Greenfield Reacts To No-Show Criticism

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 11:00 am  Bensonhurst, Politics
Feb 012012
 

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.

 

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Local Council Members At Masbia Soup Kitchen

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am  Flatbush, General News
Nov 222011
 

Photo courtesy Office of Domenic Recchia

The City Council paid a visit to the Masbia soup kitchen on Coney Island Avenue in Flatbush yesterday, including local Council members Mike Nelson (right), Domenic Recchia (second from right), and David Greenfield (second from left). They are joined in this photo by Jumaane Williams (third from… either direction I guess) and Speaker Christine Quinn (left).

As a brief aside: I don’t really put myself in positions where I’m going to meet a lot of politicians, yet I’ve met three of the people in this picture – Recchia, Greenfield, and Quinn. As you can probably tell from the picture, Recchia is kinda a tall dude. But Greenfield? Also pretty tall. And it doesn’t strike me as obvious in this picture. I think he must be standing in some sort of depression in the floor. But, I digress.

I haven’t checked with Masbia to see if the info is still current, but they have a call for volunteers posted on their web site. The dates are this Wednesday and Thursday. For more info, click here.

Anyone have plans to volunteer anywhere in South Brooklyn this Thanksgiving?

 

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Maple Lanes a survivor (but only for now?) in Brooklyn bowling alley landscape

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 12:00 am  Adult Rec Sports, Bensonhurst
Apr 252011
 

Maple Lanes, the 48-lane bowling center in Bensonhurst, is Brooklyn’s largest, and enjoys a popularity that is partly fed by the closure of other alleys in the surrounding area. But it too may be shut down and razed to make way for residential housing, according to a New York Times report published this past weekend.

The Times reports that while redevelopment is not imminent, an application to rezone the area to residential was submitted three years ago. The prelim plan is for brick apartment buildings and a synagogue, a nod to the growth of the Borough Park community. This would be consistent with an aim stated by City Councilperson David Greenfield during last year’s debate to rezone the industrial areas south of 60th Street for residential housing. Continue reading »

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Councilman Greenfield Wants To Legalize Parking In Front Of Broken Hydrants

 Posted by Arturo Tedesco at 11:40 am  Bensonhurst, Borough Park, General Interest, General News, Midwood, Politics
Mar 232011
 

There’s that &*%$*# hydrant again. The same broken fire hydrant you’ve  seen for months. Curses are muttered under your breath as you circle the block in vain looking for a parking spot. Maybe the out of order pump is in front of your home or business; maybe it’s outside of your favorite store. “I’m not putting lives in danger, why can’t I just park here?” you ask yourself. If a local city councilman has his way, you may soon be able to do just that.

Continue reading »

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“Chasing Sanitation” – Fundraiser for photo exhibit featuring New York’s Strongest in its last week

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 12:05 am  Borough Park, Sunset Park
Sep 212010
 

John Hathaway (left) and Andrew Aspromonte from the 1st Avenue (Sunset Park) Sanitation garage. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission. The “CHASING SANITATION: Falling In Love With New York’s Strongest” project is raising funds for a fall photo exhibit through Friday – details below the fold.

In the debate last February for Simcha Felder’s open Council seat, eventual winner David Greenfield made a comment in response to a comment about affordable housing regarding the Sanitation garage on 19th Avenue. Greenfield said he wanted to force the City to give up that land so affordable apartments could be built there – because it’s a great piece of property and because “we can store garbage trucks anywhere in New York City, they don’t have to be in Borough Park.” (You can see Greenfield’s comment in video #7 of our debate roundup, starting at the 7:45 mark.)

I’m a little annoyed by that line of thought on two fronts. One, I think its misguided to think our neighborhoods can benefit from the City’s services without sometimes playing host to some of the City’s infrastructure. Yes, please keep picking up our garbage, yes, please keep plowing our streets. No, you can’t stay here.

And second, while the response played well with the YMHA crowd, I don’t think Greenfield asked the people who are actually employed at the 19th Avenue garage how they felt about the proposal to move their jobs elsewhere. (Actually, I did, about a month later.) (You’re welcome.) In both instances, this speaks to the people’s perception that Sanitation is at the bottom of the City’s totem pole.

It’s this poor perception about this critical service – and the men and women who are responsible for it – that I disagree with, and I’m happy to find that there are others who feel the same way. Namely Sunset Park writer Lisa Dowda and photographer Liz Ligon, the creative team behind the photo exhibit “Chasing Sanitation: Falling In Love With New York’s Strongest.”

Mark (left) and Johnny Doz from the 19th Avenue (Borough Park) Sanitation garage. Photo by Liz Ligon. Used with permission. Continue reading »

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Councilmember Greenfield On ACS Cuts: Can’t Tell Kids In My District To “Go To Heck”

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:00 am  Borough Park, Politics
May 192010
 

David Greenfield, the City’s new Councilmember hailing from Borough Park, got into it with Administration for Children’s Services commish John Mattingly yesterday during a Council hearing. Greenfield, who led a Brooklyn delegation last week in condemning the elimination of Priority 7 childcare vouchers and the closure of 16 ACS daycare centers, prefaced his remarks by saying “if this was the cartoon, you would see steam literally coming out of my ears.”

