How will New Yorkers react if the Brooklyn Heights Promenade closes for years? (Philippe Debled/Getty Images)

Around NYC is a roundup of noteworthy local stories the StreetEasy editorial team read this week.

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade could close for up to six years. Major repairs need to be made to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which lies directly below the promenade and is attached to it. The massive project could cost as much as $3.6 billion [The New York Times]

Before Broadway was lined with Starbucks and Whole Foods, it was referred to as “Wickquasgeck,” meaning “birch-bark country.” The days of Dutch colony settlers and Native American animal-tracking trails are long gone, but some of the city’s early streets remain etched in the downtown Manhattan grid. [Untapped Cities]

The risk of displacement is rising across several New York City neighborhoods at a fast pace. A new interactive map pinpoints parts of the city where the loss of affordable housing is the most acute. [Curbed]

One hundred years before Rosa Parks, Elizabeth Jennings Graham disrupted racial segregation on a Manhattan streetcar and changed the city’s history. The actions of Jennings Graham set in motion the Civil Rights Act of 1873, which outlawed segregation in public transportation in New York City. [CityLab]

JFK will get a $13 million facelift, Governor Cuomo says. Adding yet another NYC airport to the growing list of transportation hubs in need of overhaul, Cuomo targets at 2025 deadline for JFK improvements. [Gothamist]

Ellen DeGeneres surprised East Harlem students this week with a $50,000 donation to their school. Students at Patrick Henry Preparatory (PS 171) will also get a new, high-tech library onsite, free of charge. [AMNY]

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