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 A Perfect Summer Day by: Kris Bradley There is a Gerrittsen Beach Property Owners Meeting Wednesday and expect it to be HOT! Both topics and temperature! Don’t let the heat stop you from going. There will be some heated discussion I’m sure about: 61st Precinct St. James Basement (might be cooler) The June 2010 Property Owners was interesting – The Precinct was not able to attend nor was Lew Fidler and Alan Maisel, so their announcements are postponed until next month. Like many times before (here, here,etc) the meeting discussed “GerritsenBeach.net” again. A GBPOA member brought up that he wants the GBPOA Board to take up the matter of changing the bylaws to close the meeting excluding the public, specifically targeting GerritsenBeach.net and Our News. Their argument boils down to that Gerritsen Beach was one a quiet neighborhood and that what goes on here is no ones business and should not go outside of the boundaries of the neighborhood. The newspaper Our News apparently was also thrown under the bus during the discussion. Some members want to keep the newspaper out as well because it is no longer “Our News” and is distributed outside of the community. Some GBPOA members who actually wrote the bylaws were in attendance and they stated (much to their dismay) that the organization is intended to be open to the public. Despite that statement the Property Owners promised to look into the matter at their next board meeting. Interestingly enough their one argument to close the meeting to the public is actually two arguments because they don’t want to see any Gerritsen Beach news published at all in any media whatsoever and that somehow closing the meeting would prevent other news from “getting out”. Wherever you stand on the matter it would be nice to see some more people at the meetings, come to the next meeting!
Generally speaking this was a quiet meeting. There was no votes, nothing of great significance, other than lots of great announcements, so lets recap what did happen. Upon arrival we were handed a printed copy of comments made on the resurrection post, specifically comments being made criticizing the CCD director. It promised to be a good meeting at that point. Here is the rundown: Right off the bat it was announced that YES the property owners were going to split the meeting into two sessions. The first session was being called a no Gerritsenbeach.net, Camera allowed session, dubbed the “business session”. Then they will go into the “public session” for elected officials and new business. This is strange because it was announced that this course of action was not going to happen. More strange so that these are publicly announced meetings. After announcement there was as a brief “pile on”, to have Gerritsenbeach.net shut off the camera which was reluctantly complied with. In a bit of a twist, John Walsh, the board member who was pushing for a legal means to shut us down for good, said that maybe the camera should be on for the beginning part of the meeting for people that are unable to attend. Which we agree with. Here are my notes from that part of the meeting you didn’t see. (THIS WAS A JOKE) After the “business session” was over which was only the treasures report. The treasurer left the room in an apparent protest. The 61st precinct got up to bat after that.
Jemal Discussion
It was also announced that the DEC did in fact try and fine Jemal but there is some question about if Jemals name is on certain deeds, it might be danzas name. DEC can not reach the owner. Community Gardens Upcoming Events
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Kiddie Beach registration is here! Stop in at the Cort Club every Thursday in April and May Starting the April 15th from 7pm – 9pm. To join Kiddie Beach or the GBPOA you must live with in Gerristen Beach which is from Whitney Avenue and The Point. Opening Day June 5th
Last night was the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association Meeting and it promised to be interesting because Congressman Anthony Weiner was going to come by. People started to pack the meeting early and by the beginning of the meeting there was a decent large crowd. On top of the community residents that were in attendance there were some board members of GBCares present, Donna Davis of the Community Gardens, Paster Nebrasky of St. James. GBPOA Roundup
61st Precinct Roundup Basically KEEP YOUR CAR DOORS LOCKED. DON’T KEEP VALUABLES INSIDE YOUR CAR People are stealing things! Also if you see a suspicious person call 911 and let the cops figure it out.
Anthony Weiner To be fair to Congressman Weiner, because he doesn’t come by all that often, we will be posting about his visit later today.
