Phaedra Thomas tells Red Hook West that BASIS threatens local jobs by George Fiala
L
illie Marshall is the elected president of the Red Hook West Tenant’s Association. In addition, she is District Chair of NYCHA’s Brooklyn South Citywide Council of Presidents. On the second Tuesday of each month she hosts the association’s monthly meeting in the TA office on the first floor of 428 Columbia Street. Miss Marshall always manages to present interesting local guests, including our representatives from our local elected officials, and at the end of the night everyone gets a bite to eat. The TA is a membership organization, with dues of $2 per year. The February meeting started quietly, as people slowly wandered in out of the cold. But once things got going it was the usual lively meeting. Lillie began by discussing some of the changes in the NYCHA administration that have accompanied the new mayor. The next day she was scheduled to meet the the new NYCHA president, Shola Olatoye, and other NYCHA board members including General Manager Cecil House, a holdover from the Bloomberg administration. She will go with an armful of complaints from tenants who spoke up at the meeting. There are still problems with the front doors. The Star-Revue first heard about this a year ago when NYCHA was holding special tenant meetings following Sandy. Entry to NYCHA houses is supposed to be made secure by self-locking doors. In many cases these were broken, and anyone could walk in. Now, newly issued keys are so thin that they break off in the locks, leaving the doors unopenable. Miss Marshall informed the group that there is currently a plan throughout housing to replace all the front doors, but it will probably be a while before that gets to Red Hook. Another complaint was about the work crews that NYCHA hires to clean the floors and elevators. A tenant angrily derided their work habits, saying that their mopping the floors generally consisted of slopping a line of water and taking it up with one swipe, leaving the floors a filthy mess. Miss Marshall ex-
body has been throwing lit matches down the hatch. The incinerators are no longer used, and compacted garbage is supposed to be hauled away on a regular basis, but it is not. It was noted that NYCHA has been strict on collecting rent on time, and now there is even less reason to have to put up with shoddy services. These and more will undoubtedly be topics at Miss Marshall’s meeting with the NYCHA brass. She said she will be on them “like flattened pancakes.” The next speaker was a woman from the new DA’s office - Denise Peterson. Charles Hynes was defeated last November by Kenneth Thompson. Miss Peterson was there to answer questions, but it was clear she did not have many answers. She did listen patiently and took notes, and will no doubt report back to Mr. Thompson. She was asked whether the Red Hook Youth Baseball League would continue. The league has been run by the Justice Center with the active support of DA Hynes. She did not know anything about
Miss Marshall informed the group that there is currently a plan throughout housing to replace all the front doors, but it will probably be a while before that gets to Red Hook.
it. A call to the Justice Center revealed that the league will indeed go on this year with DA Thompson’s enthusiastic support. Someone questioned the status of the Americorps program at the Justice Center. Peterson did not know about the program. Americorps is a federally funded service program that has been instrumental throughout the history of the Red Hook Justice Center. Dan Wiley confirmed the funding was not renewed this year, instead being given
Anthony Johnson and Lillie Marshall of the TA listen to Denise Patterson of the new DA’s office (photo by George Fiala
plained that there is already a shortage of these workers, and that the unionized labor is not interested in working overtime. Garbage piling up three or four floors over the weekend in the incinerators are another problem. There have already been a number of fires as some-
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to other Brooklyn social service groups. Danelle Johnson and Cheryl Braxton both told Miss Peterson of their concern about innocent persons in jail. They reminded her that Thompson campaigned on bringing justice to these cases, and told her that they would be vigilant in making sure that the new
Phaedra Thomas, speaking for Gowanus GBX, wants to preserve industry and truck traffic in Red Hook. (photo by George Fiala)
DA would work his hardest to right these wrongs. Braxton told here that what Red Hook needed was an adult learning center. She also complained that the public library had only 8 computers, after receiving “lots of money after Sandy.” Miss Peterson exhorted the crowd to take part in the community process. “Those who make the most noise are the ones who get what they want,” she said. Dan Wiley, who walked in a bit late, spoke next. Dan is the community representative for Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, and he often attends numerous events in one evening - using his bicycle for transport. He told the audience that Velazquez was “very excited about the new DA.” He called it a new day in Brooklyn, as we never had an African-American DA before. He said that the DA’s inauguration, held last weekend at Steiner Studios, was a great event. Wiley gave an update on LICH, expressed shock that the Americorps program wasn’t renewed, and related Nydia’s despair as she was unable to prevent federal cuts to the food stamp program, and the lack of extension of unemployment benefits. He called that “a travesty.” He gave out a flyer advertising an Open House at Realty Collective, 351 Van Brunt Street. The dates are February 22 and 23 from 11 am - 6 pm. The Open House will be an opportunity for Red Hook residents to see the ideas that NY Rising has come up with to make Red Hook more resilient. NY Rising is interested in the opinions of Red Hook residents. Danelle Johnson spoke next. She is the TA secretary, which is also an elected position. She explained that she has been quite busy lately, and is wearing many hats. One of them has to do with cigarette smoking. According to Johnson, a NYCHA policy banning smoking in NYCHA buildings, including one’s
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own apartment, will be enforced (the Star-Revue could not verify such a ban, although it is a major issue under discussion). She said further that tenants may face eviction if they do not take steps to eliminate smoking in their apartments. Danelle has completed a seven month course in teaching smoking cessation, and was quite adamant that this policy is very positive for housing tenants as smoking is bad for both smokers and people exposed to second hand smoke. She said the NYCHA will be providing free patches and classes in order to get people to stop smoking. Johnson is also a chairman of the NYC Green Committee. This committee discusses energy alternatives such as solar. There will be a meeting of NYC Green at the Miccio Center on February 20 at 6 pm. Among the topics to be discussed are the garden by the former Senior Center on Wolcott Center. Danelle revitalized the garden last summer and will be doing so again in 2014. Next Johnson spoke of her work on NY Rising. She is one of the very few representatives of the Red Hook Houses that serve on their local committee. She announced public meetings to be held on Feb 22 and 23 on Van Brunt Street, and handed out flyers. Finally, Miss Johnson announced that she will be starting her own television program in March. She laughingly called herself “The Brooklyn Oprah.” The show will consist of interviews with local people of note. Cheryl Braxton got up next. She is a member of the local participatory budgeting committee that is a project of the NY City Council. Some of the projects under consideration are surveillance cameras, more computers for the library, better lights for the pool, and to fix up the new Senior Center. She said that soon there would be an announcement of a public meeting at the Miccio Center where people would learn of these projects. Everyone is expected to vote (continued on page 13)
Thru March 3, 2014