DA Hynes is no CPA: p.3 • SmartMom on the baby backlash: p.4 BROOKLYN’S REAL NEWSPAPERS Including The Brooklyn Heights Paper, Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Paper, DUMBO 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 • © 2006 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 14 pages •Vol.29, No. 2 BWN • Saturday, January 14, 2006 • FREE RESIDENTS ON CARROLL GARDENS IT’S GETTIN’ UGLY By Ariella Cohen The Brooklyn Papers Carroll Gardens is the latest community that wants to restrict the INSIDE size of “ugly” new buildings. Coming on the heels of “downzoning” legislation in several neighboring areas, the Carroll Garden Neighborhood Association this week called for a 50-foot cap on the height of new residential development — the height of a typical five-story residence. “There is nothing we can do about the new ugly buildings that are going up,” said Gardens homeowner Mary Mattner. “Tighter zoning rules would give us a tool in the fight.” Proponents of new height restrictions point to an ultramodern, six-story condominium at 11 Second Place as an example of the kind of out-of-scale development that is currently permitted by law. Residents of the mostly low-rise neighborhood near the building, which is at the corner of Henry Street, call it “the glass thumb” — as in sore thumb. Carroll Gardens stretches from Douglass to Huntington streets and from See GETTIN’ UGLY on page 5 Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place was filled with airplane debris on Dec. 16, 1960. Film aims to solve mystery of Park Slope plane crash By Gersh Kuntzman Hmmm. The Brooklyn Papers Donnelly said that his interest in the crash was practically bred into him. He It was the worst airplane crash in his- was born on Staten Island three days be- tory, and now it’s going to be a movie. fore the collision and many of his family / Jori Klein A Staten-Island filmmaker announced members witnessed what was then the last week that he intends to memorialize worst aviation disaster in history. the famed-but-forgotten Dec. 16, 1960 Left unresolved is who will play Stephen midair crash between an Idlewild-bound Baltz, the 11-year-old who was the crash’s United jet and a TWA Super Constellation only survivor. He was found in a snow bank that sent human and plane parts hurtling by stunned locals and brought to Methodist Papers The Brooklyn onto Park Slope’s busy Seventh Avenue. Hospital, where he died the next day. The planes crashed in bad weather over The hospital still has a poignant memo- Staten Island — or did they? rial to Baltz, which features the actual “There’s a lot we don’t know about that coins that he had in his pocket. crash,” said D.J. Donnelly, a newcomer to Donnelly hopes his movie will serve the Redford brings filmmaking, but not a newcomer to con- same purpose. “These people must not be spiratorial thoughts about an accident that forgotten,” he said. killed 128 passengers and six people on the For the longest time, the crash was an ground. unforgetteable fact on the ground at Sev- “My movie will show that family mem- enth Avenue and Sterling Street. Only last Sundance here bers of the dead were not told the cause of the year did construction finally begin on two He’s known as The Sundance Kid, but Robert Redford (not to be confused with crash,” he said. “I can’t tell you what it is, but long-stalled apartment buildings to replace I promise it will be in the film. Why did all structures destroyed in the crash. Borough President Markowitz, above right) journeyed to Brooklyn last week to the government oversight boards make differ- Many people believed the site is jinxed. announce a collaboration between his own Sundance Institute and the Brooklyn ent findings? Just so families could not sue Donnelly may be, too. He claims that Academy of Music in Fort Greene. The “Creative Latitude” program will include the airlines. The government can say whatev- two networks are interested in funding the film screenings, performances, discussions and special events (and more Redford er it wants, but that’s just the official story. My project, and he claims that filming will be- appearances, we hope?). Redford’s Brooklyn credentials were burnished recently film will tell the real cause of the crash. But Firefighters hose down a building destroyed when a plane crashed gin in June — although neither claim could when it was reported that he’ll play Branch Rickey in a new film about Jackie that’s all I can say about that right now.” into Park Slope in 1960. be verified. Robinson. For full