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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

Its a bike lane made in heaven.

A local panel unanimously approved a city plan on March 16 to build a safe haven for bicyclists along dangerous Flatbush Avenue, giving the go-ahead to new protected lanes around Floyd Bennett Field and Marine Park Golf Course months after pooh-poohing a similar plan they said put bicyclists in harm’s way.

Community Board 18 sent a light-on-details proposal to build a path connecting Marine Park to Jamaica Bay Greenway via Flatbush Avenue back to the drawing board in January — warning members would not approve the plan without assurances cyclists on Flatbush would be separated from traffic.

The Department of Transportation answered last Wednesday, agreeing to reconstruct the sidewalk on the parkside of Flatbush Avenue for separated pedestrian and bike paths — and got a round of applause from board members who said the new plans are exactly what they were looking for.

“They worked diligently, they came back to us with exactly what we wanted,” said district manager Dorothy Turano. “Bicycle paths on Flatbush Avenue would be a disaster.”

The path will establish a new link from Marine Park to the Jamaica Bay Greenway on Flatbush Avenue, and on a separate track, the project will also enhance the existing concrete path along Flatbush Avenue, from Hendrickson Place to the Belt Parkway. Bicyclists should expect the city to break ground on the project this summer, said a Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

And the department will work closely with the board to ensure that any and all changes to the design will be reviewed and approved, the spokeswoman said.

The board also voted to approve phase one of the city’s plans for the greenway’s protected bike lanes, which are scheduled for implementation this year and should be finished by summer, said a spokeswoman.

These plans include bike lanes on E. 38th Street, Avenue V, Hendrickson Street, and Hendrickson Place. On Hendrickson Street — where there is currently no existing sidewalk — parallel parking will remain, and the department will create 3-foot buffer separating a pathway for pedestrians and bikers from drivers. On Hendrickson Place, metered parking will be removed to accommodate two-way traffic and the bicycle path. And parkside of Flatbush Avenue and Hendrickson Place, eight to 10 additional parking spaces will be created.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

60th Precinct

Coney Island—Brighton Beach—Seagate

Terrifying home robbery

Three crooks beat and robbed a woman in her W. Eighth Street public housing apartment on March 14, according to a police report.

The victim answered a knock at the door of her apartment between 86th Street and Avenue X around 10:15 am from a woman asking for help, but when she opened the door two men — one of them masked, wielding a baseball bat and a handgun — forced their way into her apartment.

The masked robber hit her in the back of the head with the handgun and both followed her into her bedroom as she crawled away from them. They demanded money and jewelry, took $200 from a dresser in her bedroom, and fled, police said.

Binder beating

A binder-wielding cretin attacked a woman jogging near her Bath Avenue home on March 16, according to police.

She was running down the street between Bay 43rd and Bay 44th streets, across from the Lafayette High School baseball field when the maniac — who she said was a complete stranger — came up to her swinging the binder. He pushed her to the ground and hit her multiple times, police said, then fled.

More than he asked for

Some scumbag cut up a well-intentioned motorist after he interrupted his argument with a woman on Oceanview Avenue on March 20, police said.

The man was in his car at a stop sign at Brighton 12th Street when he saw the man arguing with the woman who was with her child, and yelled out to him from his car, “what are you doing,” prompting the savage to come at him with a knife.

He stabbed the man multiple times in the ribs and cut his hand, then fled in a white sedan with a temporary New Jersey license plate, police said. The victim ended up in the hospital with stab wounds and a dislocated shoulder, according to police.

Bodega break-in

Two burglars broke into a Mermaid Avenue bodega on March 14, police said.

Surveillance video shows the two knaves lifting a metal gate and breaking the glass door into the deli near W. 22nd Street just before 5 pm, police said. The thieves somehow managed not to wake the bodega owner sleeping in the back of the store.

They grabbed some cigar boxes and incense, left, and then came back for some cigar wraps, according to a police report.

Deja vu

A thief broke into a boiler room at a W. 23rd Street housing complex on March 14, police said.

The bad guy broke a latch and lock on the door to the boiler room at the complex between Neptune and Mermaid avenues around 3:30 pm, according to a police report. The burglar stole two retractable “lifeline” safety harness winches.

A similar, but more elaborate burglary took place at a boiler room in the complex last week.

