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Volume 59, No. 151
BROOKLYN TODAY NOV. 14 Good morning. Today is the 318th day of the year. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Nov. 14, 1902, reported on a police bust of an illegal betting operation within the Columbia Billiard Parlor in Bedford. A well-known church deacon was just about to put a $5 bet on a horse when the cops came in. The article ends by saying that according to rumors, the betting operation merely moved to another poolroom on DeKalb Avenue near Nostrand Avenue. Please turn to page 2
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013
SUNY Leaders Face Contempt Hearing on LICH Cobble Hill Association: ‘We Hope Someone at SUNY Goes to Jail for Their Actions’ By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
SUPPORTERS FIGHTING TO KEEP LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL (LICH) OPEN HAVE SUBMITTED AFFIDAVITS IN preparation for November 18, when 20 SUNY and DOH officials will be appearing before state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes. Eagle photo by Mary Frost
More Service Also Coming To M, L and G Routes
By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle
AN M TRAIN EASES INTO HEWES AVENUE AND BROADWAY in Williamsburg. Soon, M trains will be seen here during the weekends as well as on weekdays. Photo by Adam E. Moreira, Wikipedia
In the wake of its new Final Proposed 2014 Budget and Four-Year Financial Plan, the MTA expects that a combination of cost-cutting measures, lower expenses and higher operating revenues will allow the agency to reduce by almost half the previously projected fare and toll increases scheduled for 2015 and 2017. Fare increases every two years were agreed to in 2009 in a deal between the transit agency and the Governor’s Office. The budget plan, released on Wednesday, limits the
growth of expenses in 2014 to 1.96 percent, in line with the rate of inflation. Cost-containment measures will allow the MTA to increase savings goals by $200 million per year by 2017 due to further administrative consolidations, more efficiency in workers’ compensation procedures, energy efficiency, and streamlining procedures in procurement and inventory control, according to a statement from the agency. The transit advocacy group Straphangers Campaign, which is often critical of the MTA, said in a statement: “MTA Chairman Thomas
B’klyn Kitten, Rescued After Storm, Finds Home With Sandy Survivor By David R. Caruso Associated Press
They’re two of a kind. A stray kitten that spent a year recuperating with an animal rescue group after getting
AP Photo
State Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes is going to have a very full courtroom on Nov. 18. That is when 20 highlyplaced defendants, including the entire board of trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) and administrators from SUNY Downstate and the state Department of Health, have been ordered to appear before Justice Baynes to answer for their actions regarding Long Island College Hospital (LICH). The defendants will have to explain to the judge why they have allegedly ignored seven court orders prohibiting them from reducing the level
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Surprise! MTA Eases Up on Fare Hikes
Anti-Jewish Assaults Reported in Brooklyn The NYPD is investigating a rash of assaults on Orthodox Jews in Crown Heights, according to multiple online news sources. At least one of the crimes has been caught on camera. Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, former media director for Chabad Lubavitch, said that the assailants appear to have been playing a game known as “knockout.” Behrman told CBS that the crimes do not appear to be muggings. In the latest incident, for example, the victim had an expensive camera that the perps did not take.
50¢
JOY CLIMBS ON THE DESK OF Jesse Oldham, senior administrative director of community outreach for the ASPCA, in her office in New York. Joy, the last of nearly 300 animals who wound up in an ASPCA shelter following Superstorm Sandy, has finally been adopted by a fellow Superstorm Sandy refugee.
plucked from the streets of a flood-ravaged section of Brooklyn has finally been adopted — by a fellow Superstorm Sandy refugee. The little white cat, named Joy, was the last of nearly 300 stray and displaced pets that wound up in an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter after the storm. This week, she was getting used to her new home with Robert Curran, whose home and family business on Queens’ Rockaway Peninsula were also partially destroyed. Curran said he reached out
Prendergast made the right call today on behalf of the New York subway, bus and commuter riding public, reducing a proposed fare increase slated for 2015 from 7.5 percent every two years to a 2 percent annual increase. “For many New Yorkers, the planned transit fares were just too damn high. In the last several months, the MTA heard this from elected officials like Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and from transit groups like the Straphangers Campaign. “Can the MTA do even better by its customers? The Straphangers Campaign will be watching.”
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Interfaith Bankruptcy Case On Hold Pending Mediation
Chief Bankruptcy Judge to the ASPCA after the AssoCarla E. Craig held off on ruling ciated Press wrote about the on Interfaith Medical Center’s group’s attempt to find Joy a closure on Wednesday, urging permanent home. stakeholders to enter into medi“She looked like she just ation to work out a compromise needed some love and affecthat would combine elements of tion and a happy place to be,” a plan submitted by Interfaith said Curran. “I said, ‘You supporters and a closure plan know what? I’m rebuilding backed by the Dormitory Aumy life. This cat needs help thority of the State of New York too,’” Joy was probably about (DASNY) and the state Depart6 months old when she was ment of Health. found, skinny and skittish, on Judge Craig assigned as the streets of Brooklyn’s mediator Judge Elizabeth Gravesend section last NoStong, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge vember. After the emergency shelter closed, she lived at the for the Eastern District. Visit ASPCA’s offices in Manhatwww.brooklyneagle.com. Please turn to page 2 Thursday, November 14, 2013 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 1
BROOKLYN TODAY
Continued from page 1
Well-known people who were born today include former U.N. Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Prince Charles of England, former
NOV. 14
U.S. Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice, baseball player Curt Schilling, New Age composer Yanni and rapper Joseph “Run” Simmons.
FOR HELP IN PREPARATION AND FILING OF ALL YOUR LEGAL NOTICE NEEDS, CALL ALICE 718-643-9099, EXT 107
Brooklyn Kitten, Rescue...
Continued from page 1
tan. The organization didn’t initially put her up for adoption because she was initially terrified around people. By the storm’s anniversary last month, she was playful and eating treats out of people’s hands.
Meanwhile, Curran relocated from the Queens seashore to Brooklyn after Sandy’s tidal surge pushed several feet of water into the P.J. Curran Bar & Grill, which his family has owned for decades. His apartment, above the bar, lost its
MTA Eases Up On Fare Hikes
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Along with the reduced fare increases, the MTA on Wednesday announced several service improvements. One of these involves the M line, which goes through northern Brooklyn. The plan would extend the M’s western terminal from Myrtle Avenue-Broadway to Essex Street on weekends. Weekend M trains would now run through Williamsburg, as they do on weekdays (except for late-night and early-morning hours). In addition, Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol (D-North Brooklyn) received a letter from the MTA New York City Transit
confirming an increase in L and G train service as a response to changes in subway ridership. During weekday rush hour from 8 to 9 a.m. and from 7 to 11 p.m., there will be an increase of a total of five round trips on the L train, reducing wait times from more than five minutes to a little more than four and a half minutes. The frequency of L train service on both Sunday and Saturday’s peak hours — from 9 to 11 p.m. — will be increased by nearly 20 percent, with four more and three more round trips, respectively. Beginning in June 2014, G train service will also see an
SUNY...LICH
of medical services provided at LICH, endangering Brooklynites from Red Hook to Williamsburg and causing chaos at emergency rooms across the borough. If found guilty of the charges, the defendants face “a fine or imprisonment, or both.” On Tuesday morning, Hon. John M. Leventhal, associate justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, rejected SUNY’s request for a stay, writing there was “sufficient cause” to go forward with contempt proceedings. Later on Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justice Bernadette Bayne, acting for state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes (no relation) signed the order.
After months of protests, civil disobedience and seemingly toothless court orders, LICH supporters smell blood. “It is clear that SUNY and the DOH will not obey any order of this Court,” the plaintiffs say in court papers. They are asking Justice Baynes to find SUNY et al. “in civil contempt and to assess fines of $250,000 per day until such time as LICH is fully operational and provides the same level of services it provided on April 1, 2013.” The coalition fighting to save LICH includes Public Advocate (and soon-to-be-Mayor) Bill de Blasio, six local community groups (listed below), the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), 1199 SEIU, Concerned Physicians of LICH and Patients for LICH. Attorney Jim Walden of
heating and electrical systems. The place still hasn’t reopened, and Curran said he doesn’t know if it ever will. “We’re dealing with insurance issues. We’re dealing with the future of the block,” he said. “Remember, you’re talking about putting an entertainment business back in an area where everyone lost their life savings
... Who has money to go out on a Friday night?” Still, Curran’s a survivor. And, so far, Joy has proven to be one, too. “She’s adorable,” he said, adding that the transition has gone smoother than expected. “I expected not to see her for two weeks. But she’s been fine.”
increase in service on weekdays from 3 to 9 p.m. These increases will result in a decrease in wait times from the current 10 minutes to eight and a half minutes. Brooklyn officials have often maintained that explosive residential development in Greenpoint and Williamsburg calls for more service on the G and L. Other improvements announced as part of the new budget plan include restoring half-hourly Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) weekend service on the Port Washington Branch, instituting a “super-express” bus service from Staten Island to Midtown Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel, and expanding LIRR service to Greenport.
“We try to keep costs down in order to minimize the financial burden on our customers, and as this financial plan shows, we are succeeding in that effort,” said Prendergast. The MTA’s plan provides $18 million in funding for service investments proposed last July, $11.5 million in increased service to meet loading and headway guidelines, and $11 million in additional customer enhancements. The plan also increases the annual “pay-as-you-go” funding for the MTA Capital Program by an additional $40 million a year on top of the $80 million increase included in the July Plan, for a total of $370 million a year beginning in 2015.
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Justice Schack To Speak in Ridge On Workings of Court System
By Paula Katinas
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Photo by Carl Ginsburg
It’ll be a homecoming of sorts for New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack when he speaks at the next meeting of Community Board 10. Schack is a former chairman of the Bay RidgeDyker Heights board. Schack, who lives with his wife Dilia in Bay Ridge, has accepted an invitation from Board
10 chairman Brian Kieran to be the guest speaker at the board’s Nov. 18 meeting, to take place at the Norwegian Christian Home, 1250 67th St., starting at 7:15 p.m. In his remarks, the justice is expected to discuss the topics of the court system and community leadership. Schack, who been a justice for 14 years, is known on the lecture circuit as a lively speaker who sometimes startles audi-
JUSTICE ARTHUR SCHACK, SHOWN HERE ADMINISTERING THE oath of office to Dyker Heights Civic Association President Fran Vella-Marrone in January, will speak at the Nov. 18 meeting of Community Board 10. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily November 14, 14, 2013 22••Brooklyn DailyEagle Eagle• •Thursday, Thursday, November 2013
ences with his candor. In a presentation to the Dyker Heights Civic Association in January, Schack talked about the kinds of cases that come before him. He admitted publicly that he’d rather be behind the bench at a murder trial rather than hear a divorce case. “No two days are alike on the job,” he told civic association members at that meeting. Schack, who was a member of Board 10 from 1983 to 1998, served as its chairman for three years, from 1986 to 1989. His wife is currently a board member. Kieran asked Schack to participate in a Board 10 tradition known as the “Honor of the Pledge,” in which a prominent person living in Bay Ridge or Dyker Heights leads the board members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to start the meeting. The honor has gone to business leaders, educators and soldiers, among others. The person leading the pledge is usually asked to offer a
brief presentation to the board. “We are delighted to have him back,” Board 10 District manager Josephine Beckmann told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “We invite him back to do the swearing-in of our officers. He has done that many times for us. Whenever we call upon him, he is there for us. But when we looked at the list of people who have done the ‘Honor of the Pledge,’ we realized that we’ve never asked him to do that,” she said. In addition to his role as a justice, Schack is also a civic leader in Brooklyn. According to his profile on nycourts.gov, he has been a member of the national council of the Boy Scouts of America since 1991 and has served on the board of directors of the Friends of Historic New Utrecht group since 1997. Last year, he and his wife volunteered to help communities ravaged by Uuperstorm Sandy. “I remember seeing them loading up their car to take supplies to a school,” Beckmann said.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “With SUNY’s latest attempts at gamesmanship rebuffed by the Appellate Division, thousands of community members are again gratified that the Courts are a place of refuge from illegal state action. We look forward, finally, to calling SUNY to account for months of contemptuous acts. Our proof is overwhelming.” The Cobble Hill Association’s Jeff Strabone had harsh words for the SUNY 20: “The Cobble Hill Association looks forward to SUNY’s impending contempt hearing and to any criminal charges that may follow. SUNY has stopped at nothing to destroy health care in our community. We hope someone at SUNY goes to jail for their actions.” “The evidence in its totality, of SUNY’s continued campaign to sabotage care at LICH, is shocking in its detail and conclusions,” said Eliza Bates, spokesperson for NYSNA. “We are committed to the full restoration of services at LICH for the community.” Brooklyn Heights Association board member Jane C. McGroarty, told the Eagle, “BHA is pleased that Justice Baynes is holding a contempt hearing and we look forward to hearing SUNY’s testimony regarding its attempts to close LICH in spite of numerous court orders. We encourage our members and community residents to attend the hearing next Monday.” Spokespersons from SUNY and DOH did not respond to requests for comment by press time. SUNY and financially-ailing University Medical Center (SUNY Downstate) in East Flatbush, which took over LICH two years ago, stand accused of a shocking number of violations in their rush to close the hospital, which is sitting on valuable Brownstone Brooklyn real estate. On April 1, 2013, the court issued the first of seven orders requiring SUNY to maintain services at LICH — first at the April 1 level and later at the July 19 level — and temporarily restrained SUNY from taking “any action in furtherance of the closure plan.” LICH supporters say that SUNY violated the orders on an almost daily basis, and have submitted affidavits and other documents to be presented at the hearing. Before the summer began, SUNY cancelled LICH’s residency and fellowship program, ended labor and delivery services, canceled nonambulatory surgeries, closed LICH’s outpatient psychiatric clinic, and stopped scheduling medical procedures. In June, despite another court order, SUNY terminated ambulance delivery, jamming ERs across Brooklyn and plunging western Brooklyn into a summer-long crisis. Service was partially restored in September, but SUNY diverted ambulances again, temporarily, just last week. Over the summer, LICH FOR CHANGES OF NAME PLEASE CALL KATRINA , 718-643-9099, EXT 103
advocates say, SUNY continued to cut services and padlock units. On June 27, SUNY issued a letter directing that no patients be admitted unless approved by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Lucchesi. SUNY administrators halted the scheduling of endoscopies and chemotherapy treatment, and finally, all outpatient procedures. SUNY allegedly violated another TRO by attempting to transfer patients from LICH against the considered opinion of the medical staff. One night, doctors say, they had to call in the NYPD to prevent SUNY from moving delicate patients against their advice. SUNY spent enormous sums on armed and unarmed University police and security guards hired from several agencies. Doctors and other staff told the court that they felt intimidated and feared for their safety. SUNY locked LICH’s front revolving door, essentially barring anyone using a wheelchair from entering. Over the summer, SUNY illegally sent notices of termination to 6,500 patients of LICH’s clinics. SUNY fired 107 physicians, effective as of Aug. 22. On Aug. 22, after many had already left for secure employment, SUNY offered some of them temporary appointments with no benefits and low hourly rates. On Oct. 24, 500 nurses and other healthcare employees were told they would be laid off. The next day, SUNY said it had changed its mind. SUNY has previously declared that “SUNY is not in violation of any court order whatsoever,” claiming that court orders were automatically stayed upon appeal. The Appellate Division ruled, however, that an Oct. 11 court order was not subject to an automatic stay upon appeal. LICH supporters say this logic extends to all of the court orders. All 20 defendants will be served with papers by Nov. 15. Those being served include SUNY itself as an institution, and all 14 SUNY trustees: H. Carl McCall, Joseph Belluck, Herrick Dullea, Angelo Fatta, Tina Good, Stephen Hunt, Eunice A. Lewin, Marshall Lichtman, John Murad, Linda Sanford, Richard Socarides, Carl Spielvogel, Cary Staller and Gerri Warren-Merrick. The list also includes SUNY Downstate’s Chief Medical Officer Michael Lucchesi, Downstate’s President John F. Williams, the NYS Department of Health (DOH), Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah, SUNY Downstate Interim CEO George Caralis, and SUNY’s Senior Vice Chancellor and General Counsel William Howard. Other legal proceedings in the coalition’s fight to keep LICH open are playing out in the courtroom of state Supreme Court Justice Carolyn___________________ Demarest. The six community groups that belong to the Save LICH Coalition include the Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Heights Association, Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, Cobble Hill Association, Riverside Tenants Association, and Wykoff Gardens Association, Inc. Individual members of the coalition include Kate Mackenzie and Carl Biers.
On
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History
Brooklyn’s Only Daily Record of Historical Events in the Borough
Founded 1841 November 14
FROM THE ORIGINAL EAGLE AND OTHER SOURCES
Aaron Copland: His Brooklyn History In Cobble Hill In living quarters above his father’s department store in Brooklyn, Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900, the youngest of Sarah Mittenthal and Harris Copland’s five children. In a biographical sketch in 1939 Aaron wrote: “I was born on a street in Brooklyn that can be described as drab.” Aaron in his autobiOne of America’s ography went on to greatest contemporary write: “ ...To any boy composers, Aaron living there it would Copland was born in have seemed like an Brooklyn on Novemordinary Brooklyn ber 14, 1900. street. There were our neighbors: a baker, a painter, a butcher, a candy store across the street, a large grocery store down the block (no chain stores yet), and of course, the corner saloon with its occasional neighborhood drunks. Culture could hardly be said to be a familiar word on our street, yet it wasn’t entirely absent from the area. A 10-minute walk up Washington Avenue brings you to Eastern Parkway where you will find the Brooklyn Museum. (It was there, aged ten, that I suffered my first `cultural’ shock at the sight of a nude statue.) Ten minutes in the opposite direction from our house was the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where I heard my first symphony concert when I was 16.” Aaron’s parents were members of Brooklyn’s oldest synagogue, Baith Israel Anshei-Emes, at Kane and Court Streets. At age 13 Aaron was bar mitzvahed in his father’s store with counters pushed aside to make room for the celebration that followed. Early 20th Century Department Store In 1897 Aaron’s father, Harris, moved his business, H.M. Copland’s Department Store, from 626-628 Washington Avenue at Dean Street to a new building at 630-632 Washington built expressly for the store with living quarters above and to the side in the same building. The store dealt mainly in drygoods, shoes, toys, and household items. “Corsets and ribbons were big” sellers. From 1906 on the store had a telephone. Aaron remembered the number as Prospect
4666. A horse and wagon was kept in a local livery for deliveries and was used for family weekend trips to Brighton Beach. Business was good and the store expanded to include 771-773 Dean Street in 1907. There were a dozen employees, called “help” in those days. On Christmas eve after the store closed all unsold toys were distributed among the children. Aaron helped out in the store (he was always paid). In his teens he bought music with the money. Occasionally he acted as relief cashier in the cashier’s perch in a balcony area near the ceiling from which one could survey most of the premises. Cash and sales checks arrived with a bang via a system of wired “trolley cars,” which gave the post a certain dramatic punch.
