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Brooklyn Today May 26: Forget the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Welcome to the Floating Gardens of Brooklyn

May 26, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Happy Memorial Day weekend, Brooklyn! In today’s briefing, ProPublica journeys to Coney Island to investigate what was supposed to be a“humane alternative” to the city’s psychiatric institutions, and delivers a grim report…Then, BP Eric Adams has a stronger incentive than breakfast cocktails to advocate allowing the sale of alcohol at 8 a.m. on Sundays, and WNYC delivers the scoop on that mysterious barge covered in greenerythat’s docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Meanwhile, the show goes on in the subways, Generation Z descends upon three neighborhoods in Brooklyn and tensions swirl around Oscar López Rivera and political firebrand Linda Sarsour. Finally, the Brooklyn Heights Library sees its final days.
  
IMPRINT: Knock, knock. Who’s there? The cover of 24ILJournal from Italy.

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The Rundown  
 

~“NOBODY TOLD ME THIS PLACE WAS MENTAL”: In a far-flung corner ofConey Island, for-profit institution Oceanview Manor Home for Adultsfinds itself at the center of a legal battle involving the New York State Department of Health. While homes like Oceanview may have originally been envisioned as alternatives to psychiatric wards, the institutions have become places of violence and neglect, finds an investigation by ProPublica. Yet, despite the new lawsuit on behalf of an Oceanview resident, the home is expanding. “Nobody told me this place was mental,” one resident says. “The first day I got here I was freaked out. I was like, what is this, ‘The Walking Dead’?” (via ProPublica) 
 
~THERE’S MORE TO THAT 8 A.M. BEER LAW THAN MEETS THE EYE: 
Yes, being able to enjoy a cold alcoholic beverage with an early soccer match is a nice incentive for BP Eric Adams to call for alcohol sales to begin at 8 a.m.on Sundays, but the impetus for the push extends beyond boozy brunch (or boozy breakfast, for that matter). The call for an earlier serving time is part of a report released by his administration on the city’s booming craft beverage industry. Adams wants to create more support for independent craft breweries, cideries, distilleries and wineries and help these Brooklyn institutions continue to thrive and advance local tourism. “The name of the game is not to play ‘I got you’ with the business,” Adams said. “It’s to play ‘I support you’ with the business.” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) 
 
~FORGET THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON. WELCOME TO THE FLOATING GARDENS OF BROOKLYN: Ever noticed the floating barge that’s covered in greenery docked off the pier at Brooklyn Bridge Park? It’s calledSwale, and it’s “public park meets public art,” where anyone can plant, pick or simply peruse any of the fruits and veggies growing on the barge. “It’s this theory of the commons, where you hope that somebody will leave it for somebody else, and then somebody takes it, which obviously is going to happen,” says Swale’s education program manager Marisa Prefer. Thefloating garden was created by a hodgepodge crew of artists with knowledge in permaculture, farming and herbalism. But why a barge? Aside from ideal full-sunlight conditions, the NYC Parks Department has strict laws about what can and can’t be grown on public land, and edible plants usually fall into the “can’t” category. So, all aboard the barge! (via WNYC)  
 
~THE SHOWTIME MUST GO ON: After a brief spike in arrests of dancers and panhandlers during the first year of Mayor de Blasio’s tenure, the NYPDappears to be easing up. The number of arrests has fluctuated widely under de Blasio, whose first police commissioner, Bill Bratton, cracked down hard on subway dancers as part of a Broken Windows strategy. During the mayor’s first year in office, the NYPD shut down 358 showtimes. In 2016, that number dropped to 203. But Tina Luongo, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society, isn’t letting the administration off the hook just yet: “It’s still appalling that the NYPD is expending time and resources to crack down on subway dancers,” she said in a statement. “These arrests overwhelmingly impact communities of color, mostly young people from low income families.” (via POLITICO) 

~SARSOUR COMMENCEMENT SPEECH DRAWS FIRE: Political firebrand and activist Linda Sarsour is slated to serve as the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony for CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy…and not everyone is pleased. But despite mounting pressure from elected officials and leaders of Jewish and Catholic organizations, CUNY Chancellor James A. Milliken won’t rescind the invitation. In a statement, he said the debate “draws into sharp focus principles central to a free society and its academic institutions… Taking action because critics object to the content of speech would conflict with the First Amendment and the principles of academic freedom.” (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) 
 
~ONE MORE FOR THE “NO” LIST: Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez adds his name to the “no” RSVP list for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. Gonzalez, who is Puerto Rican, joins Police Commissioner James O’Neill, JetBlue and various other agencies in skipping the parade, which will honor the controversial figure Oscar López Rivera, who masterminded a Puerto Rican separatist group responsible for the 1975 bombings of Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan. Gonzalez says he’s bowing out in order to focus on his campaign. (via the NYDN) 
 