— Dennis Lynch

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

61st Precinct

Sheepshead Bay—Homecrest— Manhattan Beach—Gravesend

Don’t shoot

A brute stole a teen’s phone and threatened to shoot him on Avenue X on March 15.

The teen told police he was inside of a diner near McDonald Avenue around 3 pm when the nogoodnik approached and asked to borrow his Samsung Galaxy Note 4. But when the 14-year-old asked for his cellphone back, the miscreant said, “Step back or I’ll shoot you,” according authorities.

The bad guy fled with the teen’s phone in a gray Crown Victoria taxi with two other guys, police said.

Where’s my bike?

A burglar broke into a woman’s home on E. 12th Street on March 16 and stole her bike.

The woman told police the lout broke the lock on the garage door near Avenue Y around 1 pm and stole her pink and black Denali 700C Road Bike. The woman reported the burglary on March 18, according to authorities.

No lock was found outside of the garage and there was no damage to the door, but the woman has video footage of the burglary, police said.

— Julianne Cuba

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

68th Precinct

Bay Ridge—Dyker Heights

Safe steal

Some good-for-nothing broke into a Third Avenue nightclub on March 12 and stole a safe full of cash, police said.

The freebooter broke into the club near 87th Street between 5 am and 8 am by unknown means — there was no damage to any of the doors at all — but once inside, he did some major financial damage.

The crook managed to haul off a safe with $50,000 in cash in it, according to a police report.

A subtle way in

A not-so-subtle crook smashed his way into an Italian deli on Third Avenue on March 14, authorities said.

The burglar used a brick to shatter the front glass door of the bodega between 86th and 87th streets around 4 am, according to police. For some reason he threw an iPad sitting in the store to the ground, then grabbed a cash drawer with $200 in it and fled.

Bag snatcher

A pilferer stole a woman’s handbag from off her stroller at a Fifth Avenue store on March 17, police said.

The woman was shopping at the shop between Bay Ridge and Ovington avenues around 3:30 pm when she left her bag unattended. She returned to her stroller to find her wallet had been swiped, along with $50 in cash in it, according to police.

Wedding band-it

Some burglar broke into a guy’s Ridge Boulevard apartment on March 17 and got away with his wedding band and other jewelry, according to police.

The victim was at work from 6:30 am until around 5:30 pm. He returned to his home at Bay Ridge Avenue to find the kitchen window unlocked and open. Then he found his watch, a ring, and his wedding ring missing, police said.

Piggy bank bust

A housebreaker ransacked a 68th Street apartment on March 19, according to a police report.

The victim left for work around 3 pm and came back to his apartment between Eighth and Ninth avenues around 11:30 pm to find it turned upside down and the window in his kid’s bedroom open.

The thief grabbed $2,000 stashed in his bedroom drawer, an iPad Air, a wallet, and even a piggy bank with $300 in it, police said.

— Dennis Lynch

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By Joanna DelBuono

Brooklyn Daily

I have to say that, after this most recent terrorist act, I am starting to agree with Donald Trump more and more about banning immigration until we can improve our methods of vetting potential citizens.

After witnessing the carnage that took place at the airport and train stations in Brussels this past week, I firmly believe we have to put the brakes on an open-arms policy that welcomes any persons without thoroughly investigating their motives. The terrorist in Brussels hid in plain sight for the past several months and no one in the Muslim community in which he walked freely turned him in. Are these the type of people that we want to welcome onto our shores?

Brussels and France openly welcomed Muslims into their countries by the thousands. As a result of their openness, their countries have been over-run by radicalized Islamic terrorists that wantonly commit acts of terror on innocent individuals that just want to go about their daily lives in peace.

What does it say about a culture that harbors criminals and says nothing?

Limousine liberals love to compare Donald Trump to Hitler, but it is the Islamic terrorists that at act like Hitler.

So far, Donald Trump hasn’t said anything that turned out to be false. Donald Trump says what everyone else is thinking but too afraid to say out loud.

Not for nuthin™, but the sound of “President Trump” has started to sound better and better. I send my prayers to the families and victims of the recent bombings and pray that we will be able to put a stop to this Islamic terror network before our country — or any other country — suffers another terrorist bombing and the loss of more innocent lives.

Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

He flew all around the galaxy and now he’s back performing in his hometown.

