BOROUGH HALL BLUES A recent New York Times article contrasted the architectural magnificence of Brooklyn Borough Hall with the relative unimportance of what goes on inside. Indeed, we can't think of a single crucial government function performed in the building, and it's not the fault of Borough President Marty Markowitz-it's the way city government is set up. Of course, Markowitz wasn't thrilled with the piece. "The Times article was absolutely not balanced," he e-mailed us. "The article typified a Manhattan-centric focus and mindset…That's the Manhattan Times for you!" Borough presidents once had real power, but the elimination of the Board of Estimate (ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989) rendered them cheerleaders and ombudsman.

Markowitz hosts events, seminars, and hearings almost daily at Borough Hall, but the building's potential as a revenue-raiser goes untapped. Imagine the cash it could generate if rented out for swank weddings and private parties. Markowitz has. But he was told the law apparently forbids the use of public space to compete with private caterers. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Museum of Art (which receive public funding but are not government institutions) have booming wedding operations.

The Brooklyn beep is still exploring whether Borough Hall could legally be used this way. But if the law can't be changed, perhaps a not-for-profit could be established to take ownership of Borough Hall. The city, instead of laying out huge sums to maintain the building, could merely pay rent to the not-for-profit, which could make additional millions annually running a catering business on evenings and weekends. Unfortunately, selling public buildings generally involves an open auction. The thought of Bruce Ratner converting Borough Hall into condos would probably bother a few people.

HOW RUMORS GET STARTED When they last talked to each other, at the bar of Albany's Crowne Plaza Hotel, Chris Owens (son of Rep. Major Owens) and former Assemblyman Frank Boyland (father of Councilwoman Tracy Boyland) had the following conversation:

Boyland: So, Major's running?

Owens: Yes, indeed!

Well, that doesn't make for very good gossip, so the wags spiced it up a little. They created a hostile exchange in which Owens, angry that Boyland's daughter was challenging his father in the Democratic primary, threatened to run candidates against Boyland's son, Assemblyman William Boyland Jr., and against district leaders allied with the Boylands. To which the elder Boyland replied, "Yeah? With what operation?" (A reference to the congressman's nonexistent political machinery.) Now, that would have been interesting enough for this column. Alas, it didn't happen that way. "Pure fiction" was how Chris Owens described the story.

BARRON DEMANDS PROBE Councilman Charles Barron asked Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to investigate the shooting of blacks by white cops. "A pattern has developed, it seems, with white officers: they discharge their weapons into black citizens, but it doesn't seem to happen with Latino or black officers," Barron said at a press conference.

Well, it does happen sometimes. Recall the tragic death in 1994 of Nicholas Heyward Jr., 13, shot dead while carrying a partially orange water pistol mistaken for a real one by a black cop patrolling the Gowanus Houses in Boerum Hill. As the Rev. Al Sharpton has been off pursuing a national identity, Barron has increasingly become the black leader the New York City media turns to when police kill unarmed blacks. But coverage of Barron is still spotty.

Barron was quoted extensively in Newsday's coverage of the recent press conference-the headline was "Barron pushes for shooting probe"-but he wasn't mentioned in the Daily News's report, which only quoted Councilman Bill Perkins. The Post mentioned neither councilman, and the Times ignored the story entirely. No doubt a media conspiracy is under way.

MUSICAL CHAIRS Observers who expect Councilwoman Tracy Boyland to lose the Democratic Congressional primary against Rep. Major Owens and Councilwoman Yvette Clarke this year foresee more musical chairs from the Boyland family in 2005. That's when term limits will prevent Tracy from seeking reelection. But her brother, William Boyland Jr., could win her seat and vacate his Assembly seat, which would then be filled by special election. The Democratic nominee for that election-virtually guaranteed to win because the Brownsville district is heavily Democratic-would be chosen by the Democratic county committee members of the Assembly district.

