P7 P14 Gere stars in local’s ‘Bee Season’ Game roundup 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 • 16 pages BRZ •Vol. 28, No. 44 •Saturday, November 12, 2005 • FREE Car kills senior BIG WIN on 86th By Lilo H. Stainton The Brooklyn Papers Gentile defeats Russo handily Crossing Fourth Avenue proved deadly for a 90-year-old Brooklyn woman this week. Ray Allan died at Lutheran Medical Center after she was By Ariella Cohan struck by an SUV while traversing the busy avenue near 86th The Brooklyn Papers Street at 10:55 am Nov. 7, according to police. A close and somewhat bitter match Allan was transported to Lutheran Medical Center in serious for the 43 District City Council seat condition after the accident. She died there a short time later, ac- came to a fast if not predictable end at cording to published reports. 9:53 pm on Tuesday night when a The driver of the car, who remained at the scene until police Democratic district leader passed his arrived, was not charged with any violations. Blackberry cell phone over to the While the intersection of 86th Street and Fourth Avenue has been among the most dangerous pedestrian crossings in the incumbent, Vincent Gentile. neighborhood, the accident rate has declined there, according to “He called me and said ‘this is Pat Russo. Transportation Alternatives. The activist organization used city I want to tell Vinny he gave a good fight’,” crash data from 1995 through 2001 — the most recent informa- Joe Bova recounted to the Brooklyn Papers, tion available — to develop maps detailing all vehicle collisions “I passed over the phone.” with pedestrians and bicycles citywide. It was that simple. Gentile won a third term in the City Coun- cil Tuesday, besting Republican challenger Russo by 10 percentage points. “We had been waiting for that call a long time,“ said Gentile of Russo’s concession phone call. “Hearing his voice on the phone was the icing on the cake.” It was the second race between the two Bay Ridge natives and was the borough’s only seriously contested council race. Gentile captured 14,361 votes (55 percent) to Russo’s 11,745 (45 percent), according to unofficial tallies. “We never worried,” said Diana Castignani, Mango / Greg a Gentile supporter who, on Tuesday night, joined him for eggplant Parmesan and cham- pagne at a post-poll bash at the Stars and Stripes Democratic Club on 15th Avenue. As the party seeped out of the storefront Democratic club and onto the avenue, Gen- Papers The Brooklyn tile’s supporters spoke jubilantly of the hard Councilman Vincent Gentile raises fists in victory during election night celebration at the Stars and Stripes Democratic Club on 15th Avenue. work that had gone into the win. “I was concerned,” said Assemblywoman Joan Millman, “but we came through.” “People came in from Downtown to help and, of course, voters here know what’s best for their communities,” she added. VINNY: RACE GOT UGLY Before Tuesday the race had featured Mango / Greg mentions of Republican Mayor Bloomberg The Brooklyn Papers Some of the attacks were below the showed up on Fourth Avenue to pretty horrified by that kind of talk and the impact of his popularity on Bay With victory champagne belt. That didn’t happen in the last publicly dismiss the charge. even when it comes from the Re- Ridge voters, a group known to swing be- slicking his hair to his forehead, race.” “The implication of the flier was publican Party,” said Mary Speers, tween party lines. In the last week of the cam- totally disrespectful to the voters in pastor of the Union Church of Bay The fear that Russo would be able to ride re-elected city Councilman Vin- paign, Republican opponent Pat that district,” said Markowitz in an Ridge. Bloomberg’s coattails to victory went unreal- cent Gentile called his latest Russo distributed pamphlets call- interview with The Brooklyn Papers “You know it when someone Papers The Brooklyn ized. battle to keep his seat one of the ing his rival a serial abuser, allud- before the election. goes too far,” said Speers. “My Furthermore, Bloomberg’s presence at the nastiest he’s been in. ing to allegations of sexual harass- Russo’s jab at the incumbent sense is people thought, ‘Ouch! I top of the ticket may have ended up, for Rus- “I don’t know if this race was ment that had been dismissed after may have only muddled his mes- wish he hadn’t said that’.” Still Smokin’ Former Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier puts a so, a lump of coal, rather than the bonus his tougher,” said the former state sena- a Council investigation. sage, according to some Ridge ob- With his second loss in a row strategists predicted. tor who has been finding