Park Slope’s Patrick Gaspard, Political Director for Barack Obama’s campaign, spoke with Andrea Bernstein and John Hockenberry on WNYC’s The Takeaway:

"Technology and modernization of campaigns is a terribly important thing. But as an old fashioned field guy, at the end of the day we were able to be successful because millions of Americans got up and took the time to have intimate conversations with their neighbors. We had grassroots organic leaders who knocked on doors and used technology. At the end of the day it was traditional methods that won this election."

"

A few days after my husband firefighter Dave Fontana died on 9-11, there was a peace march in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Thousands of neighbors showed up for a candlelight vigil and we walked in sad silence to Dave’s Firehouse.

I remember the grief and shock I felt about losing Dave but I also remember this other feeling….
this profound sense that something bigger was happening, beyond this city, beyond this country, beyond my own personal loss.  It felt as if the fault lines of humanity were shifting and the whole world was uniting for the first time.

I had hope.

Then came the long reign of Bush where he not only squandered that historic moment,
but used 9-11 to go to war, alienate other countries,  induce fear and to get re-elected.

I lost hope.

My friends and family lost hope too. A  gloom descended upon everyone I knew. We shook our heads while the war lingered on, global warming got worse,  money was squandered and power abused.

Last night, I watched the election results with some good friends in Brooklyn, many of whom surrounded me with support after Dave died.

We popped champagne when the electoral count reached 207, but then worried that we
had celebrated too soon. Everyone was cautious. Careful. We had lost hope after all.

But then we heard celebratory screams outside as if it were New Years Eve.

People took to the streets banging pans, shouting "OBAMA" and screaming at the tops of their lungs.

There were fireworks and I high-fived strangers in the street and  I couldn’t stop crying.

A little later, I stopped by another friend in the neighborhood who wanted to exchange hugs.  Like so many of my friends, she had just returned from Pennsylvania where she had worked phones and knocked on doors.

Her husband had set up a giant screen to watch the election results.

Obama  stepped on stage to make his incredible, historic speech that I know our kids will be reading about in school some day.

His message was so powerful, I couldn’t help noting the difference between him and our current president.

Obama  was eloquent, powerful and humble, a symbol of so much to so many who had waited patiently to see this day.

Best of all, for the first time since the night of the vigil so many years ago, I felt hope return again.

OBAMA !!! OBAMA!!! OBAMA!!!

Marian Fontana has been a writer and performer for the past 20 years. Her articles have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Elle, Parenting, and Martha Stewart. Her most recent book, A Widow’s Walk: A Memoir of 9/11 was on the New York Times’ best selling memoir list and was chosen as one of the Top Ten Great Reads of 2005 by People Magazine and the Washington Post’s Book Raves of 2005.

Photograph of the election night party Marian attended by Tom Martinez.

.

No words. Only tears.

Photo by Tom Martinez

photo by Tom Martinez

I didn’t know about The Brooklyn Ink until last night. It’s very interesting.

On the eve of the most compelling election in a generation, The Brooklyn Ink fanned out across the borough to pose two questions: Who
are you voting for? And what is the big reason why?

We found a
few undecided voters, and few who had no intention of casting ballots.
We found a good many Obama supporters, and more than a few supporters
of John McCain.

But most interesting were the reasons they have made their choice. Their stories follow. We welcome you to share them.

And,
beginning tomorrow, we’ll be taking pulse of the borough, using words
and multimedia to report Brooklyn’s story over 48 momentous hours.

–The Brooklyn Ink

www.thebrooklynink.com

Pix by Charlie LIbin

He writes: "The record line keeps growing…
(record based on neighbors here since 1958)."

An artist I love. She has a show opening on November 14th at 31 Grand in Williamsburg.

I will be there. You?

Brooklyn Optimist, ever the optimist, is still excited about voting despite a broken ballot in Greenpoint. Here’s an excerpt from his story. Read the rest at BO.

As I made my way with Mrs. Optimist and our soon-to-be-born baby in tow
to the polling place on Monitor and Driggs, I readied myself to pull
the lever of history. After two years of waiting, hoping, praying, and
screaming for change, the time had come at last.

