YEAR
IN REVIEW
2020
JANUARY
House of D’ closes: Mayor
Bill de Blasio offi cially shuttered
INSIDE
Your entertainment
guide Page 22
Police Blotter ..........................8
Opinion .................................... 18
Letters ..................................... 19
Education ............................... 12
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COURIER L 2 IFE, DECEMBER 25-31, 2020
the Brooklyn House of
Detention as part of the city’s
$8.7 billion plan to close Rikers
Island and move detainees
to four newly-built boroughbased
jails by 2026. City Corrections
offi cials relocated the
roughly 390 detainees at the
Atlantic Avenue holding facility,
between Smith Street and
Boerum Place, to other lockups
in November in Manhattan
and the Bronx to prepare
for the building’s demolition.
State Closes Down Controversial
Woodland Bar
In Park Slope: State booze
offi cials revoked the liquor license
of a controversial Park
Slope watering hole Woodland
after months of locals blasting
the bar for the loud and ruckus
atmosphere that often spilled
onto the streets late into the
night. The fi nal decision came
just days before a Dec. 22 stabbing
inside the bar that sent a
man to the hospital.
Brooklyn Democratic
Party Boss Frank Seddio resigns:
After eight years serving
as chairman of the Kings
County Democratic Party, Seddio
abruptly stepped down from
the post, allowing Assemblywoman
Rodneyse Bichotte to
take his place. Seddio has been
a staple of local politics, having
previously served as Community
Board 18’s district manager,
a state Assemblyman, and
a surrogate court judge.
Anti-fracking activists
protest Nat Grid pipeline:
Northern Brooklynites blast
National Grid reps at a Community
Board 1 meeting for
building a seven-mile fracked
gas pipeline underneath
the borough’s streets from
Brownsville to the Newtown
Creek in Greenpoint. The protest
kicks off a year-long campaign
against the utility company’s
controversial plans.
THE BIGGEST
Boro Pres Assails Midwesterners
in Incendiary
Speech: Borough President
and Mayoral Candidate Eric
Adams ruffl ed feathers when
he ranted against transplants
and gentrifi ers at a Martin
Luther King Jr. Day event in
Harlem. Adams accused midwesterners
of “hijacking”
apartments and demanding
they return to wherever they
came from. “Go back to Iowa,
go back to Ohio, New York belongs
to New Yorkers!” Adams
said, drawing applause
at the event but outrage from
critics.
Clinton Hill man registers
beer as emotional support
animal: Local jokester
Floyd Hayes fi led a certifi cation
with the USA Service
Dog Registration to claim his
preferred alcoholic beverage
as an “emotional support animal,”
hoping the designation
would allow him to carry the
brews aboard public transit
and other currently-banned
destinations. A government
rep later clarifi ed, however,
that the certifi cation will not
give Hayes the special privileges
he thirsts for.
MTA looks to revive Bay
Ridge Branch: The MTA
commissioned a study of a
proposed billion-dollar passenger
train that would run
through southern Brooklyn.
The agency awarded infrastructure
fi rm Aecom with a
$1.3 million contract to determine
the feasibility study for
the project, which would revive
passenger service on the
Bay Ridge Branch — a freight
line that once carried straphangers
through Bay Ridge,
Bensonhurst, Midwood, and
East Flatbush until it was decommissioned
in 1924.
Councilman Espinal resigns:
Bushwick Councilman
Rafael Espinal suddenly resigned
to take up a new gig
heading up the non-profi t Freelancers
Union. His departure
opens up a contentious special
election in the district, which
Darma Diaz won during the
June primaries.
FEBRUARY
Park Slope’s Oldest Barber
Shop Closes After more
than a Century: Brooklyn’s
longest running scissor shop
hung up the shears after over a
century of buzz cuts and fades.
After taming manes with his
two brothers since the 1960’s,
John Fiumefreddo called it
quits after his brother Angelo
passed away and his brother
Vito retired. “I always felt it
was my brother’s place,” John
Fiumefreddo said. The barber
shop had existed under different
owners on the same block
of Seventh Avenue near Fifth
Street since 1903.
Drag racing leads to sixcar
pileup in Park Slope:
Five people were sent to the
hospital after a six-car pileup
in Park Slope that resulted
from an illegal drag race, according
to fi rst responders.
Locals living along Fifth Avenue
say that racing has been a
“long standing problem.”
Council passes Park
Slope Legislators bill to
Curb Reckless Driving: The
City Council passed a historic
driver-accountability bill,
dubbed the Reckless Driver
Accountability Act, which
would require scoffl aw drivers
to take a road safety course or
have their vehicle booted. The
idea came about after a driver
An activist broke into the construction site of National Gird’s new underground
pipeline in northern Brooklyn. Brooklyn Paper fi le photos
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