The
Red Hook StarªRevue
NEW YEARS 2014/2015
FREE
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
LOOKING BACK AT 2014
The Star-Revue wishes all a happy and healthy new year! IN THIS ISSUE:
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New Years 2015, Page 1
The
Red Hook StarªRevue proudly introduces our new website
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Happenings, etc. WEDNESDAY NIGHT - NEW YEARS EVE
For Editorial, Advertising and Help Wanted Inquiries, email info@redhookstar.com, or call 718 624-5568 The Star-Revue is published by Kimberly G. Price & George Fiala
Friends of the Red Hook Library The Red Hook Star-Revue is interested in helping form a friends group for our library at Walcott Street. A strong neighborhood library needs volunteers willing to put in some time. If we can find enough interested people we will go ahead with it. If this interests you, please send an email to George at gbrook@pipeline.com
RELIGIOUS SERVICES CATHOLIC Visitation Church 98 Richards St, (718) 624-1572. Office open Mon-Thursday 9 am - 3 pm. Saturday mass 5 pm; Spanish mass at 7 pm. Sunday 10 am English, 12:30 pm Spanish. Community Prayer Tuesday and Thursday, 8 pm. Youth Group Meetings on Friday, 4:30 - 6 pm. Baptisms are held every other month. Please call to arranged for baptisms, communions and weddings. We will visit the sick upon notification. Saint Paul and Saint Agnes Parish St. Paul’s Church - Rectory & Church Office 234 Congress Street (718) 624-3425 Hours: M - F 830am-12 St. Agnes Church Office 433 Sackett Street, 718-625-1717 Hours: M-F 1pm-430pm Email:stpaulstagnes@gmail.com St. Agnes: Saturday 5pm Vigil Mass Sunday 9 am (English), 11:30am (Spanish) St. Paul’s: Saturday 5pm Vigil Mass Sunday 8 am & 9:30am (English); 11am (Spanish) Monday & Tuesday 8:30am (St. Paul’s) Wednesday & Thursday 8:30am (St. Agnes) Saturday 8am (St. Paul’s) http://stpaulstagnes.org/ Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary - Saint Stephen Roman Catholic Church 125 Summit Street at Hicks Street info@sacredhearts-ststephen.com Saturday Vigil Mass 5:30pm Sunday Masses: 10am & 11:45am (Italian/English) Weekdays Masses: Tuesday Through Saturday 8:30am Confessions: Saturdays 4:45pm and by appointment. Baptisms: Every Third Sunday At 1pm. Please call the rectory one month before to make arrangements. Sick Calls: Please call the rectory to arrange for the sacrament of anointing whenever anyone is seriously ill. Marriages: Please call the rectory at least 6 months ahead for an appointment with a priest http:// www.sacredhearts-ststephen.com St. Paul’s Carroll Street 199 Carroll Street Parish Office: 718-625-4126 Sunday Mass at 10 am Weekday Morning Prayer - Mon.-Thurs. at 7:30 am Weekday masses as announced Holy Days as announced (please see the Calendar) Church open for prayer Tues. 6-8pm & Sat. 2-4pm http://stpaulscarrollst.weebly.com/
Community Telephone Numbers: Red Hook Councilman Carlos Menchaca .............718 439-9012 Red Hook Assemblyman Felix Ortiz ....................718-492-6334 Red Hook State Senator Velmanette Montgomery .718-643-6140 Gowanus Councilman Brad Lander .....................718 499-1090 Park Slope Councilman Steve Levin .....................718 875-5200 CB6 District Manager Craig Hammerman ...........718 643-3027 76th Police Precinct, 191 Union Street Main phone ....................................................718-834-3211 Community Affairs ...........................................718 834-3207 Traffic Safety ....................................................718 834-3226
Jewish
Eileen Dugan Senior Center, 380 Court Street .......718 596-1956 Miccio Community Center, 110 East 9th Street ......718 243-1528 Red Hook East Dev. Office, 62 Mill St...................718 852-6771 Red Hook West Dev. Office, 55 Dwight St. ...........718 522-3880 Brownstone Republicans ..... info@brownstonerepublicanclub.com
Congregation B’nai Avraham/Chabad of Brooklyn Heights 117 Remsen St., 718 596 4840 x18 www.bnaiavraham.com, www.heightschabad. com Morning Services: Sunday: 8:45am Monday - Friday: 7:45am Holidays (during the week): 8:45am Saturday: 9:45am Evening Services: Sunday: Shabbat candle lighting time Monday - Thursday: 9:00pm Friday: Winter: 5 minutes before Shabbat candle lighting time Summer: 7:30pm Saturday: Shabbat candle lighting time
NYCHA Satellite Police Precinct, 80 Dwight Street Main Phone ...................................................(718) 265-7300 Community Affairs ..........................................(718) 265-7313 Domestic Violence ..........................................(718) 265-7310 Youth Officer ..................................................(718) 265-7314 Auxiliary/Law Enforcement Coordinator .........(718) 265-7378 Detective Squad..............................................(718) 265-7327
Kane Street Synagogue 236 Kane Street, (near Tompkins Place) 718 875-1550 http://kanestreet.org/ August 29 - 30, Shabbat Shoftim Candle Lighting 7:14 PM Shabbat ends 8:17 PM Friday night services, 6:00 PM Shabbat morning services, 9:15 AM Sunday Morning Services 9:00 AM
If your religious institution isn’t listed here, let us know by emailing info@redhookstar.com Thanks! Page 2 Red Hook Star-Revue
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New Years 2015
tinued on page 19)
Still Recovering from Sandy
T
he year began with Red Hook still in recovery mode from the hurricane which ravaged its streets barely a year earlier. The Red Hook Houses were still being heated by inefficient temporary boilers and dangerous mold conditions were still cropping up. Local businesses, which for the most part survived the catastrophe, were still burdened by losses both physical and in their bank accounts. Many local homeowners still had major rebuilding to their basements and first floors, and were confounded by a confusing process of loans and grants, exemplified by the glaring inefficiency of the city’s Build It Back program.
