of traffic was open while an assortment of city agencies, Con Edison and National Grid did work on the damaged street. 


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