Red Hook Rez March After BMT Vote Postponed Again

Dozens of community members gathered by the Harold Ickes skate park to protest the BMT plan’s go-ahead vote — only for it to be postponed at the eleventh hour.

By COLE SINANIAN | news@queensledger.com

Under overcast skies and braving the gusty harbor winds blowing off upper New York Bay, dozens of Red Hook, Columbia Street and Carroll Gardens residents gathered at the corner of Hamilton Ave and Van Brunt Street in the early afternoon on Friday, June 27 to oppose the Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) at the Columbia Street Waterfront. 

By some estimates, the project could double the neighborhood’s population. The 122-acre swath of waterfront land between the Red Hook Peninsula and the Brooklyn Bridge Park would see improvements to the working port, as well as luxury condo towers, public parks, restaurants, and some price-controlled housing. Part of Mayor Adams’ wider “Harbor of the Future” initiative to revitalize waterfront properties throughout New York, the City first announced the BMT redevelopment in May 2024 and has since invested tens of millions of public dollars. 

An EDC-appointed task force chaired by congressman Dan Goldman was set to vote on the plan on Friday, before the EDC abruptly postponed the vote until July 17 or 18 — the third such delay. A two-thirds majority is required for it to pass. 

Criticism of the EDC plan has largely centered on its rapid approval and lack of transparency, with community members calling the process undemocratic. Some residents fear that such a sudden population bump of mostly wealthy transplants would permanently alter the neighborhood’s character and price out long-term residents and local businesses. Others worry that Red Hook — which notably sits in a transit desert — lacks the infrastructure to support such a quick expansion, as the redevelopment would put the neighborhood under significant mobility stress both during and after construction. 

The march wended its way through four neighborhoods — Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, and finally Park Slope — as onlookers cheered or simply watched, perplexed.

”The abject lack of community input that EDC is allowing during this process is shameful,” said Kashif Hussain, Deputy Public Advocate for Infrastructure and Environmental Justice, addressing the crowd of protesters. Many wore red and carried signs with slogans like “Ports R 4 boats” and “Public land for public good! Not for developer profits!” 

“The resulting proposal does not prioritize affordable housing, the viability of the marine terminal, or protect the working class residents who call the surrounding area home,” Hussain continued. Once the speech concluded, the group set off on a winding route through Red Hook, Carroll Gardens and Gowanus to the rhythm of the local Hungry March Band’s lively brass music. Passing cars honked while pedestrians cheered along as the activists chanted “This is what democracy looks like!” and “Save our waterfront!”

The EDC is pursuing the plan under the state’s General Project Plan (GPP) procedure, which facilitates quick approval and minimal oversight by bypassing the City Council. One activist carried a cardboard sign reading “Rather slurp a ULURP than a GPP”— referring to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), a standardized public review process mandated by the City Charter for major land use decisions. Were the BMT development pursued under the ULURP, approval from community boards, the Borough President’s office, and the City Council would be required for the project to proceed. 

Jana Weill has lived in the Columbia Street neighborhood for 22 years, and attributes her love for the area to its tight-knit community and maritime character. “It feels like a really special, unique part of the city that you can’t find anywhere else,” she said. 

The terminus was state Senator Gounardes’ office. Though he was away in Albany, the band picked up the slack.

But Weill worries that if the EDC’s current plan is approved, the neighborhood will become congested and face population stress she fears its already lacking infrastructure is unprepared to accommodate. “We don’t have roads for all these people, we don’t have buses for all these people,” she said. “It would destroy the neighborhood.”

For its part, the EDC proposes several mobility upgrades around the BMT site in its Vision Plan, such as a commitment to a $25 million investment in shuttle services between the waterfront area and MTA stations during construction, and improved pedestrian access through expanded bike parking and bike lanes along the waterfront. Also discussed are improvements to the B61 bus route, which serves Red Hook, but the plan does not outline a concrete proposal.

Also proposed are 6,000 new homes concentrated along the waterfront, 2,400 of which will be affordable to families earning 60% Area Median Income (AMI), which in New York City amounts to $87,480 for a family of three. A 2025 study from maritime nonprofit PortSide NewYork put the median household income in Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront District at just $56,164, with nearly a third of all households earning less than $25,000. 

