October 27, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAG E 15
A fl oating fi gure of President Trump appeared in the Gowanus Canal during the Open Studios Arts Fest. Photo by Kevin Duggan
TOXIC PRES INVADES GOWANUS
Donald Trump statue spotted in Brooklyn’s Nautical Purgatory
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
He’s the Commander-inneed
of-a-bath!
A green-eyed float of President
Donald Trump surrounded
by reptiles buoyed in
the fetid Gowanus Canal over
the weekend, leaving locals
baffled and amused at the cartoon
like commander-in-chief,
which trolled beneath the Carroll
Street Bridge.
“I think it’s pretty funny,”
said Gowanus Canal Conservancy
head Andrea Parker.
“It’s creepy. And one thing I
really like about it is how it’s
going in and out of from under
the bridge with the tides.”
Readers of the local blog
Pardon Me For Asking first
spotted the inf latable president
— donning his signature
red power tie — in Brooklyn’s
Nautical Purgatory during the
neighborhood arts event Gowanus
Open Studios, leading
some Brooklynites to speculate
that sculpture was meant
as a statement piece to mock
the Oval Office’s orange occupant.
“As we approached the old
Figliolia building, I jumped a
few inches in the air because
I saw snakes and tentacles
writhing in the dark between
two parked cars.’” said Brad
Vogel of the Gowanus Dredgers
canoe club. “Only then did
I see the Trumpian part of it
and the human figure.”
A representative for Gowanus
Open Studios did not return
a request for comment by
press time.
Vogel could not make out
the artist’s identity, but described
a “sort of a gray,
hooded figure.”
This is not the first time
Trump has had an imprint
on the Gowanus, as a honcho
with the city’s Department of
Environmental Protection recently
blamed the controversial
president for vetoing a
city plan to construct a massive
sewage tunnel under the
canal.
“President Trump’s EPA is
at it again: ignoring science
and facts when making significant
decisions that impact
New Yorkers’ lives,” department
spokesman Ted Timbers
told the Brooklyn Eagle at the
time.
But Gowanusaurs have a
good relationship with the federal
agency’s reps, according
to Parker, who said any anti-
Trump sentiment probably
had different motivations.
“I don’t think folks from
the neighborhood think that
the EPA is ‘Trump’s EPA,’”
said Parker. “We have a very
good relationship with the
folks over at that agency.”
City delays
school
desgreation
scheme
BY BEN VERDE
City education bigwigs announced
a yearlong delay of
their ambitious scheme to desegregate
elementary schools in
Brownstone Brooklyn on Tuesday,
saying they needed more
time for community input, according
to the local school district’s
Superintendent.
“We elected not to submit a
proposal for 2020 and 2021 implementation...
to provide more
time to hear from as many
voices as possible, and empower
communities in the process,”
said Anita Skop.
The Department of Education
had originally planned to vote
on their schemes in November,
with implementation affecting
children entering kindergarten
in 2020. Now, Brooklyn youth
entering kindergarten in 2021
will be affected.
In an effort to foster integration
among Kings County schools,
the two proposals would alter
the enrollment criteria for
seven elementary schools in
Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill,
Boerum Hill, Gowanus, and
Red Hook — which comprises a
subset of the notoriously segregated
School District 15.
The first proposals would dramatically
alter the zoning lines
for the seven schools — shrinking
the geographic area designated
for high-attendance
schools, while expanding the
area for under-utilized ones.
The second proposal would get
rid of zoning lines altogether,
opting instead for a randomized
lottery system across the
schools.
After hearing from upset locals
Continued on page 12
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