Meet Kayla Santosuosso, who’s running for City Council in Bay Ridge. Our councilmember is our most important local elected official. Handling quality-of-life issues for the neighborhood, they are our advocate in city government and budgeting. And for the first time in nearly eight years, there is an open election with no incumbent. Our current Councilmember, Justin Brannan, is term-limited and can’t seek re-election.

So Kayla, a longtime neighborhood activist, small-business owner, and friend of the podcast, has jumped into the race. Join us as Kayla discusses some of her interests, goes through her lengthy qualifications, and gives a few hints at what she has planned for Bay Ridge if she wins the primary in June and the General Election in November.

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Meet Ingeborg Andreas Blundell: Bay Ridge’s midwife, nurse, and abortionist for over a half-century. Practicing from the 1910’s through to the 1960’s, Ingeborg was a Jordmor: a Norwegian midwife. Operating out of her apartment on 92nd street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, she oversaw a private clinic for women’s reproductive health: delivering babies, caring for mothers, and, illegally providing abortions. Her story has been lost to history, until today.

Join Rachel as she interviews co-host Dan about his never-before-revealed research into the hidden history of reproductive rights in Bay Ridge, spanning over a hundred years. Along the way we’ll reveal how an entire apartment of working-class Bay Ridgeites defended an immigrant healthcare provider in court. We will discuss how the Norwegian feminist movement and radical Communist healthcare providers educated a trailblazing midwife. And we’ll discuss tragedy, tribulation, and hope in the face of an increasingly chauvinist legal and medical establishment.

It’s a story about how, in defiance of the law, women’s reproductive rights has always been a key component of Bay Ridge’s identity.

Content Warning: This episode features in-depth discussions of abortion, as well as references to maternal mortality, pregnancy complications, and infant mortality.

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We’re back for our second season! Didn’t know we were going to have a second season? Didn’t know we even had a first season? Neither did we! We’ll get into our absence in a future episode, but in the meantime, we decided to kick things off live this summer down in Industry City with a good friend of the podcast: Henry Stewart.

You might remember Henry from our episode How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge. We sat down at Barrows Intense Ginger for another boozy book discussion, this time about Henry’s latest book: The Streets of Brooklyn, a compilation of late-1800s pedestrian walks and observations by a mysterious author known only as E.R.G.

So join us as we explore Henry’s new book… and the history of pedestrian Brooklyn from Bay Ridge to Vinegar Hill in the years after the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. We’ll discover the origins of all crime, insult Manhattan, complain about dodgy biblical artifacts, and learn how Brooklyn aristocrats were superior to French botanists. Welcome back to the podcast, folks!

The post Live Episode! The Streets of Brooklyn appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

There’s another hyper-local gallery in Bay Ridge. Underland Gallery, a brainchild of Hannah Salyer, Ester Kwon and Maxim Elrod, opened softly in October 2021, just before the COVID Omicron wave. Shaded by trees and with a mysterious cat-headed-sea-serpent adorning the gas lamp outside, Underland is a strange chimera of performance space, art gallery, and community center.

Join us as we explore this unique community space occupying an entire floor of gallery and performance space in Bay Ridge’s brownstone belt between 5th and 4th Avenue. How do such unique galleries come to be? What does it take to get one running? And what’s next for Underland?

The post Raising Underland Gallery appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

CW // Alcohol Use

The Democratic party has problems that stretch all the way down to its roots. But reformers and activists have been trying to bring democracy to its namesake party. Join us as we chat about how party politics works at the hyper-local scale with local District Leader candidate Mark Hanna, who is running in Assembly District 64 in northern Bay Ridge.

At this scale, it’s all about good governance… and Bay Ridge District Leaders are part of how we get there. We’ll talk about opening up transparency around judicial screenings so that you can actually understand who those judges on your ballots actually are. Mark will also discuss the challenges involved in running, and how embedded party machines work to maintain patronage and power.

Oh, and we got a little tipsy since it was St. Patricks Day…

District Leaders have their primary on June 28th! Be sure to vote!

The post District Leaders: How To Reform The Party appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On today’s episode, we sit down with local author and journalist Jessie Singer about her new book “There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster – Who Profits and Who Pays The Price”. Jessie’s groundbreaking book has received national attention. It explores how, and why, we seem to dismiss preventable deaths and injuries as “accidental”, rather than confront the dangerous conditions that make these supposedly random events inevitable.

We’ll explore how corporations and profiteers fail to keep us safe, and we’ll find some examples right here in Bay Ridge. From Car Dealerships and unsafe streets, to the opioid epidemic, to trips and falls, we’ll see who profits from our unsafe environment. We’ll also explore how we can demand change, nationally and at home in our own neighborhood… and change our own thinking about “accidents” along the way.

Check out the book, which is available now, and listen in as we discover that in Bay Ridge, there are no accidents.

The post There Are No Accidents appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today we’re checking in with State Senator Andrew Gounardes. Now into his second term (and seeking a third), Senator Gounardes has been part of a revolutionary period in Albany. The State Senate, under Republican control for nearly a century, has transformed into an uncharacteristic flurry of activity. New bills have been passed left and right. Gounardes, an original member of 2019 Blue Wave, has been through it all.

Now, with nearly fifty (as of recording) bills passed, we sit down with our local State Senator to ask how a bill becomes a law in Albany. Where do the ideas come from? What is the process for writing a bill? How does he manage to keep up during long legislative sessions at the State Capitol?

Join us as we learn how our State Senator accomplishes the one job so many other politicians ignore: legislating.

The post The Lawmaker Of Bay Ridge appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

We’re back for a new year! To kick things off, we’re delving into the history of racing dragons in Bay Ridge… fictionally, at least. Our guest is local author Katharine Dow, author of the short story The Brooklyn Dragon Racing Club, set right here in Bay Ridge.

We’ll chat with Katharine about the story and its influences. Katherine will discuss how her recent move to the neighborhood (in the middle of the pandemic!) influenced how she’s grown to understand Bay Ridge. Along the way we’ll also discuss good hangouts for writers in the neighborhood, and more!

This episode is the first in a series we’ve been recording live on Twitter Spaces. Follow us on Twitter to join us live for one of our next episodes!

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Welcome to Bay Ridge, to all our new neighbors! Today’s episode is just for you (and anyone who wants to experience our amazing neighborhood through new eyes. We’re going to Vibetown Mansion and the home of our newest official contributor to the podcast, Ember! Together we’ll explore all the weird and awesome things you can do in Bay Ridge!

Come gawk at The Hole! Experience our majestic waterfall. Walk by the Parrot Man. Learn what restaurants have the most attractive waitstaff. What place will let you cry while ordering eleven Cherry Cokes? Which one of our local elected officials is the biggest slimeball? All this and more will be answered.

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Over 120 former Bay Ridge residents are homeless and in city-run shelters at any given time. And how many shelter beds do we have in our neighborhood to help them? Zero. Instead, we send our former neighbors away to other communities to be sheltered and cared for. It is fairly clear that Bay Ridge is not doing its fair share.

In this episode, we’re going to explore previous attempts at sheltering our unhoused neighbors in Bay Ridge, going back into the 1980’s. Along the way, we’ll dissect and tear apart the tactics that NIMBYs use to push the responsibility we have to shelter the homeless onto other neighborhoods.

Most importantly, we’ll make the case for creating two new emergency shelters in Bay Ridge. This proposal is entirely our own and isn’t a part of any city agency or politician’s plan. We hope that, by starting this dialog at a community grassroots level, we can finally prove that the original concept of “Fair Share” in the 1990s was not inherently flawed. We hope that we can prove that neighborhoods can welcome shelters with open arms. If you agree that Bay Ridge can read the way, please sign our petition below, and listen on!

