Two Sections w Facebook.com/ Twitter.com Volume 59, No. 69 THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013 BrooklynEagle.com BrooklynEagle @BklynEagle 50¢ BROOKLYN Attack of TODAY Greenpoint Downstate Program on Probation—LICH Is Cause JULY 18 Mockingbirds THE ACCREDITATION Good morning. Today is The New York Times Council for Graduate the 199th day of the year. The reports that tiny mocking- Medical Education, city’s recent heat wave isn’t birds in Greenpoint are at- citing an egregious anything new. The Brooklyn tacking people and even Daily Eagle of July 18, 1900, catastrophic event, dogs by tapping them on has placed SUNY revealed that during the previ- the head. One visitor to ous few days, the temperature Downstate Medical had reached the high 90s. Transmitter Park heard a wailing cry, and then a bird Center’s residency Seven deaths due to heat pros- program on proba- tration were reported — not plunged toward him. only was it before air condi- At the Kent Street tion. Downstate tioning, it was even before elec- entrance to the same park, a President Dr. John tric fans. Crowds flocked to salesgirl was walking on Williams says the Coney Island and Prospect her lunch break when sev- move happened Park to get away from the heat, eral mockingbirds dive- “as a result of the the Eagle reported. bombed her. She bolted to- departure of physi- Well-known people who ward West Street, yelling, cians at Long Island were born today include singer “This isn’t your block!” College Hospital The Times quotes an ex- Dion DiMucci (“The Wan- (LICH).” derer,” “Runaround Sue,” pert from the Audubon So- “Teenager in Love”), astronaut ciety as saying that mock- This photo shows John Glenn, singer Martha ingbirds act aggressive one of Downstate’s Reeves of Martha and the Van- when they perceive threats buildings in East dellas (“Heat Wave,” “Dancing to their hatchlings. The Flatbush. See story, in the Street”), Brooklyn-born mayhem should die down page 2. baseball manager Joe Torre and as nesting season ends. poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Wikipedia photo FILMMAKER AMY NICHOLSON SET out to make a documentary about the closing of the Zipper, an independently owned thrill ride in Coney Island. In- stead, she began to delve into the poli- tics of Coney Island redevelopment in her new film, also called “Zipper,” which will debut at Manhattan’s IFC Center next month. Here she is with former Zipper owner-operator Eddie Miranda. See story, page 2. INSIDE THE NEW NETS SHOP IN CONEY Island, sales clerk Tanisha Thompson arranges Brooklyn Nets T-shirts. At Nicholson of Amy courtesy Photo high noon on Thursday at Barclays Center, players Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce will finally be fitted with their black-and-white Nets jerseys, leaving behind the Green and Gold championship legacy they estab- lished during their halcyon days in Boston. See Sports, page 10. AP Photo OOK BEAT Floyd Bennett B Field Goes Tomatoes IN SPAIN, IT’S CALLED “La Tomatina,” an annual tomato-throwing festival held in the town of Buñol. In Brooklyn it's called Tomato Battle, and starting at noon this Saturday, July 20, thou- Battle of Tomato courtesy Photo Photo by Brendan Bourke Bourke by Brendan Photo AS PART OF THE BOOKS BENEATH THE BRIDGE sands of people will be hurl- series, a collaboration between the Brooklyn ing tons of overripe tomatoes Bridge Park Conservancy and local independent at each other, all while listen- bookstores, award-winning author Colum Mc- ing to bands and drinking Cann will read on July 22 at Brooklyn Bridge beer at the Aviator Sports Park’s Pier 1. McCann’s latest novel, “TransAt- complex at Floyd Bennett lantic”, has earned critical raves. See page 3. Field. See story, page 5. Thursday, July 18, 2013 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 1 SUNY Downstate's Residency Program on Probation Downstate’s President Points to LICH By Mary Frost ert Bellafiore told the Brooklyn Eagle Brooklyn Eagle on Wednesday that ACGME placed The Accreditation Council for Downstate on probation after a site Graduate Medical Education (AC- visit in late May, adding he was not GME), citing an “egregious cata- sure what prompted the visit. strophic event,” has placed SUNY “If a medical school loses its ac- Downstate Medical Center’s resi- creditation, it’s serious trouble,” Bel- dency program on probation, SUNY lafiore said. “Downstate is the only Downstate’s President Dr. John Wil- medical school in Brooklyn; we ed- liams said a meeting of the SUNY ucate one-third of the doctors in Downstate Council on July 15. Brooklyn and one-ninth of the doc- Dr. Williams said Downstate’s tors in New York City.” accreditation was placed on proba- Bellafiore said