Marty Markowitz

Go Listen to This Coney Island-Themed Playlist Marty Markowitz Made on Spotify

Thank god for Marty Markowitz, possibly the only lovable politician left in New York. Today, the Brooklyn borough president released a soundtrack to rebuilding a Sandy-shattered Coney Island on Spotify. It's got Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," Brooklynite synth-addicts Matt and Kim, and the Beasti ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg: Libraries Aren't Just About Books, They're Places to Find Jobs!

Yes, books and reading and anything that involves words on actual paper are totally screwed. But that doesn't mean New York City libraries aren't valuable! That was kind of the message behind Mayor Mike Bloomberg's announcement this morning that he is expanding the city's efforts to help unemployed ... More >>

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz Wants Brownsville to be the Next Tech Mecca

​The Brooklyn State of the Borough address is tonight, and Borough President Marty Markowitz is expected to announce a contest to attract tech manufacturers to Brownsville and East New York. Markowitz said he targeted these neighborhoods because of their high unemployment rates and the read ... More >>

100 Most Powerless New Yorkers

A 'power list' for the rest of us

Marty Markowitz Is Retiring

​Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn borough president, friend to the people (and Atlantic Yards), enemy of bike lanes, guy who had once considered replacing Mayor Bloomberg in 2013, is no longer thinking he wants to be mayor, according to the New York Post. Markowitz can't run again for borough preside ... More >>

Marty Markowitz: Apple "Won't Reach the Big Time" Till It Opens a Store in Brooklyn

​Remember how part of the Brooklyn Municipal Building is being turned into a mall? The anchor of the new retail space is going to be an upscale restaurant. Sounds fine, even if Brooklyn doesn't necessarily need more restaurants. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has other ideas for th ... More >>

Brooklyn Department of Finance to Be Replaced By a Mall

​The city announced a plan today to transform part of the Brooklyn Municipal Building in downtown Brooklyn into 49,000 feet of retail space. Which part? The Department of Finance, which is relocating somewhere else to make room for the new mall. The developer is United American Land, and they ... More >>

Marty Markowitz Fined $20,000 for Taking His Wife on Free Trips to Turkey, the Netherlands

​Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is in trouble, to the tune of $20,000, for accepting free travel and other accommodations for his wife, Jamie, on recent trips to Turkey and the Netherlands. The city's Conflicts of Interests board ruled that Markowitz is allowed to accept free trave ... More >>

Can't We Just Put Bike Lanes in the Sky?

​That's what Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wondered about the problematic bike lanes, which he opposes, in our fair city. "Elevated bike lanes -- that's the answer," Markowitz told Brooklyn Paper, for some reason. That way, cars could be reckless and cyclists could be where they b ... More >>

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, Joins Twitter

​Following in the footsteps of local politicians like Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Rep. Anthony Weiner, who have both shown exceptional online acumen, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has started an official Twitter account, joining every other functional politician nationwide with a ... More >>

A Ghastly Gallery of Green Bagels

JeffreyWiden/FlickrThe mottled and scrofulous exterior of this green monstrosity is enough to put you off your feed.​ Let's face it: Culinarily, apart from soda bread and maybe corned beef and cabbage, St. Patty's Day is a horrible holiday. And the only thing worse than green lager beer is gre ... More >>

Marty Markowitz Apparently Likes to Eat

Marty Markowitz Eating​Because there is no job too small for Tumblr, the world now has Marty Markowitz Eating to further its procrastination. It's just photos and the occasional video of the Brooklyn borough president with food. The only problem is that he's almost never actually eating; he's ... More >>

Dear XXXXXX, Marty Markowitz Cares About You and Coney Island. Really. (UPDATED!)

