I N S BROOKLYN’S ONLY COMPLETE U W L • Celebs support Cobble Hill O P N Health Center • Inside St. Ann’s ‘Dollhouse’ Nightlife Guide • Prospect Heights dining listings CHOOSE FROM 36 VENUES — MORE THAN 140 EVENTS! 2003 NATIONAL AWARD WINNER Including The Bensonhurst Paper Published weekly by Brooklyn Paper Publications at 26 Court St., Brooklyn, NY 11242 Phone 718-834-9350 © Brooklyn Paper Publications • 14 pages including GO BROOKLYN • Vol.26, No. 48 BRZ • December 1, 2003 • FREE TREE YOU LATER 80th St. nabes watch as old tree is felled By Jotham Sederstrom the site, said on Tuesday. “But Residents between Fourth Now, however, most residents Indeed, members of the The Brooklyn Papers now it’s completely down and and Fifth avenues rose in op- are coming to terms with the 80th Street Block Association As developers contin- they’re sawing it up in pieces.” position to Cammarata’s pur- multiple-unit condominium. met last week with Council- Despite neighborhood out- chase of the house. The sale “We’re making the best of man Vincent Gentile and Cam- ued to work out kinks sur- rage over the summer after de- even sparked a bidding war it,” said Parker, who added that marata to discuss the finer rounding the aesthetics of veloper Joseph Cammarata an- between Ahl, who sought to Cammarata had agreed to install points of the condominium, a controversial new con- nounced that he had secured a reclaim it, and Rosemarie O’- a skylight on her house because which is expected to be com- dominium being built on demolition permit for the old Keefe, a former Giuliani com- of the sunlight his condomini- pleted by June. According to the site of a recently razed house, the newest twist to hap- missioner and City Council um will block. “They seem to Parker, members voted on the 100-year-old house on pen to historic 80th Street candidate who also sought to be interested in doing a very color of brick to be used, 80th Street, contractors hardly registered a peep. buy it back from Cammarata. good job,” she said. See TREE FALLS on page 5 this week finished chop- ping away at a towering London Plain tree in the yard. While the exact age won’t be determined until its rings can be counted, the tree is Bridge ‘builder’ gets due widely believed to be more than 100 years old. Some neighbors, like Bay Ridge merchant and Community 13th Av. span named for Dominick Sabatino Board 10 member Greg Ahl, By Jotham Sederstrom down off-road terrain. who grew up in the old house To Sabatino the butcher, that used to stand at 435 80th The Brooklyn Papers this was pure bologna. So he St., believe the 80-foot-tall Some 70 years ago, spent seven years lobbying sycamore was even older. Dominick Sabatino owned city officials to build a bridge “I don’t think there’s any a grocery store and deli in over the divide. tree with a better track record Borough Park. There, on for a street tree than the Lon- In 1937, the city built it. the corner of 59th Street Seven decades later, they don Plain,” said Bill Logan, and 13th Avenue, the self- the president of Urban Ar- named it after the business- borists, who added that such made merchant, an Italian man who, born 133 years ago, trees can live up to 350 years. immigrant known in the nudged it into reality. The tree was so large that it neighborhood for his han- On Nov. 22, a beautiful, sun- took lumberjacks five days to dlebar moustache, sold ny Saturday afternoon, Coun- completely chop it down and salami and prosciutto by cilman Vincent Gentile and a teams of 10 or more were the pound. slew of Sabatino’s relatives gathered on the corner of 61st needed for the job. While two Problem was, a gulch sepa- Mango / Greg / Greg Mango / Greg or three were lifted to branch- rating 61st and 62nd streets Street and 13th Avenue to cele- es 40 feet above, a ground was scaring business away. brate their patriarch’s com- crew worked below. While avenues on either side pelling life and contributions to “It’s a science to watch straddled the dirt-filled gap, his community. A street sign on these men take the tree motorists traveling 13th Av- the northwest corner was un- The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn down,” Peg Parker, a member enue ended up at a dead end, veiled. It reads, “Dominick Not only has the home at 435 80th St. been demolished, but now this century-old tree, of the 80th Street Block Asso- an oversight that left some un- Joseph Sabatino, 96, son of Dominick Sabatino, holds sign Sabatino Bridge-1937.” (what’s left of it) was chopped down piece by piece this week. ciation who lives next door to suspecting drivers skidding honoring his father. With him is his