Aaron Copland's father, owner of a department store, was also Cantor at the Kane Street Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogues in America, having recently celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Aaron’s Brooklyn Schooling At age 6 Aaron started to school at P.S. 111 at Vanderbilt Avenue and Sterling Place. In 1914 he graduated from P.S. 9 and went on to Boys High School on Marcy Avenue. In high school he sang in the glee club. When Aaron was 15 the Coplands bought their first automobile, a Chalmers, and sister Laurine would usually do the driving (to the neighborhood’s amazement) out to Rockaway Beach, replacing the horse and wagon they had driven out to Brighton. Early Interest in Music As early as 8½ years of age Aaron developed an interest in music. He would raptly watch his sister Laurine at the family’s “glory of the household,” the upright Steinway piano in the parlor. At that age he began to make up songs and write down the notes. During his high school years he took lessons and borrowed music to study from the Montague Street branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. He would take the music to live performances to see the notes being followed. Once at the Brooklyn Academy of Music he was embarrassed while using a little penlight to follow the score and an usher dashed up and said “Turn that light out, you dope! Turn that light out!” After graduation from high school, Aaron decided not to go to college. He noticed an ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for a pianist to play for dances two nights a week at the Finnish Socialist Hall in Brooklyn. He Charles, Prince of landed the job. While studying Wales, heir to the British with Leopold Wolfsohn, Aaron throne, born in London, debuted in a student concert in England. the spacious auditorium of Laura San Giacomo, Wanamaker’s Department actress (sex, lies and videoStore. Aaron thought it ironic tape, “Just Shoot Me”), that his debut took place in a born in Hoboken, N.J. store. Later Studies and ComposiCarl Schilling, pitcher, tions born in Anchorage, AK. From 1921 to 1924 Aaron Don Stewart, actor, studied and wrote his music in singer (Michael Bauer on Paris. Although his earliest work “Guiding Light”), born in Laura was heavily influenced by the Staten Island, N.Y. San Giacomo French impressionists, he soon D.B. Sweeney, actor Wikipedia / Samhsa began to develop a personalized (Spawn, The Cutting style. He experimented with Edge), born in Shoreham, L.I., N.Y. jazz rhythms and back in the U.S. from 1933 to 1935 he reYanni, New Age composer, born in Kalamata, lied on nervous, irregular Greece. rhythms, angular melodies and
Birthdays — November 14
Photo of composer Aaron Copland from a 1962 television special.
Wikipedia / CBS TV
highly dissonant harmonies. In 1921, while he was in Paris, Aaron’s parents sold the store. They had been considering retirement and when the store was broken into and robbed, their decision was final. The Coplands rented an apartment on Prospect Place briefly and in 1928 acquired a building at 1176 President Street, lived on the ground floor and rented apartments above. The Depression hit them hard and they lost their savings. In 1935 Aaron’s father and brother Leon went into the job-lot shoe business in Manhattan. In 1937 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle carried an article and picture of his mother and father captioned: “Married 52 years, the Coplands still enjoy going out together. Climax of happiness in their wedded life is acclaim their son won as a composer.” Copland Develops New Style After 1935 Copland introduced, by means of American folk rhythms, a more melodic and lyrical style. His best work of the 1940s expressed distinctly American themes such as the ballets Billy the Kid (‘42), Rodeo (‘42), and Appalachian Spring (for which he was awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize in music). He used native themes and rhythms to capture the flavor of early American life. Copland also composed chamber music, operas, and choral works. His scores for film music included The City, Of Mice and Men and Our Town. He won an Oscar for the film The Heiress in 1949. In 1954 Copland was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1964 he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A distinguished teacher, he lectured at the New School, Harvard University and the Berkshire Center. He is also the author of several books including What to Listen for in Music (‘39), Our New Music (‘41); revised as The New Music ‘68); Music and Imagination (‘52), and Copland on Music (‘60). Copland’s autobiography. written in
1984 with Vivian Perlis is entitled Copland 1900 Through 1942. This book is rich in the history of Brooklyn during Copland’s early years, particularly the introduction and the chapter “Brooklyn/1900-1921.” Publisher: St. Martin’s/Marek. Aaron Copland died on December 2, 1990 in North Tarrytown, NY. As one of America’s greatest composers, as well as one of Brooklyn’s greatest gifts to the world, Aaron Copland warrants his rightful place since 1985 on Brooklyn’s Celebrity Path at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Composer, teacher, pianist, and champion of contemporary music Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn on November 14, 1900. In 1944 his joyful music for the ballet Appalachian Spring premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, performed by the Martha Graham Dance Company. In this photo taken at the premiere, Graham dances with Erick Hawkings. The ballet is a rustic slice of Americana. In 1985 Graham, 91, and Copland, 84, together attended a 41st anniversary performance of the production in New York. In 1987 Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov danced the featured roles in the ballet in honor of Copland and Graham. Copland was unable to attend because of illness.
Brooklyn • November 14, 2013 •• 3 0 Thursday, November 14,Daily 2013Eagle • Brooklyn Daily Eagle
eview and Comment RWelcome,
President Adams
In a recent article published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, State Senator Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President-elect, said the three words few people in his position will utter—“…violence against women.” It is not often that clergy, educators and other elected officials who speak out against youth crime or police misconduct as safety concerns, include and specify domestic violence. Yaay, for our new Borough President! As we say in Brooklyn, “Now THAT’S what I’m tawkin’ ‘bout!” Families entrapped by domestic violence can be assured that every effort will be employed by the new Borough President to break the silence and to break the cycle of what the American Medical Association calls America’s fastest growing, silent epidemic. No one could be happier than I with the successful conclusion to his political campaign. As founder and executive director of Jonah Village, a Brooklyn-based youth leadership organization dedicated to the prevention of intimate partner violence, I have had the good fortune to experience Senator Adams’ fervent advocacy on behalf of those in abusive relationships. My experience has been that without exception, Senator Adams has been on the front line in raising awareness and promoting prevention. Senator Adams “gets it”! He walks the talk. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene consistently reports Brooklyn as the borough where the incidence of domestic violence homicide is highest among Black women. Latinas are second. This unfortunate reality is juxtaposed with Brooklyn’s burgeoning popularity and booming real estate prices. The sad fact is that though the numbers are highest for Black and brown women, domestic violence leaves no group behind. Continuing his call for One Brooklyn, Senator Adams will address intimate partner violence from every ethnic and cultural perspective, including elder abuse and same sex abuse. He will set a laser on the needs of differently abled people and people with mental health challenges, as well as those whose immigration status exacerbates their violent living conditions. Ending domestic violence begins with community awareness and that is Jonah Village’s focus; particularly around the issue of teen dating violence prevention. Senator Adams has worked tirelessly to enhance the lives and opportunities of youth and his ascendancy to the Borough’s top office will serve to strengthen existing projects and programs for youth. Brooklyn has an unprecedented opportunity to reshape the national debate about women’s issues and I am excited to see the ways in which our new Borough President will contribute to that debate. It will be my joy to employ the appellation, “Mr. President”! “I can’t wait to get started,” he said, and neither can I. —Roslyn Bacon roslynb@jonahvillage.org Roslyn Bacon is the founder and executive director of Jonah Village, a Brooklyn-based youth leadership organization dedicated to the prevention of intimate partner violence.
Is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and Federal Holidays by Everything Brooklyn Media, LLC (USPS 971380), located at 16 Court Street, Suite 1208, Brooklyn, NY 11241. Subscription price is $130 per year, $65 for six months. Periodicals Postage paid at Brooklyn, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Circulation Office, 16 Court Street, Suite 1208, Brooklyn, NY 11241. Telephone: 718-643-9099, ext. 103 Fax: 718-858-3291. Publisher - J.D. Hasty: jdh@BrooklynEagle.com Managing Editor - Raanan Geberer: news@BrooklynEagle.com Legal Editor - Charisma Miller, Esq.: charisma@BrooklynEagle.com Features Editor - Samantha Samel: sam@BrooklynEagle.com Sports Editor - John Torenli: sports@BrooklynEagle.com Community Editor - Mary Frost: mary@BrooklynEagle.com Religion Editor - Francesca N. Tate: francesca@BrooklynEagle.com Consulting Editor - Chuck Otey: coteyesq@aol.com Consulting Editor - Sam Howe: samhowe@BrooklynEagle.com
4 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • Thursday, November 14, 2013
B
ook Beat
Paul Auster To Launch New Memoir in DUMBO
Personal Hygiene with Extra Zing! 1922 Brooklyn Eagle Directory Confirms Existence of Sylvan Electric Bath By Trudy Whitman Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Author Paul Auster in Park Slope.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Having recalled his life through the story of his physical self in “Winter Journal,” internationally acclaimed novelist Paul Auster now remembers the experience of his development from within through the encounters of his interior self with the outer world in “Report from the Interior.” Auster will appear in Brooklyn to read from his book and to present a slideshow of photos on Thursday, Nov. 21 at DUMBO’s powerHouse Arena. From his baby’s-eye view of the man in the moon, to his childhood worship of the movie cowboy Buster Crabbe, to the composition of his first poem at the age of nine, to his dawning awareness of the injustices of American life, “Report from the Interior” charts Auster’s moral, political, and intellectual journey as he inches his way toward adulthood through the postwar 1950s and into the turbulent 1960s. Auster evokes the sounds, smells, and tactile sensations that marked his early life—and the many images that came at him, including moving images (he adored cartoons, he was in love with films), until, at its unique climax, the book breaks away from prose into pure imagery: The final section of “Report from the Interior” recapitulates the first three parts, told in an album of pictures. At once a story of the times—which makes it everyone’s story—and the story of the emerging consciousness of a renowned literary artist, this four-part work answers the challenge of autobiography in ways rarely, if ever, seen before.
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The Nov. 21 event will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 (can be applied as credit towards purchase of "Report from the Interior" or Auster backlist). powerHouse Arena is located at 37 Main St. in DUMBO.
As everyone is taught by their parents never to use electric appliances around water for fear of electrocution, it’s no wonder that when a Boerum Hill Yahoo group member noticed an official-looking National Historic Landmark plaque at 160 Schermerhorn Street, he posted an inquiry. “It’s funny,” he wrote. “Think it’s legitimate?” The plaque indicated that the site is the former home of the Sylvan Electric Bath, where one could not only scrub clean in the days before indoor plumbing was commonplace, but also, on request, could get a little zing of current to help ease the pain of a host of bodily disorders. The post generated activity on the listserv, as a number of curious amateur historians began digging into the past. And, indeed, the local history detectives found that there was such a bath on Schermerhorn in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and that an ad from 1919 boasted of 12,000 patrons. But although Sylvan was real, the National Historic plaque at 160 Schermerhorn is a phony. Anna Robinson-Sweet is a Yaletrained artist and former Brooklyn resident who has mounted what http://hyperallergic.com calls “a guerilla registry of historic places.” The pop up show and online project is called the “National Register of Historic Places, 2013 Additions, Brooklyn, NY.” Robinson-Sweet’s blog explains that the exhibition consists of handmade silk-screened plaques mounted on polyurethane-sprayed cardboard placed in ten locations in Brooklyn. The plaques provide facts explaining the sites’ historical significance. Although all the information is “based on research conducted at libraries and archives…the
A bit weather-beaten now, the pop up street art at 160 Schermerhorn tells the tale of the Sylvan Electric Bath. Photo by Trudy Whitman
designation itself is false,” the website informs us, with the artist’s motivation being to “question how historical memory is recorded through our built environment, one of the most visceral ways we experience the past.” The artist notes that eight of the ten buildings commemorated in the show are gone, and the other two serve very different purposes than their ancestors served. The bath house with the extra kick is now a condominium building housing the Actors Fund Arts Center on the ground floor.
Paul Auster is the bestselling author of “Winter Journal,” “Sunset Park,” “Invisible,” “The Book of Illusions,” and “The New York Trilogy,” among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature, the Prix Médicis Étranger, the Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He lives in Brooklyn.
Daily coverage of Brooklyn writers, books and book events can be found in print (Brooklyn Daily Eagle) and online (brooklyneagle.com) and a dedicated blog, www.brooklynbookbeat.com
This clipping from a 1922 Brooklyn Eagle Directory confirms the existence of the public bath that also featured electric current therapy.
“Taken as a whole,” Robinson- Sweet explains, “the ten plaques suggest that every lot on any block can reveal historical understanding of place; the historical narrative told by the structures that survive the ravages of time or are intentionally preserved is only one of many.” Another interesting site honored by an imitation historical plaque is the former home of H. Kohnstamm & Co. on Columbia Street, a company that made dyes for comestibles that were safer than the standard dyes used at the time. Kohnstamm & Co. helped shape federal food and drug regulations concerning safe colors, the plaque informs readers. Robinson-Sweet’s text and design so artfully mimic the plaques produced by the National Park Service that many, like the Boerum Hill resident who started the online inquiry, have stopped in their tracks and scratched their heads in wonderment. Installed last spring, however, they have suffered some weather damage. A visit to 160 Schermerhorn reveals a rather wrinkled Sylvan Electric Bath plaque. Still, lots of food for thought is provided by the inscription. For the definitive answer about the Sylvan Electric Bath—reality or ruse—the Boerum Hill listservers turned to Erik Fortmeyer. Although he now resides in Texas, Fortmeyer is known as the “official historian of Boerum Hill.” In responding to his former neighbors, Fortmeyer wrote that Sylvan was “not only real, but it was actually quite popular from about 1897 to around the start of the Depression.” He also attached a clipping from a 1922 edition of The Brooklyn Eagle city directory with a photograph of the building where patrons could cleanse themselves. And, if so desired, they could also get a little charged up as well.
Thursday, November 14, 2013 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 5
Our World in Pictures TRAGIC END: In this Aug. 23 photo Angelique Neuman, left, and Jen Roper, both of Pojoaque, N.M., celebrate at the Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe after receiving a same-sex marriage license. Ms. Roper, who won an emergency court order allowing her to marry her longtime partner, died recently after suffering from brain cancer. AP Photos
EARLY WINTER: Brenda Plesh scrapes snow and ice off the windshield of her car parked in Hazleton, Pa., on Tuesday. A storm moved through the Northeast, coating higher elevations with up to two inches of snow and ice in some areas.
YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT: Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, await the start of a meeting on youth unemployment in the European Union at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Tuesday.
BISHOP OF LOUISVILLE: Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, left, of Louisville, Ky., listens as Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York speaks during the conference’s annual fall meeting in Baltimore. Kurtz won a three-year term as president of the conference after serving the last three years as vice president.
NEW CAUSE FOR MICHELLE: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House. Michelle Obama is joining President Barack Obama’s efforts to get the United States on track to have the highest percentage of college graduates by 2020. She spoke on Tuesday at a high school in Washington, D.C. STREETCAR RENAISSANCE: Passengers board a streetcar during Kenosha Streetcar Day in Kenosha, Wisc., in September. Long after the streetcar was driven to the edge of extinction in America by the automobile, hanging on only in a few places like Boston, cities are spending millions putting them back in, often along the same stretches of pavement where rail was wrenched out decades ago.
6 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • Thursday, November 14, 2013
Our World in Pictures PROTECTING WILDLIFE: Anti-rhino poaching troops simulate the capture of poachers in the Madikwe Game Reserve. The majestic sight of wild animals roaming freely through South Africa’s game reserves is being severely threatened by poachers targeting rhinoceroses. More than 600 rhinos in South Africa have been killed for their horns this year.
BOARD FIGHTS DOG: Karen Glardon and her daughter, Erin Blevins, pose with their dogs, Peanut, Corkee and Little Man, in their home in Fairfield, Ohio. Glardon has another few months to decide which five of her seven dogs must go to comply with Fairfield’s two-dog limit.
SURVIVOR’S SORROW: A survivor from Tacloban, which was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, gestures while sitting on the ground after disembarking a Philippine Air Force C-130 aircraft at the Villamor Airbase in Manila on Tuesday. Authorities said at least 9.7 million people in 41 provinces were affected by the typhoon.
HELP IS ON THE WAY: U.S. sailors of the USS Antietam from the George Washington Battle Group stand on the deck before sailing to the Philippines at Hong Kong Victoria Harbor on Tuesday. The United States has pledged $20 million in immediate aid.
FRENZIED SHOPPING: Shoppers stand in line as they wait to enter an appliance store in Caracas, Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro seized control of a nationwide chain of appliance stores on Friday, seeking to battle inflation and shortages. Shoppers were still arriving Monday to join the hundreds who began buying goods over the weekend after price inspectors said they found evidence of “usury.”
REMINDER OF TRAGIC WAR: Two people walk among the headstones surrounding a tree in autumn colors at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium. Tyne Cot is the largest British Commonwealth war cemetery in the world in terms of burials, with 11,956 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried there. AP Photos
Thursday, November 14, 2013 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 7
ports S Brickman’s Prayer Goes Unanswered LIU-Brooklyn Upset Bid at Indiana Falls Short in One-point Loss By John Torenli
Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
For a few fleeting moments Tuesday night in Bloomington, Ind., Downtown Brooklyn appeared on the cusp of being renamed Upset Central. LIU-Brooklyn senior point guard Jason Brickman’s buzzer-beating 30-footer fell just short of the rim at Indiana’s hallowed Assembly Hall, leaving the three-time defending Northeast Conference champion Blackbirds with a 73-72 loss against the 23rd-ranked Hoosiers. More than a 20-point underdog heading into the contest, the Blackbirds (1-1) were trying to follow neighborhood rival St. Francis Brooklyn in posting our borough’s second major upset of a national powerhouse in the past five days. The Terriers (2-0) opened their season with a stunning 66-62 overtime triumph at defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion and Sweet Sixteen entrant Miami on Friday night in Coral Gables, Fla. LIU-Brooklyn, which began its campaign with an impressive 8780 win over Saint Peter’s at Downtown’s Barclays Center on Saturday afternoon, was in position to knock off last year’s top seed in the East Region and a team that also qualified for the Sweet 16 during the NCAA Tournament in March. Coach Jack Perri’s determined unit led by as many as eight points in the first half, forged a 70-70 tie with just over two minutes to play, and appeared poised to send the crowd of 17, 472 Hoosier fans home unhappy when Brickman picked up a loose ball off a missed free throw and began his mad dash toward potential glory.
