INSIDE: PAGES AND PAGES OF COUPONS TO SAVE YOU CASH! Yo u r Neighborhood — Yo u r News® BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2012 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn and Williamsburg AWP/14 pages • Vol. 35, No. 25 • June 22–28, 2012 • FREE PAYING THE TOLL Toll Brothers to build hotel, condos at Bridge Park By Aaron Short The Brooklyn Paper Toll Brothers, the country’s largest developer of luxury homes, will con- struct a $295-million hotel and condo- minium complex at the foot of Brook- lyn Bridge Park, Mayor Bloomberg announced on Tuesday. The Pennsylvania-based home-build- ers won a highly competitive design contest to erect a 10-story, 200-room hotel and a 159-unit residential devel- opment at the foot of Pier 1 after Brook- Photo by Bryan Bruchman lyn Bridge Park Development Corpo- Seven-year-old Luna Danger Milligan — yes, that’s her real mid- ration board members overwhelmingly dle name! — searches for clues after a thief stole her family’s approved the plan. bird statue. Mayor Bloomberg hailed the deci- sion as a “vote of confidence in Brook- lyn and its future as a great place to live, work, and visit.” “This project will ensure that the thousands of New Yorkers and tour- On the case ists who visit Brooklyn Bridge Park Photo provided by Brothers Toll See TOLL on page 3 Toll Brothers won a bid to build a hotel and condominium complex at Pier 1, inside Brooklyn Bridge Park. Move over Nancy Drew, Slope’s Luna Danger hunts a ‘birdlar’ By Natalie O’Neill That is until Yang discovered a The Brooklyn Paper rusty thigh-high statue of a bird — Bird watchers A birdbrained bandit stole a metal a one-of-a-kind lawn ornament made sculpture of a heron from a Park Slope of found objects she bought at a yard Goose advocates bust out cameras family’s garden — and now there’s a sale in Maine eight years ago — had 7-year-old sleuth trying to crack the vanished from its perch. By Sydney Lupkin GooseWatch have changed They claim the slaughters case with the help of her mom. Yang was stunned by the disap- for The Brooklyn Paper strategy in their second year take place without proper trans- The mystery began when 13th Street pearance of her pointy-beaked friend David Karopkin and his crew attempting to save geese from parency and say Brooklynites resident Amy Yang returned home on when a neighbor said she had spotted are actually happy when they federal exterminators, going are shockingly unaware of the the afternoon of June 7 and spotted a man who looked like a construction see goose poop in the morn- from interventionists intent on executions — which the US a trail of sand leading from her yard worker in his 30s lugging the sculpture ing in East River State Park — disrupting goose roundups to Department of Agriculture to the sidewalk. down the street at around noon. it’s a sign the football-shaped wildlife watchdogs with cam- conducts to lessen the risk of “I didn’t think anything of it; I That’s when Yang, her son Mars, Photo by Elizabeth Graham waterfowl have survived an- eras hoping to sway public opin- collisions between birds and thought my son had been playing,” and her daughter Luna sprang into David Karopkin, founder of Goosewatch NYC, hopes to other day. ion and end the killings once planes. she said. See SLEUTH on page 11 stop goose exterminations through documentation. Karopkin and his group and for all. See GEESE on page 11 Late last call for Jay-Z’s Barclays bar By Natalie O’Neill until 2 am at the posh lounge. “There is no better home for [it],” to allow “luxury” vendors such as the Slope resident Steve Ettinger. stadium quali- The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn-born superstar plans Jay-Z said last week. 40/40 Club to sell booze until 2 am af- “Barclays withheld information — fies as a venue to launch a Kings County version of But frustrated neighbors claim Bar- ter gaining the endorsement of Com- and violated the letter and the spirit of that requires Rap mogul Jay-Z will open a sprawl- his popular Manhattan venue the 40/40 clays Center operators evaded man- munity Board 6 . the law,” Ettinger said. “They should only a single li- ing, high-end sports bar inside the Bar- Club inside the new Nets arena, com- datory public review by applying for By avoiding mention of the late last be held accountable.” quor license even clays Center — but neighbors have 99 plete with a 350-seat restaurant and a a single liquor license for the entire call at high-end clubs and private suites, Barclays Center spokeswoman though it will house multiple booze problems with a plan to serve