2019 REVIEW
brownstone neighborhoods
that are already at capacity
during rush hours.
Triple digits: Sheepshead
Bay resident Rosalie Davi
celebrated her 100th birthday
with friends, family and
a beer on Sept. 22. The party
featured a disk jockey, a
Frank Sinatra impersonator,
and custom made hats and
mugs featuring a cartoon version
of the southern Brooklyn
centenarian, who came into
the world the same year the
US banned the sale of alcohol,
the Chicago White Sox threw
the World Series, and women
gained the right to vote.
Dog poop: The Gowanus
Canal showed higher levels
of microscopic poop following
three storms last spring,
which one local water tester
attributed to dog poop fl ushing
into the putrid waterway via a
new drainage system designed
to keep sewage from further
polluting Brooklyn’s Nautical
Purgatory. Reporter Kevin
Duggan and Eymund Diegel
— a member of the Gowanus
Canal Community Advisory
Group, which watches over the
waterway’s federal cleanup —
took their lives into their own
hands during a weekly morning
sampling session of the water
on Sept. 26.
Not Golden: Former state
Sen. Marty Golden welched on
an election year promise to allocate
$4 million for repairs to
a deteriorating Marine Park
playground. Golden promised
the funds on the eve of a hotly
contested general election
against Democrat Andrew
Gounardes, but the funds
never materialized more than
10 months after the one-time
pol lost relection . Despite
multiple sources claiming
they could fi nd no trace of the
money, a spokesman for Senate
Republicans said the Parks
Department failed to fi ll out
Golden’s fi led forms in order
to authorize the funding. Gounardes
would come to partner
with Councilman Alan Maisel
to allocate more than $11 million
for the park in November.
October
Radio silence: A non-profi t
media company abruptly shut
down the beloved, Brooklynbased
radio station WBAIFM
on Oct. 7, fi ring most of
the station’s staff and changing
the locks on its Boerum
Hill offi ces — and setting off
COURIER LIFE,10 DEC. 27, 2019-JAN. 2, 2020
Councilman Menchaca announced that would reject Industry City’s rezoning application unless developers
acquiese to his demands, but that didn’t stop the maker space from moving ahead regardless. Industry City
a messy legal battle between
the station’s operators and
the California-based parent
company. Following several
rallies, trials, and meetings,
a judge ruled that the parent
company had to reopen WBAI
and return the station to its
Brooklyn staff in Nov.
Judged: Kings County Supreme
Court Judge Sylvia Ash
was arrested on Oct. 11 for alleged
obstruction of justice related
to an investigation into
multibillion-dollar fi nancial
services company Municipal
Credit Union. Authorities
said the credit union leadership
stole millions of dollars
from the company, and Ash
— who served as its Chair of
the Board — attempted to help
them evade authorities by destroying
her cell phone and
providing false testimony to
investigators.
Gambling den shot out:
Four people were fatally shot
and three others were injured
in a mass shooting at
an underground casino in
Crown Heights on Oct. 12. Police
responded to a call about
the shooting at Utica Avenue
between Dean and Michael
Griffi th streets at just before
7 am, where they found four
deceased victims. The incident
sparked an outcry from
the local community who
held a vigil on the following
Monday, where several politicians
— like Borough President
Eric Adams — claimed
the incident showed how the
county was “dismissive of
mass shootings in communities
of color.”
Industry City rezoning:
Executives kicked off a controversial
plan to rezone of Industry
City in October, setting up
a prolonged fi ght with various
community stakeholders over
the fate of massive industrial
complex — particularly Councilman
Carlos Menchaca, who
vowed to kill the proposal if
Industry City bigwigs failed
to meet a number of his demands.
Among other things,
Menchaca wanted the additional
1.45 million square feet
of space that would result from
the 12-year, $1 billion redevelopment
to include space for
a public school, and remove
hotels and some retail space.
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