By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

Discount chain Century 21 will become the first new department store on the Fulton Mall in nearly 90 years when it sets up shop in a massive space in the planned City Point development in 2015.

The seller of last season’s designer goods will take up most of the first, second, and third floors of a DeKalb Avenue building and the third and fourth floors of a planned structure on Albee Square — bringing new life to a shopping strip that boasted a half-dozen department stores during its heyday in the 1950s, said project spokesman Tom Montvel-Cohen.

“Fulton Mall always was a shopping center for all of Brooklyn and it will be that again,” Montvel-Cohen said.

The only survivor of Downtown’s lost department store era is Macy’s, which took over the legendary space between Gallatin Place and Hoyt Street that housed the hometown company Abraham & Straus.

Electronics outlets, jewelry merchants, and shoe stores dominated the corridor in the decades after the department stores died off — but in recent years national retailers such as Aeropostale, Aldo, and the Gap have set up shop on the Fulton Mall.

Montvel-Cohen said Downtown’s Century 21 will be the “anchor” for City Point, a commercial and residential development replacing the old Albee Square Mall and adjoining lots with retail space and two skyscrapers — one slated to become the tallest building in the borough.

The store will be two-and-a-half times the size of Century 21’s Bay Ridge location and about the same size as the department store’s popular branch in lower Manhattan, store spokeswoman Heather Feinmel said.

“We see the new Fulton Street project as a great opportunity to expand our reach in the Brooklyn community,” Feinmel said. “We love Brooklyn and are eager to expand our brand to its residents.”

City Point was touted as the centerpiece of the Fulton Mall’s resurgence — but cash for the development dried up in 2008 and the project only managed to break ground after securing $20 million in bonds from the federal stimulus package.

The arrival of Century 21 could be the death knell to the DeKalb Market, a flea market housed in several reused shipping containers that opened last summer.

Market spokeswoman Liz Rees said they’d gotten no notice of eviction but have been expecting one.

“We knew all along that we were just an interim project,” said Rees.”

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Nets fans will get twice as much railway service and about half as many parking spots at the soon-to-open Barclays Center under a plan to box-out street-clogging drivers from neighborhoods near the arena.

The Long Island Rail Road will increase the number of Jamaica Station-bound trains from four to eight between 10 pm and midnight on game nights to keep fans on the rails instead of behind the wheel, transportation officials say.

The added “game trains” — funded by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s operational budget — will arrive every 15 minutes and hold roughly 1,000 passengers each, said Charlie McKiernan, a service planner for the Long Island Rail Road.

The MTA will also add four to seven “gap trains” — essentially on-call subway trains — on the Q and 4 lines to in an attempt to prevent post-game gridlock in Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Fort Greene, and other neighborhoods by getting arena-goers to use mass transit.

Stadium builders also say they will cut the number of on-site parking spaces from 1,000 to 541 and provide shuttle bus service on Atlantic Avenue to more distant parking lots. Bike-loving hoops fans will get 400 racks to stow their two-wheelers.

It’s all part of a long-awaited Barclays Center traffic plan released on Tuesday by arena developer Forest City Ratner, transportation consultant Sam Schwartz, and the city that aims to use “marketing and incentives” to convince fans that public transit is the best way to get to the game.

“The message is: Don’t even think about driving,” Schwartz said. “We’re getting people out of cars.”

He added that Nets tickets will be emblazoned with mass transit directions but no info about how to drive to the stadium or park a car.

But Forest City Ratner also said it has abandoned a plan announced last year to offer free subway rides to ticket-holders on game nights, saying technological glitches are standing in the way.

“We did look at that but the technology isn’t there,” Schwartz said.

He said there’s no way to track MetroCards in order to ensure the passes distributed with tickets would actually be used to travel to Barclays Center events.

Planners also considered offering discounted tickets to mass transit riders, but said studies showed many game-goers already have unlimited MetroCards, indicating it wouldn’t be a real incentive, he said.

Some residents said simply adding more trains won’t be enough to deter drivers — and that disincentives are needed, too.

“You need a driving surcharge and high parking rates,” said Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. “[The plan] seems like a lot of marketing without much substance.”

Others neighbors were more upset by the notion of using the MTA’s money — not Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner’s — to provide extra service at Nets games.

“You’re putting a lot of subsidies into a private entity,” said Michael White, a Brooklyn Heights resident. “But is it good for the neighborhood?”

Craig Hammerman of Community Board 6 encouraged neighbors to take advantage of the still-in-the-works transportation plan by weighing in online during a 30-day review process.

“I challenge the community to come up with its own solutions,” he said.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Live from Brooklyn, it’s Jimmy Kimmel!

The Brooklyn-born late night prince announced on Monday that he will return to his hometown in October to host “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from the Brooklyn Academy of Music in celebration of the Brooklyn Nets’ first game in the borough.

We don’t get it either — so we decided to pester him about it.

Aaron Short: Jimmy! Welcome to New York. Your show is coming to Brooklyn to coincide with the return of professional sports. Have you always been a Nets fan?

Jimmy Kimmel: I have not always been a Nets fan, but the fact that they’re playing in Brooklyn makes me more inclined to root for them.

AS: Why haven’t you moved back home yet?

JK: I have a job in California that keeps me occupied.

AS: Brooklyn has a long and prestigious comedic history. Woody Allen famously claimed he grew up under the Thunderbolt. Arthur Miller is from here. What’s it like following in their footsteps?

JK: It’s interesting how many funny people are from Brooklyn. Maybe it’s because everyone is piled on top of each other, you have to distinguish yourself in some way. The funniest people I know are from Brooklyn.

AS: Where are you from?

JK: I grew up in Mill Basin, on E. 64th Street and Avenue T. I went to PS 236 until I was in the fourth grade and my parents picked up and moved us to Las Vegas. My uncle Frank was a cop in Brooklyn and he decided to move there and get a job as a security guard at a casino and we followed him.

AS: When is the last time you hung out in Brooklyn and what did you do when you came here?

JK: I visit my relatives, Aunt Joanne and Uncle Tony. Typically when I’m there, it’s to visit family. We make a point of doing a lot of eating when we’re there.

AS: Where do you go?

JK: The Mill Basin Deli. There’s a f---ing great place we go to, I can’t remember the name of it.

AS: We’ll get back to that. Biggest difference between Los Angeles and Brooklyn?

JK: No one talks to each other in LA, whereas in Brooklyn, if you build a fence, everyone wants to know everything about it, and then you wind up with three similar fences. Everybody knew each other’s business in Brooklyn. It’s a double-edged sword, but ultimately I think it’s better. People watch each other’s kids. In LA, you can have neighbors for 20 years and never talk with them.

AS: Who is your favorite Brooklynite living or dead?

JK: Besides my family members, I have to go with Woody Allen.

AS: And your favorite Brooklyn rapper?

JK: I always liked the Beastie Boys a lot. Jay-Z obviously. I’ll go with those two.

AS: Is Brooklyn a punch line yet, the way Portland, Ore. is, or the state of Florida?

JK: No, Brooklyn is not a punch line, because if you use it as a punch line you will get punched by someone.

AS: What do you think about the Prospect Park bike lane?

JK: This is what people are upset about? A bike lane?

AS: Will your show have anything organic or artisanal in it?

JK: It’s a show, not a meal. I guess there will be human beings on it. You know there’s a great place in Brooklyn called Roberta’s. I love that place. They set up their lot next door, a go-kart track, which is fantastic. The food is great there. I love the overall feel of the place.

AS: Do you go DiFara’s or Grimaldi’s?

JK: Yeah! I’ve been to both of those places. One of our writers plays accordion at Grimaldi’s. A lot of our staff is from Brooklyn. Probably because a lot of my family is on the show.

AS: We love Bill Simmons, but he’s no longer a writer with you.

JK: Bill wouldn’t last two minutes in Brooklyn.

AS: So, any advice to help the Nets compete against the Knicks or the Lakers?

JK: Spend a lot of money, and spend it wisely.

AS: Who do you want to have on your show this fall?

JK: We want to get Chris Rock, hopefully David Letterman, Woody Allen, although it’s probably unrealistic.

AS: Spike Lee?

JK: Perhaps, Spike Lee.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Think you’ve seen some crazy art — this guy’s project earned him a residency at Rikers Island and a mandatory psychiatric evaluation.

Greenpoint designer Takeshi Miyakawa 50, was released on Wednesday after spending five days in jail for allegedly hanging plastic “I Love NY” bags with battery-powered lights, sparking a bomb scare on Bedford Avenue last Friday.

Cops cordoned off three blocks of the Northside’s prime retail strip for several hours and called in the bomb squad to investigate a plastic bag and wires spotted hanging from a tree. Investigators first considered the art project a “suspicious package,” then later determined it was harmless.

Hours later, cops say they spotted Miyakawa as he was securing a second LED-illuminated shopping bag on a light post at Bedford Avenue and Lorimer Street and took him into custody.

Prosecutors charged the artist, who was born Japan and had no prior criminal record, with reckless endangerment, planting a false bomb, and criminal nuisance.

But Brooklyn Judge Martin Murphy did not set bail and instead put him behind bars for 30 days and ordered the designer to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He was released after five days.

A police source said he is baffled by the judge’s decision to keep Miyakawa at Rikers, since other burglary and graffiti suspects have been released from custody in hours.

“He told us his intention was to produce artwork,” said the NYPD source. “He cooperated completely.”

Art critic Hrag Vartanian says that the mental health evaluation is disturbing and the judge clearly does not understand contemporary art.

“The only reason they might be doing something more than usual is because there were electronics involved,” he said. “It’s ridiculous that they would overreact to a situation like this. The authorities are not being educated on what artists use and what is considered art.”

Miyakawa studied architecture at Tokyo University before coming to New York to work in a design firm. He makes high-end furniture inside his studio at Manhattan Avenue’s Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center and builds models for world-renowned architect Rafael Viñoly, including the scale model for Williamsburg’s Domino Sugar project.

Miyakawa’s friends describe him as a charming and old-fashioned gentleman who just got a cell phone this year and still doesn’t know how to use it.

“He’s the kind of guy that does something and if you have a problem with it, he’ll apologize profusely,” said Louis Lim, a designer who considers Miyakawa a mentor.

Miyakawa has not discussed his intentions for the bag project with the press, but Lim said it was intended to coincide with Design Week and that the artist had placed other similar “I Love NY” bags elsewhere in the city.

More than 1,450 people signed a petition demanding the artist’s release from jail and 3,367 have “liked” a “Free Takeshi” Facebook page, as of Tuesday.

Before Miyakawa’s release, attorney Deborah Blum said his spirits were good considering the circumstances and that he wanted to thank his friends for their support.

His allies said he should have been released shortly after his arrest.

“The charges are greatly inflamed,” said Lim. “He’s been held for more than three days for something that should be classified as at the most a fine from the city or a citation.”

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By Carmine Santa Maria

for The Brooklyn Paper

I’m madder than my scooter Tornado after I accidentally drive his wheels through a heaping pile of dog poop under the El on 86th Street over the fact that after all these years I still see (and drive over) heaping piles of dog poop on 86th Street — and a lot of other streets in Brooklyn.

Look, you all know that Ol’Carmine has been visiting The Hurst since back when horse poop was a bigger target for my young bare feet as I scampered down Bay 23rd Street. But something happened when they started paving this place and put up apartment buildings like my beloved Harway Terrace.

And that something was the domestication of a certain grey wolf, the babies of which are now, for reasons I’ll never understand, sleeping at the foot of my bed.

But that isn’t the only thing they’re doing — apparently they are eating our leftovers and pooping them out all over the place. And, despite the fact that their “owners” are required by law to pick up the stuff they leave behind (the solid stuff, anyway, but that’s a story for another column), I keep finding it everywhere I turn.

The worst part about all this is this isn’t the first time I’ve been complaining about this. Readers who somehow got through this column before I got an editor who truly understands me know that I’ve recounted the story of how the pooper-scooper law came to be more than a thousand times. In fact, I think they used to re-run the column every year on the anniversary of the law being passed.

So to those of you who have read the story before put a paper bag over your head or turn to the funny pages (do they still have those? Man, I miss “Pogo” and that bald kid and his dog), but for those of you who don’t know it, here we go again.

One day, this kid rides his bike through some dog poop, just like I do with Tornado on a semi-regular basis. He goes home and complains to his lawyer father, who says “there oughta be a law.” The dad got to talking about it with some of his pals and — wouldn’t you know it — the pooper scooper law came to be.

That lawyer’s name was Bernie Cohen, and he died of cancer about two years ago. I bring this up because I got one of those mails that you don’t have to put a stamp on the other day that told me all about Cohen and how he once helped fight a ticket a guy got for flying a kite too high over the Belt Parkway.

Wanna hear that story? No? Then cover your eyes because I’m going to tell it anyway.

It was a balmy, beautiful day in 1981 when this guy Larry Cuttita was flying his kite over by Bay Eighth Street really high in the sky. All of a sudden a police helicopter flies by, circles, and lands. The cop comes out and give Cuttita a ticket for flying his kite too high. Apparently, they are not supposed to be flown over 150 feet. The cop hands the guy a ticket, then hops back into his copter and flies away.

Don’t believe me? You can read it in the New York Times on the interweb. Use the Google to find it. I don’t know what channel it’s on, but its out there.

Well, Larry fought that ticket and won. And guess who helped him do it? You got it, Bernie Cohen.

So in honor of the great Mr. Cohen, who made me a little less likely to run over dog poop and our skys a little safer for kite flyers, I’m told they’re bringing the Relay for Life — to help raise money for cancer survivors and treatment — to Floyd Bennett Field.

The event is being held on June 2 at the Aviator Sports Complex from 2 pm to 10 pm. It is open to the public free of charge, and will include entertainment, food, raffles, and family activities. It will also include ceremonies to honor those that are fighting cancer, those that have survived cancer and those that have been lost to cancer.

The Luminaria Ceremony will be beginning around sundown, at which time participants will line the outdoor track with Luminaria Bags decorated and dedicated to each of the three categories of those affected by cancer. The lights will be turned off, and the candles will illuminate the night. That ceremony sponsored by the Peter C. Labella Chapel will be led by the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drum Band.

All cancer survivors and their caregivers are invited to come and take part in the Survivors’ Reception, which is sponsored by my pals at the El Caribe, who are providing catering.

Additional Survivors Receptions are held at each of the three Relays in Brooklyn, including the Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst & Dyker Height Relay on June 23 at the Fort Hamilton Field. Their reception is sponsored by John M. Mancuso and Lioni Italian Heroes. Anyone interested in any of the events or attending the survivor receptions can find out more details by going to www.relayforlife.org, or by calling Nancy Colt at (718) 622–2492 ext 5134.

Screech at you next week!

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Williamsburg residents fear that where there’s smoke, there’s going to be, well, more smoke.

Some neighbors of Cooper Park were already fired up about charcoal fumes, trash, and crowds in the green space after the city installed a barbecue pit with eight grills — and now they’re up in flames over the fact park rules will allow patrons to bring their own Webers.

“I think it’s totally irresponsible that they are allowing an unlimited number of grills and smokers,” said Carrie Perry, who lives near the Maspeth Avenue park. “I will be smelling barbecue in my living room.”

The city implements a bring-your-own-grill policy at parks that boast grill pits, such as Prospect Park and Red Hook’s Coffey Park — a fact that many anti-grilling activists only realized as they protested summer searing at three community meetings last week.

“When we held our ground at zero [grills, the city] dropped the bomb that anyone can bring grills anyway — so what negotiation were we really having when the number of grills on any given day is unlimited!” said Perry. “What a joke.”

Visitors can now bring as many grills as they want to Cooper Park, so long as they stay in the designated area in the northeastern corner and don’t come in groups of 20 or more (larger crowds require permits from the city).

