Merchants of Third Avenue Meeting February 23

We have a very important Merchants of Third Avenue Meeting coming up on February 23 at 7:15 p.m., and I encourage all to attend! Hosted by Valley National Bank at 7726 Third Avenue, we have many exciting items on the agenda, and Manager Brian Chin will be providing a delicious buffet spread!  

The Agenda will include the upcoming Business Exposition of the Bay Ridge Bensonhurst Alliance, our upcoming Third Avenue Bunny Hunt and our 38th Third Avenue Festival on October 2, which will also be our third “Green Festival”.

As usual, we’ll introduce our reigning Pioneers and Civic Award Winners, and our Third Avenue Verizon Guy, Min Cheng, will provide some valuable advice on web and cell use.   And we’ll offer a much-deserved salute to First Vice President Jay Sessa for the continuing success and beauty of our Holiday Lighting Program.  (This is paid for entirely by members!!!)

VNB Manager, Brian Chin, is working to make this a tasty evening with Kim Longo, Branch Service Manager; Vincent DeMeo, District Sales Manager & Vice President; and Maureen Zegler, First Senior Vice President . . . so, we’ll need an accurate ‘head’ count!!!  You must e-mail Chuck Otey at coteyesq@aol.com or President Bob at rhowe@robert-howe.com no later than February 14, please!  That’s Valentine’s Day.

 

Sen Golden’s ‘Senior’ Post Good For Bay Ridge

Republican-Conservative Sen. Marty Golden, now a member of the powerful majority in the upper Albany body, is not only the new chair(again) of the Senate Aging Committee, he is now one of the most influential law-makers in the state.

Why? Two main reasons: One: True power rests in the majority of any legislature. And: Two: Incumbency–Having won his fifth term, the Bay Ridge senator’s re-election to a sixth term is virtually assured.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo as well as Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver know that the 2012 district lines will be ‘cut’ to favor Republicans. To keep his ‘safe’ Democratic majority the speaker negotiate thoughtfully and let the GOP have its way with senate reapportionment.

This ‘redistricting’– in which all the states’ elective boundaries are re-drawn every ten years to reflect the latest U.S. Census– remains a mystery to 95 per cent of the citizenry.

Another reason Republicans in right-leaning Southwest Brooklyn (and even more right Staten Island,) will do well in 2012 is a strong top-of-the-ticket, headed by anybody but Sarah Palin. If Republicans do not nominate the controversial Ms. Palin their presidential nominee will have very long elective coat-tails here.

Fundamental to the cop-turned caterer–turned civic leader–turned councilman–now senator’s success is that he has consistently had strong community roots in Greater Bay Ridge. That’s why he was able to defeat then Democratic incumbent Sen. Vinnie Gentile.

The GOP senator maintains these ‘roots’ spending as much time with his as possible, socializing and even shopping along Third Avenue–for wife Colleen, president of the vital Ragamuffin Parade Committee, a loveable, down-to-earth lady who still makes him take out the trash!

His top Bay Ridge aide, John Quaglione, and Chief of Staff Gerry Kassar, keep their Fifth Avenue office a hot-bed of local activity dealing with constituents and helping scores of vital community-oriented organizations. The only office-holder to ever win the coveted Civic Award of the Bay Ridge Community Council, Sen. Golden is keenly aware of the special ‘volunteer’ nature of his home community.

Adding icing on the elective cake is his constant Bay Ridge ally over the years, the already-legendary State Conservative Mike Long, The Long party did so well in the November elections that his Conservatives now occupy the third electoral ballot “line” which means thousands of additional Golden votes should he ever face a close race.

It’s little wonder that Democrats wisely avoided putting up a serious opponent against him in the last three elections; in fact he was actually unopposed in 2006 and 2008. And, of course, he’s sure to be on hand –barring an Albany emergency– at noon on January 29, when Executive Secretary Arlene Keating, Pres. Alex Conti and other BRCC officers welcome hundreds of leaders to the Annual Presidents Luncheon at the Bay Ridge Manor. 

 

EARLY THIRD AVENUE FESTIVAL PHOTO!!

LONG-TIME BAY RIDGEITES AND TENNIS PLAYERS WHO RECOGNIZE THOSE IN ABOVE PHOTOS. TO WIN ACCLAIM AND FAME SEND NAMES OF THOSE SHOWN TO CHUCKOTEYSBAYRIDGE!

 

Can You Identify the 2 Bay Ridge Office Holders in This Photograph?

Anyone who can identify the 2 office holders in this Home Reporter photogragh should send names to this blog. Anyone who can identify ALL the people in this photogragh will receive $100 cash! Offer expires 5/1/2010.

 

Revisiting Why Another Blog From Bay Ridge?

After decades of writing about Bay Ridge in print media–and five years of a televised View From Bay Ridge (on Brooklyn Community Access Television)–it’s time to plunge into that tectonic wave of information, insight, innuendo and insult which has been flooding my computer screen for the past decade. The blogosphere.

Why? Because I am both inspired and distressed at the blogs I read each day. Most are timely and entertaining, and some are breaking new ground in the field of journalism. And some are, well, distressing.

Why call it Chuck Otey’s Bay Ridge? Why not? For better or worse, it’s a name that’s been visibly and frequently linked with Bay Ridge for quite a few years. And, one lesson I’ve learned in that time is that modesty, false or otherwise, doesn’t wear well in print. 

Where’s Bay Ridge? Geographically, this singular community is bounded by the Narrows on the West, 64th St. on the North, 14th Ave. going East and running South through and including all of the Fort Hamilton Army Base.

This description has practical and official origins. It reflects the boundaries of the NYPD’s 68th Pct., Community Board Ten, the Bay Ridge Community Council and the 68th Pct. Community Council. Newcomers often confuse the BRCC and the 68th CC–clearing up this confusion will be one of the continuing tasks here at COsBR.

In addition to its small town focus, COsBR will regularly take part in the larger ongoing debate over whether the blog explosion is good, bad or something else. Our cherished and historic democracy depends on the steady flow of accurate information which, until recently, arrived via only newspapers, radio and television.

I had to get a degree in Journalism/Public Relations, attend graduate school and work on a number of weekly and daily newspapers to qualify as an editor and/or columnist for the (Bay Ridge) Home Reporter and Sunset News and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Maybe that’s why my first reaction to some blogs was a bit skeptical:

“He can’t write!”

“She can’t even spell!”

“If that guy is going to be so nasty why doesn’t he sign his name to his blog comment?!?!”

Yet, even on our community level, it’s clear to me that the overall variety and depth of what bloggers produce is nothing short of phenomenal.

This looks like fun–so I’m joining the party!

Looking forward to your feedback.

Chuck Otey In Bay Ridge

 

Will The MTA Run Over The B37 Bus?

KILL THE B37 BUS?  Crazy.  Can the Metropolitan Transit Authority be serious when it suggests that this vital lifeline between the southernmost corner of Bay Ridge and downtown Court Street be eliminated?

 

LET’S HOPE NOT.  The “Third Avenue Bus”, as it’s known locally, might run irregularly, it may lurch along often at snail-like speed, but there is no way that the MTA should be permitted to shut it down.

 

HOW will the thousands of current riders–with senior citizens making up the largest group–get around and downtown if the Third Ave. route is discontinued?

 

STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN cites another complication: “There are 400 businesses on this stretch of the Avenue alone, and thousands of people are employed here.  The impact on them would be tremendous.”

 

OUTGOING Congressman Vito Fossella expressed his shock that the so-called “Doomsday” MTA budget would end the Third Avenue service.  “The MTA shouldn’t take (any such action)…until they’ve cut every ounce of fat out of their bloated budges,” said Fossella.

 

CONG.FOSSELLA agreed with Sen. Golden that loss of the Third Avenue route would disproportionately hurt older Bay Ridgeites.  “The elimination of this route would also hit our local seniors especially hard as they would have no other accessible means of public transportation in this part of Bay Ridge” he said.

 

DEMONSTRATING bi-partisan unity on this critical issue was Dem. Councilman Vinnie Gentile, who said that “Either the MTA is overlooking the needs of seniors and the disabled…or they’re ignoring them.”

 

 

Green Church Site: For Sale or Lease

The Green Church As It Was

 

 

 

THE “GREEN CHURCH” is truly no more.

 

IT’S an historic tragedy that the beautiful, 109-year-old Bay Ridge United Methodist Church has been destroyed and the corner of Ovington and Fourth Avenues looks eerily like an abandoned lot.

 

NOW, IN a true sign of the times, there’s now a huge red, white and blue billboard painted message there announcing it is For Sale or Lease.

 

THIS IS not good news.  It just underscores the sad fact that developer Abe Betesh, who signed a contract to purchase the prime piece of real estate for $9.75 million last year, has been unable to assemble the money needed to build middle and upper income cooperative apartments there.

 

WITH THE real estate market on shaky ground now, there’s a good chance that the vacant lot might remain so for some time.  Let’s hope not.  Those of us who live nearby and walk along Fourth and Ovington every day hardly need such a negative reminder.

 

MEANTIME, however, now that the serpentine-stone church has crumbled, it is important to the community-at-large that certain  people stop pointing fingers at the pastor, the congregation or anyone else who didn’t agree with them on how the key corner property should be used.

 

ASKING a small body of older-aged congregants to devote their lives and their funds to maintain a church as a shrine to days gone by was asking far too much.

 

PERHAPS church leaders could have listened better to those screaming for preservation.  Perhaps those seeking to preserve the structure could have been less shrill, perhaps less political.

 

ABE BETESH probably thought he was getting a great bargain when he signed the contract to buy the property last summer. The developer is probably not a popular person locally but there are many rooting for him to come up with the backers and the funds to put in an acceptable structure where the “Green Church” stood for so long.

 

    PHOTO COURTESY FORGOTTEN NY

 

Gowanus Tunnel Resurrection?

The westbound lanes of the Gowanus Expressway viaduct soar high above the city streets of Brooklyn below. *

THE OTHER day–at the Brooklyn Bar Association Dinner actually–we ran into a long standing fellow community organizer, the legendary Buddy Scotto.

BUDDY, a main force in cleansing the infamous Gowanus Canal, was there to help honor a civic colleague and friend, Joe Bruno, a former Kings Supreme Court Justice who now heads the City’s Office of Emergency Management.

BUT the first topic for both of us–not to the surprise of his talented lawyer daughter Debra seated with him–was the deteriorating condition of, ”the rotting, disgusting, dangerous dilapidated” Gowanus Expressway, which we worked for years to have completely torn down and  replaced with a tunnel!

I’M almost quoting him word for word because that was our mantra throughout most of the nineties, when we were part of a noisy and intense group known then as the Gowanus Expressway Coalition.

SINCE then the Coalition has remained in a quasi-dormant state basically due to a lack of funding. But, with President-elect Barack Obama planning to spend billions on an infrastructure rebuilding program, Buddy, myself, and others, such as Joanne Simon, who was in charge when I left to pursue other civic interests, are beginning to wonder aloud whether the long-delayed Gowanus Tunnel might be going back to the drawing boards!

THE STATE Department of Transportation has been dragging its feet the last several years stalling the tunnel plan with a laborious environmental impact study, or EIS.

WITH the Gowanus Tunnel initiative stymied for the time being, much of the responsibility now rests with Transportation Alternatives, a well-funded civic group which has been focusing on bicycles lanes of late.  The TA was an early Coalition member along with other groups such as the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Merchants of Third Ave. and South Park Slope organization headed by attorney Ben Meskin whose “bomb-throwing” reputation helped the organization gain invaluable publicity.

MAYBE it’s time to resurrect the battle to replace the hazardous and slow Gowanus Expressway with a tunnel which would provide the area with thousands of jobs and hundreds of new acres of productive commercial and residential space!

WE COULD call it the Eileen Dugan–Barack Obama Tunnel in honor of the wonderful late assemblywoman who did so much to battle the forces of inertia and lethargia at the State DOT! 