The Gerritsen Beach Property Owners March meeting nothing much happened. The meeting started a little after 7:30, was lightly attended (a few board members are hospitalized), and ended in under 20 minutes. 20 Minutes?! Really? This was mostly due to the fact that the MTA Brooklyn meeting was on the same day and most or all of our local pols were at the meeting – talking before the public. The census bureau was there announcing they are still hiring. Kiddie Beach is planning a ton of kid friendly and family friendly events including but not limited to.
There is nothing of substance to report, not even the 61st was there on time, they did however show up while everyone was cleaning up and gave an impromptu briefing. They did acknowledged the Xanax arrest, and a few other possession charges at seba avenue park. Surprisingly, There was another arrest worth mentioning, another beach “kid” (born 1987) mugging people by pushing people to the ground and stealing their bags. This occurred in the beach, on Ocean Avenue, and in Park Slope. There will also be a St. Patricks day parade on March 13th stepping off at 12:00 pm from the VFW.
In what may be the best example of the Squeakiest Wheel Getting the Oil, we may be getting as many as 16 swings at Seba Avenue Park. At the most recent property owners meeting, Councilman Lew Fidler presented the NYC Parks Design team responsible for the future expansion of Seba Avenue Park. The team outlined their expansion plans. Although The community was impressed with their plans, they responded with their desire for swings. After all it’s been a main request at the park for some time now. As it turns out, that after the Property Owners meeting Lew Fidler spoke with the Parks Design team requesting them to add swings. He asked them to add as many as 16 swings. When we asked the Councilman’s office if this was too good to be true they saidif the councilman is on it it will get done. On Wednesday January 6th (and every first Wednesday) the property owners held their meeting in the St. James basement. Here is the rundown. 61st Precinct Report: Seba Avenue Park was the main agenda which because of it’s importance will be a separate post. As for the fire: Jim Donovan wants to thank the entire neighborhood for their “unbelievable” response that they have received. They have received so many donations and are thankful. There will be a fundraiser for the Hayes family on: Tamaqua Marina There is also going to be a separate fundraiser for Kathy Winters whom was also visiting the home February, 13th 2010 Then what proceed was heated discussion about Seba Avenue Park. The Status (or lack there of) of our fire hydrants and more the same nonsense about GB.net being bad. There are some good things to mention and some good suggestions that came from the discussion. Instead of wanting all of our hydrants replaced/repaired maybe a strategic handful can be winterized. Imagine if Lacon Ct was built as planned with it’s 50-60 units then imagine the fire response for a fire on that block. The meeting was kinda reprimanded by CB15 Chair Theresa Scavo whom is at 99% of the GBPOA meetings. She explained that she has been coming to our meetings and at every meeting, every time, without fail the community yells that they want swings at seba avenue park but no one spoke up when presented with the designers and artwork. She went on to tell everyone that the design that shown is not written in stone, and that this meeting was to have the community approve the concept however only one spoke up.
There is the monthly meeting of the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners scheduled for Wednesday January 6th. Seba Avenue Park is going to be a major topic of discussion. St. James Lutheran Church Basement The Gerritsen Beach Property Owners November meeting was short but effective. The main topic was ETO.
On Wednesday October 7th (and every first wednesday) the property owners held their meeting in the St. James basement. It was a normal meeting nothing out of the ordinary. Except here are some things to note. The Bantry Bar is now a cause for major concern within the community especially with the 61st who have recently visited and witnessed what the neighborhood has been telling them.
Alan Maisel spoke for some time about multiple projects…more to come on those later.
