Whoa Nelly! Now THAT's entertainment. In a mtg that lasted past 10:30pm, we saw the "retirement" of Rabbi Jacob Goldstein after 34 years as Community Board 9 chair. We voted in a new 1st Vice Chair, Laura Imperiale, who just happens to live in Lefferts. We voted in a new secretary, Lefferts resident Rosemarie Perry. Jacqueline Welch joins Eve'lyn Williams as Members at Large (both Lefferts livers). They're all cool, and along with the new treasurer Diana Richardson and returning 2nd Vice Chair Demetrius Lawrence (both from south Crown Heights near Medgar Evers) you've got a formidable Executive Committee. Yours truly lost in the four-way election for member at large, but given Eve'lyn and Jacqueline's more than 100 years between them of life in the neighborhood, I should be proud of my 12 votes and vow to serve as a lowly committee chair, and I'm hoping maybe ULURP?
Something like 15 new board members were there, an unprecedented amount of turnover, most appointed by Eric Adams, who, it must be said, took the unnecessary step of forcing Jake out by threatening to not re-appoint him to the board if he didn't step down (true story). Why unnecessary? Because anyone could see that Dwayne was gonna win in a cakewalk, so why risk angering the Chabad community? Which, if my sources are correct, is in fact exactly what he did. One Lubavitch board member told me they (the Jewish community in Crown Heights) were ready to throw the bum (Eric) out tomorrow if given the chance. Add to that the fact that now there are NO Jewish executive committee members or committee chairs, and well, frankly I don't know how you can say the representation is appropriate. The Lubavitch Jews have a HUGE presence in our Community District. Of the new members, all but one was black. The lone new Jewish member - Avi Leshes from the Chamber of Commerce - is replacing a non-reappointed Chabad board member. Frankly, I just don't see how that makes political sense, but I ain't the one driving this bus. (And no, I'm not complaining about how few non-orthodox white folk are on the board, so don't misread what I said! There's plenty of honkies, maybe too many, what do I know. Writing that word "honkies" sure feels weird though...does anyone actually say that anymore?)
Like I always says, I'm gonna call it likes I sees it!
Speaking of which, man oh manischewitz, there were some ANG-GRY people there tonight from over on Maple almost to Utica. I'd written about it before, this apartment building going up on a long-empty lot. It's to be developed and run by a group called The Bridge, who are experts at running permanent housing facilities for people with permanent mental illness. It will also have affordable housing units, probably for seniors, as well. But the folks who live right around there are LIVID that so many crazy people will be dumped in their front yards. Never mind that these are not VIOLENT crazy people, or anything other than ueber-monitored and cared for by full-time supportive services. To hear people screaming about not wanting "those people on our block" and concerned for the safety of their children and feeling their house prices will plummet (it was a filthy and dangerous vacant lot before for chrisakes) was eerily reminiscent of what whites used to say when blacks tried to live among them. I mean, it was nutty how intensely discriminatory they sounded. A well made and well run building on my block that includes affordable housing for seniors? I'd trade that for 60 Clarkson in a New York minute! Let the thorazine shufflers in, man. They deserve a place to live like everyone else, and some of them may be relatives of yours, so give bigotry a rest!
That's enough, but I thought I'd share before beddy-bye. Night.
Something like 15 new board members were there, an unprecedented amount of turnover, most appointed by Eric Adams, who, it must be said, took the unnecessary step of forcing Jake out by threatening to not re-appoint him to the board if he didn't step down (true story). Why unnecessary? Because anyone could see that Dwayne was gonna win in a cakewalk, so why risk angering the Chabad community? Which, if my sources are correct, is in fact exactly what he did. One Lubavitch board member told me they (the Jewish community in Crown Heights) were ready to throw the bum (Eric) out tomorrow if given the chance. Add to that the fact that now there are NO Jewish executive committee members or committee chairs, and well, frankly I don't know how you can say the representation is appropriate. The Lubavitch Jews have a HUGE presence in our Community District. Of the new members, all but one was black. The lone new Jewish member - Avi Leshes from the Chamber of Commerce - is replacing a non-reappointed Chabad board member. Frankly, I just don't see how that makes political sense, but I ain't the one driving this bus. (And no, I'm not complaining about how few non-orthodox white folk are on the board, so don't misread what I said! There's plenty of honkies, maybe too many, what do I know. Writing that word "honkies" sure feels weird though...does anyone actually say that anymore?)
Like I always says, I'm gonna call it likes I sees it!
Speaking of which, man oh manischewitz, there were some ANG-GRY people there tonight from over on Maple almost to Utica. I'd written about it before, this apartment building going up on a long-empty lot. It's to be developed and run by a group called The Bridge, who are experts at running permanent housing facilities for people with permanent mental illness. It will also have affordable housing units, probably for seniors, as well. But the folks who live right around there are LIVID that so many crazy people will be dumped in their front yards. Never mind that these are not VIOLENT crazy people, or anything other than ueber-monitored and cared for by full-time supportive services. To hear people screaming about not wanting "those people on our block" and concerned for the safety of their children and feeling their house prices will plummet (it was a filthy and dangerous vacant lot before for chrisakes) was eerily reminiscent of what whites used to say when blacks tried to live among them. I mean, it was nutty how intensely discriminatory they sounded. A well made and well run building on my block that includes affordable housing for seniors? I'd trade that for 60 Clarkson in a New York minute! Let the thorazine shufflers in, man. They deserve a place to live like everyone else, and some of them may be relatives of yours, so give bigotry a rest!
That's enough, but I thought I'd share before beddy-bye. Night.