About Sarah Portlock

Author Archive | Sarah Portlock

Carpetbagging Protesters Stalk Jack the Horse, Again (and AGAIN!)

By on July 10, 2009 7:17 pm in Brooklyn Heights
p1010059

Brandworkers leader and carpetbagger Daniel Gross disrupts the quiet enjoyment of Hicks Street residents

Update: The protesters returned AGAIN tonight at 6:20pm
The Brandworkers International protesters were back out at Jack the Horse yesterday evening, handing out literature about the ongoing workers’ rights litigation at the Tavern’s fish supplier, Wild Edibles.

Jack the Horse chef/owner Tim Oltmans tells BHB that the group seemed “more hostile” this time, when they arrived at 6:45 on Thursday evening. One protestor, a fired worker from Wild Edibles, allegedly did not move away from the restaurant’s front door, and supporters were “a little more in people’s faces” with their literature, he said. Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments are closed

Squadron Gets Hitched!

By on July 10, 2009 3:42 pm in Events, Fun, Government, News

BHB/Portlock

Below: BHB/Scales; Above: BHB/Portlock

jsw_img_5942Now that the Albany legislative coup is over, our man (formerly “kid”) in the State Senate, Daniel Squadron, can finally focus on his wedding.

This weekend, Squadron will marry his longtime girlfriend, Liz Weinstein, who works in the mayor’s Office of Operations. Daniel and his staff have been very, very tightlipped about any further details surrounding the event, other than to say it’s happening and it’s happening in Manhattan.

But this much we know: Squadron was on the floor of the Senate, voting on 135 bills until 2 am Friday morning, less than 48 hours before his wedding. Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 12 }

Picnic chairs now at Boro Hall

By on June 22, 2009 3:54 pm in Downtown Brooklyn, Fun

borohall-chairs

The tables and chairs from the Montague Street pedestrian plaza have finally found a new home. Each day this summer, the street furniture — 25 tables and 80 chairs in total — will be out in front of Borough Hall for the public from 8 am to 6 pm.

Per an email from Montague Street BID Executive Director Chelsea Mauldin:

As of today, our friends over at the Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn Business Improvement District are making good use of the outdoor tables and chairs Montague Street acquired last year for our pedestrian plaza — more info here.

In a cooperative chair-sharing arrangement, the chairs will make their way back to Montague Street for this year’s pedestrian plazas, scheduled for September 13th, 20th, and 27th.

(BHB photo by Sarah Portlock)

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

84th Precinct Police Blotter – 6/19/09

By on June 19, 2009 11:34 am in crime, Downtown Brooklyn, Police Blotter

bugleblotterThis week’s blotters got sidelined in the hubbub of breaking Busted Chef news, but not forgotten. Here, finally, are your blotters:

Cops arrested two punks for stealing iPods and cellphones from two victims — the first of whom identified the punks during the second crime. The first incident happened at 11 pm on June 8 just outside the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, when eight perps surrounded two guys and asked to use their cellphones. Two punks then hit the victims in the head, grabbed their backpacks, and raced away southbound on Hoyt Street. Cops came to the scene and drove around the neighborhood with the two victims, looking out for the perps.

An hour later: victory. As the cops and victims were canvassing, they discovered the hoodlums at it again on Livingston Street, between Bond Street and Hanover Place, where they had just asked a victim to use his phone. One perp said he had a knife and the second said he had a gun, so the victim handed over his phone without a fight. The cops jumped out of the squad car and chased the perps, arresting two of the three perps, ages 14 and 15.

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Busted Again: The Busy Chef Never Rests!

By on June 18, 2009 2:46 pm in crime

080708bzchefBHB has discovered charges of grand larceny and criminal possession of a stolen credit card against “Busted Chef” Daniel Kaufman in Manhattan from earlier this year.

According to the criminal complaint, Kaufman was arrested on Jan. 20 for an incident on Dec. 19 on the Upper East Side in which he allegedly stole a credit card Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 17 }

Rabbi Raskin recognized as a rising star

By on June 18, 2009 12:42 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Fun

Rabbi Aaron (Ari) Raskin from Congregation B’Nai Avraham on Remsen Street was just named to the top 10 Global Rising Star rabbis in a new survey published by rabbis within the Chabad-Luvabitch movement. Per the announcement:

#4 Ari Raskin, Brooklyn, New York

Raskin founded Chabad of Brooklyn Heights and became the head of B’nai Avraham Synagogue both at the ripe age of 21. Ambitious and intelligent, he’s a prolific writer who has penned two books to date – Letters of Light and The Rabbi and the CEO
– with another soon going to print. And let’s not forget that he also earned the distinction of being the first Chabad rabbi to ever appear on the cover of National Geographic in 2006.

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Checkers opens on Court Street

By on June 17, 2009 5:16 pm in Downtown Brooklyn, Food
(BHB/Sarah Portlock)

(BHB/Sarah Portlock)

The fast-food joint Checkers opened on Tuesday at 111 Court St., in the former Busy Chef spot, bringing yet another hamburger option for Downtown Brooklynites. Franchise owner Shaista Siddiqui told BHB she’s excited “to become part of this community.”

The restaurant serves burgers, bacon-wrapped burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken fingers, and delicious spicy fries. And, the milkshakes are thick and taste wonderful. Best of all, there’s a cute outdoor patio in the back if you weave around the hallway, past the bathrooms (see photo below).