Midwood native Morris Beyda is returning to Brooklyn as Buzz Lightyear with the cast of “Disney Live! Mickey and Minnie’s Doorway to Magic” at Kings Theatre on March 25. The 30-year-old rug-cutter got his dancing start after he left Brooklyn for college, so he’s never had a chance to perform in his hometown until now, and he’s beyond pumped, he said.

“I can’t even tell you how excited I’ve been, it’s been a full circle for me,” Beyda said. “I’ve been trying to get to New York for a while to perform back home. This will be my first time bringing a show to Brooklyn since I grew up here.”

Growing up with a strong religious background, Beyda’s early schooling consisted mostly of Hebrew and Jewish learning. It wasn’t until he moved out of Brooklyn to attend Monmouth University in New Jersey that he began taking theater classes and taught himself how to dance. Beyda also credits his summer gig — helping out with kid’s performance groups at the Jewish Community Center — as the kick-starter to his career, he said.

”That’s what really got me into performances,” Beyda said.

Beyda spent a semester in Orlando with the Disney College Program, where he auditioned for the “High School Musical” tour on a whim — and got the job, he said.

“That was my first-ever dancing job,” Beyda said. “I just went on a whim just believing in how much I wanted to do this, and my work ethic, and ended up booking it. And to this day I’m super proud, because it started everything for me.”

That was back in 2009 — and since then, Beyda has toured the world performing in “High School Musical,” “Phineas and Ferb,” and now “Mickey and Minnie’s Doorway to Magic,” which is a fun sing-along performance that takes the audience on a journey through six magical Disney lands, he said.

Beyda is eager and thankful to return home and take the stage at Kings Theatre in Flatbush with his whole family cheering him on, he said.

“It’s cool to play where I grew up, and it’s going to be fun to have all my family in attendance — I’m thankful,” he said.

“Disney Live! Mickey & Minnie’s Doorway to Magic” at Kings Theatre [1027 Flatbush Ave. between Tilden Avenue and Duryea Place in Flatbush, www.kingstheatre.com, (800)745–3000]. March 25–27. Showtimes vary. $28.

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By Lauren Gill

Brooklyn Daily

They are getting in the final word.

The organizers of a popular Williamsburg spelling bee are calling it quits on April 4, after hosting a dozen years of adult spell-offs at Pete’s Candy Store. The brains behind the beloved letter-arranging competition says recreational spellers are still flocking to the face-off, but they are ready to break the spell.

“It’s just as popular as the first day,” said founder Bobby Blue. “It’s not only challenging, it’s riveting and it’s fun.”

Still, it has been a long run, and the bee has flown its course, said Blue’s competition partner.

“Twelve years is an incredibly long time to do anything,” said Jen Dziura.

Blue, a Ditmas Park resident who classifies himself as an “average speller,” created the spell-off in after watching the documentary “Spellbound,” about wiz kids competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Each monthly competition has given 15 adults a chance to live out their spelling dreams in a three-round bee with a beer in their hand.

The pair originally thought the event would simply bee a bunch of people getting drunk and trying their hand at an elementary school novelty, but they found that people got pretty serious about their spelling and were more focused on winning than their beers.

“There was an assumption that people would be a little more tipsy,” said Dziura, who lives in Park Slope. “But people who show up are pretty serious about winning.”

The talent pool usually consists of a mix of novice spellers and regulars, said Dziura, who frequently trips people up on words such as “aebleskiver” — Danish pancake puffs — and one of the words pronounced “fare-oh,” which can be spelled in four different ways.

Each bee winner receives a small prize, like a dictionary or candy. The closing clash on April 4 will also feature cake for all participants, and a live rendition of the spelling bee’s catchy theme song, sung by the hosts.

This might not be the end for the original spelling bee — which has become so famous that “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” once modeled a murder victim on Dziura. Blue said the pair might host a few one-off competitions, and he is looking to get celebrities like the brainy Emma Watson involved.

But even though he’s looking to the future, he is still s-a-d to leave the well-known bee behind.

“I’ll miss working with Jen, the camaraderie of the people, and the whole thing altogether,” said Blue. “I don’t think there’s anything I won’t miss.”

The final Williamsburg Spelling Bee at Pete’s Candy Store [709 Lorimer St. between Frost and Richardson streets in Williamsburg, (718) 302–3770, spellingblog4.blogspot.com]. April 4 at 7 pm. Free.