 

 

* Photo and photo text courtesy of northeastroads.com

 

Where’s Bay Ridge? Wikipedia Got It Wrong!

Where’s Bay Ridge?

Wikipedia Got It Wrong!

 

FOR some time now people new to this part of Brooklyn and those living in places like Dumbo have been telling this writer that “Bay Ridge” ends where I. 278 begins!   East of this notorious expressway, they say, is where Bay Ridge ends and Dyker Heights begins.  Dyker Heights, these newbies exclaim, is not in Bay Ridge!

NOT SO! I’ve been telling them. . . Dyker Heights may be distinct as a sub-neighborhood of Bay Ridge, but it is part of Bay Ridge!

WHERE are they coming up with this changing of boundaries?  That endless fount of misinformation–WIKIPEDIA!!!

WIKIPEDIA is the only “source” of information in recent times which relies on what its unqualified contributors deem to be reality!

FOR the record: the boundaries of the NYPD”S 68^th Pct., the Bay Ridge Community Council and Community Board Ten configure a Bay Ridge which starts at about 65^th St., includes all of Dyker Heights and runs south, including the Fort Hamilton Army Base.

 LOCAL NEWSPAPER editors, who know what interests their readers, use the same boundaries–all the way out to 14^th Avenue. And the Dyker Heights Civic Association, the oldest civic organization of its kind in Brooklyn, is a proud, constituent member of the Bay Ridge Community Council!

PEOPLE who don’t know any better forget–or perhaps never knew-that I-278, built to accommodate approaches to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, slashed through residential Bay Ridge, taking out 2,000 homes and almost 10,000 residents!

LISTEN UP Wikipedia adherents:  Monster Builder Robert Moses may have eviscerated Bay Ridge, but he didn’t destroy it!

 

The Real Story Behind Santa’s 3 Ave. Adventure!

Happy New Year from COsBR!

Let’s begin 2009 with the real story behind Santa’s 3 Ave. adventure…

 

A FEW weeks ago, Bob Howe, the president of the Merchants of Third Avenue, called me to ask what I thought about “engaging” Santa Claus to ride up and down Third Avenue in a horse-drawn wagon to highlight ISHOPBROOKLYN, a special promotion.

 

WHY ask me? Well, one of my community organizing jobs is as Marketing Director of the M.T.A.   I liked the idea but said, “It’s going to take a lot of publicity.” Bob said he would work with B. P. Marty Markowitz, Third Ave. Festival Mgr. Chip Cafiero (who looks a lot like Santa), ambitious and talented people such as Rosalie Rance (recently of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce), and Sheila and Maureen Brody and Maria Ingardia of the Wellness Spa, as well as Lloyd Berg of Verrazano Vision. 

Santa & Elves on Third Avenue, unaware of traffic trouble ahead!

 CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS!

THE HORSE and wagon were rounded up.  Boro. Pres. Marty Markowitz came out to push ISHOPBROOKLYN, a favorite project of his.  The event was well advertised but you never can tell where shoppers will be heading on “Black Friday” the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. Would they be drawn to Third Avenue this year? 

AND THEN, something happened which was the answer to a publicist’s dream: Just a few blocks into Santa’s southward wagon journey, a uniformed NYC Traffic Enforcement agent actually served a $115 double-parking ticket on a vehicle in Santa’s entourage!

I CALLED Bob, who said, “Wow! This is news’!

 

IT WAS! The Home Reporter and Sunset News Paula Katinas gave it a great upfront write-up, as did several other papers in Brooklyn. The following week even The Daily News got into the act. By that time ‘Santa’ Cafiero was appearing on Channel 5′s Good Morning New York and being quoted in thousands of newspapers throughout North America!

 

EXCEPT for excellent coverage in the local press, no one in the broader media mentioned it was the M.T.A., specifically President Howe, who had arranged for Santa’s trip down Third Avenue.  Our hat is off to Bob and the others who labored long and hard to bring some merriment to Bay Ridge during some pretty troubled economic times.

 

 LATE BULLETIN!!!

Just as Focus ‘went to press’ last week we learned from Atty. Howe that Santa would plead NOT GUILTY to the PVB summons! “Clearly,” said the easy-going popular barrister, “if Santa were to plead guilty to this charge it could open up an avalanche of liability allegations across the entire globe. Just coming down one chimney could result in a home invasion law suit!  We won’t be party to that”, he pledged.

 

Blogging in Bay Ridge

AS 2009 gets underway we can report that we really enjoy doing COsBR. And, while new to the experience–after decades of limiting our written work to the printed page–we can report that blogging is not just creative, it’s a new way of looking at things, in Bay Ridge and beyond.

 

THERE are many good Bay Ridge area blogs—Bay Ridge Rover, Bay Ridge Talk, White In Bay Ridge, just to name a few of my favorites.  

 

AND, because we look at them with increasing frequency, we must note that Bay Ridge Rover has been absent for well over a month now.  Rumors that this writer has had anything to do with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of the Bay Ridge Rover are greatly exaggerated. (Non-existent, actually.)

 

LIKE White In Bay Ridge–who recently remarked on the Rover’s absence–we are dismayed by the absence of Rover’s useful and timely commentary. But, no one should confuse the arrival of COsBR with the Rover’s lack of any posting back on November 19.

 

WHO IS Rover? Is it the peripatetic publicity prodigy Mayor Rizz?  (Hizzoner denies it.) Someone else from Paxen Films? Probably not.

 

MEANWHILE, we will contact John Quaglione, press spokesman for Sen. Marty Golden, in an effort to keep abreast of the Senator’s latest shopping ventures, which Rover did so well. 

 

ON A related topic, we know for a fact that Sen. Golden is a big fan of Third Avenue and shares our disappointment that Santa Claus got a traffic summons when he ventured forth to promote ISHOPBROOKLYN (Santa was actually Chip Cafiero, enlisted for the happy job by the M.T.A.’s Bob Howe-don’t tell Virginia).

 

LET’S hope that Rover writes soon and often. 

 

Toll The Bridges–Save Transit Fares!

Traffic flowing freely(and for free!)over the Brooklyn Bridge. . .

IF THE VERRAZANO NARROWS BRIDGE has a toll, why can’t tolls be placed on our East River Bridges?

 

INSTEAD of raising subway and bus fares, it’s time our city planners faced reality and  charged a fee to those who would drive their two or three-ton vehicles across spans such as the Brooklyn Bridge, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain.

 

HERESY?  Only if you’re an elected official. Only a small percentage of voters who live in the five boroughs drive into Manhattan at rush hour.  But, backed by the powerful AAA, motorists have a disproportionately loud voice which scares off our politicians.

 

MANHATTAN is the most congested area on this continent. Tolls on the East River bridges, coupled with stabilized and ultimately lower mass transit fares, would suit the needs of a vast majority of New York City residents.

 

NOW that we are in the era of E-ZPass, toll collections would do a minimum of damage to traffic flow.  In reality, there will be less private motor traffic because many commuters will finally realize that it makes more sense to take a bus or a train.

 

AND, it doesn’t have to be a 24-hour a day toll to be effective.  Charging fees to those driving into Manhattan from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. would do the job. 

 

MAYOR MIKE BLOOMBERG failed in his effort to enact a congestion-pricing plan for most of Manhattan.  Now, we would suggest he find some way to get around the panic which grips too many of our office-holders when someone proposes tolling the bridges which should have been tolled a half century ago.

 

WHAT are your thoughts?

 

New Property Tax Deepens Home Ownership Crisis

Bay Ridge homeowners to bear the brunt of property tax increases yet again?

KUDOS to Councilman Simcha Felder who had the chutzpah to vote against the $400 property tax “rebate” which will cost homeowners a 7 per cent increase in property taxes the next year and the next year and…

 

EVENTUALLY the piddling $400 sop will mean thousands in dollars per taxpaying property owner…

 

OF THE 33 TO 18 vote, Councilman Felder aptly noted, “Today, the Council votes to take the bucket to the same old well and ask homeowners to bear the brunt of a swelling budget among dwindling revenues.”

 

THE USUALLY prolific press machine of Bay Ridge Councilman Vinnie Gentile has been silent on this matter even though he was reportedly among those who voted against the tax increase. Bay Ridge has more one and two family homes than most other neighborhoods in the city.

 

THIRTY THREE councilmembers will have to explain the logic of their vote for the property tax increase as we enter this election year.  Realistic property taxes have been a key factor in keeping a middle class population in New York City.

 

THIS ILL-CONCEIVED bit of pandering by the City Council will do more damage in the long term and exacerbate the home ownership crisis which has helped trigger the worst economic downturn since the so-called Great Depression!

 

Will Cong. McMahon Find His Own “Bob Capano?”

WHO will be the “Bob Capano” on the Brooklyn staff of new Dem. Cong. Mike McMahon?

 

WHEN, in 2004, former Staten Island-based Rep. Cong. Vito Fossella lost the Brooklyn portion of his district to Democrat Frank Barbaro, he ratcheted up his Bay Ridge visibility by hiring the peripatetic Bob Capano, who for several years had been the highly effective community representative for Democratic Borough Pres. Marty Markowitz.

 

BOB CAPANO knew the Bay Ridge issues and his local experience and expertise helped calm the traditional complaints that Staten Islander Fossella was ignoring those residing on this side of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  In 2006, Fossella handily won here over Bay Ridge Atty. Steve Harrison, and insiders credited Capano for his Fossella’s improved performance.

Power trio Marty Markowitz, Bob Capano and Marty Golden.

 

 STATEN ISLANDER McMahon has yet to fill the “Capano” vacancy.  He has rented the former Fossella storefront at Fourth Ave. and 85th St. but it’s a safe bet that if most Bay Ridgeites were polled and asked, “Who’s your congressman?” many would answer, “Fossella” or, “I don’t know–some guy from Staten Island?”

 

THE ELECTION YEAR following a presidential sweep historically has been a sort of political blowback against the party benefiting from the sweep. Aware of this reality, Republicans are already gearing up for the 2010 race. They won’t run someone as unpopular as the unfortunate Robert Straniere, who didn’t stand a chance of winning last November.

 

IN 2010, it’s also a safe bet that the Conservative Party–led statewide by Bay Ridgeite Mike Long and in Brooklyn by Jerry Kassar, also from Bay Ridge–will unite with the Republicans as they did in elections past.  In 2008, they ran highly respected political unknown Tim Cochrane but observers agreed that the Cochrane candidacy was the Conservatives’ way of saying, “Wait until 2010!”

 

THIS IS not to say that Tim Cochrane won’t run again next year or that if he is also accorded the Republican line he wouldn’t make a credible race against Cong. McMahon.   But, like many others poring over the political tea leaves, we strongly suspect the most likely threat to the Democrat will be former Cong. Fossella.

 

MEANWHILE Republicans Capano and John Quaglione (staff chief here to Sen. Marty Golden) are friendly rivals for their party’s nomination to run against incumbent Dem. Councilman Vinnie Gentile in November.

 

AT PRESS time we learned that Jonathan Yedin, former chief of staff to Dem. Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, has been appointed by Cong. McMahon. We wish him well.  Bob Capano’s shoes aren’t that large–but they will be hard to fill!

 

Di Blasio Property Tax Vote Anti-Middle-Class?

NYC property owners may have welcomed the $400 “rebate” checks received over the past two weeks, but they’ll come to regret it when their tax rates go up 7 per cent.  In just a few years, new taxes paid on an individual basis–the result of a 33 to 18 City Council vote-will far exceed the $400.

 

BAY RIDGE Councilman Vinnie Gentile has been wisely quiet concerning his vote against the rebate and will be able later this year to cast himself as an ally of taxpayers.  Borough Park Councilman Sincha Felder voted against the whole deal and vociferously castigated his colleagues for taking the easy way out on this touchy issue.

 

PUBLICLY defending his vote on the property tax hike was Park Slope Councilman Bill di Blasio, who attempted to “frame’ his position not as an added burden on taxpayers but one which required courage and foresight.

