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Advocate demands handicap parking
DECEMBER 8, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
for Marine Park senior center
BY JESSICA PARKS
The city must install handicap parking
spots around Marine Park’s overpriced senior
center, according to an elderly activist,
who launched a petition in support of the
measure.
“They put up this $13 million monstrosity,”
said 85-year-old Carl Fischler, referencing
the Carmine Carro Community Center,
which actually cost $16 million and took a
decade to build. ‘It cost a lot of money, and
they didn’t make any provision for disability
parking.”
The city designed the public meeting
space — also known as the Marine Park Active
Adults and Senior Center — as the environmental
wonder of southern Brooklyn,
which features a roof made out of plants, and
a high-tech, low-energy heating and cooling
system, which were installed at an pricey
cost to taxpayers.
And while the city’s green technology
racked up overruns in excess of $11 million,
offi cials failed to dedicate any resources to
accommodate handicapped drivers, who are
forced to trudge upwards of 250 feet along
paths leading to the nearest parking spot on
Fillmore Avenue.
Fischler — who walks with two canes —
is hoping to drum up support for his push to
construct 30 handicap spaces near the park’s
entrance across from Madison Place. So far,
the Nov. 29th petition has garnered 40 signatures,
but the advocate claims many seniors
will add their names to his list of disgruntled
drivers.
“I’ll get a hundred signatures or more,”
said Fischler. “Parking for disabled seniors
should have been included in the original
plans.”
Adding new spots to the park would require
covering a portion of Marine Park’s
greenspace with asphalt — a move that State
Sen. Andrew Gounardes said he would support,
but which Councilman Alan Maisel
claims would never fl y with the Parks Department.
Instead of creating a whole new parking
lot, Maisel said it may be possible to reserve
some spots on Fillmore for disabled drivers,
but the legislator said he’d be reluctant to
support any measure that reduced parking
throughout the area.
“The only thing you can do is take parking
off of Fillmore Avenue,” said Maisel.
“And there is already limited parking there
for everybody.”
Parks Department spokeswoman Anessa
Hodgson said people with disabilities and
the elderly can be dropped off at the community
center’s entrance using the paved pedestrian
walkway at the park’s entrance.
“We are sensitive to the needs of people
with disabilities and accommodate drop-offs
at the entrance to the Carmine Carro Community
Center for them,” she said.
Carl Fischler started a petition for handicap parking spaces at Carmine Carro Community Center.
Photo by Jessica Parks
Park Slope pasta-shop expands
Antonio Capone rolls fresh dough. Photos by Ben Verde
BY BEN VERDE
It’s a noodle addition!
Popular cafe and grocer Un Posto Italiano has opened up a
spacious new storefront on Garfi eld Place in Park Slope, featuring
fresh-cooked Italian meals and a full-scale food mart, said
the eatery’s owner.
“It’s a very good selection of what you can buy in New York
in one place,” said Antonio Capone. “It’s good stuff.”
Near the intersection of Seventh Avenue, the new locale contains
ample seating for roughly 50 patrons to nosh on the cafe’s
wide selection of handmade pasta or sip Italian espresso — a
huge step up from their previous 250-square-feet location on
Sackett Street, said Capone.
“Where I was on Sackett was too small for me,” said Capone.
In the middle of the eatery, shoppers can choose from a curated
selection of olive oil, cheese, coffee, and pasta at the storefront’s
high-quality Italian grocery. And once summer rolls
around, Capone will welcome guests to outdoor seating in the
new storefront’s backyard.
The cafe aims to present the most authentic version of
modern-day Italy, free from the ethical concerns surrounding
mass-produced Italian foods — such as the use of slave labor in
the tomato farming trade, said Capone.
Born in the city of Abruzzo in the boot-shaped nation, Capone
opened the original Un Posto Italiano location fi ve years
ago, where he began serving pasta — even rolling the dough
himself every morning with high-quality Sicilian fl our. The
chef writes out the pasta offerings on a chalkboard every morning,
and they usually sell out before closing time.
And despite the shops’ emphasis on quality, Capone says
he is trying to keep his prices as reasonable as possible, as
premium Italian products are often priced cost-prohibitive to
many New Yorkers.
Visit the new location of Un Posto Italiano 206 Garfi eld Pl.
at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 636-8500, unpostoitaliano.
com Open Tues–Fri 8 am–6:30 pm Sat–Sun 8:30 am–5 pm