The
Red Hook StarªRevue
JULY 2017
Beard Street Compromise? by Sarah Matusek Community Board 6’s (CB6) Permits & Licenses committee meeting on June 26 voted 4 yeas and 1 nay to the approval of an on-premise liquor license for Narrow Water Brewing at 158 Beard Street, contingent upon a stipulation that addresses some community’s concerns. The bar agreed to only stay open until 11 p.m. from Sunday through Wednesday and 1 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday and it won’t have an outdoor space, according to Mike Racioppo, the committee Chair. “The way this meeting went is why I am member of the community board,” Mike Racioppo, CB6 Permits & Licenses committee Chair, told the Star-Revue. Racioppo said he found the stipulation struck a promising balance between business and neighborhood issue. The concern about Narrow Water Brewing’s waste water management was not addressed. CB6 member Victoria Hagman spoke up in support of the application. She is listed as the broker for the applicant’s lease on Beard Street, according to the Commercial Search website. Some Beard Street residents see Hagman’s vocal support of Narrow Water Brewing - without disclosing her relationship to the bar - a conflict of interest. Hagman was not immediately available for comment. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK -JUNE 25 On a recent Sunday evening, Edna Mieles and her son sat outside their Beard Street stoop. Between 7 and 8 p.m., they counted no fewer than 100 taxis cruise their quiet block between Van Brunt and Conover. The cars hovered like sharks, waiting for weekend revelers to spill out of three bars that flank this mostly residential street. The owner of Greenpoint brewpub Keg & Lantern Brewing Company has applied for an on-premise liquor license to open a similar establishment on 158 Beard St. “As much as we are pro-business, this not the business we want on our block…Our lives matter,” Mieles says. Mieles, a third generation Red Hook (continued on page 15)
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
THE HOOK TO BE INVADED BY THOUSANDS OF RACING FANS by Nathan Weiser
O
n the weekend of July 15, the population of Red Hook will triple as Formula E invades our neighborhood.
Ten teams will race a 1.21 mile course set within the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. The festivities are expected to attract at least 20,000 spectators. Launched in 2014 as the first fullyelectric racing series, Formula E has drawn crowds in cities from Mexico to Marrakesh. Leading up to the Red Hook race, the organizers have tried to decrease the impact on locals as much as possible by keeping traffic and sidewalk activity at normal levels.
Large Snakes Found Dead at Valentino Pier by Sarah Matusek
If you stumbled upon a cluster of decapitated snakes in a park, what would you do? This bizarre question confronted Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse (BBPB) volunteers on a cleanup day at Valentino Pier on Saturday
“Throughout the planning process, we have sought to minimize the impact on our neighbors in Red Hook,” said Formula E advisor Mike Hopper. “With the guidance of local authorities, race day transportation options have been developed to minimize impact on normal traffic and pedestrian flows.”
closely with all local authorities to ensure public and private security staff levels match the needs of an internationally renowned event.”
Formula E organizers have reached out to city agencies to help keep the couple thousand attendees safe.
“Red Hook is severely impacted by traffic and big events often overwhelm our streets,” Menchaca said. “The Department of Transportation will finally install a traffic light at the dangerous Van Brunt and Pioneer (continued on page 8)
“The safety of our event attendees and our Red Hook neighbors is of the highest importance to Formula E,” Hopper said. “We continue to work
morning, May 6. The beach cleaners found around five to seven lifeless - and headless - snakes on the rocks just south of the pier. “It wasn’t one person’s snake collection. That’s a lot of snakes for one person’s Brooklyn apartment,” said Todd Seidman of Red Hook Boaters. Though not present at the pier on May 6, Seidman helped orchestrate a post-discovery discussion about the mysteri-
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Council Member Carlos Menchaca, whose district includes Red Hook, wants to avoid unnecessary congestion on the streets.
Finally we get a traffic light
ous reptiles with locals over email. One of the volunte ers called 311 on May 6. New York Pulling up the dead snakes. (photo by Noah Diary) City DeNoah Diary, President of partment of Parks & Recreation re- BBPB, recalled one of the sponded to the request and NYC Parks representatives disposed of the reptiles in mentioning that the snakes (continued on page 15) large black bags.
Headless body
Samora Coles
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