“I want Red Hook to stay Red Hook,” said Jose Julian, who’s lived in the neighborhood for the past three years. He works as an art handler, and worries that a rapid influx of high-income residents will drive up rents. “We’re a co-op, we’re owners of the company,” he says. “The moment they start building that thing, rent is just gonna spike up, and our business is right here, so that’s not gonna be good for us.”  

 

Did Hell Just Freeze Over in New York City?

Politcal Whisperer

By Robert Hornak

What everyone thought was unthinkable happened last Tuesday, a 33-year old self-proclaimed socialist with a resume thinner than tissue paper won the nomination for Mayor of the City of New York. 

By all accounts, the perceived front runner, former governor Andrew Cuomo, ran a lackluster, uninspired campaign that he could have phoned in. In contrast, Mamdani ran a campaign that was vibrant and engaging, with a youthful, attractive candidate who managed to connect with many voters. He stood out, in many ways, from the rest of the pack. 

Cuomo had all the establishment support. The Democratic County organizations, the big, powerful unions, and the business and real estate communities. It seemed unthinkable that Democrats could lose this election to a back-bench Assemblyman with no real world experience. But that’s exactly what happened.

Now, everyone who thinks this could be an existential threat to the future of the city is in a state of total panic. 

The conventional wisdom – yes the same wisdom that thought Cuomo was an easy winner – says that the field must be cleared now, and rally around one candidate to take on Mamdani head to head. 

The problem with that is obvious. Why should anyone trust the pick of the conventional thinkers after they got the primary so incredibly wrong? 

Some Republicans think that their nominee, Curtis Sliwa, should be the one. But many more people seem to think that failed and disgraced incumbent mayor Eric Adams is the pick to get behind. Cuomo is also still running as an independent, just like Adams, but is seen as a loser now after his poor primary performance.

After the first round of voting, Mamdani was at 43.5% with 432,000 votes. Cuomo was a distant second at 36.4% with 361,000 votes. That’s extremely embarrassing for someone once elected to serve as governor three times. Most of the Cuomo primary support seems to be jumping to Adams, with the County organizations still undecided on how to deal with such a perilous nominee. 

It seems clear the better way to go, as Republicans often say, is through competition. Eight candidates are on the ballot for mayor. And six appear to be real, including Mamdani, Cuomo, Adams, Sliwa, and two other independent candidates, powerful lawyer Jim Walden, a democrat, and successful biotech entrepreneur Joseph Hernandez, a republican. 

Nobody is dropping out now. That’s clear, no matter how much handwringing is done by the conventional thinkers who believe they know the best way to win again. So, let’s watch this race progress over the next four months, which is plenty of time for the other five candidates to make their case to the voters. Let’s see who resonates, who connects with the voters, who can either overcome all their negative baggage or make an incredible first impression as an exciting, new face to convince the voters they are the best one to run the city. 

Then, come mid-October, we will see who’s in the best position to win and rally everyone around that one candidate to beat Mamdani.

That’s the only way to beat someone with charisma and over 430,000 votes at the start to count on. It’s no guarantee to work, but much better than having one choice shoved down our throats now that nobody can agree on. 

And, of course, we always have the ‘break glass in case of emergency’ option. This will add a new and looming dimension to the governor’s race next year. Whoever is governor, should Mamdani win, will have the power to remove him, as we learned after the Adams indictment. 

Should Mamdani do any of the things he has pledged, allow criminals to run free, impede federal authorities arresting illegal immigrants, or creating an international incident trying to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in deference to what he refers to as “internation law,” he can be removed from office. 

In what could be a competitive race for governor, a Mamdani mayoralty could be what tilts the scale for the first Republican governor since 2002.

Robert Hornak is a professional political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.

The Nuclear Power Revolution Reaches New York

Politcal Whisperer

By Robert Hornak

You know an important election is approaching when elected representatives abandon the long-standing political ideology of their party and actually take actions that many people consider long overdue. 

That very thing just happened. Gov. Kathy Hochul, despite generally strong opposition from democrats, just announced that she has directed The New York Power Authority, the utility owned by the state, to build a new nuclear reactor in upstate NY. This new facility will provide approximately half the energy that the 2.0 GW Indian Point facility provided before it was closed.

