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Brooklyn Today August 9: Landmarks Commission Okays Fix-Up At Former Jehovah’s Witnesses Building

August 9, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Welcome to Wednesday, Brooklyn! A former Jehovah’s Witnesses’ building gets ready for transformation, a floating restaurant comes to Brooklyn Bridge Park, and 900-year-old human bones are found in Ohio. Plus, Mets’ pitcher Noah Syndergaard appears on “Game of Thrones,” a porn star almost joins the Royal Family, and you can name a new baby panda in Japan. Finally, Academy award-winning “Zootopia” will be shown tonight at Summer Movie Under the Stars in Prospect Park.
 
IMPRINT: Lana Del Rey poses poolside on the latest cover of Vanity FairItaly.

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The Rundown
 

~LANDMARKS COMMISSION OKAYS FIX-UP AT FORMER JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ BUILDING: The makeover of a prime former Watchtower property into a secular building took a step forward Tuesday. The city Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved fix-up work at 124 Columbia Heights — a former dorm for workers at the world headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses that new owner Vincent Viola plans to turn into an apartment building. Viola, the billionaire owner of the Florida Panthers hockey team and co-owner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby’s winning horse, Always Dreaming, was President Donald Trump’s first nominee for Secretary of the Army. Viola plans to transform 124 Columbia Heights into a 101-unit apartment building. There are currently 237 dwelling units in the vacant property. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
 
~ARMY REFUSES TO RENAME FORT HAMILTON STREETS: U.S. Rep.Yvette Clarke reacted angrily to the Pentagon’s refusal to rename two streets on U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton that memorialize Civil War Confederate generals, calling the military’s reasoning “nonsense.” Clarke and other elected officials had been pushing military brass to strip the names ofRobert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from the streets on Fort Hamilton. The lawmakers contended that since the Confederacy fought to uphold slavery, Lee and Jackson do not deserve to have streets named in their honor. Fort Hamilton, located in Bay Ridge, has a Lee Avenue and a Stonewall Jackson Drive. “These monuments are deeply offensive to the hundreds of thousands of Brooklyn residents and members of the armed forces stationed at Fort Hamilton whose ancestors Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson fought to hold in slavery,” Clarke said. “For too many years, the United States has refused to reckon with that history.” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
 
~ALL ABOARD, NEW FLOATING RESTAURANT OFF PIER 6: The River Café has some new competition floating off Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Pilot is a brand new restaurant positioned on a not so brand-new ship. The boat, built in 1924, has a history of guiding ships safely into Boston Harbor and sailing around the world, but now it’ll be stationary on the north side of the pier until October, serving crowds expensive cocktails and savory seafood. Owners Alex and Miles Pincus acquired the vessel and it was re-purposed at the Gowanus Bay Terminal so that the bar, kitchens and freezers could be put in place for waves of visitors. (via the Brooklyn Paper)
 
~ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE IN PARK SLOPE: The extremely popular theater chain Nitehawk Cinema was set to open its newest location in Park Slope in early fall, but due to the discovery of valuable original architecture while renovating, the grand opening has been pushed back until early 2018. One of the pieces they found was a balcony sandwiched between the first and second floors. “During the demo, we wanted to make sure we maintained the integrity of the original structure,” a spokesperson said. “In the process, we actually uncovered some very cool original pieces and have been working to adjust our designs to incorporate and capitalize on those interesting design details. It’s all part of the process with a project of this size and complexity.” They are currently in the process of finalizing which original finds are salvageable and can be incorporated into the design layout. The Pavilion, Park Slope’s only movie theater, closed its doors in November. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
 
~COULD A 1/2 CENT TAX FIX AFFORDABLE HOUSING?: Controversy surrounding affordable housing, gentrification and homelessness has rapidly come to the forefront of New York City’s issues. One author challenged the mayor’s rezoning and building solution and proposed a more universal fix to these problems: A half-cent city sales tax. Michael Greenberg proposed the tax to fund the construction of affordable buildings targeted at household incomes of $35,000 to $80,000 a year. Greenberg suggests homelessness would decrease, and the city would save money if everyone simply pitched in their share, saying, “Housing built with money from a special tax fund would be 100 percent affordable.” (via Brownstoner)

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BULLETIN BOARD 
 

***Ahead of the November election, Aaron Short takes the temperature of Brooklyn’s Orthodox community on Mayor Bill de Blasio. Plus, a Q&A with City Council candidate Kalmen Yager, who is running to replace David Greenfield. (via New York Jewish Life)***

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Staff Picks:    
 

LONG READ: Engineers are building a new structure that can withstand tornados, hurricanes and all other acts of nature. (via Popular Mechanics) 
 
INTERVIEW: “Jerry Football:” A talk with Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones (via ESPN The Magazine)
 
TECHNOLOGY: “Your Smartphone Reduces Your Brainpower, Even If It’s Just Sitting There” (via The Atlantic) 
 
CARTOON: President Trump meets with his biggest critics. (via The New Yorker)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: A man in Ohio finds 900-year-old human bones…Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard makes an appearance on “Game of Thrones”…And a 9-year-old applies to become NASA’s planetary protection officer. (via CNN, NYT and WaPo)
 
FOREIGN FLASH: Australia could be the next country to legalize same-sex marriage…There’s a butter shortage in Europe, and pastry prices are expected to increase dramatically…And a zoo in Tokyo needs help naming its newest baby panda. (via CNN, USA Today and The Telegraph)
 
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 ROYAL WATCH: Meet the porn star who very nearly joined the Royal Family. (via Daily Star)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT
 

7:00AM — Bootcamp Wednesdays at MetroTech Commons. Details.
 
8:00AM — 5:00PM — Double Dutch at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Details.
 
1:00PM – 4:00PM — Williamsburg Bites Brooklyn Food Tour. Details.

6:30PM – 8:30PM — Language Safari: Learn French, Arabic and Swahili at Rennert New York Language School. Details.
 
7:00PM – 9:15PM — How “Aha!” Really Happens: Intuition and the Creative Spark at New York Institute of Technology. Details.
 
7:00PM — A Summer Movie Under the Stars: ‘Zootopia’ at Prospect Park.Details.
 
7:00PM — Sound Meditation, Mantra and Mudra at Rubin Museum of Art.Details.
 
7:00PM — Maria Qamar at PowerHouse Arena. Details.
 
7:30PM — VICE on HBO’s Trans Youth at David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. Details.
 
8:00PM — Drunk Education Presents: Reality TV at Littlefield. Details.

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 EAGLE SPORTS: David Peterson’s extended period of inactivity ended over the weekend with the Mets’ first-round draft pick making his professional pitching debut and visiting what he hopes will be his future home for years to come. The 6-foot-6 left-hander finally made his long-anticipated first start as aBrooklyn Cyclone on Friday, yielding a run on two hits with one strikeout in the opening frame of the Baby Bums’ eventual 4-2 loss to Tri-City in front of 4,751 curious fans at Coney Island’s MCU Park. “It’s tough to see over one inning,” Cyclones manager Edgardo Alfonzo said. “But he looks good. I’m looking forward to the next start.” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Gillian Anderson, Eric Bana, Amanda Bearse, Jessica Capshaw, Bob Cousy, Sam Elliott, Derek Fisher, Melanie Griffith, Brett Hull,Anna Kendrick, Michael Kors, Rod Laver, Kevin McKidd, Ken Norton Sr., Deion Sanders, David Steinberg and Audrey Tautou!


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