Here are our top viewed stories of 2019. Drum roll please:
10. He’s Back! Carl Kruger Reemerges On The Political Scene
Disgraced former State Senator Carl Kruger, 69, is rumored to be eyeing a City Council seat. According to political sources, the convicted felon Kruger is looking to make a comeback in local politics.
Kruger was seen at his old stomping ground, a Community Board 18 meeting last night. This is the same community board that includes District Manager Dorothy Turano, whose son, Dr. Michael Turano, was a co-conspirator in the federal case against Kruger.
9. Two Bed-Stuy Programs Prove Black Students Can Compete In SHSAT
As Mayor Bill de Blasio pushes to kill the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the single determinant of those who get access to these sought after public schools, two Bedford-Stuyvesant programs, Creative Acheivment Success Prep (CAS) and Navigate the Maze to Achievement (NTMA) show 33% and 27% of their students respectively have been offered seats at specialized high schools, putting the citywide acceptance rate of 4% to shame.
8. Could Jerry Nadler Be The Next Joe Crowley?
While U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Borough Park, Kensington, parts of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Midwood and parts of Manhattan) continues garnering headlines as the House Judiciary Committee Chair looking to impeach President Donald Trump, the Red Hook waterfront lies nearly fallow, economic expansion for Industry City is at a standstill, and the critically-needed Gateway Tunnel is stalled in partisan politics.
All these issues and more are what Lindsey Boylan, a mother and lifelong public servant with stellar credentials, wants to tackle as she mounts what is expected to be a strong challenge to the 27-year incumbent, Nadler.
7. Farah Louis: The “Real” Flatbush Girl Looks To Succeed Williams In City Council
Farah Louis, one in a broad field of candidates looking to fill Public Advocate–elect Jumaane Williams vacant 45th City Council District seat in the upcoming special election, glanced out of the restaurant window and pondered the road of what got her interested in politics.
She started her career as a community organizer after initially pursuing a career in journalism, where she got her first taste for activism.
“I use to use the platform of being a reporter for being a voice for the people. From journalism, one day I found myself behind the pen, behind the camera, telling people you need to fight for what you need. My first story was covering a school bus driver strike in which the drivers were unhappy with a particular contract. These people felt hopeless, they didn’t feel like they had any help in their fight. I was like, ‘guys you have resources, there’s a council member there.’ I was asking the elected officials, ‘what are you guys doing to help these workers. These bus drivers are about to lose their livelihoods, they need help.’ And that’s how it all started for me,” said Louis.
6. City Pilot Program Takes Away Residential Parking [Updated With DOT Response]
A new city pilot program doing away with parking on a residential street in Clinton Hill has residents already getting tow boots put on their cars and getting $185 tickets.
Sharon Holliday, who lives in a brownstone on Greene Avenue between Cambridge Place and Grand Avenue, said she first became aware of the parking change when her son saw Department of Transportation workers installing signage in front of her home last Wednesday, July 17, reading, ‘No Parking Monday Through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
5. Cuba’s Sonic Attacks Could Now Be Pointed at Brooklyn
Recent 311 reports have residents of Bed-Stuy claiming a strange “inescapable hum” causing them to experience headaches and other hangover-like symptoms. They do not know what noise is exactly or where it’s coming from. So far, local police and the DEP have not been able to identify a source.
But sonic phenomena have rarely been known to be benevolent.
4. Feds Indict Five In Massive Central Brooklyn Foreclosure Scheme
Five alleged real estate thugs are each facing 30 years in the federal slammer and $1 million in fines for a Central Brooklyn foreclosure scheme that involved duping both homeowners and lenders in an alleged short sale scheme.
Iskyo Aronov, 32, of Miami; Michael Konstantinovskiy, 33, 0f Queens; Tomer Dafna, 48, of Long Island; Avraham Tarshish, 40, of Queens and Michael Herskowitz, 40, of Brooklyn face multiple counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and related wire fraud counts, in connection with a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, including the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) and borrowers, according to the indictment handed down in the U.S. Federal Eastern District of New York Court earlier this month.
3. The Party Is Over In Sheepshead Bay – And Maybe Mill Basin
Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach) announced today that starting May 1, the party boats along Emmons Avenue will no longer be able to pick up and unload passengers in Sheepshead Bay.
Meanwhile, City Council Member Alan Maisel (D-Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Flatlands, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island) said he has been in continuing discussions with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, and he has been told time and again, that the party boats will not come to Mill Basin either.
2. Court Rules Against City, Millions of Dollars Of Wealth Restored
In a sweeping decision, Kings County Supreme Court Judge Mark Partnow yesterday ruled that the City of New York violated the U. S. Consitution in the seizure of six central Brooklyn properties, and ordered the city to give them back to their owners, restoring millions of dollars of intergenerational wealth in the black and Latino community.
The city attempted to take all the properties under the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) Third Party Transfer (TPT) program, and in which KCP has been doing an ongoing investigative series.
1. Park Slope Progressives: “No Brunching While Black”
A noted Black activist is charging the Park Slope progressive community with attempting to shutter a restaurant and bar just because it has one of the most popular Sunday brunch spots catering to black folks in the city.
Bertha Lewis, president and founder of the Black Institute, says that Progressive City Council Member Brad Lander (D-Park Slope), Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon (D-Carrol Gardens, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill), Community Board 6 and the local police precinct has been conspiring for a number of years to pull the liquor license and shutter Woodland Restaurant, 242 Flatbush Avenue off 6th and St. Marks avenues due to its clientele – most of which are middle-class millennials of color.
