104 BROOKLYN NEWS WWW.BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Brooklyn Cornerstones
As a police officer, state senator
and now chief executive of Brooklyn,
Borough President Adams has
learned what makes our communities
strong – their cornerstone
residents. It is in this spirit that he
decided this summer to launch his
Brooklyn Cornerstone awards, honoring
Brooklynites who have lived
on their blocks or in their buildings
the longest. In recent months,
he has traveled around the borough
to make these special hyperlocal
presentations, presenting 135
golden paver bricks to date that are
adorned with plaques recognizing
the time these residents have invested
in their neighborhood.
“Cornerstones hold our neighborhoods
up, giving us a foundation
of true community spirit on which
our families can grow,” said Borough
President Adams. “These heroes
and she-roes of our buildings
and our blocks are too often overlooked
and forgotten, but they are
the building blocks that make local
safety and prosperity possible. Cornerstones
stayed in their communities
through thick and thin, good
times and bad times, when Brooklyn
was that ‘other borough.’ Now
that we are the coolest place on the
planet, our longest-tenured community
members deserve to shine like
the stars they are; a golden accolade
can only add to their personal luster!”
So far, Brooklyn Cornerstones
have been recognized in 15 out of
the borough’s 18 community districts,
with Bedford-Stuyvesant
residents showing the greatest initial
participation. That neighborhood
is also home to James Been, the
longest-tenured resident on a block
celebrated by the program thus
far; he has been living on Halsey
Street since 1926, and Borough
President Adams joined the Halsey
Marcy Tompkins Block Association
in paying tribute to his 89 years of
residency at a block party on August
29th.
The initiative is a partnership
with the Home Depot Foundation,
which has donated paver bricks and
paint to create the unique awards.
Next year, they will additionally
work with Borough President Adams
to create new tree beds and
gardens for a number of the honorees.
Anyone interested in recognizing
their neighbors as a Brooklyn
Cornerstone, including members
of block associations, civic associations,
homeowners associations
and tenant associations, should visit
Brooklyn-USA.org to sign up.
Borough President Adams presented cornerstones to Betty
Brown, Rosemary Monroe, and Maureen Nardini of 17th Street
Neighbors Association in South Slope; Joseph Eleazer of
52nd Street Block Association in Sunset Park; James Moore
of Sumpter Street Block Association in Ocean Hill; as well
as Carmen Soler of Hope Gardens Resident Association in
Bushwick.
A Selection of Brooklyn
Cornerstone Awardees
• Angel Acevedo of Bay Ridge, who has
lived on Senator Street since 1998.
• Mack Bennett of East New York, who
has lived on New Jersey Avenue since
1962.
• Dora Bostick of Fort Greene, who has
lived in Walt Whitman Houses since
1951.
• Sheryl Boyce of Canarsie, who has
lived in Bay View Houses since 1955.
• Dorothy Boyd of Boerum Hill, who has
lived in Gowanus Houses since 1949.
•Joanne Costantino of Greenwood
Heights, who has lived on 27th Street
since 1956.
• Joyce Gulston of Prospect-Lefferts
Gardens, who has lived on Rutland Road
since 1958.
• Mary McCarthy of East Flatbush, who
has lived on East 34th Street since 1966.
• Justa Mojica of Bushwick, who has
lived on Bleecker Street since 1958.
• Harriet Nolley of Ocean Hill, who has
lived on Lincoln Place since 1955.
• Aida Riveras of East Williamsburg,
who has lived on Grattan Street since
1957.
• Andria White of Crown Heights, who
has lived on St. Marks Avenue since
1965.
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