Day: September 5, 2025

President Trump on Monday announced he would award former Mayor and political ally Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom

The post <i>The Week in Review:</i>Aug. 30–Sep. 5 appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

A 41-year-old man was shot and wounded in Weeksville on Thursday night, in the midst of a violent evening in Brooklyn. 

Cops received a 911 call about an assault in progress at 1660 Pacific St. just after 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 4, per the NYPD. When officers arrived, they found the victim with gunshot wounds to his right arm and right leg. 

Paramedics rushed him to NYC Health+Hospitals/Kings County, where he was in stable condition on Friday morning. The shooter has not been identified, cops said, and no arrests have been made. An investigation is ongoing.

The incident was one of three violent attacks in Brooklyn in less than 12 hours. 

Just hours earlier, a separate double shooting in Cypress Hills — about four miles away — left 20-year-old Darius Coles dead and another 20-year-old man injured. At about 1 a.m. on Friday morning, a stabbing in Cypress Hills killed a 30-year-old man and wounded another. The incidents are not believed to be related, and no arrests have been made in either case.

The end of summer has seen a dramatic spike in gun violence across Brooklyn after months of relative peace. In August, shootings were up 16% year-over-year, according to NYPD statistics. Still, shootings in the 77th Precinct — where the Pacific Street shooting occurred — are down 50% year-to-date, with nine incidents reported through Aug. 31 compared to 18 during the same period last year. 

After days of denial, Mayor Eric Adams seemed to admit Friday that he is entertaining offers for other job opportunities, though he maintained that he continues to campaign robustly for re-election.

The admission came as questions continued to swirl around whether Adams would abandon his reelection bid for a plum job opportunity, potentially from Republican President Donald Trump, in a surprise September gambit that could turn the mayoral race on its head.

In a statement provided by his campaign Friday, Adams insisted “I am still running for reelection” and that “no formal offers have been made.”

Yet he also appeared to confirm a Thursday evening report from the New York Times that he is seriously considering taking a job with the Trump administration, saying, “I will always listen if called to serve our country.”

That report came hours after Adams publicly besmirched the Times’ original reporting on Wednesday that the Trump administration had approached him about a job opportunity that would end Adams’ mayoral candidacy. The original report also alleged that the Trump team approached Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa with his own job offer, but he has publicly rebuffed such reports.

Adams is set to travel to Washington D.C. next week to discuss his political future with Trump advisers, NY1 reported on Friday afternoon. Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro did not immediately confirm the meeting.

Trump wants a one-on-one against Mamdani

Trump indicated Thursday evening that he wants the mayoral general election to be a two-person race to have the best chance at stopping frontrunner Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist Assembly member, from ascending to the mayoralty.

“I don’t like to see a communist become mayor, I’ll tell you that,” Trump told reporters in the White House, falsely labeling Mamdani a communist — which he has done previously. “I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one, and I think that’s a race that can be won.”

If Adams and Sliwa drop out, it would likely strengthen former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who, like Adams, is a Democrat running on an independent line — as they have overlapping bases of moderate, older voters. The field has already shrunk after another independent candidate, Jim Walden, suspended his campaign earlier this week.

Cuomo is trying to capitalize on sentiment among centrists, Republicans, and city business leaders who see a democratic socialist like Mamdani becoming mayor as dangerous for the city.

Adams’ Friday statement came after both the “Paper of Record” and Politico revealed that top Trump aides are considering offering Adams an ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, Politico reported that Trump’s team has already floated a post at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the mayor.

The Times also reported on Thursday that Adams met personally with top Trump adviser Steve Witkoff during a trip to Florida earlier this week.

Adams’ statement came shortly after he abruptly cancelled his one scheduled public event on Friday morning.

Adams in search of a ‘soft landing’?

A source familiar with Adams’ thinking, granted anonymity to discuss the matter freely, told amNewYork that he is looking for a “soft landing” — meaning he wants a cushy gig with a level of prestige befitting an ex-New York City mayor.

Meanwhile, former Gov. David Paterson, another close Adams ally and his highest-profile supporter so far, told amNewYork that Adams disclosed he has been getting job offers but did not specify where they were coming from or whether he is considering taking any.

“He was saying he was getting a lot of them,” Paterson said of Adams. “He was really impressed he was getting offers, and he said, ‘When I figure out what I want to do, I’ll let you know.'”

Paterson added that Adams “really wants to stay in the race,” but that he “recognizes the reality” of his long odds — as he is polling in last place behind Sliwa in most recent surveys.

Mamdani contends that Cuomo is secretly colluding with Trump to clear the field to give him the best chance at winning. He is basing the accusation on reports of Cuomo and Trump discussing the mayor’s race over the phone last month, as well as the former governor telling potential donors that the president will urge Republicans to vote for him over Sliwa.

