The publisher of this web site grew up in Western New York. Be nice to him about this play.

Henry Hynoski 28, New England Patriots 0.

I just thought I’d lead off with my prediction for the game. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’m almost certain that’s how the game will unfold.

Where do you want to watch the game this year? I’m keeping it simple for myself – will just be my son and I at home. I hosted an apartment party last year, but can’t really be bothered with the hassle this year. Pizza from DaVinci’s, and I’ll probably fry my own Buffalo wings. Thinking I’ll go with red wine over beer. Yeah, man: pizza, Buffalo wings, wine, and football. Life is grand.

Of course, if it weren’t for children who are too young to go out to bars*, I’d probably be going out Sunday night. It’s fun to see the Super Bowl in a bar already frequented by one of the participating teams’ fans, i.e. watching last year’s game in a Steelers bar. For this year’s game, I don’t think Giants bars are going to be so hard to find. They’ll be in the yellow pages under “bars.”

*I’ve been going out to watch sports in bars since I was 16. My dad thought it would be nice if I could watch him shoot pool. I just wanted to be in a place that got the channel that was carrying the hockey game.

In fact, I might think about going to one of these places.

• Lone Star Bar & Grill (8703 5th Avenue) – Free buffet during game, $50 drink bracelet or pay-as-you-go. Early bird (noon-3pm) drink special: $3 domestic, $4 imports. Raffles & giveaways.
• The Wicked Monk (8415 5th Ave) – $35 buffet and open bar, or pay-as-you-go. Buffet includes flank steak, Buffalo wings, pork kebabs, salmon oreganata, chili, grilled corn with chipotle butter, and Mediterranean salad (which is Turkish for “Greek salad”). Prizes and giveaways. Post-game karaoke.
• Yellow Hook Grille (7003 3rd Avenue) – $25 unlimited draft beer
• The Pour House (7901 3rd Avenue) – $45 open bar and free buffet. Giveaways, snowboard raffle
• Delia’s Lounge (9224 3rd Avenue) – $60 open bar and food (reservation). Herb crusted lamb chops, Buffalo wings, sliders and fries.

Where will you be watching?

If the name invokes the wrong city, then at least the baseball script used in the site's standard wordmark plays up to a tired stereotype of our own making. (Sort of.)

On Wednesday, the publisher of BK Southie – a little-known local-interest web site covering Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and southern Brooklyn as a whole, and NOT South Boston – announced that he would rename the site to remove the reference to “Southie” if the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots in Superbowl XLVI this Sunday evening.

The publisher is not from Boston and has never lived in Boston. He’s not entirely sure what he was thinking when he named the site in the first place. Maybe he had just Netflicked The Departed at the time. He doesn’t remember; we may never know. He regretted his decision after an e-mail interaction with a South Boston cab company and has since apologized. (Apologized to Brooklyn, that is. Not to Boston.)

He doesn’t want to put down Boston (too much) as he appreciates the positive contribution that Boston and its surrounding towns have made in his life, including, but not limited to, (1) his first wife, (2) Denis Leary, and (3) a cool band called Splashdown that never made it big, but gave its keyboard player to Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

The publisher has visited the Boston area a few times, and particularly enjoyed the neighborhood surrounding Harvard, in spite of the fact that it surrounds Harvard. But as far as referencing a Boston neighborhood in the name of a Brooklyn-bound web site, he knows he should have kept the chocolate out of the peanut butter.

If the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots this Sunday, he’ll take that as the cue to choose a Brooklyn-y and not Boston-y name for the site.

If not, he’ll be looking for some other cue.

Council Member David Greenfield. (Photo: New York City Council)

City Council Member David Greenfield reacted to criticism by The Brooklyn Daily columnist Lou Powsner regarding Greenfield’s attentiveness – or lack thereof – to his Bensonhurst constituents. Powsner’s article, which was covered by BK Southie as part of a larger critique of the gerrymandering of political districts, addressed at a high level the challenges a neighborhood like Bensonhurst faces when all four of its Council districts are anchored by other communities (i.e. Greenfield’s Borough Park, Vincent Gentile’s Bay Ridge). But Powsner cited Greenfield specifically for being a no-show at community events.

