Brooklyn Optimist Wins Election in a Landslide!

Last week, the Brooklyn Optimist reported in passing the humorous circumstances under which he discovered he had won the Primary to represent his neck of the woods in Greenpoint as its newest Kings County Democratic County Committee Member.

Well, now the outcome is official! The New York City Board of Elections website has certified the results of the September 9th Primary and the numbers are staggering. The Optimist (a.k.a. Morgan Pehme) scored a landslide win over his opponent, Carmine Galeotifiore, taking a whopping 75% of the vote in the local race.

I know, I know. Percentages are impressive. Especially considering that the total vote count was 12-4 in my favor. It kind of reminds me of the final score in a Mets game, in which the team's bullpen has been called upon to save a 4-3 lead.

But, a win is a win and I'm not complaining. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to vote for me. I sincerely appreciate your support. I won't let you down over my next two years in office. No graft or sex scandals, I promise.

Congratulations to all my intrepid friends who also pulled out big wins on Primary Day, like my neighbor James Zika - who won by a single vote despite his excellent campaign - Alex Low, Chris Henderson, and Bushwick City Council hopeful Esteban Duran.

My sympathies to all of my friends who came up short. I know you'll rebound in 2010!

Brooklyn Politics: The More You Know

Inspired in part by the efforts of The New Kings Democrats - the young, ambitious political club of which I am proud to call myself a member - many of you have reached out to The Optimist in recent weeks, asking how you can learn more about Brooklyn politics.

Thanks for asking. The reason that the Brooklyn Democratic party and so many of our elected officials are able to act unscrupulously or flat-out unethically is because of the general public's lack of knowledge about local politics.

Matt Cowherd and Rachel Lauter, a pair of truly civic-minded citizens, founded The New Kings Democrats with the laudable intent of educating their fellow voters and bringing transparency to a deplorable system of governance that thrives, like Dick Cheney, by lurking in the shadows.

In an article yesterday in the Gotham Gazette, Assemblymember Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader, dismissed The New Kings' efforts, saying “I don’t have time to deal with people who are in constant conflict.”

Ha!

I not quite sure how to address such rubbish, except to tell you that from the very first meeting of NKD that both the group's members and leadership were adamant that they didn't want to be the "anti-Vito club". These concerned citizens - young and old, Black, white and Latino - had come to participate in local government for the first time in their lives because they believed that their leaders would embrace their enthusiasm to make government better and more representative of the people. Most of them had never even heard of Vito Lopez in their lives!

But now we know who Vito is. He is a person who maintains that citizens who want to take an active role in their government are insurgents bent upon "constant conflict". This rhetoric is all too familiar. It reminds New Yorkers of how we were told after 9/11 that to question President Bush's rush to launch illegal wars was "unpatriotic".

America is a country that was founded upon the strength of dissenting voices. Our nation charges us to take the wildly broad diversity of our opinions and to compromise upon a concensus for the common good.

In America we don't call this "constant conflict", we call this "debate".

And the best way to have an intelligent debate is to know all the facts. So, without further introduction, let me give some food for thought to those of you hungry to chew on Brooklyn politics.

If you want to know what's going on, I suggest that you start every day by reading Liz Benjamin's column in The Daily News , as well as Azi Paybarah and Katharine Jose over at The New York Observer's Politicker. The advantage of these blogs is that they are written by journalists, not pundits, which means that the information they provide is generally not clouded by an agenda. I believe strongly in reading all of the posts, not just the ones that pertain to Brooklyn, because borough to borough, city politicians play the same game, and you can catch trends that will help you see the larger picture of New York City politics.

If you still haven't had your fill after these two columns, move on over to blogs like The Daily Gotham and Room Eight. Often you'll find a wealth of information here that is either more controversial or not adequately substantiated to qualify for the daily papers. But, beware, don't believe everything you read! These bloggers may be providing prejudiced, speculative, or just plainly inaccurate information.

How can you tell the difference between fact and fiction?

The more you know, the better you'll learn to question.

That last nugget of advice is for you, Vito.

The Brooklyn Optimist Sounds Off On Eric Gioia

The Optimist played pundit this week, giving his two cents to Katharine Jose of The New York Observer about all-but-announced candidate for Public Advocate Eric Gioia. I first met Gioia in the early days of his first term as Councilman to Sunnyside, Woodside, and Long Island City when I was managing editor of The Queens Courier, and though I no longer cover Queens I have kept up-to-date about Gioia and his two media savvy terms in the Council.

