INSIDE Including The Bensonhurst Paper Brooklyn Designs show in DUMBO Published weekly by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 26 Court St., Brooklyn NY 11242 Phone 718-834-9350 AD fax 718-834-1713 • NEWS fax 718-834-9278 © 2003 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 18 pages including GO BROOKLYN • Vol. 26, No. 24 BRZ BAYRIDGE • June 16, 2003 • FREE Schools RENTERS districts RALLY AT to stay By Deborah Kolben placed by 10 regional divisions The Brooklyn Papers guided by 10 regional superin- tendents. Those regional super- While the state legislature intendents will oversee a group MARTY’S granted Mayor Michael of Local Instructional Supervi- Bloomberg greatly expanded sors, who oversee no more than control of the city’s school a dozen schools. system last year, some legis- “In defiance of the law, the Want Golden to sign lators have stepped up to mayor tried to steam roll this challenge his reforms. plan through. But today the par- One of those challenges was ents and children of New York / Brad Horrigan rent law extension met this week when the Depart- City have won a huge battle ment of Education settled a law- against an out-of-control ad- By Deborah Kolben suit brought by state Sen. Karl ministration,” Kruger told The The Brooklyn Papers Kruger aiming to block the may- Brooklyn Papers after the set- Protesters carrying umbrellas and or from instituting his reforms. tlement Tuesday morning. Papers The Brooklyn While both sides claimed vic- The Kruger settlement — the homemade signs weathered the tory, nothing much has changed. culmination of a week of nego- heavy downpour Saturday morning Kruger filed the lawsuit tiations presided over by Judge as they gathered outside state Sen. against the city in March claim- Doris Ling-Cohan — mirrors a Marty Golden’s office in Bay Ridge ing that the mayor couldn’t deal last month’s deal between urging him to sign on to a bill that eliminate the city’s 32 school Schools Chancellor Joel Klein would that would extend the current districts without approval from and state Sen. Frank Padavan, a rent laws to 2008. the legislature. Republican from Queens. The laws are set to expire this week- Under Bloomberg’s new sys- Klein agreed to maintain an end. tem, school districts will be re- See DISTRICTS on page 9 A key provision of the bill, introduced by Republican state Sen. Frank Padavan, of Queens, would end what’s known as “vacancy decontrol.” That rule currently / Brad Horrigan allows owners of rent-stabilized buildings to raise the rent to market rate on apart- ments that were renting for $2,000 a month or more when they became vacant. When Golden arrived at his office on Papers The Brooklyn Fifth Avenue and 74th Street, just after 11 State Sen. Marty Golden responds to No sale! am Saturday, tensions flared as the rough- picketers outside his office Saturday. ly 75 protestors lambasted him for not al- Despite rumors, condos still ready having signed on to the bill. “You have to be our leader,” shouted ments.” possible for Ahl’s old house one protestor. More than 100,000 apartments have “Be a tenant hero, not a tenant zero,” been deregulated over the past 10 years. By Deborah Kolben shouted another. There are more than 1.2 million rent- The Brooklyn Papers “You’re a leader — put on your boxing controlled and rent-stabilized apartments gloves and fight,” yelled another. in New York City, according to Tenants A champagne celebration and a host of thank you notes and Neighbors, a statewide advocacy were being planned Saturday morning as news traveled Golden, a Republican, told the fired-up crowd of mostly senior citizens that while group that organized Saturday’s protest. along 80th Street that a 100-year-old house on the tree- he had not yet signed on, he would sup- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a lined block had been spared from the hands of developers. port the continuation of rent laws. Manhattan Democrat, has been an outspo- But that joy turned to confusion Monday morning when resi- While the protesters favored an end to ken advocate of eliminating vacancy de- dents who have been fighting to save the house from demolition by / Brad Horrigan vacancy decontrol, Golden, whose district control. a developer who plans to replace it with a six-unit condominium, includes a swath of southern Brooklyn Bruno, of upstate Rensselaer, wants to learned there was no deal, just a lot of miscommunication. from Bay Ridge to Marine Park, said he deregulate more apartments through a Bay Ridge businessman and community board member Greg would support increasing the cap to combination of adjusting the income-lev- Ahl and his fiance, Joan