The post Give Us Shelter appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

For years, spiritual spaces have been key to progressive organizing in Bay Ridge. In today’s episode, we say goodbye to Reverend Robert Emerick of the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church. Bob is being forcibly retired after seventeen years in our community. We decided to sit down with Bob and reflect on how he and his congregation have let their spiritual and moral beliefs guide them through controversy, making innovative economic, civic, and educational decisions along the way.

Reverend Bob began his tenure in Bay Ridge during the tense and much-debated decision to sell the famed Green Church building, then the home of the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church. The press and protests faded after the church’s demolition and a new school went up on the site. But for Bob and his congregation, the story had just begun and the possibilities were endless.

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For the past year, Bay Ridge has struggled with the pandemic. We’ve lost loved ones, and there has been grief both public and private. But early in 2020, politicians began to push their own narratives. At a moment when we all should have been talking about staying safe and healthy, conservative politicians fought back against masking, lockdowns, and social distancing. The story they pushed was tempting to many: they used peoples fears about the economy to override science and safety.

On today’s episode, Ed Yoo returns to the show. Ed is the Director of Strategic Research at the NY State Nurses Union, but today he’s speaking to us as a local Bay Ridge resident. We last spoke to Ed in early 2020 about a proposed Emergency Room that was in development for the old Victory Memorial hospital site. A year later, so much has changed. Ed will help us analyze how Bay Ridge responded to COVID. We explore how early COVID data was hidden or flawed, and lay into both Democratic and Republican politicians who used fearmongering about the economy to undermine our pandemic response. Along the way we uncover some disturbing data that is yet to be revealed about our local hospital system, and make some armchair predictions on what a true post-COVID economy might look like for our local stores and businesses.

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Following hot on the heels of our Nicole Malliotakis episode was a surprising announcement. Nearly two years before our next election for New York’s 11th District, we already have our first declared candidate ready to take on Malliotakis: meet Brittany Ramos DeBarros.

In today’s episode, our co-hosts Erik Shell and Mary Hetteix will sit down with Brittany to discuss a topic that serves as the center to her progressive organizing: the anti-militarism movement. We’ll dig into how organizing against war was influenced by Brittany’s previous experience as a logistics officer serving in Afghanistan. We’ll explore the dangers of partisanship and how military contractors and war profiteering have left troops tokenized, demoralized, and without basic services. To counter these forces, we’ll explore how our district can engage with a Just Transition framework and invest in demilitarizing our civic systems. By removing our reliance on militarism and nationalism, we can build a leaner government that maximizes health and sustainability.

The post Interview with Brittany Ramos DeBarros appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

We’re finally doing it. Our long-awaited episode digging into Nicole Malliotakis’s legislative history… such that it is. We’ll go over her voting record before digging into a very unusual bill that leads us on a journey back to the 1970s. We’ll unravel a web of land-grabs, NIMBYism, political backstabbing, racism, and legal maneuvers to keep Staten Island segregated. And how, aware or not, Nicole’s only legislative achievement has its roots in Staten Island’s long history of oppression and exclusion.

Come for the analysis, stay for Dan and Rachel getting more fired up than they’ve ever been on the podcast. We’ll look into Nicole’s rejection of Democratic norms, her history of incitement going back to 2017, and her inability to reject people who maim law enforcement officers or who spout Nazi slogans.

The post Resign Malliotakis appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

2020 was a year that nobody should forget. The unjust deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd prompted a nationwide reckoning, leading to nearly a week of uninterrupted, peaceful, nightly marches throughout Bay Ridge. In no uncertain terms, our neighborhood declared that Black Lives Matter. However, police response to the citywide protests resulted in brutal crackdowns and violations of civil rights.

As Blue Lives Matter protests began organizing, Bay Ridge saw it’s first taste of violence as multiple counter-protestors were assaulted in Dyker Heights and taken away to receive medical attention. The marches were led by Nicole Malliotakis, and other GOP functionaries. By July 13th, a large Blue Lives Matter rally led by former State Senator Marty Golden clashed with counter-protestors beside the Gowanus Expressway. Both sides engaged in violence.

However, the police mobilized on the scene all faced a single direction: toward the counter-protestors, with their back to the Blue Lives Matter demonstrators. Radio Free Bay Ridge was on the scene, and witnessed alt-right agitators assault BLM protestors while then being able to retreat back through police lines, with no repercussions from the police assigned to protect both groups. It was shameful. We deserve to understand why our police behave in this way, both across the city and right here in Bay Ridge.

On today’s episode, we are going to talk to a former NYPD cop and local activist, Mike DeCillis.

Mike has a long history in law enforcement, mental health, and education… and he has been outspoken in his criticism of the NYPD and insightful into how it can be meaningfully reformed. We’ll dig into the structure of the agency and how we can overhaul its culture, institute training reforms, and correct problems with NYPD leadership (both internal and within its unions).

The post Reforming Our NYPD appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

We’re almost at the end of the dumpster fire that was 2020. Hopefully, that adds a little bit of extra holiday cheer for you and your families. However, we are still in the midst of a massive public health crisis. So on today’s episode, we are going to spotlight some ways you can help your fellow neighbors.

Whether it is giving some money, to volunteering, to simply going out and enjoying what the neighborhood has to offer, there are many ways to give back this holiday season. Here are a few of them.

The post Happy Holidays, Bay Ridge! appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

This school year has been, without compare, one of the most disaster-ridden, confusing, frustrating, and infuriating years for everyone involved. Not only were we woefully unprepared for a global pandemic at the infrastructure level, but our community was let down by a lack of political leadership, clear guidance, and even the most basic presumption of what information was true. No surprise, then, that we saw these negative feelings amplify when, after a two-month long attempt at hybrid learning, NYC schools shut down.

In this episode Dan interviews Erik Shell, education policy expert and Radio Free’s Senior Education Corespondent, about how we got here, what we could have done different, and what we can do to make sure this never happens again.

We talk about how the lack of national response cornered New York policy makers into a lose-lose situation, how political fights were dropped out of fear and convenience, and how progressive ideas like city-wide broadband access have a huge impact on schools whether we’re in a pandemic or not.

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This may come as a shock to some. Bay Ridge has multiple monuments that venerate Confederate leaders. In today’s episode, we’ll take a look at the local monuments to Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson. We’ll find out how and why they got here, and how they have harmed our sense of history.

But this episode can’t stay hyper-local. It needs to look at a much broader historical context. That’s where our guest comes in, local Social Studies teacher John Hagan. John is one of many local activists who have spoken out against these monuments over the years. With his help, we will see our neighborhood through the lens of Reconstruction and Civil Rights era history. We will put these monuments in their true context.

These monuments are not just historical markers. They are racist and designed to intimidate people of color.

In this episode, we’ll learn about Robert E. Lee’s actual historical legacy in Bay Ridge. We’ll see how the United Daughters of the Confederacy twisted that history on a hyper-local scale. And we’ll explore our neighborhood’s history with brand-new research.

The post Racist Monuments in Bay Ridge appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Every week may have felt like a decade, but it’s finally been four years. The November election is around the corner. But there’s a virus continuing to impact our neighbors and city. How can we make sure that our votes count? On today’s episode, Rachel and Dan will quickly run through all the ways you can vote this year in Bay Ridge. From absentee ballots to early voting, there are more ways than ever to make your voice heard on November 3rd. But that means taking a few critical steps now, before it’s too late.

We’ll also go over some key ways to avoid spoiling your ballot. Whether it’s not sealing envelopes properly, including stray bits of paper, or simply forgetting to get your mail postmarked in time, we’ll help keep you on track to have your vote counted.

* This recommended deadline is based on the US Postal Service’s advisory that it cannot guarantee delivery of absentee ballots applied for less than 15 days before the election.

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Join us for a walking tour… of the future! On today’s episode, co-host and transit nerd Dan will bring us on a walking tour of Bay Ridge and Sunset Park in an alternate future. An alternate future where The Triboro has been built.