The closing of Indian Point is considered by most people to be the perfect storm of policy failure. It was ordered by the Cuomo-Hochul administration with no plan to make up for the loss of 25% of the supply being provided by Indian Point to NYC. The fallout was the loss of 1,000 good-paying jobs at the facility and economic activity at surrounding local businesses. 

Ultimately, three new natural gas fired power plants were built that replaced 1.8 GW of the energy lost. Nevertheless, energy costs in NY have been skyrocketing as demand grows. Rolling blackouts have become a constant summer concern as we just witnessed in south Queens where 300,000 homes lost power during a summer heatwave. 

Meanwhile, other states have embraced the new nuclear revolution and the new technologies that have been created in recent decades that are far superior to the tech used when most of our current nuclear facilities were built over 50 years ago. Just as we’ve witnessed with the space program, nobody is looking to use the old 1950’s tech that Indian Point was created with.

Hochul made sure to drive that point home in her announcement, proclaiming, “This is not your grandparents’ nuclear reactor. You’re not going to see this in a movie starring Jane Fonda,” in a reference to Fonda’s 1970’s movie The China Syndrome that nearly killed the nuclear power industry by fantastically fictionalizing the worst case scenario of a nuclear reactor meltdown. This was in spite of the reality that we never had a nuclear plant failure or a single death associated with nuclear energy in the U.S.

In recent years many states have realized the insanity of denying the potential of nuclear power to meet future energy needs and have overturned bans on new nuclear plants. Texas, struggling with its recent self-inflicted energy shortfall from a reliance on new, unreliable wind and solar plants, has just approved a $350 million fund to build new nuclear plants. 

Some of our largest tech companies, including Amazon and Google, who have incredible energy needs to power server farms have also begun investing in nuclear energy to power their operations.

And, of course, there were the recent Executive Orders signed by President Trump to speed up the process for the Nuclear Regulatory Agency to approve new permits and generally make building new nuclear reactors much faster. 

All this is welcome news to most New Yorkers who have been hit with massive electricity bills in recent years that are making living in NY unaffordable for many people. Crushingly high energy bills are just one more reason that there has been an exodus of people from New York to lower cost of living, low tax states like Florida.

But while welcome news, this just scratches the surface of the problem and the need. Many areas upstate are anxious to be the site for this new plant and the many good paying jobs and economic activity it will bring. Unemployment upstate has been abysmal and the exodus out of NY has hit upstate the hardest. 

This, however, should be a first step to making NY a leader in building a nuclear powered future. Communities all across upstate would be thrilled to get a reactor that would revive their local economy while providing desperately needed, reliable and affordable energy for downstate. 

This would be a win-win for everyone. Will Hochul embrace this long overdue win for New Yorkers and build on it or will this just be a one-time election season stunt? Maybe the pressure of reelection will make this more than just a gimmick. Time will tell.

Robert Hornak is a professional political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.

Smith Street Stage Celebrates 15 Years of Shakespeare in Carroll Park

Photos courtesy of Smith Street Stage

By JACK DELANEY | jdelaney@queensledger.com

It’s summertime in Carroll Park, and all the signs are there: the heat, the sunshine streaming through the leafy canopy above the WWI memorial; parents maneuvering strollers through the circle as fifth graders whizz by on scooters. The shouts from the basketball courts, apart from the one that was never repaired after Hurricane Sandy; a line forming for the water fountain. But the clearest tell is the clump of actors rehearsing by the playgrounds — it must be summer, because Smith Street Stage is back. 

This season’s production of “Henry V” is particularly special, however, because it marks the beloved theater group’s fifteenth year of providing the community with masterful and engaging renditions of Shakespeare’s plays, free of charge. 

“Our mission, plainly spoken,” said Jonathan Hopkins, the troupe’s co-founder and artistic director, “is the idea that on any given night anyone — anyone — can walk into this park, find a seat, and see themselves reflected on our stage.”

And Smith Street Stage has delivered on that promise, judging by the crowds of Carroll Gardeners who gather in the park year after year to watch its shows. But how did it become such a local mainstay? 

For one thing, the quality is high. “Henry V” has already garnered rave reviews: Stephanie Pietros of Thinking Theater declared it “one of the best ways to spend a summer evening in New York City,” and Blog Critics’ Jon Sobel praised lead McLean Peterson’s performance as the “most stirring portrayal I can remember” of the titular king. And when Manhattanites are waiting in line for hours to secure their tickets to Shakespeare in the Park, the ease of simply wandering into Carroll Park can lend the luster of the Brooklyn-based company’s top-notch acting an extra sheen. 

