Ratner Ups the Ante
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SATURDAY • April 3, 2004 Including Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Paper, Downtown News, DUMBO Paper and Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Paper 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. 13 BWN • Saturday, April 3, 2004 • FREE Ratner ups the ante “We do very much want to incor- porate a larger amateur athletic pro- Says he might add ‘mini’ arena gram overall into the effort,” Dellas- NOT JUST NETS co added. “And we are certainly open to discussing using the NBA fa- THE NEW BROOKLYN for kid sports to Netsplex site cility for major school games, etc.” Ratner’s Atlantic Yards site stretch- Nets arena would host Public would likely only be allowed ac- By Jotham Sederstrom While it isn’t clear whether the es east into Prospect Heights from the School Athletic League (PSAL) cess on an irregular basis. The Brooklyn Papers facility would be housed within the EXCLUSIVE intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush championship basketball games, a At an anti-Ratner rally on Sun- Developer Bruce Ratner has proposed 800,000-square-foot, 19,- avenues. flurry of other ideas have been sug- day, and later in telephone conversa- 000-seat professional basketball an interest in an amateur athletic Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for gested, although none are certain. tions, Jones suggested that $67 mil- / Tom Callan / Tom been floating the notion that he arena or elsewhere, amateur athlet- facility and that is something we Ratner who works closely with am- Vernon Jones, president of NYC lion earmarked four years ago for might build a second sports ic sgroups working closely with would like to discuss further with ateur athletics groups and youth or- Basketball.com, expressed doubt the construction of Sportsplex, an facility — for amateur athletics Forest City Ratner say they have them and consider,” said Joe De- ganizations, said that he’s met with that the extra facility would be any- amateur athletic arena planned for — in addition to a professional been told that a 3,000-seat “gym” Plasco, a spokesman for Ratner, more than 60 groups to discuss an thing more than a practice facility Coney Island, could be usurped by basketball arena for the New adjacent to the arena was being who declined to elaborate on where outreach program sponsored by for the New Jersey Nets, which Ratner and put toward the Atlantic Jersey Nets, on the site for the considered. it would be located or how regular- Forest City Ratner. He said that be- Ratner agreed to purchase in Janu- Yards project under the guise of be- The Brooklyn Papers File The Brooklyn proposed Atlantic Yards devel- “We have been talking to local ly it would be available to amateur sides discounted tickets to Nets ary for $300 million. If that were ing used as a facility for ama- Bruce Ratner opment. sports folks and they’ve indicated organizations. games and a possibility that the the case, he said, area youth groups See RATNER on page 14 Witnesses Cop catches sell 360 Furman St. THIS WEEKEND bank bandit By Deborah Kolben By Deborah Kolben The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn Papers / Jori Klein A Brooklyn Heights beat The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is in officer chased down a sus- final negotiations with a buyer who plans to con- pected bank robber Friday. vert part of the hulking, 12-story video and book Patroling in a scooter on March distribution plant along the Brooklyn Heights 27, Officer Brian Karuschkat, 27, waterfront at 360 Furman St. into housing. Papers The Brooklyn raced off towards the Independence Robert Levine, a Manhattan-based developer with na- Community Bank at the corner of tionwide interests, told Court Street and Atlantic Avenue in The Brooklyn Papers The future is now Cobble Hill when the call came in EXCLUSIVE about the heist just after 3 pm. this week that he was explained Creighton. “We are always seeking from working out the final details to purchase the property, lo- By Lisa J. Curtis As Karuschkat, who is usually GO Brooklyn Editor ourselves, not trying to fool the audience,” he said. assigned to bike patrol along Mon- cated at the foot of Joralemon Street. He said he would “It’s not just acting. It’s all based in honesty and truth. convert at least part of it to residential use. Tonight (Saturday, April 3) at 11:30 pm, tague Street, headed towards the “It’s an ensemble of 10 people and everyone has scene of the crime in the neighbor- “We will work with the city and state to realize the the New York cast of Neo-Futurists will per- very different things to say. It’s a living collage of life best possible project,” said Levine, principal owner of