BENSONHURST'S PREMIER NEWS BLOG

Source: BrokenSphere via WIkimedia Commons

Styrofoam is perhaps one of the most space-aged products mankind has ever invented. But, though the stuff is soft, lightweight and relatively durable, its also a dangerous environmental hazard. Because of this, the Sanitation Department is looking for a city-wide ban on the product, according to a report by DNA Info.

The legislation being proposed would place the focus of the ban on businesses and not consumers.

“This would not be something that the consumer would have to deal with,” said deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability Ron Gonen, “From a pure dollars-and-cents standpoint, it costs us money to dispose of Styrofoam in a landfill. It’s also unhealthy for the environment. It doesn’t break down properly.”

Instead, the ban would fine or heavily tax businesses that continue to order and distribute Styrofoam in large quantities, forcing them to find more environmentally favorable alternatives.

“We’re either going to ban your product or packaging, or make you pay to have it sent to a landfill,” Gonen said.

Councilman Lew Fidler, who had expressed support for a ban in the past, reaffirmed his support for the new ban proposal.

“I would love to move this bill forward, as it would be a help to both our environment and to our businesses through tax incentives,” Fidler said in a released statement.

thekingsmanpaper.com

From the offices of Council Members Lew Fidler and David Greenfield:

Council Members Lew Fidler and David Greenfield, along with several of their Council colleagues representing diverse backgrounds and parts of the City, mailed a letter today to the President of Brooklyn College, Karen Gould, objecting to her school hosting and ‘co-sponsoring’ a “BDS Movement Against Israel” event, on February 7^th. The Council Members criticized the school for officially supporting viewpoints they described as “either anti-semitic or simply ignorant” and that “promote the worst kind of hate.”

At this event, the boycotting, divestment and sanctioning of Israel will be called for. Two of the invited speakers reportedly have a history of troubling and hateful statements, such as equating Israelis with Nazis and describing the terrorist organizations of Hamas and Hezbollah as socially progressive movements. Even worse, the event lists Brooklyn College’s Political Science Department as an official “co-sponsor” of the event, giving it a stamp of legitimacy and official approval that such a wrongful event does not deserve.

Councilman Fidler said, “I understand the right of students to express their various viewpoints, no matter how much I may disagree with them. A line is crossed, however, when the school itself is painting a veneer of legitimacy over something that is so clearly offensive to me and to so many of the people in our community. This event is wrong, their viewpoint is wrong and the event being co-sponsored by school itself is doubly wrong.”

“I share the anger and shock of many of my constituents and colleagues who are appalled that Brooklyn College would deem it appropriate to sponsor and host this type of hateful, offensive event. I am especially disappointed in the lack of judgment from Brooklyn College’s administration. Institutions like Brooklyn College that rely on public funding and support must ensure they do not serve as an outlet for groups spreading divisive, odious anti-Israel messages,” said Councilman Greenfield.

The CUNY schools, including Brooklyn College, heavily rely on funding from the tax dollars of the State and City of New York. Every year these schools ask their local legislators for additional funding to support programs and events. The Council Members expressed their belief that events such as this one are not what the taxpayers of New York City – many of whom would feel demonized and targeted by this event – would want their tax dollars spent on.

The Council Members have called on President Gould to either cancel this event or remove any official sponsorship or support.

Source: googly via Flickr

From the offices of Councilman David Greenfield and Councilman Lew Fidler:

In light of the ongoing school bus drivers strike that has forced 152,000 public and private school children to find alternate routes to and from school, Councilman David G. Greenfield and Councilman Lew Fidler are renewing their call for New York City to institute a pilot transportation voucher program to help reduce the cost of pupil transit and improve services for students based on their school’s specific schedule. This would allow parents to choose a bus service that best fits their child’s needs and schedule, including door-to-door delivery and extended busing hours to match later school days in yeshivas.

Currently, more than one-third of all city school bus routes serve at least one non-public school, and tens of thousands of yeshiva and other private school students rely on the city for yellow school bus service. Meanwhile, the cost of transporting students has skyrocketed in recent years and now stands at $1.1 billion. With that in mind, Greenfield and Fidler recently wrote to Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm to follow up on a request they made during a City Council Education Committee hearing last fall for the city to institute a transportation voucher program.

New York City currently spends about $7,000 a year to transport each student to and from school, the highest per-pupil rate of any school district in the nation. Under the plan that Councilman Greenfield and Councilman Fidler are proposing, the city would save millions of dollars each year in student transit costs while providing schools with better, more reliable service. The proposal would have the city providing a flat rate vouchers at half the current cost for parents to choose their own transportation provider. In their January 9 letter to Deputy Chancellor Grimm, Council Members Greenfield and Fidler note that “with bids being put out for school bus contracts and with the DOE trying to lower the costs of school bus transportation, it is an ideal time to consider the benefits our proposal can bring.”

Councilman Greenfield has advocated for a transportation voucher program for parents of private and public school children since he ran for office in 2010. As soon as Greenfield entered office, he met with current Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, who at the time was Deputy Mayor for Education, about his proposal for a school transportation voucher program. Greenfield has since followed up on this plan with other senior administration officials. Councilman Fidler has staunchly supported such efforts as a City Council member representing southern Brooklyn.

