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SATURDAY • FEBRUARY 14, 2004 Serving New York’s original Historic District since 1978 Published every Saturday by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 55 Washington Street, Suite 624, Brooklyn NY 11201. Phone 718-834-9350 • www.BrooklynPapers.com • © 2004 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 18 pages including GO BROOKLYN • Vol. 27, No. 6 BWN • Saturday, Feb. 14, 2004 • FREE Just for frills Ratner site is Valentine’s gift ideas for the guy with THIS WEEKEND love in his heart –- and sex on his mind! ‘up for grabs’ Councilwoman says MTA may seek proposals for Nets arena rail yards By Deborah Kolben The Brooklyn Papers Developer Bruce Ratner may have some competition for his planned Nets arena site, a city / Greg Mango / Greg councilwoman told Prospect Heights property owners this week. “The MTA is considering putting out a request for proposals,” said Councilwoman Letitia James, referring to development over the 11-acre The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn stretch of Long Island Rail Road stor- Bullets fly: A 1950s “bullet bra,” on display at Olive’s Very Vintage boutique in Carroll Gar- age yards running along Atlantic Av- dens, will knock him dead. enue east of Flatbush Avenue. James was speaking before a group By Lisa J. Curtis flannel pajama type (now 50 percent off!) or a dar- of about 100 residents meeting Wed- GO Brooklyn Editor ing diva — the G-strings by Gossard with nesday night to discuss a potential law- sparkling crystal accents are a MUST ($27-$36). suit to block the arena plan. “Your husband called … he said to buy We suspect the “G” is short for your predictable re- anything you want.” She cited a “government source” as action when she tries it on: “Goodness gracious!” providing her the information. That’s the message on a discreet sign inside “And they’re comfortable, because they lay flat The rail yards are the key compo- Bella Lingerie, a lavish boutique in Bay Ridge, on the skin,” points out practical Carla. nent of Ratner’s sweeping Atlantic but as Valentine’s Day is here, it’s also a reminder The Catanzaro gals are glad to help guide you Yards project, a $2.5 billion, Frank to those husbands, boyfriends — and girlfriends through the array of temptations in silk, lace and Gehry-designed professional basket- — who waited until the very last minute to run ribbons: the Loungewear Betty marabou-bedecked ball arena flanked by soaring office (don’t walk) and buy some sexy underthings for baby doll sets (y’know, what the Fembots were towers and 4,500 residential units. the ladies they love. wearing in “Austin Powers”?) are fun in demure The arena would house Ratner’s re- Papers File The Brooklyn To further cut to the lace, let us guide you pink or femme fatale black ($100 for set); the Mary cently purchased New Jersey Nets. Brooklyn’s historic Gage & Tollner restaurant, located on Fulton Mall, could not draw enough through the frilly labyrinth of choices available in Green red silk chemise is flatteringly trimmed in Questions as to who owns the rights Metrotech business people, says its owner, Joe Chirico, who will close for good Saturday night. Brooklyn. black lace, with matching robe ($63, $127 respec- to build over the yards first surfaced At year-old Bella Lingerie, owners and sisters- tively); and the delightfully ruffled, mischievously last summer when newspapers learned in-law Carla and Jessica Catanzaro maintain a revealing, black Arianne camisole ($40), em- of Ratner’s plans to purchase the bas- gift registry — or database — of their customers’ broidered with hearts, can be paired with ketball team. sizes and wish lists. So if your Juliet is already a matching thong boy short ($22), and it’s Tom Kelly, a Metropolitan Trans- FOR WHOM THE Bella customer, they may already know what both gorgeous and affordable. portation Authority (MTA) spokes- she’s secretly hoping for. “We try to carry all the lines man, denied on Thursday that the If you’d like your gift to be a complete surprise, found in Manhattan stores,” ex- agency had issued a request for pro- Bella Lingerie is brimming with every possible in- plains Carla. “We have a lot posals from developers and said the carnation of boudoir-wear, whether your lady’s the See LINGERIE on page 13 agency had no plans to do so. There’s more to BELL TOLLNERS INSIDE The MTA is not required to request other proposals, he said, adding that once Ratner submits his Atlantic Yards proposal, it would have to go before Downtown restaurant closes the full MTA board for a vote. By Deborah Kolben the famed restaurant just blocks that Joe has been forced to close But James, a vocal opponent of the The Brooklyn Papers away, Markowitz said it was un- the restaurant just on the cusp of all arena, said asking for proposals would likely. the development in