The $7.99 lobster roll is here! P. 7 Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2007 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DOWNTOWN EDITION AWP/18 pages • Vol. 30, No. 32 • Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007 • FREE INCLUDING DUMBO JEW TO LEAD / Tom Callan / Tom Callan / Tom Callan / Tom ARAB SCHOOL By Dana Rubinstein On Tuesday, the city announced the appointment of Danielle Salzberg as interim principal of the The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Paper Khalil Gibran International Academy, which will LEFT, RIGHT AND CENTER: All three faces of Rudy Giuliani — the liberal former mayor, the conservative trying to appeal to right-wing GOP pri- The city has appointed a Jewish educator to begin classes in just over two weeks. mary voters, and the middle-of-the-road, common-sense pol — were on display at a synagogue fundraiser this week. salvage its first Arabic language and culture acad- Salzberg speaks no Arabic and has no apparent emy following the resignation school founder, expertise in Arabic culture. Debbie Almontaser, who came under fire after Even commentators who defended the school defending “Intifada NYC” T-shirts created by an were taken aback by the city’s decision to appoint organization with which she was affiliated. Salzberg to the delicate post. “To put a principal totally un-im- mersed in the culture seems like spitting in their eye,” former Mayor Ed Koch Homecoming King told the New York Times. Salzberg, who worked on the plan- ning of the school, though behind the scenes, was rushed into the job follow- Rudy gets a hero’s welcome in Brooklyn RATNER ing the resignation of Almontaser, a flu- ent Arabic speaker, amid the uproar about the “Intifada NYC” shirts. By Dana Rubinstein mostly male. 9-11 terrorist attacks. He compared The T-shirt was made by a group The Brooklyn Paper Among them was Israel Steinberg, himself to Ronald Reagan and credit- called Arab Women Active in Art and DECISION ’08 Media, which shares office space with Rudy Giuliani preached to the who said he supported Giuliani in part ed the late president with ending the because of his Middle East policy. 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. KNEW! another organization of which Al- choir during a private fundraiser for his $8 million — but also in Brooklyn, “He threw [Yassir] Arafat out of the “I believe [the Iranians] saw some- montaser is a board member. his 2008 presidential campaign at a where she has collected $400,000 to Almontaser initially defended the Sephardic synagogue on Ocean United Nations,” said Steinberg with ap- thing different in Ronald Reagan’s his $267,000. proval, referring to the 1995 incident in eyes than they did in [then-President] City: Bruce endangered shirt, saying that “intifada” literally Parkway in Gravesend on Monday. But that did not dampen the enthu- which Giuliani ejected the late Palestin- Jimmy Carter’s eyes,” said Giuliani. means “shaking off.” “I can’t tell you how much strength it siasm of the crowd inside the syna- ian leader from a Lincoln Center con- “They saw indecision in Carter’s workers at Yards site “I understand it is developing a nega- gives me to have you — all of you gogue’s banquet hall — a crowd that cert. The move was roundly criticized eyes. In Ronald Reagan’s they saw de- tive connotation due to the uprising in friends who helped me become mayor was decidedly grayer than one that re- the Palestinian-Israeli areas,” she told the by the Clinton White House for its lack termination and strength. … You have By Ariella Cohen — working with me now,” said Giu- cently turned out in Brooklyn Heights Post. “I don’t believe the intention is to of diplomacy, though it burnished Giu- to deal with Islamic terrorism from … The Brooklyn Paper liani to a crowd of about 150 supporters to pay tribute (and at least $1,000) to have any of that kind of [violence] in inside Congregation Shaare Zion, each Barack Obama. liani’s credentials in some quarters. strength.” Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner could have pre- New York City ... I think it’s pretty much of whom paid $40 a pop to attend what And the good news for the former “Mrs. Clinton went to kiss Mrs. And it is that persona of strength vented the potentially deadly partial col- an opportunity for girls to express that was billed as a “Rally with Rudy.” mayor was the absence of the anti- Arafat,” continued Steinberg. “That that won Giuliani the support of atten- lapse of the Wards Bakery in April that they are part of New York City society Giuliani will need such support if Giuliani firefighters who have been a tells you something right away, that dees like Judah Eckstein. sent bricks raining onto Pacific Street, … and shaking off