Greenpoint's Black Death and Joe Lentol's Inaction

For those of you Greenpointers who didn't catch this story in the Times last week, I wanted to share with you this troubling article about the horrific health hazard that lurks unseen in our community. To sum up the article in brief, the big nasty secret no one in Greenpoint wants to talk about is that the air we are breathing is toxic.

And not just a little toxic. Very toxic.

To make things worse, everyone is complicit in keeping this big nasty secret quiet. Why? Well, the majority of us prefer to live with our heads in the sand, muttering the mantra, "Smell no evil, breathe no evil."

But many more in the community have their mouths shut, because they are afraid of their self-interest. Home owners don't want their property values to go down. Business owners don't want to drive away customers. Polluters don't want to acknowledge their mess. And, of course, our politicians want to deny culpability for failing to deal with the genuine environmental crisis on their hands, so they can keep on getting elected.

In the Times article, Councilman David Yassky dodges responsibility by throwing up his hands and lamenting Greenpoint's environmental woes. I find his empathy so comforting. The only problem is my lungs aren't soothed by his rhetoric. Doubtless, if the Times had bothered pressing a politician for more than a trite sound bite for a change, Yassky would have fallen back on something along the lines of that he has been trying his best to clean up the environment, but he's only been in office for seven years and there's only so much one can do in less than a decade.

Fine. So then what is Assemblyman Joe Lentol's excuse? Lentol's been in office since 1972. If he hasn't been able to make significant strides in addressing the environmental calamities torturing his district in three and a half plus decades, well, it seems pretty clear that he's not up to the task. I am certain that I will be challenged on this point by Lentol and Co. and emailed a list of the Assemblyman's environmental accomplishments by his friendly staff, but, quite frankly, their objections won't help me breathe any easier either. If they want to be really helpful, perhaps they can send us a breakdown on comparitive cancer and asthma rates for Northern Greenpoint versus somewhere like Park Slope, and we'll let the facts cough for themselves.

Oh, and let me be clear, I'm not excusing State Senator Martin Malavé Dilan. He just never does anything period, so I figured it wasn't even worth excoriating him for this particular instance of incompetance.

But, Brooklyn Optimist, why are you so mad, you ask? You're not being terribly optimistic.

True.

Allow me to explain. Today, I am writing to you as a Brooklyn County Committeeman elected by his neighbors in Northern Greenpoint to speak up for them when no else has the guts to do so. Today, I am writing to you as a resident of Sutton Street, who is scared shitless that his block is being showcased in The New York Times as Brooklyn's Silent Spring. Today, I am writing you as a husband worried sick about his pregnant wife. Today, I am writing you as a father-to-be, who wonders if he has already been remiss as a parent to let his child be born into a swirling tempest of potential health hazards.

This article isn't about punditry. It's about people.

People who deserve clean air.

Maybe if David Yassky lived in Greenpoint, he'd be more concerned too.

How Extending City Term Limits Secretly Benefits Our Statewide Politicians

Despite the recent deluge of articles about Mayor Bloomberg and the Council's scheme to extend term limits, one significant consequence of the proposed change has been carelessly overlooked.

City officials won't be the only ones making out on this backroom deal. Our Statewide politicians will see big dividends too.

Why does Governor Paterson favor doing away with term limits? Let's see. Do you think that it could have anything to do with Mayor Bloomberg being the only candidate who could beat him in 2010?

State Senators and Assembly Members across the five boroughs will breathe a sigh of relief the day the Council extends term limits. Why? Just ask longtime incumbent State Senators Serph Maltese and Frank Padavan from Queens. Both of them are locked in tense general election campaigns, because Council Members Joe Addabbo Jr. and Jim Gennaro thought they had to go looking for new jobs now that their time in the Council was up.

Yes, the issue of the Democrats taking control of the Senate is an indisputable catalyst too, but, if this aim were first and foremost for Addabbo and Gennaro, how come they didn't run for these seats in 2006? The Democrats wanted the Senate then too.

For the past couple of years, our Assembly Members and State Senators have secretly feared the same fate as Maltese and Padavan. And don't think this is just a Democrat vs. Republican thing. Our City Council Members, for the most part, are ambitious men and women, for whom retiring into the private sector (read: obscurity) has little charm. Do you not think that there are plenty of Council Members eyeing up their fellow Democrats' seats?

What about Bronx Councilman Miguel Martinez? When Martinez announced his bid to run for Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat's seat this past June, the City Room headline in The Times read "Assembly Primary to Match Friends Turned Rivals". In the article, Jonathan Hicks decribes Martinez and Espaillat's former rapport "as a big brother and little brother relationship — or at the very least political mentor and mentee". What changed? The lust for power.

Strong political friendships routinely disintegrate when they are no longer convenient for one of the parties to maintain. How many other City Council Members have their sights set on a seat currently occupied by a "mentor"? We won't find out until 2013 if term limits are extended.

If they are, expect a number of longtime lovefests to start dissolving around 2011. That will give the Council Member just enough time to forge the track record of indignation necessary to justify his or her challenge of a one-time pal.

Our State Senators and Assembly Members aren't stupid, especially when it comes to calculating how they're going to stay in office. They know that the only challenge that could likely topple their otherwise iron-clad incumbencies would come from someone with the name recognition and donor base of a fellow elected official.

As long as our Citywide officals stay put, so too will our Statewide electeds. You can be sure that everyone in Albany has their eyes (and their influence) firmly focused on City Hall.

Big Vote Miscount in Brooklyn Favors Clinton

What do Americans have to do to make sure our votes count?

Since 2000, this has become an increasingly infuriating question for voters across the States. But the latest to be disenfranchised - at least, for the time being - seem to be the people of New York City.

The Times has a devastating story today revealing that in 80(!) election districts, including many in Brooklyn and Harlem, Barack Obama was initially credited with a whopping zero (that's "0") votes on primary night.

Upon actually tallying the numbers, Obama's vote count has grown dramatically, but apparently not yet to the point that he has won in any of the districts previously called for Clinton (although some are VERY close). Nonetheless, the discrepancy does matter, especially here in Brooklyn where Clinton eked out a margin of victory of less than 2%.

Delegates are allocated according to the vote count in each Congressional district. If Obama's vote totals continue to rise in our borough, he could take away one or two of the delegates previously thought to be won by Clinton.

And at this point in the race, every delegate counts a lot.