Yo u r Neighborhood — Yo u r News® BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2014 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Williamsburg & Greenpoint AWP/16 pages • Vol. 37, No. 51 • December 19–25, 2014 • FREE LITTLE DRUMMER BATTLE Beep gets fl ak from NYPD union for his tree-lighting nod to police chokehold death By Matthew Perlman The Brooklyn Paper Borough President Adams butted heads with a police union rep on Mon- day over a plan to use the Borough Hall Christmas-tree lighting to commemo- rate the death of Gowanus native Eric Garner at the hands of officers. Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch blasted the Beep after Adams announced he would dim the holiday lights at the ceremony, then beat a drum 11 times to mark the 11 times Garner said “I can’t breathe” as one officer choked him, then held him face-down with other officers’ help, kill- ing him, as the city medical examiner concluded. Lynch demanded that Adams hit the drum another 80 times to honor each Photo by Stefano Giovannini of the cops killed since 1999, including those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks and (Above) Borough President Ad- from subsequent health problems. The ams, right, looks on as Brooklyn Beep, a former NYPD captain and co- United Marching Band drummer founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforce- Royal Allah sounds 11 beats to ment Who Care, settled on seven addi- mark Eric Garner’s death, and one tional drum hits for each officer who for each police officer who died has died this year, saying that what New this year. (Right) Pat Lynch, head Yorkers need now is not strife but unity of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent about the importance of life. Association, who demanded “Our city is going through a time of dead police be honored, too. turmoil,” Adams said. “And really, con- The Christmas tree at Borough Hall after Borough President Adams turned on the lights, then dimmed versations on both sides seem to be add- them symbolically. forts last week, saying he is being un- ing to the tension. And that is not our helpfully divisive. goal here at Borough Hall.” “As a 22-year veteran of the New Hours before the event, Adams invited noting that Lynch has been a persistent a Staten Island grand jury’s non-indict- Lynch said threw police “under the bus” Associated Press / Bebeto Matthews Lynch to join him at the ceremony, but voice in the media in recent weeks. ment of Officer Daniel Pantaleo who, by questioning the Pantaleo decision York City Police Department, I under- the union rep was a no-show. Nearly daily protests have rocked with help, ended Garner’s life. and relating how he cautioned his son Speaker Melissa-Mark Viverito not at- stand better than most that PBA Presi- A spokesman for the union said Lynch New York since Nov. 25, following a In that time, Lynch has gone on the Dante, who is mixed-race, to be extra- tend their funerals, citing the two pols’ dent Lynch has a job to protect and de- had other plans, though he declined to Ferguson, Missouri grand jury’s deci- attack against politicians who he per- careful when interacting with law en- “consistent refusal to show police of- fend his membership,” he said. “But it say what exactly he was up to. sion not to indict the police officer who ceives as being insufficiently support- forcement. Last week Lynch went so far ficers the support and respect they de- should not involve action that may ap- “It was a late invitation and Mr. Lynch shot and killed unarmed teen Michael ive of police officers. He has focused as to draw up a form for rank-and-file serve.” pear to indicate that the City is not united is extraordinarily busy,” said Al O’Leary, Brown, gaining new momentum with particular ire on Mayor DeBlasio, who cops to request DeBlasio and Council Adams spoke out against those ef- on public safety.” Menorah size matters Bklyn rabbis battle for ‘world’s-biggest’ bragging rights By Matthew Perlman Butman doesn’t dispute the Park The Brooklyn Paper Slope Chabad’s six-inch advantage, It’s a menorah arms race. but insists the girth of his Manhat- As Jews across Brooklyn cele- tan light-stand is greater. brated Hanukkah, starting on Tues- “This is wider and weighs day, two borough congregations more. There’s no comparison,” were claiming to have erected the he said. world’s largest menorahs, one at A rabbi with the Park Slope Grand Army Plaza, and one at the congregation did not dispute But- memorial park of the same name man’s claim. Associated Press / Vince Bucci on the distant island of Manhat- “They’ve got the width and Diana Ross just hit 70, but she is still working stages. tan . When it comes to the holy we got the height,” said Moshe candelabra, size does matter, one Hecht. rabbi said. The Festival of Lights runs for “There is an obligation on ev- eight days and nights, commemo- eryone to do the best they can,” rating the rededication of the Holy said Shmuel Butman, director of Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd Motown in Flatbush! the Lubavitch Youth Organization century B.C. Giant menorahs also in Crown Heights, which is respon- went up outside Borough Hall and Diana Ross to reopen Kings Theatre Feb. 3 sible for the Manhattan menorah. in Manhattan Beach to mark the “The larger and grander the style, occasion. By Noah Hurowitz shop, in the name of money, the more light it gives.” Jews in other parts of the world The Brooklyn Paper not love, in 1977, and in sub- Butman’s menorah stands 33.5- also claim to have built the world’s The queen of Motown is going sequent years lost light fixtures feet tall, including the center can- largest menorah, including a group to let the good times roll at the to thieves, ornate plaster-work dle, and is certified in the Guin- in Washington, D.C ., and one in Loew’s Kings Theatre in Flatbush to water damage, and red-vel- ness Book of World Records as the Tel Aviv. In fact, last year the Tel at its grand reopening. vet drapes to mildew. world’s largest menorah. Aviv menorah stood a whopping Diana Ross is set to reach out In 2012, Ace Theatrical But Brooklyn’s colossal candle- 92 feet, according to its creators , and touch a few thousand some- Group inked a deal with the holder stands a whole six inches though we have so far not been bodies as the first act to take the city to restore the cinema to taller when its center bulb is added, able to find an explanation of who stage on Feb. 3. The big show will its former glory. The wood- the Chabad of Park Slope claims, has forearms that long. reopen the picture palace that work and marble floors were and the group is so certain of its as- The face-off between Kings has been shuttered for nearly 40 largely intact and the restor- sertion that it runs the website www. County rabbis is the latest in a de- years and is in the closing weeks ers, convinced that the moun- worldslargestmenorah.com. cade of flashpoints in the meno- of a nearly $100-million over- tain was high enough, but not Now, given enough money, rah wars, which have also promi- haul. A Brooklyn booster hailed too high to surmount, began a equipment, and expertise, any nently featured the Congregation the news. $94-million restoration of their rabbi seeking to grab bragging B’nai Avraham of Brookyn Heights. “It is only fitting that the crown love child, with taxpayers foot- rights could blow these menorahs Back in 2005, the Heights congrega- tion and Park Slope’s Chabad were jewel of Flatbush, and one of the ing half of the bill. out of the water, but he would bump Photo by Cate Dingley finest theaters in America, will Tickets for “An Evening with up against the holy height limit of claiming “Brooklyn’s largest pub- Photo by Steve Solomonson The menorah at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza is the bor- have one of the greatest artists Diana Ross” are on sale now. 20 cubits, the cubit being an an- ough’s biggest, and the city’s tallest, but it has some com- lic menorah” and “Brooklyn’s offi- ever as its inaugural show,” said The Loew’s Kings Theatre cient unit of measurement equiv- cial menorah,” respectively . on Flatbush Avenue. “An Evening with Diana petition from a wider menorah erected across the East River Chamber of Commerce head Carlo Ross” at the Loew’s Kings alent to the length of someone’s at another, lesser known Grand Army Plaza. Now the contest has moved onto Scissura. “By bringing Broadway Theatre (1027 Flatbush Ave. forearm, from the elbow to the the world stage and, despite the back to Brooklyn, the Kings The- ater, the Kings Theatre was one of between Duryea and Re- tip of the middle finger. There is abundance of boasting on all sides, atre will be a destination for peo- New York’s five sumptuously dec- gent places in Flatbush, obviously some variability built Brooklyn rabbis in question un- “largest.” Both the Brooklyn and Hecht insists it is not a rivalry. ple across the country — and Di- orated Loew’s Wonder Theatres, http://www.kingstheatre. into converting cubits — the in- derstand the limit to be 32 feet — Manhattan camps have stuck to the “Not only is there no compe- ana Ross is the perfect performer and operated for decades along- com/shows/an-evening-with- ternational Lubavitch movement’s but with the height cap, the quest 32-foot limit, while counting the tition, we support each other.