Turn to The Paper’s )0-*%":(*'5(6*%& on pages 6, 7 and 8 Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com s (718) 834–9350 s Brooklyn, NY s ©2008 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DOWNTOWN EDITION AWP/16 pages s Vol. 31, No. 47s Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008 s FREE WITH CARROLL GARDENS, COBBLE HILL, BOERUM HILL, FORT GREENE, CLINTON HILL, DUMBO, WILLIAMSBURG, GREENPOINT )&¤4(*7*/( Tempo to donate Sat. night checks to charity By Ben Muessig been coming from Manhattan twice a week to The Brooklyn Paper dine at Tempo. The nation’s financial behemoths and auto gi- Taylor’s non-profit will give out about $3 mil- ants reacted to the financial downturn by asking lion to 25,000 people this year for electric bills, for more money; Robert Amato of Park Slope’s mortgage payments, and other expenses, usually Tempo restaurant is asking for less. in increments of $1,000 or less. On Saturday nights in December, the Fifth Av- In addition to Tempo’s Mediterranean-influ- enue eatery will donate the entire value of its cus- enced dishes — try the raviolo made with ricotta, tomer checks to a charity that helps individuals on duck egg and truffle sauce or the bucatini with the brink of economic collapse. Sicilian pistachio nut pesto — diners at the char- That means that 100 percent of the $42 three- ity meal will also get hearty helpings of infor- course meal, plus any additional wine and booze mation about the people they will be helping. purchases, will go to the not-for-profit Modest Needs “People can know exactly how they rescued Foundation. someone from financial disaster, or how they For Amato, handing over his restaurant’s receipts kept someone in school by helping with tuition,” — on the busiest night of the week, no less — is a Amato said. financial loss he’s willing to accept. And as is often said, when you give, you re- This gorgeous skating rink was supposed to open next winter — but state development of- “We’re doing OK, but there are other people else- ceive. Under charitable-giving rules, diners can ficials no longer have it on the long-delayed Brooklyn Bridge Park timetable. where who aren’t,” said Amato, who along with co- write off 70 percent of their bills on their own owner Michael Elliott, runs the popular high-end joint, Faux Zeke taxes, making this meal the best deal in town. which is between Carroll Street and Garfield Place. “There’s no better bargain in New York City,” “Now is the time to do something positive, to band said Taylor. “You get to go out and enjoy your- together with our neighbors and help each other.” self for $42 — and write off 70 percent — and Still stuck in ‘Park’ The money raised during the four-night benefit have chance to change someone’s life.” will help struggling people here and in Canada, said The Brooklyn Paper / Tempo Restaurant and Wine Bar [256 Fifth Ave., Keith Taylor, chairman and founder of the Modest Tempo’s Robert Amato is turning “dinner into a between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Needs Foundation and longtime Tempo patron. donation,” contributing 100 percent of diners’ Slope, (718) 636-2020] is now taking reservations Futher delays on waterfront “We help the working poor,” said Taylor, who has checks to charity every Saturday in December. for Dec. 6, 13, 20, and 27. Credit cards accepted. By Mike McLaughlin lyn Bridge Plaza, at the end of Old now set for January — making The Brooklyn Paper Fulton Street, and Pier 6, near the it at least two months behind the The builders of the Brooklyn foot of Atlantic Avenue, both of much-touted schedule that was un- Bridge Park development are al- which were supposed to start this veiled in July. ready two months behind on a month. He said there was “no real de- “We WILL start Pier 1 this new construction schedule that lay” because the October and No- month,” Warner Johnston, a vember starting points were sim- is only three months old! spokesman for the Brooklyn Bridge ply “projections.” Though work was supposed to Park Development Corporation, start this month, three pieces of vowed, though as The Brooklyn Johnston did not say when work the waterfront project that are sup- Paper went to press, there was only would start on Brooklyn Bridge posed to open next October re- one business day remaining in No- Plaza, the highest profile portion main quiet: Pier 1, just south of vember. of the embattled development. As the Brooklyn Bridge, which was Even more alarming, Johnston The Brooklyn Paper reported, that to begin last month; and Brook- confirmed that work on Pier 6 is See PARK on page 13 Jail work stops PROCREATE, DON’T DESTROY: Sita Dorothy Goldstein was born on Nov. 9 to