 

“WE CANNOT allow our city to return to the bad old days of the 1970′s, when crime was rampant, our schools and subways were a national embarrassment and basic social services were only a dream,” said di Blasio.

Councilman Bill di Blasio: We're headed to the "bad old days of the 1970's."

 

WHAT Di Blasio, and others who voted for this tax increase, ignore is that one of the lynch-pins holding the city’s middle class within the five boroughs has been the fact that property owners here pay notably lower taxes than those who have fled to Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.

TAMPERING with this New York City-centric tax structure may be foolhardy, but it is not courageous. It accelerates the erosion of the middle class at the worst possible time in the midst of a catastrophic home-owning crisis.

 

NRCC Already Attacking New Cong. Michael McMahon

EVEN before former Democratic councilman Michael McMahon was sworn in as the new 13th C.D. representative, he was being attacked by the National Republican Congressional Committee on a number of issues.

New Congressman Michael McMahon

THE LATEST press statement on the man who replaced troubled veteran R-C. Vito Fossella berates him for siding with much-maligned trial lawyers on the Fair Pay Act, legislation which would begin to level the litigation playing field after eight years of tilting it toward large corporate interests under the unlamented administration of former Pres. George Bush. 

CLEVERLY phrased, the NRCC position paper ignores the reality here, namely that thousands of people have been unfairly denied their “day in court” because of an artificially shortened statute of limitations.

MC MAHON’S error, says the NRCC, will “inevitably cause a crippling backlog of frivolous lawsuits in an already crowded court system.”

WHAT “frivolous lawsuits?” Former Pres. Bush and his “tort-reform” allies seem to believe that any lawsuit against a major corporation is “frivolous.” Implicit in this position is the illogic that only the wealthy should be able to sue for discriminatory acts in the workplace!

CONG. MC MAHON, who’s still getting his staff in operating mode, has not come out with a meaningful response to the NRCC blitz wherein he is criticized for accepting $10,000 from a group identified only as the “trial lobby.”

BY LINKING the freshman representative from Staten Island to the “trial lobby” the NRCC is revealing early on that Republicans will make every possible effort to reclaim this seat in 2010.

 

Will Public School Rise At Green Church Site?

LAST YEAR developer Abe Betesh signed a contract in which he agreed to pay $9.75 million to buy the prime property on which the Bay Ridge Methodist Church (known locally as the Green Church because of its lovely green ashlar construction) had operated since it was built in 1901.

 

BEFORE Betesh could put together plans and gather the money to close the sale and erect middle to upper middle-income condominiums at the Ovington and Fourth Ave. site, the real estate economy went into crisis mode. As the sad tale is now widely known, Methodist Pastor Robert Emerick and his principals kept their part of the bargain under the contract and razed the beautiful, historic structure.

 

 IN TRUTH, they had little choice, since maintaining the striking, aged structure would have been financially impossible for a congregation which has shrunk from a thousand back in the days of Pastor Austin Armitstead–the 1960′s and 1970′s–to a hardy group of 40 or 50 at most who attended Sunday services there. 

NOW, it seems, the School Construction Authority may be coming to the rescue of buyer and seller with a proposal to build an elementary school seating over 600 pupils.

RELIABLE SOURCES report that the SCA has been looking at the Green Church location for almost four years, but its planning people didn’t want to make an offer against private developers like Betesh who were willing to pay top dollar.

NEARBY residents, including this writer, are pretty happy thus far with the SCA proposal. The once historic property is now nothing more than a rock-strewn lot with a teetering blue wooden fence.

I SPOKE at the Community Board 10 Open Meeting regarding the matter on January 26 and will comment about the meeting in an upcoming post.

 

 

Arlene’s Big BRCC Party Salutes Local Presidents

BAY RIDGE’s most prestigious event will take place this Saturday, January 31, when the Bay Ridge Community Council, under the very capable leadership of President Arlene Keating, holds its 57th Annual Presidents Luncheon.

BRCC President Arlene Keating

ATTENDANCE is by invitation only, because this is the Council’s way of recognizing its over 100 constituent member organizations by hosting the presidents and leaders of each at a splendid luncheon also attended by elected officials of all parties. (Don’t be surprised if Mayor Mike Bloomberg shows up!)

PART OF what makes the event special is that it is for presidents and designated officials only. As Gloria, Arlene or other dedicated officers—First Vice. Pres. Andrew Windsor, Second Vice Pres. Janet Gounis, Treasurer Eleanor Sabbagh, Recording Secretary Linda Orlando, Corr. Secretary Kevin Carroll, Parliamentarian Barbara Vellucci and Historian Eileen Potter–will tell anyone who asks to “buy” a ticket: “Sorry, this event is by invitation only in honor of our presidents!”

HANDLING the challenging job of arrangements for the big bash is BRCC Executive Secretary Gloria Melnick. What’s so challenging about Gloria’s assignment? As a past BRCC president, I’m not betraying any confidence what I say that since this Presidents Luncheon fetes more of the Bay Ridge elite than any other event, there are always those people–admittedly important–who are not invited.

 

 

PHOTO: Courtesy Georgine Benvenuto/MTA

 

How Did BRCC Start? Who Was There In. . .?

PARTING SHOT: Who knows when the first pre-organizational meeting of the then aborning Bay Ridge Community Council was held?  Where?  Who were the founders?  Who were the original members?   Is the BRCC the longest-standing, most successful community organization in the city?

 

I ASKED the foregoing questions of attendees today when the luncheon was underway at the Manor.  The answers, which Bob Kassenbrock already knows, were published recently in a local newspaper. Hint: Its name is similar to that of a popular ladies shoe style.  (Chuck-le).

 

Reporting From The BRCC Presidents Luncheon

COsBR reporting from the BRCC Presidents Luncheon, held yesterday at the Bay Ridge Manor. A more detailed report on President Keating’s “outstanding” speech will follow, as well as answers to exact time, place and organizational participation in BRCC’s first meeting.

Ilene Sacco, president of 68th Pct. Community Council, CFO, past president of BRCC, and Arlene Keating, president of the BRCC, at Saturday's Presidents Luncheon.

Jay Sessa, former vice president of the BRCC, at the Presidents Luncheon with former Fort Hamilton High School Principal Alice Farkouh and Rev. Khader Al-Yateem, pastor of Salam Arabic Lutheran Church.

JAY IS being prominently mentioned as a worthy potential recipient of the BRCC’s coveted Civic Award to be awarded at its annual June dinner dance.  He is an active supporter of the Ragamuffin Parade and serves as vice president of the Merchants of Third Avenue, both members of the BRCC.  He is president of the McLaughlin Funeral Home.

 

Arlene’s Tale of B.R.C.C. Highlights Presidents Luncheon

 ARLENE’S Big Bash–highlighted here last week–lived up to expectations, when the revered Bay Ridge Community Council, established way back in 1951, held its prestigious annual Presidents Luncheon Saturday at the Bay Ridge Manor, properly presided over by President Arlene Keating and Executive Secretary Gloria Melnick.

BRCC President Arlene Keating

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER showed up, minus his bike, but with reassuring words to this writer and others of his continuing support of the much-needed Verrazano Lifeway, which will allow the rest of us (non-drivers!) to use the mighty span.  Also there were Sen. Marty Golden, Kings County District Atty. Joe Hynes, Cong. Mike McMahon (with Jon Yedin, his own aspiring  “Bob Capano”), Councilman Vinnie Gentile,  Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer, Assemblymen Alec Brook-Krasny, Felix Ortiz, and respected assembly veteran Peter Abbate, mentioned last because we again reminded him of his early days in the reform Bay Ridge Independent Democrats, which he good-naturedly still denies.

IMPORTANT to note here is that Sen. Golden, Councilman Gentile, Assemblyman Abbate and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have expressed strong backing of the Verrazano Lifeway, which would daily permit thousands to walk, bike, job or wheelchair back and forth from Bay Ridge to Staten Island. (We admit the Lifeway is a pet Focus/COsBR cause as well.)

PRESIDENT Keating’s speech (despite the fact she graciously spoke only after orating office-holders had drained most of the oxygen out of the room) was one of the best ever given by a BRCC chief executive.  Her remarks were thoughtful and respectful of the Council’s history and its current vital role. She is working hard to bring in new members such as The Arab American Association, BrooklynONETheater and the Commodore Barry Club, represented respectively by Dr. Ahmed Jaber, Tom Kane and Mary Nolan.

AS co-founder Walter Kassenbrock once remarked to Jim Sempepos at a Presidents Luncheon in the late 1970′s, “Everybody who’s anybody in Bay Ridge is here today.” Walter’s comment was symbolic but essentially still worth noting.  And even though not “everyone who is anybody in Bay Ridge” was at the packed, invitation-only event Saturday, the roster was still quite impressive and relevant.

 

Photo courtesy Home Reporter & Sunset News

 

Again, We Name Names From Presidents Luncheon

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Shakespeare once asked. Quite a bit. So, as we do here annually, we will now name at least some of those invitees we had a chance to chat with at the Bay Ridge Community Council’s Annual Presidents Luncheon, starting appropriately with the other BRCC officers: First Vice President Andrew Windsor; Second Vice President Janet Gounis; Treasurer Eleanor Sabbagh; Recording Sec. Linda Orlando; Parliamentarian Barbara Vellucci; Historian Eileen Potter, and Corr. Secretary Kevin Carroll.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

 

BOROUGH PRES. Marty Markowitz didn’t make it but his representative–Chief of Staff Carlo Scissura–was very well received, as were: Mike Long, State Conservative Party leader; Gerard Kassar, Kings Conservative leader; Democratic district leaders Dilia Schack and Ralph Perfetto; Kings GOP Leader Craig Eaton: Eeva-Lisa Von Ancken, Bay Ridge Senior Center; Hinsch’s John Logue, 2007 Civic Award winner; Hon.K. Lai, president of the Bay Ridge Lawyers Assn; Home Reporter/Spectator staffers Jim Griffin, Rick Buttacavoli and Paula Katinas; Dist. 10 Mgr. Josephine Beckmann; Lutheran Medical’s Howard Smith and Marie Quinones; Dist. 20 C.E.C. President Laurie Windsor; Lucretia Regina-Potter, St. Ephrem’s Home School Assn.; Mary Ranieri, Bay Ridge Real Estate Board; COM. Bd.10 Chair Dean Rasinya; Dyker Heights Civic Pres. Fran Vella-Marrone, the BRCC 2004 Civic Award winner; June Johnson, American Cancer Society; NYPD Deputy Inspector Eric Rodriguez; Alice Farkouh, former Ft. Ham. High principal; and Peter Scarpa, Bay Ridge Historical Society. 

DELIVERING much-appreciated spiritual messages were the Rev. Khader El-Kateem, Salam Arabic Lutheran Church; Pastor Robert Emerick, Bay Ridge United Methodist Church; and Msgr. Guy Massie, St. Andrew’s R.C. Church.

GRANTED, other very important people were there but time, space and memory are limited, though I’ll be happy to make additions or amendments to the record in future columns!

WE ALSO spent time with major BRCC stalwarts from over the years including Jane Kelly; Louise Hidar; Mary Ann Walsh, who also heads the Kassenbrock Brothers Memorial Scholarship Fund; Jay Sessa, a former vice president, currently vice president of the member Merchants of Third Avenue (who many agree would be a worthy recipient of the BRCC’s prized 2009 Civic Award); Bob Kassenbrock, former BRCC president; journalist Ted General, former Civic Award winner and BRCC web administrator; David Whitebook; Eileen Tynion; Maimonides spokeswoman Ilene Sacco, former BRCC president and currently head of the 68th Pct. Community Council; Greg Ahl, past president and 2006 Civic Awardee; Tom Greene, a past president whose incredible campaign led to the building of the Fort Hamilton H.S. swimming pool; Ed Moderacki; Alex Conti; Irene Hanvey; Club GJOA; Maureen Stramka; Peter and Pat Killen, past presidents; and Mafalda DiMango, educator and 1978 Civic Award winner. 

