NEWS STORIES OF 2018
COURIER LIFE, DEC.M B G 28, 2018–JAN. 3, 2019 3
taxpayer funds to bring the
New York Islanders’ hockey
team’s former home, Long Island’s
Nassau Coliseum, up to
National Hockey League codes
so the squad can spend nearly
half of its next three seasons
competing at its old haunt
ahead of its permanent move
from the Barclays Center to a
new arena at Belmont Park in
the outer borough of Queens.
The team is expected to hit the
ice in its outer-borough digs in
time for the 2021–22 season.
March
Modern makeover: The
Brooklyn Public Library announced
a series of multimillion
dollar changes to the
Central Branch, beginning
with the construction of a new
lobby space. Library leaders
allocated $35 million for the
new welcome center — named
after the late Brooklyn Congressman
Major Owens, a
former local librarian — construction
of which began in
April. Building the Major Owens
Welcome Center, which is
expected to open in 2020, is the
fi rst of four phases in a larger
renovation of the reading
room — a decade-long project
that will in total cost some
$135 million, and includes
building a space for teenagers
at the branch, opening
up a new basement fl oor, and
building a landscaped deck
over the book lender’s back
lot that provides direct paths
to the nearby Mount Prospect
Park and Brooklyn Botanical
Garden.
Tragedy all around: A
driver hit and killed two children
— and injured their
mothers, one of whom was
pregnant, along with another
man — when she rolled
through a red light on Ninth
Street and slammed into the
pedestrians as they crossed
Fifth Avenue in Park Slope
on March 5. Prosecutors in
May charged Staten Island
motorist Dorothy Bruns with
reckless manslaughter for the
deaths of 1-year-old Joshua
Lew and 4-year-old Abigail
Blumenstein — whose mother,
Tony Award–winning actress
Ruthie Ann Miles, lost her unborn
baby due to injuries sustained
in the crash days after
the charges were announced.
Bruns, whom prosecutors alleged
knew not to get behind
the wheel at the advice of her
doctors, spent time on Rikers
Island following her indictment,
because she could not
make bail. And the case met a
sudden, tragic end in November,
when a friend discovered
Bruns dead from an apparent
suicide in her Staten Island
home.
Behind bars: A federal
judge sentenced Sheepshead
Bay native and “pharma bro”
Martin Shkreli to seven years
behind bars on March 9, more
than six months after a jury
convicted him of fraud for
running a multi-million dollar
Ponzi scheme under the
guise of a hedge fund. The
Sheepshead Bay native defrauded
his investors out of
more than $10 million and formerly
ran the drug company
Retrophin, famously earning
the nickname “The Most
Hated Man in America” after
jacking up the price of a drug
for AIDS patients from $13.50
to $750 per pill in 2015.
Caught up with him: A
city watchdog agency slapped
Former District Attorney
Charles Hynes with the highest
fi ne it ever dealt for illegal
campaign-related activities
on March 27. The $40,000 fi ne
from the city’s Confl ict of Interest
Board came after Hynes
admitted to abusing his government
e-mail during a contentious
2013 re-election bid
he ultimately lost. The Flatbush
native sent more than
5,000 emails to newspapers,
campaign managers, political
consultants, donors, and more
from his municipal account to
defeat opponent Ken Thompson
— who won the race, but
died two years into his term
in 2016.
Raise the hoof: The new
owner of Kensington Stables
unveiled plans to turn the
barn into a “state of the art”
horse-riding facility for Prospect
Park-goers. Red Hook industrialist
John Quadrozzi,
Jr., who is renaming the facility
Prospect Park Stables,
asked the city to sign off on an
application to upzone the property,
so he can build seven new
stories atop the stables, creating
12 rental units that will
earn revenue to maintain the
beloved barn.
April
Fiery suicide: A Windsor
Terrace man burned himself
to death in Prospect Park
on April 14, leaving behind
charred remains that horrifi
ed people passing by. David
Buckel, 60 — who earned national
acclaim for his work as
an attorney serving the LGBTQ
community — described
his decision to take his life as
a protest against humanity’s
destruction of the environment
in a suicide note, which
he distributed to media outlets,
including The New York
Times.
