News

Business Improvement District provides “fantastic opportunity” to support Gowanus redevelopment, by Oscar Fock

On Nov. 14, the Gowanus Oversight Task Force — a community-based group tracking the 56 commitments that were part of the Gowanus rezoning — convened for the fourth time this year, this time to share with the public information about the Gowanus Business Improvement District (BID) and the city’s plans for green spaces in the neighborhood. The Gowanus Rezoning Points

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Red Hook Business Alliance returns to BWAC, by Brian Abate

The Red Hook Holiday Market runs one more weekend, the 21st and 22nd, from 1-6 pm. The Holiday Market is presented by the Red Hook Business Alliance and Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) and will take place at BWAC, 481 Van Brunt St. Door #7A. The Red Hook Business Alliance was founded in 2019 by Susan Povich and Victoria Alexander

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Lawsuit won’t delay Public Place cleanup, but will they ever break ground? by Oscar Fock

At the beginning of October, National Grid, the energy company primarily responsible for cleaning up the Gowanus Canal and the former Citizens Manufactured Gas Plant site (also known as Public Place), filed a lawsuit against 40 defendants, claiming they’re not doing their part to clean up the canal. Following the news of the lawsuit, concerns arose among community members that

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Still no end date for NYCHA construction, by Nathan Weiser

Councilmember Alexa Aviles hosted a Town Hall last month to talk about construction at the Red Hook Houses. “We have not had a meeting about all this construction in a long time,” Aviles said. “I thought it was going to be important that we have NYCHA come tonight and not only give you the update from their perspective but to

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Harbor Middle School celebrates Hispanic heritage, by Nathan Weiser

PS 676 / Harbor Middle School hosted Hispanic heritage family night on October 22 from 4-6 pm in the cafeteria. This was one of their many theme nights throughout the school year. There were many activities at the different tables, Spanish music to listen to and different Red Hook organizations at the event. There was information on a table about

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Residential composting takes big strides throughout the city, by Katherine Rivard

In a time when the City’s Administration seems awash with scandals and resignations, few NYC bureaucrats have been as effective as Jessica Tisch, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY). The citywide composting program, which requires all residents to compost their organic materials, is just one of several sweeping DSNY initiatives implemented during her tenure. The program was rolled

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I went to a BMT feedback session, by Brian Abate

There have been a few large community meetings and some smaller ones following Mayor Adams’ May 14 announcement about a  planned transformation of the local waterfront. This has been the plan of the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) who is tasked with leading the transformation. I attended one of the smaller sessions on October 23. Four people showed up to

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63 Tiffany brings out politicos on Halloween morning, by Brian Abate

Residents of 63 Tiffany Place, neighbors, community members, and politicians all gathered for a rally outside of the 70-unit apartment building. There were about 100 people in total including all local city and state politicians, including even Shahana Hanif, who came over from Park Slope office. The building’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is expiring and that means all

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Feature Story

Eventual Ukrainian reconstruction cannot ignore Russian-speaking Ukrainians, by Dario Pio Muccilli, Star-Revue EU correspondent

On October 21st, almost 150 (mostly Ukrainian) intellectuals signed an open letter to Unesco encouraging the international organization to ask President Zelensky to defer some decisions about Odessa’s World Heritage sites until the end of the war. Odessa, in southern Ukraine, is a multicultural city with a strong Russian-speaking component. There has been pressure to remove historical sites connected to

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The attack of the Chinese mitten crabs, by Oscar Fock

On Sept. 15, a driver in Brooklyn was stopped by the New York Police Department after running a red light. In an unexpected turn of events, the officers found 29 Chinese mitten crabs, a crustacean considered one of the world’s most invasive species (it’s number 34 on the Global Invasive Species Database), while searching the vehicle. Environmental Conservation Police Officers

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How to Celebrate a Swedish Christmas, by Oscar Fock

Sweden is a place of plenty of holiday celebrations. My American friends usually say midsummer with the fertility pole and the wacky dances when I tell them about Swedish holidays, but to me — and I’d wager few Swedes would argue against this — no holiday is as anticipated as Christmas. Further, I would argue that Swedish Christmas is unlike

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A new mother finds community in struggle, by Kelsey Sobel

My son, Baker, was born on October 17th, 2024 at 4:02 am. He cried for the first hour and a half of his life, clearing his lungs, held firmly and safely against my chest. When I first saw him, I recognized him immediately. I’d dreamed of being a mother since I turned thirty, and five years later, becoming a parent

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The indisputable benefits of going phone free, by Kelsey Sobel

According to the Pew Research Center, 97% of Americans own a cellphone. In 2024, nine-in-ten Americans are smartphone users, which is up from 35% in Pew Research Center’s first survey of smartphone ownership from 2011. My own relationship with technology is a standard story for someone born in 1989. I enjoyed my childhood with the most aggressive form of technological

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A bigger Ocky Way coming soon!, by Katherine Rivard

A chopped cheese, bread swapped for a Jamaican beef patty. Bacon egg and cheese, but coddled between raspberry Pop-Tarts instead of a roll. Halal chicken with Salsalito turkey and spicy Doritos, all sandwiched between pancakes. Ingenuity is alive at the TikTok-famous Red Hook Food Corp (603 Clinton Street), where Rahim Mohamed has grown a following for his wild off-menu creations.

