LOVE TRAIN at RISK Cutting the G Train Will Kill Brooklyn Romances — Really!
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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 • ©2012 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Williamsburg & Bay Ridge AWP/16 pages • Vol. 35, No. 12 • March 23–29, 2012 • FREE LOVE TRAIN AT RISK Cutting the G train will kill Brooklyn romances — really! By Natalie O’Neill each other,” said Amber Van Natten, Other Brooklynites proclaim, only The Brooklyn Paper a Greenwood Heights resident whose half-jokingly, that they might have to Ending the G train extension is an boyfriend resides in Greenpoint. “It’s a split if the city nixes G service at Fourth assault on romance that will push many huge disservice to relationships.” Avenue–Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue, straphanging couples into long-distance Her beau, Christopher Moessner, 15th Street–Prospect Park, Fort Hamil- lives near the Nassau Avenue station ton Parkway and Church Avenue. mode, and might even break them up, — a seven-mile, 50-minute trek from “My girlfriend lives in Park Slope and lovebirds say. her home that involves planning ahead we’ll have to break up if the G line exten- Busy couples that depend on the at-risk and packing a bag. sion stops,” James Botha wrote on a peti- G train extension — which provides one- If the Metropolitan Transportation tion backing the additional G stops . seat service between North and Brown- Authority cuts service at the five stops The extension of the G only began two stone Brooklyns — worry that chopping in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and and a half years ago when the MTA started Photo by Elizabeth Graham the subway line will make cross-borough Kensington, dating would become much a lengthy overhaul of the Culver Viaduct LOVE ON THE LINE: Brooklyn lovebirds like Amber Van Natten and relationships the third rail of dating. Save the G tougher for the couple. that prevented the agency from turning the Christopher Moessner rely on the G train extension to see each other. “It would be almost impossible to see And they’re not alone. See LOVE on page 5 A BAD CATCH Odds are against Anglers fi shing illegally in Propect Park By Natalie O’Neill only pond out of the park. The Brooklyn Paper Meadows of “It’s a contrived operation — they don’t want to risk getting casinos in Coney Lawless anglers are up to caught,” said goose-saving park something fishy again in Pros- By Daniel Bush to turn into a glitzy, year-round pect Park: stashing illegal tools watchdog Ed Bahlman. The Brooklyn Paper tourist destination — but pols to facilitate an elaborate fish- The cooler discovery comes who are gambling on gambling smuggling operation, wildlife after Bahlman and his park-pa- Casino-lovers want Albany lovers claim. trolling partner Anne-Katrin Ti- legislators to roll the dice on say a more likely place for black- Someone stowed a cooler tze rescued, reported, and reha- Coney Island, but lawmakers jack and baccarat in New York containing illegal barbed hooks bilitated dozens of lake-dwelling who legalized seven Vegas-style City will be Aqueduct Racetrack, — devices that have killed and SHAME creatures after encounters with gaming rooms in the state last where joker poker machines al- wounded dozens of swans, geese fishermen and fishing equip- week say the odds are stacked ready rule the day. and ducks, not to mention fish — ment , including avian celebrity against the People’s Playground the state should allow a Board- “There’s a strong preference on the northwest side of the park’s in a bucket then zipped inside a “Beaky,” who was disfigured in Community Newspaper Group / Natalie O’Neill becoming Brooklyn’s gambling walk Empire to rise up in Co- for casinos to get built in places lake, near Lakeside Center. black cooler with a strap, believed a tragic run-in with a hook . Ed Bahlman discovered mecca. ney in order to draw even more where we already have racinos,” Park watchdogs discovered to be used to covertly transport Barbed hooks have a sharp, banned fishing hooks stuffed Residents and beachgoers say visitors to an area the city wants See CASINO on page 12 three of the banned hooks stuffed fish from the catch-and-release- See FISHING on page 12 in a cooler in Prospect Park. Watch those spaces City wants to cut mandatory parking The Avalon for new Downtown developments By Kate Briquelet effort to cut the number of opment harder to do.” The Brooklyn Paper parking spaces required for Real estate investors say The Brooklyner The city wants to drasti- new market-rate housing de- that the city’s current rules cally reduce the number of velopments and completely create half-empty car de- parking spaces required at eliminate mandatory park- pots. DKLB BKLN Downtown residential de- ing at below market-rate At the 42-story Avalon velopments — elating both buildings. Fort Greene, only half of its builders and transit advo- “Every developer out