Build It Back? The new city Comptroller, Scott Stringer, held a town hall at PS 15, listening to tales of woe from locals as well as visitors from the Gowanus Houses and the Fifth Avenue Committee. The new mayor came to office pledging to straighten out the program, which had as of yet not sent a penny of relief to the neighborhood. This was due partly to a desire to mitigate fraudulent claims and partly by the bureaucracy. NYCHA was hamstrung as it was negotiating with FEMA and its insurance companies to release recovery funds. After months of promises, they finally were able to replace the boilers with more efficient models, although still temporary. They will hopefully be announcing a FEMA settlement in the next month which will be used to finally replace the boilers that
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were destroyed by Sandy floodwaters. Resiliency was still a favorite word in the media and locally. The governor, in the midst of re-election year, made a huge promise of $200 million to create some sort of floodwall around Red Hook that will prevent a repeat of 2012. This came in the midst of another state program, NY Rising, in which the community was tasked with the creation of resiliency projects using a $3 million state grant. They came up with almost one hundred individual projects which were presented to the community at an event at 351 Van Brunt Street, where everyone was invited to vote their opinion.
Red Hook Coalition The Red Hook Coalition, a group of local non-profits put together to suck up some of the grant moneys that became available right after the storm, was busy spending it in the creation of a resiliency program they called Restore Red Hook. A coordinator and consultant was hired, and a committee was formed. Through private and public meetings held at PS 15, the Miccio Center and the South Brooklyn High School, a disaster response plan was created and circulated throughout the neighborhood, designating people and areas that will see the neighborhood through the first 72 hours of any future disaster.
Ready Red Hook The entire neighborhood, as well as its local leaders and elected officials, took part in a readiness day. This was a walk
through, last September 13th, where the plan was put into effect. Stations were set up at prearranged locations, including IKEA and the Miccio Center, where relief operations were to be coordinated in the next emergency.
Local Leaders Finally, a series of training events brought together nearly seventy residents, many of them residents of the Red Hook Houses, each week starting in July, to the Red Hook Initiative. This program, also sponsored by funds from the Red Hook Coalition, included training in first aid and emergency preparedness, and encouraged local leadership as people got to know each other over a healthy meal following each session.
Barnacle Parade The Barnacle Parade, which was an ad-hoc celebration of Red Hook’s creativity and eccentrics that sprung forth on the first anniversary of Sandy in 2013, became a bit more organized this year. Perhaps a sign of the trust that Captain Justin Lenz has earned from the community, the 76th precinct was notified and even participated in this year’s parade, which featured a home made garbage truck fending off a home-made Sandy monster. As Red Hook continues to recover and to prosper, one can imagine the Barnacle Parade growing into somewhat of the citywide event that the small Halloween parade, begun by some puppeters in Greenwich Village, has morphed into over the years.
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New Years 2015, Page 3
A contentious year for our parks
D
on’t fence me out might be the most descriptive word for what was a very strange year for Red Hook’s public parks.
Coffey Park Without a hint of notice, a fence sprung up around the north end of Coffey Park one day back in April, along with a couple of paper signs indicating that the park would be closed for a year due to “planned” renovations. At the next meeting of Community Board 6’s Parks Committee, it was explained that there had been a plan in place since before Sandy to pave the paths, removing the paving stones, as well as adding a few benches and barbecue pits. This plan was the result of an innocent capital fund project put in place by former Council Member Sara Gonzalez. Sandy was used as the excuse for not informing the community or asking anyone what kind of renovation was desired. Many questioned the abandoning of the paving stones, as well as the loss of the park during the summer season. Perhaps the biggest question remains the need for a full year for this renovation. The work has been proceeding at a snail’s pace, due in large part to the ability of the contractor to stretch the job out for the full year. It is a rare day when a worker or two is spotted in the park. Hopefully Comptroller Stringer will look into this flaw in city contracting procedures. The entire renovation could probably be done in three months or less of steady work.
