72nd Community Council Meeting on Tuesday (bring a card!)

In addition to letting residents know about the state of the precinct regarding crimes and misdemeanors, this month's 72nd Community Council meeting could be a chance to send some support overseas to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sara Gonzalez' office is collecting cards of support and happy wishes to send over to USA troops serving right now. Children are encouraged to create their own cards that wish soldiers well. You can bring them to the Community Council meeting at 7:30 PM meeting on Tuesday at the Marien Heim Houses on 45th and 4th. If you can't make that, I'm sure you can drop cards off at the offices of Sara Gonzalez on 56th Street at 5th Avenue. Call 718-439-9012 to double-check before bringing them over.

Links for a Lazy Thursday

First the fun stuff: Eating in Translation has licuados from Tonny's.

Then the weird stuff: Our Velazquez is giving money to Brooklyn Heights for lamps? (They are really pretty lamps.)

Now the disgruntled (on my part) stuff: Lutheran provides authentic Chinese meals for patients in the Chinese unit. Why disgruntled? Because when I was there, I had to send my husband out to supplement the bread I got for breakfast. Apparently a vegetarian breakfast is very tough. I wasn't asking for vegan. Yoghurt? Eggs? A PB & J? Something PROTEIN that never had a face to help recover from surgery. Hello? And never mind about the lunch or dinner. I mean, it's not big deal, but I'm still a tad disgruntled. (That, and I like the word disgruntled.)

Links: The Producers, Ba Xuyen (again), and Gonzalez Challenged

1. For $25 you can see The Producers starting next weekend. Travel down to 92nd and 7th (in Bay Ridge, not Manhattan) for the Bay Ridge Community Theatre's presentation of Mel Brooks' wildly popular musical. Tickets are available here.

from The Brooklyn Eagle's article:

The Producers will be lead by stage veterans Danny Velez as “Leo Bloom” and Tom Kane as “Max Bialystock.” Sunday was the orchestra’s third rehearsal, and its first rehearsal with the full cast. Despite what Tadross described as “hilarious” rehearsals during the early weeks, “everything is ready but the timing,” Samaha said on Friday.


2. Once again, Ba Xuyen is featured in a Banh Mi article. It's Serious Eats, and this time there is a review of specific sandwiches. If you've never tried one, this article will take you by the hand and make your mouth water. (Unless you're a vegetarian, in which case you can ask for a sandwich with just the veggies for about $2.25 - $2.75 - depending on who is working the register.)

*By the way, they call it Borough Park in the article, or at least in the site address, but 8th Avenue is Sunset Park on its west side and Borough Park on its east side. Ba Xuyen is on the west side, so there.

3. David Galarza announced a run for Gonzalez' seat in 38th District. Galarza was mentioned on BViB in regards to the anti-sex-shop rally. I've since learned that he is no longer an active member of SPAN. Read The Brooklyn Eagle article here.

from the article:

Among those there in support of Galarza, a former Community Board 7 member who helped initiate the Sunset Park Alliance of Neighborhoods (SPAN), was neighboring City Council candidate Josh Skaller, who praised Galarza’s “goals and vision.” Skaller is one of seven candidates running to replace outgoing CD-39 Councilman Bill de Blasio.

Another well-known supporter attending was John Miniaci Jr., co-owner of the popular Johnny’s Pizzeria on Fifth Avenue. “David is a sincere person we can trust who truly cares for Sunset Park,” Miniaci said.

Re-Zoning 8th Avenue and a Possible Sunset Waterfront Container Port

Gonzalez and rezoning both sides of 8th Avenue.
from the Brooklyn Eagle article:

Both sides of Eighth Avenue from 39th to 60th streets will undergo a zoning study immediately following completion of the rezoning of Sunset Park currently taking place. Commissioner Burden informed Councilwoman González that the Sunset Park Rezoning Plan is expected to be certified in March.

Columbia Street activity may move to Sunset Park.

from the Brooklyn Eagle editorial:

The emotional desire for some to hold on to the Columbia Street piers to keep the old days around is charming but impractical. A working Brooklyn waterfront does not mean the work has to be unloading cargo.

That kind of working waterfront should be located where the work makes sense as well as money. And when you’re talking about a an honest-to-God container port in Sunset Park, you have to also talk about an honest-to-God rail freight tunnel from New Jersey or Staten Island.

