Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: Thousands of free Broadway tickets went up for high schoolers with a Monday deadline; Cardi B filmed a music video in Sunset Park; the Council made outdoor dining year-round and Brooklyn asking rents climbed again while family-sized apartments got scarcer. Read on for the latest!
Childcare & Schools
Child care becomes free for 22,000 families in September
The city announced Thursday that it will cover the weekly co-pay that about 22,000 low-income families currently pay under the Child Care Assistance Program, making those seats fully free starting in September. Families already enrolled do not need to apply or fill anything out — the fee simply stops. The program covers children from infancy through age 13, and up to 19 for children with disabilities, for households earning up to roughly $114,000 for a family of four. More than 16,000 families remain on the waitlist.
Free Broadway tickets for high schoolers — the lottery closes Monday morning
More than 2,000 free Broadway tickets went up for New York City students in grades 9 through 12 on Thursday, through a lottery with the Theatre Development Fund. Entries close Monday, August 17 at 10 a.m. Worth knowing even if your teenager does not win: every student who enters gets a free two-month TDF membership, good for free or discounted admission to the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the American Museum of Natural History and the Met through September 13.
Special education is moving faster, and still missing most deadlines
Three years after a federal court order, new audits found the city has sped up special education services but still misses most of its legal timelines. For Brooklyn families heading into a new IEP year, the practical takeaway is unchanged: dates in the plan are not self-enforcing, and the paper trail matters.
The teachers’ union turns on the city’s reading curriculum
Days after state reading scores fell, UFT president Michael Mulgrew said the union may withdraw its support for NYC Reads, citing too much assessment and too much burden on teachers. The program is the centerpiece of the city’s literacy plan and was due to expand this year.
Events & Entertainment
Cardi B filmed a music video in Sunset Park
Hundreds of people packed 58th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues on Monday as Cardi B filmed the video for “AH HA”, the single she released last month. The block was dressed with American, Puerto Rican and Dominican flags, and rapper Kash Doll turned up on set.
Celebrate Brooklyn! books a rapper and a soul singer, both free
The Lena Horne Bandshell had two free nights this weekend: Lyricist Lounge’s 35th anniversary with Jadakiss on Friday at 6 p.m., and Americana Night with Yola, Dom Flemons and Cleo Reed on Saturday at 6 p.m.
A free vintage bus festival is coming to Brooklyn Bridge Park
The New York Transit Museum and MTA New York City Transit have announced the 2026 Bus Festival for Saturday, September 19 at Emily Warren Roebling Plaza in Brooklyn Bridge Park. It is free, runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. rain or shine, and children can climb aboard buses spanning more than a century of city transit — among them “Betsy,” a 1931 double-decker, and Bus 3100, the first air-conditioned bus in the United States. The vintage buses have stairs and can draw a line to board; the park itself is accessible.
City Hall
Outdoor dining goes year-round
The City Council voted 37 to 5 on Thursday to let roadway dining structures stay up all winter, ending the annual November teardown. Restaurants can winterize the sheds and pay fees quarterly, with sanitation rules and fines up to $500, and an 11 p.m. cutoff written in. The bill was led by Council Member Lincoln Restler, whose district runs from Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO up through Greenpoint.
Police Blotter
Two men indicted in the July Fourth shooting that wounded four children
Two Coney Island men were indicted Wednesday on 88 counts, including attempted murder and endangering the welfare of a child, over the July Fourth shooting at a family barbecue near Surf Avenue and West 30th Street. Prosecutors say about 15 shots were fired into a crowd of roughly 50 people; eight were hit, four of them boys aged 6, 7, 12 and 14. Both men are being held without bail.
A Midwood teacher is charged over an alleged incident with a student
A 41-year-old teacher at I.S. 240 in Midwood was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court and released without bail, charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a related count over an alleged encounter with a 12-year-old student on July 28. The Department of Education said he was reassigned away from students immediately and will be terminated if the allegations are substantiated.
Transit
The G train splits in two for the weekend
There is no G service between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Church Avenue from 11:45 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday. The line runs in two pieces — Court Square to Bedford-Nostrand, and Bedford-Nostrand to Hoyt-Schermerhorn every 20 minutes — and riders heading south are pointed to the A or C to Jay Street-MetroTech and then the F. That covers Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Downtown Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus and Park Slope, so plan the weekend around it.
Work finally starts on the Ashland Place bike lane
Crews began rebuilding the block of Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Hanson Place on Wednesday, three years later than planned. The street becomes one-way with a two-way protected bike lane on the east curb, closing the last gap in a protected route that runs from Sunset Park to DUMBO. It is the corner outside Atlantic Terminal that parents on bikes have complained about for years.
