Free Boys Ballet Class – Bay Ridge – March 16th

In an effort to encourage the development of young men in dance, Bay Ridge Ballet offers FREE classes and scholarships to boys at least five years old who are interested in pursuing dance training.

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Delvis Valdes – Sunset Park NYC Council

Delvis Valdes is running for City Council for Sunset Park – District 38 and I am glad to see the community throwing their support behind a resident. I lived 26 years of my life in Sunset Park and I hate to see what’s going on in the neighborhood under the current councilman.

Delvis Valdes has been a leader in Sunset Park for many years and he will make a good councilman. By profession, Valdes is an attorney, business owner and a children’s advocate. He  is a founding member of the Sunset Park BID. He is a member of the Sunset Park Lion Club. Valdes is a former Community Board Member. Delvis Valdes has been active in Sunset Park for many years. For the last 20 years Valdes has hosted a Three Kings Day event with lots of free gifts and food!

NY City officials have  said there are no homeless shelters in Sunset Park. Organizers said on Saturday that the City has put the homeless in 15 locations in Sunset Park. The current lazy Councilman Carlos Menchaca has refused to do anything about the hotels being used for the homeless. Residents from Queens came to Sunset Park to support the protests against homeless being housed in hotels.  (More info)

• Valdes said that Sunset Park needs more schools because there are not enough seats for children from Pre-K to high school.

• Valdes said that when he is in office, he won’t back down to the mayor and he will say, “Sunset Park is off limits to any more shelters.

• Valdes is the son of Cuban immigrants. He said he will help pass legislation for immigrants. He also wants to set up a team to help immigrants with immigration issues. Carlos Menchaca was silent when an incident happened in Sunset Park last July. 

• Valdes said he will work to stop the gentrification. The mayor and the developers want a trolley to run in Sunset Park – this will easily gentrify the area. Menchaca supports the trolley because he doesn’t live in the area.  

• Valdes is backed by supporters in Red Hook as well because Delvis Valdes reached out to them months ago.

•  The Sunset Park Library was given away to a group for it to be developed (no bid) and the people of Sunset Park are afraid are afraid of losing their library. 

The news will say that Delvis Valdes is challenging Carlos Menchaca, but Menchaca isn’t from Sunset Park or even Brooklyn so there is no challenge here. Valdes is from the area and ready to work to help the area.  Menchaca is from Texas.  Carlos Menchaca needs a job in television because he is a media hog and loves to use important issues to grandstand and get the media’s attention, but does nothing to fix the problems. In June an article appeared online calling Menchaca “a Hometown Hero.”  I asked Menchaca to correct it because it wasn’t true. Although he responded and told me he would correct it, the article still remains online here. The original article simply removed the word from the page, but not from the code (so it is still searchable here) And Menchaca is aware of that and did not have it removed.

Delvis Valdes is married with three young children.

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Brooklyn Couple Arrested in Long Island

Brittney Schmidt and Vincent Fina from Brooklyn were arrested and charged with scheme to defraud and endangering the welfare of a child on February 21st.

Apparently Brittney Schmidt, Vincent Fina and their son said they were collecting donations for Gianni Incandela, a boy who has a rare brain cancer.The police said that child is alive.  Story here and here

Here’s the sad part – they involved their son in the scam. He’s just a kid. 

More here

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Free Sing-along Shabbat in Bay Ridge

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Reverend Khader El-Yateem Lives in Dyker Heights and Doesn’t Care What Happens in Bay Ridge

Reverend Khader El-Yateem is running to represent our area for City Council. He works in Bay Ridge, but he lives in Dyker Heights. An article published almost a week ago says he lives in Bay Ridge. Acris shows that El-Yateem lives in Dyker Heights.  What bothers me is that Khader El-Yateem didn’t correct the article when he saw it contained the wrong information.   I think most politicians hope we don’t notice.  We have seen this Pastor be unresponsive to situations in Bay Ridge because he doesn’t live here.  The author of the article said he would update the article with the correct neighborhood.

El-Yateem boasted to The Voices of NY that he supports affordable housing.  I have never seen the Pastor speak out about any housing issues.  His neighbors in Dyker Heights are fighting landlords who illegally divide their homes and are renting them out to immigrants. Unsafe living conditions have been created for immigrants and for the neighbors of the building. Did Reverend El-Yateem speak up for the immigrants?  NO – he was silent. Khader El-Yateem hasn’t been fighting for fair housing for anyone in our area.

