CITY REJECTS WILLIAMSBURG/ GREENPOINT COMMUNITY

Vo l u m e X X X V I I I N u m b e r V M a y 1 - 31, 2 010 Es t. 1974
CITY REJECTS WILLIAMSBURG/
GREENPOINT COMMUNITY
20-Year Resident Effort Tossed to Benefit Private Developer
By Leonard Martin
»
2 Rose Plaza Passes City
Council
4 Emergency Funds for
Section 8
5 Williamsburg Walks
In mid-April, Community
Board 1 voted to support a
community-driven plan to
redevelop the small remaining potion of the defunct
Greenpoint Hospital. This
action reinforced the longaccepted community plan for
the complex. Ten days later, the
city’s Department of Housing
Preservation and Development
(HPD) shunned the board’s
recommendation and instead
chose a private company from
outside the neighborhood to develop the city-owned site.
The decision angered residents who had worked tirelessly
to make productive use of the
site since the hospital closed in
1982. Many are asking why the
city prefers powerful developers
over local organizations that
are just as capable.
INSIDE
Reduced to One
Weekend
NORTH BROOKLYN: A
STATISTICAL APPRAISAL
Greenpoint cracks top 5 of
statistical neighborhood livability
rankings; Williamsburg 20th
By Karl Benson
Greenpoint is on [ital] point, according to a recent survey that ranks the
North Brooklyn neighborhood as the
city’s fifth most “livable.”
For 28 years, members of the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation advocated to turn the former
Greenpoint Hospital site into something that would benefit the community. In April, the city turned its back on those
efforts and gave control of the site to a for-profit company with no connection – and accountability – to Williamsburg
and Greenpoint. Pictured are GREC members Guido Cianciotta, Tish Cianciotta, Jan Peterson, and Marie Leanza.
Ron
Schiffman,
former
City Planning Commissioner and former
Director of Pratt Center for Community
Development, expressed these sentiments,
saying, “By selecting a private developer
with no track record of working in the
area, the city repudiated the community’s
planning efforts and the idea of community development in general.”
Schiffman added, “The city should have
used the resources within this community.
Instead, it failed to act on the land for more
than five years and blocked community development. It utterly ignored a coalition
of community non-profits whose proposal
had garnered CB 1 support, and who had
worked in this community for 25 years.”
“The community board had just voted
on it, and then after no public process,
the city just gave away this land that the
community had fought for 28 years. It’s
like nobody cared about what the community felt at all,” said Jan Peterson,
President of the Neighborhood Women
of Williamsburg-Greenpoint. Peterson’s
organization is one of five that comprise
the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise
Corporation (GREC), the longstanding
coalition whose community-based plan
for the site was supported by CB 1. St.
Nicks Alliance is another GREC coalicontinued on page 3
The rankings are the result of a
quantitative index created by Nate
Silver, a renowned statistical analyst of
both baseball and politics. The index
takes twelve categories into account
including housing cost, safety, transit,
and public schools. These categories
were weighted in order of importance,
with Silver making use of surveys to
determine the weights.
Greenpoint’s high ranking owed
to its excellent public schools, which
ranked first in the survey measuring
test scores and level of parental satisfaction. Silver also noted that the
continued on page 5
Budget cuts have devastated St. Nicks
Alliance youth summer camps.
We need YOUR support.
JOIN US OR DONATE TO WALK FOR CAMP
May 27, 2009 (rain date May 28)
Starts at 11 Catherine St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
For more info or to donate, go to Stnicksalliance.org
YOUR AD HERE
USE GREENLINE’S CIRCULATION OF
13,000
TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS.
For more information, call Greg at 718-388-5454 x167
PG . 2 |Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | GR E E NL I NE
LENTOL TO GOOGLE: I’LL SWIM IN
NEWTOWN FOR HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND
By Karl Benson
connection.”
First, a dolphin was spotted swimming
in the notoriously polluted Newtown
Creek. Is the local Assemblyman next?
