2 JANUARY 12 - JANUARY 18, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
LANDFILLS TO PARK
The state of New York, in partnership
with the National Park Service (NPS) and
the city, is working to establish a new
407-acre state park in Brooklyn on Jamaica
Bay, to provide new open space access to
one of the state’s most underserved areas.
The 407-acre site, which has never been
open to the public, includes the former
Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue
Landfills, which were deeded to the
National Park Service as part of Gateway
National Recreation Area in 1974. In 2002,
the New York City Department of Environmental
Protection began a $235 million site
remediation.
The state has signed preliminary
agreements with NPS. Phase one of the
capital project is expected to commence in
2019 with $15 million in state investment
funding.
NEW FOCUS ON RED
HOOK
Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday,
January 2, as part of the 2018 State of the
State, called on the Port Authority and the
MTA to study ways to relocate and improve
maritime activities in southern Brooklyn
while also enhancing transportation access
to Red Hook.
The governor is also asking the agencies
to explore what it would take to relocate services
at the Red Hook Container Terminal
to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in
Sunset Park to free up the Red Hook land for
other purposes, and is calling on the MTA to
look into potentially extending subway service
from lower Manhattan to a new station
in Red Hook through an underwater tunnel.
TRAFFIC FATALITIES
HIT NEW LOW
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday, January
8 announced that New York City saw the
fewest traffic fatalities on record in 2017,
driven by a 32 percent drop in pedestrian
fatalities.
This low, the mayor said, marks the
fourth consecutive year of declining traffic
deaths under Vision Zero – de Blasio’s
traffic accident-curbing initiative which
launched in 2013. In that time, pedestrian
deaths alone have plummeted 45 percent.
In 2017, 214 people, 101 of them pedestrians,
were killed in traffic crashes, down
from 231 total fatalities (including 148
pedestrians) in 2016 – numbers, the mayor
claims, that are bucking the nationwide
trend.
--Meaghan McGoldrick
Meet the 43rd District's
new councilmember
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Newly minted Democratic
Councilmember Justin
Brannan became the
official representative of the 43rd
City Council District on Monday,
January 1 after defeating Republican
hopeful John Quaglione
and Reform Party contender Bob
Capano in one of the city’s tightest
races in November.
During his campaign, Brannan
– a lifelong Ridgeite and small business
owner – focused heavily on
issues like education, transportation
and inclusivity in the district,
which encompasses the neighborhoods
of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights,
Bensonhurst and Bath Beach.
Just days after Brannan assumed
office, the former Department of
Education employee, founding
member of a pair of hardcore punk
bands and aide to his predecessor,
Vincent Gentile, spoke with us.
How does it feel finally to take
office?
It’s a little surreal. When I won,
the analogy I made was that I’ve
never won the lottery, but winning
didn’t feel like what I assumed
winning the lottery would feel like.
It was certainly gratifying and
exhilarating but it also came with
this understanding of what a tremendous
responsibility and honor
it is to represent the people of this
district. It was very humbling.
Does it feel any different after
your first few days?
I think my office fought off just
about every element last week
laughs, but I'd say it feels the same.
I think that one of the reasons people
chose to elect me was because
I built a reputation of being very
responsive and very accessible
– that’s just who I am – but I think
one of the challenges is going to be
making sure that I maintain that responsiveness
and that accessibility
now that I’ve got a job to do, so to
speak.
It’s also a matter of making sure
I have the right people around
me who can maintain that pace –
whether it’s showing up to a fire at
2 a.m., responding to a water main
break or helping a senior citizen
back into their home. It’s making
Photo courtesy of Councilmember Justin Brannan
Councilmember Justin Brannan.
sure you’re in as many places at
once as you can be – and that’s
certainly how I spent my first week.
What are you working on now
that you’re here?
I just introduced my first bill
which would hold big businesses
accountable for snow removal and
really work to make sure that all
businesses in the district are good
neighbors. I also spent a lot of time
with the DOE and I certainly have
some ideas of things we can make a
little bit stronger on our end.
I think the beauty of the council is
that a lot of legislation sees its start
at this level, which is very exciting
because if someone has an idea for a
piece of legislation, it’s probably the
only level of government where you
can really see that through from a
basic idea to a law in a very real and
fast way.
What that means is that constituents
who come into the office with
an issue or something that bothers
them, we can turn that into a piece of
legislation that then makes life a little
bit easier not only for the 150,000
people of my district but also for the
8.5 million people of the city.
What are your goals for your
first term?
I want to work on building a new
school. I think we need a new middle
school, so that’s something that I’ve
been prioritizing.
Obviously the buses and the
subways. I campaigned on that.
I take the train to work just like
everybody else and I certainly
am not looking forward to taking
the R train home from City Hall
tonight. I want to really do what I
can on that level to fix the system.
Property taxes is something else
I ran on. The mayor is going to put
together some sort of commission
to look at fixing the property tax
system – it’s just completely lopsided.
I definitely plan on leading the
charge with that for this district.
Also safety net programs. I want
to work on ensuring stuff like
Meals on Wheels and senior centers
and Access-A-Ride are secure
enough to survive the cuts that may
be coming down the line with the
looming budget gap.
I also want to work closely with
the new speaker Corey Johnson.
He and I have been discussing our
dream of creating a municipal single
payer system. So, really a lot of
big dream stuff like that as well as
more tangible goals.
How do you feel the response to
your induction has been thus far?
A lot of people have been saying
very nice stuff like, “It’s cool to
see you’re just as accessible” and
“you’re the same person you were
before you were elected.” That’s
really what it’s all about.
Anyone who knows me knows
that I don’t take myself too seriously
but I certainly take this job and the
responsibility it comes with very
seriously. At the end of the day, I’m
a working class kid who grew up in
the neighborhood and now I have
this tremendous honor of representing
the neighborhoods I grew up in.
I’m going to have some fun with
it while also taking very seriously
the issues of the people that I represent.
But hey, if you’re not having
fun, you might as well go home.