Today’s Links: Mega Developments Continue Apace, Green Space, “Local” Fish Revealed to be New York Transplants & More

There’s major development news all over Brooklyn this week as a variety of large-scale projects make their debut to the usual mixed reaction of delight and dismay from Brooklyn residents.

First, check out the in-depth history of 85 Jay Street, DUMBO’s “game changing” project—its latest iteration is a glassy 737-unit giant.

Then there’s the multi-building mega-development replacing Cobble Hill’s Long Island College Hospital featuring a handful of towers reaching up to 25 stories, one with an undulating design said to be inspired by the reflection of light off the East River.

And while the Navy Yard is celebrating the groundbreaking at 399 Sands, a story by the New York Post finds fault in one of their latest personnel acquisitions: former NYCHA general manager Michael Kelly, who oversaw day-to-day operations at the agency while lead paint inspections were falsified, got a cushy job as the Navy Yard’s chief operating officer within a month of his resignation—and a source says City Hall officials orchestrated the shift.

Speaking of news that smells fishy, Clinton Hill’s Sea to Table was accused not only of lying about the provenance of “local” fish, but also paying workers in their supply chain as little as $1.50 a day for grueling, 22-hour shifts.

When it comes to local fish, things are still pretty barren for local wildlife in the horribly polluted Newtown Creek, but a new living dock will provide a habitat for small fish, crustaceans and native salt marsh grasses in the English Kills tributary off the Greenpoint creek.

Salt marsh grasses may be growing in Greenpoint, but apparently, the Parks Department told developers not to include grass in the new 20,000 square foot waterfront park their building in the neighborhood because the city doesn’t want to mow it. The public space, an agreed-upon feature by tower-building developers, is the latest in a trend of privately-installed greenspaces in rapidly-developing North Brooklyn—like Domino Park in Williamsburg, which opened last weekend.

While it’s not exactly a park, check out this story about some Park Slope residents that created a communal backyard in 1983, giving their children space to play.

Another chance for kids—and adults that are still kids at heart—to play is coming up later this month, with a DIY-Comic Con style event in Bed-Stuy, celebrating superheroes without the sky-high prices.

This week’s death of pedestrian Shaena Sinclair as a result of a car crash, which also injured her son, has led to increased scrutiny on street safety and speeding. But the NYPD has cleared the drivers in the tragic accident, saying speed wasn’t a factor.

A recent paper from Columbia University says New York’s neighborhood slow zones aren’t working—unlike their counterparts across the pond.

Finally, in a bit of uplifting news: a Brooklyn man was recently exonerated and released from jail after serving 18 years on bogus charges. When he got out, he was hit with $40,000 in back child support that he couldn’t pay while in jail—until a family court cleared his debt, which threatened to send him back to prison.