Bay Ridge: The fix was in. Inez Zuska, the 21-year-old pride of Bay Ridge, was crowned Miss Polonia — but pageant organizers eliminated the formal judging that was once a Miss Polonia tradition. Comment.
Downtown: A squat little DUMBO building that was coveted by two Brooklyn real-estate titans is about to be demolished by the man who won the fight. Comment.
Bay Ridge: Hide the woman and children; a band of Vikings is headed our way. But don’t worry, they’re not here to pillage — they’re just promoting Scandinavian heritage. Comment.
Bay Ridge: Mayor Bloomberg asked ferry companies Tuesday to offer year-round passenger boat service between Manhattan and the Rockaways — and maybe, just maybe, bring more boats to Bay Ridge. Comment.
Carroll Gardens: Lucky who? The trendy clothier known for selling 200 jeans with the words “Lucky You” emblazoned on the fly of each pair will open its first Brooklyn store on Smith Street at the end of June, The Stoop has learned. Comment.
Carroll Gardens: More than a hundred bicyclists rode from DUMBO to Red Hook last Saturday on what was the first-ever bicycle tour along the long fenced-off waterfront. Comment.
Red Hook: Red Hook may get to drink its beer — and unload its cargo, too, now that city officials are considering retaining a container port that has long been slated for eviction and giving a nearby waterfront parcel to Brooklyn Brewery. Comment.
Smartmom: For the first time in 10 years, Smartmom and the Oh So Feisty One are going their separate ways — and both are looking forward to it. Comment.
Park Slope: A city plan to put bike lanes on Park Slope’s Ninth Street has proven to be surprisingly controversial, meeting with opposition again this week, this time from state Sen. Eric Adams (D–Park Slope). Comment.
Fort Greene: Life in trendy DUMBO isn’t always as hip and happy as it seems: Two people were robbed by separate pairs of thieves who showed off — or claimed to have — handguns on the cobblestone streets of one of downtown Brooklyn’s hottest neighborhoods within days of each other last week, police said. Plus all your crime news from Downtown, Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO. Comment.
Bay Ridge: A man who got a clean bill of health at a local hospital on May 3 came outside to find that he no longer had a car — plus all the other crime news from Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst. Comment.
Park Slope: Cops are searching for a robber who broke into an Eighth Avenue apartment on May 4 and took power tools and a fishing pole — and all the other crime news from Park Slope. Comment.
The National Organization for Women is praising The Brooklyn Paper for becoming the first newspaper in the borough to join NOW’s campaign to ban ads for “escort services” and “massages” — ads that many believe support human trafficking and prostitution rings. Comment.
Development: Brooklyn real-estate prices continue to flout the nation’s weakening market, as house prices rose 9 percent in the first quarter of 2007. Comment.
Atlantic Yards: The Empire State Development Corporation — which approved developer Bruce Ratner’s the $4-billion mega-project last year — now says it will create two new positions to oversee the project, in addition to an already created (though yet to be filled) job of “environmental monitor.” Comment.
Atlantic Yards: A State Supreme Court justice opened a long-awaited legal challenge against Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development last Thursday by grilling state lawyers over whether the project has a substantial enough “public benefit” to justify condemning privately owned buildings and turning then over to the developer. Comment.
Atlantic Yards: Councilman David Yassky slammed city economic development officials for allocating $205 million contribution to the Atlantic Yards mega-development without getting a guarantee that developer Bruce Ratner will make good on all of his “promises” to Brooklyn. Comment.
Park Slope: The city announced that the first Arabic language and culture academy will be housed in a Boerum Hill high school, just five days after parental opposition forced the city to quash a plan to house the academy in a Park Slope elementary school. Comment.
Bay Ridge: State drug enforcement authorities raided the popular Bay Ridge mom-and-pop pharmacy Lowen’s on Wednesday, seizing hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of steroids and growth hormones. Comment.
Park Slope: The city has given up its controversial plan to squeeze an Arabic language and culture middle school into a Park Slope elementary school — and will now place the controversial Khalil Gibran International Academy in a Boerum Hill high school. Comment.