Throw it back! The Feds
in charge of cleansing the fetid
Gowanus Canal announced
they and state offi cials would
install new signs along the
waterway that warn anglers
about the dangers of catching
and eating marine life found
in it, after concerned locals
with the Gowanus Community
Advisory Group pushed
for the placards. But the signs’
announcement spurred a
months-long back-and-forth
over the language used on
them, which the locals demanded
should ban fi shing
and eating fi sh outright —
something state health offi -
cials said they could not do
due to lack of available data
on just how tainted the species
in the Gowanus are. The
Gowanusaurs ultimately —
almost — got their way with
the state in October agreeing
to put signs that say no fi shing
or crabbing, no swimming,
and use caution while boating.
But some still claimed the
placards did not go far enough
because they specifi cally do
not ban eating canal creatures,
too.
Bye booze cruises: City
and state pols on April 24 announced
they would fi nally
give the infamous booze
cruises that set sail from
Sheepshead Bay the heave-ho.
The electeds set a Sept. 1
deadline for all the vessels to
dock elsewhere, which, while
months after the mayor’s previously
promised deadline of
before summer 2018, still came
as good news to residents after
years of complaints about the
rowdy party boats.
May
Spruced-up space: Brooklyn
Botanic Garden leaders
announced plans to give a hill
overlooking the sprawling
fl ower bed a makeover, giving
patrons new ways to access
the garden’s “Overlook”
— a 1.25-acre mound which
boasts views of the Cherry Esplanade.
The work, which includes
carving winding pathways
from the esplanade foot
of the Overlook to its summit,
and installing built-in seating
on those paths, kicked off in
July and is expected to wrap
next summer.
Borrow a tune: Brooklyn
Public Library leaders kicked
off the reading room’s fi rst instrument
lending program on
May 23, through which members
could borrow one of fi ve
sound makers — acoustic guitar,
ukulele, violin, electronic
keyboard, and practice drum
pads — and play it at home
for two months at a time. The
instruments came with practice
books, tuners, and other
accessories to help borrowers
start making music. The program’s
pilot run topped the
charts, according to library
leaders, who said they hoped
to secure funding to make it
permanent.
Unwanted changes:
Sheepshead Bay residents
lamented what they called
booming development along
the neighborhood’s namesake
thoroughfare, claiming
new commercial buildings
on Sheepshead Bay Road destroyed
the area’s small-town
feel. Locals also accused the
new developments of pricing
out the mom-and-pop shops
that once characterized Sheepshead
Bay Road.
Watch out! New signs on
a bicycling corridor in Prospect
Park — which offi cials installed
to make the path safer
for bikers — sent one cyclist to
the hospital after he crashed
into one on May 31, within
a week of its arrival. Rather
than putting the signs on the
sides of the West Drive, critics
claimed city transit gurus
placed them in the middle of
the pavement, creating an obstacle
for cyclists who may not
be expecting a placard-bearing
metal pole in their path —
like the man who plowed his
bike into the sign near Vanderbilt
Playground. Department
of Transportation reps
said workers moved the signs
from the middle of the road following
the bike accident.
June
Delivery drama: Federal
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement offi cials on June
1 detained an undocumented
immigrant delivering pizza
to Fort Hamilton Army Base.
Base offi cials handed over
Pablo Villavicencio-Calderon
— who worked for Queens eatery
Nonna Delia’s, and made
monthly deliveries to Fort
Hamilton — because they discovered
an active warrant on
fi le from the federal immigration
agency while doing
a background check to grant
him a temporary entrance
pass, because he allegedly
lacked the proper military
identifi cation required for
entry, according to a spokeswoman
for the base. A federal
judge, however, stayed the deportation
of Villavicencio-
LOOKING BACK: (Left) The Brooklyn
Public Library in March announced
a series of changes to the
Central Branch, including a new
dedicated space for teens. (Above)
Offi cials in April declared they
were shipping booze-cruise boats
out of Sheepshead Bay.
Continued on page 4