Traffic signals are always a major issue in Gerritsen Beach, we only have a handful, and residents want them. You may remember one major battle is Channel Avenue next to 277. The fight for a light there has been going on for at least 25 years. The main reason why we cant have a light is because DOT says we don’t meet the federal requirements, and cant get one until we do. The only way we can meet the requirements is to get new data through a traffic study, which the study can only be requested every 18 months. The study’s usually include people with counters and the small traffic counter devices you see with the black strips across the road. However. in almost typical GB behavior every time DOT installs counters, without fail, those devices are destroyed, within hours or overnight. We’ve posted about it before. Some argue that they should be destroyed we dont need a light. The same people also argue that the community is split because of the devices are constantly destroyed. Lew Fidler on behalf of the property owners, and residents concerns, have requested numerous locations for traffic signals. Including: Seba Avenue – Constant green with push button to cross at a cross walk George Broadhead, President of the Propery Owners Association, has promised that he would work with whomever it may take to get a light while in office. State Senator Marty Golden has also promised to get a traffic light. If you remember, during the Green Streets meeting, after it died Marty opted to turn it into a town hall,the main issue was a traffic light at Channel Avenue, a petition was passed around and collected hundreds of signatures. Nothing came of that. All that that being said I believe that we will never meet the traffic requirements, not because the devices are being destroyed, but because there isn’t enough traffic. I do believe at least a painted cross walk is needed at Seba Avenue Park. There are just to many people who use that location to ignore that they have to cross a street. Before I get into the debate itself lets answer why the heated debate happened in the first place. To be blunt there has a deep distrust with (ETO) Environmental Task Force Operations with local communities. There have been good reasons floating around for this distrust. First, they are a spin off of Special Projects Management Operation Clean Bay, which has a very shady past. It was formed by National Park Rangers and staff of the Gateway National Recreation Area to clean up abandoned boats in Jamaica Bay. Needless to say it ended very badly. Whenever the term “pending litigation” has to come into play, you know its going to be bad. Basically the Park Rangers boat captains are all suing each other. Secondly and mainly, ETO has had an ongoing relationship with Knapp Street and Lacon Ct property developer Stephen Jemal. To be blunt again, What is planned to be built by Jemal at at Lacon Court will destroy Gerritsen Beach, if not cause irreparable harm. As you may be aware, some in the community as well as GB.net has been keeping close tabs on the Jemal developments. Recently, Jemal was ordered to clean up the docks at Lacon Court by the NYS DEC, if he did not comply he was going to be fined $10,000 a day. ETO then, seemed to step in last minute and took over conversations with the DEC on behalf of Stephen Jemal. Jemal has not been fined since ETO stepped in. The ETO-Jemal relationship in a nutshell: in exchange for free rent on Lacon Ct ETO would maintain 4 properties for Jemal and take over corresponding with the DEC. The property maintenance may or may not be a good thing, it depends on how you look at it, they are trimming, leveling soil, more or less cleaning the empty lot. This is all great and wonderful, but it does not help with the perceived distrust. On to the debate! Mr. Bill Dumphy had again summed up ETO’s role in Gerritsen Beach specifically in the waterways and on Stephen Jemals lot. He stated that they are on his property because they were kicked off their previous location, literally across the creek at the sewer plant DEP, because of allegations made by a former operation clean bay member. He stated that in the last two months he personally removed 8 boats from the creek, totaling 150 so far removed by their organization. Apparently ETO did this all for free and was expensed out of pocket. George Broadhead, President GBPOA, is not taking issue with the work ETO does, stating he strongly believes in free enterprise. He argued that ETO stepped in last minute just when the community had them on the ropes. Bill interjected multiple times and made it a point that ETO sent a letter to DEC urging them to fine Jemal for non compliance. Yelling “Fine the slimeball…wont affect us“. “We aren’t doing Jemal any favors.” After contacting ETO to see what they thought about the meeting, Greg Moss President of ETO stated that no more than two weeks after GB.nets initial post, their relationship with SSJ development stared to go sour. ETO was trying to secure a contract that gave them permissions to be on the land and to also remove the docks for Jemal. However, SSJ kept pushing back and postponing meetings to secure the contract to the point where ETO felt they might of been used by SSJ to delay the impending $10,000 a day fine. As a result ETO sent a email to the DEC stating that Jemal has no intention of coming into compliance and DEC has to do what it needs to do. They are currently looking for a new spot to relocate.