If El-Yateem became a city councilman, he would put this “affordable housing” in Bay Ridge because he lives in Dyker Heights and he doesn’t care what happens here. At the end of the day, he crosses the highway and is in a different area. 

Please don’t tell me you support an issue because you want to get the big paycheck.  Show me what you have done in the past that allows me to see that you represent everyone in a community – not just a limited group.  The article highlights El-Yateem’s staff  throwing shade at Councilman Gentile.

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El-Yateem’s Staff Speaks Disengenously About Councilman Gentile

Reverend Khader El-Yateem shows his lack of leadership  when he allowed his staff to speak on his behalf for a newspaper article. El-Yateem’s field director, Kayla Santosuosso said to the Voices of NY:

“We had elected officials who, their strongest contribution to the community has been to, you know, limit the number of hookah bars that are in this neighborhood. We have our Republican congressman who is unabashedly supporting the Muslim ban unconditionally,” says Santosuosso, who is a former special projects consultant at the Arab American Association of New York.

No Kayla Santosuosso – it’s not okay that you minimize the work of Mr. Vincent Gentile, when Gentile is Bay Ridge!

The article has been out long enough that Rev. Khader El-Yateem should have issued an apology to Gentile by now. Pastor El-Yateem didn’t want hookahs in Bay Ridge, did he? (It probably doesn’t matter to him because he lives in Dyker Heights). Santosuosso highlighted Congressman Donovan’s support of the Muslim Ban, but failed to mention that Reverend Khader El-Yateem has never publicly spoken out against Mr. Donovan or even asked Mr. Donovan to come to Bay Ridge for a town hall meeting. If Rev. Khader El-Yateem is “this great leader in our community”, we would have seen him stand up for the people in this community and call Donovan and Golden to the table to talk about their support for Trump. While El-Yateem could have called Congressman Donovan for a Bay Ridge Task Force Meeting, he didn’t!   Reverend El-Yateem has been silent. 

When hookah bars were opening everywhere, people went to Councilman Gentile and he responded. In 2010, some people thought shishka in a hookah was safer than smoking. I learned this when my students researched it with doctors from Maimonides Medical Center. Even the research back then showed it was just as harmful as cigarette. In 2016, when Bay Ridge residents living near a  hookah bar complained of smoke, Gentile intervened.  In 2016, Gentile went for a ban on hookah bars. Now research shows that shishka is actually a lot worse than smoking.  Gentile’s bill is well supported in Bay Ridge because teens believe hookah it is safe to use.

BTW, Reverend Khader El-Yateem looked pretty happy to attend Gentile’s recent event, so it is odd that he would allow his staff to speak so disingenuously about Councilman Gentile.  El-Yateem should investigate why Gentile is loved in this community. If he wasn’t term-limited out, people would vote for Vinnie again.  Maybe El-Yateem should see what Gentile is doing in Dyker Heights with El-Yateem’s neighbors who are fighting against illegal conversions. 

FYI, Councilman Gentile is one of my favorite people. Gentile doesn’t know me, but I have found him to be a consistent advocate for this community, his neighbors, senior citizens and education. A few days ago, I wrote that Rev. Khader El-Yateem was a good person, I no longer feel that as it was unkind and at the very least unprofessional.  I guess El-Yateem’s staff figures if they say enough bad things about everyone else, no one will notice that Reverend El-Yateem is silent about many things that happen in Bay Ridge and oh yeah that little thing they need to hide ->  El-Yateem supports BDS (love all but hate for some) and wants to use the Bay Ridge Council seat to support the BDS. 

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Brooklyn Geek Fest in Bay Ridge – April 1st

 
Brooklyn Geek Fest – April 1st.

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Reverend Khader El-Yateem and His Special Interests

While Khader El-Yateem may think being a Palestinian and a pastor makes him a great candidate, most people in Bay Ridge are looking for a councilperson to represent the neighborhood. Khader El-Yateem barely mentions Bay Ridge on his Facebook page. His personal  FB page is mostly filled with politics, information about Palestine and more recently Donald Trump. I understand that Rev. El-Yateem may feel that Palestinians need more of a voice in government, but I think he needs to understand this gerrymandered district of Bay Ridge a bit better. People here need the council person to help them with schools, roads, housing, safety, community programs and beautifying the area. We don’t need our councilman using the position to fight over  Israel. 

