December 6–12, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 3
Mayhem Downtown
Motorist fatally hits woman, plows through scaffolding
Photo by Alex Mitchell
A Google Maps image from June shows the pond
covering most of the sidewalk.
WASHINGTON, D.C. SEPTEMBER 2019
SHENZHEN, CHINA SEPTEMBER 2019 BROOKLYN SEPTEMBER 2020
One School,
Many Campuses
With our sights set on creating the first truly modern school for the
21st century, we are excited to announce that our third global campus
will open in the heart of downtown Brooklyn next Fall to serve students
from age three through grade 12. The world is expanding and ever-changing.
With a Whittle School education, graduates will be prepared to take the
lead asglobal citizens having the language skills and cultural competencies
needed to be compassionate stewards of the world.
Waterworld!
This Crown Heights street
is more lake than roadway
NOW ACCEPTING FALL 2020 APPLICATIONS
FOR BROOKLYN AND DC.
BROOKLYN PARENT INFORMATION EVENT
DECEMBER 16TH VISIT WHITTLESCHOOL.ORG/BROOKLYN
LEARN MORE AT WHITTLESCHOOL.ORG
ILLUSTRATION: VIOLETA LÓPIZ; RENDERING: PERKINS EASTMAN
The World’s First
Global PreK-12 School
Arrives in Brooklyn
in 2020
By Alex Mitchell
for Brooklyn Paper
A speeding driver fatally
struck a woman before smashing
through a construction site
in Downtown Brooklyn during
the morning rush Wednesday,
witnesses and emergency
officials said.
The 81-year-old motorist
behind the wheel of a black
Ford Expedition struck the
victim — Department of Education
employee Tracy Belgrave
— as he sped north along
Pearl Street, before plunging
into a construction area and
plowing through some scaffolding
near the Marriott Hotel
just before 9:30 am, witnesses
say.
The crash sent construction
debris flying through the
air, nearly striking individuals
crossing through the busy
commercial area. A fire hydrant
was also launched across
the bustling pedestrian walkway
that connects Jay Street
and Adams Street near the
hotel.
A driver plowed through construction scaffolding and killed a pedestrian at
Pearl Street during the morning rush Wednesday.
First responders rushed
Belgrave to Brooklyn Hospital,
where doctors pronounced
her dead shortly after 10 am,
according to police.
Meanwhile, the elder male
driver was pinned in his car
and had to be extricated by
rescue workers, according to
firefighters. Medics ferried
him to Brooklyn Hospital for
treatment as well.
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Homeowners in Crown
Heights have been forced
to endure a massive, undying
puddle on their block for
more than a decade, and they
claim the city is too cheap to
mop it up.
The huge pond forms along
a curb on Midwood Street between
Utica and Schenectady
avenues, stretching in front
of a whopping eight houses
where the area’s disheveled
street dips to create a shallow
basin.
And because there’s no
drainage there, the pond lives
throughout the year, causing
locals to slip in the winter and
hold their noses in the summer,
according to one resident.
“In the summer it’s a swimming
pool, in the winter it’s a
skating rink,” said Bernadette
Lewis, whose mother owns
a house between Utica and
Schenectady avenues.
And while residents hate it,
the raccoons love it, according
to another Midwood Street
dweller, who claims the vermin
have gotten uppity feasting
on the trash that collects
in the nasty pool.
“They own the block – they
run up right in front of your
face,” said Wanda Hillaire.
Locals have complained to
the Department of Transportation
about the pond for years,
and in a December 2018 email
shared with the Brooklyn Paper,
Borough Commissioner
Bray outlines a solution for the
ponding which would essentially
require the city completely
redo the street, with
new paving and curb cuts.
In a separate email from
April, Bray estimates the total
cost of such an plan would
be north of $4 Million.
And that’s apparently more
than the city is willing to spend
on appeasing a small group of
working-class locals, according
to Hillaire, who said the
city would rather spend the
money on ritzier areas.
“This would never be in
Park Slope,” said Hillaire.
The Department of Transportation
did not respond to
a request for comment. The
Department of Environmental
Protection offered a terse,
three-word statement.
“DEP will investigate,” said
department spokesman Edward
Timbers.
Photo by Google Maps
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