The other obvious answer is that community theater can serve as a neighborhood’s glue. Yet here’s where the story takes a turn: Smith Street Stage was actually conceived in New Jersey. Hopkins and his wife, Beth Ann Leone, met in Jersey City while developing a small-cast “Romeo and Juliet,” which they planned to produce there. When their theater company nixed the show due to budgetary constraints, they looked elsewhere; Leone was living in Carroll Gardens at the time, and suggested her local park as the venue. 

The rest is history — except for the downpour that rained out the first show in 2010. (“There was, like, no audience there,” Hopkins recalled, laughing.) The next night, a boy lobbed a water balloon at the actors in the middle of the climactic fight between Romeo and Tybalt, and Hopkins snapped at him. But after the co-founder apologized, explaining that the scene involved chaotic blocking and he was worried about safety, the boy’s stance on the play shifted. Slowly, over the course of an hour, he and his friends inched their way closer and closer to the stage, their interest piqued.

A cozy scene at the company’s first show in 2010.

“There’s swords, there’s music, and that spectacle is attractive,” mused Hopkins, fifteen years after that exchange, “but when kids stay and watch, it’s because they can sense that there’s a conflict. They can sense that if there are two people arguing on stage, they’re actually arguing about something, that if there are two people who are in love on stage, that we feel that they’re actually in love.”

Hopkins still routinely meets audience members who remember those initial performances. The group is now old enough that college graduates will come up to him, reminiscing about attending plays when they were children. (Growing up nearby, I assumed it was normal to have swashbuckling and soliloquies in the park every summer.) 

Now, Smith Street Stage is instilling a love for theater in the next generation: the night before our interview, for example, Hopkins had spoken with a nine-year-old boy named Avery, who had been getting into photography with his friend and was excited to document the show.

“I’ve worked with a lot of other companies and it’s rare to have this kind of experience, where you get to know members of the community so well,” said Will Sarratt, who has acted in seven of the group’s productions, including its latest as part of the ensemble. “I truly believe it’s only possible by making theater as accessible as Smith Street Stage makes it.”

Since “Romeo and Juliet,” which the company staged for a second time in 2019, offerings have included virtually all the classics — ”Macbeth,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Tempest” —  alongside innovative adaptations such as a “King Lear” told through the eyes of a girl who finds a musty version of the play in an attic, only for its characters to spring from the pages. (Smith Street Stage has also held indoor shows at the Mark O’Donnell Theater.)

In deciding what to perform on a given season, the company often looks for connections to current events. “Is there a germ in this play,” said Hopkins, “that feels like it could speak to something that we’re experiencing as a people, as individuals, or as a neighborhood?”

Why pick “Henry V,” then, the final installment in a four-part sequence that includes “Richard II,” “Henry IV, Part 1,” and “Henry IV, Part 2”?  It’s not an obvious candidate for modern audiences, as an old play about events that are even older — written around 1599, it follows the lead-up and aftermath to a clash between England and France in 1415. 

For Hopkins, much of the story’s enduring appeal is that it captures personality types that still resonate today. “Henry the Fifth, there’s a lot of charisma in that character,” he noted. “A lot of charm and a lot of power, but also a lot of drive. So perhaps it’s someone we might be reminded of, someone who we’ve worked for, or known —  a dominant voice in our friend group, who always seemed to get their way. You couldn’t stay mad at them, but sometimes it could feel like it was a little much.”

Amara James Aja and Angel Lu in “Henry V.”

As New York prepares to elect its next mayor, theatergoers might also see parallels to politics. “I wish there were a leader like Henry who represented my policy preferences, so I could vote for him and he would win,” Hopkins added. “But the way that he gets to victory is compromised. I hope that in watching this production, some people feel heartened by the thought that a Henry will come along to articulate our national values and restore them. But I think many people will also watch the play and say, this is part of the problem — that there’s no way to achieve a national or political victory without compromising.”

