The News | 8.5.10
A walk down Vanderveer Place in Flatbush might feel like a walk through a garden instead of a city street. And that's just what residents want. Yesterday, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens named the street the Greenest Block in Brooklyn. City Room said that flowers and plants burst from nearly every corner — lampposts, window boxes, front gardens, sidewalk trees and more.
The hotly debated bike lane on Prospect Park West seems to be doing its job. A survey conducted by Park Slope Friends found that only 25 percent of cars exceed the 30mph speed limit — opposed to 85 percent before the bike lane was constructed. A coordinator for the campaign told the Daily News, "Prospect Park West has been transformed from a noisy speedway on which nearly every vehicle was speeding to a calmer, quieter neighborhood street."
North Brooklyn Councilman Vito Lopez finds himself in the middle of a controversy surround his campaign funds. Other Assembly members believe that Lopez meddled in the city’s process awarding the Greenpoint Hospital site to a Queens-based group that contributed thousands of dollars to Lopez’s campaigns. The Brooklyn Paper details the exchanges of money.
Two adjacent properties on Nevins Street in Downtown, Brooklyn have been listed for $5 million. Buildings on the lots were torn down to make way for a Hyatt Hotel, so the listing surprised many, but a spokesperson for the owner downplayed it. "Our properties are always for sale. We are a merchant developer, a company that builds buildings and then sells them,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle.
It's no secret that our great borough is a popular place for creative types to live. Brooklyn has always attracted writers and artists, but now A-list actors and celebrities are joining the ranks. The New York Post broke down celebrity locations by neighborhood, so now you know who to look out for when you're walking down the street.
Photo credit: City Room