form Greg Allen’s “Too Much Light Makes ing 76th Precinct, a call came in experiences — a wild, crazy spontaneous night with over the police radio describing the RAL Companies & Associates. He declined to further the Baby Go Blind (30 plays in 60 minutes)” a fun group of people.” bandit as 6 feet tall, wearing jeans, comment on the deal until the contract is signed. at the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope. “Too Much Light” has been a Chicago institution Levine is best known for converting the former Arthur a dark jacket and white sneakers. Each play is written by a Neo-Futurist ensemble since 1988 and came to Manhattan in the mid-1990s Levitt State Office Building, at 260 Broadway at Cham- When a man fitting that de- member, honed by the troupe, and randomly collaged for a brief run. Neo-Futurists who might be familiar to bers Streets in Lower Manhattan, into a combination of Brooklynites include Boerum Hill residents Ayun scription ran by Karuschkat, the with 29 other plays through high-energy audience officer gave chase in his three- condominiums, rental apartments and offices. He pur- participation. (Each week, two to 12 plays — literal- Halliday, an author, and her husband, Greg Kotis — chased the 28-story building , which was used by the state ly, depending on rolls of the dice — are replaced as who won a 2002 Tony for his little project called wheeled scooter and followed him for more than 50 years, for $38 million in 2000. ensemble members add new plays to the existing “Urinetown: The Musical” (which starred another down Smith Street. The 6-foot-2 Ever since the property on Furman Street north of At- body of work.) Neo-Futurist, Spencer Kayden). Karuschkat caught up to the sus- lantic Avenue hit the market last June, speculators have pect at Baltic Street and slapped “It’s never the same show, even on the same week- “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” con- wondered what connection the building might have — end,” explained Neo-Futurist ensemble member handcuffs on him before he even tinues every Friday and Saturday night at 11:30 / Jori Klein both physically and financially — to the planned Brook- Michael Cyril Creighton, who made the cut with 10 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum [227 Fourth Ave. had a chance to run. lyn Bridge Park, a 1.3-mile commercial and recreational other members by surviving auditions hosted by Allen. at President Street in Park Slope, (718) 670- The suspected bank thief hand- development planned for the waterfront between the “The shows are a mixture of everything, ranging 7234]. Doors open at 10:30 pm. Admis- ed over the stolen cash, which he Manhattan Bridge and Atlantic Avenue. from comedy to very current events to very abstract sion is $9 plus the roll of a single, six- had stashed in a black plastic bag. Atlantic Avenue would serve as a gateway to the pieces, even some movement stuff,” said Creighton. sided die ($10-$15 total). For more The mayhem began just before park and visitors would have to walk around the Fur- “It’s a hodgepodge of all different kinds of theater.” information, log onto www.neo- 3 pm, when David Daniels, 37, of Papers The Brooklyn man Street building to get to most of the park. The scripts are based on the actors’ real experiences, futurists.org. Manhattan, allegedly walked into Officer Brian Karuschkat, outside the Indepen- See FURMAN on page 4 BEGINSPAGE ON 7 See BANDIT on page 4 dence Community Bank at 130 Court St. Women ready for some football By Jotham Sederstrom the regular season undefeated. The Brooklyn Papers “When that game comes, we will win,” she said, boldly predicting this season’s first meet- During the workweek she litigates; on ing between the teams. weekends, she crushes bones. The 44-year-old Bay Ridge native and Fort Lawyer jokes aside, Lynn Lewis, the 175- Hamilton High School alum has torpedoed the pound lawyer cum linebacker for the New York pigskin since she was a kid, when she compet- Sharks professional women’s tackle football ed with the boys in afternoon games of touch team, said her two passions suit her like cease football. and desist, law and order, block and tackle. Even after her mother scolded her for play- “I’m pretty tough, so it’s very aggressive,” ing with the boys, Lewis continued, now with she said. “And being a lawyer, you gotta be a team full of police officers, nurses and stock- tough, so the two go together, I guess.” brokers. Lewis, a Bay Ridge resident who since 1999 The Sharks were formed in 2000, after a has been roughing it in the Independent Manhattan businesswoman scooped it up and Women’s Football League (IWFL), will strap added it to more than 20 women’s tackle teams on the shoulder pads for her first game of the nationwide.