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Since 1978 • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2019 12 pages • Vol. 42, N Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Sunset Park, Williamsburg & Greenpoint o. 45 • November 8–14, 2019
TOTAL COP OUT
Hundreds march Downtown to protest police on subways
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Hundreds of straphangers took
to the streets of Downtown Brooklyn
on Friday to protest a Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
scheme to crack down on fare evasion
by hiring 500 new cops to police
the subway.
One activist slammed officials
for squandering taxpayer money
on a scheme that endangers and
disenfranchises the poor, instead
of making a sound investment in
new transit infrastructure.
“They aren’t doing anything
good for our community by policing
people who are evading the
fare just because they don’t have
2.75,” said Lillian Gooden, a protestor.
“That money could be better
spent improving the system,
improving the tracks, improving
the signals. Fare evasion is not the
main concern.”
Protestors gathered at Metro-
Tech Commons off Jay Street
at around 6 pm, where they rallied
against the increased presence
of law enforcement in the
borough’s transit network, which
has been rocked by two violent
police actions caught on camera
last week.
In one, a cop from the 84th Precinct
is seen punching a teenager
in the face during a brawl in the
Jay Street–Metrotech station. The
Artists such as the Bushwick Book Club make up the high concentration of creatives in
northern Brooklyn. Imagine that!
Northern Brooklyn nabes city’s most creative
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Northern Brooklyn’s hipster enclaves
are jam-packed with residents
working in so-called “creative
industries,” according to the
city’s chief bean counter.
A recent study mapping the
abodes of “creative industry”
workers from 2008 to 2017 shows
a steady trend towards zip codes
in Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant
— more than any other neighborhoods
in the city, according to
Comptroller Scott Stringer.
The “creative” sector collectively
employs over 293,000 people
citywide across a variety of
disciplines — including film and
television, advertising, publishing,
artists, museums, architecture, and
fashion — and composes about one
eighth of the Big Apple’s economy,
according to the city’s top number
cruncher.
“New York City is the creative
capital of the world, and this report
shows how the sector at the
heart and soul of our city is also
a pillar of our economy,” Stringer
said in a prepared statement. “We
need to invest in strengthening the
creative economy to support and
recognize it as the engine of opportunity
that it is.”
The sector, according to Stringer,
rakes in around $30.4 billion in collective
wages — contributing some
Honoring Bard of Brooklyn
Whitman fans celebrate Clinton Hill street co-naming
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Walt Whitman fanatics from around
the borough gathered in Clinton Hill on
Saturday to christen a local street corner
as “Walt Whitman Way” in honor of
the Bard of Brooklyn’s outstanding artistic
legacy, said the area’s local councilwoman.
“Brooklyn has always brought big
ideas to the world, and we’re ready to
commemorate another Brooklynite
whose artistic work and influence has
spread globally,” said Laurie Cumbo.
“Walt Whitman was a cultural icon, visionary,
and a true artist in every sense
of the word.”
The famed poet’s name now graces
the street signs at the intersection of
Dekalb Avenue and Ryerson Street —
just two blocks from Whitman’s former
home, where he penned Leaves of
Grass in 1855 .
Some attendants used the co-naming
ceremony to lobby for their ongoing effort
to landmark the lyricist’s former Ryerson
Street home between Myrtle and
Park avenues — the only of Whitman’s
New York City abodes that still stand
today, according to one advocate.
“We still have a chance to protect his
last remaining NYC home a few blocks
from the co-naming site by designating
it a city landmark for the benefit
of future generations,” said Brad Vogel
of the Coalition to Save Walt Whitman’s
House.
Saturday’s ceremony — which was
part of a City Council bill to co-name
86 thruways around the five boroughs
— was preceded by a walking tour from
Brooklyn Heights, marking the path the
Bard took several times while working
on his famous collection of poems during
his time in the borough.
Musicians, poets, and singers also
graced attendees with artistic renditions
of the most beloved works by the poet
— whom they also celebrated in May
for his 200th birthday — in an effort
to preserve Whitman’s memory for future
generations of Brooklynites, according
to Vogel.
“It helps to remind people that Walt
Whitman lived and emerged as America’s
poet right here in the streets of
Brooklyn,” he said.
Photo by Derrick Watterson
Photo by Ben Verde
Protestors demanded the NYPD’s presence in the subway
be scaled back drastically.
Walt Whitman fans celebrated the bard with the co-naming of the corner of Dekalb Avenue and Ryerson
Street in Clinton Hill on Nov. 2.
See CREATIVE on page 9
the protestors marched through
the streets flanked by hundreds of
cops, carrying banners, chanting
slogans such as “Ante up – punch
that cop!” and participating in a
mass fare–beating at the Hoyt–
Schermerhorn Street station.
A protestor was arrested for
vandalism after allegedly scrawling
“PIGS” on the side of a cop
car, the New York Post reported.
Another man was issued a summons
for allegedly spitting at cops.
Other protestors were seen pelting
a cop car with garbage, leading
one former cop to condemn
the protestors.
