Nov. 27–Dec. 3, 2015 Including Park Slope Courier, Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Courier, Brooklyn Heights Courier, & Williamsburg Courier FREE SERVING GOWANUS, PARK SLOPE, PROSPECT HEIGHTS, WINDSOR TERRACE, BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, DUMBO, METROTECH, BOERUM HILL, CARROLL GARDENS, COBBLE HILL, RED HOOK, WILLIAMSBURG & GREENPOINT Surprise! MS 313 is a BIG G-LICH! sci-school BY LAUREN GILL Lander: No The city blinded them with sci- ence! A Vinegar Hill middle apartment school will relocate to Dumbo and adopt a science-savvy cur- riculum next fall, offi cials an- nounced last Thursday, but rezoning parents say the city picked the institution’s new focus with- BY LAUREN GILL out running it by the commu- Prognosis negative! nity. Cobble Hill’s local coun- “The process was supposed cilman says he will oppose a to involve community input developer’s bid to rezone the and there was a considerable former Long Island College amount of effort put in by the Hospital site to build a giant community education coun- luxury housing complex — cil and parents,” said Maggie withholding a key vote the Spillane, who has kids in the real estate outfi t may need to same school district and is a get the proposal through the member of Community Edu- Council. cation Council 13, an advi- “The community doesn’t sory panel of parents. “But it support this plan and neither seemed to be pretty obvious it do I,” said Councilman Brad was decided before.” Lander (D–Cobble Hill) at a Schools czar Carmen Fa- meeting of civic group the rina announced during a Cobble Hill Association last meeting to vote on relocating Wednesday night. MS 313 in Vinegar Hill to a The property’s new owner new building at the corner of Fortis Property Group can Water and Dock streets — a still build a slightly-less-giant, move that a city panel unani- less-lucrative luxury housing mously approved — that the complex on the site — bounded newly situated school would by Atlantic Avenue and Pa- also be overhauled with a spe- Reading frenzy cifi c, Hicks and Henry streets cial focus on science, technol- — without the rezoning. Mia the kid and Baily the dog got together at Powerhouse on 8th bookstore in Park Slope on Nov. 20, ogy, engineering, and math But with the change, it subjects, emulating another where fi rst graders sharpened their literacy skills by reading topooches. For more, see page 12. could build many more units school elsewhere. Photo by Louise Wateridge — in exchange for which it is Continued on page 16 Continued on page 21 A CNG Publication Vol. 35 No. 48 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNDAILY.COM Yellow & Black Who said Black Friday wasas thee only day to save BIG?! ^ Laminate from ¢ ALL and Vinyl ON SALE 39 Black Friday sq ft While supplies last. Product Prefinished from ¢ prices & availability are subject HARDWOOD ON SALE 89 to change. Odd lots sold as Sale! ALL sqq ft Flooring is. Our South Hackensack, NJ from $ 49 store is closed on Sundays. Nov. 25th - Dec. 8th Bamboo ON SALE 1 ALL sq ft Perfect for New York, NY • (347) 286-7552 Staten Island, NY • (917) 426-0580 South Hackensack, NJ • (201) 343-5255 GIFT CARDS Gift Card tools, floors New York, NY • (212) 352-1111 Bronx, NY • (347) 773-2075 Union, NJ • (908) 613-0843 The Perfect Gift! and more! 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All eyes were focused on cuddly New exhibit celebrates Coney Island banners Bo and snuggly sis Mei Mei as By Allegra Hobbs Icy Signs provided the banners and ads Powers and fellow Icy artists as a tribute The display tracks the changes in the t is a sign of the times — and of the now on display in the Museum. “I think to the area’s local aesthetic, which affects neighborhood, in the arts community, place. we bring a really interesting inside per- every member of the local artist commu- and in the country as a whole, said the I An artist is paying tribute to Coney spective to it.” nity, he said. curator. Island with a collage of hand-painted Powers said he mastered his craft in the “In Coney, everybody carries 150 “It’s about the way that Coney Island signs — an art form indigenous to the neighborhood’s fast-paced and competi- years on their back with everything they has inspired artists since the late 19th they chilled in front of cooing dreamy beach town — displayed