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 • © 2006 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 18 pages •Vol. 29, No. 18 BRZ • Saturday, May 6, 2006 • FREE Who saved the THIS WEEK Alpine theater? / Julie Rosenberg By Gersh Kuntzman tion signatures that, he claimed, Golden said his office “worked in- 9:30 am The Brooklyn Papers helped persuade owner Jeffrey Den- credible man-hours” to convince state eroff to commit to finding a buyer regulators to expand the boundaries of Papers The Brooklyn The Alpine Cinema has been who would maintain the 85-year-old an Empire Zone in Sunset Park to in- Dueling press conferences — which took place just hours apart — had both saved — now, who gets the cred- Alpine as a cinema. clude the cinema, which is at Fifth Councilman Vincent Gentle (above) and state Sen. Marty Golden (below) tak- it? Gentile said the new owner, Nico- Avenue and 68th Street. ing credit for saving the Alpine Cinema. Gentile’s event featured Borough Two Bay Ridge lawmakers — who las Nicolaou, would take over in July, If such an expansion of the zone President Markowitz (far left), while Golden’s show had Fifth Avenue bigwig have been rivals for more than a and transform the Alpine from a weak goes through, the Alpine would be- Basil Capetanakis (far right). decade — held bizarre back-to-back link in the national AMC chain into come eligible for a long list of tax press conferences this week to crow an independent cinema. There will credits and energy cost abatements. about their roles in finding a buyer for also be long-overdue renovations, Golden also mentioned renovations 1:00 pm the last moviehouse in a neighbor- Gentile said. that Nicolaou will make — plus con- hood that once had a half-dozen. Nicolaou owns an independent the- verting some currently unused space First up was City Councilman Vin- ater on the Upper East Side of Man- into a community theater. cent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge). The hattan and the Cinemart in Forest And Golden’s press conference did credibility of his event — bright and Hills. have Basil Capetanakis, president of early at 9:30 am on Tuesday — was King refused to say how much the Fifth Avenue Board of Trade, who bolstered by the appearance of Bor- Nicolaou paid for the building, which has been credited by both sides for ‘Green’ lights ough President Markowitz, Commu- had an asking price last year of $10 finding Nicolaou and hooking him up nity Board 10 District Manager Jose- million. A source close to the deal did with Deneroff. Among the environmentally friendly artists who phine Beckmann, congressional candidate tell The Brooklyn Papers that Nico- “Basil made the shidduch,” will be showcasing their work at Bklyn Designs, Steve Harrison, Fifth Avenue Board of laou paid between $6 and $7 million. Markowitz had said earlier, employ- / Julie Rosenberg May 12-14 in DUMBO, is Nicholas Furrow, Trade board member Jim Clark, and Three hours later, state Sen. Marty ing the Yiddish word for arranged whose “Red Light District Lamps” recycle vin- Tim King, the Massey-Knakal real es- Golden (R-Bay Ridge) presented his marriage. tage glass lampshades and consume only 1- to tate broker who sold the building. half of the double-feature with some But the language of this deal was 5-watts. For more about Bklyn Designs ex- “The Alpine has been saved!” Gen- of the same co-stars — King, Beck- probably Greek. hibitors, see GO Brooklyn on page 7. tile cheered, brandishing 2,300 peti- mann and Clark — but no Markowitz. See ALPINE THEATER on page 14 Papers The Brooklyn NOT JUST NETS • THE NEW BROOKLYN • NOT JUST NETS • THE NEW BROOKLYN Dan Zanes says Zanes’s he doesn’t write Toddler troubadour overtly political songs, but his Blacks new tune, “Wan- Brooklyn der in the Sum- mer Wind,” was sings against Ratner inspired by a vi- blues sion of Brooklyn By Gersh Kuntzman gos frontman has been singing to kids. ner’s track record: Atlantic Center, that, he says, is jeopardized by Bruce Rat- ner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development. blast The Brooklyn Papers But in this fight, he’s playing to the adults. Atlantic Terminal, Metrotech. Is Here are the excerpted lyrics: If you’re under 10, this is your Wood- “I was like everyone else who had heard this the guy we want doing the stock: Children’s folk singer Dan Zanes about the project — busy with work and single biggest development in family and I thought, well, it’s ugly, but it’s New York City?” Take a