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The 16 to watch in 2016

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By the Courier Life Prognostication Bureau

Brooklyn Daily

This list literally gets harder every year, but we’ve done it again — here are the 16 people, organizations, elections, and sundry other issues to keep an eye on over the next 12 months.

16. The So So Glos

The Bay Ridge punk band is coming off a huge year touring with Conor Oberst’s pet project Desaparicidos and having one of its songs featured on Home Box Office’s mega-hit “Girls.” Now the band is back in the studio for its first full release since 2013.

15. Ample Hills Creamery

The Gowanus iced confection purveyor is on its way to becoming Brooklyn’s Ben and Jerry’s. It recently scooped up a $4-million investment from tech-industry types and a license to create “Star Wars”-branded flavors from the House of Mouse. And this year, it will open a massive new factory in Red Hook with plans to expand to grocery stores nationwide.

14. Assemblywoman Pam Harris

The former corrections officer and youth-group founder became the first black assemblywoman to represent the 46th Assembly district in November following Democrat Alec Brook-Krasny’s abrupt resignation from the post, which covers parts of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Coney Island.

Harris said going in that her priorities are to secure funding for the continued rehabilitation of Coney Island three years after Hurricane Sandy and to push reforms to fight the illegal home conversions plaguing her district. She comfortably won November’s special election, but will have to contest the spot again for this year’s Assembly-wide election.

13. Brooklyn’s embattled tech darlings

Recent months have been rough for some of Brooklyn’s most ballyhooed tech companies. News Corp sold its struggling Dumbo education-technology arm Amplify after firing about 500 staffers. Amplify’s neighbor Etsy’s share-price is plummeting, following the online craft e-tailer’s arrival on the stock exchange in April (an initial public offering correctly predicted by this column last year). And 3D printing pioneer Makerbot went through two rounds of layoffs, and reduced the size of its Industry City office after only moving in earlier that year, due to waning interest in the technology. Can they turn it around?

12. Liberty View Industrial Plaza

All eyes were on Sunset Park manufacturing complex Industry City in 2015, as it became home to new hipster businesses, the still-under-construction Nets training facility, and the inevitable fights over gentrification that followed. But avert your gaze a few blocks north to Liberty View Industrial Plaza for 2016, where Saks Fifth Avenue just agreed to stick the first-ever Brooklyn outlet of its Saks Off Fifth discount store, after online sales giant Amazon inked a seven-year lease there in October. Saks will join a massive outpost of Bed Bath and Beyond, and several of its other retail properties.

11. Restaurants banning tipping

Williamsburg restaurant Meadowsweet and borough restaurateur Andrew Tarlow — owner of Williamsburg’s Diner and Marlow and Sons, and Fort Greene’s Roman’s — will eliminate tipping this year, replacing gratuities with higher wages and menu prices in attempt to even out the income disparity between front-of-house staff and kitchen crews. Many eateries in Manhattan and other parts of the country have already adopted the model, albeit with mixed results — one San Francisco restaurateur reverted back to tips after struggling to retain employees.

10. Ferry tales

Mayor DeBlasio’s planned city-wide ferry expansion — which will bring at least four new stops to Brooklyn’s waterfront — won’t launch until 2017, but most of the logistics will be ironed out this year, so expect choppy seas ahead. The city still has to select an operator (who may or may not heed residents’ wishes for an additional leg to Governors Island), build all the infrastructure (ideally docks that won’t collapse like the India Street pier in 2014), and settle on a site for the Red Hook stop — on ongoing battle between residents who want it at Atlantic Basin, and the city’s preferred option on the neighborhood’s more remote southern shore. And that’s all besides continued anger that the system won’t use MetroCards or offer free transfers from other forms of transit.

9. 59th District Assembly race

The entire state legislature is up for re-election in November, but short of any resignations, the most interesting battle in Brooklyn may be in the 59th District — covering Canarsie, Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, and Marine Park — which now-state Sen. Roxanne Persaud (D–Canarsie) left vacant when she joined the state Senate in November.

Democratic party boss Frank Seddio’s Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club has already given its nod to Persaud’s former chief of staff Jamie Williams for the gig, but an upstart could test just how much power the group still holds in its heartland — especially if the influential Caribbean bloc allied with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D–Flatbush) backs a rival.

Cuomo could call a special election earlier this year, but may just leave the seat open until the general election given how near it is.

8. Robert Capers

The longtime Brooklyn prosecutor just replaced now-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch as the borough’s top law-enforcement official, and his first big case is a doozy: prosecuting Martin Shkreli — the Sheepshead Bay-born former pharmaceutical company boss who became one of the most hated men in the country when he jacked up the price of a life-saving drug — for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme.

Capers, who comes from a family of cops, led the corruption case against disgraced former Brownsville assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. — achieving what Manhattan prosecutors could not by putting him behind bars for taking bribes.

7. Fulton Mall

Downtown doesn’t have much nightlife to speak of right now — despite the massive influx of young, moneyed residents in recent years and a few bars and eateries spilling over the border from Boerum Hill and Fort Greene — but all that could change when the City Point mall opens at Albee Square mid-year.

In addition to its retail offerings, the complex will house a seven-screen outpost of indie cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse — which serves booze and full meals to audiences and will reportedly also include a stand-alone bar — and a massive subterranean food hall featuring hip eateries (and Katz’s Delicatessen) that will stay open until the wee hours in an effort to score the post-Barclays crowd.

6. Brooklyn Public Library

Council finally approved the controversial sale and redevelopment of the Brooklyn Heights library branch after a bitter and lengthy battle with locals — now get ready for the whole thing to repeat itself in Sunset Park!

This proposal is more modest — the cash-strapped book-lending operation wants to sell its shabby Fourth Avenue branch to a developer that would tear down the single-story building and erect a larger library with 39 below-market-rate apartments on top. But the plan still has plenty of local critics, and will have to go through a lengthy public review process.

But the Sunset Park sale won’t generate any revenue, and the Heights deal will only cover $52 million of the $300 million the library system says it needs to repair its crumbling buildings. Can it come up with a more sustainable model or will more library buildings go under the hammer?

5. Coney Island

Keep an eye on the People’s Playground — the city recently announced plans to flex its beach-bod muscle by scooping up three empty lots through eminent domain in order to expand the rebounding amusement area. And political power is coalescing in the seaside nabe — Councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island) just got his ally Pamela Harris elected to the assembly (see 14), and Borough President Adams showed his support for Sodom by the Sea by throwing New Year’s celebrations there and by publicly challenging Mayor DeBlasio to clean up the Boardwalk’s costumed characters as he boots them from Times Square.

4. Brooklyn Museum

The Prospect Heights cultural institution raised eyebrows last year when it appointed Anne Pasternak — an arts administrator with lots of experience in big public installations but little in running an art museum — as its new director, following the resignation of 17-year honcho Arnold Lehman.

The newcomer got off to a rocky start when local artists protested the museum hosting a real-estate conference in November — organized before she took the reins — but scored a big coup the following month by nabbing long-time Guggenheim Museum curator Nancy Spector as her deputy and new chief curator.

This year’s programming is yet to be announced, but Pasternak has already set about making over the permanent collection — she is currently ripping out all of the garish decor in the museum’s Egyptian galleries.

