On Monday June 28th, a United States Postal Worker was assaulted by three men on dirt bikes in Greenpoint. The unprovoked attack was captured by the security camera of a nearby store, and has since been made publicly available on the NYPD Crime Stoppers website and youtube channel.

The mail carrier (whose name is being withheld for privacy reasons) was pushing his mailcart down McGuinness Boulevard near Nassau Ave at around 6 p.m. when three men on electric dirt bikes rode up onto the sidewalk behind him. The bikers then dismounted their vehicles and began to punch and kick the man.

The victim began fighting back against the attackers before multiple passerby came to his aid. The three bikers then fled, travelling south down McGuinness Boulevard.

The entire incident unfolded during broad daylight while local businesses were still open.

According to the NYPD, the mail carrier sustained multiple broken bones in the face and was taken to Woodhull Hospital for treatment. Luckily, he is in stable condition.

The NYPD is requesting that anyone with information regarding the attack reach out to the Crime Stoppers Hotline at -800-577-TIPS (8477). Information can also be submitted via the Crime Stoppers website, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, on Twitter @NYPDTips.

The attack in Greenpoint adds to the growing trend of violent crimes in New York City. According to a recent statistics report by the NYPD, overall crime in May 2021 was up 22 percent from May 2020.

On Tuesday, June 29th, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and other officials from the Diocese of Brooklyn gathered to dedicate a new Church and art center. The creation of new churches in the five boroughs has become a rare occurrence in recent years, making Tuesday’s event a powerful milestone, especially after the pandemic limited the capacity of Churches for close to a year.

The new Church, Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church is located at the corner of S. 3rd Street and Berry Street in Williamsburg. With a maximum capacity of 550 people, Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church will easily expand the number of masses and services that the Diocese will offer in North Brooklyn.

Bishop DiMarzio chose to dedicate this new church on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, a Catholic feast celebrated annually on June 29. Immediately following the Mass, Bishop DiMarzio blessed the new parish center building, which includes a new arts center focused on community engagement. The art center comes equipped with a newly renovated 600-seat theater and is housed in the Historic Williamsburg Opera house, which was built in 1897.

“We have witnessed a ceremony that few get to see in a lifetime because there are not that many new churches, certainly not here in Brooklyn and Queens, but this completely new renovation making a new church here on the ground level, giving us so many classrooms and a public center is truly unique,” Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said in his homily.

He continued: “This new church, this new center, this new beginning, this new evangelization is something that gives us inspiration. I am happy that I have been here as Bishop now to see this day. It is a long time in coming but I pray that together today we take heart. We become new disciples of the new evangelization effort. We reach out to others who need us. Those who are already Catholics; those other Christians; those who know not the faith and need to encounter Jesus Christ.”

Monsignor Anthony Hernandez, the former pastor of the Parish who helped bring about the new construction project, also shared remarks.

“Today is a very important day for Ss. Peter and Paul Epiphany Parish and the Diocese of Brooklyn,” Monsignor Hernandez said. “With the inauguration of this new church and center, this parish, which has existed since before the Civil War, will begin a new chapter of outreach and evangelization to the people of Williamsburg, as well as to the people of Brooklyn and Queens.”
The last time a new church was opened in the Diocese of Brooklyn was in 2008 at Our Lady of Snows in the Floral Park section of Queens. The last church renovated and re-dedicated was the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, located in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn in 2014.

26-year-old Edouard Massih opened Edy’s Grocer (136 Meserole Ave) with the goal of bringing Lebanese cuisine to the people of Greenpoint and North Brooklyn. This past Friday, he was able to share his cooking with the entire country when he was featured during a segment of NBC’s The Today Show.

Aired just two days before the Fourth of July, the segment featured Edouard (known by his friends and customers as Edy) making grilled corn, halloumi salad, za’atar spiced chicken, and no-bake chocolate cookies. The dishes are perfect for any summer get-together and make use of traditional Lebanese ingredients that are close to Edy’s heart.