He added, “And that’s why its worth it:
The businesses, artists, families, students,
and everyone in between deserve the best
and I’m going to do everything in my power to give it to them.”
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, 67, said he
would take the dirty dip if the internet company Google installs an ultra-high-speed
internet connection in North Brooklyn.
Google is planning on installing such
networks in a small handful of trial communities across the country. The network
connection would deliver internet speeds
more than 100 times faster than what most
Americans have access to today, enabling
users to download a high-definition, fulllength movie in less than give minutes.
Lentol submitted an application on behalf
of North Brooklyn.
Quipping about the environmental
hazards of Newtown Creek – which was
recently nominated for consideration to
become a Federal Superfund site because
of its history of environmental degradation – Lentol said, “Even if I grow a third
arm, I bet I still won’t be able to keep up
with the speed of this Google broadband
The idea to submit the application
came to Lentol via one of his constituents,
Chris Johnson, who contacted Lentol’s
district office. Since then, the issue has
drawn widespread support from the North
Brooklyn community, one of the city’s
most technologically savvy. A Facebook
page dedicated to the cause – entitled
“Greenpoint/Williamsburg for Google
Fiber Optic” – has garnered 550 fans.
“The diversity of North Brooklyn shows
that this project can positively impact my
constituents who are from all walks of
life,” said Lentol. “Gaining access to such
ultra-high speed internet can have an immense impact on North Brooklyn because
the internet is the great equalizer. It can
catapult the success of artists and small
businesses as well as stimulated the education of our students.”
PROJECT COMES UP ROSES
AT CITY COUNCIL
Levin’s last-minute deal increases affordable housing at
Rose Plaza by 10%
By Billy Godfrey
An increased commitment to affordable and family housing gave Councilman
Steve Levin a rosy outlook on Rose Plaza,
the proposed 774-unit Waterfront development on Kent and Division Avenues. The
full City Council followed Levin’s example
and approved the development last month.
Levin supported a measure after brokering a deal that would have project developers increase the number of below marketrate units from 20 percent to 30 percent.
The deal also calls for increases the number of three and four-bedroom apartments,
from 20 overall to
74 overall. All of
these large units
will be priced at below market-rates.
The increased number of affordable
large units is largely seen as a measure to
placate the neighboring Hasidic community, which tends to have large families.
Many Hasidic leaders had objected to the
proposal because most of its units were
small. Hasidic leaders feared the development would become an outpost for wealthy
young professionals without families rather than something that would serve the
preexisting community.
“We are now guaranteed a development
that will serve the greater Williamsburg
Community,” Levin said.
Ward Dennis,
Chair
of
the
Com mu n ity
Board 1 Land
Use Committee,
praised the deal
As is customary,
as well. This is
the City Council’s
significant
beland-use commitcause Community
tee followed the
Board 1 emphatiexample of Levin,
cally voted down
who represents the
the proposal on
area, and voted to
the grounds that
support the project
it did not have
before the full City
enough affordable
Local Councilman Steve Levin brokered a deal to housing. “This is
Council did the
ensure more affordable housing for Rose Plaza
same.
the balance that
the
community
“I am proud that
board has sought
the communities I represent stood up, with all along, and Councilman Levin is to be
my fellow Brooklyn elected officials, to de- congratulated for his hard work in achievmand a development that will benefit our ing it,” said Dennis.
community,” said Levin.
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol
FAIR PROMOTES HEALTHY
EATING AND LIFESTYLE HABITS
Two local elected officials –
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and
Councilwoman Diana Reyna – teamed
up last month to host a health fare at
Hope Gardens Community Center.
Representatives from several local
health service providers participated,
educating those who attended about
healthy eating and healthy lifestyles.
Other local organizations enrolled area
children in summer programs to ensure
that the children stay active.
