STILL LOOKING FOR A SUMMER CAMP? TURN NOW TO PAGE 14 BROOKLYN’S REAL NEWSPAPERS Including The Brooklyn Heights Paper, Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Paper, DUMBO Paper, Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Paper and the Downtown News 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 • 20 pages •Vol.28, No. 26 BWN •Saturday, June 25, 2005 • FREE TOP COURT OKS HOME / Tom Callan / Tom The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn SEIZURES Brooklyn second baseman Armand Gaerlan scores in front of Yankees catcher P.J. Pilittere in the eighth in- ning of the Cyclones 10-7 Opening Night victory at Keyspan Park in Coney Island. By Neil Sloane and Jess Wisloski The Brooklyn Papers The U.S. Supreme Court on NOT JUST NETS Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people’s homes and busi- THE NEW BROOKLYN nesses — even against their will — for private economic development. B’KLYN IDOLS The decision could pave the way for bulldoze residences for projects such as and the city and state filed briefs in support New York State to condemn private prop- shopping malls and hotel complexes in or- of the City of New London’s position affirm- erty under its eminent domain authority for der to generate tax revenue. ing the right of eminent domain. Clones beat Yanks, take opener use in developer Bruce Ratner’s proposed Local officials, not federal judges, know Some opponents of the Ratner project ex- Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, best in deciding whether a development proj- pressed shock at the high court’s decision. By Vince DiMiceli where nearly 13 acres of private property ect will benefit the community, justices said. “It’s as if the Supreme Court has ruled The Brooklyn Papers face condemnation. The Ratner plan includes a professional against the U.S. Constitution. I’m shock- More immediately, the 5-4 high court rul- basketball arena that could also host con- ed,” said Patti Hagan, a Prospect Heights It was deja vu all over again. ing represents a defeat for some New Lon- certs and other events, as well as four sky- resident who lives just outside the arena And again. And again. And don, Conn., residents whose homes are slat- scrapers and 13 other high-rises on property plan footprint and has for nearly two years again. ed for destruction to make room for an stretching east from the intersection of Flat- organized opposition to the plan. For the fifth time in their five- office complex. They argued that cities have bush and Atlantic avenues. Ratner proposes “ Why isn’t the Supreme Court holding year history, the Brooklyn Cy- no right to take their land except for projects to create more than 7,000 units of housing the basic fundamental rights of people?” clones took the season opener, with a clear public use, such as roads or as well as commercial and office space. she said. this time with a 10-7 victory over schools, or to revitalize blighted areas. Both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and “Supposedly it’s [to bring in] more taxes, the hated Staten Island Yankees. The court affirmed the right of cities to Gov. George Pataki support Ratner’s project See EMINENT DOMAIN on page 19 In front of the largest crowd ever to make its way into Keyspan Park, Mookie Wilson’s squad put on a show featuring timely hitting, aggressive base running and, minus three errors, some excellent glove work. TISH / Gary Thomas But it was Jesus Gamero’s two-run homer off the left field scoreboard in the seventh, which put the Clones up 6-4, that gar- RIPS nered the biggest cheer of the The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn night from the crowd of 9,303. Brooklynite and former “American Idol” contestant Constantine Maroulis, The Clones went to work on left, who sang the National Anthem and “God Bless America” Monday the base paths early when, in the GIFF night, with Pee-Wee (center) and a sheared Sandy the Seagull. See OPENER on page 6 BROOKLYN’S BEST CYCLONES COVERAGE: PAGE 6 Ready for a close-up Callan / Tom Noted filmmaker focuses on Hynes, O’Hara The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn By Jotham Sederstrom Gifford Miller The Brooklyn Papers By Jess Wisloski An award-winning documentary film- and Neil Sloane maker, whose previous work includes The Brooklyn Papers exposes of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Enron, has his Letitia James is no fan sights set on Brooklyn, in particular Dis- of Gifford Miller. trict Attorney Charles Hynes. And, the councilwoman said Following up this year’s “Enron: The this week, she wants to make Smartest Guys in the Room,” filmmaker Alex that point perfectly clear in Gibney said light of