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January 17-23, 2020 Including Canarsie Digest
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DUCK TALES! Justice reforms
destroying boro’s
bail industry
A male harlequin duck makes a rare visit to Sheepshead Bay. Photo by Charles Tang
Captive
market
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Who’s going to bail out the
bail bondsmen?!
The Brooklyn bail industry
is reeling from recently enacted
state-wide bail reforms,
with the owner of one decadesold
Downtown fi rm preparing
to shutter multiple storefronts
in response to a rapidly shrinking
market.
“We’re not going to able to
sustain rents and payroll if
there’s no bail,” said Wendy
Fordin-Saler, one of the owners
of Empire Bail Bonds on Livingston
Street. “It’s emotionally
and mentally traumatizing
to say the least.”
The family-owned business,
which has operated its offi ce in
America’s Downtown for a quarter
of a century, closed shops
in Queens, Long Island, and
Westchester at the beginning
of the year as a direct response
to defendants of low-level criminal
charges — who make up 95
percent of their clientele — no
longer having to make bail, according
to Fordin-Saler.
Rare bird makes
a splash in
Sheepshead Bay
BY JESSICA PARKS
He’s an odd duck!
A duck native to the Pacifi
c Northwest has been spotted
bobbing in the waters off
Sheepshead Bay for the past
few days — marking a rare fi nd
for Brooklyn bird watchers, according
to one enthusiast.
‘It is defi nitely rare,” said
Stanley Greenberg, a member
of the Brooklyn Bird Club. “I
have only ever seen them on
the West Coast.”
The downy out-of-towner is
a harlequin duck — a diminutive
water fowl known for its
colorful coat — which are typically
seen wading in the distant
Pacifi c Ocean, although
they’re sometimes spotted
along northern Atlantic coasts
off of Newfoundland and Quebec.
Nature Photographer Jennifer
Kepler was one of, if not
the fi rst bird lover to document
the unusual sighting on
her blog Snapshot of Nature,
where she posted images of the
Dem boss stepping down!
The chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and one of
the most infl uential players in New York City politics, Frank
Seddio, said he’ll leave his post as the county’s de facto party boss
on Jan. 20, when he’ll ask executive committee members to elect
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte as his interim successor.
The move has stunned critics, who complained there’s no time
to fi nd a potential challenger to Seddio’s heir apparent!
Story on Page 4!
Continued on page 16 Continued on page 16
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