What’s the Triboro? It’s a proposed passenger rail line that would run along the underutilized tracks in northern Bay Ridge. It would connect Co-Op City in the Bronx to Bay Ridge, and all the communities in between… shaving hours off commutes between the boroughs.

But our walking tour doesn’t just explore a single rail line… it explores what sustainable, community-led development might look like! That means affordable housing, community-led development, new parks, and mixed-use communities. We’ll walk through a Bay Ridge in which residents have taken power away from real estate developers, and empowered communities across three boroughs.

Finally, we’ll meet up to interview the amazing folks at the Regional Plan Association at their downtown offices. They came up with the plan, and we’ll talk about how local communities like Bay Ridge can help make The Triboro a reality.

The post The Triboro appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

After a brief Coronavirus hiatus, we’re back with our 50th episode of Radio Free Bay Ridge! And to celebrate, we’re reuniting our old co-host duo of Rachel and Dan. This important episode comes with an even more important subject: the 2020 Census in Bay Ridge.

We are already deep into the 2020 Census. April 1st has already passed, the official date of the count. But Bay Ridge is lagging way behind the national response rate. If the trend continues, we are going to see a repeat of 2020: a disastrous undercount. That means worse healthcare planning, less money for infrastructure,

So today on the show, we’re going to talk about how we can improve Bay Ridge’s response rates. We will talk about how the odds are stacked against us. First, it was harmed by the Trump Administration’s efforts to skew the census results. Now, COVID-19 crisis has further harmed local get-out-the-count efforts.

But it is possible to overcome these challenges. Listen in, and check out our show notes below for how to get involved.

Help ensure resources are spent on hard-to-count and vulnerable populations!

Complete the census before September 30th, when the Census ends!

The post 2020 Census appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

We’ve been waiting a while to talk about healthcare on the podcast, and today we get our chance! It looks like there’s something afoot at the long-shuttered Victory Memorial Hospital site. A brand new Emergency Room for Bay Ridge! Maimonides Hospital has proposed opening a new Emergency Department in the shell of the old facility… and it’s already gotten approval from the state.

To help guide us through what that means, we will be joined by Ed Yoo, a member of Community Board 10’s Senior Issues, Housing, Health & Welfare Committee. He’s also the Director of Strategic Research at the New York State Nurses Association. But today, he’s speaking in his capacity as a neighbor and member of the community.

Together, we’ll learn what an”Off-Campus Emergency Department” actually is, why our local hospital closed in the first place, and what we can do to make the future plans for the site more responsive to our community needs. And yes, we’ll also mention how this ties into the ongoing threat that COVID-19 poses for Bay Ridge.

The post Emergency Room appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today we are continuing our ongoing series profiling the many activist groups that are organizing in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. It can seem like there are dozens of groups you can get involved in… and there are! But today’s group holds a special place in our heart. Welcome Bay Ridge For Social Justice to the studio, one of the more radical and storied groups in the neighborhood.

Formed in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the resultant far-right Islamophobic backlash in 2015, the group is unusual in that it predates the Donald Trump presidency. That origin directly reflects its dedication to combating racism and institutional violence and injustice. Bay Ridge For Social Justice is also unique in that it eschews electoral politics. The group refuses to provide a platform for politicians during its events. Instead, it focuses on direct action and community empowerment.

Even at its founding, the group consisted of multiple experienced organizers. Among them are our guests today: Yasmine Kamel, Sherry Wolfe and Danielle Bullock.

Bay Ridge For Social Justice eschews electoral politics. Instead, it focuses on direct action and community empowerment.

During the show, we’ll discuss what led each of these dedicated activists to work on the hyper-local level. We won’t mince words about the racist and islamophobic tendencies of some of our neighbors, and how it can feel to be an activist “behind enemy lines”. This isolation can happen in more ways than one, and we’ll also touch on the intersection of queer and racial identity as activists. Finally, we will reflect on the failures (and lessons learned) from over five years of local activism in Bay Ridge.

The post The Origins of Bay Ridge For Social Justice appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

2020! It’s finally here! This is the big one. Not only a new decade but perhaps the most active election year in modern memory. Not even beautiful Bay Ridge, Brooklyn will avoid getting swept up in the national debate.

After a (mostly) sleepy 2019, new activists will emerge, energized by the Democratic primaries. Conservative politicians will attempt to undo the 2018 Blue Wave. Volunteers will be in demand as campaign ground-games rev up. Burnout will become a real danger.

But we’re in luck. We have two hyper-local volunteer organizers who might be able to help. Tyler Adams and Matt Malloy join us in the studio today. They have been powering Elizabeth Warren’s South Brooklyn field operation since August of 2019.

We’ll talk with them about how to bridge local issues with national ones. But while we do so, we need to center our own wellness. That means implementing new strategies for looking after each other. And importantly, they’ll tell us why Bay Ridge (and South Brooklyn) is worth fighting for in 2020.

The post On The Ground for 2020 appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

This past August, we had our very first live episode of Radio Free Bay Ridge! Of course, it was super-nerdy hyper-local book talk. Our guest of honor was local journalist, author, historian, and general renaissance man Henry Stewart. Henry just published his epic historical overview of Bay Ridge, titled, fittingly, “How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge”.

Our buddy John Avelluto, proprietor of the Owl’s Head Wine Bar (a major creative hub for the neighborhood) graciously hosted us… and plied us and the audience with drinks.

So of course, we recorded it all. Join us for a very special book talk that literally covers over two-hundred years of Bay Ridge history. We’ll debunk long-standing myths about Bay Ridge. You’ll get a peek behind the scenes as we explore some stories that were left on the cutting room floor. And most of all, we’ll tell the stories of all the people, past and present, who have made Bay Ridge… Bay Ridge!

(more…)

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Maybe you’ve seen one of the signs on Third Avenue. Or heard it on social media. Maybe, just maybe, you heard it from a store owner. It’s true: a 3rd Avenue BID slowly forming. But it’s not a done deal. There is an anti-BID movement aiming to stop it before it gets off the ground.

But it’s not just about saying yes or no to a BID: it’s about two very different visions for Third Avenue’s future.

Co-hosts Erik and Dan will chat about the differences between the BIDs supporters and detractors. And to get a clearer view, we’ll also meet three members of the 3rd Avenue BIDs steering committee.

They are: current president of the Merchants of Third Avenue and former Republican District Leader and Brooklyn GOP chair Bob Howe; The Green Spa owner Sheila Brody; and Dan Texeira, a property owner’s representative and insurance broker with Lincoln Brokerage. With their help, we’ll get a better idea of what kind of BID they’re proposing, and clarify a few misconceptions.

But are these two sides are the only possible narratives about 3rd Avenue’s future? How can local activists and residents get involved and make their voices heard? Listen in and find out!

Show Notes

Click these links to quickly jump to different parts of the episode…

Getting Involved

The episodes big call to action was to become familiar with both sides of the BID argument… and then go and talk to your local shop owner!

There aren’t many good ways for the neighborhood as a whole to get involved with the BID process. However, engaging with property owners and merchants will help express the needs and desires of the neighborhood at a grassroots level. Some easy things to discuss are:

• What kind of additional events you’d like to see on the avenue (if any).
• Your opinions on the holiday and event lights.
• Whether you want to see more marketing and online presence for your favorite stores.
• Is Third Avenue clean enough? Does it have enough amenities like benches and tree planters?
• Are there services they think the city should provide to make life easier for them?
• If the Avenue was more attractive to you as a shopper, would you be shopping at their store more often?

Neighborhood Support Ballot

The 3rd Avenue BID steering committee has a support petition that’s open to everyone in the neighborhood! If you don’t live on the avenue or have a property or store on 3rd, you can lend your support here!

Key Constituency Vote

The 3rd Avenue BID Steering Committee is gathering evidence of support and opposition. These ballots aren’t a final vote (which occurs during the legislative phase). It is a way of proving support among key constituencies to Small Business Services. Only once the Steering Committee can prove support among a majority of each group can formation proceed to the next phase.

