GOWANUS — The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment (BCUE) finally has a home of its very own. After 10 years in Prospect Park’s Picnic House and 20 years in the Tennis House, the 30-year-old environmental organization will hold an official grand opening on Saturday for its new LEED-certified headquarters at 168 Seventh St.

“It is a great opportunity to re-introduce ourselves to {read more...}

Canadian transplant David Eustace is in touch with the Gowanus Canal — more in touch than most Brooklynites ever will be — and it keeps pulling him closer. The artist has lived in Brooklyn for eight years, previously on Fourth Avenue, then Third Avenue, and now near the intersection of Smith and 9 streets. “I have kind of been creeping down toward the canal,” he said.

For two years, Eustace has been hanging primed canvases marked with raw iron filings and other materials in the canal to track the passage of time through the movement of water. Four large paintings that received this treatment are the centerpieces of a visual arts exhibition titled “Project for Canal,” open {read more...}

By Tom Kane
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — Like most famous poets, Ken Siegelman had his share of inner demons to contend with. Perhaps that is exactly what made him so famous, his ability to describe, in words, feelings and emotions that most of us shy away from. Siegelman embraced them, and handed them to us to peruse. Ken was named Brooklyn Poet Laureate in 2002 by Borough President Marty Markowitz after teaching poetry at Lincoln High School for 33 years.

May 7, 2008 was {read more...}

BORIS, BUT NO NATASHA: The Boris Jewelry store on Flatbush Avenue was robbed on Wednesday, April 30 at 4 p.m. Two unarmed men walked into the store and asked to purchase two pairs of 14-karat diamond earrings. Once they were holding the earrings, the thieves began to viciously beat the employee. They fled northbound on Flatbush Avenue. The injured employee was transported to Methodist Hospital.

Proceeds from the Hat Party support the work of the Prospect Park Alliance’s Landscape Management Office, which is responsible for the restoration and care of the landmark park’s celebrated natural landscape.

The alliance thanks Buzzy O’Keefe and the River Café for hosting the {read more...}

Starrett City is the largest federally subsidized {read more...}

As it continues to undergo a renaissance, Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn will soon welcome another new retail tenant.

Ingram & Hebron Realty reports that Bridge Cleaners, the 79-year-old “institution” that has served thousands of Brooklynites, has signed a long -term lease for retail space at 204 Livingston St. The 1,600-square-foot ground-floor space is part of the new BE@Schermerhorn complex being developed by SDS Procida Development Group.

“We have a deep commitment to this block and to keeping small businesses in the neighborhood,” said Paula Ingram,who {read more...}

Junior southpaw Justin Giammarino pitched six strong innings and Roberto Duran homered and drove in two runs as the Clippers of Xaverian High School beat up on Catholic School rival Bishop Ford, 10-3, on Wednesday at Brooklyn’s legendary Parade Grounds.

Giammarino overcame some early trouble to shut down the Falcons (7-6 CHSAA Brooklyn A) over the final few frames while the first-place Clippers (12-1) pulled away for their 12th league victory in 13 games.

Coach Dennis Canale’s team will take on CHSAA rival Molloy this afternoon.

ADAMS STREET — It is 152 miles from Eagle Street in Albany to Downtown Brooklyn. But for Hon. Theodore T. Jones, it was a sweet homecoming.

Jones, an associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, was once the administrative judge of the Kings County Supreme Court. The Brooklyn-born jurist knows the courthouse at 360 Adams St. well.

Jones talked about how significant it was to be back in the building where he served as a justice for 17 years. There were a {read more...}

CADMAN PLAZA EAST – The feds announced yesterday the filing of an indictment against Leib Pinter and Barry Goldstein, two former principals of the Olympia Mortgage Corporation, a Midwood-based mortgage lender.

Pinter, {read more...}

Authorities say Colin Leahy was arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child after {read more...}

It was such a bright and sunny day that stood out in contrast to the gloomy financial situation facing so many justices who have not had a raise in salary for the past decade.

There were pointed and inspiring words from a number of speakers introduced by Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix such as City Bar Association President Barry Kamins, former Court {read more...}

It is {read more...}

In a recent interview with the New York Times, director Steven Spielberg said the tone and style of his Indiana Jones movies were strongly influenced by the 1930s and 40s movie serials he used to watch as a kid.

“They made a great impression on me, both because of how exciting they were and because of how cheesy they were,” he told the paper. “I’d kind of be involved in the stories and ridiculing them at the same time.”

