‘VIGIL FOR DEMOCRACY’
Also: IBX, holiday theater, Danny Meyer, new music venue, Puebla York and more!
There is no dedicated news coverage of Sunset Park — but Sunset Park makes news. This FREE biweekly(ish) digest curates and summarizes all the headlines from all the news sources that touch our neighborhood, which is one of the most vibrant in Brooklyn.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the last Spotlight of 2025. Happy Holidays and see you again in 2026.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR JOINS WEEKLY ‘VIGIL FOR DEMOCRACY’ OUTSIDE MDC
Since last July, leaders and members of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge and Indivisible Brooklyn have held a weekly “Vigil for Democracy” outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, where the Department of Homeland Security is using a wing to house more than 100 immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE). On Dec. 9, New York state Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado joined the chorus of community members that had assembled on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 29th Street, holding up signs reading “Demand Humanity” or “Honk If You’re Human, No Ice,” demanding an end to ICE detention at the notorious prison complex and to inhumane immigration enforcement practices. … BROOKLYN PAPER
DANNY MEYER’S EVENTS COMPANY OPENS A GIANT SPACE IN BROOKLYN
Union Square Events, the catering and hospitality company founded by restaurateur Danny Meyer, is doubling down on Industry City in Sunset Park, expanding its headquarters at Industry City, 220 36th Street, between Second and Third avenues, to 82,000 square feet. The larger footprint pulls everything under one roof, with a 33,000-square-foot commissary kitchen, a dedicated tasting room, a 120-seat employee dining room, and space for incubator-style culinary projects. … EATER
SOME CALL IBX LIGHT RAIL A GAME CHANGER, BUT NOT EVERYONE IS ON BOARD
The proposed line could get riders from Jackson Heights, Queens to Sunset Park, Brooklyn in 32 minutes. CBS News New York’s Elle McLogan reports.
SUNSET PARK RESIDENTS PUSH FOR SAFETY FIXES AT INTERSECTION
According to city data, three crashes along the avenue just last month, including a deadly hit-and-run on 7th Avenue and 41st Street that claimed the life of 75-year-old resident Judy Byron. … PIX11 VIDEO
MUSLIM COMMUNITY CONCERNED AS GREEN CARD REVIEW TARGETS 19 COUNTRIES
Muslim community leaders and immigrant advocates across New York City say they are bracing for uncertainty after the Trump administration announced it will re-evaluate all green cards issued to citizens from 19 countries deemed “high-risk.” … Muslim immigrants say they fear the new vetting measures will disproportionately affect their community, which already feels under heightened scrutiny. “We’re here trying to advocate for our vulnerable community members,” said Yamina Kezadri of Halal Food Connections, a nonprofit that distributes food to underserved immigrant families. Volunteers were preparing for a weekly distribution in Brooklyn when word of the policy shift added new anxiety to the work. … PIX11
HOLIDAY THEATRE AT INDUSTRY CITY
Dialogue with Three Chords and brooklynONE Productions will team up to present a season of holiday theatre at Industry City in Sunset Park. The immersive theatrical pub crawl THE MARI LWYD returns on December 11th at 7:40pm followed by a staged reading of indie holiday mainstay THE KRAMPUS on December 18th at 8pm. … BROADWAY WORLD
NEW LIVE MUSIC AND ARTS VENUE COMING TO BUSH TERMINAL
If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing a German electronic musician, or a percussion ensemble of Indonesian gamelan musicians, in a city-owned warehouse in Sunset Park, prepare to get your wish. The team behind Public Records, the Gowanus club known for its eclectic avant-garde and experimental music and arts programs, is opening a new 1,000-person music and arts venue at MADE Bush Terminal, the sprawling waterfront redevelopment project from the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). The Public Records team will run the operations and program the shows, said Waverly Neer, vice president of asset management at NYCEDC. The space is expected to open in late 2026. “This will be of the spirit [of Public Records’] live music and arts events, but will be an entirely new brand,” Neer said. … GOTHAMIST
RAILCAR ACCEPTANCE AND TESTING FACILITY OPENS IN SUNSET PARK
The Metropolitan Transit Authority opened a Railcar Acceptance and Testing Facility in Sunset Park on Nov. 21. The site is located near the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and will be the first stop for all new subway cars before they are put into service. This is the first brand-new, full-scale subway car facility located on a new property that the MTA has added since the Pitkin Yard opened in Brooklyn in 1948. … BROOKLYN EAGLE
CAN PUEBLA YORK PUT NYC ON THE MAP FOR MEXICAN MUSIC?
… With rising musicians, events dedicated to uplifting the culture and communities preserving traditions like lowriders and sonideros (soundsystem block parties popular in Mexican culture, centered around a DJ playing cumbia), New York City is steadily carving out its role as a meaningful player in regional Mexican music. Its Mexican voices are loud and growing — and they’re ready to show the world that “Puebla York” is not just a geographic moniker, but a cultural movement equal to major hubs like Texas and California. Fueled by New York’s growing Mexican community — particularly from Puebla, a state south of Mexico City that makes up an estimated 60-80% of Mexican New Yorkers — a new wave of first- and second-generation artists is carving out a space uniquely their own. The Mexican population in the greater New York area exceeds half a million, with estimates reaching as high as 800,000, according to the Associated Press. … But curtailed visibility doesn’t mean a lack of history. Before Puebla York artists began mixing hip-hop references with corridos tumbados, NYC-based musicians like Mireya Ramos, founder of the Latin Grammy-winning all-female mariachi group Flor de Toloache, were laying the groundwork. “In early 2000, the Mexican community was just starting to grow,” Ramos recalls. “I lived in Sunset Park at that time. Sunset Park was just starting to become more Mexican. We were part of that growth, and the part of history where Mexican culture became part of New York’s culture.” … BILLBOARD
CALENDAR
Thursday, Dec. 18: Holiday Theater
Ongoing at Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Library & Industry City