The
line at 7 a.m. this morning in Greenpoint was shorter than we had
anticipated, but still sizable enough to augur the massive turnout that
is certain to sweep the country today. On line before me stood 30 of my
fellow Brooklynites, and by the time we reach the booth another 50 or
so huddled behind us anxious to vote.

It took all the self-control I could muster not to cry out "OBAMA!" and give everyone on line a big hug.

I beamed.

And then I wilted.

Just
for a second, of course. Nothing can deprive me of the great hope and
excitement and pride I feel today to be an American – save for a
staggering surprise this evening (knock on every piece of wood in
existence). But, I was denied a tiny bit of the catharsis that has been
two years in the making.

As I took the final breezy steps to the
front of the line, I realized that the voting machine for the 50th AD,
93rd ED (and from what I could tell, also the 92nd ED) was busted.

I just heard that from a caller on the Brian Lehrer show….

 Brooklyn Beat of Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn wandered around Brooklyn Heights at noon and had this to say:

Brooklyn Heights at noon on Election Day 2008 is quiet. I did a pass-by
of the Brooklyn Municipal Building which was jammed with lines out the
door this morning. Voters are lined up waiting patiently inside. Not as
amazingly jam packed as the early morning voters, but there is a bit of
a lunch-time line neverhteless. The Tuesday Greenmarket is in action.
The Obama button and t-shirt guys are all out there selling their
wares. Historic election art that I expect to see at the NY Historical
Society (or the Smithsonian) some day, the way that we now see JFK,
Thomas Jefferson, and other historic Americans.

An interesting sense of ownership about this process. A woman, African
American, sitting in the park on Cadman Plaza outside the Supreme Court
building, under the statue of Brooklyn’s famed abolitionist Henry Ward
Beecher, is exhorting passersby to vote. "You have til 9 PM tonite to
vote, please don’t forget to vote" she reminds us warmly. No candidate
mentioned.

As I walked, another couple of young guys chatting, reflecting the
hopes and the fears of this possibly historic day: "I’m just worried,
man, they always go after the great ones." Reminded me of Rage Against
the Machine’s "Wake Up." Shake that off, time for faith and hope.

—
Posted By Brooklyn Beat to Deep In the Heart of Brooklyn at 11/04/2008 01:05:00 PM

I get these emails from Scott Turner at Rocky Sullivan’s every week or so announcing their weekly pub  quiz. I don’t know Scott Turner from Adam but I’ve come to enjoy his writing. Here’s the latest on this historic Election Day:

Early this morning, 2 a.m., I took our dogs Sirius and Tikkanen for a walk.  It was the quietest I’ve ever seen Brooklyn.  This was no mere middle of the night.  This wasn’t even the calm before a winter snowstorm when it’s just passing the Delaware Water Gap on its way to NYC.  There wasn’t a single sound — and our place is within audible distance of both the BQE and the Prospect Expressway.  Hell, we live on a truck route.

 

Nothing.

 

Once the dogs had done what they do on the last walk of the night,
something in the ether caught their attention.  Maybe they saw
something spectral — dogs can do that.  Maybe they sensed something.
Maybe they sensed me sensing something.

 

It was the biggest political eve of our lifetimes.

 

No matter how things shake out today, the country will never be the same.  The U.S. of A.
has amassed a stunning history in its still-young life.  Much of it
amazing, some of it scandalous, all of it uproarious.  The nation’s
birth 200 years ago was everything our government has vitriolically
condemned ever since when anyone else tries it — treason, rebellion,
guerrilla warfare, seditious talk, economic freedom, and the very
notion of independence.

 

Among the things we left for dead is the idea of true democracy.
There are serious concerns today about voter supression, chiefly
through President Bush’s Help America Vote Act — perhaps it should have been called the Keep America From Voting Act.  Arcane rules, voter expunging by the millions, misinformation, and more than a few Kathleen Harrises
across the land targetting voters whose descriptions include "new," "of
color," "newly naturalized," "union," "working-class" or "with an
outstanding parking ticket"

 

Virginia, this morning

 

…and still, they come.  Diane’s and my wait was
40 minutes.  An elderly woman, leaning on a cane in front of us, was
approached by a polling worker who said "if you’re uncomfortable, you
can move to the front of the line."  The elderly woman looked up and
said "no, this is my place in line."

