Briefly Noted: Dognapped Pup Found, Menchaca Plays Baby, City Halts Demo Of Bowne Building Again & More
- On Thursday, NYC DOB once again issued a Stop Work Order on the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse in Red Hook due to “unsafe demolition,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports. Last week, crews demolished “a significant portion of a wall on the south end” of the building, according to the article. Back in March, the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition held a press conference to protest the developer’s planned demolition of the historic building at 595 Smith Street. The building suffered damage following a fire last June which Council Member Carlos Menchaca called “highly suspicious.”
- Curbed takes a pictorial tour of Red Hook’s industrial past which includes images of the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse building.
- Speaking of Carlos Menchaca, the Council Member donned a gown and reenacted a scene from Dirty Dancing at Cora Dance‘s fundraising prom event last month.
- DOT’s $3 billion plan to build a six-lane highway next to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade during the rehabilitation of the BQE triple-cantilever will likely not happen, said Carlo Scissura who heads the expert panel enlisted to study the repair options. While the plan is not officially dead, Scissura told the New York Daily News that it “lacks enough political support to clear the City Council and the state Legislature.”
- NYC officially begins enforcing the styrofoam ban today, prohibiting restaurants from using single-use styrofoam containers and other businesses from using or selling styrofoam packing materials. The ban actually went into effect on January 1st, but the city granted a six-month grace period to allow businesses to phase out the foam products.
- The NYC Department of Health will visit bars and nightclubs across North Brooklyn to educate patrons about the discovery of fentanyl-laced cocaine in the city and to distribute Narcan—overdose-reversal kits—to business owners.
- A sad day for movie lovers: the Brooklyn, New York, and Queens Public Libraries have stopped offering Kanopy, the free movie steaming service. “We’ve had to make the difficult decision to discontinue the service on July 1,” a Brooklyn Public Library press release reads. “Unfortunately, rising costs made it unsustainable.”
- Hundreds turned out to Bed-Stuy on Sunday for Spike Lee’s annual block party. This year the event celebrated the 30th anniversary of the director’s classic Do The Right Thing which was filmed in the neighborhood. Check out photos of the festivities at Gothamist.
- A mysterious, high-pitched tone is driving residents of a Bed-Stuy block “bonkers.” While DEP suspects the sound may be coming from a rooftop compressor for a building’s air conditioning system, city officials and locals have not been able to pinpoint, or stop, the nerve-wracking noise yet.
- A Crown Heights resident’s 15-year-old Chihuahau was dognapped during off-leash hours at Prospect Park on Saturday morning. While posting “lost dog” flyers around Gowanus on Sunday, the dog’s owner told the Daily News that she spotted a couple walking her pooch, so she and her friend stole him back from the unsuspecting pair.