Shakespeare productions abound in Brooklyn. Bike downtown for sweeping, high-budget interpretations at the Theater for a New Audience; if that’s not your speed, head to Prospect Park this weekend for the Public’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” 

But there’s a rare magic that’s borne of being hyperlocal. “So many of my favorite memories from Shakespeare in Carroll Park,” said longtime collaborator Katie Willmorth, “are the moments in between—warming up before a performance and having the neighborhood kids join in or sit and watch or ask questions, passersby sitting and watching us rehearse before we’re performance-ready, [and] walking around the block between scenes because the temperature has finally started to drop on those hot summer nights.”

Earlier this month, I stopped to admire the actors rehearsing a battle scene. Suddenly, a pre-teen darted out to blurt a curse word, before retreating to the safety of his chuckling friends. Little did they know — if Smith Street Stage’s storied past is any guide, they’ll probably be groupies by July.

You can find more information about Smith Street Stage at smithstreetstage.org. Make sure to catch the last few performances of “Henry V” at 7:30 p.m. in Carroll Park before it closes on Sunday, June 29!

My Local Heroes: Julia Lichtblau

Photo courtesy of Julia Lichtblau

By ELEANOR TRAUBMAN | news@queensledger.com

Eleanor Traubman is the founder of My Local Heroes, which lives on both Facebook and Instagram. Now in its fifth year, MLH is a celebration of activists, artists, athletes and entrepreneurs from Brooklyn and beyond who are working to make their communities better places to live.

Launched during the pandemic, the project was featured in News12 and The Patch, and received a Covid-19 Heroes Award from the former Brooklyn Borough President.

This article is part of a series of posts Eleanor is writing about community leaders and their take on local community involvement. This week, we’re featuring her conversation with Julia Lichtblau, the organizer of the Secret Garden, a green haven located at 253 DeGraw St.

My Local Heroes:  How did you become the organizer of this garden?

Julia Lichtblau: I live next door to the garden and directly across from the house of the two gentlemen, Nat LaMar and Christopher Adlington, who owned and created the garden. When Christopher died and Nat (who had never been a gardener) needed help, I was the closest person, and also an avid gardener in my own right. So it became sort of natural to take on the project of building a community to keep the garden up.

MLH: In what ways has this garden brought members of the local community together?

JL: It’s so beautiful and was originally designed to be seen from the gate, but not entered, Christopher being an extremely private person.

When Nat began to allow people to come in and garden for him, there was the allure of being admitted to the inner sanctum. And the desire to preserve this exceptionally beautiful garden, which we were lucky enough to have in our neighborhood, drew people.

Then COVID hit just as we were getting going, and it became one of the few safe, healthy, enjoyable, and constructive social activities around, especially for families with kids.

At the time, it wasn’t clear whether Nat had made formal plans for the garden’s preservation, though we knew he wanted it to go to the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust.

There was a lot of uncertainty about its future when Nat accepted a guardian to look after him as his health declined. We wanted his guardian to see that we were looking after his property for him, following his wishes, so there would be no question of the garden not being worth preserving from sale or development.

As it turned out, he had left it to the BQLT in his will. So there wasn’t any conflict about that, just a long wait for the probate process to work through the courts.

A view of the Secret Garden by day, dappled with sunlight.

MLH: Why are community gardens important in these times?

JL: For one thing, children aren’t exposed to lore about the natural world that you pick up from playing in the woods and running around unsupervised—the way I did, for one, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. Kids knew a lot about plants and bugs, not to eat pretty but poison berries that looked like blueberries (pokeweed) and strawberries (snakeberries), for example.

We, the garden friends, always encourage—enthusiastically urge—children of all ages from babies on up—to help when they stop in, they always want to help—dig, pick up sticks, plant, rake, build stuff, and to teach each other. A lot of parents don’t know much about plants. So it’s a chance to encourage them to learn and not mind getting dirty. We don’t use toxic chemicals and there are no dogs, so it’s about as clean a space as you’ll find in Brooklyn.

There are young kids who are very interested in plants and nature and we take them seriously and talk to them like adults. Their parents tell us that they look forward to coming back all week.

MLH: What are some of your daily tasks as the Gardens organizer?

JL: Thinking ahead to what has to be done—planning our Solstice concert (June 21!), following up on suggestions and proposals that gardeners have in mind—pot lucks, movie night, planting this or that. Sending out the weekly email.

MLH: What do you love about being in this garden?

