Atlantic Yards: Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project — which envisioned 16 skyscrapers, eight acres of open space, more than 2,250 units of below-market-rate housing, new top-of-the-line office space and a publicly financed basketball arena — now consists of little more than the arena and two scaled-back residential buildings, the developer told the New York Times last week. Comments (7).
Greenpoint: Efforts to preserve Greenpoint’s aging Kosciuszko Bridge crumbled last week, giving the state the green light to repair or replace Brooklyn’s hard-to-spell roadway. Comment.
Windsor Terrace: A Windsor Terrace’s elementary school became the first in the city this week to abandon the environmentally hated Styrofoam trays in favor of a newfangled pressed sugar cane fiber version — but the school is doing it on its own, as the Department of Education refused to swallow the additional costs associated with going “green.” Comments (1).
The Brooklyn Paper obtained samples of the new sugar-cane food tray and the old Styrofoam trays and exposed them to a battery of tests at our test kitchen, also known as Front Street Pizza in DUMBO. And the results were clear: Styrofoam may be hated by environmentalists, but the relic has utilitarian advantages over the eco-friendly counterpart. Comment.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority played straphangers for the fool, canceling $30 million in subway and bus improvements that were promised in the wake of the fare increase — an abrupt turnaround from promises made by the state agency earlier this month. Comments (1).
Boerum Hill: If Smith Street has suddenly started to look like Filth Avenue, there’s a good reason: a nonprofit street-cleaning crew has moved onto dirtier pastures because merchants along the hip commercial strip did not want to pay for their services. Comment.
Brooklyn Heights: A century-old Brooklyn Heights mansion that was once a communal home for monks and prostitutes — at different times, of course — has sold for $11 million. Comments (1).
Brooklyn Heights: A landlord’s plan to build a parking garage with a rooftop garden in the drab courtyard of the historic Riverside Apartments in parking-starved Brooklyn Heights has been soundly rejected by Community Board 2. Comments (2).
Brooklyn Heights: A renowned architectural historian has undertaken the gargantuan effort of documenting the history of every single building in the Brooklyn Heights historic district. Comments (1).
Kensington: Borough President Markowitz is siding with the descendants of Doris Cohen in their battle to get a Kensington elementary school to retain their mother’s name. Comment.
Coney Island: Coney Island doyenne Dianne Carlin — aka Lola Staar — welcomed hundreds to the celeb-studded March 22 opening of her Dreamland roller rink in the Boardwalk home of the long-defunct Child’s Restaurant. Comment.
Windsor Terrace: A new Windsor Terrace bar has waded into the ongoing battle over whether kids should join their parents at taverns by siding with the stroller set. Minus the strollers, however. Comment.
Gowanus: A national real-estate developer best known for luxury suburban homebuilding got a warmer reception at Thursday night’s unveiling of the latest designs for a huge Gowanus project. Comments (4).
Atlantic Yards: Bruce Ratner has finally admitted that he can’t build Atlantic Yards in its current incarnation as a 16 skyscraper, hotel, residential and basketball arena project, a stunning admission that contradicts years of assurances from the developer. Of course, any reader of The Brooklyn Paper could have seen that Ratner’s project has been in trouble for years. Here’s a look back: Comments (1).
Atlantic Yards: Bruce Ratner has not been given a deadline to complete the bulk of the Atlantic Yards project — including the 11 buildings that contain the vast majority of the promised 2,250 units of affordable housing and seven acres of open space, newly released documents show, prompting critics of the controversial project to blast it as a “bait and switch.” Comments (1).
Atlantic Yards: Opponents of Atlantic Yards say the ballooning costs of the Frank Gehry-designed basketball arena will require state officials to re-approve the project — but state officials said no. Comment.
Jacob A. Jaffe, the former chairman of the journalism department at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, and a leading champion of print journalism, died on March 18. He was 89. Comment.
Bay Ridge: The battle between Bay Ridge residents and cellphone companies turned political this week, when an assemblywoman announced legislation to keep cellular antennas away from schools. Comments (1).
Jotham Sederstrom of the New York Daily News was the only reporter with the guts to go mano-a-mano with Brooklyn Paper Editor Gersh Kuntzman on this week’s edition of BCAT’s ”Reporter Roundtable.” Comment.
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