North Brooklyn Parks honcho Stephanie Thayer and an aide to Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D–Williamsburg) told residents at a recent community meeting that the city originally planned to add 10 grills — then reduced the number to eight due to neighborhood opposition.

But the city may add two additional grills later this summer, and the Parks Department is preparing to add another eight grill stations next year as part of a $2.6-million Cooper Park renovation if the cooking equipment proves popular.

Fans of outdoor food preparation, including residents from Cooper Park Houses who lobbied for the grills, flocked to the green space to debut the cookware last Saturday — and they promised to fight for more grills.

“I’m disappointed we only eight,” said grill fan Karen Leader. “We had an agreement for more.”

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

Borough President Markowitz’s popular summer concert series, which was booted from Asser Levy Park last year for being too loud, will once again be staged in a cramped Coney Island lot — even though concert-goers have repeatedly panned the spot for being too small for major stars like Aretha Franklin and Joan Jett.

Civic leaders confirmed that this year’s Seaside Summer Concert Series will be returning to the vacant site on W. 21st Street near Surf Avenue this summer — a spot many said was a poor substitute for Asser Levy Park.

“Asser Levy was a much better venue with a much better atmosphere,” said Bay Ridge resident Kelly Graham, who attended the Joan Jett concert last July. “This space [stinks]!”

The W. 21st Street lot includes 5,000 paid seats positioned near a makeshift stage, but only has room for 2,000 free seats in the back — roughly half of what the park at Ocean Parkway and Seabreeze Avenue — which is about the size of a city block — provided. The W. 21st Street lot, in comparison, is about a third of a city block.

The lack of free seating and drab surroundings irked concert-goers from the very start of last year’s concert series.

Most of the complaints came from those who brought their own chairs and blankets and watch the show for free, grumbling that they missed the wide-open spaces of Asser Levy.

“Asser Levy Park was a beautiful and classic location,” said Steven Centonzo. “I miss the grass and picnicking with a blanket.”

The issue came to a head after 1,000 angry fans were turned away from Franklin’s August concert because the al fresco music hall was too small.

Yet supporters say the vacant lot is big enough to accommodate the summer-long music series.

“The spot they’re working with is fine,” said Community Board 13 District Manager Chuck Reichenthal.

The borough president held his Seaside Summer Concert Series at Asser Levy Park every year since 1991, but caused an uproar when he announced plans to build a $64-million, 8,000-seat bandshell there. Congregants of two synagogues abutting the park and other local critics balked at the idea, calling the planned venue a monstrosity that would destroy parkland and overwhelm their quiet street.

Synagogue officials sued to shut the Beep’s concerts down on the grounds that amplified music is illegal within 500 feet of houses of worship. Markowitz settled the lawsuit last year by agreeing to relocate the concerts to W. 21st Street.

Brighton Beach residents who sued Markowitz said they were pleased that the concert won’t come back to Asser Levy Park.

“It’s what the law is all about,” said longtime concert critic Ida Sanoff. “The new location fits in perfectly with Coney Island.”

Seaside concert organizer and promoter Debbie Garcia said the series will move forward, but wouldn’t provide further details — or reveal the lineup for this year’s shows.

Borough President Markowitz hasn’t given up on a state-of-the-art amphitheater, spokesman Mark Zustovich explained.

“The borough president remains committed — financially and otherwise — to a world-class performance venue,” Zustovich said.

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

Call it Cha-Cha’s revenge.

John “Cha-Cha” Ciarcia, a honky-tonk bar owner who was booted from the Boardwalk in the city’s quest to bring more upscale businesses to Coney Island is returning to the People’s Playground this summer with a new watering hole, nightclub, and a new amusement park.

“This is my comeback,” Ciarcia said. “They threw me off the Boardwalk but they can’t kick me out of Coney Island.”

Ciarcia has already opened Cha-Cha’s Coney Island Seafood Bar and Pizzeria on Surf Avenue and plans to open Club Atlantis and Cha-Cha’s Steeplechase-Fun Place on Stillwell Avenue between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk next week. The Steeplechase-Fun Place which will offer a kiddie park and side show, he said.

The Coney Island businessman says the 15 to 20 rides — which will include the MegaWhirl, a new spinning bumper car-style ride — will offer visitors to the People’s Playground a more authentic experience.

“I want to make it affordable for families that belong in Coney Island,” said Ciarcia, who closed Cha-Cha’s Bar last November after auctioning off its contents. “My park won’t be a rich South Beach extravaganza like the one the city wants to turn Coney Island into.”

Entrance to the park will be free, and rides will cost $3 to $5, Ciarcia said.

The prices will be on par with Central Amusements’s two-year-old Luna Park, which sells tickets on swipe cards and charges between $3 and $6 for rides. It will be cheaper than the Scream Zone, which charges between $7 and $25 for amusements.

Like Luna Park, Ciarcia’s fun zone will open on Memorial Day and close on Halloween.

Cha-Cha’s, a beloved watering hole known for its live music and gritty old school Coney Island feel, was a member of the “Boardwalk Eight” — businesses that fought to stay open after Central Amusements, the company the city picked to handle its properties, petitioned to boot them from the iconic walkway.

Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter were allowed to return, but Cha-Cha’s and four other shops were evicted last year.

Ciarcia thumbed his nose at the slap in the face by opening a restaurant on Surf Avenue. He then went to Coney Island’s other major landlord — developer Joe Sitt — and inked a deal to turn one of his empty lots into the fun zone.

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

Professional dog walkers are ferrying pooches into the Dyker Beach Park dog run from all corners of the borough and ruining the leash-free lot for local canines, say pup-owning residents who are getting tired of the interlopers.

Neighbors say hired dog walkers often exceed the posted three-pup-per-person limit at the dog run at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 86th Street — sometimes bringing more than a dozen at a time — which they claimed causes crowding and nasty dogfights.

Bonnie Diaz, who lives across the street from the run, said that a group of pooches being overseen by walker Beth Sampson — who admitted that she trucks in dogs from Ditmas Park — once ganged up on her pet Marley.

Today, Marley takes off whenever Sampson or another dog-sitter arrives with a crew, Diaz said.

“The second somebody pulls up with a lot of dogs, I leave,” Diaz said, adding that the walkers tend to group around the picnic tables by the entrance, making it tough at times to escape without some kind of trouble.

James Gheida of Bensonhurst, who’s been visiting the run for nearly eight years, said that the privately-hired dog-sitters often bring as many as 18 animals to the park at a time, forcing him and his dog Woody to the far corners of the fenced-in lot — or out of it entirely.

“I don’t want to stick around. There’s no way they can control that many dogs,” said Gheida, adding that he’s seen packs of the animals attack single dogs that were at the lot with their owners and reported the incidents to Community Board 10.

CB10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann said she’s heard plenty of complaints like Gheida’s every month.

“People are saying dog walkers bring in huge groups of dogs and that many of them are vicious,” said Beckmann, adding that residents are further infuriated because 311 doesn’t accept complaints about dog-on-dog violence.

A 311 representative confirmed that the city helpline only responds to reports of dog attacks on people, but couldn’t explain why.

But professional dog walkers said the charges against them are untrue.

Sampson confessed that she often brings five or six dogs to the park, but vets her animals for personality problems before bringing them inside the dog run. She also says her dogs never fight with the other canines.

Keeping the peace among her pooches is essential to staying in business.

“If the dogs come back to their owners with marks from fighting, you aren’t going to be a dog walker for long,” Sampson said.

Another professional dogwalker — who refused to give her name — admitted that she brings dogs to Dyker Beach Park from as far away as Park Slope, but said she hires helpers to manage the animals.

She says she never had a problem controlling her pack, suggesting that some dog owners mistake loud play for violence.

“They hear barking and growling and see them chasing each other and they think the dogs are fighting,” the dog walker said. “Really, they’re just having fun.”

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

The city could find itself in court if it messes with a controversial halal cart some Bay Ridge merchants want removed from Fifth Avenue, lawyers for the embattled food wagon said on Friday — claiming that cart workers are being harassed because they’re Middle Eastern.

Lamis Deek, an attorney for the Middle Eastern Halal Cart and cart manager Sammy Kassen said she would sue the city if it goes forward with a proposal to turn Fifth Avenue and 86th Street into a cart-free zone — forcing the vendor to move from a favored, and profitable, location.

“If we have to take it to the courts, that’s where we’ll take it,” Deek said during a press conference held at the intersection that’s become a battleground between food vendors and brick-and-mortar businesses.

Deek claimed that Fifth Avenue merchants are repeatedly harassing Kassen because he’s Middle Eastern — and claimed that the city has done nothing to stop it.

“He has dealt with epithets and physical threats, and the bullies in this neighborhood have continued to attack him,” Deek said.

Kassen said that a man leaving the Lone Star Bar — whose owner, Tony Gentile, has led the effort to get the cart removed from Fifth avenue — made a pistol gesture with his hand at him and his workers on May 10, telling them that they had to move. Kassen also claimed that he overheard Gentile say that the Brooklyn-born Kassen was not an American and should leave the country.

The bar owner denied all the allegations, claiming that his concerns are strictly economic.

“I love the Middle Eastern community in this neighborhood,” Gentile said, adding that many of his customers are of Arab descent. “They want to play the race card because they know they’re wrong.”

The city’s Department of Small Business Services is considering booting all carts from Bay Ridge after Deputy Commissioner Andrew Schwartz listened to a litany of food vendor complaints from Councilman Vincent Gentile (DBay Ridge) — who isn’t related to Tony Gentile — as well as Community Board 10 members and leaders of both the Fifth Avenue and 86th Street business improvement districts. The civic and business leaders attending the meeting blasted vendors and sided with the neighborhood’s brick-and-mortar restaurants who claim food carts get off easy on rent, fees, and ignore regulations.

Roger Desmond, the owner of the Fifth Avenue eatery Hinsch’s and a member of Tony Gentile’s Save Our Streets campaign — which stopped the Middle Eastern Halal Cart from opening on Fifth Avenue for two days by putting up tables at Kassen’s usual spot and distributing anti-cart literature — said his beef was with city regulations favoring food wagons over neighborhood businesses, not the street-meat dealers themselves.

“They’re making this about race to skirt the real issue,” Desmond said.

Bay Ridge resident Billy Norris, who claimed that Kassen’s customers leave trash all over the intersection, agreed.

“We’re not going to win this because, all of a sudden, they’re making it about race,” Norris said.

But fellow Ridgite Effie Demetriadis backed Kassen and his workers.

“How can they be against them?” said Demetriadis, whose father owned a Shish kebab cart. “We all came to this country for a better life. Why are we fighting each other?”

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

The Barclays Center will debut an unconventional horseshoe-shaped seating configuration for a preseason hockey game this fall — raising questions about whether the undersized arena could truly accommodate an NHL franchise.

A dozen sections behind one of the goals will be closed off when the Islanders take on the hated New Jersey Devils on Oct. 2, according to a seating chart that shows what hockey might look like in a $1-billion arena that would be the smallest stadium in the National Hockey League and the only arena without wrap-around seating.

The Islanders are in the hunt for a new home when its lease at the Nassau Coliseum ends in 2015 — but the team could be forced to relocate sooner if an asbestos cleanup at the remote, 40-year-old venue stretches beyond the start of the hockey season this fall.

A deal with the league requires the Islanders to play on Long Island, which includes Brooklyn at its western tip. But a move to the future home of the Brooklyn Nets is anything but a sure shot, considering the 18,000-seat Barclays Center can only fit 14,500 fans during hockey games — and none behind one of the goals.

Still, some sports experts say the under-construction arena on Flatbush and Atlantic avenues remains the leading option for the squad, claiming the cramped quarters and odd seating arrangement may benefit a team that only averaged 11,000 spectators per game last year.

“It eliminates some very viable seats especially in the lower half of the venue,” said Ray Katz, a managing partner of Source1 Sports and a Flatbush native who teaches sports management at Columbia University. “But it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for that team to have limited seating. It would still be a great thing for Brooklyn.”

The team could even turn lemons into iced lemonade by using some of the arena’s dead space to sell ads and merchandise, Katz said.

“There’s other ways to generate revenue from that side of the arena,” said Katz.

The horseshoe-shaped seating configuration might make the stadium look empty on TV — and its effects could be felt on the ice as well.

During games, one goalie would face fans across the rink while the other would look out onto an empty space behind the opposing net — similar to the center field backdrop in baseball — that could cut down on distractions, said sports consultant Michael Neuman.

“They’ll have to deal with any limitations the Barclays Center has,” said Neuman, the managing partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment, a consulting agency.

Nets spokesman Barry Baum confirmed the seating arrangement, but declined to provide further details.

“We have to see how all the sight lines are and then we’ll move forward,” Baum said.

Arena developer Bruce Ratner has long courted the Islanders. Hockey was originally considered for the arena but the plans were scuttled after Barclays Center starchitect Frank Gehry was fired in 2009 and his proposed design was scraped in an attempt to cut costs.

In January, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said he found it hard to believe that a deal couldn’t be hammered out to keep the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. But last month Bettman told the AP that the Barclays Center is a viable alternative.

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

You better Beliebe it!

Grammy-nominated pop superstar Justin Bieber is coming to the Barclays Center this fall, according to arena officials who announced that the 18-year-old heartthrob — potentially the most famous Canadian of all-time — will perform at the Prospect Heights venue on Nov. 2.

“Justin Bieber is more than a great performer, he’s an icon for his generation,” said Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark. “Justin’s show at Barclays Center furthers our goal to deliver artists that reflect the diverse talent of Brooklyn.”

Bieber’s stop in Brooklyn is part of his “Believe” tour across North America to promote his latest album.

Fans afflicted with Biebermania can purchase tickets for the show online starting on June 2.

But the teen singing sensation — who rose to prominence after being discovered on YouTube in 2007 — won’t be the first A-lister to perform at the Brooklyn Nets’ future home on Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.

Eight-time Grammy award-winner and Brooklyn legend Barbra Streisand WIll play two homecoming shows at the $1-billion arena in October.

Other musicians coming to the 18,200-seat venue include rap mogul and Nets part-owner Jay-Z, who’ll open the Barclays Center on Sept. 28, Rush, and Leonard Cohen.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Painting the Prospect Park West bike lane isn’t the only part of the controversial project that took a lot of green.

The city will spend $880,000 finishing up the Prospect Park West bike lane by constructing raised concrete islands at intersections — more than quadrupling the initial cost of installing the controversial path.

Including the cost of building the lane, the price of the new pedestrian islands, and $140,000 in legal fees spent defending the two-way cycling route from lawsuits, the park-side path has racked up a bill totaling $1.2 million.

That’s more than five times the cost of the country’s average bike lane, transportation experts say.

The raised cement islands — intended to make it easier for pedestrians to cross Prospect Park West at nine intersections — carry such a high price tag in part because Community Board 6 asked the city to make the bike lane tweaks match the neighborhood’s street-scape, a Department of Transportation spokeswoman said.

“[The board] requested that materials such as granite curbing, which are historically consistent,” she said.

Councilman Brad Lander (D–Park Slope) also allocated $200,000 toward the islands.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

You won’t have a hard time finding the city’s new rental bikes this summer — unless you live south of Atlantic Avenue.

Beginning in July, 148 bike share stations will set up shop in DUMBO, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, and Downtown, according to a new map released last Friday.

But there will only be one station on the Cobble Hill, Park Slope, and Prospect Heights side of Atlantic Avenue until spring of 2013 — meaning you’ll need your own two wheels if you want to ride home from the Park Slope Food Co-op, Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Museum, or the Red Hook waterfront.