For Brooklyn, it’s a pretty big garden, but it’s not expandable. There is something quite miraculous about the endlessly bounteous and self-perpetuating cycle of flowering plants and trees, which Christopher chose and tended. At the same time, we always seem to find room for new plants, and they look indispensable once they take hold.

It’s also become the center of a self-perpetuating community, continuously open to newcomers, but stable. A wonderfully genial and kind and fascinating crew, full of new ideas. I look forward to seeing us together every time.

Brooklyn FC Wraps up Inaugural Regular Season with a 0-0 Draw Against Top-ranked Carolina Ascent, Comes up Short on Playoff Bid

Brooklyn FC’s starting eleven at their home field, Maimonides Park in Coney Island, before their match against Carolina Ascent FC on May 24. The team is holding a jersey to honor their equipment manager, Frank, who has been struggling with health issues recently. Photo: Michael F. McLaughlin

By NICHOLAS GORDON | news@queensledger.com

In what has been a tale of two seasons, the Brooklyn Football Club (10-9-9) earned a 0-0 draw against top-ranked Carolina Ascent FC (13-5-9) in a match that was a tale of two halves, on Saturday, May 24, at Maimonides Park in Coney Island. Approximately 1,500 fans were in attendance.

After weathering the storm of Carolina’s high-pressure first half, Brooklyn dominated the second half, racking up thirteen corner kicks and creating a flurry of goal-scoring chances. Though they were unable to convert a goal for their efforts, Brooklyn’s second half performance evinced the kind of talent and grit that had them as league leaders for the first half of the season.

Brooklyn defender Leah Scarpelli said that coming into the match the team’s confidence was as high as it’s ever been. “Yes, Carolina is on top of the table numbers-wise, but we know we’re just as good as them at every position,” Scarpelli said in the post-match press conference. “We didn’t get the result that we wanted, but I think we showed up today, and we were the better team today.”

Despite Carolina’s overall edge in possession of the ball, Brooklyn created the best scoring opportunities. In the 36th minute, defender Kelsey Hill headed a strong shot on goal from a cross on a free kick by midfielder Jessica Garziano. Carolina’s keeper Samantha Murphy made a diving stop on the goal line to keep the match scoreless. 

Two minutes later on a heads up play in a quick transition Brooklyn midfielder Samantha Kroeger launched a shot from forty yards out that sailed over the deep-playing Murphy’s head but just missed the mark, landing on the top netting.  

At the start of the second half, Brooklyn forward Mackenzie Pluck cracked a shot from thirty yards out that bounced off the crossbar, setting the tone for the mostly one-sided Brooklyn attack that would last for the duration of the match. 

Brooklyn forward Mackenzie George was ubiquitous in that attack, giving Carolina’s defenders fits with her quickness as she zipped around the box on the hunt for a goal that proved elusive. George finished the season with four goals and five assists, among the league leaders.

Brooklyn goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg made her professional debut with a performance marked by poise and promise. Throughout the hectic first half, Goldberg deftly handled numerous backpasses in traffic, smoothly distributing balls to her backline as they recentered with possession.

“Those exact scenarios are what I think of myself as a specialist in,” Goldberg said. “I love being able to get a ball at my feet and find an open player. It’s something I work on a lot. Fortunately, I have the personnel on this team to help me make those plays.”

Currently sitting in sixth place in a league of eight teams with their playoff hopes dashed, Brooklyn FC has had an up-and-down season on par with the Coney Island roller coasters whirling around just beyond their home field.

Brooklyn forward Mackenzie George was ubiquitous in the second half attack. Photo: Michael F. McLaughlin

Before the season started last September, the team learned that due to turf issues on their pitch at Maimonides Park they would instead be playing their home matches at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium in Upper Manhattan for the remainder of the calendar year. Despite this last-minute shift, Brooklyn FC delivered a terrific first half of the season, finishing in first place with a comfortable six-point lead on the table.

Returning to their home pitch in Coney Island after the lengthy winter break, Brooklyn FC – the borough’s first professional women’s soccer club – appeared poised to continue their stellar play with the support of their Brooklyn fan base.

The whys and the wherefores for what happened next are anyone’s guess: Brooklyn went winless in its next eleven matches, slipping through the league standings, and “parting ways” with their head coach Jessica Silva along the way. Suddenly, goals were hard to come by, while many were conceded.

