Brooklyn’s biggest stories of the week: A Brooklyn writer for the NY Times revisits the school choice she made for her daughter; buses, buffalo puppets and a Bay Ridge street fair filled a busy Saturday, a school bus hit a Crown Heights apartment building; a four-alarm fire tore through three Williamsburg restaurants; the Transmitter Park marina plan was sent back; the Bossert is becoming Ritz-Carlton Residences and a run of new places to eat, from a family cafe coming to Green Street to Naya’s 50th restaurant in Park Slope. Read on for the latest!
Health
Maimonides cleared to join the city’s public hospital system — with Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital in it
The New York State Public Health and Health Planning Council voted unanimously on Thursday, September 17 to let Maimonides Health join NYC Health + Hospitals, moving the $2.2 billion deal a large step closer.
For families, the detail that matters: Maimonides is home to Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center. More than $500 million goes to Epic, the electronic health record system the public hospitals already use, to upgrading the busy labor-and-delivery floors, and to other capital work. The money comes from Governor Hochul’s Health Care Safety Net Transformation Program, paid out over five years. Patient care continues uninterrupted, and patients get an online portal.
It is not final. Health + Hospitals says the deal still needs additional approval under state law; Gothamist reports a court sign-off is among them. A group of Maimonides trustees and Borough Park religious leaders, the Coalition to Preserve Maimonides, has sued. The nurses’ union NYSNA and 1199SEIU support the deal.
Read the NYC Health + Hospitals announcement.
Schools & Childcare
The city’s plan to take cut-through traffic off the streets around P.S. 110
The Department of Transportation brought its redesign of Driggs Avenue and the streets around McGolrick Park to Community Board 1 on September 8. Two diagonal diverters on Driggs — at Sutton and Monitor Streets — will stop drivers cutting through; DOT found more than half the cars on that stretch are cut-through traffic. Slip lanes on Newton Street and Engert Avenue close too. Implementation is slated for this fall; the full presentation is on DOT’s website.
A Brooklyn writer for the NY Times revisits the school choice she made for her daughter
One of the most challenging decisions parents face is where to enroll their child in school. Nikole Hannah-Jones argued in 2016 for sending her daughter Najya to P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill rather than to a selective school. Now, she revisits that choice in a new New York Times Magazine essay. Read the essay.
Police Blotter
A school bus crashed into a Crown Heights apartment building
A school bus jumped the curb near Eastern Parkway and Albany Avenue around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 17 and struck a residential building. No students were on board and the driver was not seriously hurt. Residents were evacuated as a precaution; part of the facade came down when the bus was pulled free. CBS New York has the details.
A four-alarm fire tore through three Williamsburg restaurants
Flames broke out just before 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 19 at a building on North Fifth Street between Bedford Avenue and Berry Street, and spread above the ceilings into the two restaurants next door. All three were evacuated. The FDNY reported a smoke explosion and a partial roof collapse, and had the fire under control just after 8:30 p.m. Six firefighters were treated for minor injuries and no one else was hurt; the cause is under investigation. CBS New York has the details.
Real Estate & Development
The Transmitter Park marina-and-restaurant plan was sent back — and the bathroom question with it
The marina-and-restaurant plan for WNYC Transmitter Park hit a wall on Tuesday, September 15, when a Community Board 1 subcommittee recommended against it — a recommendation, not a final decision. For families, the live question is the bathroom: the resolution sends NYC Parks to find another way to get a public restroom into the park. As Friends of WNYC Transmitter Park chair Elissa Iberti put it: a bathroom and a shed, not a wedding venue. Curbed has the full story.
A Bay Ridge councilmember wants to pick where the new housing goes
From January, a charter change lets affordable-housing projects in the city’s 12 least-building districts skip the City Council — Bay Ridge, at 580 new homes since 2010, will almost certainly be one. Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso wants to decide where those homes land before developers do: rezone the auto shops and empty storefronts between 86th and 95th Streets, Fourth to Fifth Avenues, and leave the low-rise side streets alone. School seats top her own worry list; a community meeting to collect ideas is coming. The City Reporter has the full piece.
The Bossert is becoming Ritz-Carlton Residences
The former Hotel Bossert at 98 Montague Street will become the borough’s first branded condos, with a ground-floor restaurant from Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group — the lease we covered in the spring. Construction starts late this year; completion is expected in 2029. Our full story.
