Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: parents fight pay-to-play playgrounds; Court Street redesign hits Carroll Gardens; Whole Foods coming to Cobble Hill; parks vs. parking, round two; Mamdani launches free 2-K; Greek Festival packs Schermerhorn Street; Knicks Finals watch parties mapped; men in manholes baffle Brooklyn; NYPD hunts B62 bus suspect; Bar Susanne, Socceria, and Grimm Tavern arrive; Brooklyn Heights’ last Walgreens shutters; and a pet psychic pops up in Williamsburg. Read on for the latest!
Community
Brooklyn Parents Launch Petition Against Pay-to-Play Playgrounds
A Change.org petition launched March 29 is asking NYC Parks to rein in for-profit operators that have been quietly occupying public playground and basketball-court space for paid classes — often without permits — in a pattern documented this spring at parks like Carroll Park, where families showed up to find branded equipment, signage, and cones cordoning off swaths of public play space. The campaign isn’t anti-programming; it’s calling on the city to enforce the permitting rules already on the books, modernize oversight for outfits that take registration and payment online, cap the amount of space and time for-profit programming can claim, and explicitly protect core play areas. Decision-makers tagged include Mayor Mamdani, Park Slope Council Member Shahana Hanif, and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. Sign the petition here.
Court Street Redesign Hits Its Bumpy Stride in Carroll Gardens
The 1.3-mile Court Street redesign — narrowing the corridor from two southbound lanes to one with a curbside, parking-buffered bike lane — is generating the friction Carroll Gardens warned about. Residents report traffic stacking up behind delivery trucks with nowhere to pull over; merchants say sales are down 10–20% since the redesign rolled out; emergency vehicles have struggled to thread through the single remaining lane. A merchant lawsuit was filed; in January, a Brooklyn judge ruled DOT had a “rational basis” to redesign the street for cyclist safety, so the configuration is staying. Whether the kinks get worked out — or the friction is the new normal — is now the open question.
Cobble Hill Gets New Whole Foods
The long-rumored Whole Foods landing in Cobble Hill is locked in. Per Crain’s, the chain has signed a lease for 182 Smith Street — the roughly 35,000-square-foot corner storefront between Warren and Wyckoff, recently vacated by Rite Aid during the pharmacy chain’s wave of bankruptcy closures — putting a major grocery anchor right on the Cobble Hill / Boerum Hill border. The lease is fresh enough that no opening timeline has been announced; build-out comes next. After years of grocery rumors swirling on that block, the actual paperwork is signed. More in our writeup.
City Hall
Parks Vs. Parking, Round Two: Columbus Park Fight Rolls Into a Second Weekend
The fight to reclaim the 60-year-old judges’ parking lot at Columbus Park rolled into a second weekend after Sunday’s rally drew hundreds to the Joralemon Street entrance. Council Member Lincoln Restler and Borough President Antonio Reynoso are continuing to press the case — backed by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s $21 million redesign, which would replace the asphalt with a sloped lawn over a kiosk and add a pavilion, dog run, and skate park elsewhere across the eight-acre site. The irony: an area zoned as parkland, occupied since the mid-century by the very judges who rule on eviction and public-takings cases — and who, asked to vacate, decline. The Office of Court Administration cites “security” and says no proposed alternate location has been adequate; Restler counters that the judges have been offered “many reasonable alternatives” and simply refused. The previous administration killed the plan after judicial pushback. Reynoso and Restler are now angling for Mayor Mamdani’s backing to reopen it.
Schools
Mamdani and Hochul Launch Free 2-K Applications
Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul announced June 2 that applications are open for the city’s first free 2-K program. Brooklyn Districts 18 and 23 — covering Canarsie, Brownsville, Ocean Hill, and parts of East Flatbush and Prospect Lefferts Gardens — are in the initial rollout, with other Brooklyn districts expected to follow. A meaningful win for the youngest end of the early-childhood pipeline.
