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Brooklyn Today May 23: From Belgorod to Brooklyn

May 23, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Weather, Brooklyn Borough Hall (NWS): Day 73°, Night 58°, partly sunny then slight chance rain

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THE LEDE: Good Tuesday morning, Brooklyn! Today, immigrants in southern Brooklyn encounter the same discrimination they were trying to escape in their home countries, and progress on the Bedford-Union Armory lurches forward amid protests. Then, it’s been a long, dragged-out farewell to Cobble Hill’s BookCourt, while the long, dragged-out battle over the controversial shelter for homeless men in Crown Heights appears to come to an end. Finally, theDoT gives us a clue about how on earth we’re supposed to get to Manhattan from Williamsburg during the impending L shutdown, and we learn thatMeryl Streep has deep ties to Brooklyn.     
  
IMPRINT: No escape from your notifications on the cover of NY Mag.

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The Rundown
 

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~FROM BELGOROD TO BROOKLYN, IN SEARCH OF A COMMUNITY THAT SAYS NYET TO HOMOPHOBIA: Last Saturday, about 200 people marched on the boardwalk for Brighton Beach Pride, which was billed as the world’s first Russian-speaking pride parade. While NYC is often viewed as a refuge for the LGBTQ community, many LGBTQ Russian immigrants complain that southern Brooklyn breeds the same anti-LGBTQ attitudes that they were fleeing. For many immigrants, the area offers the comforts of language and traditional foods, but “It was almost like I’d never left Russia,” one marcher told the NYT.“Being gay around here is a constant danger.” (via the NYT) 
 
~PROGRESS ON BEDFORD-UNION ARMORY PLOWS FORWARD: As the flurry of controversy continues to swirl over the Bedford-Union Armory, theNew York City Planning Commission’s certification yesterday kicked off the ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) approval process for the hotly contested redevelopment plan. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) 
 
~MOVING DAY IN CROWN HEIGHTS: A Brooklyn judge dismissed the lawsuit brought by Crown Heights residents against the controversial proposed homeless shelter for men, and the men will begin moving in “immediately.” Meanwhile, polls show that, despite strong opposition by local neighbors, nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers support Mayor de Blasio’s plan to open 90 new shelters. (via Patch and DNAinfo) 
 
~BOOKCOURT CONTINUES TO DIE A SLOW DEATH: Many Brooklynites’ hearts are still bleeding over the shuttering of BookCourt, and now we mustbid farewell to the building as we know it. 163 Court Street, the smaller of the two buildings that housed the bygone bookstore, appears to be undergoing a major makeover. The NYC Department of Buildings has issued a permit for “proposed facade and storefront alteration,” stripping the building of its wood cladding and ornate storefront. (via Pardon Me For Asking)  
 
~PREPARING FOR THE L-POCALYPS: Still have no idea how you’ll get to Manhattan during the impending 15 month L shutdown? Proposals for agondolasubsidized Uber fares and a carless 14th Street have been floated, and now the Department of Transportation is proposing high-occupancy vehicle lanes on the Williamsburg Bridge, plus another ferry line between Williamsburg and 20th Street. The MTA promises that the public will learn about the final transit alternative at least one year prior to the shutdown.(via Gothamist)       
  
~IS THERE REALLY ANYTHING NEW TO LEARN ABOUT MERYL STREEP?:That was the question on the mind of our reviewer when he picked up a copy of “Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep.” Of course, the answer is “yes.” It turns out that the leading lady has deep ties to Brooklyn, as her mother is a Brooklyn native. Read this interview with Streep’s biographer Michael Schulman to learn more about the iconic actress. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

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Staff Picks     
 

READ: “We’re throwaway people”: the NYT spends two days in a Midwest rest stop talking with the country’s truck drivers. (via the NYT) 
 
ANOTHER READ: 18th century Europe’s moral menace? Reading in bed(via the Atlantic)    
 
EXPERIENCE: Director Alejandro Iñárritu (of “The Revenant” and “Birdman” fame) ventures into the world of virtual reality, and drops viewers into the desert with Latin American border crossers. (via the LA Times)    
 
INTERVIEW: George Saunders on Abraham Lincoln and transcendence through writing(via the LA Review of Books)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: Medicaid and anti-poverty initiatives are on the chopping block in Trump’s new budget plan…During deeply divided political times, Americans can agree on one thing: the shared belief that moral values are at a seven-year low…A bill in Alabama will restore many felons’ voting rights, if the governor signs it…As millennials flood into cities, overall housing construction declines…And Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly grants another six months in the U.S. to the 59,000 Haitians who came here after the devastating 2010 earthquake. (via Bloomberg, Alabama Local News, the WSJ and the NYT)
 
FOREIGN FLASH: In the deadliest act of terrorism since the 2005 tube bombing, a blast at a concert in Manchester, England leaves 22 dead…As Trump weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, a new plan woulddouble the size of the special ops unit, training up to 17,000 new members…Pope Francis tries not to judge Trump before “listening to him first”Uber drivers in Kenya struggle to stay afloat with the company’s most recent price slashes…And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau photobombs prom goers in Vancouver. (via the NYT, WaPo and The Cut)
 
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 ROYAL WATCH: An obscure member of the royal family finally admitshow she feels about “The Crown.” (via Digital Spy)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT
 

10:00am – 12:00pm – The Crisis is Over, Now What? Helping Your Child Thrive After Medical Treatment at Central Library. Details.
 
3:00pm – 5:00pm – Ed Center Open Hours at Environmental Education Center. Details.
 
6:00pm – NYC X Design: Redesigning Citizenship at Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator. Details.  
 
6:00pm – Aaron Pexa: The Spoils of Annwn Curated by Samantha De Tillio at Urban Glass. Details.
 
6:00pm – Baseball Talks: A Live Interview Event with Marty Appel, Author of Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character. Details.
 
6:00pm – We Are All Neighbors: Refugees and the Architecture of Resettlement at the Center for Architecture. Details. 
 
6:30pm – “The Wide Circumference of Love” by Marita Golden at theSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Details.
 
6:30pm – Jazz 101: The Swing Era at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Details.
 
7:00pm – How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids at 92nd Street Y. Details.
 
7:00pm – Times Talks Downtown: Ryan McGinley and Marilyn Minter at Cadillac House. Details.  
 
7:30pm – Weike Wang with Jennifer Kurdyla at Greenlight Bookstore. Details.
 
8:00pm – HBO’s Sheila Nevins in Conversation with Rosie O’Donnell at 92ndStreet Y. Details.
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 ON THE PITCH: 
The Cosmos traveled more than 6,500 miles on Saturday to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to take on Al-Hilal FC, the reigning champions of the Saudi Professional LeagueSaint Francis Collegegraduate and Brooklyn native Salvatore Barone made his Cosmos debut in the scoreless draw. “The atmosphere at the stadium was great,” says Cosmos midfielder Juan Guerra“It was an honor to come all the way from America to play [in Riyadh]. We felt very welcome.” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)


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