YASSKY DEAL ROILS CB 1 City Councilman David Yassky's deal with a developer has rankled some of his Williamsburg constituents, including Assemblyman Vito Lopez and members of Community Board 1. When developer Moishe Kestenbaum applied for his second variance from the Board of Standards and Appeals to build luxury apartments in a former industrial building at 184 Kent Avenue, Yassky agreed to support the plan if Kestenbaum contributed $355,000 to a fund for affordable housing in the neighborhood. Coincidentally (or not), Kestenbaum's lawyer is Yassky's predecessor in the Council, Ken Fisher, who recently contributed at least $5,000 to Yassky's campaign fund.

When he ran for borough president in 2001, Fisher got $4,000 from two Kestenbaums working in 184 Kent Avenue: a secretary named Gitty Kestenbaum who forked over a cool grand, and a merchandising company manager named Margaret Kestenbaum who ponied up three grand and also gave Yassky $360 last year. A principal of 184 Kent Avenue Associates (according to Yassky's office), Cheskel Schwimmer, gave Fisher $1,010. But we digress.

Yassky thinks the $355,000 was free money because the BSA would have approved the $80 million conversion regardless of Yassky's opinion, just as it granted (in 2000) the variance that initially allowed apartments to be built at 184 Kent Avenue, a six-story, 90-year-old building overlooking the East River at North 3rd Street. However, in the 2000 case the community board supported the conversion, though some activists opposed the variance and even sued (unsuccessfully) after the BSA approval. In 2004, CB 1 thumbed its nose at Yassky and voted against the variance 24-13, which could influence the BSA's decision.

Yassky spokesman Evan Thies explained the councilman's thinking. "He talked to the developers to see if the community could get something out of this deal. What he was worried about was that the BSA was just going to pass this through…and no matter how much this community wanted affordable housing there, they weren't going to get it," said Thies.

Of course, some would argue that there is already affordable housing at 184 Kent Avenue. The Daily News reported that the building houses about 250 tenants, mostly yuppies and artists, paying an average rent under $1,000. An untold number would apparently have to move if the variance were granted.

Sorry for the interruption, Evan. Back to your explanation. "David told the developers he'd support it if they agreed to pay a certain amount per square foot toward affordable housing in the community. This is getting something out of it that we most likely wouldn't under normal circumstances. It's a small victory, but David believes it's a victory for the community."

Unfortunately, Yassky has had a hard time convincing locals that $355,000 is a meaningful donation from a developer who stands to make tens of millions on the project. Assemblyman Lopez told the News that the money "doesn't amount to anything." In City Limits Lopez called it "a sham." Councilwoman Diana Reyna also opposes the variance.

Thies said Yassky made a similar deal on another building in which the developer would donate $700,000. "If we keep getting money out of these variances," Thies said, "out of thin air we are creating affordable housing money that's desperately needed." The downside is that manufacturing jobs vanish into that same thin air with each building conversion, critics say. But in Yassky's defense we must note that he stands to garner $1 million for affordable housing just for writing two letters to the BSA.

JUDICIAL RUNDOWN More than a few people have noticed that the first year of Civil Court races without the influence of the Democratic county organization features a particularly strong collection of candidates, rather than the hacks who sometimes finagled their way onto the bench in years past. Coincidence? Probably not. With the machine on the sidelines, qualified candidates sensed an opportunity to win without having to play as many political games as in the past.

That is not to say politics has been removed from the process. Every Democratic candidate has lined up political backers, including legislators, Democratic district leaders, and their clubs, because without them it's hard to collect enough signatures to make the ballot or raise the six-figure sums to win.

The countywide Democratic primary for Civil Court features nine candidates: Johnny Lee Baynes, Joanne Minsky Cohen, Harley Diamond, Gerry Dunbar, Charles Finkelstein, Evelyn LaPorte, Richard Izzo, Saul Needle, and April Newbauer. The top three vote-getters advance to the general election, which they'll win, and then get 10-year judgeships carrying $125,000 starting salaries.

