Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Creates Fan Club to Save Kensington G-Train Service

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

Mayoral hopeful and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio joined the grass-roots call to maintain the service of the G-train to the Kensington neighborhood in Brooklyn.

De Blasio announced the creation of a new organization to fight for the subway service, called “5 Stop Fan Club,” referring to the five train stops which the MTA is threatening to shut down. This new group joins an on-line petition submitted by the Working Families Party demanding that the present G-train service be maintained.

“These extra five stops are a lifeline that Brooklyn residents and small businesses have come to depend on,” said de Blasio. “Ending this service will have a profound effect on the community and the mom and pop stores along these five stops. I encourage every New Yorker who wants to see the G train service preserved to join the 5 Stop Fan Club and let your voices be heard.”

The five train stops in question were only added to the G-train’s route by the MTZ in 2009 to help deal with the disruptions caused by the repair of the Culver Aqueduct, a bridge over the Gowanus Canal.

Since the work on the aqueduct is almost finished, the MTA is planning on closing down the extension, which was only put in place to allow commuters from Greenpoint to travel all the way to Kensington without being forced to change trains.

Last Friday the Working Families Party inaugurated their petition on the internet, which will eventually be submitted to the MTA, hopefully dissuaded them from cancelling the train service. De Blasio is affiliated closely with the Working Families Party, which helped get him elected to his present office of public advocate.

De Blasio’s “Fan Club” has a website with several elected officials joining the movement, including Representative Nydia Velazquez, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senators Eric Adams and Dan Squadron, Assemblymen James Brennan and Hakeem Jeffries, and City Councilmembers Brad Lander, Sara Gonzalez, Stephen Levin and Letitia James.

FEMA Leaves Brooklyn Off Funding List in Wake of Irene

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is blowing up a storm in reaction to the decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to leave Brooklyn out of the declared region which will receive federal aid to help clean up after the mess Hurricane Irene left in her wake.

Brooklyn is the only borough of New York’s five which was left out of the FEMA declared areas, although its status can still change. In the next few days a more complete assessment of the damage inflicted by Irene on Brooklyn will be conducted, which will hopefully change Brooklyn’s status for FEMA funding.

In the meantime Markowitz is blown away by FEMA’s preliminary decision to leave Brooklyn out.

"I am absolutely dumbfounded that federal officials have excluded Kings County from a disaster declaration for public assistance," said Markowitz. "I ... hope that FEMA immediately reverses this dreadful decision and includes Brooklyn.

"In Brooklyn, hundreds of trees were knocked down; doing significant damage to cars, homes and infrastructure, and some Brooklynites remain without power. Brooklyn's low-lying 'Zone A' neighborhoods that were evacuated saw significant flooding," Markowitz added.

Markowitz also said that parts of the BQE were damaged by Irene and will need to be repaired.

Boro President Markowitz Supplying Champaign at LGBT Nuptials

Brooklyn LGBT couples in a hurry to tie the knot based on the new law which will go into effect on July 24^th, need go no further than the Brooklyn Borough Hall to take their vows.

Borough President Marty Markowitz has promised the alternative lifestyle couples a wedding gift: opening the doors of the Borough Hall on the first possible day they can legally wed, even though it is on a Sunday when city offices are usually shut tight.

Markowitz was a addressing a group of LGBT couples and supporters last Wednesday at a ‘Champaign toast’ in celebration of the new same-sex marriage law. “You don’t have to go to Manhattan to get married,” Markowitz said. “You can go right across the street to complete your paperwork, then you can come right back here. We’ll have some judges ready to do the ceremony for you ASAP.”

Markowitz added that the city would even supply photographers and Champaign.

Community Board Encourages Working Together on New Park

Community leaders and Community Board Representatives met on February 24 for a Listening Session to discuss each group’s vision for a redesigned Dome Playground which will be built at 38^th Street and Dahill Road.

Also in attendance were representatives from the NYC Parks and Recreation Department, on hand to listen to the various ideas which were presented.

Maggie Tobin, the Kensington representative to Community Board 12 said that the meeting was composed of an “incredibly diverse group of people, a real cross-section of Kensington.”

The Brooklyn Deputy Parks Commissioner, Martin Maher welcomed the group.

“The vision comes from you. “Everyone here is of different ages, religions, boys, girls, young, old.  We will build upon this so the community can share Brooklyn together.”

The meeting was organized by Councilmember Brad Lander in conjunction with the Brooklyn Parks’ office and the Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The 60 members of the audience were divided into four teams each of which were given an enlargement of the ground plan of the Dome Playground as a reference from which to better discuss the issues of how to best develop and utilize the new park.

CB 12 will not be meeting during the summer, from the end of June until September 27. Then there is Ramadan which will take place this year from July 31 until August 30, and then soon to follow are the Jewish holidays beginning September 28 and ending in mid-October. Review of the plans for the park will have to navigate through these obstacles, but there is good-will to make sure all the constituency has a park they can live with in the end.