left on Kane Street And do you think you would — the Bob Dylan of the pre-school set — Another one on Henry Like to wander in the sum- inevitable,” said Zanes, who’s been so And then Zanes issued his has joined the opposition to Bruce Rat- Take a look around us mer wind busy, in fact, that he even let his member- most-damning edict (at least ner’s Atlantic Yards project and will head- For anyone we know We can take the F train Bruce ship in the Park Slope Food Co-op lapse. from the perspective of a Up the hill and down again Right on up to Ninth Street line an anti-project concert next month. When he took the time to consider the dewy-eyed 10-year-old Park Hand in hand Walk on to the park Zanes, a resident of Cobble Hill, be- “nuts and bolts” of the project — the 17 Slope Zanes fan): “Ratner gave We’ll be feeling grand To where the steel drums came a member of the advisory commit- skyscrapers, the basketball arena, the us Chuck E. Cheese. Is that the When we wander in the play Ex-Panther says summer wind Dance around in circles tee of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn 6,900-units of housing, the thousands of best we can do for our kids?” last month and now hopes to spread his With anyone that we meet cars, the use of eminent domain to con- A spokesman for Ratner declined I’ll take you to the river All this could happen Ratner ‘disrespects anti-Ratner message through song. demn buildings where people are currently to comment. Maybe down to Red Hook On a summer Saturday “My opposition is mostly about saving living — Zanes said he could ignore it no Although Zanes will headline the Eat a few tamales us, denigrates us’ the soul of Brooklyn,” Zanes (pictured more. Saturday, June 3, concert at the Han- Over by the soccer right) told The Brooklyn Papers. “Every- “I thought, ‘Well, I live in Cobble Hill, son Place Central United Methodist games thing I do is about community — in my Basketballs are flying By Dana Rubinstein that’s not going to affect me.’ But this Church in Fort Greene, don’t expect Over by the school- The Brooklyn Papers case, the spirit that comes from making project is not just in ‘someone else’s’ any overt anti-Ratner songs. yard music. That’s what Brooklyn means right neighborhood,” he said. “I’m not that kind of songwriter,” I hear the breeze Is Bruce Ratner’s basketball card a now. That’s why we came here. But Rat- Zanes, who is known by virtually every- said Zanes, who will sing protest Call your name race card? ner’s project is in direct opposition to all one with a kid under age 12, said his job songs like “We Shall Not Be Moved,” That question was raised by two fiery that’s good, soulful and communal about will be to spread the word to “busy, self- “I Don’t Want Your Millions, Mister,” High and low People that we know black leaders at an Atlantic Yards forum last Brooklyn. centered” people like himself. and the more-subtle “Wander in the They say, “Hey there” week at First Unitarian Church in Brooklyn “We need to remember what we love “I tell people: get informed about the Summer Wind,” a classic Zanes yarn And “How’ve you Heights. about Brooklyn and stop this.” entire project and then make up your that celebrates the serendipity of just been?” A centerpiece of Ratner’s project is a bas- Across nearly a decade and on his eight mind,” he said. “Atlantic Yards is every- taking a walk in a low-rise borough Good, good, good ketball arena for his Brooklyn-bound New best-selling albums, the former Del Fue- thing Brooklyn is not. Check Bruce Rat- (see sidebar). Arthur Elgort Jersey Nets. “[He] has the audacity to talk about a bas- ketball stadium, like black people would be impressed,” said Bob Law, a radio commen- tator, Prospect Heights restaurateur and for- mer Black Panther. “Like hoops is something THE BROOKLYN we would really need. “We are really not going to sit quietly and By Gersh allow you to disrespect us and denigrate us ANGLE Kuntzman Ratner’s glossy fantasyland … [This] rings with a kind of contempt for poor people and black people.” Law hammered all night on the race issue, State Development Corporation of- OU NEVER KNOW what which has bubbled up at other forums, but fice? you’re going to get in the Nice brownstones, Bruce! was also the driving force behind the Com- Page 6: Ratner now says his Ymorning mail: a glossy cata- Too bad Atlantic Yards munity Benefits Agreement Ratner signed logue, a piece of political literature, project will “provide approximately with eight minority groups.