The next meeting of the Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association will be this Thursday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. inside the new Carmine Carro Community Center in Marine Park, Fillmore Avenue between Madison Place and Marine Parkway (front entrance by flagpole).
Guest speaker Loretta E. Lynch, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of NY (Brooklyn), will be discussing “Confronting Public / Political Corruption.” She will likely have a lot to discuss.
Representatives from the 61st Precinct will be on hand, and elected officials and candidates in the next election have also been invited.
Light refreshments will be served.
For further info, contact Ed Jaworski at (718) 375-9158 or (347) 661-6960 (cell).
BYLAWS REVISED: After taking heat from a group of neighbors upset about a drug treatment facility proposed for Kings Highway, Community Board 15 voted to revise a section of their bylaws that would require more intense community outreach in the run-up to a hearing for similar facilities in the future.
“Bullet Points” is our format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.
Neighbors Demand Board Rescind Support For Drug Counseling Center: Residents of East 17th Street near Kings Highway rallied at last night’s Community Board 15 meeting, demanding the Board rescind a letter of support for a proposed drug treatment facility at 1670 East 17th Street.
Led by Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association President Ed Jaworski, a group of residents took to the podium, claiming that the Board failed to inform the community that the issue would be discussed and voted on in December.
“The City Charter and the Community Board bylaws say that the Community Board should serve the community, should communicate within the community, should act as a liaison agency, should review services, should develop plans for the community. None of this was done regarding the drug center being located on East 17th Street,” Jaworski said. “What took place at the November meeting was a shortcut. It was cutting the community’s input.”
The center, One World Counseling, received a letter of support from Community Board 15 in November with a 31-4 vote. Dmitri Oster, a rep for One World, told the Board then that they intended to target immigrants in the Sheepshead Bay area who have turned to drugs to cope with cultural integration. They would offer only counseling and would not distribute medication.
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.”
Source: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin S. O’Brien via Wikimedia Commons
Hurricane Sandy was an unstoppable storm, affecting so many residents throughout our city. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a figure many looked to for leadership and guidance during this critical time.
The opinions of his efforts or shortcomings, depending on any given perspective, vary greatly. WNYC asked several New Yorkers how they would rate Bloomberg in the wake of Sandy.
Interestingly, of those interviewed in the piece, the three leaders representing the private sector graded the mayor fairly high, while the two public sector leaders gave Bloomberg an “F”.
Sandy’s impact reflects Mayor Bloomberg’s obsession with real estate-development: seeking taller buildings and more densely packed population than other cities worldwide. Three weeks before the hurricane, he announced that he’d seek a major up-zoning on Manhattan’s East Side. Did he address all the component infrastructure consequences, including safety? How about when he encouraged dense development on the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts? Now, because we have a Department of City Planning that doesn’t plan — it rezones — the mayor had to appoint a director of housing recovery operations and community restoration directors.
We’d like to hear your take on Bloomberg’s efforts. On your standard grammar school scale of A to F, did he do well by our neighborhood before, during and after Hurricane Sandy?
The Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association’s (MMHCA) next meeting will be a Thanksgiving food drive to assist the needy, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. inside the King’s Chapel, Quentin Road and East 27th Street. They are collecting non-perishable food items, Kosher and non-Kosher, along with contributions to purchase turkeys.
The Thanksgiving food drive is taking place now through the November 15 meeting. There are plenty of people out there — our friends, family and neighbors — who lost everything in their lives and could really use something to be thankful for this holiday season, so please be generous.
Checks to purchase turkeys, payable to “Madison-Marine Civic Assn.,” may also be brought to the November 15 meeting or sent to” MMHCA, PO Box 432, Homecrest Station, Brooklyn, NY 11229.
It has long been the belief that the best way to effect positive change in your community is to get involved. To that end, the Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association is hoping to inspire residents to get involved during its first meeting of the season, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. inside the King’s Chapel, corner of Quentin Road and East 27th Street.
The civic group will be hosting a panel, which will examine the topic: “Trying To Find New Ideas And New Blood To Address Neighborhood Issues.” The panelists will be comprised of the following:
Erik Engquist, Assistant Managing Editor, Crain’s New York Business
Chris Owens, Democratic State Committee Member, 52nd Assembly District
Rev. Michael Perry, Pastor, Our Lady of Refuge Church
Jumaane Williams, New York City Council Member, 45th Council District
Moderator, Jim Ivaliotis, President, Marine Park Civic Association
According to Ed Jaworski, president of the Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic, “Brooklyn has seen a lot of political turmoil and change recently, and this part of the borough has many concerns. The underlying, essential thought of our forum is the question: ‘Who can we trust to open the windows and let in some new ideas, bring in new blood to address the problems and the tilted system?’”
Captain John Chell, the new commanding officer of the 61st Precinct, will also be introduced.
The meeting is free and open to the public. For more information, call (718) 375-9158.
The music of cellos, harpsichords, flutes and clarinets will soon fill Good Shepherd Church as the Homecrest house of worship gets ready to hold its annual concert series.
Every Sunday, from October 7 through December 16, New Yorkers are invited to enjoy recitals by some of the best classical musicians in the world – for free.
This year’s series features clarinetist Tom Piercy, mandolin player Joe Brent, classical guitarist Dan Lippel and acclaimed ensembles like Brooklyn Baroque and Duo Cantabile, among others.
“I wanted to give conservatoire musicians a place to play in beautiful acoustics like these,” said Michael Fontana, the church’s music director for the past 20 years. “It’s really a great venue.”
Manhattan Beach dog run vote tabled: Besides getting a surprise visit from a process server notifying the Board that they are defendants in a $180 million lawsuit, the two-hour long meeting got heated during a hearing on the future of the Manhattan Beach dog run. The proposal to move the dog run to a new location and establish a beautification garden at its current site was tabled after several speakers went back and forth about its merits, and the full Board decided that there wasn’t enough concrete information to take a vote. We’ll have more on this story in a separate post.
Elected officials (video above):
“I’m back kicking ass and taking names,” said Councilman Lew Fidler, who has suffered health issues stemming from a bad reaction to medication during his State Senate campaign. He added that reports of his health problems have been greatly exaggerated. Fidler discussed two issues he is working on, including a bill that will require gas stations to post all prices for all methods of payment on their roadside signs, bringing to a halt the annoyance of pulling into a gas station and finding that the price posted is for cash only. The other issue is in regards to looming budget cuts the mayor has ordered following the failure to push through the sale of additional taxi medallions and the five borough taxi plan. He said the mayor should arrange for a compromise that would allow for outer-borough taxi service and provide $600 million in revenue for this year alone. “The mayor and the administration need to get to the table, sit down, get over themselves.”
Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein promoted her free flu shot programs, for which you can find the dates by calling her district office at (718) 648-4700. She is also hosting a free shredding day on October 11 in the parking lot of Roosevelt Savings Bank on Avenue U.
Activists blast Community Board member selection process, demand more transparency: The president of a local civic association and another active member of the community slammed the Community Board appointment process for a lack of fairness and transparency at Community Board 15′s final meeting of the season on Tuesday.
Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association President Ed Jaworski led the assault. He insinuated that there is a conflict of interest for members or advisers who also have business connections to buildings-related cases that come before the Board.