That’s exactly how I feel about Carousel, the 1945 Rodgers {read more...}

By Sean Murphy

Is north Brooklyn hotspot Studio B, arguably the borough’s leading venue for electronic music, living on borrowed time? Such is the question being asked by avid clubbers and hitherto diffident residents on the eve of the opening of an expansive roof garden area — completed in violation of a stop work order issued on April 22, weeks after work permits were denied by the city.

Straddling the predominantly industrial border {read more...}

Two German entrepreneurs had established roots in Coney Island: Charles Feltman, a baker, and Paul Bauer, an hotelier. Feltman began his restaurant in an octagonal building across from the Sea Beach Rail Road in 1890. {read more...}

By David Ansel Weiss
(cumb3@aol.com)

The Heights Casino on Montague St. in Brooklyn Heights is thought to be the first building in the United States designed specifically for indoor tennis.

Hank’s career started in Brooklyn, a remote fishing village, where he and his three sisters grew up. He led a reasonably normal boyhood until he was 8; then his parents divorced, splitting up the {read more...}

Threatened by frozen fingers and engine oil leaks only 60 miles from their objective, the privately financed expedition circled the pole several times. The observations verified America’s claim to the pole that was announced 17 years previously {read more...}

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE -- The first major call for Congressman Vito Fossella's resignation came from a daily Staten Island newspaper that has chronicled his political and {read more...}

Let mystical tales about life, love and generosity transform you. Join Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum and a dozen other great storytellers at the Seventh Semiannual Jewish Spiritual Storytelling Jamboree. The Spiritual Storytelling Jamboree, featuring live music and refreshments, is hosted at Congregation Bnai Avraham on Sunday, May 18, at 7 p.m. SAVE THE DATE and tell your friends! Congregation B’nai Avraham is at 117 Remsen Street (between Clinton and Henry streets) in Brooklyn Heights. For more info: call 718 {read more...}

City Parks Foundation inaugurated Umoja Garden recently as part of its citywide Learning Gardens program. Umoja Garden is located on the corner of Broadway and Putnam streets in Bushwick.

As an official Learning Garden, Umoja Garden will offer year-round classes to partnering school groups, including P.S. 309K and P.S. 5K, plus community garden events, “Plant and Play” times, open garden hours, and free workshops.

The goal for the site was to preserve and renovate an existing abandoned garden and work in a community that lacked adequate green space and environmental education programming.

The event included children from P.S. 309K, together with David Rivel, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation; Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the New York City Department of {read more...}

Interactive and multigenerational, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange’s Family Workshops are geared towards families and friends who are interested in exploring the arts in a collaborative, engaging way.

Physical Comedy: Taught by Josh Matthews
Saturday, May 17, 3–4:30 p.m.
Age range: 5-9 years old and adults | Price: $20 pair, $15 single
Josh Matthews returns to BAX to teach Physical Comedy by popular demand: Discover your inner clown and laugh at yourself. This fun and wacky workshop explores physical characterization, comedic timing and skills such as “prop passing” and skits with partners and in groups.

Family Improv: Taught by Gwenyth Reitz
Saturday, June 21, 3–5 p.m.
Age range: 7-11 years old and adults, Price: $20 pair, $15 single
Be in the moment, {read more...}

Special presentations were made to this year’s event honorees: Dr. Yaffa Eliach, president and founder of the Shtetl Foundation; Dr. Bernard Lander, president and founder of Touro College; and Shimon Waronker, Principal, Jordan L. Mott, Middle School 22, Bronx. Organizations being honored included the Sephardic Bikur Holum (accepting was Dr. {read more...}

“People say the children are our future, and today we saw that many of those children are ready to take on that future — with all of its technological advances,” said John DiPaolo, Executive Director of the Beginning with Children Foundation. “One of Beginning with Children’s guiding philosophies is to offer its students a rich education that goes beyond the vitally important subjects of English and math. This fair, along with the Science Exploratorium that preceded it, are examples of the {read more...}

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE — The political tremor of Congressman Vito Fossella’s DWI arrest eight days ago in Virginia has led to an earthquake with the admission yesterday by the city’s top Republican elected official and lone GOP representative that he had a daughter from his now-admitted extramarital affair.

“I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three-year-old daughter,” said the beleaguered Fossella in a {read more...}

BOROUGH PARK — In a clapboard building at the intersection of 45th Street and 12th Avenue, the inheritors of the world’s most ancient branch of rabbinical Judaism struggle to keep their community and rite alive.

