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INSIDE: PAGES AND PAGES OF COUPONS TO SAVE YOU CASH! Yo u r Neighborhood — Yo u r News® BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2013 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn and Williamsburg AWP/14 pages • Vol. 36, No. 33 • August 16–22, 2013 • FREE FACE THE MUSIC As MTV show approaches, nabe worries about impact By Natalie Musumeci Block Association. The Brooklyn Paper MTV and the Barclays Center held an in- The Video Music Awards are landing in vite-only meeting for residents in June, but Brooklyn in less than two weeks and secrecy company officials were unprepared to field around the event has Barclays Center neigh- simple queries like how many cars to expect, bors scared MTV’s moon man plan has all who will move along idling limos, or how the makings of an Apollo 13. the loud crowds will be contained, meet- Prospect Heights residents say they have no ing attendees say. The award show was on idea what to expect when the award show the agenda of another meeting in July or- touches down at the arena and, having ganized by Empire State Development, the heard next to nothing from the music state agency overseeing the arena, but offi- network, some fear the worst. The in- cials from MTV and Mayor Bloomberg’s of- ternationally televised event is likely to fice did not even bother to show up, accord- fill the 18,000-seat arena at Flatbush and ing to locals, leaving them feeling caught in Photo by Stefano Giovannini Atlantic avenues on Aug. 25 and locals say a bad romance. Sterling Street residents Alicia Boyd and Claudia Loftis helped their block win the title “Every question one could ask, it was like, of “greenest” in the borough. that network officials have not answered even the most basic questions about street ‘Well, the relevant people aren’t here,’ ” said traffic, noise pollution, construction, and Tom Boast of the Carlton Avenue Block As- other possible disruptions before, during, sociation. and after the massive bash. AP Photo / Peter Kramer Residents said that the only concrete de- “We don’t know what our nights will be Lady Gaga is scheduled to perform tails they have about the celebrity blow- The green giants like and what our days will be like,” said at MTV’s Video Music Awards at the out arrived in the form of a two-page letter Peter Krashes, president of the Dean Street Barclays Center on Aug. 25. See MTV on page 5 Sterling Street takes Greenest Block prize By Natalie Musumeci honor, judging on the basis of stones and brick row houses and The Brooklyn Paper garden lushness, floral home its shrubbery and window plant- Sterling Street is finally the adornment, and community ers beat out 200 other stretches ICE TO SEE YOU greenest in Brooklyn. elbow grease. of road in neighborhoods from The foliage-filled block be- “It won because it was ab- Greenpoint to Coney Island. tween Washington and Bed- solutely the most impressive,” Sterling Street’s yeoman yard Two long-delayed rinks to open this winter ford avenues in Prospect Lef- said Robin Simmen, director workers have entered the contest ferts-Gardens was named the of GreenBridge, the arm of the eight times before, but this year By Danielle Furfaro frustrated by delays that melted say. Both projects failed to open “Greenest Block in Brooklyn” garden that runs the verdant they wooed a panel of judges, The Brooklyn Paper their prospects last year. last year due to money troubles, last Wednesday — after nearly a tournament, which is now in who visited not once, but three Photo by Stefano Giovannini Sharpen your skates. The McCarren Park pool and forcing the skaters of Williams- decade of vying for the title. its 19th year. times, by lining the curb with The ice rink at McCarren Ice-skating rinks are coming to the replacement for Prospect burg, Greenpoint, and brownstone The Brooklyn Botanic Gar- The block is lined with well- whiskey barrel planters and deco- Park Pool is finally set to two Brooklyn parks this winter, Park’s Wollman rink will both Brooklyn to trek long distances den awarded the horticultural preserved, two-story brown- See GREEN on page 12 open this December. to the relief of borough skaters open in mid-December, officials See ICE on page 12 Fight-stone group Activists: New development will be disaster By Natalie Musumeci development, which is slated to site early next year and finish The Brooklyn Paper rise on a canal-front property work by 2015. The massive luxury housing bounded by Bond, Carroll, and “The project’s design is ill- complex headed for the banks of Second streets. Neighbors gath- suited for the community,” said the Gowanus Canal breaks laws ered on the Carroll Street Bridge, First Street resident Warren Co- and will flood neighborhood which spans the fetid waterway, hen of Save Gowanus, the group streets with putrid canal water, just steps from where the real es- behind the rally. opponents of the project said at tate firm is preparing to build the Lightstone opponents have Photo by Elizabeth Graham a protest last Thursday. 