The borough will eventually get enough docks to accommodate 3,868 rental bikes in the ambitious program, according to a Department of Transportation spokesman — but this summer’s southernmost bike depot will be at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Dean Street.

“It will be a phased-in deployment,” Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told WNCY. “I mean, we can’t just airdrop 10,000 bikes in.”

Cyclists are cheering the program, but the incremental rollout is a letdown for some Brownstone Brooklyn bike lovers.

“That’s not good,” said Park Slope resident Mitch Sonies, who owns six bikes himself. “To get around Park Slope, if you want a bike, you already have it with you.”

The city announced it would build a network of rentable, sturdy Dutch-style cruisers in November 2010 and conducted a series of planning meetings throughout the borough in 2011.

The bikes are designed for short trips and commuting, not lengthy joyrides. Brooklynites who pay the $95 annual membership fee can get access to a cerulean-colored cycle for unlimited rides up to 45 minutes, while daily or weekly riders can receive access to unlimited 30-minute rides. But heavy charges apply to those who scoot around for hours at a time.

The city will bring its proposed bike rental locations before community boards for review in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Downtown, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in the coming weeks before installing the stations this summer. Board members can still weigh in on the second draft of these maps and suggest changes to station locations before they hit the streets.

Transportation officials have already made significant changes to their first draft maps, adding more stations in Greenpoint and East Williamsburg and cutting stations along Bedford Avenue, following the advice of North Brooklyn residents at a planning meeting this spring.

Community boards representing Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Red Hook, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights will host planning workshops throughout the year, before new stations are selected and installed next year.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Cops arrested a 19-year-old who allegedly shot and killed Williamsburg man inside his Wythe Avenue apartment three months ago.

Police locked up a Staten Island man at 12:15 am on Friday and accused him of murdering David Boutron, 41, on Feb. 16.

A witness told police he saw the suspect with Boutron in his apartment at 3:20 pm, then heard several shots fired inside the building near S. Sixth Street. The witness then saw the suspect running from the room and noticed Boutron lying on the floor bleeding from his mouth, cops said.

Paramedics pronounced Boutron dead and a medical examiner confirmed that the victim died from the bullet wounds.

Prosecutors charged the suspect with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon.

A Brooklyn District Attorney spokesman said prosecutors expect to arraign the suspect this weekend.

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

Pooch-lovers who routinely visit the Dyker Beach Dog Run say the city isn’t maintaining the leash-free lot, leaving the task of emptying overflowing, poop-filled trash bins to a bunch of neighborhood doo doo-gooders.

Jerry Huyler, who has been bringing his dogs to Dyker Beach Park for 16 years, says he carts dozens of feces-filled bags out of the park more than twice a week — and uses his own handtruck to bring the foul-smelling plastic sacks to the dog run’s 10th Avenue entrance for pickup.

“I saw full bags both in the cans and outside of the cans in the dog run, so I began taking them to the curb,” said Huyler, adding that it often takes the Parks Department two to three weeks to take away the pile of trash bags left by the curb.

Anna Likhten, who visits the run almost every day, said the long waits between city trash pick-ups result in horrendous odors.

“It’s a god-awful stench that never goes away, because the trash never gets picked up,” said Likhten.

Dog run users are responsible for picking up after their pooches and putting their pet’s droppings in garbage cans that line the dog run, but the city is supposed to empty the bins and take the garbage bags away.

A Parks Department spokeswoman said the trash bags are removed regularly, yet dog owners say that’s untrue.

“I have never, ever, ever, seen a Parks Department person in the dog run,” said Likhten.

Rose Esposito, a dog owner who’s been bringing pups to the run for most of her life, said she didn’t realize the city was supposed to take out the trash.

“We’ve always accepted things the way they are,” Esposito said. “That’s why we do it ourselves,” Esposito said.

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

A true-blue artist is seeing red over the vandal who desecrated his Old Glory mural in Kensington, and he says he won’t brush away the spiteful deed until the unpatriotic perp is slapped with a bias crime.

“This is someone who hates what America stands for,” said Scott LoBaido, whose image of the American flag on a wall on McDonald Avenue near Cortelyou Road was marred with the phrase, “Patriotism makes me sick.”

The incident was caught on camera and LoBaido, a Staten Island-based muralist who has painted more than 1,000 Old Glories across the nation without major incident, hopes it will lead cops to the culprit’s trail.

The grainy surveillance video posted on YouTube shows the bearded hoodlum pulling up in a minivan on May 14 at 1:07 am and posting his scrawling before speeding off.

LoBaido hopes the vandal isn’t a disgruntled 99 percenter.

“I’m hoping that it’s not a radical member of Occupy Wall Street who is using guerilla tactics,” LoBiado said, adding that the mischief-making was a slap to freedom fighters. “I know what those flags represent to those veterans in the community, and it probably made them sick to see it.”

LoBaido said his artwork had been targeted by graffiti vandals before, but their scribblings were harmless in comparison.

“That was a matter of some punk not realizing what he’s tagging,” he said. “This is beyond that.”

The building owner who commissioned the artwork said its defilement made him uneasy.

“It doesn’t leave me with a good feeling about our neighbors in Brooklyn,” said John Gentile.

The NYPD did not return calls for comment.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Brooklyn’s “No Impact Man” hopes to make a big impact next year — in Washington.

Environmentalist Colin Beavan — the Clinton Hill resident who made a name for himself by curbing his fossil fuel consumption and living to blog about it — is throwing his sustainably made hat into the ring to succeed Rep. Ed Towns (D–Fort Greene).

Beavan will square off against the winner of a Democratic contest between State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D–Prospect Heights) and Councilman Charles Barron (D–Canarsie), on the Green Party ticket.

Though he’s best known for his personal austerity measures — chronicling his avoidance of energy-sucking appliances like air conditioners in the name of a healthier Earth — he says his hope is to jump-start the economy by backing Brooklyn businesses.

“The government and corporations take wealth away from communities and we basically beg for the money back, but we should invest in job development here so money doesn’t leave the neighborhoods,” said Beavan.

Born in Stuyvesant Town, Beavan got an engineering degree, consulted for housing and health providers, and wrote for magazines before becoming an environmental activist after reading stories about the country’s dependence on foreign oil during the Iraq War.

In 2006, he launched the blog “No Impact Man” dedicated to shrinking his environmental footprint, and the website took off.

He detailed his family’s avoidance of gasoline, electricity, and heat — and decision to only eat food grown within 100 miles of Brooklyn. They became vegetarians, nixed most transportation, and even managed to keep the air conditioners off in 100-degree August heat.

“We were a little bit lucky there was cross ventilation in the apartment,” said Beavan. “We would fill up the bath with water and leave it, and on the blistering nights we would jump in the baths and make ourselves wet.”

The blog led to a book deal, a documentary, a national speaking tour, conferences, and a nonprofit, noimpactproject.org, which shows readers how to incorporate some of Beavan’s waste-reduction techniques to their own lives.

Beavan hopes to use his experience in an eco-abstinence to inform public policy. He still manages to do his part to reduce climate change such as restricting personal travel, but, if elected, he would probably take the train to go to work.

And even if he doesn’t win, he hopes to engage and excite a district stretching across the borough from Brooklyn Heights to Brighton Beach as an everyman candidate (albeit the everyman candidate who once refused to use toilet paper for one year).

“Our real goal is to get people involved in the democratic process,” said Beavan. “Citizens should decide for themselves to run for office and represent their communities better than professional politicians can.”

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

A fancy Williamsburg canine salon sets itself apart from the pack by dimming the lights and putting on classical music as part of its grooming package.

And if your pup has a pain on its tuchus, canine spa specialists are willing to massage your dog’s rear-end to help ease discomfort.

Eco Dog NYC unclogs dogs offers an “anal gland expression” — a procedure in which groomers apply external posterior pressure to two glands manually.

Adrienne Harris, owner of the upscale grooming shop on N. Fifth Street, say the treatment can help furry patients with blockage problems that can lead to itching and infection, while the lighting and music set the mood.

“It could relieve them and keep things flowing,” said Harris, whose animal spa offers the massage as part of a full grooming package that costs between $55 and $110 depending on the pup’s size and hair length. “We lower the lights and it kind of makes them feel better.”

The poo poo package is rare at pet salons because most grooming schools stopped teaching the practice long ago, according to dog health experts.

Charlotte Reed, a pet issues author and member of the New York State Veterinary Board, said the cleanse has tangible medical benefits for a so-called fecal impaction condition.

But she suspects the music and lighting are more beneficial to the humans involved.

“We tend to anthropomorphize our pets and think they need what we need,” said Reed, who has performed the procedure herself. “When you’ve got two fingers up a dog’s butt, honestly, it helps you, too.”

The cleansing trend comes at the height Brooklyn’s doggie pampering obsession, which includes “hipster puppy” fashion shows, pooch hair-dyeing, and even canine tattooing — which state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R–Bay Ridge) is pushing to outlaw.

Harris said her shop, which opened five months ago, offers a wide variety of canine services including grooming, doggie day care, walking, training, and retail, and noted the cleanse is only performed upon request from pet owners.

The practice pleases dog owners such as Natalie Rohrer, whose Brussels Griffon stopped dragging her rear-end on the ground after the posterior squeeze.

“It helped her out — I think she felt much better,” Rohrer said. “But, you know, sometimes dogs are hard to read.”

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

A city decision to repair an outer-borough boardwalk with wood has opponents of the Coney Island Boardwalk’s upcoming concrete makeover accusing the Parks Department of turning back on its word.

Agency officials have said repeatedly that repairing city boardwalks with wood was no longer a viable option — sparking the move to replace the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk with concrete and plastic lumber.

But the city began repairing a 10-block stretch of the longer, but far less exciting, Rockaway boardwalk with lumber last week — a move that has Coney Boardwalk advocates spitting nails.

“It’s an unbelievable slap in the face to our communities,” said Rob Burstein, the president of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance. “It shows that it’s possible to have a wooden boardwalk.”

Friends of the Boardwalk founder Todd Dobrin was also outraged.

“I’m furious,” said Dobrin, who has been fighting the city’s plans to take away the Boardwalk’s cherished planks. “Every boardwalk should be treated equally.”

But city officials say they’re not flip-flopping.

“Under a full reconstruction of the Rockaway boardwalk, we would consider using concrete,” said Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor, who said repairs on the Rockaway boardwalk, which drew 3.6 million visitors last year, will replace planks Hurricane Irene turned into kindling last year.

A one-mile section of the 5.5-mile walk has already been paved over with concrete, Lalor noted.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R–Queens) doled out $1.6 million in taxpayer dollars to help repair the Rockaway boardwalk.

That news wasn’t lost on critics who slammed Councilman Domenic Recchia (D–Coney Island) for supporting the city’s plan to replace the Boardwalk between Coney Island Avenue and Brighton 15th Street with concrete and recycled plastic lumber.

“We need elected officials to support the Boardwalk here the way that they did in Queens,” Burstein said.

Recchia declined to comment on this story.

In 2010, the Parks Department proposed replacing the entire Boardwalk with concrete and plastic lumber — except for a four-block section in the historic amusement district between W. 15th and W. 10th streets — as part of its $30-million renovation of the aging 2.7-mile span, which opened in 1923.

The agency tested the materials on two sections of the walkway in 2011, claiming that concrete was sturdier and cheaper than using real wood.

But preservationists balked at the suggestion, claiming the plan would ruin the look and feel of the historic Boardwalk and turn the rest of the strip into a sidewalk.

The Public Design Commission gave the Parks Department the OK to tear out the Boardwalk in Brighton Beach — and install a 12-foot-wide concrete lane for emergency vehicles and a 19-foot-wide lane built out of recycled plastic boards for pedestrians — after agency officials testified that wood was no longer a viable option.

Yet residents say the current repair project in Queens proves otherwise.

“I can’t understand their reasoning,” said Brighton Beach resident Arlene Brenner. “It’s ridiculous.”

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio greased the wheels of his mayoral campaign by jumping on the bandwagon of brick-and-mortar businesses in their ongoing beef with food carts, claiming that street vendors are enjoying fruits they haven’t sowed.

“The fact is right now that the weight of regulation falls on our traditional businesses,” the mayoral hopeful said at a meeting of the Bay Ridge Democrats, echoing the sentiments of Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge), State Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge), and other restaurants and bars along Fifth Avenue, all of whom say that food carts have an unfair advantage over storefront enterprises under existing city health codes.

City agencies spring surprise inspections on food wagons and traditional restaurants alike, but only the latter is required to post inspection grades in their windows, disgruntled merchants claim.

Gentile proposed legislation in March to grade mobile vendors, and met earlier this month with Department of Small Business Services Deputy Commissioner Andrew Schwartz, demanding that the city turn Fifth Avenue around 86th Street into a food cart-free zone.

DeBlasio called for more regulation of the mobile kitchens to keep future problems like the cold war between Middle Eastern Halal Cart operator Sammy Kassen and Lone Star bar owner Tony Gentile — no relation to the councilman — from boiling over.

“We need to be careful in regards to where we allow food vendors to be placed,” DeBlasio said.

Critics of the Middle Eastern Halal Cart have been known to execute covert plans to displace Kassen’s gyro cart.

Back on March 22, Kassen’s cart was forced to relocated after two benches were mysteriously placed at his favorite hangout spot. No one ever copped to moving the benches, which remain bolted to the sidewalk.

The city will unveil its plan for Fifth Avenue and 86th Street in the next week.

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

You probably won’t tweet about it, but Brooklyn is packed with parks, fields, piers, and promenades for good-old-fashioned summer fun. Whether you want to spend a lazy afternoon casting fishing lines or a few hours throwing a frisbee with friends — or if you’re more the type to just go fly a kite — the borough is big and it can accommodate your recreational whims. Here’s your guide to all the best spots for the season.

FISHING

Canarsie Pier

Anglers have been hooked on this year-round park for three centuries. Be warned, though—the spot heats up in the summer, and finding a place to set up with your rod and tackle box can border on impossible.

[1 Aviation Road, at the end of Rockaway Parkway and near the entrance to the Shore Parkway in Canarsie, (718) 338–3799].

69th Street/American Veterans Memorial Pier

Fishers can admire the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and the Verrazano Bridge while waiting for a bite at this Bay Ridge jetty. Residents just ask—firmly—that you please pick up after yourself.

(At the corner Shore Road and Bay Ridge Avenue in Bay Ridge).

Gerritsen Avenue

At the tip of Brooklyn’s own seaside village of Gerritsen Beach, piscators pull fluke and horseshoe crabs and even rare sheepshead out of the waters of Sheepshead Bay.

(End of Gerritsen Avenue, past Lois Avenue in Gerritsen Beach).

Steeplechase Pier

Another all-time fisherman’s favorite, this Coney Island dock is a hot spot for tuna and stripers, not whitefish.

(Off the Boardwalk between Kensington Walk and West 19th Street in Coney Island).

Prospect Park Lake

One for the freshwater fishers out there, the lake has the largest concentration of largemouth bass in the state—but be ready to throw them back in: park rules require catch-and-release.

(In Prospect Park).

BASEBALL

Dyker Beach Park

Best known for its golf course, this South Brooklyn greenspace boasts 13 little league fields, including the Ben Vitale fields, which got lighting for night games last year.

(Along 14th Avenue in Bensonhurst).

Marine Park

The park on the marshes contains 22 diamonds of different sizes and surfaces—not to mention cricket fields, for all you Limeys out there.

(Along Gerritsen Avenue in Gerritsen Beach).

Canarsie Park

These 13 fields on either side of Paedergat Basin remain beloved by the community for their history, even though some of the overlapping outfields are a little rough.

(Along Bergen Avenue in Bergen Beach and Seaview Avenue in Canarsie).