​As previously reported, a whole host of iconic Coney Island spots, including Ruby's bar and Shoot the Freak, lost their licenses last week, which means they'll have to leave their long-held premises so that new [read: more profitable] blood [read: "a very large sports bar"] can take over. Folks a ... More >>

Shake Shack Brooklyn Holding Its Coming Out Ball Today

​ To the surprise of precisely no one, Shake Shack is indeed expanding to Brooklyn. Although the Union Square Hospitality Group was coy about its plans last week, this week it's anything but: Danny Meyer is making an official announcement about the Shack's impending Fulton Mall location today ... More >>

New Yorkers Rally to Save 76-Year-Old Coney Island Bar, Ruby's

​You've probably heard that a number of Coney Island boardwalk businesses -- including iconic spots like Ruby's bar -- have lost their licenses. And this probably, if you're anything like us, makes you sad. Thor Equities has apparently given Ruby's just two weeks to vacate, according to Patell ... More >>

Live: Salt-N-Pepa, Naughty By Nature, And Slick Rick Do "Old-School Night" At Wingate Field

Still talking about sex, albeit very briefly. Pics by Rebecca Smeyne, more below.​Salt-N-Pepa/Naughty by Nature/Slick Rick Wingate Field Monday, August 2 "Y'all look like a free concert out here," notes Salt wryly, shortly before launching into "I'll Take Your Man" in front of, indeed, thousa ... More >>

Marty Markowitz Will Don His Trunks to Protest Gowanus Pool Closing

Yes, that's how we feel, too.​Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will join protesters this Sunday in rallying against the city's decision to close the "Double-D" public pool in Gowanus this summer for budgetary reasons -- apparently keeping the pool shuttered will save the city $200,00 ... More >>

Empire State Building Won't Light Up for Mother Teresa, then Lies, Which Mother Teresa Really Would Have Hated (But Forgiven)

​The Empire State Building is privately owned, and as such, they can do whatever the hell they want -- lighting themselves in pink and red for Valentine's Day, or honoring the Simpsons, or whatever. So, when they said no to lights honoring Mother Teresa's upcoming 100th birthday on August 26, ... More >>

Gear Up: Friday Is National Bike to Work Day

​The signs sometimes do align, as in the case of tomorrow, which is our humble nation's official Bike to Work Day. It's been bike month all of May, in fact, but if you've been focused on other things -- masturbation month, anyone? -- well, it's not too late to get involved.

An Apple Seed is Planted in Brooklyn

An Apple Store Grows in Brooklyn from Marty Markowitz on Vimeo. Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz really wants to see Apple set up camp in Brooklyn. What this being the epicenter of Mac worship and all, Marty thought it would be a swell idea to pitch the idea to Steve Jobs via this ridiculo ... More >>

Astroland Dead, Did Not Fall at Hands of The Warriors

​Everyone who claims to have legitimately enjoyed Coney Island's Astroland while nervously worrying for their safety on rides which were eventually going to off someone can now relax, they no longer have to pretend to enjoy it for its kitch New York Value. It's dead. Supposedly.

Jay-Z Gave Press Conference, Helped Break Ground at Brooklyn's Barclays Center Today

At the press conference. Photo by Elliott Wilson.​Bowing out of one big municipal project one day, and breaking ground on another the next: can't knock Jay-Z's political hustle. Brooklyn's most famous son was on hand to both shovel dirt for the future Nets arena in Atlantic Yards and to join M ... More >>

NYS Restaurant Association and Marty Markowitz Offer Labor Law Seminar for Restaurateurs

Getty ImagesMarty would like a word with restaurateurs ​A recent Labor Department crackdown in Park Slope, Brooklyn, found abuses at 25 restaurants: Unpaid overtime and underpaid workers. In response, the New York State Restaurant Association and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz are ... More >>

Pithiest Campaign Mailer of the Season

​Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's last campaign mailer has for its text only a headline, "Marty Markowitz: As Brooklyn as They Come!," a terse invocation to vote, and one quote from the Beep: "If I've made you proud of being a Brooklynite, if I've improved your life even a bit and ... More >>

Brooklyn Seeks Poet Laureate

​The Brooklyn Paper tells us the borough is taking resumes for its Poet Laureate position. Effusive Beep Marty Markowitz says the replacement for the recently deceased Ken Seigelman should be a "fine poet" and an "enthusiastic ambassador of poetry and literacy." Paying gigs for poets, or even ... More >>

Barrett: My Favorite Nugget from Last Night's Debate

​My favorite nugget from last night's mayoral debate was Mike Bloomberg's smug smile as he pronounced Joe Bruno a better majority leader of the state senate than Pedro Espada. Democrat Bill Thompson had already picked the-sometime Democrat Espada as the better of the two. By 3:12 a.m., the Po ... More >>

