2 APRIL 13 - APRIL 19, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
NEW CAMPAIGN TO
ENCOURAGE REPORTING OF
SEXUAL ASSAULT
The NYPD has launched a new campaign aimed at
encouraging survivors of sex crime to report incidents
to the police.
Authorities hope that the campaign, dubbed “The Call
Is Yours,” will lead to better reporting of sex crimes and
ultimately, greater justice for victims. According to a
nationwide 2016 Department of Justice study, over 70
percent of sexual assaults are not reported. Furthermore,
a national Centers for Disease Control survey
found that over 18 percent of women reported having
been raped in their lifetimes.
Anyone who is a sexual assault survivor is encouraged
to call 911 or the NYPD Special Victims Division’s
24-hour hotline at 212-267-Rape (7273).
PUSH FOR PREZ, VP
PORTRAITS IN ALL POST
OFFICES
Congressmember Dan Donovan on Thursday, April
5 unveiled a new bill that would require the United
States Postal Service to display o cial portraits of the
president and vice president in all post o ces, while at
the same time reversing a “little-known” Postal Service
regulation prohibiting such portraits from being hung.
Donovan was inspired by the pleas of a local constituent
and Trump supporter who brought the issue to the
pol’s attention, claiming that, while her Staten Island
post o ce had pictures of former Presidents Barack
Obama and George Bush on display during their administration,
pictures of President Donald Trump and Vice
President Michael Pence were never put up.
By making the portrait requirement uniform throughout
all post o ces, Donovan contends, the legislation will
prevent any future allegations of political bias.
NEW “LINK” TO
PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING
Participatory budgeting just got easier for some.
The City Council, the city’s Department of Information
Technology and Telecommunications and LinkNYC
announced on Monday, April 9 the launch citywide of
participatory budgeting on Link kiosks – the fi rst-ofits
kind communications network which replaced city
payphones and o ered free Wi-Fi starting in early 2016.
Through participatory budgeting, New Yorkers in
participating City Council districts can now decide how
to spend $1 million of the public budget, proposing and
voting on projects like improvements to schools, parks,
libraries and more.
More than 1,700 Links are installed across the fi ve
boroughs, with thousands more coming over the next
few years. Participatory budget voting is open through
Sunday, April 15.
To fi nd a Link near you, visit https://bit.ly/2riPVnI.
—Meaghan McGoldrick
Dyker Heights staple Vaccaro
Pizza Royale closes shop
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK
BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Addio.
After more than
three successful decades
in Dyker Heights, Vaccaro
Pizza Royale has closed
up shop.
The longstanding pizzeria
which also operated a trattoria
for part of its history had
been a neighborhood staple,
at home at 6718 Fort Hamilton
Parkway since the early '80s.
Until late last year,
Vaccaro's doubled
as your average,
though well-loved
pizza place as well
as a small-scale but
elegant sit-down
eatery, the former
founded by restaurateur
Dom Vaccaro
(who is retiring)
in 1983, the latter
an o shoot opened
around 2000. Now
the fl agship pizzeria
has joined its
restaurant on the
other side.
The business once neighbored
the long-shuttered
Fortway Movie Theater, now
an Asian supermarket.
Longtime patrons remembered
both fondly while
mourning yet another loss for
the community.
“The movie theater and
Vaccaro’s were inextricably
intertwined in those years,
playing o of one another and
helping sustain each other's
business,” recalled Bay Ridge
resident and co-founder of the
popular “South Brooklyn Food
and Drink Facebook” page
Bianca Papas.
Papas looked back on growing
up in local establishments
such as Vaccaro’s.
“We came of age in that neighborhood
when the Fortway was
still the social hub of the packs
of teenagers that still roamed
around Brooklyn streets,” she
told this paper, adding that,
while it may be hard to imagine
this day and age, back in the day,
Vaccaro Pizza Royale on
Fort Hamilton Parkway has
shut down.
pizzerias like Vaccaro’s were
the place to be for local teens.
“We didn't really hang out at
each other's houses. We just
kind of cut classes and walked
around together, periodically
sneaking into a matinee
showing via an unattended
back entrance at the Fortway,
wasting time until we could get
some pizza next door.”
Vaccaro, she said, “was
a tough Italian guy who
wouldn't allow us in there
during the week before 3 p.m.
so that was really our clubhouse
a er ‘school.’”
Frank Tilelli, fellow
co-founder of the hyperlocal
foodie Facebook page, spoke
of Vaccaro’s footprint in both
the ‘hood and within his own
family.
“It started a long love a air
with me of having a slice before
going to the movies,” he
said. “I remember going there
with my dad as a kid. My father
loved the movies and pizza
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by
Helen Klein
and he passed it on to me.”
Owners, who have taken the
time to thank the community
with a poster-size scrawl on
Vaccaro's front door, are just
as sad to see their beloved
eatery go.
"We would like to take the
opportunity to thank all our
customers and friends and
everyone that we had the pleasure
to serve over our 35 years
at this location," the Vaccaro
family said. "Many of you have
become more than customers
and our gratitude is really immeasurable
for your love and
support over the years."
Its food, locals agree, will be
missed.
“It’s traditional Italian cuisine
but we do our own spin
on it,” family member Michael
Vaccaro told this paper in 2013
when we sampled its fares for
a dining review. "We want our
customers wanting more."
Now, with its gates down
and the "thank you" on the
window, they certainly do.
“It’s very sad,” said Papas. “It
was a big part of our youth. It
seemed like it would be there
forever.”
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