The 6-foot playmaker, named the NEC Player of the Week for his 14-assist performance against the Peacocks three days earlier, sped past halfcourt and launched a final prayer toward the Indiana rim. But that prayer went unanswered as the ball, seemingly on course for the net, sunk just below the front rim as time expired. “Jason Brickman is a superstar,” Perri gushed in the aftermath of his team’s most impressive effort against a major program since the Blackbirds gave North Carolina a second-half scare during their opening-round game in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. “He is a big-time player and there is no one in the country you want to have the ball other than Jason Brickman. He makes the right play 95 percent of the time. He got some looks. He just didn’t make the shot. That last attempt was a hard shot to make.” Brickman posted his second straight double-double with 11 points and 11 assists, junior swingman Troy Joseph netted a teamhigh 16 points and junior-college transfer Gilbert Parga and sophomore forward E.J. Reed added 15 points apiece for the Blackbirds, who pushed IU to the limit only to settle for an encouraging, albeit hard-to-swallow defeat. “I’m really proud of my team,” Perri added. “I didn’t quite know what to expect from our guys because we have a lot of new players, but they really competed and stuck to the game plan. I was proud of how they fought and I thought we did a tremendous job competing for 40 minutes.” After leading the nation in assists last season, Brickman has been
mentioned among the best point men in the nation. He also is Perri’s self-proclaimed “security blanket” in the Blackbirds’ bid for a fourth consecutive conference crown following the departures of C.J. Garner and Jamal Olasewere. Perri strongly believes that having Brickman on the floor will enable LIU to compete with any and all opponents they face this season. The speedy San Antonio native nearly pulled off the biggest upset in recent Blackbirds history Tuesday night. “I think having a point guard who’s a superstar helped control everything,” Perri noted. “Even when Indiana took the lead, he stayed cool. He got the ball to the right guys and they got the shots. We had a lot of turnovers and I think that had to do with having so many new players.” Will Sheehey led Indiana with 19 points and Noah Vonleh and Yogi Ferrell added 17 each for the Hoosiers, who breathed a collective sigh of relief after Brickman’s potential game-winner fell short. “We played against a very good team,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “And fortunately for us, with as many mistakes as we made, we had enough things to get us over the top and this team found a way to win.” With former NEC Player of the Year Julian Boyd expected to return in January from a re-tear of the ACL in his right knee, the Blackbirds will make a serious push for an unprecedented fourth straight trip to the NCAAs. Judging from their performance in Indiana, these Blackbirds aren’t waiting for Boyd to make them whole. Not when Brickman is running through opposing defenses and finding his finishers under and around the basket. “The game plan for him: we were just trying to take away his outlets,” said Ferrell, who was guarding Brickman for most of the night. “We knew he was the returning leading assist guy from last year. We were just trying to take away his outlets because he’s such a great passer. So we wanted to level him off. Not overhelp too much on him. We did that a couple times. He hit a couple of threes, but he’s a good player.” LIU will get a 10-day break before visiting UC Irvine on Nov. 22 as part of the Subregional Round of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Wounded Warrior Project.
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Senior point guard Jason Brickman and the Blackbirds came up just short in their upset bid at Indiana on Tuesday night. AP Photo
The Terriers (2-0), who opened the year with Saturday’s 56-51 win at Penn in Philadelphia, got 10 points and 10 rebounds from junior forward Jaymee Veney against the Black Knights. Third-year guard Eilidh Simpson added 10 points and a teamhigh five assists for St. Francis, which held its second straight opponent under 55 points, earning the Terriers high praise from coach John Thurston. “[Monday’s] game was a battle on both sides of the ball,” Thurston said. “Both teams played extremely well. I just have to tip my hat to our team. We have been playing great
defense against really good offensive teams. We are more aggressive on the boards, and we are making smarter plays in crucial situations. “Army pressed us much of the latter part of the game, and in years past, we might have faltered but I thought we did a great job expecting the pressure and making the right adjustments. I am very proud of our kids. This game is in the books, and we got the victory. They can’t take that away from us, we’re happy and it’s on to the next game.” The Terriers will visit St. John’s in Jamaica, N.Y., on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., looking to improve to 3-0.
The LIU-Brooklyn women will be back in action Thursday at Rider in Lawrenceville, N.J., after opening their season with a tough 62-59 loss to Columbia last Friday night on their home floor. Senior Cleandra Roberts scored a career-high 23 points and Letavy Whippy added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Blackbirds (0-1), who missed four critical free throws in the final minute to cost themselves a shot at a non-conference win.
Indiana coach Tom Crean breathed a sigh of relief as his Hoosiers escaped with a 73-72 win against Brooklyn’s Blackbirds Tuesday night in Bloomington, Ind. AP Photo
8 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • Thursday, November 14, 2013
The ladies’ squad at St. Francis Brooklyn continued its strong start to the campaign with Monday’s home-opening 56-53 victory over Army at Remsen Street’s Pope Center.
Junior Jaymee Veney has helped St. Francis Brooklyn get off to a 2-0 start this season. Photo courtesy of SFC Athletics
New Business Formations
11201
11215
127 LIVINGSTON QL LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/9/2013. Office in Kings Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 138 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11201. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Principal business location: 127 Livingston St., Brooklyn, NY 11201.
GAMBA REALTY LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/23/2013. Office in Kings Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 223 11th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
127 LIVINGSTON QL LLC
#123158
MAPLESTONE'S CIDER LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: Maplestone's Cider LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 7/15/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/ her is Alexandria Fisk 354 Baltic Street - Apt 2R Brooklyn, NY, 11201. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123032
11204
AROYA LIFE HOLDINGS LLC
AROYA LIFE HOLDINGS LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/29/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 5104 17th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11204. General Purpose #123271
BF LIFE LLC
BF LIFE LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/29/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 5104 17th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11204. General Purpose #123272
SV VERNON 43 LLC
Notice of Formation of SV Vernon 43 LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/16/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 5314 16th Ave, Ste 219, Brooklyn, NY 11204. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123530
11211
GRACE ROSELLI STUDIO LLC
GRACE ROSELLI STUDIO LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/19/2013. Office in Kings Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 281 North 7th St., Unit 6, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. #123163
11212
T & E REAL ESTATE HOLDING LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: T & E Real Estate Holding LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 7/22/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 1008 Rutland Road Brooklyn, NY, 11212. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123274
11213
DOUBLE N RICH LLC
Double N Rich LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 8/27/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 766 Crown Street Brooklyn, NY 11213. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123151
SIGNATURE MANAGEMENT ENTERPRISES LLC
GAMBA REALTY LLC
Signature Management Enterprises LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 7/2/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 4922 3rd Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11220. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123147
#123161
BAYWEST REALTY, LLC
BAYWEST REALTY, LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 1/18/00. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 1663 8th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215. General Purposes. #123170
11222
204 KENT STREET LLC
204 KENT STREET LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 8/17/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 204 Kent St., Brooklyn, NY 11222. General Purposes. #123188
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11223
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: Family Jukebox LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 8/6/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is Walter Martin 635 St Johns Place Brooklyn, NY, 11216. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose.
Notice of Formation of Prince 88 Realty LLC. Arts. Of Org. filed with Secy. Of State of N.Y. (SSNY) on 6/19/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1646 W. 2nd Ave., Bklyn, NY 11223. Purpose: any lawful activity.
FAMILY JUKEBOX LLC
#123068
11217
PULL BREWING CO., LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: Pull Brewing Co., LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 9/5/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 15 7th Avenue Apt. 3 Brooklyn, NY, 11217. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123076
11219
XC TANG LLC
XC Tang LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 7/16/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 945 66th St #5A Brooklyn, NY 11219. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123142
11220
LITTLE IVY, LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: Little Ivy, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 9/19/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 5101 8th Ave. 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY, 11220. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123130
U.S. DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT GROUP LLC
U.S Development & Management Group LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 7/8/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 4922 3rd Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11220. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123144
OCEAN BAY BUILDING MANAGEMENT LLC
Ocean Bay Building Management LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 7/2/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 4922 3rd Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11220. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123145
PRINCE 88 REALTY LLC
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11226
215 STERLING STREET ASSOCIATES LLC
NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. NAME: 215 STERLING STREET ASSOCIATES LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 09/13/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC, c/o Burke Leighton Asset Management LLC, 2564 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11226. Purpose: For any lawful purpose. #123126
EXPRESS CABLE LLC
EXPRESS CABLE LLC Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. of State of NY 08/05/2013. Off. Loc.: Kings Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to The LLC, 2801 Beverly Road, Apt 3F, Brooklyn, NY 11226. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity. #123155
11228
CARDIO ONE LLC
Cardio One LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/17/12. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to c/o US Corp Agents 7014 13th Ave #202 Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123143
BASE CAMP MEDIA, LLC
Base camp media, LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 6/6/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to c/o US Corp Agents 7014 13th Ave. #202 Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123149
11229
LOCAL APPRAISALS L.L.C.
Local Appraisals L.L.C. Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/19/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to c/o 2167 East 21st Street #125 Brooklyn, NY 11229. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123148
JUST CREATION IMPORT EXPORT US LLC
Just Creation Import Export Us LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) 9/23/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 3310 Nostrand Ave#409 Brooklyn, NY 11229. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123185
11231
11236
1 MCP RETAIL LLC
Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company. Name: 1 MCP Retail LLC ("LLC"). Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York ("SSNY") on October 2, 2013. NY office location: Kings County. The SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to 1 MCP Retail LLC, 155 3rd Street, Brooklyn, New York 11231. Purpose/character of LLC is to engage in any lawful act or activity. #123089
FRESHLY BAKED GOODS LLC
Freshly baked goods LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/24/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 359 Van Brunt St. Brooklyn, NY 11231. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123150
RIVER AVENUE MANAGEMENT LLC
RIVER AVENUE MANAGEMENT LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/24/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Nicholas Lembo, 155 3rd St., Brooklyn, NY 11231. General Purpose #123273
LL CREATIVE, LLC
Notice of Formation of LL Creative, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 10/11/13. Office location: Kings County. Princ. bus. addr.: 431 Clinton St., Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11231. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: all lawful purposes. #123615
11232
GREENWOOD BUILDING ENTERPRISES LLC
Greenwood Building Enterprises LLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/18/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 602 39th St. #102 Brooklyn, NY 11232. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123146
SOMEDAY REALTY, LLC
SOMEDAY REALTY, LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 4/23/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 351 37TH St., Brooklyn, NY 11232. General Purposes. #123169
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1254 SCHENECTADY AVENUE LLC
Notice of Formation of 1254 Schenectady Avenue LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/13/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1999 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11234. Purpose: any lawful activity.
10176
MAYBERRY HOMES LLC
Notice of formation of Mayberry Homes LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/27/2013. Office location, County of Kings. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Vincent Capalbo, 7718 Flatlands Ave., Brooklyn NY 11236. Purpose: any lawful act. #123005
11237
253 WILSON
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: 253 Wilson. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 8/14/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 253 Wilson Ave Brooklyn, NY, 11237. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123275
11249
THE LAW OFFICES OF AARON H. PIERCE PLLC
The Law Offices of Aaron H. Pierce PLLC Arts of Org. filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 10/1/13. Office:Kings. SSNY is design. as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy to 3023 Bedford Ave #165 Brooklyn, NY 11249. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123141
06877
537 STRAWBERRY REALTY LLC
Notice of Formation of 537 Strawberry Realty LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 6/4/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 551 5th Ave, 20th Fl., New York, NY 10176. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123165
19801
STEAMPUNKT COLLABORATIVE LLC
Notice of Qualification of Steampunkt Collaborative LLC. Authority filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/20/2013. Office location: Kings County. Princ. office of LLC: 26 Jackson Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. Of LLC: The Corporation Trust Co., Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts. Of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. #123256
Legal Notices WINE LICENSE
RED LEGGED DEVILS, LLC
Notice of formation of Red Legged Devils, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/23/2013. Office location, County of Kings. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 123 Keeler Drive, Ridgefield CT 06877. Purpose: any lawful act.
Notice is Hereby Given that a license, # TBA For Wine has been applied for by the undersigned to sell wine at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 1215 Surf Ave. Restaurant Corp. at 1215 Surf Ave Brooklyn, NY 11224 for on premises consumption. #123788
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10007
PINESTONE ONE LLC
Notice of Formation of Pinestone One LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 8/8/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 225 Broadway- 39th Fl., New York, NY 10007. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123166
STUYPROPERTY LLC
Notice of Formation of Stuyp roperty LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 5/2/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 225 Broadway- 39th Fl., New York, NY 10007. Purpose: any lawful activity. #123167
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Notice of formation of 319 KINGSTON, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/20/2004. Office loSPOT FUNDING LLC cation, County of Kings. SSNY Spot Funding LLC Arts of Org. has been designated as agent filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) of the LLC upon whom proon 6/19/12. Office:Kings. SSNY is cess against it may be served. design. as agent of LLC upon SSNY shall mail process to: whom process may be served c/o Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, Attn and shall mail copy to 2722 E. Howard Rubin, Esq., One Penn For Legal Advertising 2nd St.#1A Brooklyn, NY 11235. Plaza # 4401, NYinNY 10119. PurPurpose: any lawful activity. pose: any lawful act. #123164
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VA Center Unveils Plaque Public Legal Notices Honoring All Who Serve in Military ASTORIA V. CRUZ
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT, KINGS COUNTY. ASTORIA FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION vs. ARELIS CRUZ, et al., defts. Index No. 10780/09. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered October 7, 2013, I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder in Room 224 of the Kings County Supreme court House, 360 Adams St., Brooklyn, NY on November 21, 2013 at 2:30 in the afternoon, the premises described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the southeasterly side of Halsey Street, distant 245 feet northeasterly from the corner formed by the intersection of the southeasterly side of Halsey Street with the northeasterly side of Wilson Avenue (formerly Hamburg Avenue), being a plot 100 ft x 20 ft. Said premises being more accurately described in the Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale. Approx. Judgment amt.: $810,060.62 plus interest. Subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment. Premises k/a 1228 Halsey Street, Brooklyn, NY. Dated: October 17, 2013. MARK ANTHONY LONGO, Referee. THOMAS & GRAHAM, LLP, Plaintiff's attorneys. #123459
CONSUMER SOLUTIONS, LLC V. STEPHENS
SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS CONSUMER SOLUTIONS, LLC, Plaintiff against MINERVA STEPHENS, AVRIL MOORE, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated May 16, 2013, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY on the 19th day of December, 2013 at 2:30 PM premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the westerly side of East 91st Street, distant 145 feet northerly from the corner formed by the intersection of the westerly side of east 91st Street and the northerly side of Avenue K; being a plot 100 feet by 22 feet by 100 feet by 22 feet. Block: 8217 Lot: 67 Said premises known as 1314 EAST 91ST STREET, BROOKLYN, NY Approximate amount of lien $ 575,122.63 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index Number 30919/07. STEVEN COHEN, ESQ., Referee. Jeffrey A. Kosterich, LLC Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 68 Main Street, 3rd Floor Tuckahoe, NY 10707 #123841
EVERHOME MORTGAGE V. KATZ
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KNGS EVERHOME MORTGAGE COMPANY, Plaintiff, -againstBERNARD KATZ A/K/A BERNARD FRATZ, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale duly dated NOVEMBER 14, 2011 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in ROOM 274 OF KINGS COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 360 ADAMS STREET, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11201 on November 21, 2013 at 2:30 PM, premises known as 65 WHIPPPLE STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11206. ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of KINGS, City and State of New York. Block 2273 Lot 18. Approximate amount of lien $ 407,091.29 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment Index # 09-9364 CARY H. KAPLAN, ESQ., REFEREE STEIN,
WIENER AND ROTH, L.L.P., ATTORNEYS FOR THE PLAINTIFF ONE OLD COUNTRY ROAD, SUITE 113 CARLE PLACE, NY 11514 DATED October 18, 2013 FILE # FEHM 51960
#123457
FLUSHING SAVINGS BANK V. G&F HOMES, INC.
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: KINGS COUNTY. FLUSHING SAVINGS BANK, FSB, Pltf. vs. G & F HOMES, INC., et al, Defts. Index #24616/11. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale dated July 8, 2013, I will sell at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams St., Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013 at 2:30 p.m., prem. k/a 737 Liberty Ave., Brooklyn, NY. Beginning at a point on the northerly side of Liberty Avenue, distant 23 feet ¾ inches westerly from the Northwest corner of Liberty Avenue and Essex Street; Running thence northerly at right angles to Liberty Avenue and part of the distance through a party wall, 72 feet 10 inches; Thence easterly parallel with Liberty Avenue, 0 feet 11 inches; Thence northerly at right angles to Liberty Avenue, 27 feet 2 inches; Thence westerly parallel with Liberty Avenue, 30 feet 7 inches to a point which is distant 100 feet northerly from the northerly side of Liberty Avenue measured along a line drawn at right angles thereto; Thence southerly at right angles to Liberty Avenue, 100 feet to the northerly side of Liberty Avenue; Thence easterly along the northerly side of Liberty Avenue, 29 feet 8 inches to the point or place of beginning. Together with a perpetual easement and right of way in favor of the premises above described as set forth in deed recorded in Reel 2148 Page 376. Approx. amt. of judgment is $695,352.04. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale. CHERYL J. KINCH, Referee. JASPAN SCHLESINGER, LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 300 Garden City Plaza, 5th Floor, Garden City, NY. #83314 #123470
NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST V. NIKKI KIND, INC.
SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS NYCTL 1998-2 Trust, and THE BANK of New York as Collateral Agent and Custodian for the NYCTL 1998-2 Trust, Plaintiff against NIKKI KIND, INC., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated April 15, 2013, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY on the 5th day of December, 2013 at 2:30 PM premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the Easterly side of Ralph Avenue, 80 feet Northerly from the corner formed by the intersection of the Easterly side of Ralph Avenue with the Northerly side of Hancock Street; being a plot 72 feet by 20 feet by 72 feet by 20 feet. Block: 1487 Lot: 5 Said premises known as 119 RALPH AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY Approximate amount of lien $ 65,432.52 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index Number 10810/09. JAIME LATHROP, ESQ., Referee. Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff Michael Resnikoff, Esq., (212) 2371102, 156 W 56 Street, NY 10019 #123391
NYCTL 2011-A TRUST V. CADESCA
SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS NYCTL 2011-A TRUST and THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON as Collateral Agent and Custodian, Plaintiffs against
10 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • Thursday, November 14, 2013
ELUCIENNE CADESCA, ENA CADESCA, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated October 29, 2013 and entered on November 4th, 2013, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY on the 19th day of December, 2013 at 2:30 PM premises situate, lying and being in the County of Kings, Borough of Brooklyn, City and State of New York, known and designated on the City of New York Tax Map as Block 5195 Lot 33. Said premises may also be known as 1814 NOSTRAND AVENUE A/K/A 1814 NOSTRAND AVENUE, UNIT 5, BROOKLYN, NY Approximate amount of lien $ 48,378.46 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index Number 9369/12. STEVE QUELLER, ESQ., Referee. The Law Office Of Thomas P. Malone, PLLC Attorney(s) for Plaintiffs (212)-8670500, 60 East 42nd Street Suite 1540, NEW YORK, NY 10165 #123877
U.S. BANK v. RUTHERFORD NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURT: KINGS COUNTY: U.S. BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF WAMU COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES TRUST 2007-SL3, COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-SL3, Pltf. vs. LYNETTE R. RUTHERFORD, et al, Defts. Index #5206/11. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale dated Dec. 4, 2012, I will sell at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams St., Brooklyn, NY on Dec. 5, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. prem. k/a 932 Hopkinson Ave. a/k/a 932 Thomas Boyland Ave., Brooklyn, NY. Said property located at the corner formed by the intersection of the westerly side of Hopkinson Avenue with the northerly side of Lott Avenue; Thence northerly along the westerly side of Hopkinson Avenue 22 feet 6 inches; Thence westerly parallel with Lott Avenue and part of the distance through a party wall 60 feet; Thence southerly parallel with Hopkins Avenue 22 feet 6 inches to the northerly side of Lott Avenue; Thence easterly along the northerly side of Lott Avenue 60 feet to the corner the point or place of beginning. Approx. amt. of judgment is $445,068.01 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale. ALEXANDER SINGER, Referee. JASPAN SCHLESINGER, LLP, Attys. For Pltf., 300 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY. #83094 #122481
US BANK V. MIGNOTT
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff against CLINTON B. MIGNOTT, LEONIE MIGNOTT, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered on August 14, 2013. I, the undersigned Referee, will sell the premises in this action at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. on the 5th day of December, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. Said premises are known as 449 New Lots Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11207, and designated by Tax account number: SBL #: 12-3842-28. Approximate amount of lien is $ 468,341.13 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index No. 15218-11. Alexander T. Singer, Esq., Referee. Law Office of Andrew P. Zweben Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 12 John Street Kingston, New York 12401 #123523
Veteran Says: Don’t Discriminate Against Those Who Didn’t See Combat
By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Carey Spearman, a Vietnam War veteran, served during the Tet Offensive in 1968, one of that war’s most famous battles. But he said he thinks military veterans who didn’t see combat are often overlooked when it comes to honors and recognition. “If you signed up to serve, you did your duty, even if you weren’t shipped to a war zone. You still did your duty,” Spearman told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle during a visit to the Brooklyn Veterans Administration Medical Center in Bay Ridge on Tuesday. Spearman was there to witness the unveiling of a plaque that he helped to create. The plaque was created by sculptor Robert Salimeni who worked with Spearman on the design. U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a U.S. marine who served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, did the honors as the plaque was officially presented to hospital officials the day after Veterans Day. The ceremony, which was attended by VA Director Martina Parauda and a group of veterans, took place in the rotunda of the medical center at 800 Poly Place. The medical center is located next door to the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton. Made of black granite, the plaque contains the logos of all five branches of the military. There are images of homes engraved at the bottom, as well as a road and a globe. The idea, according to Spearman, is to recognize that military men and woman who are sent to any part of the world in the service of their country are to
Vietnam veteran Carey Spearman (left) inspired the creation of the plaque. He brought his idea to U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm (second from right), who contacted VA Medical Center Director Martina Parauda and brought sculptor Robert Salimeni (right) on board. Eagle photo by Paula Katinas
be honored for their service. The homes symbolize the sacrifices made by their families, he said. Salimeni also engraved a message on the plaque. “No matter what your job was or where you were stationed you went where you were sent and you did your job the best you could,” it reads. “Sometimes, I think people look down on veterans who didn’t go to war and that’s just not right,” Spearman said. Sadly, war veterans often feel superior to those who wore the uniform of their country but didn’t serve in a war zone, he added. Spearman, who lives on Staten Island, but comes to the VA for medical care (the facility serves veterans from Staten Island as well as Brooklyn), said he approached Grimm (R-C-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Staten Island) two years ago with the idea of using art to pay
tribute to all veterans, regardless of status. Grimm signed onto the idea immediately, got in touch with VA officials, and got Spearman together with Salimeni. Salimeni, who also makes hand carvings, said he liked working with Spearman. “The whole thing was inspired by him. I just followed along,” he told the Eagle. Grimm said he was impressed by the plaque and its message. “It’s not just the combat veterans who sacrificed. Those who were sent on humanitarian missions also sacrificed; their families too,” Grimm said. “This recognition is long overdue,” he added. The plaque will be placed on a wall in the rotunda, Parauda said. It will be widely seen, she predicted. “This is the main thoroughfare to get back and forth between the two buildings that make up the VA Medical Center,” she said.
Red Hook Initiative Begins ‘500 Futures’ Campaign The Red Hook Initiative (RHI) is launching a $5 million campaign to ensure that young people from Red Hook are better equipped to handle the next storm. 500 Futures is a four–year campaign designed to reach 500 Red Hook youth annually to ensure that they graduate from high school and go on to college or to a strong career path. In the Red Hook Houses, where less than half of adults have a high school diploma and the unemployment rate for young adults is 75 percent, Hurricane Sandy left thousands without heat, power, and hot water for weeks. “Families didn’t leave because they didn’t have the resources to evacuate. When disasters
hit, it’s the most vulnerable who are most at risk. 500 Futures is setting out to change those risk factors by addressing poverty at its core, starting with young people,” says Jill Eisenhard, RHI’s founder and executive director. 500 Futures will aim to raise $1.25M per year over the next four years to meet an increased demand for comprehensive services for Red Hook youth. The non-profit believes that young people can not only be recipients of services, but can also be trained to deliver the message and to create their own social change. More than 80 teenagers are employed annually at RHI; many work at the center throughout their
four years of high school— earning money while focusing on a plan for their future. RHI is seeking support from individual and corporate donors to help carry the campaign. Capital One recently committed $90,000 to support Red Hook Initiative programming. Jordan Brand has also pledged $125,000 of support over the next three years. The Red Hook Initiative (RHI) is a community center in Red Hook, Brooklyn that serves over 1,500 Red Hook residents annually. Founded in 2002, RHI believes that social change to overcome systemic inequities begins with empowered youth. Over 95 percent of RHI’s employees are Red Hook residents.
Brooklyn Opens Collection Sites For Global Christmas Project
From Nov. 18-25, Brooklyn Residents Will Pack Joy into Shoeboxes for Needy Children Overseas
WI-FI OUT OF ORDER is on view to the public at 165 Smith St. (at Wyckoff St.) until Nov. 20. Images courtesy of Kristine Bulakowski
Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, is ramping up as Brooklyn residents prepare to collect 2,600 gift-filled shoeboxes during National Collection Week (Nov. 18–25). Photo courtesy of Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan’s Purse
With holiday supplies already covering the store shelves, Brooklyn individuals, families, churches and groups are working to make Christmas a reality for needy kids around the world by filling shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and notes of encouragement. Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, is ramping up as Brooklyn residents prepare to collect 2,600 gift-filled shoeboxes during National Collection Week (Nov. 18–25). At local collection sites in the Brooklyn area, anyone can drop off a gift-filled shoebox to send to a child overseas. Then, using whatever means necessary—trucks, trains, boats, bikes and even elephants— the shoebox gifts will be de-
livered to children worldwide. For many children, the shoebox gift will be the first gift they have ever received.
BROOKLYN COLLECTION SITES: Action In Christ International, 157 Leonard Street (at Stagg St.) Christian Heritage Church, 1100 East 42nd Street (between Ave. I & Ave. J) Greenwood Baptist Church, 461 6th Street (between 6th Ave. and 7th Ave.) Brooklyn Tabernacle, 17 Smith Street (between Livingston St. and Fulton St.) For more information regarding these collection locations, call 1-800-567-8580 or visit http://www.samaritanspurse. org/operation-christmas-child/ drop-off-locations.
Though the shoebox gifts will often travel thousands of miles, Operation Christmas Child offers a way for participants to follow their box by using the donation form found at samaritanspurse.org. Donors will receive an email telling the country where their shoeboxes are delivered. Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 100 million shoebox gifts to suffering children in more than 100 countries since 1993. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect another 9.8 million gift-filled shoeboxes in 2013. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham.
In Digital Age, Local Artist’s Display Encourages Traditional Reading Digital devices are claiming our constant attention, and, in this age of gadgets galore, technological burn-out is slowly but surely ensuing. In his window display exhibit titled “WI-FI OUT OF ORDER,” local artist Driss Tijani has shaped figures inspired by and reminiscent of the life-sized plaster-cast sculptures created by George Segal, who often depicted average people in ordinary moments in time. Similarly, with these readers, Tijani is paying homage to a very simple but time-honored activity, which he fears will soon become extinct.
These impressionistic readers are part of a series of paper-made sculptures that politely but resolutely asks that we pause, silence all our demanding gadgetry, and contemplate the seemingly unassuming pursuit of reading in its purest form – still a marvel in its simplicity, yet its power to transform.
Moroccan-born and educated at Pratt in Information Sciences, Tijani has worked extensively in the field of film and television, and currently indulges his eclectic interests with classes at artistic centers ranging from the Art Students League in Manhattan to the BRIC Media Arts Center in Brooklyn to
Tijani’s exhibit is being displayed at 165 Smith Street at Wyckoff Street (side window), and will be opened to the public until November 20th. WI-FI OUT OF ORDER is not meant to be an assault on technological advances but rather a simple appeal to relish the unencumbered pleasure of reading in the traditional way, which the artist fears might soon become extinct. An artisan, art facilitator and lover of all things books, Tijani finds inspiration in the work of diverse artists across all disciplines.
The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, incorporating elements from each in his work. As an art facilitator, Tijani assists local artists, studios and gallery owners in achieving their creative visions by performing such necessary, behind-the-scenes tasks as transporting and mounting art, repairing and maintaining facilities. In the process, he has handled artwork by such notable artists as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Comments may be sent to dtijani@cs.com.
Lutheran HealthCare Trustee Named to United Hospital Board By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Lutheran HealthCare, a leading medical provider in Brooklyn, is getting a seat at the table at an organization fighting for changes in the delivery of health care. Dale C. Christensen, Jr., a member of the Board of Trustees of Lutheran HealthCare, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the United Hospital Fund, a health services research and philanthropic organization. The primary mission of the United Hospital Fund, according to the organization’s website, is to shape positive changes in health care for New Yorkers. In recent years, the fund has focused largely on expanding
health insurance coverage and reforming New York’s Medicaid program. Lutheran HealthCare is the umbrella organization that runs the Sunset Parkbased hospital Lutheran Medical Center, as well as health clinics around Brooklyn. Wendy Z. Goldstein, president and CEO of Lutheran HealthCare, said the organization’s administration is thrilled for Christensen. “We couldn’t be more pleased to see him join the United Hospital Fund, an organization that we are proud to support and partner with. His skills and his knowledge of health care will be great assets to the UHF board,” Goldstein said. “As a longstanding mem-
ber of the Lutheran Board of Trustees, Dale has helped to guide us through some of the most challenging times in health care,” she said. Christensen is a partner in Seward & Kissel’s Litigation Group, where he has practiced law since 1979. He has been a partner there since 1984. Christensen was appointed to serve on the five-member New York City Campaign Finance Board, and has served as an administrator for the New York County Democratic Party’s Judicial Screening Panel. He has served as a trustee of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, and is currently its chancellor. He has also been a director and past president of both the
Dale Christensen Jr. has been tapped to serve on the board of the United Hospital Fund. Photo from www.lutheranmedicalcenter.com
Seafarers and International House, Inc., and the Dartmouth Lawyers’ Association. As a trustee of Lutheran HealthCare, he serves as chair of the medical center’s Audit and Legal Committee. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Christensen received his master’s and legal degrees from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs and the Brooklyn Law School.
Thursday, November 14, 2013 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 11
Supreme Court Calendar Kings Co. Criminal Term
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November 14, 2013
Thompson Denied Chance To Try Case Before Taking Over as Brooklyn DA By Charisma L. Miller, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Ken Thompson, Brooklyn’s district attorney-elect, has been denied an opportunity to try his last case as a private practicing trial attorney before ascending to his new political role. Thompson, named partner at Thompson Wigdor, was lead attorney in a bias suit against the New York Post. Sandra Guzman, a former associate editor at the Post, a subsidiary of News Corporation, claimed that she was subject to discrimination and harassment based on her sex and race and was subsequently fired in retaliation for her complaints. Arguments on the case are scheduled to take place on Jan. 13. Thompson submitted a request for the trial to be heard on an “expedited basis,” allowing Thompson to argue the high-profile case in December before he takes office. Lawrence Pearson, an attorney at Thompson Wigdor, argued that Thompson “will no longer be able or permitted to engage in private practice, and he will be required to leave his position as a partner at the firm. Therefore, if the trial were not to begin until 2014, Ms. Guzman would unnecessarily be deprived of her choice of trial counsel.” Manhattan Federal Judge Lorna Schofield noted that “ [w]hile the Court is sympathetic to Ms. Guzman’s position, the first available date on the Court’s trial calendar is Jan. 13, 2014,” Guzman, a black Hispanic female, alleged
that the Post’s work environment was rife with a decline in advertising revenues. sexual innuendos and racially insensitive comThough the reason for termination appeared ments. One supervisor, commentinnocuous on its face, Schofield found evied on how “sexy” and “beautidence sufficient, “to permit a reasonable jury to ful” Guzman looked each conclude that Defendants stated reasons for termorning and would “habituminating [Guzman’s] employment were preally look … her ‘up and textual.” down’ as though she were In its motion to dismiss, the New York Post ‘naked,’ leered at her body contended that an employee’s discomfort with a in an overtly sexual matter political cartoon, for example, is not sufficient and licked his lips,” Guzman cause for an employment discrimination lawasserted. Another columnist, suit, as the newspaper is protected by the it is alleged, would greet First Amendment’s guarantee of Guzman by singing “I want freedom of speech and freeto live in America” in a dom of the press. Spanish accent. The Post has the Matters came to a right to “publish edihead when Guzman torial content, even complained about an offensive editorial offensive political carcontent,” Schofield toon in the Post that noted. However, appeared to compare the content was President Barack not at issue, rather Obama to a monthey way in which key. Guzman was the Post handled fired shortly thereGuzman’s comafter on the plaint about the grounds that the cartoon’s content. paper could no “However, longer justify her while Guzman KEN THOMPSON high annual salary cannot bring an Brooklyn District Attorney-elect of $137,807 due to employment discrimination claim against the Post for publishing an allegedly racist cartoon,” Schofield wrote, “her hostile work environment claim also encompasses the way that the Post dealt with the publication of the Cartoon and the issues that arose after the Cartoon was published, including the increased dence was too weak to support the extortion racial tensions in the office.” accusation. A source told the New York Law Guzman filed suit against the New York Journal that Hynes did not authorize a disPost, its parent company, the News missal and has since removed Alexis and Corporation, and the Post’s editor in chief, Col Batsidis from the Kellner case, transferring Allan. Schofield removed News Corporation them to an entirely different division within in from the case, asserting that while News the DA’s Office. Corporation owns the New York Post, it mainAn appeals court overturned Lebovits’ contains an existence completely separate from it viction after his attorneys, Arthur L. Aidala and — meaning that News Corporation is not Alan M. Dershowitz, brought attention to involved in the printing or distribution of the Kellner’s indictment. Post’s daily newspaper and that the companies Kellner’s defense attorney, Michael Dowd, maintain separate financial records. told Acting Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice The claims against Allan and the Post were Ann Donnelly during a hearing that Alexis told allowed to proceed because, in Schofield’s estihim privately, “We cannot prove this case mation, the comments by, and behavior, of beyond a reasonable doubt.” Donnelly cut Allan—and by extension his employer the New Dowd off before he could continue, since York Post — “ostensibly contributed to Alexis had been removed from the case. [Guzman’s] hostile work environment.” Kellner’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 6, and the prosecution is required to turn over all evidence to Kellner’s defense team by Nov. 25. Hynes has also fired veteran prosecutor How to Balance Your Life and Career Barbara Burke, who has been called to testify and Avoid Misconduct as a witness in a wrongful conviction case Thursday, November 14 from 6 to 7:45pm against the DA’s Office. Jabbar Collins, wrongfully convicted in Brooklyn Bar Association, 123 Remsen St. 1995 for the murder of a Brooklyn CLE credits: 2 ethics credits rabbi, filed a suit against the DA’s office for the 20-plus years he Speakers: Pery D. Krinsky, Esq.; Dr. Fritz spent behind bars. Since she was Galette, Ph.D.; Meredith Heller, Esq., not involved in the 1995 case, it is Chair, Lawyers Assistance Committee, unclear why Collins’ attorney subNew York City Bar Assoc; Eileen Travis, poenaed Burke in this suit. MSW — Director, Lawyers Assistance Burke’s attorney noted that Burke Program, New York City Bar Association; was an “honest and dedicated pubHon. Robin S. Garson- Lawyers Helping lic servant” and her firing was Lawyers, Co-Chair. “unconscionable.” A spokesperson for Hynes’ This program will teach how unavoidable office stated that there is no stress can lead to avoidable misconduct, “bloodletting” is occurring in the and how stress affects decision-making, DA’s office and noted that all perjudgment, job performance, career develsonnel changes were purely a opment, conduct and your health. coincidence.