Oops! Our Sara Gonzalez Gets a Warning for Misused Letterhead

According to NY1 News, Sara Gonzalez received a sanitation violation at her personal residence and sent a letter, on official letterhead, asking the Environmental Control Board to rescind the violation. Read the brief article and watch the clip here.

The real question, however, is: What was the sanitation violation for which she received a ticket? I'd think it had to be pretty major to warrant an "official" letter rather than just a check for messy garbage.

More Information About Sunset Park's Renovations

Gowanus Lounge has some additional detail about the renovations planned for the park in the relatively near future. See what they say here.

Even though GL says that the walking tour Gonzalez took with the Parks Commish was this week, according to a letter dated the 20th of August (referenced in the recent playground post), the walkthrough was a few weeks ago. Perhaps she took more than one walk?

Let's hope that the renovations go through as expected and promised, and let's hope that those who care for and use the park will treat it with respect so as to enjoy the renovations for a long time.

Playground Updates, part 2: Hope for the Future

Several Sunset Park parents have been actively working towards a better playground for local children. Along the way, there is some good news that hasn't yet gotten out to the community in full force. The playground, and much of the park, is set to get a total overhaul by the summer of 2010. Some of the general park renovations have already been completed - repaving of the 44th Street side, some benches replaced, a new bike rack, new plants/trees planted - and some future renovations include park building renovations (does this mean the bathroom will have consistently working sinks?) and, of course, the playground.

According to a letter one parent received from Sara González, here are some things we can look forward to:

The playground will be completely renovated, updated, and modernized. There will be space for mini soccer and little league baseball, new fencing, new paint, and all of the other amenities you would expect in one of the City’s best parks. Also, the synthetic turf will not consist of crushed tire, but rather a different, cooler product that will ensure there is no overheating of the ground our children are playing on. These renovations are expected to be complete by 2010.

On the phone with one of our parents, Michael Schweinsburg, Gonzalez' communications director, confirmed that the playground's new surfacing and equipment are included in the overall renovation of Sunset Park. According to Mr. Schweinsburg, the plans and/or a schedule for this renovation can be viewed at the Recreation Center. Guess we'll be checking that out.

Sometime this fall, the Request for Proposal will go out, and then bids will be accepted from construction companies. Once a bid has been accepted, we can expect to see work beginning.

In addition, to alleviate the over-crowding in the Sunset Park playground, the local school playgrounds will be open for general public use during the summer of 2009. My impression was that the playgrounds are supposed to be open to the public when school is out anyway, but it's great to have that "officially" confirmed.

It all sounds lovely, and what's left for concerned parents to do? Well, getting a look at the proposed plans and continuing to alert local officials and 311 about dangerous and just gross situations in the playground and park will still be important. Although not an unusual time-line for City plans, two years is a long time to wait for a pleasant and safe play area for our children.

Thank you to the parents who have given up their time to check up on this situation and help us all to be productive gadflies for the benefit for all of our community's children.

Playground Updates, part 1: Current State of the Playground

After all the complaining I've done about the dirt and the feces and the trash and the smokers and the random adults hanging out on the benches and (literally) hanging on the equipment, I still bring my child to the playground. However, it's never a carefree visit and I've become a hovering parent. I mean, I never know what he'll find on the equipment (corncobs are gross enough, but used tissues and bottles of mystery liquid? Ugh.), and he now knows the word for trash in three languages. He's also started saying "Bah Fui" when he sees something that he knows I think is gross. Cute enough, but really sad, too.

In addition to the trashy stuff, here are some other updates to the condition of the playground. These photos were taken on Sunday.




These photos are of two different tiles that represent some of the safety tiles that get hot when it's a bright, sunny, steamy day. Apparently, they too agree that they should be removed and replaced; they are attempting to escape. The problem with this is, of course, that they are very easily tripped over by both little feet and larger feet that chase the little feet. I witnessed an older man trip (but not fall, happily) over the top photo's tile.

Here's an example of a tile that did escape. It left behind the lovely remains of a large moth as well as some mystery chips of either glass or hard plastic. This former tile space is not far from another tile that is loose enough that stepping on it brings up stagnant, dark water from the bowels of whatever is beneath the playground. Mmmmmmm.

