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Mayor Michael Bloomberg is joining the effort to junk the new digitized voting machines in favor of bringing back the older and supposedly more reliable lever machines. NY1 reports that Bloomberg said during a press conference that bringing back the old machines might prevent a voting disaster in the upcoming 2014 elections.

We’ve previously reported State Senator Marty Golden and Councilman David Greenfield’s efforts to bring back the old machines, with Golden successfully leading the passage of a bill to bring them back in the senate. The bill then went to the Assembly, which has been lukewarm on it.

“We are not prepared in the Assembly at this point to bring back the lever machines. We think it would be a step backwards,” State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh told NY1. “We are prepared to work with the city and the city Board Of Elections to change some of the rules that may allow them to run the runoff more quickly and more smoothly.”

Mayor Bloomberg’s voice adds to the growing groundswell of support to the return to the old machines. The decision would be costly as the new digitized voting equipment, mandated by federal law, cost taxpayers $60 million.

The Board of Elections has warned that it is unprepared for the upcoming mayoral elections, citing that votes cast with the new electronic machines cannot be certified fast enough to account for a potential runoff after the primary.

While the new voting equipment wouldn’t be ditched forever, an exception could be made just once for a local election.

Bloomberg urged that returning to the old machines could prevent a voting catastrophe.

“If we don’t do that, we are running a real risk of not knowing who the mayor is for months,” Bloomberg said at the press conference.

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: Maria Danalakis

New York City’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, sternly defended the city’s decision not to evacuate hospitals and senior centers before the advent of Superstorm Sandy, according to a report in The New York Times.

The health commissioner faced a litany of fiery questions from the City Council and argued that the decision not to evacuate the 6,300 patients to safer ground was based on information from the National Weather Service. In the time that an evacuation was capable of being executed, the NWS had reported that Sandy was headed for Long Island Sound. According to Farley, by the time it was clear that the storm would strike the heart of the city, it was too late to perform a mass evacuation.

“We couldn’t have accomplished the evacuation of everybody in Zone A before zero hour,” Farley stated at a council meeting, according to the Times.

Despite Farley’s insistence that the combination of inaccurate information and bad timing were the main cause of blame for the mess left in Sandy’s wake, City Council members wouldn’t let him off the hook.

“It was chaotic,” said Councilman David Greenfield, commenting on his own experience of observing barefoot seniors hurried out of Coney Island nursing homes, according to the New York Daily News. “It looked like a Third World country.”

The emergency evacuations that ensued following the storm were also poorly organized, leaving many family members in the dark as to where their loved ones were sent.

In the face of rigorous criticism, Farley insisted that, “due to the heroic efforts of many people, no one lost their lives in health care facilities because of the storm,” a fact that was not swallowed whole by Council members, according to the Times:

Some council members disputed that assessment, saying they believed that some deaths of old people that had been attributed to natural causes should actually have been ascribed to the storm. Dr. Farley said he was willing to look into any such deaths, but that the ultimate decision was up to the medical examiner, who had not confirmed those suspicions.

Correction (1/29/2013 at 10:41 a.m.): The original version of this article indicated the Councilman Greenfield witnessed barefoot seniors exiting Coney Island Hospital. That was an error. He witnessed them leaving Coney Island nursing homes, and the article has been amended to reflect this. We regret any confusion this may have caused.

Source: freefotouk/Flickr

Tragedy struck the Midwood community when a 15-year-old girl was struck by a car and killed at East 7th Street and Avenue O yesterday afternoon, according to an article in the New York Daily News.

Sara Kischik was clipped by a 2006 Ford van after she stepped in the road from between two parked cars at E. Seventh St. and Ave. O in Midwood about 2:50 p.m., police sources said.

Emergency workers with Hatzalah, a Jewish ambulance service, took the injured girl to Maimonides Medical Center.

The teen, who was a student at Bais Yaakov on 13th Ave., died at the hospital.

“My heart goes out to family of 15 year old Bais Yaakov girl who died today while crossing street at Avenue O & East 7,” Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) posted on his Twitter account.

Police were still investigating, but said the driver of the van remained at the scene and was not expected to be charged.

State legislators returned to Albany today, and Southern Brooklyn’s pols went with a message: when it comes to casinos, location matters.