But if it’s been a mercurial ride for Brooklyn FC in the USL Super League’s inaugural season, resilience and togetherness have been the squad’s calling card throughout.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been one thing specifically, it’s just the name of the game sometimes,” Scarpelli said, reflecting on their less successful second half of the season. “Seasons can go one way, and then go another way a few games later. But I think what’s most important is that no matter the score of the game at the end, we stick together. Just knowing that as a team, win, lose, or draw, we are one.”

Heading into the offseason, another important thing for Brooklyn will be finding their new head coach. The club’s sporting director, Kevin Tenjo, has been filling in that role since Silva’s departure.

“We’re looking for a coach that represents Brooklyn FC in the best way possible,” Tenjo said.  “We’re looking for a coach that feeds our identity, our philosophy, and our culture.”

It’s a community-first team philosophy that includes the tagline, “Grow the game, uplift Brooklyn, and inspire a brighter future through soccer excellence.”

Goldberg believes that with the team’s culture and foundation in place, Brooklyn will come out strong at the start of next season.

“I think this season the team laid the groundwork for the culture of the club and what it means to be part of a startup,” Goldberg said. “All the girls fought tirelessly for each other this year, and going forward that’s going to be the standard.”

New York City FC Extinguish the Fire, Move to 6th in East

New York City FC are starting to put it together. They now hold the 4th best defensive record in MLS as they climb the Eastern Conference standings. (Photo: Noah Zimmerman, @n.z.media)

By Noah Zimmerman

Noah@queensledger.com

Three goals and two red cards gave New York City FC a comfortable win at Yankee Stadium over Memorial Day Weekend. After conceding an opening goal to the visiting Chicago Fire, NYC found the net three times in the second half for a second straight win.

Chicago’s goal came in the 19th minute, a strike by Philip Zinckernagel with an assist by Jonathan Dean. New York left too much open space around the top of the box, allowing for a long-distance shot to settle in the bottom left corner. At the half-hour mark Chicago nearly doubled the lead, but the play was ruled offside.

The defensive task was made easier by a reckless move by Chicago’s Brian Gutierrez. The central midfielder seemed to jump into the body of NYC midfielder Aiden O’Neill, catching him in the face with his elbow. Gutierrez was given a straight red card and Chicago was sent down to 10 men.

NYC capitalized in the second half with a goal by Monsef Bakrar and a wonderful strike by Hannes Wolf. After a controversial second red for the Fire, Alonso Martinez sealed a 3-1 win from the penalty spot. 

The Boys in Blue entered the week 6th in the East. After their midweek match vs Houston they head to Nashville on Saturday before hosting Atlanta on June 12th.

Liberty take down Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever for 3-0 start

Breanna Stewart blocks Caitlin Clark in New York’s 90-88 win in Indiana (Photo: NY Liberty, Brandon Todd)

By Noah Zimmerman

Noah@queensledger.com

The New York Liberty have opened up the season 3-0, and they’ve done it with three very impressive wins. In their quest to defend the first WNBA title in franchise history, New York trounced Las Vegas at home before hitting the road to face newly re-armed teams in the Midwest.

In Chicago the Liberty took the floor against Courtney Vandersloot, a key piece of their 2024 championship team. Vandersloot was selected by Chicago 3rd overall in the 2011 WNBA draft, and returned for a 13th season in Windy City.

Vandersloot led Chicago starters with 14 points, but rough performances by Angel Reese, Kia Nurse, and Kamilla Cardoso kept the Liberty well beyond the Sky’s reach.

In her second game with New York, Natasha Cloud led all scorers with 18 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and assisting on 4 Liberty baskets. She hit 4 of New York’s 19 3-pointers, a new regular season WNBA record.

Natasha Cloud puts in a layup over Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever (Photo: NY Liberty, Brandon Todd)

Kennedy Burke scored 17 points off the bench and Sabrina Ionescu added 16 as the Liberty won in Chicago, 99-74.

On May 24th, the Liberty travelled to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Knicks would take on the Pacers in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals the next day. In the WNBA edition of the NY vs Indiana clash, a packed crowd gathered to watch the league’s brightest young star and a newly improved Fever team take on the defending champs.

