Red Hook Star-Revue, June 2016

Red Hook Star-Revue www.star-revue.com June 2016, Page 1

SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

The Red Hook StarªRevue

JUNE 2016 FREE

Councilman Car-

los Menchaca led

a successful effort

to defeat a proposed zoning

change in May after hear-

ing the community’s con-

cerns about the relocation

of a nursing home to Red

Hook. The nursing home’s

supporters included some

of the largest development

lobbyists in the city.The Oxford Nursing Home is a for-profit healthcare facility located in Fort Greene. In 2003, they purchased almost a full block of land near the waterfront after the New York State Health Department told them that the Fort Greene location was no lon-ger viable due to the age of the build-ing. The land purchase and their promise to eventually relocate grant-ed them waivers to continue operat-ing in Fort Greene.

Last June, Oxford came to a Red

Hook Civic Association meeting with lawyers, lobbyists and an architect to present their plan to the neighbor-hood.

Many at the meeting were shocked and surprised by the location of a medical facility in a floodplain, as well as its size. The proposed com-plex would have consisted of three 7-9 story buildings. Most nearby buildings are only four or five stories tall.

Menchaca met with the develop-ers in June 2015. “I expressed to them my concerns about maintain-ing manufacturing uses, locating vulnerable nursing home residents within a flood zone, the scale and

context of the project, resilience, and impact on the community,” he told the Star-Revue. “Residents and busi-ness owners in Red Hook deserve re-sponsible, sustainable growth in line with my long-standing commitment to preserving manufacturing zones, developing local employment, and preserving essential aspects of Red Hook’s neighborhood character.”

Menchaca also directed the develop-ers to engage with the community.

After community input, Oxford made a slight alteration to their ini-tial plan, and filed a Universal Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) with the City Planning Commission. The plan was granted initial approval on November 24, 2015, which began an accelerated process starting at Com-munity Board 6 (CB 6) and ending at the City Council.

CB 6 held a land use committee meeting in early December. Oxford, represented by Howard Weiss and Nora Martins of the firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, brought in the Tenant Association Presidents of Red Hook East and West, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and mem-bers of union 1199 SEIU to testify in favor of the nursing home.

Davidoff Crutcher & Citron is an elite firm that specializes in government relations. Founder Sid Davidoff was a member of former NYC mayor John Lindsey’s administration, and is today close with Mayor Bill de Bla-sio, according to the NY Post. In Jan-uary, they wrote, “Sid Davidoff and other politically connected lobbyists have seen their city-related business over the past two years skyrocket while scoring sweetheart deals and other positive results for clients after private sit-downs with the mayor, re-cords show.”

The Chamber is a pro-business group organized to support busi-ness development. Union 1199 SEIU represents healthcare workers at Ox-ford, and has always been very politi-cally connected.

Tenant Association presidents are often called upon for support of new projects coming into the neighbor-hood. However, their support does not necessarily represent the major-ity of their tenant’s voices.

Presidents Lillie Marshall of Red Hook West, and Frances Brown of Red Hook East, both supported GBX’s failed plan to build out prop-erty using dredged materials from

the toxic Gowanus Canal; many of their tenants opposed the plan.

Other attendees of the December CB 6 land use meeting opposed the zoning change, including a number of local community leaders, resi-dents, and business interests. John McGettrick is a long-time Red Hook activist and president of the Civic As-sociation. He made his mark fighting against the city placing numerous waste-transfer stations in Red Hook in the 1990s. Jim Tampakis has op-erated a marine supply business on Richards Street for many years. Vic-toria Hagman operates a local real estate agency and is a member of CB 6. Robin Goeman is a Van Brunt Street resident and an elder-care at-torney. All spoke out against the pro-posal.

Opponents of the nursing home said the large building was out of scale for the neighborhood. Despite Ox-ford’s guarantees, many doubted that the nursing home would supply care for local residents. In addition, manufacturing in the vicinity would be displaced, and the spot-zoning was illegal. Opponents also echoed Menchaca’s position that a flood zone is an illogical location for an el-derly and vulnerable population.

While CB 6’s Land Use Committee voted against Oxford’s proposal, the

Menchaca takes on heavy hitting developer and wins

by George Fiala

full board later overturned that de-cision a week later. At this general board meeting, Oxford addressed residents’ complaints in a letter dis-tributed to members. The letter was prepared by the nursing home’s law-yers and signing by Oxford’s owner, Barry Braunstein.

Jerry Armer, longtime CB 6 mem-ber, told the assembly that the letter had changed his position. He subse-quently voted in Oxford’s favor. The majority of the board followed suit.

Less than two weeks later, Borough President Eric Adams held a pub-

The proposed nursing home would have towered over the surrounding buildings

Carlos Menchaca at the City Council Zoning Subcommittee meeting chaired by Donovan Richards. (photo by George Fiala)

(continued on page 3)

"Reyna asked why Oxford

bought all that land when it

wasn’t zoned for a nursing

home – a question that the law

firm could not quite answer."

Page 2 Red Hook Star-Revue www.star-revue.com June 2016

RELIGIOUS SERVICESChristian

River Of God Christian Center110 Wolcott Street, 646-226-6135, Secretary, Sister Roslyn Chatman. Sunday - Family Worship 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 Street , (718) 624-1572. Office open Mon-Thursday 9 am - 3 pm. Saturday Mass at 5:00 pm English; Sunday 10:00 am Spanish, 12:30 pm English. Community Prayer on Tuesday and Thursday at 8:00 pm. Baptisms are held every other month. Please call to arrange for Bap-tisms, First Communion, Confirmation and Weddings.

New Brown Memorial Baptist Church609 Clinton Street, 718 624 4780 Pastor A.R Jamal. Sunday School at 9:30 am. Sunday Worship at 11:00 am. Bible Study -Wednesday at 7:30pm. Communion every first Sunday

Stretching Far and Wide Global Ministry, Inc.382 Hamilton Avenue, Studio B 1-800-948-9042 Archbishop Dr. Barbara Jackman, Overseer Rev. Dr. Dwayne Barnes, Pastor Services are held every Sunday @ 10:00 am Communion every First Sunday stretchingfar.webs.com [email protected]

St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish467 Court Street, (718) 625-2270 Rectory Hours: Monday-Thursday 9:00 am - 11:30 am, 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, Friday 9:00 am - 12:00 noon. Masses: Saturday 5:30 pm, Sunday 10:00 am, Monday - Thursday 9:30 am.

Saint Paul and Saint Agnes Parish Church Office 234 Congress Street (718) 624-3425 Hours: M - F 830am-12 St. Agnes Church Of-fice 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: Satur-day 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, (718) 596-7750, [email protected] Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 9:00 am - 5:00 am, Friday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm, Saturday 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Saturday Vigil Mass at 5:30 pm, Sunday Masses at 8:00 am, 10:00 am, and 11:45 am (Italian/English) Weekday Masses during winter months at 8:30 am and 12:00 noon Confessions: Saturday at 4:45 pm and by appointment. Baptisms every third Sunday at 1:00 pm.

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 ser-vices, 9:15 AM Sunday Services 9:00 AM

Congregation B’nai Avraham/Chabad of Brooklyn Heights

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 Sen. 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) 265-7310Youth Officer ............................................................. (718) 265-7314Auxiliary/Law Enforcement Coordinator ........... (718) 265-7378Detective Squad ....................................................... (718) 265-7327

Happenings, etc.SATURDAY, JULY 4Red Hook Diabetes Support and Education Program. Open to all with dia-betes, or who want information on diabetes. Red Hook Library, 7 Wol-cott Street, 2 pm - 4 pm.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5Little Laffs: Big Fun for Little Ones. A fun and entertaining variety show for kids ages 3-9 mixing juggling, balloon art, music, comedy, and more, produced by the Twisted Balloon Company. Jalopy Theater, 316 Co-lumbia Street, 11 am - 12:30 pm.

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 - SUN. JUNE 12Brooklyn Stage Company presents Salome on the Rocks, A staged read-ing of a new play by Boroklyn Stage Company, a post-modern adapta-tion of Ascar Wilde's Salome, by Robert Francis Cole. Waterfront Mu-seum and Showboat Barge, 290 Conover Street, 8 pm nightly.

The 23rd Annual Red Hook Fest, all events free.Thursday, June 9th (6 pm-8 pm) Hometown Bar-B-Q Friday, June 10th (6 pm-8 pm) Community Cookout with free BBQ & DJ Dance Party @ PS 15 PlaygroundSaturday, June 11th (12 pm-7 pm) Mainstage Performances & Cultural Activities Valentino Park (Coffey & Ferris Streets, Brooklyn)

SATURDAY, JUNE 18Red Hook Family Festival, PS 15 Playground. Free admission, rain or shine. Noon - 3 pm.

RED HOOK SUMMERSTAGE: ALL SHOWS IN COFFEY PARK 7 - 9 PMTuesday June 14: Chairlift / Miles B.A. Robinson Critically acclaimed pop duo Chairlift has released new music in the form of the infinitely dance-able “Ch-Ching.” The R&B laced, vibrating drum infused pop track served as the first musical offering off their album Moth, which was released in January 2016.

Wednesday June 15 Just Blaze and Friends Over the past 15 years, Just Blaze has become a fixture in Hip-Hop music and culture. He began producing for well-known artists in the late 1990s, leading to a breakout role in producing the majority of Jay-Z’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia and his follow-up opus The Blueprint

Thursday, June 15 Blonde Redhead New York City based Blonde Redhead has always been a band that innovates with each album. Formed in 1993, Kazu Makino (vocals, rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums and lead guitar/vocals, respectively), chal-lenge themselves with each recording situation, and the results have been stunning every time.

