DEATH of a CHURCH Fear Landmark Associated Press
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BROOKLYN’S REAL NEWSPAPERS Including The Bensonhurst Paper Published every Saturday — online all the time — by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 55 Washington St, Suite 624, Brooklyn NY 11201. Phone 718-834-9350 • www.BrooklynPapers.com • © 2005 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 18 pages •Vol.28, No. 16 BRZ • Saturday, April 16, 2005 • FREE DEATH OF A CHURCH Fear landmark Associated Press Associated Press Brooklyn Dodgers Duke Snider and Don Newcomb celebrate Dem Bums’ vic- tory over the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series. will be torn down By Jotham Sederstrom The Brooklyn Papers Only a month shy of its Dodgers’ 175th anniversary, Broo- klyn’s oldest Methodist con- gregation could be forced to celebrate its 176th on the street if parishioners of the Bay Ridge church fail to renovate its rapidly deterio- pennant rating sandstone facade. More than a decade after rain and wind began bruising the out- er walls of the United Methodist Church, on Fourth Avenue at Mango / Greg Ovington Avenue, officials say the historic building may finally restored be sold and, perhaps, demol- ished. A real estate agent empha- sized that negotiations were on- By Frank Eltman something so others can enjoy it for the fu- Papers The Brooklyn Associated Press ture and that’s an important thing for us.” going, but parishioners contend that a board of trustees has al- The historic United Methodist Church, at the corner of Fourth and Ovington avenues, may be demolished. Only a half-century old, it certain- The banner was won when the Dodgers beat the despised cross-town rival New ready begun meeting with devel- ly doesn’t have the provenance of a York Yankees following decades of frustrat- opers to discuss the future of the medieval tapestry. But it is a one-of- ing defeats for the Brooklyn faithful, known 105-year-old church. a-kind, and to millions of baseball as Dem Bums. It only flew for a brief time “This has been an albatross fanatics it’s probably more valuable. in Brooklyn before Dodgers owner Walter around this congregation’s neck The 1955 World Series championship for quite some time,” said Debra City: Keep working piers O’Malley packed up the team and moved to banner captured by the Brooklyn Dodgers Los Angeles in 1957. Jamet, a parishioner who has — the only one the team ever won — was Where it went from there is a bit murky, lived less than a block from the unveiled Wednesday following a $16,000 by most accounts. church for 10 years. “For a few restoration by experts at the Textile Conser- It was believed to have been liberated [trustees], they may have stars in in Jersey — not Brooklyn vation Laboratory at the Cathedral Church from a Los Angeles hospitality suite by a their eyes, but for the majority of St. John the Divine. team of New York sportswriters during the it’s simply exhaustion. “It’s just fantastic,” beamed Jessie Kelly, 1959 World Series. The banner was then se- “My concern is that they By Jess Wisloski American Stevedoring Inc. (ASI), promis- securing long-term contracts,” said Dehe. president of the Brooklyn Historical Soci- creted in a suburban basement, where it sat aren’t considering any option The Brooklyn Papers ing the creation of 400 jobs here, he said. “As a shipping line, we want to be sure The company instead signed a contract ety, which will feature the banner as the for decades, and eventually was turned over other than tearing the church An official with a German shipping that we have a terminal in five to 10 years, centerpiece of its upcoming exhibit on the to the Hall of Fame — with the understand- down.” with a port in Bayonne, N.J., after city Eco- maybe even 20 years. Seeing as terminals Dodgers. ing that it would stay in Cooperstown until Listed as a landmark in the company that took its $1.6 billion trade nomic Development Corporation officials everywhere are filling up very quickly, if The 8-foot by 17-foot, blue-and-white, a deserving Brooklyn home could be found. National Registry of Historic deal to New Jersey after first consider- refused to guarantee that the Red Hook port we transferred our ships to Brooklyn we’d cotton-and-nylon banner — inscribed Thirty years after winning the pennant, Places and boasting one of the ing Brooklyn’s port, said this week that would remain open through 2009. end up without a place to go when their “World Champions 1955 Dodgers” — re- O’Malley’s son, Peter — then the owner of borough’s last surviving four- the decision came down to the city’s “It was definitely a factor that they have lease expired.” ceived about three months worth of tender the Dodgers — came up with the idea of faced clock towers, the church refusal to back a Red Hook port. a relatively short contract that extends But, he added, “it certainly makes sense loving care, said Marlene Eidelheit, head of giving the flag back to the people of Brook- has been plagued since the “There’s usually other factors that are in only to 2007,” added Dehe. to maintain a viable active port in Brooklyn,” the cathedral’s textile lab. She said after a lyn in 1995. 