SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Councilman Lew Fidler reported to Community Board 15 that he helped spearhead an effort to save the city’s volunteer ambulance corps. The city’s volunteer emergency services were barred from accessing the emergency dispatch system following an October decision from the FDNY, a move seen by some as an attempt to phase them out completely from the emergency medical response.

“I was kind of nonplussed that at a time when the president of the United States is hailing volunteerism, and the mayor of the City of New York has a volunteer action center, that we would cut off volunteer ambulances from serving the public,” Fidler told the Community Board at their February 23 meeting.

Read more about the FDNY blockout of volunteer services and Fidler’s remarks

Hate crime victim Michael Sandy (courtesy of Michael Sandy Foundation)

More than three years after the fatal beating of a gay man at Plumb Beach, the victim’s family members, friends, and advocates are one-step closer to securing a memorial in his honor.

Community Board 15 voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow the erection of a memorial stone for Michael Sandy near the Plumb Beach parking lot.

Sandy was killed after a botched robbery-turned-hate crime in October 2006. His murder led friends of Sandy to form the Michael Sandy Foundation, which along with the his parents began seeking a tribute to victims of hate crimes everywhere.

“I would like to thank everyone involved who has had the opportunity to say ‘yes’ to putting this memorial up,” said Tony Bruce, the executive director of the Michael Sandy Foundation, during an interview with Sheepshead Bites. “In some part, by saying ‘yes’ to this they’ll be doing something small that may change someone’s mind about hate violence.”

Read more about the monument and see video of CB15 discussing the tribute

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) filed a lawsuit to stop the closing of 19 public schools, including Sheepshead Bay High School and three other area schools.

The city announced late last month that Sheepshead Bay High School at 3000 Avenue X, Franklin D. Roosevelt High School at 5800 20th Avenue, John Dewey High School at 50 Avenue X, and William E. Grady Vocational High School at 25 Brighton Fourth Road were on their list of “persistently lowest achieving” high schools. The schools on the list would receive federal funding to close or restructure in one of four models put forth by the Race to the Top program.

Teachers and parents are riled up at the city’s betrayal, as the Department of Education moves to abandon students to charter and private interests, rather than fix public education.

City Councilman Lewis Fidler and Assemblyman Alan Maisel, both of whom attended Tilden High School which closed in 2007, are joining the UFT lawsuit.

“When your proposals can affect the futures of so many, you can’t just go through the motions and ignore the letter and spirit of the law,” Fidler told Courier-Life. “Unfortunately, that’s what has happened here. We’re talking about public education. The Department of Education should be listening to people, investing to fix schools they feel are broken, not abandoning them.”

We all keep hearing about the plummeting crime statistics across the city, and in our area the 61st Precinct was named the lowest crime area in all of New York City (aside from the command responsible for Central Park). But Councilman Lew Fidler is asking aloud what many residents have been mumbling among themselves for years: is the NYPD manipulating the statistics?

“People can misinterpret or misuse statistics all the time,” City Councilmember Lew Fidler told Courier-Life. “It just strikes me that the crime statistics we hear are too good to be true.”

Fidler said the “inordinate pressure” coming from the city’s top brass to make the crime stats “look good” may be causing officers to downgrade crimes or dissuade residents from filing reports altogether. He blamed the over-emphasis on statistics in determining precinct’s needs.

Have you ever thought the police manipulated a report of a crime you were a victim of? Keep reading.

Brooklyn Dreams officials held a hearing hosted by Shell Bank JHS in July

Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that the controversial Brooklyn Dreams Charter School has been approved, and though it’s mum on what part of Brooklyn it’ll be in, we’re pretty sure it’s our District 22.

The New York State Board of Regents, with State University of New York support, recently approved a five-year charter for the proposed 780-student tuition-free independent public school, its sponsors said.

The projected opening date is September 2010, just nine months from now, in an existing building not yet identified. Grade levels would be kindergarten through eight with student admissions determined by a lottery, with first choice available to students living within the school district that Brooklyn Dreams is located.

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Gay rights advocates are "outing" Kruger, alleging he is a closeted homosexual.

From the Daily News:

After voting “no” on the gay marriage bill yesterday, Sen. Carl Kruger exited the Senate chamber and walked straight into the buzzsaw that was Allen Roskoff and Corey Johnson.

The two outspoken gay advocates stunned onlookers by heckling the Brooklyn Democrat, publicly calling his sexuality into question and threatening to support a primary candidate against him in 2010.