“It was clear before this drivers strike that the city’s system for busing students needs to be completely overhauled, and the strike is only magnifying that fact. That’s why I have asked the Department of Education to institute a transportation voucher system that allows parents to directly contract with bus companies to better meet their specific child’s needs at half the current cost. This will save the city money while increasing the level of service for students, and is something that should have been instated long before this strike disrupted the education of thousands of children,” said Councilman Greenfield.

“Since the DOE has sent school bus contracts out for competitive bidding, now would be the appropriate time to at least look into a pilot program for yeshiva school busing.  The existing contract structure does not work well for yeshivot. The program that Councilman Greenfield and I have suggested would improve service and save taxpayers’ money at the same time,” said Councilman Fidler.

An HCS-organized senior health fair earlier this month. (Source: HCS)

We told you on Tuesday about the Bensonhurst annex of the Homecrest Community Services senior center, and that it is now the first publicly-funded senior center focused on the unique needs of the Asian-American community. On Monday, State Senator Martin Golden, New York City Department for the Aging Commissioner Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, and officials of Homecrest Community Services, held a press conference to celebrate the announcement.

Now a slew of Brooklyn-based City Council members responsible for obtaining the funding are celebrating the victory with a collective “Hoorah!”

Oh, and they’re dishing a little on Golden’s publicity-hogging press conference.

Continue Reading »

Source: Sheepshead Bites. Storobin (l) and Fidler (r).

The allegations of fraud that came forward during the State Senate District 27 special election between Democrat Lew Fidler and Republican David Storobin were a call to action for Assemblyman William Colton. He decided to put forth a bill to better regulate absentee voting.

The bill was recently introduced and is waiting for Senate sponsorship.

Colton said this bill would clear things up for future elections, “This is a second layer of protection to avoid possible fraud and confusion in the counting of ballots,” he told the New York Daily News.

The legislation states that election officials will have to make a note in front of a voter’s name if a voter requests an absentee ballot. Then, if the voter shows up at a polling place, they would not be allowed to vote in person. They can only vote through an absentee ballot.

In the race for Carl Kruger’s seat, absentee voter fraud allegations came to the forefront of the election. Fidler’s camp claimed that a Storobin staff member included both absentee and in-person ballots from voters.

Colton aims to create a definitive end for this controversial situation.

Source: Patty Sue O'Hair-Vicknair/Flickr

Bensonhurst-area City Councilman are all in support of a resolution from Flatbush Councilman Jumaane Williams urging the mayor to throw a ticker-tape parade for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan military conflicts.

Our sister site Sheepshead Bites queried most of Southern Brooklyn’s legislators to see where they stand on the effort, and they all stated support. For those in the Bensonhurst area, here’s what our reps had to say:

“I cannot think of a group that is more deserving of being honored with a parade down the Canyon of Heroes than the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Councilman David G. Greenfield. “We owe our freedom to these brave men and women and they deserve to be recognized and thanked for their service.”

Councilman Vincent J. Gentile, representing Bay Ridge and parts of Bensonhurst, also agreed with Williams – stating priorities must be changed. Gentile stated sports teams are honored at large every year, but veterans do not receive the welcome home they deserve.

“Are [veterans] not the real giants here?” said Gentile. “Not only is it the right thing to do and it’s the least we can do for these brave men and women to honor the sacrifices they’ve made to protect our freedom abroad.”

Domenic M. Recchia Jr., the councilman for Coney Island and Gravesend, stated he supported Councilman William’s proposition “100 percent.”

Ultimately, the decision to have a parade rests with Mayor Bloomberg, who is holding off at the request of the Pentagon, which said New York City should wait until all veterans have returned safely.

The contentious race for disgraced local pol Carl Kruger’s former state senate seat – which represents a district that will no longer exist at the end of the year due to redistricting – is still undecided more than two weeks after the March 20, special election.

In the latest twist, Councilman Fidler’s campaign – which has unofficially pulled ahead based on the recommendations of a panel of judges – is alleging voter fraud by a Storobin consultant. Continue Reading »

Source: nysenate.gov

State Senator Diane Savino thinks the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) dropped the ball in what should have been an easy lay up of a senate race between Democratic City Councilman Lew Fidler and Republican attorney David Sorobin.

Savino, a former co-chair of the DSCC, made her opinion public in an article posted late yesterday by Times Union political blogger Jimmy Veilkind.

The two major sources of Savino’s scorn? DSCC Chairman Mike Gianaris and Democrat go-to election consultants the Parkside Group – which she did not refer to by name. The Parkside Group had run David Weprin’s unsuccessful Congressional bid against Republican Bob Turner. Continue Reading »

While State Senate District 27 includes just a small portion of our coverage area, we wanted to give our readers some background on the election, as well as an update on its outcome (or lack thereof).

Yesterday’s contentious special election for State Senator ended with both sides declaring victory in a race that’s still too close to call. Continue Reading »

This morning, I passed by P.S. 226 on 23rd Avenue, which is in State Senate District 27, and hosting a Special Election today in order to decide who will replace Carl Kruger.

The race pits Democratic City Councilman Lew Fidler against Republican attorney David Storobin.

While the winner will only serve eight months due to redistricting, it’s important to make every voice heard, especially in the face of what our editor Ned Berke describes as “a klustersuck of identity warfare, dividing or alienating significant portions of this community.”

So how do you find out if you live in District 27???

Why, simply click on this handy-dandy district double-checker, my friend!