In the latest e-newsletter from Park Slope Neighbors, there's a good description of the DOT's plans to change Prospect Park West into two way vehicle traffic and a two-lane bike lane.

While the group views this proposal as "a big win for safer, calmer Park Slope" they support a different plan.

Who knew politics could be such fun?

On Saturday I attended the Dazzle Me Forum, a chance for the citizens of Carroll Gardens to see and hear the candidates for the City Council in the 39th District at the Carroll Gardens Public Library.

I was really looking forward to the event because I loved the name of it and the spirit in which it was conceived. Some candidates joked that they might sing or tap dance. But nothing like that happened. Still, I was not disappointed. 

"These
men all want to work for us as our representative on the NYC Council," the organizers wrote in their press release. "Do you have questions you would like to ask? Do you have concerns and
want to choose the best person for this job? Here is your
opportunity!!: They invited members of the community to submit questions.

Rita, one of the organizers and a member of Community for Respectful Development (CORD), introduced the forum and was one of the moderators. She said the idea  was to think of the candidates as hungry job applicants and the community as the boss.

"If I'd known they were hungry I would have brought Italian food," one community member yelled out. Much laughter ensued.

On the small, make-shift stage in the basement of the library sat the five Democratic candidates and the Green candidate (who will face the winner of the democratic primary in the general election in November). Present were Gary Reilly, John Heyer, Josh Skaller, Bob Zuckerman, David Pechefsky (Green) and Brad Lander. They all wore Dazzle Me buttons and seemed in good spirits. On the wall behind them, there was a spiffy handmade sign created with purple magic markers and sparkles that said, Dazzle Me Forum. The questions submitted by members of the community were wrapped like fortune cookies and came out of an Easter basket with colorful dangling ribbons.

The format was interesting. The moderators asked each candidate an individual long question. The candidate was given about five minutes to respond. Then the others were able respond or add their thoughts in one minute or so. There was also time for audience questions.

Probably the most discussed issue was Superfund designation for the Gowanus, a subject near and dear to the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. Public Place, a large affordable housing project planned for the south bank of the Gowanus was also discussed in depth. Other hot issues included ULURP, the city's land use process; the MTA; ways to keep the community involved in the political process; bridge tolls; reform of the City Council and whether to accept campaign money from developers and lobbyists. Economic support of local businesses and industry was briefly touched on. Education was barely discussed at all.

Were there winners and losers? It's hard to say. It was a friendly event where all the candidates were able to shine. It was not contentious or nasty at all as most of the candidates are more or less in the same ballpark on most of the issues.

There are differences, of course: differences in approach, differences in style, personality and personal history. Perhaps the most contentious moment came after Josh Skaller criticized what he called a lack of community involvement in the development of Public Place and compared it to the Atlantic Yards project. Brad Lander, who has been involved in the development of Public Place, strongly disagreed and countered with "It was one of the best processes I've seen. Community members reviewed it. Several people in this room reviewed it  It is night and day from Atlantic yards. Let's use the right examples as models."

That's about as contentious as things got. But there was a lot of subtext there, too. Skaller and Lander are often mentioned as the front runners but there are significant shades of difference between them in terms of personality and approach. Lander has a statesmanlike quality and is tremendously likable when he speaks about issues. Skaller, a community activist and former president of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, is more of an outsider/provocateur and probably the more rebellious and strident of the two. Unlike Lander, he has little experience actually working on grassroots community development and affordable housing. But from the outside in, he knows the subject well and has been endorsed by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and Norman Sigal of the Civil Liberties Union.

I knew that Lander and Skaller would be the strong candidates to watch. But this is an impressive group and they all had something to offer. John Heyer was probably the biggest surprise. He is impressive in his ability to connect with an audience. Articulate, easy to listen to and engaging when he speaks, he had some members of the Carroll Gardens crowd in the palm of his hand quite a few times during the forum (a local boy, maybe he brought a lot of friends and family). He is probably the most conservative of the group. An assistant to Borough President Marty Markowitz, he manages to be both old school and new school Brooklyn. A fifth generation Carroll Gardener he honors the history and character of that neighborhood. On issues like Superfund, he's wary of the federal governments ability to actually pay for the project and come through in a timely manner. He wants  the Gowanus cleaned quickly and seems to trust the developers to do the job.