As a Lebanese immigrant who moved to the U.S. in 2004, Edy is both humbled by and grateful for the opportunity to share his work so widely.

“To be honest with you, I never in a million years expected all this exposure in less than a year after opening our doors,” an enthusiastic Edy told our paper after filming for The Today Show. “With all the press and all the appearances, what makes me the happiest is how the neighborhood is starting to learn all about middle eastern spices, culture, and cuisine though the shop. My goal throughout all of this will always be to share the joy of Lebanese cooking and culture.”

While on the air, Edy also spoke of the challenges that came with opening and operating a business in the midst of a pandemic.

“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” Edy explained, “but it was also really fun to have my community and my friends come in and help me out. It was a group effort.”

All of the recipes that Edy showcased on the air can be found by vistining today.com/food.

Edy’s Grocer also recently launched its own revamped website, which features original recipes, special deals, and an online shop. Visit edysgrocer.com for more details.

Edy’s Grocer is open Tuesday through Friday from 8 AM to 7 PM and Saturday through Sunday from 9 AM to 5 PM. You can follow the store on Instagram @edysgrocer.

Under Armour is bringing flag football to kids in Brooklyn, as they present the “Under the Lights” football league. The co-ed league is available for boys and girls from Kindergarten through 8th grade, looking to get all those interested onto the field.
It’s the first Under Armour investment for flag football in Brooklyn, and all those involved are hoping to get the nationwide program off to a great start in New York. Under the Lights has found success across the US as the fastest-growing youth flag football league, and has done a great job of promoting youth engagement in sports and activities.
The first season will consist of a seven-game season, playoffs, and a championship game. Play will kick off in September with the playoffs coming at the start of November. Games will be held on Friday nights
Meet and greets will be held in July as the league begins registration for the fall. The first two meetings will be held on July 10th and 17th at 872 Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, in front of the Golden Krust Restaurant. On July 24th and 31st, meetings will be held at George Floyd Square at Flatbush Junction.
Parents are eagerly urged to volunteer to coach and are encouraged to sign up alongside their kids during the meetings. The fee to register is $200, with an extra $10 fee for registration after September 6th. For families with multiple kids, the league offers a sibling promotion. By using the code “SiblingDiscount” during registration, additional kids will receive a $25 discount.
Participants will receive Under Armour game shirts and shorts, with coaches getting a youth football. The games are six-on-Six on 25 yard by 50 yard fields, with nine to ten players on each roster, ensuring all kids who register get to play. There are no tryouts or drafts, with the rosters formed by “friend” or “coach” request.
For players registering alone, the league will assign them to teams with some sort of familiarity, trying to match players by school, neighborhood, or organizations they take part in. While the league will do their best to balance the teams, the goal is to get kids on the field and playing as the city starts to reintroduce youth sports leagues.
There will be food and music at games, trophies and/or medals presented to the champions, and plenty of memories to be made under the Friday night lights in Brooklyn.

The growth of Downtown Brooklyn’s skyline reached a major milestone this past week.

9 Dekalb Avenue, the 93-story residential skyscraper that will one day be the tallest building in the borough, officially became the tallest structure in Brooklyn on Wednesday during its construction. 9 Dekalb surpassed the 720-foot mark, making it taller than the Brooklyn Point Building at 138 Willoughby Street that is currently the borough’s tallest.

Designed by SHoP Architects and developed by JDS, 9 DeKalb Avenue will stand 1,066 feet tall when it is finally completed sometime next year. The building will come equipped with 450 rental apartments and 150 condominiums, none of which will be reserved as affordable housing units.

9 Dekalb Avenue is located directly behind the neoclassical Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn (which first opened in 1908), and together the two structures paint an effective picture of the monumental changes Brooklyn has experienced over the past century.

For many years, the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower — originally opened in 1929 — was the tallest structure in Brooklyn. It held that title all the way through 2010, when it was finally surpassed by the Brooklyner building at 111 Lawrence Street. The honor of tallest building in Brooklyn has changed many times in the past decade, with 9 Dekalb becoming the latest to hold the title.