3. 7th Congressional District race

The June race for Democratic nomination in New York’s 7th Congressional District may divide voters along racial and geographic lines. Democratic Manhattan Chinatown stalwart Yungman Lee is challenging 12-term Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velazquez, also a Democrat, for the mostly-Brooklyn-and-slivers-of-Manhattan-and-Queens district, which includes Chinatowns in Sunset Park and on the other side of the East River and large swaths of Latino-heavy Brooklyn neighborhoods. Velazquez took 82 percent of the vote when attorney Jeff Kurzon made a primary challenge in 2014, but Lee is hoping to foment anti-incumbent angst against a candidate he says “does not represent the district’s diversity.”

2. Brooklyn Bridge Park

At the Brooklyn Heights end of Brooklyn’s Front Yard, local activists and pols will continue to fight the final towers planned for Pier 6 — which park honchos claim are essential for funding the green space, but critics say are neither needed nor wanted.

The state’s economic development agency will vote on the latest incarnation of the Pier 6 plans in the fall, but could still demand a new study on how the new buildings would impact the surrounding neighborhood before proceeding, which would significantly delay construction.

At the Dumbo end of the park, activists’ fears will be writ large as much of the park’s private development opens for business, including luxury lodging 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, condominium building One John Street, and Empire Stores — a massive mall inside the shell of old coffee warehouse.

Meanwhile, the mystery of why Squibb Park Bridge is still off-limits well over a year after park bigwigs closed the bouncy span for “repairs” remains unsolved.

1. Brooklyn Paper Radio

Okay, so technically, our sister publication’s new medium is not one to “watch” in the new year, but it is something to listen to. The new weekly podcast — live every Monday at 4:30 pm on BrooklynPaper.com — features Brooklyn news-makers, rascals, scoundrels and, yes, journalists talking about the issues of the day. Better still, it’s hosted by two of the biggest names in community journalism: Brooklyn Paper Editor in Chief Vince DiMiceli and Daily News editor and beloved Brooklynite Gersh Kuntzman. Each week, these titans of talent deliver an entertaining look at the greatest place on earth: Brooklyn, U.S.A.

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GREENPOINT: Drawn with a free hand: Ballpoint pen artist practiced while in prison

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By Allegra Hobbs

Brooklyn Daily

This ex-con artist turned sketch artist!

An illustrator who honed his artistic craft while behind bars is showcasing his intricate ballpoint pen drawings in a Greenpoint church. The gifted penman says his criminal history forging documents really paved the way for his artistic career.

“To me, that was a way to be an artist,” said Guy Woodard, whose photorealistic ink renderings of faces and figures are on display in a gallery at the Greenpoint Reformed Church through the spring. “I hate to say it, but some of it may be my best work.”

Woodard creates his portraits by painstakingly shading the paper with tiny black dots. He took up the ballpoint pen because it was one of the few drawing materials available in prison, where he served time for charges related to forging and selling false documents such as identification cards.

Woodard says that his knack for mimicry with a pen stretches back to when he was a kid, expertly forging parental signatures for fellow students. He always wanted to be an artist, but became a forger in the late ’70s when his illustration work could not pay the bills.

His drawing process sometimes begins with looking at a photograph, but the work develops in original ways as the layers of ink progress. The work channels his artistic vision and his nearly obsessive-compulsive attention to detail, he says — but much of his work also provided a welcome relief from the bleakness of prison life.

“It was a way to escape where I was,” said Woodard.

The Milton Street church showing his work hosts a gallery funded with money from an anonymous donation, received with the stipulation that the gift must benefit the community in ways that are not overtly religious. The church used the fund to start the Hunger Program, which feeds hungry community members by serving free dinners and running a food pantry. Now the church is using the change to bring attention to an artist whose work is right at home in the house of God, said one of the heads of the parish.

“He’s an incredibly beautiful person, and his beautiful personality is really invested in his artwork, and as a result he creates beautiful things,” said Reverend Ann Kansfield.

“Look to the Rainbow” at the Greenpoint Reformed Church [136 Milton St. between Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue, (718) 383–5941, www.greenpointchurch.org]. Wed, 2–6 pm, Thu, 8–11 pm, and Sun, 12:30–2 pm.

Reach reporter Allegra Hobbs at ahobbs@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8312.

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BOROBEAT: Big splash! Polar plunge draws record number of swimmers

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

These polar bears are anything but endangered.

A record 2,600 souls braved the Atlantic Ocean’s icy embrace to raise money for sick children during the Polar Bear Club’s New Year’s Day plunge in Coney Island on Jan. 1. Organizers dared steel-nerved Brooklynites to take a mid-winter dip as a fund-raiser for Camp Sunshine, a Maine retreat for sick children and their families, and this year’s turnout and fund-raising totals shattered records like a two-ton bear on thin ice, an organizer said.

“We’re knocking on the door of $90,000, which will cover the expenses for 40 families to come on a week-long retreat to the camp,” said camp director Michael Katz. “It’s really a testament to the Polar Bear Club and everyone who came out to swim.”The Coney Island Polar Bear Club — which claims to be the oldest winter bathing club in the country — meets regularly for winter dips off Coney Island. It’s done so every year since strongman and health nut Bernarr Macfadden founded the club in 1903.

An eclectic crowd gathered for the annual tradition. Some dressed up as polar bears and penguins, and others waved American flags. There were folks in costume as elusive children’s book star Waldo, video-game mainstay Mario, and dozens in Santa Clauses outfits. The plunge started with a conch shell call from the club’s leader — Chief Polar Bear — who plodded into the sea along with a makeshift marching band.

Camp Sunshine raises money through a voluntary $20 registration fee and donations from sponsors. This year, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park ran the Wonder Wheel on New Year’s Day and donated half the proceeds to the camp, Katz said.

The money pays for a full program of activities and services for sick kids and their families at Camp Sunshine, including boating and outdoor sports. It gives parents a place to meet others who are also struggling with the realities of caring for a sick child. They also offer bereavement services for parents who have lost children, Katz said.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.

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BOERUM HILL: Towering ink-ferno: Tattoo artists paint model water towers

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

This show is more than skin-deep.

A group of tattoo and graffiti artists have exchanged their usual flesh and brick canvases in favor of tiny water towers and billboards. The hand-painted miniature models from Boundless Brooklyn will be on display in the “Tat It Up” show at Grumpy Bert, opening on Jan. 8. The show gives the artists a rare chance to display their work in a gallery setting, said one of the show’s curators.

“I’m a big fan of tattoo art and we thought it would be cool to have tattoo artists showcase their artistry on something other than on skin,” said Bushwick painter and curator Mary Damian. “When you look at their websites, they all have incredible paintings and illustrations so we thought, ‘Let’s give them a chance to showcase that.’ ”

The show is a homecoming of sorts for Boundless Brooklyn, which produces models of assemble-it-yourself model kits of Brooklyn’s iconic skyline features, including a mini-Kentile Floors sign. More than 100 stores worldwide sell the kits, and some of the water towers are visible on the set of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Founders and Brooklynites David Shulman and Terance Arjo have held gallery shows of their decorated models in the city’s other boroughs, as well as in Chicago, Montreal, and Dublin, but the show at Grumpy Bert will be the first in the borough that inspired the business.

The owner of the Grumpy Bert store and gallery, a long-term fan of Boundless Brooklyn, said the show has been a long time coming.

“We’ve been carrying their products since they first started,” said Grumpy Bert’s owner and namesake, Albert Chau. “We threw around the idea of a show a lot but the timing was never right. So when it was, we decided to go for it.”

