Marty's Trolley Folly
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HEATH AND MICHELLE MOVE TO SPLITSVILLE: P.8 Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2007 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DOWNTOWN EDITION AWP/20 pages • Vol. 30, No. 35 • Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007 • FREE INCLUDING DUMBO MARTY’S GARDEN SNAKES TROLLEY Flower fiends filching foliage By Matthew Lysiak The Brooklyn Paper A mysterious gang of marauding plant thieves has been yank- ing flowers and snagging herbs right out of the gardens of some FOLLY lush homes in Bay Ridge. At least 12 residents in a seven-block radius awoke two Fridays ago to discover that someone had used clippers to swipe their cher- ished shrubbery. Residents were aghast at the sheer barbarism of the act. Beep sinks $475K “I was crying all morning,” said Fatama Yafei, a resident of 247 / Gary Thomas 79th St. “What kind of people would do something like this?” The “who” remains a mystery, but the “where” is public knowl- edge, at least to residents accustomed to the beautifully manicured lawns and gardens of Bay Ridge. into failed buses The green-thumbed perps hit the blocks between 79th and 86th The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Streets from Shore Road to Third Avenue, where stems now wither in front of many homes where green goodness formerly blossomed. It appears that more than one person is involved due to the sheer Heads up! scope of the vandalism. Brooklyn Cyclones catcher Cesar Cordido chases after a pop-up during Monday’s 5–0 Yafei says she believes the bandits struck her house between 2 victory over the hated Staten Island Yankees. Both the Clones and their rivals have qual- and 4 am, when they opened her front gate, walked into the middle ified for the playoffs — and may meet in the first round, which begins Sunday. See The of her garden, and cleanly clipped a three-foot high shrub known Paper’s “Triple-Threat Cyclones Coverage” on page 18. See GARDEN THIEF on page 16 A chicken-and-egg thing / Tom Callan / Tom Red Hook rancher to be honored at Farm Aid By Ariella Cohen “They said to come on out and bring The Brooklyn Paper chicken wire. They’ll supply the bales of hay,” said Mackin, who described the Cockle doodle dude? The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn chicken’s job at the all-day festival as Maria’s chicks The fake trolley that travels among several tourist attractions in Brooklyn has been a bust, a A troop of Red Hook chickens will “hanging out.” She said she planned to new study shows. Riders are typically neighborhood residents, not tourists. share a bill with Willie Nelson and transport six of her calmer fowl in the Neil Young at Sunday’s eco-chic Farm family mini-van. Aid rock benefit on Randall’s Island. Mackin and her husband Declan By Ariella Cohen Even the executive director of the agency that Organizers of the Sept. 9 show — Walsh are pioneers in the world of ur- The Brooklyn Paper runs the trolley admits they’re a failure. an annual benefit for family farms — ban farming. While other members of A trolley-styled shuttle bus that was con- “If you talk to the trolley drivers, it’s the same reached out to urban chicken rancher the organic elite grow heirloom toma- ceived as a way of bringing tourists to Brook- lady and her three kids every Saturday at 3 pm and Maria Mackin and asked her to bring toes, squash and exotic spices, the cou- Callan / Tom lyn’s cultural destinations is actually being they’re going from ballet on the west side of the her egg-layers to the all-day concert to ple has kept a brood of squawking, park to something else on the east side of the park,” mostly used by locals hitching a free ride, a promote sustainable, local agriculture. bawking and hatching chickens in their said Ellen Salpeter, who runs Heart of Brooklyn, new study has found — yet Borough President backyard for years, selling the privately and publicly funded community de- the eggs for profit (and Markowitz is about to sink nearly half a million velopment group that operates the trolley. fame, it seems). Paper The Brooklyn taxpayer dollars into keeping the “disappoint- The Markowitz-funded new vehicle will be In Brooklyn, the wild- Crazy Janey Old Hickory White Meat ing” system going. greener, but critics say it’ll be a waste of another feathered birds — one Markowitz has allocated $475,000 to buy a kind of green unless there are major changes to looks like Rod Stewart Breed: Araucana Chicken Breed: Cochin Breed: Buff Brahma new, fuel-efficient fake trolley to run its circular the way the service is promoted to tourists. with a spiky crown of or- Characteristics: A South Characteristics: The route, despite a