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 6 }

Text of Alan Young’s disbarment

By on June 17, 2009 2:13 pm in News

The full text of the disbarment of attorney Alan Young — who was a part-owner in the Busy Chef empire and scandal and listed on numerous  liquor licenses — is available online here. Judges at the state’s appellate court, the Second Judicial Department, ruled on April 21 to accept Young’s resignation from the Brooklyn bar. Per the decision:

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

This week’s community calendar

By on June 15, 2009 3:13 pm in Downtown Brooklyn, Events, News, Transportation
(BHB/Sarah Portlock)

(BHB/Sarah Portlock)

The next two weeks are busy for community meetings — there’s the usual Community Board business, as well as updates on the BQE triple cantilever reconstruction project and city Department of Transportation’s ongoing project to rework Tillary Street and surface transit in Downtown. Here’s the calendar:

(1) Tonight, Monday, at 6 pm, is Community Board 2’s parks committee meeting. But district manager Rob Perris said there’s nothing slated for the agenda. Regardless, the meeting is at Brooklyn Hospital, dining rooms A and B (DeKalb Avenue, at St. Felix Street).

(2) Tomorrow, Tuesday night, is CB2’s transportation committee meeting, at 6 pm at St. Francis College’s first-floor boardroom (180 Remsen St., between Clinton and Court streets). On the agenda is an application for a new sidewalk café at the Brooklyn Heights Wine Bar. And, the committee will review the environmental impact statement for the BQE’s triple cantilever reconstruction project. (For more information about a separate BQE meeting, see below.)

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

New Tillary Street mural

By on June 12, 2009 3:26 pm in Arts and Entertainment, Downtown Brooklyn, Fun
((courtesy Groundswell))

((courtesy Groundswell))

Notice something different cropping up along Tillary Street this week? A new public art mural of worker bees buzzing back and forth is now on display along the 200-foot concrete traffic barrier there. The nonprofit group behind the artwork, Groundswell, and the city Transportation Department will formally unveil the mural on Saturday morning at 11 am, at the intersection of Tillary and Jay streets in Downtown Brooklyn.

Per Groundswell’s press release:

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 4 }

What will happen to St. Ann’s?

By on June 11, 2009 11:54 am in Arts and Entertainment, brooklyn bridge park, DUMBO

Now that the Two Trees’ Dock Street DUMBO project will move forward following yesterday’s City Council vote, what’s going to happen to St. Ann’s Warehouse, the theater at 38 Water St., which is on the lot slated for redevelopment? The New York Times checked in with artistic director Susan Feldman this morning, who said she hopes to stay in the neighborhood:

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 9 }

City Council passes Dock Street 39-9

By on June 10, 2009 3:45 pm in Brooklyn Heights
fotoflexer_photo_dock-st

((Revised Dock St rendering, post-DCP amendments))

((Click here for a downloadable PDF of the revised renderings.))

fotoflexer_photo_citycouncil

We’re live-blogging, sort of, the Dock Street DUMBO vote before City Council this afternoon. The full Council just voted 39-9 in support of the project, with the no-votes from Councilmembers Tony Avella, Charles Barron, Bill DeBlasio, Vincent Gentile, Eric Gioia, John Liu, Peter Vallone, and, of course, David Yassky. The vote itself was for the necessary rezoning that the developer, Two Trees Management, needs to build its 17-story residential tower in DUMBO.

More quotes from dissenting voters, comments, and reactions forthcoming, including transcripts from Council members for and against the project. (Update 5:17 pm: Those quotes are now at the bottom of this post!)

In the meantime, here are initial reactions from Walentas, Yassky, and the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance:

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 62 }

Final Dock St DUMBO vote today

By on June 10, 2009 10:09 am in Development, DUMBO

Well folks, it‘s come to this: the final vote on Dock Street. The full City Council will vote on the Dock Street DUMBO rezoning application this afternoon. We will be there, and we will keep you posted.

Here‘s the link to the full public review process, and more information about the significance of today’s vote:

Mayoral Review. Mayoral approval is not required. A decision by the City Council to approve or disapprove a land use application is considered to be final unless the Mayor elects to veto a Council action within 5 days of the vote. The Council, by a 2/3 vote, can override a Mayor’s veto of its decision within 10 days of the veto.

Read full story · Comments { 4 }

Weekly Crime Blotter: 6/9/09

By on June 9, 2009 3:28 pm in Brooklyn Heights, crime, Downtown Brooklyn, News, Police Blotter

bugleblotter-300x1711

There were several robberies in the subway this week — and a small victory for Brooklynites who cars have been stolen borough-wide. For more neighborhood crimes, see Cobble Hill Blog.

Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 3 }

Squadron and the NYSenate’s coup

By on June 9, 2009 1:20 pm in Government

We called NYS Senator Daniel Squadron this morning to get his thoughts on yesterday’s state senate coup, and spokesman John Raskin says Squadron is in conference with his Democratic colleagues and can talk later this afternoon. We will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Squadron’s chief of staff, John Raskin, just sent us this statement:

“As you know, Senator Squadron supports a Democratic State Senate because it is a vital component of reaching the most important goals in our community and our city. This is no time to retreat on such long-held priorities as investing in education, improving public transportation, and creating a more transparent and accountable state government.”

Read full story · Comments { 5 }
← Older posts Newer posts →