 

Every voter today understands what’s at stake.  It’s not just
"America’s first Black president" or "I like the maverick" or "CHANGE"
or "saving America from a terrorist-coddling socialist Muslim."  The
entire world is watching.  Watching to see if the nation’s
citizenry crawl all the way to the deepest recesses of global family
our concrete bunker, turning out the lights and slamming the door on
the rest of humanity — like we did in 2004.  Or, maybe we’ll insist
that CHANGE is something more than a soundbite even worse than a lie —
one that taunts with hope and never, ever delivers.

Today, we vote.  Tomorrow, and every day for the next four years, we remind our leaders of that vote.

 

Rare are the days, the hours, the single solitary moments that
change our lives — every one of ours, together, at the exact same
instant.  September 11th did, but we didn’t ask for that.  This, we’ve
sought out.  Whoever you vote for, this is a moment we’ve pushed for —
on the ground or in our souls.

 

The real work in the real world — the world free from polls,
pundits, prevarications and prognostications — will start tomorrow,
Wednesday the 5th of November, 2008.

 

Tonight…tonight is the thundercrack.  Does it light up our future, or scorch it irreparably?

 

Tonight is the thundercrack whose roar will never, ever dissipate.

I just heard from a friend who votes in the North Slope at PS 282:

At 6 am the line of voters stretched around the corner from PS 282 on
6th Ave and reached all the way down Berkeley Pl to 5th Ave.

Our neighbors Mildred & Keith who moved into their brownstone in ’58 say
they’ve never seen a turnout remotely approaching this morning’s. It’s
now 7:30 and the end of the line is about 50′ short of 5th….

At  8:50 am the line of voters at John Jay began at the entrance to the school on 7th Avenue between 4th and 5th Street and snaked around almost to 8th Avenue.

It’s the longest line I’ve ever seen at any polling place in NYC. The mood is jovial. People are in a good mood, excited to be there. There’s a PS 39 bake sale in progress.

A local politico was handing out Josh Skaller brochures for the 2009 City Council election (he’s going for De Blasio’s seat; De Blasio is now running for Public Advocate not wanting to take on Marty’s third term).

Some people stop to ask, "If I know my voting district do I have to wait on line."

But there’s one line to get in the building. If you’ve got the voting card you got in the mail you can go straight to your voting booth in the hallway or auditorium. But if you need your building looked up (like I did) there’s a fairly short line.

I vote in the 36th District and there was a line of about 30 people on one aisle of the John Jay auditorium and only one voting booth.

District 8 had two voting booths and a very short line. Go figure.

But things were moving very quickly: I don’t think there are that many undecided voters around here standing in the voting booth waiting for inspiration to strike.

When I got to the front of the line the woman looking up names in the registration book looked bad.

I told her my name and she said, "I’m feeling really sick. There’s something going around my house."

She slowly went through the CO’s looking for Crawford. Finally I directed her to the CRs, I found my name, signed in and then she leaped up and got sick behind the voiting booth.

"Mister, mister," I heard her calling from behind the booth. One of the supervisors finally came over to her at the urging of some of the people on line. One woman dragged over a large garbage pail.

The line stopped moving for a few minutes and some people on line looked slightly nervous.

"Do you think we should get her a doctor?" someone said.

"Don’t you think they should get someone to replace her," someone else said.

When I got outside a woman walking out of the building stopped me.

"Don’t you feel great?" she asked.

I heard her talking on her cell phone to a friend.

"I feel amazing. I’m weeping. This feels so good."

Photo by Tom Martinez

So I ran into a neighbor who did some phone banking last night at the Grand Prospect Hall.

"That must’ve been exciting," I said.

"Not really. It’s hard to invade people’s lives."

I can imagine. I hate getting political phone calls even from the Obama people. It feels so disruptive. My neighbor said he kept getting the cranky crazies who really didn’t want to talk to him. His wife on the other hand seemed to get all the nice people.

