Good morning! Welcome to this August 6, 2019 edition of East & Creek, in which e&c pivots very briefly to SPORTS.
What’s up in Greenpoint?
Local boxing prospect Adam Kownacki, whose family immigrated from Poland to Greenpoint when he was seven, will get his shot at glory at Barclay’s on Saturday:
“One of my dreams as an amateur was to fight in the main event in Brooklyn, and now it’s come true,” Kownacki said this week. “I’m very excited. I love punching people in the face.” (New York Post’s George Willis)
A crew from the Dept. of Transportation is scheduled to do paving work Thursday night on Greenpoint Ave (between Humboldt St and Monitor St) and Calyer St (between Jewel St and Russell St).
And since it has apparently been a bit of a slow-news week so far here in Greenpoint, allow e&c to remind you, dear reader, to let this newsletter know how it can serve you. Is there a mystery you’d love to see solved? An issue slipping threw the cracks? An interesting tidbit burning a hole in your pocket? Send it along to eastandcreek@gmail.com, pretty please.
Meanwhile in New York City…
Mayor de Blasio agreed to a Wednesday appearance on Hannity; here’s hoping for questions about any one of this week’s stories about possible ethical lapses by Blaz. (City & State’s Emma Bolton)
Gov. Cuomo’s clemency program has been slow to respond to a surge in applications for reduced sentences, according to frustrated prisoners and their “deflated” attorneys. So far the governor, who entered his third term earlier this year, has granted 18 commutations. (The City’s Reuven Blau)
Twitter suspended the popular parking watchdog @placardabuse this weekend amidst an apparent dispute with the NYPD. @placardabuse sez: “We have asked the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Conflicts of Interest Board to investigate if anybody misused their position in an effort to suppress Constitutionally protected speech in an effort to avoid accountability.” (Streetsblog’s Gersh Kuntzman)
The developer of Brooklyn’s Pacific Park committed to building more than 2,000 affordable apartments by mid-2025, but local residents and pols are beginning to doubt that that promised housing will become available any time soon. (The City’s Claudia Irizarry Aponte and Rachel Holliday Smith)
Seven years after Hurricane Sandy eroded Hart Island’s shores, exposing human remains at the city-owned cemetery, restoration work will begin next month. The island is a historical resting place for the poor, the unclaimed and the unidentified. (Wall Street Journal’s Tess Riski)
And finally, amid news yesterday that July was the “hottest month in recorded history,” and that New Jersey’s Lake Hopatcong has been closed to swimmers due to an unprecedented cyanobacteria bloom, a teeny tiny spot of good news: A beaver, swimming past the Upper West Side in the Hudson River. As our estuary’s health has improved in recent decades, fauna sightings in the area have become less and less rare. (New York Times’ Michael Gold)
Thus concludes this August 6, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the twice-weekly newsletter about Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read the full archives here.
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See ya around the neighb,
Jon Hanrahan
Author, e&c