Look Back Brooklyn, 2010

We looked back over 2010 and took stock of some of our favorite trends, developments and stories. What a year, Brooklyn! We’re signing off until 2011 (though we will send out a New Year’s Eve-themed Tip Sheet next week) but first, from Brooklyn Based to you: Thank you for making this the most dynamic, contentious, delightful and outright weird place anyone could ever want to live.? Here’s what we all got into last year:

Barclays’ Parking Lot
In April, one month after the groundbreaking for Atlantic Yards, Daniel Goldstein issued a sad yet inspiring public statement. After six-plus years of leading the battle charge against AY, he struck a $3 million dollar deal to step down as the “official” spokesperson for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and evacuate his home (which the state had already seized) in 17 days. Ratner had already tried four times to get him to drop the suits; this time, eviction was imminent and he could either accept a lowball offer from the state or get paid handsomely to pack up his family quickly. But Goldstein made clear that AY was never about one apartment, and despite the fact that this abuse of eminent domain was upheld by the courts, all was not lost. “Our fight has—and this is one of the victories—given hope, inspiration and encouragement to innumerable people that a community united can fight principled fights worth fighting, regardless of the outcome,” he wrote.

Case in point: Judge Marcy Friedman recently ruled against the Empire State Development Corporation for claiming in its review that the buildout would take 10 years, when they knew it would take 25. Now they have to go back and rationalize their findings. It’s not stopping the project–which is now looking like a big-ass parking lot–but it is exposing some of the lies that helped push it through, and hopefully prevent another boondoggle like this from ever happening. Other good AY news: Norman Oder is writing a book about the entire case, which has taken a strange turn as of late, with Ratner trying to lure Chinese investment in exchange for green cards.

Hipster Hooray
We can’t begin to express how tired we are of the endless hipster debate. Haven’t kids always worn dumb clothes and disaffected attitudes like badges of honor? This year though, despite the publication of two books capitalizing on hipster haterade (Look at this F*cking Hipster, by Joe Mande and Stuff Hipsters Hate: A Field Guide to the Passionate Opinions of the Indifferent by Brenna Ehrlich and Andrea Bartz) the whole conversation began to mellow, at least a tiny bit. Back in January Justin Richards wrote a piece for New York Press called “Meet the Helpsters” in which he presented plenty of evidence that plaid-clad Williamsburg is up to more than cocaine and performance art. Richards profiled community organizers, rooftop gardeners, political activists and urban planners, all of whom might be picked out of a line-up and charged with hipsterism, but who are also working toward admirable goals like sustainable food systems, social justice and a greener Brooklyn.

Then, Lincoln Restler and Kate Zidar made a major splash on the political scene by running for district leader positions. Now, neither Restler nor Zidar is a classic Williamsburg hipster (though he sports heavy horn-rims and she teaches at Pratt), but compared to Brooklyn’s old guard politicians they may as well have campaigned in skinny jeans, Bette Midler tees and asymmetrical haircuts. Restler won his race, beating out the son of a long-time pol, though Zidar lost, and their organization, the New Kings Democrats are here to stay. Any way you slice it, in 2010 we all had to acknowledge that hipsters do more than just go to NYU, work as stylists and cash their parents’ monthly checks–even if they’re wearing the same glasses that got us beat up on the playground in fourth grade.

Clinton Hill Officially Gentrifies
For the first time in its years-long history of gentrifying, a Clinton Hill resident could find her favorite local artisinal cheese at not one, but two gourmet food shops. No, really, the drinking and eating scene on Fulton Street in Clinton Hill hasn’t advanced much beyond West African cuisine and bulletproof Chinese in the last 10 years, so it’s exciting to see fresh options on this strip. Now you can find Grayson and grass-fed beef at the Brooklyn Victory Garden, macaroons at Desserts by Michael Allan, get a drink at Fulton Grand or the just-opened Hanson Dry, and, very soon, shop at the Greene Hill Food Co-op, which will change Putnam for the best. (Their buying club starts Jan. 19!) Nearby, Franklin Ave. is also quickly changing its tune, with Dough, Choice’s brand-new donut shop; Alcatraz, a gourmet Mexican spot we take out from often; and Allison Stewart’s sweet new coffee shop, Bedford Hill. When Stewart christened her café with this name she probably sparked the imagination of a million brokers. Look for the term describing the Clinton Hill-Bed Stuy border in 2011–that’s a BB prediction.

The Great Absolut Brooklyn Debacle
This summer Absolut released a special edition vodka, flavored with apple and ginger, called Absolut Brooklyn. You’ve seen it, and its Spike Lee-designed label, in ads all over the city, and on blogs all over Brooklyn. Absolut sponsored the Brooklyn Blogfest 2010, and got a wide variety of bloggers to post about the product in exchange for a Flip camera. Not all of the bloggers made it clear that they were participating in a “quid pro post” as J. David Goodman called it in the New York Times, and a blogging ethics debate took flight. Did the deal break the code of journalistic ethics? Sure. But many of the bloggers who wrote about their Brooklyn appletinis don’t think of themselves as a member of any journalistic association or club, and hey, journalists, you can’t post a sign that says “No Bloggers Allowed” and then expect the blogoverse to follow your rules. No matter what side you come down on here, the big reveal for the Brooklyn blog world was this: People are watching, reading and following, more closely than you think.

