Brooklyn The Borough Posts
June 18, 2009 / / Politics

Developer-Shelter Receives More Funding from City than Section 8 to House Homeless, Residents Plan Protest

With the recent controversy over a condo development turned homeless shelter on East New York Avenue in mind, I looked up the city budget for homeless families on David Yassky’s new site ItsYourMoneyNYC.com. On average, according to the budget, the city pays $32,400 per year to house homeless families.

That’s about the same as what the city has offered per family to Avi Shriki and HQ Marketing Partners for housing 67 families in their failed condo development on East New York Avenue in Crown Heights.

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June 14, 2009 / / Visual Art

Utopia and Dystopia Emerge at the Bushwick Biennial

June 10, 2009 / / Politics

Police Commissioner Answers Questions at Medal Day Ceremony

The morning after residents of Crown Heights took the Police Commissioner to task for drug dealing, prostitution and quality of life issues in the neighborhood, Ray Kelly was awarding the Deputy Inspector of their local 77th precinct a unit citation at Medal Day ceremonies.

The same precinct where, according to department statistics, crime has plummeted 18%.

“If you look at statistics at this precinct, they are very, very impressive,” Commissioner Kelly had told the crowded basement of Berean Baptist Church. “If you’re the victim of a crime, you don’t want to hear about statistics, I understand that, one crime is one crime too many – but the numbers here are really an indication of the work that’s being done.”

With all the talk about statistics, it sounded like the crowd was watching The Wire.

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June 9, 2009 / / LGBTQ

Police Commish Mum On Anti-Gay Allegations Against Cops

There was an elephant in the basement of Berean Baptist Church in Crown Heights on Monday, when Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spent an hour addressing the questions of residents concerned with violence, drugs and quality of life issues on the streets of the 77th precinct in Brooklyn.

That elephant came in the form of allegations that officers from the 77th assaulted two lesbian women outside of a local nightclub while spewing anti-gay remarks. The question never came up during the meeting and the commissioner gave a terse “no comment” when confronted with it on his way out the door.

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June 8, 2009 / / Reading

Take Your Shirt Off And Cry; Nancy Balbirer Did

Nancy Balbirer was wearing flip-flops when she walked by Bergdorf Goodman on a hot summer day in 2003 and happened upon a serene Yoko Ono.

“I never would have imagined my reaction to meeting Yoko Ono would be thus: ‘OH MY GOD YOKO ONO! I LOVE YOU!” the author recounted recently. “And I threw my arms around her.”

Ms. Balbirer, 43, was sitting at a table in the Chelsea Market, discussing her new book, Take Your Shirt Off and Cry: A Memoir of Near-Fame Experiences, published recently by Bloomsbury. The title refers to how David Mamet – once the author’s acting teacher at NYU – categorized the roles in which women are cast in Hollywood.

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June 8, 2009 / / Politics

City Discards Vouchers In Favor of Developer Bailout

May 30, 2009 / / Music

Rapper On The Mount: KRS-ONE Delivers The Gospel of Hip Hop

May 22, 2009 / / Music

Rock Camp for Girls Wants You To Go To The Carnival

May 13, 2009 / / Music

Theophilus London Wants To Be a Pop Star

May 12, 2009 / / Film

Meet The McMullans – Patrick and Liam Hang Out In Dumbo