Brooklyn Today: Oct. 18, 2012
Good morning. Today is the 292nd day of the year. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Oct. 18, 1902, quoted Hugh McLaughlin, the longtime boss of the Democratic Party in Brooklyn, as denying reports that he planned to run for Senate. McLaughlin said, “A long-tailed idiot published a report that I was planning to get into the U.S. Senate. I said I would give him $20,000 if I ever took an office outside of the City of Brooklyn. Why should I go to the Senate when I have everything I want in Brooklyn.”
Well-known people who were born today include Hall of Fame football player Mike Ditka, singer-songwriter chuck Berry, dramatist-poet Ntozake Shange, actor Vincent Spano (“Baby I’ts You”), trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Today at 5 p.m., the Federation of Italian-American Organization of Brooklyn and the D’Onofrio Construction Company will hold a topping-out ceremony for the Il Centro community center, 8711 18th Ave., Bensonhurst. The building will have space for social services, a library, community meetings, classes, a gymnasium, a swimming pool and a fitness center. … Today at 8 p.m., there will be a dance-party fundraiser for Fort Greene Park and the Fort Greene Park Conservancy. It will take place at 767 Fulton St., former site of Night of the Cookers.