Food & Drink
A family cafe, small grocery and community space is coming to Greenpoint
Lucky Day is taking over 158 Green Street in Greenpoint, the former Blue Light Speak Cheesy space. Owner Danielle Sinay, a local mom and former journalist, is building a cafe set up for people with kids: breakfast and lunch, grilled cheese with tomato soup, plus pantry staples and diaper-bag essentials. Opening this fall, date to come; follow @luckydaybk.
Naya’s 50th restaurant opened in Park Slope — and it is the first in Brooklyn to carry a kids meal
NAYA, the popular New York born Middle Eastern fast casual, opened at 311 7th Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets, last week. It is the first Brooklyn location to carry the brand’s Kids Meals, and they are on the menu seven days a week. Everything else is build-your-own. Start with a bowl, roll or salad, pick a protein like chicken shawarma, falafel or kafta lamb kebab, and add any of the 20 toppings, housemade sauces, Lebanese pickles, with vegan and gluten-free options throughout. Open daily 10:30am to 9pm for dine-in, pickup and delivery.
A Southern kitchen opened on Lorimer Street in Williamsburg
Ferguson’s Country opened Saturday, September 12 at 732 Lorimer Street, from Baba owner Gabriella Mann and her partner Scott Ferguson, whose Alabama childhood is the menu: biscuits from his grandmother’s recipe, hush puppies, shrimp and grits, peach cobbler. No reservations — walk in and put your name down. Greenpointers has the details.
A Yemeni coffee shop with a patio soft opened in Greenpoint
Kuttley House started serving on September 10 at 216 Driggs Avenue: coffee, an outdoor patio and seating meant for staying a while, whether that is with friends or with a laptop. Greenpointers has the details.
Events & Entertainment
Vintage buses packed Brooklyn Bridge Park
The New York Transit Museum and MTA New York City Transit parked a century of surface transit on Emily Warren Roebling Plaza on Saturday for the annual Bus Festival, and the lines to climb aboard ran long all day. Among the fleet: “Betsy,” a 1931 double-decker; Bus 3100, the first air-conditioned transit bus in the United States, built in 1956; a 1971 “Blitz Bus”; and “Pamela,” the commuter coach damaged at the World Trade Center in 2001, rebuilt and returned to service, on display for the 25th anniversary. Free and rain or shine, with bus operators and museum staff on hand to answer questions.
Life-size buffalo puppets walked through Brooklyn
Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi crossed Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon, from Abolitionist Place to Brooklyn Bridge Park by way of Borough Hall, Montague Street and the Promenade. The herd — life-size puppets built by Ukwanda Puppets of South Africa, the company behind Little Amal — stopped eight times along the route for music, poetry and ceremony, with Rhiannon Giddens, Sam Waterston, Laurie Anderson, the Brooklyn United Marching Band and the Native Pride Dancers taking part. The St. Ann’s Warehouse procession was created by Amir Nizar Zuabi with Elders of the Lenape and Lakota tribes, and was free and non-ticketed, so families could join and leave the walk wherever they liked.
FAMChella turned ten blocks of Fifth Avenue into a block party
Brooklyn Bridge Parents and the 5th Avenue BID closed Fifth Avenue on Saturday afternoon for the second annual FAMChella on Fifth, three hours of free kids activities in Bay Ridge. Local restaurants served along the way.
Sports
On the Court
The Liberty, already playoff-bound, beat the Minnesota Lynx 93–81 on the road on Friday — Breanna Stewart with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Jonquel Jones with 18 and 10 — to go 25–16. They visit Toronto on Sunday, then close the regular season with two home games against Atlanta at Barclays Center on Monday and Wednesday. Box score.
The Nets open training camp at the end of the month. The preseason starts October 6 at Charlotte; the one home preseason game is against the 76ers at Barclays Center on Thursday, October 8. Preseason schedule.
On the Diamond
The Cyclones’ 25th-anniversary season is in the books. It closed on September 6 at Maimonides Park with a 6–5 loss to Frederick after a five-run comeback fell one short — a spirited finish for last year’s champions. Cyclones.
On the Pitch
Brooklyn FC’s men lost 4–0 at Indy Eleven on Tuesday. The women go into the weekend fresh off their first win of the season — 3–2 over Sporting JAX, two goals from Catherine Zimmerman — with three straight home matches coming up after this week’s road trip. Schedules and tickets.
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