Ousted Politician Cruises in Campaign-Finaced Mercedes, Shopkeepers Embrace Street Art With Murals & More of Today’s Links

Ousted Politician Cruises in Campaign-Finaced Mercedes, Shopkeepers Embrace Street Art With Murals & More of Today’s Links
The Williamsburg Bridge silhouetted against the setting sun this weekend (Paul Stremple/BKLYNER)

Whether or not Ben Stiller showed up at your house to canvas this week, we hope you braved the rain and the long lines and made it out to vote today! (If not, you have ’til 9:00 pm tonight to make your voice heard.)

Of course, even with all eyes focused on the polls tonight, there’s always something happening in Brooklyn—catch up on things you might’ve missed during Midterm fever…

Jesse Hamilton, who was defeated by Zellnor Myrie for the Democratic nomination for State Senate in Brooklyn’s 20th District, won’t be returning to his seat—but he will be cruising in a Mercedes purchased with campaign funds, it appears.

Assemblymember William Colton put the MTA on notice, accusing agency leaders of wasting money to beautify stations without improving service at the Kings Highway station in Gravesend.

In the weeks after explosive devices were sent to politicians and journalists in New York and across the US, the NYPD Bomb Squad was called out to Bay Ridge to investigate a box of grenades—that were thankfully inactive.

Smith Street merchants are embracing street art! In an effort to bring traffic to their shops, merchants commissioned a mural on their storefronts. Some can remember the era of tags covering every inch of the city, but nowadays, plenty of business people are embracing the art form—like the giant mural on an East Flatbush development embracing the neighborhood’s diversity or the community mural in Sunset Park that went up this summer.

In another neighborhood, the writing was on the wall as soon as a sandwich shop owner was outed as an alleged “Proud Boy”—Sands in Williamsburg has shuttered, though the owner denies association with the hate group.

A Manhattan photo editor has selected 250 photographs of Kings County for the new book “Brooklyn Photographs Now,” which celebrates the borough’s best contemporary shots—it launches next week at Word bookstore in Greenpoint.

Frustrated with the lack of intersectional representation at the 2017 Women’s March, a Brooklynite launched the Asian American Feminist Collective in Prospect Heights to build community and advocate for a group that’s often politically overlooked.