The Weirding of Prospect Park
We love that The Brooklyn Paper both keeps us up to date on community news around the borough and makes time and space (it’s a print publication in 2010–they still have to contend with an inflexible newshole) to follow their quirky obsessions. All summer long they reported on strange occurrences in Prospect Park, ranging from piles of chicken heads to a goose found with an arrow lodged in its neck to epic trash heaps, in a series called Meadows of Shame. The park story that really went the distance though, hit the public on July 12, when it was revealed that the federal Agriculture Department had rounded up and killed nearly 400 Canadian geese that had been summering in Brooklyn. Government officials cited airline safety as the reason, and Brooklynites gathered the following week to honor the dead fowl.

End of Days Weather
So there was a tornado this fall. In Brooklyn. What more can we really say? Well, a couple things. Thanks to social media, we followed the tornado, not just from our windows, but via Twitter and the crazy photos people posted on Flickr and Facebook. The green sky was our first warning that crazy weather was to come–the second came when we read this “@redhooklobster: I swear a small tornado just came down van brunt st! Hail green sky. I was sitting in my car. Very scary.” The tornado ripped up trees all over the borough, including one in Fort Greene that was home to a bee hive. City Room published a story about the homeless bees–and their well intentioned human helpers, that was our favorite tale from the Great Brooklyn Tornado of 2010.

My Coffice is on Latte Lane in Laptopistan
Maybe it’s just because some of us here at BB have spent a considerable amount of time in the Pacific Northwest, but coffee, and coffee shop culture has always seemed like an old story to us. Then, Jon Reiss, one of our favorite new writers, pitched us a guide to coffices–coffee shops for working–last summer. He did a bang-up job on the story (though many of you were pissed that we left off your favorite coffice), and the concept ricocheted around the New York media. In December The New York Times published this piece reporting from “laptopistan,” the same week that Time Out New York presented a whole package of coffee stories, including one titled, “Best Coffee Shops for Doing Work.” Then, in last Sunday’s Week in Review section, the NYT gave “coffice” a shout out as a 2010 neologism, which apparently originated in South Korea.

Published on 12.23.10.

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Bedford Avenue Project: When They Lived in Brooklyn

Over the past two weeks we have been running stories aimed at the question, “Who is Brooklyn?” Today is the last day of the Bedford Avenue Project and although some features, such as the interactive map, will continue growing, we offer two final pieces written by the editors of the The Brooklyn Ink, Mike Hoyt and Michael Shapiro—who both, at one time, lived in Brooklyn and who both, eventually, chose to leave.

* * *

By Mike Hoyt

Rent is why I came to Brooklyn and also why I left, though there is more to the story.

I am unlikely to forget the day we moved there, because it was the day before my first child was born, in June of 1982.? We had been living in a dark and cramped fifth-floor walkup on the Upper West Side. The rooftop was basically ours in summer, which was lovely, but it was not a place to take a baby. We needed room, so we followed the subway lines out to where we might get some. We found a third-floor walkup in Carroll Gardens that made the place in Manhattan look like a closet. Beautiful tin ceilings, an ancient but airy kitchen, a closeline out the window over the fire escape. It was reasonable, too.

The landlord was rehabbing the building and behind schedule, but the pregnancy wouldn’t wait, and we were the first to move in. My wife insisted on carrying some of the small stuff, which may have triggered her labor. We went to a diner to feed the friends who had helped us, and after they left, she said, surprisingly calmly, “guess what?” The next morning, we would start a family. In Brooklyn. Everything was different.

My wife grew up in Sheepshead Bay, but even to her, Carroll Gardens was something new. And to me, a Midwesterner, it was the red-brick heart of Brooklyn. The neighborhood was solid Italian and we were not. We were the first of what would be a wave of gentrifiers, and we got a chilly reception at first. I’ve always thought that a Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza in the street right below us was staged for our benefit; it was as if a truckload of M-80s went into the celebration. But an infant in your arms soon melts that kind of tension away. Not too much later, another one was on the way, and the old women in the neighborhood claimed they could guess the gender by the shape of my wife’s belly. (They were right, too: another girl.)

Frank and Mary lived upstairs, a retired longshoreman and his wife. The landlord, we soon learned, had let them stay but had cut their apartment in half and installed a lawyer on the other side of a new wall. They would invite us upstairs to dinners, at which the first course was so delicious and bountiful that the other three were daunting. Every once in a while they blew off steam in a fight, in which the dialogue went this way:

Frank: (stage whisper) Mary! People will hear you!

Mary: (very loud) I don’t give a shit!

Frank: Mary!

Mary: I don’t give a shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

And so forth.