Voting is open to three key groups:

• Property Owners
• Merchants and Store Owners
• Residents who live on the Avenue

How do we know who “won” the vote?

This vote is NOT time-limited, and isn’t like a normal election. Think of it more like a petition: once it reaches a certain number, it triggers the next phase of formation. Many BIDs have stalled entirely at this phase since they never reach majority support.

However, as long as a Steering Committe is actively pushing for the BID, this phase can continue for some time. Dan Texeira mentioned in the episode that the 5th Avenue BID took over two years to move past this phase.

At this point you should proceed to Step 11 if SBS has indicated that you have a sufficient level of support. If not, you will need to repeat some of the outreach activities that were highlighted in Steps 8 and 9.”

11 Step BID Formation Guidebook, Department of Small Business Services

The 3rd Avenue BID Steering Committee

The 3rd Avenue BID steering committee lists its members on its web page. Here’s a list, and whether or not they were also officers of the Merchants of Third Avenue.

Funding the Merchants of Third Avenue

Bob mentions in the episode that people don’t seem to realize that the Merchants of Third Avenue report their finances as a non-profit. You can check out the full audits on the State Charities Database. We’ve broken down a few key expenses and income items, which back up Mr. Howe’s assertions on the show, and show how much the status quo currently costs.

One item to note is that merchant dues make up a small chunk of the existing association’s income. Combined, expenses for holiday lights and street festivals are $44,905. Membership dues pay for only 28% of those expenses. If every merchant paid dues at the current rate, it would barely be enough to cover total operating expenses. Expanded programs and services would still be out of the question.

Also of note: the street festivals generate slightly more money than they spend, to the tune of about $5,477 in 2018. Previous years occasionally generated over $10k.

The Anti-BID side

During a recent walk down 3rd, we did notice more signs supporting the BID than opposing it. However, that doesn’t mean the opposition to the 3rd Avenue BID isn’t strong.

The Anti-BID coalition is headed up by Anthony Pennacchio of Vanguard Computers / Bulldog Technologies, a large property owner within New York City. Anthony owns multiple buildings in NYC and provides medical billing and point of sale systems to many of the stores on the avenue. He also sits on the board of the Bay Ridge Birthing Center. Many of his clients and tenants have joined him in the Anti-BID coalition, as well as property owners and store owners who are are adamantly against what they see as a tax increase for their businesses.

We sat down with Anthony after we recorded our main interview with the BID steering committee. The interview was not intended for broadcast as it lasted about two hours. We used what we learned, after some fact-checking, to clarify our understanding of the anti-BID coalition, which we summarized in the opening of the episode.

Trivia Notes

• We name-dropped Alan Holt in the opening of the show as a local economics expert. We had Alan on the show in our episode on Nativism all the way back in 2017!
• Amanda Zenteno was also name-dropped when we discussed a 5th Avenue BID executive director stealing money from the BID back in 2016. Amanda is the current executive director, who came in after the previous one was fired. She’s awesome, we interviewed her in our 5th Avenue BID episode.
• We compared BID assessments to the participatory budgeting process, where public money goes back directly into the public sphere for spending. You can learn all about participatory budgeting in our Million Dollar Question episode!

Further Reading & Listening

• Check out more detailed information about the 3rd Ave. BID, and it’s opponents, in our Community Archive recording of a public information session.

• To learn more about what a BID actually does when it’s up and running, you can listen in to our episode about the Fifth Avenue BID and what it does!

• This episode is the second and final part of a series on economic health in Bay Ridge. Check out our previous episode about storefront vacancies to get an overall idea of the economic health of the neighborhood, and other ways to advocate for mom and pop stores!

• Check out Ben Verde’s Bklyner article “Will A New BID For Bay Ridge Bring It Back To The Way It Was?“

• Get more in-depth information about the BID formation process with this guide from the Department of Small Business Services.

This episode was recorded in our studio in beautiful Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Your hosts were Dan Hetteix and Erik Shell. Your guests were Robert Howe, Dan Texeira, and Sheila Brody (no relation to our previous host!). The interview was recorded on September 25th, 2019. All post-production and editing was done by Dan Hetteix.

The post The 3rd Avenue Bay Ridge BID appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

The stores are all closing! Or are they? Today we’re going to dig a bit deeper into the Bay Ridge Vacancy Rate. We’ll be exploring the psychology of empty storefronts, and why the problem is perceived as worse than it is. More importantly, we’ll discuss how a “vacancy” narrative centers property owners and landlords at the expense of workers and small business owners.

We’ll also go behind the scenes at our mapping methods, discussing how we came up with our numbers, how we’ve updated them over time, and how we ensure accuracy.

We’ll also be discussing the importance of placemaking as an urban planning concept. Placemaking influences our preconceptions about our avenues, which in turn dramatically influences their economic health. We are their primary customers, after all, and what we think matters. A strong sense of place can help our merchants withstand challenges from online retail, changing consumer demands, and more.

The post No Vacancy appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Bay Ridge’s schools are widely known as some of the best in the city. Parents move here because our neighborhood is a great place to raise, and educate, kids. But today, we’re going to break down what actually makes a school “good”.

The data we use ends up steering the conversation we have about education in unintended ways… and not always for the better

Our education correspondent Erik Shell swings by the studio to talk about how we can keep tabs on school performance. Whether it comes from the city, the state, or the federal government, there is a lot of information out there. But the data we use ends up steering the conversation we have about education in unintended ways… and not always for the better.

We’ll talk about how we can move past traditional indicators of school performance, and deepen the discussion. This means focusing on data that centers social justice and individual paths to success. That can only happen by de-mythologizing traditional narratives about funding and performance.

Along the way we’ll talk about recent controversies in New York education, including the SHSAT and the Gifted and Talented program. By the end, we’ll show how to demand new kinds of data that will deepen the often shallow debate about school quality in Bay Ridge, and across the city.

The post Using Data to Demand Better Schools appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

For the past few years, progressive activist groups have sprung up in Bay Ridge to counter an increasing trend towards intolerance and hate. While most share a similar overall goal, each has grown to fill a different progressive niche in the neighborhood. Some focus on social justice, others on peace, others on civic education. In the case of Fight Back Bay Ridge, the focus is on action.

In today’s show, we talk with three of the women who were present at the very beginning of Fight Back, as it is affectionately called by members. Sally McMahon, Cathryn Giuffre, and Fawn Greenberg (along with Mallory McMahon, Allan Holt, and Larry Mingione) started the group as a small progressive club in their apartment building, reacting to the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Instead of moping, they decided to act and organize. However, a spur-of-the-moment decision to name the groups Facebook page ended up dramatically expanding the group’s audience from a single apartment complex to the entirety of Bay Ridge.

We’ll talk about how the group found its voice, how it accomplished its early actions, and what it’s future might hold.

The post The Origins of Fight Back Bay Ridge appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Bay Ridge art galleries? Yes, they exist, and they’re growing rapidly. Today on the show we are sitting down with local gallery impresarios Jeannine Bardo and Elena Soterakis. Jeannine is the founder of the Stand4 gallery on 78th street, and together they run the BioBAT Art Space a short walk north at the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

We’ll explore the origins of Bay Ridge’s burgeoning art gallery movement, and take a peek behind the scenes of how a show is put together. Along the way we’ll learn about the many local artists who are increasingly looking toward their own neighborhood for studio space. Finally we’ll explore how science, activism, and environmentalism are woven throughout the local art scene!

The post Crafting Bay Ridge’s Art Galleries appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Half of the cyclist deaths in New York City to date have been in Southern Brooklyn. Bay Ridge and it’s neighbors have historically lagged behind in cyclist safety improvements, while the rest of the city has seen major investment. But 2019 marks a turning point, as Bay Ridge will see it’s first protected bike lane (that isn’t inside a park), and a possible 53% increase in it’s total bike lane mileage. That includes a massive 114% increase in it’s dedicated bike lanes.