Prosecutor Shakeup Hits DA’s Office By Charisma L. Miller, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle
As Brooklyn’s incumbent district attorney prepares to leave office in January, he has rearranged a number of key staff in his interim days. Joseph Alexis and Nicholas Batsidis were the lead prosecutors on a case involving an alleged false accusation by a child of sexual abuse by a Brooklyn cantor. Sam Kellner, a vocal member of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community speaking out against covered-up sexual abuse within that community, said that his own son was the victim of abuse by Brooklyn cantor Baruch Lebovits. In a turn of events, Kellner himself was charged with coaching his son to falsely accuse Lebovits in a scheme to extort money from the alleged abuser. Having had the case since 2011, prosecutors Alexis and Batsidis planned to dismiss the charges against Kellner on the grounds that evi-
OUTGOING KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT Attorney Charles J. Hynes. File photo
12 •• Brooklyn Brooklyn Daily November 14, 2013 12 DailyEagle, EagleThursday, • Thursday, November 14, 2013
— LEGAL EVENTS —
320 Jay St., Brooklyn
Hon. Marrus defense case, murder ∆Derrick Deacon Hon. Dowling deliberations, murder ∆Iloune Driver Hon. Riviezzo people’s case, attempted murder ∆David Flores Hon. Tomei people’s case, murder ∆Maurice Hall Hon. Firetog people’s case, murder ∆Renand Louis Hon. Parker people’s case, robbery ∆Steven Peterson Hon. Ingram people’s case, vehicular manslaughter ∆Bruno Thompson Hon. Sullivan people’s case, rape ∆Gilbert Violante
Medicare Fraud Mastermind Sentenced To 15 Years in Prison
On Wednesday, Irina Shelikhova, 50, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her leadership role in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Shelikhova to three years of supervised release with a concurrent exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal health programs, ordered her to forfeit $36,241,545, and ordered her to pay restitution in the amount of $50,943,386. Shelikhova has been Brooklyn Federal in custody since June 15, Judge Nina Gershon. 2012, when she was arrested at JFK Airport after living as a fugitive in the Ukraine for almost two years. After serving her sentence, she faces deportation from the United States. Shelikhova pleaded guilty on Dec. 18, 2012 to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Including Shelikhova, 13 individuals have been convicted of the massive fraud scheme, either through guilty plea or trial conviction. “Irina Shelikova used fake doctors and forged documents to defraud Medicare out of millions of dollars of very real money. As the owner and operator of three medical clinics, Shelikova engaged in a brazen scheme of fraudulent billing and kickbacks, going so far as to pay kickbacks to elderly patients in exchange for their Medicare numbers and their silence,” stated Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, based in Brooklyn. According to court documents, from 2005 to 2010, Shelikhova owned and operated a clinic in Brooklyn that billed Medicare under three corporate names: Bay Medical Care PC, SVS Wellcare Medical PLLC and SZS Medical Care PLLC (Bay Medical clinic). Shelikhova and her employees at the Bay Medical clinic paid cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for more than $77 million in services that were medically unnecessary or never provided.
76TH YEAR, NO. 3,772
JFK a Conservative?
IRA STOLL, A LONGTIME FORMER HEIGHTS RESIDENT, SUGGESTS JFK was not the liberal hero envisioned by many. Stoll will discuss his new book, “JFK, Conservative,” on Nov. 18 at Congregation Beth EloPhoto courtesy of the author him in Park Slope. See page 3INB.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013
TWO SECTIONS
50 CENTS
SMALL BUILDINGS AT 153, 155 AND 157 REMSEN ST. MAKE UP A SIZABLE DEVELOPMENT SITE in Brooklyn Heights. These buildings have unused air rights and a location just outside the neighborhood’s two historic districts, so there’s no height restriction on construction and development. See Eye Photo by Lore Croghan on Real Estate, page 1INB.
Back to Market With ‘A Vengeance’ DEVELOPER DAVID MITCHELL bought 183 Columbia Heights, seen here, from the Watchtower, which owned it for a quarter-century, and turned it back into a high-end property with seven apartments. He also restored its original name, the Riverview. See Eye on Real Estate, page 2INB. Photo courtesy of Mitchell Holdings
THE MAYORAL ELECTION IS OVER, AND REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE JOE LHOTA has lost. But although most people associate Lhota with his political agenda, there's another side to him: His year-long tenure as head of AP Photo the MTA. See Review and Comment, page 4. Thursday, November 14, 2013 • Brooklyn Heights Press • 1
SUNY, DOH Honchos Face Contempt Hearing for Alleged LICH Malfeasance Cobble Hill Association: ‘We hope someone At SUNY goes to jail for their actions’ By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Heights Press
State Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes is going to have a very full courtroom on November 18. That is when 20 highly-placed defendants, including the entire board of trustees from the State University of New York (SUNY) and administrators from SUNY Downstate and the state Department of Health have been ordered to appear before Justice Baynes to answer for their actions regarding Long Island College Hospital (LICH). The defendants will have to explain to the judge why they have allegedly ignored seven court orders prohibiting them from reducing the level of medical services provided at LICH, endangering Brooklynites from Red Hook to Williamsburg and causing chaos at emergency rooms across the borough. If found guilty of the charges, the defendants face “a fine or imprisonment, or both.” On Tuesday morning, Hon. John M. Leventhal, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, rejected SUNY’s request for a stay, writing there was “sufficient cause” to go forward with contempt proceedings. Later on Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justice Bernadette Bayne, acting for state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes (no relation) signed the order. After months of protests, civil disobedience and seemingly toothless court orders, LICH supporters smell blood. “It is clear that SUNY and the DOH will not obey any order of this Court,” the plaintiffs say in court papers. They are asking Justice Baynes to find SUNY et al. “in civil contempt and to assess fines of $250,000 per day until such time as LICH is fully operational and provides the same level of services it provided on April 1, 2013.”
The coalition fighting to save LICH includes Public Advocate (and soon-to-be-Mayor) Bill de Blasio, six local community groups (listed below), the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), 1199 SEIU, Concerned Physicians of LICH, and Patients for LICH. Attorney Jim Walden of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, told the Brooklyn Heights Press, “With SUNY’s latest attempts at gamesmanship rebuffed by the Appellate Division, thousands of community members are again gratified that the Courts are a place of refuge from illegal state action. We look forward, finally, to calling SUNY to account for months of contemptuous acts. Our proof is overwhelming.” The Cobble Hill Association’s Jeff Strabone had harsh words for the SUNY 20: “The Cobble Hill Association looks forward to SUNY’s impending contempt hearing and to any criminal charges that may follow. SUNY has stopped at nothing to destroy health care in our community. We hope someone at SUNY goes to jail for their actions.” “The evidence in its totality, of SUNY’s continued campaign to sabotage care at LICH, is shocking in its detail and conclusions,” said Eliza Bates, spokesperson for NYSNA. “We are committed to the full restoration of services at LICH for the community.” Brooklyn Heights Association board member Jane C. McGroarty, told the Brooklyn Heights Press, “BHA is pleased that Justice Baynes is holding a contempt hearing and we look forward to hearing SUNY’s testimony regarding its attempts to close LICH in spite of numerous court orders. We encourage our members and community residents to attend the hearing next Monday.” Spokespersons from SUNY and DOH did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Supporters fighting to keep Long Island College Hospital (LICH) open have submitted affidavits in preparation for November 18, when 20 SUNY and DOH officials will be appearing before state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes. Photo by Mary Frost
SUNY and financially-ailing University Medical Center (SUNY Downstate) in East Flatbush, which took over LICH two years ago, stand accused of a shocking number of violations in their rush to close the hospital, which is sitting on valuable Brownstone Brooklyn real estate. On April 1, 2013, the court issued the first of seven orders requiring SUNY to maintain services at LICH – first at the April 1 level and later at the July 19 level — and temporarily restrained SUNY from taking “any action in furtherance of the closure plan.” LICH supporters say that SUNY violated the orders on an almost
LICH’s valuable Brownstone Brooklyn real estate has fetched estimates of over half a billion dollars.
2 • Brooklyn Heights Press • Thursday, November 14, 2013
Photo by Mary Frost
daily basis, and have submitted affidavits and other documents to be presented at the hearing. Before the summer began, SUNY cancelled LICH’s residency and fellowship program, ended labor and delivery services, cancelled non-ambulatory surgeries, closed LICH’s outpatient psychiatric clinic, and stopped scheduling medical procedures. In June, despite another court order, SUNY terminated ambulance delivery, jamming ERs across Brooklyn and plunging western Brooklyn into a summer-long crisis. Service was partially restored in September, but SUNY diverted ambulances again, temporarily, just last week. Over the summer, LICH advocates say, SUNY continued to cut services and padlock units. On June 27, SUNY issued a letter directing that no patients be admitted unless approved by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Lucchesi. SUNY administrators halted the scheduling of endoscopies and chemotherapy treatment, and finally, all outpatient procedures. SUNY allegedly violated another TRO by attempting to transfer patients from LICH against the considered opinion of the medical staff. One night, doctors say, they had to call in the NYPD to prevent SUNY from moving delicate patients against their advice. SUNY spent enormous sums on armed and unarmed University police and security guards hired from several agencies. Doctors and other staff told the court that they felt intimidated and feared for their safety. SUNY locked LICH’s front revolving door, essentially barring anyone using a wheelchair from entering. Over the summer, SUNY illegally sent notices of termination to 6,500 patients of LICH’s clinics. SUNY fired 107 physicians, effective as of August 22. On August 22, after many had already left for secure employment, SUNY offered some of them temporary appointments with no
benefits and low hourly rates. On October 24, 500 nurses and other healthcare employees were told they would be laid off. The next day, SUNY said it had changed its mind. SUNY has previously declared that “SUNY is not in violation of any court order whatsoever,” claiming that court orders were automatically stayed upon appeal. The Appellate Division ruled, however, that an October 11 court order was not subject to an automatic stay upon appeal. LICH supporters say this logic extends to all of the court orders. All 20 defendants will be served with papers by November 15. Those being served include SUNY itself as an institution, and all 14 SUNY trustees: H. Carl McCall, Joseph Belluck, Herrick Dullea, Angelo Fatta, Tina Good, Stephen Hunt, Eunice A. Lewin, Marshall Lichtman, John Murad, Linda Sanford, Richard Socarides, Carl Spielvogel, Cary Staller, and Gerri Warren-Merrick. The list also includes SUNY Downstate’s Chief Medical Officer Michael Lucchesi, Downstate’s President John F. Williams, the NYS Department of Health (DOH), Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah, SUNY Downstate Interim CEO George Caralis, and SUNY’s Senior Vice Chancellor and General Counsel William Howard. Other legal proceedings in the coalition’s fight to keep LICH open are playing out in the courtroom of state Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Demarest. Check brooklyneagle.com for updates. The six community groups that belong to the Save LICH Coalition include the Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Heights Association, Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, Cobble Hill Association, Riverside Tenants Association, and Wykoff Gardens Association, Inc. Individual members of the coalition include Kate Mackenzie and Carl Biers.
B
ook Beat
Paul Auster To Launch New Memoir in DUMBO
Personal Hygiene with Extra Zing! 1922 Brooklyn Eagle Directory Confirms Existence of Sylvan Electric Bath By Trudy Whitman Brooklyn Heights Press
Author Paul Auster in Park Slope.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Having recalled his life through the story of his physical self in “Winter Journal,” internationally acclaimed novelist Paul Auster now remembers the experience of his development from within through the encounters of his interior self with the outer world in “Report from the Interior.” Auster will appear in Brooklyn to read from his book and to present a slideshow of photos on Thursday, Nov. 21 at DUMBO’s powerHouse Arena. From his baby’s-eye view of the man in the moon, to his childhood worship of the movie cowboy Buster Crabbe, to the composition of his first poem at the age of nine, to his dawning awareness of the injustices of American life, “Report from the Interior” charts Auster’s moral, political, and intellectual journey as he inches his way toward adulthood through the postwar 1950s and into the turbulent 1960s. Auster evokes the sounds, smells, and tactile sensations that marked his early life—and the many images that came at him, including moving images (he adored cartoons, he was in love with films), until, at its unique climax, the book breaks away from prose into pure imagery: The final section of “Report from the Interior” recapitulates the first three parts, told in an album of pictures. At once a story of the times—which makes it everyone’s story—and the story of the emerging consciousness of a renowned literary artist, this four-part work answers the challenge of autobiography in ways rarely, if ever, seen before.
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The Nov. 21 event will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 (can be applied as credit towards purchase of "Report from the Interior" or Auster backlist). powerHouse Arena is located at 37 Main St. in DUMBO.
As everyone is taught by their parents never to use electric appliances around water for fear of electrocution, it’s no wonder that when a Boerum Hill Yahoo group member noticed an official-looking National Historic Landmark plaque at 160 Schermerhorn Street, he posted an inquiry. “It’s funny,” he wrote. “Think it’s legitimate?” The plaque indicated that the site is the former home of the Sylvan Electric Bath, where one could not only scrub clean in the days before indoor plumbing was commonplace, but also, on request, could get a little zing of current to help ease the pain of a host of bodily disorders. The post generated activity on the listserv, as a number of curious amateur historians began digging into the past. And, indeed, the local history detectives found that there was such a bath on Schermerhorn in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and that an ad from 1919 boasted of 12,000 patrons. But although Sylvan was real, the National Historic plaque at 160 Schermerhorn is a phony. Anna Robinson-Sweet is a Yaletrained artist and former Brooklyn resident who has mounted what http://hyperallergic.com calls “a guerilla registry of historic places.” The pop up show and online project is called the “National Register of Historic Places, 2013 Additions, Brooklyn, NY.” Robinson-Sweet’s blog explains that the exhibition consists of handmade silk-screened plaques mounted on polyurethane-sprayed cardboard placed in ten locations in Brooklyn. The plaques provide facts explaining the sites’ historical significance. Although all the information is “based on research conducted at libraries and archives…the
A bit weather-beaten now, the pop up street art at 160 Schermerhorn tells the tale of the Sylvan Electric Bath. Photo by Trudy Whitman
designation itself is false,” the website informs us, with the artist’s motivation being to “question how historical memory is recorded through our built environment, one of the most visceral ways we experience the past.” The artist notes that eight of the ten buildings commemorated in the show are gone, and the other two serve very different purposes than their ancestors served. The bath house with the extra kick is now a condominium building housing the Actors Fund Arts Center on the ground floor.
Paul Auster is the bestselling author of “Winter Journal,” “Sunset Park,” “Invisible,” “The Book of Illusions,” and “The New York Trilogy,” among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature, the Prix Médicis Étranger, the Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He lives in Brooklyn.
Daily coverage of Brooklyn writers, books and book events can be found in print (Brooklyn Daily Eagle) and online (brooklyneagle.com) and a dedicated blog, www.brooklynbookbeat.com
This clipping from a 1922 Brooklyn Eagle Directory confirms the existence of the public bath that also featured electric current therapy.
“Taken as a whole,” Robinson- Sweet explains, “the ten plaques suggest that every lot on any block can reveal historical understanding of place; the historical narrative told by the structures that survive the ravages of time or are intentionally preserved is only one of many.” Another interesting site honored by an imitation historical plaque is the former home of H. Kohnstamm & Co. on Columbia Street, a company that made dyes for comestibles that were safer than the standard dyes used at the time. Kohnstamm & Co. helped shape federal food and drug regulations concerning safe colors, the plaque informs readers. Robinson-Sweet’s text and design so artfully mimic the plaques produced by the National Park Service that many, like the Boerum Hill resident who started the online inquiry, have stopped in their tracks and scratched their heads in wonderment. Installed last spring, however, they have suffered some weather damage. A visit to 160 Schermerhorn reveals a rather wrinkled Sylvan Electric Bath plaque. Still, lots of food for thought is provided by the inscription. For the definitive answer about the Sylvan Electric Bath—reality or ruse—the Boerum Hill listservers turned to Erik Fortmeyer. Although he now resides in Texas, Fortmeyer is known as the “official historian of Boerum Hill.” In responding to his former neighbors, Fortmeyer wrote that Sylvan was “not only real, but it was actually quite popular from about 1897 to around the start of the Depression.” He also attached a clipping from a 1922 edition of The Brooklyn Eagle city directory with a photograph of the building where patrons could cleanse themselves. And, if so desired, they could also get a little charged up as well.
Thursday, November 14, 2013 • Brooklyn Heights Press • 3
eview and Comment R Post Mortem: Joe Lhota By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Heights Press
The mayoral election is over, and Democrat Bill de Blasio won an overwhelming victory over Republican Joe Lhota. In his concession speech, Lhota said he wouldn’t look back. Although the voters rejected his political agenda, in one arena, Lhota has an excellent record – one that he rarely mentioned during the campaign. That’s his year-long tenure as head of the MTA. By the way, he was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. For one thing, Lhota is responsible for the Fastrack program, in which subway lines are shut down during the late-night and early-morning hours on several successive days for maintenance and repairs. The lines chosen are almost always a few blocks from other subway lines that are unaffected. While Fastrack may inconvenience some people, it cuts down substantially on weekend shutdowns, which inconvenience a whole lot more people. I remember one weekend where about 10 lines had service interruptions because of needed repair work. Thanks to Fastrack, things are now a lot better. In advance of Hurricane Sandy, Lhota shut down the entire MTA system early, including city subway trains, MetroNorth trains and Long Island Rail Road trains. He moved many of the trains that were being stored in the yards to higher ground. Many trains that were being stored in the Coney Island yard, for example, were almost certainly moved to other subway yards that were in less-vulnerable locations. In addition to saving rolling stock, his move also saved New Yorkers from the nightmare of being stuck in flooded tunnels. Yes, many of the subway tunnels were flooded. Notable among these were the R train’s Montague Street tunnel, part of the G train’s route in northern Brooklyn, and the area around the South Ferry station in lower Manhattan. But that probably couldn’t have been helped – the subways weren’t built with such a disaster in mind. Also important for Brooklyn residents, Lhota restored several of the bus routes that had been eliminated or cut back in 2010. One of these was the B39 bus over the Williamsburg Bridge. He also made permanent what had been a temporary extension of the G train to Church Avenue. Not only that, the MTA under his tenure introduced two new Brooklyn buses – the B32, connecting Williamsburg to Long Island City, and the B67, which connects DUMBO to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. True, the often-lamented B37 bus on Fourth Avenue is still not back in service, but that’s another story. Of course, Joe Lhota’s record was not completely positive. Like other MTA chairs, he raised fares on subways and buses and tolls on bridges. In an interview at the time, Lhota stressed the necessity of offering discounts on seven-trip and 30-trip MetroCards but offered no such discounts to those people, mainly working-class, who buy single-trip tickets. To be fair, however, the hike itself was part of a policy of biennial fare raises that was approved in 2009, long before Lhota stepped into office. I am not a fan of Joe Lhota’s politics. But as a subway fan, I have to give him credit for the positive developments he oversaw during his one-year period as chairman of the MTA.
