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At press time, in a senate race seemingly to nowhere, Republican candidate David Storobin clung to an unofficial 120 vote over Democratic City Councilman Lew Fidler in the special election to replace former state senator and convicted felon Carl Kruger in the 27th State Senate District.

According to the New York City Board of Elections unofficial total, Storobin is leading, 10,756 to 10,636. However, Board of Election officials say they official tally won’t come until the end of the month when all 757 absentee and overseas ballots are counted and allegations of fraud are investigated.

Either way, the race between Storobin, a Russian-Jewish immigrant, and Fidler a Jewish-American who went to high school with Rev. Al Sharpton, brought new meaning to the term, “mudslinging” in a contest where the winner will only serve a few months due to redistricting.

The current district includes Brighton Beach, Borough Park, Gravesend, Midwood and Mill Basin. However, it will be swallowed up for a new “Super Jewish” district that includes mainly Borough Park, southern and western Flatbush, and Kensington – a Mecca (metaphorically speaking) – for ultra-conservative Orthodox Jews.
Among the accusations flying were Fidler’s claim that Storobin’s Internet writings showed that he had “ties to skinheads, neo-Nazis” and that white supremacist groups had linked to the articles on their sites.
Storobin responded he had relatives who fought the Nazis and that Fidler impugned his mother. It got to the point where the front page of the Flatbush Jewish Journal went as far as to state that Jewish law “prohibited to vote for Lew Fidler” because he “wants to teach same-gender marriage to 6-year-old children.”

While this race was mainly about the Jewish vote in Southern Brooklyn, several of the communities such as Brighton Beach and Mill Basin are in the newly formed 8th Congressional District of Ed Towns.
Other communities in this newly created Congressional District such as Sheesphead Bay, Manhattan Beach and Howard Beach were relocated from Republican Congressman Bob Turner’s old district, which was also swallowed up through redistricting.

While Kings County GOP boss Craig Eaton could not be reached at press time, the bets here are the Republicans will put a good deal of money and effort into winning the seat.

Markowitz backs Clarke
Brooklyn Borough President quickly dismissed a Crain’s story last week that he would challenge Congresswoman Yvette Clarke in her Federal Voting Rights district encompassing most of the middle of the borough, and in fact, issued a statement that he supports the incumbent.

“Congresswoman Yvette Clarke has represented Brooklyn and her constituents well, and I wholeheartedly support her bid for re-election,” he said.

Previous to being borough president, Markowitz has long been a favorite in the Caribbean-American community, which he represented in the state senate seat now held by Eric Adams.

Markowitz also dismissed rumors that he would jump into the 8th Congressional District Democratic Primary between incumbent Ed Towns, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and City Councilman Charles Barron.

“I am flattered by all of the encouragement I have received to take my ‘Brooklyn attitude’ to Washington and make sure everyone in our nation’s capital knows that Brooklyn is ‘in the House’” Markowitz said. “However, my dream job has always been Brooklyn Borough President and I intend to make my final 21 months in office the most productive ever.”

East New York, Brownsville lead city in stop-and-frisks
Two police precincts covering Easy New York and Brownsville led the city in stop-and-frisks, according to a recent New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) preliminary report leaked to the press.

The 75th precinct in East New York topped the list, counting the most people stopped – 31,100 – followed by the 73rd precinct in Brownsville with 25,167. The two neighborhoods are also at or near the top of the most crime-plagued communities in the city. According to report only 3 percent of stops in East New York led to an arrest.
Also making the top ten list in Brooklyn was Williamsburg’s 90th precinct, home to Hasidic Jews, hipsters, and Latinos. The neighborhood was fifth with 17,566 stops.

The NYCLU was unable to provide data for the 79th and 81st precincts, which covers Bedford-Stuyvesant, but according to unofficial police statistics not counting housing or transit police, the 79th Precinct made 5,029 stops and the 81st Precinct made 7,458 stops.

According to NYPD documents, reasons for a stop include “carrying a suspicious object” or “casing a victim or location.” A frisk can also occur because of “inappropriate attire off season”

Marcy Plaza under construction
Residents shopping or living along Bed-Stuy’s Fulton Street commercial corridor may have recently noticed the pedestrian roadway on Marcy Avenue between Fulton and MacDonough Street torn up.
The reason for this city workers are constructing a $1.3 million, 8,000 square feet pedestrian space complete with benches, trees and shrubs.

The Plaza is part of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Streetscape Project and run through the Mayor’s Office of Comprehensive Neighborhood Economic Development (CNED).
Funding for the project came from the city’s Office of Management and Budget, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Councilman Albert Vann.

Bed-Stuy Park renamed and renovated
A portion of the Pulaski Playground running from Hart to Pulaski Street between Throop and Marcus Garvey Blvd was renamed the Heritage Row Playground in honor of the nearby 12 Heritage Row Houses built in 2000 by Habitat for Humanity, a not-for-profit organization seeking to create decent and affordable housing for families in need. The project was spear-headed by former President Jimmy Carter as part of his annual ‘Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project’.

In addition to the renaming an additional $1.45 million is being put into the park for the reconstruction of the asphalt multi-purpose play area with color seal coating, as well as a two lane perimeter track and two full-sized basketball courts. A fitness area, bicycle racks, benches, landscaping and perimeter fencing will also be installed, and the handball courts will be refurbished.
Funding for the project comes through the offices of Mayor Bloomberg and local City Councilman Al Vann.
Bill proposed to toughen domestic violence offences
Lawmakers in Albany this week introduced a new bill that would provide district attorneys with the tools to crack down on recurring violence and abuse by establishing the felony-level crime of “aggravated domestic violence” for abusers who commit two or more offenses within five years.

Under current law, only those who cause serious physical injury or kill their victims face felony-level charges. Even those who repeatedly commit domestic violence offenses can only be charged with a low-level misdemeanor — allowing them to cycle through the system and putting them back out on the streets again and again.

“Domestic violence is not a one-time occurrence. Nearly 40% of battered women will be victimized again within 6 months,” said Laurel W. Eisner, the Executive Director of Sanctuary for Families. “Under current law, an abuser can be arrested and prosecuted for dozens of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses, confident that he will serve little or no time in jail. The consequences are severe.”