Damian booked 14 ink-slinging artists for the show, most of them from Brooklyn, including “Ink Masters” reality show contestant and Park Slope tattoo parlor owner Cris Element. Each artist painted a small canvas and a Boundless Brooklyn water tower or a billboard.

Damian has done shows with Boundless Brooklyn before, including a live painting session at the 2015 New York Comic-Con, and said the shows gave a major publicity boost to her and the other artists involved. She hopes the Grumpy Bert show will do the same for this new crop of artists.

“[Shulman and Arjo] opened up a lot for up-and-coming artists, so we wanted to give back and say thanks,” she said. “The artists got really creative and for those who don’t have the same exposure as others, hopefully it’s their time to shine.”

“Tat It Up” at Grumpy Bert [82 Bond St. between State Street and Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, (347) 855-4849, www.grumpybert.com]. Opening on Jan. 8 at 7 pm. Free. Show runs through Jan. 31.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.

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BOROBEAT: Revelers avoid Times Square in favor of the People’s Playground

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

Times Square? Fugheddaboudit!

Thousands of revelers descended on Coney Island to ring in 2016 on New Year’s Eve, and the People’s Playground was the place to be when clock struck midnight, according to one Queens couple that did not think twice about skipping Manhattan’s million-person hooplah in favor of Sodom by the Sea.

“Times Square is kind of too crazy and crowded,” said Jay Silverman. “My girlfriend is from Australia and had never been to Coney Island before, so we decided it was a good reason to go. It turned out to be the happiest New Year’s Eve her and I have had together — or independently — ever.”

Borough President Adams started the tradition last year and once again did double emcee duties, hopping back and forth between the celebration in Coney Island and another in Prospect Park.

Coney’s freakishly talented sideshow performers swallowed swords and breathed fire for the crowd’s amusement, and musical acts LaRose Jackson, Blazes, and the Priceless kept spirits high leading up to a midnight light show on the Parachute Jump. Adams, councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island), and the Coney Island Alliance business group sponsored the show, providing hot chocolate and food to guests.

Deno’s Amusement Park opened the Wonder Wheel for New Year’s Eve and Day for the first time in the ride’s 95-year history, and Luna Park gave brave — and apparently chill-immune — celebrants free rides on the on the Thunderbolt and the B&B Carousel leading up to midnight.

Thousands gathered to watch the light show at the stroke of midnight. The 8,000 or so light-emitting diodes that cover the 250-foot tall Parachute Jump counted down the last 10 seconds of 2015 and lit up in a massive “2016” down the side of the tower. Fireworks completed the spectacle, and a fire-breather on stage unleashed a plume of flames to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.

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MIDWOOD: Center’s stage: New music series at East Midwood Jewish Center

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By Bill Roundy

Brooklyn Daily

Midwood has a new music spot!

A fiery Latin jazz band will heat things up as part of a new music series at the East Midwood Jewish Center on Jan. 9. The concert marks a return of sorts for the bandleader of Sonido Isleño, who organized a series of concerts at the Center a few years ago.

“We did a jazz series a few years ago. It was good, but it was just five concerts,” said Ben Lapidus, a member of the Jewish Center. “It’s a full-time job to promote them.”

This time around, the Midwood guitar player will just be performing with his six-piece band, leaving the organizing to fellow musician and Center member Hagai Kamil.

“He really knows what he’s doing,” said Lapidus. “He’s done a lot to create a space that’s really conducive to performing”

The Center’s 300-person capacity Grand Ballroom has been restored over the last few months, receiving an updated stage and sound system.

“It’s 90 percent there,” said Kamil, who organized the renovations. “There are some visual things I want to do to make it even better, but it’s a really professional set-up.”

Kamil, who owns the Brooklyn Music School in Park Slope, started planning the music series because of a lack of local family-friendly events. Several of his students had moved with their families to the Midwood and Ditmas Park neighborhood, and were lacking in places to hear music, he said.

“The students that I have — they’re looking for events,” said Kamil. “They’re moving into the neighborhood and realize there’s nothing to do here. We have the Brooklyn Center [For the Performing Arts] nearby, but that’s a bigger venue, and much more expensive.”

Kamil used his contacts in the local music community to book bands, and is lining up monthly performers for the next few months, looking for performers who will appeal to the entire local community, not just the regulars at the Jewish Center.

“This is not for Jewish people — this is for everybody,” said Kamil. “I’m trying to get out of just depending on the synagogue crowd. We want to appeal to the community as a whole.”

The Latin jazz band playing on Jan. 9 is part of that goal. Sonido Isleño have been drawing crowds for almost 20 years, have recorded five albums of blended Latin jazz and Carribbean music, and toured across the U.S., Europe, and South America. Bandleader Lapidus says he is looking forward to taking the Center’s stage.

“It’s great to be from Brooklyn, and play in Brooklyn and have opportunities in Brooklyn that are not just in restaurants or bars,” he said. “It’s a great facility and a great community.”

Ben Lapidus and Sonido Isleño at the East Midwood Jewish Center [1625 Ocean Ave. between Avenues K and L in Midwood, (718) 338–3800, www.emjc.org]. Jan. 9 at 6:30 pm. $25 ($20 seniors, children free).

Reach arts editor Bill Roundy at broundy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–4507.

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DEVELOPMENT: Religious conversions: Greenpoint parish joins long line of boro churches turning residential

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By Allegra Hobbs

Brooklyn Daily

It is the Borough of Churches no more!

Greenpoint’s historic Church of the Ascension has sold its parish hall to a developer, which will turn the Java Street building into apartments — just the latest in a long line of Brooklyn holy houses to lose their religion as parishioner numbers decline and demand for housing increases.

Brooklynites may not like worshipping in churches anymore — but sure do love living in them, says one developer.

“I think people are drawn towards old churches,” said Chris Horrigan of Horrigan Development, which will transform the 19th-century Java Street parish hall into residential units.

The church’s landmarked Kent Street sanctuary, part of the Greenpoint Historic District, will remain untouched as a place of worship while the connected event space will get a facade makeover — though part of the original brick will remain intact — and will gain two stories to make room for 18 residential units, Horrigan said.

The church decided to sell the largely unused building — only the ground-floor of the old three-story structure was still safe for habitation — to help pay for much-needed repairs to the main sanctuary and clergy housing, said a church leader.

“The size of our congregation and the economic capacity of our congregation would make it an enormous challenge to attempt to fix any one of our three properties,” said Rev. John Merz.

It is a common problem amongst the borough’s aging houses of god, he said — buildings are crumbling, but dwindling attendance numbers result in fewer funds to fix them.

“There are simply not the numbers to sustain congregations that can maintain the healthy functioning of these structures,” said Merz.

Here are some other sacred Brooklyn buildings on the path to secularization:

Hebron Baptist Church

Developer CS Real Estate is in the midst of turning this former Bedford-Stuyvesant house of worship on Willoughby Avenue, between Throop and Thompkins avenues, into a 16-unit apartment building, but will largely preserve the existing brick facade as the ground floor. The church has moved its congregation to Brownsville.

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church

The Williamsburg church will lease a large chunk of its property on Wythe Avenue, between S. Second and S. Third streets, to developer Watermark Capital, which plans on building a 19-story, 130-unit building there. But the Catholic parish ensured its holy ground was in good hands before it sealed the deal — the developer has agreed not to use the space for any sacrilegious activities involving abortion, pornography, or euthanasia, according to a DNA Info report.