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

It was a breakaway success!

Local hockey teams faced off at Aviator Sports Center on March 12 to benefit families of blind children. The showdown was particularly exciting for one sightless woman who had never seen — or even heard — a hockey game, she said.

“I’ve never heard the sound of ice skates, and it was fascinating how they sounded as the skaters came by us,” said Mindy Jacobsen of Parents of Blind Children of New York. “Everybody was very excited and having a good time, and it was a noisy game.”

Staten Island’s Team Rugged beat city-wide squad the Moscow Penguins 8–7 during the Third Annual Rick Welch and Elaine Rink Memorial Ice Hockey Fundraiser.

All proceeds from the event went to the Parents of Blind Children of New York — a division of the National Federation of the Blind of New York State that helps parents provide their children with the best possible education and helps them get the best out of life, said organization president Carl Jacobsen, Mindy’s husband.

Kids and participants had the opportunity to win prizes in several raffles during the game, including New York Ranger tickets, New Jersey Devil tickets, autographed hockey memorabilia, and gift certificates to restaurants across Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Team Rugged captain Tommy Needham also organized the event, and he did a wonderful job making it fun and enjoyable for everyone, Carl said.

“I appreciate everybody who came and supported the effort,” he said. “It was a fun event and I thank Tommy for all his efforts.”

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Brooklyn Daily

Police are asking for a hand finding the jerk who masturbated on an N train in Sunset Park last week.

The pre-dawn wanker boarded a Coney Island-bound N train at the 36th Street station around 2 am on Mar. 15, police said.

The perv grabbed a 24-year-old female straphanger’s leg and then started rubbing his crotch with his other hand, according to law enforcement sources. The suspect and victim got into a verbal argument, and the handsy bowsie fled the train at 59th Street, police said.

The suspect is between 20 and 25 years old, stands 5-foot-2, and weighs 120 pounds, officials said. He was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweater, light-colored pants, and dark shoes, according to a police report.

Police are asking anyone with information regarding the incident to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577–8477. The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

They’re moving everything — and the kitchen sink!

Developers will down the Parkside Memorial Chapels and the boarded-up Midas Muffler Shop on Flatbush Avenue near Avenue V to make room for Raymour and Flanigan furniture store, which is moving from across the street. The news put to bed locals’ fears that the city would build a homeless shelter on the site, one resident said.

“We anticipated this could be a horror show,” said James Buchanan during a Community Board 18 meeting on March 16. “We would have this big lot now, which is probably the largest lot in Marine Park, that would be available, and we didn’t know if the city was going to come down and say ‘We’re putting up homeless housing or halfway houses.’ ”

Instead, the retail furniture chain will move across Avenue V — from 2544 Flatbush Ave. to 2576 Flatbush Ave., Buchanan said.

Raymour and Flanigan bought the Midas building last fall. It hasn’t yet closed the deal with Parkside Memorial Chapels, but both parties have signed a contract that will hand over the entire lot to the furniture chain by 2017, city records show.

It’s not clear what will happen to Raymour and Flanigan’s current building, which is about the size of five basketball courts. Raymour and Flanigan leases the space, and officials there do not know what will come of the storefront, a spokeswoman said. The land is zoned for car lots, gas stations, and other commercial uses, city records show. Developers would need a pass from the city to erect housing, records show.

Officials could not confirm when the furnishing store will reopen in its new location.

And the funeral home isn’t closing up shop either, it’s just moving up Flatbush Avenue to the corner of Alton Place — an opportunity Parkside Memorial Chapel just couldn’t pass up, its president said.

“Raymour and Flanigan made us an offer we couldn’t refuse,” said Ed Goldstein, who plans to re-open the funeral home this Spring. “It’s a matter of dollars and cents.”

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By Joseph Staszewski

Brooklyn Daily

Shamorie Ponds delivered — on everything.

The Jefferson guard didn’t wilt under heated expectations that come with being the face of Chris Mullin’s first St. John’s recruiting class. Instead he is thriving. There is no resting on his laurels. Instead there is only motivation to keep anyone from catching him or tearing him down.

“The [target] was on my back, so I had to just work every day,” Ponds said. “I know people were after me.”

No one can touch him now.