Red Hook Recreation Area

More famous for its food vendors, the Red Hook Recreation Area’s nine baseball diamonds have seen their popularity increase over the past few years.

(Along Bay Street in Red Hook).

Prospect Park Parade Ground

Once a training area for Civil War troops, the Parade Ground now hosts General Doubleday’s brainchild on 10 different fields.

(Along Caton Avenue in Flatbush).

FRISBEE

Prospect Park Ballfields

These fields have become a popular location for pick-up games of Ultimate Frisbee, a sport that has more in common with football and rugby than the leisurely disc-toss you knew growing up.

(In Prospect Park).

Mount Prospect Park

Don’t worry—there’s still a place where you can still throw a frisbee the old-fashioned way: quieter, lesser known Mount Prospect Park, between Brooklyn Central Library and the Brooklyn Museum. It’s also home to the second highest point in Brooklyn and some impressive views.

(Along Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights).

McCarren Park

The grass is worn thin in spots, sure, and you have to watch out for wayward soccer balls, but McCarren’s pastures remain a magnet for frisbee enthusiasts across the borough—leading to some epic cultural collisions.

(Along Lorimer Street in Williamsburg).

KITE-FLYING

Shore Parkway

The strong breezes along the promenade under the Belt Parkway have made it a favorite of aerial enthusiasts.

(Between 20th Avenue and Bay 19th Street in Bath Beach).

Brooklyn Bridge Park

This increasingly hot greenspace now has its own kite club, the DUMBO Kite Flying Society. Check it out at www.galapagosartspace.com/kids.html.

(Between Atlantic Avenue and Joralemon Street in DUMBO).

Plumb Beach

However you spell it, this isolated spot on the Rockaway Inlet is the perfect place to throw kites and caution to the wind.

(Off Exit Nine on the Belt Parkway in Gerritsen Beach).

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Call them the Dream Team!

The former college athletes who made Milk Believe a rookie sensation stymied two more top teams on Sunday at McCarren Park’s Red Monster field, claiming a share of first place in the Brooklyn Kickball League’s standings.

The dairy daredevils solved the Mathletes, 5–1, thanks to Alex “Luna” Diego’s three RBIs (runs booted in). Later in the day, the club overruled People’s Court, 3–2, on Sarah “Excellence” Par’s late-inning single.

The undefeated team previously dispatched the John Cougar Mellencamps on opening weekend — navigating a tough early-season schedule perfectly.

“It’s great that we are off to a fast start, we just have to build upon it,” said an uncharacteristically humble Mike “Baby Jesus” Scott, who is kicking above .700 for the year. “We still make rookie mistakes that we have to fix, but all the girls are playing great, Priest [“Good Religion” Fontaine] is amazing at third base, and we just like having fun.”

Not everyone is enjoying themselves.

People’s Court issued an order of contempt against Milk Believe for allegedly changing the roster during the game. League rules stipulate that four female players must kick within a team’s first 10 trips to the plate — a rule that People’s Court captain Jeremy “Judge” Medanich claims his rivals violated.

“They whined and cheated their way to victory,” he griped. “This is disheartening considering the number of veterans on the team who are all very familiar with the rules. What makes the People’s Court different from most teams is our integrity and our ability to keep things light even under the heaviest of circumstances.”

League Commissioner Kevin Dailey said that he does not insist teams exchange rosters during regular season games, adding that People’s Court “should not complain after the fact.”

“If you expect shenanigans, then ask to see roster before the game,” he said.

Earlier in the day, People’s Court grounded the Space Cadets, 2–1, while the Mathletes snagged a 5–2-victory over the New Frontiersmen, who were missed heavy kickers Mike “Director” Altman, Jelmer “Dutch Courage” Steenhuis, and Jess “Stone’s Throw” Seibert.

Milk Believe isn’t the league’s only undefeated team.

Longtime short-wearers Salute Your Jorts has vaulted to the top of the standings behind a solid 5–1 win over the Newtown Creeps and a defensive 1–1 struggle against the plaid-clad Frontiersmen. The team led 1–0 into the fifth, but a bobble at first base allowed the Frontiersmen to score the equalizer.

Dailey credited the team’s focus on defense and third baseman Chad “Skorts” Fondiller.

“For a little guy who can’t play basketball to save his life, he’s got a hell of an arm,” said Dailey. “He’s very impressive. And the Jorts don’t make a lot of stupid mistakes.”

In other games, Hot Mess disbanded the Pirates, the John Cougar Mellencamps rocketed over the Space Cadets in a game ended with the mercy rule, and edged past Booze on First to earn a 2–2 record. Booze stuffed rookie team Rikickulous, 4–2, who beat another new team, Last Licks, 5–2.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

A co-owner of the former Domino Sugar factory has filed another lawsuit to block his development partner from transferring ownership of the massive Williamsburg waterfront site to its lender.

Days after a court ruled against Isaac Katan in his first lawsuit against Community Preservation Corporation Resources, the developer argued before a Manhattan Supreme Court that he should have the right to quash any deal the group makes with its lender to buy up its $120 million debt.

“The new suit is not redundant because it seeks a different remedy and is based on different legal principles,” said Katan’s attorney Y. David Scharf. “The new suit seeks to enforce Katan’s right of first refusal.”

A flurry of lawsuits has stalled development at the 11.2-acre Southside site — which is slated to become 2,200 units of housing — since City Council approved a plan to allow residential development on the industrial plot two years ago.

Community leaders charged that Domino’s developer did not conduct a thorough environmental review of the site in a motion filed in December 2010. That suit is still pending and could be heard this fall.

Then Katan sued Community Preservation Corporation Resources for fraud and breach of contract in March, claiming that his partner was negotiating to sell the site behind his back.

But two courts rejected Katan’s motion to halt the negotiations earlier this month in a victory for the indebted developer.

Community Preservation Corporation Resources vice president Susan Pollock said negotiations with her lender were back on and claims her company will begin building the first portion of the project by the end of 2013.

“Now that it’s clear the court has given us a window to continue pursuing that agreement, we’re back to moving in the direction we were moving in before these frivolous lawsuits,” she said.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Opponents of a much-anticipated cycling route that connects the Prospect Park West bike lane with Park Slope and Prospect Heights want the city to push aside the new path — literally.

Neighbors and civic leaders claim a proposed two-way bike lane on Plaza Street West should be banished to the sidewalk because there’s not enough room on the charming-but-narrow street, where cars frequently double-park.

“No one will be able to get through; it’s going to become a nightmare,” Dolly Williams, a Community Board 6 member who lives on the street, said at a meeting last week.

Williams, a former city planning commissioner, and other residents suggested moving an existing southbound bike lane and the planned northbound lane to the “under-used” sidewalk on the east side of the street, which borders a quiet, fenced-off section of Grand Army Plaza’s green space.

Critics of the proposed path say the putting a two-way bike lane on the street would clog traffic, create chaos, and even block ambulances — claims similar to those made by opponents of the controversial Prospect Park West bike lane.

But the “sidewalk solution” would create a conflict between cyclists and pedestrians and increase the likelihood that drivers will speed on wider street, bike advocates say.

“I think it’s an incredibly foolish idea,” said Robert Minsky of the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. “It takes away from the park.”

The city’s on-street design calls for removing four feet of road space reserved for automotive traffic and giving it to cyclists, creating an eight-foot-wide patch of asphalt for two-wheelers heading to Prospect Park and bikes traveling toward Prospect Heights.

Last year, the city abandoned plans for the two-way route amid the Prospect Park West bike lane controversy then revived it last month after the Department of Transportation discovered that roughly one third of cyclists who use the existing lane ride in the wrong direction.

A spokeswoman for the agency didn’t respond to calls seeking comment by press time — but the plan to put the lane on the street got a green light from CB6 last week.

That’s one indication the sidewalk suggestion won’t hold up, cyclists say.

“There’s plenty of room on the street,” said cycling advocate Eric McClure.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

It could be a nightclub, a day-care, or an organic restaurant — but no matter what a Manhattan nightlife impresario opens in his Williamsburg building, he won’t be serving booze anytime soon, state officials say.

Club owner Alexander Dimitrov has floated a number of ideas for a N. First Street space — a discotheque, a club for teenaged partiers, and a locavore restaurant with a rooftop garden, among them — but the State Liquor Authority won’t let him serve alcohol until he cleans up an embattled Lower East Side venue.

State inspectors slapped Dimitrov’s Manhattan bar Mehanata with several violations after staff allegedly failed to supervise revelers and allowed disorderly behavior last year.

Dimitrov tried to get an additional license for the bar in January, but the state rejected his request two months later citing disciplinary problems — and an agency spokesman said the pending charges won’t help him if and when he files an application for his Williamsburg building.

The party hall owner initially wanted to open a Brooklyn club called Williamsburg Manor. But he retreated from the original concept last month after neighbors lashed out against the plan and Community Board 1 voted against his request for a liquor license application.

Dimitrov instead said he would open a restaurant that serves gourmet pizza, pasta, and raw foods with a rooftop vegetable garden.

But last week, he told the Daily News he was contemplating turning the space into an alcohol-free all-ages dance club, with “a thousand kids there to go crazy all night long.”

However he now says he has already soured on that idea.

“I’m getting to old for that stuff,” he told The Brooklyn Paper. “I just said it’s absolutely legal to do a teenage nightclub. But I’m not going to do it. Most likely not.”

Now he says he will lease out the space — potentially to a child-care center.

“My first option is to rent it out,” he said. “The only people who have approached me so far is a day-care center. I don’t care what they rent it for, as long as I can cover my losses and move on.”

Neighbors worry that Dimitrov could change his plans on a whim — and fear he doesn’t have their best interests at heart when considering possible uses for the space.

“His antagonistic, antisocial behavior and history of misrepresenting his intentions show a complete disdain for the community in which he wishes to do business,” said Williamsburg resident Jann Schwarz. “He has managed to alienate a very diverse group of neighbors across all walks of life who are united in stopping his exploitative, cynical business from doing damage to a quiet, inclusive and family-friendly part of Williamsburg.”

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

No sleep till … Brooklyn Heights music lovers rename a park to honor recently deceased Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.

That’s the mission of a group of Heights residents, who are demanding the city change the name of Squibb Park to pay tribute to MCA, a beloved rapper and native son who passed away on May 4 at the age of 47, rather than a 19th pharmaceutical innovator.

The Beastie backers, whose efforts began in the comments section of the Brooklyn Heights Blog, say it makes perfect sense to change the name of the tiny recreation area by the Promenade considering the monikers of other parks in the neighborhood.

“It would be a fitting tribute to name it after Brooklyn Heights native, musician, [and] humanitarian Adam Yauch,” supporters wrote on Facebook. “Adam Yauch Park sits directly across the street from the Harry Chapin Playground, which is also named after a great Brooklyn Heights resident, musician, and humanitarian.”

The group has garnered more than 450 “likes,” proving plenty of Heights music lovers support renaming the open space, which boasts a small skate park and will one day serve as the entryway for a bridge linking Brooklyn Heights with Brooklyn Bridge Park.

But other Squibb Park neighbors say it’s impossible to honor one community legend without dishonoring another: inventor and pharmaceutical pioneer Dr. Edward Robinson Squibb, who opened his first laboratory on the site of the green space.

“While it may be appropriate to honor Brooklyn Heights native son Adam Yauch, renaming Squibb Park may not be the right opportunity,” said Rob Perris, the district manager of Community Board 2.

Yauch was born in the borough in 1964 and raised in Brooklyn Heights before attending Murrow High School in Midwood, helping found the Beastie Boys, and changing the course of modern music.

Squibb was born in Delaware in 1819 and served at Navy surgeon during the Mexican–American War before campaigning to make medicines more pure, setting up a lab in Brooklyn Heights, finding a better way to distill ether, and establishing the company that is now Bristiol-Myers Squibb before his death in 1900.

That’s a legacy that must be remembered, said Julie Golia, the public historian at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

“Honoring an emcee is catchy and interesting, but Brooklyn has a long history as a innovator in the pharmaceutical industry,” Golia said. “That may not sound sexy but it’s pretty significant in all of our lives.”

Squibb’s work kick-started the borough’s pharmaceutical industry and his creations helped a nation dealing with the physical ravages of the Civil War — but his creative output isn’t as cherished as MCA’s, according to some Promenade visitors.

“Pharmaceuticals?” said Brad Buehring when informed of Squibb’s legacy. “Doesn’t seem as important as what MCA contributed to the world.”

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

A doorman at a posh Prospect Park West building has cracked the code of secrecy about a parking spot-saving scheme, saying he’s forced to abandon the unwritten ethics of the street because parking in Park Slope is so competitive.

A concierge admitted his involvement in what neighbors call a “parking ring,” telling this newspaper that when he moves cars for tenants on street cleaning days, he intentionally leaves un-parkable half-spaces in front of or behind the vehicles. When it comes time to move another tenant’s car, he inches the first vehicle forward — creating a parking spot where none existed before.

“I just use my car to hold a spot for them,” explained Vick Narain, a doorman at 44 Prospect Park West. “The minute there’s a space, it will be gone within five minutes; someone’s always looking for parking around here.”

Narain said he also saves street spaces for tenants in his building by standing in the road on Tuesday mornings, when alternate-side parking rules are enforced.

The Seinfeld-style spot-snagging strategy angers already stressed-out motorists, who say the doormen’s antics — and the neighborhood’s larger parking crunch — should warrant action from city officials.

“It’s not a joke or sensational thing,” said Maura Collins, a Park Slope resident. “It’s a real problem.”

Other doormen said they sometimes park cars for tips, but claim they never spot-save.

“I’m just doing people a favor — if they want to give me a tip they can,” said George, a doorman at 27 Prospect Park West. “It’s not like I’m charging $100.”

Residents on nearby Montgomery Place have for months accused doormen of running a “parking ring,” which is not actually illegal, at least according to written law.

“It’s not criminal — but it’s certainly not very neighborly,” Detective Cheryl Crispin said in February.

A superintendent at 27 Prospect Park refuted allegations of spot-saving, claiming doormen “are just helping out four or five people ” by moving double-parked cars to keep traffic flowing during street cleaning days.

But some Park Slope drivers are fighting what they consider a serious parking problem: holding block association meetings and even anonymously issuing homemade parking “citations” to drivers who leave too much wasted curb-space in front of or behind their cars.

The whole thing may seem fit for a sit-com — but not everybody is laughing.

“Sometimes you spend 30 or 45 minutes driving around looking for a spot,” said Carolyn Byrd. “It gets really contentious.”

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

A bizarre Clinton Hill intersection has given rise to a new automotive phenomena: stop or go traffic.

Baffled drivers are scratching their heads at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Emerson Place, where they encounter a stop sign on a median directly in front of a traffic light — leaving some motorists wondering whether they should hit the gas or hit the brake when they get a green.

“It makes no sense,” said Hugo Martinez. “It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars to have that sign there.”

The seemingly redundant and often conflicting traffic fixtures actually govern two different roadways, according to the city.

The stoplight is for drivers on Myrtle Avenue while the stop sign is for motorists on a one-way service road that runs parallel to the thoroughfare and terminates at Emerson Place. The service road also boasts a second stop sign on the other sidewalk.

Many Myrtle Avenue drivers ignore the stop and cruise through the light, but others are routinely fooled into pulling up and stopping because the stop sign occupies such a prominent space — and because the roadway is painted with a thick white stripe similar to the ones painted in front of most stop signs.

“I don’t understand it,” said motorist Aubrey Jernigan. “I’ve driven here for years and it’s still funny to me.”

Department of Transportation spokesman Nick Mosquera said it’s commonplace to put stop signs on both sides of a service road and pointed out that despite the confusing traffic signals, there were no fatalities or serious injuries at the intersection between 2006 and 2010.

