Rabbit rabbit and happy October, everybody! We may not be fully back to the frenzied cacophony of our pre-COVID lives yet, but at least Halloween is decidedly back on this year — not only is the Village Parade happening again, but more importantly so is my favorite annual event, the Great Pupkin dog costume contest in Fort Greene Park. There are lots of “returning to some semblance of a social life” developments afoot: museums, restaurants, bars, theaters, and concert venues are blazing ahead full steam, and…
Department of Transportation kicks off McGuinness Boulevard redesign
The Department of Transportation sought input from drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists who frequent McGuinness Boulevard this week as they begin planning their $39 million redesign of the Greenpoint thoroughfare. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would be investing in a “full redesign” of the road in May, weeks after Matthew Jensen, a teacher at nearby PS 110, was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing the street. Neighbors and activists have raised concerns about …
What to do this week(end): Sept. 24 to Sept. 30
Leaf peeping is around the corner. Photo by Kirby Kizuki on Unsplash Welcome to the first official weekend of fall, the best season available around these parts. Yes, it is getting dark distressingly early, but on the other hand we’re right at the precipice of leaf peeping/apple picking/hot cocoa/sweater weather times. In these trying times, that’s enough to get excited about, provided that I can actually find a pair of my jeans that …
Brooklyn bike parking startup expands — mostly in New Jersey
Brooklyn-based bike parking pod company Oonee is growing its stable of publicly accessible and free bicycle parking rooms in New York City with an even bigger expansion in New Jersey, the company announced earlier this week. The transportation startup unveiled its first full municipal bike parking program in Jersey City while relying on private developers and state agencies for space here, as the Big Apple bureaucracy falls behind its Garden State counterparts, according to Oonee’s founder. “There’s no reason for New York City to continue to be a …
What to do this week(end): Sept. 17 to Sept. 24
Photo: Kelly Marshall Well, friends, there’s no escaping it… we’re fully back in the thick of it now. No more long, lazy summer days, no more ignoring work emails because the odds are good that at least someone on the chain is on vacation, and, sadly, no more holding out hope for summer 2021 to be the definitive turning point of this blasted pandemic. Yes, things are much better than they were at this time last year — I’m vaccinated and so is everyone else I know who is over 12, so why is it that I don’t actually feel better? Why is making and keeping plans so…
Your September Culture Calendar
Labor Day has come and gone and here we are in back-to-school mode, a phenomenon that seems to persist no matter how long you’ve been out of school or how uncertain we are about when life will actually get back to normal around here. I was on vacation for the past 2 weeks and studiously avoiding the news, but between the reports from Afghanistan, the storm in Louisiana, the fires in Tahoe, the flooding in Brooklyn, the rising COVID death …
Suspect sets off firework in Bed-Stuy building, smashes several cars before fleeing the scene
Authorities are looking for a suspect who attached a firework to an apartment door in Bedford-Stuyvesant early Friday morning. Members of the FDNY and NYPD responded to reports of smoke at 446 Madison St. at 7:45 am on Sept. 10, according to authorities, who say firefighters and police officers discovered that someone had set off a high-grade firework inside the apartment building. A preliminary investigation found that the suspect, who authorities would only describe as an unidentified man, also smashed 15 cars with a hatchet before he was stopped by a resident of the building. The suspect also is said to have family inside the unit. He fled the scene on a green dirt bike. The suspect allegedly damaged more than a dozen…
Letter from Vermont: adopting an abundance mindset
I usually find the final few weeks before Labor Day to be weirdly, and almost unbearably, melancholy. The weather starts to gesture toward fall, and the promise of early summer is gone. If you didn’t make it to the beach, will you? All those plans to swim every day, become an expert ice cream maker, and eat ripe berries with abandon either came to fruition, or they didn’t. This year though, all I see around me is abundance. Right now farms, orchards, and my own garden …
Brooklynites search for delivery man working in waist-deep floodwater from viral video