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FROM THE ORIGINAL EAGLE AND OTHER SOURCES
Aaron Copland: His Brooklyn History In Cobble Hill In living quarters above his father’s department store in Brooklyn, Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900, the youngest of Sarah Mittenthal and Harris Copland’s five children. In a biographical sketch in 1939 Aaron wrote: “I was born on a street in Brooklyn that can be described as drab.” Aaron in his autobiOne of America’s ography went on to greatest contemporary write: “ ...To any boy composers, Aaron living there it would Copland was born in have seemed like an Brooklyn on Novemordinary Brooklyn ber 14, 1900. street. There were our neighbors: a baker, a painter, a butcher, a candy store across the street, a large grocery store down the block (no chain stores yet), and of course, the corner saloon with its occasional neighborhood drunks. Culture could hardly be said to be a familiar word on our street, yet it wasn’t entirely absent from the area. A 10-minute walk up Washington Avenue brings you to Eastern Parkway where you will find the Brooklyn Museum. (It was there, aged ten, that I suffered my first `cultural’ shock at the sight of a nude statue.) Ten minutes in the opposite direction from our house was the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where I heard my first symphony concert when I was 16.” Aaron’s parents were members of Brooklyn’s oldest synagogue, Baith Israel Anshei-Emes, at Kane and Court Streets. At age 13 Aaron was bar mitzvahed in his father’s store with counters pushed aside to make room for the celebration that followed. Early 20th Century Department Store In 1897 Aaron’s father, Harris, moved his business, H.M. Copland’s Department Store, from 626-628 Washington Avenue at Dean Street to a new building at 630-632 Washington built expressly for the store with living quarters above and to the side in the same building. The store dealt mainly in drygoods, shoes, toys, and household items. “Corsets and ribbons were big” sellers. From 1906 on the store had a telephone. Aaron remembered the number as Prospect
4666. A horse and wagon was kept in a local livery for deliveries and was used for family weekend trips to Brighton Beach. Business was good and the store expanded to include 771-773 Dean Street in 1907. There were a dozen employees, called “help” in those days. On Christmas eve after the store closed all unsold toys were distributed among the children. Aaron helped out in the store (he was always paid). In his teens he bought music with the money. Occasionally he acted as relief cashier in the cashier’s perch in a balcony area near the ceiling from which one could survey most of the premises. Cash and sales checks arrived with a bang via a system of wired “trolley cars,” which gave the post a certain dramatic punch.
Aaron Copland's father, owner of a department store, was also Cantor at the Kane Street Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogues in America, having recently celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Aaron’s Brooklyn Schooling At age 6 Aaron started to school at P.S. 111 at Vanderbilt Avenue and Sterling Place. In 1914 he graduated from P.S. 9 and went on to Boys High School on Marcy Avenue. In high school he sang in the glee club. When Aaron was 15 the Coplands bought their first automobile, a Chalmers, and sister Laurine would usually do the driving (to the neighborhood’s amazement) out to Rockaway Beach, replacing the horse and wagon they had driven out to Brighton. Early Interest in Music As early as 8½ years of age Aaron developed an interest in music. He would raptly watch his sister Laurine at the family’s “glory of the household,” the upright Steinway piano in the parlor. At that age he began to make up songs and write down the notes. During his high school years he took lessons and borrowed music to study from the Montague Street branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. He would take the music to live performances to see the notes being followed. Once at the Brooklyn Academy of Music he was embarrassed while using a little penlight to follow the score and an usher dashed up and said “Turn that light out, you dope! Turn that light out!” After graduation from high school, Aaron decided not to go to college. He noticed an ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for a pianist to play for dances two nights a week at the Finnish Socialist Hall in Brooklyn. He Charles, Prince of landed the job. While studying Wales, heir to the British with Leopold Wolfsohn, Aaron throne, born in London, debuted in a student concert in England. the spacious auditorium of Laura San Giacomo, Wanamaker’s Department actress (sex, lies and videoStore. Aaron thought it ironic tape, “Just Shoot Me”), that his debut took place in a born in Hoboken, N.J. store. Later Studies and ComposiCarl Schilling, pitcher, tions born in Anchorage, AK. From 1921 to 1924 Aaron Don Stewart, actor, studied and wrote his music in singer (Michael Bauer on Paris. Although his earliest work “Guiding Light”), born in Laura was heavily influenced by the Staten Island, N.Y. San Giacomo French impressionists, he soon D.B. Sweeney, actor Wikipedia / Samhsa began to develop a personalized (Spawn, The Cutting style. He experimented with Edge), born in Shoreham, L.I., N.Y. jazz rhythms and back in the U.S. from 1933 to 1935 he reYanni, New Age composer, born in Kalamata, lied on nervous, irregular Greece. rhythms, angular melodies and
Birthdays — November 14
Photo of composer Aaron Copland from a 1962 television special.
Wikipedia / CBS TV
highly dissonant harmonies. In 1921, while he was in Paris, Aaron’s parents sold the store. They had been considering retirement and when the store was broken into and robbed, their decision was final. The Coplands rented an apartment on Prospect Place briefly and in 1928 acquired a building at 1176 President Street, lived on the ground floor and rented apartments above. The Depression hit them hard and they lost their savings. In 1935 Aaron’s father and brother Leon went into the job-lot shoe business in Manhattan. In 1937 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle carried an article and picture of his mother and father captioned: “Married 52 years, the Coplands still enjoy going out together. Climax of happiness in their wedded life is acclaim their son won as a composer.” Copland Develops New Style After 1935 Copland introduced, by means of American folk rhythms, a more melodic and lyrical style. His best work of the 1940s expressed distinctly American themes such as the ballets Billy the Kid (‘42), Rodeo (‘42), and Appalachian Spring (for which he was awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize in music). He used native themes and rhythms to capture the flavor of early American life. Copland also composed chamber music, operas, and choral works. His scores for film music included The City, Of Mice and Men and Our Town. He won an Oscar for the film The Heiress in 1949. In 1954 Copland was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1964 he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A distinguished teacher, he lectured at the New School, Harvard University and the Berkshire Center. He is also the author of several books including What to Listen for in Music (‘39), Our New Music (‘41); revised as The New Music ‘68); Music and Imagination (‘52), and Copland on Music (‘60). Copland’s autobiography. written in
1984 with Vivian Perlis is entitled Copland 1900 Through 1942. This book is rich in the history of Brooklyn during Copland’s early years, particularly the introduction and the chapter “Brooklyn/1900-1921.” Publisher: St. Martin’s/Marek. Aaron Copland died on December 2, 1990 in North Tarrytown, NY. As one of America’s greatest composers, as well as one of Brooklyn’s greatest gifts to the world, Aaron Copland warrants his rightful place since 1985 on Brooklyn’s Celebrity Path at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Composer, teacher, pianist, and champion of contemporary music Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn on November 14, 1900. In 1944 his joyful music for the ballet Appalachian Spring premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, performed by the Martha Graham Dance Company. In this photo taken at the premiere, Graham dances with Erick Hawkings. The ballet is a rustic slice of Americana. In 1985 Graham, 91, and Copland, 84, together attended a 41st anniversary performance of the production in New York. In 1987 Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov danced the featured roles in the ballet in honor of Copland and Graham. Copland was unable to attend because of illness.
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New Business Formations 57 HAUSMAN ST., LLC
57 HAUSMAN ST., LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 8/16/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 57 Hausman St., Brooklyn, NY 11222. General Purpose. #123664
GAMBA REALTY LLC
GAMBA REALTY LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/23/2013. Office in Kings Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 223 11th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. #123162
NUN LIFE LLC
NUN LIFE LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/30/13. Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 5104 17th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11204. General Purpose #123365
PULL BREWING CO., LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: Pull Brewing Co., LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 9/5/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 15 7th Avenue Apt. 3 Brooklyn, NY, 11217. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose.
STUDIO HOUBEN RT LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: Studio Houben RT LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 7/10/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 447 Graham Avenue Brooklyn, NY, 11211. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123579
THE JOHN ELEANOR LLC
Notice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: The John Eleanor LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 9/25/13. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is Matthew John Marchese 696 Grand Street Apt. 3 Brooklyn, NY, 11211. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose. #123173
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WI-FI OUT OF ORDER is on view to the public at 165 Smith St. (at Wyckoff St.) until Nov. 20.
Images courtesy of Kristine Bulakowski
In Digital Age, Local Artist’s Display Encourages Traditional Reading
Digital devices are claiming our constant attention, and, in this age of gadgets galore, technological burn-out is slowly but surely ensuing. In his window display exhibit titled “WI-FI OUT OF ORDER,” local artist Driss
Tijani has shaped figures inspired by and reminiscent of the life-sized plaster-cast sculptures created by George Segal, who often depicted average people in ordinary moments in time. Similarly, with these readers, Tijani is paying homage to a very
simple but time-honored activity, which he fears will soon become extinct. These impressionistic readers are part of a series of paper-made sculptures that politely but resolutely asks that we pause, silence all our demanding gad-
getry, and contemplate the seemingly unassuming pursuit of reading in its purest form – still a marvel in its simplicity, yet its power to transform. Tijani’s exhibit is being displayed at 165 Smith Street at Wyckoff Street (side window), and will be opened to the public until November 20th. WI-FI OUT OF ORDER is not meant to be an assault on technological advances but rather a simple appeal to relish the unencumbered pleasure of reading in the traditional way, which the artist fears might soon become extinct. An artisan, art facilitator and lover of all things books, Tijani finds inspiration in the work of diverse artists across all disciplines. Moroccan-born and educated at Pratt in Information Sciences, Tijani has worked extensively in the field of film and television, and currently indulges his eclectic interests with classes at artistic centers ranging from the Art Students League in Manhattan to the BRIC Media Arts Center in Brooklyn to The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, incorporating elements from each in his work. As an art facilitator, Tijani assists local artists, studios and gallery owners in achieving their creative visions by performing such necessary, behind-the-scenes tasks as transporting and mounting art, repairing and maintaining facilities. In the process, he has handled artwork by such notable artists as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Comments may be sent to dtijani@cs.com.
Thursday, November 14,14, 2013 • Brooklyn November 2013 • BrooklynHeights Heights Press Press • 77
PROMENADE GARDENERS’
BAKE SALE SATURDAY NOV.16
On the Promenade 9:30-12 Near the Montague Street entrance
Promenade Garden Conservancy
8 • Brooklyn Heights Press • Thursday, November 14, 2013
N BR A Special Section of BROOKLYN EAGLE Publications
EYE ON REAL ESTATE
Remsen Developer Reaches for Heights Just Outside Landmark District Lines By Lore Croghan INBrooklyn
How high will new development rise on Remsen Street? The Manhattan luxury apartment builder who paid $2.79 million for derelict two-story 153 Remsen St. earlier this year just bought two neighboring properties, creating a sizable development site in sought-after Brooklyn Heights, Eye on Real Estate has learned. An LLC formed by Upper West Side-based Quinlan Development Group paid $4.94 million last month for 155 Remsen St. and $6.16 million for 157 Remsen St., city records indicate. They’re tiny walkup residential buildings with retail space, so what’s the big deal? The answer: Unused air rights and a location just outside the neighborhood’s two historic districts, so there’s no height restriction on construction and developer Timothy Quinlan doesn’t need the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to okay his plans. “You can build a heck of a building,” one real estate source said. “You can build tall, you can build dense – it’s part of the Downtown
Brooklyn rezoning.” The three properties have a combined 73,600 square feet of developable space, records from real estate site PropertyShark.com indicate. The development site could have been bigger – but the owner of 151 Remsen St., who was also approached about selling, said he wasn’t interested. “I’m happy with my investment,” landlord Domenick Sblendorio told Eye on Real Estate. Tax ramifications might make rental-apartment construction more appealing to the developer than a condo project, the real estate source said. The residential building Quinlan’s firm is constructing at 267 Pacific St. in Boerum Hill is a rental. The developer’s glam glass and limestone tower on Sixth Avenue in SoHo, One Vandam, is a condo project – but condos in that neighborhood can go for $3,200 per square foot, making it worthwhile to tackle the tax issue, while $1,400 per square foot is more like it in Brooklyn Heights. Quinlan declined to comment: “At this time we are not prepared to
discuss the potential project as it’s too early,” his executive assistant said via email. The seller of both 155 and 157 Remsen was Carl A. Zerbo of Dorado Holding Corp., who signed the deeds while in Naples, Fla. His wife Heidi didn’t want to talk about the couple’s reasons for letting go of the Brooklyn Heights properties. “We’re pretty private people; we’ll keep that information to ourselves,” she said. He’s the son of the late Carl J. Zerbo, a noted Brooklyn Heights landlord. The late Fred Musser, who previously owned 153 Remsen, made plans five years ago to turn the property into a small hotel, Eye on Real Estate previously reported. His plans didn’t get off the drawing board – and the building is an eyesore with broken windows, a rarity in the Heights. Quinlan would likely begin demolition of his Remsen Street buildings in six to nine months. Already, 157 Remsen tenant Hair Profiles closed because of the building sale and three employees moved to a Pineapple Street salon.
Small buildings at 153, 155 and 157 Remsen St. make up a sizable development site in sought-after Brooklyn Heights. Photo by Lore Croghan
Customers of Wi-Pie at 155 Remsen are upset its days are numbered; it’s the go-to pizza parlor for neighboring St. Francis College students. On Fridays, Wi-Pie dishes
out free pizza if you “like” them on Facebook. “I can’t live without my free slice,” said Janine Krol, 20, a St. Francis College sophomore.
At Street-Level in Municipal Building 'Sugar' Makes Candy More Dandy By Lore Croghan INBrooklyn
Sweet deal! Candy-store chain It’s Sugar is the newest tenant to rent space at the 53,000-square-foot commercial condominium Albert Laboz of United American Land is developing in the Brooklyn Municipal Building.
Fight for your right … to chew gum.
Makeup emporium Sephora, which took 7,000 square feet, recently opened in the prime Downtown Brooklyn site. The candy company, which took 1,200 square feet on the Court Street side of the building, just signed its lease last week, It’s Sugar real estate executive Larry DeBerry
Photo by Lore Croghan
told Eye on Real Estate. He likes the location because of its high-density foot traffic and the “very strong tenants” the landlord is bringing in. Jeremy Ezra of brokerage Robert K. Futterman & Associates (RKF) found the location. The shop – which DeBerry hopes to open in February, depending on how fast city Buildings Department permits can be obtained – will be the second Brooklyn location for the Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based retailer. The first, in Coney Island, is doing well though Coney’s season is over, he said. A chocolate factory and shop called Chocolate Works is opening at 110 Montague St., as Eye on Real Estate has reported. But DeBerry doesn’t see it as competition since his chain offers little chocolate in its product lineup. A third tenant at the Municipal Building commercial condo, YogaWorks, is taking 5,000 square feet. Letters of intent have been signed for all the remaining space, Laboz told Eye on Real Estate. “We’re getting there,” said Laboz – who added that the tenants who signed the letters include a restaurant/ bar “that will bring life to the corner.”
It’s Sugar is coming to the Brooklyn Municipal Building – so we took a sneak peak at its product lineup by visiting its South Street Seaport shop. Photo by Lore Croghan
Candy by the bucket at It’s Sugar, which is coming to the Brooklyn Municipal Building. Photo by Lore Croghan
Week of November 11-15, 2013 • INBrooklyn - Special section of Brooklyn Eagle Publications • 1INB
EYE ON REAL ESTATE
Watchtower Housing Stock Comes Back To Market With 'A Vengeance' and History By Lore Croghan INBrooklyn
It’s back to the future for a Brooklyn Heights apartment house that belonged to the Watchtower for a quarter-century. Developer David Mitchell, who bought 183 Columbia Heights last year for $6.6 million, has turned it back into a high-end property with seven apartments, the same number it had when it was built in 1899. The Jehovah’s Witnesses – in the middle of a massive sell-off of Heights and DUMBO properties pri-
or to moving upstate – had divided the building into 13 apartments. Mitchell Holdings also revived 183 Columbia Heights’ historic name, the Riverview. “It had been neutered of all detail by previous owners,” said Douglas Elliman associate real estate broker Rob Gross, who is marketing the apartments. “We recaptured the grandeur of the full-floor layouts and the logical flow that allowed us to create three-bedroom homes.” The units in the nearly-completed renovation project are condos.
When turn-of-the-20th-Century developer Louis Horowitz constructed the seven-story red-brick building, the apartments were rentals. He was going for the luxury market of his day, just like Mitchell is. Brooklyn Eagle advertisements in 1900 touted the Riverview as the “most aristocratic apartment house in Brooklyn,” with an electric elevator – then a hot new thing for residential buildings – liveried hall and elevator boys and long-distance phone service in every apartment. The Watchtower Bible and Tract
This apartment house at 183 Columbia Heights, which belonged to the Watchtower, has been sold and revamped as luxury condos. Photos courtesy of Mitchell Holdings
Society of New York bought the building, which is on a landmarked block, in 1986. Presumably to obscure the Witnesses’ involvement in the deal, a few months earlier a buyer named 777 Eleets-Stahl Strasse Corp. signed a memorandum of contract of sale with a $2.2 million purchase price, city records show. The apartment house is one of 17 Heights and DUMBO properties the Witnesses sold in the past two years. Another 16 remain in their possession as the religious group builds a new headquarters in Warwick, N.Y. Numerous Watchtower buildings in the Heights house ministers who take vows of poverty. The renovations at 183 Columbia Heights embrace luxury rather than asceticism, Eye on Real Estate saw during a recent visit. The condos have upscale Miele, Viking and Smeg appliances and Italian marble bathrooms. The rooms are graciously proportioned and light-filled. Floors two through seven each have a single apartment. The firstfloor apartment is a duplex with lower-level space and a rear and side garden.