But Mosquera said the agency would investigate the intersection to see if the stop sign in the median is warranted.

“We will evaluate the signage to ensure that the appropriate traffic controls are clearly visible,” he said.

Drivers said the city should fix the intersection as quickly as possible by removing the superfluous stop sign.

“It messes with a lot of people that come through this intersection,” one motorist said.

—with Ben Lockhart

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

It’ll be hard to miss the sound of music in Brooklyn this summer — but among all the concerts in the borough, these six outdoor shows are worth going out of your way for:

Yasiin Bey and the Brooklyn Philharmonic

Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza (1368 Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant) June 9, 8 pm. Free. Visit www.bphil.org.

Deer Tick

Red Hook Park (Clinton St. at Bay Street, Red Hook) June 21, 7 pm. Free. Visit www.summerstage.org.

Calle 13 with Ana Tijoux and Ritmo Machine

Prospect Park Bandshell [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683–5600]. July 13, 7 pm. Free. Visit www.bricartsmedia.org/cb

Further (Phil Lesh and Bob Weir)

MCU Park (1904 Surf Ave. between W. 16th and W. 19th streets in Coney Island) July 13–14, 7 pm. Tickets $78–$106. Visit www.stubhub.com.

The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series

Three singers from the Met will perform a program of duets and arias on the water by the Brooklyn Bridge for some high art down under the overpass.

Brooklyn Bridge Park (Under the Brooklyn Bridge) July 27, 7 pm. Free.

Aloe Blacc

R&B Festival at Metrotech Commons (Metrotech at Lawrence Street in Downtown). Aug. 9, noon. Free.

Counting Crows

Williamsburg Park [50 Kent Avenue at North 12 Street, (718) 963–0830] July 9 (prices not available at press timewww.osanb.org.

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

A landlord wants to replace a Greenpoint dive bar with a Hungarian restaurant, but neighbors and nuns from a school on the block say Newell Street is not the place for nightlife.

Peter Jakab envisions a high-end cafe dishing out Central European cuisine at the site of the raucous Continental bar, a venue whose lease expired last December.

“I want to raise up the level of the tenant, clean up the place, and make it something the neighborhood would be proud of,” said Jakab, who also owns the Manhattan Avenue venue St. Vitus Bar.

But neighbors are wary about any business that serves alcohol steps from the St. Stanislaus Kostka convent and school.

“It’s not a good idea to be located across the street from our homes, a convent, a Catholic School, and a church!” said Newell Street resident Agnes Freulich. “This is a children’s zone!”

Two-dozen anxious Greenpoint residents accepted Jakab’s offer to serve only beer and wine — not spirits — and cap capacity at 74 people at a Monday meeting at St. Stanislaus Kostka School on Driggs Avenue.

But neighbors balked at his request to keep the restaurant open seven days a week and close at midnight on weekdays, urging Jakab to stop serving diners at 9 pm and shut down by 10 pm. Jakab rejected that deal — at least for now.

“I may accept that but I have a business I’m trying to run,” he said. “There have been 90 years worth of renovations and build-outs on the site, and we need to make our expenses back.”

Jakab’s proposed Hungarian restaurant isn’t the first business to take heat from neighbors — Newell Street residents had lots of problems with the previous pub that operated in the storefront.

The state granted a liquor license to the Continental in 1994, before laws prohibited bars from opening within 200 feet of schools or houses of worship.

The watering hole attracted the neighborhood’s Polish population but only opened three days per week. Neighbors and nuns blamed the bar for nearly 18 years of brawls, car break-ins, and lewd behavior on the block — claiming cops did little to help curb the problems.

“One year there was a huge fight across the street, we called the cops and they asked, ‘Do either of the men have a gun or a knife?’ ” said Sister Joanne Goscicki. “The patron was smacking another man’s head against the sidewalk! We realized calling the police was not going to help.”

Jakab promised that his new business venture would be nothing like the Continental, but some residents said the proposed Hungarian eatery could turn out being worse if it operates every day.

“You’re going to prolong the suffering that these people have experienced,” said Ryan Buck.

The planned eatery would not be able to serve liquor because of its proximity to a church and a school, but beer and wine could be on the menu, pending state approval.

A State Liquor Authority spokesman said that he has not received the Newell Street application, but promised officials would closely scrutinize any application located near a church or a school.

The conflict is one of several neighborhood campaigns against restaurant noise in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

Residents successfully opposed a proposed nightclub on N. First Street last month, and Community Board 1 has pressured several restaurants to remove illegal benches and outdoor tables from sidewalks in its War on Brunch.

But the board doesn’t always say no to booze.

In 2009, CB1 signed off on Metropolitan Avenue’s Custom Wine Bar despite protests by some neighbors. The board — which approves the vast majority of new liquor applications in North Brooklyn — will discuss Jakab’s liquor license application at a May 31 hearing.

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By Natalie O’Neill

for The Brooklyn Paper

Now you can lend a hand — while standing on your hands.

On May 20, LAVA, a Prospect Heights-based performance troupe will host a “Handstand-a-thon,” an event that asks do-gooders to raise money while topsy-turvy.

The studio encourages participants of all skill levels to get down with being upside-down in order to help fund a kids dance program and other events.

“It’s a fun way to change your perspective,” said Diana Greiner, managing director. “People get really excited; they haven’t done it since they were kids.”

Each second spent feet-above-head earns one donation dollar and participants may use a wall or a spotter for balance. The record holder held the pose for four minutes.

Proceeds go to programs such as the PS 9 Pick Up Program, which offers free dance classes to students.

Greiner said the goal is to raise $20,000 total — which, if you’re counting, adds up to a big rush of blood to the brain.

“It really gets the energy up — for a good cause,” Greiner said.

Handstand-a-Thon at LAVA [524 Bergen St. between Sixth and Carlton avenues in Prospect Heights, (718) 399–3161], May 20 from 2-5 pm. Visit www.lavalove.org.

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

Coney Island seemed fixed in time for decades, but now it’s in the middle of an amusing renaissance — and it definitely deserves another look this summer.

Central Amusements International, the company the city tapped to remake the People’s Playground into a glitzy, year-round tourist destination, expanded the Scream Zone amusement park and is bringing several new stores and restaurants to the Boardwalk after closing several old-school shops that lost a legal battle to keep their spaces.

Boardwalk icons Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter were allowed back, but the historic amusement district now boasts a new go-kart track, a new ride with sweeping views of the beach, and a trio of Brownstone Brooklyn eateries set to open later this summer.

You can keep track of all these changes with our handy guide to the new Coney Island:

New Rides

Boardwalk Flight: Central Amusement expanded its Scream Zone, the amusement park that opened last year. Several new rides can be found in a lot between Stillwell Avenue and W. 15th Street — the crown jewel of which is Boardwalk Flight, a ride combining elements of bungee jumping and skydiving that swings harnessed thrill-seekers between two 110-foot tall towers at speeds of up to 60-miles-per-hour. It’s the perfect way to get a bird’s-eye view of Coney Island — literally.

Scream Zone [Coney Island Boardwalk, between Stillwell Avenue and W.15th Street (718-373-5862]. Visit www.lunaparknyc.com.

Coney Island Raceway: The expanded Scream Zone will also feature a new Coney Island Raceway, a 900-foot racing track with switchbacks and hairpin turns that should satisfy Coney Island visitors desperate for the go-kart experience since Go-Kart City was razed to the ground in 2007.

Cha-Cha’s Steeplechase: John “Cha-Cha” Ciarcia — whose former honky-tonk watering hole Cha-Cha’s Bar was kicked off the Boardwalk last year — is making a big Coney comeback with his self-titled amusement park that will feature more than ten rides, animals and a new tavern called Club Atlantis Bar. Ciarcia also opened a restaurant on Surf Avenue between W. 15th Street and Stillwell Avenue.

Cha-Cha’s Steeplechase, Surf Avenue, between Stillwell Avenue and W. 12th Street.

New restaurants

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria: DUMBO’s premiere pizza spot — a longtime tourist hangout at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge — is opening an outpost on Surf Avenue across from Luna Park. The restaurant is guaranteed to give longtime neighborhood pizzerias a run for their money.

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria (Surf Ave., between W. 10th Street and W. 12th Street). Visit www.grimaldis.com.

Tom’s Restaurant: The legendary Prospect Heights eatery known for its burgers and egg creams is opening a diner on the Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue, on the site of old Cha-Cha’s Bar.

Tom’s owner Jimmy Kokotas said the restaurant will open this summer after a fancy renovation — but promised the place will still have plenty of old-school, honky-tonk charm.

“It’ll be Tom’s with a little bit of a seafood twist,” Kokotas said.

Tom’s Restaurant (Coney Island Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue).

Zito’s: Park Slope eatery Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe will open a gourmet sub shop on Jones Walk near the newly revamped Deno’s Wonder Wheel.

The hoagie hub will serve $11 Six Point braised roast beef sandwiches and other high-end deli fare.

Zito’s co-owner Marcello Bucca said he’s confident a new breed of Coney fans will pony up for the expensive heroes. “New people are coming in to Coney Island,” Bucca said. “We’re banking that the area’s changing.”

Visitors who prefer classic Coney food should head for Nathan’s expanded Boardwalk food stand at W. 12th Street.

Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe [Jones Walk between Bowery Street and Surf Avenue (718) 499-2800]. Visit www.zitossandwichshoppe.com.

New Boardwalk:

In a controversy to end all controversies, the city’s Public Design Commission gave the Parks Department permission to pave over a section of the Boardwalk between Coney Island Avenue and Brighton 15th Street.

The city is planning to install a 12-foot-wide concrete lane and a 19-foot pathway built out of recycled plastic lumber, after testing the materials at two parts of the walkway in 2011.

The project is part of a $30-million renovation of the aging promenade, which opened in 1923.

You can test the new Boardwalk out for yourself and see if it affects your experience at the People’s Playground, but critics argue that the synthetic materials will ruin the look and feel of the historic span.

“It’s not going to be a Boardwalk anymore!” resident Sabina Mazur says.

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By Scott Seger

for The Brooklyn Paper

When my girls were younger, I let them fall on their faces and wasn’t bothered at all. In fact watching them fail — in a performance, school, sports — and handle the consequences felt totally appropriate. They were teachable moments, like solving a conflict in the sandbox or trying to make a cake for the first time.

But recently, as my high school junior struggled to get her term papers done, and knowing her reports this year could well determine where she goes to college, the stakes seemed too high to let her rise or crash on her 17-year-old abilities. But as I reached into my parental toolbox to help her when so much was on the line, I was crushed to find out that there is little I can do to ensure her success.

My kids have always been responsible for their schoolwork. Sure, I’ve helped out, typing a few paragraphs or staying up to finish gluing the science project that took too long to make. What they turn in, though, is theirs, no matter how much it makes me cringe. I fondly remember my younger daughter’s third-grade teacher who made her redo crinkled and smudged homework again and again, until my girl got the message. There have been music recitals that didn’t go so well because there was a lack of practice. All this seemed fine, the natural order of things.

With age, when you screw up, the risks increase. When my daughter started babysitting I felt I should be on-call, since the worst case could mean life or death. Same with hiking trips that became more adventurous. If she was tired or didn’t have the right equipment, she could come home in a stretcher, or worse.

Back then, there were always ways I could help, be it researching programs or buying them better hiking boots. I kept them from parties if there was too much to get done in a weekend, and dragged them out of bed on Saturday mornings even if they didn’t want to go to their soccer games.

Now that my oldest is 17, my influence is waning. I say, “you really need to get this paper done.” She replies with the right words but not the right actions. As I turned up the pressure, she got testy and I became sharp. But the work wasn’t getting done any faster.

Maybe I’m just not willing to use enough authority, like taking away her cellphone or turning off the internet. Maybe I should use words like “grounded,” “suspended,” or “house arrest” to get my point across although I’m sure the ensuing arguments would have sidetracked her even more. In the end, since I couldn’t write those papers for her, there was only so much I could do, and it really wasn’t much.

So if she was going to turn those papers in late, it was her mess to make and her’s to fix. If she ends up at a college further down her wish list, so be it. What’s hard is that after years of feeling like I was choosing when and how to help and protect her, it’s her choice now to accept my assistance or not. She has to face bigger and more serious consequences from the choices she makes. I have to face less and less of a role in the outcome. It may be the natural order of things, but it’s hard to get used to.

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

Their geri curls may be wigs, but these rappers insist they’re the real deal.

“We’re just being ourselves,” said Hong Kong Fever, a member of the rap-entertainment group the Notorious MSG, which parodies rap’s macho and street-savvy culture from the perspective — real or fictional, it’s anyone’s guess — of New York’s Chinatown, the neighborhood where the group claims to have met while working in restaurant kitchens.

As other critics have noted, a reference to Cornell University on a past album, potentially betrays a more bourgeoise upbringing.

Still the group, which dons strong accents, wigs and over-the-top lyrics that blend the hyper-masculine swagger of rap with Asian cultural references, insists that they are moving the ball forward with such ethnically charged performances.

“If you feel that being a sexy Chinatown bad-ass is perpetuating stereotypes, that’s your problem,” said Hong Kong Fever.

The group has gained some notoriety for in-your-face songs and music videos like “Straight Out of Canton,” “Dim Sum Girl,” and “Chinatown Hustler,” that include lyrics like “Comin’ fresh off the boat and livin’ on the street / we’re marching to our own beat / don’t give a damn what other people eat / we’re crazy / just gimme duck sauce and a bowl of chicken feet.”

And they’ll be bringing their act to Brooklyn Bowl on May 26, two days after they release a new album “Heavy Ghetto.”

The carnivalesque bowling alley will make the perfect venue for a performance that blends the real with parody.

“[I hope to provide] an unobstructed view of my chiseled glutes,” said Hong Kong Fever of the performance. “We’re plumbers, and we’re here to plunge all the turds clogging up your auditory canal.”

Well alright.

The Notorious MSG at Brooklyn Bowl [61 Wythe Ave. between North 11th and North 12th streets in Williamsburg. (718) 963-3369] May 26 at 8 pm, $5. Visit brooklynbowl.com.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Better late than never.

A well-meaning group of soldier-boosters from France awarded a Brooklyn Heights World War II veteran a prestigious medal of honor — 68 years after he fought to save their country.

Norman Wasserman, 87, received a coveted French Legion of Honor award last week for fighting Nazis in one of the war’s bloodiest battles, surviving sniper bullets, bombs, and land mines — not to mention a post-war career in public relations — before taking home the honor.

The medal symbolizes “France’s infinite gratitude and appreciation” for his bravery, according to the Consulat General De France.

“It feels wonderful — it’s was a very touching ceremony,” Wasserman said.

Wasserman helped Allied troops as a teenager during the notorious Battle of the Bulge by watching for the flash of gunfire and using hidden microphones to listen for the sound of enemy artillery.

The six-week offensive by German forces took place on a frozen chunk of ground in Luxembourg, France, and Belgium, resulting in nearly 90,000 American casualties.

War vet Ed Marinello, who served in Wasserman’s battalion, said the award is important despite its tardy arrival.

“It means a lot — he was a great soldier and we were really in the thick of it,” he said.

An official from Consulat General De France didn’t return calls seeking comment on Tuesday, but Wasserman said the medal’s timing is linked to the now-more-friendly relationship between the United States and France.

And Marinello — who is also in his eighties — said it’s good the French finally got around to it.

“They probably want to recognize us while we’re still around,” he said.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Replacing a parking spot with bike racks is a different kind of fair trade for the owners of a famous Park Slope coffeehouse.

The city has removed one automotive parking space in front of Gorilla Coffee to make room for four on-street bike racks in front of the shop.

