City Offers Reel-lief To Overshot Neighborhoods

Ethan Hawke is big. Real big. Or as the Daily News would say, “reel big”:

The streets of New York may not be paved with gold, but filmmakers can certainly turn them into green for the city — and often headaches for residents.

Brooklyn Heights had three film productions going on at the same time last month.

“That was a lot in the central core of a small neighborhood,” said Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association.

“We had shooting on the Promenade with Ethan Hawke. He didn’t have big equipment, but he took up all of Remsen St. from Montague Terrace to Clinton St.”

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones was nearby making “Mostly Martha,” while parts of “August Rush” were being filmed in two of the neighborhood’s historic churches.

DUMBO residents have had similar experiences.

“It culminated with ‘The Forgotten,'” said Nancy Webster, a past president of the DUMBO Neighborhood Association.

“The chief impact of a crew is they take up lots of parking. For residents who park on the street, that can be a major inconvenience,” Webster said.

The city’s solution: Give the neighborhoods a time out from film crews.

To “balance production with the needs of our communities … [the city] will occasionally give neighborhoods that have hosted significant levels of production a short, temporary break from filming,” said Assistant Commissioner Julianne Cho of Mayor Bloomberg’s office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.

The break can last up to three months, but is informally bestowed.

Stanton said Brooklyn Heights did not receive notice of its respite until the association complained.

The article misses the real, er, reel story, however, which is Law & Order’s big fat exemption. Those sons a bitches are still everywhere.

DiFara’s Closed Only Temporarily

DiFara’s in Brooklyn was recently closed for owner Domenico DeMarco’s foot surgery, not for forever, as many had feared:

The famed pizzeria on Avenue J in Midwood was unexpectedly shuttered for the first time in 18 years after owner and pizza master Domenico DeMarco — who makes every pie himself — had foot surgery.

“I was really worried about all the people from far away and I wouldn’t be here to make them pizza,” said DeMarco, 69, who runs the store with his seven kids and works seven days a week.

DeMarco closed for a week — but the sudden shuttering sent panicked ripples among foodies across the city and sparked rumors it was closed for good.

DeMarco said if he couldn’t be there himself, he didn’t want to risk serving his customers an inferior pizza.

“I believe that if you close the shop, the people will come back,” he said. “But if you stay open and give them something [other] than what they’re used to, they won’t come back.”

The last time DeMarco closed up was for a 1988 trip to Italy.

“This just ruined my weekend. I’ve been thinking about this pizza for about a month,” said Justin Mazzeo, 23, who stopped by Friday while home from college, only to find the doors locked.

“You have to see this guy in action. He’s slow as molasses, but he makes the best damn pizza anywhere,” added Mazzeo.

Eyewitness accounts to the contrary, 18 years is an awfully long time to be open . . .

For further research.

When The Building’s Away The Rats Will Play

A Carroll Gardens street now knows that rats need buildings in which to live:

A Carroll Gardens block has been taken over by rats, and the city Health Department has done little to combat the menacing pests, residents say.

Since a demolition project began on a Luquer St. lot last fall, rats have made the street their home, scurrying around in broad daylight, diving into garbage cans and nesting in car engines.

“They sit there and look at you; they are not afraid,” said Lisa Demaio, 29.

To get inside her building, the mother of two young girls said she’s forced to throw bottles “to scatter the rats.”

Yesterday, a rodent lay dead next to three overturned traps in front of the lot.

. . .

Residents believe the rats were stirred up by the demolition work at 100 Luquer St., where an 11-story condominium tower is set to rise.

An owner of the lot agreed — but said there is little he can do.

“Rats are not something we can control,” said Moses Gross, a partner on the construction project.

Gross said his office has hired an exterminator, who is set to begin work next week after receiving repeated calls from neighbors.

“I don’t think it will help,” he said. “Every time you do a demolition, they come out.”

Fuck Tha Politsey

Brooklyn residents rioted after a member of the community was harassed by cops:

An angry protest over the arrest of an elderly Hasidic man turned violent in Brooklyn last night, when throngs of irate residents lit fires on the street, clashed with cops and smashed the windows of a squad car.

At one point, more than 1,000 people flooded onto 16th Avenue between 45th and 48th streets in Borough Park, many pushing and shoving police.

Cops in riot gear struggled to hold back the mob as a firetruck shot water into the air to douse the many small trash fires.

The violence began at 6:30 p.m., when witnesses said neighborhood fixture Arthur Schick was leaving the bakery he used to own, Schick’s, on 16th Avenue.

Schick, 75, was talking on his cellphone as he got into his car and started driving away, prompting officers to stop him, the witnesses said.

A cop asked for his license, but Schick, who’s hard of hearing, couldn’t understand and got out of the car, the witnesses said.

“He jumped out and before anything, they pushed him back into the car. They put him in handcuffs,” said Leonard Rosenberg.

When Schick protested, two officers began using force, Rosenberg said.

. . .

As word of the arrest spread, hundreds of residents began lighting fires and blocking traffic. Some smashed the window of two squad cars and threw burning debris on them.

Things quieted down by 9:30 p.m. Two officers had minor injuries, cops said.

(You, too, can fake like you know a smattering of Yiddish.)

Barack Obama: Some Guy They Stuck In There

Cracker carpetbagger David Yassky got the opportunity to meet with the community the other day, the Brooklyn Paper reports (.pdf):

City Councilman David Yassky finally got a chance to speak to a group of black church leaders in East New York last weekend — and later learned what people say about him, and his dream of defeating four black candidates in the mostly black 11th Congressional District, once he leaves the room.

“David Yassky shouldn’t even be running in this race,” said City Councilman Charles Barron, who spoke to the same group after Yassky had left. “David Yassky is an opportunist who sees the black vote divided and thinks he can sneak in there.”

As Barron spoke, slamming his fist onto the podium for emphasis, church leaders bobbed their heads up and down, at least one saying, “That’s what I’m talking about!”

Yassky had addressed the group — Churches United for Worldwide Action — after being barred from appearing at the organization’s candidates forum two weeks earlier. “Bygones are bygones,” Yassky said, explaining why he accepted the group’s invitation to speak at Grace Baptist Church in East New York Saturday.

. . .

Barron, who has often praised his colleague’s record in the Council, attacked Yassky’s candidacy without prompting.

“One hundred percent of the presidents have been white men!” said Barron, who is actually running for Congress in the neighboring district, where he hopes to beat incumbent Rep. Ed Towns.

“One hundred percent of the vice presidents — white men! Just 42 members of the House are black. And only one senator is black — some guy named Barack Obama, and I don’t know who that is. Some guy they stuck in there. So if you vote for Yassky, it goes down to 41 members of the House. Let him run against a white guy!”

After his broadside, Barron said his top priorities for the district are “jobs and health care,” the same two priorities Yassky had mentioned.