 

A Promise Kept

AS PROMISED, we will now disclose vital historical news of the Council’s first meeting, which, we can now reveal, was published in the December 21, 1951, edition of the Brooklyn Spectator with the headline, “Fourteen B.R. Groups Discuss Forming a Community Council.”

 

 ACCORDING to the story, re-published under “The Good Old Days” section of the Brooklyn Spectator, “The initial meeting of this group was called by the Father Stedman Post of the Catholic War Veterans where the idea of a Bay Ridge Community Council originated.” 

“THE Council will act in an advisory capacity in order to keep all local organizations alert to the moral, economic and social needs of the people of Bay Ridge,” the un-bylined article continued. “It will also function as a coordinating agency in promoting civic activities that will aid in the growth in the growth and development of the community.”

“THE meeting designated Vincent F. Kassenbrock, Vice Commander of the Father Stedman Post to invite all community organizations to the next meeting of his group which will be held on January 29, at 8 p.m. at the clubhouse of the Bay Ridge Post, Jewish War Veterans, 8721 Fourth Ave.”

WHO were the 14 original organizations? What was the main motivational factor which galvanized the community of Bay Ridge–which included, and still does, the other local neighborhoods of Fort Hamilton and Dyker Heights?  Space dictates that we present this revealing information in a later communique. . .

–To be continued-

 

Is “Bay Rizz” In Trouble? Where Is The Beloved Filmmaker?

 

Is "Bay Rizz" in trouble? This photo was accompanied by a garbled message with the plea, “Rescue Bay Rizz!”

Where’s the beloved, youthful, but-already-legendary “Bay Rizz”?   Has he been the victim of foul play?

 

It’s been three months since he released his latest, cutting-edge film, depicting Bay Ridge nightlife (one of several fine creations available if you go to www.paxenfilms.com

 

The latest communication we had was this photo (above), which we will regard as ambiguous because it appears to show a wounded Bay Rizz and was accompanied by a garbled message with the plea, “Rescue Bay Rizz!”

 

Unclear from the image is whether he is smiling or just being brave for the camera. Is he being treated for wounds–perhaps inflicted by one of the bar-goers he boldly confronted in a prior film epic? And, isn’t that film-noirish woman actually the well-known make-up artist Valentina? 

 

Identified at the right as a “Dr. Gentle” is a physician who bears a striking resemblance to Councilman Vinnie Gentile.

 

In black hat and stethoscope at back is a seemingly sinister figure clearly indifferent to the painful plight of Bay Rizz.

 

One more question: Is there a “Healer” out there somewhere who can save Bay Rizz?

 

Please post any leads here at COsBR and check back for updates. . .

 

Jay Sessa’s “The Guy” For BRCC Civic Award

Will Jay Sessa, seen at the recent BRCC Presidents Luncheon with former Fort Hamilton High School Principal Alice Farkouh, receive the BRCC's highest honor?

 

“JAY’S THE GUY!” headlined a recent email I sent to a colleague, who quickly replied in agreement, “Jay’s The Guy!”

 

JAY, in this case, is the suave civic and business leader Jay Sessa, who, in this writer’s view, would be eminently qualified to receive the Bay Ridge Community Council’s Civic Award which, for 57 years, has been the most visible civic honor in Greater Bay Ridge.

 

I ADMIT a personal bias here. Some decades ago when I served as Executive Editor of The Home Reporter & Sunset News I ran a story and photo about a youthful golfing phenom by the name of “Joseph Sessa.”

 

I’VE FOLLOWED his career ever since, as he’s married the lovely daughter of a late revered colleague, Jack Anderson, and became active in our community, where thousands know him as Jay Sessa, proprietor with daughter Courtney of McLaughlin & Sons Funeral Home, and as a man who gives freely of his time and resources for vital local causes.

 

JAY SESSA is not the kind of guy who asks for public accolades for his civic work, but over the years, I’ve noted many of them here, such as his former vice presidency of the Bay Ridge Community Council, his current service as a vice president of the Merchants of Third Avenue, a trustee of the St. Nicholas Home and a board member of the Guild for Exceptional Children.

 

FOR MORE than a decade, he has overseen the M.T.A.’s costly, complex and vital Holiday Lights program which brings warmth to thousands over the chilly celebratory season.

 

THE M.T.A has honored him as a Pioneer, an award which is given for “extraordinary service to Third Avenue and the entire community of Bay Ridge.” And he has also received the Ragamuffin Parade “Man of the Year” award. What’s next for Jay?

 

M.T.A.Pays Santa Ticket

Horse Drawn Wagon. . .

 Refusing to plead guilty because of the special nature of his work, Santa Claus, courtesy of the Merchant of Third Avenue, will pay a $115 fine! Santa was engaged by the local M.T.A. to boost sagging shopping spirits back in November and rode in a horse-drawn wagon. One vehicle in his trailing entourage actually got the summons! M.T.A. President Bob Howe served as counsel.  

 

Or. . .Big Red Bus?

Should Santa take a ride on the Big Red Bus?

Maybe the Merchants of Third Avenue should avoid a summons next time by hiring a “Big Red Bus” as enjoyed by thousands back in the 1990′s. Shown with a crowd of happy passengers/shoppers are Chuck Otey–who then as now served as MTA secretary–and former MTA Vice President Anthony Ceretti. Those who would like to see the return of the Big Red Bus should let us know either here or COTEYESQ@AOL.COM.

 

Quest For Classic Burger Continues in Bay Ridge

What has happened to the classic burger of yore?

 

 

It’s Time To Forget Those Ugly Riot Gates

WE HAVE a suggestion on how New York City should spend part of the much needed federal financial stimulus: let’s subsidize the elimination of those ugly, solid-wall, riot gates which have scarred our municipal landscape since the turbulent times of the 1960′s.

 

COUNCILMAN Vinnie Gentile would do us all well by supporting a bill in the City Council which would end the era of what Daily News writer Frank Lombardi termed,  “ugly, solid security gates that storekeepers pull down at closing time.” Dem. Cong. Michael McMahon could pitch in here as well.

Time to remove the ugly riot gates?

LOMBARDI notes that the measure–which originally would have required that 70 per cent of all gates become see through by 2015–has gotten a “chilly reception” from City Hall and some merchants groups.

IN TRUTH this writer has negotiated in past years with a large supplier who promised to reduce the rates on the more expensive see though gates on the reasonable condition that our organization could set up bulk purchases. 

THE solid riot gates are about 15 per cent less expensive than the mesh variety. But what police and fire experts have said is this: Burglaries and fires can flourish behind solid gates but become more readily apparent when passers-by and these protectors can really see what’s going on inside.

PRACTICALLY speaking merchants now paying up to $7,500 a month for a storefront lose more than 50 per cent of their ‘display time’ with potential shoppers if they can’t look through their windows when the stores are closed. Hiding the merchandise becomes a hidden cost as well.

AESTHETICALLY when you ride down any avenue here or elsewhere in the city late night or on a Sunday and see high-rent storefronts blocked by those ugly solid-wall riot gates you receive a message of fear and insecurity.

ESPECIALLY in these troubled times merchants can’t afford to switch to more expensive see-through gates, but it would be stimulating to us if part of President Obama’s economic package could help lift the doomsday coverings which have plagued us since the riots of the 1960′s.

Photo adnauseum/flickr

 

The Ruckus Over Riot Gates Continues

This store still has old-fashioned solid wall protection, which hides merchandise from public view. These gates also send a message of fear and insecurity to the public.

BETTER described perhaps as “insecurity gates” these depressing vestiges of problems past very much deserve to promptly become part of New York’s past.

 

COsBR highlights one Bay Ridge merchant who is making a change, next. . . 

 

The Solution To Ugly Riot Gates Is CLEAR!

The solution to the problem of what to do about those hideous "riot gates" seems to be quite clear to this Bay Ridge merchant!

Community Board 10 Member Greg Ahl, who is leading a campaign to replace the solid, old “riot gates” with more attractive and welcoming see-through gates, clearly practices what he preaches.  His store, above, showcases the clear modern gates.

 

Peter Cottontail Ticketed For Erratic Hopping!!??

BY now it’s old news that Santa Claus–better known to many as Chip Cafiero, the Festival Guy–had to pay a traffic ticket when his vehicle was part of an entourage which was trying to boost sagging shopping spirits along Third Avenue in the “Black Friday” runup to the Christmas holidays.

 

CHIP had excellent representation through Atty. Bob Howe, also president of the MTA, and he pled not guilty until the bitter end because, after all, how can a mere mortal admit Santa’s guilt to anything?

 

MEANWHILE, there may be another confrontation looming when the annual huge Easter Egg Hunt, engineered by Chip with the yearly support  of  organizations such as the MTA through the offices of Sen. Marty Golden kicks into high gear in early April.

 

WHAT IF–and we’re really talking if here–what if Chip dressed up as Peter Cottontail or even the Easter Bunny, and drove a Chocolate Chariot, fashioned by John Logue, Bay Ridge’s leading chocolatier–down Third Avenue?  Could Peter or Easter, whoever, possibly get a summons just like Santa got on Black Friday?

 

KEEP in mind that while the summons only cost the MTA about $115 or so, the ensuing public uproar netted Santa Chip and the MTA many, many thousands in positive publicity.

The Easter Bunny seen waiting for a train. . .but will he choose a different mode of transportation if he visits Bay Ridge?

 

WHETHER a charge of  “erratic” or “unlicenced” hopping is issued just prior to that special holiday, it’s a certainty that Chip will continue push forward to the massive Easter Egg Hunt set for April 11 at McKinley Park.  It draws thousands of kids from all over the community.  And, local merchants, on Third Ave. and other local neighborhoods, are looking to engender a cooperative spirit which will help these kids and their parents get even more enjoyment.

 

CHAIR Chip has an ambitious agenda which involves six thousand (6,000!) eggs–plastic, of course, and a number of raffles geared to promote the participation of even more thousands of local residents.

 

SPECIAL awards, in the form of tickets to select events will receive huge publicity here. “We want to make this Easter Egg Hunt a symbol of the community spirit which is the hallmark of Greater Bay Ridge!” Chip told Bob Howe, president of the Merchants of Third Ave., an annual sponsor.

 

“CHIP’S right,” Bob added.  “With the Spring comes the kind of hope that we can use right now when our economic picture is anything but rosy.  We’ll do whatever it takes to make this a success. And we’ sure that other business and civic groups will do the same!”

 

Has Bay Rizz Been Saved?

 

Who is this mysterious "healer" and where is our beloved Bay Rizz?

WE recently wrote about the plight of beloved, youthful, but-already-legendary filmmaker Bay Rizz. We pondered: Had he been the victim of foul play? Had anyone at Paxenfilms heard from him?

 

NOW it appears that Bay Rizz may have been saved by a mysterious Healer (above). But COsBR is still quite concerned.

 

PLEASE post any leads here at COsBR and check back for updates.  

 

 

 

Goodie Bags To Enhance Easter Egg Hunt!

GOODIE bags are back!  At least on Third Avenue, where book vendors Bina Valenzano and Christine Fleglette, working with the leadership of the Merchants of Third Avenue, are set to give away up to two thousand of these cherished items in connection with our  “biggest ever”  Easter Egg Hunt.

 

THE MTA, for the second consecutive year is a sponsor of the Annual Easter Egg Hunt run by Chip Cafiero under the aegis of Sen. Marty Golden.  Thousands, mainly kids, will enjoy entertainment and giveaways to take place at McKinley Park on April 11.

 

“THIS will be a great event for children and for Third Avenue business,” said MTA Pres. Bob Howe. Last month the organization had a Valentine’s holiday sale promotion, and during the recent Christmas holiday shopping season various merchants took part in a “Shop Third Avenue” promotion with discounts and offers by shops and restaurants.

