Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Bushwick’s New Mural Says We’ll Back Migrant Neighbors, Even as ICE Steps Up

A new mural in Bushwick, Brooklyn, unveiled by The Action Lab with artist Andre Trenier, offers a colourful riposte to surging ICE raids and rising anti-migrant rhetoric in New York. Celebrating street vendors and city diversity, it pairs images of resilience with the frankly ambitious aim of inspiring both neighbourly solidarity and “Know Your Rights” workshops—because if art can stop a raid, we truly have masterpiece potential.

Bushwick’s New Mural Says We’ll Back Migrant Neighbors, Even as ICE Steps Up
El Diario NY

Brooklyn Subway Conductor Assaulted and Robbed Days After Hochul Hails $77 Million Safety Push

A subway conductor in downtown Brooklyn was punched in the face and robbed of her train keys by a masked attacker at Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station, the NYPD reports, just days after Governor Kathy Hochul lauded a $77 million boost for police patrols and record-low subway crime. With four stabbings since her announcement, we trust the new funding finds a more timely timetable than the C train.

Brooklyn Subway Conductor Assaulted and Robbed Days After Hochul Hails $77 Million Safety Push
Breaking NYC News & Local Headlines | New York Post

Developer Bets $31 Million on 30-Story Downtown Brooklyn Tower as Housing Surge Rolls On

Weitao Shi, operating via his FBL Development and Golden Stone Management firms, has filed plans to replace an empty gym at 245 Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn with a 30-story residential tower containing 158 units, retail space, and enough amenities to impress even the most jaded condo-dweller. The locale—already witnessing a record 3,700-plus new units this year—appears to welcome cranes with open arms, if not exactly open space.

Developer Bets $31 Million on 30-Story Downtown Brooklyn Tower as Housing Surge Rolls On
Section Page News - Crain's New York Business

Mamdani to Become 112th NYC Mayor With City Hall Block Party and a Historical Footnote

New York’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist who outpaced Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in November, plans to mark his January 1st swearing-in with a Broadway block party stretching from Liberty to Murray Street. Registrants can watch online or elbow for space near City Hall, where he’ll be joined by Jumaane Williams and Mark Levine. We suspect even Times Square’s ball drop feels upstaged.

Mamdani to Become 112th NYC Mayor With City Hall Block Party and a Historical Footnote
Gothamist

Brooklyn Jury Deadlocks on Ex-Hochul Aide’s China Charges, Feds Mull Next Move

After a month dissecting whether Linda Sun, once aide to Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, funneled New York’s policy toward Beijing (and her own real estate portfolio), a Brooklyn jury deadlocked on all 19 counts, prompting Judge Brian Cogan to call a mistrial. Prosecutors must mull whether another round—with 40-plus witnesses and fewer Ferraris—might yield answers or simply more exquisite indecision.

Brooklyn Jury Deadlocks on Ex-Hochul Aide’s China Charges, Feds Mull Next Move
Gothamist

Nearly 100 Bensonhurst Residents Question Apartments Planned Atop New Utrecht Library

A forum in Bensonhurst drew nearly a hundred residents to debate the city’s plan to stack apartments atop the newly reopened New Utrecht Library, a proposal pitched as a balm for Brooklyn’s housing crunch. Concerns ranged from congestion to whether the Dewey Decimal System could withstand upstairs neighbors, but officials seemed keen to press ahead—albeit with a gentle nudge from the community’s formidable chorus of cautious optimism.

Nearly 100 Bensonhurst Residents Question Apartments Planned Atop New Utrecht Library
Brooklyn Eagle

Brooklyn Venues Grapple With Concert Pickpockets as Phone Theft Goes Global and Analog Signs Return

Petty thieves relieved over 40 concertgoers of their phones during two December shows in Brooklyn—Paramount and Monarch venues—offering proof that inflation now extends, briskly, to street crime. Both places have ramped up warnings, and the NYPD is circling, but cybersecurity experts suggest these filched devices quickly travel onwards, mostly to China. Only a sliver of cases seem to get solved—though vigilance, apparently, is now the opening act.

Brooklyn Venues Grapple With Concert Pickpockets as Phone Theft Goes Global and Analog Signs Return
Breaking NYC News & Local Headlines | New York Post

East New York Purse Snatchings Spur Police Hunt for Two Suspects, Women Urged Caution

We note New York police are hunting two men after a string of purse snatchings against women in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood; authorities report several incidents but have so far avoided naming suspects. This flurry of nimble-fingered activity has revived calls for more patrols, though we wonder whether the city’s would-be pioneers of street crime might be in for a brisker chase than usual.

East New York Purse Snatchings Spur Police Hunt for Two Suspects, Women Urged Caution
Brooklyn Eagle

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