Statistics from the city’s Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene’s
Community Health Profile of the
Williamsburg/Bushwick area paint a
grim portrait, with residents exhibiting
a very high rate of obesity (28 percent)
and diabetes (14 percent). The same
2006 profile found that “Bushwick and
Williamsburg residents had an average
annual heart disease hospitalization
rate in 2003-2004 that was almost 50
percent higher than the Brooklyn rate
and 60 percent higher than the rate in
New York City overall.”
Said Councilwoman Reyna, “Our
community needs to get exposed to the
programs that are available locally to
end the cycle of obesity and inactivity
present in our community.”
Councilwoman Diana Reyna (left) with community residents
Community Beat
Yassky Introduces Greenhouse Gas
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REJECTS
WILLIAMSBURG/
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GREENPOINT COMMUNITY
significantly reduce greenhouse gas emis-
In late 2007, Councilman David Yassky
introduced the Bioheat Act of 2007, a local
law requiring all heating oil purchased in
continued
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Mad Dog Vs. Tiberos, For Troop 996
Dog and Tiberos where Mad Dog won the
“The GREC coalition advocated for this
Heavyweight Championship. The Pack
plan three years ago,” said Frank Lang,
irector,
and Troop 996 had a sold out event with reDirector of Housing at St. Nicks Alliance.
ars ago
cord breaking attendance. It was their best
GREC designated St. Nicks to carry out
ctor of
fundraising event yet and hopes to have a
its plan and partnered with two developers
repeat at their next event in May. For more
to help finance and build the project. This
information on how to join or sponsor Pack
past fall, GREC received a $500,000 donaand Troop 996, please call 347-564-9964.
tion from the Von Damm Foundation, a
local philanthropic organization.
Lang added, “St Nicks has the proven
track record and the capability to successfully execute this project. Our board
and the GREC member organizations are
neighbors and business people who are locally accountable – unlike for-profit firms
from elsewhere. While the city rejected
community input in shaping the RFP, we
listened. Now, the for-profit developers
plan mirrors our proposal. I really don’t
know why the city designated another development team and not GREC.”
HPD’s decision to choose a developer
from outside the neighborhood over the
community-based GREC coalition – which
was anchored by an organization that has
St Nicks and GREC’s latest plan was
actually its second proposal to receive the
blessing of CB 1 since the hospital first
closed in 1982. In 1985, three years after
the closing, GREC finalized a proposal for
a nursing home to replace the senior health
services lost with the hospital’s closing. In
2001, after years of bureaucratic battles
with the city to return the hospital site to
community use, GREC’s plan was on the
verge of being realized. But the $32 million project was scuttled at the last minute
when the Pataki administration put a moratorium on nursing homes.
Still, GREC members remained optimistic that the city would not kick to the
side an organization with a proven track
record. They felt HPD would not overlook
the organization’s long track record of
working in the community and the recent
support of Community Board 1.
“I felt pretty comfortable that the decision was going to be in our favor,” said
Dianne Jackson, President of the Cooper
Park Tenants Association, another GREC
member organization. “To hear this news
was really a slap in the face.”
Added Peterson, “Volunteers had
worked for this plan and the community
supported it. But that didn’t matter one bit
to HPD and the Mayor of New York City.”
KLINE REALTY LTD.
www.klinerealestate.com
G R E E NL I NE | Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | PG . 3
Improvements to Williamsburg Bridge Bike Path
By Phil Rutledge
Last month, the city’s Department of
Transportation began implementing a
plan to improve safety and convenience
on the shared bike and pedestrian path of
the Williamsburg Bridge.
Previously, cyclists and pedestrians
traveling in the same direction shared
the same path, a configuration that led
to conflicts and safety issues. The new
configuration addresses these conflicts
by separating the cycling and pedestrian
lanes, with two directions of cycling lanes
on the bridge’s north side and a pedestrian path on the south side. The new
path – which will include resurfacing – is
expected to be finished by the first week
of June.