If you aren't familiar with Gioia, you should certainly read Katharine's fine profile of him in today's Observer. Though I'll likely end up supporting Norman Siegel in his bid for Public Advocate (full disclosure: I've already attended one of his fundraisers), I respect Eric Gioia. Unquestionably, he has been a responsive councilman and an effective representative for his constituents - a rarity in this day and age. At the same time, however, Gioia has made sure to never do anything without being noticed by the media for doing so.

For many, these are the qualities of a model politician. As for me, I don't condemn ambition. Often ambition can be a virtue in politics, for it generally compels the politician to take into account the needs of the people - if for no other reason, but to calculate their own self-interest.

Mediocre politicians tend to be as tiny as their aspirations. They maintain the status quo simply out of convenience. In the Bush era, we've not only come to tolerate widespread mediocrity from our elected officials, we've come to embrace it. At a time when everything our President touches turns to dust, we're just happy if an elected official doesn't make things any worse.

Politicans like Eric Gioia, for good or for bad, at least challenge their colleagues in government to do better.

Brooklyn Blogfest 2008: A Hit For Bloggers and Fans Alike

Congratulations to everyone who participated in last night's gala 2008 Brooklyn Blogfest. The event was an indisputable success, drawing over 250 talented bloggers and their fans to the comfy confines of the Brooklyn Lyceum for a night of presentations, networking, and, of course, libations.

The event's organizer Louise Crawford of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn deserves the lion's share of the credit for pulling off the largest borough Blogfest ever without a hitch. Special thanks also goes to Louise's stellar team, which included Eleanor Traubman (Creative Times), Adrian Kinloch (Brit in Brooklyn) and Petra Symister (Bed-Stuy Blog), and a host of other talented Brooklynites who donated their services to bring the blogosphere together under one roof.

Despite being given the somewhat harrowing task of handling the evening's video projections (even after I admitted that I am technologically incompetent), I enjoyed myself immensely. Among the individuals I had the pleasure of talking with were local blog giant Bob Guskind (Gowanus Lounge), 2009 City Council candidate and Brooklyn Streets, Carroll Gardens blogger Gary Reilly, the always delightful Katia Kelly of Pardon Me For Asking, Brooklyn Independent TV host Megan Donis, and Brooklyn Paper editor-in-chief Gersh Kuntzman.

Another highlight of Blogfest for me was getting to spend time perusing the work of Brooklyn's wonderfully talented photobloggers. Below is the video I produced for last night's Blogfest entitled "A Photoblog Tribute to Brooklyn". Please feel free to pass it on liberally to help celebrate our borough's prodigious and prolific photographers.

A Mea Culpa For My Daily Optimists

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time this past week to inquire (some of you, very insistently) as to where your daily dose of optimism has been. It is so heartwarming to know that though I've only been writing this blog for a little over a month that I could already be missed.

For those of you who feared that some misfortune had befallen me, let me put your minds at ease. The Optimist is well and as optimistic as ever! Multiple factors contributed to my absence, but for the most part I just wanted to enjoy more time with my lovely new fiancee. Can you blame me?

I did have a bit of a post-Primary hangover too. After two years of expectation, the anticlimactic resolution of Super Tuesday left me drained. It was only yesterday when the caucus results came in from Louisiana, Washington, Kansas, and the Virgin Islands, that I felt my temporary political apathy recede.

But now I'm back and I have a lot on tap this week for all of you, so don't worry. There's plenty of cause once again to be optimistic!

The Brooklyn Optimist Endorses Barack Obama

I am excited about Barack Obama. Who isn’t?

Even a Republican political pundit I caught on the radio the other day said that anyone who hears Senator Obama speak in person who is not moved by his startling oration should check themselves for a pulse.

To be honest, I never thought I’d see a candidate of Obama’s strength, intelligence, and dynamism come so close to the Presidency in my lifetime. I had resigned the idealism of the 1960s to a past too long ago to rekindle and too far away from where our country has fallen to reinvigorate.

Even in my optimism, I could not envision a progressive candidate who could so captivate Americans with the pure brilliance of his promise that they would come to the polls in record numbers to affirm their belief in him.

