I was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. My life's journey has led me to Colorado, Oregon, Prague, Cambodia, South Korea, Chicago and Washington, DC. Now on my second Brooklyn stint and eager to
Business
Cookie’s Department Store is one of the shopping highlights on the Flatbush Avenue BID. (Justin Mitchell/Bklyner)FLATBUSH – The wave of rapid development sweeping over Brooklyn is hitting the Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District, but that does not make it immune to the issues facing other neighborhoods that we
bergen beach
The Army Corps of Engineers gives a presentation on its ongoing study on protecting the region from severe storms. (Justin Mitchell, BKLYNER).CANARSIE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shared its latest report on an ongoing study about how to best improve New York and New Jersey’s defenses
Bay Ridge
Vacant storefronts on 86th Street in Bay Ridge on February 28, 2019. (Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).BAY RIDGE – Last December, City Councilmember Justin Brannan wrote an Op-Ed [https://brooklynreporter.com/2018/12/guest-op-ed-store-for-rent/]giving voice to widespread concern in his district, which covers Bay Ridge, Bath Beach and parts of Dyker
Bay Ridge
NEW YORK – Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that Coney Island will finally get ferry service as part of a Coney Island-Bay Ridge-Manhattan route. “Every day millions of us lose minutes, sometimes hours, just getting to work or to school or wherever we have to be,” de Blasio said during
Business
Signs were taken down throughout the city by business owners fearing fines. (Photo: Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).City Councilmember Rafael Espinal’s Awnings Act [https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3458219&GUID=B0C7E025-D09E-4A05-A48B-7BCB7EBE7E33&Options=&Search=] overwhelmingly passed the City Council Wednesday, providing relief to small businesses
Food & Drink
The Bookery is located at 462 36th St in Sunset Park. (Photo: Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).SUNSET PARK — Near Greenwood Cemetery, nestled in a glass-lined space just off Sunset Park’s 5th Avenue business corridor sits Bookery, a recently-opened coffee shop with a literary bent. “I am the type of person
community
The Sheepshead Bay United Methodist Church is adding support to its steeples and doing extensive internal and external renovations. (Photo: Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).SHEEPSHEAD BAY – The Sheepshead Bay United Methodist Church is asking for the community’s help. With its 150th birthday looming this year, the church, located at 3087
bath beach
It’s easy to lose track, so we have compiled the openings from this fall, roughly south of the Park. Please do let us know whom we missed in the comments. OPENINGS: Tanoshii Ramen, 7718 5th Avenue, Bay Ridge This ramen place had a soft opening in December. The management
Big Story
City Councilmember Rafael Espinal speaks in front of City Hall on December 5. (Justin Mitchell/BKLYNR).City Councilmember Rafael Espinal’s bill to provide relief from the signage crisis sweeping the city [/merchants-take-down-signs-as-panic-over-fines-sweeps-city/] has been finalized, his office said Thursday. Espinal introduced the Awnings Act to combat onerous signage fees
Development
The iconic steeples of the Sheepshead Bay United Methodist Church are undergoing repairs. The entrance to the adjacent Russian Orthodox St. John the Forerunner Cathedral is at the right. (Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).SHEEPSHEAD BAY – Passers-by may notice the cables propping up the steeples to a church at the corner of
Business
Councilmembers Rafael Espinal (left) and Carlos Menchaca (right). (Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).BROOKLYN — Despite being out front handling Brooklyn residents’ confusion and outrage [/officials-take-action-amid-outrage-over-signage-fines/] over a wave of signage violations sweeping the city in recent months [/merchants-take-down-signs-as-panic-over-fines-sweeps-city/], City Councilmembers Rafael Espinal and Carlos Menchaca both sponsored a bill last year that
Bay Ridge
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams speaks in front of City Hall on Wednesday, December 5, 2018. (Justin Mitchell/BKLYNER).NEW YORK – From City Hall to Sunset Park, city officials scrambled this week to help constituents caught up in the wave of sign and awning violations sweeping the city, [/merchants-take-down-signs-as-panic-over-fines-sweeps-city/] which
Business
KarVer around its opening in August 2017. (File).BROOKLYN – Just over a year after opening in Sheepshead Bay [/karver-bakery-cafe-opens-sheepshead/], KarVér Brasserie & Bakery Cafe has closed at that location and another on Livingston Street that just opened earlier this year. [/karver-korilla-open-outposts-downtown-brooklyn/] The owners say they will be back, but in
Bay Ridge
Salahi Deli’s new sign has a deeper backstory. Justin Mitchell/Bklyner.BROOKLYN – A local business in Ditmas Park got an eye-catching new look last week, when Salahi Deli substituted the awning it had used as a sign for almost three decades with a graffiti-style design painted directly onto its
Bensonhurst
Several street homeless men huddle together in Borough Park as it snows on Thursday, November 15. (Justin Mitchell/Bklyner).BOROUGH PARK – As the first snow of winter 2018 dumped on Borough Park Thursday afternoon, a handful of men stood huddled beneath a small awning at 61st Street and Ft. Hamilton
Bensonhurst
Piles of trash are an ongoing problem on this strip of 61st Street between 8th and 15th Avenues. (Justin Mitchell/Bklyner).BOROUGH PARK / SUNSET PARK – Food containers, industrial lights, protective diapers, tiles—one stretch of the sidewalk next to the tracks carrying the N-train through southwest Brooklyn is an ongoing