Congregation {read more...}

By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Two Trees Management Co. reports it has found the “year-round vibrant arts center” it was seeking for the “ornate interior theater space” at 110 Livingston St., the former Board of Education building in Downtown Brooklyn, which the company has been converting to residential use.

Issue Project Room (IPR), a multi-disciplinary exhibition and performance arts organization currently based in Carroll Gardens, has signed {read more...}

Carroll Garden resident Lisa M. Cirando and Brooklyn Heights resident Jeanne Kane Zaykowski, as event co-chairs, invite you to the Center for Family Life 2008 Annual Awards on May 14. The evening will celebrate 25 years of the Center’s “Life Lines” Community Arts Project in Sunset Park, which provides free after-school arts activities such as dance, acting, vocals, visual arts and creative writing to youth and families five days a week. Since 1990, “Life Lines” has also worked within MS 136 (and later MS 821), a school serving a predominantly Latino population of about 750 students in grades six to eight. In that capacity, the program collaborates with teachers, artists, social workers and students in semester-long {read more...}

The black-and-white and color photos depict the lives of these two diverse groups and the neighborhood they share. The artwork is part of a Neighborhood Organizing Program that Citizens Committee for New York City inaugurated in Crown Heights to bridge the gap between {read more...}

IDENTITY THEFT: A 28-year old woman discovered that a Boflex credit card, issued by HSBC, had been opened in her name with a credit line of $4,000, but without her knowledge. No merchandise was {read more...}

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are {read more...}

Since entering Borough Hall in January 2002, Markowitz has {read more...}

In addition to the normal array of murder, assault and other felony cases that his office handles each and every day, Hynes seems to have been all over the borough of Brooklyn recently — making speeches, giving lectures, accepting and presenting awards, reading essays and signing books. Early yesterday morning, the Brooklyn DA presented 22 men and women with the Law Enforcement Appreciation Awards at Brooklyn Law School. (See photo 2.) The honorees from the NYPD, FDNY, District Attorney’s Office {read more...}

In an interview last week, outgoing Cobble Hill Association president Murray Adams discussed ongoing local issues, the future of the organization, and a little about his family.

Q. How did you become a community activist and leader?
A. It happened by accident I suppose. When we moved here in 1963, I got to talking with the neighbors, and soon was involved with the Cobble Hill Association’s plan to obtain Historic Landmark designation. Then about 1970 a friend got me involved with the associate board of LICH [Long Island College Hospital], and about 1973 I became a regent and remained one for the next 18 years. This neighborhood has been very good to me and my family, and it has {read more...}

Brown, whose real name is Ingrid Marchand, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of time-served. Marchand got out of jail {read more...}

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected {read more...}

A discarded printer cartridge thrown into {read more...}

Q: It seems I am constantly reading about celebrities and politicians who have been arrested for DUI and DWI. Does your office have a program that deals with drunk driving?

A: My office treats drunk driving very seriously. In addition to vigorous prosecution of all such cases, I have responded {read more...}

Mothers Day Fun at BKLYN DESIGNS: For design lovers, BKLYN DESIGNS features a line-up of 68 exhibitors and has expanded to four DUMBO venues.

{read more...}

This year’s Paddlewheeler Festival will be held at P.S. 8 on Saturday May 10th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. P.S. 8 is located at 37 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights.

Since its {read more...}

After Xavier Alvarado no-hit Brooklyn rival Canarsie last Thursday afternoon at Bay 8th Street Park in Dyker Heights, the Utes of New Utrecht High School appeared to be carrying plenty of momentum heading into their big two-game series with Telecomm.

But something happened on the way to Ben Vitale Park for Tuesday’s encounter with the first-place Yellow Jackets.

First, New Utrecht suffered a pair of stunning setbacks, dropping a 5-3 decision to Brooklyn Tech and absorbing a 6-4 defeat to Midwood, to fall out of serious contention for the top spot in Brooklyn’s A West Division.

Then, the Utes showed up to meet first-place Telecomm and found themselves on the wrong end of {read more...}

The big guy pitched five very good innings and gave up one run, and {read more...}

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Eagle
BAY RIDGE — The 19 private unmapped streets in Bay Ridge are now a public matter as nearly a hundred residents of these cul-de-sac havens came together at a Community Board 10 meeting to learn how they can get city services that they pay for in taxes but don’t get.