Additionally, the DOT will make
improvements in signage on both the
Brooklyn and Manhattan entrances of
the bridge it hopes will clear up confusion for cyclists and motor vehicles regarding the bridge.
The bridge’s bike and pedestrian path
was installed in 2002 and now sees the
most bike traffic of any bridge in the
city, carrying an estimated 4,000 cyclists per day at its midsummer peak.
Cycling the city has been skyrocketing
in popularity in the past several years,
and Williamsburg is widely known as
the epicenter of this boom. This past
November, the city announced that the
number of commuters riding their bikes
to work went up 26 percent from the previous year. That uptick followed an increase of 35 percent from 2007 to 2009.
PG . 4 |Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | GR E E NL I NE
EMERGENCY FUNDING FOR SECTION 8 VOUCHERS
Large budget gap remains
By Karl Benson
A recent $23.5 million emergency allocation from the federal government will
help preserve rental assistance vouchers
for some of the 10,000 low-income families
who were in danger of losing them earlier
this year.
Before the emergency funds were approve, the New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA) faced a $45 million
budget shortfall in its rental-voucher assistance program, known as Section 8.
NYCHA announced earlier that the shortfall might force it to cut off vouchers for up
to 10,000 people who receive them.
Residents with Section 8 vouchers usually pay 30 percent of their income in rent,
with the vouchers covering the balance.
Overall in New York City, around 102,000
families receive Section 8 vouchers. An
additional 178,000 families live in subsidized public housing.
The emergency funding will help preserve many of those vouchers, but it remains unclear how many people will lose
them if the gap isn’t closed. “We must find
other sources of money to reduce the $21
million-plus deficit that remains, and we
are aggressively pursuing other options
to financially stabilize the program,” said
NYCHA Chairman John B. Rhea in a
statement.
Last May, officials from the federal department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), which finances the
Section 8 program, advised NYCHA officials to stop issuing vouchers because of
declining federal funds. But the city continued to issue vouchers, mostly to emergency cases like homeless families or victims of domestic violence.
Velazquez, who strongly advocated
for the emergency HUD funding, said,
“While more remains to be done, this announcement is good news for our city, for
NYCHA, and most of all, for thousands of
New York families that rely on Section 8 to
find affordable housing.”
The $23.5 million in emergency funds for
New York City was part of a $150 million
emergency allocation for housing authorities throughout the country. Of the 600
housing authorities that received money,
New York’s received by far the most.
Earlier this year, because of lower attrition rates from the program and higher
than anticipated demand, the authority
was forced to revoke the vouchers of 2,600
families who had been promised assistance. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez,
a senior member of the House Committee
on Financial Services, which has jurisdiction of housing matters, criticized NYCHA
for putting itself in that position.
“Certainly, NYCHA faces difficult challenges because of the economy, but recent
events also suggest a need for more transparency in how it operates,” Velazquez
said. “In the coming weeks, I’ll be keeping
a close eye on NYCHA to ensure it uses
these resources wisely and prevents prob- Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
lems like these from occurring again.
NO CON-CENSUS
Some Williamsburg residents are excited about the census; some aren’t
When Stephen Colbert cracked jokes
about it on his “Colbert Report” show
on Comedy Central, it became official:
Williamsburg’s low return rate for the
2010 Census is now a national punch
line.
The jokes followed a report issued
by the city in early April showing
Williamsburg had a 31.3 return rate on
the mail-in Census forms, pulling in at
dead last in New York City at the time.
Media outlets were quick to equate
Williamsburg with the “hipster” demographic, and were then quick to seize on
the stereotypical image of hipster apathy and self-absorption.
An NPR radio story entitled “New
York’s Hipsters Too Cool for The
Census” got the ball rolling, quoting a
20-something Northside resident as saying, “I guess it’s laziness and like, what’s
the point?” New York Magazine linked
to the story on its Daily Intel blog, attaching the headline, “Williamsburg
Thinks the Census is Like, Meh.” Then
came Colbert. He joked that the hipsters refusal to fill out their census forms
was a master stroke intended to up their
“hipster cred”: By having the government allocate fewer resources to their
neighborhood, it would fall into a state
of disrepair more in keeping with the
presumed hipster aesthetic.