Even in my optimism, I could not conceive of a candidate with the potential to convince Americans that it is not our system of government that is inadequate, but the elected officials who we have settled on to manage it.

Even in my optimism, I could not imagine a candidate who could simultaneously unify our deeply divided nation, while at the same time restoring our integrity and esteem on the world stage.

Even in my optimism, I could not expect Barack Obama.

Of all the endorsements that heaped praise upon Senator Obama, none articulated and understood his qualities as eloquently and precisely as the letter of support Toni Morrison released this week. What was different about the Nobel Laureate’s evaluation was that it did not resort to tired criteria like “electibility” and “experience”, but invoked words we long ago gave up trying to apply to politicians – words like “virtue” and “wisdom”.

Though I have never met the man myself, I am convinced, like Ms. Morrison, that Barack Obama is both a man who is virtuous and wise. These are the words that I would use to describe Jefferson, Lincoln, and Dr. King.

These are the words I want to use to describe my President.

I ask you to join me on Tuesday in voting for Barack Obama.

An Optimistic (On Camera!) Interview with Major Owens about Barack Obama

Up until now, you’ve only experienced Brooklyn Optimism in word. But starting today, this blog is expanding to spread optimism to the eyes and ears of Brooklynites like you by featuring all-original documentary news shorts about the borough.

This first segment is An Optimistic Interview with former Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens about why he has chosen to support Barack Obama’s candidacy for President. The Optimist caught up with Congressman Owens the morning of the South Carolina Primary (before we knew the winner) at Medgar Evers College, where he has just begun teaching as an adjunct professor.

Congressman Owens has stayed vigorously involved in community activism since he retired from office in 2007 after 24 years of representing one of Brooklyn's most racially and economically diverse districts. The only professional librarian ever elected to Congress, Major Owens has also recently completed a book for which he is seeking a publisher. It's called The Peacock Elite: An Intimate Case Study of the Congressional Black Caucus and its Impact on National Politics.

Owens' former seat, now occupied by Rep. Yvette Clarke, has its own special place in the history of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before Owens, it was occupied by one of the founding members of the Caucus, Shirley Chisholm, who in 1972 became the first black woman to run for President of the United States. She garnered an impressive 152 delegates, but ultimately lost the Democratic Primary to South Dakota Senator George McGovern.

Later that day, I seized the moment to interview Rep. Owens’ son, Chris Owens, about the state of Brooklyn politics today. I’ll be debuting that interview later this week on BrooklynOptimist.com.

An Optimistic Interview with Park Slope's "Murder" Blogger Paul LaRosa

Just because The Optimist looks on the bright side of life doesn’t mean he stays clear of the dark side of Brooklyn. As soon as I first read about the concept behind Park Slope author Paul LaRosa’s new blog, I became curious about what kind of man had decided to write a daily chronicle of all of New York City’s murders.

It turns out that Paul LaRosa, the writer of The Murder Book 2008 blog, is a family man with a wife and two college-aged kids, who goes to the dentist – manifestly not the loner holed up in a room wallpapered with obituaries circled madly in red ink that I first imagined. But despite his seeming so nice and being just like you and me, LaRosa does have an obsession – or at least a fascination – with murder. A former Daily News reporter, LaRosa is the author of two true crime books revolving around murder (Tacoma Confidential: A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief’s Secret Life and Nightmare in Napa) with a third on the way.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul by email this week, making him my first interview, er… victim here at brooklynoptimist.com.

THE BROOKLYN OPTIMIST: What possessed you to want to write a blog chronicling New York City's murders?

PAUL LAROSA: I do a lot of work about murder, frankly, being a TV producer for "48 Hours Mystery" and a true crime author. In fact, my most recent book - due out at the end of March - is about the NYC murder of dancer Catherine Woods. It's called Death of a Dream. Because of my work, someone suggested I read The L.A. Times Homicide Report, which is that paper's attempt to chronicle every murder in L.A. I was thinking someone ought to do that here. It was already 12/31/07 and so I thought, well, why don't I do it? So I did.

OPTIMIST: Isn't this a pretty morbid undertaking?

LAROSA: Yes, no doubt about that. But I am fascinated by the reasons people murder - love, lust, money, jealousy - it's all very biblical. What's depressing is when someone is killed - and a fair number of NYC murders fall into this category - because of a stupid argument or someone looked at someone the wrong way. There's nothing fascinating about that… and it shows the need for gun control. These murders would have been fistfights (maybe knife fights) a couple of generations ago.