He spoke to one guy:

"Don’t you guys ever call me again," a man in Ohio or Pennsylvania yelled into the phone. "You’re the baby killers."

"You’ve been watching too much Fox," my friend said.

"And you’ve been smoking too much wacky weed."

Ba Dum

Photo by Tom Martinez

Bring a book, a good book. I had Katha Pollitt’s Learning to Drive with me. I also had the Times. The lines are long outside of the polls. And once inside there was a wait as well.

I ran into a family I know. Mom, dad and two kids. Eating bagels and drinking coffee from La Bagel Delight conveniently located across the street from John Jay, they were in a great mood and fun to talk to. The excitement of the turnout at 7 am in the morning. A real sense of purpose.

"This is the way it should always be," the dad said.

I don’t know if it was just the before-work crowd. Maybe the lines will taper off as the day progresses. But then again, maybe not.

Sunny skies on this election day and people are in a very good mood.

Pix outside of PS 321 by Tom Martinez

Park Slope’s Andrea Bernstein, the political director of the The Takeaway, WNYC’s new morning news show and a longtime WNYC reporter, has been doing an amazing job covering this year’s election. I mean: give the woman a Pulitzer (do they give Pulitzers for radio?). But Really. We’re so PROUD of her. She’ll be online and on the radio tonight covering the election returns.

On the radio this morning she told John Hockenberry:

"I have never seen a turnout like this in all my years of covering elections."

Fonda at Zuzu’s Petals sent this my way with the caption. "We can’t vote you have to do it for us." 

Come on, don’t you love WNYC’s Brian Lehrer? He just had someone on who provided all of this valuable information.

Most important takeaway: No one can be turned away from the polls without voting. That’s right. You can do a provisional ballot if all else fails. That vote will be counted after the fact. But still. Don’t walk away without voting if for some reason you’re not on the books.

Here are some other tips:

–Bring ID just in case (in NY State a driver’s license, passport, a current utility bill, social security check, even a card from the Board of Elections that you received in the mail.

–Know your rights: No one can be turned away from the polls without voting.

–Be prepared to wait as long as necessary

–Bring the following phone numbers in case you have a problem:  1-866-Our Vote (that’s a national hot line). In NYC, you can call:  212-822-0282 (NYPIRG’s direct line).

The road less traveled. Photograph by Tom Martinez

For further information, visit www.thecivilians.org

Brooklyn is changing fast. We are creating Brooklyn At Eye Level, a theater show inspired by interviews about the transformation of Brooklyn and the controversial Atlantic Yards Project. If you have something to say about the communities surrounding the proposed project (Downtown, Ft. Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights & Park Slope), we want to listen.

We want to talk to long-term residents, recent arrivals, players in the Atlantic Yards story, as well as those who work or live in the area. Eager to hear from all perspectives.

If you want to be interviewed send us an email with a little information about yourself to Michael Premo, Project Coordinator: Premo(at)thecivilians(dot)org.  For more information: www.brooklynateyelevel.org .

These interviews will be performed along with original music and dance by Urban Bush Women live at the Brooklyn Lyceum, December 4th – 7th.

Here’s something about The Civilians from Theatermania:

The award-winning theater troupe The Civilians will present their newest work, Brooklyn at Eye Level, at the Brooklyn Lyceum, December 4-7.

This new work will examine the surge of development in Brooklyn, with a
specific focus on the controversial Atlantic Yards project and its
effect on the surrounding communities.

The group, led by artistic
director Steven Cosson, will conduct interviews with residents,
business owners, politicians, and civic organizations in preparation
for the show. They will also work with playwright Lucy Thurber, dance
company Urban Bush Women, and composer Michael Friedman, along with a
variety of local artists.

After the December performances, the company will use the
material to develop a full-length theater piece, along with online
content and other future programs.

The Civilians are currently performing This Beautiful City at Los Angeles’ Kirk Douglas Theater, which will also be produced at New York’s Vineyard Theatre in 2009.
Their other work includes Gone Missing and Paris Commune.

iPhone pix by Louise Crawford

Playing tonight at 6:30 at Brooklyn College.

