The Day: Spike Lee's Former Home Vandalized and a New Charter School

Bare branches silhouetted by a sunny winter sky in the neighborhood. (Photo by Oswaldo Cabrera)

Good morning, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

The neighborhood got a dusting of snow last night, and another half inch is expected to fall today, according to the National Weather Service. Let’s hope March goes out like a lamb this year.

Here’s some local news to start your week:

Spike Lee’s former home in Fort Greene and two neighboring houses were vandalized on Friday, reported NY1 and the New York Daily News. Three days after Lee’s controversial remarks about gentrification, someone spray-painted “Do the Right Thing,” a possible reference to his 1989 movie of the same name, on the stoop of the brownstone where Lee’s father lives and also on the facade of the brownstone next door. The window on another neighbor’s door was also broken. Neighbor Dianne Mackenzie, whose home was vandalized, told the Daily News, “I’m sure it’s directly connected with the remarks he made.”
The New York City Department of Education will proceed with its plans to open a charter school next year in M.S. 113 on Adelphi Street, reported DNAinfo. Compass Charter will open this fall with its first class of kindergarteners and first graders. Last year, parents and teachers said they were against the proposal when they learned some M.S. 113 students would be moved out to make room for the charter school students. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg approved the proposal at the end of his term, which Bill de Blasio said he would review when he took office.
A large Manhattan landlord, RXR Realty, purchased the 75-year lease of the 650,000-square-foot office building at 470 Vanderbilt Avenue near the Barclays Center for $200 million, reported Crain’s New York Business. The former leaseholder, GFI Development, paid just under $50 million in 2007 a subsequent $70 million renovating the property.