Red Hook Star-Revue, August 2015

Red Hook Star-Revue www.star-revue.com August 2015, Page 1

SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

The Red Hook StarªRevue

AUGUST 2015 FREE

Just three weeks after the reopening of Coffey Park - following a lan-guid 15 month renovation - Red Hook park lovers were given a fresh jolt when they learned that some or most of the Red Hook ball fields

may be closed for up to three years due to lead in the soil.

“The bottom line is that we want our children playing on fields that are safe,” Borough President Eric Adams said at the beginning of the EPA Meeting at the Miccio Center gymnasium on Wednesday, July 22 in ref-erence to the lead contamination at the Red Hook ball fields.

There is currently lead contamination at the historic ball fields in Red

BWAC’s

Two Summer Art Shows Open Aug 1

weekends 1-6PM thru Aug 23

481 Van Brunt door 7 BWAC.ORG Gallery 718 596-2507

After Red Hook Walks, Van Brunt becomes an obstacle course

by George Fiala

More problems for Red Hook parks

by Nathan Weiser

Less than two weeks after Van Brunt was closed to traffic for Red Hook Walks - allowing for lei-

surely strolling and enjoying the fruits of our business community - a huge fence on a construction site at 307 Van Brunt Street forced walkers to make their way through garbage and a truck infested street simply to get to the corner.

A few months earlier, a construction site just south of the King Street site annoyed residents with a half week of bone shaking pile-driving. There was not much that could be done, as 311 complaints went unheard. This time residents, led by John McGettrick, made their complaints heard to a host of city agencies as well as the office of Council Member Carlos Menchaca.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a permit to the develop-er, Sammy Abouzid, of Infinity Design in Caldwell, New Jersey, to block off the entire sidewalk.

According to the posted building per-mits, the sidewalks on Van Brunt and King Streets will be fenced off until at least October 5.

One of McGettrick’s complaints to city officials was the lack of proper barricading to allow pedestrians to negotiate past the construction area. Menchaca’s office made inquiries. They were told that DOT had sent an inspector who issued summonses with the threat of a stop-work order if the violations were not corrected by the beginning of August.

As Red Hook continues to attract af-fluent home-buyers, more and more of these vacant lots will be developed. According to plans that are publicly available, 307 Van Brunt will become a three story residential building. There are other projects sprouting on Red Hook’s commercial strip, and none of them seem to include storefronts.

Est4te Four’s Massimiliano Senise ex-plains that for now, this makes sense. Without having any specific knowl-

edge about 307 Van Brunt, he says that “in the case of Red Hook where retail is generally not high-end yet I would agree with the approach of the developer not to have any.”

McGettrick is a long time advocate of more housing in the neighborhood. He does agree that retail development will eventually be important, but without a zoning change, developers are free to build first floor residential on Van Brunt. He does not foresee any movement towards any zoning change in the near future.

Susan Povich of the Red Hook Lobster Pound agrees with McGettrick. “I en-courage any residential in Red Hook!” she told the Star-Revue. Monica Byrne of Roquette Catering says “I’d person-

ally prefer more commercial ground floor space along Van Brunt.”

St. John Frizell, who operates Van Brunt Street’s Fort Defiance, goes fur-ther: “Generally I think that the neigh-borhood is better served when devel-opment on Van Brunt Street includes commercial space on the first floor. Red Hook is not a bedroom commu-nity, or at least it shouldn’t be. “

“Its main commercial corridor - Van Brunt Street - should be a bustling av-enue, filled with shops that serve the needs of Red Hook locals and Brook-lynites in general. That’s difficult to achieve without an unbroken string of retail shops that extends for sever-al blocks—the kind of thing that you see in virtually every other Brooklyn neighborhood.”

Page 2 Red Hook Star-Revue www.star-revue.com August 2015

RELIGIOUS SERVICESChristianRiver Of God Christian Center110 Wolcott Street, 646-226-6135, Secretary, Sister Roslyn Chatman. Sunday - Family Wor-ship 11:00 - 1:00 pm Scripture, read in English and Spanish Wednesday - At The Gate 12:00 noon, Prayer 7:00 - 7:30 pm, Bible Studies 7:00 - 8:00 pm, Thursday Prayer 7:30 - 8:30pm, Friday Youth ABLAZED Ministries 6:00 - 7:30pm, Senior Pastor, Donald Gray

Visitation Church98 Richards St, (718) 624-1572. Office open Mon-Thursday9 am - 3 pm. Saturday mass 5 pm; Spanish mass at 7 pm. Sunday 10 am English, 12:30 pm Spanish. Community Prayer Tuesday and Thursday, 8 pm. Youth Group Meetings on Friday, 4:30 - 6 pm. Baptisms are held every other month. Please call to arranged for baptisms, communions and weddings.

St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish467 Court Street. (718) 625-2270 Rectory Hours: Monday-Thursday 9 am-11:30 am, 1 pm-4 pm, Friday 9 am- 12 noon. Masses: Saturday 5:30 pm, Sunday 10 am, Monday- Thursday 9:30 am. Religious Education grades 1,2, 3 -Register now for this September! Please visit our website for more information and to view our weekly bulletin www.stmarystarbrooklyn.com

Saint Paul and Saint Agnes Parish Church Office 234 Congress Street (718) 624-3425 Hours: M - F 830am-12 St. Agnes Church Office 433 Sackett Street, 718-625-1717 Hours: M-F 1pm-430pm Email: [email protected] St. Agnes: Saturday 5pm Vigil Mass Sunday 9 am (English), 11:30am (Spanish) St. Paul’s: Saturday 5pm Vigil Mass Sunday 8 am & 9:30am (English); 11am (Spanish) Monday & Tuesday 8:30am (St. Paul’s) Wednesday & Thursday 8:30am (St. Agnes) Saturday 8am (St. Paul’s)

Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary - Saint Stephen Roman Catholic Church125 Summit Street at Hicks Street [email protected] Saturday Vigil Mass 5:30pm Sunday Masses: 10am & 11:45am (Italian/English) Weekdays Masses: Tuesday Through Saturday 8:30am Confessions: Saturdays 4:45pm and by appointment. Baptisms: Every Third Sun-day At 1pm. Please call the rectory one month before to make arrangements.

St. Paul’s Carroll Street 199 Carroll Street Parish Office: 718-625-4126 Sunday Mass at 10 am Weekday Morning Prayer - Mon.-Thurs. at 7:30 am Weekday masses as announced Holy Days as announced \Church open for prayer Tues. 6-8pm & Sat. 2-4pm http://stpaulscarrollst.weebly.com/

JewishKane Street Synagogue 236 Kane Street, 718 875-1550 http://kanestreet.org/ Friday night services, 6:00 PM Shabbat services, 9:15 AM Sunday Services 9:00 AM

Congregation B’nai Avraham/Chabad of Brooklyn Heights117 Remsen St., 718 596 4840 x18 www.bnaiavraham.com, www.heightschabad.com Morning Services: Sunday: 8:45am Monday - Friday: 7:45am Holidays (during the week): 8:45am Saturday: 9:45am Evening Services: Sunday: Shabbat candle lighting time Monday - Thursday: 9:00pm Fri-day: Winter: 5 minutes before Shabbat candle lighting time Summer: 7:30pm Saturday: Shabbat

If your religious institution isn’t listed here, let us know by emailing [email protected] Thanks!