Saint Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

The church sold this majestic 145-year-old holy house on Washington Avenue between Willoughby and DeKalb avenues to Brookland Capital for $8.8 million last year. The real estate firm plans on turning it into condominiums — though it will have to get approval from the city’s landmarks commission for any changes to the exterior, since the structure is part of the Clinton Hill Historic District. The church itself closed in June.

Church of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception

This Williamsburg Catholic church at Ten Eyck and Leonard streets has already been born again as an apartment building, housing 40 units, though still retains the general shape and size of the original structure. The church merged with the Parish of Most Holy Trinity on nearby Montrose Street in 2007, where the congregation now worships.

Reach reporter Allegra Hobbs at ahobbs@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8312.

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HEALTH: Brooklyn does it again! Borough home to first New Year’s baby for second year in a row

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By Max Jaeger

Brooklyn Daily

Yo, baby!

Brooklyn welcomed the city’s first new born of 2016 at Coney Island Hospital.

Young Zayden Noel was born to Coney Islanders Stephanie Diaz and Paul Staley at the stroke of midnight, the hospital reported. The tyke weighed in at 7 pounds 1 ounce, making him the smallest of the Brooklyn New Year’s baby crop. He is Diaz’s second child born at the hospital.

Giovanni Navarro-Caraballo opened his eyes a short nine minutes later at New York Methodist Hospital, tipping the scales at 9 pounds 2 ounces. He was born to East New Yorkers Tricia Navarro-Caraballo and Chris Caraballo.

And Layan “Lilly” Khalid Kotb joined the party at 2:12 am as Lutheran Medical Center’s first birth. She is the third child to dad Khalid Mohamed Kotb and mom Taghrid Mohamed Kotb.

Last year, Maxim Olenyukh made his world debut at Coney Island hospital at exactly midnight.

Congratulations to all of 2016’s proud parents.

Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeger@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.

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SHEEPSHEAD BAY: Big wheels keep on turnin’: Checking up on the B44 Select Bus Service

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By Colin Mixson

Brooklyn Daily

Community boards in Canarsie and Sheepshead Bay are bracing for a new B82 Select Bus Service whose proposed dedicated bus lane will gridlock traffic on Flatlands Avenue and Kings Highway, members say. In anticipation, we’re decided to take a look at the B44 Select Bus Service, which has been operating in the borough’s first bus-only lane now for a little over two years. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hasn’t released reports analyzing the service’s success, so we hit bus stops along Nostrand Avenue to get straphangers’ opinions of the service.

Commuters are split between love and loathing, apparently a reflection of whether the B44 Select Bus Service made stops that were convenient for them. When the B44 Select Bus Service debuted two years ago, it replaced the limited B44 route — which made fewer stops than a local bus and more than a select bus — and many folks lamented losing a more frequently stopping bus.

“The limited was fast, but convenient,” one straphanger told the paper. “The select doesn’t make enough stops, they’re always too far away.”

But the buses prove a fast and reliable ride uptown, another rider said.

“I love it,” said B44 commuter Tomekia Jenkins. “It’s fast, it’s very prompt, you get there on time, and you’re not waiting 20 minutes.”

Straphangers routinely complain to Councilman Chaim Deutsch’s (D–Sheepshead Bay) office that select stops are too far from their homes, so they have to watch several, empty select buses pass as they wait for a local, the councilman said.

Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay) and Councilman Jumaane Williams (D–Canarsie) got the transit authority to add a select stop at Avenue L and Nostrand Avenue in 2014.

Now he’s pushing for another stop at Avenue R and Nostrand Avenue, although investments in new infrastructure necessary to see the select bus stop there, including longer bus stops to accommodate the select service’s larger, articulated busses, and kiosks where tickets can be purchased ahead of boarding, have made the process a slow, uphill battle, he said.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.

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CANARSIE: Lane drain: Bus service would remove lane from Flatlands Ave., Kings Highway

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By Colin Mixson

Brooklyn Daily

They’re shouting “Stop the bus.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority must put the brakes on a plan to create a bus-only lane on Flatlands Avenue and Kings Highway, local leaders say.

The authority aims to implement a B82 Select Bus Service between Canarsie and Sheepshead Bay, but the service relies on dedicated bus lanes to speed public transit, and losing a lane would be too much for the jam-packed, four-lane thoroughfares, an area elected said.

“It defies any kind of logic that they want to take away a lane on Flatlands Avenue, which is so overwhelmingly crowded during the day,” said Councilman Alan Maisel (D–Marine Park). “It is insane that they want to do this. Once the people in Canarsie and elsewhere get wind of this, there will be outrage and indignation. You can’t remove a lane on a street as important as Flatlands Avenue and expect good results.”

Select Bus Service aims to speed up commutes by combining limited stops, longer busses, and the ability to pay fares before boarding. The B82 project remains in the planning phase, and neither the Department of Transportation nor the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were able to provide any information regarding where bus-only lanes will be installed, although the project will include bus-only lanes, a letter transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg sent Maisel confirms.

Attempts to expand transit in the area are laudable, but the extra-long select busses require longer bus stops, which will ultimately cost the area parking and hurt businesses, according to another local leader.

“You’re signing a death certificate for every business on Kings Highway if you lose parking,” said Community Board 15 chairwoman Theresa Scavo.

The board opposed a similar plan for the B44 connecting Sheepshead Bay and Williamsburg via Nostrand Avenue in 2012. The authority still implemented the plan, but the roll-out was rocky. The agency added two stops after complaints from riders who had to wait longer for local buses after the select service replaced their limited buses. And confusion over the grace period for driving a private vehicle in the bus-only lane led to mountains of tickets for Brooklyn motorists.

A representative from the Department of Transportation is slated to outline the B82 Select Bus Service plan tor Community Board 18, which represents Canarsie, during the board’s monthly meeting on Jan. 20.

After the presentation, board members will likely vote in opposition to the new service — in large part due to fear over losing lanes along Flatlands Avenue and Kings Highway, according to district manager Dorothy Turano.

“My gut opinion is to shoot it down,” she said.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.

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CANARSIE: Sweating bullets: Photo threatening pols ignites firestorm

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By Max Jaeger

Brooklyn Daily

Talk about a powder-keg situation.

The National Rifle Association took aim at two Brooklyn politicians on Jan. 4 — responding to the pols’ calls to limit bulk ammunition sales by posting photos implying violence against them. The picture, which accompanies a screed from association-backed America’s First Freedom magazine editor Mark Chesnut, depicts Polaroid photos of State Sen. Roxanne Persaud (D–Canarsie) and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (D–Boerum Hill) surrounded by bullets. The rifle association lowered itself to base bullying to try to get its message across, Persaud said.

“They are using intimidation and fear in the same manner that mass shooters are using guns and ammunition to create an atmosphere of fear,” she said.

Mayor DeBlasio and a slew of Brooklyn politicians and activists decried the National Rifle Association following the posting.

Councilman Jumaane Williams (D–Canarsie) tweeted “The absurdity is insane,” and Councilman Brad Lander (D–Park Slope) called the tactic “beyond outrageous.”

Persaud and Simon announced draft legislation last month to limit the number of bullets a person can purchase over a 90-day period to two magazines per gun owned.

Chesnut claimed the pols don’t know enough about gun ownership to legislate it, but Simon called the writer clueless.

“First of all, he doesn’t know anything about what we know,” she said.

The proposal doesn’t aim to limit constitutional rights, rather it is meant to protect constituents from increasing gun violence, Persaud said.

