May 10, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAGE 7
Judge’s ruling
shakes up
B’wick election ‘PURRFECT
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Darma Diaz, the party-backed
contender for Bushwick’s City
Council seat, will face two challengers
in the June 23 Democratic
primary election after a
judge overturned an “absurd” decision
by the Board of Elections
that previously left Diaz as the
only candidate on the ballot.
Kings County Supreme Court
Justice Edgar Walker issued a
ruling that both Misba Abdin
and the aptly-named Kim Council
had each collected enough
signatures to qualify for the ballot
— overruling the city’s election
offi cials, who had previously
claimed that they’d missed the
threshold.
According to Judge Walker’s
ruling, the Board of Elections
and the city’s Law Department
had mistakenly set the signature
threshold too high after misinterpreting
Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s March 14 executive order
that lowered the minimum
amount of signatures to 135 in an
effort to limit in-person contact
amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuomo’s directive cut short
the necessary signature amount
by 70-percent for all forthcoming
elections, while narrowing the
ENDING’
Cops save trapped feline
from car cat-astrophe in
Sheepshead Bay
Squibb Bridge reopens in Brooklyn Heights
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A new and improved revamp of the beleaguered
multi-million-dollar Squibb Bridge reopened
to the public on May 4.
The reconstructed span fi nally connects its
namesake park on Middagh Street in Brooklyn
Heights to Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park
below, offering locals a swift path to the waterfront
green space and a respite from quarantining
at home during the COVID-19 crisis,
according to the head of the semi-private
stewards of the park.
“Right now, social distancing is so important
and having more access points to the
park can only help that,” said Eric Landau,
president of Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation.
Squibb Bridge II wrapped about two
months ahead of schedule, with the original
opening planned for summer, and the costs
BY TODD MAISEL
Their engine really purred
without turning the car on.
Sheepshead Bay residents
were surprised to hear a noise
under the hood of a Toyota
parked on E. 23rd Street and
Avenue W on May 3. Moments
later, deep in the engine compartment,
they discovered a kitten
trapped between the hoses
and wires.
Offi cers from the 61st Precinct
and Emergency Service
personnel responded and at fi rst
tried to remove the kitten from
underneath the car without success.
After fi nding the owner of
the car, authorities were able to
dig into the engine compartment
came in at just north of $7 million, according
to Landau.
Engineers with Arup Group designed the
new pedestrian overpass to look very similar
to the former troubled bridge near the water,
but with a structure of pre-fabricated steel instead
of black locust wood, which rotted and
made the original walkway above Furman
Street unsafe.
Continued on page 4
Continued on page 4
where they worked for some time
trying to free the kitten.
After more than two hours of
dismantling some parts, the cat
was free.
Neighbors Steven Lynn and
his girlfriend immediately fell in
love with the fragile feline. The
pair took him home, gave him a
bath, and named him Mr. Belvedere.
“I’m the proud owner of a new
kitten and yes, I’m a cat dude and
this one needed a home,” Lynn
said of his new adoptee, a young
male that he will need to take to
the vet because of ear mites.
“I’ve got a new best friend,”
Lynn said proudly. “He’s gonna
Offi cers pose with the feline. Photo by Todd Maisel have a happy home now.”
Squibb Brdige has fi nally reopened after
a multi-million-dollar revamp.
Turner – Ildar Istarki
Vol. 9 No. 19 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
