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Brooklyn Today May 7: Sex, Superfund, and Stephen Levin

May 7, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Happy Monday, Brooklyn! Stephen Levin gets arrested, Nicaraguan street food comes to North Brooklyn, and Nydia Velazquezproposes a “Superfund Tax.” Plus, a Park Slope PTA leader resigns over a blackface incident, more arrests are expected in the NXIVM sex cult case, and plans are revealed for a former Watchtower parking lot in DUMBO. Finally, Mayor de Blasio announces enhancements to NYC Ferry service, Coney Island residents demand a ferry line, and immigrants protest against PresidentTrump in Sunset Park. Have a great week.
 
IMPRINT: Succulent tomatoes adorn the latest cover of Zeit Magazin.

 
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The Rundown
 

~VELAZQUEZ PROPOSES ‘SUPERFUND TAX’ TO COMBAT TRUMP EPA BUDGET CUTS: A Brooklyn congresswoman whose district includes three federal Superfund sites is calling for a new tax on all chemical and large oil companies to fund the cleanup of some toxic locations. Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s proposed Superfund Enhancement Act would use the revenue to secure cleanup of so-called orphan sites, where the parties responsible for the mess cannot be identified or are unable to pay for the cleanup. “We’re living in an era when environmental programs like Superfund are under constant budgetary threat from the Trump administration,” Velazquez said. “Anything we can do to draw more funds into the Superfund program will ensure the initiative’s long-term solvency.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~STEPHEN LEVIN GETS ARRESTED TO SUPPORT DRUG ADDICTS: Councilmember Steve Levin was arrested on Wednesday for protesting about “safe injection facilities” where drug addicts can shoot up under the watchful eye of health professionals. Levin supports such sites and was merely protesting to pressure the mayor to create them. One day after Levin’s civil disobedience and arrest, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he wanted to create four of of these “overdose protection centers.” One of the facilities will be in Gowanus, in Levin’s district. After Levin put himself back together after his arrest, he spoke with us. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

~IMMIGRANTS RALLY AGAINST TRUMP IN SUNSET PARK, CYNTHIA NIXON SLAMS CUOMO: Scores of immigrants and their supporters — including gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon — rallied in Sunset Park on Saturday to protest Trump administration immigration policies mere days after hundreds were swept up in raids. Roughly 150 people marched down Fifth Avenue to protest ICE’s “Operation Keep Safe,” which detained 163 people in the city between April 9 and 14 — 45 of whom had committed no crimes, the Daily News reported. The number of marchers was deflated by fear, participants said. “There are lots of Mexican people here, but they don’t come out. They’re afraid,” said Jose LaFontaine, a native of the Dominican Republic who now lives in Bushwick and is a U.S. citizen. (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~PTA LEADER WHO POSTED BLACKFACE IMAGES RESIGNS: The PTA co-president at a Park Slope elementary school resigned after photos she posted on Facebook of old-time performers in blackface led to charges of racism. The PTA of P.S. 118 prompted an official investigation in February afterNadine Baldasare posted the photos as part of an invitation to a 1920s speakeasy-themed fundraiser. She wrote in an apology that “there are no acceptable excuses for how this happened (it was late, I was tired, I was rushing, etc.) because no excuse can change what I know to be true.” (Daily News via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~PLANS REVEALED FOR FORMER WATCHTOWER PARKING LOT: A massive 21-story mixed-use project will rise within a block-long space inDUMBO that until recently served as a parking lot for the Watchtower. The developers — a partnership between Kushner Companies, LIVWRK and CIM Group — purchased the fenced-off lot for $345 million in December 2016. The 210-foot structure would contain 732 apartments, commercial space and an unspecified community facility, for a total of 878,000 square feet. (New York YIMBY via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~MORE ARRESTS EXPECTED IN NXIVM SEX CULT CASE: A prosecutor says that more people will be charged in the criminal investigation of a cult-like group that included former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack. At a court hearing on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza told a judge that the government plans to file a new indictment naming more defendants, but he didn’t go into specifics. Mack appeared at the hearing along with Keith Raniere, the leader of the group NXIVM. Both are charged with coercing women who joined the organization into becoming sex slaves. (AP via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~NICARAGUAN STREET FOOD RESTAURANT OPENS IN BUSHWICK: A local couple has opened a Nicaraguan street food restaurant in Bushwick.Chicha Cafetin and Cocktails at 198 Randolph St. has an extensive menu with some interesting items such as the Surfer on Acid cocktail, which contains three different rums; Salpicon Rillettes, short ribs with smoked coconut and pickled baby vegetables; and Quesillo with lobster on a squid-ink tortilla. The eatery is owned by Vanessa Palazio and Adam Schneider, who also own the grilled cheese shop Little Muenster. (via Bushwick Daily)
 
