Mayor Dooms Districts Meters, Try Clemens Time Proposes School Reforms Citywide New York Yankees Pitcher Roger Clemens Permits for Visited St

INSIDE BROOKLYN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER Including The Downtown News, Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Paper and Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Paper Action hero at B’klyn Museum Published weekly by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 26 Court St., Brooklyn 11242 Phone 718-834-9350 AD fax 718-834-1713 • NEWS fax 718-834-9278 © 2003 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 12 pages including GO BROOKLYN •Vol.26, No.3BWN, DTG, PSG, MID • January 20, 2003 • FREE YASSKY’S PLAN End Sunday Mayor dooms districts meters, try Clemens time Proposes school reforms citywide New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens permits for visited St. Ephrem’s School in Dyker Heights By Deborah Kolben the Deputy Chancellor for Teach- on Monday, where he gave John Cullen, 10, and Patrick Gallahue ing and Learning, a position cur- some pointers on pitching. The Brooklyn Papers rently held by Diana Lam. Each Learning Support Center Mayor Michael Bloom- would be guided by a superin- parking berg pulled back the curtains tendent, selected by Schools Wednesday on a sweeping Chancellor Joel Klein based on By Patrick Gallahue Though Yassky, whose dis- body of reforms that seek to “extraordinary past achieve- The Brooklyn Papers trict includes DUMBO, Down- dissolve the current structure ment,” Bloomberg said, and from town Brooklyn, Brooklyn of Community School Tweed Courthouse the superin- Councilman David Yas- Heights, Boerum Hill and a Boards as part of a complete tendents would coordinate policy. sky must have taken a deep portion of Park Slope, voted overhaul on the city’s educa- Each Learning Support Center breath before making his on behalf of the expansion of tional system. would also have a regional base New Year’s resolutions. seven-day-a-week meter park- Taking the stage at Harlem’s in city-owned or leased property The first-term councilman ing last November — as part Schomburg Center for Research to house 10 local instructional su- ended 2002 with a zealous of the budget modification in Black Culture, Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg BP / File pervisors, who would oversee no missive to the Bloomberg ad- agreed upon between Mayor said, “We are at the dawn of a more than a dozen nearby ministration outlining a series Bloomberg and the City new movement — one that will Curriculum would be con- schools each. of ambitious priorities for his Council — he thought the liberate the next generation of trolled from the Tweed Court- “In other words,” Bloomberg Downtown Brooklyn district. program should now be re- New Yorkers from the devastat- house, and would be the same said, “on the instructional side, ac- In a Dec. 24 letter to fined. ing consequences of continued citywide, except in 200 “suc- countability and responsibility Deputy Mayor Daniel Docto- In his letter, he cited Fulton educational failure.” cessful schools” which, the may- goes directly from one deputy roff, Yassky urged the admin- Ferry as a neighborhood that Bloomberg proposed to “put an or said, would be allowed to chancellor to 10 regional superin- istration to implement a pilot does not feature a bustling com- end to decades of diffused and con- continue to dictate their own tendents to 100 local instructional program for residential park- mercial presence and said it fused educational administration” curriculum, hire their own teach- supervisors, to 1,200 principals to ing permits in the areas sur- therefore made little sense to by streamlining the “Byzantine ers and set their own budgets. 80,000 teachers to 1,100,000 stu- rounding Downtown Brooklyn; encourage high turnover of administrative fiefdoms that mul- “It’s time to have a unified way dents, who we are here to serve!” reduce abuses of government- parking spaces there. tiplied under the Board of Ed.” of teaching our children,” said Bloomberg’s proposal also issued parking permits; con- “Many of the streets are not His plan proposes a single Bloomberg, who emphasized that calls for a “parent coordinator” for sider implementing a bus commercial streets,” Yassky chain of command that would a core curriculum of reading, writ- each school, whose job would be loop around Downtown wrote. “Including the newly begin with the chancellor and ing and math would “be the fuel to engage parents in their child’s Brooklyn; and pull back Sun- metered Fulton Ferry area flow through the city’s schools, that drives this engine.” education and serve as a liaison day metered parking on some where the community is try- Mango / Greg from kindergarten through 12th Bloomberg’s proposal would between parents and the school. commercial and residential ing to encourage waterfront grade, rather than the current also replace the city’s 32 com- The mayor also proposed that streets. activity.” two-tiered structure, which has munity school districts with 10 