The Beginning of the End?

The Beginning of the End?

Yesterday June 28 a minute fraction of Sunset Park voted. Nothing will change for at least the next two years except that things in our neighborhood will likely get worse. The total turnout of Democratic voters for the entire AD 51 was a little over 5,000 voters. About one in ten of the registered voters of the district with early voting showed up at the polls and exercised their civic responsibility. Voting isn’t just a right we can chose to put into practice, but a responsibility, a duty and obligation in a democratically elected republic in which  we are called with our fellow citizens to act not only in our own self interest but that of the community at large and for our progeny of future generations to whom we bequeath our legacy and transfer to them the world we leave them by electing representatives who will enact responsibly their duties to preserve and protect that which we have accomplished and they will inherit.

 Yesterday we failed on all counts.   
Our failure wasn’t just as Democrats and republicans but as the custodians of the legacy of prior generations who passed that responsibility to us. I wish I could blame my neighbors in the nabe alone, but this was a city and state wide failure of civic responsibility. But alas the damage has already been done. We have effectively returned to office the same corrupt politicians responsible for the policies which created  Morass in which this neighborhood finds itself. We will continue to see the private interests of the corrupt corporate oligarchy which is literally turning our neighborhood and our city into a shithole. Without rezoning of the waterfront we will see  more industrialized ghetto with cheap hotels which will be subsidized by the city to bring in homeless other neighborhoods refuse to take in. Fourth avenue will see more condos and expensive apartments marketed as ”affordable housing” which only higher end income earners will afford. 

Stealth gentrification will occur while our politicians will have the audacity while they wear their expensive suits and dresses to tell us how much they love the poor in our community. It will reek with the stench of hypocrisy for which they have mastered the art. Equinor will build its propeller factory on 72 acres of OUR land while the corporate rapists laugh in our faces as they collude to raise our electric rates to “save our planet”. They will continue to push for “social workers” instead of law enforcement to handle the rising crime rates in our neighborhood. They will claim that habitual criminals who prey in our streets deserve our compassion while they are released into our streets so as not to keep them incarcerated. They will release these individuals without bail into our streets while they raise the rates on the parking meters being installed on all the main thoroughfares to make up for the lost revenue every time a family is being driven out of the city because they can no longer stand to live here.

All of this will drive down the value of homes so their corporate masters can get better prices as you desperately seek a buyer for your houses you can get the hell out of the nabe. For some of us our houses will become our jails as we will avoid to venture out of them due to the increasing crime rates in our streets. Our schools will increasingly become centers not of academic achievement or learning but of social indoctrination while our politicians oppose funding alternative venues so our parents can choose where to educate their children.

If I am painting a bleak picture it is because I see the storm clouds on the horizon headed our way. As most immigrants we have seen this movie before and we know the script. I hope my neighbors take some time to do some simple research and Google “Curley effect” and “Cloward-Piven”. The battle is far from over, it’s just beginning. We must wake up our neighbors and fight back or the “good old days” of Gunset Park will come roaring back with a vengeance. It’s time to organize, protest and influence. Resistance is not futile, we don’t live in the land of the Borg yet. 

The Return of Gunset Park?

Next Tuesday on June 28 Sunset Park will hold one of the most important elections in its recent history. We will be voting in our next state assembly representative. Yes, its only the Democratic primary, but in a district where there are 40,000 registered democrats versus slightly over 2,000 of other parties it might as well be the general election because the democrat nominee is guaranteed to win in November no matter what. In the last year alone, crime in the 72 precinct has gone up an incredible 30%+ according to the statistics published in the NYPD website. A recent poll published by the New York Post shows that 7 out of 10 New Yorkers fear being the victims of a crime. The headlines in the papers are reminiscent of Chicago. Murders are up citywide and crime is up everywhere. Studies have shown that the primary cause of this upward shift is the bail reform laws passed by our state legislature by "progressive" representatives. 

Our current assembly person Marcela Mitaynes is on record in an interview on WPIX 11 as being an avid supporter of these "progressive" policies. She is also on record as supporting defund the Police policies. She believes that crime should be handled by "social workers" rather than trained law enforcement. A recent story in the NY POST highlighted that record numbers of police officers are resigning and leaving the NYPD as a result of these policies.  There are also a wide number of other issues which most constituents of our nabe may not be aware. There are plans to pass a new slew of bills that will raise Real Estate taxes on current homeowners thus indirectly leading to a spike in rents as well.   

Rezoning of the waterfront to build affordable housing for our constituents in keeping with the low income standards of our neighborhood are opposed by both Alexa Aviles and Marcela Mitaynes. The 5th Avenue Committee which is colluding with developers to build Apartment complexes throughout our neighborhood is pushing for "affordable Housing" whose income criteria puts most of these units out of reach of our working class neighbors and effectively gentrifying the area. Literally the opposite of our politicians claim they oppose. 

As if that weren't enough, our local politicians have by stealth colluded with the NYC Development Corporation to hand over 72 acres (the size of two Sunset parks) of our prime real estate to an international conglomerate to build a propeller factory for green energy. Con Edison will be forced to buy the electricity produced which will drive up our electric bills through the roof. The excuse they used was that it was to create jobs. In reality most of the jobs that will be created will be out of reach of our local residents. Millions of dollars exchanged hands in the deal, none of which benefit our local residents. 

Then there is the issue of education and our schools. Looking at the rankings of the schools in our neighborhood paints a disturbing picture. According to the US news and World Report school ranking most of our schools including Sunset Park High school are ranked in the lower 50% of all schools in the city. In the meantime our elected officials oppose either vouchers for our residents or building any charter schools in our neighborhood. As many of you may be aware, the teachers unions are big contributors to the campaigns of our local politicians. 

A recent investigative essay click here delves into these complex corrupt relationships which I urge those reading this post to read. We cannot afford to continue on our current direction. We must fight back or we will return back to the old days when Sunset Park earned the moniker of "Gunset Park". As an immigrant and resident of Sunset Park since 1970 I fear we are returning to the conditions that made Sunset Park an unpleasant and dangerous place to live in. Of course, you could stay home this coming Tuesday  and hope for the best However, I implore you that staying home is NOT an option, You MUST show up and vote in the primary. For the sake of our neighborhood, the Democratic party and the future of our children The only choice on the ballot to reverse course and begin to implement sane, moderate and rational policies to help our Sunset Park is Erik Frankel. His family has been in the neighborhood since 1890. He has a stake on seeing it survive.