He was New York City’s best player all season, a Public School Athletic League Class AA champion, and is now state Federation winner after the Orange Waves’ 72–65 win over Aquinas Institute at the Times Union Center in Albany on March 18. The league championship and Federation title are both firsts for his East New York school.

Referees gave Ponds (16 points) a rare night off in the final when they saddled him with his fourth foul in the third quarter. Teammates Raheem Dunn and Curtis Smith took Jefferson home after Ponds carried them the night before.

Ponds was named the tournament’s most valuable player. It was just another moment in a season where the stage, the expectations, and the hype were never too big.

His demeanor was perfect for handling all of it, something that should carry over when he deals with the buzz of arriving at St. John’s.

“He’s just a cool guy,” Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard said. “When everyone is going 110, he is going his speed and his pace, and he is very effective.”

Ponds scored 23 points in his first game at Carnesecca Arena. He recorded 31 points and 12 rebounds at The Garden in the city title game and tallied 27 more points in a Federation semifinal win over Long Island Lutheran.

What is special is how he does it.

There are long threes, mid-range jumpers, scoop-and-spin layups using both hands, and even some old-fashioned, blue-collar put backs.

“He’s so good from all three levels — deep three, mid-range game, and also finishing moves with both hands,” Long Island Lutheran coach John Buck said. “He’s such a gifted scorer.”

But Ponds is much more than that.

His basketball intelligence and unselfishness become more and more evident each time he plays. He gets his points while also getting his teammates involved. Ponds will often defer early in games before doing whatever it takes to close out wins.

“That’s just what he does,” Pollard said. “There are some times that he get 40, 50 [points], but he likes to facilitate and follow the game plan. Then second half he puts that dagger in somebody’s heart.”

Soon Ponds’s metaphorical blades will find Big East teams’ tickers — continuing to win over the hearts of St. John’s fans.

But the low-key Ponds isn’t trying to increase the already high expectations for his time with the Red Storm. Once he puts on a St. John’s jersey, nothing that he’s already accomplished means anything in his eyes.

“College is a whole other ballgame,” he said. “I’m just going to star over from scratch, get in the gym, and work.”

Ponds displays no ego, no fear, and never any panic — there is just calm, confidence, and clear results.

Ponds delivers.

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By Joanna DelBuono

Brooklyn Daily

Borough Wide

Dan’s a 20-year champion

Brooklynite Dan Foster is a winner, as a 20-year survivor of colorectal cancer —the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.

He’s also the Brooklyn ambassador for the Colon Cancer Alliance, and a proud recipient of dual awards at Borough Hall this month, which was gussied up and lit in blue (the official fighting colors of colon cancer).

Borough President Eric Adams and Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay) presented Dan with a proclamation and legislative resolution, respectively, and designated March Colon Cancer Awareness Month.

The disease is the one cancer that is 90 percent preventable when screened and caught early, according to the experts.

“If you are 50 years old, get screened now,” says Dan, who has been with the Alliance since its inception in 1999.

The group, which merged with the Chris4life Foundation, strives to eradicate colon cancer and provide resources and outreach to sufferers and families.

Colon Cancer Alliance (www.ccalliance.org; (877) 422-2030).

Mill Basin

3 cheers & a bucket of books

Kudos to borough son Frank Bisignano. The Mill Basin gent was honored for his contribution to tech and innovation education in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn Public Library at a gala event on March 8. The fest celebrated the role of the tech industry in our local economy, and the tech industry’s reliance on the Brooklyn Public Library to foster the next generation of employees and leaders.

As a boy Frank visited his local library regularly and claims it helped to put him on the right path.

“I owe my success in part to the local library,” he said.

Frank was named chief executive officer of First Data in 2013 after a distinguished career in banking and finance. Under his leadership First Data became a global innovator in technology, providing business development services to thousands of large and small enterprises around the world, including more than 17,000 businesses in Brooklyn.

It ain’t just books anymore, and the tech scene has found a new a home at the Brooklyn Public Library, as branches evolve and add classes, meeting spaces, and after-school help.

Frank was honored alongside other notables, including Etsy, Clive Davis, Eliot Feld, Roz Chast, Alan Dershowitz, Max Roach, Maurice Sendak, Lena Horne, Wendy Wasserstein and Betty Comden.