In September 2016, the NYC Council took a voted in favor of an anti-BDS resolution for NYC. If they hadn’t done this vote, I don’t think Khader El-Yateem would be running for office. BDS stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions and it’s a movement to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. The NYC Council was a bit insensitive to citizens during the meeting about the topic of BDS because Jewish council members expressed that BDS supporters are anti-semites (see Linda Sarsour speak at this meeting). The NYC Council has several strong Jewish council members and support from other non-Jewish members because Israel is an ally of the United States. Reverend El-Yateem has immediate family living in Palestine so issues with Palestine are obviously important to him.

https://www.facebook.com/khader.elyateem/posts/10153813892616332

This issue is very important to Reverand El-Yateem or he would not have made this video in 2015:

Sunset Park made the mistake of electing a councilman with special interests. Now Sunset Park suffers because the councilman, Carlos Menchaca is busy doing work on his special interests. Hotels for homeless were dropped in Sunset Park because the Councilman is not present. I feel Reverend El-Yateem’s interests would interfere with him working for Bay Ridge. I understand that there are a lot of council people working for their special interests in NYC Council, but Bay Ridge doesn’t need to see the same decline as Sunset Park.

El-Yateem Isn’t the Leadership Bay Ridge Needs

While looking on YouTube for Reverend El-Yateem, I saw this video entitled: “A Muslim Cuts a Christian Pastor’s Hair in the Church.” Why does the nationality of the barber or the person getting their hair cut matter?  Maybe that’s the difference between people who are Americans and those who have immigrated here – we don’t care. Why would the nationality matter if they knew how to cut hair well?    And really……..Why does the pastor get his hair cut at the church instead of inviting the barber to his home?

Most concerning in the video is when Reverend El-Yateem talked about Trump and “the whites” at 6:26 in this video. C’mon Reverend El-Yateem, Trump is not only supported by whites, in fact some Arabic store owners in Bay Ridge admitted to supporting Trump because he was a businessman. After being in a community like Bay Ridge for so many years, you would think that Reverend El-Yateem wouldn’t make such careless statements.

In this video, Khader El-Yateem said the death of Osama Bin Laden does not have any significance to Arabs or Muslims. REALLY? I know Arabs in Bay Ridge who were glad he was caught. Strangely the video’s description mentions the Palestinian- Israeli conflict (and this video is from 2011).  

If Khader El-Yateem was our councilman all of his energy would go towards fighting the Jewish Councilmen over Palestine. Much like his Facebook page, Bay Ridge would easily be forgotten.

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Support Small Businesses in Bay Ridge

There’s only one business from Bay Ridge on the map. If businesses are added to the map, they can apply for a grant from NYC.  Click here to add a place in Bay Ridge that you love!

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Bay Ridge Cares Plans to Renovate the Fort Hamilton Senior Center

Bay Ridge Cares is this amazing group of people in Bay Ridge who consistently look to help their neighbors in Brooklyn. 

Their upcoming project is the Fort Hamilton Senior Center looks fantastic. Your NYC tax dollars are paying for upgrades in the Senior Center, but where they aren’t, Bay Ridge Cares is stepping in to help make the place more up-to-date and functional for the seniors. See the video.  It captures the hearts of the seniors and I especially like the guy who wants to make pizza for the other seniors. I had the pleasure of getting to know Karen Tadross over 20 years ago and she really is a kind person and a fantastic leader in Bay Ridge.

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Bay Ridge Food Co-op

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July 2016 – Khader El-Yateem was Silent in Bay Ridge

I checked Khader El-Yateem’s Facebook to see his response to an incident in July 2016. He didn’t have a response. An incident involving Arabic teens being inappropriate to a woman took place outside of a mosque in Sunset Park. At first, the incident was labeled with Islamophobia, but since there was video of the incident, the NYPD were able to say the incident was not bias related.  No one cared about the unnamed woman as her rights were overshadowed by those calling out “Islamophobia” and her fiance hitting the teens. The woman sat in the car and didn’t provoke the teens to talk to her, yet even Councilman Menchaca did not speak out on her behalf.  Days later, the men at the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge mosque had a march in Bay Ridge and headed towards Marty Golden office because Golden backed Trump. They believed that Trump caused the man to hit the teens. No one wanted to discuss what was on the video or why the video was cut short.  Not one Arabic leader spoke up last Summer and said anything about the the teens’ inappropriate behavior towards a woman.

