SATURDAY • JULY 10, 2004 Including The Bensonhurst Paper Brooklyn’s REAL newspapers 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 • © 2004 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 18 pages • Vol. 27, No. 27 BRZ • Saturday, July 10, 2004 • FREE VICTORY FOR BILLY ‘Billy’s Law’ awaits Pataki’s signature By Jotham Sederstrom At a July 1 press conference that come out of these facili- The Brooklyn Papers outside City Hall Vito Albanese ties,” said Vito Albanese. said, “New York State has taken Under the new law, whose A Bay Ridge father and a giant step forward in protect- Assembly version was spon- son claimed a legal victory ing our most voiceless and vul- sored by Assemblywoman Joan this week after elected offi- nerable citizens. New York Millman, each facility will be cials announced the passage should be very proud in doing subject to an inspection by the of a state law that would God’s work on the passage of state Department of Education. ensure thorough investiga- Billy’s Law.” The home would need approval tions of out-of-state mental State Sen. Marty Golden, from its own state as well as health facilities. who sponsored the Senate ver- New York before being granted sion of the bill, said that more a license. It would then be in- “Billy’s Law,” which will than 1,000 young New Yorkers spected once every three years take effect following expected with mental disabilities are cur- and would be re-evaluated if al- approval by Gov. George Pataki rently sent to neighboring states legations of abuse were report- next month, is named after Billy to be treated, in large part due to ed. Albanese, a 32-year-old Bay a lack of state funds. Until now, “Vito should not have had to Ridge man who was abused at Callan / Tom parents or legal guardians in go to our offices day after day,” unlicensed facilities in New Jer- New York had no way of know- said Golden. “But today is the sey while still a child. Since ing if those facilities were fully happiest I’ve ever seen him.” learning of the abuse, which in- licensed or even if its employ- Billy Albanese’s experience cluded threats of torture and ees had been charged with with institutional abuse began physical violence, his father, Papers The Brooklyn abuse. nearly 20 years ago following a Vito Albanese, has risen to be- Assemblywoman Joan Millman, Vito and Billy Albanese and “It’s a high-priority bill be- failed bid to hang himself that come a leader in the crusade to Councilman Vincent Gentile at the announcement of the Leg- cause they don’t want to hear resulted in a traumatic brain in- regulate such facilities. islature’s passage of “Billy’s Law.” about no more horror stories See BILLY’S LAW on page 4 / Jori Klein Gentile wants to protect your plates The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn By Jotham Sederstrom license plate frames is being used by frames as long as they don’t obstruct iden- officers who were walking through the The Brooklyn Papers overzealous traffic agents to reap pricey tifying information, like the plate number community and hitting parked cars,” said summonses. itself. Commonly, he said, the frames cov- Gentile, who introduced the bill on June It could be the most inconsequential Barrels of fun Councilman Vincent Gentile intro- er no more than the “Empire State” slogan 7. “This is just another episode in the accessory on your car since suction-cup duced an amendment to the city adminis- on the bottom edge of the plate. continuing saga of harassing New York- Barrels of beer, that is. Miss Rheingold 2004 Dani Marco raises a keg of Rhein- Garfield, but a Bay Ridge councilman trative code on July 7 that would allow “We had two or three individuals that ers with ticket books.” gold Beer above her head at Greenpoint Beer Works in Clinton Hill Wednesday is charging that an obscure law banning drivers to display the metal or plastic were tagged by the traffic enforcement See PLATES on page 2 to celebrate the brewer’s first Brooklyn batch in almost 30 years. ‘Cruise ships a ploy’ Nadler: No guarantee liners will come to Brooklyn By Deborah Kolben cruise industry to come to Brooklyn. had any thought of bringing the pacity,” said Bloomberg spokes- and Neil Sloane “When they started saying they cruise lines here and I don’t know woman Jennifer Falk. The Brooklyn Papers EXCLUSIVE wanted to use [the piers] for cruise why,” the congressman said. Falk added that the cruise lines lines, we were a little suspicious be- A mayoral spokeswoman ac- would not have entered into an agree- The mayor is using a promise lantic Avenue in Cobble Hill and Pioneer Street in Red Hook — ac- cause they don’t have an agreement knowledged this week that there is no ment with the city without a com- of cruise ships coming to the Red with cruise lines to use it,” said written commitment from the cruise mitment to build a Brooklyn dock. Hook piers as a ploy to squeeze cused key officials of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administra- Nadler. lines to dock in Brooklyn, but said “Nobody has an exclusive agree- out the borough’s last working tion of being disingenuous in nego- “I’m very concerned with what’s they have a verbal agreement to use ment, but the cruise lines are commit- container port, a Brooklyn con- tiations with both the public and the going on with the Economic Devel- the Brooklyn dock as a spillover ted to coming to Pier 12,” said EDC gressman charged this week. current operators of the piers over opment Corporation,” he said, re- when the Manhattan docks are full. spokesman Michael Sherman. In a conversation with The the future use of the waterfront. ferring to the agency, largely con- “Both cruise lines have verbally Asked for copies of the letters-of- Brooklyn Papers in the newspaper’s Despite touting Piers 10-12 as a trolled by the mayor, that will committed to using Brooklyn to intent signed between the Carnival DUMBO offices, Rep. Jerrold determine the uses of those piers. handle the overflow of ships when and Norwegian cruise lines and the cruise ship port, the Bloomberg ad- city on April 19, when the mayor an- Nadler, whose district includes ministration, Nadler charges, does not “They had a fixed plan to get rid the passenger ship terminal on the / Greg Mango / Greg Piers 6-12 — roughly between At- have a written commitment from the of container operations before they West Side of Manhattan reaches ca- See CRUISES on page 7 The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn Coming to America Mom’s cry: The agony of victory! By Lisa J. Curtis America’s champion gurgitator, Sonya Thomas, shoves in last GO Brooklyn Editor bite as Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi downs his world-record The patriotic spirit of July Fourth continues 53rd hot dog during Nathan’s contest in Coney Island on Sunday. Saturday, July 10, at 8 pm, with “Ellis Island: The Make street Dream of America,” a multimedia program featuring THIS WEEKEND the Brooklyn Philharmonic performing live at the Prospect Park Bandshell against a backdrop of pro- jected images from the Ellis Island Archive. safer for kids “Peter Boyer is the composer and conductor and master- Slope GOPer mind behind this whole combination of text, music and im- By Jotham Sederstrom age,” said Theodore Wiprud, director of operations, education The Brooklyn Papers and community engagement for the Brooklyn Philharmonic. “And this program is very much in the Brooklyn Philharmon- The mother of a 4-year-old boy who was run over ic’s tradition of bringing inspiring new work to the people of and killed by a truck as he and his sister crossed eyes Bloomie Brooklyn.” Boyer will make his New York City conducting Hamilton Avenue spoke out this week against the debut at this performance. traffic she says is overrunning Red Hook. “It’s a slide show of Ellis Island and immigrants coming Sherry Laney, whose son Travis Bussey was killed By Deborah Kolben lican,” Shaw hardly appears to be through Ellis Island, which accompanies narration taken from while crossing Hamilton Avenue at Court Street on June The Brooklyn Papers one himself. oral histories of seven immigrants,” said Wiprud. One of the 25, told The Brook- The 29-year-old banker is a concert’s narrators, Barry Bostwick, played a New York mayor lyn Papers that safe- He may be half his age and registered member of the Grand on the sitcom “Spin City” for six years (he’s still beloved by with pockets not nearly as ty measures need to Old Party but he is also a card- many for his performance as Brad in the cult classic “Rocky be implemented at EXCLUSIVE deep, but Park Sloper Steve carrying member of the Park Horror Picture Show”). Joining Bostwick will be Barbara Barrie the intersection and other streets before another life is lost. Shaw believes he can defeat Slope Food Co-op, where he [“One Potato, Two Potato” (1962), “Breaking Away” (1979)] “Hamilton Avenue needs crossing guards,” said Laney. Mayor Michael Bloomberg in works his mandatory 2.5 hours who replaces previously announced actress Blair Brown. “There’s too many kids from the buildings playing out next year’s primary. every month. “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” is part of the there and it’s too dangerous for the kids.