son, Robert. See BRIDGE on page 6 Scorsese: Re-open Lady Liberty By Verena Dobnik The federal government has spent al detectors were installed to screen statue to visitors. No timetable has TROLLEY WAR Associated Press millions on upgrades, but about $5 visitors boarding the ferry from low- been set. million of work must still be done er Manhattan. But the statue itself On Tuesday, American Express Martin Scorsese on Tuesday before visitors can climb the 151- has remained closed. pledged at least $3 million to The offered his moviemaking talent to foot-high statue. Planned upgrades to the statue in- Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foun- a campaign aimed at reopening The Statue of Liberty National clude fire and emergency notification dation, which is overseeing the proj- the Statue of Liberty to the public. Monument, a 58-acre island in New systems and more exits from the ect. After the terrorist attack, the The director is to produce and nar- York Harbor, was closed to the pub- monument. company’s offices in the World Fi- rate a television documentary on lic immediately after the Sept. 11, Once the security improvements nancial Center were vacated for nine Lady Liberty to air in January, as 2001, attacks. are made, the National Park Service months. part of a fund-raising campaign for The island was reopened in De- must ask Interior Secretary Gale The coffee-maker Folgers also has new security measures. cember 2001, after airport-type met- Norton for permission to reopen the pledged funding for the campaign. Red Hook’s Ikea ready to hire Despite lack of approval, employment policy already in place / Greg Mango / Greg By Deborah Kolben 11231 ZIP code two weeks before the The Brooklyn Papers general public. The company has also said it will host job fairs to prepare Red Ikea may still be a year or more Hook residents to apply. away from winning city approval While Ikea supporters touted the Papers The Brooklyn to build a Red Hook store, but that stated hiring policy this week, claiming Trolley cars owned by Bob Diamond sit dormant in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. hasn’t stopped the Swedish furni- See IKEA on page 6 ture manufacturer from announc- Who’ll return streetcars to B’klyn roads? ing its hiring policy to fill the approximately 600 jobs they INSIDE THE PAPER By Deborah Kolben and connect to surrounding neighborhoods, were expect the store to create. The Brooklyn Papers briefly partners in the Red Hook trolley plan. Classifieds . GO 6-8 On one side is Bob Diamond, a Brooklyn Heights In letters sent to more than 1,000 GO Brooklyn 8 pages . follows page 4 When the city put an end to the dream of a resident and transit buff who has dreamed of bring- residents, community groups, civic Home Improvement . GO 8 trolley linking Red Hook to Downtown ing trolleys back to Brooklyn for the past 20 years. leaders and news outlets, Ikea an- Parent . page 6 Brooklyn this year, nobody thought the bor- Diamond, who says he has, over the years, put near- nounced its “one-of-a-kind, Red Hook- Police . page 3 ough would ever hear the clattering of trolleys ly $300,000 of his own money into the plans, came specific” policy for new hires, which Real Estate . GO 6 again. close to realizing his vision when his organization, focuses on neighborhood residents. Now news that the planners of Brooklyn Bridge the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association As part of that plan, Ikea has com- Online at Park are considering a trolley that would take visi- (BHRA), won city approval and public funds to lay mitted to only accept applications at www.BrooklynPapers.com tors around the planned waterfront development has tracks connecting Red Hook to Atlantic Avenue. the Red Hook site — at Columbia and Hear our editors and reporters discuss the news not only sparked interest, it has started a war. Those plans fell through and Diamond is now Van Brunt streets — and to open up every week in EDITORIAL ROUNDTABLE The two combatants, who each have proposed trying to push for a trolley around the planned the hiring process to residents in the The plan for an Ikea on the Erie Basin. plans for a trolley line that would encircle the park See TROLLEY on page 5 Soon to be Saturday... ©The Brooklyn Papers. Established 1978. Phone 718-834-9350. Celia Weintrob, Publisher (ext 104) • Neil Sloane, Editor (ext 119) • Lisa J. Curtis, GO Brooklyn Editor (ext 131) • Vince DiMiceli, Senior Editor (ext 125) • Ed Weintrob, President (ext 105) 2 AWP THE BROOKLYN PAPERS • WWW.BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM December 1, 2003 Independence buys S.I.