The Green candidate, David Pechefsky, was also impressive and very likable. Knowledgeable on certain key issues, extremely smart, analytical and honest, he's the only candidate with any real experience in the City Council (he worked in the central office of the council for 10 years and has expertise in budget, economic and housing issues). When the subject turned to reform of the City Council David was able to intelligently stir  up the conversation and contribute insight. I noticed that all of the candidates were really listening to him when he talked about some of the inherent problems in the CC. "There are structural problems with the Council," David  told the audience. "The speaker has all the power and you have to contend with that." Perhaps the best exchange of the forum and a testament to how impressive David is on the subject of council reform, was when Lander told the crowd "If I'm elected I'm going to hire David to help me." David turned to him and said, "How much are you going to pay me?"

Pechefsky won the respect (and applause) of the crowd when he declined to speak about Public Place. "I know this isn't a great thing to say at a job interview but I haven't really done my homework on this and I need to study the issue more. I'd be happy for anyone to fill me in."

Bob Zuckerman, the executive director of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation (GCCDC) and Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC), was asked by a member of the audience why that group honored the architect who is designing and developing Claret House on Court Street, an unpopular building project. That was a fairly uncomfortable moment for Zuckerman, who hedged by saying  that they honored the architect for his work on Public Place and not Claret House. A member of Community Board 6, Zuckerman, while knowledgeable, is not
wonky when it comes to the brass tacks of housing, development and
transportation issues. He is, however, the candidate who likes to toss around creative, "out of the box" ideas.  "When I'm elected I'm going to get a book mobile and I'll call it the Zuckmobile and every week I'll visit one  of the neighborhoods in the district. It will be a mobile office."

"Will it sell stamps?" someone in the crowd shouted out.
"Stamps. That's a great idea." Zuckerman said.
"How about a mini-supermarket," someone else said.
"A mini-supermarket, too."

Gary Reilly, an attorney who has worked in environmental law, is a community activist with a passion for transportation and livable streets. He is not a forceful speaker but he does have a good command of the issues and is a very smart guy. There was not one moment in the forum when he seemed unprepared or unfamiliar — in detail — about the issues at hand. And he did show some fire when talking about not supporting Bloomberg's third term and transportation issues. While trusted and well-liked in Carroll Gardens, he was the least memorable of the group during the forum.

Discussion of Superfund status for the Gowanus was a real litmus test for the candidates. While all, of course, agree that the Gowanus Canal should be cleaned they don't all agree how it should get done. It is my impression that at this point in time NO ONE really knows what the EPA is promising yet and that's a key factor in all of this. I have the feeling that if the EPA promises the money in a timely manner, most of the candidates (except maybe Heyer) would support that.But that's a big if and it's a very complicated process.

Lander impressed me when he explained that the facts are still unclear and he's not sure what it all means yet. But about one thing he's sure: "Superfund without resources and without money is a lose lose," Lander told the crowd.

Skaller on the other hand seems ready to hand the process over to the EPA unequivocally as he doesn't trust the city or the developer to take care of it. He is adamant that the canal be cleaned before usage (residential or industrial) is decided. He believes that if usage is determined in advance there is an inherent conflict of interest that will seriously get in the way of getting the job done in the most thorough and safe way possible.

Heyer is definitely on the fence about the EPA. As someone who grew up next to the Canal, he wants it cleaned in the best and fastest way. Does he mean that it should be done by the city and developers? "I want it clean. I want it clean as soon as possible," he told the crowd.

He off-handedly expressed concern for the health hazards of living near the Gowanus Canal. "I've got all the fingers on my hands. But there have been three miscarriages in my family and quite a few members have succumbed to cancer."

This motivated a question later on from Tina, one of the organizers of CORD, who said, "Something you said really made me nervous. I live near the canal. Is anyone in the Health Department studying the health hazards of living near the canal?"

"No, I don't think so," Heyer answered.

There was a really interesting discussion about affordable housing and whether the candidates support ANY project that promises to have it.

Gary Reilly brought up the problem of developers building towers with promises of affordable housing "but in the fine print there are no promises." He also said that there is rarely any concern for infrastructure like fire,  police, hospitals and schools.

Lander, who has devoted his life to affordable housing as the head of the Fifth Avenue Committee and currently working at the Pratt Center, believes that the community must be involved in the process to create affordable housing. "We must meet early and often. There's a need to preserve it and create it."

Skaller returned to his theme of holistic development and the need for community voices to be heard:  "The road to affordable housing does not lie with luxury housing."

Pechefsky called the Atlantic Yards "the poster child for an awful project that was sold on the promise of affordable housing." He believes "that model needs to be revisited."