Valentino Pier Park While many in Red Hook were upset at the loss of Coffey Park, an even more vocal group was outraged when similar fencing
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showed up around Valentino Pier Park one day. The new Councilmember, Carlos Menchaca, who was somewhat absent around the Coffey Park issue, quickly put together a town meeting regarding Valentino Pier Park. The meeting, held at the Red Hook Library, brought together all the disparate elements of Red Hook, including the most vocal ones. Facing the angry crowd was Brooklyn Park Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey, who took a harsh scolding in stride, acknowledging the fact that these Red Hookers needed to know what was happening ahead of time. It turned out that someone at Parks was worried that the bulkhead at Valentino Pier was degrading due to the occasional pooling of salt water that occurred at its head. He explained that there were some discretionary funds available for repairs, and they decided to bundle that fix along with a fix of the water fountain and an upgrading of some paths. Obviously, they never expected any local outcry, as they thought they were doing a fix. He apologized over and over again, and left a final decision to Menchaca. Looking to cut their losses, Jeffreys spoke about yet another parks project looming over Red Hook. Luckily for him, this was still in the planning stage, and could still be altered with community input.
Million dollar toilets Menchaca decided to have Parks go ahead with the paving project, but said he expected full community participation in this new project, which turned out to be another capital fund allocation from Gonzales. This time it was for a bathroom at Valentino Pier Park. It turned out that the bathroom
had a $2.4 million budget. Most of that was because the Parks Department has a sort of one size fits all bathroom design for all parks, big or small. In addition, bathrooms are not really called bathrooms, they are “comfort stations,” and include changing stations, heat and hot water, and other amenities. In addition, FEMA designated the area a flood plain since Sandy, which brought a whole host of new requirements needed to build bathrooms at the park. This extra $500 million was already funded using a combination of funds controlled by Menchaca and Borough President Eric Adams, meaning that both had already signed off on the project. The bathroom plan was first presented at another CB 6 Parks meeting - this one at the Miccio Center. What was presented - the result of a design competition held by the Parks Department that nobody in the room, which included architects, seemed to have ever heard about. The local paper had never heard about it. The result was pretty much a monstrosity, occupying a chunk of the Coffey Street side of the park, built up on a platform to avoid flooding. After a lot of backroom wheeling and dealing between a recently formed local parks group and the city council office, a second meeting was held at PS 15’s gym. Parks was invited back to present an amended plan, but after a polite reception, and despite the presence of relatives of the fallen firefighter that the park is named after, the plan was voted down with a show of hands. The money however, is still planned for future parks projects, according to Menchaca.
New Years 2015
Living Red Hook East & West
H
urricanes come and go, but NYCHA living continues on with complaints of falling plaster, untended elevators and lobbies, and garbage left to fester. However, its possible that a mix of a natural disaster and a new city administration is finally bringing some tangible improvements.
Some improvements
however, and Cruz was declared brain-dead by the time he got to Methodist Hospital. Some thought that a possible reason for the delay was scaffolding that blocked a view of building addresses. Others thought that the closing of LICH meant that new ambulance drivers were unfamiliar with the neighborhood.
Following Sandy, NYCHA administration pledged better service. A few things that are observable are improved lighting, removal of a lot of the scaffolding that seemed to serve no purpose, asbestos removal on some of the roofs, and more front door locks that are working. And the loud, dirty temporary boilers installed after Sandy have been replaced by less loud and less dirty but still temporary boilers.
Another tragedy occurred when 14 year-old Nicholas Soto was killed early one morning by a car on Hicks and Lorraine. Soto was an honors student who traveled to a school in Harlem. He was crossing Lorraine to catch the bus when he was hit. A town meeting was called by Menchaca and attended by Captain Lenz of the 76th. It was decided that a school crossing guard was needed, and Menchaca promised to look at other solutions.
The Fine Fair supermarket never reopened after Sandy. The store still remains vacant. However, the grocery store on Lorraine, rechristened The Red Hook Super Mart, expanded to pick up the slack. Lorraine Street also saw the opening of a dollar a slice pizza parlor.
A murder which is just in the process of being solved rocked the community this fall. Lifelong resident Tony Sterling was killed in a hallway by a bullet to his leg. His funeral filled the Calvary Church as he was eulogized by large numbers of family and friends.
RHAPP, on the corner of Richards and Lorraine, offers free tutoring for neighborhood kids. And the library finally was granted Saturday hours.
Centennial
Tragedies A couple of tragedies struck deep. Daniel Cruz, an employee of Prospect Park, was seized with an attack of asthma as he was preparing dinner for his children. Realizing it was serious, he told his wife Tynisha, a transit employee, to call an ambulance. She became more and more frantic as no ambulance arrived, and she finally corralled a policeman whose phone call brought three. It was too late,
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On a cheerier note, Virginia Graham’s 100th birthday was celebrated at New Brown Baptist Church as a large number of family and friends spoke of her many kindnesses, as she sat happily listening. Graham played a major part in the formation of New Brown back in the1940’s, and it is TA President Lillie Marshall’s church. She made sure that Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz showed up to honor Ms. Graham. A traditionally delicious southern style meal was served downstairs after the service.
