SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The site of the proposed mosque at 2812/2814 Voorhies Avenue

Opponents of a proposed mosque in Sheepshead Bay came before the Sheepshead Bay/Plumb Beach Civic Association last week to rally support for their fight, but instead found little sympathy for their struggle.

A handful of neighbors came to the Tuesday night meeting to present their case against the mosque, which may soon be built at 2812 Voorhies Avenue and will also include a school and community center. But board members of the civic association and Community Board 15 chairperson Theresa Scavo bristled as the opposition turned towards race-baiting and ethnic fears.

“On what grounds are you opposing them?” said Scavo. “You can’t turn around and say ‘Oh they’re Muslim.’ Who’s going to look like the bad guy?”

Though initial statements from the mosque’s opponents emphasized potential traffic, parking, and noise problems as the cause for their concern, racist undertones began to bubble to the surface of the debate.

Read more about what happened at the meeting and to see documents from the mosque’s opponents

Though some say Fidler owes the city $88,550 in campaign finance funds, the councilman says he expects to return around $10,000

Councilman Fidler has told Crain’s Insider that he hopes to return about $10,000 of the $88,550 in taxpayer funds he received from the Campaign Finance Board for last November’s elections.

Fidler drew the ire of city press ever since he received the $88,550 – making his total war chest over $170,000 – in matching funds, with the Daily News going as far as demanding he return every penny of taxpayer dollars. His opponent, Gene Berardelli, only raised about $4,000 and did not qualify for matching funds.

Sheepshead Bites has been in constant communication with Fidler’s staff, and though he’s waiting for a city audit to announce the precise amount, the councilman told us from the beginning that he expected to return “five figures.”

The news comes as the Campaign Finance Board launches hearings to review the efficacy of funds, particularly, according to Crain’s, whether it helped grassroots candidates compete. As the race for the 46th illustrated, the CFB’s matching funds stifled challengers with small fundraising apparatuses, and instead funneled public money to incumbents facing underfunded and overwhelmed opponents.

From Crain’s Insider:

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On Tuesday, Sheepshead Bites and GerritsenBeach.net sponsored the first blog-hosted political debate in New York City, rounding up candidates for the 46th City Council District. The debate featured incumbent Lew Fidler (D), Gene Berardelli (R), and Derek Sacerdote (L) with Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association President George Broadhead serving as moderator. The 46th District covers the neighborhoods of Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Georgetowne, Starrett City, Flatlands, Futurama, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Gerritsen Beach, Madison and Sheepshead Bay.

A feisty debate, the candidates wrangled over special interest groups, term limits, making New York City affordable, transit issues, and more. And yes, we got to see a taste of that nastiness, as allegations of antisemitism flared once more.

Questions for the debate were compiled from readers of both Sheepshead Bites and GerritsenBeach.net, as well as from local leaders on the Community Board and civic associations, and local news outlets. Moderator George Broadhead had the final say in determining questions.

People keep asking us: who won the debate? Well, we don’t want to become horse-race commentators. Instead, we’ll let you do that! But we will say we thought all the candidates expressed themselves well, and gave us a good idea on where they stand with a variety of issues. After the debate, we certainly felt like we had a better idea of their individual viewpoints, and each candidate held their own.

We want to once again thank all of our participants, and our moderator, who were patient and accommodating towards helping us put together this event. We’d also like to thank Baron DeKalb-Knights of Columbus, who supplied space, and Joe Mikos, who handled the video.

Check out the video and hear where your potential councilman stands on issues important to the city and our little nook, then let us know below what you thought of their responses!

Sheepshead Bites in association with GerritsenBeach.net is producing the first debate hosted by local bloggers in New York City. We’ve drawn together the three candidates running for the 46th City Council District, including the sitting councilman, Assistant Majority Leader Lew Fidler. The 45-minute debate will be taped tomorrow afternoon without an audience, then streamed on both sites on Thursday.

The debate promises to be lively, as the two leading candidates – Lew Fidler and Republican opponent Gene Berardelli – have been trading barbs in the comments section of Sheepshead Bites and GerritsenBeach.net (here, here, and here). They have discussed such issues as campaign financing, term limits, and discretionary funds, with the arguments getting very heated. They have at times labeled each other arrogant, questioned each other’s honesty, and Fidler has called Berardelli’s charges anti-semitic. Meanwhile, Libertarian Party candidate Derek Sacerdote has been waging a grassroots campaign, including going door-to-door in several areas of the district.

George Broadhead will serve as moderator of the debate. A self-described “old Brooklynite,” Broadhead signed on with strong recommendations from community leaders as a fair, independent, and objective member of the neighborhood with high integrity. He currently serves as President of the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association, is the past Post Commander of the Veterans of Foreign War Post 107, and past Commander of the Kings County Council of the VFW. A former U.S. Marine, Broadhead was awarded the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in action after serving in Korea. He has also written for several publications, and was the Western Manager of Newhouse Newspapers.