About transportation, the  mild mannered (and pleasantly smart) Gary Reilly is at his most passionate. "Subway service cuts and fare hikes are the worst thing to happen to working people." He mentioned Robert Moses and the one thing he did right:  "Making sure that there funds dedicated to maintaining infrastructure."

Zuckerman has a plan for residential parking fees. "It'll cost something like $10 a month to park in your neighborhood and the money will go to neighborhood jitneys that will get people from their homes to public transportation."

Pechefsky made the point that the $400 tax rebate promised to tax payers should have been put toward the MTA. "Now that could have been a real debate in the City Council. The city could have put that money (something like $250 million) into the MTA and it would have taken care of their problems."

Skaller, who believes that big projects like the Atlantic Yards and Yankee Stadium, are a big waste of city money, said that there is a "priority deficit" in the city and there's a need "to spread the pain around." He told the crowd: "The MTA is the heartbeat of the city and there should be no cuts to subways or buses. The city needs control of the MTA not politicians in Albany."

Heyer had strong feelings about this topic, too:  "Does anyone trust  the MTA? There's no oversight of  the MTA. We pay enough in taxes, we should get public transportation," a sentence that got a big round of applause. "And about bridge tolls: only if you have money can you go to Manhattan in a car? Manhattan is not a luxury, it is one of the five boroughs."

About stimulus money for the Atlantic Yards, the candidates all agreed that it was a travesty. "It's absurd," Skaller stated forcefully. "The need for stimulus for small business is greater than any need for Atlantic Yards." 

About small business and manufacturing in the district, Zuckerman thinks the Gowanus area should be turned into the first green business cooridor in New York City. "It's a perfect opportunity to create a place to manufacture products needed for green building, wind power, solar, etc."

And what to do about all the unfinished building projects, that in this economy, may go bankrupt and will remain unfinished for years to come. Ideas were bandied about.

Lander said that he'd recently met with the City Council and they're coming up with a plan about what to do with 23 Caton in Kensington, the residential tower that was fought by the community (and necessitated the closing of a horse stable there). He mentioned that there's a risk of overpaying developers. "But if you get the price right, it can be made into affordable housing."

Reilly concurred, "It's not right to pay someone out for their mistakes."

Probably the best question of all came from the community. "Are we just a bunch of whiners?"

Pechefsky tackled that one first and  made the point that the 39th District does, in some basic areas, have smaller problems than other areas. "We have great schools where other communities have terrible ones." He thinks this enables the City Council representative to tackle some of the bigger, city-wide issues.

Heyer: "If a baby is whining there has to be a reason. It's the City Council member's job to listen to the voices of the community."

Reilly: "They call you a whiner only when they want to marginalize your opinion and your position
."

Skaller: "I am astounded when people say that. I thought that was the purpose of all of this."

And I must say, Lander had the best response of all: "It not whining, it's dazzling. What a great neighborhood we live in. The parks, the streets, we know our neighbors. We need to protect, defend and make our communities better."

Okay. Winners and losers. Hmmmm. I asked the elderly woman next to me if she had a favorite and she said, "I can't tell they're all so impressive." In another post I will be picking favorites and giving the candidates some advice…

I've been listening to NPR and keeping track of  what's being said about the Swine Flu scare.

At a White House news conference Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured the nation  that steps are being take to minimize the effects of this outbreak. .

She told people to think of it as a "declaration of emergency preparedness."

"Really
that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment
where we really don't know ultimately what the size of seriousness of
this outbreak is going to be."

 Here were some precautions that were offered at the White House press conference::

Consistent message: Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.

If you're sick with fever or flu like symptoms: Don't go out; don't travel on airplanes; keep your children, if they are sick, at home.

This is from the AP :

Officials reported 20 U.S. cases of swine flu in five states so far, with the latest in Ohio and New York. Unlike in Mexico where the same strain appears to be killing dozens of people, cases in the United State have been mild — and U.S. health authorities can't yet explain why.

"As
we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum
of disease," predicted Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."

At a White House news conference, Besser and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to assure Americans that health officials are taking all appropriate steps to minimize the impact of the outbreak.

Top
among those is declaring the public health emergency. As part of that,
Napolitano said roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu will be
moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get
their share if they decide they need it. Priority will be given to the
five states with known cases so far: California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas.

Napolitano
called the emergency declaration standard operating procedure — one was
declared recently for the inauguration and for flooding. She urged
people to think of it as a "declaration of emergency preparedness."