A couple of events traditionally held each summer at Coffey Park were forced to relocate this year due to the park’s temporary closing. Red Hook East and West Family Day were held on the grounds of the Houses, and the annual Homecoming Day was held at Bush-Clinton (Tea) Park, and, with the cooperation of the 76th Precinct, around the pool as well. The day turned out pretty magnificently, as long lost friends found each other again, as happens at so many reunions. As opposed to years past when a certain animosity between the partiers and the police seemed to exist, this year the police made themselves inconspicuous, and their Captain, Justin Lenz, enjoyed the festivities.
Senior Center The Red Hook Senior Center, across from the library on Walcott Street, was destroyed as a result of Sandy. Since then, the seniors have been getting together in cramped quarters in the basement of the Miccio Center. Money was allocated for the renovation of the former Head Start next door by Sara Gonzales. It is to become the new Senior Center. However, nobody heard anything about it for over a year, except for the new councilman, who has heard from the TA Presidents and the Assemblyman’s office. It was finally revealed at a recent meeting that plans are indeed made for the renovation, and that it would be ready for use by the end of 2015. The Head Start had use of the backyard, which made for a nice sized park. The people who headed the Miccio meeting didn’t seem to know about the backyard, which leaves it open for new ideas.
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New Years 2015, Page 5
Running for office S
ince Democrats rule the roost at this part of town, it was the primaries that hosted all the action this election season. Long-time Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez faced weak opposition this time around, and with very little effort she won her 11th term.
Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has been in office just about as long as Nydia, and usually faces little opposition himself. This is where things got a little complicated. Last year Nydia, fresh off a challenge from Vito Lopez protege Erik Dilan, mentored a political newcomer, Carlos Menchaca, against incumbent, and fellow Puerto Rican, Sara Gonzalez, in the
Sunset Park/Red Hook city council race. Some say this was in payback for Sara’s alleged ties to Lopez/Dilan. This year, a challenger to Ortiz came as a Sunset Park resident of Mexican heritage, Cesar Zuniga, decided to make the race. Menchaca, originally claiming to not endorse anyone, came out a few days before the election, campaigning together with Zuniga at the 36th Street subway stop on Fourth Avenue.
Velazquez had always claimed to support Ortiz, who is Chair of the NYS Assembly/Senate Puerto Rican & Hispanic Task Force. She indeed came a few days later to campaign with Felix at the very same subway
stop. This brought into real life the expression that politics makes for strange bedfellows, as Carlos and Nydia had spent much of the past year together in support of many of the same things. Felix Ortiz won his race handily, in a race notable for a tiny turnout. A much better turnout elected Jo Anne Simon in the Assembly district to the north, covering Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Boerum Hill and Park Slope. Joan Millman is another longterm incumbent who decided to retire. In what initially was not expected to be much of a race, she seemed to be handing
over the reigns to the Female District Leader Jo Ann Simon. Simon is a lawyer who has been active in civic affairs as President of the Boerum Hill Association. At a meeting of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats where many in the club expected to be giving her the endorsement, members were met by a fresh face, Pete Sikora, at the door, and a large turnout ended up endorsing Sikora, who also had the endorsement of the Working Families Party, by a small margin. The endorsement divided the club and made it a race notable for three acrimonious debates. Sikora, a political newcomer, received 38% in a 3 man race.
Tragedy on Mill Street Khadijah James is a familiar figure around Red Hook and at this newspaper. She is a health care worker in the neighborhood and is often seen giving free blood pressure checkups for the Addabo Center at fairs throughout the neighborhood. One day we received a frantic call telling us of a tragic turn of events that had befallen the husband of her relative Tynisha Rogers-Cruz. Both Tynisha and her husband Daniel had full time jobs, Tynisha with the Transit Authority and Daniel at the Prospect
Park skating rink, where he worked nights. One night, while preparing dinner for their three daughters, he suffered a severe asthma attack, and he couldn’t breathe. Tynisha frantically called 911, but for twenty minutes no ambulance showed up. She finally ran outside and corralled a local policeman, who was able to finally get the ambulance. LICH had closed their emergency room again, and by the time Cruz arrived at Methodist Hospital it was too late. He was declared brain-dead.
Being an organ donor, Cruz was put on life support, and was at the hospital for three days until his parts were harvested for use in living people. He grew up in the Rockaways, and his funeral, held at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, brought mourners from all over, including Councilman Carlos Menchaca. Daniel Cruz loved his daughters and wife more than anything, and they mourn his loss every day.
Concert on the piers squashed The Escape Music Fest was to be a two day alternative music festival held at Pier 9 in the Columbia Waterfront District. It was unusual in that the Containerport has rarely been host to any events other than the unloading of container ships. A downturn in the local shipping economy has forced the containerport operators to seek additional income, and this event was chosen. However, due mostly to political pressures, the Port Authority rescinded their permission and the festival ended up moving to Governors Island.
