Bklink: Anti-Renter in Manhattan Beach

The Manhattan Beach Community Group, which has provided amusement in the past, particularly with the idea of beach privatization last year, is now proposing to block renters from joining its ranks. An email says that it is "leaving us without a say in our own community. It is completely unfair and I’m hoping someone will take notice." Notice has been taken.--GerritsenBeach.Net

Return to Manhattan Beach: Mudslinging Time

[Image courtesy of the Brooklyn View]

When last we paid attention to Manhattan Beach, the neighborhood chitchat was about privatizing the beach to keep out "thugs." Well, the Manhattan Beach Community Group, from whence the controversy came, is electing a president. (Bear us out on this, it gets quite interesting.) GerritsenBeach.Net, which does a superb job of chronicling interesting things in Southern Brooklyn, picks up a fascinating story from the PDF-only Brooklyn view. At issue are the two rivals for civic leadership, one of whom is apparently supported by Sen. Carl Kruger, most recently heard from for shutting down the Coney Island Development Corporation's informational community forum about Coney Island rezoning. The two civic rivals are Manhattan Beach Community Group President Dr. Ron Biondo and VP Ira Zalcman. Group members are circulating some of their emails. From the Brooklyn View via GerritsenBeach.Net:

One email from Zalcman said, “So we have BBQ smoke, dead fish smell, feet in the fountains, garbage everywhere and a policeman sitting on his you know what.” It continued, “To me, can your (sic) VP do anything about this like making the beach into a private spa charging 1000 (sic) million dollars.” Zalcman said that the email was tongue in cheek and he was not talking about any race.

One email dated February 16, 2007, sent at 1:35 p.m., Biondo said, “We had a meeting last night and changed the proposal from the company. Please notify the rest of the troops that we want to get this done to make MB a safer community especially in the summer when most of the animals in the community are on two legs.”

Another email sent from Biondo on May 29,2007, stated, “I hate watching thugs parade down my block. Imagine a group of white boys parading down Livonia Ave.”...

Some members opposed to Biondo, say he has already garnered support from Councilman Mike Nelson and State Senator Carl Kruger. Politicians don’t usually get involved with civic groups. State Senator Carl Kruger’s office denies his support wholeheartedly. However, members of he community say he and Councilman Mike Nelson are secretly endorsing Biondo. Community residents say Nelson and Kruger are heavily influenced by developers ...

And you thought civic groups were boring.

Manhattan Beach Meeting Gets Very, Very, Very Testy

We should note that that Manhattan Beach Civic Group voted yesterday to "disavow" those controversial ideas about checkpoints, metal detectors & privatizing the beach to keep "thugs" out. There was apparently quite a spirited discussion, which you can read all about at Gerritsen Beach.Net. What's just as interesting, though, is that the blogger that broke the original story of the email with the controversial ideas was not greeted warmly by some in the audience. Check it out:

Al Smaldone got up and started saying that “Outside forces are separating our community, and to Keep on blogging!” a direct shot at me. At this point two people, Dr. Oliver Klapper, a professor at Kingsbourgh Community College and Robert Gevertzman, CB15 Member, who were trying to see what I was doing all night, and never approached me or introduced themselves, started to harass me loudly. Saying I had no right to be there. Asking me if I needed permission to write down names and what people were saying. They continued with: “What are you typing? Why are you’re simulcasting the whole meeting, you have no right to do that.” When I told him my first name and said that this was a public meeting he started yelling “Who are you, where are you from”. The meeting who was now jeering me calling for my name and who I was. I replied with Dan from Gerritsen Beach. At one point I think I was told I was out of order.

The NY Post was there as was Courier life. I saw that the NY Post reporter was asked to stand up and ID himself, and then was accused by a few people of causing problems.

Saying that the community of Manhattan Beach are elitists might be unfair, but the president and his cabinet who run the civic group are. The whole meeting was very unprofessional, unorganized and they acted like the only reason they cared is because of the attention it got. It seems like thats what Ron and his friends want to do. Ron let the meeting be run like a circus, let his people bully others around. I felt as though it there was no sense of community or respect for one another.

I left early before the rainstorm, to protect my equipment and to avoid another confrontation.

All in a good day's work and fun.

[Photo courtesy of GerritsenBeach.Net]

Manhattan Beach Update: No Private Beach & Checkpoints?