Community Telephone Numbers:Red Hook Councilman Carlos Menchaca ................. 718 439-9012Red Hook Assemblyman Felix Ortiz ..........................718-492-6334Red Hook State Senator Velmanette Montgomery 718-643-6140Gowanus Councilman Brad Lander ........................... 718 499-1090Park Slope Councilman Steve Levin .......................... 718 875-5200CB6 District Manager Craig Hammerman .............. 718 643-3027

76th Police Precinct, 191 Union StreetMain phone .................................................................718-834-3211Community Affairs ..................................................... 718 834-3207Traffic Safety ............................................................... 718 834-3226

Eileen Dugan Senior Center, 380 Court Street ....... 718 596-1956Miccio Community Center, 110 East 9th Street ..... 718 243-1528 Red Hook East Dev. Office, 62 Mill St. ....................... 718 852-6771Red Hook West Dev. Office, 55 Dwight St. ............... 718 522-3880Brownstone Republicans [email protected]

NYCHA Satellite Police Precinct, 80 Dwight StreetMain Phone ............................................................... (718) 265-7300Community Affairs ................................................... (718) 265-7313Domestic Violence ................................................... (718) 265-7310

Happenings, etc.

TUESDAY AUGUST 4Night Out Against Crime. See community leaders and local politicians and of course the police as they all gather in Coffey Park for the local version of this nationwide event. 4 - 7 pm

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6Red Hook Irregulars at Cobble Hill Park - Listen to a free concert by local favorites Eric Ruff and John Jasilli, along with Phil Dunn on bass. Begins 7 pm, Clinton and Congress Sts.

UNITED HEALTHCARE MEDICARE: Come meet your local UHC Rep, we make your health our main concern! 99 Cent Dream 11am-1pm 498 Otsego Street off Lorraine Street.

A public meeting will take place the evening of Thursday August 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Brooklyn Montessori School at 185 Court Street, at Bergen Street, in Cobble Hill. The meeting will include a brief pre-sentation of the options put forth by Fortis, followed by opportunities for community feedback and discussion. All are welcome to attend.

FRI - SUN AUGUST 7 - 9 Old Timers Weekend - events in Coffey Park and the Miccio Center. The main event takes place Sunday in Coffey Park. Barbecuing and meeting old and making new friends.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7“Artists for PortSide” Nuevo Amenecer concert. Two Swiss musicians combine flamenco, chamber music, and jazz as they perform rumba, sevillana, tango, fandango and more. Atlantic Basin, 8-10:00 pm FREE

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8TankerTours of the MARY A. WHALEN are free to the public. The ship is the last of her kind in the USA and on the National Register of Historic Places. Learn PortSide WaterStories about the crew, how a Supreme Court decision about the ship revolutionized American maritime law. The huge galley is likely bigger than your apartment kitchen, the cast iron engine is a wonder, the bell boat communication system a surprise. Also Sunday. Atlantic Basin 12 - 5 pm.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15Red Hook Family Day, Food, Fun, Community. Red Hook West in Coffey Park, Red Hook East in Centre Mall Noon - 6 pm, \Barbecue in the Garden of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Games, Food and Fun - a day for the family. 3-6 pm, Visitation Church garden on Visitation Place off Richards.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18UNITED HEALTHCARE MEDICARE: Don’t mess a fun, information packed class with snacks, give-aways! Library, 2pm – 4pm 7 Wolcott Street.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22Red Hook Field Day. Red Hook youth engage in fitness activities. Red Hook Stadium, 9 am - 4 pm. Produced by T.A.C.T.S online, http://www.tactsonline.org/events.html

FREE Neighborhood ServicesFrank McCrea from the NYC Department of Aging is at the Miccio Center every Monday from 10 - 2 pm. He will help you solve any problem you may have dealing with any NYC agency, such as child welfare, support groups, benefits, etc.

Free CPR Training Class at the Red Hook Public Library Help Save A Life, Learn CPR. Join us Tuesday July 14th at 6:30pm for a Free non certifying CPR Training hosted by the FDNY. Learn compression CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator. Includes hands on participation and giveaways!

Sandy Recovery Worforce1. Services for NYCHA residents include career counseling, resume editing, interview advice, job recruitment events with Build It Back contractors, Vouchers for pre-apprenticeship, construction skills and other job training programs. 1906 Mermaid Ave, 2nd Fl; Brooklyn, 11224 Tel: (646) 927-6093 Hours: 9am to 5pm. Lots more information at http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/wf1/html/sandy_recovery/home.shtml. Karen Blondel who lives in the Red Hook Houses is always available for additional guidance. Her number is 718 809-2070

Free use of computers at the Justice Center. Not everyone has access to a desktop computer, and yet many job and educational opportunities re-quire one. So the Justice Center offers its comput-ers to the community for free, every Wednesday from 10 am - 1 pm, room 101. The Justice Center is on Visitation Place between Richards and Van Brunt. For more information call Sabrina Carter 718 923-8261

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations - Certificate courses in TV/Film production, woodworking and cabinet making, cable installation as well as driving lessons are available. For information stop by 621 Degraw Street (near 4th Avenue) or call 718 237-2017. www.bwiny.org

OpportunityNYCHA - the REES program administers the “Section 3” program. This is a HUD mandate that requires employment and other economic opportunities coming from the Federal Government to be directed towards public housing residents. NYC has a similar program requiring that 15% of the labor amount of NYCHA contracts greater than $500,000 to go NYCHA residents. Eligibility requirements, according to Karen Blondell, are that you must either be 1 - on the lease, 2 - economically disadvantaged (receiving SNAP benefits), or 3 -live withing 10 blocks of a NYCHA development. To register call the REES Hotline at (718) 289-8100. Examples of opportunities include web development, home health aide training, NYPD tutorial, NRTA Construction Training. REES conducts information sessions at the Brooklyn office every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30am. Address: 787 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238.

Red Hook Cares (Counseling and Restorative Services). Including advocacy, case management

and referrals for victims of crime. Accompaniment to partner agencies and criminal justice appointments. Located at the Community Justice Center, 88 Visitation Place. To make a referrall call Laura Volz, 347 404-9910 or email [email protected]

Stronger Together services are free and prioritize Red Hook and other local NYCHA development residents. Their services include Adult Education, Job Readiness, Community Services, which include benefits counseling, legal advice, financial coaching and tax preparations. The services are free because the Red Hook Initiative, Fifth Avenue Committee, SBIDC and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations have been paid by the NY City Council to provide these services. So take advantage of them! For information call 718 858-6782 or go the the Red Hook Initiative at 767 Hicks Street (at W 9th).

The Edward J. Malloy Initiative for Construction Skills provides training and employment in the unionized construction industry. CSKILLS has placed more than 1600 New Yorkers into union apprentice programs over the past 15 years. To be considered you must be 18 years or older, be a legal citizen, HS or GED, 9th grade reading and math scores and available to attend training 5 days a week 7 hours a day. Their website is www.constructionskills.org. It looks like the best way to navigate that website is to check under apprenticeship training and choose a union program, and also to go to useful links, where you can find a whole host of other opportunities, including Helmets to Hardhats - a workforce program for veterans.

Free Summer Camp for Middle Schoolers. Monday thru Friday from 10 am - 5 pm. Applications are available by calling Ms. Samora at 718 858-6782, or stopping by the Red Hook Initiative, 767 Hicks St

The Child Place for Children with Special Needs holds a Read and Play afternoon in the Red Hook library every Monday at 1 - 2:00 pm. Kids 5 and under. Parent or guardians must accompany children, who will be able to meet, make friends and play! Red Hook Library, 7 Wolcott Street

The Red Hook Library offers a free Lego Club for Red Hook youngsters. It meets at the library the last Friday of the month at 4:30pm. Next meeting is Friday, June 26.

Celebrating Red Hook Celebration, Saturday July 25 from noon - 10 pm. Free booths are available for Red Hook residents to exhibit and sell things they make. For more information write to [email protected] or call 718 624-5568

If you have a listing that you feel appropriate for this page, email [email protected]. There is no charge, as this is a free service as well!


Hook, which has caused the current closure of Ball Fields 5-8. According to Margaret Gregor, the on-scene En-vironmental Protection Agency (EPA) Coordinator, the soil will be collected, put in a jar and shipped to a lab for analysis. When the whole process is finished on Fields 5-8 (in about a year), EPA will then move onto the re-mediation of Field 9.