We’re very proud to be the first local bloggers to independently host a City Council debate. Sheepshead Bites was founded on the idea of sparking discussion in our community and engaging it’s jaded members. We’re happy to have the opportunity to continue bridging the online-offline divide, inform our neighbors, and kindle a desire to participate.

In that spirit, we’re inviting all of our readers to submit debate questions for consideration. You can add them to the comments section below, or send them privately by e-mail.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Gene Berardelli for City Council over the weekend, raising the stakes in his fight against sitting Councilman Lew Fidler.

In the release from the Berardelli camp, Bloomberg cited the candidate’s work with Brigham Street Park and his efforts in downzoning a portion of Sheepshead Bay as reasons hizzonah would lend his support to the first-time candidate for public office.

“I need a fighter like Gene Berardelli in the City Council so we can keep the city moving in the right direction. I strongly endorse Gene Berardelli in the race for City Council and urge the voters of the 46th district to support him too,” said Mayor Bloomberg in the release.

With just a little over three weeks left until the election, the endorsement’s effects are questionable. Berardelli probably wont be fundraising anymore, and his meager $3,000 or so of contributions is hardly enough to do such campaign basics as send mailers to the district’s residents. But he will appear on the Republican ballot in a year in which the Republican mayor has spent record amounts on media and other materials promoting himself and the party.

But while Berardelli is able to ride off the media-inundated coattails of the sitting mayor, it appears his opponent nailed the resources necessary to buy a little attention himself.

Councilman Fidler has received more than $63,000 in taxpayer funds after submitting a statement of need to the campaign finance board. Although Berardelli has not raised nearly enough money to be eligible for matching funds from the city, Fidler was able to get three times the amount he normally would by citing the district’s past turnout for a Republican mayor, as well as submitting 40 pages of documentation that included campaign coverage by Sheepshead Bites.

City Councilman Lew Fidler (46th District) gets a raw deal in the world of web publishing. He’s got at least two nosy, noisy bloggers in his district. And as the Assistant Majority Leader and the so-called “King of Discretionary Dollars“, he draws a lot of fire from the citywide digerati where lesser-known foes would go under the radar. To his credit, he’s far more active in the online community than his colleagues, a noble feat that often invites more flogging than flattery.

Poor Lew. His suffering knows no end. Republican opponent for City Council, Gene Berardelli, has unveiled a new website with an ingenious name: TheFidler.com. Decorated with a perfectly comic motif of dancing fiddlers, a bobble-head-esque Fidler, and the apocalyptic “Lew Fiddles. We Burn” tagline – the site is owned and operated by the Berardelli campaign. It features articles from around the internet criticizing Councilman Fidler on a variety of issues, from sources including Room Eight and NYC Council Watch.  So far articles have focused on his involvement with LawCash, pork-barrel spending, profiting off of the housing crisis, and failing to engage in a public debate. It also includes satirical photos and a “Whack-a-Lew” game where visitors can tase the good councilman’s nipples.

Apparently, TheFidler.com has its own contributors that produces editorial content, and Berardelli says in his release that anything he writes will bear his name. So far though, all original posts are labeled “TheFidler.com Staff”. While Berardelli notes in the release that he’s “responsible enough to stand behind all content on this site, even if not written by me” – we’re still pleading for him to make contributors reveal themselves. Anonymous posting is questionable enough on blogs; elected politicians (and those who aspire) shouldn’t meddle with such muck.

Overall, though, the site is an obvious attempt to goad Fidler into a confrontation. It pokes fun at the councilman and is begging for a response. From the campaign’s inception, Berardelli has issued several challenges to his incumbent opponent to meet for debates, but the councilman has been dodgy. Berardelli closed his press release by writing, “If the Councilman has a problem with the characterizations, he can come see me – I’m no shrinking violet myself.”

We’d love to see that scene. How ’bout it, Lew?

In a discussion that seems reminiscent of the ones we heard when Barack Obama used the phrase “Yes, we can” as his campaign slogan, Gene Berardelli (R-C) — 46th District City Council candidate running against City Councilman Lew Fidler — says that Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson stole his campaign slogan.

On one of his Facebook pages, Berardelli entered a Tweet with two simple words, “Slogan Thief” and included a link to his campaign website.  The link directs those interested in political fights — especially between candidates who are not running against each other — to an article written by “Administrator”.

The phrase being used by both the Mayoral and the City Council candidates is none other than the title of the popular TV comedy drama series show from the 1970′s and early ’80′s. It is also none other than the one that Barack Obama used in his now-famous 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee acceptance speech.

