Neighbors - Bklyner

Taylor & Co. Books Plans To Reflect Ditmas Park's Diversity

"I hope to offer something that is representative of the neighborhood at large so that anyone, whether you're coming from the mosque on Coney Island Avenue, or studying ancient Hebrew, whether you're looking for a comic or Japanese manga (..) I want it to be as diverse as this neighborhood is."

Neighbors

AdaptAbility Makes Bicycling Possible For Individuals With Special Needs

AdaptAbility is a non-profit organization that builds, donates and rents adapted bikes to kids and adults with disabilities unable to use standard bikes. It was founded three years ago by neighbor Sandra Alfonzo.

Business

A Noisy “Ghost Bodega” in Gowanus Delivers Headaches to Neighbors

A lot on 6th Street in Gowanus, where food refrigeration trucks operated Reef Technology and Fresh Direct are generating noise complaints from neighbors living in adjacent buildings. (Image: Billy Richling/Bklyner)A tech company’s effort to get into the food delivery game is delivering nothing but headaches to some

Central Brooklyn

Community Leaders Remember Dr. Roy A. Hastick, Sr. With A Flatbush Street Co-Naming

Friends and Family Gathers and elected officials gather to honor the late Dr. Roy A Hastick Sr. Mukta Ahmad/BklynerFamily, friends, and elected officials gathered in front of Caton Flats – the 225 unit affordable housing project on the corner of Caton [/800-flatbush/] and Flatbush Avenues championed by Dr. Roy A

Business

Remembering The Prince Of Mermaid Avenue

Jimmy Prince on the boardwalk. Photo by Orlando Mendez, with permission.Jimmy Prince, the beloved butcher of Mermaid Avenue, died on Monday, May 3, 2021, aged 89. He was, for sixty years, the butcher at Major Markets Prime Meats located at 1516 Mermaid Ave. James Prince was born on April

Health

Brooklyn Doctor Under Investigation in Sha-asia Washington’s Death During Childbirth

By Claudia Irizarry Aponte, THE CITY. This article was originally published [https://www.thecity.nyc/health/2021/4/29/22411019/brooklyn-doctor-investigation-sha-asia-washington-childbirth-death] by THE CITY [https://www.thecity.nyc/] A former Woodhull Hospital anesthesiologist is under investigation by the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct in connection with the

Arts & Culture

Bay Ridge Celebrates Ramadan with Lights for the First Time

“Happy Ramadan from Balady” lights up 5th Avenue between 72nd Street. and Ovington Ave. Mukta Ahmad/BklynerRamadan began last week and for the first time in the history of New York City, Muslims got their own Ramdan lights in Bay Ridge. The twenty blocks along 5th Ave from 65th Street

canarsie

A Year Without Knocking: Jehovah’s Witnesses Connect With Neighbors

Like most of the city’s gathering spaces, worship centers for Jehovah’s Witnesses – a group with nearly 10,000 members in Brooklyn alone – closed their doors indefinitely last March. Since then, congregants have done most of the work of being a Witness at home, where they’ve gathered over

Business

Chef Katsu Opens in Clinton Hill Thanks to Neighborhood Support

The restaurant opened in part thanks to support from its Clinton Hill neighborhood. Photo courtesy of Chef Katsu.When Chef Katsutoshi “Katsu” Machida and his wife, Chiemi Machida, moved into their Clinton Hill apartment sixteen years ago, they had no idea that they’d one day open up a restaurant

Arts & Culture

Park Slope Record Store Changes Owners, Bets On Vinyl

Chris Lentz at his store. Lucas Miller/BklynerIn an era where any song is just a few taps away on your preferred streaming app, independent record stores feel like a relic. So when Jason Figel decided to retire after running Music Matters in Park Slope for 22 years, he was

Bensonhurst

NYPD Promises More Plain Clothes Cops To Combat Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

Photo via NYPDYesterday, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea met with Brooklyn’s Asian community in Sunset Park to talk about the approaches the NYPD will be taking to protect them, following last week’s announcement by Mayor Bill de Blasio that the city will be deploying more police officers in heavily

Business

Brooklyn’s Mirimus A Winner in XPRIZE Covid Testing Competition

The CEO Prem Premsrirut in the lab. Courtesy of Mirimus.Brooklyn-based company Mirimus, Inc. [http://mirimus.com/] was recently named one of five winners in the XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing competition, a national competition for those who are working to advance COVID-19 testing. Mirimus has been awarded a $500,000

COVID-19

Across Brooklyn, Providing Emergency Food Remains a Challenge

The Brooklyn Nets Food Pantry at PS/IS 308 on January 15, 2021 in Brooklyn, New York (Image: Michelle Farsi)Even as service providers and food pantries across the city have stepped up to meet the surge in demand for free food prompted by the pandemic, several parts of Brooklyn

community

Opinion: Will I Be the Next Anti-Asian Hate Crime Victim?