An interior view of a beautifully-lit apartment at 183 Columbia Heights.
Asking prices start at $1.995 million. There’s a signed contract for the seventh-floor condo, which has an asking price of $2.55 million, Gross said. It’s got killer views of the Statue of Liberty, the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. A contract is close to being signed for the apartment on the sixth floor, he said. The asking price is $2.45 million. It also has superb views. He expects the building to be ready for occupancy in January or February. There are few three-bedroom condos recently built in the Heights. As comps – comparable apartments for pricing – Elliman looked at 20 Henry St. condos, which were around $1,000 per square foot almost two years ago “in a slightly less frothy market,” Gross said. For 183 Columbia Heights, the asking prices start at $1,150 per square foot on the lower floors and are more than $1,400 per square foot on the top floors. Elliman colleagues Gregory Williamson and Jamie Mitchell share the 183 Columbia Heights marketing assignment with him.
Java Jolt? Starbucks Story Shot Down On Fulton Street By Lore Croghan INBrooklyn
It was quite the tempest in a teapot … er, coffee urn. A lawyer for Not Ray’s Pizza brewed Venti-sized agita in Fort Greene by announcing at a Com-
munity Board 2 meeting last week that Starbucks was moving into the pizzeria’s former space at 690 Fulton St. “A Starbucks in Fort Greene – that’s jumping the shark,” said a worker at Coffee Annex – one of
You’re not seeing double – the pizzeria moved to the storefront at left because the landlord wouldn’t let the tenant renew his lease for the corner location, at right, which he vacated. Photo by Lore Croghan
two indie java joints within a block of the high-visibility corner site, which has a memorial portrait of rapper Biggie Smalls over the door. The other, Hungry Ghost, is opening soon at 781 Fulton St. Now pizzeria manager Nick Krkuti tells Eye on Real Estate he fed the attorney the Starbucks story, which he thought was true – but landlord Sean Meenan, who also owns Habana Outpost across the street, has since set him straight. The storefront will house a yearround restaurant of Meenan’s, Krkuti said he was told. Habana Outpost is closed in fall and winter. Meenan did not return requests for comment by deadline. Construction workers at the site were tightlipped about what they’re building. “I don’t speak English,” one said dismissively. Pizzeria owner Rifat Memeti told Eye on Real Estate he had 16 months left on his lease when the landlord told him it wouldn’t be renewed – but he could have another space in the building, at 694 Fulton St., which he has moved into. “The business is not as good,” he lamented. “Everybody saw me on the street corner.”
2INB • INBrooklyn - Special section of Brooklyn Eagle Publications • Week of November 11-15, 2013
That’s rapper Biggie Smalls over the door of the storefront at 690 Fulton St. in Fort Greene. Photo by Lore Croghan
Book Beat
The Lover of White Sails
By Henrik Krogius INBrooklyn
Peter Stanford loves sailing ships. Who can blame him? Their white canvas geometries unfurling, billowing in the wind, catching the sunlight, are visions we can still from time to time enjoy on the East River and New York’s Upper Bay. Thanks to Stanford, who grew up in Brooklyn Heights, the son of a man who served in the U.S. Navy in both world wars, the age of sail has not entirely vanished from its New York home. That is largely because Stanford and his wife Norma on their wedding trip in 1965 got the idea for South Street Seaport Mu-
seum and then worked tirelessly to see it realized. They now tell the story in their book “A Dream of Tall Ships” (Sea History Press, Peekskill, NY, $34.95, available through www.seahistory.org). In the course of their effort to save some surviving relics of sail-powered commerce and to return them to the “Street of Ships,” as South Street was known in the 1800s, when the bowsprits of clippers, brigs and schooners projected over it at the river’s edge, Peter also became president of the then–struggling National Maritime Historical Society and had offices in the former fireboat house at Fulton Ferry Landing, now home to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. (A sidelight, not in the book, is that Peter in 1978 promoted “East River Renaissance,” a precursor to the idea of Brooklyn Bridge Park.) In their book, told in Peter’s voice, the Stanfords recount the extraordinary number of encounters they had with fellow sailing enthusiasts as well as officials and others in positions of influence. There’s an informal, day-to-day quality to the writing, suggesting extensive diary-keeping combined with terrific recall. A veteran of international sailing races, Peter also relishes tales of seamanship carried out in the course of selling the seaport idea. In one instance he describes the tense maneuvering as the schooner he’s on tries to catch enough wind in light conditions to keep from drift-
ing into some smaller fishing boats. He also tells of sailing with a crew on a square rigger into Mystic Seaport on a trip to that well–known ship museum to learn more about the maintenance of historic ships. The Mystic visit actually led to a bit of dispute, when one of the trustees there complained that the South Street venture was a potential competitor and tried to keep “Seaport” from its name. But, as it turned out, the growing interest in South Street only increased attendance at Mystic, and the unhappy trustee turned into a great friend of South Street, even helping South Street through his fundraising expertise. There was also a contretemps at an international congress in London, where a British museum director accused a San Francisco director of conspiring to steal an old tugboat, and Stanford, who was familiar with the details of the situation, set the record straight and ended up becoming friends with an influential British maritime historian. The tone of “A Dream of Tall Ships” is consistently upbeat, and the account essentially culminates with the success of Operation Sail in 1976, when on July 4th ships that the Stanfords had helped obtain for the South Street Museum, Wavertree, Peking, Ambrose, were joined at their piers by part of a large fleet of ships from the world over. By then, however, Peter Stanford had been eased out
Peter and Norma Stanford.
as the president of the enterprise. In meetings to which he was not privy, the trustees decided a new direction was needed. Yet Stanford ends the book on a non-rancorous, hopeful note. He and his wife have covered 512 pages of basic text without mentioning the coming of the Rouse Company, which had notably revived the market area around Boston’s old Faneuil Hall and successfully developed Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, but which drained most of South Street Seaport’s historic aura through a synthetic mall development. Fulton Fish Market, with its special character, is long since gone. Modern office buildings have encroached on the South Street area. The Pier 17 mall is being torn down, and is to be replaced. The future of some of the remaining historic
Photo courtesy of Sea History Press
buildings is in doubt. The Museum of the City of New York came in as a savior for the Seaport Museum a couple of years ago, only to have to give up its effort. The New-York Historical Society is being looked to as the next hope. The recent history of South Street Seaport has been nothing to cheer about. But the Stanfords gamely stick to the story of what might have been, and briefly was. The text is complemented by nostalgic images of sailing vessels and photographs of many people, including well–known performers, who in one way or another supported the seaport museum project. Henrik Krogius, the former editor of the Brooklyn Heights Press, is at work on a history of Brooklyn Bridge Park in collaboration with Joanne Witty, a key player in moving the park plans toward realization.
New Book Explores JFK As A Conservative Author To Speak in Park Slope By Samantha Samel INBrooklyn
John F. Kennedy has long been revered in liberal circles. But on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, author Ira Stoll, a former Brooklynite, suggests that JFK was not the liberal hero that many envision; rather, his tax cuts, domestic spending restraint, military buildup and emphasis on free trade all demonstrate his conservative ideals. Stoll, who recently lived in Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope for several years, will discuss his new book “JFK, Conservative” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) at Park Slope’s Congregation Beth Elohim on Nov. 18. In his book, Stoll makes the compelling case that judging by both current principles and those prevalent during JFK’s presidency, JFK was a conservative politician.
JFK certainly had a liberal appeal; he inspired Lyndon B. Johnson to push for momentous civil rights laws and his “New Frontier” program promised new spending on education and medical care for the elderly. His supporters maintain that he would have gone on to make great liberal strides had he not been assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. But Stoll, examining JFK’s politics from a retrospective angle, brings to light many conservative ideas that the president championed. Among his chief priorities were anticommunism and economic growth. He implemented tax cuts that his more liberal advisers had adamantly argued against, he fought against unions, and fought for free trade and a strong dollar. Moreover, he encouraged military buildup and sought to disseminate fiercely anticommunist sentiment around the world. While the majority of Republicans may not idolize Kennedy, Stoll convincingly argues that the president – despite his iconic status among liberals – had more in common with Republicans of the Reagan era.
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The Nov. 18 event will begin at 7:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Elohim is located at 274 Garfield Place in Park Slope. $10 suggested donation / Free for CBE members
Ira Stoll will speak in Park Slope on Nov. 18 at Congregation Beth Elohim. Photo courtesy of the author
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Ira Stoll is editor of FutureOfCapitalism.com and author of “Samuel Adams: A Life.” He was vice president and managing editor of the New York Sun, which he helped to found, from its debut in 2002 until its demise in 2008. Before that he was a consultant to the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, North American editor of the Jerusalem Post, editor of Smartertimes.com, Washington correspondent and then managing editor of the Forward, and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He is a graduate of Harvard, where he was president of the Harvard Crimson. A Brooklyn resident for 15 years, Stoll lived in Brooklyn Heights, and, until recently, in Park Slope. He now lives in Boston. Week of November 11-15, 2013 • INBrooklyn - Special section of Brooklyn Eagle Publications • 3INB
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unning On eal Estate
Alice Waters, Renowned Chef, Comes to Brooklyn P.S. 107 Brings Author To Speak And Sign Books in Park Slope
By Karen Monroe
It’s been said that sex sells. But does celebrity sell, too? Is celebrity a sexy enough reason to want to live in a home previously occupied by someone famous or where something noteworthy occurred? I suppose the answer varies depending on the individual. If we are star-struck, the answer is probably a big Hollywood yes. If we couldn’t care less about name-dropping scenes, then negative. I grew up in a small, Southern California coastal community where the who’s who of LA lived. Stars and their kids don’t wow me. Their dogs, now that’s another story. But my point is, celebrity is in the eye of the beholder. We all get excited if we are in close proximity to at least one category of celebrities, whether a super model, movie star, journalist, musician, athlete or politician. Take that to the next level – the possibility of living like they do – and that’s something to get starstruck over. Call it superstition, call it luck, call it whatever you want. But the excitement about living in a famous person’s home might stem from the subconscious desire that their success will rub off on us. Whether we’re owning or renting, celebrity homes are a curiosity, if not a downright attraction. For the super private, the attention could be a liability. The distinctive thing about famous people’s homes is how they all differ. Overstated or understated, ridiculous or tasteful, celebrities are like us in that they have their own personal living style. Here in Brooklyn, celebrity sightings occur everywhere. And celebs live here, too. Brooklyn is like the anti-Hollywood to call home. I don’t know about you, but I’d certainly like to see Paul Giamatti’s or Nora Jones’ home in the Heights, or Anne Hathaway’s pad in DUMBO. And then there are Barbara Walters, Katie Couric and other top journalists and notables who have apartments in Manhattan. Let’s not even get started on The Dakota. It’s a full-on tourist attraction. Not that my budget would be sufficient to buy or rent any celebrity home, but as a real estate salesperson, I’d love to see, list or show their homes. Sexy or not, at the end of the day, celebrity sells.
On the Run Size matters, especially when it comes to your home. If living in your home is getting cramped, and you’re at a crossroads of “love it or list it,” determining what’s right for your family and lifestyle can be a tough decision. Here are a few signs you may have outgrown your home: the oven is out of commission because that’s where you store the pots and pans or winter sweaters; door-to-door storage is a permanent fixture in front of your brownstone; removing the fireplace is the only way your family couch will fit in the living room; your bedroom closet is now your official home office; the kids take up too much space. So what to do – renovate or move? Most of us are emotionally connected to our homes: we like our location and neighbors, and want to figure out how to stay put and expand our living space. Others are eager sell and find a larger place to call home. To determine if a renovation is in the near future, and is the best use of your time and money, take a hard look at your financial situation. It’s all about the numbers. Consult your financial advisor to figure out what you can afford. Talk to an architect and contractor to discover how much your project will cost. Then evaluate your options. If you are ready, willing and able to move out and move on, go for it. Contact your trusted real estate salesperson for help listing it, and finding the next property to love. Karen Monroe practices real estate at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, 156 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. She lives in the neighborhood and represents buyers, sellers and renters in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Karen can be found walking her dogs and running the parks, paths, streets and bridges of Brooklyn and beyond. For feedback and all of your real estate needs, contact Karen at kmonroe.nyre@gmail.com.
Alice Waters, chef, author, and the proprietor of Chez Panisse, is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy that maintains that cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and locally. Waters founded the Chez Panisse Foundation in 1996 and created the Edible Schoolyard program at the Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, California. The nationally recognized program is a model for public education that instills the knowledge and values we need to build a humane and sustainable future. The affiliate program in New York City, located in Brooklyn at P.S. 216, will boast a newly designed kitchen and a four-season greenhouse in addition to a quarter-acre organic farm. Waters herself will be coming to Brooklyn to speak at a P.S. 107 program on Thursday, Nov. 21. At the event, Waters will sign copies of her latest cookbook, “The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden.” Waters serves as a public policy advocate on the national level for school lunch reform and universal access to healthy, organic foods. She is Vice President of Slow Food International and is the author of eight books. The Nov. 21 event will begin at 5:15 p.m. Waters will personalize autographs, after which a reception and tasting will be held (at 6:15 p.m.) Following, at 7:15 p.m., will be a Q & A with Waters, moderated by Michael Moss, author of “Salt, Sugar, Fat.” The event will be held at M.S. 88, located at 544 7th Ave, on the corner of 18th Street. Tickets: $65 and include an autographed copy of Waters’ new cookbook “The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden.”
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TO PROMOTE YOUR NEW BUSINESS
Brooklyn Daily Eagle July 9, 2013 • x
Retired Businessman, Navy Navigator Publishes Moving Debut Novel
Author To Speak in Cobble Hill By Samantha Samel INBrooklyn
Photo courtesy of the author
James Whitfield Thomson was not always on the path to becoming a novelist. A former sales executive and U.S. Navy navigator in Vietnam, he recently published his first novel, “Lies You Wanted to Hear,” at the age of 68. Though he didn’t begin writing until his mid-40s, Thomson has published several short stories, one of which won a national prize. Still, he never had much luck with his novel manuscripts. In fact, he says he’s
OOK BEAT
JAMES WHITFIELD THOMSON will appear at BookCourt on Nov. 19 to discuss his debut novel “Lies You Wanted to Hear.” Photo courtesy of the author Image courtesy of the author
WE DELIVER!
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whether Matt was justified in taking the children away and starting over. While both characters have faults and do terrible things to each other, Thomson poignantly depicts their humanity and readers cannot help but feel empathetic. ____________________ The Nov. 19 event will begin at 7 p.m. Whitfield Thomson will appear in conversation with Kimberly McCreight, author of “Reconstructing Amelia.” BookCourt is located at 163 Court St. in Cobble Hill. ____________________ James Whitfield Thomson is a former sales executive and U.S. Navy navigator in Vietnam. Along with Elizabeth Berg, George Packer, Christopher Tilghman, and Dennis Lehane, he was an early member of the late Andre Dubus’s writers’ workshop. He lives in Natick, Massachusetts. This is his first novel.