Inserra, have been trying to purchase the around $2,500. el limits of renters and lowering the va- house at 435 80th St. ever since he learned it was up for sale. Papers The Brooklyn “How many of you have rents near the cancy decontrol threshold to $1,500. It is the house Ahl and his eight brothers and sisters grew up in. State Sen. Marty Golden (top left) engaged in heated debates with protesters gathered out- $2,000 mark?” asked Golden, who said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, after stay- See AHL on page 8 side his office on Fifth Avenue and 74th Street Saturday, campaigning for a rent law extension. the issue was “more for Manhattan apart- See RENTERS on page 9 GOP lining up for Gentile And CB10’s Harrison may mount primary challenge By Deborah Kolben whom filed with the CFB. Assembly District seat in 1992, but Russo, 34, a prosecutor for the The Brooklyn Papers Maresca, 51, a Dyker Heights fi- lost in a campaign against incum- state Welfare Inspector General, The heat is on in Bay Ridge nancial analyst, was the first to an- bent Eileen Dugan, who represent- grew up in Bensonhurst and moved as Republicans duke it out nounce his candidacy but has gar- ed the district for 15 years before to Dyker Heights in 1997 with his nered little support from the she died of cancer in 1996. wife, Joanne. They have two girls, over who will take on Vincent ages 3 and 4. He left his job to run Gentile in the City Council district’s Republican leaders. While he served as chairman of He made a bid for the same seat the Fiorello La Guardia Republican for the council seat. elections this November. against Sal Albanese in 1989 but lost Club for several years, Maresca has Russo’s only other run for elected And a Democratic challenger to Albanese, despite the fact that Al- not received the club’s backing this office was in 1999, when he made an may be waiting in the wings. banese was forced to run as a write- time around. unsuccessful bid for a seat on Com- With less than three months be- in candidate after his petition signa- Instead, their support went to Rus- munity School Board 21. fore the September primary elec- “You have to select the one that tions, candidates got a running start tures were successfully challenged. so, as did the support of the two oth- this week, filing with the city Cam- Maresca ran again for the 52nd er Republican clubs in the district. See RACE on page 6 paign Finance Board for matching funds and starting to gather the 900 signatures or 5 percent of the total enrollment for the party in the district / Tom Callan / Tom needed to get them on the ballot. There are 18,712 Republicans and DA foe 32,491 Democrats registered to vote in the 43rd Council District. The cut- off for filing petitions is July 10. While Bay Ridge-Bensonhurst- The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn Dyker Heights Councilman Vin- indicted Daniel Cahill was among the participants in the March for Jesus rally at John Paul Jones Park in Bay cent Gentile, a Democrat, was By Patrick Gallahue Ridge Saturday. elected to office just three months ago, he’s up for re-election in No- The Brooklyn Papers vember as redistricting forces the Sandra Roper, an attorney who twice entire council to run again. challenged Brooklyn’s Democratic politi- “It’s become second nature,” cal establishment, including District Attor- Marching for Jesus said Gentile, who will be facing his ney Charles Hynes, has been indicted on third campaign in less than a year, charges she bilked an elderly client out of having lost to his predecessor, $10,000. By Deborah Kolben Some danced and twirled rib- tral Park last year. It took place in She will turn herself in on Monday, bons while others sang along with Downtown Brooklyn near Bor- Marty Golden, for re-election to his The Brooklyn Papers state Senate seat last November, June 16, to be arraigned at Brooklyn the music piped from a truck lead- ough Hall several times. and narrowly edged out a Republi- Supreme Court, sources close to Roper Steady and at times heavy This year the march returned to ing the parade. can in a five-way, non-partisan spe- told The Brooklyn Papers. rain did little to dampen the Brooklyn with a theme of healing “Peace be to these streets in the cial election in February. A special prosecutor will handle the Mango / Greg spirits of hundreds of marchers name of Jesus,” read the T-shirts and deliverance, according to Jerry who took to the streets of Bay So far, no other Democrat has case. most of the participants had slipped Dominguez, the head of evangel- officially declared in the race, al- Roper’s indictment was sealed, but the Ridge Saturday morning.