“In portions of the district that I represent, there is senseless killing, and overall, gun violence is on the rise,” she said.

Indeed, police tallied 65 shootings in East New York’s 75th Precinct, which Persaud partially represents, out of a total 1,130 shootings citywide in 2015 — more than any other Brooklyn command, law enforcement data shows.

The law would also bar people from buying ammunition for weapons they are not legally allowed to possess.

Earlier this year, police busted a Canarsie man they say smuggled more than 100 high-powered guns into Kings County over the course of a year.

Both pols have received e-mail threats since announcing the proposal, Simon said.

The National Rifle Association did not respond to a request for comment.

Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeger@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.

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PODCAST: MEDIA: Today on Brooklyn Paper Radio: Christopher Swain

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Brooklyn Daily

Join our pals Vince and Gersh on Brooklyn Paper Radio when they sit down with “Toxic Avenger” Christopher Swain, who last year became a Brooklyn legend when he swam both the putrid Newtown Creek and the gonorrhea-infused Gowanus Canal.

Also scheduled is an on-air interview with a potential new Brooklyn Paper reporter. We’ll see of the kid’s got what it takes to make it to the big time.

And an impassioned plea to legendary comedian Mel Brooks to do us a big favor.

That, more, plus your calls at (718) 260–4502 today at 4:30 pm at BrooklynPaper.com!

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A BRITISHER’S VIEW: Trumping logic! America’s love affair with The Donald

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By Shavana Abruzzo

Brooklyn Daily

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is a sexist, race-baiting, anti-immigrant political freak who makes crude comments about boffing his daughter if he wasn’t her father, and how Hillary Clinton “got schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Primary.

So why is he still topping polls and constipating critics? Why is he the second-most admired man in the nation? Why does his campaign seem to have the shelf life of Yoo-Hoo?

The Donald’s success is rooted in President Obama’s failure. America’s disenchantment with her invertebrate-in-chief birthed the super-stumper now gripping us by our short and curlies and tossing us about like rag dolls on a roller coaster. Trump has poked us in the eye — with a cattle prod — to remind us about our comatose policies and blind submission to our sworn enemies. His knack for talking turkey with unapologetic defiance is a Thanksgiving feast for folk starved of sound politics.

Words matter because they frame the action, and Trump’s unscripted gospel surges like smoldering lava from the jaws of a growling volcano. His take on the Iran nuke deal? “I’ve never seen something so incompetently negotiated, and I mean never.” On the anti-cop mob? “Our great African-American president hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore.

Trump has turned the public stage into his private living room and opened a frank national chin-wag about fearsome topics, such as illegal immigration, racial dissension, and the global Islamo-migraine. Along the way, he has amassed fans and popularity — if begrudgingly.

“Half of American voters say they’d be embarrassed to have Donald Trump as their commander-in-chief and most Americans think he doesn’t have a good chance in November, but there he is, still at the top of the Republican heap,” marvels Quinnipiac University pollster Tim Malloy.

Winston Churchill was also dismissed as a mewling muttonhead for his fervent forewarnings about Hitler, before he led Britain to victory in World War II. That would place Trump the chump in excellent company.

Follow me on Twitter @BritShavana

Read Shavana Abruzzo's column every Friday on BrooklynDaily.com. E-mail here at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com.

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BAY RIDGE NIGHTS: Chill out with classic rock in the Ridge

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

Happy weekend, Bay Ridge! We are hitting the ground running here in 2016. But in this new year, some things are still the same — plenty of chances to catch live music!

On Friday night, ease into the weekend with the low-key acoustic classics from local favorites Max Christopher Trio at the Lock Yard (9221 Fifth Ave. between 92nd and 94th streets) at 9 pm.

Still have a Christmas tree dropping needles in your living room? Haul it down to Owl’s Head Park (enter on 68th Street between Narrows Avenue and Bliss Terrace) between 10 am and 2 pm on Saturday for the Parks Department’s biggest party — MulchFest! Sacrifice an evergreen fire hazard to the wood chipper and get a free bag of mulch in return! The mulching mania continues on Sunday, same mulch-time, same mulch-place.

You deserve a treat after doing your environmental duty, and you have two options on Saturday night. Option one: You can head to Greenhouse Café (7717 Third Ave. between 77th and 78th streets) at 10 pm to catch Head Over Heels, one of the neighborhood’s best wedding and party bands. The Greenhouse serves dinner until midnight, but whether you cool your heels at the bar or grab a table, you can still get a view of the band.

Option two is further down Third Avenue, where New Jersey cover band Rule Thirty Five will play its first show at the Wicked Monk (9510 Third Ave. between 95th and 96th streets) at 11 pm. It ain’t easy to break into the Wicked Monk’s weekend rotation, so expect these rockers from the Springsteen State to be at the top of their game.

All that imbibing may leave you in need of some healing holy music on Sunday. Make a pilgrimage to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd (7420 Fourth Ave. between 74th Street and Bay Ridge Parkway) at 3 pm to hear the Grace Chorale of Brooklyn perform selections from Johann Sebastian Bach’s soothing “Christmas Oratorio.” Tickets are $15 at the door.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.

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CRIME: Blood feud: Gruesome Sunset Park shooting stemmed from 20-year vendetta

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

A Manhattan man told police he shot and killed an elderly Sunset Park man in a dispute that was two decades and thousands of miles in the making.

Wu Long Chen, 45, admitted to lighting up Bensonhurster Ying Guan Chen, 68, in front of a Sunset Park restaurant in December, taking out a 20-year grudge against the victim’s son that began in China, a law enforcement source familiar with the case said.

“We believe this homicide stemmed from an incident that happened in China over 20 years ago in which the victim’s son assaulted the defendant,” the source said. “The defendant exacted revenge on the father, who wasn’t involved in that old incident.”

Police are unsure if victim and alleged shooter are related.

Wu Long Chen told police he opened fire on the senior on 61st Street around 9:30 pm, prosecutors said. The bleeding victim ran into the Popeyes restaurant at the corner of Seventh Avenue. Paramedics transported him to Lutheran Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead, officials said. He suffered gunshot wounds to his head, torso, and right arm, police said.

Wu Long Chen confessed to the murder and confirmed his motive was revenge, and “multiple pieces of surveillance video” corroborate his confession, according to the law-enforcement source. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted.

Chen was arraigned at Kings County Criminal Court on Jan. 5.

His lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.

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DEVELOPMENT: EXCLUSIVE: Keep company! Plans for ‘castle’-like Sunset Park station house include condos, community center

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

It could be this castle’s fairy-tale ending.

The landmarked, keep-like 68th Precinct station house in Sunset Park may finally get a makeover after decades of decay. Owner Yosef Streicher plans to sink nearly $6 million into the crumbling building, which has been vacant since the 1970s, to return it to its former glory, the developer’s spokesman revealed on Jan. 7.

“The landmarked castle on the corner of Fourth Avenue and 43rd street in Brooklyn is a rare architectural and historic treasure,” Streicher spokesman Barry Shisgal said. “Mr. Streicher is planning to invest an additional $5 million in restoring the castle to its original glory.”

Streicher aims to put a high-end café and a community center in the century-old station house and build 10 glassy, luxury condos on an adjacent lot, Shisgal said.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the structure in 1983 and must approve changes to the building’s exterior, records show. The city sold it to a non-profit in 1985, stipulating it turn the site into a community center, according to the deed. But the group never made good. The property changed hands in 1999 and again in 2012, when the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association purchased the property intending to build a community center.

