I met Marty Markowitz in the Green Room at WNBC where both of us were being interviewed by the very nice John Noel for News Forum Now, a Saturday morning show that is also viewable on the WNBC website.
I was surprised that Marty had never heard of "Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn" – being that he’s all things Brooklyn and all.
One of his associates did say that they’d seen my piece about the 11-year-old boy who wrote the letter about the B67 bus.
"We’re still waiting for his second letter," the associate said.
While Marty waited for his time to go into the studio I made chit chat.
"You’re on the Park Slope 100."
Marty didn’t know what I was talking about and he seemed a little suspicious. He said that he’s on a lot of lists, including Develop Don’t Destroy. These are contentious times, indeed. Daniel Goldstein tells me that DDDB never put him on any kind of list. "I’m sure that many of us over here in the footprint indeed are on his list," Goldstein writes in an email.
"No, no. It’s a list of people I like," I said. Marty smiled. "It a very eclectic list. Daniel Goldstein’s on the list, too. So is Gary Pierre-Pierre, editor of the Haitian Times. And the blue haired lady at Shawn’s.
Marty looked relieved. Sort of. And confused. He asked about the blue haired lady. He asked where Shawn’s is located.
I explained. He asked me if I’d seen his newsletter. Apparently they are always looking for interesting neighborhood people to profile.
"Is it blue like old lady blue?" one of his associates asked.
"No, it’s hipster blue. She’s a Park Slope hipster and a real fixture on Seventh Avenue. " I said by way of clarification.
He asked one of his associate to jot down the address of Shawn’s. He made note of it, too. I told him that Lisa Polansky is also on the list. I thought that might reassure him that this was not on some kind of weird "Enemies List"." Y’know, the store that sells everything and it’s crammed in there from floor to ceiling.
He never heard of Lisa Polansky?
Marty wrote her name down, too. I told him the names of other people who are on the list — Catherine Bohne from Community Books, Maxine from Stitch Therapy, Elise Long, Liz Phillips, principal of PS 321, the bartender/hairdresser at The Gate.
I forgot to tell him that Debby Garcia, who is on his staff and organizes the summer concerts at Coney Island, is on the list.
Other names like Debbie Almontasser, Rabbi Andy Bachman, Jonathan Blum, and Alan Berger of the Brooklyn Free School all slipped my mind. And that’s just an A and some B’s.
I wonder if they’ll really get in touch with Hillary (AKA the blue haired lady) at Shawn’s.
where can i get a brooklyn pin? thank you if you let me known
Did he give you a Brooklyn pin? I love that he’s always handing them out. I have two now…if you need one.