April Somboun with her children. Courtesy of April Somboun.By April Somboun [https://www.aprilsomboun.com/], candidate for City Council in District 33. It’s appalling. For the last few weeks, hate crimes against Asians fill the front page. Sadly, this isn’t new. Last year, despite the total number

Arts & Culture

Skelly! On Smartphone Or Skelly IRL?

Skelly [https://eightygames.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/skelly-a-new-york-street-game/comment-page-1/] , a popular children’s street game, is making a comeback as an app. Sometimes referred to as skully, skelsy, or skellies, it is played by “shooting” or flicking a bottle cap across a numbered grid, usually marked in chalk on

Business

Multiplying The Good In Our Communities, Mutual Savings Bank Offers A Lesson In Resilience

A hundred years ago, Brooklyn was teeming with mutual savings banks. There was the Brooklyn Savings Bank, the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn, the South Brooklyn Savings Bank, the Williamsburg Savings Bank [/dime-savings-bank/], … but they are all gone. Some went out of business. Others — like Dime and like most giant

Central Brooklyn

Who’s Up, Who’s Down? Brooklyn Council Election Notes from the Latest Financial Disclosures

The June 22nd Democratic primary is just a few months away, and all eyes are on the mayor’s race. But there are also several highly competitive races for City Council, Borough President and judicial seats happening in Brooklyn. In the absence of formal polling, contribution numbers can give us

Arts & Culture

‘White People. DOING Something’ Wants You to Have the Hard Conversations

Unite NY Rally on Juneteenth 2020. (Photo: Adrian Childress/Bklyner)When Brooklyn couple Aja Davis and Molly Ola Pinney read the imperative, “white people, do something!’ in a piece of online artwork around the time of last summer’s protests, they took it quite literally. In the roughly nine months

Central Brooklyn

Q&A With Kenya Handy-Hilliard On Her Run For City Council District 40

Kenya Handy-HilliardKenya Handy-Hilliard [https://www.kenyaforthepeople.com/] is running in a crowded field to replace the 3.5 term councilmember Mathieu Eugene, who is term-limited after almost 15 years in office. There are currently 12 candidates vying for the seat to represent Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, and Ditmas Park in

Announcements

Q&A With Edwin Raymond On His Run For City Council District 40

Edwin Raymond. (Photo via Raymond)Twelve of Brooklyn’s 16 councilmembers are term-limited, and the number of individuals running for office is massive. One of those term-limited is Council Member Mathieu Eugene, who represents District 40— Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens. A

Arts & Culture

What’s The Latest in The Brooklyn Music Scene? One Artist Explores an Unconventional Sound

Adam Holmes playing in his music studio. Cai Pigliucci | BklynerAfter many years of trial and error, in his latest EP, Adam Holmes [https://adamholmesmusic.com/] , a Brooklyn-based musician and music teacher, finally landed on an experimental and percussion-based sound that gives a twist to the classical genre. Holmes grew up

COVID-19

Remembering Eugene Hurkin, 1925-2021

Eugene Hurkin, family photo.If there was one thing Eugene Hurkin lived for, it was to laugh and make others smile too. And if a joke was good enough to tell once—it was good enough to tell a thousand times. Every time Eugene and his family drove past a

Central Brooklyn

Brooklyn Nurses Honored With NYC Health + Hospitals Awards

Megan Alyssa Leyesa with nursing staff. Courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island.The pandemic has added a new layer of meaning to this year’s NYC Health + Hospitals Nursing Excellence Awards. “Our annual Nursing Excellence Awards, set against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, honors the tireless work

Central Brooklyn

An Extraordinary Officer: Det. Kim Walker Retires After Serving Flatbush For 22 Years At The 70th Precinct

Det. Kim Walker has retired after 22 years of serving Flatbush and Midwood at the 70th Precinct. Nathan Thompson/BklynerIt was 2003, and the Commander of the 70th Precinct was having a bad night. A group of residents had rented a bus and filled the monthly precinct meeting with frustrating

Kids & Family

Mother of 2 Killed in Williamsburg by Drunk Driver

A drunk driver has been charged with manslaughter after fatally striking a woman in his gray 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee on Friday in Williamsburg, cops say. Lakierdra Thomas, 32, was texting her boyfriend on her way to buy gifts for her two children when she was killed by the drunk