~DE BLASIO, IN BAY RIDGE, ANNOUNCES ENHANCEMENTS TO NYC FERRY SERVICE: The city will expand its popular NYC Ferry service with bigger boats, more stops at Governors Island and additional summertime service to the beach. Roughly one year after the city launched the service, Mayor Bill de Blasio journeyed to Bay Ridge on Thursday to announce changes to accommodate an anticipated surge in ridership. “New Yorkers have spoken. We’re going to need bigger boats,” de Blasio said. “We’re gearing up to meet the extraordinary demand for more public transit on our waterways.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~FEELING LEFT OUT, CONEY ISLAND RESIDENTS DEMAND FERRY SERVICE: Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ferry announcement that the city is pumping $300 million into the ferry system to buy bigger boats didn’t impress Coney Island residents, who charged that the city’s ferry frenzy is unfairly bypassing their waterfront neighborhood. “I want a ferry. If it’s good enough for Bay Ridge, it’s good enough for us,” Coney Island resident Bertha Thompson saidon Friday. “Why do other neighborhoods get all these good things and we don’t?” (via Brooklyn Eagle)

 
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Staff Picks:   
 

LONG READ: Why would a counterterrorism expert with the CIA take a $100,000-plus pay cut to become a beat cop? (via The New Yorker)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: “All-American Nazis: How a senseless double murder in Florida exposed the rise of an organized fascist youth movement in the United States” (via Rolling Stone)
 
CARTOON: Administrator of the EPA Scott Pruitt gets a new toy, courtesy of the taxpayers. (via The New Yorker)
 
FOOD: Eating good in the neighborhood: Here are Bushwick’s 17 top restaurants. (via Eater)

 
 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: A North Carolina teen gets accepted to 113 collegesand is given $4.5 million in scholarships…A New Jersey dairy farm servespork-flavored ice cream…And the unemployment rate falls below 4 percent. (via WFMY News 2, Eater and NYT)               
 
FOREIGN FLASH: An English man almost dies from biting his nails…A Pakistan city reaches 122.4 degrees Fahrenheit….And the earth’s carbon dioxide level reaches its highest point in 800,000 years. (via The Sun, The Weather Channel and USA Today)                                
 

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 ROYAL WATCH: The Royal Family used to prohibit its members from marrying after divorce. Here’s why. (via History)

 
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BROOKLYN TONIGHT     
 

8:30AM — The Debate on Hong Kong’s Future at Asia Society and Museum.Details.
 
4:15PM — What Can Neuroscience Contribute to Economics? at Columbia University. Details.
 
6:00PM – 8:00PM — Skye & Massimo’s Philosophy Cafe: What Is the Use of Thought Experiments in Moral Philosophy? New York Society for Ethical Culture. Details.  
 
6:30PM — Modern Mondays: An Evening with Tiona Nekkia McClodden at Museum of Modern Art. Details.
 
6:30PM — Jews in Space: Meet Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman Center for Jewish History. Details.
 
7:00PM — Podcast Mixtape: Radiolab Presents Robert or Robot? at The Greene Space. Details.
 
7:00PM — No Word for Wilderness: Italy’s Grizzlies and the Race to Save the Rarest Bears on Earth at The Half King. Details.   
 
7:00PM — Impossible but True at Franklin 820. Details.
 
7:00PM – 9:00PM — The Masters of Social Gastronomy Present: Illicit Substances at Kings County Distillery at Brooklyn Navy Yard. Details.
 
10:00PM – 1:00AM — Jazz Session Sundays at Fulton Ale House. Details.
      
 

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EAGLE SPORTS: “Construction on new Islanders arena still slated for next spring” (via SNY)


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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Peter Carey, Amy Heckerling, Gary R. Herbert, Shawn Marion and Peter Reckell!
 
Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at[email protected].


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