Field 9, a baseball field, is the other field in Red Hook where lead was found related to the historic Colum-bia facility; but it will remain open for now. EPA got involved because testing in April found some contamination there as well.

Fields 5-8 have been closed all year and are beginning to look like a forest. NYC Parks has added fencing along the streets to cover any grassy areas. Signage along the entrances has also been added to explain why the ball fields were closed. However, there is no indication of when the cleanup will start.

Lillie Marshall, President of The Ten-ant Association for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in the Red Hook West Houses, says that many people in Red Hook are disap-pointed with the situation.

“What I understand is that the people are not pleased because they are clos-ing too many parks at one time,” Mar-shall said.

She thinks that part of the total amount of money that will be going towards fixing the fields should come from Sandy. “I think it is something to do with the Sandy, the Sandy re-lief money, because the parks are still messed up from Sandy, so this is who is supposed to be cleaning these parks up.”

Kevin Jeffrey, Brooklyn Park Com-missioner, says that the fields will be worked on in stages through 2018 to try to minimize disruption, but “the Parks Department and the city as a whole [are] 100 percent committed to a long-term remediation,” accord-ing to Jeffrey. This will ensure that the kids using the fields will be safe.

“NYC Parks has not yet come up with the plan,” added Natalie Loney, who is the EPA Community Involve-ment Coordinator for Red Hook. “It will take a year or so to come up with the design. A work plan has to be ap-proved by EPA. We do not have a fixed date.”

The proposed approach is to install a demarcation layer on top of the con-taminated soil. “It is going to be plas-tic membrane, and it will combine a physical barrier to the contamina-tion,” Gregor said. “On top of that de-marcation layer, there will be at least 12 inches of fill [soil].”

To make it safe when people walk in the area, water trucks will be spraying the dust that forms during the clean up to prevent the infection of any-one in the area. Monitors will also be

on site to detect high levels of dust. These monitors will signal alarms when at specific action levels that become unsafe and operations will be stopped.

This whole process of getting rid of the lead contamination in Fields 5-8 and 9 will not be finished until 2018.The long approval process for the project and a large engineering effort will take time. “The purpose is to pro-tect public health in the long-term,” Gregor added.

According to Gregor, what led to the contamination at the Red Hook fields was that the whole area used to be a tidal marsh in the 1800s. A tidal marsh is a type of marsh that is found along coasts where the flood-ing characteristics are determined by the tidal movements of the adja-cent sea or ocean.

There was a historic secondary smelter at the corner of Hicks and Loraine Street from the late 1920s until the late 1930s. It was demol-ished around 1940. Shortly after, the block became the four ball fields in need of remediation.

Parks and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will con-duct the remaining soil sampling of the park, Soccer Field 3, and Baseball Fields 1-4, this fall.

NYC Parks found lead contamina-tion in the Red Hook ball fields back in 2012 and soil was removed. The fields were reopened and in use un-til this year. Those are fields that are mainly used by children, who are more sensitive to health defects of lead, according to Gregor. “Lead can lead to neurological symptoms and cognitive deficits,” she said.

When playing baseball or softball it is normal to slide in the dirt/soil. People can be exposed by touching contami-nated soil, and then eating or touch-ing their faces without washing their hands. Children can also be exposed to the contamination by inhaling dust on dry or windy days when dust and dirt has been kicked up into the air.

It was announced that NYC Parks will be remediating Soccer Fields 1, 2 and 6 over the next several years. Lead contamination at these fields is be-lieved to be from historic fill material, which is not related to the Colum-bia facility. The fill was added in the 1800s to expand the ground surface towards the Gowanus Bay.

The remediation of Soccer Fields 1, 2 and 6 will be done under NYC Parks supervision. Those portions of the

park that have contamination not as-sociated with the formed Columbia smelter will be under the Parks De-partment

“NYC Parks will be conducting the remediation of Fields 5-9 under EPA oversight,” Loney said. “The other ball fields parks will be addressed, but that will not be under EPA oversight. Our involvement in the ball fields at Red Hook Park is primarily associat-ed with the Columbia smelting.”

In March, EPA sampled a compre-hensive grid along ball fields 5-8. “We actually found lead at levels that were much higher than what we had expected based on what we already knew,” Gregor said. “Our standard for lead is 400 quartz per million, and they found a level of 1,200 quartz per million at the surface, which repre-sents a more acute threat or urgent risk that requires immediate action.”

As part of this process, all of the grassy areas on these fields and spe-cific park features need to be taken out, and then be reinstalled. All fenc-es, benches, water fountains, softball diamonds, walkways and lampposts will be removed and then reinstall-ing after the cleanup is complete. The public will not be exposed to anything harmful during construction.

Youth baseball affectedThe closure of these softball fields di-rectly impacts the Red Hook Youth Baseball League. They have primarily used Ball Fields 5-8 and the younger kids now have nowhere to play, ac-cording to League Co-Commissioner Ian Younge.

“I have over 100 kids [who] use these fields from ages 5 through 18,” Younge said. “We have been able to field some of the older teams and get them in league play, but not with the younger players.”

Younge and others in his family have been using these fields for over 30 years, so he knows their condition well.

Younge has had his Commissioner position for the last three years and has been involved for the last 10 years. According to Younge, when there is a rainstorm on Field 9, at least an inch or two of soil runs off each time be-cause the field is elevated. As a re-sult of this safety hazard - which can make it dangerous when kids slide into base - he thinks that synthetic turf should be installed after the clean up at Field 9 so that the soil will not be destroyed underneath the field.

The Youth Baseball League has been run through the Justice League for the more than 15 years. The abrupt closure has created issues for the league’s normal schedule.

“We are in the process of trying to make something happen clinic-wise in the month of August in the back fields,” Younge said. “At least we will have something for them this year.”

Red Hook Ballfields a leaden mess(continued from page 1)

Lillie Marshall, President

of The Tenant Association

for New York City Housing

Authority (NYCHA) in the

Red Hook West Houses, says

that many people in Red

Hook are disappointed with

the situation.

“What I understand is that

the people are not pleased

because they are closing too

many parks at one time.”

Ian Younge and Heriberto Lopes hold up a banner at the opening of the 2014 Red Hook Junior Baseball League season. This year the season did not take place because the fields have been closed due to contamination. Assistant Speaker Felix Ortiz is in red, with Councilman Carlos Menchaca also smiling, wearing the glasses.


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Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, recently released an encyli-

cal letter entitled “Laudato Si” which translates to “Praise Be to You.” In the encyclical, released on the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Father criticizes the many irresponsible activities which have caused a global ecological crisis.

The Pope relies heavily on the writings of his predecessor popes and, most of all, the teachings and philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis revered na-ture and his prayer, Canticle of the Sun actually features the encyclical’s titular phrase, “Laudato Si.” The prayer does not merely address Roman Catholics but rather is an appeal to all people of the world to take swift action in order to turn the tide of this grave problem.

Some have criticized the Pope for provocatively speaking out on what many perceive as a solely scientific is-sue. We asked Monsignor Guy Massie, Pastor of Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen Church, for his reaction to the en-cyclical. Commenting on the Pope’s “chutzpah,” Monsignor Massie feels it is totally appropriate for the Pope to speak out on the environment. “The earth is our common ground, liter-ally and figuratively -- we all share the planet, whether we are Hindu, Mus-lim, Catholic, [or] atheist.”

Mgr. Massie went on to say that the en-cyclical “brings us all to the table and opens up to further dialogue... [and that] if you believe in God as the creator, it makes sense to take care of his creation.”

When asked if he would discuss “Lau-dato Si” with his congregation, Mgr. Massie said that he plans to order cop-ies of the encyclical in the fall and or-ganize a study group “with the purpose of entering into an academic discourse and to learn from each other through prepared and thoughtful discussion.”

