*Do charter schools mirror the city? The New York Times found that Latinos are underrepresented in charter schools as compared to their presence in public schools citywide. Given the raging battle over charter schools, you could see that as good or bad…thoughts? (P.S. Don’t miss the interactive map.)

*Cutbacks at the MTA are mixing up bus routes through Sunset Park—the B37 and B70 will diverge from their well-known paths, and many aren’t happy about it, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.

*The Eagle takes a look back at “Operation Blockbuster,” the big South Brooklyn crack bust of 2008

*Legit or scam? The diet product Herbalife has carved out a firm foothold among immigration groups. Feet in Two Worlds reports.

*Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the end of May announced a huge biotech facility will go into the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. The Wall Street Journal gives some additional background on the mayor’s startup projects.

*In case you haven’t found your spot yet, the Brooklyn Eagle has links to suggestions for the best spots to watch the World Cup.

Well, things are rather behind over here at Sunset Park Chronicled. Many apologies. Here are a few things that have been happening of late:

*The Brooklyn Eagle ran a dance event today to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Week today.

*There was a dust-up about bikes ( and an aside about a gaff by Boro Prez Marty Markowitz) recently in the news, and the impending Brooklyn Greenway featured, as Sunset Park’s rep Nydia Velazquez.

*Questions have also been raised about what Mayor Bloomberg’s  announcement this week regarding a “citywide initiative that will create a new sustainable blueprint for the city’s 578 miles of shoreline” and what “sustainable development” means for the western edge of Sunset park.

*The Village Voice’s Running Scared blog has a shot and description of a yolked suspect who allegedly robbed On the Run Mobile convenience store at 875 4th Avenue. The police alert says he had a gun. It may be just me, but it looks like he was also mid-smoke? Odd. Anyway, take a look.

*The New York Times published an article yesterday about the people who make up the immigrant workforce—many of which are highly skilled workers. I thought it was an interesting piece, a look  at on ongoing conversation that obviously involves Sunset Park.

*There was some serious gossip going in the coffee/foodie circle this week when the employees at Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope walked out. The Brooklyn Paper reports despite the mini-scandal, the owners are still churning out beans at their roastery in Sunset Park.

*Speaking of churning, Sunset Park Stills continues to post beautiful photographs, including a moody shot of the basilica. Take a look.

Sunset Park Chronicled is overdue for a news update. Below are a couple of links to the latest news about Sunset Park, but it’s just a teaser. Stay tuned for more in the next few days:

*There has been talk for a while about the 14-mile Green way slated to connect Greenpoint to Sunset Park. The Department of Transportation this week announced that it will hold community workshops in conjunction with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and the Regional Planning Association to educate the neighborhoods about the bike and pedestrian path. Sunset Park gets its own, which will take place Thursday, April 8 at 6:30pm at St. Michael R.C. Church on Fourth Avenue and 42nd Street.

*Images of the Sunset Park waterfront featured in a show in February called Gentrification: The Pink Elephant Speaks, a recent art exhibit at The Museum of African Diasporan Art. You an read about the show at the Indypendent, and others that capture the lesser known sites in New York City.

*The New York Times took a tour around Sunset Park. Anything you didn’t know? Anything left out?

Good morning. Holiday is over. Back to work.

There are several pieces of sad news in Sunset Park.

*The leg of a Sunset Park teen was severed by an N-train passing out of a Brooklyn station Saturday night, according to the New York Times. The boy, identified by the New York Times as 16-year-old Jose Juarez of Sunset Park, was in the tunnel near the Kings Highway station painting graffiti with friends when a departing train sliced through the teen’s leg. He is currently in critical but stable condition at Lutheran Medical Center.

* A Sunset Park couple is suing Maclaren, maker of popular strollers recalled late last year for a defective hinge that had cut off the fingers of at least 12 children nationwide, the Post reported. Shannon Windram, 2½ at the time of the accident, makes at least 13. Shannon was with her mother on 69th street in March 2004 when the hinge cut through her first finger at the knuckle. Doctors were able to reattach it, but the tip later blackened and had to be amputated, Thomas Windram, Shannon’s father, told the Post. Apart from the individual lawsuits, Maclaren faces up to $1 million in fines in addition to the lawsuit for failure to report the defective strollers, according to Gothamist.