 

MTA Pres. Howe and his crack officers team, also aided by a generous donation of these popular containers through James Vavas of Nationwide Insurance, will fully outline the Goodie Bag concept at the next MTA meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 23, at the Greenhouse Café, 77th St. and Third, hosted by John Keegan and Bob Daquara.

 

“LET’S reach families living throughout our entire neighborhood,”  BookMark Shoppe Co-Owner Valenzano commented. “We’re talking here about families who may never have been given a reason to shop Third Avenue and, at the same time, we’ll give our current customers a reason to come back to us.”

 

EARLY feedback shows that the Goodie Bags, to be stuffed with valuable gifts and at least two $100 cash awards, will be a huge hit. Arlene Rutuelo, owner of the very popular Nordic Delicacies near Bay Ridge Avenue, said the Goodie Bag/Easter Egg Hunt flyers and their content, “look great! Good job!”

 

THE gathering on March 23 is primarily billed as a “Tech Nite” in which established online professionals will demonstrate how merchants can use websites to complement their merchandising. Speakers will include Anthony Pennacchio of Vanguard Computers and Karma Martell, CEO of KarmaCom. 

 

IN addition, a veteran journalist, who has started a new blog, will also talk about the importance of “blending the printed word with cyber communications”.  His predictable theme: “Why the printed page is here to stay!”.

 

Image Courtesy FunTimesGuide

 

A Grand Slam For The BookMark Shoppe and Third Avenue!

Actress Alyssa Milano visited The BookMark Shoppe on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge last night for a successful book-signing event. She is pictured here with BookMark Shoppe co-owners (l-r) Christine Freglette Terzulli and Bina Valenzano.

COsBR will soon be posting much more news and many lovely photos from this super successful event.

 

GREAT job, Christine and Bina!

 

Breaking News: Bay Rizz, The Rescue

Just received.  Could it be the news we’ve been waiting for?

Has Bay Rizz actually been saved?

 

Women Minding Their Own Business?

RUTH BERG, who has been behind a number of business and community-related endeavors, dating all the way back to Mayor Ed Koch’s memorable bus tour here 30 years ago, is still at it.

 

HER latest project is titled “Women Minding Their Own Business”, an Expo and Networking Event set for tomorrow, April 28 at the Green Spa & Wellness Center, 88th St. and Third Ave.

 

THE invitation bids the community to “Join us on the Green Carpet for a Reception and Shopping Spree”.

 

IS this a ‘women only’ event?  “Of course not!” Ruth emphasized.  “This is for everyone. Men are welcome!” 

 

THOSE interested in attending or serving as sponsors should call Ruth at 718.238.8493. It’s a chance, she promises, to not only enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine and cheese, but to “meet your local women owned businesses.”

 

THIS unique networking event promises to bring together in one place a leading array of women entrepreneurs and leaders in business.

 

THE Expo will be open to the public beginning 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28 at The Green Spa, 8804 Third Avenue in Bay Ridge. The event will be brought to you by Green Light Brooklyn, Networking Productions Group and Business in Brooklyn.

 

NEXT: This Reporter’s Story-When I Left The Boston Globe It Was Doing Just Fine

This Reporter’s Story-

When I Left The Boston Globe

It Was Doing Just Fine

It’s been a while since I left The Boston Globe –back in the 60′s actually when I was employed as a crime beat reporter at the legendary New England Daily.  And, I clearly recall that the day when we pulled out onto Rte. 128 and began our trip to Brooklyn the paper was doing just fine. 

The scoop, coming soon. . .

 

Pres. Keating Goes To Bat For Cyclones Baseball

 

This 2008 game, between the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones, was a sellout at KeySpan Park.

 

ARLENE KEATING, president of the Bay Ridge Community Council, is intent on scoring big with baseball fans as she approaches the end of her successful one-year  tenure: the BRCC is lending major league assistance to “Bay Ridge Night” at the Brooklyn Cyclones.

 THE scoreboard at Coney Island will light up for Bay Ridge the evening of July 8 starting at 7 p.m., when the Cyclones face the Aberdeen Ironbirds. 

 PRESIDENT KEATING will have completed  her very effective leadership service  by then when she is feted at  the Council’s big dinner dance, a must-attend fete for Bay Ridge leaders over the past half  century.

Photo Copyright The New York Times Company 2008 

 

REVEALED TODAY: This Reporter’s Story-When I Left The Boston Globe It Was Doing Just Fine. . .

It’s been a while since I left The Boston Globe –back in the 60′s actually when I was employed as a crime beat reporter at the legendary New England Daily.  And, I clearly recall that the day when we pulled out onto Rte. 128 and began our trip to Brooklyn the paper was doing just fine.

Last week, when it seemed possible  The Globe could close its doors after 130 or so years of publishing, I thought  back to those days when I would leave my Newbury St. apartment and travel the  Southeastern Expressway getting off at Morrissey Blvd. which then housed the almost brand-new, ultra-modern Globe plant and offices. 

 

Enterprising young reporter, never far from his typewriter.

 

The New York Times–facing its own existential challenges–now owns The Globe.  But most newspaper readers in New England still have more faith in the Boston daily  than they do in The Times.  (Especially Red Sox fans.)

Even when I started at The Globe there were academic prophets of doom  over in the Back Bay area at the Boston University School of Public Relations and Journalism on Commonwealth Ave.  Some of the faculty there were already  preaching that  the days of the print media were numbered. 

 (“Sheer heresy!”, one B.U. journalism major must have said–“Next they’ll be saying that Americans will one day will be buying so  many Japanese and Korean cars that Chrysler and even General Motors will be forced out of business!” )

Many more than twenty years have passed and today The Times and The Globe face monumental assault, not from facsimiles, but from online content led by Google. Concepts which my foresightful  B.U. professor would have regarded as science fiction.

But at that time–John Kennedy was President–the very idea of an average citizen  ‘snapping’ a photograph which registers on a tiny card, , inserting that  card in a metal and plastic box, and then ‘sending’ that photograph around the world–or into outer space–was indeed pure sci-fi stuff!   

Indeed, when I arrived at The Globe, I would often stare in fascination at a mysterious ‘telex’ machine which would laboriously unwind a grainy photo taken the previous day in London or some other foreign locale and sent to our city room using the latest, incredibly expensive cutting-edge technology.

The best success formula for newspapers we’re told is the forward-looking, adaptable  publication which combines print and online presentations. Hard to argue with that. (This column is read regularly in Brisbane, Australia by my son’s in-laws.)

A major problem here though is one which escapes most readers.  It’s economic and, as far as investigative journalism is concerned it can be quite lethal. Essentially it’s highly ironic that while The Times or The Globe might spend hundreds of thousands of dollars researching and verifying a major, important news story–the people at Google will quickly, at a fraction of the cost, ‘publish’ their own versions of the same story.

Google still hasn’t blinked, but The Times has been forced to raise its weekday newsstand price to $2.00!.  It seems as though new laws will be necessary to protect the costly research of The Times and other papers which lay out large sums of money for ‘scoops’ or ‘exposes’  which are quickly ‘Googled’  up for free by internet sites.

The good news is that The Globe has been ‘saved’ through cooperation of the paper’s various unions and some hard negotiating by The Times’ lawyers.

Each time you pick up a newspaper, the next page–business, ‘space’, sports–can contain  gems of information the inquiring mind just has to have!

Are online- only readers less enlightened than their print-only counterparts?  Not at all.

But those who doubt the efficacy of the printed page would do well to heed the words of New York Times reporter David Carr, who said that “some stories are beyond the (web) data base. Sometimes, people have to make the calls, hit the streets and walk past the conventional wisdom.”

 

Table Tennis Revival In Bay Ridge!

Ping Pong Anyone? Bina? Bay Rizz? Jean? Dan Texiera?

BREAKING NEWS: Bina Valenzano comely co-proprietor of the BookMarkShoppe on Third Avenue has challenged this writer to a ping pong match which will take place soon at Jean Balukas’s Ovington Billiards.

INITIALLY the fashionably sculpted book vendor was eager to deliver a thrashing on the tennis courts, but in view of my surgical knee, she took mercy and agreed to table tennis at the Ovington Ave. billiards facility, one of the classiest such venues in Brooklyn.

“PING pong is catching on across the city and in other parts of Brooklyn,” said her partner, Christine Freglette, who will serve as Bina’s ‘second’ at the challenge match. “And, I have to warn you, “added the blonde BookMarker with a glint in her eye, “she’s a very good athlete and will probably beat you very badly!”

AS word went around of our big match, others here showed an a strong interest in returning to a game they hadn’t played for years. For instance, prominent Bay Ridge Insurance Guy Dan Texiera told us at Monday’s Third Ave. Memorial Parade that he would be more than willing to bat a few, speedy celluloid spheres at YouTube satirist Mike Rizzo whose “Bay Rizz Rescue” stirred quite a bit of interest here recently.

IT’S been a while since I participated in a real ping pong match. As I recall it was at a Bay Ridge Lions-sponsored event and my partner, columnist Angela Canade, and I took home a trophy. Remember that, Angela?

THANKS in advance to Ovington’s Jean Balukas, regarded as one of the ranking women’s athletes of the 20^th century–you can look it up!–and her brother Paul, the lawyer, for agreeing to host these exhibitions.

 

Planning Ahead For Ragamuffin, 3rd Ave. Festival & Pioneers Reception In October

IT’S ‘fall ahead’ time on Third Avenue!

PUTTING a twist on the old time change expression ‘spring ahead, fall back’ the leadership of the Merchants of Third Avenue  is already laying groundwork to help all its members survive and even prosper despite current challenging economic times.  And this means a very busy fall season.

SO when the local M.T.A. members gathered last June at Café Remy there was a lot of ‘news’ made. How will the M.T.A. help the traditional Ragamuffin Parade set for October 3?  What will be the themes for the 36th Annual Third Avenue Festival on Oct. 4?

AND, who will be the honorees when the M.T.A. holds its Sixteenth Annual Pioneer Reception Oct. 26 at the very same Café Remy?

EACH year the Pioneer Reception singles out a small number of leading Bay Ridgeites who have made significant contributions on the avenue and throughout the broader community.  And,  this week, after consultation with the Pioneer Chair–who just happens to be your correspondent – and other officers such as Pres. Bob Howe, Vice Presidents Jay Sessa and Wade Jabour, Treasurer Cathy DiTirro,   Secretary Lloyd Berg, Recording Secretary Kelli Kilbride and Corr. Secretary Rhea McCone, it’s our privilege to announce the 2009 slate:

Civic Award Honorees

Tom Edwards, Lutheran Medical Board Chair

and

Northfield Bank executive Joan Dalton.

PIONEERS, Class of 2009

Tommy Casatelli of the Kettleblack Restaurant;

Accountant Peter Amsterdam of the long-standing Third Ave.firm of  Amsterdam and Coscia

and

Manny Saviolakis, who with his dad, Steve, operates the very popular Anapoli Restaurant.

A SPECIAL service award will go to John Keegan and Bob Daquara of the Greenhouse Restaurant who have hosted the Pioneer Reception a number of times in recent years and whose contributions have already earned them Pioneer status.

EDDIE Batiz, whose trendy and chic Café Remy has spurred new life onto much of Third Avenue in the 70′s, and his charming manager, Julie Gonzalez, will serve as hosts for the event, which features “A Taste of Third Avenue”.  Since this  is Third Avenue ’s biggest fund-raiser–after the Festival–this  means that twenty other restaurants on the Brooklyn’s ‘Restaurant Row’ will be providing items from their popular menus to be served that night.

THIRD AVENUE, like Bay Ridge, has become unique for its sense of tradition which is a point made by Pres. Howe and other officers every year through the Pioneer Reception–all Pioneers, since the reception started back in 1993–have been M.T.A. members of long standing.   First-time charter honorees, for instance, included clothier Sam Hage, late legendary lawyer Harry English and inimitable entrepreneur Al Nahas, whose boldly conceived Night Falls Restaurant made headlines across the city when it opened with a guest list headlined by name artists like Andy Warhol.

