Author: George Fiala

Food

French Restaurant Week Returns for 10th Edition in NYC

French food lovers and diners can experience masterful cuisine and gastronomy, while honoring French culture and history, from July 8 to 21 as part of the Bastille Week festivities. For two weeks select Manhattan-based restaurants will once again offer prix-fixe menus at $17.89 (bar), $25 (lunch), $42 (dinner), and $178.90 (dinner for two with a bottle of wine) to commemorate […]

Food

An ‘impossible thing to do before breakfast’: Take an adventure to Alice’s Tea Cup Café in Brooklyn

  Alice’s Tea Cup, the popular Manhattan-based tea house franchise that encourages whimsy and imagination while enjoying a spot of tea, unveiled its latest ‘chapter’ in Brooklyn Heights on June 18. The new café, appropriately named Alice’s To Go, provides local Brooklynites with easy, fast countertop service. Though physically smaller in size, it still has the aura of quirky casualness […]

Gowanus Canal

Recap: DCP Shows CB6 Committee Some Waterfront Proposals

The Department of City Planning (DCP) came to Community Board 6’s Economic/Waterfront/et al. meeting on May 20 to talk about the future of the Gowanus Canal waterfront. DCP has already talked about what they call a Shore Public Walkway, which is part of their rezoning plan for the area. They have issued pretty pictures of people walking in the 40 […]

Theater, Uncategorized

Broadway’s ‘Hadestown’ and ‘Mean Girls’ cast members perform in Brooklyn

  Local Brooklyn residents didn’t have to travel to Manhattan on June 14 to see quality Broadway theatre performances; Broadway came to Bed-Stuy instead. Cast members from the hit shows Hadestown and Mean Girls sang four or more songs each to kick off this year’s Broadway in the Boros concert series. Broadway in the Boros, which is in its fourth […]

Kids

Crown Heights student takes top prize in national essay competition

Parkside Preparatory Academy student Ariel Granger may still be in middle school, but she knows as much about stocks, bonds and mutual funds as her friends do about emojis and apps. Now she’s been nationally recognized for combining her commitment to sustainability with financial analysis. The incoming eighth-grader won first place in the SIFMA Foundation’s Spring 2019 InvestWrite competition after […]

IBZ roundtable discussion
Gowanus, Land Use

Gather round: Gowanus business owners meet with DCP

Manufacturing businesses, including contractors and repair shops that have been in Gowanus for years, have been wondering about their futures will look like once giant skyscrapers become their neighbors. The southern portion of Gowanus has been part of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) since 2006. The IBZ is a zoning designation created by the Bloomberg administration to supposedly […]

Environment, Health, Uncategorized

Remediation process at manufactured gas plant site begins this month

It’s official – preparation is underway, beginning July 8, for remedial action that’ll address contamination related to the Citizens former Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) site under New York’s MGP Program. The site is six acres in size and is composed of two adjoining parcels owned by the City. The site formerly included a third parcel, located at 459 Smith Street, […]

Left to right - Dr. Benjamin Neel and NYS Assemblymember Felix Ortiz
Sunset Park

Brand new cancer center opens in Sunset Park

NYU Langone’s Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center in Sunset Park, which opened on June 10, offers medical and radiation oncology treatment and infusion treatments for adult patients with all cancer types and blood disorders. The first floor has five exam rooms and is equipped with the latest oncological technology, including a new state-of-the-art linear accelerator and a CT simulator […]

Debbie Stoller protests
Gowanus, Real Estate

Voice of Gowanus Coalition joins other rezoning-related groups in NYC press conference

Human-Scale NYC, along with 19 other neighborhood groups, held a press conference across the street from the Equitable Building, where the City Planning Commission (CPC) has its New York City offices, on June 19. They believe the Commissioners, who they say are mostly connected to the real estate industry, rubber stamp a majority vote along the lines indicated by landlords […]

ASPCA building
Land Use, Real Estate

Five historic Gowanus sites could become landmarks before rezoning

For the first time in the face of a proposed city-initiated rezoning, strategic advocacy by the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition – comprised of grassroots, neighborhood and citywide advocates – has led to the proposed calendaring of a set of neighborhood landmarks, prior to the proposed rezoning. “We view this as a great first step by the Landmarks Preservation Commission,” said Gowanus […]