[Photo courtesy of vOv/flickr]

That "Emergency Meeting" that was supposed to happen in Manhattan Beach to discuss solutions to the "thug" problem on the beach never happened. It was canceled, probably because in the words of organizers Dr. Ron Biondo, it was "no longer necessary." The development was reported by GerritsenBeach.net, which first brought word of the "ideas" for things like police checkpoints, beachfront metal detectors and beach privatization. Today's Post reports "Biondo said he overreacted after receiving a false report from other members and the area's own private security company that there was a shooting on June 12." There was no shooting. Us, we're thinking that the canceled meeting and plans might--just a little--have something to do with negative press coverage.

Manhattan Beach Anti-Thuggery Update

[Photo courtesy of GerritsenBeach.Net/flickr]

We know a good story when we see one and the one first reported by GerritesenBeach.Net that we posted about on Sunday was a very good one. That's the one about the suggestions that Manhattan Beach privatize its public waterfront, put a police checkpoint on the bridge from Sheepshead Bay and take other measures to keep "thugs" away. Well, the New York Post picked up the story yesterday (adding a nonsensical "the Post has learned" to details reported two days earlier on GerritsenBeach.Net and, as a result, on GL) and Channels Five and Nine turned up to do a story and interviewed, among others, the blogger who originally reported the story at great length. In the meantime, the police have stepped up their presence in the thug-infested beachfront (it's probably one of the safest spots in Brooklyn). The originator of the checkpoints/private beach to stop the "thugs" idea backed away from the original points a little, but not much:

Those extreme suggestions have absolutely nothing to do with MB residents or the Manhattan Beach Community Group. As a matter of fact they are the ones that are the most outraged. If those unfortunate instances that were reported to me were indeed true, then I personally stand behind everyone of those extreme suggestions as a way to tackle the situation. Remember there ARE metal detectors @ public schools, public pools and all public buildings. They are there for a reason.

You can check out some pics of the scene yesterday here on flickr. You can also find the Channel Five Fox report on the issue here. To be continued.

Manhattan Beach Wants to Go Private!

[Photo courtesy of Incandenza/flickr]

The headline that our friends at GerritsenBeach.net put up caught our attention: "Manhattan Beach and Their Bunker Mentality." Why, you might ask? Because Dr. Ron Biondo, President of the Manhattan Beach Community Group, is holding a emergency meeting on Thursday, June 21 @ 8:00 PM, in response to "graffiti, litter and other destruction." (There apparently was some sort of issue with teenagers coming into Manhattan Beach and much dispute about what happened or didn't.)

So, what's the answer? Some clean up crews? Getting the Parks Department to do a better job? Nope. As it turns out, there is some sentiment in the community to privatize the beach, put police on the bridge leading to Manhattan Beach to check IDs and close the beach "on a moments notice" when "the thugs" arrive. (Manhattan Beach's beach is a public one run by the Parks Department.)

"The thugs"?

We almost thought we were seeing things when we stopped skimming and actually read the notice. Now, these are all called "ideas" that are "in play," but we've got say this is the most, shall we say, fascinating group of suggestions we've seen in a long time. In case you've never been, Manhattan Beach is an affluent community on the Brooklyn shoreline next to Brighton Beach and across the water from Sheepshead Bay. In any case, here are the ideas that are "in play":

1) Privatize the beach
2) Charge an admission
3) Close the beach on a moments notice once the thugs, oops I mean people start to arrive
4) Have NYPD barricades along Oriental Blvd to remove them from the neighborhood and prevent them from strolling down the side streets
5) Surveillance cameras
6) Arrest them for truancy
7) Set up one entrance to the beach and have metal detectors.
8) Have NYPD @ both sides of the bridge checking ID’s.

ENOUGH ALREADY.

In addition to the shooting there was graffiti, litter and other destruction as well.

PLEASE REACH OUT TO EVERYONE IN MB TO COME DOWN. I think this is one issue that unites us all.

There's been some very strong reaction on the Sheepshead Bay/Plumb Beach Civic Association discussion forum, most of it strongly condemning the "ideas." For instance:

Metal detectors at entrances to the beach?!?!? Why stop there? Let's set up gun turrets and a razor wire fence at every entrance and turn Manhattan Beach into a bunker! There's a little something called fundamental rights in this country, and if it were up to the good doctor, we'd trample all over them for a safe, litter/graffiti free world....

Folks, Newsflash! MANHATTAN BEACH IS NOT A DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD!...Checking IDs on the footbridge? And beyond that... uh... what?!?!? What purpose does checking IDs at the footbridge serve? Want to know where people are coming from? That's a slippery slope down a dark road. And honestly, what business is it of yours where I come from, Dr. Biondo? None, I say.

Wow. We're betting this is a bunch of "ideas" that are going to reverberate.