Friday, June 16 Liza Jessie Peterson / LuQuantumleap Liza Jessie Peter-son is a renowned actress, poet, playwright, educator and activist who has been steadfast in her commitment to incarcerated populations both professionally and artistically for seventeen years. She has written sev-eral plays, including, “The Peculiar Patriot,” which she performed ex-cerpts of in over 35 jails and penitentiaries across the country and as the opening act for Angela Davis at Columbia University’s conference on mass incarceration

Saturday June 17 Dance on the Lawn Co-Presentation / Master Class: Calvin Wiley “Dance on the Lawn” celebrates dance in New Jersey and aims to increase exposure to dance by bringing professional and emerging companies, plus students of dance from around New Jersey together in a community setting that is free and open to the public. …

Sunday June 18 Rich Medina / RAAA / Urban Word NYC & Hi-Arts: Journal to Journey / Ziearre For over two decades, Rich Medina has cemented his reputation as a world class DJ. Outside the club, he’s a father, educator, platinum-selling record producer, poet, designer, public speaker and journalist….


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, Nathan Weiser, Mary Ann Pietanza, Laura Eng, Marc Jackson and Mary Staub, contributors


lic hearing at Borough Hall. Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna, a former city councilwoman who sup-ported manufacturing jobs, chaired the meeting. She was soon joined by Adams, who made a special point to come to the hearing, just three days before Christmas.

Reyna asked why Oxford bought all that land when it wasn’t zoned for a nursing home – a question that the law firm could not quite answer.

IBZ removalIn 2012, the City was open to re-moving areas from IBZ zones upon request. In a letter dated July 27, 2012, Red Hook’s former council-woman Sara Gonzalez sent a letter to the head of the IBZ commission. “Oxford has presented strong argu-ments for further modifying the IBZ boundaries to allow the residential rezoning of the balance of its site and the development of a new nurs-ing home,” she wrote. “These include the fact that the nursing home will have at least 200 full-time employ-ees, an operating budget in excess of $15,500,000, and a significant part of their purchasing is from local ven-dors and suppliers.

The proposed nursing home use at the property will not in any way erode the existing or potential man-ufacturing base in Red Hook or oth-erwise interfere with the objectives of the City’s manufacturing retention policy.” Oxford was additionally sup-ported by then Borough President Marty Markowitz.

At this point, very few people in Red Hook knew anything of Oxford’s plans, or even that the lot, which lies between Van Brunt and Conover, and King and Sullivan, was slotted for any sort of construction. However, the lot across the street, an old warehouse was radically transformed into a cultural and community asset. Pio-neer Works was established by artist Dustin Yellin, who had formerly oc-cupied a studio down the street.

Pioneer Works is an eclectic artist space, museum, performance space, and catering hall, and has attracted many new visitors to the neighbor-hood. They have integrated them-selves into the neighborhood in part by hosting some community fund-raising events, including for PS 15 and the Red Hook Initiative.

Yellin also requested exclusion from the IBZ zone, as did McGettrick and Tampakis, on behalf of property owners along Van Brunt looking for commercial and residential uses of

their buildings.

Below the radarThe nursing home remained out of the public eye until their plans were fully formulated and presented at the 2015 Civic Association meeting. By this time, Red Hook had undergone a devastating hurricane and elected a new council member, which changed things for Oxford.

Throughout the process, Menchaca stood firm in his original position – that placing a nursing home in a flood area would be a mistake.

Oxford kept up their strategy of using Red Hook’s low income population,

City Council votes down Red Hook zoning change which would have allowed a 9 story nursing home in the flood zone

(continued from page 1)

the healthcare unions and the bor-ough-wide business group to sup-port their case.

The borough president, after exten-sive research by his land use spe-cialist, Richard Bearak, declined to approve Oxford’s plan. At a later meeting arranged by Menchaca at the Red Hook Library, Adams lis-tened carefully and asked both sides probing questions.

Next City Planning (DCP) approved the proposal. The department is

headed by de Blasio appointee Carl Weisbrod, who has worked in and out of city government for more than 35 years. He has also worked with real estate developers, most recently the consulting firm HR&A advisors, a source of many de Blasio hires, as well as a consultant for innumerable government projects.

Weisbrod and ten other DCP Com-missioners voted for Oxford’s pro-posal; only Michelle de la Uz, Ex-ecutive Director of Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue Committee, voted against it.

The ULURP’s final destination - the City Council - was next. Menchaca and his staff worked tirelessly to in-

form his fellow council members of the plan. It is customary for the Council to adhere to the inclination of the local council member on land use issues, but Menchaca, and Red Hook, was fighting a sophisticated opponent.

Davidoff persuaded 1199 SEIU mem-bers to make multiple phone calls to all the council members urging sup-port for Oxford. Most councilmem-bers are Democrats; Democrats of-ten align with unions. Davidoff also negotiated an op-ed by the union’s

president, George Gresham, to print-ed in Crains.

Gresham called Menchaca’s decision “to not approve a new nursing home in Red Hook” a serious mistake. He continued, “We will continue to fight to one day make this bold, innova-tive, holistic plan a reality.”

47-2 voteMenchaca held his ground and was able to get almost the whole Council to stand by his decision. The Oxford ULURP was defeated by a 47-2 vote.

Menchaca issued the following state-ment following the vote:

“The site at 141 Conover Street is inappropriate for serving vul-nerable senior citizens with se-vere medical needs. This City must fulfill its commitments to building for long-term sustain-ability, fostering manufactur-ing jobs, and creating resilient communities. [

The] vote was one of many criti-cal decisions we will face about the placement of essential ser-vices. My colleagues and I are ready to assist the developer finding a safe alternate loca-tion so we can retain local jobs and increase medical services capacity.” resilient communi-ties. Today's vote was one of many critical decisions we will face about the placement of es-sential services. My colleagues and I are ready to assist the de-veloper finding a safe alternate location so we can retain local jobs and increase medical ser-vices capacity.”

(See related op-ed, page 11)

Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna quizzes Nora Martins of Davidoff Crutcher & Citron, LLP on details of the Oxford plan, as Eric Adams, Richard Bearak and Carlos Menchaca listen at the Borough President's public hearing. (photo by George Fiala).

Members of the healthcare union 1199SEIU were brought to the City Council in support of Oxford. (Fiala photo)

Mary Kyle of Dry Dock Wines and Spirits memorably likened the Oxford Plan as a mon-strosity dropped onto Red Hook from the heavens, alien and completely out of context. (photo by George Fiala)

Oxford owner Barry Braunstein spoke at a preliminary CB 6 meeting in June, 2015. He explained his love of his for-profit family business, and his desire to give Red Hook a state-of-the art facility. Speaking the night before at the Red Hook Civic Center, he expressed hope that the neighborhood would welcome his nursing home, but then added that he will build it whether you like it or not. (Fiala photo)


[email protected].

RELIGIOUS NEWSBY LAURA ENG

The Brownstone Brooklyn Jewish community commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day

with a service on Wednesday, May 4th.

The evening began with Rabbi Seth Wax welcoming everyone, including several non-Jewish clergy members and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. A moving candle-lighting ceremony followed. Seven candles were lit by Holocaust survivors as well as descendants of survivors and victims - six candles represented the six million who were killed in the Holocaust, and a seventh candle represented victims of other genocides around the world.

The annual commemoration, also known as Yom HaShoah, was sponsored by the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim, Hannah Senesh Day School, Kane Street Synagogue, Kolot Chayeinu-Voices of Our Lives, Park Slope Jewish Center, Temple Beth Emeth v’Ohr, and Union Temple. Congregation Mount Sinai in Cadman Plaza hosted the event.

The service was marked by alternating reflections of sadness and hope and included music and poetry, in both Hebrew and English, as well as oral recollections. The musical selections included a performance by the community cantors, who came together to sing “The Last Butterfly,” a haunting poem by Pavel Friedman, set to music. The community rabbis all participated with introductions and readings. A group of Israeli youth ambassadors, known as shinshinim, helped to put the program together and took part in the singing.

A particularly poignant account was given by 87-year old Gunther Rauf. Mr. Rauf lit one of the candles in memory of his mother, who was killed during the Holocaust. He was born in Germany and clearly remembers his “happy childhood” turning to one forever changed by increasingly violent anti-Semitism.

After the terror of Kristallnacht, his father was arrested and the family made arrangements for him to be transported to England in what was known as Operation Kinderlift. His last memory of his childhood in Germany was saying goodbye to his mother at the train station.

When young Gunther arrived in England, he was told that he would be called “George” and that he would have to stop speaking German and instead speak English. Mr. Rauf was the only one of his family to escape the concentration camps. He still owns the last gift given to him by his mother: a harmonica that he asked

for when she told him he was being sent away.

Another oral recollection was offered by Dinah Gildener, age 94. Her mother saw the lawlessness and hatred in Germany early on when her friend’s son, a Jewish athlete, was kidnapped and killed. This prompted the family to escape from Germany to France in 1933.

With war imminent in 1939, Ms. Gildener, her parents and her sister then fled Paris for the United States. Because of visa issues, her grandmother, who was not afraid to publicly denounce Hitler, could not join them. In Ms. Gildener’s words, “she was lost in the Holocaust.”

The evening ended on a hopeful note in the form of a poem by Hannah Senesh, a young heroine of the Holocaust who was killed by firing squad at the age of 23. Senesh parachuted into Yugoslavia and was caught at the Hungarian border. Despite being tortured, Hannah refused to give up any details of her mission.

The poem, entitled “Eli, Eli” (“My God, My God”), was also set to music and fittingly performed by the sixth grade students of the Hannah Senesh Community Day School. The poem is essentially a prayer that asks God “that these things never end: the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of man.” The words served as a proper ending to a stirring night of remembrance.

Happenings/Upcoming EventsCongregation Mount Sinai250 Cadman Plaza WestUnder the Bridge - Monthly community Shabbat celebration at BridgeView Lawn, Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park on Friday, June 17 at 6:30 pm. Challah and grape juice will be

Holocaust Remembrance at Congregation Mount Sinai

Holocaust survivor Gunther Rauf with his daughter, Rebecca

(continued on next page)


Religion(continued from previous page)

provided. All are welcome!

CMS Spring Gala - Celebrating the Roaring 20s on June 8, 6:30 pm. For reservations or journal ads, call the synagogue office at (718) 875-9124 or email [email protected].

The Oratory Church of St. Boniface109 Willoughby StreetFr. Dennis’ Book Club on June 20, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith at Aula Maxima. New members welcome.

River of God Christian Center110 Wolcott StreetA Big Hat Affair on Saturday, August 13. Save the date!

Women’s Retreat on November 4-6 and will include a trip to the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA. Save the date!

Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen ChurchSummit & Hicks StreetOrdination to Deacon of Kamil Bober on June 2 at 7:00 at SHSS Church.

Feast of the Sacred Heart on June 3 - Eucharistic Adoration from 1:00 - 6:00 pm, procession at 6:30 pm and outdoor Mass at Mother Cabrini Park at 7:00 pm.

Ordination to Priesthood of Jaroslaw Szeraszewicz; Father Jarek’s first Mass will be celebrated on June 5 at 10:00 at SHSS Church.

Parish Schools Reunion, A 150th Anniversary Event, on Saturday, June 11. School building tour at 4:30, Mass at 5:30, dinner and dancing at 6:30.

Tickets are $50. For information, contact [email protected].

Celebration of St. John the Baptist, sponsored by the Citizens of Pozzallo on June 12 at 11:45 Mass with solemn dedication of statue, followed by street procession to festival at 504 Henry Street (Citizens of Pozzallo Way).

Plaque Dedication Honoring All Immigrants - on Sunday, June 12 at 5:00 pm, hosted by the Van Westerhout Cittadini Molesi Club at SHSS; reception to follow.

St. Agnes ChurchHoyt & Sackett Streets Altar Server Training - On Saturday, June 11 at 11:00 am. If you have already received First Holy Communion, you can become an altar server!

St. Mary Star of the Sea Church467 Court StreetReligious Education Registration has begun for 2016-2017. Forms are available in church, at the rectory and may be downloaded from www.stmarystarbrooklyn.com. Classes begin on Sunday, September 18.

St. Paul’s Catholic Church234 Congress Street Novena of 13 Tuesdays in Honor of St. Anthony - Every Tuesday after the 8:30 am Mass and at 1:00 pm in the chapel lasting through the Feast of St. Anthony on June 13.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church199 Carroll StreetAssistant Bishop Geralyn Wolf will be celebrating Mass and preaching on June 5 at 11:00 am. Bishop Wolf

will also be prepared to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, to Confirm and receive new members into the Church.

Spring Rummage Sale on June 11 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.

Visitation BVM Church98 Richards StreetSr. Zuzana Altmanova professed her perpetual vows as a religious of the Community of Koinonia John the Baptist during their Seventh New Evangelization Congress on May 1. In attendance at the joyful celebration were Argentinian Father Ricardo Argañaraz, founder of the community, and Sr. Zuzana’s parents who traveled

Sr. Zuzana after professing her perpetual vows (Photo by John Heyer, II)

from the Czech Republic. Also taking vows as lay ministers were husband and wife, Carmine and Frances DeLuca.

First Holy Communion on June 4 at 11:00 am.

Healing Mass on June 8 at 7:00 pm in Spanish and on June 24 at 7:00 pm in English.

Church Carnival Fundraiser - on Saturday, June 11 at Verona & Richards Streets from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Come enjoy a day filled with music, games, food and rides. Space rentals are $40 but you must provide your own table.


RED HOOK HAS EVERYTHING!


Red Hook has a glorious history as a maritime community. Th ese days, we are still surrounded by water, but we are so much more!

Inside our warehouses new industries have risen. Craft beer, wine and whiskey are all made here. Glucose-free pop tarts, delicious key lime pies, raspberry lemonade cake, Steak Pizziola heroes with fresh mozzarella, pizza with fresh mushrooms are all made and sold here.

You can buy leather belts and prime rib steak to cook at home. Or you can get some of the best BBQ in the country. Or a whole lobster, or just a roll. You can reupholster your couch or engrave your store name onto glass.

Custom kitchens are put together here. Brass beds, tiled fl oors, and oak shelves can be augmented with original artwork and sculpture. Check this page for some great examples of local purveyors, and pay them a visit - often!

RED HOOK GARDEN CENTER

410 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn NY 11231www.redhookgardencenter.com

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For information and rates, please contact Noah Phillips at [email protected] or call our offi ce at (718) 624-5568.

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At the April meeting of the Gowanus Community Ad-visory Group (CAG), EPA Director Walter Mugdan

announced the results of a long and difficult negotiation with New York City regarding the placement of sew-age retention tanks alongside the Gowanus Canal.

CAG member Marlene Donnelly and others said not so fast. A public comment period was requested and received. This period, which was ex-tended through the end of May, of-fered a chance for comments to be heard by the EPA before they sign the agreement.

It seemed at first that objections might be raised because this agree-ment would delay the city’s instal-lation of retention tanks needed to limit Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) into the canal. Right now, raw sewage is pumped into the Gowanus whenever a big rainstorm overflows the sewers. The tanks would store much of the overflow until the sew-ers return to normal and the wastes can be sent to the treatment plant.

The city was hell bent on placing the tanks next to the Gowanus Canal, which would entail their seizure of private property. The EPA thought a better idea was to place the tanks in city owned land, namely the Thomas Greene Park. The park is home to an outdoor swimming pool which is sitting on top of a large pool of toxic chemicals left behind by the natural gas industry of the past. The EPA is ordering the removal of the toxins, which entail temporary removal of the pool. They felt that building the tank under the pool, in an already dug hole made sense for many rea-sons. One of those reasons is an EPA distaste of eminent domain – the seizure of private property.

The agreement gives the city a chance to do it their way, although built into the plan is a fallback in case of extended lawsuits regarding the seized properties. The upside for the EPA is the city’s agreement to build the tank. The EPA feared that the city would attempt to litigate away its obligation to build the tank entirely.

A new wrinkle was added in April. The EPA held a public meeting to announce the completion of nego-tiations. Questions and comments were heard, and towards the end of the meeting a tall gentleman named Ian Defibaugh took the podium to explain that the company he works for, a film studio called Eastern Ef-fects, was in danger of losing their main production facility.

The proposed agreement would al-low the city to seize the building Eastern Effects occupies. The com-pany is located in Gowanus right next to where the city wants to build the tank. The city plans to tear down

the building and use the land as a staging area while the tank is built. Afterwards, the seized land would be sold off by the city to the highest bidder.

The studio, an employer of more than 200 skilled local jobs, is home to the TV show “The Americans.” They signed a twenty-year lease for the building in 2010, and spent $5 million to turn it into a professional quality film studio. If the city exer-cises eminent domain, Eastern Ef-fects would lose their investment, and the neighborhood would lose the jobs, as well as the ancillary ben-efits of film crews and actors enjoy-ing meals in the neighborhood.

The night following the public meet-ing, Mugdan repeated the presenta-tion at the monthly meeting for CAG members. Mugdan was asked about Eastern Effects. He said that the placement of the staging area was the city’s decision. He quickly went to the next question, but not before saying that other parcels were avail-

able for use as staging area.

Eastern Effects connected with Dan Wiley at the public meeting. Wiley is the community liaison for Congress-woman Nydia Velazquez, a prime motivator behind the EPA’s interest in cleaning the Gowanus Canal. Wi-ley toured the studio on May 16, and urged others to see for themselves on two separate tours that were giv-en to the public the following week. The purpose of the tours was to in-form the community about the stu-dio and to encourage comments to the EPA on the advisability of their agreement with the city that to sanc-tion the use of eminent domain for the site.

The tours were led by company own-er Scott Levy. Eastern Effects is an independent, privately held compa-ny founded by Levy in 1999. Begin-ning as a lighting and grip company, it became a film studio in 2010 with the leasing of the building at 270 Nevins – the one threatened with demolition.

Levy led a group of about twenty lo-cal residents, media, and members of the CAG through the warehouse. “It was my dream to do film and TV,” he said. He showed off the work that had been done on the building, which was an empty shell when he took it over in 2010. A large electrical system he installed miraculously es-caped damage from Sandy, despite over a foot of water in the building.

As Levy pointed out the elaborate soundproofing and lighting grids that had to be in place before the building could be used a film studio. He practically burst into tears at the thought of losing it all.

The process of eminent domain reimburses property owners. The property has to be bought at an agreed upon market rate. However, there is no protection for renters. In fact, Levy told the group that there is an eminent domain clause in his

lease which allows for termination with no reimbursement. This means that the studio would be a total loss – one in which $5 million was in-vested, and $2 million is still owed to banks.

Of course, the other loss would be the 200+ skilled neighborhood jobs. FOX FX has leased the studios for its filming of the spy series “The Ameri-cans.” The series is scheduled to run through 2018.

Levy explained that he built his stu-dio as a “Level 2” studio, which en-ables production companies to re-ceive state tax benefits. He said that there is a shortage of these studios in the city, as more and more film pro-duction is done here.

Levy took the tour group outside to point out three nearby locations that might be used for a staging area in-stead. None of them were presently occupied.

Levy was joined by representatives from SBIDC, CB 6, the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, and the AFL-CIO. All pledged support for Eastern Effects. However, the tale will be told as the results of the public comments are read by the EPA. The results of the comments could either quash the deal or force it to be amended.

City wants to evict a successful Gowanus film company using eminent domain

by George Fiala

Scott Levy, founder of Eastern Effects, leads a group of interested Gowanus locals on a tour of his facility - proudly showing off his state of the art film studio that has been home to the FoxFX series "The Americans." (photo by George Fiala)

Scott Levy surrounded by some of the staff at his Eastern Effects studio.

Levy says that this unoccupied building directly across the street from his Eastern Effects studio could just as easily be used by the city as a staging area.


PLUMBING

Don’t be a fool - advertise in the Star-Revue!

To the relief of local politicians, community members and parents, Strong Place for Hope Day Care, the facility at 595

Clinton Street will remain open due to the city purchasing the building.

Earlier this year the building owner was frustrated that the city would not pay for necessary repairs on the 3,000 square foot building. Because the space holds a public daycare, the city is responsible for upgrades and repairs.

Th e landlord of the 595 Clinton Street daycare opted to sell the building, which would have forced Strong Place to shutter their facility.

Lorraine Pennisi, Executive Director since 2012 and director with Strong Place since 1989, said that the city has made the deposit for the building and is now going through the purchase process.

“A line was made in the mayor’s budget for it,” Pennisi said. “I guess it will go through the City Council for the fi nal.”

Asked when the sale would be completed, she said that the building should offi cially belong to the city sometime in June.

