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Brooklyn Today July 28: Heights Promenade Walkway To Brooklyn Bridge Park

July 28, 2017 Shlomo Sprung
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Weather, Brooklyn Borough Hall (NWS): Day 82°, Night 69°, partly sunny then chance rain.

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THE LEDE: Good morning and happy Friday, Brooklyn! A rave was thrown on the Kosciuszko Bridge before it was brought down. Sunny’s Bar in Red Hookhas been saved, and a new walkway may connect the Heights Promenadeand Brooklyn Bridge Park. Plus, we find out who invented the iconic high five, and we go inside a clothing-optional resort in Mexico. Finally, head on over to Royal Watch to find out about Prince William’s odd side job. We’ll see you again on Monday!
      
IMPRINT: The latest cover of Rolling Stone asks the question: Why can’tJustin Trudeau be our president?

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The Rundown
 

~HEIGHTS PROMENADE WALKWAY TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK:Squibb Park Bridge may soon have a new neighbor. A plan to build a vertical walkway between the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and Brooklyn Bridge Park has received a strong push from Rep. Nydia Velázquez. The time to line up another entrance to the park is now, she says, since the city’s Department of Transportation is in the planning stage for a major rehabilitation of the BQE, which underpins the Promenade. The idea has, in the past, raised concerns about blocking the landmarked view from the Promenade. The BHAsays it and other stakeholders will “carefully evaluate” these design options.(via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
 
~A RAVE ON THE KOSCIUSZKO: On Wednesday, we wished a fond farewell to the Kosciuszko Bridge, but it turns out a group of urban explorers wished the overpass an even fonder goodbye. Roughly 40 people threw a secret rave atop the old bridge before it was brought down. The party was complete with a bar, suitcases with booze, candles and blankets to lie on the roadway. Which reminds us of the time we interviewed Steve Duncan, Brooklyn’s urban explorer, daredevil and sewer man. Duncan, a sandy-haired boyish figure who lives in Crown Heights, has climbed to the top of every East River Bridge(and the Kosciuszko), scoured Brooklyn’s sewer system, ascended to the top of the 1964 World’s Fair Observation Towers and explored innumerable abandoned buildings. (via Gothamist and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
 
~IT’S A SUNNY DAY IN RED HOOK: The century-old Sunny’s Bar in Red Hook is sticking around after a successful crowdfunding campaign brought it some life. A struggle for ownership arose after Sunny Balzano’s death last year, which was followed by a beer-filled and musical commemoration at the bar. Balzano’s widow, Tone Balzano Johansen, just raised enough money to keep the bar alive after relatives wanted to sell the property. The watering hole was often filled with old-timers sharing stories and newcomers basking in the era. Johansen just wasn’t ready to see the bar that was so often filled with life, leave along with Balzano. “It’s one of those things, for me personally, where I was like ‘I cannot let this happen, I’m going to do everything in my power, I’m going to do everything I can, to save this place,” she said. (via Gothamist and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) 
 
~REMAINS OF BROOKLYN WWII VET IDENTIFIED: Seven decades ago, Private Joseph C. Carbone of Brooklyn died in combat at the Battle of Tarawa in World War II. The battle took place on the Gilbert Islands between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii in the first U.S. attack in the Pacific. Of the 1,000 Marines who were killed in the fight, the unaccounted casualties were buried in small cemeteries on the island. The graves were moved for military base expansion and many bodies, like Carbone’s, went unidentified for years. But the Pentagon announced recently that Carbone has been accounted for. His name appears on the Walls of the Missing at the American Battle Monuments Commission site. To show that he has been accounted for, a rosette will be put next to his name. (via Metro New York)
 
~IS THAT LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL AN R TRAIN?: In light of the “Summer of Hell,” City Councilmember Vincent Gentile has made a final push while still in office to help fix the ailing R train. He’s written a letter to MTA Chairman Joe Lhota detailing all the major train problems that his district’s commuters face on a daily basis. This is Gentile’s second call for anaudit of the subway line. Now if the governor and mayor can agree on the funding, the beleaguered R train may be back on track.“For Bay Ridgeites, they have experienced much more than ‘a Summer of Hell’ on the railways,” said Gentile. “Bay Ridgeites have lived with the R train nightmare for decades. For them, the R train ridership, you need to declare ‘enough is enough.’” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

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Staff Picks:    
 

LONG READ: “The Hijacking of a $100 Million Supertanker” (via Bloomberg)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: Go on the front line of the nine-month battle for Mosul between Iraqi forces and ISIS with this interactive journalism piece.(via NYT)
 
SPORTS: Ever wonder who invented the high five? Here’s your answer. (via ESPN)
 
VACATION: Want to do something a bit different this vacation? Take a look inside this clothing-optional resort in Mexico. (GQ)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: After the shooting of Justine Damond, Minneapolis police are now required to use body cameras on every single call…A new law in Washington state makes it illegal to hold food, phones or cigarettes while driving…A new app can identify any species of animals through only a photo. (via WaPo, USA Today and The Atlantic) 
 
FOREIGN FLASH: England plans to ban all diesel and gas cars by 2040…North Korea’s elite families use Gmail, Facebook and iTunes…And here’s a map of every country that allows transgender people to join the military. (NYT, WaPo and CNN)
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 ROYAL WATCH: Did you know that Prince William’s side job is being anair ambulance pilot? After two years, he made his final flight yesterday. (via NBC News)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT  

10:45AM — Chair Yoga Lessons at Sunset Park Neighborhood Center. Details.
 
11:00AM – 3:30PM — The Best of Brooklyn Half-Day Food and Culture Tour at Greenwich Village/West 4th Street. Details.
 
12:00PM – 6:00PM — A Dangerous Body at A.I.R. Gallery. Details.
 
2:00PM — 2017 Summer Leadership institute. Details.
 
3:00PM – 6:00PM — Old Stone House: Witness to War at The Old Stone House. Details.

6:30PM — World War I New York at New-York Historical Society. Details.
 
7:00PM — Hip Hop Dance Aerobics at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Details.
 
7:00PM – 10:00PM — Jazzy Jazz Festival 2017 at Medgar Evers College.Details.  
 
7:30PM – 8:30PM — Lola Star’s Dreamland Roller Disco at Dreamland Roller Disco at Lakeside. Details.
 
7:30PM – 9:30PM — Twilight Tour at Green-Wood Cemetery. Details.

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 EAGLE SPORTS: Adrien Broner, one of the brashest, boldest and most marketable young fighters on the circuit is coming to Downtown’s Barclays Center on Saturday. Broner (33-2), who has tasted defeat twice over the past four years and seen his stock as the next big thing in boxing take a precipitous fall, is hoping to overcome the odds against unbeaten three-time world champion Mikey Garcia (36-0). “I’ve been to the lowest point of somebody at my level, and I’ve been to the highest point,” Broner admitted in the week leading up to the non-title headliner of the latest Brooklyn boxing card. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to John Ashbery, Bill Bradley, Santiago Calatrava, Jim Davis, Manu Ginobili, Darryl Hickman, Linda Kelsey, Lori Loughlin, Scott Pelley and Sally Struthers!


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