But the mockery was immediately
followed by a handful of well-reasoned
responses on various websites. These
responses attacked the stereotype of
the lazy hipster and presented a more nuanced portrait of a fascinatingly diverse
neighborhood.
Writing on the website,
Free Williamsburg, Erica
Sackin noted, “The census
return rates for the ‘hip’ parts
of Williamsburg are about
on par with those of the rest
of the city. It’s the Hasidic
neighborhoods that have
a low rate of return. Local
reporter Aaron Short, on his
blog A Short Story, pointed
out that Hasidic return rates
might be depressed because
the forms were mailed out
during Passover. Writing
on the news and commentary website Trueslant.com,
Conor Friedersdorf pointed
out that 50,000 people in
Williamsburg lack English
proficiency.
Included
among this number is the
area’s large population – an
estimated 38 percent – of
Latinos. Many Latino residents of Williamsburg are
undocumented, and therefore understandably wary
about identifying themselves
to the Census bureau.
However,
equating
Williamsburg’s Latino population with indifference
to the Census ignores the
enthusiasm for the Census
among many Latino residents of the area.
In the offices of St. Nicks Alliance at 11
Catherine Street, enthusiasm for the cen-
sus was palpable among two Spanishspeaking clients of St. Nicks’ Housing
Preservation Division.
“I believe the Census helps count
the number of people in the State,
especially recent immigrants,”
said Nubia Martinez. “The census
will help our government provide
better services to growing immigrant communities, especially in
the area of education and health.”
Added Dandris Cruz, “For the
government to provide better services to our community, it needs to
know how many new people it has
to serve.”
Over at the Williamsburg and
Greenpoint Beacon centers, which
are run by St. Nicks Alliance, another group of local residents was
perhaps most excited about the
census: Local job seekers. For
many North Brooklyn residents,
the Census – which has jobs that
pay approximately $16 to $21 an
hour – came at a perfect time because of the continuing struggles
of the economy and consequently
depressed job market.
244 people seeking jobs went
to the Williamsburg Beacon
center, an application site. The
Greenpoint Beacon hosted a training site for applicants who had
been accepted. It hosted the training of 675 workers this year.
G R E E NL I NE | Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | PG . 5
RESPECTABLE SPECTACLES FOR ALL
Grand Street Eyewear Caters to Diverse Crowd
By George Marshall
Because eyeglasses have become as much
of an accessory as a necessity in recent
years, Grand Vision Eyewear, a six-monthold eyeglass shop at 799 Grand Street, lies
at a fashion crossroads. Its location in the
bustling heart of Grand Street means the
shop must serve a diverse clientele comprising the traditional ethnic communities,
the growing “hipster” set, and the many
people who work on the strip.
The challenge of helping all these people
pick out the proper pair of glasses falls
to Boris Mulokandov, the store’s general manager. It is a challenge the 26-year
old Mulokandov embraces. After all, he
has been preparing for it since he went to
school for optics and then went right into
the business, first as the manager of the
optical department at Bergdoff Goodman
and then at Oliver Peoples, a manufacturer
of high-end fashion branded eyewear.
“Being here for a few months, I realize
that every community has their own likes
and dislikes,” he said. “The Latino community, the African American community,
they like frames that show the designer.
The hipsters are more into that clunky,
geek-chic look.”
Still, finding the right pair of glasses depends more than anything on the
individual.
“Before I pick out a pair for someone, I
want to know if it’s for work, if it’s for go-
ing out. If it’s for work, I want to know
what they do,” Mulokandov said.
Definitely cheaper than other places I’ve
worked at.”
