BRUNCH TREATY ON TABLE New law will end North Brooklyn’s simmering food feud By Aaron Short on sidewalk cafes be- “follow up accordingly” ing the Lorimer Street restaurant The Brooklyn Paper fore noon on Sundays, with restaurant inspec- the first casualty in the War on Councilman Steve Levin has aligning city code with THE WAR ON BRUNCH tions in North Brook- Brunch . drafted legislation that could state laws that permit llyn, agency commu- Consumer Affairs inspec- end a 21-day conflict between brunching as early as nnity relations director tors struck again on May 5, cit- the city and rebel restaurants — 8 am. flictthateruptedlastflict that erupted last RRicky Wong wrote in a ing Five Leaves and the Meatball and save outdoor dining on Sun- “The legislation is in the very month when Community Board dispatch to Community Board 1 Shop on Bedford Avenue for the day mornings, The Brooklyn Pa- early stages,” said Levin (D– 1 leaders warned city officials that was obtained by The Brook- same offense. per has learned. Greenpoint). “I am still listen- that several Northside cafes lyn Paper. Lokal and Five Leaves vowed Levin’s bill, which he sub- ing to all the stakeholders, includ- were violating the seldom-en- Four days later, city inspec- to fight the tickets in separate mitted to city council on Mon- ing the brunching community, the forced Sunday morning outdoor tors raided the Mediterranean court appearances next month. Restaurants will no longer break the law by serving brunch day, would change a 30-year-old religious community, and the reli- brunch ban. bistro Lokal and issued a sum- “We’ve been serving Sunday outdoors before noon on Sunday under a new bill intro- city law that prohibits cafes from gious brunching community.” On April 18, the Department mons for allegedly setting up ta- before noon for five years and duced by Councilman Steve Levin. serving customers food and drink The bill could defuse a con- of Consumer Affairs agreed to bles outdoors at 9:35 am — mak- See BRUNCH on page 5 Yo u r Neighborhood — Yo u r News® BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2012 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Williamsburg & Bay Ridge AWP/14 pages • Vol. 35, No. 19 • May 11–17, 2012 • FREE CAR KVETCHING Bad parkers getting passive-aggressive notes on PPW By Natalie O’Neill The Brooklyn Paper A diehard parking vigilante is try- MEAN ing to rid Park Slope of spot-hogging drivers — one homemade “citation” Streets at a time. A slew of motorists near Prospect The battle for Brooklyn’s byways Park West discovered two-page notes on their windshields last week, bash- and are laughing at the Dirty Harry of ing them for disrupting the unspoken the parking world. code of the street by leaving un-park- “It’s a bit over the top, but it’s true Photo by Elizabeth Graham able half-spaces in front of and behind that people park very sloppily,” said Park The owners of Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe in Park Slope will their cars. Slope resident Carl Makower. open a hoagie hub on Jones Walk near Luna Park. “Your excessive use of parking space Other drivers cheered the notes, may or may not have been your fault,” saying they pinpoint a headache-in- the flier declares. “But leaving more ducing phenomena they’ve noticed space than necessary can deprive an- for months. other driver of a parking spot.” “Parking is rough,” said Vick Narain, Tonier Coney The detailed — but totally unofficial a doorman on Prospect Park West. “Dur- — citations have prompted strong reac- File photo by Stefano Giovannini ing the day, you’re driving around for tions from neighbors who loathe, love, Parking on Prospect Park West? Someone is watching you. See PARKING on page 6 The ‘Downtownifi cation’ of the Boardwalk is underway By Daniel Bush The Brooklyn Paper SO, WHAT SHOULD Cut to Commercial The People’s Playground is fast becoming Downtown’s din- BE NEXT? ing room. SEE PAGE 5 Greenpoint park stalls as deal unravels The city’s push to upgrade the By Aaron Short Meadows of point lot into a park because the Depart- Coney Island Boardwalk has begun The Brooklyn Paper ment of Transportation will not allow — and Brownstone Brooklyn busi- est in a growing list of Downtown A plan to build a park at the edge of the MTA to relocate emergency vehi- nesses are leading the charge. restaurants replacing game booths Newtown Creek is stalled because the cles from the Commercial Street plot to Popular Park Slope eatery Zi- and Boardwalk bars that embraced Department of Transportation won’t a city-owned site under the Williams- to’s Sandwich Shoppe will open a Coney Island’s honky-tonk charm for decades. make room