“Over the past year our office has been informed of problems with water ponding, street lighting, potholes and {read more...}

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Eagle
BAY RIDGE — While it seems that the 1899 Bay Ridge United Methodist Church or “the green church” hasn’t a prayer of being saved from demolition, a hint of hope for preservationists was raised last Thursday evening at a Town Hall meeting by the Bay Ridge Community Council (BRCC).

“The church structure can and will be saved,” said Councilman Vincent Gentile, telling the audience that he has been {read more...}

Fossella has three children on Staten Island with his wife Mary Pat.

In a statement Thursday, Fossella said, “I have had a relationship with Laura {read more...}

DYKER HEIGHTS — In response to Community Board 10’s Report for Preservation Zoning, Board Chairman Dean Rasinya announced the formation of subcommittees on issues raised in the report. “You have a list of 11 subcommittees established to handle {read more...}

Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny (D-Coney Island, Dyker Heights) announced that Governor Paterson has signed into law a measure that makes assaulting a senior citizen a class D violent felony, helping curb predatory attacks by those {read more...}

“I’ve been here since before 9 o’clock, we cleaned a lot of cars,” said student John Stasiak. “Are {read more...}

The contest invited local school children of District 20, District 21 and District 22 to write essays of no more than 250 words that began with the phrase, “If I were a State Senator for a day...” Each student wrote about issues facing the community such as public safety, park {read more...}

Garrigan, Brooklyn born and bred, is a Vietnam veteran who was Cher’s guitarist for over 15 years. He was followed on Saturday by the Windsor Terrors who rocked the house. James Quigley, an owner of Peggy O’Neill’s and {read more...}

If you missed the {read more...}

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Eagle

BAY RIDGE — It was a positive “greenhouse effect” of warm-hearted praise as the Merchants of Third Avenue announced their 2008 Pioneers of Third Avenue honorees at the Greenhouse Café on Monday evening with applause and food.

This year’s Pioneers, to be saluted at the Pioneers Reception on October 27, were announced by Marketing Director and Executive Secretary Charles Otey at the festive meeting. They are Shelia {read more...}

Hundreds of foodies, connoisseurs and just plain hungry folks gathered Wednesday evening at the trendy Abigail Kirsch Studio 6 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for the 11th edition of “Brooklyn Eats.” Sponsored by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, this ever-popular tasting event draws from an ethnically diverse pool of restaurants to present in one night what might take an average restaurant patron a year to sample.

Brooklyn, often considered to have the most ethnically diverse {read more...}

A ‘Golden’ Moment … On Wednesday, April 30, State Senator Marty Golden, a member of the Senate Committee on Education, hosted the sixth annual “If I Were A State Senator For A Day” contest for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders in his district. I had the honor of being a judge on a panel of four during the contest at the Knights of Columbus on 13th Avenue and, let me tell you, it was one of the toughest decisions {read more...}

Truman’s mother, the daughter of an old-line Confederate family, had been briefly locked up in a {read more...}

An evening with Jhumpa Lahiri is planned for May 8 at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, 185 Court St. The independent book store BookCourt has arranged for the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies and the best-selling novel The Namesake to read from her new book of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. A Q&A will follow, as well as a book signing. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., event begins at 7 p.m. www.bookcourt.org

Stand By Me is playing {read more...}

New York food blogger Josh Ozersky jokes that he bought his Ditmas Park apartment to be close to DiFara Pizza in Midwood. In a recent interview with the food-centric glossy Edible Brooklyn, however, Ozersky says that Brooklyn’s restaurant scene is “not even close” to Manhattan’s.

“There is probably more good food in the East Village and Lower East Side than in all of Brooklyn,” Ozersky declares. “Manhattan, particularly Upper Manhattan, has just as many ethnic hellholes as Brooklyn. {read more...}

But an enormous sinkhole on 76th Street between Third and Fourth avenues did bring out workers from the city’s Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday. “It has to {read more...}

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Eagle

BAY RIDGE — In the political and legal wake of Congressman Vito Fossella’s arrest in Virginia on a DWI charge for alleged drunk driving, the city’s only Republican representative faces challenges and decisions in this election year with his voters and Democratic candidates.

“Last night I made an error in judgement,” said Fossella, 43, in a statement on Thursday after he was arrested just after midnight on May 1. “As a parent, I know that taking even {read more...}