Atlantic Yards foes Daniel Goldstein and Shabnam Merchant. By Mike McLaughlin The Brooklyn Paper The city has halted its contro- .FFUUIFSFBM.JTT#SPPLMZO versial plan to reopen and expand the Brooklyn House of Detention, saying it wants to work out a deal with neighborhood opponents who Yards foes bring life to Nets arena site want the Atlantic Avenue jail dis- mantled. By Sarah Portlock home, the six-pound, five-ounce baby be torn down to make room for Rat- ketball arena and 16 skyscrapers. The temporary stop sign reduces The Brooklyn Paper is “adorable,” the proud papa said. ner’s basketball arena. Goldstein and Merchant met while Jianai Jenny Chen tensions in what has been a tumul- Atlantic Yards opponent Dan- “Despite the unusual circumstances, Given that declining population, a organizing efforts against Ratner as tuous week in Downtown Brook- iel Goldstein and his wife did what we’re happy to be able to raise our new life is worth noting. part of the group, Develop Don’t De- lyn. Last Sunday, the Department megadeveloper Bruce Ratner has child in Brooklyn where we planned “At this time of year, with the ar- stroy Brooklyn. #4,!.AKNMCD of Correction began holding in- failed to do: they brought life to to,” Goldstein said. rival of our first child, we have a lot Those efforts will return to the spot- Jessica Lange graced DUMBO’s powerHouse books mates in the jail overnight for the the Atlantic Yards footprint. The baby becomes the third resident to be thankful for,” he explained. light early next year in court, but for on Saturday to sign her coffeetable tome, “50 Photo- first time in five years — a move On Nov. 9, little Sita Dorothy Gold- in the almost entirely vacant build- Goldstein moved into the beautifully now, the legal case is on at least two graphs.” Pals Jeff Daniels and Tommy Tune were there, that outraged neighbors and elected stein was born to Goldstein and Shab- ing on Pacific Street between Flat- renovated building in 2003, only to people’s back-burner. and the trio dined at Water Street Restaurant & Lounge officials who have been battling the nam Merchant — and unlike most bush and Sixth avenues, a residence discover months later that Ratner in- “We’re definitely focused on our and caught “Black Watch” at St. Ann’s Warehouse. See JAIL WORK on page 14 things near the couple’s Pacific Street that once housed 60, but is slated to tended to tear it down and build a bas- baby,” Goldstein said. Jews to city: Remove the bike lane! By Ben Muessig kicked the conflict into a higher gear lyn Paper his calls for a traffic slow- mediately issued tickets, even though The Brooklyn Paper when he said this week that private buses down just before a contentious Nov. 24 observant Jews aren’t allowed to move Opposition to newly painted bike would obstruct Kent Avenue to pressure MEAN neighborhood meeting that addressed their vehicles on the Sabbath. lanes on Kent Avenue is so strong in the city to remove the lanes and reinstate the controversial Kent Avenue bike Department of Transportation Bicy- Williamsburg’s Hasidic community alternate-side parking. lanes, which are placeholders for the cle Program Coordinator Joshua Benson that one Orthodox leader vows that the “We will ask all the drivers: ‘When Streets proposed Brooklyn Waterfront Green- — who fielded questions and insults at you pick-up or drop-off our children, The battle for Brooklyn’s byways way — a divided cycling and walking the transportation meeting — said that faithful will block traffic if the city put your bus in an angle, block the en- path planned to stretch from Green- the bike lane was necessary to create a Muessig Ben does not remove the cycling routes. tire street, wait ’til the parent gets to the afternoon from 4 to 7 pm and would point to Sunset Park. “network” of bicycle paths around the In South Williamsburg’s Satmar sec- door of the bus, [and] slowly — very be accompanied by rallies. Members of the Hasidic commu- borough, and suggested that in time, tion, the wheels were already spinning slowly — take your child off or put it “One day the traffic will be backed up nity said that blocking traffic is their Williamsburg residents might come to against the bike lanes — which elimi- on the bus, [and] don’t rush to get back all the way to Long Island City to [the] De- only effective way to protest the no- embrace the cycling lanes. nated curbside parking and standing when on the sidewalk,’” said Abraham, who partment of Transportation Headquarters, stopping, no-standing signage that they “Change is hard, and when we change The Brooklyn Paper / they were painted last month — and now added that the protests would occur ev- traffic will come to a halt,” he said.