These members are controlled by the Boylands and would surely pick Tracy Boyland. "I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope if I were Reginald Bowman," one insider commented, referring to a frequent opponent of the Boylands. It's the same process by which Tracy's brother won the Assembly seat in 2003 after their father, Frank Boyland, abruptly abandoned it after 10 terms.

If Tracy Boyland decided not to swap seats with her brother, or somehow won the Congressional race, her father might well run for her Council seat in 2005, sources said. Others who've been mentioned for the seat include Frank Boyland's nephew Jonathan Gabriel, the strikingly tall (6-foot-8) director of the Brooklyn chapter of the American Red Cross, and Democratic district leader Alicka Ampry-Samuel. Gabriel told us he has no plans to run and didn't even know insiders considered him a potential candidate.

ADELE WOULD WELCOME WAL-MART To hear Assemblywoman Adele Cohen embrace the notion of Wal-Mart opening a store in Coney Island, you'd never guess she was a union employee for 18 years before joining the Legislature. Here's what Cohen told our reporter Steve Witt for a story about false rumors of Wal-Mart coming to her district: "I would like any honest business to come to Coney Island that would provide jobs for our local people. If Wal-Mart comes in and hires local people, it would be wonderful."

But is Wal-Mart an honest business? According to numerous accounts in the mainstream and liberal media, the company has frequently violated the law to squelch unionization movements in its stores. And is it wonderful to work for Wal-Mart? The company is notorious for its low wages, unpaid overtime, failure to promote women, and medical benefits package too expensive for its underpaid employees.

To organized labor, Wal-Mart is Public Enemy Number One: the world's largest employer and fiercely resistant to unions. Surely Cohen is aware of that, having been an office manager and benefits director for Local 99 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union for eight years, then an attorney for District Council 37 for 10 years.

Our guess is Cohen would also disagree with Wal-Mart's policy not to sell the morning-after pill at its pharmacies, which in rural areas may be the only pharmacies for many miles. Given that the pill is only effective when taken within 72 hours of sex, the company's refusal to sell it probably leads to unintended pregnancies.

When we asked Cohen to reconcile her union background with her pro-Wal-Mart statement, she e-mailed a response averting the issue entirely. But in the interests of fairness, we will print it (edited for space): "One of the greatest problems we have in Coney Island is the lack of jobs. A great deal of attention has been focused on the revival of Coney Island, but we have only seen very limited results, and few benefits for the thousands of residents of the area. So-called economic development initiatives over recent years have produced few new jobs in the community when we need thousands of them.

"There needs to be a comprehensive strategy for the future of Coney Island that will provide the improved economic base-and the jobs-which the community urgently needs. This strategy needs to encompass: improvement and expansion of the housing stock, development of better retail and commercial services, modernization and expansion of the amusement area, physical improvements to the beach and boardwalk and far better community utilization of KeySpan Park, and a planned approach to bringing new life to the dozens of vacant or underutilized properties scattered throughout Coney Island and adjacent areas."

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM Two years ago, Green Party candidate Kenn Lowy was trying to drum up interest in his race against Democratic Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who didn't pay him much mind even when Lowy was e-mailing us statements like, "Joan Millman's failure to campaign demonstrates that she is not interested in meeting the people she represents."

Millman must be a forgiving person, because when Lowy sought to join the board of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats last month, Millman spoke highly of him to IND. He was then elected. Also elected, somewhat curiously, was campaign consultant Peter Weiss, though he lives on the south side of Prospect Park, far from IND's Carroll Gardens base. At least one member saw a connection between Weiss's affiliation with Councilwoman Tracy Boyland and Boyland's campaign for Congress, for which she'd like support from clubs like IND.

"It's no coincidence that after Tracy Boyland shows up at IND, Peter Weiss joins the board," the club member said, referring to Boyland's recent visit to the club. The member added, "Assemblywoman Joan Millman was none too happy that Peter Weiss inserted himself into the affairs of IND." But hey, Weiss didn't insert himself. He merely offered himself up for insertion, and club members complied.