 

Bay Ridge Needs Ferry

AT 69^th St.—Now !

WHYcan’t the 69^th St. pier–where thousands traveled daily back and forth to Staten Island and Manhattan, before the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in 1964–once again be the site of a ferry?

THOUSANDS of Bay Ridgeites, many within good walking distance of the pier–now used largely for fishing even though fish caught there may not be safe to eat–would certainly prefer a breezy boat trip to Manhattan. Now they must ride cramped buses and crowded, often dirty, subways,

A HEROIC effort to return ferry service led by Heather McCown, Andrew Wasserman, Chip Cafiero with strong support by Councilman Vinnie Gentile has yet to yield a positive response from the city. The seeming reason: not enough people would pay enough money to make such service profitable.

AS the city’s population grows, combustion fuels become more expensive, buses and subways age it’s safe to predict that water traffic will become more popular and ultimatly a necessity. That’s the way it is in practically every other water-front city throughout the world originally built, as was Newe Amsterdam on huge natural harbors

SUCH ferry service would be a healthful boon to those who could use it and would contribute substantially to the image of the Bay Ridge real estate market which could certainly use a boost these days.

WHY? A ferry service to Bay Ridge sends a message throughout the city that it’s a likely destination and a good place to live. (The same, positive message would be sent if bridge planners would OK a “Lifeway”–a path to carry walkers, joggers, bikers, and more–across the Verrazano Bridge, but that’s a topic for another time.)

BACK to the 69^th St. Ferry: It would certainly pay in the long run for the city to heed McCown & Co. who head the Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance. Forget about making it a ‘pay-as-you-go’ penny-pincher. Look at it as a sound investment in the ongoing, uphill battle to sustain our environment and the overall well-being of the Bay Ridge community.

EVEN though the hoped-for ferry would limit its trips to Manhattan, it also has support in Staten Island where Alliance members Peter and Pat Killen live and have braved the Verrazano Narrows tolls for many years to remain active here.

Third Ave. Festival Heeds

Green Fest Example

AN outstanding event to highlight the 69^th Pier, by the way, was put on recently by the very same Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance when they held their Second Annual Greening The Ridge Festival.

SCORES of organizations and businesses heeded the McGown-Wasserman-Cafiero call to take part in this unique demonstration which also received the vital backing of Sen. Marty Golden, Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer, Councilman Gentile and Borough Pres. Marty Markowitz.

THOSE who run the fabled Third Avenue Festival–set this year for Oct. 4–were so impressed by the Greening gala that they are asking the SRWA people to lend a hand as the Third Avenue fete goes green for the first time in its 37-year history.

COINCIDENTALLY, SRWA’S Chip Cafiero is also the guy who expertly executes the minute details of the Third Ave. Festival which annually draws over 250,000 spectators to that busy thoroughfare the day after the colorful Ragamuffin Parade. He’s so good that he manages a number of other festivals throughout Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst as well.

AN open invitation to those who took part in the Pier Green fest has officially been issued by M.T.A. President Bob Howe and the Festival Chair, who happens to be this writer.

AMONG those who starred at the 69^th st. Pier in June were, in addition to musical whiz Tom Casatelli–who owns the KettleBlack on Third Ave. and will be honored as a Pioneer in October at the Café Remy–and many more including, but not limited to:

ALLEY CAT Exterminating–operated by Pres. Don Clark and daughter Lauren. They were the first ‘green’ exterminators around here(don’t even think of mentioning DDT to Lauren!)and have been very successful in eliminating various pests without destroying the environment in the process!

THE Bay Ridge Greenmarket–already active Saturdays at 95^th St. and Third Ave. thanks to volunteers such as Betsey McCall and the support of Councilman Gentile.

THE GREEN Spa on Third with special products demonstrated by proprietors Maureen and Sheila Brody and Maria Ingardia—who knows a lot about building ‘green’ and the various materials and processes which went into the reconstruction of the popular site at 88^th St. The Spa is a classic example of ‘green’construction.

GREEN CARE Building Design & Supplies headed by Salvatore Lopizzo whose demonstration of new ‘green’ wood materials was a highlight of the fest.

OTHERS on the invite list include the Bay Ridge Food Co-op, Nicole Guarino and Katarzyna Ploszaj of Le Petit Oven, Photographer Georgine Benvenuto of Gallery 364, GardenDirect Urbangreenscapers, Michael Petri of Petri Plumbing & Heating and, of course the very well-known people like Joan Regan, Linda Dahl and Jimmy Johnson who are among the driving forces behind the beautiful Narrows Botanical Gardens.

LEADING Third Avenue business leaders taking part will include Patrice Capo of Bay Ridge Bicycle World, Elena Solitario of Pilo Arts, Anthony Pennachio of VanGuard Computers(who skillfully administers the thirdavenuebayridge web site) Murray Wichard, Andy Carino and Veronica DeName of Dolphin Fitness, Mike Kasper of RunForYourLife, Courtney Sessa of McLaughlin Funeral Home, Christine Freglette and Bina Valenzano of the Bookmark Shoppe, M.T.A. 2^nd Vice. Pres. Wade Jabour of Jabour Realty and daughter Danielle, and Paul Cassone who directs the Guild For Exceptional Children and plays a mean acoustic guitar, just to name a few.

AMONG those attracted to the green theme from other parts will be Bill Boshell, way up on Fifth Avenue, known as the SuperRoofer to the thousands he has served here. Look for Bill to come up with an impressive ‘solar array’ geared toward saving energy.

A HIGHLIGHT of the Green Festival will be designation of the M.T.A. “First Green Pioneer Award Winner” who will be honored at the Café Remy, hosted by Eddie Batiz and Julie Gonzalez. Other honorees already named are Civic Awardees Tom Edwards of Lutheran Medical Center and Joan Dalton of Northfield Savings and Pioneers Peter Amsterdam of Coscia and Amsterdam and Manny Saviolakis of Anapoli Restaurant.

PITCHING in enthusiastically as usual will be the other officers of the M.T.A. 1^st Vice President Jay Sessa, Treasurer Cathy DiTirro, Secretary Lloyd Berg, Corr. Secretary Rhea McCone and Rec. Secretary Kelli Kilbride, who was honored this week by the 68^th Pct. Community Council at its Night Out Against Crime.

THOSE who want to help with the green festival should contact Bob, Chip, one of the above officers or this writer at coteyesq@aol.com.

 

Why Won’t Bill de Blasio Attend BRCC Luncheon?

IF Public Advocate-elect Bill di Blasio is really serious about galvanizing ‘community organizers’ throughout the city, then why isn’t he going to attend the upcoming annual Presidents Luncheon of the Bay Ridge Community Council which is the longest-standing, most successful group of ‘community organizers’ in New York City?

HAVING served a number of years as the City Councilman from not-too-distant Park Slope before his city-wide race last November, it could be assumed that the incoming Public Advocate is well aware of this unique unbrella organization which lists over 100 civic, educational and business groups on its rolls. (Park Slope had an active Civic Council a few decades ago, prior to his arrival there.)

WELL, maybe we’re not being totally fair or accurate here–we don’t know if he’s coming on January 30 when the BRCC’s prestigious Presidents Luncheon gets underway at the Bay Ridge Manor.

BUT, if he did show up and would spend some time over the next few months studying just how and why the BRCC has been able to function and thrive for almost 60 decades, he would learn a lot. Following its original formation after initially losing the spirited and protracted “Battle of the Verrazano Bridge” the BRCC has successfully opposed the closing of Fort Hamilton(years before 9/11) and many other harmful initiatives.

BACK in the 90′s the BRCC was also the main force standing against the proposed destruction and reconstruction of the very same Gowanus Expressway–a project which would have wreaked havoc on Bay Ridge and Sunset Park for years! (Because of that fight, it’s now likely that a Gowanus Tunnel might ultimately be built recovering hundreds of acres of prime real estate in Sunset Park and Gowanus.)

AT the same time through its many local endeavors–Hallowe’en Art, Annual Track Meet, writing and photography contests, participation in the Greater Bay Ridge Clean-Up Campaign–the BRCC has shown the best positive side of a community which is often neglected by the powers-that-be at City Hall

LIKE all other worthwhile organizations in Bay Ridge, the BRCC is totally volunteer and is led this year by Pres. Andy Windsor, Exec. Secy. Arlene Keating, 1^st. Vice Pres. Jonathan Judge, 2^nd Vice Pres. Janet Gounis, Recording Secy. Linda Orlando, Corresponding Secy. Kevin P. Carroll and Treas. Eleanor Sabbagh.

MR di Blasio can reach the BRCC through any of the above, by phoning 646 322 2145 if going to www. bayridgecommunitycouncil.org. Regardless, we will be there hopefully to give him an earful!

Stop The Insanity:

Save Third Ave. Bus!

IF there’s one issue that R-C. Sen. Marty Golden, D-Cong. Mike McMahon and D-Councilman Vinnie Gentile agree on it’s the preservation of the B-37(Third Ave.) bus line which the M.T.A. threatens to totally eliminate!

“I JUST can’t figure out the M.T.A.’s rationale”, said Sen. Golden, noting that latest reports mean that “the residents of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights will lose weekend express bus service and the entire Third Avenue bus service.”

GOLDEN’s Bay Ridge director John Quaglione spent most of last week energizing a petition drive garnering thousands of signatures deploring the latest threats to the vital Bay Ridge transit service.

‘CUTS to bus routes that seniors and the disabled depend on and charging parents for their children’s transportation to and from school simply isn’t an option,”Gentile told HRSN Writer Paula Katinas. “(W)e are not going to just stand by as the MTA gouges and burdens residents who are just trying to work and learn.”

MONDAY morning Gentile and McMahon held a “Don’t Leave Us Out In The Cold” rally in front of the councilman’s Third Ave. office. Monday night the looming demise of the B-37 bus was a major topic when the Merchants of Third Ave. held heir first 2010 meeting.

“THE loss of the Third Ave. bus would be a severe blow to our entire community,” said M.T.A. Pres. Bob Howe. “Thousands of local residents–especially senior citizens– use this bus and without it we will have more and more cars competing for fewer parking spaces. It’s a terrible idea.”

Is It The End For The Bay Ridge Men’s Club?

WOULD it still be the ‘Bay Ridge Men’s Club’ if woman are admitted? Should the Men’s Club admit women?

THESE questions posed no dilemma for the organization when it was founded in 1902. Back then, some readers may be surprised to learn, women didn’t even have the right to vote!

AND, even with the right to vote, women still confronted(and still do) the oppressive barriers of gender discrimination. Younger folk out there, who want a popular primer on how strong sexism was in the 1960′s should pay closer attention to the cable television hit ‘Mad Men’

THE Emmy-winning series is a deliciously accurate portrayal of the attitudes which permeated this society in that era. Men were the bread-winners. When any of the women(including “Peggy” the talented secretary- turned- account executive who, by the way, comes from Bay Ridge)ask for a raise commensurate with what a man would earn in their position they are told, in essence: he’s a guy and guys have to support a family including their ‘better half’ or ‘the little woman’ who must stay at home!)

TODAY any ‘boss’ who told a woman she couldn’t have a raise because of her gender would end up in court forthwith!

SO, it’s over a century later and we still have the question: Will the Bay Ridge Men’s Cub still be the Men’s Club if it admits women? Will it admit women? Pres. Alex Conti announced last week that the organization was considering a ‘Women’s Auxiliary’ and would consider such an extension of its membership at the next meeting.

READERS who have an opinion on this should contact Alex at 917-318-5693. He’d love to hear from you.

 

When Was This Photo Taken? Why? Who’s In It?

