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NOVEMBER 10, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
BY JESSICA PARKS
A staffer for former state Sen.
Marty Golden launched a $5.5 million
defamation suit against state
Sen. Andrew Gounardes for claiming
he was a member of the alt-right
“Proud Boys” group last year.
While campaigning for Golden’s
southern Brooklyn senate seat last
year, Gounardes slammed staffer
Ian-Walsh Reilly for inviting Proud
Boys and Vice Media co-founder
Gavin McInnis to an event at the Metropolitan
Republican Club in Manhattan,
which resulted in a brawl
as members of the far-right group
clashed with anti-facist activists.
“I am horrifi ed by the revelation
that my opponent has a member of
the white nationalist group Proud
Boys on his payroll,” Gounardes said
last year following the fracas. “New
York cannot afford to have anyone
in offi ce that associates himself with
hate.”
But Reilly’s decision to host a
Proud Boys event does not make him
a member, according to Reilly’s attorney,
who said Gounardes intentionally
confused his client’s willingness
to exchange ideas with the
Proud Boys as an endorsement of
their controversial agenda.
“Just because he invited the
founder of the Proud Boys to speak
at the Metropolitan Republican Club
does not mean that he is a member,
or that he, or the Metropolitan Republican
Club endorses their views,”
said Dennis Houdek. “Instead, it is a
classic free speech issue.”
News of the lawsuit has done little
to cow the southern Brooklyn
Democrat, who doubled down on his
year-old statement, contending that
Reilly’s defamation claim will not
distract from “the fact” that he gave
alleged white supremacy outfi t an
opportunity to spread hate.
“At a time when the rising tide of
hate threatens our country and our
communities,” he said. “I won’t back
down from calling out prejudice
and hate whenever and wherever it
arises.”
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes faces a civil suit for claiming a staff
member for former state Sen. Marty Golden was a member of the
Proud Boys group. Andrew Gounardes’ offi ce
Golden boy strikes back
Former NY Senate staffer sues old boss’s
Democrat successor for defamation
Former state Sen. Marty Golden File photo
Fortress of frolic
Coney Island boardwalk to get $3.2 million in anti-terror defenses
BY ROSE ADAMS
The city is spending $3.2 million
to install barriers along the
Coney Island boardwalk to protect
the People’s Playground from
a terrorist attack!
“The goal of the project is to
limit the vulnerabilities to vehicular
terrorism,” said Parks Department
rep Abigail Chatfi eld.
The project — which is a coordinated
effort between Park honchos
and the Police Department’s
Counterterrorism Division —
calls for the installation of bollards
and gates along the boardwalk’s
entrances in an effort to
prevent terrorists rolling through
with their four-wheeled killing
machines.
Councilmen Mark Treyger
and Chaim Deutsch proposed the
security enhancements following
a terrorist attack along the
West Side Highway in Manhattan
on Halloween 2017, when a truck
driver ran over eight pedestrians
beside the roadway along the Hudson
River Greenway.
“As we’ve sadly seen — both
in our own city and on an international
level — vehicles are increasingly
being used in high-pedestrian
traffi c areas as weapons
to attack the public,” Councilman
Mark Treyger (D—Coney Island)
said at the time.
And if a terrorist did strike,
it wouldn’t be the fi rst time Coney
Island had been targeted by
wackos — police cuffed three selfproclaimed
jihadists in 2015 , after
the stooges declared their allegiance
to ISIS and plotted to bomb
an unspecifi ed target in the neighborhood.
The 150-pound black metal bollards
will be just over three-feet
high and spaced four-feet apart
along the outer edge of the boardwalk,
while vehicle entrances will
feature fi ve-foot high swing gates
— which will be wide enough to allow
for wheelchair access, according
to authorities.
A Parks Department rep fi rst
claimed that the bollards would
be retractable, allowing authorities
to remove the 150-pound barriers
for major events — but a
Parks Department spokesman
later claimed that they will be unable
to move.
The new protective measures
won’t be constructed until 2021,
and offi cials are still fi nalizing
their exact locations as they study
the effects they would have on
emergency vehicles and boardwalk
based merchants.
Many residents have long
pushed for the anti-car measures
— albeit, to deter police offi cers
and Parks Department offi cials
from damaging the boardwalk’s
Parks offi cials revealed their plans to place retractable bollards along every pedestrian
entrance to Coney Island’s Riegelmann Boardwalk, preventing cars from
driving onto the walkway. Parks Department
planks with city vehicles.
“The damage being done by
the heavy vehicles in use on our
scenic landmark by the Park’s Department
and NYPD is clearly and
abundantly evident when you walk
on the wooden Riegelmann Boardwalk,”
Orlando Mendez wrote in a
Facebook group dedicated to improving
the boardwalk.
The local Community Board’s
Parks Committee voted in favor of
the scheme’s preliminary designs,
but fi nal designs won’t be completed
until Spring 2020, according
to department reps.