ways to The circulars got him in trouble servers. against Gentile, Russo just might glove on one of his famous fists during a break from sign- “Having Bloomberg in the race was a sur- win contested elections since 1996. with Gentile ally and borough “Most people in my parish, and be feeling the same way. ing copies of his new book, “Box Like The Pros,” at the See GENTILE on page 4 “It was certainly more attack filled. president Marty Markowitz, who that includes the Republicans, are — Ariella Cohan Novel Idea book store, 8415 Third Ave. on Tuesday. GREEN: Toxins in C’Gardens Gas plants’ pollutants seeping way through nabe IT’S NOT By Ariella Cohen the polluted groundwater contains poi- ations at the site in the 1960s. In 1975, The Brooklyn Papers sonous coal tar and other dense runoff the city took ownership of about half associated with industrial manufactur- of the entire oddly shaped parcel, Aformer natural gas plant in ing. bounded by Fourth Street, Hoyt Street, Carroll Gardens is polluting The pollutants have also been found Fifth Street, Smith Street, Huntington BLIGHT! groundwater winding its way in the canal itself. Place and the canal. beneath the neighborhood with This week, researchers working for “They know [it] is traveling in the Assemblyman speaks toxic chemicals — and experts Keyspan Energy — whose predecessor Smith Street direction,” said Keyspan don’t know where it’s going or Brooklyn Union Gas processed and spokeswoman Diana. manufactured natural gas at the site for Found at depths between 10- and against eminent domain how much of a threat it is. about one-hundred years, and which is 150-feet below street level, the contam- Originated in the marshy ground sur- responsible for cleaning up the area — inants run in the groundwater in move- The Brooklyn Papers rounding the former Citizens Gas began digging up soil along the edge of ments known as plumes, according to Speaking before fellow state legislators at a hear- Works (Public Place) site, a former gas the 11.5-acre site in hopes of finding Keyspan. ing on eminent domain last Friday, assemblyman manufacturing plant on Fifth Street at out exactly where the sludge is headed. In city study in 1990, inspectors Roger Green challenged the legality of exercising Hoyt Street along the Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn Union discontinued oper- See TOXIC PLUME on page 13 eminent domain in his Prospect Heights district, where up to 11 acres could be condemned to acco- modate Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project. “For the record, that neighborhood is not blighted, said Green. “I repeat, that neighborhood is not blighted.” “Under the definition of blight, as related to pover- Mercury rising in D’town ty or environmental degradation, this definition is not related to Prospect Heights,” Green told The Brook- lyn Papers afterwards. Opponents said the statement by Green — who has W’burgh bank builiding been a vocal supporter of Forest City Ratner’s proposed 21-acre mega-development — was a blow to Ratner’s case for eminent domain. By Ariella Cohen The Department of Health (DOH) tower, many dentists offices were lo- “He shot down their argument,” said Patti Hagen, an The Brooklyn Papers sampled the air inside of the building on cated there. In years past, mercury was opposition leader who attended the hearing. June 15, one month before Johnson’s a common ingredient in dental fillings. / Jeff Zelevansky / Jeff City inspectors have found dan- Councilwoman Letitia James, in whose district the gerous levels of mercury vapor in company, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, In one-third of the locations tested by Atlantic Yards lies, said Green’s words, bolstered by was preparing to demolish the building’s the DOH, mercury vapor levels were state legislation, could affect plans for the housing and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank interior to make way for condos. well above the governmental safety reg- office development that would also include a profes- tower, the landmark building at 1 In a former dental office on the ulations for residences: 200-300 sional basketball arena. Associated Press Hanson Place which is being con- eighth floor of the 34-story building, nanograms per cubic meter. “The admission of [Green] that the area is not verted into luxury condominium the air sampler recorded 2,300-2,400 “Every time someone made a filling, blighted is wonderful,” said James. “If we can expe- apartments by Earvin “Magic” nanograms of mercury vapor per cubic he would take a mortar and pestle and dite the legislative process and a bill is passed in Jan- Johnson’s development company.