Results tagged “missbrooklyn”

Miss America hopeful Leigh-Taylor Smith, who landed the 3rd runner up spot in the competition while representing New York, isn't bitter about losing. The Brooklyn Paper, whose eyes have been fixed on her bikini for a year, talked to the pageantista on the phone. She told them the results weren't fixed, and said "It is fair. I performed as well as I could. I left it all up there on the stage. For me, it was just very exciting to get into the final round.” She holds the Miss New York title through June, and says she'll be taking her $18K scholarship over to FIT or Parsons. But the real question here is: did she see BP editor Gersh Kuntzman naked?

For nearly a year the Brooklyn Paper's Gersh Kuntzman has been publicly drooling over 22-year-old (recent) Manhattanite Miss Brooklyn—who went on to become Miss New York, and just this past weekend stood bikini-clad in front of the nation, and Mario Lopez, at the Miss America Pageant. Sound off the sad trombone, because today the paper's editor declared that Leigh-Taylor Smith "was cheated out of the Miss America title on Saturday," and thusly "a crime against humanity" occurred.

The Brooklyn Paper takes an awkwardly close look at Miss New York's "most recognizable assets," and declares, "They're spectacular — and they're real." 22-year-old Leigh-Taylor Smith won the title of Miss Brooklyn, somewhat controversially, before donning the Miss New York crown. She'll be competing for the Miss America title in January, but before that happens she cleared up any rumors that she had been surgically enhanced. One Brooklyn Paper reader said he still had his doubts, and that "they're too perfect. If she told me she could fly, I would believe her [more]." Another passerby during a recent photoshoot observed and decided "they're fake." On a less creepy note, the Paper also reports that "Smith will participate in an eight-episode reality show with the 51 other Miss America contestants" -- where anyone with basic cable can pass judgment. For now, here's a photo of her strutting down the runway in a two-piece.

After a 16-year absence from the beauty pageant circuit, Miss Brooklyn returned this year -- which meant that maybe, just maybe, a Brooklynite would become Miss New York, or even Miss America.

The Miss Brooklyn Pageant is coming back to town this coming Saturday after a 16-year absence from the scene (and they've returned in the MySpace age). The winner of the night will advance to the Miss New York Pageant, having a shot at becoming Miss America herself.

His record is pretty impressive, he's organized 70 "real dates," 19 of which turned into relationships that lasted over a year. The numbers could be higher but Ibrahim is selective on who he sets up.

He listens to their conversations, asks them a few questions and then, if he thinks they are suitable, explains his matchmaking services and asks for their number and e-mail.

Continue reading "Cupid Cabbie Cures NYC's Lonely Hearts"

A rendering of Brooklyn's proposed City Tech Tower, designed by Renzo Piano, at Tillary and and Jay Street sent some into speculation mode, especially since its height seemed to be up to 1,000 feet tall. Which would make just about twice the height of the 512-foot tall Williamsburgh Savings Bank, currently the tallest building the Brooklyn. However, the rendering of the building is apparently old. A representative at Forest City Ratner, the development company which...

What is it about Frank Gehry? When The Boston Globe reported this week that the architect (and a construction firm) is being sued by MIT, news organizations from Kansas City to Dublin reported the story. Does Gehry have a building in KC, too? Apparently, not, but he raised controversy there over an arena bid. Sound familiar?! The university filed a negligence and breach of contract suit, alleging design flaws in the $300 million Stata Center...

At long last, after more than a year suffering behind black netting, the four-faced clock and gilded dome of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building are back in (almost) full view. But don't rely on it to tell time. The hands don't move yet!

The hard-hitting polemical film, , lucidly articulates and amplifies the movement to stop Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan. Directed and produced by Isabel Hill, the film portrays the AY project as an outrageous scam to be perpetrated upon hoodwinked Brooklynites. Numerous interviews with critical residents, planners, critics, and elected officials portray a scenario in which a cynical developer and corrupt State agencies have hired gullible community allies and a star architect to conceal their true motives. The politics of the Brooklyn-based coalition, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), are evident in the film, although the work was independently created and funded by Hill, a former city planner.

The City Planning Commission has spoken and says the Atlantic Yards Project should be reduced by 8%. This is only a "recommendation," but since the project's developer the Forest City Ratner had been considering a 6-8% downsizing, given all the public outcry, this seems like something the group may well do. Especially since the City Planning Commission "raved," the Post puts it, about the tallest skyscraper in the group, Frank Gehry's "Miss Brooklyn" structure that would be taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in the Brooklyn skyline. Instead, the CPC asked that another tower's height be reduced so views the bank could still be seen. The CPC also asked that other buildings' heights be reduced, plus for another acre of open space to go to 8 acres total.

The NY Times is reporting that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner will cut the size of the project by 6-8%. How? By reducing the amount of market-rate housing. And also from the Times:

"[Ratner's company] Forest City is also considering reducing the height of the project’s tallest tower, which is known as Miss Brooklyn, to get it under the height of the borough’s tallest building, the nearby Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower, according to real estate executives."

Interesting, given that a lot of focus has been on what impact the project will have on the Brooklyn skyline. After the Atlantic Yards public hearing, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz had suggested the project could be scaled down. A revised plan is supposed to be announced later this month. The article notes that architect Frank Gehry has "objected to any changes in his design for Miss Brooklyn." Heh! Frank Gehry, welcome to building in the city (building for Barry Diller doesn't quite count) - you hand over your designs, they will get the city treatment.

Residents of Fort Greene, commence panic! According to this cool diagram created by the Christina Porter Memorial Lighting Lab at Pratt, the Atlantic Yards development will cast most of the neighborhood into a state of perpetual darkness. Brooklyn Papers reports:

At a press conference today, Frank Gehry revealed new designs for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards development in downtown Brooklyn, and The Real Estate has lots of images and quotes from the event. Such as how Gehry named the tallest building the "Miss Brooklyn" after a bride he saw while walking in Brooklyn, saying "She's a bride with her flowing bridal veil--I really overdid it. If you had seen the bride you would--I fell in love with her." And much will be made about Gehry's general comments about Brooklyn: "We're trying to understand what is Brooklyn, what is the body language of Brooklyn and trying to emulate it without copying it. Copying it would trivialize it." Wait a minute - doesn't a massive development literally trivialize other parts of Brooklyn?