SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Clockwise from top left: Theresa Scavo, Igor Oberman, Chaim Deutsch, Ari Kagan

It’s a crowded race to replace term-limited Councilman Michael Nelson of the 48th District, which, come next year, will represent almost all of Sheepshead Bay.

But, so far, it’s been quiet as the campaigns are just gearing up. But a good indicator of a campaign’s strength and public support is their fundraising, and yesterday the candidates submitted their finance disclosure forms to the Campaign Finance Board, revealing their fundraising success – or struggles – and giving a better idea of who’s in it to win it.

See how the candidates are doing, and our analysis.

Mark Treyger (Source: Assemblyman Bill Colton’s office)

New York State received $340 million dollars from the federal Environmental Protection Agency last week to upgrade sewage and drinking water plants to protect against future storms like Superstorm Sandy. Local City Council candidate Mark Treyger, running for the 47th District covering Coney Island and Gravesend, is calling on the state to steer those funds to the Coney Island Sewage Treatment Plant on Knapp Street, saying it needs it the most.

Of the $340 million, most of it – $283 million – is earmarked specifically for sewage plants. The funds are part of a the Sandy emergency relief package approved by Congress at the beginning of the year, and are aimed at making upgrades that would keep raw sewage contained instead of discharging into public waterways – as is the case during heavy rainfalls when the plants’ tanks overfill.

Treyger said in a press release that the local plant should be a high-priority for the state because of its vulnerable location and its trouble grappling with Superstorm Sandy. The press release said:

“Coney Island was one of many New York communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy. During, and in the immediate aftermath of the storm, people who were unable to evacuate, as well as those who quickly returned to their homes, did not have access to clean drinking water or reliable sanitation services,” said Treyger.

The Coney Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, located on Knapp Street, was hit with a cascade of problems during Hurricane Sandy. Water from Shell Bank Creek came over the bulkheads and flooded the building. Flood debris clogged vital parts of the plant and power was lost and to make matters worse. To compound the problems a 72 inch outfall pipe had been previously shut down for repairs.

“Our part of coastal south Brooklyn – not just New York and America’s playground – is particularly vulnerable to future natural disasters. In the event that another storm, of similar or even greater magnitude to Sandy, hits our area, we must be prepared. I strongly urge New York to use the money given to us by the Environmental Protection Agency to, among other critical projects, expedite desperately needed sewer upgrades in Coney Island.”

But the state says that the $283 million, which will be dispersed to municipalities throughout the state, is but a drop in the bucket to make the repairs needed. EPA officials are directing municipalities to request additional funds via grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and FEMA.

Representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the city’s sewage treatment plants, told Sheepshead Bites that the Knapp Street plant was just one of many that took damage. They said 10 of the city’s 14 sewage treatment had some degree of damage and service issues, but they were all at 100 percent functionality as of February 10. They added that the funds from the EPA are being coordinated through the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, and that the DEP had not yet received details about the allocation.

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It’s official: Chaim Deutsch, an aide to Councilman Michael Nelson and founder of the Flatbush Shomrim, formally announced his campaign today in an e-mail to press and supporters.

The letter states:

Dear friends,

With the support and encouragement of my wife, children, family and friends, I am excited to inform you that I am officially running for the New York City Council seat in the 48th District. For over two decades I have worked, both as a professional and a volunteer, on behalf of the community. I believe that the 48th Council District needs a strong advocate in the City Council and I am proud to have worked with so many of you, to make our neighborhoods safer and improve the quality of life for all. Affordable housing, education, safe streets, and care for our seniors are just some of the issues that concern all of us. Together, we have accomplished a lot but there is still so much more to achieve.

I hope you will join me as our campaign kicks-off in the very near future. Details to follow…

I look forward to your continued friendship and support, it means everything to me.