Several legislators joined the newly-formed Stop the Coney Island Casino organization on Monday to say that Coney Island is off limits as a casino venue, and that any attempt to change the state constitution to expand gambling will be opposed unless it includes specific locations.

“[The proposed legislation to expand gambling] must include specifically where the casinos are being planned,” said Assemblyman William Colton during the press conference. “Then we will know whether we can support or oppose such legislation. Because if we do not include that in what is going to be passed … we will be leaving the decision of whether Coney Island gets a casino not to the people of Coney Island, and not the people of Brooklyn, but to special interests.”

The press conference at the Kings Bay Y (3495 Nostrand Avenue) was the formal debut of Stop the Coney Island Casino, and featured Assemblymembers Colton and Steven Cymbrowitz, State Senator Eric Adams, Councilman David Greenfield and 45th Assembly District Leader Ari Kagan. The bi-lingual press conference drew Russian-language media outlets and about 40 attendees from Russian-American and Russian-Jewish organizations. The organizations and elected officials said they stand united in opposing a Coney Island casino, claiming it will increase crime rates, depress the community’s economy and obliterate quality of life.

“If you want to see crime go up, if you want to see traffic go up, if you want to see small businesses go out of business, then support the casino,” said Councilman Greenfield. “But if you care about the community, join together with us and stop the Coney Island casino.”

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St. Mark Church to House Group Home for Developmentally Disabled Girls: Community Board 15 gave the green light to St. Vincent’s Services to move an intermediate care facility into St. Mark Roman Catholic Church, located at 2601 East 19th Street.

The facility’s Associate Executive Director and Managing Director of Developmentally Disabled Services Janice Ashton briefed the Board on the organization’s plan, saying that 14 “profoundly disabled young ladies” between the ages of 25 and 60 will use the existing vacant rectory building – formerly a convent. All of the girls have suffered profound or severe mental handicaps from birth, and will be attended by a staff ratio of two to three clients per staff member.

“I really know these consumers and their families. We have done such a good job that many of them, they never thought they would live so long,” Ashton said. “Usually 30 to 35 [years is the average lifespan]; they’re approaching, some 60s, 50s, and in other facilities, we have 70s and 80s.”

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Source: Google Maps

The Department of Education sparked outrage in Midwood, announcing plans to place a Truancy Processing Center by Avenue M on Ocean Avenue.

A report by Brooklyn Scoop describes the anger expressed by local residents and businesspeople who fear that the presence of a truancy center will only lead to trouble.

Under the current operating practices set out by the DOE, truancy centers pick up kids caught outside of school, and usually send them back to the school they belong them to. If the truant student is found too far from their home school, they are sent to a truancy center like the one proposed for Ocean Avenue. From there, parents are called and required to pick up the student by 2 p.m. If no one comes to pick up the child, they are released into the neighborhood, a reality local Midwood residents do not wish to contend with.

“This is a serious quality of life issue for residents in that part of Midwood … The current location is clearly unacceptable and unfair to the community,” Councilman David G. Greenfield told Yeshiva World.

Elected political officials from Southern Brooklyn did meet with representatives of the DOE to voice their concerns.

“I appreciate the Department of Education sitting with the elected officials and representatives of Shaare Torah to discuss the recently opened truancy center,” said Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein. “They listened to our concerns and I am hopeful that working together, we will be able to come to a resolution that will be good for the community and for the Department of Education.”

Another major concern residents have expressed is that the proposed spot for the truancy center is a mere two doors down from an all girl private Jewish school.

“Whoever is making this decision has no idea what he’s doing!” Yitzi Gruen told Brooklyn Daily. ”The city’s asking for chaos by putting these kids in a safe area and next door to a girl’s school.”

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The New York Daily News released an in-depth analysis of the attendance records and bill creation frequency of Brooklyn’s local politicians, citing both high and low marks for several of Southern Brooklyn’s lawmakers.

Those leading the charge of civic responsibility include Flatbush Councilman Jumaane Williams, who came in second overall in bill creation with 19, and third in best attendance, missing only 6.9 percent of scheduled meetings.

Councilman David Greenfield of Borough Park and Councilman Domenic Recchia of Coney Island were also cited for their vigorous bill contribution and high attendance ratings. Greenfield introduced 18 bills and Rechhia introduced 25.

