94 Years Old & Homeless

Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2007 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DOWNTOWN EDITION AWP/16 pages • Vol. 30, No. 2 • Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007 • FREE INCLUDING DUMBO 94 YEARS OLD & HOMELESS Says he’ll sleep in his Buick before he leaves C’Gardens EET DOMINICK DIOMEDE. HE’S 94 years old. He’s lived in Carroll Gardens THE BROOKLYN Mfor almost every day of his life. He’s sharp as a tack, pays his rent on time, does free By Gersh electrical work for anyone who asks, and is the Kuntzman cleanest person this side of Tony Randall. ANGLE And next week, he’ll be homeless. Eliot Widaen, who became Diomede’s lawyer Happy New Year, Dom. thanks to a program by the city Department for The story of how Dominick Diomede will up the Aging that hooks up seniors with pro-bono without a roof over his head is more than a tale of lawyers and social workers. “He doesn’t have a an old man whose landlord wants him out so he lease. The court gave him six months [to leave], can get more rent, but a larger story about what and that’s the max.” happens when a city chews up and spits out one DFTA has been searching for an apartment for of its own. Certainly, though, it starts with a landlord-ten- Diomede, but it doesn’t control any housing units ant dispute. of its own, and even the city Housing Authority Diomede, you see, pays just $500 a month for doesn’t give seniors priority (until they’re actually his floor-through apartment on Woodhull Street. on the street, that is — which is the very scenario the Department for the Aging is trying to avoid). / Julie Rosenberg His downstairs neighbors? They came much later, so they pay $2,500. So that’s it then? A 94-year-old guy who was Unlike them, though, Diomede doesn’t have a best friends with the man whose grandkids are lease. He never needed one; his best friend Char- evicting him will be out on the street simply be- lie owned the building, and back in the old days, cause people nowadays can’t wait for an old man to die before they cash in on the gentrification that / Gersh Kuntzman The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn a handshake and an on-time rent check were the only contract anyone needed. guys like Diomede helped set into motion. But Charlie is long gone and now his grand- “It’s all about the money,” Diomede told me. kids want Diomede out. They served him with an “I’ve known this family since 1920. I did all their Lazy days of winter eviction notice on Jan. 5 and he’ll be forced to electrical work. I shoveled. I mowed the garden.” A sun-loving tyke enjoys the spring-like weather last week at Coney Island, just a move on Jan. 22. (Neither the landlord, nor his The other day, I sat rapt as Diomede told the Paper The Brooklyn few feet from where the Polar Bear Club, which would normally be swimming, held lawyer, could be reached for comment.) story of his life. Born in 1912 — “At 32 Luquer Dominick Diomede, 94, has lived in Carroll Gardens for 90 a silent protest of global warming. See Brooklyn Briefs, page 6. “Dom’s legal battle is hopeless, really,” said See DOMINICK on page 13 years, but has been evicted from his apartment of 20 years. Thumbs up! Fonzie’s back BAM honors MLK By Adam Rathe to return Cyclones to glory The Brooklyn Paper Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Rutha Harris had a song. By Moses Jefferson a team that hasn’t guzzled champagne since his “That was a day I shall never forget,” said Harris, 66, re- The Brooklyn Paper 2001 Cyclones went all the way in the franchise’s calling performing with her group, the Freedom Singers, just The only manager to lead the Brooklyn inaugural season. before King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Aug. Cyclones to a New York-Penn League cham- “We are extremely excited to have Fonzie back in 28, 1963, March on Washington. Brooklyn,” Cyclones’ General Manager, Steve Co- Now, 43 years later, Harris, who is still active in the civil pionship is back for another tenure as skipper. hen said in the understatement of the year. “He is a rights movement, will perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Edgar Alfonzo will try to bring the magic back to proven winner.” Music’s 21st annual ”Come Share the Dream” tribute to King Last year’s manager, George Greer, presided over on Monday, Jan. 15, at 10:30 am. The event is free. a topsy-turvy, 41-33 season that began with seven Harris, who now lives in Georgia, has resurrected her old ER-OMET straight losses, peaked as the team reached first group — rechristened the Albany Civil Rights Museum Free- RE ER place midway through the campaign, ended with a dom Singers — which still performs every other week at her G | | | | | | | | | | mad dash for the last wild-card berth and crashed local museum to the civil rights movement. | | | | | “We tell the story of the movement through song,” said | | | | dismally with a first-round playoff sweep by the | | | | hated Staten Island Yankees. Harris, explaining why she re-formed the group. “Young peo- | | | Like all prior managers before him — an A-list ple today don’t know anything about the civil rights move- of Mets legends that includes Howard Johnson, Tim / Gary Thomas ment. The songs are a part of history [that] needs to be told.” Teufel and Mookie Wilson — Greer was not invited For Harris’s appearance, her first at BAM, she plans to belt SAFE!OUT! out movement classics, including “I’m Gonna Sit at the Wel- SAFE! back to Keyspan Park. come Table” and “We Shall Overcome.” Under Alfonzo, whose brother, Edgardo, was a Joining Harris at the event will be Will Power, the hip-hop beloved member of the 2000 National League theater innovator whose one-man show, “Flow,” won a best See FONZIE on page 13 Paper file The Brooklyn theater performance award at the 2004 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. His recent modern adaptation of the ancient Rutha Harris sang at the March on Wash- GREER REPORT: During Manager George Greer’s topsy-turvy 2006 campaign with the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Brooklyn Paper’s patented Greek drama Seven Against Thebes, titled The Seven, won ington and she’ll perform Monday at the “Greer-ometer” (left) swung like a pendulum. But because virtually no minor-league manager gets fired in the middle of season, both ends three Lucille Lortel Awards in 2006. Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual Mar- of the device read, “Safe.” Now, with the hiring of former skipper Edgar Alfonzo (right), the “Greer-ometer” makes its final appearance. See BAM MLK on page 13 tin Luther King Jr. tribute. ‘Lonely’ tourists heading for Brooklyn Kings fit for the masses For us, Greenpoint’s Franklin Street is the By Gersh Kuntzman included the Alaska Highway, world-class place to visit,” said The Brooklyn Paper Antarctica (hot, no doubt, due to Borough President Markowitz. global warming), Finland (the So what’s so hot about Brooklyn? boro’s new hot spot Oy vey, here come the whole country, even the fish pro- tourists. For one thing, Lonely Planet cessing plants), Somaliland (a cor- seems obsessed with Coney Island, The editors of the Lonely Planet By Adam Rathe ner of war-torn Soma- which is mentioned seven times in The Brooklyn Paper travel guide — who have lia), Turkmenistan (now the two-page spread. Under the been telling back- that dictator Turkmen- heading “Life-changing experi- The editors of the Lonely Planet guidebooks named packers where to bashi is dead) and New Brooklyn one of the top-30 travel destinations for 2007 go for decades — ences,” for example, the book rec- Orleans (a sentimental ommends “passing out on the BDF — and to think, they did it without even mentioning are now telling the choice?). Greenpoint. world that the train after a big night out, then Naturally, the bor- waking on Coney Island to see the Indeed, a neighborhood best known for Polish food and a hottest destination ough’s biggest booster sun rise over the Atlantic.” massive waterfront fire last May is quickly emerging as the in New York is was cheering Brook- Sounds like fun for the whole hottest area of our already-hot borough. Not too far from the Brooklyn. lyn’s latest accolade, been-there, done-that streets of Williamsburg, trails are being The borough was which follows last family! “Europeans love Coney Island,” blazed as formerly industrial strips come alive with bars, one of 30 cities, year’s spread in the restaurants and shops owned and frequented by the area’s highways, islands, re- explained Ginger Adams Otis, who Ho / Dennis W. tony Conde Nast influx of young, imaginative residents. gions, countries and writes Lonely Planet’s New York Traveler. The intersection of Greenpoint Avenue and Franklin even river basins on City guide. “I commend Street has become the epicenter of the neighbor- Lonely Planet’s just- “Believe it or not, they love the Lonely Planet for rec- hood’s dining and nightlife scene, helping to fur- released list of must- ognizing what Brooklynites have hot dog-eating contest. I’m not sure ther the revival that has put this warehouse- see places in 2007. always known: our borough is not it’s our strongest cultural offering, Paper The Brooklyn Brooklyn was third on the list just the best place to live, work, but that’s how they know Coney Is- Let them eat: Liza Queen, chef-owner of Queen’s Hideaway in Green- heavy neighborhood on the real-estate radar.

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