Mgr. Massie then reiterated that there should be no conflict between religion and science since both are seeking the truth. He feels that religious com-munities should be open to what the scientific community has to say and teach us. He summed up his feelings by noting that if “one’s faith is to be-lieve that God is creator, then science should be viewed as our prayer book.”

Announcements• The Diocese of Brooklyn has or-dained two new auxiliary bishops. Bishop James Massa and Bishop Wi-told Mroziewski were elevated to the episcopacy by Bishop Nicholas Di-Marzio on July 20 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights.

• The U.S. Episcopal Church elected it’s first African-American Presiding Bishop at their national assembly on June 27. Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina was elected in a land-slide vote and begins a nine-year term in November, leading a flock of nearly 1.9 million members.

• At Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen Church,

parishioner Anthony Troiano was honored as The Knights of Columbus Knight of The Year following mass on June 12. Mr. Troiano’s good works in-clude the founding of the Kimberly Geritano Scholarship which awarded scholarships to three students attend-ing Catholic schools this coming fall.

Upcoming Events Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen Church Summit & Hicks Streets • Book Club - Next meeting to discuss The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd will be on August 24 at 7:00 pm Parish House at 108 Carroll Street.

• Summer Film Festival - Saturdays at 7:30 pm in the courtyard. August 1, It Happened in Brooklyn; August 8, Happy Feet; August 15, Sister Act; August 22, West Side Story. Admis-sion is free and food will be available for purchase.

• Feast of the Assumption - Saturday, August 15 at 12 pm, an outdoor mass will be celebrated, weather permit-ting, in front of the church. All who at-tend will be treated to ice cream after the mass.

St. Agnes Church Hoyt & DeGraw Streets French Mass each Sunday at 11 am St. Mary Star of the Sea 467 Court Street • Registration for their new Religious Education Program (Grades 1, 2, & 3) is ongoing through September 10. Registration forms are available in the back of church and at the rectory, dur-ing office hours, or may be download-ed at www.stmarystarbrooklyn.com, St. Paul Episcopal Church 199 Carroll Street • Jazz@Mass returns, under the direc-tion of renown jazz musician, Willie Martinez. “Come join us for a ser-vice where worship meets jazz in a relaxed, low mass setting inspired by the lazy days of summer, all for the glory of God!” August 2 and Septem-ber 27 from 10:00 am to 12:00 noonVisitation BVM Church 98 Richards Street • Wonderful Wednesday with The Flourishing Preschool - Adults and children will be planting and doing crafts every Wednesday in the Visita-tion Garden from 12 - 2 pm.

Monsignor Guy Massie, pastor of Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen Church


Each month at the Lorraine Center, the students are going to be learn-ing 3 new pieces of sign language. This month, we are learning how to say “more”, “all done” and “thank you”. Jessica Figuly, Center Director, Bumblebees R Us, 76 Lorraine Street, Red Hook

News from Bumblees R Us

Good marks for Coffey renovation

While we were the first to complain when the Coffey Park renovation took longer than expected, now that it’s done, we will also say “Nice Job.” So do most Red Hookers. We especially like the treatment given to the center of the park, which was enlarged to show off the beautiful tree, and which provides a center meeting locati0n. We expect local performers to eventually make use of it, and we would love to see a soapbox orator set up and speak there some day.


Celebrating

Red Hook

Andi Rae Healy and Sean Kershaw, two performers who brought bands to our stage, meet between sets.

Stacy, who creates jewelry called Brooklyn Monsters, relax-es with a friend on behind her booth. Stacy is on the right.

Noble Tree Coffee, who will be opening soon on the Beard Street Pier, served up both hot and iced coffee.

Thats Karen Blondel on the left and Rozz on the right!

Ron’s Southern Cooking was a big hit! Martine Bisagne enchanted the kids with her painting

Kids are always enthusiastic listeners of music. The fest featured 8 live bands performing all day.

We provided benches which Rachel and her friends enjoyed !

BERST, an R & B infused jazz quintet swayed the pier.

A number of artists displayed their work.

The day ended with IKEA fireworks (but the music didn’t!)

A RED HOOK PARTY!by Kimberly Gail Price

Saturday, July 25 the Star-Revue and IKEA hosted all sorts of Red Hook intrigues and their creators. Celebrating Red Hook’s second annual event more than doubled

its offerings and had more than 1,200 people throughout the day.

More than 70 Red Hook establishments spent the day showcases and selling their products, all from the unique and dynamic community of Red Hook.

The festival offered a wide variety of goodies, wares and “fabricators,” Jason Ross from Ar-temas Quibble calls himself. His leather com-pany showed off their design elements. They also offered custom made belts, which could be branded with initials.

Stacy Sandow of Brooklyn Monsters featured her “endearing and extremely gregarious” blown-glass creations on necklaces. She also brought glass red hooks strung on chains and earring hoops.

Peter Waldman, better known to many as Bal-loon Pete, stayed cool in the shade of his tent, while creating complex and custom made bal-loon animals and creations that people of all ages requested.

“I enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day for kids and adults alike. I’d like to see the event run for at least two days,” he said.

Noble Tree Coffee, who will be opening up a Red Hook location on the Beard Street Pier in the coming weeks, offered hot coffee freshly brewed in kettles. They also had an iced brew that was served from a “kegerator,” according to owner Nigel Hall, which is a unique process they use to keep the coffee fresh and cold.

St. John Frizzel of Fort Defiance and Ben Schnei-der of The Good Fork served refreshing cocktails under a large canopy. They ran the special VIP ca-tering section that drew an adult crowd through-out the day and into the night.

Craig Hammerman, District Manager for Com-munity Board 6, attended the event. In an email, he wrote, “ I’m a sucker for a good music line-up which I was confident you would provide. All-in-all it was a fabulous day. I’m sure next year’s is going to be even bigger and better!”


Celebrating

Red Hook

The Star-Revue partnered with IKEA to present the day.

Without a doubt, the cutest festival goer.Karen Broughton, Lorna Montalvo, and her new son Rhys.

Nydia Velazquez came by to relax in her neighborhood.

Craig Hammerman and David Estrada.

A chance to play Jenga drew long lines.

The Ice House served up some tasty dishes.

NY Printing and Graphics brought the whole family, including Shadow!

Tyquan Carter, left, who also performed, sold merch at his stand. Everybody knows Rocky Sullivan’s George, and on the far right is festival producer Kimberly Gail Price and the neighborhood baloonist, Pete Waldman.

Hometown Bar-B-Que sold pulled pork sand-wiches topped with their signature cole slaw. Mazzat had Mediterranean selections of chicken cigars, baklava and more. Mark’s Pizza kept fresh pizzas delivered throughout the day. Kevin’s sold little neck clams and oysters. The Lobster Pound’s Big Red truck sold fresh lobster rolls. Michelle Tampakis’ Whipped Pastry Boutique served gluten-free pastries of all sorts. Bite This/All Natural Dog Treats even offered free samples for dogs.

George Kornienko from Rocky Sullivan’s served cold beer from kegs. Red Hook Winery sampled and served glasses of wine. Six Point also offered two different selections of their signature beer.

Jeff Gorlechen of Six Point said, “The event re-ally demonstrated the spirit of community that makes Red Hook great. All the businesses and vendors really banded together to help each oth-er and make it a great event.”

He also noted that the festival is unique because “ it focuses solely on one neighborhood and also the fact that it is in a beautiful, if underused park that is right on the water. It really makes for a spectacular setting and we should try to host more events there!”

A full day of music heightened the mood of the day, adding a blissful background accompani-ment.

IKEA shot off their annual fireworks while Andi Rae Healy and the Black River Bullies finished their last songs.

Many thanks to our partner IKEA, and our ex-tremely generous sponsors for helping us cre-ate this day. Without their support, none of this would be possible.