Th is news comes as relief to the parents

of the hundred 2-5 year olds who attend Strong Place.

Keamisha Williams’s daughter, Nyla will be four in June. She was excited to hear the news that her daughter, who has been enrolled in the day care for two years, will be able to attend Strong Place for her fi nal year before starting kindergarten.

“It is pretty close to me and it is a whole lot more convenient than me having to go so much further away. And I work late, so I was very, very happy,” Williams said. “I can get there in fi ve minutes, as opposed to if I had to go to a farther day care I would have had to take the bus or the train. It is really very convenient being right there. It is a great service to the community.”

Pennisi is thankful for everybody who worked to petition for the day care to stay open, including the families who advocated for the community and Strong Place for Hope. Th e community is ecstatic, according to Pennisi, since there is a need for the day care.

“Th is was really a combined eff ort of the community, and the families, and our local politicians,” Pennisi added. “It was Councilman Carlos Menchaca, Councilman Stephen Levin. It was the

borough president, you know everybody was petitioning the mayor’s offi ce. I don’t believe this could have been done without the mayor’s offi ce getting involved in this as well.”

David Estrada, Communications Director for Councilman Carlos Menchaca, calls the daycare facility a neighborhood institution.

According to a letter to ACS Commissioner Gladys Carrion, the day care has a capacity of 100 children and was at 100% enrollment in the spring/summer session of 2015. Th e day care has 20 employees, about half of whom live in Red Hook. Th is location, one of three in Brooklyn, provides three meals a day and includes a full size projection TV, educational computer programs for the children, and a gym.

Williams likes the caring atmosphere at Strong Place.

“What I love the most is it’s almost like a family because a lot of the people who work there live in the area,” she said. “Th ey are very, very friendly. Th e kids really enjoy being there and it’s great seeing so many familiar faces in school and outside. I think that is a plus. Everyone really likes it there.”Williams was out of town for about a

week and then heard the good news about the day care from a friend when she returned.

“A friend of mine told me that the day care would be staying because they had a letter from ACS saying that the we didn’t have to worry, and it would be staying,” Williams said. “Th is was a cause that they were pretty much aware of, and they would do as much as they could to help the situation. Th at was very good.”

Pennisi added that families will now not be disrupted. If they took away this day care, there really are not a lot of options, especially city-funded options, for these children.

“Th e parents are so, so, so happy,” Pennisi said. “We also provide employment to people in the community. We are really a part of this community. We love what we do and we are very happy to be able to continue to be able to serve the families.

Red Hook Library Fundraiser a Fashionable Success! The reborn Friends of Red Hook Library held their fi rst fundraiser on Saturday, May 21. A fashion show featuring local fashions and local models raised over $900 for the library - money which will go for children's events and supplies. The fundraiser was the brain child of Minnetta Brown and Roselyn Chatman - who not only created the fashions but choreographed the complete program. Karen Blondel was the MC and also provided a musical soundrtrack.

Modeling for the event were Malaezia Davis, Brian Hasbrouck, Donna Longobardi, Lisette Morales, Cynthia Dees, Sandra Hall, Morgan Monroe, Megan Salim, Jason McCrae, Alyce Erdekian, Alex, Tinna, Damanie Sky, Aaliyah Marie, Zoey Belle, Jae-L and Renee. Makeup was provided by Shati. A buffet dinner was donated by the sponsors, including Fairway, Marks Pizza, F & M Cafe and Restaurant, and Brooklyn Crab.

The Friends group elected offi cers earlier in the month. Minnetta Brown is the President, Roselyn Chatman, Vice President, Alyce Erdekian, Secretary, and Kimberly Price, Treasurer. The Friends is a volunteer organization dedicated to strengthening our local library. New members are welcome - meetings occur the fi rst Tuesday of each month in the library at 6:30. For more information, see Sandra Sutton or Brian Hasbrouck at the Red Hook Branch Library, 7 Wolcott Street.

City steps in to keep local daycare openby Nathan Weiser

This For Sale sign outside the center spurred local residents into action.


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Construction of Red Hook’s new senior center will be complete by late July, according to the

New York City Housing Authority and project supervisors.

The senior citizens of Red Hook have not had a dedicated senior center since Hurricane Sandy demolished the old one in 2012. The seniors cur-rently use space in the basement of the Miccio Center on 9th Street, close to Hamilton Avenue. The new senior center building will be immediately adjacent to the current location.

The New York City Housing Author-ity [NYCHA]’s Sandy Community Outreach held a construction update meeting for the seniors of Red Hook in the beginning of May, according to Zodot Negron, NYCHA’s deputy press secretary for the New York City Hous-ing Authority.

“The Sandy outreach team has met with local seniors six times in 2016 to make sure that they are aware of the work that is going on and to address any concerns,” Negron said.

The NYCHA project supervisor man-aging the contractors for the senior center said that Jemco Contracting Corp began the process back in Oc-tober but could not start construction until the beginning of December be-cause they found unexpected leaks in the walls.

In 2014, NYCHA promised that that project would be completed by De-cember 2015.

“With any existing construction, we don’t know what we are going to run into once we start opening up walls, and opening up floors and starting the demolition,” the project supervisor said at the construction site. “Once we opened up the walls we found that there was going to be a little more work that needed to be done. So, of course, if there is more work that in-creases the schedule.”

The supervisor added that they are completely gutting the building. The building had been closed for three years before the work on the new se-nior center began.

When the new center is finished it will have cost $2.9 million, according to Negron, and will look nothing like the original.

“It will have an exercise room, it will have a billiards room, it will have a large multi-purpose room where they can have functions like playing bingo like they do in the Miccio Center,” the supervisor said. “They will also be served breakfast and lunch, will have a sewing room and a computer re-source center.”

The project supervisor added that the ceiling will practically be brand new when they finish.

When he was asked if the construction would be finished between June and July, the project supervisor agreed with that timeline. “Now that we have all of the answers that we need, con-struction will go on non-stop,” he said.

The project supervisor doesn’t know exactly when the building will be open to the seniors because they are still try-ing to figure out some logistics. How-ever, according to both Negron and the supervisor, the Red Hook seniors will be able to utilize the brand new build-ing at some point during the summer.

Red Hook Senior Center to Reopen by End of Summer

by Nathan Weiser

Workis proceeding as the former Head-start building is transformed into the new Senior Center. (photo by George Fiala)

The Alex House Project, Red Hook's program for young mothers, held a successful fun-draiser at the Red Hook Initiative. Founder Samora Coles is in second from the left, next to her is Michael Jacocks, who has supported and encouraged Samora for many years, and on the right is Bea Byrd, longtime Red Hook leader and member of the board of NYCHA. (photo by George Fiala)


LETTERS: On the nursing homeThe answer to jobs must never be at the expense of the most vulnerable among us...it could be your parent...or in another ...well...75 years(?)... you!

I feel Council Member Menchaca has taken the moral and ethical position in this matter. Does my heart good...vote today had everything to do with the Council Member's unwavering position in the face of enormous pressure. - Sandy Reiburn

On the ConnectorI felt there was a bit of a breakdown in the connection from the large presentation to the smaller breakout groups. It wasn't made clear to me how or when they will use the

feedback we provided, as we were asked either general questions about our travel habits and preferences, or specific questions about streets/locations in different neighborhoods, all with a very heavy emphasis on getting opinions about streetcar implementation, but with no detail on how the streetcar would be implemented.

More streetcarIf transportation is so important that the expense of a BQX is merited, why not first make the MTA buses all they can be - dedicate lanes; institute no-passing and right of ways for busses; increase service and routes.

There were no trucks and maybe one car in all the images shown by EDC at the RH BQX event. Seems unrealistic. - Steven Kondaks

SHORTS:Kayaking at ValentinoSummer is here and the Red Hook Boaters are back in Valentino Park for their 10th year!

The 2016 season will see more trips around NYC waters (only for volunteers!) and more training to help the volunteers become better, safer paddlers. Don't miss out!

The 2016 SEASON BEGINS June 5th at 1 P.M. Thursday evening's public program begins June 9th at 6 PM.

All programs take place at the launch site at Valentino Park in Red Hook.

Anyone can volunteer. No prior training or experience is required.

The summer schedule is Sundays 1 - 4 pm, Thursdays 6 - 8 pm.

News from AddaboThe Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center Inc., announced that its Red Hook location at 120 Richards Street, Brooklyn, NY, will begin offering WIC services to the community. The WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program goes into effect July 2016.

WIC is a federally funded nutrition assistance program that provides supplemental foods for low-income prenatal, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children, as well as other services.

Addabbo has made major improvements in health care for the Red Hook community since acquiring the facility from New York Methodist Hospital in 2012. Addabbo will be adding WIC to a long list of health care services including: Primary Adult Care, Dental, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, HIV/AIDS care and prevention, Neurology, Podiatry, Ophthalmology, and Endocrinology services.

Dr. Marjorie Hill, CEO of Addabbo, said, “Our reach into the Red Hook community continues to expand. While providing affordable, quality health care, we are excited to offer WIC services to our patients, right in the heart of Red Hook. No longer will members of our community need to travel into downtown Brooklyn for services that are now provided locally. Addabbo is proud to offer convenient, one-stop service within our facility.”

“The WIC program is one of the most cost-effective government programs

in operation. Keeping moms, and their young children, healthy can save up to $3.13 in Medicaid costs for each $1.00 spent on WIC. We look forward to servicing the hundreds of families in Red Hook,” says Zimmie Baiden, Director of Addabbo’s WIC program, “as we provide helpful, healthy, nutrition alternatives to our community.”

Infants, children from 1 to 5 years of age, and women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have had a baby in the last six months, are eligible for WIC. Other qualifications include being a resident of New York State, once income requirements are met. Medicaid and food stamp recipients automatically meet income guidelines.

For more details, refer to http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic.

Library newsThe next Friends Meeting is Thursday, June 2, from 6:30-7:30 pm. The Documentary & Discussion group is meeting on June 25 at 2 pm to discuss "Hidden Colors: The Rules of Racism"

Red Noses

Red Nose Day is a special day to come together, have fun and make a difference for kids. So BumbleBeesRus just had to participate...check out some of our Lorraine Street students!

