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NOV. 3, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
IT’S HAMMER-TIME
Former Park Slope civic guru proposes street saftey changes in Brighton Beach
Craig Hammerman in front of Brighton 11th Street, a two-way road he proposes converting to one-way travel to improve pedestrian safety. Photo by Derrick Watterson
BY JESSICA PARKS
The former top staff member of
Brownstone Brooklyn’s Community
Board 6 has moved to Brighton
Beach after resigning amid a
fl urry of stalking and forgery indictments,
and the one-time civil
servant is now busy promoting
numerous traffi c safety initiatives
in his newfound home.
“As a resident of southern
Brooklyn, I can testify fi rsthand
how dangerous it is out here for
motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians
alike,” Craig Hammerman
wrote in an Oct. 4 email to the Department
of Transportation.
The one-time district manager
sent Brooklyn Transit Commissioner
Keith Bray a comprehensive
proposal for transforming
Brighton 11th Street from a twoway
thoroughfare to a one-way
artery heading south on Oct. 4,
claiming the move would enhance
pedestrian safety for the area’s
large senior community.
The civic guru’s pitch included
an analysis of demographics and
the surrounding street grid, a list
of safety concerns, and a breakdown
of the proposed changes,
which Hammerman’s Coney Island
counterpart, Community
Board 13 District Manager Eddie
Mark, said refl ected the former
CB6 staffer’s decades of experience.
“He’s a former district manager,”
said Mark. “He knows the
ins and outs of approaching a
problem like this.”
Hammerman formerly served
residents of Park Slope, Red Hook,
Gowanus, and other Brownstone
neighborhoods as a Community
Board 6 staffer for 27 years, working
his way up the ranks to become
district manager, where he
pulled a hefty six-fi gure salary
helping board members navigate
the city’s bureaucracy and advocate
for local causes.
However, the high-paid civil
servant was forced to resign in
2017 amid a series of scandals, including
his two arrests for allegedly
stalking his ex girlfriend , and
his indictment on forgery charges
after District Attorney Eric Gonzalez
accused him of using a rubber
stamp bearing then Chairman
Sayar Lonial’s signature to
provide himself with raises.
Hammerman beat the district
attorney’s offi ce not once,
but twice — bucking the stalking
charges and beating the forgery
indictment at trial — and the former
district manager fl ed his longtime
home in Park Slope seeking a
fresh start in Brighton Beach.
“I always wanted to live by the
beach,” Hammerman said.
A spokeswoman for the Department
of Transportation said
the agency would not consider the
Brighton 11th Street proposal until
Community Board 13 — which
comprises Brighton Beach and
Gravesend, along with Coney Island
— endorsed the initiative,
and the board is scheduled to discuss
Hammerman’s proposal at a
meeting on Nov. 14.
Meanwhile members of the
Coney Island community board
voted unanimously to approve the
installation of additional street
lighting and the construction of
curb extensions along Brighton
Beach Avenue — two other initiatives
that Hammerman proposed
at a meeting on Oct. 23.
Before the meeting, Mark suspected
that local board members
might take issue with the forwardthinking
civic guru from progressive
Park Slope, saying southern
Brooklyn moves at a slower pace
than its neighbors to the north.
“As you know he comes from
Park Slope and Red Hook, where
people are more active, whereas
down here they don’t advocate as
much for things like this,” said
Mark.
But Hammerman claims the
city has largely ignored southern
Brooklyn’s traffi c-safety woes in
favor of the borough’s progressive
enclaves further north, and said
he couldn’t help but demand action.
“If it is good enough for Brownstone
Brooklyn then it is good
enough for southern Brooklyn,”
said Hammerman. “The bottom
line is something must be done to
improve traffi c safety there.”