For his part, Cuomo has denied any recent conversations with Trump and claimed on Thursday that he knows “nothing about” the president offering Adams a job. But while Cuomo said he does not want Trump to personally boost his campaign, he said that whatever Adams and Sliwa do is their business.

“I don’t want him involved in anything with my race,” Cuomo said on Sept. 4. “What Eric Adams chooses to do is up to Eric Adams. What Curtis Sliwa chooses to do is up to Curtis Sliwa.”

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Breakfast in Georgetown went awry on Friday morning when the ceiling of an iHop restaurant collapsed and injured nine people.

The morning rush was well underway at the 2101 Ralph Ave. eatery when a 10-foot-by-10-foot section of ceiling came down just before 9:30 a.m., officials said. Though the severity of damage was not immediately clear, patrons and employees who were inside the restaurant at the time were walk out on their own.

Paramedics treated nine people — most of whom seemed to be customers — for minor injuries on the scene. Five were transported to local hospitals for further treatment, and the other four refused additional medical attention. 

The pancakery, usually open until midnight, will be closed for the foreseeable future, as the Department of Buildings issued a Full Vacate order due to unsafe conditions, an agency spokesperson said. DOB inspectors found that water damage on the building’s roof may have caused the collapse, and hit franchise owner with a violation for failure to maintain the building. The agency also asked that the owner hire a professional engineer to complete a full report on the building’s structural stability. 

The iHop had an active construction permit for “minor renovations,” according to DOB, including work on the building’s sign, roof, and exterior lighting, and work was underway at the time of the collapse. The restaurant does not have recent violations related to construction or safety issues, but was cited for work without a permit in 2017. 

iHop corporate did not immediately return a request for comment, and Brooklyn Paper was not immediately able to contact the franchise owner.

Update 9/5/2025, 2:06 p.m..: This story has been updated with additional information from the Department of Buildings. 

The trippy rocker will bend space and time in Brooklyn on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

The city’s Department of Transportation announced Friday that it will begin installing new bus lanes on Brooklyn’s primary thoroughfare, Flatbush Avenue, later this fall.

According to the plans, which have been in the works since 2022, the new center-running bus lanes will stretch from Livingston Street to Grand Army Plaza, cutting through Downtown Brooklyn, Prospect Heights, and North Park Slope.

DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said the project will be completed in late 2026 and bring faster commutes and safer streets to one of Brooklyn’s busiest and most dangerous corridors.

“Today 132,000 daily bus riders are stuck waiting too long for slow buses, drivers are caught in a mess of traffic, and pedestrians are left crossing intersections clogged with vehicles,” said Commissioner Rodriguez. “These new bus lanes will speed up bus service and make the street safer for everyone.”

Flatbush Avenue is one of Brooklyn’s Vision Zero Priority Corridors, with 140 people killed or seriously injured in crashes in the last five years, according to DOT. The B41 bus, which runs nearly the entire eight-mile avenue, carried more than 4.4 million riders last year, making it one of the city’s 10 busiest routes. Nearly 60% of households along Flatbush Avenue do not own a car.

Riders along the route have long complained about the slow service and campaigned for action.

A report last year from the Riders Alliance highlighted the severe impact of chronic bus delays on Flatbush Avenue commuters. Surveying 1,800 local residents, the study revealed that 91% of respondents experienced delays, with two-thirds enduring long waits in inclement weather.

Notably, one in three riders reported being docked pay, reprimanded, or even fired due to tardiness linked to unreliable bus service.

According to the Alliance, the reason for the delays is constant traffic and double parking, which they and other advocates have long said bus lanes would fix.

The design aimed at remedying those transport woes includes six concrete boarding islands spanning 13,000 square feet, more than 14,000 square feet of new pedestrian space, 11 new loading zones, and bike parking for over 170 bicycles. Officials said the center-running lanes will help buses move faster than the current average of 4 mph during rush hour—roughly walking speed.

DOT presented its block-by-block design to Brooklyn Community Board 2 on Thursday night and said more presentations are planned to incorporate additional public feedback. Work will begin with bus lane markings and painted curb extensions this fall, then resume with concrete construction in spring 2026.

The redesign also significantly shortens crossing distances and “daylights” 13 intersections along the corridor.

Because the redesign reduces space for private vehicles, DOT officials said they expect some drivers traveling to and from Downtown Brooklyn will shift to faster, more reliable bus service. Car trips to and from Manhattan may move to alternate routes or public transit, while some local traffic could shift onto nearby corridors that the agency said it will continue to monitor and manage.