Red Hook Farmers Market opens for the summerThe Red Hook Farmers Market is a youth-run market operated by Added Value. It will feature fresh produce (and flowers!) grown in Red Hook, as well as homemade breads, pies, jams, and other delicious treats. We will have a Community Chef providing demonstrations and workshops on how to prepare healthy affordable recipes using farm-fresh ingredients.

The market happens every Saturday at the farm from 10 am-3 pm. For more info, check out the website (http://www.added-value.org/farmers-market/)

Help Wanted at the Red Hook Star-Revue

Looking for editorial interns, fledgling reporters and experienced freelancers.

email George [email protected]

MIKES SAY: 3rd Rail Politics

BY MICHAEL RACCIOPPOI’ve always thought of the subway as something of an equal-opportunity headache. This past week, the MTA made it a migraine when it released a plan for express F train service.

The line that runs from the southernmost point of Brooklyn (Coney Island) through Manhattan and into Queens has been divided between some marginal winners and some big losers. This plan contemplates no increase in trains and overall service, so if your stop is one offering the express F and you catch one, you will have shaved some time off your trip, and thus become a modest “winner.” If, however, you don’t have the express option you are now left to rely on a station that will have less frequent train service and no less travel time once you get on a train. In an unintentional homage to Donald Trump, you are a “big loser.” MTA officials themselves have said 48% of riders will be positively affected by the services while 52% will be negatively affected by this plan.

Much of the discussion surrounding this win-loss divide has been portrayed as the northern parts of the F line, “Brownstone Brooklyn,” complaining versus those in southern Brooklyn feeling that they finally got something good as opposed to the usual short end of the stick. This is a false dichotomy and ignores reality in favor of some facile and perhaps cynical simplicity.

For instance, in Red Hook, a neighborhood that already requires one to either walk or take a bus to the Smith and 9 Street station, commuters will now have added time to their trip every day. Yet if you live conveniently near an express stop in southern Brooklyn, while you may be catch the express and arrive a little early to work, there is no guarantee of catching one (since there is no increase in overall trains). So you still have to leave your house at the same time.

I am not a transit expert, but I am a lifelong rider of the F train, and this plan makes absolutely no sense to me. I am in good company, because Councilman Brad Lander agreed when I spoke with him this past week.

“We can't allow Brooklyn residents to be polarized against each other,” Lander said. “And portraying this as wealthy Brownstone Brooklyn vs. working-class Southern Brooklyn ignores the thousands of NYCHA residents in Red Hook and Gowanus Houses, all of whom lose under the MTA proposal. I sincerely hope we can find a solution that adds service along the F Express line without doing so much gratuitous harm to tens of thousands of straphangers at the F Local stations."

I hope that Lander’s sentiment carries the day as opposed to some of his council colleagues, who dismiss criticism of this plan as “not very New York like.” Few things are more New York than telling it like it is, and this is a bad plan. We shouldn’t have to accept this plan, nor claw tooth and nail to preserve the status quo.

As the people that fund the system, we should accept nothing less than a MTA that pulls every lever possible to ensure that everyone’s transportation time is reduced. This is an important issue in any city. As our city becomes denser, and we inch ever closer to 9 million residents, this becomes increasingly important.

But what do I know? That and a token will get me more “quality” time on the F train.

Michael Racioppo is the First Vice Chairman of Community Board 6, and the Executive Director of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation. He has previously worked for Joan Millman. He is a member of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats. Follow him at @mike_racc at Twitter.


Message from Carlos: Resilient Together!by Carlos Menchaca

I’m proud of Red Hook. We get good results when we work to-gether. In the last months, we looked to the future, learned from the past and planned a

more resilient community.

For example, at the Miccio Center, we learned about new ways of building integrated fl ood protection. People from all over Red Hook reaffi rmed that resilience isn’t just about buildings and fl ood plans - it relies on people who know how to support each other. When city representatives came to propose a new street trolley or to ask for ideas about the planned citywide ferry service, we told them what Red Hook requires. If they’re smart, they’ll listen to us and make good decisions.

When bad city planning decisions of the past aff ected us, we responded with action. Lead contamination from old Red Hook factories requires a federally guided cleanup of the ball fi elds. We’ll lose precious recreational space for quite a while, but it will all come back better - and safer - than before. In the process, we established new ways of working with the Parks Department on community outreach.

When the restoration of our Sandy-damaged Senior Center was intoler-ably delayed, Red Hook seniors stood

up and called for accountability and progress. I witnessed them change the way city government engages our community. Sometimes, it takes the wisdom of an older generation to put some sense in today’s city agency conversations.

Change is happening right before our eyes. Construction projects dot Red Hook, most of them “as of right,” meaning builders can proceed with-out City Council approval by using es-tablished zoning. Red Hook is chang-ing for sure. Luckily, our community is more engaged than ever in determin-ing how that change will take place.

Which brings me to a topic that’s been in the news recently, but was a year in the making - a large development proposed for 141 Conover Street. Last May, a private developer pitched an eight-story, for-profi t, 200-bed nurs-ing home west of Van Brunt in a mandatory fl ood evacuation zone. In this case, I knew I’d have the decisive voice on whether or not the project went forward because it depended on re-zoning historically heavy manu-facturing property to residential use. Th erefore, City Council oversight was triggered.

I took the decision to support or op-pose this development very seri-

ously. At many meetings beyond the required land use hearings, I listened to the developer, Red Hook residents, workers, resilience experts, and local business operators.

Weighing all the benefi ts and risks, the project proved to be unsafe and wrong for Red Hook’s long-term best interests.

It’s in a place where streets are often impassable, where public transit is distant, and where Hurricane San-dy knocked out power for fi ve long weeks. It’s one thing to close an offi ce or cancel shifts at a factory. Employ-ees can stay home. Equipment can be replaced. But elderly patients there would be trapped if they sheltered in place, or traumatized if forced to evacuate.

I also saw this development’s place-ment as directly contrary to our com-munity’s resilience planning. We all know Red Hook needs better access to health services and more facili-ties for the long-term care of elderly people with severe medical needs. We all want smart investment in our community, and to preserve Brook-lyn jobs. Th e general benefi ts of nurs-ing facilities are obvious. But the risks to patients and workers on Conover Street were not acceptable.

In short, I could not support placing nursing home patients and their care-givers in danger.

And so, in the City Council, I led the decision to deny the developer’s re-zoning application. In today’s Brook-lyn, in our Red Hook, essential medi-cal services and the jobs they produce must be sited intelligently. If we fail to make good decisions that support resilience, future Red Hook residents will be forced to take action correcting our failures.

Carlos Menchaca is the City Council-member for the 38th District, which includes Red Hook

Transportation is always a con-troversial issue for Red Hook-ers. Th e neighborhood is cut

off from the rest of Brooklyn by water on three sides and a highway on the fourth, and has always been a chal-lenge to get to. Some say that this is what gives Red Hook its charm. How-ever, people do have to get to work.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) began to study how Brook-lyn’s ferry system could be expanded. Mayor de Blasio continued the initia-tive, and last year announced a new commuter ferry stop for Red Hook. However, to the dismay of many in Red Hook, they proposed the stop be placed all the way at the end of Van Brunt Street alongside the Beard Street Warehouse buildings. Th eir second choice was Valentino Pier.

Red Hookers took up arms and peti-tioned and testifi ed at public hear-ings, trying to convince EDC that a logical place for a commuter ferry that would serve all the neighbor-hood fairly would be at the Atlantic Basin, next to the Cruise Terminal. It is centrally located, sheltered from the elements, and as John McGettrick pointed out, was a ferry site through-out the 19th century.

Th e latest public hearing was held

at St. Francis College. Once again, a number of Red Hookers gave up their evening to tell EDC what they wanted. It seems that EDC is listening, and many in the neighborhood feel that standing together will get what the community wants.

EDC will be deciding within the next few months. Th is is not a political is-sue, and the hope is that logic will pre-vail in this case.

Th e Brooklyn/Queens Connector (BQX), however, is nothing if not a po-litical issue. It is the idea of real estate developers who have built properties along the waterfront, and are hop-ing to build more. Th ey put together a “Friends Group” last year. With the help of the transit specialist for hire, Sam Schwartz, they convinced Mayor de Blasio to trumpet this plan in his State of the City address earlier this year.

Th e BQX is a top-down plan. While promoted as a way to serve the under-served - mainly the 40,000 public hous-ing residents living along the route - the real benefi ciaries are the real estate de-velopers whose properties will become more valuable by being next to a fancy new mode of transportation.

In fact, payment for the $2.5 billion system does not come from traditional sources; it comes from a sort of book-keeping sleight of hand. Th is system

will supposedly generate much higher property taxes from buildings along the route, and those taxes will be siphoned off to pay off the bonds that will be fl oated to come up with the money. In other words, the cost of living along the route will increase, forcing out many businesses and industries whose rent will rise. I guess you could call it city sponsored gentrifi cation.

Th is well suits the real estate develop-ers whose idea this was.

For the mayor, it will provide glitzy reelection ads as he shows - without revealing these important facts - how he is upgrading the city.

All of this became clear in EDC’s ini-tial outreach to Red Hook at the Rec Center recently. Unlike NYCHA meet-ings at the Miccio Center, where chips and water are served, attendees were treated to fancy, cut-up fruit, choco-late chip cookies, and hot coff ee - both regular and decaf.

Th ere were almost as many TV camer-as at the event as locals. If you add in the hired proctors who managed the discussion after the group was broken out into a number of round tables, there were many more people work-ing at the event than there were locals to give the community input that was the supposed reason of this outreach.

Th e fl oor, led by EDC’s Lydon Sleeper,

Reporters Notebook: Good Ideas, Far Fetched Ones, and Watermelon

by George Fiala

was not open to any questions. He was just there to present the usual powerpoint slides.

However, Sleeper was forced to answer questions the next evening at a smaller meeting of the local NY Rising committee, where he made the same presentation.

I asked how they were going to plan the actual trolley route. I kind of ex-pected that was the community in-put they were looking for. Th at wasn’t the answer I heard. Instead, the route would be planned over streets where there weren’t too many big pipes un-derneath, to keep costs down.