Phase 1 is already semi complete, which was clearing all of the vegetation on the island (trees and fragmities)above the 10 foot contour, this was for survey purposes this was completed last July. Now is the second phase which is the full redesign of the island. Which is broken down into two parts. The first part is to stabilize the island, not using sandbags but a more permanent solution, Armour Stone. These 2,000 lb stones will be put on the side the island where the sandbags are, right on top of as not to disturb or let loose anything being held back. The second part is to cap the island, with about 150,000 yards of sand, which then the island will be replanted with all grassland. The 150,000 of sand is coming from a recent army core dredging project in Rockaway inlet They will be bringing in everything by barge until the end of september. Right now they are currently stockpiling the sand until their plan is approved by NY State DEC. Which when it is approved the plan will be sent out for bid for a contractor to do the work. They are looking to start “construction” in the spring. They even put out a fact sheet detailing their project: [click image for a PDF]
There was also a water, sand and soil test done on the island. Here is the report. |
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Freedom of Speech Dies in Gerritsen Beach – Community Group Takes Steps to Block Out “Cameras” and “Press”
[The Whole Video]
At the recent GBPOA meeting George Broadhead, president of the GBPOA, brought up that certain people object to cameramen being present at the meeting. He described about what their board feels would be a good solution to address this concern: Splitting their meeting into a public session, where elected officials and the public can speak and the press may be present, then, after a brief intermission, a members-only meeting where a camera may not be present, and only members may speak.
This is where things got fun. John Walsh, a board member of the GBPOA, who successfully led the charge to allow 18-year olds to be voting members of the GBPOA, is apparently leading the charge specifically against GerritsenBeach.net. At first, he takes issue with the anonymous comments that the site allows stating “If you don’t have the balls to put your name to something, what do you got? You got nothing.” He goes on to to say that it is effecting the community by hurting GBCares, because “the camera’s presence” it is making people think twice about speaking openly at the meeting. He went on to explain that he and he and other members of the board will resign if something isn’t “resolved”.
He went on to quote GerritsenBeach.net
He used my quote to suggest that there needs to be some anonymity at the GBPOA public meetings.
He went on to describe that he has hired a lawyer and a private detective, all pro-bono, to find a legal means “to shut down his camera and to shut it down for good!” He went on to say “I love the work you do, there is a lot of good stuff you do.” “There is going to be things I disagree with and that’s alright – my concern is for whats going on here.”
George Broadhead, who to his credit has stuck up for freedom of the press many times, stated – in an apparent tit-for-tat, countering Mr. Walsh’s point that people are not attending the meeting because of GB.net’s presence “It does not look like people are not coming to the meetings”, referring to the size of the crowd. Broadhead said he is also against the “Anonymous people”, but “the website has the sames rights as a newspaper and also the same rights as anyone in a public meeting.”
George then knocked Walsh’s statement of hiring a private detective “doesn’t that sound like an invasion of privacy? That’s doing the same thing as knocking the 1st amendment right.”
Jane Dewitt, who is a board member of both GBCares and the GBPOA, stated that her, her husband, GBCares, and many people have been “knocked on (GB.net)”. “It’s all negative”. “I don’t read rags…to me that’s a rag, I get calls. My last call was that GBCares dumped roof shingles back weeds”
Michael Taylor, Chairman of GBCares Board, chimed in: “Yes he said it’s our fault”
The pile on continued when Mr. Taylor, Chairman of GBCares Board, asked “Does (GB.net) have press credentials, is he press? or is he just some crazy stalker that’s putting out video clips to embarrass the community.”
For the record, according to the NYPD,:
Since no Gerritsen Beach meeting falls into any of this, you don’t need a credential to attend and report.)
Let’s cut through the crap – this is an outright attack on the 1st Amendment, on GerritsenBeach.net personally and an attack on Gerritsen Beach itself as a community. There are people in this community who want to be “community leaders” and do whatever the hell they want to do, and not be accountable to the community. They want to have their cake and eat it too, and without you knowing. Before blogging and citizen journalism, that was the norm. No more. You deserve to know what is happening in your community – the good and the bad – and you deserve leaders who understand what it means to truly lead. Leaders like George Broadhead, who deal openly and honestly, and don’t care who is in the room when he opens his mouth.
These fascist attacks must not be tolerated. Let’s see what lawyers I can contact pro-bono.