~CLASS OF 2017 MOVES TO BROOKLYN: Despite ever-climbing rents, a new study finds that NYC remains the hottest destination for recent college graduates…and, naturally, they’re flocking to Brooklyn. Three out of the five neighborhoods that fall into the “affordable” range for people with entry-level incomes who want to live alone are in the borough, according to StreetEasy:Bed-StuyBushwick and Crown Heights. Brace yourself, Brooklyn: Gen Z is coming. (via DNAinfo) 
 
~PHOTOS OF THE DAY: It’s time to bid farewell to the Brooklyn Heights Library, but it won’t be a quick and easy goodbye. Here are some photos of the library being dismantled, piece by piece. As for the classic stone friezes on the facade, they’ve been removed and put into storage.  (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

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Staff Picks     
 

READ: Follow the yellow brick road…to Bay Ridge. Brooklyn native Gabriel Gale debuts a prequel to the Wizard of Oz series. (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle)   
  
ANOTHER READ: Think it was shocking when Montana House candidate (and winner) Greg Gianforte body slammed a reporter yesterday? Reporters used to carry daggers to arm themselves in self-defense against agitated Congressmen. Here’s an abbreviated history of the tense relationship.(via WaPo) 
 
CULTURE: Raise the dead at Green-Wood Cemetery at the aptly named“Concerts in the Catacombs” and “The Secret Mausoleum Club”historical party series. (via Brooklyn Paper)  
 
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY: Italy is giving away 103 historic sites, for free. All you have to do is restore and transform them into wildly successful tourist destinations. (via Hyperallergic)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: The night after assaulting a reporter, Republican businessman Greg Gianforte wins the Montana special election…An appeals court in Virginia swats down Trump’s travel ban…Native Americans are the racial group most likely to be killed by police every year, and activists struggle to make that fact known…Last year, the 7 highest paid CEOs in America all worked in the same industry—can you guess what it is?… And Americans are eating more pork than we have in decades. (via WaPo, the NYT, High Country News and Business Insider)
 
FOREIGN FLASH: A Turkish municipality puts the kibosh on a magazine for publishing an issue with an image of graffiti reading “Erdo-gone!”…The U.K.demands access to encrypted messages following the Manchester attacks, and encourages social media platforms to monitor terror posts…Brazilian PresidentTemer backpedals on his decree to deploy troops to quash anti-government protests…And in Bangladesh, a statue of a woman personifying justice topplesafter pressure from Islamic hardliners. (via Turkey Purge, Bloomberg, the BBC and the NYT)
 
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 ROYAL WATCH: Prince George and Princess Charlotte get their hands dirty in the garden. (via Hello!)

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BROOKLYN TONIGHT
 

6:30pm – Curators’ Talk: Magnum Manifesto at International Center of Photography. Details.
 
7:00pm – A Radical Peace Education: Responding to the Structural Violence of Schooling at The Strand. Details.
 
7:30pm – DanceAfrica 2017 The Healing Light of Rhythm: Tradition and Beyond at BAM Gilman Opera House. Details.
 
 
8:00pm – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at Kings Theatre Brooklyn. Details.  
 
8:00pm – Scientific Controversies No. 11: Consciousness at Pioneer Works.Details.


 
SATURDAY
 
10:00am – This Land Is…at BRIC Arts. Details.
 
10:30am – Lovecraft in Brooklyn Walking Tour at Boroughs of the Dead.Details.
 
12:00pm – 5:00pm – Kajahl: Obscure Origins at Tillou Fine Art. Details.
 
1:00pm – Triad | Yevgueniya Baras, Mike Cloud and Zachary Wollard at Five Myles. Details.
 
2:30pm – UMAMI: A Yummy Tour of Little Tokyo at Prospect Heights Brainery.Details.


 
SUNDAY
 
12:00pm – 5:00pm – Truman Capote’s Brooklyn: The Lost Photographs of David Attie at Brooklyn Historical Society. Details.
 
1:00pm – 6:00pm – Doubled at STUDIO10. Details.
 
1:00pm – 6:00pm – Afterglow at Front Room Gallery. Details.
 
1:00pm – Historic Trolley Tour at Green-Wood Cemetery. Details.
 
2:00pm – Brooklyn Navy Yard: Past, Present & Future Tour at BLDG 92/Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Details.
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 ON THE PITCH: 
Following the Manchester terror attack, Manchester United and its players reminded the world of the ability that soccer has to unite in the wake of chaos…which is why United’s Europa League triumph was all the more fitting. The city needed hope and the team provided it(via ESPNFC)

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