the school was tion “as a result of the departure of still going through the process of physicians at Long Island College figuring out what to do. “The med- Hospital (LICH),” adding that Down- ical school has the letter under re- state had “one license for two pro- view and is developing a point by grams. It’s a direct result of what’s point response,” he said. going on at LICH.” Despite a court restraining order, Downstate, in East Flatbush, Downstate has been dismantling ended its residency program at LICH as part of an ongoing move to LICH earlier this summer. close the Cobble Hill hospital and Williams said that Downstate monetize its valuable real estate as- was obligated to post the news on sets as part of SUNY’s “sustainability” the Medical Center’s website, “and plan. Downstate has barred ambu- we have to let applicants know lances from LICH’s emergency room, we’re on probation. closed core departments and prohib- “We have the right to appeal ited new admissions. SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s residency program is on probation. Seen here is a photo of one of the buildings at within 30 days,” he said. “We’ve had Last week, 18 people were ar- Downstate’s main campus. Wikipedia photo one set of meetings with the associ- rested at rallies protesting LICH’s ate deans and program directors to closure, including nurses, hospital and Assemblywoman Joan Millman. sio and other LICH supporters have SUNY, which would stand to make put a response together.” staff, City Council Member Stephen While Downstate says it can’t charged that the closure of the hos- up to $1 billion from the sale of the Downstate spokesperson Rob- Levin, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio afford to keep LICH open, de Bla- pital is “a big real estate deal” for property. Film Debuting at IFC Eyes Changing Coney Island Coney Island redevelopment. Many of the principal is why it does not show Luna that this is prohibited by zon- While this subject is very players are interviewed and Park or include material on ing unless the restaurants are complicated, it is her conten- shown in the film, including the 2010 fight between sever- connected with entertain- tion that “it was the policy of city officials, Joe Sitt (a de- al boardwalk food stands and ment), she said that could the Bloomberg administra- veloper who amassed much the city, which didn’t want to have been accomplished tion from very early to stress of the land in Coney Island renew their leases. with a small “tweaking” of economic development, not and had a controversial plan Nicholson, speaking to the zoning laws. amusements.” There were of his own before he sold the the Eagle, makes it clear that Nicholson has made two several plans and several land to the city); Dick Zigun she does not oppose change other films, one a short on compromises that shrunk of the zany Coney Island USA as such. “Luna Park has some the New York School of Dog the acreage allocated to the organization, which spon- nice rides,” she says. But she Grooming and the other, be- amusement district. sors the annual Mermaid Pa- questions whether the zon- lieve it or not, on a beau- The area outside the rade; and City Councilman ing changes had to be so ty contest associated with a amusement district, she says, Domenick Recchia. It also wide-sweeping. muskrat-skinning competi- is zoned for “a little bit of ev- shows Miranda presiding Asked about Recchia’s tion (called “Muskrat Lovely”). erything,” including restau- over the Zipper’s last ride. complaint that there were no For more information rants, condos, hotels, busi- “Zipper” was filmed be- sit-down restaurants in the about the film, log onto nesses and more. tween 2007 and 2009, which amusement area (it turns out www.zipperfilm.com. Brooklyn Heights Seniors Tour Ground Zero Filmmaker Amy Nicholson with former Zipper operator Eddie Miranda. Photo courtesy of Amy Nicholson By Raanan Geberer pendent operator Eddie Mi- Brooklyn Eagle randa, who’s now living in Coney Island has changed Florida. quite a bit over the past few “I grew up working sum- years, especially since the mers in Ocean City, Maryland, building of Luna Park and the which has many of the same Scream Zone. However, there qualities as Coney Island,” are those who miss the old, says Nicholson, who grew up anarchic, slightly seedy but al- in Baltimore and now works ways in-your-face Coney Island. in advertising in Manhat- Filmmaker Amy Nichol- tan. “They have a Zipper ride son is definitely in the lat- there. When I found out that ter category, as evidenced in Coney Island had one that her film “Zipper,” which will was going to go.” The Zipper premiere on Aug. 9 at the IFC had its last ride after Miran- Film Center, 323 Ave.