/ Jeff Bachner / Jeff / Tom Callan / Tom The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn LEFT: Catholics visibly demonstrated their faith this cross. Above, Dorothy Connor prays at St. Thomas Korean Traditional Music & Dance Institute of NY per- week, beginning the penitential Lenten season — which Aquinas church on Ninth Street and Fourth Avenue in formed Sunday at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This is Penance & joy leads to Easter on March 23 — by receiving on their Park Slope. RIGHT: In advance of the Chinese new year the 4706th year on the Chinese calendar; it’s the Year of foreheads ashes of burned palms in the shape of a celebration, which began on Thursday, members of the the Rat, the first year in the 12-year lunar cycle. Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2008 Newspaper of the Year•Editor of theYear AWP/16 pages • Vol. 31, No. 6 • Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008 • FREE BUMBO IT’S TRUE! Battling panhandlers between the bridges By Mike McLaughlin RATNER A The Brooklyn Paper A grocer in DUMBO has posted signs urging customers not to give money to the panhandlers who congregate near the entrance — the latest salvo in an ongoing war against beggars in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. “We’ve heard from more than half our cus- tomers that they’ve been harassed by panhandlers BIG LIAR! in front of the store,” said Maik Fawzy, the man- ager of Peas & Pickles, the neighborhood’s largest supermarket. “We’ve actually had loyal customers who stopped coming here because of it.” By Dana Rubinstein The signs encourage patrons to report “harass- The Brooklyn Paper Pols must hit ment” to the store’s management and reminds cus- It’s official, direct from Forest City Rat- Vinoly Ratner in wallet tomers that it’s better to donate to legitimate charities ner Companies: the Atlantic Yards develop- EDITORIAL / PAGE 12 than to individuals on the street. The plan for the Domino Sugar factory site, in view of the Williamsburg Bridge, would include a glass er is a liar. tower atop the landmark factory buildings (near center), as well as a number of other residential towers. The anti-panhandling notices are the latest ex- Forest City Ratner now admits that its Braun in a legal document that surfaced this ample of DUMBO’S ongoing struggle with begging. claim of a tax revenue windfall — a justifica- week. At a DUMBO Improvement District meeting tion for the government’s support of the $4 Braun himself previously stated in court that in October, neighborhood residents implored the billion project — was actually concocted by the $4.4 billion number came from the state. police to crack down. Ratner’s paid consultant, and was not based “[M]y statement in my prior affirmation that But John Kenny, a crime prevention officer from on an analysis by state officials as the devel- the ‘environmental impact statement for the the 84th Precinct, told the audience that begging is a DOMINO EFFECT oper repeatedly claimed. project estimates that the project will create … First Amendment right — though there are limits “The $4.4 billion figure is in the report of a $4.4 billion in net tax revenues for the city and against aggressive cadging. Kenny’s advice for cur- consultant who had been retained by [Forest the state over 30 years’ is mistaken, because tailing the problem was the same as that on the Plans on the table, advocates spar City Ratner Companies] and does not appear ‘[t]here is simply no projection at all regarding signs in Peas & Pickles — stop giving handouts. in the state’s [Final Environmental Review the net tax revenues contained in the EIS.’” “People who understand panhandling have come Statement,]” said Ratner attorney Jeffrey The revelation appeared in a footnote to a fil- to the neighborhood to explain that the only thing By Mike McLaughlin in the complex to make way for Kersavage was also upset that the ing in a lawsuit challenging the validity of the you can do if you want these people to go away is The Brooklyn Paper nine residential towers. iconic, neon Domino sign might not state’s environmental review. It was first report- stop giving them money,” said Tucker Reed, execu- The matter is ostensibly about ar- be maintained. ed on Wednesday by Atlantic Yards Report. tive director of the DUMBO Improvement District. Preservationists and affordable- chitecture right now, but the devel- “We’d like to keep it, but it’s not housing advocates battled this Prior to this latest admission, the developer Around the same time, a new Web site, DUM- oper hopes the 30 percent of apart- a simple thing to figure out where to James, Yassky: had said that the 16-skyscraper-and-arena devel- BOwatch, made vague promises that it would take week over