For reference, the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower rises 512 feet high, approximately half the height of the 1,066 feet tall tower at 9 Dekalb Avenue.

The surge in high-rise development can largely be attributed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s historic 2004 upzoning of multiple neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The zoning change opened the gates to high-rises (for both residential and commercial use) and other large developments that had previously been prohibited in the area.

While the rezoning has led to an unprecedented amount of growth in the area, it has coincided with constantly rising costs throughout the borough and widespread gentrification.

Additionally, residents throughout North Brooklyn are upset that the park space that was also promised as a part of the 2004 rezoning is still yet to be constructed. In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, the grassroots organization Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park have continued to lobby the city to add additional green spaces throughout the area to match the stunning rate of high rise development.

“The population growth along the North Brooklyn waterfront initiated by the 2004 rezoning has exceeded the city’s estimates by historic proportions,” Steve Chesler, an organizer for Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, explained to our paper. “After 16 years and counting only 8 acres out of 27 are built or in progress. For our health and well being, the city must speed up its execution and funding for completion of this public green space, and fulfill its commitment to its residents.”

Electric transportation company Revel has quickly been becoming a mainstay on New York’s roads. The company’s iconic blue scooters are dotted throughout the city, including many in Brooklyn.

This week, the company’s Brooklyn presence increased greatly with the opening of a new fast charging superhub in Bed-Stuy. The Superhub is the largest universal Electric Vehicle (EV) fast charging depot in the Americas with 25 chargers, and is the first of a network of Superhubs planned by Revel across New York City.

Revel’s superhub is only the third publicly-available EV fast charging station in New York City, with the other two located all the way out by JFK airport. At a ribbon-cutting event on Tuesday, representatives from Revel expressed their hope that the Superhub would expand EV adoption throughout the city.

“It’s no surprise that EV adoption is lagging in our city- the infrastructure just isn’t here yet, and the stations that do exist aren’t accessible to most New Yorkers,” said Revel CEO and Co-Founder Frank Reig. “Our Superhubs are designed to reach as many people as possible in the neighborhoods where they actually live. This is what NYC needs to move towards an electric future and we’re excited to get started.”

The ribbon-cutting was also attended by national and local elected officials who sang the virtues of electric vehicles.

“Today’s ribbon cutting isn’t about just one charging station, even though it is the biggest universal charging station in the country,” United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said at Tuesday’s event.

She continued: “It represents our vision for building a clean energy economy on the foundation of good-paying jobs, overcoming and improving the health outcomes of communities too often left behind. As the old saying goes—if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. And we need electric vehicles and charging stations everywhere, in cities and towns all across America.”

Bed-Stuy City Council Member and Brooklyn Borough President candidate Robert E. Cornegy Jr. concurred.

“Bed-Stuy is taking the lead by becoming home to the largest universal fast charging depot in North America,” Cornegy said. “We are showing that fighting global problems like greenhouse emissions can help our local businesses, so we welcome Revel as part of our community.”

The new charging station also represents the first of multiple planned partnerships between Revel and New York energy giant Con Edison.

“As we work to combat climate change, the future of transportation is electric, but many drivers won’t feel comfortable buying an EV until they see a critical mass of public charging stations around the city,” Con Edison CEO Tim Cawley said of the new charging station. “The Brooklyn superhub makes it convenient for current EV owners to charge up and will encourage more New Yorkers to consider buying an electric car.”

Elsewhere in Brooklyn, Con Edison recently broke-ground on a new clean energy hub in Gowanus. When completed, the hub will come equipped with an additional 18 electric vehicle charging stations.

Despite the ribbon-cutting festivities, electric scooters have recently received a fair amount of negative press after a number of accidents, including a hit-and-run that claimed the life of actress Lisa Banes (Gone Girl, NCIS) in Manhattan. Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials have since called for more e-scooter regulation in the city.