Events & Entertainment
Brooklyn Greek Festival Packs Schermerhorn Street Through Sunday
Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s annual fair has drawn crowds all week — food, dancing, live music, kids’ activities, and the inevitable second loukoumades. Runs through Sunday June 7. Bonus: Friday night’s Knicks Finals game is being screened at the festival. Details in our writeup.
Where to Watch the Knicks Finals With the Kids in Tow
For the first time since 1999, the Knicks are in the championship — squaring off against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, up 1-0 after Game 1, with Game 2 tonight (Friday June 5, 8:30 PM ET on ABC) and Game 3 at Madison Square Garden Monday June 8. We’ve rounded up the family-friendly watch spots across Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, and Sunset Park — from Black Forest Brooklyn’s projection screens to Brooklyn Bowl’s free Robert “Friday Night Knicks” Randolph–hosted Game 2 watch party to The Dram Shop’s kids-eat-free Saturdays. Full list here.
Police Blotter
Men In Manholes: Mystery Crews Emerge From Brooklyn Sewers
NYPD is investigating two coordinated overnight incidents on May 29–30 — one in Williamsburg, one in Flatbush — in which small groups of men, equipped with waders, gloves, and flashlights, descended into manholes and emerged miles away hours later. In Williamsburg, eight men entered a manhole near Heyward and Bedford around 1 AM, climbed back out at 3:40 AM, and sped off in a waiting car before responding officers arrived. In Flatbush, seven climbed out around 2 AM and changed clothes on the sidewalk. Police have floated everything from copper-wire theft to “urban treasure hunting” and say the public faces no threat. Could be worse: while we may have sewer crooks, other cities are said to have crocodiles.
NYPD Hunts B62 Bus Suspect in Brooklyn Heights Child-Victim Incident
A man sat next to and acted lewdly toward an 11-year-old girl on a B62 bus near Livingston and Smith Streets early Monday morning, then fled. NYPD has released a composite. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Two Women Fatally Stabbed in Park Slope Building
NYPD’s 78th Precinct responded around 8 PM Friday May 30 to 386 2nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, finding two women, ages 59 and 23, dead at the scene. The building has a history of deadly violence; the investigation continues.
Openings
Bar Susanne Opens at Domino Park
A new coastal player has arrived at 6 River Street, right on the East River at Domino Park. Bar Susanne’s menu leans seafood-forward — scallop crudo, crab salad, fluke Milanese — paired with a drinks program built for the view and what early reviewers are calling the best summer patio in Williamsburg.
Socceria Soccer Cantina Debuts in Greenpoint
The team behind Taqueria Ramirez has opened a Mexican-leaning sports bar at 46 Norman Avenue, soft-launched May 30 for the UEFA Champions League final and going full-throttle for a World Cup run beginning June 11. Expect tacos and TV, both done well.
Grimm Tavern Takes the Old Olmsted Space
Brooklyn brewery Grimm opens a full-service tavern at 659 Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights this month — burgers, roast chicken, and house beer in the dining room that once held Olmsted’s tasting-menu run.
Variety Coffee Roasters Opens a Greenpoint Outpost
Brooklyn coffee staple Variety expands into Greenpoint this month, giving the neighborhood another well-loved cafe option. Opening date and exact address still firming up.
Closings
Walgreens at 120 Court Street Shutters After Decades
Brooklyn Heights’ last Walgreens — at the Atlantic Avenue corner — closed at noon Thursday June 4. Rogers Equities bought the site for $30 million and has already filed plans for a 14-story, 75-unit mixed-use tower in its place. Bring the prescriptions elsewhere.
Rose Marie Closes in East Williamsburg June 13
The Michelin-nodded Lorimer Street bar-restaurant from the Yellow Rose team shuts under a year in, with a new concept already teased for the 524 Lorimer space.
Brooklyn Color
A Pet Psychic Pops Up in Williamsburg Saturday
PS9 Pets — Williamsburg’s first holistic pet shop, at 169 North 9th — is hosting a pet psychic pop-up Saturday June 6, noon to 3 PM. One pet per reading. What your dog is really thinking, what your cat would like to say, what the goldfish has been keeping bottled up: all of it, on the table.
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