Warmest regards,

Chaim

Deutsch, a Midwood resident with roots in the Orthodox Jewish community, has long been considered a likely candidate for the seat to replace Nelson. He declined to confirm his run as district lines were being redrawn, and was a local opponent of plans to redraw the district with an increase in Russian-American voters and a decrease in Orthodox Jewish voters. Despite the opposition from Deutsch and his supporters, the plans stood with minor changes.

Deutsch will face off against Ari Kagan, Igor Oberman, Theresa Scavo, Michael Treybich and Natraj Bhushan in the Democratic primaries. He is expected to have the backing of Councilman Nelson.

Former State Senator David Storobin is considered a likely Republican contender, and has already received the support of the Conservative Party.

Marty Golden, Photo By Erica Sherman

As the upcoming mayoral race heats up, sharp battle lines between Democrats and Republicans are being drawn. The latest hot-button issue centers around City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s plan to create a special new oversight committee that would monitor and review NYPD policies and procedures, according to a report by the New York Post.

The new agency, dubbed the Inspector General’s Office (IGO), would challenge many controversial policing methods, most famously the stop-and-frisk program, which critics believe overwhelmingly target blacks and Hispanics. The IGO would be placed in the city’s Department of Investigation, the department in charge of investigating all city agencies. The IGO would not take the place of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs, which would still handle individual cases of police misconduct.

According to the Post, Quinn has enough Council votes to pass the measure, even in the face of a mayoral veto by Bloomberg.

Ex-cop and current State Senator Marty Golden blasted Quinn’s plan as “pathetic, sad” and “a setback for the city and the safety of the children.” GOP mayoral candidate, Joe Lhota, also derided the plan.

“Building another bureaucracy is not the answer,” the Post reported Lhota saying at a mayoral debate.

The issue of stop-and-frisk also divided Democrats when former comptroller Bill Thompson rebuked current comptroller John Liu’s call to end the practice.

“I’m worried also about my son being shot by someone who’s a member of a gang in the street.”

For his part, Liu, echoing comments made by Quinn and Thompson, promised to hire thousands of new officers if elected.

And then there were two!

Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo became the second candidate to officially announce a bid to replace term-limited City Councilman Michael Nelson this year, touting her lifetime residency in the neighborhood and her seven-year-long tenure as the Board’s chairperson.

“Because of my work at Community Board 15, I am able to hear the problems that are being faced day after day by our neighbors,” Scavo said during her remarks before the Highway Democratic Club at Mirage Diner (717 Kings Highway) last Thursday. “To solve these problems, no matter where you live, we need leadership, we need a vision and we need a commitment from someone who cares.”

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Earlier this week, a boatload of Southern Brooklyn politicians banded together to introduce a bill that would waive fees for businesses recovering from damages sustained during Superstorm Sandy, according to a press release.

The bill whose sponsors include Domenic Recchia, David Greenfield and Michael Nelson would waive fees for permits, applications and inspections for businesses doing their best to rebuild and reopen after the events of Sandy.

Councilman Vincent Gentile, who co-sponsored the bill, stressed the importance of this legislation in a press release.

“Some businesses are literally rebuilding from the ground up and when you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get your business up and running again, you really shouldn’t have to bother with superfluous fees for permits and inspections.”

Businesses that qualify for the special waivers must have been open before Sandy struck and were located in Evacuation Zones A and B or in a building that was inspected for structural damage by the Department of Buildings. These fees have already been waived since Sandy due to an executive order from the mayor, but the pols are looking to extend it beyond its current expiration date.

Here is a list of the fees being waived.

• Department of Buildings permit and inspection fees required for construction, demolition, scaffolds, boilers, plumbing, electrical work, signs, scaffolds, limited alterations and after hours work.
• Fire Department fees for inspection of fire protection systems and gas station fuel dispensing systems, as well as for plan review and examination fees for installation of fire protection systems and fuel dispensing systems.
• Department of Transportation permit fees for opening the street, debris containers, sidewalk construction, vaults, and canopies.
• Department of Small Business Services permit fees for waterfront construction, equipment use, mooring, fill work, as well as fees for work notices and certificates of completion.
• Department of Environmental Protection permit fees for fuel burning incinerators, as well as fees for certificates of instruction in the use of and to operate the same.
• Department of Consumer Affairs licensing fees for salvage and liquidation sales of goods.
• Taxi and Limousine Commission Fees in connection with the licensing of vehicles, replacing medallions, transferring licenses, and for-hire vehicle inspections.
• Landmarks and Preservation Commission fees required with respect to obtaining certificates of no affect and certificates of appropriateness.