school boards be replaced with “I believe the issue of Many of the suggestions different levels of accountability instructional leadership divisions “parent engagement boards” for greatest concern to the resi- are a hodgepodge of issues for middle and elementary called Learning Support Centers, each school “on which only par- dents of Downtown Brooklyn that have been lobbied for by schools and for high schools. which would be supervised by See MAYOR on page 4 and the surrounding neighbor- community groups for years, Papers The Brooklyn hoods is the impact additional such as 4 pm to 7 pm parking development will have on on Atlantic Avenue and traffic and parking,” Yassky stricter enforcement of munic- wrote. “Downtown Brooklyn ipal parking permits. and the nearby residential ar- The efforts of Atlantic Av- eas already suffer severe con- enue merchants to drum up gestion.” See YASSKY on page 4 Anti-Semitic graffiti mars home By Patrick Gallahue ground that appeared to have been said of her daughter. The Brooklyn Papers made with brushstrokes. They spoke to friends and the Alongside the bigoted deface- police in their Kensington neigh- ON THE WATERFRONT A home on a quiet tree- ment, various graffiti “tags” also borhood, and elected officials lined street near Green-Wood marred the garage door. eventually got wind of the inci- Cemetery was branded with “When I came home and saw it dent. On Tuesday, they gathered to anti-Semitic graffiti to start we were shocked,” she said. “My decry the bigoted act of vandalism. Gov. pushes the new year, and this week, daughter said, ‘You didn’t put any “Despite how good the neigh- Councilman Bill DeBlasio Christmas lights out, and I told borhood is, and how good the peo- and Borough President Marty you to do so.’” ple are, we still have to stand up Markowitz paid the victim- Their home was one of the few and send a message,” said DeBla- development ized family a visit to condemn on the block that did not have sio, whose district includes parts of Christmas lights, and although Park Slope, Kensington, Borough the act and cover up the offen- they don’t celebrate Christmas, the Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill By Patrick Gallahue Brooklyn in the past year. sive scrawl. The Brooklyn Papers In addition to signing a pact daughter said she initially urged and Windsor Terrace. “Whoever with Mayor Michael Bloom- On Jan. 3, a resident of the her parents to put the lights be- was the perpetrator, this is absolute- Towards the end of his berg to deliver $150 million in house, whose name and address is cause she thought they were pretty. ly unacceptable in our community.” Jan. 8 State of the State city and state funding to Brook- being withheld at her request, re- The woman, who is a non- “This is one of the most reli- address, after talk of terror lyn Bridge Park, Pataki directed turned home with her 11-year-old practicing Catholic, and her hus- giously diverse communities in threats and fiscal crisis, $270,000 in state money to the daughter only to see the word band, who is Jewish, have lived in New York City,” said Markowitz. education and pollution, Gowanus Canal Community “JEWZ” emblazoned on their the neighborhood for about year. “Whoever did this needs the Lord Gov. George Pataki said, Development Corporation to garage door in white, spray-paint- “My only concern is that she very badly.” Borough President Marty Markowitz (far left) and Councilman Bill DeBlasio (far complete a master plan for the “Let’s continue to reclaim ed letters against a brown back- not hide who she is,” the mother See GRAFFITI on page 6 right) with family in front of their defaced garage. The Brooklyn Papers / Tom Callan canal’s redevelopment. In addi- our waterfronts and pro- tion, he handed out grants, vide new recreational which included $250,000 for opportunities for the fami- the Brooklyn East Riveroute, to lies of New York.” begin planning access to the Then, as an aside, the gov- Williamsburg and Greenpoint ernor looked toward Borough waterfronts, and $170,000 for President Marty Markowitz, the reuse of the WNYC trans- CB6 OKs Slope building height limits who was in the audience, and mitter site in Greenpoint for a said, “Isn’t that right, Marty?” possible park. “These are all wonderful By Patrick Gallahue mary goal of the proposal is to “pre- Councilmen Bill DeBlasio and The past year held plenty of serve the historic character of Park David Yassky endorsed the Fifth Av- causes for celebration when it things that are happening on the The Brooklyn Papers Brooklyn waterfront,” said Slope” and “create more opportuni- enue Committee amendment. DeBla- came to the Brooklyn waterfront, Community Board 6 passed a ties for apartment house construc- sio called the proposal “a terrific op- and while many wait with a David Lutz, the executive di- long-sought proposal to impose great deal of dread for details on rector of the Neighborhood tion.” The Department of City Plan- portunity in our neighborhood to Open Space Coalition.

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