Barrett: My Favorite Nugget from Last Night's Debate

​My favorite nugget from last night's mayoral debate was Mike Bloomberg's smug smile as he pronounced Joe Bruno a better majority leader of the state senate than Pedro Espada. Democrat Bill Thompson had already picked the-sometime Democrat Espada as the better of the two. By 3:12 a.m., the Po ... More >>

Brooklyn Beep Endorses Bloomberg; Barron Calls Him a "Traitor"

​You've probably heard that Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles flew their old route over the Hudson today to cheers and flash bulbs and the approbation of Dr. Ruth ("I'm glad you're not retiring, but rewiring," said the pint-sized sexologist to Sully). As usual, Sul ... More >>

Markowitz Tries to Dodge Challenger, For Whom Room 8 "Sheds No Tears"

​Here's a little democracy, Brooklyn-style: Borough President Marty Markowitz wants to throw his lone challenger off the Democratic ballot. The executive director of Markowitz's Seaside Summer Concert Series filed a challenge to signatures collected for Eugene Myrick, an East New Yorker and ... More >>

Locals Protest Protest Brighton Beach Theater at Tonight's Oldies Concert

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants to replace the bandshell at Asser Levy/Seaside Park in Brighton Beach/Coney Island with a large, $64 million, roofed amphitheater that can accommodate 8,000 people (Grimshaw Architects rendering pictured). But it seems a lot of the locals don't want i ... More >>

Famous Author Get Attention for Dumbo Land-Use Protest

People have protests against overdevelopment all the time, and most get little attention from the press. But the folks in Dumbo who disapprove the building of yet another ugly modern tower, this one hard by the Brooklyn Bridge, had a masterstroke: have a celebrity guest. If they'd gotten Lindsay Loh ... More >>

Coney: New Dig, Times Dis, Cyclone Opens Sunday

Kinetic Carnival looks at Joe Sitt's big dig at Stillwell Avenue and the Boardwalk at Coney Island and wonders what's up. Captain Nemo's readers speculate: new supports for the Boardwalk? Tents? A "Dream Land Amusement Park" is announced by lamppost sign for part of the blighted property. Gowanus' ... More >>

Liveblogging the State of the City, If We Can Stand It

We'll give it a shot, anyway. The Mayor is going to give this annual speech today at Brooklyn College. Let's begin: 1:21 p.m. Brooklyn borough president/buffoon Marty Markowitz tells a few jokes. He has "declared Brooklyn a Republic," but collegially tells Queens beep Helen Marshall that "whatever ... More >>

Markowitz Weakens on Atlantic Yards

The normally development-friendly Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz actually said something almost critical of a developer yesterday. He suggested Forest City Ratner, despoilers of Atlantic Yards, should look at a "more economically feasible" plan for the Nets stadium/luxury complex than th ... More >>

Happy New Year

Peter McManus', Chelsea, shortly after midnight We'd been warned that Times Square could be hit with a "Mumbai-style attack" on New Year's Eve, so only about a million people showed up. (The celebration in Aspen, Colorado didn't fare so well, but they sure had fun in New Orleans.) On TV Kathy G ... More >>

Lousier Subways Predicted; Panic Ensues

Brief Guide to All the Wacky Shit You Missed This Weekend, Ponce

NYDN: Markowitz Gave Borough Bucks to His Own Non-Prof

W. Indian American Day Parade Hot, Loud, Fun

Middle of the Night: Powderly Update, Marty Unltd., Etc.

Readers Remember the Blackout

The World's Worst Bobblehead Comes to Brooklyn

Hot Dog With Relish

Cyclones put Markowitz on a bobblehead doll. Now he'll pop up even more.

The Show Must Go On and On and On

Doug E. Fresh leads a delighted Brooklyn crowd down a Frosted Flake–filled memory lane

Can You Say 'Hooray for Ratner'? You're Hired!

The Ground War

Hanging with the Florida troops out to win—and keep—a Kerry victory

Sports

Sports

Letters

Mr. Brooklyn

One Guy Tries Harder for Brooklyn Borough President