"Really
that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment
where we really don't know ultimately what the size of seriousness of
this outbreak is going to be."

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

I think the most dazzling thing about Saturday morning's Dazzle Me Forum in Carroll Gardens for the City Council candidates running in the 39th District was the way it was conceived and conducted by CORD (Coalition for Respectful Development) and SoBNA (South
Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance)

There was such a refreshing atmosphere of fun and good humor. Yes, the issues are real and divisive in Carroll Gardens. Think Superfund designation, Toll Brothers, Public Place. But somehow this event managed to be a good-natured exercise in local democracy.

And there was even a decent turnout though not as large as the organizers expected. You can blame the weather for that. Yesterday was a ravishingly beautiful day and again and again the candidates thanked the audience for coming out and sitting in a library basement when they could be outside frolicking in the sun.

But that's what it was all about:  bunch of dedicated citizens curious about the people who will be their closest link to city government.

The problem is that events like these attract the same people again and again. The bulk of community members never find out about these forums or feel motivated to attend them. And that's not because they're not well publicized. There's just a certain apathy about local politics and a tendency to be overwhelmed by the day-to-day.

And that makes sense. Time is limited, there's much to do. And events like these probably sound like just another boring debate. Who knew they could be such fun? And that's where the dazzling comes in. The organizers really created  an interesting, lively format for the event complete with sparkly homemade posters, buttons that said Dazzle Me, a be-ribboned Easter basket full of good question,  and a generally convivial atmosphere.

Still, ignorance is bliss on a glorious spring day. Many people in district 39 aren't even aware that there's a City Council election coming up. And among those who do, many don't know who's actually running.

A lot of people think Bill deBlasio (39th) and David Yassky (33rd) are running for third terms. The fact is deBlasio is running for NYC Public Advocate and David Yassky is running for City Comptroller.

Another thing: Isn't it strange that Park Slope is divided into two districts. On Third Street, I'm in the 39th and my sister on PPW and 1st Street is in the 33rd. PS 321 is in the 39th. The Community Bookstore is in the  33rd.

That's why OTBKB is covering both the 39th and the 33rd districts and trying to familiarize readers with the 12 men and one woman (in the 39th and the 33rd combined) and one Green, who are vying for those two seats in the Democratic primary on September 15th. That means that much of the campaigning will occur during the summer months when many people go  away. You get back from summer vacation and it's two weeks until the election.

And that's a problem. Because the 39th and 33rd are Democratic districts, for
all intents and purposes the candidate will be elected in the primary
because whichever democrat wins the primary will surely beat the
Republican in the general election.

So in the next weeks, the candidates will be going door-to-door to meet the  citizens of the 33rd and the 39th. Some of them have already been doing just that. In June (as designated by the Board of Elections) they'll be gathering signatures to get themselves on the ballot. If you do find yourself face-to-face with one of these guys or the one woman, Jo Anne Simon in the 33rd,  strike up a conversation and try to get a feeling for the type of person he or she is.

FYI: The Green candidates has to wait until July to get signatures to get his name on the ballot. The system is really stacked against the Greens (and other parties I assume) in our assertively  two-party  democracy. Another caveat: you can only put your signature on one petition. The Democrats should have no trouble filling their petitions with names. But if you want to see Green on the ballot, save your signature for July.

I was dazzled on Saturday. Dazzled by the look and feel of the forum. And excited to get a close up view of how the 39th candidates express themselves; how they looked on stage; their comfort level with the issues; their articulation of their core values; their experience and their opinions on the matters of concern to the district.

Today there's a candidates forum in Boro Park. The Green candidate wasn't invited. I wish I could be there. But I can't. Too much other stuff to do.

If you are, I'll see you there. It's this morning from 10:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the public library in Carroll Gardens. Organized by the Coalition for Respectful Development.

I love the name of this event and it perfectly characterizes the
feisty energy of the neighborhood activists who have organized this.

CORD (The Coalition for Respectful Development with SoBNA (South
Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance) have invited  the seven candidates who
are running for the City Council seat in the 39th District to a special
event called, the Dazzle Me Forum. Because this is in Carroll Gardens
the issue addressed may focus on this area but this should still be of
interest to voters from other neighborhoods.  