It seemed in the first half that New York’s firepower and defense would be too much for the Fever, but Caitlin Clark turned up in the 3rd quarter as Indiana outscored the Liberty 30-13. Clark scored 9 of her 18 points in the 3rd frame as Indiana seized a 76-68 lead entering the 4th.

Down the stretch, New York showed their toughness. They only allowed 12 Fever points, the lowest single-quarter total for either team in the game. Jonquel Jones was nothing short of dominant, picking up 14 of her team-high 26 points in the 4th.

In the final seconds, Sabrina Ionescu cut to the cup. She was able to draw a game-deciding foul, much to the dismay of the home crown. Ionescu hit both free throws as New York subdued the Fever 90-88.

Following two games this week against the Golden State Valkyries, the newest WNBA team, the Liberty head to Washington on Friday night for a date with Steph Dolson, Aaliyah Edwards, and the Mystics. They return to the Barclays Center on Sunday, June 1 for their first matchup of the year with the Connecticut Sun.

Experience French Connection Nights at Maison Provence in Williamsburg

Every Monday evening, from 5:00 to 10:30 p.m., Maison Provence invites guests to indulge in French Connection Night—a weekly celebration of French culture, cuisine, and community. Nestled in the heart of Williamsburg at 52 Havemeyer Street, this charming French restaurant is offering 20% off select wines, along with live French music and a French-speaking waitstaff to elevate the experience.

Maison Provence has earned a reputation for its unique crepes, rustic charcuterie boards, flavorful ratatouille, and the crowd-favorite duck breast fettuccine. The ambiance is warm, the food is rich in tradition, and the atmosphere feels like a stroll through Nice, France.

“We created French Connection Night to bring people together in a way that feels special and accessible,” says owner Dantonio Lolo. “It’s about connecting over wine, sharing a cheese board or crepe, and enjoying each other’s company—without breaking the bank.”

Whether you’re a Francophile, a foodie, or just looking for a cozy Monday night spot, Maison Provence’s French Connection Night is the perfect place to unwind and indulge in Williamsburg.

My Local Heroes: Michael Sorgatz

Photo courtesy of Mike Sorgatz

By ELEANOR TRAUBMAN | news@queensledger.com

Eleanor Traubman is the founder of My Local Heroes, which lives on both Facebook and Instagram. Now in its fifth year, MLH is a celebration of activists, artists, athletes and entrepreneurs from Brooklyn and beyond who are working to make their communities better places to live.

Launched during the pandemic, the project was featured in News12 and The Patch, and received a Covid-19 Heroes Award from the former Brooklyn Borough President.

This week, we’re featuring her conversation with Michael Sorgatz, a Brooklyn-based artist whose colorfully abstracted paintings are “inspired by the energy of the urban environment.”

My Local Heroes: Why is it important for artists to be part of a local artist community?

Michael Sorgatz: I find it inspiring to be around creative people. Engaging with other artists can open up your work and reveal new possibilities you couldn’t imagine on your own. It’s also helpful on a practical level to have a group of experts to consult if you have questions or need resources. It’s been useful for me to have people to ask questions about techniques or where to get supplies or if there’s opportunities to exhibit.

It’s also just great to have a group of friends with the same interests who are passionate, knowledgeable, and invested in the same pursuits.

MLH: What can artists do to create community on the local level?

MS: You can create a community by reaching out to other artists. Find people who are receptive to connecting and sharing experiences and foster those relationships.

Some places already have established artist groups and it can be as easy as just attending those events and meeting people.

I’d also suggest giving yourself and others some grace. It takes time to develop relationships and everyone works on their own timeline. Start small and build from there.

MLH:  What are some ways that you’ve helped to build community amongst other Brooklyn artists?

MS: I’ve enjoyed curating group shows at various community spots around Brooklyn, including a bar in DUMBO.

I love organizing potluck cookouts on the roof deck of Treasure Island Studios in Red Hook, where I paint.

I’ve organized art walks for artist friends and participated in neighborhood-based open studio events, including the Gowanus Open Studios weekend.

I donate paintings to artist-organized events like the annual Arts Gowanus Patterns Gala fundraiser.

For the past 17 years, I’ve been posting about the work of other visual artists on the site artinbrooklyn.com

During COVID, I led a weekly Zoom group which met consistently for a year. The group provided support and comradery, a place for people to check in and land.

The Zoom group resulted in an 18-person group show and artist book, both called “202021.”

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