Photo By Erica Sherman

Departing City Councilman Lew Fidler took journalist and “Inside City Hall” host Errol Louis on a tour of his Southern Brooklyn district, visiting Gerritsen Beach and Marine Park, among other places, in a new report by NY1.

In the video, Fidler shows Louis the destruction wrought by Superstorm Sandy, discusses building projects such as the Marine Park Green Community Center, keeping Public School 114 in Canarsie open, and maintaining funding for children and senior programs.

At the end of the video, Fidler, who is leaving the City Council at the end of his term, remained vague about his future plans. While he said it wasn’t in his plans to run for office at the moment, he added that he was “not riding off into the sunset.”

You can watch the video tour here.

And they’re off!

The race for the 48th District of the City Council, currently occupied by term-limited Councilman Michael Nelson, officially kicked off yesterday as 45th Assembly District Leader Ari Kagan became the first candidate to officially throw his hat in the ring.

But it wasn’t without drama. The event was delayed as a protester heckled the candidate for approximately 10 minutes at the start of the event, calling him a “foot soldier for the KGB.”

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Assemblyman Alan Maisel (center) via assembly.state.ny.us

Earlier in the month we reported on Assemblyman Alan Maisel’s quest to fill Lew Fidler’s City Council seat. Though the geographic area he’s looking to represent nearly mirrors Fidler’s, geographic changes from when the incumbent first took office in the 46th District make it a very different place, according to analysis by Barkan Report.

When Fidler began his representation of the 46th District in 2002, it was 53 percent white and 33 percent black. With the latest round of redistricting, which saw the addition of parts of Canarsie and Flatlands, the percentages of white and black have flip-flopped with blacks representing 53 percent and whites 32.

That’s thought to give a boost to his primary opponent, Mercedes Naricisse, a Haitian-American candidate. Despite better fundraising and political connections in the Maisel camp, Barkan suggests race politics could be a greater deciding factor in the fight for the 46th.

Still, the Barkan Report says Maisel is the favorite to win – but November is a long way away.

The House of Representatives voted by a wide margin to approve the use of federal funds to repair and rebuild religious institutions damaged by Superstorm Sandy, according to a report by the New York Times.

Receiving intense lobbying by Catholic and Jewish groups, the bill was passed 354-to-72. Support for the measure was largely bipartisan, while opposition consisted of 66 Democrats and six Republicans. The Times laid out the scope of the bill’s language:

Under the bill, “a church, synagogue, mosque, temple or other house of worship, and a private nonprofit facility operated by a religious organization,” would be eligible for federal disaster assistance “without regard to the religious character of the facility or the primary religious use of the facility.”

According to the Times, FEMA raised serious objections to the bill, issuing a memorandum claiming that its passage represents an “enormous departure” from current law.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who represents parts of Coney Island, Borough Park and Bensonhurst, opposed the bill on grounds that using taxpayer money to fund the reconstruction and furnishing of religious buildings was unconstitutional.

Nadler’s opposition potentially foreshadows a legal showdown between civil liberty groups and religious advocates in the near future:

The American Civil Liberties Union agreed [with Nadler], saying it was a bedrock principle of constitutional law that “taxpayer funds cannot go to construct, rebuild or repair buildings used for religious activities.”

Lawyers at the emergency management agency expressed concern about possible lawsuits by the civil liberties union and others. “FEMA expects that well-financed and aggressive litigation and injunctions would quickly follow enactment of this bill,” agency lawyers said in their memorandum.