Another concern in the playground is the rust. Now, my kid has had his tetanus shots, yet it's concerning on a variety of levels. Take a look at the huge chips of rust that are coming off. I had a wide variety of choice in areas of rust to photograph. I liked this one for the blue/reddish-brown contrast. Pretty, right? This happens to be on the floor level, but there are plenty of rusted areas that come in more regular contact with little hands (and sometimes mouths). Ick.

Playground Despair and Possible but Slow Solutions

The final days of summer (aka countdown to school) are upon us. Patience with the problems summer brings to local parks (in addition to the joys!) is running dry. As happens every year, those who have younger children have had to adjust their use of playgrounds during the summer due to several camps and day-care facilities using the playground as a daily destination and the influx of school-age children sharing the playground with the barely-walking set. Dodging water-balloons (sold by vendors in the playground who rarely seem to get tickets), yanking toddlers out of scooter and bike "paths" that magically appear in the playground, and sometimes intentionally getting in the way of tweens and teens who, despite being asked nicely to watch for the babies, storm the slides and bridges on the equipment (passive aggressive? who me?) are all part of the fun of summer at the Sunset Park playground.

However, shared stories about the heat from Sunset Park's black playground mats burning children's appendages, poop in the playground, and the reality of the overcrowding in the Sunset Park playground have caused some Sunset Park Parents to feel like nothing can be done to improve the playground conditions.

One parent wrote about what led her to the edge of despair:

...The truth is fixing our park feels like a Sisyphean task. I went to the park last Tuesday at 7 PM. The playground was teeming with kids. Truly over-run. And of course the equipment was the mangled, dirty mess it always is. There was litter everywhere and a vendor set up selling plastic crap inside the playground. Some father whose kid was playing on the same structure as mine literally left his garbage (they'd been eating potato chips) on the playground equipment as he left. Meanwhile over at the water fountain kids were filling water balloons, exploding [them] on the ground and then leaving the detritus. So I despaired. There's garbage all over our park. In part it's because of the respect many of the people who use it show and the utter laziness of the grounds crew who seem to spend their time blowing the garbage around. But it's also because our park is so overcrowded and overused. And it's because the city government really seems to neglect our neighborhood. These things, this week, just felt impossible to overcome to me. *

* used with the author's permission

While some of the issues she brings up don't seem overly offensive on their own, those of us who have been attending the playground regularly - and who have been trying to make small improvements (confronting bicyclists of all ages, closing the gates when entering/exiting, asking elderly groups of men to please take their smoking elsewhere, grabbing children away from broken glass, steering curious children away from the rice and milk vomit recently deposited by a toddler, and so on and so on) can easily understand why the despair would be brought on by the myriad of "smaller" items mentioned above.

So, what CAN be done? Other parents in the area responded with support and ideas.

Suggestions range from contacting Sara Gonzalez (whose email is: gonzalez@council.nyc.ny.us), calling 311 until results are seen, contacting Fox News or CBS2 (hoping for a "Shame, shame, shame" or "Shame on You" story), or getting 7 on Your Side.

However, the day to day efforts are probably just as effective. It's exhausting and demoralizing to "do the right thing" all the time. I certainly don't manage to do it. However, if enough people pick up, call 311, close the gates, confront smokers, ask bike riders to take it to the paths, and so on, it will make a difference eventually.

I kind of like the idea of a television segment, however. More flashy, more immediate, and more dramatic.

Sunset Park's Sara Gonzalez Spends Big

In the wake of the news about slashed Community Board budgets for next year, yesterday's Daily News had an article about City Council members' spending habits. The story was nowhere near the front page of the News, so maybe some people missed it.

Sunset Park's representative to the City Council was highlighted first. Yeah! Apparently, she spent almost $42,000 on consultants last year - NOT an election year for her. Considering that the median income in SP is just over $30, 000, that hurts. I don't begrudge her quality consulting, but shouldn't there be some bidding for services or shopping around? Here's the blurb about Gonzalez:

Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez (D-Brooklyn) topped the charts with $41,923 in consulting fees, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Law. Half went to her communications director, Michael Schweinsburg, and $11,000 went to Promotional Strategies, a Queens-based campaign consulting agency. Gonzalez defended her spending, noting, "I'm very careful."

Please, Ms. Gonzalez, hire a consulting agency in BROOKLYN! C'mon.

At least she didn't charge her accounts $1,160 for Crystal Apples like Diana Reyna, also of Brooklyn, did. Someone should show her to better priced tourism items for gifts.