there 253 spaces are taken. The Brooklyner, DKLB BKLN, Photo Callan by Tom cates who claim bulky ga- would love to see Brooklyn rages raise rents and are un- with reduced parking mini- and the Oro reported simi- der-used wastes of space. mums,” said David Behin, a lar vacancies. Under the Department of partner at MNS, the real-es- David Kramer, principal Braaains... City Planning’s proposal, tate company that marketed at Hudson Companies, called The undead hit Clinton Street on Tuesday as dozens of actors decked out which will likely be presented the Furman Street condo One the current zoning rules in- 491 units; iit 365365 units;i 631631 units;i it in zombie costumes and makeup stormed Brooklyn Heights for a New York within a few months, Down- Brooklyn Bridge Park. “At the sane. 160 spaces, 126 spaces, 253 spaces, Lottery commercial. town would spearhead a city end of the day, it makes devel- See SPACE on page 12 52 are taken 63 are taken 126 are taken Frisky business Happy trails Williamsburg is a stop-and-frisk hot spot Park do-gooders build path By Aaron Short frisked 17,566 people last year the Williamsburg arts group El to notorious public sex spot The Brooklyn Paper — using the controversial po- Puente. “Young people used to By Natalie O’Neill Williamsburg leaders are lice practice more than all but be put in detention, now they’re The Brooklyn Paper getting put in cuffs.” furious with police for ag- four precincts citywide — even A quirky band of do-gooders gressively searching tens of as crime rates in the commu- The 10-year-old NYPD tac- built a path to a public sex spot thousands of neighborhood nity continue to decline. tic allows cops to stop anyone in Prospect Park to keep horny residents in the name of pub- “It’s not only illegal but to- they believe looks suspicious, woodsmen from trampling na- lic safety. tally immoral and contrary to may be armed, or exhibits un- ture while knockin’ boots. Cops in Williamsburg’s what the city stands for,” said usual behavior, question them, Litter Mob, a group of trash- 90th Precinct stopped and Luis Garden Acosta, head of See FRISKY on page 12 collecting volunteers, built a 50-foot-long wood-lined path atop an overgrown trail last week to prevent horndogs from damag- ing soil and killing plants while searching for the forest’s equiv- alent of an hourly motel. A drug deal? The group — which has cleaned up pounds of condom wrappers, Community groups bid to Photo by Stefano Giovannini lube packets and other kinky un- GREEN DESIGN: Eco-artist Jenna Spevack plants mentionables — hopes the path cheap and healthy greens in her living room. will keep any clothes-off activi- turn Pfi zer land into housing ties on-trail in the Midwood sec- Photo by Bess Adler ROAD TO JOY: Marie Viljo- By Aaron Short — including St. Nicks Alliance, tion of the park. “I don’t care if people have sex en fixed up a path to a well The Brooklyn Paper Los Sures, United Jewish Care, — but all the little trails they leave known outdoor sex destina- Six Brooklyn community Churches United for Fair Hous- Couch potato tion in Prospect Park — to behind are really bad for the for- groups have offered to buy Pfizer’s ing, Bridge Street Development est floor,” said Marie Viojen, a stop horndogs from stomp- last remaining properties in Wil- Corporation, Bedford-Stuyvesant Growing veggies in furniture photographer and park advocate ing on nature. liamsburg for $10 million in hopes Restoration Corporation — hopes who heads the group. Photo by Stefano Giovannini of building hundreds of units of to team up with Gowanus devel- By Kate Briquelet Jenna Spevack, an artist and The path will help prevent soil land, near the carousel by Cen- A coalition of neighborhood below-market-rate housing. oper Monadnock Construction The Brooklyn Paper professor at City Tech, is turn- erosion, protect tree roots, and ter Drive, has long been a spot organizations wants to buy A conglomeration of Wil- to acquire two vacant Wallabout No longer should you feel ing household furniture into vi- keep the park’s flora and fauna for gay cruising. It has also come two Pfizer lots in Southern liamsburg and Bedford-Stuyves- Street lots near Harrison Ave- ashamed about eating things brant mini-farms to prove that thriving, she said. to be known for its piles of trash, Williamsburg. sant neighborhood organizations See PFIZER on page 12 you find under your couch. See VEGGIES on page 13 The hillside patch of wood- See TRAIL on page 13 Ridge panel slams city plan to ‘calm’ 86th Street By Will Bredderman “I object to you using the word The city wants to whittle 86th Street Slowing down speeding cars — tersection a little bit safer.” The Brooklyn Paper ‘calming.’ What you mean is ‘delay- down to one lane in either direction, which are currently unencumbered by But longtime Bay Ridgites dis- A Bay Ridge panel slammed the city’s ing,’ ” Community Board 10 traffic create a 10-foot painted median, expand a wide roadway — is the only way to agreed.