Th e watermelon was pretty good, though.

Carlos Menchaca at the 2015 Old Timer's Day in Red Hook, with Lorenzo Boston, who has lived in Red Hook since 1946


The youth in Red Hook who have had a baseball league for the last 30 years will not have one for the second

consecutive year because the fi elds are still closed due to lead contami-nation.

League Director Ian Younge is disap-pointed, but understands.

“It truly breaks my heart that these kids don’t have a facility to play on right now," Younge said. He under-stands what the Parks Department is doing because he prioritizes safety for the kids.

Th e four softball fi elds on Bay Street were closed last year and will remain closed through 2018. Th e Parks De-partment announced at a meeting in May that the four baseball fi elds near IKEA will be closed for testing as well. Th ose were the fi elds that Younge intended to use this year.

Th e construction and remediation for the softball, baseball and soccer fi elds in Red Hook will be done in stages to try to minimize disruption.

Maeri Ferguson, a press offi cer at the Parks Department told the Star-Revue that “NYC Parks is commit-ted to making sure all parks are safe

with healthy environments. We have been working closely with the NYC Department of Health and the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test the fi elds and address histor-ic contamination. As a result, all of the fi elds will be reconstructed on a staggered timeline to have the least impact on the local community and fi eld users.”

According to Ferguson, the fi rst phase includes Fields 5-8. Th ese fi elds have all been since last year. Th e funding for this phase is $14.28 million.

Phase two includes baseball Field 9and soccer Field 2. Th e cost of this construction will be $21.88 million. Th e construction timeline for these two will be from Fall 2018 through Spring 2020.

Th e third phase of construction will be soccer fi elds 3-5 and baseball fi elds 1-4. Construction costs are projected at $48.4 million. According to Ferguson, soccer fi eld 3 is closed and construction will start in Spring 2019 and be fi nished in Fall 2020.

Th e track surrounding soccer Field 3, which is currently fenced off , will re-main open during the remediation. Fields 1-4 near the IKEA are cur-

rently closed for hydro seeding, and will be re-evaluated for grass growth and coverage in July, according to Ferguson.

Th ere were thoughts about mov-ing the baseball league to Sunset Park, but there wasn’t enough time to coor-dinate for this season.

“We have been playing the waiting game with [the Parks De-partment],” Younge said. “Th e way we do it, the league would have already started by now. Unfortu-nately, we have been the recipient of unfortunate circumstances. We thought we were going to be able to do something on the back fi elds, but then they said you can’t do that be-cause they were tested.”

Next year in Sunset Park?His goal is to have the league in Sun-set Park next summer. “In the future there are so many things that we are going to be able to do once we have both facilities going – Sunset and Red Hook - where we can crossover between two fi elds, but the league is not there yet,” Younge added.

“Th e league was diminishing. Th en I stepped in a couple of years ago, and we got the numbers back up,” Younge said. “Unfortunately, we were thrown that curve ball right be-fore the season started last year. It’s a step backwards to hopefully take three forward in the future.”

Younge cannot run the league en-tirely on fi eld 9, which is the only one currently open.

Parents have been disappointed to not have the league but Younge re-alizes that the children’s wellbeing comes fi rst.

“I am going to be on the side of be-ing safe over being sorry any day,” Younge said. “Th e kids are just too

small and too young. One day you hear that the levels are here, and one day you hear that the levels are not here. I could have tried to do some-thing on the backfi elds, but I didn’t feel comfortable. I wouldn’t want to

have my child out there. I am not going to bring s o m e o n e else’s child out there.”

“Th ey have done an amazing job with putting a plan together, but as we all know the city takes a while to get things done,” Younge said. Th ey have earmarked the money to do the project, but unfortunately we now have to wait for them to go through all of the steps to make it happen.”

When the league continues in 2017, Younge wants to be able to bring back the kids who are not aged out. He hopes to recreate the same qual-ity the players have already experi-enced.

Younge played in the league with his family when he was growing up. “Th e best is yet to come,” he said. “We will have the facility, and everything will be new. We will not be dealing with the issues we had in the past.”

The Sayo GreysYounge is trying to build a baseball program geared towards education. He also runs an older league called the Student Athlete Youth Organiza-tion, where his members have gone on to play in college. He then gets the college guys to help out coaching the youth. “We try to take a holistic approach, let them use baseball as a vehicle to get them where they need to go in life.”Now, Younge’s goal is to make some adjustments and get geared up for a 2017 season wherever he can - whether in Red Hook or Sunset Park.

Hello Red Hook!

Do you or someone you care about have diabetes?

Would you like to be a part of a group where you can ask questions about diabe-tes and information will be provided and discussed?

Spread the word about our inaugural RED HOOK DIABETES SUPPORT & EDUCATION PROGRAM (RHDSEP) MEETING

Where? The Red Hook Library, 7 Wolcott Street When? Saturday, June 4th, 2 PM – 4 PM Who? Open to all with diabetes, or who want information on diabetes What? Health care providers and program administrators will:

F Describe the program goals and answer questions

F Give you information on healthy eating and managing diabetes

F Lead discussion and answer your questions on dietary and nutrition information

F Provide refreshments

F Hand out materials and information

F You help decide topics for future meetings

For more information, contact Alyce Erdekian: [email protected] or (718) 930-1544

Red Hook's athletes thrown a curveballby Nathan Weiser

Back in the day (2014) Red Hook's Junior Baseball League fi lled fi elds 1-4 every weekend.

The four softball fi elds on Bay Street

were closed last year and will remain

closed through 2018.


We Were Never Here tells the story of a teenage girl with a stigmatized disease

Being 16 is already diffi cult, let alone being 16 with a devastating disease with a shameful stigma.

In her upcoming novel We Were Never Here, renowned Carroll Gardens author Jennifer Gilmore tells the fi ctional story of Lizzie, a 16-year-old girl who is hospitalized with ulcerative colitis: a potentially life-threatening infl ammatory bowel disease related to Crohn’s disease.

Gilmore herself developed ulcerative colitis at age 25, and underwent three diffi cult surgeries and endless hospital time to cure it. Back then, she had a hard time talking about it.

“Th ere’s so much shame in that disease. It felt embarrassing,” said Gilmore, who has since managed her symptoms. “But over 5 million people have it, and it’s not talked about.”

We Were Never Here isn’t just a nod to an often-ignored disease, however. It’s a love story: Lizzie meets a young hospital volunteer named Connor and falls for him the only way a 16-year-old can - hard. Amidst all of Lizzie’s health problems, Connor reveals some pretty dark secrets about himself, sending the teens into a precarious relationship fi lled with shifting power dynamics.

Th e book comes out June 14 on HarperTeen. Gilmore will conduct a reading at BookCourt in Cobble Hill.

We Were Never Here marks Gilmore’s fi rst offi cial foray into young adult novel writing. After receiving positive feedback about a 16-year-old protagonist in her 2010 novel Something Red, Gilmore decided to pursue YA more aggressively. Th eoretically, the book is geared toward high school and college students - but the line between young adult and adult literature is ever-blurring. In fact, 55% of YA readers are adults.

What makes this novel truly YA is that it is told through a teen’s perspective - not an adult’s perspective with hindsight, but a teen’s perspective that is truly experiencing adolescence for the fi rst time.

“I’m dangerously still in touch with my inner 16-year-old. I feel like I’m writing about my previous self,” she said. “When you’re 16, everything feels really important. Everything is going to end right then and there. You think you’ll never love again. Th ere’s an emotional openness that makes you distinctly 16.”

Th roughout her illustrious career - which includes four novels, multiple awards, teaching residencies at the likes of Harvard and Barnard, and essays in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Th e Atlantic and more - Gilmore has drawn from her own life to feed her fi ction.

In her 2013 book Th e Mothers, Gilmore wrote about adoption through the lens of fi ctional characters, while she, in reality, was trying to adopt a child with her husband Pedro Barbeito, a renowned painter. Th e harrowing real-life journey forced

her to meet eight birth mothers and endure countless disappointments, including a puzzling emotional scam wherein the birth mother wasn’t even pregnant. Now, Gilmore is the proud mom of a 3-year-old adopted son.

“I thought motherhood would never happen for me because I’d been sick. I just went down this rabbit hole,” Gilmore said. “My son is a wonder baby to us. We’re very lucky.”

Gilmore is originally from the Washington DC area. She attended Brandeis University, then spent some time in Seattle working as a bartender and radio host. After earning an MFA at Cornell University in 1997, she moved to her permanent home: Brooklyn. Th rough it all, she wrote short stories, but her combined work seemed to be leading to something bigger.

In 2007, she debuted with the novel Golden Country, a story about three early 20th Century Jewish immigrants trying to follow their dreams. It became a New York Times Notable Book, and a fi nalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her subsequent novels Something Red and Th e Mothers earned glowing reviews.

Of course, having a kid makes it tougher to write. Her Carroll Gardens apartment used to be her workspace, but these days she writes at Brooklyn Writers Space on 1st Street, a quiet co-working space founded by playwrights.

“Even without children, I needed to fi ght to write. Now I have to fi ght more than ever,” she said.

Given her current lineup, however, it's hard to believe she has any trouble writing at all. While promoting We Were Never Th ere, Gilmore is working on an adult novel about Greece, the native country of her husband. She’s also working on a YA novel about adoption from a birth mother’s perspective, as well as a screenplay about life in the DC area. Meanwhile, Th e Mothers has been optioned for a fi lm starring Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz.

With We Were Never Th ere, however, she faced a special kind of hurdle.

“I’m really far away from the story of being sick right now,” she said. “I know what being sick has done, but to write this, I had to go back into that time when I had no wisdom. I knew it would be a great story for a 16-year-old. It’s already a weird time, your body is changing, you’re adjusting to becoming a woman ... [the book] is about how illness really does change you - not always for the worse.”

We Were Never Th ere will be available on HarperTeen beginning June 14. A reading will take place on June 18 at BookCourt, 163 Court Street, at 7 pm.

Carroll Gardens author writes novels based on her life experience

by Halley Bondy

"While promoting We Were

Never There, Gilmore is

working on an adult novel

about Greece, the native

country of her husband."