Bus cameras are coming to the B8 and B9
The MTA said Thursday it is adding automated camera enforcement to four more routes, including the B8 between Dyker Heights and East Flatbush and the B9 between Bay Ridge and Kings Plaza. A 60-day warning period starts Monday, August 17, after which drivers blocking bus lanes, bus stops or double-parking start getting tickets. Fines start at $50 and climb by $50 per repeat violation, to a $250 maximum.
The city is studying one-way conversions in East Williamsburg
The Department of Transportation is weighing turning a stretch of Grand Street one-way eastbound and Metropolitan Avenue one-way westbound, a Vision Zero priority area where turning conflicts and poor sightlines at crossings have been a persistent problem. Nothing is formally proposed yet, and the public comment survey runs through the end of September.
Real Estate & Development
Rents climb again, and family-sized apartments keep disappearing
Brooklyn’s median asking rent hit $3,990 in July, up 5 percent from a year ago, according to StreetEasy’s July market report. The number that matters more for families is inventory: listings with three or more bedrooms fell almost 20 percent citywide over the year. On the sales side Brooklyn moved the other way, with the median asking price down 4.6 percent to $1,049,000 and homes going into contract faster than last summer.
A 7.5-acre Bay Ridge convent campus sells for $42.25 million
The Sisters of the Visitation’s monastery and school campus at 8902 Ridge Boulevard changed hands this week after the attorney general signed off on the sale. No plans have been filed yet, but 7.5 acres in Bay Ridge is the largest development site to come loose in the neighborhood in years.
Openings & Amenities
Brooklyn Public Library opens an interim New Lots branch
The library system opened a temporary New Lots branch and adult learning center on Wednesday, on the campus of St. Paul Community Baptist Church, so East New York keeps library service while the permanent building is rebuilt for a 2028 opening. It is part of the largest rebuilding effort in the system’s history — the same push that has brought new furnishings to the Carroll Gardens and Red Hook branches, with a Crown Heights location due next.
The Herbert Von King dog run closes over soil contamination
Routine soil testing ahead of a planned renovation turned up possible contamination, and the dog run at Herbert Von King Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant has been closed. The city says the rest of the park is safe and open, and off-leash hours elsewhere in the park — before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m. — are unchanged.
A pizza and wine bar opens on Atlantic Avenue
Frenzie opened Thursday at 129 Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn Heights, the second restaurant from Confidant chefs and co-owners Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman. It serves New York-style pizza and small plates alongside a wine list that is entirely natural, biodynamic or organic. The detail that matters for families is the weekend opening time — 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, well ahead of the evening crowd.
A kosher Mediterranean restaurant opens at The William Vale
Liba has opened at 107 North 12th St. in Williamsburg, in the indoor-outdoor space at The William Vale that used to be Isla, from the team behind 12 Chairs Café. Chef Maayan Glass built the menu around an 800-degree brick oven, house-made breads and an in-house dry-aging program. It is certified kosher and serves dinner only, Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. — so it is closed Friday and Saturday. Reservations are on Resy, and the bar is kept for walk-ins.
Around the Neighborhoods This Weekend
One Crown Heights, and a free day at the Children’s Museum
The eleventh One Crown Heights took over Park Place and Brooklyn Avenue on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. with street games, art-making, music and food — and admission to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum was free all afternoon. It was the best free family afternoon of the week.
Sports
The Cyclones come home for five
Brooklyn opened a long home stand against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws at Maimonides Park, taking Tuesday 4-0 behind six scoreless innings from Carreño before dropping Wednesday 4-3 in eleven innings. Thursday brought a 6-1 win, Joel Díaz giving up a single run over four innings and Trey Snyder driving in two. Friday went the other way, 2-1 on Irish Night in front of 5,072 — a pitchers’ duel in which Brooklyn did not get a hit until the eighth and every run in the game was unearned. Saturday’s Star Wars Night game and the 2 p.m. finale on Sunday closed out the stand.
Liberty host the Sparks
The Liberty lost Tuesday in Indiana, 106-92, then beat the Los Angeles Sparks 85-81 at Barclays Center on Thursday night — though only just. New York led 69-41 early in the fourth quarter before Los Angeles cut the deficit to a single point. Sabrina Ionescu finished with 20. Their next home game is Saturday, August 22 against Indiana.
Brooklyn FC head west, and the women move their home opener
The men played the first West Coast match in club history on Saturday night, away at Las Vegas. The women’s fall home opener against DC Power has been moved up to Friday, August 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Maimonides Park.