Answer: This photo was taken about 1994–the Second Greater Bay Ridge Clean-UP: which drew over 1,000 volunteers!  Left to right, President of the Fifth Avenue Board of Trade Marty Golden(now state senator) Justice Gerard Rosenberg, Merchants of Third Ave. Vice Pres. Jay Sessa, then Cong. Susan Molinari, Clean-up Chair Chuck Otey and Dem. Leader Ralph Perfetto

 

Residential Trash Overflows Public Baskets on Bay Ridge Avenue

Wire Baskets Chock Full

Of Residents Garbage!!!

 

WHAT to do about those over-flowing public trash cans which frequently collect too much garbage which lingers too long between pick-ups? It looks–and smells–terrible!

WHO’s to blame? President Obama? Rep. Nancy Pelosi? Sen. Harry Reid? SOMEONE mentioned that Community Board Ten was “experimenting” with the idea of removing the offending trash receptacles to see what would happen next.

THE ‘TEST’ will be the temporary removal of the receptacles at the very busy corner of 69^th St. and Fourth Ave.–over to Ovington Ave.(70th St.). What will the ‘test’ prove? Will someone ‘measure’ the comparative amount of extra candy-wrappers and coffee containers littering the sidewalks there? Good question?

SINCE thousands of people daily get off and on buses and R train every day at 69t & Fourth, we are sure to endure an increase in litter there. If so, what will that ‘prove’? Answer: without litter baskets streets get dirtier.

EXPERIENCE, the best teacher as usual, dictates that most of this’ extra’ garbage is actually illegally dumped personal trash. The proof is easy to obtain: All a Sanitation Inspector has to do is to examine the contents of any over-flowing basket to ‘prove’ this.

SINCE THE city is so desperate for money–and is now issuing thousands of expensive, unnecessary and unfair traffic summonses–why not send half of those agents out to issue tickets to those who do the dumping? It’s more labor-intensive to ferret out the illicit basket dumpers than it is to ticket a parker stopping for a few seconds on Third or Fifth Avenues. That’s the real reason the city unjustly punishes parkers while ignoring the litterers and dumpers.

EXPERIENCE also dictates that it’s not the merchants who dump their stuff into these baskets: they hire expensive private carters to take their refuse away. Yet, some misguided soul will suggest small businesses are responsible for the basket problem. It’s the residents.

SOLVING this apparent dilemma does not require rocket science. It’s not a pleasant task, but a quick perusal of any of these wire/steel containers reveals that the most of their contents is plastic bags stuffed with home garbage. Every day, especially in the morning, you can see hundreds of apartment dwellers breaking the law along our avenues by misusing these containers..

 

IF the Sanitation Inspectors would take the time to hold their collective nose and dig into some of these trashy eyesores and issue the appropriate summonses, the problem would be eliminated. If they don’t want to do it; send in the traffic agents!

 

“SUPERFUND!” Wins Day

EPA to Control Fate of  Gowanus Canal  

Civic leader Buddy Scotto with Asemblywoman Joan Millman. She was Chief of Staff to late Assemblywoman Eileen Dugan.

“God help us!” exclaimed long-time Carrroll Gardens civic leader Buddy Scotto when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent out the word that it would declare the legendarily polluted Gowanus Canal a SUPERFUND! site. 

“I’m disappointed,” Buddy told the Brooklyn Papers.” The private sector was willing to spend $450 million on affordable and senior citizen housing that we desperately need.” 

But, in the end, it was the seductive label of SUPER FUND! which finally won the day for those who mistakenly see federal relief as a panacea despite the dismal performance record the EPA has run up at scores of other sites throughout the U.S. 

For over 40 years the genial Scotto–who is never described as a mortician, which he is–has been at the forefront of community improvement. . His clout has extended into the political arena where, though once a registered Republican, he helped the causes of Democratic “reformers’ such as former assemblyman and now Appellate Term Presiding Justice Michael Pesce“ 

He was a leading force in the Gowanus Expressway Coalition which throughout the 1990′s successfully battled an ultra-expensive plan by the State Department of Transportation which would have replaced that dilapidated, anachronistic elevated highway with yet another identical highway continuing the over half-century of decimation of South Brooklyn, Sunset Park and points south. 

When the Gowanus Expressway Coalition, comprised of leading local organizations such as the Brooklyn Heights Association to the north and the Bay Ridge Community Council to the southwest– was last heard from there were strong hints from State D.O.T. that they might consider public demand to tear down the polluting roadway and replacing it with a tunnel.(Some skeptics predict that there will be no tunnel because the D.O.T. is merely stalling for time hoping that opposition to its costly reconstruction to wane.). 

The “Gowanus Tunnel”, proposed to extend from Cobble Hill to Bay Ridge, would create hundreds of acres of prime real estate and hasten the rejuvenation of the Sunset Park waterfront. It had strong backing from then Borough Pres. Howie Golden, late Assemblywoman Eileen Dugan and Al Appleton who is an executive of the Regional Plan Association. (Attorneys deserving credit for defeating the State D.O.T. on this issue included, by the way, Chair Joanne Simon and Ben Meskin, whom she succeeded as Coalition head..) If, and when, such a tunnel is built it could well be named for Buddy and late Assemblywoman Dugan 

Why venture into recent Brooklyn history? Because experience demonstrates that Buddy Scotto has the benefit of dedication and experience to know firsthand what’s good for the communities he’s served and knows so well. Others, no where near as familiar with the progress made in luring businesses such as Toll Brothers to put in hosing along the still smelly Canal, have clearly been induced by the hypnotic promise of SUPER FUND! 

Yes, we repeat SUPERFUND! Glorious title, it suggests power far and above that of mere mortals.  

Without getting too deeply into the demerits of the SUPERFUND! we’d like to pass along the reaction of another veteran observer on the Gowanus controversy: “Given the history of the EPA’S super-funding projects like this it’s safe to say it will require them an extra ten years and they’ll end up going to the same developers(e.g. Toll Brothers) much later on down the line when taxpayer monies have already been used –wasted actually–to do the clean-up work the private developers would have done anyway!”

 

Photo Album–Pioneers of Third Avenue–Past and Present

For the past 17 years the Merchants of Third Avenue have honored leaders throughout the community as “Pioneers”. Recorded here are “snapshots” of Pioneers, Civic Awardees and M.T.A. officers

Jim Thompson, center, was one of the first Pioneers. Others here at photo taken in 1990′s, left to right, are  M.T.A. Pres. Bob Howe, Angela Febbraro, Patty Fazio and Kelli Kilbride.

‘Sopranos’ feature star Joe Gannascoli, center, is a past Pioneer shown in his ‘Soup As Art’ restaurant(now site of ‘Gossip Clothes’) with past M.T.A. officer Anthony Ceretti and a staff member.

Pioneer, “Holiday Lights Guy” Jay Sessa, M.T.A. V.P.

Past Pioneers at an M.T.A. meeting, left to right, Artie Maresca, Dennis Monier and Wade Jabour.

Pioneer Joan Boragi, the florist.

 

Golden, Gentile in Narrows Kayak Race ?

(Editor’s Background Note: Democrat Councilman Vinnie Gentile recently helped obtain a $250,000 grant for a kayaking ‘base’ at the 69^th St Pier. Over the years he and Rep-Con. Sen. Marty Golden have had a…uhh…complicated relationship. Did the following ‘column’ really appear in a Bay Ridge newspaper on April 1?)

As Sen. Golden 'trained' for the upcoming kayaking race by directing traffic on Third Ave....

…a confident Counilmen Gentile relaxed at a Bay Ridge Manor affair.

IN the spirit of this special day this writer has received exclusive word that Councilman Vinnie Gentile is putting his $250,000 69^th St. pier kayaking grant to a very positive use.

“I’M hereby challenging Sen. Marty Golden to a kayaking race in the Narrows,” the Bay Ridge Councilman declared enthusiastically and exclusively to Focus earlier this week.

“FOR too long people here have been reminding me that Marty won our senate race several years back” he said. “They forget that I dethroned R-C. Sen. Robert DiCarlo and then defended my seat successfully against Bay Ridge legend Chris Mega,” a former assemblyman and senator, later a Supreme Court justice of Kings County.

“IN those early days, ” the municipal lawmaker noted waxing nostalgic” even the author of Focus regarded my political rise as a ‘breath of fresh air’ for the Bay Ridge community.”

“NOT only will I be vindicated when I win this kayak contest, I will show that kayaking is the transit mode of the future in Brooklyn.”said the councilman “And, the publicity we receive will put our kayak dock at the Pier on the map! We’re looking for nation-wide TV coverage here” he added.

“ALL of this will help make the 69th St. a recreation destination for kayakers throughout the entire metropolitan area!”

INITIALLY the councilman issued his challenge in person at the senator’s Fifth Ave. office where, oar in hand, amicably confronted John Quaglione, a top Golden staffer. “John was thoroughly accepting of the gauntlet thrown down by me in this most noteworthy cause,” the councilman told us.QUAGLIONE started out a little puzzled. At first, I thought he(the councilman) was kidding,” said a smiling Quaglione, “because, after all, this is April Fools time. Then, I recalled the councilman recently announced his kayaking grant so I immediately contacted Sen. Golden He happened to be driving wife Colleen (the Ragamuffin Parade President,) on a number of her errands along Third Avenue).

WHEN he returned Quaglione’s call a few minutes later, the senator and his wife were dining at one of Third Avenue’s fine gourmet restaurants.” Please don’t quote me on this but he loves those Third Avenue eateries “, Quaglione confided. ” And, of course he agreed to the kayaking challenge,” the aide continued. “

Golden: Kayaking Event

“Great For Bay Ridge”

“THIS will be great for the community!” the one-time cop turned caterer/restaurateur/councilman/state senator told this writer, also on a press exclusive basis.

“I’m glad that Vinnie doesn’t harbor any ill feelings about that senatorial race,”said Golden. ” We’re both here to serve our constituents. And, a kayak race –from the 69th St. Pier out around the Verrazano Bridge and back– is just the kind of event which shows the interparty cooperation which is currently lacking between too many members of our respective parties.”

WHO will win? we asked the exuberant Golden. “Well, please don’t quote me on this but I will beat Vinnie by a good hundred yards or so. I ‘ve learned that he’s been undergoing extensive kayak training at an undisclosed upstate camp for the past two months. “

“BUT, ” he explained, “I have extensive experience dealing with the treacherous currents in and around the pier area. As a boy –when the 69^th St. Ferry was still operating by the way—don’t quote me on this– I would often dive off the pier and swim way out toward Staten Island.”

“OF course it was illegal and very risky, but it was fun on a hot Summer’s day for a bunch of Bay Ridge kids” he recalled fondly. “And I’m sure the survival experience I gleaned thereby will put me in very good stead when Vinnie and I face off in our respective kayaks

INFORMED ‘off the record’ of Golden’s certainty of victory, Councilman Gentile pooh-poohed the senator’s prediction. “Let’s face it”, he replied. “Marty’s (a little) older than I and I’m a former prosecutor and we’re known for our competitive zeal! And—don’t quote me on this– we now have a better health plan in case of an accident—no thanks to Cong. Mike McMahon!”

See “Verrazano Lifeway”

Open to Public Next April 1

REGARDLESS of who wins the big kayaking contest, both lawmakers have assured me that our long sought-after Verrazano Lifeway—which will bring better health to thousands of walkers, joggers and everyone else when it’s completed as part of the majestic Narrows span.

IN A rare joint communiqué Messrs Golden and Gentile stated that “We will always be indebted to those who have worked for years to garner public support and the necessary funding to complete the Lifeway fulfilling a promise that Builder Robert Moses broke almost 50 years ago.

HAVING collected thousands of signatures from those who want to see the Verrazano opened to pedestrians and bikers this writer was particularly elated to learn the much needed Verrazano Lifeway is about to become a reality.

SO we asked, when will the Lifeway be open to public use? Their reply was in unison: “When else–next April Fools Day!”"

 

Can You Identify the 2 Bay Ridge Office Holders in This Photograph?

Anyone who can identify the 2 Bay Ridge office holders in this Home Reporter photograph should send their names to this blog. Any person who can correctly name All of the people in this photograph will receive $100 cash! Offer expires 5/1/2010.

