Why Did the People’s Pantry in Bay Ridge Move?
The People’s Pantry was placed outside of Senator Andrew Gounardes’ office last year. The people who placed it there had good intentions, but I don’t think they know 5th Avenue.
It recently moved to: 7420 – 4th Avenue. (Info here)
When it was initially delivered, everyone thought it was a great idea. We saw seniors stopping at it.
One evening, we saw two men rapidly pushing the contents of a shelf into a box. They had two more boxes on the ground, so we drove around the block. They were gone.
On another occasion, I was at the Bay Ridge dinner across the street from Gounardes office with a friend. We watched three shelves of non-perishables go into two shopping wagons. While we thought that was strange, we figured that must be normal since Gounardes staffers didn’t do anything.
Senator Gounardes doesn’t leave the Little Library that holds used books outside of his office because people will vandalize it. The Little Libraries on residential blocks usually don’t have any problems, but since people on 5th Avenue are bored and the area is empty, they do.
Here’s the strange thing: Why didn’t Gounardes provide funding the pantry? If he was, how much money was going towards it?
The pantry was always asking for donations. First they took donations through Venmo, but then they stopped accepting Venmo. (See here) Their posts on Instagram dwindled as they seem to have lost interest in the project.
Several organizations, including Bay Ridge Cares were funding the pantry for several weeks. (See here) Bay Ridge Cares received money from Mathylde Frontus (See here)
Was it too expensive for Gounardes to fund the pantry? Where did all the money from his office go?
Lee asked Senator Gounardes about how tax money was spent by his office because he thought it was strange that Gounardes wasn’t being transparent, like Mathylde Frontus has. (See here)
A community activist thought I was lying when I wrote that Gounardes did not reply to Lee’s email. That afternoon, Tori Kelly sent an e-mail with an incomplete list. Kelly wrote, that she would answer any questions. When Lee responded with a question, she she didn’t respond.
Hugs,
marlene
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