Two judicial districts will each elect one Civil Court judge as well. In the 2nd District, Geraldine Pickett and Robin Kelly Shears are the only Democrats running. Both are black women, so neither will have the ethnic advantage that often decides judicial races in which most voters know nothing about the candidates.

In the 6th District, former Civil Court Judge Maxine Archer has made a belated entry into the race, joining Pam Elisofon, Bernie Graham, and Ingrid Joseph. Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the Democratic county leader, is backing Archer, while Norman's ally, State Senator Carl Andrews, is sticking with Graham, president of the Park Slope Civic Council. Andrews no doubt hopes to score some points with voters in the white end of his district by backing Graham, while Norman might hope an Archer victory sends a message to Rep. Ed Towns, Norman's rival, with whom Archer had a much-publicized falling out a couple of years back. Or perhaps Norman is trying to help Graham by using Archer to drain black votes from Joseph. It's not inconceivable that Elisofon could win if the black vote is split among Archer, Joseph, and Graham (who is white, but whose "name sounds black," one observer commented).

In the countywide race, if the three largest voting constituencies in Brooklyn-black, Latino, and Jewish-each elect a candidate, that would bode well for Baynes, LaPorte, and Cohen. Cohen included "Minsky" on her petition to remove any doubt about her background.

Finkelstein is also obviously Jewish, but some politicos contend that everything else being equal, voters prefer women judges. Of course, everything else is not always equal. If Assemblyman Dov Hikind can muster a big turnout in Borough Park, Finkelstein's chances would improve. Noach Dear also will try to boost turnout there as he runs against State Senator Kevin Parker, consequently helping Finkelstein (not that Dear wants to aid Hikind's candidate).

But anyone could win. A large turnout among voters hoping to elect the first openly gay male judge boroughwide could propel Diamond to victory. Dunbar is buoyed by support from the Hasidic communities in northern Brooklyn. Needle has strong support among political and civic leaders in southern Brooklyn. Newbauer seems to have many backers in the brownstone neighborhoods and the Bay Ridge end of the borough. Izzo, we assume, has a constituency as well (Italian-Americans, perhaps). Otherwise he wouldn't have bothered staying in the race this long, given the time and resources it demands.

Even keen observers of Brooklyn politics don't know who'll win. But the consensus is that whoever does will be an asset to Brooklyn's bench-except perhaps for Archer, whom one attorney told us is "as dumb as my shoes."

LAMBDA PEEVED AT WFP Lambda Independent Democrats, a gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender club, is upset that its candidate for Civil Court, Harley Diamond, was not endorsed by the Working Families Party, even though Lambda had endorsed three WFP candidates last year (Councilwoman Tish James, Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, and Rosemary Palladino). Though three countywide Civil Court seats are open, the WFP only endorsed two candidates, Bernie Graham and April Newbauer.

"I'm extremely disappointed," said Democratic district leader Alan Fleishman, a leading Lambda member. "I thought we had a better understanding with the Working Families Party about supporting each other's candidates." WFP spokesman Alex Navarro said the endorsements were based on interviews and questionnaire evaluations by the local party chapter.

FIDLER BACKS BOYLAND At the formal announcement of her candidacy for Congress, Councilwoman Tracy Boyland was joined by Councilman Lew Fidler, even though she voted to oust him as Brooklyn delegation chairman last year. Fidler endorsed Boyland over Councilwoman Yvette Clarke and the man they're challenging, Rep. Major Owens.

"I have never considered Congressman Owens to be a terribly effective incumbent," Fidler said. "I endorsed Una Clarke against him last time" (in 2002). Why didn't Fidler support Una's daughter this time? "I think Tracy's a better candidate. I think Tracy has a more serious campaign on the ground," Fidler said.

ADELE COHEN CHALLENGED There's word that Russian-American Inna Kaminsky is running in the Democratic primary against Assemblywoman Adele Cohen in the 46th A.D., which stretches from Brighton Beach to Bay Ridge. We couldn't find a number for Kaminsky, a Coney Island businesswoman, so we checked with the next best source-Cohen, who spotted her challenger July 8 collecting signatures to make the ballot.

"I met her," the assemblywoman said. "We shook hands. I wished her well." Cohen omitted some details. We found out later that she was called down by one of her campaign staffers who spotted someone else petitioning.