the area,” said DOUBLE TRAGEDY “open up the process.” Farewell, Gage & Tollner. “Things change,” Markowitz Kenneth Adams, president of the “A couple of developers have contact- After 125 years, one of New said. “That type of dining has re- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. City warned a year ago of deadly corner ed me and expressed interest in develop- York City’s oldest restaurants, dec- grettably passed.” “It’s a reminder that Down- ing commercial, residential and retail orated with red velvet wallpaper When Chirico, who also owns town Brooklyn is a work in space for local residents and wanted to and gas-lit chandeliers, is closing the Marco Polo Ristorante, at progress and we need more peo- for good. where two youths were crushed by truck know what the process was,” she said. Court and Union streets in Car- ple on the street, especially at James declined to name the devel- On Valentine’s Day, the last or- roll Gardens, bought Gage & night, and a more lively, inviting opers but said they had “a record of ders of crab cakes and sirloin steak Tollner in 1995, he thought the streetscape,” added Adams. By Jotham Sederstrom building affordable housing in Brook- will be dished out as many cus- The Brooklyn Papers lyn and throughout the city.” tomers no doubt wax nostalgic new office buildings in the area, On most days, Gage & Tollner Two Park Slope boys on Westchester Assemblyman Richard about the passing of a longtime especially at the nearby Metro- serves anywhere from 40 to 80 their way home from school Brodsky, who chairs the Committee on Brooklyn institution. tech campus, would beef up the diners during lunch and another 60 Corporations, Authorities and Com- Unable to attract enough cus- lunchtime crowd. during dinnertime, Chirico said. were run over and killed by a So he invested $1.2 million to The restaurant seats 195. landscaping truck at Third missions, said it was too early to dis- tomers to the pricey restaurant, cuss a request for proposals. known for its solid mahogany ta- restore the place to its original Part of the problem, too, has Avenue and Ninth Street this grandeur. been that the restaurant’s location, week. “I don’t think that the decision-mak- bles and mirrored walls, owner ing process is yet understood,” said Joe Chirco sold the building, in But instead of patronizing the nestled on Fulton Mall among And compounding the tragedy Brodsky who has aggressively cam- which the restaurant occupies neighboring restaurants, office discount shops and fast food for the families of the fifth-graders paigned for MTA reform. two stories. He hopes to open the workers stuck to their buildings, he restaurants, does not draw diners came word that the city Depart- In addition to the LIRR tracks, Rat- restaurant again somewhere else. said, noting the cafeterias that many willing to fork over $14 to $29 ment of Transportation ignored the ner’s plan would need the state to con- News of Gage & Tollner’s clos- Metrotech businesses have set up. for a lunchtime entree. recommendations of a study it demn more than two square blocks of ing came just as Borough President “It’s very disappointing, be- The first restaurant in the city commissioned a year ago that private property. It is not clear what role Marty Markowitz — an avid sup- cause we thought with all this to receive landmark status for its called for traffic-calming measures the city would play. porter of all things gastronomic — business going on in Downtown interior, Gage & Tollner first at the deadly intersection. “The question is will the governor and a group of elected officials we would get much more cus- opened at 302 Fulton St., in 1879. The 130-page Downtown open the process for other developers to marked the opening of a new, state- tomers,” Chirico said. “But in The restaurant moved down the Brooklyn Traffic Calming study bid on the air rights or will he grant fa- of-the-art Brooklyn tourism center Metrotech everybody has their block to its current location, at warned that the intersection of / Jori Klein voritism to his law school class mate?” at Borough Hall. own cafeteria in each building.” 372 Fulton St., in 1882. Third Avenue and Ninth Street, and James said, noting that Gov. George Asked if the center could have “It’s sad to see Gage & Tollner “I’m very, very sad and disap- dozens of other hotspots, needed to Pataki and Ratner attended Columbia helped bring the needed traffic to close, but it’s especially frustrating pointed,” Chirico said. be re-engineered with extended Law School at the same time. sidewalk corners, or neck-downs. Additionally, it called for some of the traffic signals to be changed so Papers The Brooklyn that pedestrians would have a head Victoria Flores listens to Hail Marys recited for her son, Vic- start before trucks got the green tor, 11, while being comforted by family members at Tues- light.