Good morning. It’s Thursday. The weekend looms. Let’s start with the prettiest in news:

*Lush trees, boggy wetlands and birds…in New York City? That’s precisely what Joel Meyerowitz portrays in large-scale photographs of 50 city parks on show at the Museum of the City of New York. Commissioned by the parks department, the exhibit is the largest documentary of the city’s 29,000 acres of parkland since they were photographed as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA project of the 1930s. Sunset Park made the cut, City Limits Online reports, offering a little bit of urban to the pastoral scenes of the lesser known green in our nation’s great metropolis. Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks, at the Museum of the City of New York, Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., adults $10, through March 21.

*Governor David Paterson led the way in welcoming Councilwoman Sara M. González at the new Sunset Park High School into her second term on the council, YourNabe reported. The comment section (ever enlightening) offers a range of reactions to the news.

*Last weekend, nearly every paper ran stories on the tragic fire that killed five in Bensonhurst, including the mother of two young children.The New York Times offered some history, and the story about how the blaze affected families of the dead in Guatemala. The Post reported while the alleged arsonist said “demons” drove him to torch a baby carriage that drove the blaze, it may have had more to do with revenge. A Daily News story portrayed 2-year-old Josias’ confusion at his mothers death. Their home destroyed, the family has taken up residence in Sunset Park.

*A string of holdups in local warehouses, including at least one in the 72nd precinct, continued this week. From YourNabe.com: On January 11, two black males armed with handguns entered a warehouse on Centre Street between Smith and Court Streets and robbed a 43-year-old man inside. Police said that cops have connected the thieves to four similar robberies in the nearby 78th Precinct in Park Slope and the 72nd Precinct in Sunset Park.

*In other crime news, a police arrested a man believed to be a thief with a thing for mailboxes. Officials alleged 49-year-old John Sturiale was one of two men who in December stole metal and plastic post office containers worth upward of $2500 (who knew?) from the post office on 58th Street, YourNabe.com reported. First email, then missing containers. Times are tough for USPS.

* Protests, lawsuits and contentious conversation have followed the announcement the city plans to shutter 19 schools for poor performance. The city has since 2002 closed 91 schools, many large high schools that have reopened as smaller and charter schools. A recent New York Times article offers insight into some of the city politics behind these closures. The new comptroller, John Liu, is adding his two cents–he questioned the school vote when he appeared last week on Local 237 President Greg Floyd’s new radio show, the Daily News reported.

* Other school issues have hit close to home. The Brooklyn Eagle last week covered a meeting about the slated consolidation of students from District 13 (Fort Green, Downtown, Park Slope) and District 15 (Sunset Park, Red Hook, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace). The building that houses P.S. 133 will be rebuilt, and students from Sunset Park’s overcrowded schools will join them in a new, larger building. “Sunset Park is in a crisis situation,” James Devor, president of CEC-15, a governing body for District 15, told the Brooklyn Eagle. But not everyone was pleased with the plan. The Eagle reports race issues bubbled up, with parents from P.S. 133 worried that their 300 children would get short shrift after the arrival of 660 students from District 15, who are predominantly white.

* Though the Bloomberg administration has touted its success slashing fat and fillers, the Daily News reports lunches may not be as healthy as they look. Cheese sandwiches, mozzarella sticks and pizza still make regular appearances on school menus. These dishes feature unpronounceables like azodicarbonamide (a bleach used in food), the maligned high-fructose corn syrup, and processes food with high levels of fat and salt.

Finished, refurbished or just breaking ground, you can spot condominiums of all shapes and sizes around Sunset Park.

New buyers are moving in, a trend welcome or unhappy depending on who you ask. Either way, the phenomenon has come to South Brooklyn. An article in the real estate section of today’s New York Times gives a comprehensive view of condo-buying. Though meant for those on the market, it offers insight for others simply looking for an explanation about the trend, as well as the pros, cons and state of the market in a city where price-per-square foot has proven as riveting as the cost of oil.

Interested in the shifting market closer to home? Check out this article on issues of affordable housing in Sunset Park.

Legal Services Examines Structure of Legal Aid Organizations in Brooklyn, and Considers Changes

*Community leaders, representatives and non-profit executives have voiced opposition to a potential restructuring of Brooklyn’s legal services that would merge offices around the borough into a single entity, the Courier-Life reported. Read the full story

Senior year leaves its mark on any high school student. For Jocelyn Morales, it was life-changing. It was the year she had her son Angel.

Morales hadn’t planned to get pregnant, but wasn’t willing to get the abortion Angel’s father suggested. “I had a choice,” she told the New York Times, “and I chose to be a parent.”

Read the full story

When people want to track a societal shift, they turn to statistics. But signs of the times also come in less quantifiable bites.

Read the full story