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New Years 2015
Red Hook Summer It was a summer of gorgeous weather and lots of outdoor activities. IKEA hosted a festival sponsored in part by the Star-Revue featuring local businesses and performers.
D
ance Theater Etc. held their annual Red Hook Fest, and the Red Hook Houses held a successful Oldtimers fest despite their forced move from Coffey Park.
The second annual Pig Festival was also held at IKEA, bringing barbecuers and musicians from all around in a food and beer fest at the beginning of September. Fairway held a barbecue cook off in their backyard where competing local firehouses presented their best dishes before local judges. Prizes were awarded by the new borough president Eric Adams. And as is the norm in New York City, many blocks were cordoned off for parts of weekends for neighborhood block parties, where everyone gets a chance to mingle with their neighbors. The end of summer was marked by the return of the Harvest Festival at the Community Farm, still recovering from the effects of Sandy.
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New Years 2015, Page 7
The
Red Hook StarªRevue Happy Holidays! from
Buone Feste!
C.S. SCOTT ENTERPRISES
Commercial / Residential Construction 60 Coffey Street Brooklyn, NY 11209 www.csscott.com
718-797-9555
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Page 8 Red Hook Star-Revue
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New Years 2015
Environment For two years, residents near IKEA have been complaining about the smell of burning tar coming from this roofing contractor on Coffey Street. Finally, the company agreed to meet with community members and local politicians, and an amicable settlement was reached in which the burning of the tar would take place elsewhere, while the company was allowed to remain on its premises. A victory for mixed use and local government intervention.
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New Years 2015, Page 9
Our 76th Precinct minds the store From our interview with 76th Pre- everyone dispersed and no arrests were made. cinct CO Justin Lenz: “As the police captain, Lenz wants to maintain a safe and comfortable community. Thus far it seems he’s been mostly successful. He’s had to deal with very little negative feedback, and has even gotten positive feedback from neighbors. He remembers a recent call he got from a mother in the community – her young son had been playing with a ball on the sidewalk, and when it rolled out into the street a patrolling officer got out of his car to hand it back to the kid. The mother felt compelled to call Lenz and thank him for the officer’s professionalism, but he felt it was unnecessary.
He later found out that people had been videotaping the officers from a window across the street without them knowing. Though he figures that this is just another example of the kind of good work they do every day, Lenz did use the opportunity to address his officers. After congratulating them for their effective policing, he used the case as proof that “you never know who’s watching.” However, he sees this as a positive thing. “If you go to work every day thinking the whole world is watching how you interact with people, it steps up the professionalism.” Of course the captain and the community have certain expectations of their officers, but Lenz has hopes and expectations of the community, too.
“I appreciate the call, don’t get me wrong,” he says, “but people videotape us all the time doing great work and no one ever knows about it.” “The entire system is based on In another minor disturbance what the community believes recently, police were called as a are its issues when it comes to crowd was leaving a bar around quality of life.” This is why he closing time. “It was 4:03 am says communication between and everyone was coming out the police and the community of the bar. What do you expect? is so important. “I want to know Everyone was being loud and about crime… I can’t solve it if boisterous.” But within three I don’t know about it.” minutes of the police arriving,
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To an extent, the communication he describes does exist. He happily admits, “there’s the dedicated members of the community that come to every community meeting, the activists that are really involved in the issues that affect the neighborhood, that guys like me get to meet all the time. They’re not afraid to tell me when they think we’ve screwed up and something needs to be fixed. I love to have that rapport.” And that rapport is effective. When the residents communicate with the police, the problems are often taken care of. Whether making complaints, or better yet as witnesses, the police rely on community members to address their problems. Unlike his previous assignment, working Narcotics in East New York, Lenz says that in this neighborhood there are typically a number of cooperative witnesses for any crime. He says that most of the quality-of-life crimes, things like car breakins, are only a handful of people, anyway. “We continuously arrest them,” he explains, “and when they’re in jail all the complaints go down.”