report by the Center for the Urban Characteristics: These The fake trolley connects several stops inside ange feathers; another re- American breed prized perfect arm candy. Im- Future that said the service functions mostly as are big, dumb birds val- Prospect Park with the Brooklyn Public Library at sembles Phyllis Diller — for its trusting nature. ported from China in “free transportation to go shopping or save [local ued for the mod pat- Grand Army Plaza, the Brooklyn Museum and have plenty of fans. the early 19th century as terns on their golden residents] a walk across the park.” Fun Fact: Hens lay pas- the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Callan / Tom “They’re quite a sight,” tel-colored eggs. The a show bird, the Cochin feathers and their In 2006, the weekends-only shuttle attracted said Kayla Soyer-Stein, a Easter bunny got nuttin’ gained popularity in the peaceable nature. only 18,000 people — and the report’s author, frequent customer at the on this chick! They don’t west because of its nur- Fun Fact: These birds Paper holiday Tara Colton, said the ridership breakdown proba- Mackin-Walsh egg stand. just look good, but are turing nature. like to hang out. They bly mimicked the results of a 2006 Heart of Soyer-Stein, who enjoys said to be more nutri- Fun fact: This bird can also tend to get fat! The Brooklyn Paper’s offices will be clos- Brooklyn study that revealed that 78 percent of Paper The Brooklyn scrambling the fresh yolks tious. get violent in the close ed Thursday and Friday, Sept. 13 and 14. visitors to local institutions come from Brooklyn Red Hook’s chicken farmer, Maria Mackin, will with a little Tabasco-brand quarters of the coop! See FOLLY on page 10 be honored at Farm Aid this weekend. See CHICKS on page 8 Bush’s tornado aid goes to Queens, not Brooklyn By Matthew Lysiak publican at the head of the exec- tornado in Bay Ridge, but in The Brooklyn Paper utive branch — to do the right Queens, more than 1,300 homes thing by Bay Ridge. were damaged, compared to 80 President Bush will send Hundreds of cars, houses and in Brooklyn. There was also ex- disaster relief funds to victims roofs were damaged or destroyed tensive flooding in Queens. of the Aug. 8 storm that un- by the tornado’s 136-mile-per- Lynch said that Brooklyn leashed a tornado on Bay hour winds that touched down could still get a piece of the fed- Ridge — but the White House around 67th Street between eral relief pie, but as in the Sept. is only sending money to Fourth and Seventh avenues. 1 relief announcement, that de- / Daniel Krieger / Tom Callan / Tom Queens, not Brooklyn. The tornado may have cision must be made by the As you might imagine, local touched down in Bay Ridge, but president. officials in Bay Ridge are buzz- Queens, not Brooklyn, bore the Fossella met with FEMA of- ing like a Category 1 twister. brunt of the damage, said FEMA ficials last Friday and demanded “People are having difficulty spokeswoman Barbara Lynch. a recount. The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn recovering from the tornado be- “The borough of Queens was “I spoke with top officials to cause the process for making a really in a lot worse shape,” said express the community’s frus- decision has been too slow,” Lynch. “That’s why residents of tration,” said Fossella. Bright day said Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Queens will be the only ones el- The agency agreed to Fossel- Blowin’ in the new year The 40th annual West Indian-American parade on La- Ridge), who had urged the Fed- igible for the aid at this time.” la’s request to re-examine how Rabbi Aaron Raskin of Congregation B’nai Avraham of Brooklyn Heights (left) and Pratt Insti- bor Day drew a million spectators — and hundreds eral Emergency Management Indeed, news coverage of the and where the relief money was tute’s rabbi, Simcha Weinstein, blow shofars to ring in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, of colorfully clad performers — to Eastern Parkway. Agency — and his fellow Re- storm did focus on the first-ever allocated. which begins on Wednesday night. Pizza & Winebar 60 Henry Street www.ovenny.com 718.237.8720 lunch · dinner · take-out two hours free parking 2 AWP THE BROOKLYN PAPER • WWW.BROOKLYNPAPER.COM • (718) 834-9350 September 8, 2007 shoprico.com WHERE TO EDITORS’ PICKS SATURDAY SUNDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY September 8 September 9 September 11 September 12 September 14 Ride the Give a Hooti wave Drop into Alison Houtte’s vintage shop, Hooti Live doo-wop, a book Couture, to check out signing by pro-fish kids the store’s new look in author Jason Kelly and a addition to its new fall slew of other activities Emily Wilson collection.