Pastor El-Yateem was silent.  Why? Because El-Yateem lives in Dyker Heights, so it doesn’t bother him that a woman was approached in a disrespectful way. It’s not his daughter so there was no reason for him to speak out. And now that El-Yateem is running for office, we are going to get “the priestly words of wisdom”: 

El-Yateem stayed silent. Jesus did not stay silent when someone was unjust towards a woman so don’t play us lip service, Reverend.  El-Yateem wasn’t bothered that Muslim teens thought it was okay to approach a woman alone in a car and speak with her in a disrespectful way.  El-Yateem didn’t seek the truth for the community and ask that the whole tape be shown (so everyone could know the truth – not just the Sunset Park mosque and the police). In 2014, when the Muslim community in Bay Ridge had an incident with a Jewish teen named Chaim Weiss (more info here), Rabbi Jack Meyer and two other rabbis from Borough Park came to Bay Ridge to smooth things over. Meyer is a recognized leader in Borough Park and he always steps up – no one needed to tell him to step up – he just does (I had the pleasure of being his neighbor before moving to Bay Ridge).

At the end of July, the newspaper announced the Bay Ridge Beyond Pride Event.

This flyer also appeared online right before the event.  So an event was happening at El-Yateem’s church, yet, no one spoke out for that woman who the Muslim teens bothered?   There wasn’t one Arabic man or woman who  said, “The behavior displayed by the teens was inappropriate and we are working as a community on this.”  NOPE – NOTHING.  

So I said something….well actually I said quite a bit to the organizers…..yup I gave my full name and my background (see public comments on twitter part 1, part 2  and here – I also spoke to Kayla through messenger). I explained why this issue was important to me and this community.  When we keep getting this wrong, a new generation learns that it is okay to be sexist and hateful.  But my complaint fell on deaf ears.

The article in the paper mentioned the string of attacks against Muslims and links to the event in Sunset Park. I asked the people sharing the flyer above who was sponsoring the event (notice the flyer doesn’t have a name or contact number). No one mentioned Reverend Khader El-Yateem’s name – in fact they didn’t really want to say any names. If I had known a pastor was involved, I would have given him a call. If Pastor El-Yateem was a leader in this community, he wouldn’t have held a forum like this at his church without speaking the truth into our neighborhood. El-Yateem doesn’t care that angry men marched in Bay Ridge because he lives in Dyker Heights and is far enough removed from the area. Pastor El-Yateem was photographed in the center of audience at this poorly attended event.    

Pastor El-Yateem never addressed any of the concerns that I made to the organizers, especially to Kayla Santosuosso who is now serving as his campaign field director. I found Ms. Santosuosso easily dismissed what I said and she was the one who told me that it had nothing to do with the Sunset Park incident. Obviously, she didn’t want to hear someone had an issue with an event she was running. Pastor El-Yateem never contacted me, even after I had so many complaints.

When there is an incident of xenophobia in Bay Ridge, let’s call it out and get those people help because so far most of the people who had problems with Muslims also had mental issues. I’m there with you on this as my students shouldn’t have to live in a world with hate. But let’s be real here – it’s fifteen years after  9/11  and most of the time people get along in Bay Ridge. Bay Ridge is made of up of a community of people who care about each other and no one wants anyone else to be hurt or suffer. When there isn’t Islamphobia,leaders need to speak up and speak the truth into our neighborhood. Not one Arabic or Muslim leader in Bay Ridge thought it was important to do this for our community this past July. Whispering about it in your church or mosque just makes you part of the problem (FYI – two leaders did contact me personally – one in Bay Ridge and one outside Bay Ridge – neither were Arabic).

Pastor Khader El-Yateem and organizers held the Beyond Pride event in July -> Pride Month is in June and no events were held for Pride Month in Bay Ridge. *If this event was to show support for the LGBTQ community, photos of the audience wouldn’t have been shared online as many have not come out to their families. Finally and most importantly, the flyer mentioned the Orlando shootings (a Muslim man named Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 at a gay club). Islam condemns homosexuality strongly (the Quran says that homosexuals should be stoned to death). While all Muslims aren’t anti-gay, many are because of their religion. Why didn’t the organizers and Pastor El-Yateem organize this event with the mosque in Bay Ridge so a real discussion could happen?  It’s easy to have an event a Christian Church where even many older people have become more accepting of homosexuality. It’s hard to have the real discussions and that’s the problem in our neighborhood. Who got paid from the event? Who funded the event – speakers and food? Why be shady if you are doing something good?  Something just wasn’t right here and the organizers purposely avoided putting a name and contact on the flyers because they didn’t want us to know who was behind the event.  

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