coverage, see GO Brooklyn, which begins on page 7. Norman finally locked up, briefly Norman is not cooperating. But the fit the crime.” N THE END, Clarence Nor- THE BROOKLYN judge refused to tack on a few years Let the record show that Rappaport man’s fall was anti-climactic. merely on Vecchione’s word that did not suggest tar and feathering or The former head of the Brook- By Gersh I ANGLE Kuntzman Norman is “at the heart” of an alleged running Norman out of town on a rail lyn Democratic machine and 11- judicial scandal. — the true punishments that fit these term Assemblyman — sentenced For his part, Norman made a half- crimes. Wednesday to 2-to-6 years in jail for Norman had solicited a campaign hearted apology to his family. And he Even Judge Marcus’s sounded several campaign finance violations contribution from a lobbyist above also finally admitted that he had be- bored when he finally pronounced — simply got up from his defense the legal limit and then tried to hide it. trayed his constituents — but not be- sentence on Norman. “He well knew table and walked, unhandcuffed, to And this fall, a second jury found that / Gersh Kuntzman cause of his conviction, mind you, but a holding area to await being sprung the law and was obliged to observe it, Norman had pocketed a check for because they no longer benefit from hours later for his appeal. but he willfully, knowing violated it,” $5,000 that had been made out to his his “23 years of seniority, power and People in my line of work wait said Marcus. “The mechanisms by campaign fund rather than to him. influence.” It will take his replace- years for a day like Wednesday — a Both convictions came as part of which he did so were devious and ment, Karim Camara, “years to deliv- day when a corrupt politician trades a wide-ranging investigation by manipulative. And his explanation er for this district,” Norman said. that it was sloppiness, not guile, is un- in his charcoal gray suit for some- Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Papers The Brooklyn thing in a less-flattering blaze orange. Hynes into whether judgeships were And Norman’s lawyer, Ed Rappa- convincing and shameful.” Former Assemblymember Clar- port, spoke at length about how his Marcus hit Norman with 1-3 years With remorseless machine pols “sold” in exchange for hiring or ence Norman, accompanied by like Norman, you want to hear the jail paying off Norman cronies. client was convicted of a “non-vio- for each conviction and ordered him lawyer Ed Rappaport, enters court cell slam tight like in a Hollywood If true, it’s horrendous. But Hynes lent, victimless crime,” as if that ab- to pay $420 in court surcharges and prison movie. You want to see every hasn’t made that case yet, although Wednesday. solved him of the need to sit in jail for crime victims’ compensation fees. / Steven Sunshine member of his family breaking down the investigation continues. The best a few years. This last request seemed for a mo- in tears while the judge bangs his he could do Wednesday was to trot forgetting 9/11, the day the Dodgers E ASKED FOR community ment to be more onerous to Norman gavel to punctuate a lengthy sentence. out prosecutor Michael Vecchione, moved away or the Battle of Long Is- service rather than hard time, than the jail time. When it was hand- You want to see a halo-like glow ap- the chief of his rackets division, who land. He called Norman “someone Hslamming Vecchione for de- ed down, the former Brooklyn king- pear over the head of the prosecutor called Norman “a smarmy and dis- whom everyone in Brooklyn could be manding a five-year sentence. maker turned to his long-suffering as he waxes poetic about the sanctity honest politician.” proud of ... promising reform and not “I have been involved in cases of family in the courtroom and made a The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn of the office that the pol has betrayed. Vecchione’s heart may have been politics as usual. But we have seen him murder, sodomy, rapes, but for a face that indicated he didn’t have that But on Wednesday, something was in it, but his oratory never reached the travel the road from being a favorite son first offender whose crime is not vi- kind of money on him. missing. Indeed, to cite a catchphrase level of a good courtroom drama. to a smarmy and dishonest politician.” olent, it would be unheard of to ask One member of the family pulled Beyond biscuits popular when Norman was first elect- “I truly believe it’s a sad day ... one Vecchione asked Judge Martin for five years,” he said.