Jennifer Gilmore at PAVES career day last month. (photo by George Fiala)

Tyson Allen Ivan Espinosa

Red Hook Student Photographers on display for one glorious eveningStudents from the South Brooklyn Community High School, the Red Hook Initiative, Summit Academy and the Red Hook Community Justice Center

had their photographs on display at the Red Hook Labs, 133 Imlay Street on May 25 at a gala opening and closing from 5 - 8 pm. The event was spon-sored by Estate 4, Red Hook Labs and the NY State Council of the Arts.

In addition to the photographs that lined the long walls, guests enjoyed music and refreshments.


Conventional wisdom often has it that mixing family and business is a route to ruin. Conventional wisdom

also often says that if you are going to start your own business, you might want to enter a fi eld within your expertise. But, conventional wisdom is just that - conventional. And those who fl y in the face of convention reap unexpected rewards.

Or thus has been the case with Big Dawg Party Rentals, a local, family-owned and operated party equipment rental business. In less than three years, the business has gone from idea to go-to source for party equipment in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Manhattan and beyond.

Co-owned by a team of two, father-and-son-in-law Michael Giordano and Brendan Quinlan, Big Dawg has gone from cold, empty warehouse on Bowne Street in 2013 to 6,000 square-feet of equipment the fi rst year in operation, to 15,000 square-feet of equipment today. (And they are ready for more.) Big Dawg has gone from being a complete newcomer to being the exclusive vendor for numerous local business and working the recent Democratic Presidential Debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“All told, about 2,000 chairs, 250 tables, we set it all up and took it down in a

24-hour period,” said Giordano. “One of the biggest events in the country. And then we had to go to set up at the Intrepid within 36 hours. We got very little sleep. I looked at my partner and said, you know, I think we’ve made it.”

How did they get from there to here, then to now?

It all began with Wall Street, an engagement party, and a misplaced delivery.

Around 2008, Giordano, who had been working on Wall Street for three decades and ran two corporate brokerage fi rms, decided he didn’t like the direction Wall Street was taking. So he took stock of where he was and where he was headed. He started playing with the idea of opening his own business.

“I started kicking around a few diff erent businesses,” Giordano said. “And Brendan, my then future son-in-law, was good with technology. So we analyzed four or fi ve diff erent businesses.”

All about serviceTh e seed for a party rental business was planted at the engagement party Giordano and his wife organized for Quinlan and their daughter, Justine.

“We threw an engagement party,” said Giordano. “And the company we rented equipment from left it on the wrong fl oor. So we had to schlep all this equipment up to the right fl oor. Th ey didn’t seem so big on customer service.”

Fast forward to today, and Big Dawg Party Rentals’ mission and driving force is just that - customer service. Giordano and Quinlan crunched some numbers and decided to dive in.

“I knew we needed to attack the customer service angle,” said Giordano. “Whether people are in the offi ce or in the fi eld, there’s one rule: customers set the rules, so work hard and be nice. At the time, we didn’t know anything about party rental. We just knew that customer service was lacking.”

Since then the Big Dawg family of two has expanded to a family of 23, many of whom come from outside the party business. A former lawyer, real estate broker, and interior designer are among the mix. Th ese disparate infl uences from outside the party business have helped make Big Dawg into what it is today, says Giordano. “Th e interesting thing about this story is there’s a mixture of fi ve or six people in the administrative part of the industry. Because of that we’re not restrained by the typical things. It creates an interesting dynamic.”

At the same time, there’s a glue that binds the team, said Giordano’s wife, Catherine, who began working with her husband at Big Dawg about a year ago. And this glue is the commitment to customer service.

“Th e trick is when you grow [as a business], not to forget what was in our mission statement,” said Catherine. “Th ere are really no degrees for party rental specialist and some of it is in one’s make-up. Do we have the

patience to talk someone through the process? Do we listen carefully? Th is is in our DNA.”

It’s this DNA that fl ows through Big Dawg’s veins and makes the 23 current employees into a family. When new hires come on board, Giordano might say, “we’re gonna be family here, and we’re gonna build a business. Th ey look at it and realize it’s something special.”

“I did think initially, ‘Oh my goodness, this could be challenging,’” Catherine said of sharing an offi ce with her husband. “But Michael never really questioned it. He said immediately, ‘I think it’s a great thing. Who am I gonna trust more?’”

Another binding force is the fact that more than a quarter of the team are blood relatives. Her daughter Justine works in the offi ce, and her son, James, wears many hats, mostly in construction. Michael’s son Patrick will join the team full-time after completing a degree in food studies.

So what of conventional wisdom?

Big Dawg’s work is reaching beyond Red Hook and Brooklyn more and more. But their initial focus was on serving the Red Hook community, with a commitment to local businesses and venues.

“We concentrated very hard on Red Hook itself,” said Giordano. “It’s an interesting place. It’s done well for us. Brooklyn is a slice of the country. Everyone lives together in a very compatible place.” Or, in the words of Catherine, who grew up in Dyker Heights, “Brooklyn is hot.”

Big Dawg is located at 74 Bowne St, near the Cruise Terminal. Th eir number is (718) 643-9019.

Big Dawg Party Rental: A family business that defi es conventional wisdom

by Mary Staub

"The seed for a party rental

business was planted at the

engagement party Giordano

and his wife organized for

Quinlan and their daughter,

Justine."

Brendan Quinlan outside of Big Dawg, which is presently leases space in shed 11 at the Cruise Terminal. (photo by George Fiala



Dance Th eater Etcetera is bringing a globally rooted mix of local dancers and musicians

to Red Hook during the 23rd Annual Red Hook Fest this June. Th e free three-day festival runs from June 9-11 at multiple locations throughout the neighborhood, and has drawn up to about 4,000 attendees in previous years.

Th is year’s festival focuses on going global, but for the sake of the local. With artists representing everything from Japanese drum to Austrian-born, Cuban-infused tap to reggae with African roots, the aim of bringing such international fl avor to Red Hook is to appeal to all community members, regardless of age, gender, origin, or profession.

“We always try to think of artists that will appeal to diff erent sides and demographics of our neighborhood,“ said Martha Bowers, Executive Director of Dance Th eater Etcetera (DTE). “We wanted it to be a cross-sector space, meaning it’s

welcoming to everyone in Red Hook. One reason it’s free is to make that possible. We want to make it accessible to everyone. We fi nd we need space where people from all parts of our neighborhood come together and build a stronger community.”

Each of the Brooklyn-based performance groups additionally merges a range of artistic languages. Max Pollak and RumbaTap, for instance, mix Afro-Cuban music with American tap and use the body as percussion. Japanese Taiko drumming is combined with tap by the all-female group Cobu. Brooklyn native Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray will bring Brooklyn’s own Flexn to the fl oor, a dance style that evolved from bruk-up (a Jamaican style of street dance performed to dancehall and reggae), but is considered homegrown.

A musical melting pot will be brought to the stage by Meta and Th e Cornerstones, formed by the Senegalese-born Meta Dia. Th at group brings together musicians with roots in Israel, Algeria, Japan, Ivory

Coast, and Jamaica.

Lastly, Francine E. Ott and Th e Walk fuse hip hop, house, modern dance, and African dance styles, blending them into a spiritually infused movement

language. A native New Orleanian, Ott has been doing social services work with dance at multiple Red Hook institutions including the Community Justice Center and South Brooklyn Community High School for years.

Another aim of Red Hook Fest is to integrate professional Brooklyn-based artists and the Red Hook community. One way of doing this is by including local youth as an integral part of the festivities. During Saturday’s mainstage events at Valentino Park, more than 150 local youth performers will take the stage between featured professional performances.

“We’re bringing together top notch professional choreographers and local young people,” said Bowers. “It’s a way for our local youth to be involved, which ties into everything else we do. It’s a chance for young people to have a pre-professional performance experience in front of a large audience.”

Local youth also serve as crew members for Saturday’s event, with approximately ten students coming from South Brooklyn High School to work on the festival. “Th e crew is very committed, grassroots,” said Bowers. “[Red Hook Fest] is an event where young people can get involved in diff erent ways. It’s a very joyous occasion, and some of our crew have come back for years. Former students come back. People get very attached to it.”

Local non-profi ts will table Saturday’s event and share resources available to Red Hook residents. To add further fl avor, local knowledge will be tested through Red Hook trivia and local waters can be explored by kayak with Red Hook Boaters.

On the festival’s opening night Th ursday evening at Hometown Bar-B-Q, youth poets from DTE’s youth programs will perform during a happy hour festival preview. Th e evening will be led by local DJ Jive Poetic, and DTE will also showcase some of the ways the group is involved in the Red Hook community yearlong and how they work towards “building a more just and joyful world through the arts,” as their mission statement reads.

On Friday, Good Shepherd Services will partner with DTE at P.S. 15 for a fully catered family-friendly cookout and dance party. Fairway is generously donating the food.

All events are free and open to the public. � ursday, June 9th (6 pm-8 pm) Hometown Bar-B-Q Friday, June 10th (6 pm-8 pm) Community Cookout with free BBQ & DJ Dance Party @ PS 15 PlaygroundSaturday, June 11th (12 pm-7 pm)Mainstage Performances & Cultural Activities Valentino Park (Co� ey & Ferris Streets, Brooklyn)

Red Hook Fest goes global to serve localby Mary Staub


RED HOOK HISTORY.... FROM THE PAGES OF THE

DECEMBER 5, 1946


Red Hook, Brooklyn has been my home for four years via Long Island, Queens, and Harlem. Of

all the neighborhoods I have lived in, Red Hook easily best represents the epitome of what it means to be a New Yorker. We are a blue collar, hard-nosed, resilient, and resourceful neighborhood.

Some people believe Red Hook is a forgotten piece of industrial Brooklyn. I beg to differ. Some people believe Red Hook may just be the next epicenter of gentrification, merely the next object of desire for those that only see our land as a future waterfront to capitalize on.

In life, change is always constant, so it is possible developers will succeed in their endeavors. If that were to happen, it is not a given that others will buy into their dream. They may only produce a soulless piece of land at best. That is because it is us - the people - who make Red Hook. Not the public housing buildings, the streets, the Brooklyn Terminal, or the water that surrounds us.