as part of tive signage scene, where local businesses do,” said Powers. “They’re all well-versed Century, and the way it has reflected what Brooklyn Museum’s focus on the history show off flashy and colorful hand-painted in the history of Coney Island and they all has been happening in the world at large,” and look of the waterfront nabe. The sign- lettering from skilled neighborhood art- play their part in the present day and in said Sharon Matt Atkins. painter says his connection to the People’s ists. The artists of Icy, which now operates paying tribute to the past.” “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To Playground gives the multi-tiered installa- out of Boerum Hill, churned out signs That history is laid out in the museum’s a Seagull)” and “Coney Island: Visions tion “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To for local spots like laundromats and res- accompanying exhibition “Coney Island: of an American Dreamland” at the a Seagull)” a special down-home vibe. taurants in Coney Island, where makers Visions of an American Dreamland,” Brooklyn Museum [200 Eastern Parkway crowds captivated by the mag- “We were employees, we were workers and consumers alike have strong opinions which features photographs by famed at Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, in the amusement park and in the neigh- about the craft. freak photographer Diane Arbus, nine- (718) 638–5000, www.brooklynmuseum. borhood,” said Stephen Powers, whose The Brooklyn Museum installation is teenth-century landscape paintings, and org]. On display until March 13. $16 sug- Coney Island-born sign-painting service a hodge-podge of signage created by novelty items dating from 1861 to 2008. gested donation. nifi cent mammals, whose ances- Your entertainment tors hail from the Himalayas. guide Page 39 The Wildlife Conservation Soci- ety, which operates the Prospect Park Zoo, saves red pandas in Police Blotter ..........................8 China and Myanmar as part of Standing O ............................22 its species survival program. It Rhymes with Crazy ............ 27 then breeds them to boost the Letters ....................................28 species’ declining numbers due Tom Allon ..............................29 to deforestation. Sports ......................................51 Photo by Julie Larsen Maher Education miscalculation HOW TO REACH US V’Hill parents: School quota won’t stop Dumbo kids taking over Mail: BY LAUREN GILL current community and ac- parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant Courier Life It is the sum of all their fears. cess to federal funding. and Park Slope — to make up Publications, Inc., The city’s plan for ensur- The city says it will give a guaranteed 50 percent, he 1 Metrotech Center North ing a school that currently priority for half of the seats to said. 10th Floor, Brooklyn, serves mostly minority, low- low-income kids living within “It’s not 50 percent with income kids in Vinegar Hill the new school zone, but it will conditions, it’s 50 percent pe- N.Y. 11201 is not over-run by rich white also give priority for any kid riod,” he said. “We want the General Phone: students when it expands who resides in the zone over opportunity to sustain our eq- (718) 260-2500 to include youngsters from those from outside of it. uity for the neighborhood.” News Fax: Dumbo next year just doesn’t That won’t result in a bal- The school currently re- (718) 260-2592 add up, say parents. anced mix, Hannah-Jones ceives federal funds for hav- “We don’t agree with it,” said, because low-income kids ing so many low-income stu- News E-Mail: said Faraji Hannah-Jones, co- make up a small portion of dents, but it would lose that [email protected] president of the parent-teacher the area, while Dumbo — one money if the percentage drops Display Ad Phone: association at PS 307 at a meet- of the richest neighborhoods below 60 percent. Education (718) 260-8302 ing on Monday night where in the city — is booming. The offi cials say they are willing Display Ad E-Mail: education offi cials unveiled school has 423 pupils right to keep working with families [email protected] their fi nal plan to redraw the now — some of whom come and the local school board to school’s boundaries to encom- WORK TO BE DONE: PS 307 Parent from outside the zone as part ensure that doesn’t happen.