But it couldn’t cobble together the money to pay off outstanding buildings violations and restore the building per city landmarks guidelines. The structure continued to deteriorate, and the city threatened to sue the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association if it didn’t fix it up or sell. It unloaded the site to Streicher for $6 million last year, but the developer never returned this paper’s calls for comment.

The residential designs are preliminary — the latest rendition depicts a glass-façade building located in a strip of land behind the existing buildings that appears to have an entrance on 43rd Street. Streicher has not filed plans with the Department of Buildings, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The precinct building and its neighboring horse stable first opened in 1892. What will potentially become a community center was originally designed to strike fear in would-be criminals’ hearts, according to a former Brooklyn police honcho.

“A man about to commit a crime would stand appalled at the sight of a station house such as this,” said Brooklyn Police Commissioner Henry Hayden at the building’s 1892 unveiling, according to historic issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.

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LETTERS: Sound Off to the Editor

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Brooklyn Daily

To the editor,

This morning I watched in tears as the little 4-year-old son of NYPD Detective Joseph Lemm, who was one of six soldiers murdered in Afghanistan, was carried into St. Patrick’s Cathedral wearing his father’s police cap and badge. To grow up knowing that Muslim terrorists killed his dad will be hard to bear.

This scene and the all-too-many military funerals over the past half century are a direct result of the pall of political correctness and the lack of firm leadership from the White House on down. Since Korea, politicians have tied the hands of our brave troops and have half-heartedly supported actions against the enemy. The resulting failures in our military actions from Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East have made us the laughing stock of the world.

My heart goes out to the families and children of our forces needlessly killed in action while the government dilly-dallies in its attempt to not get the enemy too mad at us. Heaven forbid if we bolstered the Marines, the Army, and the Navy to the full pride and integrity of World War II levels, heading into battle to flatten whatever got in our way to actually win a war.

May God bless Detective Joseph Lemm’s son and daughter, and all of the children of our brave service men and women.

Robert W. Lobenstein

Marine Park

NYPD boos

To the editor,

The recent war of words from former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly about the fudging and under-reporting of crimes statistics by the NYPD is reminiscent of NYPD Officer Adrian Schoolcraft who basically said the same thing in 2010 that Kelly is now saying.

He said there were quotas and under-reported crimes. His accusations got him in a heap of trouble, including a week in the mental ward of a Queens hospital. Maybe they should do the same to Kelly — he was the police commissioner at the time Schoolcraft made his accusations. By the way it turns out he had proof and his accusations were true.

Cronin Miller

Midwood

Trumpty Dumpty

To the editor,

Who knows who the next president will be. An old maxim is that Americans vote with their pocketbooks.

According to polls Donald Trump has a wide lead as the choice contender for the Republican nomination, but in last week’s “Sound Off to the Editor” a letter writer said that Trump will never become president. It was that writer’s opinion, and though a good case can be made for Republican resistance to Donald Trump — along with whatever group, ethnic or otherwise, can be instigated against him — so far, it is still anybody’s guess.

What a growing number of citizens know is that in spite of the red meat gaffs and zingers Trump throws at the media, he sounds more like the real deal than anyone else. But who knows how many dead people will be voting again, or live ones who know how to multiply their votes. Who knows how many bundles of ballots will be discovered in car trunks or fished out of the river at the last minute. Who knows the impact upon last-minute voters of the media calling the election before polls close.

This adaptation of an old nursery rhyme seems descriptive of the Trump popularity phenomenon:

Trumpty Dumpty will build a big wall,

Invasive migration will have a great fall;

All the King’s horse manure

And spineless political men

Will be discredited as

America becomes great again.

J. J. Lauria

Sheepshead Bay

School by the Sea

To the editor,

I applaud our Community Education Council 21 members opposing a plan to increase enrollment at Coney Island Preparatory Charter School (“School Rivalry: Watchdogs fight Coney Charter,” Jan 1).

We can’t forget that we already have I.S. 303 and the Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies sharing the same limited classroom space in the school building. It’s about time to think outside of the box to find a suitable space for Coney Island Preparatory Charter School within District 21 — possibly at the former Shore Hotel on Surf and Stillwell avenues.

Our politicians could acquire the property through eminent domain, which is when private property is used for public use.

It’s a perfect opportunity for the school — currently using public property for private use — to be in a new building with ample space for its students to grow. Coney Island Prep School by the Sea has a nice ring to it!Scott Krivitsky

The author is a teacher at PS 188 in Coney Island.

S

Liberal ‘nonsense’

To the editor,

There goes liberal nonsense again. Having the police less in schools will only worsen the situation. I guess that the rights of students who come to school to get an education, as well as teachers who want to teach, are disregarded to protect the chronically disruptive students. It is due to the liberal philosophy of those in charge of our schools that have ruined the school system.

Where is the teacher’s union in this matter? Probably out campaigning for other liberals. Our schools will never improve until disruptive students are removed.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

Subways 101

To the editor,

Jan. 9 marks the 109th anniversary of our city’s subway system connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan. On Jan. 9, 1908 service from Brooklyn Borough Hall connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan opened to the public. Thousands of riders paid a five-cent fare. The original B.M.T. (Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, today’s B, D, J, M, N, Q, R and Z lines) and I.R.T. (Interboro Rapid Transit, today’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Franklin Avenue and Times Square shuttles) subway systems were constructed and managed by the private sector with no government operating subsidies. Financial viability was 100 percent dependent on farebox revenues. They supported both development and economic growth of numerous neighborhoods in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens. As part of the franchise agreement, which owners had to sign City Hall had direct control over the fare structure. For a period of time owners actually made a profit with a five-cent fare. After two decades passed the costs of salaries, maintenance, power, supplies, and equipment would pressure owners to ask City Hall for permission to raise the fares. This additional revenue was needed to keep up with maintaining a good state of repair, increase the frequency of service, purchase new subway cars, pay employee salary increases and support planned system expansion. Politicians more interested in the next re-election (and subscribing to the old Roman philosophy of free bread and circuses) refused this request each year for well over a decade. As a result in order to survive, owners of both systems began looking elsewhere to reduce costs and stay in business. They started curtailing basic maintenance, delayed purchases of new subway cars, postponed salary increases for employees, canceled any plans for system expansion and cut corners to survive. Does any of this sound familiar from the present?

In 1920, automatic coin-operated turnstiles were first introduced on the Lexington Avenue subway. This began the elimination of ticket collection employees. In 1932 the city began building and financing construction of the new I.N.D. (Independent Subway — today’s A, C, E, F and G lines). This new municipal system, subsidized by taxpayers dollars, would provide direct competition to both the I.R.T. and B.M.T. Municipal government forced them into economic ruin by denying them fare increases that would have provided access to additional badly needed revenues. Big Brother, just like “The Godfather,” eventually made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. The owners folded in 1940 and sold out to City Hall.

In 1953, the old city Board of Transportation passed on control of the municipal subway system, including all its assets to the newly created New York City Transit Authority. That same year, the fare increased from 10 to 15 cents and tokens were introduced.Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

****LARRY PENNER****

Tarnished Silver

To the editor,

The legacy of former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in the area of transportation leaves much to be desired. Consider the schedule, budget, and the cost for four major transportation projects that he took great pride in promoting.