Sponsors include Est4te Four, Big Dawg Party Rental, ILA Local 1814, Ridgewood Savings Bank, Brooklyn Bridge Realty and Investor’s Bank.

Numerous others contributed time, energy and ideas that helped make this day so amazing. Our sincerest gratitude for all their hard work and en-couragement.

Coffee mugs, T-shirts and posters are on sale on-line at www.red-hook-star-revue.myshopify.com


LETTERS:

Senior Center BluesAt the meeting we had at the PAL/Se-nior Center, the Monies that were left for the building next door were left by Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez. This money has been NYCHA dormant and there is not any movement next door. On May 16th, the Senior Center had a meeting regarding several issues the seniors were upset over, because they have been waiting for two and a half years only to hear repeated promises.

Regarding parking, the parking will be at the storage area closer to Clin-ton Street, only for the seniors, during the hours that the center will be open. ONLY seniors can walk into the center by the back doors and parking will not be allowed in the backyard. This was ex-plained at a prior meeting and Ms. Byrd never stated that the seniors will park in the backyard; she said “parking was tak-en care of.” Respectfully, Judith Dailey.

Editors Note: This paper has heard that at the latest NYCHA board meeting, a contractor’s proposal for renovating PAL Miccio was rejected, and so there is still no date that work will begin. The contrac-tor was asking $4 million for the work, a figure which was deemed excessive.

Red Hook PoolNote: The Star-Revue received a copy of this letter which was sent to Liam Kava-nagh at the Department of Parks.

This morning I went to the Red Hook pool in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where I have lived these last 20 years. I was told there was no lap swimming until 1PM and to come back then. This is something new, the hours that is, as I’ve been swimming there every sum-mer. The reason given was the pool had been section off for day camps that had paid to use it. While being incon-venienced is bad enough the fact that private money can buy a public pool seems, well, unlawful.

Athletes and senior citizens use the lap lanes to rejuvenate old bones. Young children use the pool to expel excess energy they are born with. The former use it to regain energy and al-leviate aches and pains. This is the first time I can remember being denied ac-cess to the swim lanes. Even with the sectioned off portions of the pool are vastly underused by said day camps. The athletes and elders are forced to swim with mothers, children, teen-agers all vying to frolic in the water. Along with that there are no lines on the pool bottom to guide one in navi-gating through the water.

Could 2 lanes be allotted to us to swim at this time of day? This could accommo-date 20 people who on their own could figure out how to use the space/lanes.

I tried to talk to 3 lifeguards about this, including their supervisor Cat, who was unresponsive, rude, authoritative and referential in that I need to talk to some-one else. I talked to the pool supervi-sor, the pool maintenance man John who were like the lifeguards in their re-sponse. Their suggestion to call 311 was done and why I am writing to you.

When I mentioned the behavior of the lifeguards and staff I was told it was a summer job and they were teenagers. Well we are all people and need to learn how to get along with each other. This

is where manners come in. In sum-mer jobs at pools, like the classroom, boys are interested girls and girl’s boys. Their job is a convenient way to accom-modate them, while supposedly look-ing after those using the public facility. Training in dealing with the public, in a variety of situations could be instilled as part of their training and which would serve them well beyond their summer job experience.

The Red Hook Pool has long been a treasure in this neighborhood and for Brooklyn. I hope it can again conve-niently accommodate us. Yours truly, John M. Buchanan, 103 Pioneer St. Brooklyn, NY 11231

Nursing Home & HelicoptersThe nursing home issue certainly re-quires neighborhood input. A project of that scale in our community would have far reaching consequences, not the least of which would be emergency services, given the facility will be built on a flood plain.

I am more concerned about the he-licopter issue. I am employed in the tourism and hospitality industry and I am a Red Hook resident. I hear the same flights others are complaining about. A bill is being proposed to ban the sightseeing flights. That will cost jobs. Plain and simple. The loss of the flights will also deprive the East River Heliport its primary source of revenue, rental from the tour companies. Who will pay for that facility? It has been a vital resource during 9/11 and Sandy. The site is used for most Presidential landings and special events.

A change of flight path, perhaps out over Governors Island and the Harbor, may quiet some Red Hook complaints. I can’t take Battery Park complaints too seriously since that group wants to qui-et all the ferry traffic. Get over it, BPC, you moved to the waterfront!

Lets explore some options for the he-licopters before causing job losses in a difficult financial climate. - Patrick

Elected Officials on ULURPNYC Council Member Brad Lander, Con-gresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez, Brook-lyn Borough President Eric Adams, NYS Senator Daniel Squadron, NYS Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, NYC Council Member Stephen Levin, Brooklyn Com-munity Board 6, and the Cobble Hill As-sociation issued the following statement regarding the future of the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) Site:

“Local elected officials, Community Board 6, and the Cobble Hill Associa-tion are working together to involve the community in the future of the Long Is-land College Hospital (LICH) site.

Fortis Property Group, LLC was se-lected to purchase the LICH campus through an RFP process managed by the State University of New York, after it decided to close LICH. This process was staunchly opposed by elected of-ficials and community organizations.

To date, Fortis has indicated that two options exist for the redevelopment of the core LICH site: (a) an “as-of-right” option, which does not require discre-tionary public approvals, which would include about 400 market-rate units, and (b) a rezoning or “ULURP” option, which would roughly double the num-ber of residential units and include affordable housing units, space for a

(continued on page 10)

Shames on Thomas Greene Park

Last night I finally heard the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)/Parks De-

partment presentation with regard to the proposed locations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mandated retention tanks at the Gowanus Canal.

The placement of one tank at the salt lot at 2 2nd Avenue has not raised any particular concerns. The choice of the site on private property right off the canal that the City calls the “head end” site (because it is at the head of the canal) rather than at the publicly owned Thomas Greene Park Douglas/Degraw Pool site has led to continu-ing discussion.

EPA seems to be arguing that since the Park/Pool site will require excavation to remove hot spots of coal tars in or-der to protect the Superfund remedy, that tank should be sited below the current Park/Pool site. EPA further argues that the use of public land will reduce costs.

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) claims, contrary to EPA analysis, that the Park/Pool site needn’t be disturbed. It is not sur-prising that the EPA would seek the removal of the toxins at their source, since coal tars migrate through adja-cent properties toward the canal and the EPA’s own proposed remedy for the canal requires more than just a layer of concrete in order to protect the canal bottom much less children swimming.

The City seems to be rooting for the DEC, but has advanced a third way option of maintaining its placement of the tank at the canal while still hav-ing EPA order National Grid to exca-vate the coal tar from the Park/Pool. The City estimates this approach will half the down time for the Park/Pool from 8 years to 4 years.

At the meeting I asked what if any-thing could be built above the pro-posed tank site? I didn’t expect an an-swer nor did I receive one. I was asked what I would like to see there? Hav-ing been raised in a tradition where I am accustomed to having questions answered with further questions, I was prepared to answer. Without much hesitation, and to the surprise of some, I stated that I would like to see Thomas Greene Park connected to the waterfront and then have the head end site incorporated into an ex-

panded park.

I am not privy to the costs involved in purchasing/taking the waterfront property and then placing the tanks and maintaining a park there and also at Thomas Greene Park. If the costs weren’t prohibitive, that would be the best result for the neighborhood.

If that is too much for the City to ab-sorb, perhaps the City could place the tanks at its preferred site (creating a new park/pool facility above of equal or greater size as the current park and pool). This should be coordinat-ed with the remediation of Thomas Greene Park site to reduce the time that we are without any park and pool amenity and complete the process by selling off the remediated former Thomas Greene site for development thus recouping some of its outlay.

As long as the DEC approach is reject-ed and the source of toxic contamina-tion at the Thomas Greene Park/DD Pool site is expeditiously removed, while insuring that there is sufficient incentive to remediate the other MPG parcels, I personally have no other overriding preferences.