Investigative-minded Brooklynites are searching for a delivery worker captured in a viral video wading through waist-deep flood water while delivering grub in Williamsburg during Wednesday night’s torrential downpour — hoping to give the hard-working hero a hefty $1,700 tip. Johnny Miller shared the harrowing video on his Twitter account @UnequalScenes after he saw the delivery man’s extraordinary effort to push his e-bike through the water at Roebling and N. 11th streets just after 10 pm. And through it all! @Grubhub delivery still out there bringing your dinner #ida #flooding #brooklyn pic.twitter.com/2baP69JXhW — …
What to do this week(end): Aug. 13–19
How ya feelin’, Brooklyn (besides, obviously, HOT as all hell)? As per usual these days, there’s been a lot to digest in the past week or so, whether it’s confusing new COVID guidance, the conclusion of the weirdest Olympics in memory, a truly terrifying report on climate change, a new governor in Albany, or the long-awaited emancipation of Britney Spears! It’s tough to feel grounded about anything when both the immediate and long-term future feels so opaque—my office has pushed back it’s September reopening indefinitely, a friend’s wedding in New Orleans next month seems back up in the …
Transit worker shot with BB gun while working in Midwood
A city Department of Transportation worker was injured early Friday morning after he was shot by a BB gun while working in Midwood, according to police. It was reported at 8:25 a.m. on Aug. 13, a male DOT worker was at East 19th Street and Avenue L helping repair a sidewalk’s handicap access when he noticed that he was shot in the chest with a BB gun. At this time, the NYPD could not provide a description of
Road tripping to ‘Psychic Town USA’ in southwestern New York is truly a spiritual experience
Lily Dale, the 142-year-old Spiritualist community in the southwestern corner of New York, is a bucket-list destination for those who want to disconnect from this world, and—with a little help from any one of the town’s cabal of registered, committee-verified, psychics, mediums, and healers—reconnect with dead loved ones in another. But before you get here, your journey begins with a pit stop in Watkins Glen—the drive from NYC to Lily Dale is almost seven hours straight, so breaking it up into two halves is highly recommended. Plus, doing a little forest bathing in the breathtaking, soul-cleansing, head-clearing Watkins Glen State Park, feels…
Power Women Podcast: Chivona Newsome, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter Greater NY
Chivona Newsome, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter Greater NY, speaks of the people who impacted her early life, her role as Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter Greater NY, and what are her secrets to success. When searching for Power Women Podcast on your podcast networks make sure to click subscribe to automatically receive each new weekly episode or you can stream us online at podcasts.schnepsmedia.com. Produced by Chaya Gurkov and Eric Hercules
What to do this week(end): July 16–22
Hooray for Friday, even if we are smack in the middle of the hottest, stickiest dog days of summer—with sort of staccato interjections of extreme weather events that mean that people in the Bronx are jet skiing in the street on a day when Brooklyn hardly gets any rain. After a brief hiatus, the mice that took up residence in my apartment during the winter months are back. So, I’ve spent too much of my recent days literally trying to build a better mousetrap, which …
Flatbush church at home in old Rialto Theatre seeks new tenant for historic building
A century-old Flatbush building, which once housed a movie palace, is looking for a new tenant to bring a renewed lease on life to the joint. The building, 1085 Flatbush Ave., now houses the Cortelyou Road Church of God, which owns the building and wants to rent out most of the 15,000-square-foot space and keep a sliver for itself. For more than half a century, the building was home to the Rialto Theatre, from 1916 to 1976. Since then, it has been the location of various houses of worship. The building …
What it’s like going back to the movies at 3 beloved Brooklyn cinemas
Going to the movies is like visual Xanax for me; I love the experience almost as much as I love the movies themselves—phone off, world off, sipping a Diet Coke the size of my head, air-conditioning at goosebump levels, in front of a giant screen. There was a lot of heartbreak in 2020, a lot of things more tragic than not being about to pay $15 to view a blockbuster. But I just missed having movie theaters as a place to escape it. Now that cinemas are back open again, however, it’s important to recognize that not all of them are open in the same way. With movie theaters as with people, each one is at a different stage in …