Berardelli says that the fact that he was using the slogan since June, whereas Bill Thompson has been using it only recently — is proof positive that not only is Thompson following his race, but that he also lifted the slogan from his campaign speeches, literature and website.

This must mean that either Berardelli didn’t read Jeffrey Ecker’s January 27, 2009 commentary in the New York Times, about the birth of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets, entitled “Eight Is Enough”, or he might be under the impression that no one in Thompson’s camp did, either.

Let’s hope that there will not be another television show about a family with (at least) eight children, another set of eight babies born, or another politician trying to get voted in beyond eight years (etc.) — because television executives, media professionals and politicians (etc.) seem to have run out of novel phrases by which to refer to the situation — without being called thieves, that is.

Gene Berardelli, City Council candidate for the 46th District, has gone Hollywood. The Plumb Beach Republican vying for Democratic Councilman Lew Fidler’s seat to represent Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach, and Canarsie, has produced a video for NBC New York’s online video voter guide. In it, he says the overturning of term limits was a “rude wake up call” and makes his case for voters. Among the achievements he highlights are his efforts to downzone parts of Sheepshead Bay and organizing the community to make Brigham Street Park a reality.

Kudos to NBC New York for producing these video voter guides. It’s good to see that they haven’t ignored the Republican opposition altogether (we’re lookin’ at you, Courier-Life).

Other videos of interest:

Lew Fidler, City Council #46
Derek Sacerdote, City Council #46
Mark D’Ottavio, Borough President
Marty Markowitz, Borough President
Eugene Myrick, Borough President

Republican Challengers Meet at Lundy's-Cherry Hill in Sheepshead Bay

Yesterday morning, the Republican challengers for Comptroller, Public Advocate, Brooklyn Borough President and the City Council’s 46th District gathered under the  roof of the historic Lundy’s building. The event was the Republican party’s first endeavor to meet voters as formally endorsed candidates. What they encountered was a smattering of supporters, more food than people, and one lone reporter: me.

It was a hum-drum occasion. The Republicans each spoke briefly about their experience and reason for running. It was a litany of complaints about corruption and mismanagement, paired with promises to shine a light on the darknesses of political patronage and the Democratic machine. They promised more transparency in the issuing of contracts and to pressure contractors to do work efficiently. And they promised restraint and common sense, in place of, oh, say, $64 million amphitheaters next to synagogues.

But more than anything else, the event and its lack of coverage illustrated the chief hurdle the Republican party faces in local New York City elections: stigma.

Gene Berardelli, who is running for Lew Fidler’s seat in the City Council, called it the “Scarlet R”. Republican candidates in New York City face a steep uphill battle, as years of Democratic dogmatism threaten their credibility.

After all, this is a group many in the media regard as “token” challengers – and some even forget to mention at all. Courier-Life for example, has completely omitted the Republicans from their new election website. No, I don’t mean they’re not covering them (which they’re not). I mean they’re not even listed as challengers.

It’s bad enough we live in a two-party nation, but a one-party city is simply unacceptable. What, after all, has decades of one-party rule given us? What are we to benefit from the elimination of choice?

I’m not suggesting you should go out and vote Republican this year. What I’m suggesting is that you should have the opportunity to learn about a Republican from your media.

What I learned from yesterday’s meeting was that NYC Republicans are not the ravenous beasts of the national party. They’re home grown, and their opinions can stray far from the usual brand of Republican. Some, like Berardelli, are staunchly pro-environment. Many are pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights. Some may even believe in universal healthcare (okay, I haven’t met one of those – yet). What we have in NYC is a unique flavor of Republican – one that has adopted many of the national Democratic Party’s favorite issues while shaving off the dead wood of our city’s machine politics.

Again, I’m not suggesting you vote for a Republican in November. But you should attend a meet-and-greet. You should look at their websites. And you should ask yourself how fair your usual news outlet is being by muting these voices.

Republican candidates for positions across the city are kicking off their campaigns Sunday morning right here in Sheepshead Bay. Gene Berardelli, who is campaigning on the GOP ticket for Lew Fidler’s seat in the City Council, will be meeting residents alongside Public Advocate candidate Alex Zablocki, Comptroller candidate Joe Mendola, and Brooklyn Borough President Candidate Marc D’Ottavio.

Though Republicans historically have had a hard time getting into office in New York City, these candidates come at a time during widespread dissatisfaction with incumbent officials due to the elimination of term limits, ongoing economic malaise, and fraud and corruption issues. While we’re not sure if any of these guys will be different, we owe it to ourselves to get out and meet them and learn about the alternatives.

Here’s the event info, and you can find the press release after the jump:

When: Sunday, August 9 at 10 a.m.
Where: Cherry Hill Gourmet Market
1901 Emmons Avenue (at Ocean Avenue)

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