Washington paid twice with your tax dollars for building the new South Ferry subway station. First, for almost $600 million in 9-11 funding, a second time with more than $300 million in Hurricane Sandy funding to rebuild what was damaged. The downtown Manhattan Fulton Street Transit Center was first paid for with 9-11 funding. Cost overruns of several hundred million were covered by American Recovery Reinvestment Act funding.

Fourteen years after 9-11, the Cortland Street World Trade Center subway station is still several years away from being back in service. If there are no new delays, perhaps the station will reopen by December 2018. Transit officials fought for years over budget, funding sources, scope, and schedule. Construction for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority portion of the project just started a few months ago.

There is no funding in the agency’s propose 2015-2019 capital program to initiate construction for the second segment of the Second Avenue subway, north from 96th Street to 125th Street. It will take several decades and $20 billion more for completion of the next three segments of the Second Avenue subway, north to 125th Street and south to Hanover Square downtown in the financial district. The project was originally proposed in 1929!

Silver claimed to be a friend of both commuters and the 99 percent. In reality, he lived the life style of the one percenters. He frequently traveled around town with a personal driver at taxpayers’ expense. I doubt if he ever purchased a MetroCard or rode the subway, like several million New Yorkers do daily.

Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

Two-fare drone

To the editor,

The proposal by state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) to offer two free transfers for those who have to ride two buses before boarding a subway is wishful thinking. People who moved to Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and Gravesend — areas represented by Golden — knew full well that they would be living in a two-fare (bus to subway) and sometimes three-fare (bus to bus to subway) zone with longer commutes to and from work.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority services continue to be one of the best bargains in town. Since the 1950s, the average cost of riding either the bus, subway or commuter rail has gone up at a lower rate than either the consumer price index or inflation. The MetroCard, introduced in 1996, affords a free transfer between bus and subway. Prior to this, riders had to pay two full fares. Purchasing either a weekly or monthly pass further reduces the cost per ride. Many employers offer transit checks, which pay even more of the costs.

For years, local politicians would stir the pot on this issue. Now the latest cause is the cost for those handful of people out of several million daily riders who have to pay two fares versus one. An overwhelming majority can afford and already purchase either a weekly or monthly unlimited MetroCard, which makes the “double fare” issue moot.

Residents, taxpayers, and commuters in Golden’s district would be better off if he worried more about how the State Legislature will find the $8 billion Gov. Cuomo promised to bridge the $8.3 billion shortfall in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-proposed $28 billion, five-year capital plan when they reconvene in January.

It all comes down to the availability of increased funding for additional transportation service to serve residents of two fare zones in the outer boroughs. Operating subsidies are required to increase the level of service and reduce the amount of time one waits for a bus on existing routes. Same for adding more off-peak, late night and weekend service.

Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

MTA delay

To the editor,

No one should be surprised by the recent news from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that the Second Avenue Subway won’t be open by next December. The agency reminds me of Capt. Renault from “Casablanca” when he said, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on!”

Riders who have been waiting since construction restarted in 2007 with an original service date of 2013 may not be able to pick up their “winnings” until 2017 or 2018. The project was originally proposed in 1929!

Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

****ROBERT LOBENSTEIN*****

Crooked pols

To the editor,

First Shelly, then Skelos, then others. So our dear New York State democratic leader, Shelly Silver, has been convicted on all counts of bribery and other misdeeds of directing clients’ money to his own pockets. Shelly lamented in his defense that it is standard practice by all legislators in Albany to do what he did.

A few months ago the State Senate refused to fund an expansion of jails. It was sad to hear that, as the good citizens of New York are eagerly waiting to hear about the next round of indictments and convictions of crooked politicians who infest Albany. Their next stop should be a few years in this fine state’s overcrowded jails.

Robert W. Lobenstein

Marine Park

Hill-n-Donald

To the editor,

Hillary Clinton was complaining that the Muslim terrorist groups were using Donald Trump for video recruitment purposes. That lie was quickly exposed and Hillary wound up with egg on her face. Then a video surfaced where Muslim terrorists actually were using footage from Trump’s campaign to recruit new terrorists. I wonder how much Hillary paid them to do this?

Robert W. Lobenstein

Marine Park

*****ED GREENSPAN****

Classroom trenches

To the editor,

As Warner Wolfe used to say, “Let’s Go to the Videotape,” when he would want something investigated further. Similarly let’s go to the school records of violent criminals, or better yet, do something with them in their formative years so that they don’t resort to such violence. If you opened the school records, you would see evidence of cutting class, constantly disrupting the class, roaming through the hallways, cursing, screaming, fighting, and causing all sorts of mayhem.

The city’s school system has failed these students and others by their complete refusal to deal with disruptive youth. As a result, the latter become more emboldened with each passing year, and their deviant behavior worsens until an innocent life is lost.

We keep such students in regular classes if the parent refuses to sign for special placement. As a result, chaos results as teachers desperately try to keep order with burgeoning class sizes. When are we going to face this problem head on and not keep sweeping it under the rug? This is not a racist problem. Disruptive pupils come in all races, religions and all backgrounds.

Empty out the regional and district offices and get teachers back in the classroom. We need more psychologists and psychiatrists in the schools. Less suspensions will not solve anything.

So-called staff development is a complete joke and everyone knows it. Let all the militants, ultra liberals and critics of teachers get themselves teacher licenses and get a taste of what it is like in the trenches.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

‘Demagogue’ Donald

To the editor,

It has become apparent to me that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would be absolutely perfect in still another remake of the great film, “All the King’s Men.” After all, as demagogue Willie Stark, Broderick Crawford received a well-deserved, best-actor Oscar. Trump could easily pass that, if not do even better in the part. He gives new meaning to the term demagoguery. Hollywood should definitely take notice.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

Mitt’s a hit

To the editor,

Given the current crop of Republican presidential candidates for 2016, a new “three Rs” should be in vogue — “Run, Romney, Run.” Millions of voters now realize the mistake that was made in 2012, and many will cross party lines and vote for him. Why not? Richard Nixon came back from defeat in 1960 to win the presidency in 1968.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

Pledge allegiance

To the editor,

Of course the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited in schools. As a student of public schools in the 1950s, I remember “the lord is my shepherd” being recited from the Bible in the auditorium until someone finally realized that this was a violation of separation of church and state.

Religion does not belong in our public schools. This means that all symbols representing a religion should not be in the school either. After all, by doing this, we are doing a disservice to those students not of a particular religion, as well as students who are atheists.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

Bernie Panders

To the editor,

Bernie Sanders, what’s so bad about living in a rent-controlled building? You bemoaned that fact about living in such a building in Brooklyn at the last debate.

The rent-controlled buildings on Kings Highway were, and are still, lovely buildings with affordable rents. Ditto for rent stabilization. You’ve been away so long that you probably don’t know that since 1970, if a rent controlled apartment is vacated, it becomes rent stabilized. May the Lord bless rent control and rent stabilization.

At the first sign of any change, you and so many other phony liberals are the first to move out of neighborhoods. Your remark about rent control shows that you’re a landlord’s man. Without rent control or rent stabilization, rents would be over the roof and this would lead to more homeless.

Apparently in Vermont, where you fled to, no such problems of homelessness exist to the degree we’re facing in New York.

Ed Greenspan

Sheepshead Bay

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PARK SLOPE: All about that brass: Balkan music fest showcases Raya Brass Band

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By Lauren Gill

Brooklyn Daily

These bands are Balkan up!