I have heard talks of this neighborhood changing for years now. Some people are unsure if that is a good or a bad thing. If you speak to many longtime residents, the opinions are diverse. Some fear gentrification, while others embrace it. The one thing that is agreed upon is the uncertainty of what it may bring with it.

I believe the neighborhood is changing for the better in regards to safety, but losing the war in regards to utilizing all of our best resident’s talents and skills. In a neighborhood with 11,000 people, many of us do not know our neighbors. Thus, we do not know the opportunities available to all of us.

If there is strength in numbers, we would be able to revitalize Red Hook in a way never seen since the 1920s. The people united back then to make Red Hook the busiest port in the

world. If you believe in cycles, like I do, then it is inevitable for Red Hook to thrive on that level again.

I believe we bottomed out in 1980s and 1990s, when we were a drug infested neighborhood. Thank God those days are over, which was a much needed relief - especially for the public housing residents. But having a safer community is not enough.

We have a multicultural community which includes Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites. A common theme I recognize in each group is the love for entrepreneurialism. Maybe it is because we are secluded and away from the rest of Brooklyn, but nevertheless many people in the area solely rely on the neighborhood for their exchange of goods and services. A large majority of the businesses in the community are owned and operated by local residents. They also employ many other local residents. I believe the owners take pride in taking care of their own and also care about the community we live in.

Let’s talk about how the area has improved over the years and what I believe can be done to hold on to our community for as long as we can before land developers eventually succeed in changing the landscape.

I

will start with where I live, the NYCHA development. I used to visit my cousin in the East Houses as a kid in the 1980s. Back then, it was more common to hear gunshots over drug turf wars and police sirens responding to violent acts of crime than it is now.

When I was a teenager in the 1990s, the Bloods gang had overtaken the houses and the ensuing gunshot battles were no longer about drug turf but gang affiliation.

Due to tough debatable police

practices, a debatable oppressive court system, community leaders, the Justice League, and many different drug intervention groups, the Houses have become as safe as any other area in downtown Brooklyn, minus the isolated incidents of crime here and there. Instead of seeing teenagers who are hopeless, drugged up, isolated, and angry, the Houses are producing teenagers who are going to college, learning skills and trades, and participating in the community. There are more resources available to them than ever before and many of them do utilize them.

I socialize with many young adults in my community and most see hard work and education as the keys to success. The effect of everything previous generations have been through has deterred many of them from living a life of crime.

I have friends with limited resources who run their own online companies retailing music, sneakers, and many other enterprises which were unimaginable 20 years ago. Although not desirable, having the minimum to succeed has inspired creativity and the entrepreneur spirit to go along with

it. With easy access to information because of the internet, many of the residents, like me, teach themselves the skills needed for growth.

If the library can reinforce our vision and stock more business books, people will definitely support them more. I believe with more book fairs, entrepreneur meetings, and e-marketing classes, we can bridge the gap that divides many of our residents throughout the entire area and create more networking opportunities that would benefit us all.

With 8,000 people living in Red Hook Houses, there is definitely much untapped potential waiting to be discovered. With the proper guidance, it could become a political and economic force due to the sheer volume of number of residents in one area.

Red Hook has seen tough times, and each time we have risen to the occasion. The most recent challenge illustrated how we band together to deal with adversity. Hurricane Sandy ravaged the neighborhood. Many people didn’t evacuate for a myriad of reasons. Some couldn’t leave family behind unassisted, others didn’t have the resources to leave, and some simply underestimated Sandy.

The support the community gave to each other during those times is admirable. Aid was distributed. People who otherwise may never have spoken to each other forged alliances for the greater good of all. That camaraderie made this community a better place to live. Just as Sandy was turning her attention on us she also brought with her the attention of land developers. Will this challenge bring out the best in us again? Only time will tell. One thing I do know, however, is that Red Hook is going to only continue to improve. Hopefully, we all will still be here to enjoy it.

With camaraderie, Red Hook can only continue to improveby Lazarus Jackson

"I socialize with many young adults in my community and

most see hard work and education as the keys to success.

The effect of everything previous generations have been

through has deterred many of them from living a life of

crime."

Red Hook starting coming together in the months after Hurricane Sandy.


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Last Minute & Weekend Specials

My mother, Susan Goldberg opened Union Max on Columbia Street in

1999. She had always wanted a store of her own.

She had been in the antique business since 1979, when she bought out the contents of a jewelry factory. At fi rst, she sold wholesale to stores all around the city. People who have been in New York long enough might remember the names. Antique Boutique, Unique, Reminiscence, Patricia Fields... Th ose are only the ones I can remember because I was still little when she took me around with her two duff el bags of jewelry from store to store.

Weekends were spent hunting for more treasure at yard sales. I like to say that at I was born at a yard sale - it might be true. When I was old enough, my sister and I started to do the fl ea markets with her stock. Grand Street was the fi rst, and then 26th Street. My mother had a great eye and a shrewd business sense. She taught us well.

My sister Ilana moved to Carroll Gardens in 1995. She was having a yard sale at her house - as per family tradition - when a woman told us about a man named Barry Jetter who was selling amazing vintage furniture down on Columbia Street. It was only

a few blocks away, but as anyone in the neighborhood knows, the BQE is the great divide.

Th e next week, we all went down to check out his shop. Barry was a special man with a great eye as well. Th e strip was barren at the time, save for Barry's General Nightmare Antiques and Margaret Palca Bakes. My mother saw what it could be and quickly set up shop.

Th roughout the years she gave her

Remembering the wonderful Susan Goldbergby Rachel Goldberg

heart and her soul to the store. To some it might have seemed like a junk store. Lord knows I begged her to clean it up! But she wanted a store that she would want to shop in, overfl owing with fun kitsch and unexpected treasures.

As time passed my mother gained a local fan base, or her "groupies" as my sister and I would call them. People came by when I worked there on Sundays and said, "Oh, you're Susan's

daughter!" and, "Your mom is so cool!"

She also had a following made up of the design teams from major companies. Monthly, the accessory designers from J. Crew, Isaac Mizrahi, Banana Republic, Anthropologie, and a few who refused to even tell us who they were working for came by to buy in bulk. And her collection was shipped off to China and sold for three times the price at high end stores. She didn't care that the corporations were making more than her on the same product - it made her laugh. Movie costume designers would come too. It was exciting to see a dress from Zoolander made out of metal bugs from my Mom's collection!

I can go on - but I won't. Cause as my Mom would say, “Ok, I get it. Enough already!”

Th e outpouring of love from the neighborhood has been wonderful. Th ank you. I'm gonna clean the store. Sorry. But the spirit that she left behind is NOT going anywhere!


Posh TomatoNewsbriefsTh e Brooklyn Bridge Park at Pier 6 on Atlantic Avenue opened in June of 2010 and is set to be a part of a much grander plan by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation. Th e entire park is to include all of the piers 1-6, which opens to the public in 2011. Th e park on Pier 1 has been in use since March 2010 after a two year long construction period which followed a much longer period of inactivity. In 1984, the NY/NJ Port Authority closed down cargo operations at the piers along the Promenade and an-nounced a plan to sell the space for commercial development. Th e plan fell through as the city of New York decided that the area was too valuable of a public resource. In 1998, the city created the Downtown Brooklyn Wa-terfront Local Development Corpora-tion to design and plan for a Brooklyn Bridge Park, thus taking control away from the Port Authority, an inter-state agency and giving it to a city agency. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov-ernor George Pataki dedicated state and city funding for the project in 2002, which created the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corpora-tion. Th e fi nal design for the 85-acre park was released in 2005 with the groundbreaking in 2008.Th e park is known as Brooklyn Bridge Park and will run long the Brooklyn Waterfront from Atlantic Avenue to Jay Street, on the north side of the Manhattan Bridge. Th e city agency re-sponsible for overseeing its construc-tion will also continue be in charge of park operations. It looks as if these parks set to open at the end of next year will become a main attraction for years to come as it is city policy to not sell waterfront land.Just north of the playground on Pier 6 is the location where the region’s larg-est beer distributor, Phoenix Beverag-es, is located. In early 2009, the city’s Economic Development Corporation, the NY/NJ Port Authority and current lease-holder American Stevedoring Inc. reached a deal with Phoenix Bev-erages to bring the trucking company to Pier 7 from Long Island City. Th e deal also gives Phoenix Beverages ac-cess to Pier 11, which has stirred up some controversy in the community. Th is is because when Phoenix fi rst signed the deal for both piers, one of the conditions was that Phoenix’s trucks were only supposed to use to internal roads that connect the piers. Instead, Phoenix trucks have been using the streets, angering many resi-dents as the trucks only add to the growing traffi c and pollution prob-lems the neighborhood is already faced with. Th ere have been petitions from people in the community that aim to limit Phoenix to only using Pier 7, but nothing has developed since. Expect to see a bevy of beer trucks on Columbia Avenue for some time to come.

A TIRELESS FIGHTERFOR RED HOOK

Vote Tuesday, June 28th!

Congresswoman NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ has stood up for working families and seniors her entire life—protecting our progressive values and the neighborhoods we call home.

Nydia has never stood down from a fight — taking on party bosses who disgraced their office and Tea Party Republicans to protect Medicare and Social Security.

And Nydia continues to protect our public housing in NYCHA and our small businesses.We need Nydia to keep fighting for us—as our progressive voice.

Secured over $500 million for recovery and

resiliency efforts in Red Hook.

NYDIA DELIVERS FOR RED HOOK:

Wrote, passed, and enacted the Superstorm

Sandy Relief and Disaster Loan Program

Improvement Act which reopens federal loan

programs for homeowners and businesses, allowing for $16 million in new aid

for rebuilding.

SANDY RECOVERY:

Introduced the Scale Up Manufacturing

Investment Company Act which would

create a `new initiative encouraging investment

in small manufacturers, to help them secure capital

and hire more employees.

SMALL BUSINESS CHAMPION:

Secured more than $9 Million for schools in Districts 13 and 15 through the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, enabling

local schools to focus on STEM and Arts

education.

STANDING UP FOR SCHOOLS

Paid for by the Committee to Re-Elect Nydia M. Velázquez to Congress

Documents

Red Hook Star-Revue, June 2016