“Yesterday, a teacher came in. She picked
out two pairs: One was kind of funky, the
other was a little more conservative. I told
her that because she was a teacher, the first
pair was a little overwhelming. But other
clients, depending on what they do, maybe
something a little more funky, a little more
Williamsburg hipster is better.”
After six months in business, things are
going well. “So far, the people I’ve sold
glasses to, they’ve been very happy. I
haven’t had a single complaint,” he said.
Having spent the entirety of his young
career in the business, Mulokandov’s relationship with suppliers enables him to set
prices he described as “pretty reasonable.
SCALED BACK TO ONE
WEEKEND
Williamsburg Walks, the summer event
in which the Northside stretch of Bedford
Avenue becomes a pedestrian plaza by forbidding vehicle traffic, will be drastically
reduced this year because of complaints
from local retailers that the event slowed
down business.
Though the event was originally planned
for six summer Saturdays, there will only
be one Williamsburg Walks event this year
(on June 26th and 27th), the Department
of Transportation announced last month.
A native of Uzbekistan, Mulokandov has
seen glasses go from geek to chic over the
course of his lifetime. “They’re not something people are ashamed to wear anymore
– they’re cool now,” he said. “Some clients,
they don’t even have a prescription. They
just come in and want glasses as a fashion
accessory.”
Those clients with a prescription will
have them filled within two to five business
days. Additionally, an optometrist is on
the premises two days a week (Thursdays
from noon to 7, Saturdays from 11 to 6),
and Mulokandov hopes one will be available on Mondays starting in a few weeks.
The optometrist is available by appointment, and walk-ins are accepted as well.
For at least the next several months, the
store is offering a free eye exam, free single-vision lenses, and 30 perfect off progressive lenses.
‘WILLIAMSBURG WALKS’
Quick! Free eye-exams and 30 percent off deals
on single-vision lenses are now available at Grand
Vision Eyewear (799 Grand Street)
Williamsburg
Walks
began
two
years ago as a part of a Department of
Transportation pilot program design
to foster alternative thinking about the
way public space is used. In addition to
Williamsburg Walks, there are similar
DOT-sponsored “Weekend Walks” summer events throughout the five boroughs.
NORTH BROOKLYN: A STATISTICAL APPRAISAL
continued from front page
neighborhood is slightly cheaper than
Williamsburg, its neighbor to the north,
while performing well in both the restaurant (15th) and bar (9th) metrics.
able place to raise a family,” Silver writes
in summation (possibly referencing local
Assemblyman’s pledge to swim in the polluted creek if Google installs ultra-highspeed internet in the neighborhood.)
On the downside, North Brooklyn’s
notoriously poor green space landed the
neighborhood a ranking of 38th in that
category. And the Newtown Creek Oil
spill caused Greenpoint to fare very poorly
in the health and environment category.
Williamsburg ranked 20th overall. It
had predictably high rankings for nightlife
(6th) and restaurants (9th). But it received
very poor marks in open space, safety, and
health and environment.
“But as long as you don’t go swimming
in Newtown Creek, it’s a vibrant, afford-
“The eastern and southern borders are
more affordable but less safe, and lag in
retail density and access to green space,”
Silver wrote.
PG . 6 |Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | GR E E NL I NE
‘Vanishing Icons’ Exhibit at City Reliquary
Exhibit honors the late Stanley Wisniewolski, former St. Nicks employee
Karen Hudes, curator of the exhibit “The Vanishing
Icons of Metropolitan Avenue,” pictured with and
Dave Herman (with daughter), Director of the City
Reliquary Museum. The pair poses in front of a work
of art by Stanley Wisniewolski at an exhibit honoring
his public artwork.
Rosemarie Wisniewolski, with Jan Peterson,
Tish and Guido Cianciotta, in front of the
Grant Metro sign with a cigar and cigarette
pack overhead that formerly adorned a local
cigar store.
The Wisniewolski family. Their late father, Stanley, created Styrofoam installations like the ones
pictured above to promote area businesses and revitalized the Grand Street and Metropolitan Avenue
corridors.