“Coffee and bikes go hand and hand in this neighborhood,” said Darleen Scherer, owner of the brew house on Fifth Avenue and Park Place. “It kind of happened organically.”

Civic leaders say the project — the second-of-its-kind in Brooklyn — de-clutters a stretch of sidewalk that is a hub for two-wheelers parking thanks to its location in front of the cafe and near the high-end bike shop R&A Cycles.

The plan calls for adding a new parking space for cars directly across the street by legalizing parking at a previously off-limits spot, said Community Board 6 district manager Craig Hammerman.

“It’s a good solution — and there’s no net loss of parking,” he said.

The new O-shaped racks, which are protected from wayward vehicles by a planter, come on the heels of a similar project in Carroll Gardens in which the city removed car parking to install a bike corral intended to improve visibility and make the road safer.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation said the parking spot across from the Gorilla Coffee bike corral allows “no standing anytime,” but workers will be able to turn it into a legit parking space because the crosswalk on Fifth Avenue is diagonal — meaning there’s enough room for cars to park without impeding pedestrians.

The new parking spot will go in by the end of the month, she said.

Park Slope business owners like the idea — as long as on-street bike racks don’t start popping up all over Park Slope, said Irene LoRe of the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District.

“We don’t want this to happen everywhere but this is a good corner for it,” she said. “Cars and bikes are the lifeblood of the neighborhood.”

Scherer says she agreed to clean the area near the bike racks, which street sweeping vehicles can’t reach.

“We’ve always been a bike-friendly shop — and I think it will make people happy,” she said.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Brooklyn-born superstar Barbra Streisand will play a second homecoming show at the Barclays Center this fall.

The “Funny Girl” will take the stage in the soon-to-open arena for her first-ever Brooklyn show on Oct. 11 — then the eight-time Grammy Award winner will follow it up with an Oct. 13 encore performance.

Tickets to the second concert went on sale at 10 am on Tuesday and Babs fans sprung into action.

“Just sealed the deal!” wrote one Twitter user. “This girl is seeing @BarbraStreisand in concert!”

Some Barbra lovers complained about on-again, off-again ticket availability and confusing “sold out” announcements.

Barclays Center spokesman Barry Baum said tickets were still available on Tuesday afternoon and that there’s a four-ticket cap per buyer to keep resellers from hogging seats.

He did not immediately know how many tickets remain available.

Ticketmaster has seats starting at $385.90 for both shows.

More than a dozen ticket holders are trying to flip Streisand tickets on Craigslist — with some asking for as much as $750 per seat. The online ticket seller StubHub has tickets to the Oct. 11 and Oct. 13 shows starting at $119 and $129, respectively.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

It’s a fetish fest — but the only chains you’ll find are the ones attached to bicycles.

Two-wheelers and the people who love them will hit the streets on May 26 for Bicycle Fetish Day, a block party-style celebration of Brooklyn’s bike obsession.

Organizer Matt Levy said the event, now in its eighth year, is a chance for cyclists to embrace the distinct subcultures within the bike boom — fixie fanatics, weekend warriors, BMXers, and vintage roadsters among them.

“We like to think of it as a cross-cultural get together,” Levy said.

The Williamsburg art museum City Reliquary will hold a day of spirited contests for bikers of all stripes with prizes and serious bragging rights going to whoever brings the “Best Vintage Bike,” “Best Ugly Bike” and “Best Mutant Bike” — a Frankenstein-style ride built out of several different bicycles.

Show-stoppers last year included the “Puerto Rican Schwinn Club” — a group known for their sweet rides and killer matching jackets — a towering two-man bike, and an orange cruiser decked out with a hanging disco ball.

Cyclists can also check out bike advocacy literature, a grill manned by City Reliquary, and lots of art and bike paraphernalia.

“We’re celebrating bike culture in weird and wild way,” Levy said.

Bicycle Fetish Day [Meet at Havemeyer Street between Hope and Grand Streets in Williamsburg], May 26, noon—6pm. Free. Visit www.cityreliquary.org.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

A popular Park Slope playground reopened last week with a new name honoring a long-forgotten borough president — marking a minor victory for the barely remembered politico over the landmark-hogging forefather who snatched away his legacy.

History-loving city officials unveiled the new J.J. Byrne Playground in Washington Park — a green space on Fifth Avenue that initially bore the name of George Washington, then honored the late Beep until 2008, when the nation’s first president won the title again.

As a consolation prize for Byrne — who died in office in 1930 — the park’s playground got a revamp and a new name in his tribute.

The new kids spot — near the legendary Battle of Brooklyn site where Washington fled the borough to escape British forces — now boasts a “toddler area,” water fountains, and colonial-themed playground equipment.

Parents said the park’s new features give pre-school-aged kids more choices, and bigger kids a chance to learn about history (albeit of Washington’s era, not Byrnes’s).

“It’s more than a park — it’s an important historical location,” said Park Slope mom Alexandra Saghir.

Last Friday, politicians including Councilmen Brad Lander and Steve Levin (D–Park Slope) joined Borough President Markowitz to celebrate the playground’s new fixtures by wearing colonial costumes — a nod to Washington with their tricorn hats, not to Byrne, who before his death ordered the construction of a replica Dutch farmhouse now known as the Old Stone House.

Lander, Levin, Markowitz, and Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D–Carroll Gardens) spent more that $3 million to pay for the play area — which pleases parents Park Slope.

“It’s a very special place,” Saghir said.

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

Talk about good vibrations.

The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition will present — as part of its “Celebrate: 20th Annual Spring Pier Art Show” — jazz vibraphone virtuoso Stefan Bauer, who fell in love with Brooklyn not only as a musician, but as a father, too.

“I take my cues from things happening around, and so what has happened to me in Brooklyn has influenced my music,” Bauer said.

Bauer visited New York for the first time in 1978 and again in 1991, both times to study under vibraphone masters. It was the second time around, while staying in Park Slope, that he fell in love with Brooklyn. He moved to the borough 11 years ago, raised two children here, and even composed a piece entitled “Coney Island,” inspired by an afternoon spent with his daughter at the People’s Playground in 2008—three days before Astroland closed.

Bauer said his experiences in the borough continue to shape his work, which is influenced by his love for all things creative.

“I’ve always dreamed of the confluence of different artistic branches, I feel inspired by that, because I love reading, I love good movies, I love photography, and I love music, of course,” said Bauer, who plays a unique instrument that resembles a xylophone with an array of resonating tubes under the bars.

Bauer’s played at the Pier Art Show six times before, and praises the waterfront warehouse’s acoustics. The May 20 performance will be the jazz musician’s first solo show at the venue.

Stefan Bauer at Celebrate: 20th Annual Spring Pier Art Show [499 Van Brunt Street, located on the pier in Red Hook] May 20, 3 pm.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

Workers at a Park Slope school have turned the surrounding block into a midnight buffet for hungry rodents — and fat-bellied rats are always back for seconds, neighbors say.

Some Slopers claim the clean-up crew at PS 282 regularly tosses trash bags filled with rotting cafeteria food on the sidewalk in front of the school, attracting throngs of nasty rats on Sixth Avenue and Berkeley Place.

“It looks like a landfill — it’s just disgusting,” said neighbor Karen Hartmann, who claims the filthy mess sits on the sidewalk, and sometimes spills onto the street, overnight on weekends and for days at a time on weekends. “The school makes no effort to clean it.”

Hartmann says the problem could be solved easily if the school stored its trash somewhere secure — like in a closed Dumpster — until garbage crews arrive.

Her complaints closely mirror those of Windsor Terrace residents who claimed raccoons were enjoying regular meals from half-finished milk cartons left in trash bags on the sidewalk outside PS 154.

PS 282 principal Magalie Alexis did not return calls on Thursday or Friday.

Hartmann — who claims the neighborhood’s rat population has boomed recently — says school officials have been unresponsive for months.

“What message does it send?” she said.

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

Outdoor concerts are a Brooklyn summer tradition — and as is the case with every long-standing cultural rite, open-air shows have rules that should be followed. We checked with concert expert Adam Geringer-Dunn from Brooklyn Bowl and compiled this list outlining the basics of summer concert etiquette — all to help you avoid being an inconsiderate concert-goer.

1. No umbrellas, even if it’s raining. It’s just a pain for everybody else. Wear a poncho and don’t be afraid to get a wet.

2. Concerts are excellent opportunities to live in the moment. Don’t ever use an iPad to take photos and don’t watch the whole show through your iPhone screen.

3. If you wear flip-flops don’t complain, even if you get stepped on or beer spills on your feet. Accept responsibility for wearing flip-flops in a huge crowd.

4. Don’t over do it with the partying. If may be tempting and easy to do, but it’s never fun for your friends to have to take care of the one person who’s passed out at 2 pm. Pace yourself.

5. If you’re kicked out, don’t argue and make a scene. Just leave. You’re not getting back in anyway — and with the giant sea of people around you, you must have really been going out of your way get noticed in the first place.

— Eli Rosbenberg

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The Brooklyn Paper

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The Brooklyn Paper

88th Precinct

Fort Greene–Clinton Hill

Fleeced

A thief robbed a man at knifepoint on Adelphi Street on May 14.

The 22-year-old victim told cops he was between DeKalb and Myrtle avenues at 1:45 am when the bandit approached him, and told him to give over all his money. After the thug displayed a knife, the victim handed over $40.

Kickin’ time

A thug tripped a man on at the Classon Avenue G train station and stole his cellphone on May 14.

The 19-year-old victim told cops he was standing on the platform near Lafayette Avenue at 3:50 pm when someone kicked him down, knocking his phone loose from his hand.

The crook then took off with the phone.

Old Navy

Cops arrested a man who they say tried to steal clothes from an Old Navy on Atlantic Avenue on May 16.

Representatives from the store said the man they saw the man stealing clothes at 5:20 pm and approached him.

A struggle ensued — during which he hit security guards with an umbrella.

Grave situation

A knife-toting thug robbed a man in the Fulton Street C train station on May 16.

The 14-year-old victim said he was standing on the platform near South Portland Avenue at 3:47 pm when a man wielding a gravity knife approached him and demanded his money.

After he handed over $10, the jerk fled.

Gun shots

A thug shot at a man sitting on a bench on Washington Walk on May 20 — hitting both of his legs.

The victim told cops he was on the bench near Myrtle Avenue when someone fired shots at him and fled.

Robbery

A thief robbed an apartment of $5,000 in electronics on St. James Place on May 14.

The 33-year-old victim told cops he left his place between Greene and Gates avenues at 9:30 am, returning at 11:30 am to find his gadgets gone.

Car jacked

Someone broke into a car on Clinton Avenue and took the owner’s credit cards sometime between May 14 and 16.

The 22-year-old victim told cops he left his car at Lafayette Avenue at 9 pm on May 14, and returned at 7 am on May 16 to find his bag and cards gone.

Targeted

A shoplifter went on a spree in the Target on Flatbush Avenue between May 13 and 19 — hitting the store multiple times, said police.

Officials say the suspect hit the store near Atlantic Avenue four times — taking shirts, DVD players, and spider wrap — before they apprehended him on May 19 at 9:25 pm.

Truck stop

Police arrested a man who they say tried to steal a truck parked on Clermont Avenue on May 17.

Officials said the man stole the Chevy that was parked between Myrtle and Willoughby avenues at noon.

They arrested a suspect three blocks down 28 minutes later.

Wheels away

A thief made off with a company’s truck parked on Greene Avenue on May 17.

Representatives from the contracting company said the driver left the car near Washington Avenue at 8 am, and returned at 4 pm to find it gone.

— Eli Rosenberg

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

78th Precinct

Park Slope

Locker liar

A sneaky thief stole a wallet, jeans, and an iPhone from a gym-goer on Ninth Street on May 6.

The 35-year-old victim told cops that he left his belongings inside a locker at New York Sports Club between Fifth and Sixth Avenue at 1 pm, then went for a 40-minute workout.

He came back and discovered his lock clipped — and his brown wallet, black jeans, and cellphone gone.

An gym employee later told the poor guy that a man had claimed the locker was his and that he needed help clipping the lock.

Definitely dodgy

Someone stole a car parked on Seventh Street on May 8.

The 54-year-old victim told cops he parked his maroon 1999 Dodge Caravan near Fifth Avenue at noon, came back the next day at 10 am, and discovered the $4,000 car gone — with no sign of broken glass.

A neighbor later told cops he saw nothing.

Gallant gone

A jerk snatched a laptop and iPhone from a car on Second Avenue on May 5 — leaving no sign of broken glass.

The 37-year-old victim told cops he parked and locked his silver 2003 Mitsubishi Gallant near 11th Street at 5:45 am. When he came back two days later, he discovered someone had broken into the car and swiped his laptop and phone.

Big spender

A spend-happy crook stole an Eighth Avenue resident’s Social Security number and stole more than $12,000 from her between Nov. 2 and May 8.

The 58-year-old victim told cops that a thief somehow swiped her number, then used it to open two or three credit cards in her name.

The thief then maxed-out the cards — racking up thousands of charges in six months — and that’s when the bank called her with the bad news.

— Natalie O’Neill

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

78th Precinct

Park Slope

Rough rider

Cops say a violent creep used his car to run over a man on Nevins Street on May 16.

The 59-year-old victim told police that he was walking near Wyckoff Street at 5 pm when he got into an argument with an angry driver. The motorist then backed up his car and intentionally struck the poor guy’s leg, leaving him with injuries, according to police.

Cops arrested a 51-year-old suspect the same day.

Got mail

A thief smashed the window of a car parked on Third Avenue — and swiped $3,810 that was left inside the car — on May 16.

The 30-year-old victim told cops he left his red 2005 Pontiac Vibe near Union Street at around midnight — but left an envelope full of cash inside. He came back at 10:40 pm the next day and discovered his window smashed and the envelope gone.

Eye witness

Two lady crooks snatched some fancy sunglasses from a shop on Seventh Avenue on May 17.

A worker at Pearle Vision near Union Street told cops two women walked into the shop at 12:40 pm and grabbed four pairs of designer sunglasses, which cost approximately $1,500 all together.

The gals then strolled out of the shop without paying, cops say.

Bad bar-goer

A quick-moving perp swiped a laptop from a man at a bar on Union Street on May 19.

The 28-year-old victim told cops he set his Mac laptop inside a blue bag on a bench at Union Hall near Fifth Avenue at around 3 am — then looked away for five minutes. That was enough time for the thief to snatch the bag and disappear.

Hospital hoax

A jerk stole a credit card from a worker at a hospital on Sixth Street on May 17.

The 46-year-old victim told cops she locked her bag inside a locker at New York Methodist Hospital near Seventh Avenue at 4 pm, went to work, and came back four hours later.

That’s when she discovered the bag missing — along with the Visa credit card inside.

— Natalie O’Neill

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

Spoiler alert: in this adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” the star-crossed paramours live to love another day.

Five different playwrights have joined forces to reimagine each act of Shakespeare’s classic love story, converting the famous tragedy into a quintet of 15-minute performances including an interpretive dance show, a romance between two bears, and a finale in which the protagonists live happily ever after in Virginia.

Tyler Phillips, who wrote one of the scenes in the “Five Variations of Romeo and Juliet,” said audiences relate to the themes of love, loyalty, and power in the original play no matter how modern playwrights interpret Shakespeare’s 400-year-old material.

“It’s going to be relatable over the ages because people are always falling in love,” said Tyler, cofounder of Phillstock Entertianment, which is putting on the show with Sparrowtree Theatre Company at Williamsburg’s 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts from May 18 to May 20. “They can come and enjoy a new take on the play because everyone has a good idea of what it’s about.”

This isn’t the first time the bard’s classics have been restaged in Brooklyn with a modern twist: Sparrowtree produced a five-act show loosely based on Hamlet last year.