700-unit rental project . blasted the development since the Gowanus activist Warren Cohen and mayoral hopeful Bill Dozens rallied that night to The Lightstone Group ex- beginning , complaining that new Thompson rallied against the Lightstone high-rise last week. protest the Lightstone Group pects to break ground on the See GOWANUS on page 11 PLUS: WHAT’S WITH Keeping the Inter-faith ALL THE SECURITY GUARDS AT LICH? Court shuffl e gives hope to would-be hospital saviors SEE PAGE 5 By Danielle Furfaro The Brooklyn Paper giving hospital advocates extra time to The court tasked with overseeing the fi- file for an injunction to halt the sudden nancial execution of a Bedford-Stuyvesant shuttering. hospital is keeping the Inter-faith alive, if “Our lawyers are working on every only for an extra week and a half. possible angle to make sure the commu- Activists bent on keeping the Inter- nity’s needs are met here,” said Dan Lutz. faith Medical Center open have a little Photo by Steve Solomonson legal breathing room thanks to a court spokesman for the New York State Nurses reprieve that will push the closure pro- Association, a union. cess back 11 days. Hospital staffers and politicians, includ- Evil umpire The Eastern District bankcruptcy ing public advocate and mayoral hope- court was scheduled to approve the In- ful Bill DeBlasio, are also planning to Darth Vader throws out the first pitch during Friday’s terfaith closure plan Aug. 15, but a judge Photo by Hannah Palmer Egan fight the hospital shutdown through street Star Wars Night celebration at MCU Park. Don’t miss has postponed the hearing until Aug. 26, Protesters rally to save Interfaith Medical Center. See INTERFAITH on page 12 our Cyclones coverage on page 2. Ire over giant Bklyn invades ... Sweden? Brewery will host a four-day festival in Stockholm By Danielle Furfaro ough’s food, art, and music scenes to is known for: a simplicity and forag- G’point project The Brooklyn Paper the strange soil of Stockholm, start- ing in cooking, and there is an explo- They gave us delicious meatballs and ing on Aug. 22. The party is in its sec- sion of indie rock from both places,” By Danielle Furfaro Ikea. Now, Brooklyn is giving Swe- ond year and organizers say Brooklyn said Ben Hedson, marketing director The Brooklyn Paper den an injection of indie rock and ar- residents have more in common with at the Brooklyn Brewery, which put the A humongous housing devel- tisanal eats. their city-dwelling Swedish counter- fest together in partnership with Swed- opment planned to rise in Green- Photo by Elizabeth Graham A four-day, Brooklyn-themed fes- parts than they might think. ish music promoters Debaser (yes, like point at the confluence of New- Therese Flemstrom of Karlskoga, tival, called Brooklyn, Sweden, will “Scandinavia has become known for the Pixies song ). town Creek and the East River is Sweden at the Brooklyn Brewery. bring a quirky cross-section of the bor- many of the same things that Brooklyn See SWEDEN on page 11 going to force up rents, endanger new residents, and strain neigh- borhood resources to the break- Photo by Stefano Giovannini ing point, neighbors said at a rau- Helen Kersten voices her cous meeting on Tuesday. disapproval of the plans for the Greenpoint Landing at a Robinson statue defaced The community board meeting meeting on Tuesday night. was the first public hearing on the By Scott Hansen is investigating the vandalism of the The grotesque graffiti marring the Greenpoint Landing project, which for The Brooklyn Paper iconic statue of Robinson and his team- base of the statue included “F--- Jackie high-rise village in their backyard. will include 10 towers and as many A vandal scrawled neo-Nazi slo- mate Pee Wee Reese that stands outside Robinson,” “Die n------,” “Heil Hit- One of the most vocal opponents as 5,500 apartments on 22 acres. gans and racist slurs on the statue of the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, ler,” and a swastika scribbled with a was Helen Kersten, who said the Many of the 250 who attended the Dodger great Jackie Robinson outside but has yet to collar the scoundrel re- black marker. development’s pricey rents would packed meeting came to let devel- MCU Park in Coney Island last Tues- sponsible. Cops from the 60th Precinct found push her out of the neighborhood opers and local pols know that they day night, and cops are scouring the “[The vandalism] was a biased act the vandalism at 8:30 am on Wednes- Photo by Elizabeth Graham are not happy about the idea of a See BIG on page 6 borough for the culprit.

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