Greenfield replied with a letter to the editor, published on BrooklynDaily.com. It reads in part:

Please allow me to set the record straight regarding Lou Powsner’s recent inaccurate claims that I have ignored the Bensonhurst portion of my district. The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth. No matter how you measure it — meetings attended, constituent cases handled, local group funded or services provided — I have worked hard each and every day to deliver for every corner of the 44th District, including the portion of Bensonhurst that I am privileged to represent.

In the less than two years I have held office, I have allocated hundreds of thousands of dollars to numerous Bensonhurst civic, community, cultural, educational and athletic organizations which play a vital role in making it a great place to live. Either a representative or I have attended countless important civic meetings in the community, including every single community board meeting since I was elected to office. In addition, I have fought on behalf of Bensonhurst residents on issues such as keeping our senior centers open and maintaining our quality of life. In fact, I am currently leading the fight to increase the parking spaces in the development of a nine-story medical office on 61st Street and Bay Parkway. Finally, my office has resolved hundreds of constituent complaints, ranging from potholes that need to be filled to government agencies that are not responsive. One such complaint is the one that was filed by Lou Powsner.

Photo: Gounardes campaign Flickr

This past Saturday outside of Fort Hamailton High School, Democrat Andrew Gounardes officially launched his campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Marty Golden in the State Senate. A 26-year-old attorney, Gounardes works for Citizens Community of New York City, and has previously worked as an aide to Council Member Vincent Gentile and US Senator Robert Menendez.

Sheepshead Bites and Bensonhurst Bean publisher Ned Berke caught up with Gounardes recently and asked a few questions about his run for office.

It’s a lovely building in it’s own right. Something about it, though, compels me to play around with sepia filters in online photo labs.

The Third Jihad, a Clarion Fund-produced Islamophobic film, includes such inflammatory images as a black-and-white Islamic flag flying over the White House.

The director of a Bay Ridge-based Arab-American organization has called on Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to step down over his role in appearing in an anti-Muslim film, having it screened during mandatory counter-terrorism training sessions, and for the program of surveillance aimed at Arab and Muslim communities in New York.

When initially challenged by the Village Voice a year ago, the NYPD first denied that any officer had seen The Third Jihad, a film produced by The Clarion Fund (itself an offshoot of Aish Hatorah, described by Atlantic Monthly columnist Jeffrey Goldberg as “just about the most fundamentalist movement in Judaism today”). The Department eventually admitted that “some” officers had seen it, but it wasn’t until a Freedom Of Information Act request by The Brennan Center For Justice came to fruition did the full impact become known – the film was screened on “continuous loop” to 68 lieutenants, 159 sergeants, 31 detectives and 1,231 patrol officers.

The Third Jihad shows “72 minutes of gruesome footage of bombing carnage, frenzied crowds, burning American flags, flaming churches, and seething mullahs” according to the Voice, while stating that “Americans are being told that most of the mainstream Muslim groups are moderate, when in fact if you look a little closer you’ll see a very different reality. One of their primary tactics is deception.”

The film includes pieces of an interview with Commissioner Kelly, which the Department initially claimed was culled from old interviews and used without permission. But it turned out that was more deception from the NYPD – it was eventually revealed that the film producers sat down with Kelly to interview him specifically for the film. Gothamist took care to document 10 high-profile cases of the Department lying to the press (or at least 10 times they got caught lying to the press).