“I’ve protested against aggressive
policing for decades,” said
Brooklyn Borough President Eric
Adams, a former cop and current
mayoral candidate. “What I saw
last night went beyond an acceptable
protest.”
However, Queens Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasia Cortez
went to bat for the protestors
on Twitter, claiming the MTA’s
plan to attack the city’s poorest
commuters will only make the
subways more dangerous.
“Arresting people who can’t
afford a $2.75 fare makes no one
safer and destabilizes our community,”
the lawmaker tweeted.
“New Yorkers know that, they’re
not having it, and they’re standing
up for each other.”
teen, who was charged with assault,
plans to sue the city for $5
Million.
In the second incident, a
19-year-old at the Franklin Avenue
stop was held at gunpoint
and arrested by a dozen officers
after a gun report that was determined
to be false. The teen was
later charged with “theft of services”
for fare evasion.
Following the MetroTech rally,
Run it
again!
Bklyn turns out
for marathon
By Ben Verde and Todd
Maisel
Brooklyn Paper
more than 50,000 fitness fanatics
took to the streets on Sunday
for the 49th annual New York
City Marathon, where an international
cadre of runners pushed
the limits of human endurance
during a grueling 26.2-mile run
through the five boroughs.
“It’s tempting to just go home
and give it up,” said marathoner
Jennie Wang at the halfway mark
by the Pulaski Bridge in Greenpoint.
“But, we will keep going.”
The runners, who hailed from
over 125 different countries,
kicked off their journey on Staten
Island, before crossing the Verrazzano
Bridge for an 11-mile stretch
through Kings County — where
thousands of Brooklynites lined
the running route to cheer on the
Runners pounded 11 miles of pavement through Brooklyn.
Photo by Todd Maisel
marathoners as they pounded the
pavement from southern Brooklyn
to Queens.
“We want them to know this
is the best borough in the city,”
said Connie Pitsouis, who welcomed
the racers as they first entered
Brooklyn with a sign that
read “Brooklyn: home to everyone
from everywhere.”
Mike Basile, who watched the
runners with his kids near 92nd
Street, said he’s made a yearly
tradition of watching the athletes
with his children.
“It’s exciting for them, they
like the runners,” he said. “It’s
a nice little day.”
City transportation honchos
had blocked off the marathon
route during the day before the
race, forcing parked cars to vacate
the streets — while thousands
of anti-terrorism cops
manned the route, despite no
credible threats.
Runners ended their journey in
Central Park — where 26-year-old
runner Joyciline Jepskogi was the
first-place female finisher at 2:22:38,
and 26-year-old Geoffrey Kamworor
took home the gold medal
in the men’s race at 2:08:13.
Choice is off the menu
New Williamsburg eatery only sells one dish
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Here’s some food for no
thought!
An upcoming Williamsburg
diner will open on Nov.
11 with only one dish for
sale, making it the perfect
choice for diners who don’t
like making decisions, according
to the founder.
“A lot of times people get
overwhelmed by choices and
If I just make one good product
that appeals to people’s dietary restrictions
across the board,” said
Tali Ovadia.
The vegetarian food vender,
called The Whole Bowl, only
sells bowls filled with brown
rice, avocado, black and red beans,
Tillamook cheddar, black olives,
sour cream, cilantro, salsa, and
the eatery’s signature lemon-garlic
Tali sauce, which is based on
a secret recipe that took years to
perfect, Ovadia said.
“The whole bowl is just a vehicle
for the sauce, its what differentiates
it from any old rice and
bean bowl,” she said.
Employees for the chain,
dubbed “bowlistas,” can also use
all-vegan ingredients and add extras
such as tortilla chips. cookies,
or drinks.
Ovadia came up with the minimalist
menu out of necessity when
she started selling the bowls from a
5-by-2-foot food cart on the streets
of northwestern hipster enclave
Portland, Oregon in 2001, and she
hasn’t altered a single ingredient
in the 18 years since.
“Nothing has changed,” she
said. “It’s that thing, ‘If it ain’t
broke’ — and it wasn’t.”
There are four bowl sizes,
starting at the 12 ounce “Bambino
Bowl” for $8.95, the 16
ounce “Big Bowl” for $9.95,
the 24 ounce “Insatiabowl” at
$11.95 and the larger “Hyperbowl”
that can feed between
eight to 10 people for $69.95.
The north Brooklyn bowlery —
located next to the renowned local
dive bar Rocka Rolla at the corner
of Rodney Street — will have
seating for 17 customers across
850 square feet of space.
And if you want to give their
bowl a try, pop over on their opening
day, when they will be giving
out their first 50 bowls for free, with
a one-bowl limit per person.
Don’t think too hard at The
Whole Bowl 488 Metropolitan
Ave. between Rodney Street
and Union Avenue in Williamsburg,
www.thewholebowl.com,
(347) 599–1717. Open daily
from Nov. 11, 11 am-10 pm.
Bowls $8.95–$69.95.
The Whole Bowl offers its
sole menu item — a hearty
rice and bean bowl — in
four different sizes.
Photo by Stefano Giovannini
/www.thewholebowl.com
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