Amidst the glass and shiny metal exteriors of the high-rises in downtown Brooklyn sit three conjoined five-story red brick and stone apartment buildings, 402, 404 and 406 Albee Square West. Their dingy stoops lead to sticky floors in dimly lit hallways, unhinged mailbox doors and rusty fire escapes. Things aren’t much better inside the few occupied apartments. Read more »

When the city approved an ambitious rezoning of downtown Brooklyn in 2004, Yaakov "Jack" Fuzailov didn't think it would negatively affect his barbershop on the corner of Bridge Street and Willoughby Avenue. After all, he figured, he had a five-year lease and a verbal promise from his landlord of a five-year renewal. Even when construction for a new subway underpass tore up the streets in front of his shop, he struggled through, waiting for the day when his customers could return. "I was working for free, because I thought I could build a future," he says. "Thinking that it will be better tomorrow."

Read more »

The Brennan Center released a report this week detailing the tens of thousands of votes that were lost in New York because voting machines read their choices as “overvotes” – the invalid selections of more than the allowable number of candidates. Instead of returning the ballot, as is done in many other jurisdictions, the ballots were retained and the machine displayed a screen message using complex election jargon that gave voters misleading cues about their options. In the 2010 election, this confusing message led to as many as 20,000 lost votes in the governor’s contest alone and as many as 60,000 lost votes across all contests. The Times, Daily News, WNYC, and Politico have all done a great job covering the story.

The Brennan Center and others warned state election officials about the potential problems that would arise due to this confusing message. Represented by the Brennan Center, the NAACP New York State Conference, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, and several individual plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the New York State and New York City Boards of Elections in June of 2010 over the discriminatory impact on minority voters. Read more »

FORT GREENE - A new supermarket in Fort Greene is giving neighbors more convenient shopping options.

The Red Apple Market opened yesterday on Myrtle Avenue, and some residents say they are excited about the grand opening after a similar store closed several years ago.

"I used to have to go to the Heights in order to get my food," says one shopper. "It's so nice to have this in the neighborhood." Read more »

When former Downtown Brooklyn Partnership president Joe Chan announced he would leave his post after five years on the job, he left more than a vacant position with an annual salary of $200,000 in his wake.

Chan also left a trail of acrimony among grassroots neighborhood activist groups like Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, which demanded last week that they be let into the process of finding a successor.

FUREE plans to send a letter to DBE asking that there be a representative from the community on the board of the nonprofit development entity, which is also tasked with finding Chan's successor.

At FUREE's 9th Annual Conference last week, Councilwoman Letitia James, D-Brooklyn, pledged her full support for increased community involvement in DBP. Read more »

For 20-year-old Eric Valentin, it all started with an envelope addressed to his mother from her landlord.

Valentin's mother, the letter read, had only a few days to vacate an apartment she and her family had lived for years on Dwight Street in Red Hook.

"They told her that they had to make renovations and that she would have to find another place to stay," he said. "But she had nowhere to go." Read more »

Finally there's some good news for the residents of Fort Greene Houses.

Despite word last July that priority for hiring would not be given to local jobseekers, owners of Red Apple Supermarket on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene seemed poised to deliver the goods upon the grocer's much anticipated grand opening later this year. Read more »