CF:8C :C8JJ@=@<;J @EJ@;< May 6, 2012 Your Neighborhood — Your News® Apr. 27-May 3, 2012 Streisand eyeing LOUD Barclays BY NATALIE O’NEILL Barbra Streisand could play the Barclays Center during the arena’s opening weeks celebra- tion. Ticket reps for Brooklyn’s an- AND swer to Madison Square Garden told Brooklyn Weekly that the eight-time Grammy winning su- perstar and Erasmus HS graduate will play a homecoming concert at the arena this fall shortly after Jay-Z opens the place with several shows beginning on Sept. 28. Handlers for the showbiz god- dess wouldn’t confi rm she’s on her LATE way, and Barclays offi cials won’t say if the show has been booked, but Councilwoman Letitia James (D–Fort Greene) claims the star is Neighbors: B’Bridge work too noisy coming. “Barbra Streisand has a couple BY NATALIE O’NEILL West awake until the sun rises, ac- of days [at the arena],” the politi- One of the most famous land- cording to sleep-deprived neighbor cian said at a recent meeting, ac- marks in the city that never sleeps Dan Lee. cording to the blog Atlantic Yards is making sure its neighbors take “ It ’s b e en hel l ,” s aid L e e. “ We’re Report . that phrase literally, according to completely at their mercy.” Brooklyn’s Babs boosters were groggy Brooklynites angry about He and other residents want happy to hear the Streisand-re- late-night construction on the the city to start any noisy con- lated news just weeks after her Brooklyn Bridge. struction work earlier and end it half-sister Roslyn Kind — an ac- Noisy drilling at the base of the by midnight — but the city says complished singer and Brooklyn historic span begins at midnight it must burn the midnight oil to native in her own right — played BABS IS COMIN’: Ticket reps say Barbra Streisand will play Barclays Center. and usually lasts until around 4 am, avoid impeding the fl ow of traffi c in Flatbush . AP / Eddy Risch keeping residents on Cadman Plaza Continued on Page 5 Street meat standoff Masked snack attackers BY DANIEL BUSH Local merchants calling them- NATALIE O’NEILL ularly tosses dozens “It’s disgust- AND WILL BREDDERMAN selves Save Our Streets, led by Careless custodians at of trash bags con- ing — it’s like The simmering cold war be- Lone Star bar owner Tony Gen- a Windsor Terrace school taining half-empty the school serves tween Bay Ridge’s food vendors tile, set up folding tables on both have turned the surround- cartons of milk on them dinner every and Fifth Avenue’s brick-and-mor- Fifth Avenue and 86th Street at 7 ing block into a cafeteria the sidewalk in front night,” said neigh- tar businesses boiled over on Mon- am — taking over a spot use by for hungry raccoons — and of the school, attract- bor Pat Maliha. day morning when merchants oc- Middle Eastern Halal Cart — and rotten milk is always on the ing families of chubby She said school offi - cupied a prime piece of sidewalk sold newspapers and cookbooks. menu, according to angry critters that tear into the cials are ignoring the prob- used by a popular gyro seller — They also handed out T-shirts neighbors. plastic bags and spread rot- lem by failing to drain milk sparking a bizarre protest that and literature about how food Residents say the ting trash on Windsor Place cartons before chucking ended after a two-day standoff. Continued on Page 19 Graham Elizabeth by Photo clean-up crew at PS 154 reg- near 11th Avenue. Continued on Page 13 A CNG Publication • Vol. 1XX No. No. 6 18 • Vol. 1XX No. No. 6 17 • Vol. 1 No. 5 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNDAILY.COM 2 6, 2012 6, AY , M EEKLY W ROOKLYN B ‘The Hipster Hilton’ Posh Wythe Hotel opens in Williamsburg BY DERRICK LYTLE Now tourists won’t just visit Williamsburg — they’ll stay there. The Wythe Hotel opened for business on Tuesday, offering 72 rooms boasting original details, modern street art, a restaurant serv- ing seasonal fare, posh bars, a theater for fi lm screen- ings, and skyline views of Manhattan from the roof of the neighborhood’s newest luxury hotel. The hotel is built around the skeleton of a barrel and cask factory, constructed in 1901, and the building still has some of its in- dustrial charm. The de- velopment company Two Trees Management, which played a huge role convert- ing DUMBO from a neigh- borhood of factories into a booming residential and tech community with the Now Carrying borough’s highest rents , Ernest Hemingway preserved some of the old while adding up-to-date Vintage Inspired Eyewear amenities and features. A Williamsburg carpen- ter assembled the beds and desks using wood salvaged from the building, while designers left the ceilings STAYING INSIDE: The long-stalled hotel