probably been rejected about 250 times for three novels, a memoir, and a book of short stories — all submitted through prestigious agents. But his perseverance has paid off; “Lies You Wanted to Hear” is a stunning debut that deftly considers how seemingly good people can talk themselves into making terrible choices. Already receiving widespread praise, the author will appear in Brooklyn on Nov. 19 to celebrate the launch of his novel at Cobble Hill’s BookCourt. “Lies You Wanted to Hear” follows the story of Lucy, who is still immersed in grief seven years after her two young children vanished with her ex-husband. Alone in an empty house, she tries to imagine their lives, forever tortured by her role in their tragic disappearance. While she used to be an edgy, sexy woman whom men found irresistible, she has been unable to retain her confidence and appeal. Readers soon become acquainted with Lucy in the late ’70s, when she met Matt, who became her husband and the father of her children. Matt’s narrative is interspersed with Lucy’s, and the juxtaposition of their two diverse perspectives adds a layer of depth to the story. When the two meet, Matt falls fast, while Lucy is more hesitant. She recognizes that Matt is a smarter choice than Griffin, the man with whom she’s had an intense yet unreliable relationship. Though she may not be honest with herself, Lucy wants things to work with Matt, and she marries him. But after the couple has two children, Lucy falls into a depression and their marriage begins to wither. One day, after they’ve divorced, Matt and the children vanish. Lucy, amidst her heartbreak, attempts to make sense of the events that transpired. She contemplates her role in the divorce, wondering whether she could have been better or loved him more. She even wonders Week of November 11-15, 2013 • INBrooklyn section of Brooklyn Eagle Publications INBrooklyn — Section of Brooklyn- Special Eagle/Brooklyn Heights Press • November 12-15, 2013•• 5INB 5INB
Faith in Brooklyn
Compiled by Francesca Norsen Tate
Interfaith Talk Focuses On Hope From Four Viewpoints The act of remembering, celebrating and believing touches on the ability to hope. As part of its weekly Open Beit Midrash educational series, the Kane Street Synagogue recently hosted an interfaith panel discussion on the topic of hope. The panelists, all active in interfaith relations, were Kane Street’s Rabbi Sam Weintraub, who before his 1996 appointment at the congregation served as Interfaith Fellow at the American Jewish Committee; Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, president of the Buddhist Council of New York and author of “Diary of a Manhattan Monk”; Dr. Sarah Sayeed, director of community partnerships at the Interfaith Center and a board member of Women in Islam, Inc.; and the Rev. Stephen Muncie, rector of Grace Church-Brooklyn Heights, an Episcopal parish. Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, director of education programs at the Interfaith Center, moderated the discussion. Goldschmidt, in his opening remarks, said, “Hope is flowing in so many different parts of our everyday lives, as New Yorkers still recovering a year after Hurricane Sandy, and looking ahead hopefully as to the future of our city, as people of faith in our various communities; as Americans hoping for something productive to come out of Washington DC; as parents thinking about our children growing up; and as children growing up. In all these different ways, hope is such a part of the fabric of our everyday lives, in ways that we don’t usually stop and think and talk about. Just on a human level, this is great grounds for conversation.” The first panelist, Dr. Sarah Sayeed, began her presentation with a story about the Prophet Mohammed. “[H]ope, within the Muslim
context, and probably for other faith traditions as well, is the connection between the human and the divine, and for Muslims, in life and death, between what endures and what is impermanent,” she pointed out. Hope in the Muslim context is seen as a gift from God. “The best goal that Muslims are to work for is to have a felicitous meeting with God in the hereafter.” Moreover, she explained, “Hope is connected with faith: A person who has faith and knows about God is the one who is hopeful.” Islam cautions about inordinate and false hope—living in a way in which one is oblivious to the hereafter, or “clinging to sense that life is permanent and goes on forever – that would block you from [being open to or unworthy of] the hereafter.” In Muslim context, “No one is guaranteed that they are going to enter heaven. And while we must always hope for God, we must hope for the mercy of God,” Dr. Sayeed explained. She concluded her talk with a metaphor from one of the Hadiths from an Islamic scholar. The kitabbun.com website attributes this work to Ibn Al-Qayyim, Madarij al-Salikin as part of an anthology of Muslim writers: “The heart is like a bird: love at its head and its two wings are hope and fear.” Presenting the Jewish perspective on hope, Rabbi Sam Weintraub said, “We are encouraged to think about a future that will be radically different and radically more perfect than the world today. Maimonides described this as ‘a world where oppressive hierarchies are gone…where inequality is gone, where falsehood and war and poverty are removed from the world, where people can study Torah with no obsta-
cles, where the righteous are rewarded, they’re not persecuted, where Israel can be restored to its homeland, where truth and goodness rule…’ etc.” He then presented five elements in Judaism that he believes sustain such hope: Righteous conduct “that we really try to express taking our hopes, aspiration, our thoughts, and putting them into actions in the real world. The Torah has hundreds of these commandments whose goal is really to eradicate inequality. Judaism sought to put compassion into work in social relations. Just as on a spiritual level, we believe that all souls come from One Soul, so, on economic and social levels we are all cells sharing one organism. The Rabbis therefore put into practice Gemilut Chasadim, an intricate web of laws and relations promoting lovingkindness. By mandating and institutionalizing the practices of say, visiting the sick or comforting mourners, or extending hospitality to wayfarers or generous loans to the impoverished, the Rabbis built a web of mutuality, reciprocity and loving-
kindness in society.” Rabbi Weintraub said of the second element, “I think our hope is sustained by encouraging a great tolerance of contradiction. There is a great gap in what we see in the world and what we aspire to, what we hope for, what we pray for. We pray for redemption, and wholeness and peace, and we look around the world and we see a great deal of inconsistency and contradiction. I think one of the things I’m most proud of in my heritage is that rather than try to deny or remove that sense of contradiction, the rabbinic tradition really tries to embrace it—to say it’s okay to live with that paradox all that time.” He pointed out in the third element the emphasis on time—the noting of the hours of the day and the week, “apart from helping us to stop and reflect on the source of our blessings, is also a way to let people know that, as we move on in life, our time is not being defeated. We don’t have to be worried about the march of our years. Everyone is filled with precious and spiritual possibilities. Likewise, the Amidah is the climax and center of the daily prayer service. In the Amidah, we pray for personal: faith, wisdom, health, sustenance, justice. But as we pray for those personal things, we are reminded of the purity of our origins, and reminded of the Messianic future, when these blessings will be fully realized. So our personal prayers draw us out into this perfect, Messianic future.” The fifth element, said Rabbi Weintraub, is eternal hopefulness: “The idea that the Messiah [is] associated with this perfect, whole, just, peaceful time of bliss. I speak about it that way. There is a sense, though, that this Messianic era, person, being, could come at any time. So every person has to live with the sense—today—that I
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Moderator Henry Goldschmidt (at left) shares one of many of the evening’s humorous notes with panelists, Dr. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, Fr. Steve Muncie, Rabbi Sam Weintraub and Dr. Sarah Sayeed. Photo by Francesca Norsen Tate
have a responsibility for the coming of this Messiah. No matter what we see around us, corruption, oppression, that we contain the seeds of the Messiah. Any one of us might be the Messiah!” The Rev. Stephen Muncie dovetailed on Rabbi Weintraub’s presentation. “The Christian tradition owes everything to our Jewish mothers and fathers. The Hebrew scriptures undergird so much of what the Christian tradition has embraced and still find meaningful.” Quoting Isaiah 11:6, Fr. Muncie said, “‘The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.’ And of course, we had read that into those texts, that little child, as the long-awaited Messiah who is, for the Christian tradition, personified in Jesus. Which means, that, for Christians, Christ is the hope. And that this personified hope, Jesus and Israel’s Messiah, has put this in a very tense and creative place. Tense, in the sense that we are elaborating hope in terms of Israel’s tradition and our own; and our own experience as a faith community that the Messiah
has come and the world has not changed. So, two thousand years of Christian history is an ongoing struggle with what is the meaning of hope in this present time?” Dr. Nakagaki, whose perspective is from a non-Abrahamic tradition, said that hope was an interesting new concept for him. Injecting humor frequently into his remarks, he explained that Buddhism talks about the person’s presence “here” and not “there.” Mindfulness, in the present, is a central part of Buddhist meditation and living practice, including in the details of how one takes food—in contrast with American society’s rush approach, for example. “Buddhism is also about opening one’s mind to the truth: acceptance of one’s reality, of who you are,” said Dr. Nakagaki. “Instead of hope, Buddhists aim to be free from suffering, grief, avarice and self-centeredness.” The forum was then opened to questions, ranging from happiness, suffering and redemption, the hope of earning money, providing well for one’s family, and choosing a value system that is at odds with a materialistic society.
Grace Church School Established in 1928, Grace Church School is a non-sectarian school that serves 140 children ranging in age from 2 to 6 years old in an early childhood program noted for its emphasis on the whole child. The school encourages every child to grow at his or her own pace in a multi-sensory learning environment. The development of character and of ethical and social values is an integral part of the school's philosophy. The school also has a Together Time Program for toddlers, age 16 to 24 months, which encourages children, accompanied by a parent or caregiver, to enjoy appropriate activities supervised by an Early Childhood Specialist. They also have a Wednesday afternoon music program for toddlers. Our New Mother's Support Group is led by a clinical psychologist and meets for six eightweek sessions throughout the school year to encourage first time mothers to become comfortable with their new parental role. Parents interested in a tour of Grace Church School should call for an appointment after September. Applications for admission are available following a tour of the school. For tour information, please call (718) 624-4030.
aith in Brooklyn F ‘Miracles with Music’ Will Benefit Bereavement Conference Offers Compiled by Francesca Norsen Tate
Baraka Women’s Center in Kenya Workshops, Music on Healing
The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church hosts “Miracles with Music,” a concert to benefit the Baraka Women’s Center in Nairobi, Kenya. The 8 p.m. concert on Tuesday, Nov. 19 will feature the music of David Amram, award winning symphonic composer; Sanford Allen, Clarion Concerts; David Wechsler, Omni Ensemble; and Heidi Upton, St. John’s University and the Lafayette Inspirational Ensemble directed by Janis Russell. The featured artist, David
Amram, has collaborated with such diverse artists as Lyle Lovett, Johnny Depp, Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, and Thelonious Monk. He served as artist-in-residence at the International Council of Churches gathering in Kenya, and among his works is a variation of a Kenyan folk song which will be performed by an orchestra and choir on the night of the concert. The Baraka (which means Blessings in Kiswahili) Women’s Center, in a section of Nairobi, Kenya that ranks
as one of the world’s largest slums, is empowering women to write business plans and has created a revolving fund for micro-loans to support the women’s new or expanding ventures. Ticket prices: $30 advance sale / $35 at door, or, for those who want to arrive early to meet the artists and share some wine and African inspired food at 6:30pm: $100. For ticket purchases, visit www.womenscentersintl. org.Readers with further questions may send an e-mail to: outreach@brooklynpeace.org
‘Other Israel Film Festival’ Explores Relations Between Israelis and Arabs
Congregation Beth Elohim is one of the host venues around New York City for the Other Israel Film Festival. On view at the Congregation will be a collection of short films for the whole family on the topic of Arabs in Israel. The growing synagogue in Park Slope has been a local pioneer for events and discussions bringing together Jews, Arabs and Muslims. The Other Israel Film Festival uses film to foster social awareness and cultural understanding. The festival presents dramatic and documentary films created by emerging and established director, as well as engaging
panels about history, culture, and identity on the topic of minority populations in Israel with a focus on Arab citizens, or Israel/Palestinian Citizens of Israel, who make up twenty percent of Israel’s population. The goal of the festival is to promote awareness and appreciation of the diversity of the state of Israel, provide a dynamic and inclusive forum for exploration of, and dialogue about populations in margins of Israeli society, and encourage cinematic expression and creativity dealing with these themes. In this family friendly selection of new short films, Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen
tell the story of a man trying to cross a checkpoint with his donkey, two kids fight over Batman, a boy attempts to play soccer with kids from the other side, and One Voice presents two films with a vision of Israel in 2018. Tickets can be purchased online via http://www.otherisrael.org/films#.UoJxWPmTguD. The films being shown at Congregation Beth Elohim are part of the film festival’s wider offering. Some of the other thought-provoking films are being shown at Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill and at Manhattan venues, including the Jewish Community Center.
Workshop Invites Participants: ‘Open Your Heart to Prayer’
As part of its Christian Spiritual Development program, Plymouth Church hosts a workshop titled, “Open Your Heart to Prayer.” Carl Hodges, a licensed therapist and teacher of psychotherapy, and experienced Plymouth CSD leader, will facilitate a workshop inviting participants to see prayer as a relationship with God.
Opening oneself to prayer can be both easy and hard, and this workshop aims to facilitate that process. The class will explore how to be in prayer and be comfortable in praying. Different ways of praying will be discussed: praying for oneself, for others, alone, and with others. Participants will also consider how prayer works for those we know and those we
don’t know, including those for whom it is hard to pray. The group will also celebrate different aspects of prayer— thanks, worship, praise, faith, help, connection, and changing the world. The Workshop on Prayer takes place Sunday, Nov. 24, at 12:30 in the Reception Room. This event is free of charge and open to the community.
(Left to Right): The Bereavement Conference Committee Members: Mary Ann Dantuono, Associate Director, Vincentian Center for Church and Society, St. John’s University; Sr. Margaret John Kelly, D.C., Ph.D., Executive Director of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society, St. John’s University; Carlos A. Balcarcel, Sales Manager, Catholic Cemeteries; Josefa Castro, Community Project Director, Queens North, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens; Ingrid Seunarine, M.FT., Director, Bereavement Services, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens; Nina Valmonte, Director, Parish and Community Outreach and Services, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens; Sr. Ellen Patricia Finn, OP, M.E.d., LMSW, Deputy Executive Director, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens; Stephen N. Comando, Executive Director of Catholic Cemeteries Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities-Brooklyn and Queens
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens co-sponsored its second-annual Bereavement Conference last Saturday at St. John’s University in Queens. Themed “Journey to Healing: We Remember; We Celebrate; We Believe,” the conference was a joint partnership of Catholic Charities, Catholic Cemeteries, Diocese of Brooklyn; and the Vincentian Center for Church & Society at St. John’s University. The afternoon conference, which brought in approximately 240 attendees, was hosted at St. John’s University’s D’Angelo Center, and offered various workshops on such topics as spousal loss, men and grief, art and grief, trauma and caregivers, among others. The workshop concluded with a Mass, with the Most Reverend Paul R. Sanchez, DD, Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, presiding. The Mass was celebrated at St. Thomas More Church on St. John’s University’s Great Lawn. A committee of members from Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, Catholic Cemeteries and St. John’s University, works for months helping to put together this conference. Last year’s conference was canceled due to the effects of Su-
perstorm Sandy and the need for assistance elsewhere. Additionally, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens sent volunteers from the agency to reach out to those attending the conference with information regarding all of our human service programs. The opening guest speaker was Sidney Callahan, Ph. D., a licensed psychologist and Distinguished Scholar at The Hastings Center, a pioneering bioethics center. She is also the author of the Christopher Award-winning book “With All Our Hearts and Minds: The Spiritual Works of Mercy in a Psychological Age and Created for Joy: A Christian View of Suffering” and was the Paul J. McKeever Chair of Moral Theology at St. John’s University. The closing guest speaker was Paul Alexander, LCSW, a psychotherapist with a private practice for adults and children. He blends this work with his gift of music. As a singer, songwriter, psychotherapist, author, actor and performing artist he has shared his music and message of hope throughout the United States and Canada, according to his website, www. griefsong.com. “We were extremely happy with the turnout at this year’s conference,” remarked
Seunarine. “It was a huge success enabled by our organizers, featured speakers and workshops. The attendees really got to experience this year’s theme of ‘We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe,’ starting with Dr. Callahan and her theological reflection and exploration of seeking meaning in the loss. This continued throughout the day with the various presenters and their expertise that was illustrated in their workshops. The day ended in a crescendo with Paul Alexander’s ‘Maintaining the Connection and Tribute to Life and the Legacy’ musical presentation. There was a beautiful end to the day as we were spiritually fed with the body of Christ at the liturgy of the Mass.” Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens Office of Bereavement Ministry serves bereaved individuals regardless of faith or culture. Bereavement Services are offered individually on a one-on-one basis as well as in a support group setting. There are approximately 40 Bereavement Support Groups located within the parishes of the Diocese. For parish locations, contact Ingrid Seunarine at 718-722-6214 or iseunarine@ccbq.org.
Plymouth Church Offers Next Set of New Members Classes
Plymouth Church’s New Member Class meets Nov. 17 and 24. The landmark church welcomes those interested in becoming members of Plymouth to participate in its Fall 2013 New Member class. Class sessions will be held on Sundays, Nov. 17 and 24 at 9:30
a.m. in the Reception Room (enter at 75 Hicks Street). Prospective members should plan to attend both sessions (make-up sessions for those unable to attend one or both meetings will be scheduled). A light breakfast will be served, and childcare provided. At the worship ser-
vice on Dec. 8, Plymouth will welcome new members into the congregation as all members “own” the covenant in unison as a community. For more information, and to reserve a place at our New Member Class, please contact Amy Talcott at the Plymouth Church office: 718-624-4743.
The D’Angelo Center at St. John’s University in Queens. The university, run by the Catholic Vincentian order, has close bonds to Brooklyn, having been established the Borough of Churches. For many years, the St. John’s campus was situated on Schermerhorn Street. Photo by Francesca Norsen Tate
Week of November 11-15, 2013 • INBrooklyn - Special section of Brooklyn Eagle Publications • 7INB
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Talk to anyone you know about their favorite Christmas movies, and “Miracle on 34th Street,” will be at or near the top of the list. The 1947 film starred Maureen O’Hara, Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn, and John Payne and is considered a classic. But did you know that there was also a musical version of the iconic story about the Macy’s department store Santa Claus who turns out to be the real thing? In the early 1960s, a musical version of “Miracle on 34th Street” with a score by Meredith Wilson of “The Music Man” fame played on Broadway. The Narrows Community Theater, a Bay Ridge based nonprofit theater company, is mounting a production of the littleknown musical as an early Christmas treat for audiences. “Miracle on 34th Street” will be presented on two weekends, Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and Dec. 6-8 at the Fort Hamilton Army Base
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Narrows Community Theater Presents Stage Version of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ Theater. The fort’s entrance is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and 101st Street. The base’s second entrance, at Seventh Avenue and Poly Place, will be open on performance days, but only for those entering the base on foot. Narrows Community Theater officials advise that audience members should bring a photo ID with them, since that is required to enter the military base. The musical version of “Miracle on 34th Street” features the same basic story line as the movie: a warm, friendly Macy’s Santa named Kris Kringle claims to be the real Santa Claus and touches the lives of all around him, including Doris Walker, a divorced, cynical woman played by O’Hara in the 1947 film, and her daughter Susan (played by Wood), who come to believe in him and believe in Christmas. Gwynn won an Oscar for his performance as Kris Kringle. Seen here, left-right, are Michael Blake as Kris Kringle, Karen Payne played O’Hara’s love Mascolo as Doris Walker and Cassidy Mullin, understudy for Photo courtesy of Mijola Photography interest, the lawyer who proves Susan Walker.
8INB • INBrooklyn—Special Section of of Brooklyn Eagle Publications • Week of November 11-15, 2013 8INB INBrooklyn - Special section Brooklyn Eagle Publications • Week of November 11-15, 2013
in court that Kringle is indeed the real Santa Claus. But the musical, which contains numbers like “Here’s Love,” “The Toy Ballet” and “That Man Over There is Santa Claus,” differs from the original in many respects, according to Alex Amarosa, who is directing the Narrows production. “The story is familiar, but the music is not really familiar to the audience,” Amarosa told INBrooklyn. “The most well known song in here is ‘It’s Beginning to Look A Lot like Christmas,’ which plays for only two minutes,” he said, adding that audience members will feel like they’re seeing a brand new musical. “The show was written 16 years after the movie,” Amarosa said. “The musical premiered in October of 1963. I have moved the action to 1964,” he said. Instead of a 1940s, post-World War II New York, this version is set in 1964, a time when the Beatles first came to America and the
nation was starting to come out of its grief over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. “In reality, this story is timeless. It could be set at any point in time,” Amarosa said. He described the musical as family friendly entertainment. According to his biography on the website of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Wilson was heavily influenced by the military music of John Philip Sousa. This is perhaps why “The Music Man” has a marching band sound. Similarly, “Miracle on 34th Street” starts off with a rousing, 10-minute long opening number set at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that should have people tapping their toes. This production stars Michael Blake as Kris Kringle, Karen Mascolo as Doris Walker, Dalles Wilie as the lawyer who represents Kringle in court (and becomes Doris’s love interest) and Mariana Weaver and Lucy Sullivan, who will alternate playing Susan.