Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Ruling clears the way for potentially thousands of recipients of controversial police techniques to find redress in the justice system.
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, D-Fort Greene, reacted to a court ruling Wednesday by a Brooklyn Federal Court judge allowing for the broadening of lawsuits brought against the New York Police Department for the use of stop-and-frisk techniques. The ruling by Judge Shira Scheindlin clears the way for class action lawsuits potentially involving thousands of people on the receiving end of the controversial police stops throughout the five boroughs. "The decision by a federal judge today to grant class action status to a stop-and-frisk case clearly demonstrates yet again that the program routinely violates the Fourth Amendment rights of hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers each year," Jeffries said in a statement. Jeffries has been a …
Both pitfalls and positives seen from opening of mega-arena in September.
As a resident, Terry Greiss is one of many neighborhood voices that have been critical of Atlantic Yards redevelopment, including the still-rising Barclays Center. But as executive director of Fort Greene's Irondale Center, Greiss' feelings about the mega-project are decidedly more mixed—a sign of the many challenges and opportunities awaiting small local cultural venues as the September opening date for the 18,000-seat arena draws closer. "The jury is out about whether it’s going to be a good thing or a bad thing," Greiss said of Barclays' imminent arrival. On the one hand, Greiss said, the prospect of thousands of ticket-buyers descending on the neighborhood was an exciting one. However, for venues like Irondale, its neighbors at South …
"It's called gratitude. And that's right."
State Sen. Daniel Squadron honored Beastie Boys founder Adam "MCA" Yauch with a resolution on the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon, recognizing Yauch's and the Beastie Boys' major contributions to music, as well as Yauch's political activism on behalf of "humanist issues locally and around the world." Yauch, who succumbed after a long battle with cancer of the salivary gland on May 4, grew up on State Street near Court Street on the fringes of Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights. Yauch learned to play the bass guitar and performed his first show with the Beastie Boys at age 17. The group rose to prominence via the East Village and Lower East Side music scene, eventually putting out the first hip hop album to top the charts and continued to …
Inaugural session of Professional Development Program will focus on dance.
The soon-to-be-completed Richard B. Fisher Buiding has already booked its first tenant. The latest addition to the Brooklyn Academy of Music campus will soon host the first session of the BAM Professional Development Program—a 14-week intensive program that includes training and access to affordable performance and practice space. With this year's session focused on dance, the first six companies selected by a BAM panel to participate are Brighton Ballet Theater, Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre, Gallim Dance, LAVA, LEIMAY and Tiffany Mills Company. The program begins June 11. In a statement, BAM president Karen Brooks Hopkins lauded the program, as well as the reconstructed and repurposed building at 321 Ashland Place that will be the PDP's …
Event at Brooklyn Public Library seeks to build self-esteem and creativity.
1. A group of Clinton Hill 4th, 5th, and 6th graders interested in exploring and developing their artistic skills will have an opportunity to participate in a six week workshop starting today. Clinton Hill Library, 380 Washington Ave. 4:30 p.m. Free. 2. The wonderful and talented Jamie Philbert teaches a Free and Creative Movement class at one of Fort Greene's most dynamic—and still pretty new-ish—dance studios. Cumbe, 558 Fulton St. 9:45 a.m. $16. 3. It's "Suddenly Seymour" all over again at this screening of Frank Oz's film version of Little Shop of Horrors. Q&A with Oz follows. BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave. 6:50 p.m. $12. 4. Fort Greene's own independent press Ig Publishing celebrates 10 years of publishing "original literary …
Tell us what you think of this Fort Greene coffeeshop.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Measure covering workers at city-owned and subsidized buildings clears final legislative hurdle to become law.
The City Council voted Tuesday to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg's veto of a prevailing wage bill covering dozens of workers at city-owned and subsidized buildings. Though an exact tally was not yet available, the effort cleared the necessary two-thirds hurdle of support necessary to be passed into law in a vote earlier this afternoon. A key sponsor of the bill, Councilwoman Letitia James, D-Fort Greene, dismissed the Mayor's contention that the legislation would hurt job growth before casting her vote to override his veto. "With a growing number of New Yorkers unemployed or underemployed, I have difficulty interpreting the opposition to living wage as anything more than a divisive scare tactic," James said. "New York City’s unemployment…
Man expected to pull through after getting shot once in the abdomen on May 10 in Cuyler Gore Park.
This blotter was compiled from information provided by the New York Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Robberies Assaults
New stadium appended to busy station's name
Get ready for slight change in subway announcements. The MTA has begun including the soon-to-open Barclays Center to official information on its website, the New York Post reported. The listing for the nearby Atlantic Avenue station now appears as "Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center" on individual subway line maps, as well as to the overall map of the system.
The first clinic dedicated to treating non-FDNY 9/11 responders is funded by the Zadroga Act.
The first clinic dedicated to treating non-FDNY 9/11 responders living in Brooklyn who suffer from mental and physical ailments related to exposures at Ground Zero opened Monday. "For the first time the World Trade Center Health Program will have a facility in Brooklyn, New York where many of our first responders will have access to specific medical attention they need due to serving us on 9/11," said Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. Stony Brook University's Long Island Clinical Center of Excellence (LI-CCE), part of the World Trade Center Health Program, expanded Monday to a new clinical site at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. FDNY 9/11 responders are treated through the Fire Department of New York Responder Health Program also developed by …
Jenny
4:28 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
this is an interesting take on how people will be affected. it's complicated. more ›