Today on the show our longtime transit correspondent Brian Hedden gets to talk about his work with Bike South Brooklyn!, our local cycling advocacy group. We will break down the new bike lane proposals, how they work, and some of the misconceptions around the design. We also suggest a few improvements, and rate the overall proposal. Is it too much? Not enough? Listen in and find out!

The post Expanding Bay Ridge’s Bike Network appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

2019 is a critical year for every single renter in New York State. The first Democratic-controlled State Legislature in a generation coincides with the expiration date for the state’s Rent Control laws this June… resulting in a major opportunity to overhaul and reform our housing laws. However, some state senators and assembly-people are dragging their feet and activists are being challenged at every turn by powerful real estate interests.

The issue extends all the way to Bay Ridge, which has the second-highest number of unregulated apartments in the state. If we want to fight for helping residents find housing security in our neighborhood, now is the time. Thus, we are joined by Andrea Shapiro of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, and Genna Goldsobel of the Fifth Avenue Committee, who will help walk us through the nine bills in Albany that are collectively known as Universal Rent Control.

The post Universal Rent Control Demystified appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

After an incident of tasteless manufactured outrage by the New York Post, Bodega owners across our neighborhood (and the city) finally had enough. Today Erik Shell sits down to interview friend of the podcast Rabyaah Althaibani, our local Yemeni community organizer, who has been assisting the Yemeni American Merchants Association in instituting a boycott of the New York Post in local bodegas.

We’ll discuss the origins of the boycott, how it impacts the First Amendment, and how much power and influence Yemeni-Americans have within the vast network of bodegas citywide. We also check back in with Rabyaah to discuss updates since her last visit, including the NOBAN act, President Trump’s veto of the resolution ending U.S. involvement in the Yemeni conflict, and the continuing impact of the Muslim Ban. We also will explore how the New York Post has long amplified fear and mistrust against the Arab community in Bay Ridge… and how that community is organizing to take back the narrative.

The post The Bodega Boycott appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today we sit down with the women who made 2018’s South Brooklyn electoral blue wave a reality. Our panel discusses the importance of a ground game in politics, tips for canvassers, and what it’s like to manage teams of volunteers and staff during an election year.

Our panel consists of co-host Rachel Brody who was the Brooklyn Field Director for the Max Rose campaign; Genna Goldsobel who acted as the Field Director for volunteers for Ross Barkan for State Senate; Mary Hetteix, who worked for Immigrant Action; and Sihem Mel who worked as a Field Organizer for Arab and Muslim outreach with the Andrew Gounardes campaign.

The post Women Run The Field appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

It’s more than just stop signs and speed bumps! In our last episode, we promised to bring you a bigger, badder deep-dive into street safety! One of our most requested topics, Dan and Brian will take you on a whirlwind tour of as many street design concepts as they can fit into an hour and change, as well as a brief history on why Bay Ridge has lagged behind in innovation.

Why do some street corners get extra-big, but not others? How can we make the B63 go faster? What can we do to help the visually impaired? Can we keep kids safe crossing even our busiest streets? How many lanes does a road even need, and how wide should they be? We’ll answer all these questions and more… and by the end, you’ll be able to suggest and envision your own street safety improvements, just in time for the big Street Safety summit on Wednesday, March 27th.

Warning: On today’s show, we curse a bit and briefly discuss violent traffic crashes and fatalities. It’s a serious topic; listener discretion is advised.

The post Designing Safer Streets in Bay Ridge appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On Tuesday, February 19th, a group of our local political representatives gathered together to reaffirm their commitment to Vision Zero. The initiative, overseen by the Department of Transportation and the NYPD, focuses on reducing traffic-related fatalities to zero. What role can Bay Ridge play in helping to improve traffic safety city-wide, and what further changes can we expect to see on our neighborhoods streets?

Today on the show we’re joined by our transit correspondent Brian Hedden, who’ll go over the political landscape of traffic safety, as well as some of the most common street calming measures the DOT will be using to address our unsafe streets. We’ll also look at the stats behind the most recent priority corridor data presented in the Vision Zero report.

The post Bay Ridge and Vision Zero appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Bay Ridge is teeming with commercial possibilities, and is home to three major shopping avenues in close proximity. Today we’ll learn what it takes to help them flourish. We sat down with Amanda Zenteno, the Executive Director of the Bay Ridge 5th Avenue BID, or Business Improvement District.

We’ll cover what a BID does and how it’s organized, and what services it provides to the businesses it serves. We also talk about keeping commercial corridors clean and dispelling misconceptions about vacant storefronts. Support your local businesses and have a listen!

The post The Bay Ridge 5th Avenue BID appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Welcome to 2019 and happy New Year, Bay Ridge! While we’re busy updating our elected representatives page and nursing our hangovers, we threw together a short episode for you. Chill out with us in our newly renovated studio as we reflect back on 2018, and look forward to 2019! Plus, Rachel will reveal the results of our latest poll! What were your favorite episodes? What were ours? Find out, and get a sneak peek into the episodes we have planned for 2019!

The post Happy New Year, Bay Ridge! appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Why the heck is it actually called Owl’s Head? Find out! Today we partnered with Hey Ridge editor and local historian Henry Stewart to bring you an Owl’s Head Park walking tour. In fact, we think it’s actually the first audio walking tour of Bay Ridge… ever! This 15-minute guided episode is meant to be played on-site at Owl’s Head, at the entrance on 67th Street and Colonial Road. You’ll explore the history of the park, from the pre-colonial era up until today.

We’ll separate the myth from the fact about the name “Owl’s Head”, of course. But did you know the origins of the nearby street names? Do you know who exactly Senator Street named after? Together we’ll walk past where once a grand mansion and castle-like tower once stood, as well as learn about the odd tastes of the man who occupied the grounds. There’s weapons arsenals, gangland shootings, tragic deaths, and development deals gone sour. Henry will also discuss the original designs for the park and what was lost to time. Most importantly, we’ll be out enjoying one of Bay Ridge’s most beautiful parks!

Let us know what you think about the episode, and whether we should do more of them! And in case you don’t get Radio Free Bay Ridge on your phone, be sure to check out the subscription links below.

The post Owl’s Head Park Walking Tour appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On October 22nd, local activist group Fight Back Bay Ridge held their first fundraiser. Unlike many other groups, which focus on three-hundred-dollar-a-plate dinners or a cheesy speech, they did something both creative and community-building. They sent out a call to the Bay Ridge arts community, including Stand 4 Gallery and many more.

They challenged local artists to create artwork they’d be willing to donate for a silent auction. The theme was to raise awareness and creatively interpret the gerrymandered boundaries of Bay Ridge’s state senate district, SD22. The resulting gallery show brought together the activist and artistic communities of Bay Ridge for one of the first times. Our co-host Rachel Brody interviewed people at the event, discussing how they felt about art, politics, and their community.

The post The Art of the Gerrymander appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On October 3rd, 2018 we had one of the long-standing Bay Ridge debates occur under the auspices of our local Interagency Council on Aging. Held this year at the Fort Hamilton Senior Center with longtime moderator Peter Killen. The event was a whos-who of local politicians and included debates between every local candidate running in this year’s midterm elections. Today, however, we are focusing on just one: Golden vs Gounardes.

After the #BRForum debates, we asked our listeners what we should do with the audio. A majority of you said we should fact-check the debate… so we did! Today, co-host Dan will be breaking in between questions to provide context and fact-checks.

We’ll hear questions on a wide range of issues, much of it focusing on children. While this may seem jarring for a senior center debate, remember that older adults often have child safety as a top priority, especially as grandkids come along. So sit back and enjoy!

Note: We’ll also be posting the audio for the other debates that day! The include Mathylde Frontus vs Steve Saperstein, Adam Baumel vs Nicole Malliotakis, and Max Rose vs Dan Donovan. They will be available in the show notes below shortly.