Elected officials pitch additional fed funds for NYCHA
Elected officials toured NYCHA’s Red Hook Houses on Thursday to highlight the deteriorating conditions inside the apartments, and to demand more federal funding for the city’s public housing system. US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nydia Velázquez, along with state Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, demanded a greater financial allocation from President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan — saying the currently-proposed $40 billion toward public housing is the US would need to be at least doubled. “For far too …
What to do this weekend: Fourth of July edition
After one of the hottest stretches in memory, we are heading into a holiday weekend that looks, well, a little iffy weather-wise. If you were regretting not planning a nearby getaway before all the Airbnbs booked up, take solace in the fact that tomorrow looks like a washout, and you’re probably better off saving your cash and sticking around here anyway. And, as anyone who has lived here for a while can tell you, a holiday weekend…
14 alleged members of violent Flatbush street gang arrested in takedown
Fourteen Flatbush gang members are behind bars, as Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced the arrests of several members of the so-called “Babiiez” crime syndicate, who are allegedly responsible for at least 11 shootings. None of the arrested individuals are older than 21, but prosecutors hit them with an 81 count indictment, including charges for conspiracy to commit murder and possess weapons. “It is disturbing that young people in our communities are engaged in the type of brazen and senseless gun violence described in this indictment,” Gonzalez said in a statement. …
What to do this week(end): June 11–17
Greetings on this Friday following my first official, in-person work event in 15 months. It happened last night and involved staying out way too late after allowing a coworker who was born when I was in college to buy not one, but two rounds of ill-advised shots. Should I have left earlier? Sure, but this is pretty on brand for my pandemic reemergence so far—everything still feels a little rusty. While it is wonderful to have options and the ability to travel and connect with people, so far the whole thing feels less “hot vax summer,” and more “I need to…
City to invest $39 million to redesign deadly McGuinness Blvd
The city is pledging $39 million to “fully redesign” McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, where a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a public school teacher last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday. “Vision Zero has made New York City safer and more livable — but its work isn’t finished until corridors like McGuinness Boulevard are improved for everyone who uses them,” the mayor said in a statement. “We can change this city’s streets for the better and forge a better Greenpoint for generations of Brooklynites to come.” Matthew Jensen, an educator at Greenpoint’s PS 110, was crossing McGuinness on May 18 when he was fatally struck by…
What to do this week(end): June 4–10
Cheers, on this first Friday in June, and wowie zowie, a lot has changed around here since my last dispatch! The BB inbox is positively flooded with emails from concert venues, comedy clubs, restaurants, bars, and PR folks promoting all kinds of events. And it really looks like it’s shaping up to be the banner summer that we’ve all been so cautiously keeping our fingers and toes so tightly crossed for. Honestly, it feels great, so great even that I’ll ignore for a minute the fact…
Where to score sweet deals in Brooklyn on National Donut Day
Sweet! It’s National Donut Day, and Brooklynites with a sweet tooth are in luck. Many of the borough’s beloved bake shops are offering deals on select donuts to mark the occasion, held each year on the first Friday of June. The annual celebration dates back to 1938, when The Salvation Army in Chicago hosted a “National Donut Day” event to honor those of their members who served donuts to soldiers during World War I. Now, with an estimated 25,000 donut shops across the country making over 10 billion donuts …
What to do this week(end): May 14–20
Hey hey hey on this glorious Friday, when I’m finding it impossible to focus on anything other than the perfect weather and the fact that the CDC says I can 86 the mask! Sorry, work meetings, but today I’ve got better things to do, like fantasizing about air travel and bars and yoga classes and pedicures and music festivals! I talk a big game but of course this is all counterbalanced against some intense mental health fallout from the …
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