Reported the Kaminsky petitioner, "She asked Inna, What are you running for? Inna told her, and (Cohen) said, 'Let me tell you right now, watch out, because they'll try to get your money.' We were like, What money?" Then Cohen started pulling at the clipboard with Kaminsky's petition to see what other candidates were on it. Meeting resistance, Cohen said, "What's the big secret?" Diplomacy was never Cohen's strong suit. But when she finished reading the petition, she did say, "Have a nice day."

Cohen said she was looking forward to the campaign. "We'll have debates. We'll get the issues out there," she told us. Mind you, legislators would always rather be unopposed. Two years ago, Cohen barely staved off Susan Lasher, who received strong support among Russians and would have won if more had gotten their voter registrations and polling sites straightened out before the election. (Lasher is now on Kaminsky's petition as a judicial delegate.)

We have no idea if Kaminsky will do better, but one guaranteed beneficiary of her candidacy is in an entirely different race. Civil Court hopeful Joanne Minsky Cohen will pick up votes from the increased turnout the Kaminsky-Cohen race will inspire in the heavily Jewish high-rises near the shore.

RUNNING FOR OFFICE? Candidates for Assembly, Senate, and Congress are invited to appear at the sixth annual Courier-Life/Caribbean Life Political Forum at Lundy's from August 16-19. Each candidate will appear for 30 minutes before a panel of impartial reporters and community leaders. Time slots are allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. Call Jennifer Stern at 718-615-3802.

TIDBITS There's speculation that Coney Island's Rodney Knight was planted in the race for State Senate by Councilman Domenic Recchia to siphon black votes from Kelvin Alexander, thus helping Diane Savino win the Democratic primary over those two and Cole Ettman. Recchia is endorsing Savino. The primary winner will take on Republican Al Curtis to fill the seat being vacated by Seymour Lachman. Obviously Knight and Recchia would deny any such conspiracy theory, but neither would be surprised that some are suspicious…

A passerby noticed Noach Dear's campaign posters in Flatbush omitted the candidate's first name, which became the subject of some controversy when he started calling himself Noah. "In keeping with his efforts to hide his first name, Noach's posters (as seen at the Junction at least) said 'Democrat Dear for State Senate'" the observer noted. "Maybe after the Noach/Noah thing, he's now decided to change his first name to Democrat."

Rep. Nydia Velazquez secured some pork for the Red Hook Farmer's Market-$112,000 in federal funds for a garden and urban agriculture project…

The New York Times delivered a blow to Comptroller Billy Thompson, reporting that his campaign omits employment information for more than 10 percent of its contributors. Many readers likely got the impression Thompson is trying to hide something. But the Times compared his employment reporting rate to only one other campaign fund, that of Council Speaker Gifford Miller. A more thorough review might have found that 10 percent is a fairly common rate for missing employment data…

A federal judge said he was inclined to agree with Sam Sloan's argument that Sloan received a valid Wilson-Pakula from the Republican Party, qualifying him to seek ballot access on the Republican line. Unfortunately for Sloan, the case was heard just a week before the petition deadline, leaving him with the impossible task of getting valid signatures from 886 registered Republicans in the 11th Congressional District by midnight on July 15. Sloan was struggling to find three Republicans to place on his committee on vacancies, let alone 886 to sign his petitions (which he hadn't even printed). Looks like Sloan will only be able to claim a moral victory for his would-be campaign against Rep. Ed Towns…

After about 8,000 tries, 17-handicap golfer State Senator Carl Andrews shot his first hole-in-one in Florida over the July 4 weekend. "It cost me about $150 because I had to buy everybody drinks," Andrews said… …Correction: We reported last week that State Senate candidate Cole Ettman works for the Council for Unity. That should have read he worked for the Council for Unity. Ettman left that job about four years ago and now runs his own public relations business, Cole Communications…

One of about 2,500 Republican county committee members in Brooklyn is Theodore Roosevelt IV, great-grandson of the former president.

Contact Brooklyn Politics at (718) 399-3693.

Borough Politics Archive

2004
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2003
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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