People in Brooklyn, don’t despair! In only four hours of less of driving you can be swooshing down some wonderful ski runs, without having to break the bank on airfare, or spending any more of your limited, precious time on the extreme hassle of flying. Check out these five great destinations and get your powder-white fix this winter, with minimum bother. • Only one hour and 45 minutes away, Mount Peter Ski Area is one of the few family-owned ski resorts left in New York State, and the oldest extant ski area, too. At 400 feet-high, the peak is covered with five ski lifts and 14 runs equally divided between advanced, intermediate and beginner. The resort, just north of the New Jersey-New York border, offers free beginner ski and snowboarding school. • Thunder Ridge Ski Area is even closer to Brooklyn than Mount Peter- only one hour and 30 minutes away, in Patterson. The 22 trails, accessible by 6 lifts, are geared to intermediate and beginner skiers. The resort has the capability of covering 95 percent of the mountain with artificial snow, so even if the snowfall was minimal, there is still great skiing to be had. • Catamount Ski Area is found on the border between New York and Massachusetts in the Taconic Mountains. With seven lifts and 36 trails in 119 acres, it is one of the largest ski areas in New York or New England. It is only two hours and 45 minutes-drive from Brooklyn. • If night-skiing is your thing, you will love Windham Mountain Resort. With a 1,600-foot-high incline and 52 ski trails with 12 lifts, this resort is well worth the trip. To top it off, there is an on-site spa, five terrain parks for freestylers, and artificial snow. Located in Windham, New York, it takes only 3 hours to get there from Brooklyn. • Looking for a ski area a little further away? Give the Royal Mountain Ski Area a try. It is a three-hour and 45-minute...
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A federal grand jury is meeting this week as part of an on-going investigation into the behavior of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office under the former prosecutor Charles Hynes. Investigators have been looking into allegations that Hynes used money forfeited by criminals in inappropriately, and other misdeeds by the DA’s office. During the investigation Hynes suffered a “serious and incapacitating stroke,” said is lawyer’s office. Hynes is 81, and was the Brooklyn DA for 23 years. He was unseated when he lost his bid for re-election in 2013 to Ken Thompson. The Department of Investigation did find that Judge Barry Kamins gave Hynes campaign advice in addition to speaking with him on cases improperly. The DOI also found that Hynes used forfeiture funds to pay a political consultant, Mortimer Matz. Robert Hill Schwartz, Hynes’ lawyer, recently had open heart surgery and was unavailable for...
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In early May the former chief of staff at 21st Century Fox and News Corp Natalie Ravitz, was hired by the National Football League to be their senior vice president of communications. Ravitz will be working with Joe Lockhart, another new hire for the NFL, who began there in January. This new team of PR experts has great experience in the world of political communications. Lockhart was President Bill Clinton’s press secretary from October 1998 until September 2000. He also worked for Walter Mondale, Paul Simon, and Michael Dukakis. Ravitz earned her stripes working for Rupert Murdoch as his chief of staff; as press secretary and speech writer for Senator Barbara Boxer of California; and communications director for the New York City Department of Education under then Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Considering the experience Ravitz and Lockhart share between them, the NFL should be well-positioned for any developments which might arise during the coming months and years. Ravitz will oversee the league’s communications and media strategy from NFL headquarters in New York...
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The largest park in Brooklyn is ready and waiting for visitors to experience the natural world in the midst of the crazy turbulence of living in Brooklyn. The Salt Marsh is 530 acres of grassland and marsh. It is home to countless birds and animals, including egrets, geese, sandpipers, marsh hawks, cottontail rabbits, and horseshoe crabs. Located at 3301 Avenue U, not far from Flatbush Avenue, the Salt Marsh has five miles of shoreline and a well-marked nature walk that loops back over its 1-mile length, and is mostly flat. Open from dawn to dusk, be aware that the path is dirt and gravel, and not shaded. In the summer be sure to bring lots of insect repellent and sunscreen. There is a wonderful nature center which is open from April 1 to October 31 on weekends from noon until 4pm. Kids can learn a lot about nature there, and so can adults. There are many demonstrations, lectures and events which are quite worthwhile. After your visit to the nature reserve, go visit the recreational park right on the other side of Avenue U. Marine Park is a 268-acre recreational park with baseball fields, tennis courts and bike paths with bike rentals available. For more information, go to the park’s...
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At an expected cost of 2.5 billion, the newly proposed Brooklyn-Queens streetcar plan is the most ambitious to date urban engineering project of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. The line, which was announced in the mayor’s State of the City speech last week, will travel along the East River waterfront for 16 scenic miles. It will be part of the roads already in use, and will flow along with the regular automobile traffic. The location is key: the area which will be served by the streetcar is undergoing rapid development, and it is relatively far from traditional subway lines. The price tag is another selling point, as it is substantially lower than building a new underground subway line. There will be some bumps along the way to a functioning streetcar system, as Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for housing and economic development acknowledged that there are “some significant engineering challenges when you are putting a modern system like this in a very old city.” “The old transportation system was a hub-and-spoke approach, where people went into Manhattan for work and came back out” Ms. Glen said. “This is about mapping transit to the future of New...
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