When: Saturday, April 25th

Time: Begins at 10:30 a promptly. Ends at 1:00 pm

Where: Carroll Gardens Library Auditorium at 396 Clinton St. @ Union St. Brooklyn, NY 11231

Here's how the organizers are framing this event:

These
men all want to work FOR US as our representative on the NYC Council.
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS you would like to ask? DO YOU HAVE CONCERNS and
want to choose the BEST PERSON POSSIBLE for this job? Here is your
opportunity!!

We
are taking your questions from now until April 15th. Your submissions
will become part of the event. If you would like some of your concerns
addressed…please submit your question(s) to:

Via email: CGCORD@GMAIL.COM
or via phone: 347-661-8819All questions (duplicates excluded) will be
submitted to the candidates on the day of the event. If you are
interested in attending we strongly recommend that you reserve a seat
as soon as possible. You may do so by using either the email address or
the phone number above.

Light refreshments will be served immediately following the "interviews"

I just discovered the Global Climate Blog that has information about anti-idling laws. Here's an excerpt from a post about NYC's anti-idling law called Introductory Number 631-A.

As reported in today's New York Times, Fresh Direct has agreed to buy new, improved trucks that are equpped with shutoff systems so that they won't be idling in front of your building anymore.

Where there's a will there's a way. OR: where there's a crack down you really see some action. Why didn't they do this sooner. Probably because the new trucks are expensive…

An investigation into Fresh Direct revealed that the company's trucks were violating anti-idling laws. That's the law that says a car or truck cannot idle for no longer than one minute.

Anti-idling laws were already on the books. But Bloomberg in 2009 strengthened them by reducing the number of minutes from three to one minutes.

Even at three minutes, Fresh DIrect has been breaking that law for a long, long time. They idle for much longer when they make multiple deliveries on one block. Those trucks can sit there for upwards of 15 minutes at all hours of the day and night.

Yay for Andrew Cuomo for pursuing this investigation and  making this happen. He told the New York Times that idling is bad for public health and the enviornoment. But it also wastes fuel. Fresh Direct is paying $50,000 in fines  for violating state and city anti-idling laws. 

But guess what? The refrigeration noise that also bothers people will not be shut off. Well, there's no law against refrigeration noise AND you don't really want Fresh Direct to have to turn the refrigeration off because that would be gross.

Still, those shutoff systems are a great idea. I think it is the idling that's very annoying and I for one am thrilled that this is happening.

The proposal by Jed Walentas of DUMBO's Two Trees Managment to build a 325-unit tower on Dock Street has a lot of people up in arms. Block the Brooklyn view of the Brooklyn Bridge?

You gotta be nuts to do that.

Local community groups oppose it. Even The National Trust for Historic Preservation has spoken out. But this week, the City Planning Commision, under the leadership of Commisioner Amanda Burden, still voted to go ahead with the plan — with a few minor cuts. The 10-story wing of the building would lose two to three stories.
That's the part that's  closest to the bridge and the side most likely
to obscure views.

Two to three stories? That's it?

Shirley McRae, the Brooklyn representative to the City Planning Commission and the former chair of  DUMBO's Commuity Board 2, told the Brooklyn Paper
that even with the cuts in height the building is TOO TALL. “The tower would still loom over the bridge and significantly obscure views,” she is quoted as saying.

Author David McCullough, who wrote The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972), has a column in this week's Newsweek, and had this to say. 

The most long lasting of great American works, the structure
destined "to convey some knowledge of us to remote posterity," said a
New York writer long ago, was "not a shrine, not a fortress, not a
palace, but a bridge."   That was in the spring of 1883, 126 years
past, when the completed Brooklyn Bridge
opened to the most exuberant public celebration of the era, complete
with the president of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, leading the
grand parade on foot from New York to Brooklyn over the bridge high above the East River.

"The
Great Bridge" was news everywhere. It was the moon shot of its time, a
brave, surpassing technical triumph, and more. For it was besides a
great work of art and a thrilling overture to the high-rise city in
America. Its giant granite towers stood taller by far than anything on
the New York skyline, taller indeed than any structure in all of North
America then. Over the years it has been photographed more than
anything ever built by Americans. It has been the inspiration for
songs, poems, paintings, no end of personal reminiscences and
thesetting for scenes in movies. It has remained New York's most
famous, best-loved landmark…

…In the years since, its importance has seldom ever been doubted or
seriously challenged. The sanctity of its own space has been unviolated
by and large. Until lately. Now, alas, plans are proceeding to build an
18-story luxury apartment building within a hundred feet of the bridge
on the Brooklyn side. (A vote in the process is expected this week.)
The building, as proposed by the Two Trees Management Co., would stand
184 feet high and just about ruin the view of the bridge from on shore,
as well as the view from the bridge looking toward Brooklyn—in other
words, the view for just about everyone except those living in the
apartments. To permit such a project so close to the bridge would be a
shameful, inexcusable mistake. There is no other way to say it.