All that being said, the designation of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site has given the federal EPA jurisdic-tion over the remediation of the wa-terway and those ancillary things nec-essary in order to protect that remedy. So unless our City or State were to decide to sue the EPA, a course of ac-tion not to be undertaken lightly and fraught with potential liability, and then prevail, the EPA determinations will be followed. - Mark Shames

The Red Hook StarªRevue

481 Van Brunt Street, 8A, Brooklyn, NY 11231

FOR EDITORIAL, ADVERTISING OR EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES, email: [email protected], or call 718 624-5568

The Star-Revue is published by Kimberly G. Price & George Fiala

Halley Bondy, Alexandra Corbin, Mary Ann Pietanza, Marc Jackson and Connor Gaudet, contributors

“Unless our City or State

were to decide to sue the

EPA, a course of action

not to be undertaken

lightly and fraught with

potential liability, and

then prevail, the EPA

determinations will be

followed.”


EDITORIAL:

Wasting time & money Mark’s Corner BY MARK SHAMES

(continued on page 15)

I realize that as I age out, there is that tendency to get increasingly stuck in the past. All too often I

have seen my elders inadequately tip a workman or waiter or wax nostalgic about how much better were those many things that are long gone.

I try to guard against it, but can’t imag-ine a day when I would tip a workman more than twenty bucks, although to avoid ridicule I do tip waiters by per-centage. I always ask younger people how much to give for a wedding or other special occasions because I no longer have a clue.

I try to hide my deep dissatisfaction with digital and cable television and a longing for elements of an analogue existence. I also admit I miss the remembered taste of tomatoes and corn and the satisfac-tion that such flavor could once be pur-chased at a reasonable price.

I tend to be skeptical of the Ubers and Airbnbs of this world and worry about what they will do to the employment and pay of those in these industries. This is true despite the fact that I have never been a fan of fleet owners or hospitality companies. Such services are the last places where most jobs can’t be outsourced.

Plugging inStill I strive to avoid obsolescence. I awkwardly embrace modern technol-ogy. Where I once wrote long hand, since the Commodore 64 I have composed on a computer. I too often glance at my mobile device (a long outdated Galaxy 3) to check texts, emails, updates and alerts. Still I fear being a Luddite compared to the ever- connected youth of the world who have more dexterous thumbs. I have succumbed to Facebook, but have eschewed all additional platforms. I have yet to tweet or re-tweet in my own right, although I have been com-mandeered to do so for others. I might follow reality television and be on ev-

ery plugged in platform, but sadly lack the energy to do any more.

This remnant of the old Brooklyn tries to live in the new Brooklyn, and in many ways admires the new Brooklyn. Certainly, I’ll never be part of the loca-vore or maker economy.

Yes, I mock the attempt to make every-thing the perfect curation of artisanal production. McDonalds artisanal? Come on. However, I appreciate its ap-peal as an attempt to achieve spiritual and physical purity and if that were not enough it is a boost to the economy.

New life for BrooklynThe branding of Brooklyn beyond the Dodgers may be lost on me, but all that being said, I admire the young, aggres-sive, ambitious, entrepreneurial, and flexible people I have met who are breathing life into my home borough and its name. At every opportunity I have been supportive of advancement of the tech community and our edu-cational and research complex, and I have resolved that when I drink, I will drink our beer.

I was pleased to learn that the commu-nity boards have determined to take on a few people with great civic en-ergy and engagement although they, if neuroscience is correct, may not yet have fully formed brains. It gives me hope that I may be able to hang on a while longer with my declining one.

All the above is a lead in to the fact that I have attended more than a few forums of late that have at least in part touched on the future of Brooklyn. I have come away knowing that among our movers and shakers, there is a be-lief that in addition to maintaining our traditional strengths, we will thrive in an increasingly populated borough by mixing living, working, cultural pur-suits and play all in proximity with each other. On bicycles!

AddendaOn the political scene there appears to be a hotly contested primary race for Civil Court Judge in the 6th mu-nicipal district with Isela Isaac, Esq., who apparently filed 5,000 petition signatures, challenging the incum-bent. There is rumor of some reorga-nization of the incumbent’s campaign team. This race will be run in a small slice of Park Slope and much of Crown Heights. It will not appear on the bal-lots of those in Red Hook, Carroll Gar-dens and most of Park Slope for that matter, but it is the closest thing to a political primary race in this neck of the woods.

The saga of the US Environmental Pro-tection Agency (EPA) and NYC Depart-

Change Happens

(continued on next page)

In the five years that we have been publishing the Star-Revue, we have been to countless meet-ings where beleaguered public

housing tenants have pointed out, complained, and begged to have their living conditions improved.

From mold, to poor lighting, to cracks in walls, to broken refrigerators and rotting kitchen cabinets, broken mail-boxes and front door locks, we’ve heard it all.

And guess what - it didn’t cost us a penny to find this information out. All we did was to keep our ears open at meetings and to people explaining to us the conditions they had to live in.

And before you think that this is ok - understand that NYCHA is very strict about collecting the rent - sending out eviction notices regularly. Tenants pay 30% of their GROSS income for the rent. In the old days, before NYC declared $1900 monthly rents to be “affordable,” this was considered the norm for all of us.

Another way for the average simple-ton to understand the problems that public housing tenants face was to pay attention to the campaign speeches of the current mayor. Or to read Scott Stringer’s reports. Or to ask any Ten-ant Association president. Or to read the Daily News.

For some reason, NYCHA has decided that none of these methods is enough to understand the needs of their ten-

ants. Instead, they decided to hire a trio of high-priced international con-sultants to hold an inane meeting at the Miccio Center, wasting our time and the city’s money to find out noth-ing new.

Kohn, Pederson, Fox is an interna-tional design firm that builds projects in places such as Malaysia, China and South Africa. They publish a glossy annual report that defines them as “an independent firm of planners, design-ers, engineers and consultants work-ing across the built environment.”

Their annual revenue is quoted in bil-lions of British pounds. The third con-sultant for this project is OLIN. They are yet another global company. They are an architecture and design firm with government contracts through-out the US and Europe.

These companies sent out a slew of youngish looking employees to facili-tate what was billed as “The Red Hook

Local leaders including Lillie Marshall and Bea Byrd attended the Community Workshop.


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ment of Environmental Protection with an occasional appearance from NYS Department of Environmental Con-servation (DEC) continues. The latest revolves around the City’s choice of a privately held site on the canal rather than using the heavily contaminated City owned park/pool site for one of its retention tanks. EPA is maintaining that the park/pool site will need to be excavated in any event to protect the Superfund remedy. If this is the case, the City may save money by using that site for its tank, since such an EPA de-termination would supersede a DEC decision to let sleeping toxins lie and require remediation of that site within the Superfund remedial timeframe.

Shames’ Corner(continued from previous page)

public school, increased park space and more small retail opportunities. A rezoning would require review by the Community Board, Borough President, and City Planning Commission, and approval by the City Council.

Both of the proposed options present development that is dramatically out-of-scale with the adjacent Cobble Hill Historic District, which has a height limit of 50 feet (in each case, the tallest building Fortis proposes would be over 40 stories). In either scenario, NYU Langone will also build an approxi-mately 108,000 sq. ft. health center at the corner of Atlantic and Hicks.

We will continue to work together to ensure all of the community’s options are explored. This working group will help organize public dialogue about the options. It is not a decision-mak-ing body, and will not recommend that Fortis pursue a particular option. Rather it will organize forums where residents, businesses, and stakehold-ers (including the Brooklyn Heights Association and Atlantic Avenue BID, both of whom represent areas adjacent to the LICH site) can learn more about the various options, weigh in on Fortis’ potential development options, pro-pose alternatives, and provide commu-nity feedback. All stakeholders (elected officials, the community board, com-munity organizations, individuals, etc.) will ultimately make their own deci-sions about Fortis’ proposals.