New Years 2015
Those who make it a neighborhood There are too many of us here in Red Hook that make it the wonderful place it to mention here. But at least here’s a start (going clockwise from the upper right photo on this page). Eric Adams was a State Senator from a district south of us, and up until lately we had little to say about him. However, in the wake of the current police angst involving the mayor and the police union, Adams has shined. He writes in the Daily News: “We’ve been trapped for far too long in a seemingly binary struggle between people who purportedly support police and those who speak for the community. It’s a nonsensical divide. This is not Sophie’s Choice.” We applaud his words. Next to Eric is Buddy Scotto. He has worked for the Carroll Gardens community from back in the days when it was called Red Hook. He has worked for housing, senior citizen centers and the reclaiming of the Gowanus Canal. And at the age of 86, he is still at it, with a vigor that might surprise you. Greg O’Connell came to Red Hook in the early 1990’s with a crazy idea. That was to take decrepit and ramshackle warehouses off the hands of the Port Authority for what was then considered a foolhardy price. He developed a vision of a
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Red Hook put back to work, and pretty much single handedly did so. We were delighted to see him this summer at an event attended by local businesspeople that probably wouldn’t even be here were it not for his work. Frances and Hal Brown are two community leaders who now head the Red Hook East Tenant’s Association. They are picture with Bea Byrd, who is a lifelong Red Hook resident who now sits on the board of the New York Housing Authority, and makes sure that Red Hook is heard. She is a former president of Red Hook West Tenants. The current Red Hook West President is the well known Lille Marshall, pictured with Dan Wiley who represents Nydia Velazquez in the district. Among many other things, Lillie has been instrumental in the creation of the ambitious community farm on NYCHA property adjacent to Walcott Street. Mr. Lopes, as he likes to be called, says he is the third largest landowner in Red Hook. He came into the news last year as the developer of the BASIS School, which is just now making its huge presence felt on Bay and Hicks Street. He is also currently developing townhouses on his property on Coffey Street. We love Pete the Balloon Man, and wish we’d run into
him more often. Jay McKnight is both a famous entertainer and president of the local Lions Club. Here he is helping give away toys on behalf of the Lions Club. Brian McCormick is one of the founders of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, which is putting Red Hook bicycling on the map, as part of the 14 mile greenway along the Brooklyn shoreline. He is pictured with the proprietors of a new ale house that is just opening now next to the famous Pok Pok on Columbia and Kane Streets. We thought that this photo of Gertrude Dorf, taken by our ace photographer Micah Rubin, is so great that we’re using it again. She graced the cover of our Thanksgiving issue, at a turkey dinner thrown by Felix Ortiz at the Miccio Center. Everybody knows Frances D’Angelo better than us, and we consider ourselves lucky to have met her. She is a lifelong resident of Luquer Street, across from DeFontes. This picture was taken at the Luquer block party last summe. Finally, we include a photo of Phaedra Thomas, former head of SBIDC, who we haven’t seen much around here lately, although she sent us a pretty inspired letter a few months ago!
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New Years 2015, Page 11
Participatory Budgeting We imagine that Participatory Budgeting (PB) is one of Councilman Menchaca’s favorite programs. He always loves to say that the input of the people is the most important feature of our democracy. Last year he inherited $2 million that was allocated for PB by his predecessor. He followed through and held a series of sessions in which delegates were appointed and plans received from the community. The whole idea of this is to provide direct neighborhood input into the spending of discretionary capital funds. It is a program of the NY City Council, with its roots in the Socialist Brazilian government of Lula, back when he first took office in 1989. One of the pioneers of it NYC is Councilman Brad Lander, who started the program in his district two years ago. Plans from the community usually include improvements to schools, parks and roads. Menchaca points out that in addition to bringing power to the people, it has served to point out to city planners ways in which they need to improve. As he stated in a recent assembly, why do the people have to vote to put air conditioning in public school auditoriums. One would think that most public officials attend at least some public school graduations and have had to put up with the June sweat. The Red Hook PB is gearing up right now. For information to get involved, either as a delegate, or with a proposal, call the Councilman’s Sunset Park office. A handy phone directory can be found on page two of this newspaper.
NY Rising NY Rising is a statewide program touted by Governor Cuomo as providing funding for locally formed resiliency ideas. Red Hook was guaranteed $3 million in funding for one or a couple of projects. A committee was formed and met faithfully, coming up with over ninety potential ideas. These included a relief center network, emergency backup generator for health and social services provider, resiliency construction workforce training, Local financial assistance program for small businesses, start-ups and homeowners/tenants, solar-powered emergency lights for Red Hook Houses stairwells, Red Hook Houses microgrid feasibility study, new ferry landing at or near Atlantic Basin and a Red Hook drainage study.
The Gowanus Canal This was a much quieter year than 2013 in Red Hook as regards the Gowanus Canal Superfund cleanup. Last year the community was pretty well torn up over the proposal to create landfill out of dredged materials from the canal. This landfill was to be placed at the foot of the canal, onto private property owned by the Gowanus GBX. Many in Red Hook thought it a ridiculous idea to place potentially toxic material in the neighborhood. Others thought it a splendid business opportunity. The EPA left it up to the
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community to decide. This year, the controversies have stayed mainly in Gowanus. One concerns a public park on Third Avenue and 3rd Street. The park includes a large outdoor swimming pool, and the EPA suggests closing it for a few years while the city places a huge receptacle underneath it to hold storm sewage overflows. This is not yet a resolved issue. Other controversies concern the future of Gowanus itself as it faces a possible rezoning. Councilman
Brad
held a series of community meetings he dubbed “Bridging Gowanus,” as the neighborhood debated the speed at which gentrification would proceed. In ways similar to Red Hook, Gowanus is host to both residential, commercial and industrial activity. With the prospect of a cleaned up Gowanus, and its location between Carroll Gardens and Park Slope, real estate developers are salivating at potentially lucrative tall buildings full of luxury condos.