booze space for events. arena — and only revealing their plan the arena avoided scrutiny, said Park Mandy Gutmann said the 18,200-seat See JAY-Z on page 11 Water fi ght Parents: Popped balloons a real playground menace By Eli Rosenberg exa Orr, who brings her young The Brooklyn Paper daughter and baby son to the tot Big kids with water balloons lot in the park’s southwest cor- have turned a Prospect Park ner. “Since my daughter started tot lot into a choking hazard crawling, I couldn’t believe all for toddlers, say concerned of the junk on the ground.” Brooklyn parents. The fenced-off section It’s not the water for little tykes is just a frac- fights that are the tion of the playground’s problem, it’s the lit- total real estate, but a tle bits of latex that sprinkling water sculp- litter the recreation ture makes it appealing area for rug rats at for kids well beyond the the Vanderbilt Play- posted age limit of 5. Photo by Elizabeth Graham ground afterward — But that water sculp- and the children and ture has turned the play parents who refuse to area into the frontline for When you’re hot... clean up the mess, according to water-balloon battles — and par- worried moms and dads. ents with young children say Giana, a Yorkshire terrier, shows off her favorite hot dog brand for the second annual “It always makes me nervous there must be a better place for Photo by Stefano Giovannini Pet Day on the Coney Island Boardwalk on June 16. Along with the costume contest, as a mom to see these little pieces the splash fights. Abby Wolfson fears her 10-month-old baby Calliope will pets and owners were treated to free rides on Deno’s Wonder Wheel. of balloons everywhere,” said Al- See BALLOONS on page 11 try to eat broken water balloons. Slope bike lanes roll on THE WAR ON BRUNCH City no longer dragging feet on new path plans By Natalie O’Neill Park-side lane brewed. The Brooklyn Paper The long-planned traffic-calming The city is rolling out a pair of new MEAN scheme pleases cyclists who say the in- Park Slope bike lanes after hitting the frastructure is one more sign the pro- brakes on the paths last year amid the Streets tected Prospect Park West viaduct is controversy over the Prospect Park West here to stay. Photo by Stefano Giovannini cycling route. The battle for Brooklyn’s byways The proposed lanes on 14th and 15th On June 21, the Department of streets have also earned support from Photo by Bess Adler Transportation will unveil a plan for Park West — sixteen months after the neighbors, who say the paths give bik- Park Slope cyclists will soon two new bike paths — running east agency abruptly scrubbed a public meet- ers a straight-shot route from Gowanus Skip the mimosa get new bike paths on 14th on 14th Street and west on 15th Street ing to present the same roadway pro- to Prospect Park and help slow speed- and 15th streets. between Third Avenue and Prospect posal while a lawsuit over the nearby See BIKES on page 11 Councilmen introduce bill to end brunch war, but drinking ban stays Waterfront stuck in park By Aaron Short lyn after community leaders and city The Brooklyn Paper inspectors launched a 21-day offensive A treaty to end the War on Brunch against scofflaw restaurants. City won’t promise to fi nish two N. Brooklyn parks is on the table — but Sunday morning The new bill would change city laws diners will need to wait until noon be- to let restaurants open their sidewalk By Aaron Short terfront recreation areas will never ma- estimate when both projects would be fore they order mimosas. cafes before noon during the week’s The Brooklyn Paper terialize. complete and citing budget constraints Councilmen Steve Levin (D–Green- brunch apex — but it would have no City officials will not vow to build Two top Bloomberg aides deflected as the cause of the delays. Photo by Stefano Giovannini point) and Dan Garodnick (D–Manhat- impact on a state law that prohibits res- two stalled North Brooklyn parks be- multiple questions from councilmem- “We don’t have a bottomless pit of This stretch of waterfront is tan) introduced a much-anticipated bill taurants from serving alcohol before fore Mayor Bloomberg’s term runs out, bers over the future of Bushwick Inlet money — right now it’s just not possi- supposed to become Bushwick last Wednesday to allow outdoor din- noon on Sundays. adding to fears in Greenpoint and Wil- Park and a planned open space at 65 ble to acquire property,” said Parks As- Inlet Park, but city officials say ing on Sundays starting at 10 am in an Levin says his proposed law will liamsburg that the long-promised wa- Commercial St.