In days of old, Brooklyn was a haven for breweries, with factories and distilleries of all sorts lining the borough’s waterways. Things changed with time though, as the factories closed and New York transitioned from an industrial city into a post-industrial one.

However, a dedicated community of craft brewers remain who keep the storied history of Brooklyn-brewed beers alive. Such is the case at Other Half Brewing.

“There were once over 35 breweries here, but now there is nothing,” explained Geriz Ramirez, General Manager at Other Half Brewing, during our paper’s recent site visit at the company’s new Domino Park location.

Founded in 2014 in Carroll Gardens, Other Half Brewing has always been rooted by its simple mission to push the boundaries of craft beers. Since then, the company has found a loyal community of fans and opened additional breweries in upstate New York and Washington D.C. and has participated in festivals throughout the U.S.

Earlier this year, Other Half opened a Domino Park location along the Williamsburg waterfront. The new site comes with a state-of-the-art brewing system that will help the company push the envelope in the craft-brewing industry.

“This is basically an R&D [research and development] location,” Ramirez explained. “So we test things out and if something works we will expand it to something bigger. It’s pretty amazing.”

Ramirez works alongside Stjepan Pavich (Other Half’s Head of Innovations) and Anthony Finley (Other Half’s Tasting Room Manager) at the Domino Park location. Together, the jovial trio — all of whom live nearby in Brooklyn and Queens — work to dream up the most innovative and original beverages they can imagine.

“The innovation helps bring customers into this location but it also gives us an opportunity to see what we can scale up for the other locations,” Pavich explained while showing off their impressive five-barrel brewing system.

This summer, Other Half’s Domino Park team is celebrating the launch of their new Oh2 Hard Seltzer. The summery drink was first brewed on site in March of this year, and is now being shipped out to Other Half’s other locations.

“If I’m making a seltzer, I want it to be as crisp and clear as possible,” Pavich said. “We made it a blank canvas so we could mold it into whatever we wanted it to be.”
The Oh2 seltzer lineup includes Ginger Lime Mule, a rendition of the classic Moscow Mule with a ginger beer kick, and All Citrus Everything, a refreshing and tart seltzer finished with pink grapefruit juice. Additional flavors made with all-natural ingredients are scheduled to drop later this summer, all of which will max out at just 120 calories per 12-ounce can.

Pavich — who first learned how to make wine from his father — has found that working for Other Half is both rewarding and enjoyable.

“In my 20s I was home-brewing a lot and I hated my job,” he explained with a chuckle. “Luckily I ended up here. We are all friends too and aside from work we actually hang out.”

The innovative nature of the Domino Park location in particular allows the brewing team to pursue their fantasies of the perfect beverage.

“I personally love stouts and lagers. We recently just made a banana lager. It turned out to be pretty amazing,” Ramirez said. “It had all those strong flavors of banana without being a puree. Stuff like that I really like. It’s my dream.”

“It’s fun that the system allows us to experiment,” Finely chimed in. “It’s quiet in the morning when we come in, we have a nice view while we work, and it’s fun all day.”

The Domino Park team is excited about some of the other projects it has planned for down the line, including experiments with daiquiris, dried fruits, and even pistachio nuts.

Even though this innovative trio is having fun, brewing is still hard work. Unlike a larger brewery, there is no automation at Other Half and all the work must be done by hand. This includes working with heavy equipment and chemicals.

Additionally, the Other Half team opted to wait pretty long until reopening after the pandemic, keeping it’s locations closed until well into 2021.

“We took a long time for that though,” said Ramirez. “We opened our tap room pretty late because we wanted all our employees to feel safe and for our customers to know that we care.”

Luckily, the brewery is fully open once again, opening the door for innovation, creation, and fun times.

“We are at full capacity right now,” Ramirez said with a smile. “We have free will to do whatever we want.”

Other Half Domino Park is located at 34 River Street and is open for indoor and outdoor seating. A variety of cans and bottles are also available for curbside pickup and neighborhood bike delivery.