By the end of the hearing, we didn’t have to use our imaginations. After complaining that the cuts are “disproportionately impacting racial and religious minorities,” Greenfield went out firing at the commish with raised voice:

Do you have any idea how many kids in my district are going to be displaced? 1,330 children. That’s more than all these children [affected by the other ACS closures] combined. And so for me, it’s an outrage. And I can’t come to the City Council and have a nice, polite conversation when you’re coming into my district and you’re telling 1,330 children, “Tough Luck, The Economy Is Bad.” That’s simply unacceptable. And so I will reiterate, the obligation is on the agency, the obligation is on the Mayor, the obligation is on the City to do what they can to fund these kids because you cannot tell 1,330 kids in my district, which is a larger number than all other childcare centers in New York combined, go to heck.

The money rant starts at the 9:30 mark. More at Yeshiva World and the NY Daily News.

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Seen In Borough Park: Sanitation

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am  Borough Park, Seen In Photos
Apr 062010
 

Sanitation Depot, 19th Avenue. Photo credit: Brian Hedden

This Sanitation garage is part of a complex that straddles both sides of 19th Avenue, between Gravesend Park on one side, and Washington Cemetery and FDR High School on the other. Newly-elected City Councilmember David Greenfield expressed an interest in moving this depot – presumably out of the district – to make way for more (and affordable) residential housing. The Sanitation employee I talked to didn’t seem to mind, assuming another suitable location is found for the complex. I didn’t think to ask him how long it already took him to get into work.

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Greenfield Walks Away With Election

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 2:30 am  Politics
Mar 242010
 

David Greenfield will become the newest member of the City Council after winning the 44th district by a 2,200 vote margin, out of over 12,000 votes cast. From the victory speech:

This sound that [the people of Brooklyn are] hearing is a fight for the good of the community as a whole, instead of fighting for the personal gain of a select few individuals. It’s the sound of people rejecting politics as usual, rejecting the threats, rejecting the intimidation, it’s the sound of taking political leadership from the status quo, and we’re bringing it back to the people, where it belongs.

The NY Times reported this as a surprisingly easy win for such an intense race, with Joe Lazar having the backing of established Hasidic organizations (as has been widely reported elsewhere) and Greenfield having the support of younger Jewish voters (with the lack of reliable polling data, this appears to be reported mainly by Greenfield himself). (Vos Iz Neias, NY Times)

Hmm. 12,225 votes cast, out of a district that should have roughly 150,000 residents. I think speculative reports of a high turnout “for a special election” may have been premature!

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BK Southie Torn Between Voting For David Greenfield, Or Self

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 2:00 pm  Politics
Mar 232010
 

Today is the day of the special election to replace Simcha Felder on the City Council, and I still haven’t decided who to vote for. Speaking generally, I find myself highly disappointed with our City- and State-level politicians, and the Council race for District 44 has been no exception.

It’s basically a race between two machine candidates. The names might say “Joe Lazar” and “David Greenfield,” but it really comes down to “Dov Hikind” versus “Vito Lopez.” Ah, Vito Lopez, the man who makes me embarrased to be a Brooklyn Democrat. (Well – him, and Carl Kruger… who is ALSO supporting Greenfield.)

The fact that I’m considering voting for the Lopez-machine candidate speaks volumes for how little regard I have for Lazar.

I finally figured out what it is I don’t like about him. He’s too damn smug. After hearing all these press accounts about how arrogant David Greenfield is supposed to be, I’ve realized that Greenfield ain’t got nothin’ on Joe Lazar in terms of conceit.

This pretty much sums up Lazar. After telling a debate audience that he thinks that constituents should always be able to get in touch with their Councilman… after telling them that they should vette all statements made by all candidates, including himself, he demonstrates his commitment to openess and availability to the New York Times, the largest (by circulation) daily in the City he wants to represent:

Mr. Lazar declined several interview requests.

Oh, and I don’t mind taking extra steps to reach out to ethnic and religious leaders in the community, but Lazar’s overt ethnic pandering really turned me off as well. If the Grand Rebbe collector cards weren’t enough, there was systematically going out to the Chinese business on 18th Avenue that had posters supporting Jonathan Judge (who was removed from the ballot) with posters printed in Chinese, with a photo of Lazar shaking hands with Comptroller John Liu. Gee, I wonder what his campaign platform is?

And then there’s Greenfield. It never bothered me that his former boss, Dov Hikind, hated his guts. It bothered me a lot more that Michael Bloomberg, Joe Lieberman, Carl Kruger, and Vito Lopez love the guy. That’s the company he wants to keep?

Oh, and Ken Rice (R) is on the ballot as well. When I checked at the time of the debate (which Rice did not attend), it appeared that the entirety of his campaign was a Facebook page. Now, I know he had people handing out brochures last weekend, but it’s a little late to try to get my attention. I’m sorry – but if you’re running for a Council seat, you have to try harder than that.

I’m more inclined to write in Judge – the other Republican in the race – than vote for Rice.

Hell. At this point, I’m inclined to write in myself.

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Council District 44: Special Election Tomorrow!

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 12:00 pm  Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Midwood, Politics
Mar 222010
 

The day is almost here – the special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Simcha Felder is tomorrow, March 23. Polls are open from 6am to 9pm. The candidates on the official ballot – which keep changing every single time I look – will be David Greenfield (D), Joe Lazar (D), and Ken Rice (R).

Not sure if you live in the 44th District? Check out this hyper-detailed district map. Better yet, you can enter your information using a search form provided by the state Board of Elections (Council Districts are the same thing as “wards” on the voter information page). You can also use the state web site to find your polling place.

I will chime in with my final thoughts on this race tomorrow at 6am – when polls open 2pm. See you then!

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