Empire State Development

In a feat for community groups that have been critical of the controversial Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, a judge has ruled that the project needs further review.

But that's not stopping the developers from pushing forward with a central part of their plan: a new arena for the Nets, which is slated to open in the fall.

Yesterday, an appeals court ruled unanimously that the state's Empire State Development Corp. must go back and review how the decades of projected construction of the massive 22-acre project will impact residents in the surrounding neighborhood. This Supreme Court Appellate Division ruling upholds a lower court's decision last July that said a new environmental review of the second phase of the project was needed. That means that the 11 towers Bruce Ratner plans to build in the next phase of the project must be reviewed, while the first part of the project -- which includes the arena on Flatbush and Atlantic avenues -- is clear to move forward as is.

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By now, you have probably heard about proposals to redesign the Prospect Park loop, which were discussed at a public meeting last night.

You see, the Prospect Park Road Sharing Taskforce has been seriously considering changes after several recent accidents left two with severe brain injuries.

The coalition announced yesterday that it wants to double the space allocated to cyclists and pedestrians -- so there would be one lane for each group and one lane for vehicles. The move would get rid of one car lane.

Transportation advocates seem to think the changes, which could take place as early as this spring, are a step in the right direction, but would still prefer an outright ban on cars.

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A man has robbed five Brooklyn and Queens businesses at gunpoint, and cops want your help bringing this jerk to justice.

Police say that he began his crime spree on Sept. 25, around 12:15 a.m., when he stormed into a Greenpoint Dunkin Donuts at 356 McGuiness Boulevard, shot a gun, and fled with cash.

The suspected perp then hit a Williamsburg Capital One Bank, located at 185 Broadway, on Oct. 18.

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Don't come between a security guard and his breakfast. The New York Post reports of a struggle earlier this morning between a masked assailant and a security guard outside of East Williamsburg's Late Night Deli on Metropolitan and Olive Street (the Post incorrectly reported it as Oliver St, which is on the Lower East Side and has a fairly decent Chinese place).

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Police sketches of the suspect(s)

Park Slope residents think that police came close to catching one of the suspects in the recent string of Brooklyn sex attacks in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the man gave them the slip. According to the Brooklyn Paper, residents say cops searched 13th Street at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning and gave chase to a man who escaped towards 8th Avenue; they're assuming it was one of the suspects, though the police say the incident wasn't related. An officer at DCPI just confirmed to us that the incident isn't thought to have anything to do with the sex attacks.

An hour later that same night, a witness says he or she saw two white men approach a Hispanic man on Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, yell at him, and beat him up, possibly in an act of wannabe vigilantism (all descriptions of the attacker(s) indicate that he's Hispanic). Per the Brooklyn Paper, the witness called 911 and the cops took the man away.

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NYC the Blog

Crappy overpriced apartments: no longer just for Manhattanites!

One of the biggest advantages of living in Brooklyn is the cheaper rents. While your Manhattan friends boast of their walks to work and how they never have to wait 30 minutes for a late-night subway, you, a Brooklynite, smugly sit back and ponder your cheap rent and spacious apartment. Not so fast, though, because a new report shows that Brooklyn rents on average are higher than you'd think.

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Police have released a second sketch of the suspect(s)

We don't have a lot of details about this crime yet, but Fucked in Park Slope has an account from yet another woman who has been attacked in Brooklyn. The attack went down last night at around 11:30 p.m. While there's no confirmation that the assault is the work of the man or men who is/are still on the loose, the incident does fit the pattern of the other attacks:

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via OSA

What with the recent art gallery "poop mystery" and now the latest problem in McCarren Park, things seem to have taken something of a scatalogical turn in these late-summer days in New York City. The Brooklyn Paper reports that nannies and parents taking their kids to McCarren Park to play are tired of drunks using the playground "as their own personal toilet." Seems a fair thing to be tired of, especially given the existence of restrooms -- however imperfect they may be -- in the park.

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"It's like the Crying Game."

Remember the lost chicken, found by kind soul Steve Chung on the mean streets of Brooklyn last week? Chung posted a notice on Craigslist in hopes of finding the chicken's owner. Brownstoner wrote about that, and so did we. Then, Chung got in touch to tell us that some crazy stuff had happened. Did we want to hear? A chicken story with a twist? Oh, yes, please!

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Not the couple, but a couple. (via People of Public Transit)

A concerned citizen/Craigslist Missed Connections poster has put out this, let's call it a PSA, alerting G-train riders that 1) There is a grossly PDA-having couple riding the train every morning and, damningly, 2) After the girlfriend gets off the train, the guy proceeds to hit on as many other women as possible until his stop. Be forewarned, the poster writes: The man is good-looking and ladies fall for his charms. Some have even allowed themselves to be felt up by him on the train, apparently. G train, you are naughty! Craigslist ad after the jump.

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