Linda Sarsour, the director of the Bay Ridge-based Arab American Association of New York, has spoken to various press outlets, demanding that Ray Kelly be replaced as Commissioner. BK Southie contacted her directly and asked about the connection between this film screening, Kelly’s participation, and the pervasive state surveillance documented extensively by the AP last year. Sarsour replied:

This recent controversy over the showing of The Third Jihad to 1500 police officers is but one piece of a larger pattern of religious and ethnic bias against the Muslim-American community by the NYPD. While Commissioner Kelly and his Community Affairs department of One Police Plaza visit mosques and local centers to demonstrate partnership, they have been secretly infiltrating and spying on the very people and institutions in the Muslim community they called their friends. This was confirmed by the revelations that continue to surface through the AP investigative reports. For God’s sake, they have a Demographics Unit that focuses on 28 “ancestries of interest” including Black American Muslims. The ancestries of interest are Arab and predominantly Muslim majority countries.

If that’s not ethnic and religious profiling, I don’t know what is.

The issue now is not about one film, it’s about integrity of public officials those tasked with our tax payer dollars to protect all New Yorkers, but instead they are protecting most from the threat of “these people” who fall into one of the ancestries of interest.

Some call it “terrible judgment” that film was showed. There is no room for terrible judgment and I believe that current leadership of NYPD think they are accountable to no one. That is unacceptable and they need to go.

Mayor Bloomberg has also spoken out against the screening of the film, and described it as a black eye on the department and Kelly’s credibility. But, he continues to support Kelly to remain as Commissioner and is resisting calls for his termination.

Mark Murphy will run against Congressman Michael Grimm in November 2012. (Photo source: Mark Murphy For Congress)

Last week, Mark Murphy – son of former Congressman John Murphy and a former aide to Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio – announced his candidacy for the 13th Congressional District, currently held by Michael Grimm. The move generated considerable interest on Staten Island – including strong support from the Richmond County party chairman and some notably less-strong encouragement from elected officials, including Staten Island/Brooklyn State Senator Diane Savino. Reaction from Bay Ridge – roughly one-third of Grimm’s district – was notably absent.

BK Southie reached out to Justin Brannan, the President of the Bay Ridge Democrats political club, to get a sense of the feeling among party activists on the Brooklyn side. Brannan told us:

“We need someone who understands and will fight for local values and put our interests first before the party’s agenda. The current Congressman is simply not in tune with the district he represents. He spends too much time on TV and too little time listening to the concerns of the people. If you’re a leader your #1 job should be to listen; Mark Murphy listens. I’m glad he stepped up.”

Proposed district boundaries for the Assembly and State Senate were released yesterday. At the time of our publishing deadline, there is still no word on the new Congressional districts, which must reduce the number of New York State representatives from 29 to 27. With that reduction in mind, it stands to reason that the new District 13 will need to reach further into Brooklyn than it already does – potentially into areas that have a Democratic registration edge. That prospect, along with the general competitiveness of district and a new poll suggesting Democrats have a chance to take majority control of the House this election, may have the effect of boosting Murphy’s campaign. Working against Murphy is the fundraising head start that Grimm holds over him ($1 million dollars to zero as of the last FEC filing), and the fact that the elder Congressman Murphy left politics in disgrace, marred by an indictment in the Abscam scandal that led to the bribery conviction of five of his House collegues.

The impact of Murphy’s Hollywood career, including roles in my college-era favorite show, Pacific Blue, remains to be seen.

Grimm is currently leading a controversial effort to weaken federal whistleblower protection by directing complaints to in-house reporting mechanisms before federal regulators.

The proposed State Senate District 20 - covering Crown Heights, Sunset Park, and, um... a bunch of side streets between 4th and 5th Avenues.

The proposed Assembly and State Senate districts for elections beginning this November were released yesterday. No one was very happy, especially with the Senate districts.

Queens Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. called District 12 a “baby alien popping out of a stomach.”

Councilman Lew Fidler, who is running to replace Carl Kruger in a March 20 special election but has has district boundaries redrawn to put his house in Minority Leader John Sampson’s district in November, called the process “disgustingly partisan.”