1980s by the ravages of weather play, but it is correct that the lack of a After extensive negotiations, the Port given its proximity to truck routes, buyers, “gentle cleaning,” workers restored the tat- The Brooklyn Historical Society exhibit and a shrinking congregation. long-term lease agreement affected our Authority of New York and New Jersey adequate water depth for docking large tered edges and some of the lettering. will be the first time in decades that the ban- Although thousands of dollars decision,” Rainer Dehe, chief of opera- last December granted ASI a three-year freighters and the reputation of ASI. “It’s just such a great opportunity to be ner gets a wide showing. The exhibit, at its have already been spent to pro- tions for the international shipping compa- lease extension on piers 7 through 10, “The operator of the terminal has a good part of this history, because we were work- headquarters on Pierrepont Street at Clinton tect and renovate its eroding fa- ny Hamburg Sud said. The company had claiming piers 11 and 12 for conversion to reputation as somebody who is managing ing on a historical icon of our time,” Eidel- Street in Brooklyn Heights, is scheduled to cade, some say that the cost to hoped to ship to Brooklyn for the next five a cruise ship port. operations efficiently and fast,” Dehe heit said. “Our job is always to preserve run from April 22 through the fall. See CHURCH on page 4 years at the Red Hook piers operated by “That certainly hasn’t helped [ASI] in See HOOK LOSES on page 16 Church Rally for SHUT OUT AGAIN rezoning Marty holds another closed-door arena meet By Jess Wisloski mailed invitations to the Borough dooms The Brooklyn Papers Hall meeting. Goldstein said DDDB was not Borough President Marty initially invited, but after asking Markowitz has hosted another another local group to urge their closed-door meeting about de- inclusion, “[Markowitz] said, OK, veloper Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic we could come, but Daniel Gold- ‘oasis’ Yards proposal, continuing his stein can’t come. Also Patti and policy of shutting out community Schellie [Hagan], and PHAC members who have prominently [Prospect Heights Action Coali- Wants apartments voiced opposition to the plan to tion] can’t come either.” build a basketball arena as well Mango / Greg Asked why certain people or on site of 30-year as 17 residential and office high- groups were barred from attending Boerum Hill garden rise towers. the meeting, Markowitz said Last October, Markowitz held a through a spokeswoman, “This By Jess Wisloski similar meeting, shutting out re- community meeting brought to- porters as well as members of gether leaders of over a dozen The Brooklyn Papers civic organizations and elected of- neighborhood groups that openly Papers File The Brooklyn ABoerum Hill community garden that sur- ficials from the neighborhoods ad- protested the plans. Marty Markowitz vived for decades on little more than silver According to attendees of both jacent to the Atlantic Yards and bells and cockleshells is now in the crosshairs meetings, the policy has resulted in Nets arena who represented every of a battle between the neighbors who plant- excluding those living in the stein, the last holdout who has not point of view on the project. The ed it and the church that owns it. Prospect Heights footprint of the sold or agreed to sell to Ratner his size of the group was relatively With spring summoning daffodils, bluebells and planned development, bounded by condominium in the Atlantic Arts small to create a working group goldenrod to poke through the Hoyt Street Gar- Dean Street and Atlantic, Flatbush building at 636 Pacific St. within for constructive dialogue.” den’s wrought-iron fence and buds to sprout on its Greenhood / Aaron and Vanderbilt avenues. the Atlantic Yards footprint. Local elected officials, includ- knobby oak tree, the Iglesia Del Vivo Cristo, or This time around, Markowitz re- “We eventually decided not to go ing Councilman David Yassky, Church of the Living Christ, has asked the Hoyt lented in allowing members of the at all, because we don’t think Bor- Councilwoman Letitia James, and Street Association, which built and planted the gar- anti-Atlantic Yards group Develop ough President Marty Markowitz state Senators Carl Andrews and den, to get lost.