(Photo courtesy of Paint and Alaska Seafood)

Last week, Sarah Palin visited the Big Apple to meet with some of the world's major political leaders. Amongst others, she met with Afghanistani President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe who were attending the United Nations General Assembly. I may or may not have sent her an invitation to visit us here in Sheepshead Bay, but I read in Time magazine that the governor's personal e-mail account had been hacked. That may or may not explain why she went to visit Henry Kissinger in the same time that I slotted for her to come to Sheepshead Bay.

A visit to Sheepshead Bay would have been just the thing that Sarah Palin needed to bolster her image in New York. She enjoys fishing and her husband is a commercial fisherman, so I could just see her smiling from ear-to-ear with her catch while on the Sea Queen VII half-day fishing vessel, while her husband talks to the local fishermen about how to help revitalize the Sheepshead Bay fishing industry.

There are practically no Republicans left here in Sheepshead Bay, but there are still people who love fishing. According to Swamp Politics, fishermen have been a key supporter of her campaign and I'm sure that, had she visited Sheepshead, it would have been quite the bait she needed to reel in the dollars.

Governor Palin, another thing you would be would be glad about, here, in Sheepshead Bay, is our close proximity to Russia, so to speak. While we can't really see Russia from our Sheepshead Bay Atlantic shore (thanks to Erik Rasmussen, of Erik's Blog, we know you were just kidding), we don't need to - with all of our Russian residents, it's practically like traveling to Russia - and the best part is you won't even have to mess up that brand new passport with any visa stamps. I'm sure that interacting with all of our Russian immigrants will help you with foreign policy relations.

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From the Sheepshead Bay/Plumb Beach Civic Association:

Come to our October 7th meeting at the Baron DeKalb Knights of Columbus (3000 Emmons Avenue) for a special presentation on emergency preparedness from the Red Cross. The program is sponsored by Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein. All participants will receive a FREE disaster kit and other materials at the end of the presentation. Tell a friend!

Click here to view flyer.

As GerritsenBeach.net noted earlier this week, several neighborhood civic associations in southern Brooklyn are planning to form an alliance. It is tentatively titled the South Brooklyn Civic Alliance, and is being established on the principle that "there's strength in numbers." Apparently, the alliance will help the groups coordinate their efforts and more effectively lobby members of the community boards and local politicians.

The whole plan is currently very... abstract. Ed Jaworski, the Vice President of the Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic (one of the organizers of the alliance), notes, "The initial idea is for this to simply be an informal opportunity for a small number of civics to get together, get to know something about each other, and see if we share any common concerns." There have been no discussions about governance or structure of the group, and, so far, there has been no explanation as to why the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association was not invited to be a member (Manhattan Beach Community Group has been).

At the most recent Sheepshead Bay/Plumb Beach civic meeting, leaders expressed their eagerness to adopt strategies from other groups, including the formation of a safety committee and an education committee, to more effectively convey residents' concerns and needs to safety officials and school administrators.