Tuesday Brooklyn News Roundup
It’s been a busy few days in Brooklyn. Here are some of the stories you should know:
- Schools chancellor Richard Carranza resigned last week; Mayor Bill de Blasio named Bronx executive superintendent Meisha Porter as his replacement.
- A controversial proposed residential development near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden could qualify for a Trump-era tax break that some state lawmakers are hoping to trash.
- City comptroller candidate Brian Benjamin, who currently represents Harlem in the state Senate, scored several high-powered Brooklyn endorsements, including former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Frank Seddio, State Senator Roxanne Persaud and Assembly Member Jaime Williams. Those politicos picked Benjamin over the two Brooklyn candidates currently in the race: Council Member Brad Lander and State Senator Kevin Parker.
- The city will start enforcing fines against drivers who illegally use the new Jay Street busway in Downtown Brooklyn, starting next week.
- A coalition of more than 80 advocacy groups and nonprofits, led by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, is calling on the next mayor, city council and borough presidents to convert 25% of streets currently used by vehicles to other purposes by 2025.
- The redeveloped Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights was officially renamed the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center, after the longtime Brooklyn congressmember, who passed away in 2013.
- Attorney Robert Santoriella faces grand larceny charges for allegedly keeping $200,000 he was supposed to return to clients, the Brooklyn DA announced yesterday.
- The Brooklyn Heights townhouse featured in the 1987 Cher and Nick Cage classic “Moonstruck” is on sale for a paltry $12.85 million.
- Opera singer and musical theater performer Peter Kendall Clark as been hosting weekly concerts from his stoop on Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights.
- A pair of elderly twins were found “mummified” in their Kensington home on Sunday according to police sources and a neighbor.