I reached the duo, who arrived in Albany Tuesday night in time to see the Assembly pass the marriage bill for the third time since 2007, as they were en route home to New York City. Roskoff proudly confirmed he and Johnson “told Carl off.”

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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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Daily News published an editorial Sunday pointing the finger at 46th District City Councilman Lew Fidler for owing taxpayers $88,500. Fidler received the money as part of the city’s public funding system for his campaign against Republican Gene Berardelli, and was widely criticized for taking the maximum amount when his opponent had only raised $2,000.

We, too, were shocked at the amount of money Fidler asked for in his massive 41-page affidavit, which included coverage from Sheepshead Bites as evidence of a competitive race. Fidler told the Daily News, “”If it turns out that I don’t need it, I’ll return it.”

That’s why the day after the election we contacted the councilman to see how much he’d be returning. He wrote:

As of today, I have no clue what we spent and we are still paying bills. I can only GUESS that we will be returning a five figure number, but can’t say for sure.

Clearly he has no intention of meeting Daily News’ demand that he return all $88,500. But campaign funds are given out with the expectation that they’ll be spent, so getting five figures back – if that’s what we get – can be seen by some as a positive step.

What do you think? Should Fidler reimburse the city the entire $88,500? Or was he within his right to spend away?

There were no surprises in the local City Council races, as incumbents Lew Fidler (46th District) and Michael C. Nelson (48th District) bested their opposition in this year’s races by a wide margin.

Fidler picked up 79.23 percent of the vote (17,101), leaving Republican opponent Gene Berardelli with 19.46 percent, or 4,201 votes. Libertarian candidate Derek Sacerdote took the remaining 1.31 percent (282). Nelson’s lead was larger, with 89.83 percent (12,528), versus Conservative candidate Stephen Walters, who collected 10.17 percent (1418).

As readers of Sheepshead Bites know, the race for the 46th District was spirited, with often heated back-and-forths between Berardelli and Fidler on this site (here and here), culminating in a taped debate. At issue were term limits, discretionary funding, and negative campaign tactics.

In the end, Fidler attributed his win to running a positive campaign, telling Yournabe.com “negative campaigning isn’t tolerated” in the 46th district, a dig at Berardelli’s website, TheFidler.com.

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On an editorial note, this hardly passes as news, as Democratic candidates are almost never ousted in Brooklyn. Just take a glance at Yournabe.com’s front page, and you’ll see headlines – probably written days before – like this: “DeBlasio wins in landslide…”, “Gentile has easy win…”, “Williams coasts to victory…”, and so on.

Such headlines are so predictable, even before campaign season starts, that it’s ingrained into the mind of every voter, candidate, and reporter from the outset. So when Fidler attributes his win to the other side’s negative campaigning, we have to wonder if it has more to do with self-fulfilling prophesy.

This year was the first time I’ve ever reported on campaigns. And as I followed the fights, it became obvious to me that I was the only one that did. Except for token articles about scandalous claims – like the “anti-semitism” debacle – even the local media didn’t bother reporting the opposition. And for that, we all suffer.

Brooklyn needs real elections to fix its problems, and for that, it needs more media covering the opponents. I’m not saying the Democrats need to be voted out, but elections – especially City Council elections – are a time for discussion about a community’s future. When the opposition isn’t taken seriously, the people are deprived of that discussion, and the incumbent slips by with little accountability.

During various times in our reporting, Fidler intoned – though never said – that Sheepshead Bites’ coverage was biased towards Berardelli. I think Fidler would’ve considered biased any coverage of Berardelli that didn’t lampoon him. And I don’t blame him, candidates in Brooklyn are not used to seeing their general election opponents taken seriously, so any attempt to is cast in a light of suspicion.

That needs to change. Not to the detriment of Fidler or other incumbents, but to the benefit of us all. Courier-Life editor Ken Brown told one caller who asked about more coverage for the opposition, “Republicans aren’t newsworthy.” That needs to change. When anyone – civic group, blog, or business – holds a debate between all the candidates and it doesn’t get a lick of coverage, that needs to change.

Sheepshead Bites was proud of our part in reporting on the 46th District campaign. We wish we had the resources to have covered the 48th District – and others – better. And we’re also proud that a councilman like Lew Fidler, who believes in communicating with his constituents and engaging his opponents, represents an area we cover.

But our pride is tempered by the realization of a failure of an entire industry to even partially fulfill its raison d’etre. News media exists to inform the public. This elections proved to me just how cataclysmically they fail at that. And they wonder why their future looks as grey as the paper they print on.

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!