RATNER FOE HAS MOVED ON If you're wondering why we haven't heard criticism of Bruce Ratner's proposed arena/housing/office complex from Ted Glick, who fought Ratner's Atlantic Center mall plan in the 1990s, it's because Glick left his cramped Boerum Hill apartment for a house in Bloomfield, New Jersey six years ago.

Predictably, he became active in politics there, becoming the Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate in 2002 (and getting just over 1 percent of the vote). Glick, co-chairman of ATURA from 1985-1995, ran for City Council in 1991, losing to Ken Fisher. We asked Glick if he hates shopping malls, why did he move to New Jersey? Primarily because his wife got a teaching job in Newark, he said.

We also asked him to comment on how Ratner's Atlantic Terminal project turned out. "The original project was a bad idea," he said. "There were changes made to the original plan that made it a better project." Glick added, "It's a disappointment that that senior citizen housing was never built."

TIDBITS Park Sloper Bob Bell might have lost his interest in local politics, but he hasn't lost his wit. The former School Board 15 member recently left us this tongue-in-cheek message correcting something we'd written: "You got the story wrong. I go whitewater kayaking, not rafting. People are going to think I'm a weenie when you talk about whitewater rafting. Kayaking is a man's sport. Let's get it right next time." Will do, Bob. Keep that helmet on…

Some folks continue to believe that State Senator Carl Andrews will have an aide gather petitions to challenge Rep. Major Owens in the primary, but not really to challenge Owens. Rather, it's a backup plan in case Owens withdraws and has his committee on vacancies give his ballot spot to his son, Chris Owens. In that case, Andrews's aide would also withdraw and have his committee on vacancies give his ballot spot to Andrews…

How liberal is the Democratic club CBID? When club members chose a presidential candidate to endorse, no-hope left-winger Dennis Kucinich came within one vote of frontrunner John Kerry, even though a leader of the club, Assemblyman Jim Brennan, had spoken for Kerry. One club member allied with Brennan told us this wasn't a sign of Brennan's weakness, just his reluctance to pressure club members to do his bidding…

Upstaters have taken to calling Chuck Schumer "Senator Pothole," which was the nickname of the very man he defeated to win his seat, Al D'Amato. "Schumer has been called this fairly frequently up here and has shown D'Amato-like tendencies," Times Herald-Record reporter Nathan Hegedus informed us. "He is up here constantly on the most minor of issues. Some appreciate this while others think it is beneath the scope of a United State senator." The reporter's paper covers Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan counties. Schumer visits every county in the state at least once a year…

Former Republican City Council candidate Tony Herbert and some allies were said to be planning to ambush (verbally) Chris Owens and Democratic district leader Francis Byrd at the last 77th Precinct Community Council meeting. But Byrd was away on business and Owens was at another meeting…

Herbert, who continues to call our cell phone despite our request that he use the number printed at the end of every column, recently called our cell phone again and asked for our e-mail address. That's also at the end of every column…

Former Councilman Ken Fisher gave $500 and former State Senator Donny Halperin $100 to Councilwoman Tracy Boyland's campaign for Congress against Rep. Major Owens…

Also running against Owens is Councilwoman Yvette Clarke, who told Caribbean News she began thinking about the seat early last summer when rumors of Owens's retirement circulated. Will Clarke be hurt by Boyland's presence in the race? Not according to Clarke's people. They contend Boyland will siphon votes from Owens toward the Brownsville end of the district, far from Clarke's Flatbush base.

A big beneficiary of the Owens-Clarke-Boyland Democratic primary will be State Senator Kevin Parker because it will boost turnout in his district among blacks, most of whom will vote for Parker over former Councilman Noach Dear…

Rep. Nydia Velazquez is charging that President Bush's budget underfunds the Office of the Controller of the Currency, which helps protect people from predatory lending.

Contact Brooklyn Politics at (718) 399-3693.

Borough Politics Archive

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2000
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1999
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