Bath Beach

Save the Date

Give a pint, save a life, when the 62nd Police Precinct hosts a blood drive on March 29 , 1-7 pm, at the stationhouse.

Donors should bring ID, eat and drink before donating, be in good health and above 16 years of age (if a teen, parental consent required).

Be there — the life you save may be your own or that of a loved one.

62nd Precinct (1925 Bath Ave at 20th at Bay 22nd Street in Bath Beach; (800) 933-2566].

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By Joanna DelBuono

Brooklyn Daily

Sheepshead Bay

Bay Rockers!

Billy Shears ain’t got a thing on the Bay Rockers, featuring the talents of Ralph Favilla, Steve Restaino, Barney McMahon and all the way from sunny Florida, Peter Frank Santovito, a longtime Standing O friend.

The Rockers, with a little help from their friends, got together for a jam session at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club on march 6 and celebrated 23 years of making music the old fashioned rock n’ roll way.

The band performed its unique brand of blues-jazz classic rock, much to the delight of friends, and fans — old and new.

“It’s all about the music,” said Pete, now a musician in the Sunshine State.

Standing O wishes the band many more reunions — keep on jamming, Rockers!

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By Joanna DelBuono

Brooklyn Daily

Borough Park

Not many people have done as much for their community as Standing O pal and former president of Maimonides Medical Center, Pamela Brier. That’s why when most people retire all they get is gold watch, a cake and a “thank you very much,” but our friend Pam — a former Brooklyn Woman of Distinction — got a lobby named after her.

New hospital president Ken Gibbs snipped the ceremonial ribbon on the main lobby — now named after Pamela — as trustees Steven Oppenheim, Robert Machinist, Moshe Wieder, Daniel Nelson, Jack Hidary, Peter Rebenwurzel, Martin Payson, Mort Klaus, Andrew Kohen, Erminia Rivera, and Frank Naccarato, and board chairman Eugene Keilin, shared in the confetti and hoopla.

Pamela served Maimonides Medical Center for 20 years, having joined the hospital in 1995 as chief operating officer and executive vice president, and becoming president and chief executive officer in 2003. She dedicated her tenure to improving the health of all New Yorkers, said Gibbs.

“There is no one quite like Pam Brier,” he said. “It is impossible to count the number of lives she has touched as the extraordinary leader of Maimonides Medical Center.”

In addition to her many accomplishments in expanding services to meet community needs, under her leadership the hospital gained a national reputation for outstanding clinical care outcomes, placing it among the top 10 hospitals in the country to treat heart attacks, heart failures, and pneumonia. Its enhanced clinical services include the borough’s only full-service Cancer and Breast Centers, the Payson Birthing Center where more babies are delivered than at any other hospital in the state, a new nine-floor patient care pavilion, and the city’s first Hybrid Operating Room along with a Department of Population Health to better manage the care of patients in Southern Brooklyn.

Standing O wishes Pamela good fortune in her retirement.

Maimonides Medical Center [4802 Tenth Ave. at 48th Street in Borough Park; (718) 283-6000]

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By Carlo Bosticco

Brooklyn Daily

Wilkommen!

A sizzling Germanic cabaret show will take the stage at the Union Temple of Brooklyn on March 26. “From Vienna to Weimar” has a daring, naughty, grungy attitude that is perfect match for Brooklyn’s spirit, says one of its stars.

“Berlin has it. Brooklyn has it. Manhattan doesn’t have it,” said Karen Kohler, who performs the show with KT Sullivan. “It is only right that the show has finally made it to Brooklyn. It is like a home away from home for these songs.”

Kohler, a German-born, Texas-raised fraulein who splits her time between Prospect Heights and Winslow Park in Connecticut, has worked on the cabaret show with Sullivan since 2004. The show, which won BroadwayWorld’s “Best Revue” award in 2013, really came alive when the two women introduced an element of gender-bending, said Kohler.

“For that second show I came on stage with a tux. It changed everything,” she said.

The cabaret show includes a variety of Teutonic tunes, ranging from 1870s Austrian operettas to German cabaret songs from the 1930s. Some of the songs are sung in German, but most are in English, with original translations by Jeremy Lawrence. The lyrics tackle issues that remain relevant today, including women’s rights and gay issues.