Lander
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New Years 2015
HUB The Red Hook HUB is a Sandy inspired project with original funding from the AIGA, a graphic arts organization. The idea grew out of communication shortcomings experienced by some communities during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Three communities were chosen to develop communication ideas, and Red Hook is one of them. With the support of the Red Hook Coalition, a HUB website was created, and three outdoor implementations were designed. One of them is a ticker at 351 Van Brunt Street, the other is a bulletin board outside the library, and the third will be another large bulletin board to be placed outside the Miccio Center. If nothing else, they have redefined yellow for the neighborhood!
Moves
Golten Marine, who began their worldwide ship repair business in Red Hook, finally succumbed to market pressures and sold their original headquarters next to the Red Hook Containerport for upwards of $20 million, and moved away. Their moved also sent UHURU packing to the wilds of Red Hook. Another move to Red Hook was done by this newspaper, who moved from their original home at 101 Union Street, to an office with direct views of the famous Red Hook Sunset, all the way to the foot of Van Brunt Street. We are at 481 Van Brunt, inside the home of NY Printing & Graphics, and invite all to stop by and say hello!
Libraries After a ceremony attended by all the local politicians celebrating the rebuilding of the Red Hook public library, one might have thought that things would be more normal at this community amenity. Little did most of us know that starting from even before Sandy, a NYC privatization project, begun by Mayor Bloomberg, was plotting to use the library as a guinea pig for their big idea of taking over underutilized city spaces for profitable ideas benefitting non-profits. As we wrote in an editorial at the time: “Spaceworks was set up with the mission of converting what they decide to be underutilized space in city properties into affordable practice space for artists. They are basically a real estate company which uses a mix of public and private funds to manage public spaces. They are headquartered in a renovated building in Gowanus, and no doubt view Red Hook as a gentrifying area to exploit. Spaceworks has spent the last
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two years grooming our acclaimed local dance troupe, Cora Dance, to be a supporter of their plan. Cora’s founder, Shannon Hummel, spoke before the public meeting. She framed this situation as their seeking of community support for Cora Dance, allowing Cora Dance to better support the community. That is a false argument. This community loves Cora Dance, and wants it to remain in Red Hook and continue to provide a platform for local children to excel. But this community also wants, and deserves, a world class public library. The Spaceworks plan would diminish the library footprint, replace almost half of it with a practice space renting for $12 per hour. Cora Dance, by the way, rents out it’s practice space for $9 per hour, and is not privy to the NYC capital budget, as is Spaceworks, whose bribe to the library is $650,000 of NYC capital funds. The Red Hook Library already has over a million dollars allocated to it for renovations. Spaceworks’ supporters claim
that the library is underutilized so it should be downsized, and receive rental income for half it’s space. We believe that the Brooklyn Public Library system should do a better job at its mission, which is “to ensure the preservation and transmission of society’s knowledge, history and culture. ” Nowhere in this mission statement does it say that they should rent out space to anyone. Let’s concentrate on making our library a world class institution. More books and library activities would make it more desirable. The better it is, the more utilized it will become. This is not to say that Cora Dance is unworthy of our support. Real estate developers will become rich exploiting the now desirable Red Hook real estate market. That is where Cora and other arts organizations should seek additional support. It should not be at the expense of helping a lazy library system to achieve quick and easy answers to their problems.”
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Good Theater The genesis of a Red Hook performing arts group took place at the Jalopy theater last spring, and again this fall with the production of playwright Mark Spitz’s Up for Anything, produced by local Carlo Vogel. As we wrote in the Star-Revue: “Vogel kept the energy high and added nuances to each character. Each actor played out their own story with much aplomb. They brought their own controversies and neatly joined the main plot. Lines were delivered with punch, and despite the high drama, the audience fell quickly into the arms of the scenario. With just
enough reality to keep the unbelievability suspended, we bought into not only the circumstance, but each and every character. With lines like, “that’s as big as it gets?” (Arthur to Walter), and “this one’s got an attitude,” (Cheryl about Walter’s erection), the audience was splitting their sides with laughter from beginning to end. Cheryl hears her police radio, but can’t find it; she spins in circles as if a dog chasing her tail. Goode, a little mixed up at the
idea of hiding from Vera, conceals himself against the wall while holding a plant to cover his face. When things get noisy in the apartment, Belknap bursts into the apartment with Goode and screams, “Can’t you keep it down?!?” to which Walter replies, “No, I can’t!” Peter tells his dramatic story of nearly being caught by the police with grandeur as he reveals how close he was to being caught with one handcuff around his wrist and a stolen police baton in his sock.”
Bad Theater The closing of Long Island College Hospital ended a bitter two year community struggle. It was decided somewhere in the upper echelons of NY State government that Brooklyn had too many hospitals, and money losing ones at that. LICH has had a twenty year history of mismanagement, the past three years of it by NY State itself, as it was given to SUNY Downstate to run as a neighborhood and teaching hospital. SUNY soon found out that it had a cash cow on its hands, and after milking it of supplies and interns and residents, decided it ought to be able to shut it down and sell it off to developers of luxury condos.