Phillips’ business partner Lauren Stockner said this year’s show will be even more of a departure from the norm.

“It’s a classic story but you’ve never seen it like this before,” Stockner.

Sparrowtree Theatre Company and Phillstock Entertainment’s “Five Variations of Romeo and Juliet” at 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts [17 Frost St. between Union and Lorimer streets in Williamsburg, (516) 317-3840], May 18–19 at 8 pm, and May 20 at 3 pm and 8 pm. Tickets $15. Visit www.romeoinbrooklyn.com.

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

How sweet it is to be loved by the MTA, folks. You can look forward to some smooth cruising out there this weekend!

All changes are from Saturday, May 19 at 12:01 am to Monday, May 21 at 5 am unless otherwise noted:

2: No trains between Flatbush Avenue and Franklin Avenue. Take the free shuttle.

3: Service is extended to the New Lots Avenue station.

4: No trains between Manhattan and New Lots Avenue. Take the 3, N, Q, or R trains.

N: Manhattan-bound trains are run via the D line from Stillwell Avenue to 36 Street from 6 pm to 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Q: Manhattan-bound trains skip Neck Road and Avenue U from 11:30 pm Friday to 5 am Monday.

Got a transit gripe? Tell us. E-mail erosenberg@cnglocal.com.

Information courtesy of New York City Transit — and is accurate at press time. Community Newspaper Group is not responsible for last-minute changes made by the agency.

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By Colin Mixson

for The Brooklyn Paper

76th Precinct

Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill–Red Hook

Blind bandit

A thief plundered a man’s car that was parked along Warren Street on May 19 — taking prescription sunglasses and eyeglasses.

The victim told police that he parked his car between Henry and Clinton streets at around 3 pm, and returned a few hours later to find his driver-side door ajar and his glasses missing.

Good Samaritan

A 47-year-old man was arrested for robbing a man on Smith Street on May 18.

The victim told police that he was between Baltic and Warren streets at around 4 am when the suspect asked him to spare a dollar. But when the victim pulled out his wallet, the suspect snagged it from his hands and fled on foot, cops said.

A suspect was arrested about a half-hour later, when the victim, riding along in a police squad car, picked out the man on Hoyt Street.

Underage attack

Cops arrested a 17 year old for robbing a 13-year-old boy at gunpoint inside the elevator of a Hoyt Street apartment building on May 16.

The pint-sized victim told police that he entered the elevator of the building between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street at around 3:40 pm, when the suspect and an accomplice followed him in.

“What’s in your pocket?” the suspect asked, before pulling out a gun and taking the boy’s $195 Beat headphones and $200 Nook electronic reading device, cops said.

Rude robber

An 18-year-old man was arrested for robbing a woman on Conover Street on May 8 — taking her cellphone.

The victim told police that she was near Pioneer Street at around 3 pm when the suspect grabbed her clothes and reached in to her pocket to remove her cellphone.

When the victim went to reclaim her property from the suspect, he slapped her hand, saying, “I’ll beat the s--- out of you b----, I’m going to f--- you up,” she told police.

— Colin Mixson

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

Forget the rookie of the year — it’s the year of the rookies.

Brooklyn Kickball League’s newby teams slaughtered several veteran squads on Sunday at McCarren Park, proving that the borough’s game of summer is as unpredictable — and as exciting — as ever.

New squads including Bodega, #1 Dad, the Newtown Creeps, and the Perfect Strangers all recorded impressive wins over longtime kickball powers.

Bodega adjourned People’s Court, 4–2, and knocked out Bangarang in a 3–0 victory, as Perfect Strangers finished a perfect day against People’s Court, 3–2, and Booze on First, 5–1.

The Newtown Creeps cleaned up with two impressive 10–0 wins over Bruisers and Kickball Fever, while #1 Dad put the Pony Boys out of its misery with a gritty 1–0 final.

Top-ranked Milk Believe, a first-year team that has flooded the league with its offensive prowess, had the weekend off.

League Commissioner Kevin Dailey says the new clubs have kicked things off with a successful mix of veteran leadership and youthful energy.

“Anything can happen in this league and I’m rooting for it to not be predictable,” he said.

Teams such as Perfect Strangers are still getting to know each other — and the rest of the league.

“We’re discouraging friendships — we’re trying to be perfect, and strangers,” said infielder Steve “Stranger Danger” Bruno. “We’re just kicking the s--- out of the ball.”

Venerable squads Salute Your Jorts and American Blood continued their undefeated early season campaigns with solid wins over respectable kicking clubs.

The Jorts sobered up Booze on First, 5–2, and then standardized the Mathletes in a close 2–1night game — throwing out what would have been the tying run in a play at the plate.

“They’re establishing themselves as a elite team and it’s good to see them go up a level,” said Dailey. “They’re able to beat fellow veteran teams, they tied the New Frontiersmen last week. They’re doing fine.”

The Blood solved the Mathletes, 5–1, and drained the New Frontiersmen, 3–2, in their nightcap, thanks to late-game heroics from infielders Lizzy “Fizzy” Martin and Adam “Adrock” Hildebrand.

“No one could get on kicking to Adrock at third — he’s an animal over there,” said Blood’s Peter “Nightlife” Anzelone. “And Lizzy holds down the middle of the infield and always finds a way to get on base.”

Expect to see the Blood battle the Jorts in a titanic contest in the coming weeks.

But other traditional titans are having a tough year.

The Mathletes’ failed chemistry cost them two games to Salute Your Jorts and American Blood, while the typically strong New Frontiersmen dropped a game to American Blood due to fielding errors after gutting the Bacon Bits, 11–1.

“We self-destructed on the field in the last inning,” said Frontiersman utility man Matt “Marquis De” Sadewitz. “Lots of fielding errors. They just got in our heads I think.”

Some new teams still have to work out their kinks — particularly the Bruisers, who gave up 15 runs on Sunday.

“The poor Bruisers,” said Dailey. “I don’t think they’ve scored a run yet this season. They could use a W.”

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

84th Precinct

Brooklyn Heights–DUMBO–Boerum Hill–Downtown

Bicycles stolen

A thief stole two fancy bikes — worth more than $1,000 apiece — from a Water Street garage on April 26.

The victim told police that the crook broke into his locked garage at Adams Street at 11 pm, and left 30 minutes later with the two pricey bicycles.

Gunpoint robbery

A gun-wielding thug robbed a man on Concord Street on May 7.

The victim told cops that he was near Gold Street at 1:15 pm when the crook flashed a pistol and said, “Give me your phone.”

The terrified pedestrian handed it over, along with $150, and the crook fled.

Subway scam

Police arrested a teenager who they say stole a woman’s iPhone at a Fulton Street subway station on May 8.

The woman said she was at the station near Hoyt Street at 5:30 pm when the teen grabbed her device and ran off.

Cops arrested a teen who they say had the stolen phone later that day.

MTA swindled

A thief stole construction equipment from the Schermerhorn Street G train station on May 3.

A transit worker told police that he locked a storage closet at the station near Hoyt Street at 11 pm. When he returned just five minutes later, the lock was broken and a saw, power washer, and other tools were missing.

Gym rat

A thief stole a wallet and cellphone from a locker at a Remsen Street gym on May 7.

The victim told police that he locked his belongings in the locker at the gym near Court Street at 12:30 pm before going to exercise. When he returned from his workout at 1:45 pm, the items were gone.

Copper heist

Thieves removed 20 pieces of copper and several dozen steel plates from a Furman Street construction site sometime between May 4 and May 7.

A construction manager at the site near Montague Street said he locked up the facility at 2 pm on May 4. When he returned at 7 am on May 7, the items were missing.

iSwipe

A crook stole a woman’s iPod at the Jay Street subway station on May 12.

The victim said she was waiting for a Manhattan-bound F train at the station near Willoughby Street at 2:20 pm when the thief swiped her mini-music player and fled.

Motorcycle blues

A crook stole a motorcycle from Schermerhorn Street sometime between April 23 and May 7.

The bike’s owner said he locked the two-wheeler near Clinton Street at 7 pm on April 23. When he returned to retrieve it at 7 pm on May 7, the bike was no longer there.

— Daniel Bush

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

90th Precinct

Southside–Bushwick

Phone push

A couple stole a woman’s phone and pushed her down the stairwell inside a Thames Street building on May 12.

The victim was between Morgan Avenue and Bogart Street at 12:08 am when the duo approached.

“You better not call the police ever again,” the woman told the victim, according to the police report.

She then pushed the victim down the stairs, shoved her head against the wall, and took her phone — before they both left.

Bank return

A robber tried to hold up a Broadway bank on May 8, but changed his mind and fled.

The goon entered the bank near Hooper Street at 11:41 am, and handed over a note that read, “Give me the money, don’t press the alarm.”

He then asked the teller if she read it, at which point she coolly handed the note back to him, and he fled.

Kent steal

A thief stole a wallet, phone, laptop, and headphones from a Kent Avenue apartment on May 13.

The tenant told cops he fell asleep in his apartment near near N. Fourth Street at 1 am, but when he woke up at 8 am, his stuff was gone.

Car trouble

Cops arrested a 29-year-old beggar who they said chased a man with a dagger on Broadway on May 8 — and slashed the man’s car tires.

The victim told police he was on Havemeyer Street at 2:20 am when the panhandler approached him and asked for change. The victim handed over a few coins, and when the man asked for more, the victim refused and got into his car.

That’s when the vagrant opened the car door, pulled out a knife, and tried to stab the victim, cops said.

“Get away from me,” the victim shouted, and swatted him away with a broom from his car. The man then slashed the victim’s tires.

Cops arrested a suspect an hour later.

Heady theft

Two teenage crooks stole a man’s headphones on Stagg Street on May 10.

The victim told police he was near Bushwick Avenue at 8:30 pm when the teens grabbed the device off his head and ran away.

Headphones, holla

Two thieves beat up a man on Meserole Street on May 11 — and stole his headphones and phone.

The victim told police he was near Graham Avenue at 4:20 pm when one of the thugs punched him in his jaw, causing him to drop his phone and headset. The second thief then grabbed the electronics, and both fled toward Humboldt Street.

Motorcycle moved

Someone stole a motorcycle parked on Berry Street.

The driver parked his chopper near S. Sixth Street at 7 pm, but when he returned at 4 am the next day, it was gone.

MacBook crook

A thief stole a computer, camera, and iPod from a Bedford Avenue apartment on May 9.

The tenant left her apartment at 8:45 am but when she returned at 11:45 pm, her stuff was missing.

Taxi trap

A disgruntled passenger allegedly punched a taxi driver and wrecked his cab instead of paying his fare on Ainsle Street on May 13.

The driver told cops that he dropped his rider off near Lorimer Street at 4:30 am, but his passenger refused to pay the bill and grabbed his navigational device instead.

So the driver tried to grab it back, but the suspect punched him in the face, jumped on the cab, and broke his front windshield, cops said. Then he got into the car, took the wheel, and drove it to the curb, the victim told cops, and a new struggle ensued.

Finally, the perp fled. Police arrested a suspect six minutes later.

Dodge gone

A thief stole a Dodge parked on Bedford Avenue on May 10.

The driver parked his car near S. Sixth Street at noon, but when he returned at 2:30 pm, the car was gone.

Bike bamboozled

A thief stole a bicycle from an Ainslie Street garage sometime between May 6 and 11.

The rider parked his bike between Keap Street and Union Avenue at 5 am on May 6, but when he returned on May 11 at 1 am, the bike lock was snipped and his ride was gone.

— Aaron Short

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

84th Precinct

Brooklyn Heights–DUMBO–Boerum Hill–Downtown

Robbery foiled

Two violent crooks lashed out at a man on Jay Street on May 15 — after he refused to hand over his wallet to the mauraders.

The man said he was near Fulton Street at 2:40 pm when the thugs demanded he empty his pockets. The courageous pedestrian refused — prompting the jerks to punch him in the face and flee.

Bikes stolen

Thieves swiped three bicycles from a father and his kids in Brooklyn Bridge Park on May 20.

The father told police he left the two-wheelers in the park’s Main Street Playground near Water Street at 6 pm.

When he returned 30 minutes later, the bikes were missing.

Subway mugging

A thug attacked and robbed a straphanger at the York Street F train station on May 4.

The victim said he was entering the station near Jay Street at 10 pm when the thug knocked him unconscious. When he came to, his wallet was missing.

Pharmacy fracas

Police arrested a woman who they said shoplifted from a Court Street drugstore — and attacked a security guard — on May 14.

The security guard at the store at Montague Street said he stopped the alleged thief when she tried leaving with stolen makeup products at 4:30 pm. The woman fought back, biting the guard’s hand.

She fled, but police arrested a woman later that day who they said had the stolen goods.

Cellphone swiped

A slick thief on a bike swiped a man’s cellphone out of his hands on York Street on May 19.

The victim told police he was near Jay Street at 4 pm when the crook rode by on a bicycle, grabbed the phone, and pedaled away.

Restaurant burglary

An intruder entered an Atlantic Avenue restaurant on May 16 — and stole $150.

The owner of the diner between Third and Fourth avenues told police that he was at the eatery when the thief entered at 3:24 am, removed the money from the cash register, and fled.

School shenanigans

A crook stole a student’s unattended wallet from a Lawrence Street classroom on May 16.

The ASA College student told police she left the wallet at her desk in a classroom at a building between Willoughby and Fulton streets at 7 pm.

When she returned 15 minutes later, the wallet was gone.

McRobbed

A sneaky thief stole $236 from a woman’s purse at the McDonald’s restaurant on Court Street on May 18 — without the woman knowing.

The woman said she entered the fast food eatery between Livingston and Schermerhorn streets at 10:30 am.

She noticed her pocketbook was open and the cash was missing a half-hour later.

Bad will

A heartless thief stole a woman’s unattended wallet from a Goodwill store on Livingston Street on May 19.

The victim told police she left the wallet on a counter at the store between Bond Street and Elm Place at 11:22 am. She returned to retrieve it one hour later, but the wallet was missing.

Cash grab

Someone stole a woman’s wallet in a Fulton Street department store on May 18.

The shopper told cops she placed the wallet on the floor at the store near Bridge Street at 5:15 pm.

When she returned for it five minutes later, it was gone.

— Daniel Bush

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

90th Precinct

Southside–Bushwick

Hungry games

A hungry robber stole two teens’ phones at gunpoint on Leonard Street on May 14.

The 15- and 14-year-old boys were stitting on a park bench near Boerum Street at 7:55 am, when the thug approached them, flashed his gun, and said, “Don’t get up, don’t move,” the victims told police.

Then, the suspect asked what they had in their pockets, telling them, “You know how hard it is to make money on the street, I am always hungry,” as he took their phones.

Break a leg

Three violent thugs roughed up a 22-year-old — stabbing his leg three times on Driggs Avenue on May 20.

The man was near Grand Street at 4:10 pm when the ruffians jumped him, he told cops. A friend brought him to Woodhull Hosptial where he was treated for his wounds.

Teenage nightmare

Two teens robbed a 13-year-old boy at gunpoint on Morgan Avenue on May 15.

The victim told police he was near Harrison Place at noon, when the teens approached him.

“Where are you going?” One asked when the victim tried to leave. He didn’t answer, so they followed him and one pointed a gun at his chest and said, “Give me everything you have.”

The victim gave up his handheld video game and they ran away.

Umbrella attack

A thug hit an 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old man with an umbrella on Marcy Avenue on May 15.

The victims told police they were leaving their apartment near S. Third Street at 10 am when the lunatic swung the umbrella at them.

Boerum burglaries

A thief stole jewelry and several computers from two Boerum Street apartments on May 14.

One tenant left his apartment between Graham and Manhattan avenues at 9:45 am, but when he returned three hours later, his iPad and two computers were missing, he reported to police.

