Today’s Links: A Drug Kingpin Causing Traffic Woes, Small-Business Successes from Bouquets to Beer & More

While the 5 Boro Bike Tour took Brooklyn by storm this weekend, one visitor to the borough has been snarling traffic regularly—every time “El Chapo” comes to the Federal District Courthouse, the Brooklyn Bridge shuts down for 2 hours, and his lawyer is afraid the traffic will prejudice the public against the notorious drug kingpin.

Meanwhile, a one-time Rikers Island prisoner that went to Sheepshead Bay High School has turned his life around and is now a successful graphic designer.

Other small businesses, like these Brooklyn floral designers, are finding big success—and audiences—on Instagram. We caught up with one of the businesses, Stems, after they moved locations last summer.

And the brewers behind Grimm Artisinal Ales, named “Young Entrepreneurs of the Year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration, will move into a new location in Williamsburg this summer.

On the big business front, the low-cost housing at Starrett City in East New York, famously owned in part by President Trump, recently sold for $905 million.

Another multi-million dollar project involving New York real estate is ongoing at the toxic Red Hook Ballfields—the New York Times did a deep dive on the history of the ballfields and the process of remediation. We’ll keep you updated as things progress!

And speaking of Red Hook: local Councilmember Carlos Menchaca sat down over Cinco de Mayo with City & State for a great Q&A about his role as a local leader and Mexican-American in politics.

Wrapping up around the Borough of Kings: a bomb scare in Windsor Terrace sparked fear after a suspicious package was found outside a Connecticut Muffin shop, an art class for the elderly in Bay Ridge had a showcase of “Creative Aging” works and it turns out Bushwick’s streets might be some of the trashiest in New York—but only if you’re talking in terms of litter!