The post Fact Check: Golden vs Gounardes appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Bay Ridge is luckier than most outer borough neighborhoods. Residents have multiple transit options, from trains to bikes to buses to ferries. However, last year’s transit situation was so bad that it was known city-wide as the “Summer of Hell”. Bay Ridge Avenue was closed for six months as part of a new “Enhanced Station Initiative”. This upgrade was spearheaded by our local State Senator Marty Golden, who sits on the MTA Capital Review Board. However, as cosmetic upgrades were being installed, service worsened across the board with little relief. Today we dig into the numbers and analyze 2017’s transit numbers, and what they mean for Bay Ridge.

We were happy to sit down with our transportation correspondent, Brian Hedden in this episode. We focus on the subways and buses, but also cover all aspects of Bay Ridge transit, including tolls, biking, and ferries.

The post The State of Bay Ridge Transit appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

In today’s episode, Dan and Mary discuss Bay Ridge’s first Participatory Budgeting cycle. During last year’s city council race, every single candidate vowed to bring the experimental budgeting process into our district. This year, it’s finally happening! Our district will be getting a million dollars that will be spent entirely through grassroots democratic outreach, organized by and for local residents.

Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, and parts of Bensonhurst will get a million dollars spend on ideas it’s own residents come up with. The money can be used for construction and built things only (capital projects), but beyond that, it’s a very flexible system. Our co-host Dan is actually on the fifteen-person committee of local residents that will be helping to nurture and shepherd these ideas to buildable, votable ballot items. Listen in as we discuss what Participatory Budgeting means for Bay Ridge and how to get involved.

The post A Million Dollar Question appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today on the podcast, we’re doing something a bit different. We are welcoming our newest neighbors! In what we hope to be a yearly series, we are providing an overview of the neighborhood entirely geared for the newest Bay Ridgeites. If you spent this summer unpacking and exploring your new neighborhood, our contributors Mary and Erik, both new residents themselves, will fill you in. We’ll give you our personal food favorites and good drinking spots to meet up with other local progressives. We’ll let you know our favorite little Bay Ridge moments and things to do. Plus, we’ll fill you in on local politics and help hook you up with activist groups that happen to be around!

Welcome, Bay Ridge class of 2018! Don’t be a stranger.

The post Welcome to Bay Ridge (2018 Edition) appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On June 1st, a Queens pizza deliveryman was arrested at Fort Hamilton Army Base and handed over to ICE. His name was Pablo Villavicencio Calderon, an undocumented immigrant without a criminal record and father of two. After the story of his detainment broke, Bay Ridge residents mobilized to stand in solidarity with Pablo against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They gathered in John Paul Jones Park on the evening of June 6th, with speakers and a march toward 86th street. Near 87th street a nonviolent act of civil disobedience by seven nearby residents blocked traffic on 5th Avenue for four minutes, and the rally continued in an unattended parking space.

On today’s episode, we’ll bring you recordings of your fellow neighbors, activists, and friends. Listen in to the impassioned speeches made by those in attendance as we document the march and bring you back to that day.

Another action will be held in solidarity with Pablo on July 19th, one day before his scheduled court date, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. It will take place in front of the Fort Hamilton Army Base. You can RSVP on Facebook.

The post March for Pablo Villavicencio Calderon appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

With primary petitioning underway (again) and all of our local campaigns in full swing, we’re taking one more dive into local and state elections in an interview with Mathylde Frontus, running for New York’s 46th State Assembly District. The district covers the southern portion of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, and all of Coney Island west of Brighton Beach. Mathylde is a nonprofit director, scholar, and organizer who grew up in Coney Island. She has focused her life and studies on Social Services, mental health, community organizing and education.

Mary and Dan sat down to interview Mathylde and talk about what it’s like to run a storefront community services organization in the district, as well as her history organizing and guiding local grassroots non-violence projects in the district. The most recent of these has been the Coney Island Anti-Violence Collaborative, which recently joined local groups for rallies in front of the infamous Knights of Columbus NRA Meeting this past April, as well as a large March For Our Lives rally on the Coney Island Boardwalk in March.

We also went over what is driving Mathylde’s candidacy: a desire to systematically reform government. This includes improving community feedback (by creating new mechanisms such as a community think-tank), encouraging residents to become more aware of their government (by creating new civic workshops to help people run for office), and by pushing for more transparency in the Albany budget process to uncover corruption and improve accountability. We also discuss specific issues, such as education and mental health services.

The post Interview with Mathylde Frontus appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

June is here! And that means petitioning is starting for our local and state primary elections. Petitioning is conducted by candidates to get enough signatures to earn a spot on the primary ballot this September, and if they win, they’ll be their parties nominee to continue on to the November general election. Today, we’re sitting down for an interview with Andrew Gounardes, one of the Democratic nominees for Brooklyn’s 22nd State Senate district, which represents Bay Ridge in Albany.

Rachel and Dan sat down earlier this year with Andrew to talk about his campaign and the issues that matter to him. If he wins the primary, he’ll be squaring off against Republican incumbent Martin J Golden, the lone Brooklyn Republican in the State Senate who has gerrymandered the district in his favor. We’ll talk with Andrew about his life in public service, as well as Mr. Golden’s inability to solve perennial problems in the neighborhood. We also discuss reforming New York State’s archaic voting laws, how to get engaged in civic life, improving neighborhood transportation options and street safety. We also chat about property taxes and housing reform, including giving the city control over rent laws and making it easier to own a home. Andrew also discusses his proposal for a major South Brooklyn waterfront park, connecting and expanding the green spaces along the Narrows and Gravesend Bay!

The post Interview with Andrew Gounardes appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

June is almost upon us, and that means a new petitioning season for candidates running in state and local elections! To give our loyal listeners an idea of who’s running in our area, we’re continuing in the spirit of our NY-11 Congressional Contenders series and bringing you a couple of long-format interviews with progressive Democratic candidates running for office.

Today, Rachel and Dan are sitting down and talking with Ross Barkan, who’s running for the 22nd New York State Senate District, currently occupied by Republican incumbent Martin J Golden. Ross is a former journalist and was briefly a teacher at Fort Hamilton High School. He’s been a longtime political reporter, with an in-depth knowledge of Albany politics and brings a unique, insightful perspective on how to fix a corrupt and often unresponsive political system. We’ll go over exactly what a State Senator does and how Albany dysfunction affects Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. We’ll also get into the weeds on specific transportation, education and climate-change policy proposals for the neighborhood, like an exciting new commuter rail line running through the heart of the district, reducing student debt burdens, and tidal protections for the next superstorm.

The post Interview with Ross Barkan appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Last year, Bay Ridge experienced an unprecedented and vibrant Democratic Primary for City Council. One of the candidates was Rev. Khader El-Yateem, who ran on a message of representation for an often overlooked population of Arab-Americans in the district. There was a great deal of news coverage of the race, and most of the stories centered on Rev. El-Yateem as a candidate. Today, however, we shift the focus and bring you the story of a storyteller.

Ahmed Mansour, through a series of chance encounters and circumstances, wound up journeying from his home on the Gaza Strip to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. With a video camera in hand, he found the El-Yateem campaign in its infancy, and documented everything along the way, amassing hundreds of hours of footage. As he followed “Team El-Yateem”, he ended up exploring a much more important character: the neighborhood of Bay Ridge itself and the Arab-American community that calls it home.

Today Radio Free Bay Ridge is happy to bring you our interview with Ahmed exploring the story behind his upcoming documentary “Brooklyn, Inshallah”. We also discuss what’s next for Ahmed as an artist, and how he perceives Bay Ridge from the point of view of being a simultaneous outsider and insider.

You can check out Ahmed’s fundraiser for his documentary on LaunchGood if you’d like to contribute to expanding it to feature length, or contact him if you’d like to assist in the project!