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Walking with Coffee, by Bob Racioppo

A BOOMER-TO-BOOMER DIALOGUE with JOE FORD After several columns talking with millennials I’m switching it up this month and talking with a fellow boomer Joe Ford.  Joe is a recording engineer and music producer, and full disclosure I grew up with him in Sunset Park Brooklyn.  This change is sparked by a comment in a previous column describing boomers as “too old

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Remembering Patricia Wirth Sweeney, by Brian Abate

Patricia Wirth Sweeney, affectionately called “Patsy” and “Pat” passed away in Red Hook at the age of 93 on Oct. 15. She was born on June 27, 1931. “She always said she was born in Red Hook and that she was going to die in Red Hook,” said her son, Thomas Wirth. “She loved Red Hook and she took a

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Once again Open Studios brings Red Hook a crowd, by Brian Abate

The ninth annual Red Hook Open Studios took place the first weekend of October with a kickoff Scrappy Reading event. Artists and makers throughout the neighborhood open their studios and give the public a chance to see (and buy) their work. The Scrappy Reading event took place on Van Brunt Street and featured Jax Preyer, Dean Haspiel, Lilly Dancyger, Niguel

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Arts

Quinn on Books: Salud to Small Business

Review of “New York Nico’s Guide to NYC,” by Nicolas Heller, with Jason Diamond; photography by Jeremy Cohen Review by Michael Quinn For nearly a decade, I managed a Brooklyn mannequin factory. Everything was made by hand. The work was messy, and the tools were loud. The process demanded precision and speed. My job was to oversee production and act

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Tits Up Brooklyn, by Medea Hoar

Ah, December is upon us and with it, colder winds, warm fireplace cuddles, and lots of festive gatherings. Starting off this season of joy was Smudgefest 2024 on November 23rd at Sunset Stoop, put on by a brand spanking new collaborative – The BK MUSES! So, before we delve deep into Smudgefest, let’s talk about these magical muses. BK Muses

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MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Smart, simple pleasures. On Only the Void Stands Between Us (LP and download released last month by Silver Current Records), Julie Beth Napolin sings of distance and intimacy. She sings quizzically of a fire coming to burn, it seems, those who don’t deserve to survive, and she sings very directly about praying for the living and the dead. In other

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Regina’s community opera is the cats meow, by George Fiala

Last spring I wrote in these pages about my discovery of Bay Ridge’s Regina Opera Company. While I did grow up in a house where the Metropolitan Opera was on the radio every Saturday, that was not my cup of tea. The idea of dressing up and paying lots of money to hear a musical show was not my scene.

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Best Jazz Albums 2024, by George Grella

This is just one calendar year, which may be sufficient time in the pop music manufacturing industry to spot a trend, but is a far less meaningful span in music that wrestles with its own history—the old is constantly being renewed and incorporated with ideas from other genres—as jazz does, and that is so free of commercial pressures (unfortunately) that

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Film: “Union” documents SI union organizers vs. Amazon, by Dante A. Ciampaglia

Our tech-dominated society is generous with its glimpses of dystopia. But there’s something especially chilling about the captive audience meetings in the documentary Union, which screened at the New York Film Festival and is currently playing at IFC Center. Chronicling the fight of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), led by Chris Smalls, to organize the Amazon fulfillment warehouse in Staten

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An ode to the bar at the edge of the world, review by Oscar Fock

It smells like harbor, I thought as I walked out to the end of the pier to which the barge now known as the Waterfront Museum was docked. Unmistakable were they, even for someone like me — maybe particularly for someone like me, who’s always lived far enough from the ocean to never get used to its sensory impressions, but

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Music

MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Smart, simple pleasures. On Only the Void Stands Between Us (LP and download released last month by Silver Current Records), Julie Beth Napolin sings of distance and intimacy. She sings quizzically of a fire coming to burn, it seems, those who don’t deserve to survive, and she sings very directly about praying for the living and the dead. In other

Read More »

Regina’s community opera is the cats meow, by George Fiala

Last spring I wrote in these pages about my discovery of Bay Ridge’s Regina Opera Company. While I did grow up in a house where the Metropolitan Opera was on the radio every Saturday, that was not my cup of tea. The idea of dressing up and paying lots of money to hear a musical show was not my scene.

Read More »

Best Jazz Albums 2024, by George Grella

This is just one calendar year, which may be sufficient time in the pop music manufacturing industry to spot a trend, but is a far less meaningful span in music that wrestles with its own history—the old is constantly being renewed and incorporated with ideas from other genres—as jazz does, and that is so free of commercial pressures (unfortunately) that

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MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Mothers of reinvention. “It’s never too late to be what you might have been,” according to writer George Eliot, who spoke from experience. Born in the UK in 1819, Mary Ann Evans found her audience using the masculine pen name in order to avoid the scrutiny of the patriarchal literati. Reinvention, of style if not self, is in the air

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Kaizers Orchestra Returns to Conquer the US

Kaizers Return Kaizers Orchestra has always marched to the beat of their own drum. Now, after their first U.S. performance in years, the legendary Norwegian rock band made it clear they haven’t missed a step. Fresh off a triumphant show at Sony Hall, where their theatrical mix of rock, folk, and energy electrified the crowd, I had the chance to

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Image of the Afro Beats vs Amapiano logo on the Barclays Center digital display.

Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover: For the Culture and Social Justice

Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover at Barclays Center On Sunday, August 4, the plaza at Barclays Center echoed with the sounds of Afrobeats and Amapiano as the two genres took center stage at the third annual Africa Everything: Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover. From 12:00 to 6:00 PM, music lovers, undeterred by the cloudy weather, gathered to experience the best of these

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