a proposal to convert ments at below-market rates and put it or how to support it,” said opment, the largest in Brooklyn’s history, would pictures of all panhandlers. the Domino Sugar site in Will- public access to the waterfront will Lappin. generate a total of $5.6 billion for the city and Given the anti-panhandling attitude in DUM- iamsburg — including three land- sweeten the $1.2 billion deal. Supporters of the project say the Ax Yards funds state and that once city and state contributions BO, it’s no surprise that at least one of the mendi- marked buildings — into a devel- “We want to harmonize preserva- possible loss of the sign does not The Brooklyn Paper were factored in, $4.4 billion in net revenue. cants had a strong opinion about the new Peas & opment with more than 2,200 units tion with affordable housing and outweigh the hundreds of sub-mar- Two city councilmembers are not giving Ratner executives had said the jaw-drop- Pickles sign. of housing. creating an open public space,” said ket rate units the development ping number came from the state’s own Final “That sign can kiss my ass — and so can you,” The Landmarks Preservation Mike Lappin, president of CPC Re- would provide. up on their bid to withhold hundreds of mil- Environmental Impact Statement, written by he told a Brooklyn Paper reporter on Friday. Commission, which held a hearing sources. “It’s very difficult to get a devel- lions of dollars in city and state subsidies the Empire State Development Corporation. His fellow panhandler said she doesn’t think the on Tuesday, is being asked to ap- But for aesthetes, it was a visual oper to make that kind of commit- from the Atlantic Yards mega-development, Critics said the news was yet another ex- pair bothers anyone — even after the male half of prove the plans for the sugar refin- cacophony. ment,” said Monsignor Alfred LoP- despite an initial rejection by the council. ample of Ratner’s untrustworthiness. the team had just been ticketed by a cop from the ery, which was built in 1884. Pro- “The proposed glass box addi- into of Catholic Charities Brooklyn Councilmembers David Yassky (D–Brook- “The whole project has been built upon 84th Precinct for disorderly conduct at the corner posed renovations include adding tion, plunked on top of the land- and Queens. “So we realize there lyn Heights) and Letitia James (D–Fort Greene) lies,” said Daniel Goldstein, spokesman for of Washington and Front streets. five stories of glassed apartments on mark, is simply too large and lacks are tradeoffs you have to make.” asked the council’s Finance Committee to take Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. “It’s hard “I’m just out here trying to get mine like every- top of the existing 12 floors of the the compositional organization and The Landmarks Preservation up the matter of those Atlantic Yards subsidies to imagine that’s the only misinformation that one else,” she said. landmarked factory. the arrangements of details that Commission did not rule on the pro- while considering a resolution calling for the they publicized over the past years.” They would not reveal their names. The developer would also de- would relate it to the landmark,” posal, which also requires rezoning state to end property-tax exemptions for Madi- Neither the Empire State Development — with Adam F. Hutton molish several non-landmarked — said Lisa Kersavage, a director at the plant from manufacturing to res- son Square Garden. Corporation nor Forest City Ratner would but, to some, historical — buildings the Municipal Arts Society. idential. See YARDS SUBSIDIES on page 13 comment for this article. Slope baby doc beaten PAY-TO-PARK PLAN CHEERED By Ben Muessig By Mike McLaughlin A commission studying commuters park in neighbor- for The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Paper Mayor Bloomberg’s plan — hoods with ample mass transit which would charge drivers and finish their trips to work A gun-toting robber broke into a A new facet of the city’s con- Park Slope doctor’s office on Jan. $8 to enter Manhattan below on the subway, thus avoiding gestion-pricing plan would add the “congestion” fee. 28, hospitalizing a 67-year-old pe- 60th Street during business a fee for Brooklyn drivers look- hours — has recommended Residents would be charged diatrician for a handful of cash — ing to park their cars on their implementing the neighbor- between $75- and $125-a- but the beloved doctor, practicing own blocks — and if Monday hood parking permit system year for the placard allowing on 13th Street for nearly 30 years, night’s meeting on the propos- by next March as a proactive them to park in their neigh- isn’t letting the beating deter him al is any indication, many res- strike against the “park-and- borhood.