Wythe Hotel opened to adorned with some of the guests on Tuesday, offering visitors to Williamsburg an upscale factory’s original southern place to spend the night. Photos by Derrick Lytle yellow hard pine beams. But it’s not all antique The Wythe Hotel isn’t last fall under the name — the rooms feature audio Williamsburg’s fi rst luxury Hotel Williamsburg, before inputs so guests can blast lodging. it owners sold the building their favorite tracks from A stylish hotel set up and the hotel reopened as their iPods via in-the-wall shop on N. 12th Street ad- King and Grove Williams- speakers. jacent to McCarren Park burg. 3 M AY Ex-state senator’s 6, 2012, B highs and lows KRUGER GETS ROOKLYN W State Sen. Carl Kruger’s fall from grace had many EEKLY twists and turns. Here’s a rundown: February, 1994 Aaron Malinsky, and hos- Carl Kruger is elected pital CEO David Rosen. SEVEN YEARS to the state Senate in a Assistant U.S. Attorney special election. Bill Harrington told U.S. For the next 14 years, District Judge Jed Rakoff Disgraced pol sentenced for taking $1 million in bribes he maintains an offi ce on that he has 100,000 docu- Avenue U and puts forth ments and 30,000 recorded BY DANIEL BUSH a litany of bills, such as phone conversations to es- AND COLIN MIXSON one forcing pedestrians to tablish his case. A federal judge sentenced dis- shut off their iPods when Prosecutors say that graced state Sen. Carl Kruger to preparing to cross the Kruger used the bribe seven years in prison on April 26, street. money to pay for a multi- claiming that the pol’s scheme to ac- Kruger is a Democrat, million dollar home in cept close to $1 million in bribes was yet manages to fi t in well Mill Island that he shares a “dagger into the heart of good gov- with the GOP leadership with longtime companion ernment.” in the state Senate, and be- Dorothy Turano, the Dis- Kruger accomplice Michael comes the fi rst Democrat trict Manager of Commu- Turano — the former lawmaker’s to be given a committee nity Board 18, and son Mi- alleged lover and son of Community chairmanship in a Repub- chael Turano, who the FBI Board 18 District Manager Dorothy lican-run house. outed as Kruger’s lover. Turano, Kruger’s longtime compan- ion — received two years in prison November, 2008 Dec. 21, 2011 for his role in the political corruption Kruger forms a “Gang Kruger resigns from scandal. of Three” with a handful the state Senate so he A choked-up Kruger, who pleaded of other legislators and can keep his pension. guilty to accepting payoffs from deep- threatens to abandon the He then tearfully pleads pocketed lobbyists , told Manhattan thin Democratic majority, guilty to federal corrup- federal court Judge Jed Rakoff that which had just taken con- tion charges in Manhat- he’d learned his lesson. trol of the chamber, hand- tan federal court, ending “My actions will forever over- ing power back to the GOP. months of speculation shadow whatever legacy I intended The Democratic lead- over whether he had ac- to achieve,” he said. “My sentencing ership buckles under his cepted the bribes. hasn’t begun, but my punishment is threats and makes Kru- The normally brash well underway.” ger the powerful chair of Brighton Beach Demo- Yet Kruger, who once led the state the Finance Committee. crat, who professed his senate’s powerful Finance Commit- innocence for nearly a tee, wasn’t as contrite in an inter- July 12, 2010 year, agrees to pay back view with this paper moments before A Sheepshead Bay $450,000 of his ill-gotten he stepped into court. businessman tells an FBI gains as part of the plea “If there’s anything I can say informant that Kruger deal hammered out with about this it’s don’t stay at the table would fi x his problems federal prosecutors. too long,” Kruger said. “If you stay at WALK OF SHAME: (Above) Ex-state with the state if he threw the table too long, you lose.” Jan. 11, 2012 Sen. Carl Kruger leaves Manhattan fed- a fund raiser for the pol. Dorothy Turano, who prosecutors eral court after being sentenced to seven After a week of tight- Gov. Cuomo an- say benefi tted from Kruger’s bribe- years in prison for bribe receiving. (Right) lipped silence, Kruger fi - nounced that the dis- taking, didn’t show any remorse over nally speaks out about the graced ex-pol’s vacant what Kruger and her son had alleg- Michael Turano, Kruger’s accomplice and FBI’s probe into his cam- seat will be fi lled in a edly done as she watched the pro- alleged lover, walks his mother, Commu- paign practices, claim- March 20 special elec- ceedings from behind a pair of dark nity Board 18 District Manager Dorothy ing that he’s an innocent tion, setting the stage sunglasses.