2 APRIL 28 – MAY 4, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP Local pol moves toward mayoral run BY HELEN KLEIN HKLEINBROOKLYNREPORTER.COM Barring the entrance of supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis into the mayoral race, Republican Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis, who represents portions of Bay Ridge and Staten Island, plans to run for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio when he runs for re-election this fall. Malliotakis, who has vocally opposed de Blasio’s commitment to keeping New York a sanctuary city, fi led with the New York State Board of Elections, registering a committee entitled Nicole for New York City on Monday, April 24, and fi led paperwork with the city’s Campaign Finance Board the following day. “I’m in this race,” she told this paper. “The only way I'm getting out is if John Catsimatidis, who is a friend of mine and has much more resources, decides to get in. We are openly communicating with him and he’s going to have a decision shortly.” To a large degree, Malliotakis said, her decision to run has been based on decisions taken by de Blasio in his fi rst three years in o ce. “I haven’t been pleased with the direction of the city under Mayor de Blasio,” Malliotakis said during a phone interview, citing a 20 percent rise in the city budget to $84 billion for the next fi scal year. “This mayor’s answer to everything is to tax and spend, and as a result,” Malliotakis went on, “we’re seeing the cost of living increase, and property taxes and water bills climb.” Also going up, she said, are tolls and fares via the MTA, with board members appointed by de Blasio “rubber-stamping” the increases, according to Malliotakis. That said, Malliotakis added that, in her view, despite the money spent, “We’re not seeing results. There is an epic homeless crisis and the mayor wants to open 90 homeless shelters across the city that will be rejected by neighborhoods. He wants to close Rikers and put jails across the city. I think that, dealing with people’s money, there has to be some e ciency. We can’t continue to spend, spend, spend.” With respect to the sanctuary city issue, Malliotakis said, “I have an issue with the mayor’s policy of not complying with federal enforcement when it comes to individuals who are in the country illegally and committing crimes. Both immigrants and citizens want to be safe. We shouldn’t have a policy where you tie the hands of law enforcement should someone commit grand larceny, sex abuse, identity the or patronize children for prostitution. The bottom line is, if we have a mayor who’s not following the law, we need to have a new mayor.” What are her chances? According to Kings County Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar, “She is very favorably looked at by the Conservative Party in the city, and I believe she would have no trouble getting the Conservative nomination. I do think there would be signifi cant interest in the Republican Party in her; she would be a formidable candidate, and would be able to make points against the mayor in areas she is very well-versed in.” Declared candidates for the GOP mayoral nomination to run against de Blasio (who, so far, appears to be running unopposed for the Democratic nomination) include the Reverend Michael Faulkner, real estate exec Paul Massey and Bo Dietl, a former NYPD detective and TV personality who has appeared on Fox News and Imus in the Morning. BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/ le photo Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis is moving toward a mayoral run. Tribute to fallen cop moves forward BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK MMCGOLDRICKBROOKLYNREPORTER.COM A busy Bay Ridge street corner is one step closer to being renamed in memory of the 68th Precinct o cer who died protecting it. Community Board 10 voted unanimously at its Monday, April 24 full board meeting, to support the co-naming of the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 86th Street as “Patrolman David Guttenberg Way.” “After high school graduation, service in the Army and time as a U.S. postal o cer, in 1961, David Guttenberg was called to enter the Police Academy,” Chair of Community Board 10’s Tra c and Transportation Committee Jayne Capetanakis told board members when the renaming was fi rst brought to the board in March. His “end of watch,” Capetanakis said, came on December 28, 1978, when, “with the intention of avoiding giving a ticket to a double-parked car during the holidays, he entered an auto parts store and walked into a robbery in progress.” As soon as he entered what was then the Dyker Auto Supply Shop, near the corner of Seventh Avenue and 86th Street, Guttenberg was shot three times in the chest and heart. He died at the old Victory Memorial Hospital, in the arms of his wife, Barbara. The shooter and his lookout were both convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, with the gunman eventually dying in confi nement and his partner being paroled in July of 2014. Guttenberg was just 49 and le behind four children. The moving force behind the street naming was Auxiliary Police O cer Christian Durante, 27. He told this paper that, since fi rst seeing the memorial for Guttenberg that hangs inside the 68th Precinct, he has lived each day inspired by the o cer’s legacy. “I just felt an instant connection to him,” he told this paper, stressing that, in researching the incident, he was able to uncover “the o cer outside the uniform,” and really understand Guttenberg as a man of love and, similar to the neighborhood he died serving, “that sense of community that brings people together.” Guttenberg is the only o cer from the 68th Precinct – fi rst established in 1973 – to have died in the line of duty. He is the third o cer to have died patrolling Bay Ridge, as two prior were killed serving the neighborhood’s former 64th Precinct. Durante called the board’s approval an honor, as well as proof that both Bay Ridge and the NYPD never forget BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/ le photo Patrolman David Guttenberg. their own. “I’m very elated,” he said. “Finally, he’s going to be honored by the same community that he died protecting.” Members of Guttenberg’s family were also on hand to see the board offi cially grant its support. “We would just like to take the time to thank Christian and the community board and the 68th Precinct for keeping my grandfather’s legacy alive,” said Guttenberg’s grandson David. “Patrolman Guttenberg was and still is a hero,” said Durante. “Time may pass, but his memory lives on. “It really shows that, even 38 years later, it’s not forgotten and that he is still the hero of this community.” From here, the renaming must be approved by the City Council at which point it would then be signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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