“It was a sad, hopeless, disillusioned time,” said Karen Kohler. “That’s why people must have felt they had nothing to lose and started pushing the parcel. Anything went: nudity, banana skirts… Performers became uninhibited and daring in expressing themselves. That’s what cabaret is all about — real connection.”

It is fitting for the show to take place inside a Jewish temple, said Kohler, because it contains many songs from Jewish composers — such as Kurt Weill — who fled Germany due to the political climate. Songs from pre-WWII Germany are also appropriate for the current political atmosphere, she said.

“When Hitler came on the scene people were laughing at his jokes and message. He is so extreme! Then it got darker, and before you knew it people were being exiled… It is eerily relevant to our political scene right now, don’t you think?”

“From Vienna to Weimar” at the Union Temple of Brooklyn (17 Eastern Pkwy. between Grand Army Plaza and Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights, (718) 638–7600, cabaret.union-temple.org]. March 26 at 7:30 pm. $30 ($25 in advance).

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

They drive a hard bargain.

Community Board members are demanding the city reject a developer’s bid to skirt parking requirements for a planned five-story office building in Sheepshead Bay. Developer Elijah Realty aims to erect a medical office on E. 16th Street near Sheepshead Bay Road and is asking the city for two special dispensations that would reduce the off-street parking it is legally required to build from 30 spaces to zero. Members of Community Board 15 called the plan ridiculous when the builder’s lawyer came asking for their support on March 22.

“To even propose putting up a five-story building to end up with zero parking, is utterly, utterly ridiculous in Southern Brooklyn,” said board member Ira Teper.

The city determines the number of required parking spaces for new developments based on the proposed building’s square footage, and the planned office would require just under 30 spots. But because it will be a medical office, the owner is seeking a special permit to cut that requirement in half — leaving the builder on the hook for just under 15 spots. Developers required to build 15 or fewer parking spaces can ask the Department of Buildings for a waiver to build none — and that’s what Elijah Realty plans to do, according to zoning attorney Erik Palatnik, who is representing the builder.

Palatnik contends his office did a study proving there’s plenty of parking to go around in that section of Sheepshead Bay.

“It’s anticipated, due to our location next to the train station — as well as municipal lots in the area and on-street parking — that we will be able to accommodate any required parking,” he said.

But board members — who are all too familiar with parking-related struggles in Sheepshead Bay — voted 35–1 to not support the proposal, pointing out that parking is anything but readily available.

“We have a dire need for parking,” said board member Maurice Kolodin, who upped the ante on Teper’s criticism. “It’s ludicrous. I’d like to top [‘ridiculous’] with ludicrous.”

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

Reviving express F train service is a pipe dream, because the resurrected orange bullet would negatively impact other riders’ commutes or just plain cost too much, according to a former Transit Authority bookkeeper and regular F train rider.

The cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority doesn’t have the dough to run more trains on the line, so local riders would see fewer trains pulling up to their platforms, the transit wonk said.

“The problem with the F express is there’s a limited number of trains,” said Lawrence Littlefield of Windsor Terrace. “If some go express, then there are fewer trains and less service on local lines — unless you can increase the service. But the broader problem is the Metropolitan Transit Authority is broke.”

The F train used to run express to stops at Bergen Street, Church Avenue, Ditmars Avenue, Kings Highway, W. Eighth Street, and Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue, but the authority cut those services in the late 1970s to save itself money. The express tracks already exist, so restoring the service would not require significant construction, according to transit advocates and politicians pushing for the restoration.

Littlefield agrees that the effort to bring the service back would be minimal considering the infrastructure is already there — but there is just not enough funding in the authority’s budget to provide service for local and express F trains, he said.

The publicly-funded agency’s head has said the authority is dangerously close to running out of money if the state doesn’t hurry up and pass a budget that funds the agency’s $29 billion, five-year capital plan, Capital New York reported.

The transit authority is considering reviving the express F service. It finished a study on the matter last year, but is refusing to release it until its president signs off on the paper.

The authority declined to comment for this article until the sandbagged study eventually goes public.

“We will have more to say once the report is finalized,” spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

They won’t permit it any longer!