My friend, Adam Zucker, is the director of Greensboro: Closer to the
Truth, a documentary, which is playing at Brooklyn College on November
3rd for one day.

November 3rd happens to the 29th anniversary of the Greensboro massacre. On that day, members of the Communist Workers Party were holding a Death to the Klan
rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Suddenly a caravan rounded the
corner, scattering the protesters. Klansmen and Nazis emerged from the
cars, unloaded an arsenal of guns and began firing. Five people were
killed.

It turns out that a professor and chairperson at Brooklyn College has a profoundly close connection to the event.

Sally Bermanzohn, professor and chairperson of the Political Science
Department at Brooklyn College, was a labor organizer in the Duke
Hospital cafeteria when her husband Paul was critically wounded in the
Greensboro Massacre. 

At present, she is researching and teaching courses on the
international phenomenon of truth and reconciliation commissions.
Bermanzohn is the author of Through Survivors’ Eyes: From the
Sixties
to the Greensboro Massacre (2003), for which she received the Brooklyn
College Award for Excellence in Creative Achievement. 

She also co-edited Violence and Politics: Globalization’s Paradox
(2002),which includes her chapter on Violence, Non-violence and the US
Civil Rights Movement.

She will be present at the screening of the film,Greensboro: Closer
to the Truth, which reconnects many of the players in this
tragedy—widowed and wounded survivors, along with their attackers—and
chronicles how their lives have evolved in the aftermath of the
killings. All converge at the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission
ever held in the United States in Greensboro from 2004- 2006 to
investigate the Massacre.

The Where and When

TONIGHT: Monday, November 3rd at 6:30 p.m.
Greensboro: Closer to the Truth
Brooklyn College
Woody Tanger Auditorium in the Library

Make phone calls for Obama TODAY and TOMORROW:

The phone bank at the Brooklyn Lyceum is open today, November
3rd and 4th from 10:30 am  (not sure what time they’re closing today).

On Tuesday night, the group will be watching the election returns on the big screen at the Lyceum. Join them.

Another site, The Grand Prospect Hall at 263 Prospect Avenue above
Fifth Avenue has phone  banks going from 11 am until 6 pm today and tomorrow.

Here is a snapshot of the sustainability issues that faced the borough and city this past October.
The links were complied by Rebeccah Welch, Associate Director of Public
Affairs, at the Center for the Urban Environment (CUE). To learn more
about CUE, visit  www.thecue.org.

Pedestrians Get a Leg up Downtown [Brooklyn Paper]

Gowanus Canal Could Get Smellier Before It Gets Cleaner [Gothamist]

Wild Parrots Invading NYC Subway System? [Brooklyn Parrots]

Up From Flames: A Tour of Bushwick’s Nadir [BushwickBK]

The Brooklyn Greenway Has Arrived [Brownstoner]

Small Town Values in a Big City Election [Gotham Gazette]

Discount Buses Create Pollution and Congestion (AM New York)

What Do Mona Lisa and Greenpoint Waste Digesters Have in Common? [NAG]

Wave Goodbye to ‘Park’ Walkways [Brooklyn Paper]

Holy Crap: A Little Fishing in the Gowanus Canal [GL]

Brooklyn’s Retail Boom [Gotham Gazette]

Young People Going Back to the Farm [WNYC]

Urban Environmentalist NYC – Ask the Expert [OTBKB]

Temporary Brooklyn Bridge Park Proves Popular [NY Post]

Economic Fallout [Gotham Gazette]

African Americans’ Role in Brooklyn Waterfront Development [CUNY News Wire]

City Adds Recycling Bins [NY Post]

Port Authority to Let Commuters Buy Emissions Credits [NY Times]

Video: Further Inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard [NY Post via Brownstoner]

Urban Environmentalist NYC: Q&A with Aunt Suzie  [GL]

It’s ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ For One DUMBO Architect [Brooklyn Eagle]

Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy [NY Times]

Cycling Explodes in City [Press Release-DOT]

Scott Carney, the owner of Bussaco, the new Park Slope restaurant and wine bar, has announced that the new Union Street restaurant will serve  weekend brunch beginning Saturday, November 8th. I’ve been there for wine (great list) while my friends happily ate appetizers (no bites, a good sign).  So I’m game to try anything there. The space has been artfully transformed from its prior incarnations as Black Pearl and Lentos.