New York City’s Primary Elections happened just over two weeks ago, but the city’s board of elections is still in the thick of tabulating the vote. With the addition of ranked choice voting this year and drama stemming from the elections board’s dysfunction, figuring out the winner of each election has not been straightforward, yet the field of candidates has narrowed down in some races.

As of July 6, Eric Adams holds a slight lead over Kathryn Garcia in the race to be the Democratic Party’s mayoral nominee, according to election results compiled by Spectrum News. Adams has 51.1 percent of the vote and Garcia has 48.9 percent. In terms of who could win, Adams was the clear favorite as the race’s initial results trickled in, but that clarity was stymied by the revelation of 135,000 test ballots that errantly made their way into the voting system.

NYC’s BOE released a statement via Twitter on June 30 to try and soothe widely held concerns over the board’s ability to properly manage the tabulation process around RCV. They said that the voting tallies were off for mayoral nominees because of ballot images that were not cleared from the Election Management System during a test run. The statement said, “Let us be clear: RCV was not the problem, rather a human error that could have been avoided.”

Ranked choice voting applies to the following races this year: mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, and numerous city council elections. And while hundreds of thousands of voters went to the polls on June 22, the last day that the city will not have finalized ballots until July 9. Despite not having a complete vote, the city released a preliminary round-by-round elimination report on June 29 and another on July 6.

The city will release these unofficial reports each week until the election is fully certified. The result of each election that is determined by ranked choice voting will not truly be known until all absentee and military ballots are collected and counted. While some candidates are content with how the voting process is being handled, others have voiced concerns over a lack of transparency.

One of the reasons that the election process can feel dragged out in some races is due to the ballot curing process. Some races don’t need to take them into consideration because of the lead candidate’s margin of victory, but in closer races the ballots can add weeks to the process.

“There were people who made mistakes when filling out there ranked-choice ballot and those were thrown out,” said Martha Ayon, a Queens-based political consultant. “The ballot curing process is only concerned with errors made to the envelope that the ballot is in, not errors made in filling out the ballot itself.”

As per the Queens races, Donovan Richards is the incumbent Queens Borough President and ran against Elizbeth Crowley in this year’s election. The two faced off in a special Democratic primary last year where Richards won, but the general election was cancelled due to safety concerns over the pandemic.

While Richards won that race by a margin of over 10,000 votes, Crowley seems to have gained traction since then. Currently, less than 2,000 votes separate the two among preliminary voting reports, with Richards slightly on top. A victor will be declared in the coming weeks as absentee ballots come in to fill out the picture.

“There’s two sides to each ballot – the envelope side and the actual ballot,” Ayon said, explaining that thousands of ballots will end up discarded because of improper dates or signatures in the wrong spot. “There’s people who actually did not vote – without knowing – because once their ballots were opened by the board of elections they were technically thrown out.”

“If the board of elections worker thinks there’s an error with someone’s ballot, they should fold the ballot up and put it aside, contact the voter and give them seven days to come in and fill it out,” Moya said. “In the end, the board throws it out because the ballot is invalidated.”

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy 4th of July. Now that our national birthday party is over until next year, we must all again focus on saving the lives of our Veterans at risk. As we enjoy our summer rituals of beaches, barbecues, travel, and other recreational activities, let us make sure that those who make those traditions possible, also get to enjoy them.

We Veterans are the smallest minority group in our population, yet we suffer from the dual epidemics of cancer and suicide at much higher rates than civilians. The reasons for this are many, but the solution is simple. The solution is: The Gold Shield. Most people are shocked and offended when they learn that almost every hour of every day, another Veteran is lost to suicide, and an even greater number are lost to cancer, and those tragic numbers are directly caused by military service.

To make matters worse, the government does little to improve the situation. Since the government cannot solve the problem, it is up to us – the private sector. The Gold Shield is the mechanism we all can use to deliver services Vets need to reduce their appalling death toll. It is tragic when we lose any service member on the battlefield – but it is UNFORGIVABLE TO KEEP ON LOSING THEM AT HOME.