for the Metropolitan Trans- burg Bridge, mayoral officials told com- The Brooklyn Paper Callan / Tom gourmet hoagie hub on Jones Walk portation Authority, sources say. SHAME munity leaders last week. Bureaucratic red tape has prevented this MTA near Luna Park, becoming the lat- See CONEY on page 5 The city will not transform a Green- See PARK on page 11 parking lot from becoming a park. Name game It’s slower times ‘Arena Properties’ linked to Barclays — by name only for Automotive High By Natalie O’Neill he claims gaining web traf- The Brooklyn Paper fic from Nets-related Google School to add bike workshop to curriculum He’s not Bruce Ratner, but searches was the main reason By Aaron Short next to its auto repair shop. this Prospect Heights real es- he named his three-man resi- The Brooklyn Paper “We’ve been criticized for tate player is selling the Bar- dential and commercial enter- The principal of Greenpoint’s being in the community, not of clays Center. prise after the arena — a de- Automotive High School wants the community,” said Automo- Broker Greg D’Avola dubbed velopment that has sparked a to reinvent the Bedford Avenue tive principal Caterina Lafergola- his new Bergen Street firm real estate gold rush and pro- school to better reflect its neigh- Stanczuk. “The work of education Arena Properties — an Atlan- tests from neighbors who say borhood — by teaching students is to bring everyone together, and tic Yards–influenced name he it will harm the community’s how to fix bicycles. to learn from one another.” hopes will help snag custom- quality of life and charming The Department of Education Lafergola-Stanczuk said the ers searching online for land ma-and-pa spirit when it opens will close the ailing school at the bike repair shop would help stu- near the soon-to-open basket- this fall. Photo by Bess Adler end of June and reopen it with new dents better understand simple ball arena. D’Avola’s company doesn’t Real estate broker Greg D’Avola has no involvement in the teachers, a different mission, a fresh Photo by Bess Adler mechanics while providing a D’Avola has no stake in the just reference the Barclays soon-to-open Barclays Center — but he has named his new name, a redrafted curriculum, and Kids at Automotive High much-needed service to cyclists controversial mega-project, but See ARENA on page 6 firm after the arena. a student-run bicycle repair shop School will fix bicycles. See AUTO on page 5 IT’S A WRAP Grills grilled Neighborhood embroiled in City halts fi lm shoots in Cooper Park barbecue battle DUMBO and Bklyn Heights By Aaron Short More than 60 outdoor cook- By Aaron Short woman Marybeth Ihle. The Brooklyn Paper ing opponents packed a Commu- The Brooklyn Paper Production companies have A group of Williamsburg park- nity Board 1 meeting on Monday, Cut! not filmed any movies, tele- goers are searing mad about con- demanding the city remove eight The city has imposed a vision shows, or commercials troversial grills installed in Coo- new grills and six picnic tables temporary moratorium on in large parts of the historic per Park on Sunday — and they’re from the northeast corner of the Photo by Ben Lockhart Maspeth Avenue park and halt film shoots in DUMBO and neighborhoods since April burning up over the fact the city a pilot program that could bring Brooklyn Heights — halting 1, when the Mayor’s Office Several Williamsburg families staged a peaceful protest may put nine more cooking sta- against new barbecue pits in Cooper Park on Friday. tions in the green space. movie-making in two of the of Media and Entertainment See GRILLS on page 11 borough’s most cinematic com- pulled the plug on shooting in munities due to complaints the area. File photo by Stefano Giovannini from neighbors. A limited number of pro- DUMBO resident Fred “It is part of our office’s con- ductions can shoot on Gold Connolly was furious tinuing efforts to weigh the Street, between Plymouth Loft victory a game-changer about all the filming in his needs and concerns of the com- and Front Street this spring, neighborhood last year munity while supporting the but other streets in DUMBO By Natalie O’Neill ings, thanks to a ground-break- the court system to determine if a judge ruled in a precedent-setting — now there’s a mora- jobs that come from film and and Brooklyn Heights could The Brooklyn Paper ing court decision over a displaced group of photographers and paint- decision late last month. torium on movie produc- television production in the be off limits for another two Brooklynites living in lofts have group of Gowanus artists. ers can keep living in a building Kings County Civil Court tions in the community.