Over the next 2-3 months, the working group will organize several open, pub-lic meetings where Fortis will present their proposals and consider feedback, as well as several smaller meetings with stakeholders to drill-down on specific issues including: urban design, parks/open space, retail/commercial, the health care facility, the potential public school, potential affordable housing, and traffic/parking/transit and other infrastructure concerns.

A public meeting will take place the evening of Thursday August 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Brooklyn Montessori School at 185 Court Street, at Bergen Street, in Cobble Hill. The meeting will include a brief presentation of the op-tions put forth by Fortis, followed by op-portunities for community feedback and discussion. All are welcome to attend.

Letters:(continued from page 8)


Sue Ascolese, mother of Hope & Anchor’s Pete Ascolese, gave 25 years of her career to the city’s Department of Education. She served as both a teacher and administrator in both public and private schools.

Since 2006, she worked as an Administrator of Special Education, helping more than 200 schools maintain compliance with city and state regulations. She retired at the end of the 2014-15 school year.

On July 15, among family and friends, Sue was awarded a Proclamation by Coun-cilmember Carlos Menchaca’s office not only for her life of public service, but also for her volunteer efforts before, during and after Hurricane Sandy.

The proclamation read, “Educators provide one of the greatest services to our so-ciety...they help to cultivate our future.” It continued, “ Upon her retirement, Sue can be proud and know that her great legacy of service will continue to resonate not only within the walls of many schools, but also within the minds of countless students, alumni and colleagues throughout the City.”

The Star-Revue concurs with Menchaca’s proclamation in wishing Sue “continued happiness and success in her retirement.”

Sue Ascolese honored at Hope and Anchorby Kimberly Gail Price

Inspiring theater at Calvary ChurchFor one night only, Calvary Baptist Church of Red Hook hosted a spiritual play, For Better or For Worse, written, directed, and co-starred in by Racquel Marie Jones.

The play incorporates modern challenges of drugs, violence and ir-reverence to contradict the spiritual path of God.

The high-energy play incorporated wildly hilarious character ste-reotypes that worked together to entertain, spread the word of God’s love, and in the end, teach a tragic lesson of forgiveness and mercy.

Ray Hall, who is responsible for bringing the play to Red Hook, hopes he can host the traveling group again. Tickets for the event helped to fundraise for the church, while the theater company raised money to continue their work by selling shirts with bold messages like “God Over Everything” and “#Team Jesus.” - Kimberly Price

Red Hook’s Leroy Branch moves on by Kimberly Gail Price

Above, Leroy receives honors from As-semblywoman Jo Anne Simon. Middle,

Leroy is hugged by District Manager Craig Hammerman, with whom he worked side-

by-side for many years. Far right - Leroy receives his City Proclamation from City

Councilman Brad Lander.Leroy has been Craig’s assistant at Com-

munity Board Six for many years, and has now taken a position with the Department

of Transportation (so we’ll still see him around!)

His party was given at the Brazen Head, run by former CB 6 member Lou Sones.

Leroy Branch, circa 1980, with former District Man-ager Robert Acito, while Leroy was first employed at Brooklyn CB6 as a teenager


The story of the Revolutionary War redoubt, Fort Defiance has been told in the pages of this newspaper before, so

while it isn’t necessarily worth retell-ing the story of the role it played in the early days of the Revolution, it might be worth visiting its more recent past - that is, the curious tale of it’s debated location.

Van Dyke and ConoverFor many years, historians were re-markably consistent in recording the Fort as having been in the approxi-mate location of the intersection of Van Dyke and Conover Streets. These include men who were writing when the Revolutionary War was still within living memory, or just a gen-eration or so out of it in the 1850s and 60s. Writers like Henry Stiles, Thomas Warren Fields, and Gabriel Furman, whose histories of Brooklyn are still used by academics today all agreed on this location.

However, for some reason in the middle of the 20th century, people started recording the location as hav-ing been at Dwight and Beard Streets. The change occurred quietly, but it nonetheless occurred, and most books written between 1950 and 2010 are consistent in recording that as the Fort’s location. There is no point in arguing the location of the fort to-day - it was indeed in the proximity of Van Dyke and Conover - but why the

change?

On August 27, 1952, the 176th an-niversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Borough Historian James Kelly placed a bronze plaque on the wall of a red brick building owned by the Todd Shipyards Corporation, at the corner of Dwight and Beard

Red Hook History: Where exactly was Fort Defiance anyway?

by Connor Eugene Gaudet

Streets. Kelly had been appointed Borough Historian in 1944 and was passionate about Brooklyn history.

He did much to educate the commu-nity about their shared history and encourage a feeling of public owner-ship of Brooklyn’s rich and storied past. One thing he did to promote historical awareness was to place markers at historically significant lo-cations around the Borough, such as the birthplace of Winston Churchill’s mother and the final resting place of the Marylanders who sacrificed themselves for Washington’s army during the Battle of Brooklyn.

One speaker at the unveiling was Harry G. Hill of the Todd Shipyards Corporation Board of Directors, who praised Kelly’s “happy circumstance” of locating the historic site. What was the “happy circumstance” that led-Kelly to locate this historic site? Had he found new evidence that disproved the Conover/Van Dyke location? Whatever this “happy circumstance” was, it would have to have happened sometime between August 1951 and March 1952.

In 1951, to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran a series of stories that “reported” the events of the British and Hessian invasion of Long Island and the battle that fol-lowed, all in first person present tense. In the August 22 issue, an article dis-cusses some of the American forti-fications, including Fort Defiance, describing it as being “on a small Is-land just off shore (about at the foot of Conover and Van Brunt Streets.).” On the same page just a column or two over, is an article entitled “James A. Kelly, Boro Historian, Aids in Articles” accompanied by a photo of the man himself.

The article begins, “In the preparation

of this series, the Brooklyn Eagle and the author have leaned heavily upon Borough Historian James A. Kelly.” It goes on to praise his knowledge of local history and his extensive col-lection of historical documents. Less than a year later, in March of 1952, Kelly announced that he would be placing the Fort Defiance plaque at Dwight and Beard Streets.

Daily Eagle battleWhile the battle at Fort Defiance, un-doubtedly took place in Red Hook, the Battle over where the Fort was lo-cated began playing out in the pages of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A month after the plaque was installed a Letter to the Editor appeared in the Eagle.

George J. Bruhns had read the Au-gust 28 story about the plaque and wrote to dispute the accuracy of Kel-ly’s chosen location. His contentions were based not on academic studies, but on his own personal experience. Bruhns had grown up in Red Hook in the 1880s and knew exactly what the area looked like before the street grid demolished any and all physical evi-dence of the original landscape.

Bruhns wrote, “With due respect for James A. Kelly, Borough Historian, I doubt very much that the plaque was placed where it belonged… I cannot conceive of any Army engineers erect-ing a fort on boggy swampland, espe-cially at a place that would command the entrance of Buttermilk Channel. Heavy gun emplacements require solid ground.”

Specifically Mr. Bruhns describes the location of Mr. Kelly’s plaque as it appeared in the 1880s, recalling, “Salt tidewater covered the land now bounded by Dwight St. to Columbia St. and from Lorraine St. to Elizabeth (Beard St) except a diagonal piece of high ground starting at Dwight and

Van Dyke and running diagonal to the entrance of the Long Dock, Ed-ner’s Spar Yard.” This diagonal piece of high ground was very likely what remained of the earth berm that had enclosed Van Dyke’s millpond, sepa-rating it from Gowanus Bay. The 1874 Naval coastal survey below closely re-sembles what Bruhns describes. The future location of the plaque, just off-shore, is marked with a red “X”.