Help Support St. Nicks’s ‘Walk for Camp’
Sponsored walk helps St. Nicks run camps after
drastic budget cuts
By Lionel Robinson
Joseph Franquinha of Crest Hardware, Theresa Baranoff, daughter of Stanley Wisniewolski, along
with St. Nicks Executive Director Michael Rochford, and Catherine Franquihna, Joseph’s mother.
With their enriching, eclectic, and free
programming, St. Nicks Alliance and
School Settlement Association summer
day camps have become a staple of the season for North Brooklyn youngsters. But
unprecedented government budget cuts
have resulted in St. Nicks being projected
to lose between $50- and $100,000 for the
six camps it operates.
For this reason, the annual St. Nicks
and SSA “Walk for Camp” fundraiser is
more critical than ever this year. During
the fundraiser, St. Nicks staff members
and friends walk to the organization’s 11
Catherine Street office from various points
in the city. They are sponsored by friends
and relatives for their efforts. Proceeds
from the event are given to the organization’s Youth and Education division, which
administers the summer day camps among
other programs.
demand beyond what’s afforded by public
grants. To have to scale back is terrible,
especially given the waiting lists we have.”
The cuts also threaten some of the programming that have earned St. Nicks
camps its sterling reputation. Much of
its arts and literacy programming costs
additional money. The same goes for its
many field trips, which recently have included trips to the Bronx and Prospect
Park Zoos, the Liberty Science Center,
Heckscher State Park, the Museum of
Natural History, and other local landmarks. Because of the upcoming budget
squeeze, the number of swimming trips for
summer campers is being reduced from six
last year to four this year.
“Walk for Camp is basically us reaching
out to the community to ensure that our
summer camps have enough funding to
continue their excellence,” said Wong.
**
For the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the city cut
funding for Beacon programs by 6 percent.
For the 2010-2010 fiscal year set to begin in
June, funding is projected to be cut an additional 7 percent. These cuts hit home for
St. Nicks because two of its summer camps
are operated at the Williamsburg and
Greenpoint Beacon Centers, respectively.
The loss of funding from these budget cuts
will cause St. Nicks and SSA to shrink total enrollment at their camps from 800 to
670. (St. Nicks runs camps at PS 18, PS
19, Williamsburg Beacon [at the Grand
St. Campus High Schools], Greenpoint
Beacon [IS 126].
School Settlement
Association runs camps at its headquarters at 120 Jackson Street and at PS 34.)
“These cuts are devastating,” said LaiWan Wong, Director of St. Nicks Youth
and Education division. “We actually
had planned on increasing enrollment this
summer to meet the need and community
For more information on Walk for Camp,
please see the BIG NEWS tab at www.
stnicksalliance.org. To contribute, go to
www.stnicksalliance.org or www.schoolsettlement.org and click on DONATE
NOW to make your contribution.
St. Nicks Youth & Education Day
Camps are for elementary grade children.
Activities include literacy, sports, arts and
crafts, weekly field trips, and swimming.
Day camps generally operate for 8 weeks
between 8 am and 6 pm.
Despite the cuts, applications for summer camps are being accepted at the
Greenpoint Beacon on May 22nd and
School Settlement Association on a rolling basis. Camps at PS 18, PS 19, and PS
34 are restricted to students who attend
those schools. Camp at the Williamsburg
Beacon is no longer accepting applications.
G R E E NL I NE | Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | PG . 7
NEW LIBRARY AT PS 84
Last month, Williamsburg’s PS 84 (250
Berry Street) celebrated the grand opening of the school’s new library with a special visit from Ray Negron, the erstwhile
Yankees batboy who has become an accomplished author of children’s books.
became a New York Times Bestseller. His
new book, One Last Time: Good-bye to
Yankee Stadium recently hit shelves.
At the library opening, Negron spoke
to students about his experiences and his
books.
