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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
Going postal
Bill to rename Dyker Heights Post Offi ce
after Mother Cabrini stirs controversy
BY ROSE ADAMS AND
MEG CAPONE
Congress passed a bill on
Feb. 5 that would rename the
Dyker Heights Post Offi ce
after the New York-based
saint Mother Cabrini, infuriating
some locals, who
love Cabrini — and hate the
postal service!
“The post offi ces in NYC
are pieces of f–– sh–. Why the
hell would someone want to
be named after one?” said
Nick, a Dyker Heights resident,
who did not give his
last name.
The dubious tribute
comes after Mayor Bill de
Blasio’s wife, Chirlane Mc-
Cray, snubbed the saint in
her She Built NYC statuebuilding
initiative in August,
when the Cabrini won
a public nomination process
by a landslide, only for
the city’s fi rst lady to build
a statue for seven other historic
women.
The move sparked a massive
controversy, and Congressman
Max Rose introduced
his bill to rename
the Dyker Heights Post Offi
ce after the beloved saint a
few weeks later — pleasing
many local Catholics and
the Brooklyn Diocese.
“I think it’s fabulous!”
said Bensonhurst resident
Ursula Agota, a parishioner
at Saint Frances Cabrini
Church. “Have to thank
Max!”
The pastor at St. Frances
Cabrini Church also lauded
the change, but argued that
the new name doesn’t replace
a city-funded statue.
“We’re very happy. It’s
very nice…But the city
still has to recognize her,”
said Father Guy Sbordone,
who added that he wished
Rose had contacted the parish
about the renaming. “It
would’ve been nice for the
parish to participate.”
However, critics argued
against associating
the saint with the notoriously
disorganized Dyker
Heights Post Offi ce — which
Yelp reviewers awarded 2.5
stars and called “terrible!”
and “the worst lying deceiving
lazy post offi ce in
the city” — and charged
that the beloved saint deserved
better.
“If you think about a
post offi ce, it has a very
negative reputation,” said
Bob Capano, a conservative
columnist and the former
Brooklyn Director to Congressman
Max Rose’s predecessor,
Vito Fossella (RDyker
Congress passed a law renaming the Dyker Heights Post Offi ce after Mother Cabrini. Google
Heights). “When’s the
last time someone walked
into a post offi ce and said,
’What a beautiful building!
What a model of effi ciency!’”
McCray’s snub infuriated
Bensonhurst parishioners
at St. Frances Cabrini
Parish, who had mobilized
en masse to vote for Mother
Cabrini in the hopes of honoring
the patron saint of
immigrants, who built dozens
of schools and hospitals
across the city.
The Mayor’s offi ce argued
that public nominations
were merely suggestions,
not votes, and said
that they’d consider the
saint for round two of the
contest — but Catholics
and Italian-Americans
viewed the snub as biased
against Italian-Americans.
In October, more than 1,000
Catholics marched in protest
of the snub, and actor
Chazz Palminteri called
out de Blasio on live radio
after claiming the decision
to exclude Cabrini was
“racist.”
Governor Andrew
Cuomo put the scuffl e to
rest when he announced on
Columbus Day his plans to
assemble a 19-person committee
that would oversee
the construction of a Mother
Cabrini statue in Battery
Park. One week later, Rose
announced his bill to rename
the Dyker Heights
Post Offi ce
And love or hate the congressman’s
postal tribute,
there’s some optimism that
the saint will provide a holy
inspiration for the workers
within.
“Maybe having that
name would improve it a little,”
said Father Sbordone.
Bloomberg opens fi rst campaign offi ce in Brooklyn
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Former Mayor Michael
Bloomberg set up his fi rst
Brooklyn presidential campaign
offi ce in Boerum Hill
Monday, where his Kings
County staffers are accelerating
his long-shot campaign
to convince Brooklynites
to vote for their
former mayor to lead the
country, according to the
head of the local fi eld operations.
“Most people are pretty
familiar with Bloomberg
as mayor, it’s just reactivating
them as registered
Democrats and focusing on
people across the political
spectrum,” said Andrew
Holt.
The new fi eld offi ce on
535 Atlantic Ave., between
Third and Fourth avenues,
is one of a handful of outposts
Bloomberg’s campaign
has opened in recent
weeks, including in Manhattan,
Long Island, and
Queens, where staffers and
volunteers have started
canvassing, phone banking,
and organizing.
Bloomberg’s campaign
plans to expand its efforts
throughout the borough
in the coming months, and
they are already canvassing
as far south as Bay
Ridge, according to Holt.
“Yes there will be more
Brooklyn offi ces,” he said.
“Defi nitely geographical diversity,
making sure we’re
covering a broad cross-section
across the borough.”
The offi ce will celebrate
it’s “offi cial opening” in the
coming weeks, according to
New York regional spokeswoman
for the Bloomberg
campaign Jennifer Blatus.
By the end of December,
Bloomberg, a multibillionaire,
had poured
more than $200 million of
his own money into his
campaign — far outspending
his competitors — with
$132 million going to television
advertising, $1.5 million
for offi ce space, and
$700,000 for rental apartments
for campaign staff,
January fi lings reported in
the Times show.
And despite abstaining
from the Iowa Caucus
and the New Hampshire
primary — and the New
York Democratic primary
not being until April 28
— Bloomberg’s massive
cash investment has paid
off, with a recent Quinnipiac
poll putting him at
third place nationally, behind
Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders and former
Vice President Joe Biden,
and Holt claimed that the
businessman will be able
to beat President Donald
Trump in the general election
because of his broad
appeal to voters across the
political spectrum.
“Bloomberg hands
down is the best to beat
Donald Trump,” Holt said.
“His track record in New
York City, I think we’ll continue
to remind New Yorkers
about it and educate
new voters.”
But one of Bloomberg’s
most controversial policies
— stop-and-frisk, which
disproportionately affected
people of color — came back
to bite him after a 2015 audio
clip emerged on social
media where the former
mayor defended the policy,
saying most criminals
were young minorities.
“95% of your murders
and murderers and murder
victims fi t one M.O. You
can just take the description
and Xerox it and pass
it out to all the cops. They
are male minorities 15 to
25,” said Bloomberg in the
clip.
Under stop-and-frisk,
police temporarily detained
and searched civilians
on the street for weapons
and other illegal goods.
The policy overwhelmingly
affected young black and
Latino men, and Mayor Bill
de Blasio reduced the practice
after becoming mayor
in 2014.
Holt did not respond to
a follow up about the stopand
frisk comments, but
campaign did send a statement
apologizing for the
practice.
“I inherited the police
practice of stop-and-frisk,
and as part of our effort to
stop gun violence it was
overused,” the statement
read. “By the time I left offi
ce, I cut it back by 95 percent,
but I should’ve done
it faster and sooner. I regret
that and I have apologized.”
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened his fi rst Brooklyn campaign
offi ce on Atlantic Avenue on Feb. 10. Photo by Kevin Duggan