It didn’t take Kelly long to fire back. Two weeks later, his response ap-peared in the same section of the Eagle, entitled, “Maps Show Fort De-fiance Was Built on Solid Upland.” In it, Kelly dismisses Mr. Bruhns’ com-ments as “hearsay evidence” and de-fends his position, saying “the maps on file at the office of the County Clerk show this site to be solid upland, es-pecially one made in 1776 from origi-nal Government surveys that shows ‘the original high and low grounds, salt marsh and shore lines in the City of Brooklyn.’”

A few things seem strange about this statement, particularly the fact that no City of Brooklyn existed until 1834. Also, if the map were created in 1776,

Enlargement of section of Plan of the Battle of Long Island, Henry P. Johnston.

“One thing he did to pro-

mote historical awareness

was to place markers at his-

torically significant locations

around the Borough, such

as the birthplace of Winston

Churchill’s mother and the fi-

nal resting place of the Mary-

landers who sacrificed them-

selves for Washington’s army

during the Battle of Brooklyn.”

(continued on next page)

Brooklyn’s Borough Historian James A. Kelly. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 22, 1951

Enlargement of portion of NOAA map of New York Harbor and Environs, 1874.


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History(continued from previous page)

why would it be described as depict-ing the original high and low grounds, etc.? In 1776, there would have been nothing else that those things could be described as “original” in compari-son to.

Mr. Kelly’s use of quotation marks proved useful, as a Google search of his verbatim description provided a map on file at the New York Public Library that employs almost identical language, basically differing only in its being made from original govern-ment surveys made in 1776, rather than being made in 1776 from original government surveys. The map itself was made in 1876 and is very likely that this is the map Kelly references in his published response (see map, top right).

Oddly enough, the map doesn’t show what Kelly describes at all, and actu-ally much more closely resembles Bruhns’ description. Of course, that didn’t really matter, because Kelly had the map and Bruhns didn’t.

So why would a respected civic offi-cial, and no lesser a person than the Borough Historian lie about the Fort’s location and then try to cover it up? Why not just place the plaque in the right spot? At the time, the corner of Van Dyke and Conover had a few four-story walkups and a local watering hole. These may not have been enti-ties willing or able to pay for a large bronze commemorative plaque.

Todd Shipyard motive?So what could possibly have been the reason Mr. Kelly wanted the plaque to be placed at Dwight and Beard Streets? Could it be that the Todd Shipyards Corporation, who owned

the building there and paid for the plaque, had something to do with it? Todd Shipyards was founded in 1916 and ran some of the largest dry docks in the world. Fitted out for iron ship-building and repair, they spent WWI and WWII building and repairing Navy vessels for the US military and developing other technologies for the government.

After a post-war lull in the late 1940s, the Korean Conflict brought Todd Shipyards a 5-year uptick in profits, netting them $2.61 million in 1952, the year the plaque was placed. If Todd Shipyards Corporation was the only party willing and able to pay for the plaque, and they were only willing to pay if it was placed on one of their properties, perhaps Kelly saw this as a compromise worth making in order to bring to light and commemorate the brave deeds of the soldiers of Fort Defiance, even if it meant ironically changing the historical record he was trying to preserve.

Details matterWe become a part of the history we preserve, just by recording it. It is im-portant to remember that is it always worth preserving, and worth preserv-ing correctly, because even if a detail seems insignificant or inconvenient to us at present, it is the very nature of our constantly changing world that the same detail may be crucial to future generations of historians, archaeologists and preservationists, not to mention engineers, geologists, architects, and city planners - or for that matter, the residents of the area themselves.

The plaque itself disappeared many years ago, but it’s legacy has remained in the false impression it left about the fort’s location. A new plaque was cre-ated in 2012 and placed in Valentino Park, much closer to the actual loca-tion of the fort it commemorates. The two conflicting locations of the placement of Fort Defiance.


If anyone was on Court Street one Monday night last month won-dering what the occasion was that

required live music, food and dancing to the late hours of the night, it was a celebration of the joining of two Ital-ian social clubs in an unprecedented move to celebrate being Italian - not just Molese or Sicilian, but Italian - and Italian-American. And they’re rounding up the next generation to be a part of it all, too.

The Van Westerhout Cittidini Molesi Club on Court Street and 4th Place has a new president with new goals. Vito Parente was elected to help the social

Right: Vito Parente, new president of the Van Westerhout Molesi Social Club; Left: Tony Troia, president of Carini Social Club.

Gathering of members from the Molese and Carinesi Clubs at the Molese Club on Court Street Monday, June 29, 2015.

Molese joins with Carinesi as clubs look to the futureby Mary Ann Pietanza

club take its first few steps from its con-ventional past to an advancing future. Mola di Bari is the town from which the majority of the of Italian immigrants who settled in Red Hook are from. The club’s corner garden is home to the town’s patron saint, The Addolorata,Regionally rooted in their structures as social clubs, Vito Parente’s con-cern for the viability of Italian Social Cubs to survive in a changed society with an aging membership led him to consider changing the role of the club to reflect contemporary Italian-Americanism. This includes the new roles taken on by men, women and the younger generation.

Tony Troia, the President of the Cari-nesi Social Club, named after a town in Sicily, on 17th Avenue in Benson-hurst agrees, and has partnered with Vito to help start the transition. The decision to begin this journey by com-bining social events between the two clubs - never before done - has proved itself in numbers. That Monday over 120 people attend-ed the food-thriving, rocking evening, one of the largest turnouts in memory.

Still male onlyBoth clubs are male only, will contin-ue to be governed by their set by-laws and will forever pay homage to their

respective home towns in Italy, but they are now mingling as members, interchangeably, inviting spouses and grown children which is a huge welcoming.So the next time you’re on Court

Street and are lured by the sounds of dreamy Italian love songs, pop, and latin music, you will be tempted to sing, clap or dance along with them. And why not? On those evenings ev-eryone’s Italian!!!

Contest with Prize!

Reader Anneliese Semotan sent us this photo asking us -

“CAN YOU GUESS WHERE THIS LITTLE HOUSE STOOD HERE IN RED HOOK?”

Well, she told us and now we know.

The first two correct answers that we get emailed to us at [email protected] get a free

Celebrating Red Hook t-shirt.

Once we have winners, we will post the correct answer on our website at www.redhookstar.com

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Houses Community Workshop.” Post-ers were put up all over the Houses and quite a number of curious resi-dents came out to the meeting, which was held at the Miccio Center on a hot summer evening last July 21st.

In the old days, community meetings meetings meant that the people hold-ing the meeting would sit or stand in front of an audience, with everyone being offered a chance to let everyone speak in front of the group.

These are the new days. Instead of al-lowing people to let everyone know what they think (which was once an important part of the democratic pro-cess), people are herded into many small groups. This not only prevents everyone to hear what everyone else has to say, which keeps meetings from becoming unscripted, but gives many more jobs for consultants.

Each consultant follows a pre-ar-ranged script in order to come up with a report containing mostly useless in-formation that probably could have been written without going through a meeting at all. However, these meet-ings are very profitable for the facilita-tors, so they must do this.

The inane questions asked that night included things like: “Do you use the outdoor areas of the Red Hook Hous-

es? If so, which ones.” And: “is there adequate parking around your build-ing?” And: “what do you like most about the open space around your home.”

An answer to the last question, as il-lustrated in the photo at the begin-ning of this editorial was “I Like Grass and Trees.”

We asked a woman after the meeting why they came to the meeting and what they thought of it. She told us that she came out of curiousity but would never waste her time again.

As she said this, some of the facilita-tors could be seen leaving the Miccio in a shiny black Uber mini-van, no doubt returning to their shiny glass walled Manhattan offices to write up their report, letting NYCHA know that their tenants like green grass and don’t like being held up at night. For this they are paid handsomely, be-ing the international consultants that they are.

And then NYCHA has the nerve to complain about not having enough money to fix cracks in the walls.

Wasting Time:(continued from page 9)

Two of the facilitators who came to Miccio.


Documents

Red Hook Star-Revue, August 2015