On the negative side of things, the Daily News pegged Councilman Michael Nelson of Sheepshead Bay as one of the least active politicians, having only introduced two bills since 2011, and having missed 14 percent of his meetings.

Councilman Lew Fidler was also cited for a low attendance record, but the Daily News failed to report Fidler’s medical problems and subsequent hospitalization in February, which sidelined him for some time.

The following is a press release from the offices of City Councilman David Greenfield:

In response to rumors circulating the community, Councilman David G. Greenfield has confirmed with the MTA that buses serving the area have not been equipped with cameras to photograph vehicles illegally parked in bus stops and in bus lanes. Councilman Greenfield was prompted to look into the matter by an e-mail being forwarded around Midwood and Boro Park claiming that a motorist received such a ticket while parked in the B6 and B11 bus stop at Coney Island Avenue and Avenue K on Wednesday morning. In response, MTA officials have confirmed that this technology is in use in Manhattan, but has yet to be implemented in Brooklyn.

“This rumor really took on a life of its own, so I wanted to clear up any misunderstandings after hearing about it yesterday. This technology is not being used in Brooklyn. What’s more, drivers may not park in a bus stop but can legally pick up and drop off passengers even when there is a dedicated bus lane,” explained Councilman Greenfield.

Governor David Paterson signed legislation into law in 2010 allowing for camera use to issue tickets to drivers along Select Bus Service lanes in some areas of New York City. The cameras are mounted on the front of buses or on utility poles, and are currently only authorized along Select Bus Service routes. The technology is being used on 1^st and 2^nd Avenues and 34^th Street in Manhattan, and is planned for future use in Brooklyn only at Nostrand Avenue and Rodgers Avenue. Construction on a dedicated bus lane in that area will not begin for at least 18 months, according to the MTA.

However, Greenfield is taking this opportunity to remind drivers that tickets can be issued anytime by traffic enforcement agents and police officers under Code 14 of the city’s parking rules and regulations, which prohibits standing or parking in some areas including bus stops and lanes. Drivers can stop their vehicle temporarily to pick up or drop off a passenger in “no standing” zones, but are not allowed to idle or park there.

Tickets for offenses detected by bus lane cameras can only be issued from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with fines ranging from $115 to $150. The cameras allow the city to differentiate between cars parked or stopped illegally in a bus stop and those who are making a turn or dropping off a passenger, which is permitted.

“As always, I urge all drivers to follow the rules of the road. As the city rolls out new methods for catching drivers who block bus lanes, I will work with the DOT to make sure they are implemented fairly and actually improve safety and performance, and are not just another way for the city to make money,” concluded Greenfield.

Residents can contact Councilman Greenfield’s district office at (718) 853-2704 for help with any parking-related matters.

Source: Friends of Ocean Parkway

If you’re a bicyclist or pedestrian who makes Ocean Parkway a part of your routine, you’ve probably noticed how nice the pavement is above Avenue O. And you’ve probably noticed how cruddy it is south of that spot. That’s because the Parks Department, which oversees the Ocean Parkway malls, rehabilitated the malls with fresh pavement, benches and plantings several years ago, but halted construction when funding dried up in 2010.

But that work is scheduled to resume in 2014, according to Councilman David Greenfield’s office.

We first got word of the expected renovations from Friends of Ocean Parkway. According to the group’s website, both the east and west malls are slated for repairs from Avenue O down to Avenue Y. They say the area is “extremely hazardous for pedestrians and bicyclists and require immediate attention.”

Greenfield’s office confirmed the information for Sheepshead Bites, and sent us information from the Parks Department saying that the project is currently in the design phase, which will wrap up by December. It will be put to bid in the spring, and construction is expected to begin in spring 2014.

We asked the councilman’s office if they were aware of the 130-year-old historic milestone that sits near Avenue P on the western mall. It’s the last of 11 markers that once guided tourists and early commuters, starting at the circle at the southwest corner of Prospect Park and ending just before the ocean at Brighton Beach. The second to last stone is believed to have been ripped out by Department of Transportation or CEMUSA contractors when they built a new bus stop at Neptune Avenue, and preservationists fear that the same may happen during Ocean Parkway rehabilitation.

The councilman’s office said they’re looking into the issue and will report back.