OPTIMIST: New York City had 494 murders in 2007 - the lowest number we have suffered in more than 40 years - earning it praise from some as "the nation's safest big city". Nonetheless, many visitors to your site certainly won't be able to help themselves from assessing New York as a very violent place. Do you think that this is an appropriate time in our City's history to begin a project like the The Murder Book 2008?

LAROSA: Well, 494 souls are 494 souls any way you look at it. Do most of us feel safe? Yes. But there are neighborhoods in Brooklyn and The Bronx where this is just not so. I also think it's important to look at who is being killed (the majority by far are blacks and Latinos) and where the killings are taking place. Who would feel equally as safe if the 494 murders were mainly whites who lived in Manhattan?

OPTIMIST: How does Brooklyn compare to the other boroughs in terms of murder?

LAROSA: There are parts of Brooklyn where the murder rate went up last year and more cops have been assigned. We'll see what happens as the year goes on.

OPTIMIST: Since you are only recording murders that have been reported by the City's three largest newspapers [the Times, News, and Post], are there many murders that you miss?

LAROSA: Again, that's one of my questions. Are there dozens or a hundred or so murders that are just considered too inconsequential to report? Already, I have to look really hard at the papers to find some that you think would have garnered more coverage. To take one example, why is it that when a 69-year-old black grandmother is sexually assaulted and murdered in Harlem the story gets so little ink? Yet, we're still reading about the mugging of a 101-year-old white woman last year? No one has been arrested yet for the Harlem murder which, by the way, means a sexual killer is on the loose up there.

OPTIMIST: Do you think that keeping a daily numerical tally of victims could reduce the significance of these individuals' deaths to statistics?

LAROSA: I think just the opposite. I'm highlighting every murder victim I can find in a more or less equal way.

OPTIMIST: What do you think on mornings when you open the papers and you don't find any murders?

LAROSA: It's a great day!

OPTIMIST: Finally, you and I both started our blogs on the first day of this year. Where in The Murder Book 2008 can I find cause for optimism?

LAROSA: I hope for even fewer murders this year than last. And when you see where the vast majority of these murders are taking place, at least some people will take solace in the fact that they'll never go to Mott Haven or Far Rockaway or even a Chelsea night spot.

[BREAKING NEWS: Just before this interview was posted The Optimist received a last-minute email from Paul LaRosa calling my attention to a new blog he has just begun, apparently in an attempt to even out his karma. It’s called Here Is New York and purports itself to be “a record of all the good, curious & quirky aspects of living in New York from a NYC native”.]

The Optimist is Back!

So, what did I miss?

Let's see. Since I left on Wednesday, Bush went to Israel for the first time in his presidency (which is just as staggering as it sounds) and announced that by the end of his visit he wanted to make significant progress in the Middle East peace process. As of 6 p.m. this evening, that doesn't seem to have happened yet, but stay tuned for hourly updates.

What else? The FDA approved cloned meat and dairy (again), thus making as good an argument for vegetarianism as any.

Oh, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met, dated, and apparently married supermodel and professional paramour Carla Bruni.

Yeah, it's been quite a week. The Optimist even got engaged to his lovely, longtime girlfriend.

But now I'm back in Greenpoint and ready to catch you up on the latest about all-things Brooklyn. If there's anything about our borough I missed in my absence, please fill me in at brooklynoptimist@gmail.com.

The Optimist is on Vacation

The City never sleeps, but The Optimist needs to from time to time, so I'll be on a vacation until January 14th. I wish I could hit pause on the borough until then, but since apparently I can't, The Optimist will work overtime next week to catch you up on all that was missed in my absence.

I'll let you know on Monday if I had any Mayor Mike sightings in Bermuda. From what I understand, he owns that island too.

Gowanus Lounge Groundswell

Speaking of blogs, I want to thank Bob over at The Gowanus Lounge for helping to introduce The Brooklyn Optimist to the good people of our borough. If you are not already among the cognoscenti who depend upon The Gowanus Lounge, it is the preeminent location to learn the essentials of Brooklyn real estate. It should be daily reading for all of the Optimist's fellow optimists.

Don't worry. The Lounge smells far better than anything you might except with the name Gowanus in the title.