The post Brooklyn, Inshallah appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Get ready for our final NY-11 wrapup episode! We’ve heard from all eight Democratic candidates for New York’s 11th Congressional District on the podcast. We’ve given each candidate unrestricted time to discuss themselves and educate us on any issue of their choice. Boyd Melson, Michael DeVito Jr., Mike DeCillis, Zach Emig, Max Rose, Paul Sperling, Omar Vaid and Radhakrishna Mohan have lent their voices to the podcast. But to wrap up, we’re turning the mic over to you!

Today, we have a powerhouse of progressives in the studio to talk about issues we care about. Join in with a five-person cross-section of neighborhood activists as we educate the candidates about the things we wanted to hear about, such as transit, the environment, Brooklyn/Staten Island unity, the (possible) myth of the moderate voter, women’s health issues and paid family leave, foreign policy and immigration, refugees, the inequalities inherent in the fundraising process during primaries, and much more.

If you want to get involved and make friends with the guests on the panel, feel free to check out our list of progressive neighborhood organizations! And don’t forget to check out Fight Back Bay Ridge’s massive NY11 candidate questionnaire for even more info about the candidates!

The post Congressional Contenders Finale: NY-11 Activist Roundtable appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On March 31st, across the country, students orchestrated town hall meetings with their elected officials, asking them to join them for a dialogue about gun violence in American schools. The #TownHallForOurLives is a movement spearheaded by the students of Majorie Stoneman Douglas school in Parkland, Florida – but like a true grassroots movement, it involved students from around the country taking ownership and agency, and Staten Island and New York’s 11th Congressional District was no exception.

The #NY11TownHall that took place that night was an opportunity for the community to come together and was attended by local elected officials such as Councilwoman Debi Rose and State Senator Diane Savino. After learning that no local GOP would be in attendance (still hiding in that phone booth, Dan Donovan?), the students invited all the NY11 Congressional Contenders still left in our race, instead.

Radio Free Bay Ridge attended and live-tweeted the two-and-a-half-hour event. We’ll be uploading the full audio this weekend.

Today, in anticipation of more March for Our Lives Events centered on our neighborhood (including one this Saturday organized by local teens in Bay Ridge) we spoke to one of the organizers of the Staten Island Town Hall, John Papanier. We talked about how the local students are leading the way on this incredibly important issue.

The post John Papanier on Staten Island’s Town Hall For Our Lives appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Bay Ridge is a neighborhood of immigrants. Even when Bay Ridge was not much more than farmland on the Narrows, we have been a landing spot for numerous waves cultures and ethnicities. Bay Ridge doesn’t exist in a bubble, so today we are breaking our hyper-local-only format to discuss the international affairs that affect our neighbors. Today, were going to learn about the longstanding Yemeni community in Bay Ridge. With our guest Rabyaah Althaibani, we’ll get some background on what is happening to Yemenis across the world and how it affects their loved ones here in our community.

Update: After you listen to the episode, find a way to get involved. On March 20th, the Sanders-Lee-Murphy bill, which would have ended US Military intervention in Yemen, was tabled. Many senators called for it to return to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after intense lobbying from Saudi Arabia and the Trump White House. We urge you to call or email the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Comittee, and urge them to both inform their fellow Senators about the issue and bring the Sanders-Lee Bill (S.J.Res. 54) bill back up for a vote.

The post Yemen Next Door appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

On our final Congressional Contenders episode, we are happy to present Radhakrishna Mohan, a civic leader and Executive Board member of the New York State Public Employees Federation. Mohan is running in the Democratic primary for New York’s 11th Congressional District, which represents Staten Island and South Brooklyn in the House of Representatives.

Mohan discussed his lifelong Union background, both in India and Staten Island, and his experience organizing on a state-wide level. We talked about the role Unions play in being a watchdog for dangerous federal policies, and how a Unionist congressman can bring together Unions to fight for more organizing power. We also discussed how investing in high-tech jobs and infrastructure can help balance our ballooning public debt and federal trade imbalances, how to combat the Opioid crisis on Staten Island, and how we can position Staten Island and Brooklyn to reinvent itself with new cultural institutions and tourism.

Finally, as always, we want to remind all our listeners and readers that petitioning season is nearly upon us, beginning March 6th. Registered Democrats will have one chance to sign a candidates petition to put them on the primary ballot for this year’s elections. You can only sign for one candidate, and if you sign for more than one, only your first choice counts. Be sure to get familiar with each candidate and get an idea of who you’ll be most willing to sign for as canvassers begin hitting the streets on March 6th… and consider volunteering to be a canvasser yourself by reaching out to the campaign that interests you the most.

The post Congressional Contenders: Radhakrishna Mohan appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today on the show we’re welcoming Omar Vaid as we begin to wrap up our Congressional Contenders series. Omar is one of the seven Democratic primary candidates for NY11, our House of Representatives seat covering Staten Island and South Brooklyn. Also joining us today is our special guest host and local journalist Kadia Goba. Kadia is filling in for Rachel, who’s stepping aside for today’s interview since Rachel is currently employed as Omar’s Communications Director.

Omar spoke with us about the centrality of Unions to his campaign, as well as his core message of protectionism for American industry. We also spent time discussing how unions intersect with healthcare, social security, congestion pricing and education. Finally, we touch on the similarities between Omar’s use of social media and how he intends to use his Congressional seat to call out lobbyists and advocate for change.

Finally, Kadia and Dan spend a bit of time at the beginning of the episode talking about the upcoming Democratic Party petitioning process and how we can make it more equitable and fair by advocating for voter awareness early on in the primary season.

The post Congressional Contenders: Omar Vaid appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Swinging by the studio today is Max Rose on our sixth Congressional Contenders episode. We’ll sit down for a discussion with Max, who is running in the Democratic primary for NY11, the (for now) Republican controlled House of Representatives district covering Staten Island and South Brooklyn. Each candidate in the series had unlimited time to talk about their issues and ideas, but most importantly the facts, concepts and details that lay behind those ideas and their beliefs.

Max Rose spoke with us about the centrality of public safety to a holistic social-services overhaul that threads through healthcare, Opioid addiction, gun violence, policing, infrastructure, and more. We also got into the weeds on criminal justice reform, especially the Conviction Review Unit that Max observed first-hand while working for the late Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.

The post Congressional Contenders: Max Rose appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today we welcome Paul Sperling to the fifth episode of our Congressional Contenders series. In this continuing series, we sit down for a no-time-limit discussion with each candidate running in the Democratic primary this summer for New York’s 11th Congressional district, representing Staten Island and South Brooklyn. We asked each candidate to talk with us about their platform, their ideas, and most importantly the facts and issues that they think their constituents should know in the upcoming primary.

Paul Sperling swung by the studio to discuss his plans for improved rail infrastructure, workers cooperatives, bringing large employers to Staten Island, and improving healthcare in the district. We also touch on the green economy, cannabis legalization, and improving education in the district with debt forgiveness, free trade schools, and more school construction and hiring.

The post Congressional Contenders: Paul Sperling appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

We’re pressing on with the fourth part of our Congressional Contenders series. We sit down for a no-time-limit discussion with each of the Democratic primary looking to represent South Brooklyn and Staten Island in Washington D.C. We asked each candidate to talk with us about the issues that most motivate them. Join us as we dive deep into their proposals and get to know more about them.

Our guest today is Zach Emig, an MIT engineering graduate and bond trader. Zach announced his candidacy all the way back in May of last year. We’ll discuss Zach’s long haul on the NY11 campaign trail and dig into his “Narrows Agenda” for improving the district. We’ll discuss corporate and income taxes, the opioid epidemic, technology, and immigration. We also touch on the partisan rancor that is affecting national and local politics, and how to solve it.

