Did you know that Brooklyn is the only borough of this great city that does not have a gay pride center? On Thursday, the steps of Borough Hall played host to a collection of Brooklyn heavy hitters to talk about plans to change that.
October 9, 2009 Boroughing, City Politics, Queer NewsIssue Project Room, an art collective based in Gowanus, lost Suzanne Fiol, the organization’s founding artistic director, to cancer on Monday. Ms. Fiol, 49, dedicated herself to creating an experimental, avant-garde space for performing and visual arts in Brooklyn.
October 6, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Music Profiles, Theater
In light of the increasing number of newly painted bike lanes, and the cars who like to defile them, we’ve created a list of new road rules for everyone to help prevent catastrophic crashes between bikes and cars.
September 15, 2009 Classic, Culture, Environment, The Locals, The People
The description for the Independent Media Voices panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival was slightly more in depth than the subsequent discussion between Amy Goodman (host, Democracy Now!), Pamela Newkirk (author of Letters From Black America), and Richard Nash (publisher, Soft Skull Press), moderated by Dennis Loy Johnson (publisher, Melville House Press). Though the speakers were a little bit disjointed after a last minute change that replaced zine guru Jessica Hopper with Mr. Nash, Ms. Goodman stayed on her point that the corporate media is in bed with war profiteers. Video after the jump.
September 14, 2009 Boroughing, Classic, Local/Readings, Multi/Media, Read Features, The Read, Video
The Brooklyn Book Festival set up shop in our literary left bank utopia on Sunday, and it was a typical day in Brooklyn: David Cross yelled about Jews, Amy Goodman yelled about war profiteers and then things got a little gay. Video after the jump.
September 13, 2009 Boroughing, Classic, Multi/Media, Read Features, Video
‘Tis the season for city elections, so in advance of the September 15 primary, Brooklyn The Borough has compiled a list of incumbents and challengers in this year’s contested City Council elections for Brooklyn. There are many challengers this year, and open seats in the 33rd and 39th districts have made for heated races. Issues surrounding sustainable development have driven many candidates out of the woodwork. The pro-development Brooklyn political machine is still alive but questions remain about whether candidates supported by the county’s party boss, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, will sustain themselves despite criticism for their ties to a machine that makes the money flow from Brooklyn based business interests. The term limits extension has also sparked a renewed political engagement in the borough. Many candidates who had planned on running for seats that would have been open before term limits were extended have chosen to challenge incumbents that voted for the extension. We’ve compiled detailed information on each race as well as fundraising totals as the candidates head into the final weekend of the campaign.
September 10, 2009 City Politics, The Locals
In fiscal year 2009, 311 records indicate Brooklyn had 4,042 complaints of bed bugs and 1,729 violations. These numbers place Brooklyn first among all boroughs in number of complaints, with over 50% more complaints than the next closest borough, Manhattan. Dr. Louis Sorkin, a bed bug expert and entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History, thinks the City should offer its residents more education on preventing the spread of these tiny terrors. Here’s the scoop on what to do if you find yourself with these unwanted house guests.
August 9, 2009 Boroughing, City Politics, Culture, Real Estate, The Locals, The People
Dollar Van Demos, a YouTube upstart founded by Brooklynite Joe Revitte, seeks out and promotes local singers by filming them in the most local form of transportation: the dollar van. Brooklyn’s next generation of talent could be belting it out next to you on your way to work.
August 9, 2009 Boroughing, Brooklyn Beats, Classic, Multi/Media, Music Profiles, VideoThis just in: an announcement at 10am tomorrow will bring news of the construction of a new pier on the Brooklyn waterfront offering direct ferry service between Brooklyn and Governor’s Island. Elected officials will gather at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park tomorrow morning to take pictures of themselves likely in front of shovels, probably wearing hard hats.
On a recent exploration of the island, Brooklyn The Borough had to take a train into Manhattan, where the ferry operates every half hour or so on the weekends. According to a state website, ferry service operates between Brooklyn and Governor’s Island on days when there are scheduled events. This weekend is apparently one of them as ferry service will be offered from Brooklyn’s Fulton Ferry landing.
July 21, 2009 City Politics, Real Estate, State Politics, The LocalsCity Comptroller, and Brooklynite, Bill Thompson kicked off his five-borough mayoral campaign swing on the steps of Borough Hall and his supporters were intent on emphasizing the comptroller’s average New Yorker credentials at the expense of his incumbent opponent, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
July 13, 2009 City Politics, The Locals
At first sight it’s obvious that the Gowanus Canal is filthy. Yet, residents continue to congregate around it, canoe across it, build vessels to tour it, and wonder if its beauty will ever again surpass its usefulness as an industrial center. Efforts to revitalize expansive industrial lots in the area have advanced, with bars, restaurants and music venues opening along Second and Third Avenues. Artists work in nearby studios, and the BKLYN Yard, a venue alongside the canal, draws young people from all over the city to afternoon dance parties, barbecues and swap meets on summer weekends. However, over 150 years of heavy industrial activity combined with sewage and storm water run-off, and its proximity to factories and gas refineries have made the canal a site of controversy since the Environmental Protection Agency announced in April that the waterway is a candidate for the Superfund National Priorities List.
July 8, 2009 City Politics, Classic, Real Estate, State Politics
As I lit my cigarette and Man in the Mirror wafted through the air, screams burst from the pedestrians standing on the opposite side of Joralemon Street. A hooded man in tattered rags with a dirt-encrusted face had emerged from the Borough Hall subway station with the intention of spooking the civilians.
July 3, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Classic, Culture, Music ProfilesIf the young hedonists of Brooklyn could have a cheerleader – one that works his mysticism in the form of a Marty Markowitz – it’s Mike Edison.
May 28, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Classic, Music Profiles“The title of the show comes from [the movie] Juno,” said New York Magazine Photo Editor Jody Quon, standing in the middle of St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo on Wednesday night. The opening night of the New York Photo Festival was already underway.
“It’s that moment when [Ellen Page’s character] tells her father that she’s pregnant and he says, ‘I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when,’ and that’s when she says, ‘I don’t really know what type of girl I am.’ So that’s the whole loop.”
May 15, 2009 Art n' About, Classic, The Art
“First off, there’s no question—in my humble opinion—that the literary center of New York has moved to Brooklyn,” said our oh-so-humble Borough President Marty Markowitz celebrating the Brooklyn Book Festival in the ornate lobby of Borough Hall this past Sunday. “The authors live here, the illustrators live here, and the energy—there’s that energy!—among residents of Brooklyn.” And of course, Marty is the first to throw a party for them.
September 16, 2008 Boroughing, Read Features, The Original BTB
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