A second tenant upstairs said she left her apartment at 8:30 am, but when she returned at 6:50 pm, her computer, iPod, and $9,000 engagement ring were gone.

iGone

A thief stole an iPhone — right out of a man’s hands — on Graham Avenue on May 20.

The victim was near Cook Street at 6 pm when the perp yanked the phone from his hands and ran away, the victim told cops.

Ring removed

A crook stole a ring, a watch, and a camera from a Havemeyer Street apartment sometime between May 18 and 20.

The tenant left her apartment near N. Eighth Street on May 18 at 8 am, but when she returned at noon on May 20, her bedroom window was broken and her property was gone, she told police.

Graham computers

Someone stole three laptops and several computer accessories from a Graham Avenue apartment on May 14.

The tenants told police they left their apartment near Cook Street at 5:15 pm, but when they returned five hours later, their stuff was gone.

Scooter stolen

A crook stole a man’s scooter parked on Seigel Street on May 19.

The owner parked his motor bike near Graham Avenue at 2 am, but when he returned at noon, it was gone.

— Aaron Short

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

94th Precinct

Greenpoint–Northside

Laptop lashing

A fiend threatened a hairdresser and stole a computer from a Roebling Street salon on May 9.

The employee told cops that the villain entered the salon near N. Fifth Street at 12:05 pm with his hand in a bag, and demanded, “Just give me the computer!”

She refused to hand it over, so the thief tried to wrestle it out of her hands. He quit the struggle and grabbed another nearby laptop and fled.

iSwipe

A thief snatched a phone from a woman’s hands on N. Eighth Street on May 11 — while she was texting.

The victim was near Driggs Avenue at 10:21 pm when the perp approached her from her blind side, snatched the phone, and ran away.

Honda hoodwinked

A thief stole a Honda parked on Skillman Avenue overnight on May 9.

The driver parked her car near Meeker Avenue at 3:30 pm, but when she returned at 3:30 am the next day, it was gone.

Safe house

A crook stole $1,300 from a Bedford Avenue tea house on May 8.

The store manager told police he closed his business near N. Eighth Street at 12:01 am, but when staff arrived later that day at 9 am, the safe was missing.

Cameras taken

A burglar stole several cameras and lenses from a Roebling Street apartment while the owner was away between April 27 and May 10.

The tenant told cops she left her apartment near N. Seventh Street on April 27 at 9 am, but when she returned on May 10 at 8 am, her stuff was missing.

Macbook missing

A thief stole a computer and camera form a Lorimer Street apartment on May 13.

The tenant left his apartment near Norman Avenue at 12:30 pm, but when he returned half an hour later, he saw his window was unlocked and his property was gone, police said.

Ford dumb

A thief stole an elevator company’s Ford truck parked on Bedford Avenue on May 8 — after the driver left the car without locking it.

The driver parked the unlocked car — with its keys in the glove compartment — near N. 11th Street at 12:30 pm, but when he returned an hour later, it was gone.

— Aaron Short

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By Aaron Short

The Brooklyn Paper

94th Precinct

Greenpoint–Northside

iPunch

Two thieves beat up a man on Havemeyer Street on May 12 — and ran off with his iPhone.

The victim was texting on his phone near N. Sixth Street at 12:15 am when one suspect punched his head, he told cops.

The man dropped his phone, and the other thief snatched it and ran away.

Bucket list

A hot-headed fiend struck his coworker’s face with a bucket inside a N. Henry Street building on May 14, cops said.

The victim told police he in the building near Meserole Avenue at 12:45 pm when he got into an argument with his coworker. That’s when the assailant grabbed the bucket and shoved it towards the man’s eye, police said.

Cops arrested a suspect a few hours later.

Congested crooks

Two teens stole a container of Mucinex from a Manhattan Avenue Rite Aid on May 15.

A camera at the store near Meserole Avenue caught the duo swiping the anti-congestant at 5:50 pm, cops said.

Burglar busted

Cops arrested a man who they say broke into two Conselyea Street apartments on May 18.

A traffic agent called the police at 12:46 pm, when he saw someone trying to break into a building near Manhattan Avenue. Cops arrested a suspect, who they said had several tools that he used to break into the apartment.

Laptop taken

Someone stole a computer, drill, and phone from a Manhattan Avenue apartment overnight on May 11.

The tenant left his building near Bedford Avenue at 7 pm, but when he returned at 6 pm the next day, his stuff was gone, he told cops.

Backpack taken

A thief stole a backpack containing a laptop and credit cards from a car parked on Kent Avenue on May 19.

The driver said he parked his car near N. 11th Street at midnight, but when he returned three hours later, his car smelled like smoke and the bag was missing from his trunk.

Computers missing

A thief stole a computer and several monitors from a Wythe Avenue business on May 19.

The manager told police he left his building near N. 12th Street at 1 pm, but when he returned at 4:30 pm, the electronics were gone.

Motorcycle missing

Someone made off with a Suzuki motorcycle parked on Lorimer Street on May 15.

The driver said he parked his chopper near Noble Street at 7 pm, but when he returned 12 hours later, it was missing.

— Aaron Short

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

68th Precinct

Bay Ridge—Dyker Heights

Lapped up

Two unsavory ladies swiped a Bay Ridge man’s Macbook right off his lap while he was riding a bus on Fourth Avenue on May 13.

The victim said he had the laptop open on his knees when the bus was stopped at 86th Street at 9 pm. That’s when one of the femme fatales grabbed the computer from his grasp and ran off the bus with her friend.

The man chased them into the 86th Street subway station, but the catty burglars jumped aboard a Manhattan-bound R train before he could catch up.

Rear window

A burglar slipped into a woman’s 78th Street apartment through a back window on May 10 — and slipped out with $600 in loot.

The victim told cops she left her apartment between Third and Fourth avenues at 2:15 pm, and came back 35 minutes later to find her window open and her wallet, iPod, credit cards, and jewelry missing.

Unbuckled

Two crooks stripped a man of his cash, cellphone, and $321 Gucci belt on Fourth Avenue on May 8.

The victim told police that he was near 90th Street at 12:15 am on his way home when a pair of masked marauders stopped him.

“Run your s---,” one demanded. The two then went through the man’s pockets and slipped the strap off of his waist.

iPod touched

A pickpocket pocketed a man’s iPod on Bay Ridge Avenue on May 8.

Police said the victim was near 12th Avenue at 3:10 pm when the thief slipped the gadget out of his front pocket. The bandit then fled down Bay Ridge Avenue.

Messy room

A crook broke into a Bensonhurst woman’s 64th Street apartment and trashed her bedroom on May 7 — but didn’t take a single thing, police said.

The victim told cops that she left her apartment between 13th and 14th avenues at 8 am and headed for work. When she came home, she saw that somebody had forced her front door open and thrown all her personal items in her bedroom on the floor and the mattress. Still, she didn’t notice anything missing.

— Will Bredderman

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

68th Precinct

Bay Ridge—Dyker Heights

Cash crook

Cops arrested a man who they say stole $1,600 in cash from a Bay Ridge woman’s apartment last month.

The victim told police that she left for church at 11 am on April 15 and returned at 3:30 pm to find that somebody had broken open a security box in her bedroom and stolen her wad of money.

Welcome to America

A crook stole a Chinese immigrant’s passport and green card from her home on Third Avenue on May 14, cops say.

The victim reported that she left her home between 68th and 69th streets at 7:30 am and came back at 9 pm to find that someone had jimmied open her bedroom window and taken the handbag holding her documents.

Ding, dong, ditched

A crook rang an 85th Street woman’s front doorbell on May 18 — before sneaking around her house and through a back window, cops claim.

The victim reported that she heard somebody chime at her house between 12th and 13th avenues at 3:56 pm and went to answer.

While she was busy, the creep made his way inside through a rear window and grabbed the woman’s laptop. But the victim spotted him, and ran out of the house with her children.

The intruder turned heels, too, dropping the computer in the backyard.

Bad biker

A jerk made off with a $2,800 bicycle left in the hallway of a 73rd Street building on May 16.

The victim told police that he left his bike in the hallway of his building between 12th and 13th avenues at 9:35 pm, and went back just moments later to find it missing.

Police say they got a good look at the thief on surveillance tapes.

No reception

A thug snatched a Bay Ridge woman’s iPhone right out of her hand while she was riding the R train on May 18, according to cops.

The victim told police that the Manhattan-bound train was at the 77th Street and Fourth Avenue stop when the crook grabbed the gadget and fled.

Gym rat

A thief stole a man’s cash and credit cards out of a locker at a popular Fourth Avenue fitness center on May 17, police say.

The fit victim said he locked up his belongings in one of the compartments at Harbor Fitness between 92nd and 93rd streets at 12:15 pm, and then worked out.

When he came back, his lock had been clipped and his stuff was gone.

— Will Bredderman

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By Bill Roundy

for The Brooklyn Paper

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

Brooklyn Heights hip hop lovers are trying to rename Squibb Park after late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch — a move that would commemorate the rapper known as MCA while stripping away a long-standing tribute to pharmaceutical innovator Dr. Edward Robinson Squibb. Both men were neighborhood icons and leaders in their fields — here’s how they stack up:

Licensed to:

MCA: Ill

Squibb: Treat illness

Greatest hit:

MCA: “Paul Revere”

Squibb: Anesthetic ether

Fought for:

MCA: The right to party

Squibb: The purity of medicines

Altruistic efforts:

MCA: Started the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in the 1990s

Squibb: Sold Brooklyn Heights land to the city for just $800 — when bureaucrats were willing to pay him $1,600 for it

Supplied:

MCA: Generations of white kids with relatable rap idols

Squibb: Ether and other pharmaceuticals to Army medical stores — providing roughly one twelfth of their total stock

Unintended legacy:

MCA: Kid Rock

Squibb: Hunter S. Thompson

Career began in:

MCA: An NYU dorm room

Squibb: A Navy vessel

Facilitated:

MCA: The rise of hip hop from a fringe genre to mainstream music

Squibb: The treatment of horrific injuries during the Civil War

—Eli Rosenberg

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By Will Bredderman

for The Brooklyn Paper

A shuttered Bay Ridge Karaoke club with a history of violence will re-open as a new sing-along spot — with the blessing of Community Board 10’s Police and Public Safety Committee.

Committee members voted to approve a liquor license for Good World Inc., which wants to open in the same 62nd Street address that once held the notorious V Lounge.

The karaoke joint between Eighth and Ninth avenues had been the site of five stabbings, a brawl between a group of Asians and two black men, illegal drug use, illegal indoor smoking, and rampant underage drinking since 2007, according to cops, the State Liquor Authority and Board members.

The V Lounge was so violent and disruptive that the city suspended its liquor license last October.

Unable to sell alcohol — which is imperative in a business where one’s desire to sing in public is directly proportional to how intoxicated they are — the V Lounge closed.

Neil Visoky, Good World’s attorney, told committee members that the new club will be a law-abiding business that has no connection to the V Lounge — even though he does.

Last year, Visoky represented Xiu Qin Li, who took over the V Lounge and tried to tell CB10 that she was going to run a respectable establishment. The Board flatly rejected the claim.

Visoky said Li has no connection to Good World Inc., which he says will soundproof the establishment, keep a constant security presence and always have a manager on site.

“I know this property has a terrible past, but this business model makes me think this is going to be a great new establishment,” Visoky said.

CB10 has taken a hardline approach against bars in the past year — and most recently tried to get the city to shut down Crown KTV, a similar Karaoke spot many call a den of violence and underage drinking.

But, this time around, the committee agreed with Visoky as long as Good World Inc. doesn’t deviate from its business plan.

“Good World Inc. has addressed all of our concerns,” committee Chairman George Fontas said.

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

A Republican Sheepshead Bay T-shirt maker has his sights set on taking over a longtime Democratic congressional seat that now contains conservative-leaning neighborhoods such as Marine Park and Bergen Beach.

“My odds are really good now,” Alan Bellone said about succeeding Rep. Ed Towns (D–Canarsie). “Republicans have a shot to take this seat.”

Bellone, who owns A Stitch Above in Downtown and ran unsuccessfully against Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein (D–Sheepshead Bay) in 2008 and 2010, said the seat could be his because residents in neighborhoods added to Towns’s expansive Central Brooklyn district earlier this year have backed Rep. Bob Turner (R–Sheepshead Bay) and GOP state senate candidate David Storobin.

The 49-year-old father of two also said he’ll be the favorite in Southern Brooklyn.

“Knowing those neighborhoods will give me an advantage,” said Bellone, who’s launching his candidacy later this month and promised to focus his energies on jobs, housing, and education if he’s elected.

Bellone will be going up against either Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D–Fort Greene) or Councilman Charles Barron (D–Canarsie), who are squaring off in the June 26 Democratic primary. Towns represented Central Brooklyn for more than a quarter of a century before announcing his retirement last month.

Southern Brooklyn has long been considered a democratic stronghold, but that changed last fall when Turner beat Assemblyman David Weprin in the race to replace former Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner. Republican David Storobin beat Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Marine Park) in an extremely close special election to replace prison-bound ex-pol Carl Kruger last week — but the vote was so close a recount has been ordered.

Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman Craig Eaton said the GOP will back Bellone in the hopes of scoring another upset.

“We’re going to be spending a lot of time and effort on this race,” Eaton said.

Southern Brooklyn politicos said a strong Republican challenger could beat the Democratic nominee in Southern Brooklyn — especially since Jeffries and Barron have no connections to those neighborhoods.

“Southern Brooklyn residents don’t want liberals,” said Democratic District Leader Michael Geller (D–Sheepshead Bay). “People are looking for alternatives.”

Still, Bellone has an uphill climb: he hasn’t raised any money for his congressional run.

He also managed to capture a pitiful 21 percent of the vote against Weinstein two years ago after spending less than $1,000 on his Assembly campaign.

Jeffries has just under $400,000 cash on hand.

Barron has roughly $40,000 in his war chest. Both men also have wider name recognition than Bellone and have vowed to campaign heavily in Southern Brooklyn.

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By Colin Mixson

The Brooklyn Paper

76th Precinct

Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill–Red Hook

Knife strife

A 44-year-old man was arrested for allegedly threatening a woman with a knife on Atlantic Avenue on May 11.

The victim told police that she was inside her car between Hicks and Henry streets at 5:15 pm when the suspect began knocking on the driver-side window, waving a knife, and shouting threats.

Bad ride

Cops busted a 59-year-old motorist for allegedly hitting another man’s car on the Atlantic Avenue exit on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway — then driving off while the victim clung to the suspect’s car.

The victim told police he was pulling off the highway at 10:10 pm on May 10, when the suspect, driving a 2004 Eurovan, rear-ended his car.

When the victim left his vehicle to survey the damage, the perp hit the gas, carrying the unfortunate motorist on the hood for approximately eight blocks until they reached the corner of Poplar and Hicks streets.

Police say the suspect was carrying cocaine and a pipe with cocaine residue at the time of his arrest.

In the joint

A man accused of driving erratically allegedly told cops he smoked a good deal of marijuana before he got behind the wheel.

Police say they pulled over the driver on Hamilton Avenue after he was spotted swerving inside the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on May 8 and passing through an inoperable EZ Pass gate at 8 am.

When the officer spoke with the motorist, the suspect allegedly blamed his bad driving on pot.

“I smoked marijuana,” the suspect stated, according to police reports. “I smoked a joint, it was kind of big.”

Brunt assault

Cops nabbed a man who allegedly walked into a Van Brunt Street business and punched an employee in the face on May 8.

The victim told police that he was at work near Reed Street at around noon when the 38-year-old suspect sauntered in and socked him once in the face.

— Colin Mixson

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