This week on Brooklyn Paper Radio, Mayor DeBlasio’s dream of a $2.5-billion trolley came under fire — from none other than one of Hizzoner’s pol pals, Councilman Brad Lander!
Yes, the Park Slope Democrat agreed with co-hosts Gersh Kuntzman (see byline above) and Vince DiMiceli that supporters of the proposed streetcar still have many questions to answer, including whether the railway will offer free transfers to subways. Lander also pointed out that the route must take the newfangled railbus to the Smith-Ninth St. station if it is to be of any use to residents of booming Carroll Gardens and Gowanus.
It was the kind of fireworks that only great radio can provide.
Lander also vowed that negotiations over future development at the Long Island College Hospital site won’t happen behind closed doors, as they have been occurring. And he came out strongly against more housing inside Brooklyn Bridge Park.
But before that, Gersh and Vince welcomed comedian Melissa Stokoski, who talked about her weekly Bitches Brew comedy show at Halyards on Third Avenue in Gowanus. Stokoski cracked some jokes, but then got completely serious to say she could never vote for anyone who hadn’t done LSD, a psychedelic drug popular decades before her birth. She later called on Lander to ensure that she can legally get high in public — “Like on Bourbon Street,” she said — but he dismissed the proposal out of hand. Stokoski said she was not high when she made the proposal. Lander said he had never done LSD, though he had tried marijuana “many years ago.”
Really, it was that good a show!
But wait — there’s more. After Lander, Sam Corbin from our competing website Brokelyn discussed cafe culture in our beloved hometown. She said people don’t interact enough these days — and then told a story about the time she interviewed the man who won the smallest penis contest. Everyone agreed that that’s what coffeehouses are for! Better still, Corbin revealed that the winner of last year’s minuscule member contest has moved out of town —meaning that there’s a new small penis in Brooklyn (we just have to find him).
As you can see, it was a jam-packed show —which you can hear live each Monday at 4:30 pm at Brook
