By Dana Rubinstein
Coney Island: Amusement operators will unleash the Cyclone and whirl the Wonder Wheel nearly a month early for what may well be the last summer on Coney Island as we know it.
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Interviews and photos by Noelle D’Arrigo
Vox Pop: Reports that Gov. Eliot Spitzer hired prostitutes was the talk of political insiders all week. But the man on the street — in this case, the woman on the street — was talking about the story a little differently. Our inquiring photographer asked Brooklyn woman a simple question, “Would all men cheat on their wives if they knew they could get away with it?”
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By Dana Rubinstein
Bloomy in the ’Hood: Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a residential parking permit plan to bolster his controversial proposal to charge Manhattan-bound drivers a “congestion-pricing” fee — and the permits quickly had the desired effect, swaying two ambivalent Brooklyn lawmakers toward supporting the bill.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Red Hook: The famed food Latino vendors will return to Red Hook Park this spring, ending months of indigestion caused when the Parks Department invited outside operators to bid on the decades-old taco, empanada and papusa destination.
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By Cristian Fleming
Cartoon: The Red Hook food vendors are saved – and Sen. Chuck Schumer, a supporter, is overjoyed!
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By Dana Rubinstein
The city has banned one of Brooklyn’s largest animal foster groups from saving dogs and cats from euthanasia in city shelters, sparking an outcry among animal lovers from Park Slope to Williamsburg.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Carroll Gardens: A Carroll Gardens church is reviving a secular Holy Week tradition — a visit from the Easter bunny — after a one-year hiatus.
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By Dana Rubinstein
While Brooklyn parishioners from Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights to Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene dye eggs and festoon hats in preparation for Easter next Sunday, March 23, thousands of Eastern Orthodox families must wait another five weeks to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Bridge ‘Park’: Demolition of Brooklyn Bridge ‘Park’ begins.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Downtown: New York University has planted its flag in Brooklyn — and now students must pay.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Bridge ‘Park’: Bus them and they will come. Transportation experts went back to the future to find ways to get more people to the remote Brooklyn Bridge Park — the 85-acre open space, commercial and condo development planned for the DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights waterfront — and what they came up with is straight out of early 20th-century urban planning.
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By Ben Muessig
Boerum Hill: Talk about a fixer-upper! This sealed-up building on a hot Smith Street corner will someday be more than just a dead zone, thanks to a just-announced plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to sell it to the highest bidder.
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By Ben Muessig
Williamsburg: A developer is rushing to tear down this old North 10th Street warehouse and dig the foundation for his 25-unit luxury condo tower before June 30, when new rules kick in that require developers to include affordable housing if they want to receive a construction subsidy.
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Editorial: The personal
is political. That old 1960s-era women’s movement mantra comes to mind anew, thanks to the abrupt resignation of Gov. Spitzer.
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POLL: Should Marty run?
Politics: Borough President Markowitz just fell behind Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in the second (still early) mayoral poll. Now is the time when Brooklyn voters’ voices need to be heard: Should Marty run? Vote here.
By Dana Rubinstein
Atlantic Yards: Controversial Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has bought himself the Brooklyn Museum’s highest honor, nabbing the institution’s illustrious Augustus Graham Award thanks to his financial contributions to the arts, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Atlantic Yards: Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has been caught in another lie: His star architect Frank Gehry was not born in Brooklyn, as Ratner has long claimed.
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By Tom Gilbert
Beside the Point: Save Henry Miller’s boyhood home!
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By Wendy Ponte
PS … I Love You: The latest sex scandal reminds our columnist of a classic Slope affair.
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By Louise Crawford
Smartmom: Eliot Spitzer’s alleged prostitution habit has Smartmom wondering what it would take before she left Hepcat.
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By Susan Rosenthal Jay
Parenting: All the action for you and your kids!
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By Mike McLaughlin
Park Slope: In a bid to rewrite a wrongly re-written history, a group of Park Slopers wants to change the name of J.J. Byrne Park so that it re-honors its original namesake — the one and only George Washington.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Kensington: A local school is on the verge of dishonoring its namesake in favor of a kid killed in the Civil War.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Cobble Hill: The state has no plans to improve a dangerous entrance to the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway despite an accident rate that’s six times higher than average, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.
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By Ben Muessig
Williamsburg: Williamsburg and Greenpoint residents are the biggest complainers in the borough, new statistics show — and the data has locals wondering who is doing all the whining.
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By Ben Muessig
Brooklyn Heights: A legendary Brooklyn Heights restaurant will turn off its lights for the last time this week, unplugging an iconic sign that has cast a neon glow on Montague Street for decades.
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By Loren Bonner
Bay Ridge: A rushed shutdown of Bay Ridge’s beleaguered Victory Memorial Hospital was thwarted last week when state officials released more than $1 million to pay the staff.
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By Jeff Bachner
Bloomy in the ’Hood: Mayor Bloomberg joined Fort Hamilton HS Principal Jo Ann Chester last Thursday to celebrate the school’s arts education program — but not everyone found the mayor’s speech scintillating. Kenneth Lai, a Fort Hamilton HS junior, devoted as much attention as he could spare.
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By Ricky Barlin
Park Slope: The $60-million renovation of Prospect Park’s rundown skating rink into a multi-purpose, year-round venue took a small step closer to reality last week, thanks to a private donation of $1.5 million — the first outside grant for the ambitious project.
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By Adrian Kinloch
Park Slope: A nifty new piece of art shows up in the Slope.
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By Ben Muessig
Bay Ridge: Protestors in Bay Ridge are angry about their cellphones — but they’re not screaming for better service. In fact, they want less coverage!
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All the important meetings you should be going to.
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In the spirit of encouraging a free exchange of ideas, The Brooklyn Paper makes this space available to our readers.
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