The post Congressional Contenders: Zach Emig appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

A few months ago, Poly Prep reached out to us to ask if we would be interested in recording a new, public event series called Context: Conversations at Poly Prep. The first lecture, with professor and historian Jeremi Suri, was a quick but wide-ranging lecture discussing the evolution of the Office of the President throughout American History as discussed in his new book The Impossible Presidency. While the subject isn’t necessarily local, we were thrilled to bring you a progressive, thoughtful lecture given locally at an institution with over 100 years of history in the neighborhood (and to pal around with the excellent Bookmark Shoppe too!).

I always remembered, as a kid, being taken by my grandfather to go throw bagels at the ducks at the Poly Prep pond (By the way, folks, don’t do that! It’s terrible for the ducks. There are signs now. Probably because of me. Sorry.) But it always was a mysterious entity for much of my life, and a closed campus. So we are very excited to see the institution open its gates and beautiful campus to the neighborhood and provide a much-needed event space for lectures and discussions. You can sign up for future events on their calendar or monitor their Twitter feed.

The post Jeremi Suri at Poly Prep appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Update: Mike DeCills has withdrawn from the race as of February 26th. He gave his endorsement to Michael DeVito Jr. on March 6th, 2018.

February is beginning to heat up! March is approaching, which means it’s time for our Democratic primary candidates to begin preparing for petitioning. To help you choose which candidates you might want to volunteer for or support, we’re bringing you part three of our Congressional Contenders series.

Our guest today is Mike DeCillis, a former EMT, retired police officer, and an attorney and special-ed teacher. We’ll discuss Mike’s long career including deep-dives into healthcare, pharmaceuticals, police training, vocational education and disability rights, and labor law. We also touch on immigration advocacy and the state of Democratic politics on Staten Island.

The post Congressional Contenders: Mike DeCillis appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

For progressives and activists in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and beyond, our local Community Board is an often overlooked vestige of community empowerment that is crying out for more engagement. In our wonkiest episode yet, we’ll introduce our local Community Board Ten and explore it from all sides. We’ll hear from political aides, long-time board members, and activists. Along the way, we’ll dive into the strange, bureaucratic history of the boards and help explain why they function the way they do.

There are many ways to get involved! For the brave, you can apply to be on the board (applications are due February 15th!), attend local committee meetings, and represent your local civic or activist groups at public meeting sessions. So get a taste of what’s involved by listening in to our brand-new episode!

The post Bay Ridge’s ‘Little City Hall’ appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

It’s 2018, which means the Democratic primary for NY Congressional District 11, which includes Staten Island and South Brooklyn, will be getting into gear soon!

Our first guest for the New Year is Michael DeVito Jr., a former Staff Sergeant in the Marines in addition to a non-profit director focusing on at-risk youth.  In light of that, we spent alot of time with Michael looking at his congressional run through the lens of mediation and conflict resolution. We spoke in detail about how a more empathetic approach could kickstart Federal programs in transit infrastructure, pharmaceutical reform, workforce development, the green economy, and more.

The post Congressional Contenders: Michael DeVito Jr. appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

In Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, our public schools are overcrowded. Lack of space, a mostly residential building stock, and little turnover… it has made the district a difficult place to build a school. There is hope, however. Our new City Councilperson-elect, Justin Brannan, campaigned on a single promise: to construct a new school in Bay Ridge or Dyker Heights within his first term. Can it be done?

In our newest studio episode, we dig deep into the weeds of educational policy and school construction with some guidance from our newest Radio Free Bay Ridge team member, Erik Shell. With Erik’s help, we’ll look at the demographics data that reinforces our need for a new school, counter some myths and raise some warning flags about co-location and charter schools claiming they can solve overcrowding, and discuss our most pressing and time-sensitive issue: finding space for the school. We are also joined in the studio by our City Councilperson-elect, Justin Brannan, who will give us a behind-the-scenes look at how he’s advocating for a new school and how he intends to keep his promise for a new school within four years.

The post A School Of Our Own appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Welcome to our series on Congressional Contenders for the Democratic primary nomination in NY Congressional District 11! Currently held by Rep. Dan Donovan (R) there is a wide field of challengers – and we’re here to bring you discussions with each and every one of them.

Our first guest is Major Boyd Melson, US Army Reserves, who recently withdrew from the race to volunteer for deployment to the Middle East – but met with us to discuss spinal cord injuries, stem cell research, the opioid epidemic, his non-profit work, and some of the problems in today’s politics. It’s the perfect starter to our series on the candidates vying for your primary vote in June 2018.

Breaking News: Listen to the very end of the show for our first Radio Free Bay Ridge exclusive…Boyd Melson tells us who he’s endorsing now that he’s out of the race!

The post Congressional Contenders: Boyd Melson appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Today we look at how Bay Ridge nativism affects the neighborhood discourse (and thus, our politics). We’ll interview former and current Bay Ridge residents, as well as political candidates, to see what they think. We’ll explore different ways of looking at Bay Ridge based on where and when you were born. Does an emphasis on birthplace and/or residency drown out and discourage other voices and opinions? Does an idea have to start in our neighborhood to be of value or improve our lives?

In short, does local nativism make Bay Ridge more — or less (and we’re betting you can guess which side we’re on) — welcoming? And given that, how does this phenomenon manifest in our politics, and how can we work to counter (or eliminate) it?

The post Going Nativist appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

As part of his ongoing whistle-stop tour of the district, Rep. Dan Donovan appeared at David A. Boody High School in Gravesend, Brooklyn. There, a gathering of about 15-20 constituents were able to ask him questions on a variety of issues.

During his discussions, there were a number of issues that arose where information provided was either not complete or may require additional context. During the podcast, you’ll hear this signified by a soft “ding”. Below are the “footnotes”, so to speak, that we believe will help you take greater benefit from the recording.

The post Coffee with Dan Donovan in Gravesend, Brooklyn appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

This week, three very intelligent women break down our local City Council debates. Joining us in the studio are co-host Rachel Brody, Khader El-Yateem volunteer Mary Hetteix, and the campaign mangager for the El-Yateem campaign, Kayla Santosuosso. Our panel will break down what went right, what went wrong, and how the candidates performed.

If the analysis sparks your interest, or you find yourself asking, “Did he really SAY that?!”, go back and check out the Xavarian and AAANY debates. Also, feel free to pour yourself a glass (or several) and check out our CC43 Debate Drinking Game.

The post Lies, Dog-Whistles and Statistics appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

Hey there, neighbors! We’re working on our second studio episode (and wow is it ever a doozy), but in the meantime, Bay Ridge’s three candidates for city council have taken part in another debate, this time focusing on progressive issues including immigration reform, police accountability, and equality. They also fielded questions from the audience.

The post District 43 City Council AAANY Debate appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

If you missed it on Tuesday, here’s your chance! We’ve recorded the entire City Council debate between Justin Brannan, John Quaglione, and Bob Capano, and posted it here for your listening pleasure. You can also check out our Live Tweet over on Twitter at @RadioFreeBR.

Got thoughts on the debate? Who surprised you? Whose policies do you like the sound of, and who revealed something about their positions that made you change your mind about them? Were any undecideds convinced? Let us know in the comments, or send us a tweet!

And if you couldn’t get to this week’s debate, check out next week’s – from the Arab American Association of New York, co-sponsored by Fight Back Bay Ridge and the South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance. Click here to RSVP on their facebook page. It’s at I.S. 30 (4th Ave and Ovington) on Tuesday, October 24th, from 7pm to 9pm. Doors open at 6:30pm.

The post Bay Ridge Community Council (BRCC) City Council Debates appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.

In our first episode, we take a look at John Quaglione’s proposed “Eyes on the Streets” program. It involves setting up an incident-based NYPD webcam database. Dan and Rachel dig into whether it’s a good idea and look into the possible pitfalls. Is quality of life on a downturn, and is this the right solution if it is?

The post All Eyes On The Streets Of Bay Ridge appeared first on Radio Free Bay Ridge.