ON THE RISE: The city is raising rates for the Brighton Beach Municipal Parking Field from $330 to $500 for a
three-month pass, making it the city’s most expensive municipal lot. Google
said Schwartz, 75, who has
been a permit holder at the
Brighton Fourth Street lot for
20 years.
Like many of the 200 residents
who park in the fi eld,
Schwartz worries she may
have to give up her permit after
July 1. The closest available
parking garage costs
$350 per month, and she fears
that should she fi nd parking
on Brighton Beach’s crowded
streets, she will have to walk
long distances between her
spot and her home at night.
“I can’t say what I’m going
to do with my life,” Schwartz
lamented.
BY ROSE ADAMS
The city plans to raise the
price of a three-month Brighton
Beach parking permit
from $330 to $500 beginning
July 1 — making the southern
Brooklyn municipal parking
lot the most expensive in the
city.
“It’s disgusting,” said Fran
Schwartz, a Brighton Beach
resident who railed against
the price hikes at a June 26
Community Board 13 meeting.
“I’ve complained and
complained and complained,
and no one’s doing anything.”
The Brighton Beach Municipal
Parking Field, located
on Brighton Fourth Street
between Brightwater Court
and the Boardwalk, offers
312 parking spaces at significantly
below-market rate,
which, for space in a private
lot in the city, averages about
$400 a month, according to
monthlyparking.org. The
three-month permit allows
drivers 24/7 access to the lot,
while day-pass holders pay $2
per hour, are subject to a fi vehour
limit, and cannot park
The hike will make the
Brighton Beach fi eld the city’s
most expensive parking lot, although
it will remain cheaper
than some city parking garages,
including the municipal
garage at Delancey and Essex
streets, which taxes drivers at
a rate of $500 per month.
In late May, transit offi -
cials announced their decision
to raise the parking fee
in 16 municipal parking lots
and garages across the city.
In Brooklyn, the Bensonhurst
and Sheepshead Bay parking
lots’ quarterly rates will jump
from $150 to $230, the Canarsie
lot will rise to $220, and Bay
Ridge permits will become
$225.
“I’m getting sick about it,”
The Department of Transportation
argues that the municipal
lots are still priced well
below market rate, and claims
it must adjust the prices to
match soaring demand. The
city has not raised the rates
in many of its parking lots for
years, and Brighton Beach
has not seen a price increase
since 2002.
On May 30, a group of City
Council members responded
to the increase in permit costs
with a letter addressed to
DOT.
“We are dismayed that the
DOT chose to make this fee
adjustment without any engagement
overnight.
INSIDE
Wyrd
tales
A steamy production: CityWell spa’s “A Midsummer Night’s Steam” will include sonnet readings,
singing, and a complimentary cocktail. “The Dream Midsummer ‘19” at the House of
Yes will feature dancing, singing, and aerial fairies.
Quirky Shakespeare shows shake things up
By Rose Adams Something wacky this way comes!
Several unorthodox versions of
Shakespeare’s plays will grace the
stages, parks, clubs, and spas of Brooklyn
this summer! These off-beat productions
use the Bard’s centuries-old plays as inspiration
for new stories.
Brave new girl
Park Slope’s Gallery Players will put on
this season’s most traditional production, a
version of Shakespeare’s final play “The
Tempest.” In telling the story of the wizard
Prospero and his daughter Miranda,
exiles on a distant island, the Players will
use a youth chorus as the spirits who work
Prospero’s magic. And this show has a
romance appropriate for the post-Pride
season, with Miranda falling in love with
a shipwrecked princess.
Gallery Players 199 14th St. between
Fourth and Fifth avenues in Park Slope,
(212) 352–3101, wwww.galleryplayers.
com. July 13–28. Thu, Fri, and Sat; 7:30
p.m.; Sun at 3 p.m. $25 ($20 seniors).
Getting Cage-y
This group takes the Shakespeare out of
“Shakespeare in the Park!” Instead, theatrical
comedy event “Cage in the Park” will
re-enact the 1997 Nicolas Cage film “Face/
Off” — but will do it in iambic pentameter,
with a full band, and the setting moved to
ancient Rome. Created by a writer and a
producer at “The Daily Show,” this Bardadjacent
show is sure to make you laugh.
The Peristyle Grecian Shelter in
Prospect Park Parkside Avenue between
Parade Place and Park Circle in Prospect
Park South. July 14 at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Free.
House of Yea, verily
Bushwick’s famous club House of Yes
will give the Bard of Avon a modern makeover.
On July 17 and 18, the venue will
host “Shakespeare in the Club: The Dream
Midsummer ’19,” an adaptation of “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with a focus
on sexual consent. Loaded with original
songs and choreography, the production
will critique the lack of bodily autonomy in
the shape-shifting, potion-pushing original
play, while delivering raunchy and interactive
performances.
House of Yes 2 Wyckoff Ave. at Jefferson
Street, (646) 838–4973, www.houseofyes.
org. July 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. $15.
Spa, sirrah!
The fairies and star-crossed lovers from
Shakespeare’s summer romp will descend
on a Gowanus spa on July 24 for “A
Midsummer Night’s Steam,” where the allfemale
cast will mingle with the cocktailsipping
audience.
Rather than sticking strictly to the original
script, the actresses will role play their
characters as they relax in hot tubs and
saunas, sing ballads, and read sonnets to
guests. The spa will serve light refreshments,
and attendees can enjoy full access
to its amenities.
CityWell Brooklyn 496 President St.
between Nevins Street and Third Avenue in
Gowanus, (347) 294–0100, www.citywellbrooklyn.
com. July 24 at 6:30 p.m. $65 ($55
in advance).
Too, too solid flesh
A local theater group known for its
nude, outdoor productions of work by
Shakespeare and other Elizabethan playwrights
will offer a “greatest hits” of previous
shows, combining segments of “The
Tempest,” “The Taming of the Shrew,”
and “Hamlet” with new scenes and some
non-Shakespeare plays in “Mere Flesh
and Blood,” opening in August.
The show will use nudity selectively
as a storytelling tool and a body-positive
statement, said the managing director of
the Torn Out Theater company.
“Nudity, along with our gender-conscious
casting, is part of our mission to
promote body positivity by showcasing
a wide range of what human bodies can
and do look like, and how those bodies
are part of the stories that we tell,” said
Diana Levy.
Prospect Park Music Pagoda (enter
at Lincoln Road and Ocean Avenune in
Prospect Lefferts Garden, www.tornouttheater.
org). Aug. 8–9 at 5:30 p.m., Aug. 10–11
at 2 p.m. Free.
Your entertainment
guide Page 47
Police Blotter ..........................8
Letters .................................... 24
Op-Ed ......................................25
Standing O ............................ 26
Health ..................................... 35
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER L 2 IFE, JULY 5–11, 2019 M BR B G
with permit holders
or community input,” wrote
11 elected offi cials, including
City Councilman Chaim
Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay).
“The lots are overwhelmingly
located in low- to middleincome,
working-class communities,
and are surrounded
by areas of substantial congestion,”
they added. “We ask that
you immediately reverse this
decision.”
But as the day of the price
hike approaches, Brighton
Beach permit holders are losing
hope.
“I don’t think anyone
cares,” said Schwartz.
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TAKE A HIKE Brighton Beach municipal lot to become priciest in the city
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