oppression.” he’s to carry Brooklyn. Federal cam- fixture on his campaign circuit, something’s not kosher here.” “We like Rudy very much,” said according to a long-awaited Depart- Insiders say the remark — in addition paign finance records reveal that De- protesting his leadership before and Inside the synagogue, between av- Eckstein, who runs a Web site called ment of Buildings report. to other missteps (see our “Timeline of a mocratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary after 9-11. enues T and U, Giuliani kept to his Yeshiva World. “He was the best may- The seven-page report details years Debacle” on page 6) — led to her de- Clinton is far outpacing “America’s At the rally, the average age of Giu- talking points, underscoring his histo- or New York City every had. He re- of water damage and neglect that led mise. Mayor,” not only in New York State liani’s supporters was about 50, and ry as mayor of New York City, and al- duced crime, and he made the streets up to the April 26 collapse of the his- Her translation, while technically ac- — where she’s raised $14 million to the fairly homogeneous crowd was luding to his leadership role after the safer.” toric building’s 200-foot parapet, con- curate, “ignored the reality that the word cluding that the owner who inherited the ‘intifada’ also has come to mean a vio- damage — Ratner — should have lent uprising in Palestinian territories warned demolition workers about the 100- against Israel,” said Joel Levy, New York year-old building’s dangerous condition. Regional Director of the Anti-Defama- “Forest City Ratner had been apprised of the deteriora- tion League, which supports the school. Barack coming back next week See RATNER on page 6 See GIBRAN on page 6 SEE PAGE 16 NYU eyes Brooklyn TIME WILL NOT TELL Opens dorm, seeks ‘merger’ with Polytechnic Univ. B’klyn ‘clock block’ continues for foreseeable future By Ariella Cohen uate students will move this riage remain in negotiation, but it By Dana Rubinstein the Fourth of July.” biggest headache and that’s turning out The Brooklyn Paper month into the “sliver building” appears the end result will be a The Brooklyn Paper But now, more than six weeks after In- right,” he said. at 67 Livingston St., between new school of engineering for the New York University is com- dependence Day, the clock remains Dermot Company is not the first corpo- Clinton and Court streets, which Manhattan-based NYU and a Only time will tell when Brooklyn’s cloaked in dour black netting. ration to wrestle with the hands of time. ing to Brooklyn — and so is its is named for the way its narrow boost in prestige for Poly, which own timepiece — the clock atop the “I don’t have news, which means we The clock didn’t operate for most of the voracious appetite for real es- 26-floors are wedged between lacks the national cachet and 512-foot-tall Williamsburgh Savings don’t know when it will come off,” apol- 1970s and 1980s, until Republic National tate. wider buildings on the street. flush endowment of NYU. Bank tower — will start tolling for us ogized Barbara Wagner, a spokeswoman Bank renovated the landmarked site. The ever-growing private in- Since the late 1980s, the tower’s In a carefully written statement again, despite recent assurances by the for the developer. “It is definitely stalled Ever since the tower, the tallest in stitution, based in Greenwich Vil- on the school’s Web site, Poly building’s owner that the beloved four- 76 units served as a dormitory for / Julie Rosenberg until the fall sometime.” Brooklyn, was built in 1929, the clock lage, is opening its first non- the Watchtower Bible and Tract President Jerry Hulton envisioned faced chronograph would be restored Last year, The Brooklyn Paper report- has helped hapless urbanites keep tabs on Manhattan residence in a Brook- Society. In March, a private in- a post-merger institution as “two by July 4. ed on the sad disrepair of clocktower, its that most elusive of forces. Now, it’s lyn Heights apartment tower, and vestor bought it for $18.6 million universities joined.” Back in May, Andrew MacArthur, a four faces showing different times, its helping Brooklynites keep time in a dif- is negotiating what it described and then leased it to NYU. “We are confident that an principal at the Dermot Company, which light bulbs burnt out. ferent way. as a “merger” with Downtown The dormitory news follows a agreement will be … highly ben- has been transforming the former bank At the time, MacArthur attributed the “Now, you kind of think, ‘Gosh time Brooklyn-based Polytechnic Uni- statement by NYU last week that eficial to both Polytechnic and Paper The Brooklyn building and dental haven into million- disrepair to “gear stuff.” goes so fast, and yet here’s the clocktow- versity.