The city must repeal provisions letting Ridgites drastically increase the size of their houses, because homeowners are turning the neighborhood into a hodgepodge of McMansions, local leaders say. The Department of City Planning is considering no longer extending so-called “special permits” to residents who want to enlarge their one- and two-family homes bigger than zoning allows. The agency created such permits to help families grow in place — so homeowners could build an extra bedroom for a child instead of moving out of the neighborhood, for example. But in practice, greedy speculators use it to make a quick buck, one critic said.

“It is used rampantly by people to buy property, build it up, and flip it for a profit,” said Michael Bistreich, legislation and budget director for Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge). “Repealing it will help keep neighborhood character and the housing market in the area intact.”

Community Board 10 opted into the program 20 years ago under the belief that the Board of Standards and Appeals — a city planning sub-agency that grants the permits — would ensure that any expansions would not “alter the essential character of the neighborhood,” and that the community board would have some say in what permits were granted, according to a 1996 board report.

But since then, the city has rubber-stamped wildly inappropriate home expansions, according to a board honcho.

“In one case there was a street where all the homes had backyard gardens, and one homeowner wanted to build out into the backyard — we felt it changed the character of the block, but it was very subjective, because character wasn’t defined, and so the [Board of Standards and Appeals] granted the permit,” district manager Josephine Beckmann said.

The board tried to get rid of special permits a handful of times but never got far. Now the Department of City Planning has agreed to help draft an appeal to go before the City Council, which would have to sign off on the change.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

Bath Beachers are demanding the city clean up an abandoned home on Bay 31st Street that unruly squatters use as a flophouse.

The decrepit residence between 86th Street and Benson Avenue is a fire hazard and a hotbed for illegal activity, a woman who lives next door said.

“We don’t know what’s going on in there, the place is completely unsafe and it’s falling apart,” neighbor Debbie Patterson said. “I’m afraid of a fire, that’s my biggest fear.”

Three city agencies said there is nothing they can legally do to remedy the situation, although the Department of Buildings said it will re-inspect the property in response to the Fire Department’s March 21 request to vacate and seal the building. Utility companies have also cut services to the building.

This paper met with Patterson and a dozen other neighbors gathered outside the home on March 11 to hear stories of their encounters with individuals they said stay at the house.

At the time, there were three bottles of what appeared to be urine along the walkway to the front door — which was missing from its frame — and mounds of trash in the front yard. Inside, a middle-aged man who is homeless said he has stayed out of trouble with the law, but that police sometimes arrest others staying there. The stairway to the top floor was barricaded with a mattress and trash.

And the home isn’t just an eye sore — it’s a danger to the public, locals said.

A man staying at the house stabbed someone on Bay 31st Street last year, neighbors claim. Squatters often solicit neighbors for money or hang out in front of the house, brazenly drinking alcohol and urinating in public, locals said. One teen recalled when an intoxicated man followed her and a friend from outside the building up Bay 31st Street to 86th Street.

City officials should at least step in to prune the overgrown front yard, which makes for a dangerous ambush point for muggers looking to prey on passersby, a 24-year-old lifelong neighbor said.

“At least try to get rid of the overgrowth so the house can be seen, because this has so much shade that anyone can do anything, it’s really hard to see,” the woman said. “Someone could pop out at any time they want and attack someone.”

The house’s owner appears to be a Bay Ridge man who died in 1989, city records show. The property has been largely vacant since, although one family member occasionally cleaned it up in years past. She stopped coming about five years ago and squatters started to turn up at night about a year ago, neighbors said. She was unreachable at two phone numbers.

The police department has responded to numerous incidents at the home and made arrests, but a lieutenant at the 62nd Precinct said the department cannot legally vacate the property without a complaint from the landlord.

A Department of Finance official said the agency did visit the property, but did not say if taxes had been paid on the property and said there was nothing further the agency could do.

Councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island) said his office is aware of the issue at the house and investigating potential solutions.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

First responders from Maimonides Medical Center struck and seriously injured a 79-year-old woman on 58th Street in Borough Park while responding to a call there on March 23.

An ambulance driver backed into the woman around 2 pm between Eighth and Ninth avenues — medics were on the way to pick up a heart attack victim on 58th Street, law enforcement sources said.

She suffered head trauma, internal injuries, and multiple broken bones, police sources on the scene said. Another ambulance transported the woman to Lutheran Medical Center in critical condition following the accident, according to the police department.

The police department’s Collision Investigation Squad is looking into the incident, authorities said.

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