Park Slope’s ornate Grand Prospect Hall will shake with the rollicking sounds of the Balkans on Jan. 15 and 16. Brooklyn’s own Raya Brass Band will be among the 60 vibrant outfits performing on the four stages of the Golden Festival, and the band’s accordion player says that six-piece is charged up to play for its hometown audience.

“It’s definitely one of the more exciting gigs of the year for us because everyone’s a fan and they know us,” said Matthew “Max” Fass, of Prospect Heights.

This year marks the 31st incarnation of the festival — a yearly institution thrown by local band Zlatne Uste — and the seventh time Raya Brass Band has played the raucous gathering. The group has played Golden Festival every year since it formed in 2008, during a week of music, singing, and dancing lessons (and all-night extravaganzas) at a Balkan camp in the Catskills.

The brass, percussion, and accordion combo began as a pan-Balkan wedding and dance band, playing traditional music from across southeastern Europe. About three years ago, says Fass, the members started composing their own original tunes in the Balkan style. They still play eight to 12 wedding a year and meet plenty of colorful characters along the way, said Fass.

“The people who hire a roving Balkan brass band for their wedding are going to be interesting people,” he said.

The lively group will play on both Friday and Saturday nights of the festival, which will also feature acts from across the world, including Turkish band Dolunay, brass band Black Masala and New Orleans-fusion outfit Blato Zato.

But the audience is the most important part of the event, said Fass, who claims that the hordes of dancers is what makes the music so special.

“What I like about Balkan music is that it’s more than just the music — it’s about community involvement,” he said. “Often when these Balkan-style wedding bands are playing, many people know the dances — and the dancing and the music are very strongly interlinked.”

Golden Festival at Grand Prospect Hall [263 Prospect Ave. between Fifth and Sixth avenues in Park Slope, (718) 788–0777, www.grandprospect.com]. Jan. 15, 7 pm–12:30 am; $35. Jan. 16, 6 pm–2 am; $55. $80 for both nights.

Reach reporter Lauren Gill at lgill@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–2511.

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BOOKS: What to read this week

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Brooklyn Daily

Word’s pick: “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” by Karen Joy Fowler

As a social experiment, Rosemary’s parents raise her alongside a chimp named Fern. Rosemary grows up feeling like Fern is her twin sister and is devastated when Fern becomes violent and is taken away. Rosemary is affected by the experiment and has constant feelings of abandonment throughout her life. It is a highly unusual and engaging novel — and the best book I read in 2015.

— Anna Will, Word [126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbrooklyn.com].

Greenlight Bookstore’s pick: “The Turner House” by Angela Flournoy

The Turner family home, on the east side of Detroit, still stands. It is vacant and the family’s 13 children must decide what happens to their former home. Their mother has moved to the suburbs to live with the eldest child while the youngest child has been evicted from her apartment and returns to the vacant house. “The Turner House” takes up questions of physical, emotional, and cultural inheritance.

— Jarrod Annis, Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com].

Community Bookstore’s pick: “Vanishing Point” by David Markson

Sophocles was killed by a grape. T.S. Eliot had a fear of cows. Elie Wiesel’s advance on “Night” was $100. David Markson’s “Vanishing Point” is an assemblage of facts, figures, quotes, and conjectures, orchestrated by the protagonist “author,” who just wants to be left out. Part novel, part catalogue of historical profundity and punditry, Markson’s penultimate book is an ode to the archived interests of a life lived through literature.

— Hal Hlavinka, Community Bookstore [43 Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.communitybookstore.net].

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BIG SCREECHER: Classic Carmine: A visit to the Guggenheimlich!

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See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.

By Carmine Santa Maria

Brooklyn Daily

I’m madder than an art student with a two-legged easel over how much the city has changed since they built that darn Guggenheimlich Museum in 1959. You know, the funny-looking building that was designed by Andrew Lloyd Wright or somebody like that.

Look, you all know that I rarely go into the city (that’s Manhattan, on the other side of the West River, to all you hipster-dipster whippersnappers out there that don’t know Bath Beach from Gravesend) on account of the fact that the batteries in Tornado, my trusty scooter, can barely get me from my home in Bensonhurst to Dyker Heights and back.

But that wasn’t always the case. I often like to reminisce about how awesome I was when I was younger, before my love of food got me to where I am today.

I don’t have to tell you that I was born, bred, and raised in Manhattan. But the call of Bensonhurst lured me away, as I always longed to live with my aunts, uncles, and cousins of all ages on Bay 41st Street, where I had 56 blood relatives living on the same unpaved street. It was Santa Mariaville, and I loved it. And I could get there on the West End Line, where I would get off just a few stops from Coney Island’s beaches, bath houses, and amusements of my youth (not to mention the meatball sandwiches!).

So, it wasn’t long before I moved there, and I haven’t looked back since.

Sure, I taught ballroom dancing at the Arthur Murray Fifth Avenue Dance Studio for years, and I enjoyed the night life that the city had to offer, and as a lover of the arts, I’ve been to the city’s many museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, but that was all pre-Guggenheimlich.

As fate would have it, on Thursday my wife had to have a medical procedure on Fifth Avenue, and I had to get there with Tornado and my friend Sid on Access-A-Ride. Sid only came because he can walk and help Sharon, and to keep me company while she had the procedure.

Sharon was already in the doctor’s office by 9:30 am, so Sid and I decided to tour the affluent area of Manhattan where small townhouses are routinely sold for something like $10 million.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I dropped that chunk of change on a house, there darn-well better be a good place to eat nearby, and for the life of us, we couldn’t find a McDonald’s, Burger King, or Subway anywhere.

So I persuaded Sid to come with me to the museum, since I’d never been there, and I figured it had a snack bar.

Well, let me give you my impression of this haven for impressionists: I have none! You know why? Because it is closed on Thursdays!

So we ended up in a small restaurant next to a Brooks Brothers or Coach store or something like that.

Of course, the place wasn’t very Tornado-friendly, and the waiters there had to open the double doors to let me in, then clear the aisle by moving some tables over, then remove the people — and the seats — from the counter so we could get through to the back and enjoy our meal.

By this time, Sid and I decided it was time for lunch! Sid ordered his usual: turkey on whole wheat toast with lettuce and tomatoes, no mayonnaise and white rice instead of the greatest thing the French have ever given us, fries. I ordered an “Amity Special”: shrimp, chicken, and London broil salad, telling the waiter that I didn’t want any onions.

Sid’s sandwich arrived, and it was almost as tall as Sid! I figured he would have to take half of it home, but he didn’t, devouring the very last morsel.

When the waiter came with my Thousand Island dressing and two Melba toasts, I noticed raw onions underneath the shrimp, chicken and sliced meat in my salad. I was livid.

So I roared like a lion “I said no onions!” and the waiter whisked my plate away. I was so hungry, I started dunking the Melba toast in the salad dressing. He came back with the salad and, without my asking, quickly brought me another salad dressing. Which was nice.

Sid and I were impressed with the total efficiency following the roar, so we decided dessert was in order, especially since I had such a healthy lunch.

So got the $12 banana split, with vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream with three mounds of whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and walnuts.

The waiter even apologized for not having any cherries, but offered me strawberries, which are a healthy substitute.

I ordered lunch for Sharon — making sure she got French fries so I can have something to eat on the way home, and got the bill — an $84 lunch! Holy Toledo!

Screech at you next week — when I start my New Year’s diet!

Carmine Santa Maria prefers watercolors to oils. Read him every Sunday on BrooklynPaper.com

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