September 29, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAG E 15
Aged to Perfection
Brooklyn’s own Rosalie Davi celebrates 100th
Birthday with family friends, and a beer in Coney!
BY JOE HITI
In 1919, the United States
banned the sale of alcohol, the
Chicago White Sox threw the
World Series, women gained
the right to vote, and Brooklyn’s
own Rosalie Davi entered
the world.
100 years later, Davi celebrated
her admission into the
centennial club with friends,
family, and a beer during an
uproarious birthday bash at
Gargiulo’s in Coney Island on
Sunday!
The Sheepshead Bay resident’s
birthday celebration
was one for the history books,
according to her grandson,
who said the evening featured
a disk jockey, a Frank Sinatra
impersonator, and custom
made hats and mugs featuring
a cartoon version of his beloved
grandma.
“We did an Italian dance
with her where she was in
the middle and was spinning
around in her wheel chair,”
said Dominick Davi. “It was
awesome — massive amounts
of fun.”
The last century has seen
plenty of changes, and the
mother of two and grandmother
of nine described an
old-timey Brooklyn filled with
fond memories.
For one thing, the streets
were nice and empty, and Davi
recounted care-free days riding
her horse Julie through
dusty roads, back before cars
took over the borough.
And stuff used to be dirt
cheap, according to Davi, who
recalled how a single dollar
would buy a day’s worth of fun
at the People’s Playground.
“We would pay ten cents to
ride it the first time and five
cents for the second time,”
Davi said.
These days, family members
try to discourage the
beloved Sheepshead Bay gal
from spending too much time
watching local news, saying
anytime Mayor Bill de Blasio
pops up on the screen means
trouble.
“I can’t stand him,” Davi
said of De Blasio. “He’s the
biggest jerk!”
And the birthday girl still
loves a drink, saying that neither
age, nor her auspicious
birth amid the heyday of Prohibition
have curbed her appetite
for a cold beer, which she
described as her favorite beverage.
With 100 years behind her,
Davi doesn’t attribute her old
age and high spirits to anything
like diet and exercise,
instead giving all credit to the
man upstairs.
“I walk with god,” she said.
Deal,
or no
deal?
C’ Heights affordable
housing ‘miracle’
deal in question
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
City lawyers were unable to
provide documents proving the existence
of the “miracle deal” Council
Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo
claims she brokered with developers
that would bring 118 units
of affordable housing to Crown
Heights.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice
Reginald Boddie ordered the
city to turn over proof of the supposed
agreement amid a lawsuit
brought by a local anti-gentrifi cation
activist, who claims there’s
no guarantee the community will
see the promised benefi ts from the
massive construction project.
“We had a discovery request
for documentation on the deal,
but she didn’t have it,” said Alicia
Boyd, who is representing herself
in a suit against the city and developers.
“It looks very bad if you
have an elected offi cial who made
that promise on the record to the
public... and then you fi nd out that
the affordable housing didn’t exist.”
The development — comprised
of two 16-story towers at 40 Crown
St. and 931 Carroll St. — has been
jammed up in the courts amid
Boyd’s last-ditch legal effort to halt
the development, claiming Cornell
failed to properly vet the residential
complex’s environmental impact
ahead of a City Council vote to
upzone the area.
Continued on page 14
Rosalie Davi dons a pair of novelty glasses for her 100th birthday. Photo by Derrick Watterson
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