As a teenager, the Southside,
Wiliamsburg native was caught spraying
graffiti on the side of Yankee Stadium by
non other than Yankees owner George
Steinbrenner himself. Instead of punishing him, The Boss took an interest in
Negron and made him the Yankees bat
boy. Negron became a beloved part of
the late 1970s-era Yankees championship
teams which included Reggie Jackson,
Thurman Munson, Ron Guidry, and
Sparky Lyle.
Negron went onto a career in minor
league baseball himself. Among other
pursuits, he wrote the The Boy of Steel:
A Baseball Dream Come True, which
The St. Nicks Alliance family mourns the loss of Gabriel Anthony Rodriguez,
who passed away in March at the age of 24. Gabriel was the son of Gabriel and
Frieda Rodriguez, longtime shareholders of a St. Nicks-managed co-op at 534
Graham Avenue.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by his sister Melina Garcia, his nephew
Manuel A. Negron, and other loved ones.
Ray Negron, former Yankee batboy and
children’s book author, celebrated the new library
opening at PS 84
By St. Nicholas School
Faculty
The
PreKindergarten students
at St. Nicholas School
(287 Powers Street) got
an early artistic education courtesy of awardwinning theater director Rajedra Ramoon
Maharaj, who ran
a theater workshop
on April 16th for the
youngsters.
Maharaj,
who
served as Assistant to Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj came to St. Nicholas School for a
the Director on the theater workshop
Tony Award-winning
Broadway revival of “A Raisin in the
Sun,” spent an afternoon leading the
children through a variety of dramatic
activities. The students – two of whom
were Maharaj’s own children – enthusiastically partnered as animals and
performed improvisational scenes for
the class. The class also dramatized a
spontaneous story of princes and princesses who ate magic cupcakes that
made them shrink and grow. The afternoon ended with a dance from Disney’s
Broadway production of The Lion
King, which entailed Maharaj showing
the students and teacher some African
dance steps.
Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj is a
founding member and producing artistic director of Rebel Theater Company,
and the associate artistic director of the
award-winning Syracuse Stage. He is
currently creating a new work inspired
by the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. commissioned
by the Tony Award-winning Alliance
Theater and The King Center.
GABRIEL ANTHONY RODRIGUEZ
Rodriguez was born in Brooklyn in 1985, and lived in Florida and Puerto Rico
before settling in Gainesville, GA. He graduated high school in Florida and
received a certification in computers. He worked at various businesses in customer service and electronics. His last place of employment was the Tri-County
Humane Society, where he loved and cared for animals.
Theater Workshop at St. Nicholas School
Before leaving, Maharaj encouraged the children to aspire to be what
they wanted to be. Mrs. Marinelli, the
school’s Pre-K teacher, characterized
the event as “joyful and inspiring. Mr.
Maharaj provided a classroom stage
that allowed the children to express,
create, and celebrate. It was a truly
wonderful experience.”
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PG . 10 |Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | GR E E NL I NE
Monitor Potholes First Step in Street Reconstruction Project
One of the most treacherous roadway
stretches in North Brooklyn was repaved
last month, welcome news for motorists
and cyclists who traverse the street.
At the behest of Assemblyman Joseph
Lentol, the Department of Transportation
expedited the repaving of a stretch of
Monitor Street between Greenpoint and
Norman Avenues. The stretch was the
first part of the $15 million Nassau Avenue
Reconstruction Project, which will eventually repave all of Nassau Avenue from
Bedford Avenue to Apollo Street, along
with Monitor Street from Greenpoint to
Nassau.
“This is especially important because
of the number of businesses that exist on
that section of roadway,” said Lentol of the
manufacturer-heavy strip. “They rely on it
for deliveries and as a daily thoroughfare.
Can you imagine negotiating carts loaded
with boxes around potholes the size of fire
pits?”
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Greenline: The North Brooklyn Community News is published monthly by:
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GR E E NL I NE | Ma y 1 - 31, 2 010 | PG . 11
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