Marty Golden: Look to Gounardes for Marine Park funds
Last year, I allocated a
Bernie Sanders must dump Linda Sarsour from campaign
COURIER L 30 IFE, SEPT. 27-OCT. 3, 2019
OPINION
Last Sunday at City Hall
Park, a consortium of organizations
sponsored a rally
titled, “Name It To Fight
It. It’s Anti-Semitism!” The
purpose was to call on city
and national leaders to call
out anti-Semitism by name
and fight it. Several Democrats
were also part of the
event including former
Brooklyn Assemblyman
Dov Hikind and local Councilman
Chaim Deutsch.
This summer the NYPD
announced that there has
been a 64-percent increase
in hate crimes compared
to last year. Of the 184 hate
crimes this year, 60-percent
were deemed anti-Semitic.
Over the past couple
of months we have seen
even more of these heinous
crimes all over the news.
Mayor de Blasio initially
blamed the “political right,”
but he had to publicly back
off this ridiculous accusation
last week.
Recently, we saw two individuals
from Brooklyn turn
the message of the rally on
its head. Rather than fighting
anti-Semitism, they
are embracing it. Specifically,
Democratic presidential
candidate Bernie Sanders,
who spent the first 19
years of his life in Kings
County, named Brooklynite
and Muslim activist Linda
Sarsour as a surrogate to
his campaign. The Zionist
organization of America,
which was initially founded
as an organization for the
greater New York area in
1897, called Sarsour a “vicious
Jew-hater.” Her words
and actions over the past
years have supported this
description.
This columnist has taken
lots of heat from his progressive
neighbors for naming
and calling out her anti-
Semitism. For example, in
2015 I called on Sarsour to
resign or be removed from
Community Board 10, which
covers Bay Ridge and Dyker
Heights, for her comments
against Israel and participation
in a protest against police
calling them “just racists,”
not heroes. Sarsour
and others were arrested
for disobedience. Sarsour
did not return to the board
the following year.
Need evidence of her anti
Semitism; here are just a
few examples:
• Has been a long-time
supporter of the boycott,
divestment, and sanction
(BDS) movement against Israel.
• Shared a dais with Rasmea
Odeh, who killed two
Hebrew University students
in a 1969 terrorist attack,
and Sarsour said how “honored
and privileged” she
was to be on stage with this
terrorist.
• Posted on her twitter account
a photo of a Palestinian
boy throwing a rock at
Israeli soldiers and called it
“The definition of courage.”
When Queens Democratic
Councilman Rory Lancman
condemned this comment
by saying “Attacking Jews
at their homes, schools, supermarkets,
cafes, buses,
roads, synagogues, and
Seder tables is barbarous
and enlisting children to
commit those acts is even
more so,” Sarsour responded
with “The Zionist trolls are
out to play. You will never
silence me.”
• Wrote an op-ed piece titled
“New Progressive Era
Still Politics as Usual Regarding
Israel,” where she
criticized NYC Democrats
for standing “with a handful
of political elites to show unwavering
support for Israel”
against terrorist attacks
from Hamas.
Summarizing this perfectly
was the President of
the World Jewish Congress,
Ronald Lauder who said,
“Linda Sarsour is a virulent
anti-Semite who has publicly
stated that ‘nothing is creepier
than Zionism.’ Her views
have no place in our political
discourse and any candidate
who associates with
her is guilty of handing a
mega-phone to anti-Semites
around the country.”
One way we can name
it to fight anti-Semitism
is by New Yorkers and
Americans in unison calling
on Bernie Sanders to
oust Sarsour from his campaign.
Even the progressive
Women’s March group just
dumped Sarsour from their
Board because her anti-Semitic
record was becoming
too much to defend.
We know if a Republican
had a surrogate on their
campaign saying the things
about Palestinians that Sarsour
has about Israel Jewish
Americans, there would
be mass outrage and protests.
Rather than Mayor de
Blasio and his progressive
allies instinctively blaming
the political right and President
Trump for all the hate
in the country, perhaps they
just need to look to their left
at folks like Sarsour.
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican and
Democrat elected officials.
Follow him on Twitter @bobcapano.
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano
collective $12 million to Marine
Park playground and
the Shore Road Park ballfields,
so that the New York
City Department of Parks
and Recreation could make
critical repairs — a nonpartisan
concern.
But, this past week Andrew
Gounardes and his fellow
Senate Democrats politicized
$12 million in Parks
funding - even though his
Majority conference controls
the capital funding
purse strings and could easily
honor my allocations.
This year’s capital supplemental
bill contained
$385 million in funding,
meaning Senate Democrats
control $128 million. It is
still unclear what projects
Gounardes prioritized for
the 22nd Senate District.
We must demand answers
from Gounardes and
insist he act on my non-partisan
goal to upgrade our
parks.
Democrats are playing a
dishonest game, claiming
there is “no record” of this
capital funding.
The monies, $4 million
for Marine Park and $8 million
for Shore Road Park,
came from capital funding
set aside in the 2018 enacted
budget and that was divided
in thirds between the Senate
Republican Majority,
the Assembly Democrat Majority
and the Governor. It
is known as the State and
Municipal Facilities program
or “SAM” funding for
short, grants that the Parks
Department has received
before to make capital improvements
on its grounds.
Marine Park playground
is still in terrible disrepair
and I went through great
lengths to secure $2 million
in funding, which the Parks
Department initially requested
to revamp the park.
I secured the first $1 million
(SAM) in 2016, and in
2017 secured an additional
$1.1 million.
In 2018, the Parks Department
said that only partial
improvements could be made
to the playground and in addition
to the $2.1 million already
approved, the agency
would need more money to
proceed with a full upgrade.
I lobbied then Senate Majority
Leader John J. Flanagan
for these funds and once
he confirmed with Senate
Finance that they were
available and that we had
the appropriating authority,
his office confirmed to mine
in a letter that these allocations
would move ahead.
Only then did I announce
these critical funds during
a press conference.
There is a record of
Leader Flanagan stating
he allocated it, a letter confirming
this allocation, and
a letter from my office to the
Parks Department with the
State and Municipal funding
form attached to get the
money to fix our parks.
As it turns out the form
was not returned by the
Parks Department. Therefore,
it never made it to the
Dormitory Authority of
New York State.
So, there would be no record
at DASNY of a form not
submitted.
For the good of the district,
we must unite Republican
and Democrat and
stop the political games
over the critical issue of
parks repairs. Gounardes
now serves in the Majority
which has the ability
to honor my allocation and
has control of all of the capital
money available.
It is simple to honor my
$12 million allocation to
Marine Park playground
and Shore Road Park, but
the real question remains
is if he will put our parks
over politics.
If Gounardes and his
Senate Democrat colleagues
don’t believe that funding
these two projects should
continue to be a priority, as
I do, then shame on them.
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