mailings to Democrats that he had in her district — paid for by taxpayers — that imply an al- already am- Jennifer Szymaszek EXCLUSIVE / assed hours liance between the City Coun- of footage cil speaker, who is running for for a documentary starring John Kennedy mayor, and the Fort Greene- O’Hara, the Sunset Park man convicted of Prospect Heights legislator. voter fraud six years ago. Associated Press It’s not so much that the The film, he said, intends to follow the for- A visitor to the New York Puppet Library attempts to walk while carrying a “backpack pup- mailings carry the air of im- mer perennial political candidate as he strug- pet” at Grand Army Plaza. The New York Puppet Library is one of two national Puppet Free propriety — despite emanat- gles to reverse his conviction, which O’Hara Lending Libraries that gives the public the chance to rent puppets for up to two weeks for ing from the City Council maintains was ordered by Hynes as a favor to community events, neighborhood parades, celebrations, demonstrations or other occasions. they amount to little more Park Slope Assemblyman James Brennan. than campaign literature for To Hynes and his allies, however, the as- the Upper East Side council- yet-untitled documentary couldn’t have come man — although that, too at a worse time: Gibney said that while a long bothers James. No, in this case shot, the documentary could be finished in it is the implication that the time for release just before the Democratic Giant puppets councilwoman is an ally of primary in September, where Hynes for the someone who supports a proj- first time in his 16 years as DA faces a ect which she has risked her crowded field of challengers. politcal career fighting — de- “I think its an important story with nation- / Greg Mango / Greg veloper Bruce Ratner’s pro- al implications,” said Gibney, who is also fol- See TISH RIPS on page 7 lowing former Hynes challenger Sandra Rop- on loan at GAP er, who last month pulled out of the race and instead will run for a civil court judgeship. By Mike Weissenstein from kid-size, grinning white carousel horses “The larger story is how do citizens make to a towering “Corporate Iceman” left over The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn Associated Press a difference, and how do governments get en- from a play about child labor and globalization. trenched in ways that defy political stereo- John O’Hara and his lawyer, Barry M. Fallick, are filmed by docu- At the foot of a seven-story granite These slightly worn veterans of years of pa- types,” said the filmmaker. mentary cameraman outside Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednes- arch in the middle of a busy traffic circle, rades and plays make up the collection of the Although he has been filming O’Hara since day. Film will focus on O’Hara’s conviction for voter fraud and sub- a scuffed yellow door opens once a week New York Puppet Library, an unusual joint January, Gibney said he was still unsure what sequent battle to clear his name. to a scene that’s straight out of a chil- direction the project would take. Fluent in both venture inside the landmark Soldiers and dren’s storybook. Sailors Monument in Brooklyn’s Grand Army television and film, the New Jersey resident PAGE 9 said that he hadn’t decided if the documentary Draped over dull gray boxes of electrical Plaza. Callan / Tom would be best suited for the big screen or, say, equipment is a Mother Earth puppet with a The Puppeteers Cooperative, a self-de- the Public Broadcasting System. Bluegrass legend face the size of a manhole cover. A dragon scribed “loose affiliation of puppeteers,” makes The Enron documentary, said Gibney, made of blue garbage bags snakes down a cir- its creations available without charge for par- played in 1,200 theaters nationwide, to audi- Del McCoury to play cular staircase. ties, performances and political demonstrations ences who called the film “shocking.” Celebrate Brooklyn They peer from alcoves and hang from the in exchange for rent-free real estate from the Papers The Brooklyn See MOVIE on page 7 ceiling; floor after floor of enormous puppets, See GAP on page 17 Letitia James ©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 BWN THE BROOKLYN PAPERS • WWW.BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM June 25, 2005 Join Us At Our P-BIP-3sp MEET & GREET Columbia Street Wine & Cheese • Music New Friends • Support Israel –––––––––––––––––– BIPOLAR DISORDER Sunday, June 26, 2005 loses ‘General’ STUDY 2 - 5pm SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS By Jess Wisloski with good grades, that he went • Feeling down and depressed? Temple Beth Elohim The Brooklyn Papers to Brandeis University.