Carney and company have created a somewhat high-end neighborhood restaurant that pays homage to Brooklyn in a variety of ways: ingredients from Brooklyn-based vendors like Kitten
Coffee in Bed-Stuy; commissioning a Brooklyn Navy Yard craftsman to construct the bar’s lovely communal table, which was made from a fallen oak from Prospect Park.

The kitchen staff has true cred:

Executive Chef Matthew Schaefer, an alumnus of Manhattan restaurants Aquavit, Judson Grill  and Le Bernardin,
echoes Carney’s commitment to local vendors. He purchases fresh produce
from Evolutionary Organics, Berried Treasures and Paffenroth
Gardens–all regular vendors at the Greenmarket–and dairy products from Evans Farm Dairy and Upstate Farms, a collective of farmers from upstate New York that deliver to chefs in New York City. Schaefer also purchases half a hog from Flying Pigs farms on a weekly basis to create house-made breakfast meats, including breakfast sausage, bacon and scrapple.

So what’s on the menu for brunch?

Schaefer’s modern American brunch
menu strikes a perfect balance combining tried-and-true favorites, like eggs Benedict made with back bacon (Canadian bacon) from the hog loin, with inspired deconstructions. One highlight is “Dim Sum for One,” which includes Bacon & Egg Sticky Rice, Steamed Shrimp Dumpling and Coconut Buns. Select from the list of fine Chinese teas to complement this meal.

To
spike up the morning, Sous Chef Kevin Adey has developed an “Angel
Mary,” his playful spin on the Bloody Mary. This crystal clear version
of the classic brunch favorite is made from a clarified puree of
tomatoes and celery, house-made Worcestershire and horseradish, black pepper, lemon zest and juice, mixed with raw jalapeno infused Vodka and served over ice.

I must say I’m very intrigued by the Angel Mary. And Dim Sum for One: genius. I’d say give the brunch a go. It really sounds good and should be quite popular I’m guessing. I’m not sure of the price points but will add as soon as I get them.

Bussaco is located at 833 Union Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. The phone number is (718) 857-8828.

The New York Times’ City Room blog was live blogging the Term Limits hearing and signing by Mayor Bloomberg. At 2:06 they posted this.

After listening for nearly four and a half hours to emotional and
at times harshly critical testimony from scores of residents, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed legislation at 1:55 p.m. Monday to extend New York City’s term
limits law, allowing himself and a majority of the City Council to seek
a third four-year term in 2009.

The mayor — who seemed subdued, tired and perhaps a bit humbled as
several members of the public berated and even yelled at him — made
brief remarks before signing the bill, acknowledging that the debate
had been difficult, and even painful. Mr. Bloomberg said:

"This is New York City, and you get a diversity of
opinion. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and you know that I
have, over a period of time, fundamentally changed my opinion in terms
of how long somebody should be in office. I have not changed my opinion
in terms of the value of term limits. I’ve made a commitment that I
will appoint a Charter Revision Commission to look at the issue of
whether two or three terms is appropriate, and to put on the ballot the
ability for the public to either reaffirm what we have today or to
change it.

"There’s no easy answer, and nobody is irreplaceable, but I do think
that if you take a look at the real world of how long it takes to do
things — we live in a litigious society, we live in a society where we
have real democracy, and lots of people have the ability to input their
views and approve or disapprove projects — I just think that three
terms makes more sense than two…"

I am always moved by the NYC Marathon and generally make a point of watching it in Park Slope.

Here’s a nice marathon map from the Brooklyn Paper.  Brooklynites can see the runners run on Fourth Avenue starting in Bay Ridge. The Brooklyn Paper has the approximate times when the lead runners and then the rest arrive in each nabe.

I always think Third Street and Fourth is a great spot to watch (the
lead runners will get there around 9:40 and the rest around 10:10).

It’s about 6 miles into the race and the runners still have a lot of energy and joie de vivre.

But the runners also run through Forth Greene, Williamsburg and Greenpoint.