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The state immediately faced a huge battle from both the neighborhood and the nurse’s union. It also became a factor in the mayoral race, as little noticed candidate Bill de Blasio grabbed citywide headlines for his advocacy of the community fight. Unfortunately for the neighborhood and the nurses, the power of the state and the real estate industry won out in the end, as LICH was finally closed. It will now become an emergency room surrounded by luxury condos, the plans for which are still being developed, and are bound to be a continuing story as the Cobble Hill community faces both LICH condos and high rises at nearby Brooklyn Bridge Park.
New Years 2015
OPINION: PSYCHOLOGICAL SEDUCTION
M
emories of gift shopping with my mother at McCory’s, as a young child of no more than seven, are the inspiration for this essay. Walking down the toy filled aisles, I was seduced by a M-16 toy machine gun, like the ones seen being used by soldiers in Vietnam War movies. I pleaded with my mother to buy it for me. What could have gotten into my young mind to be seduced by such an object? To better understand the issue that I intend to cover in this essay, let’s consider a young 34year old man who is 5’11”, with a chronic shortage of breath, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and susceptibility to a heart attack at any time. Obviously an unhealthy person, he must take the necessary steps to change his physical diet as his body’s vital alarm system has warned him that his way of living is unhealthy. Parallel to this example, hundreds of thousands of young American men and women have been victims of gun violence in wars, in our inner cities, and in our suburban communities while America has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. This country is unhealthy and must soon take the necessary steps to change the its mental diet, as our social conditions alarm system has warned us that our way of living is unhealthy.
by Khary Bekka
When analyzing the problem that confronts us, when put into its proper perspective, one can easily concur that it is a simple math problem: not one of algebra, but basic arithmetic. What .- • we ingest into our minds affect us in a negative and positive way, just as the food we ingest into our bodies physically does. We are a reflection of what we eat both mentally and physically. The primary reason we find ourselves seduced by guns and violence is rooted in our mental diet, what’s fed into our minds. And just as the physical body begins to suffer from an unhealthy diet, so too do our social conditions suffer from an unhealthy mental diet. In the last 40 years, the images seen on television and the big screen, as well as in the music played on our radios, have been systematically nurturing violence. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, we witnessed a spike in the violence broadcasted on television where even the programs that were geared towards children became agents of violence. Programs such as “Fat Albert,” “Scooby-Doo,” “The Jetsons,” and “The Jackson 5,” to name a few, were being replaced with violent programs such as “G.I. Joe,” “He-Man,” “Thundercats,” and “Transformers,”
which enticed young minds toward guns and violence. Even naive programs with innocent appearing characters such as “Tom & Jerry,” Woody Woodpecker and Bugs Bunny all displayed acts of violence where someone or something would eventually become damaged or hurt.
Parallel to this example, the case that I’m currently incarcerated for becomes unique as is serves to highlight how young minds are seduced to recreate the images of violence portrayed in movies, though with much more consequence. “Lethal Weapon” was a popular movie that came out in the early 1990s. This movie showcased the actor Mel Gibson simultaneously firing two guns at his foes. This act of bravado looks good on the big screen; however, it is actually reckless and irrational in real life to try to simultaneously fire and control two high-powered weapons. Needless to say, in the environment I grew up in, its recreation proved unimaginably tragic.
To show cause and effect of this type of psychological seduction: in the 1980s, the 3:00 cinema would broadcast Chinese movies in which children in the Red Hook housing project complex in Brooklyn, New York, where I grew up, would rush indoors to watch enticing acts of Kung-Fu that kept our eyes glued to the television screen. Come 4:00, most of us were eager and ready to try out the karate moves we had just witnessed on television where we all became Ninjas and Samurais.
As a result of the violent images and messages fed to our minds on television, the movies, and radio during the early 1980s and right up to this very day, our communities have literally become a recreation of battle fields. This has left millions dead or incarcerated because of violent crimes. While this has been taking place in our inner cities, America’s culture of racism and discrimination across ethnic groups and class has desensitized whites as well as middle class America towards the ills of our violent culture. However,
as of late, as this social illness has begun to spread towards America’s suburban communities (i.e. Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech, District of Columbia), white and middle class America has begun to feel the ill effect of this unhealthy culture themselves, in which we all have become fat and full of violent thoughts and persuasions. In effect, we all have become criminals, contributors, enablers as well as victims to the cycle of violence. Need I say that the entertainment industry, the NRA, the government, America corporations, ourselves, parents, and our peers are all accessories to the crime of consumption. Our diet of violent images and messages being fed to us through television, movies, and radio is killing our kids. To understand the mechanics of this violent culture and still sit back and do nothing, while continuing to feed violent images to ourselves and our children, America has systematically become a population of perpetrators ... Khary Bekka is currently serving a prison sentence of 25 years to life for his participation in a gang fight that led to the shooting and death of beloved PS 15 Principal Patrick Daly, back in 1992.
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New Years 2015