Would
we wish to see an 18-story building go up beside the Statue of Liberty,
or next to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, or beside the Washington
Monument? Of course not.

I agree with McCullough 100%. Why should views of the bridge just belong to people rich enough to afford an expensive condo? That bridge belongs to the world and blocking views of it to citizens on the Brooklyn side is a crime. 

Hopefully this Newsweek piece will further convince the politicians and powers that be that this project should not go ahead as planned. David McCullough is set to meet with Borough President Marty Markowtiz. Brooklyn booster Markowitz of all people must understand the historical, emotional and spiritual power of that bridge. To block it is to block Brooklyn's place in the public imagination.

Down with Dock Street. Down. Down. Down.

Today is Friday and Hugh will be at the Old Stone House from 4-6 p.m. if you want to drop by. Hint hint.

You
are cordially invited to the opening of Essence and Accident:
Photographs by Hugh Crawford at the Old Stone House on April 28, 2009
from 6-8 p.m.

Hugh
Crawford's photographs of the city, rural ground, trees and water are
passionately formal evocations of the visually serendipitous landscape
of rural California and Brooklyn. His close studies of airplanes and
trees have the intricate and expressionistic quality of a Jackson
Pollock. In Crawford's pictures of Coney Island in the snow, the faded
amusement park site is transformed into a moonscape of fake palm trees
and the scrappy relics of a bygone era. His extreme close-ups of water
reveal an abstract world of mood and motion that are meditative and
supremely seductive.

The Where and When

Essence and Accident: Photographs by Hugh Crawford

Opening Party on April 28th from 6-8 p.m.

The show runs through June 30th

The Old Stone House

Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.

For information and directions

The gallery is open on weekends and by appointment:

(contact hugh @hughcrawford.com).

Park Slope artist Cordula Volkening died on Wednesday of brain cancer.

"My work as an artist is to supply language that is unpretentious and
allow stories to be told without using tried-out recipes. Once the
visuals are created, I become a viewer just like anybody else and
surrender to the unique response that each visual solicits."

Painter Cordula Volkening died on Wednesday of brain cancer. A memorial is being planned. She is survived by two children ages 13 and 17. 

There was an article about Cordula Volkening in the New York Times a few months ago alongside this photograph by J.B. Reed and a video called "A Paintbrush and Nothing to Lose."

More
than a year ago, I got an email from a friend, who was Cordula's neighbor. She told me that Cordula, a visual artist, had been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer.

Doctors told her she had three months to live.

What
sounded like a terrible tragedy was actually a life affirming story of
art triumphing over adversity. Despite the cancer, Cordula devoted herself to her wild, expressionistic paintings; she seemed to have an
incredibly passionate attitude about the end of her life and what she wanted to accomplish. 

For obvious reasons, I included her on the Park Slope 100 for being an inspiring artist and person.

Here's her Park Slope 100 blurb:

Cordula Volkening because with a diagnosis of stage 4 brain
cancer you decided to quit your job and devote yourself to your
painting. "Hey, I got advanced brain cancer – my system kicks me in the
butt and screams: Be your authentic self or you are going to die sooner
not later. Any questions?"

I wrote about her again in June 2008 because she was having a show
called Would You Like an Invitation to My Destination? at the Brooklyn Artists Gym.

At the time I wrote:

Cordula is real hero in my
book, a wild, brave heart, for not letting her disease get in the way
of her desire to make paintings. Sadly, the tumor makes it impossible
for her to speak.

Cordula underwent  two rounds of brain surgery and was in an 
experimental clinical trial. The tumor impaired her ability to
speak, but it did not keep her from making great art.The following is from the Times:

Ms. Volkening even tried a special experimental study at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
hospital, which involved spending her days with electrodes attached to
her head. But by last March, the tumor was back and doctors operated
again, which damaged her speech capacity, and last September, doctors
found a second, inoperable tumor and said that heavy chemotherapy could
give her a few more months but probably would leave her without the
energy to paint.

Reading the article,  I was heartened by the fact that she was still alive—and that she was still painting. After all, doctors told her she only had three months to live. Cordula had other ideas.