Governor Cuomo, through a spokesman, promised a veto.

BK Southie, which earlier this week proposed eliminating eight Senate districts (citing general economic conditions and legislative dysfunction), is now suggesting we eliminate the State Senate altogether. OK, we’re just kidding this time, but seriously, District 20. Seriously.

As expected, a new, 63rd district has been proposed, a move largely seen as a move by Senate Republicans to protect their slim majority. Former Mayor Ed Koch complained, “I am disappointed in this result and in the dishonorable lawmakers who openly pledged to do things differently this year, and then reneged when it wasn’t to their political advantage,” specifically referring to a pledge made by legislators in both parties to his movement to allow for redistricting independent of the Assembly and Senate. The same Rochester Democrat & Chronicle article quoted a NYPIRG spokesman saying population deviations exceeded a 3% good-governance guideline in 50 of the 63 districts – only 19 of the 62 districts exceeded such guidelines 10 years ago.

If there’s a silver lining for Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, its that Senate Districts 22 and 23 – currently held by Republican Marty Golden and Democrat Diane Savino, respectively – aren’t gerrymandered… much more than they have been for the last ten years.

The proposal for District 22...

...as compared to Golden's current district.

Golden’s district will still have most of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights at its core, with parts of Bensonhurst. He would pick up a portion of Manhattan Beach, carved up from Carl Kruger’s old district. It still goes down a narrow corridor through Sheepshead Bay to reach the friendly confines of Gerritsen Beach.

The proposal for Senate District 23...

...and Diane Savino's current district.

Diane Savino’s district continues to go to great lengths to avoid Bay Ridge. In fact, she would lose most of her existing Bay Ridge constituents. Her district would still hug the Shore Parkway to reach parts of Bath Beach, and she would pick up some ground in Gravesend, Coney Island, and Brighton Beach.

Because of the economic climate, some companies still aren't hiring to replace employees who leave. I suggest we downsize the State Senate, and start by not hiring to replace this guy.

State Senator Neil Breslin, a Democrat whose district includes the capital city of Albany, said something against a Republican plan to add a 63rd Senate district that I’ve suspected for years:

According to Breslin adding an additional seat will cost New York an extra one million dollars. If a new district is what Senate Republicans want, downstate is where it should go Breslin says.

That’s about what I figured – one million dollars for the salary of the elected official, his staff in Albany, his staff in local offices, and other overhead costs.

How many readers worked at an organization that had to lay people off during the latest recession? A lot of people? Maybe even you?  And some of those organizations, I’ll bet, still have a ways to go before they replace all of the jobs they eliminated. Some might even still be laying people off.

When the rest of us were getting downsized, the State Legislature never had to lay anyone off. Funny, that.

No more!

I propose that, instead of adding a 63rd Senate district, we eliminate districts instead. How’s this: with 27 Congressmen, we’ll have one Representative in the House for every 720,000 people. I’d say the upper chamber of the State Legislature should get by with no more than twice that many – one Senator for every 360,000 people. 54 Senators, eight fewer Senators than what we have now. You’re welcome, New York State – I just saved you eight million dollars.

But I’m not done, yet! Why should the rest of New York State have to feel the jobs pinch, but not the Assembly? Do they really need 150 members if the really important legislation comes down to three men in a room? If we laid off 10% of the Assembly workforce, that would still leave us with 135 representatives, yet we’d save another 15 million dollars.

Once again. You’re welcome.

• Michael Mele, a 26-year-old convicted sex offender, plead guilty this past Monday to the 2008 murder of Bay Ridge resident Laura Garza. [NY Times]
• A mentally ill Army soldier briefly escaped from the VA Hospital in Dyker Heights. He was found a short time later. [DNAinfo]
• A 60-year-old woman was critically injured Sunday night after being struck by a car at 72nd Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway. [DNAinfo]