via City Planning's official challenge

Map shows change in vacancies over the last decade according to the Census

​Sorry, Mike! The city is just not as big as you think it is.

That's according to the U.S. Census Bureau, anyway, which, in very unsurprising news, has announced that it is not revising its official population count for 2010, despite the city's official challenge of the final number.

Every ten years, the Census counts populations across the country, coming up with a new number that determines how different regions are funded and how populations are represented through new districts. The typical song and dance is that city government officials dispute the conclusion, arguing that their city is actually much bigger than the Census determined. This time around, the 2010 Census found the city's population to be 8,175,133, but the city's Department of Planning has argued that the population was closer to 8.4 million as of July 2010.

More >>

​Not to be alarmist, but there is a serial sexual assailant on the loose in Brooklyn. We've written about him here before, but he's still at large; he's suspected of one rape and five attempted rapes along Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, on 16th Street in Park Slope, and in Bay Ridge. The most recent attack was just a couple of weeks ago.

Now, a new petition is asking that free self-defense classes be offered to women in the area. Here's an excerpt from a letter by the author of the petition, a Park Slope resident, to Community Board 7 and Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez:

More >>

A police sketch of the suspect.

​Police are seeking a man wanted in connection to one rape and five attempted rapes in Brooklyn over the course of the last few months. Starting in March, the man, who is described as a 5'7" Hispanic male between 25-30 and approximately 165 pounds, attacked six women. Five of them managed to break free, but on June 4 at about 3 a.m. in Sunset Park, the man followed a 28-year-old woman into the vestibule of her apartment, forced her to the ground, and raped her.More >>

Cops are looking for an alleged rapist who attacked two women, 20 minutes apart, on the night of February 25 in the area of 82nd Street in Bay Ridge.

In the first attack, at about 11:20 p.m., a 44-year-old woman opened her building's front door, and he pointed a gun from her, forced her inside, took her cell phone and money, hit her in the face with the gun, and tried to rape her.

Twenty minutes later, he struck again.

More >>