Brooklyn headlines for February 5, 2013

Verrazano Toll Plan Sparks Petition

Tolls for bridge crossings have long been the scourge of mankind ever since hideous trolls and ogres started collecting them in medieval times. Since heroic knights can’t protect us from the MTA, we have to rely on petitions like the one started by Dominic Cenatiempo. Centaiempo, a resident of Staten Island, is hoping to rally 500,000 outraged motorists to join him in his full opposition to the proposed $2 hike on the Verrazano Bridge, reports Bensonhurst Bean.

Gowanus Storage Tank May Go Under Pool

The feds may force the city to bury a giant holding tank for raw sewage and runoff beneath Thomas Green Playground and Douglass-Degraw Pool as part of the planned half-billion dollar cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, the Brooklyn Paper reports. The massive catch basin would be installed directly under the parkland according to a recently unveiled Environmental Protection Agency Superfund proposal, which calls for the city-funded construction of the $46.5-million container to prevent millions of gallons of human waste and stormwater from pouring into the waterway when rain floods sewers past capacity.

Medgar Evers Prez Resigns

In a statement issued last week, Medgar Evers College President William L. Pollard announced that he advised CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein of his decision to step down from the presidency "following the designation of a successor." More at Our Time Press.

Sports Complex Planned for Gravesend

Tennis, along with yoga, swimming and dancing, are returning to the intersection of Shell Road and Avenue Z in Gravesend in what is set to be Brooklyn’s largest sports complex. Sheepshead Bites first learned about the deal from the broker, Brian Hanson of Massey Knakel Realty Services, and now a report by Brownstoner provides a few new details.

Costing $20 million, the 140,000 square-foot complex, dubbed MatchPoint NYC, will feature a whopping nine indoor tennis courts, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a restaurant. It replaces the Brooklyn Racquet Club, which closed in 2011 and was later demolished.

Legendary Eatery Defies Death, Again

Hinsch’s is proving to have more lives than a cat, says the Brooklyn Eagle. The owners, who had been planning to close the famous Bay Ridge ice cream parlor on March 1, have decided to keep the place open until a buyer can be found, according to various media reports.