 

Can You Identify 2 Bay Ridge Office Holders in this Photograph?

Anyone who knows the names of the office holders in this Home Reporter photograph should send them to this blog. The first person to correctly identify All of the people in this photograph will receive $100!

 

M.T.A. To Showcase ‘Power’ of 3,000 Local Businesses

M.T.A. To Showcase ‘Power’
Of 3,000 Local Businesses

FOR over 15 years a high-performing umbrella business organization with a name too long for some to remember has been doing a commendable job of spurring positive community activity throughout our part of Brooklyn.
ITS name: The Bay Ridge & Bensonhurst Beautification & Preservation Alliance, or as long-time Executive Director Patrick Condren succinctly puts it: The BRB!
SINCE 1994, starting with a $200,000 grant from then Sen. Robert Di Carlo, the BRB has served as a conduit for expediting and funneling millions of dollars in grants to worthy recipients.
ITS constituent members include the Merchants of Third Avenue, the Fifth Ave. (Bay Ridge) and 86th St. (Bay Ridge) Business Improvement Districts, and a number of boards of trade on 11th, 13th and 18th Avenues.
THANKS to the expertise of E.D. Condren, former president Bill Girasole (also president of the 13th Ave. Board of Trade), banker Dick Conti and others, local groups– which are often puzzled at the arcane talents and tedious filling out of forms required to complete grant applications– have been able to obtain funds which previously had been out of their administrative reach.
FOR the better part of the last two decades the BRB, now headed by Bob Howe (the same guy who capably leads the Merchants of Third Ave.) has helped provide grant funds to organizations as varied as the Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Parade, the Brooklyn Information and Culture Committee, the Bensonhurst Cluster of Youth Ministries, the Kassenbrock Scholarship Memorial Foundation in Bay Ridge and many others.
IN COMMENDABLE cross-party camaraderie, erstwhile kayak competitors, R-C. Sen. Marty Golden and Dem. Councilman Vinnie Gentile have worked hard to steer grants to valued community groups through the BRB.
AT the same time the BRB serves as a unifying force for commerce throughout our local neighborhoods and brings to bear on any issue the collective power of 3,000 businesses under its banner.
IN these challenging economic times, local businesses need the backing of broad-based units such as the BRB. And, that’s why the next, April 19 meeting of the Merchants of Third Ave. is entitled “What The BRB and The Power Of Its 3,000 Local Businesses Can Do For You”.
THE BRB boasts many other achievements–banners, promotions, benches, B.I.D. formations just to name a few. Headlining the M.T.A. meeting April 19, hosted by Greenhouse Proprietors John Keegan and Bob Daquara, will be BRD E.D. Condren, a one-time head of the M.T.A.
ALSO on the agenda will be reports by Third Ave. Festival Chair Chip Cafiero and his cohort, the Festival Chair, who will explain how this year’s Second ‘Green Festival’ will develop on Oct. 3.

OTHER OFFICERS of the M.T.A. include 1st Vice Pres. Jay Sessa (McLaughlin Funeral Homes); 2nd Vice President Wade Jabour (Jabour Realty); Treasurer Cathy DiTirro (Capital One Bank); Secretary Lloyd Berg (Verrazano Vision). Corr. Secretary Rhea McCone (Harbour Abstract); Rec., Secretary Kelli Kilbride (Lavender Blue). Chadwicks Restaurant owners Steve Oliver and Gerry Morris are among the M.T.A. zone coordinators. This writer serves as Executive Secretary. We always like to point out that Jay Sessa is the M.T.A. officer who oversees the $20,000 holiday lights program–paid for by member dues–which brightens the avenue starting at Thanksgiving each year.

Who’s Chandra Hira?
Focus Goes Boldface
IT’S with great glee that we note the revered Bay Ridge Arts Festival, starting its 42nd year April 8 at Good Shepherd Church is chaired this by the skilled and comely Chandra Hira, a one-time participant and now a successful magazine executive. Bob Kassenbrock did a splendid job as Arts Festival chair for many years and has earned a ‘break’! Bridging The Arts columnist Liz Gassimi(a proud ‘graduate’ of the Bay Ridge Writers Workshop),reminds two of the Arts Festival judges are photographers Georgine Benvenuto and David Foss…Congratulations to (the colorful) Maureen Stramka and Ed Moderacki, deserving and joint winners of the coveted Civic Award of the Bay Ridge Community Council who will star at the BRCC’s June 3 Annual Dinner Dance along with then-outgoing President Andy Windsor…. Whether or not you agree with Assemblyman Felix Ortiz’s soda tax it’s undisputable that his battle against obesity and the concurrent diabetes epidemic has done a lot of good…We were in California and missed the big St. Patrick’s Parade but–based on past consistent performance– we would agree with veteran Spectator Columnist Jerry Kassar who wrote that Atty. Michael Connors was a grand choice for Grand Marshal and that Peter Clavin did a fine job of emceeing the event launched 16 years back through (now) Sen. Marty Golden and (then) Fifth Ave. business leader Mike Long…aided by the hard work of (then) Peggy O-Neill’s proprietor Jack Malone. and his crew…Especially in view of all the work she’s done and her trademark demand for discipline in community organizing it would seem that BRCC Executive Secretary Arlene Keating would make an excellent future choice for the above-mentioned Civic Award. …. Sunny warm weather brought thousands to Sen. Golden’s Easter Egg Hunt at McKinley Park presenting a challenge to the many management skills of Chief Egg Guy Chip Cafiero….Enjoying the event with his beautiful family was top Golden aide John Quaglione. Giving much-needed help to the ‘egg-layers’ was the very popular Barbara Slattery and Columnist Jerry Kassar…Because she’s paid constant attention to their needs, Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer has made a lot of friends in the large senior community of Bay Ridge…A reader mentioned she enjoyed researching a past BCAT “View From Bay Ridge” wherein this writer joined the ebullient Courtney Sessa(Jay’s daughter) in a trip around The Ridge in a modifed hearse a la the memorable Laura Ambrose role in the outstanding but now departed HBO series “Six Feet Under”…. Till next week that’s it, folks…we’re out of Focus!

 

M.T.A. To Showcase “Power” of 3,000 Local Businesses

M.T.A. To Showcase ‘Power’
Of 3,000 Local Businesses

FOR over 15 years a high-performing umbrella business organization with a name too long for some to remember has been doing a commendable job of spurring positive community activity throughout our part of Brooklyn.
ITS name: The Bay Ridge & Bensonhurst Beautification & Preservation Alliance, or as long-time Executive Director Patrick Condren succinctly puts it: The BRB!
SINCE 1994, starting with a $200,000 grant from then Sen. Robert Di Carlo, the BRB has served as a conduit for expediting and funneling millions of dollars in grants to worthy recipients.
ITS constituent members include the Merchants of Third Avenue, the Fifth Ave.(Bay Ridge) and 86th St.(Bay Ridge) Business Improvement Districts, and a number of boards of trade on 11th, 13th and 18th Avenues
THANKS to the expertise of E.D. Condren, former president Bill Girasole (also president of the 13th Ave. Board of Trade), banker Dick Conti and others, local groups– which are often puzzled at the arcane talents and tedious filling out of forms required to complete grant applications– have been able to obtain funds which previously had been out of their administrative reach.
FOR the better part of the last two decades the BRB, now headed by Bob Howe (the same guy who capably leads the Merchants of Third Ave.) has helped provide grant funds to organizations as varied as the Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Parade, the Brooklyn Information & Culture Committee, the Bensonhurst Cluster of Youth Ministries, the Kassenbrock Scholarship Memorial Foundation in Bay Ridge and many others.
IN COMMENDABLE cross-party camaraderie, erstwhile kayak competitors R-C. Sen. Marty Golden and Dem. Councilman Vinnie Gentile have worked hard to steer grants to valued community groups through the BRB.
AT the same time the BRB serves as a unifying force for commerce throughout our local neighborhoods and brings to bear on any issue the collective power of 3,000 businesses under its banner.
IN these challenging economic times, local businesses need the backing of broad-based units such as the BRB. And, that’s why the next, April 19 meeting of the Merchants of Third Ave. is entitled “What The BRB and The Power Of Its 3,000 Local Businesses Can Do For You”.
THE BRB boasts many other achievements–banners, promotions, benches, B.I.D. formations just to name a few. Headlining the M.T.A. meeting April 19, hosted by Greenhouse Proprietors John Keegan and Bob Daquara, will be BRD E.D. Condren, a one-time head of the M.T.A.
ALSO on the agenda will be reports by Third Ave. Festival Chair Chip Cafiero and his cohort, the Festival Chair, who will explain how this year’s Second ‘Green Festival’ will develop on Oct. 3.

OTHER OFFICERS of the M.T.A. include 1st Vice Pres. Jay Sessa(McLaughlin Funeral Homes); 2nd Vice President Wade Jabour(Jabour Realty); Treasurer Cathy DiTirro(Capital One Bank); Secretary Lloyd Berg(Verrazano Vision). Corr. Secretary Rhea McCone(Harbour Abstract); Rec., Secretary Kelli Kilbride(Lavender Blue). Chadwicks Restaurant owners Steve Oliver and Gerry Morris are among the M.T.A. zone coordinators. This writer serves as Executive Secretary. We always like to point out that Jay Sessa is the M.T.A. officer who oversees the $20,000 holiday lights program–paid for by member dues–which brightens the avenue starting at Thanksgiving each year.

Who’s Chandra Hira?
Focus Goes Boldface
IT’S with great glee that we note the revered Bay Ridge Arts Festival, starting its 42nd year April 8 at Good Shepherd Church is chaired this by the skilled and comely Chandra Hira, a one-time participant and now a successful magazine executive. Bob Kassenbrock did a splendid job as Arts Festival chair for many years and has earned a ‘break’! Bridging The Arts columnist Liz Gassimi(a proud ‘graduate’ of the Bay Ridge Writers Workshop),reminds two of the Arts Festival judges are photographers Georgine Benvenuto and David Foss…Congratulations to (the colorful) Maureen Stramka and Ed Moderacki, deserving and joint winners of the coveted Civic Award of the Bay Ridge Community Council who will star at the BRCC’s June 3 Annual Dinner Dance along with then-outgoing President Andy Windsor…. Whether or not you agree with Assemblyman Felix Ortiz’s soda tax it’s undisputable that his battle against obesity and the concurrent diabetes epidemic has done a lot of good…We were in California and missed the big St. Patrick’s Parade but–based on past consistent performance– we would agree with veteran Spectator Columnist Jerry Kassar who wrote that Atty. Michael Connors was a grand choice for Grand Marshal and that Peter Clavin did a fine job of emceeing the event launched 16 years back through (now) Sen. Marty Golden and (then) Fifth Ave. business leader Mike Long…aided by the hard work of (then) Peggy O-Neill’s proprietor Jack Malone. and his crew…Especially in view of all the work she’s done and her trademark demand for discipline in community organizing it would seem that BRCC Executive Secretary Arlene Keating would make an excellent future choice for the above-mentioned Civic Award. …. Sunny warm weather brought thousands to Sen. Golden’s Easter Egg Hunt at McKinley Park presenting a challenge to the many management skills of Chief Egg Guy Chip Cafiero….Enjoying the event with his beautiful family was top Golden aide John Quaglione. Giving much-needed help to the ‘egg-layers’ was the very popular Barbara Slattery and Columnist Jerry Kassar…Because she’s paid constant attention to their needs, Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer has made a lot of friends in the large senior community of Bay Ridge…A reader mentioned she enjoyed researching a past BCAT “View From Bay Ridge” wherein this writer joined the ebullient Courtney Sessa(Jay’s daughter) in a trip around The Ridge in a modifed hearse a la the memorable Laura Ambrose role in the outstanding but now departed HBO series “Six Feet Under”…. Till next week that’s it, folks…we’re out of Focus!