We loved the neighbors and the neighborhood. The food shopping was a treat. At the “Pork Store,” cheeses and meats hung from above, and the smell of roasting coffee filled the air. At the pastry store, forget about it. Two of our children were baptized in the stately old churches nearby. Daughter number one learned to ride a new blue bike, with training wheels, around the busy block, hearing a great deal of instruction from me about the function of stop signs.? We watched the old men play bocce in summer and the lights go up at Christmas.

We might have stayed, even with an expanding family, but the landlord—he who had chopped Frank and Mary’s place; he who the whole neighborhood despised, because he was an agent of the change that was to come—doubled the rent. The four of us, eventually to be five, found a nice little rental in Jersey, with a yard and a street full of neighbor kids running around. That place we came to love, too, but we still come back to Carroll Gardens to walk around.

.

* * *

.

By Michael Shapiro

I was 21 when I finally left Brooklyn, and in 1974 that was considered late. Brooklyn was then a place to leave, especially if you were young and eager and searching for people just like you. My parents wanted to leave in 1952 and would have moved to Long Island had my grandfather been willing to help them with the $1, 000 down payment for a house in Syosett. He was sure that if they moved to “the country” he and my grandmother would never see us again.

My parents, as if trying to create some distance from the borough in which they’d both grown up, refused to join in the ritual of the Sunday dinners?at?Lundy’s,?the vast barn of a restaurant in Sheepshead Bay. They aspired to Manhattan, which meant family dinners in the Village at places like the Ninth Circle Steakhouse and Monte’s, on MacDougal?Street.

My Brooklyn felt like a great, flat, and lifeless place, where my friends and I longed for the day when we could drive, and, at long last, get away. It was possible to live in a tiny pocket of Brooklyn, and seldom step outside. I certainly did. My life was confined to the square mile that encompassed my elementary school, high school and alma mater, Brooklyn College, right across the street from?Midwood?High. Everyone I knew and loved lived within that square mile, a village in the city.

There was nothing cool about my Brooklyn and nothing especially cool about the rest of the borough, save for the occasional Bohemian apartment, like the one on President Street across from Prospect Park where my music teacher lived. A friend who lived in Park Slope avoided having people visit her home because she was embarrassed about living in such a down-on-its-heels neighborhood.

Brooklyn then was caught between two epochs: the time of the Dodgers when, as selective memory had it, the sun shone every day on a packed Ebbets Field; and the then-unimaginable Brooklyn where young people flocked to, of all places, Williamsburg.

And so it felt necessary to leave. Maybe you left for college, and did not come back and, or, you waited until you got married and left first for Staten Island and for New Jersey, returning on weekends to visit your parents until they left, too, for South Florida.

I left for graduate school, having lingered a little too long, perhaps out of inertia, or more likely out of fear of leaving my small, safe if stultifying corner of the world.

I did not find the leaving easy. But then leaving for the unknown and unfamiliar never is, no matter how thrillingly it is anticipated. I came twice to live, but did not stay long. My parents left, and settled where they’d always wanted to be: Manhattan.

It would be nice to be able to say that I missed Brooklyn. But I did not, certainly not the place I knew. Yet I felt, and still feel, a connection to the place, not as it was, but as I imagined it might have once been like—the sepia-tinged Brooklyn of kids playing stickball in the streets, the stoops filled with people, the Dodgers on the radio.

I do not recognize Brooklyn as it has become, the Brooklyn where my son goes to high school and my daughter goes to eat. I am a stranger there, having left long before it was fashionable to stay.

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Brooklyn School Library opens – and closes – its doors

Principal Sandra D'avilar shows off P.S. 9's brand new library that she will promptly close, for lack of librarians. (Alex Alper/The Brooklyn Ink)

By Alex Alper

On November 12, P.S. 9 and M.S. 571 unveiled a revamped school library, which they promptly closed, because there was no librarian.

“Here we truly came together…with a common cause … and created this for our youngsters,” said Sandra D’Avilar, Principal of the elementary school that renovated the library, but whose tightened budget no longer had room for a librarian. “And it’s still not enough to make someone from the Board of Education call and say, ‘hey, we found some money. We‘re going to send someone you can interview, and we’re going to find you a librarian.’”

Out of 880 elementary schools in New York City, 519 had a library and no librarian last year. That’s more than a 300 percent increase in elementary school libraries without libraries over the previous year, after remaining relatively flat over the previous three years.

“Accountability trumps everything,” said a city education department insider who wanted to remain anonymous, because of the sensitivity of the issue. “There is no accountability for information skills, just for literacy and math; therefore, principals figure that libraries don’t make a difference in their bottom line of student test scores.”

The cuts follow a long trend: since 1998, the first year for which there is data available, New York City elementary school librarians have decreased by more than half.

“What is happening all around the country is that, as schools are faced with budget cuts and they have to decide what is going to go…they are eliminating the library because it is harder to rationalize cutting a teacher,” said Kiki Dennis, a parent at P.S. 9 and decorator who designed the library said.

Nationally, figures were not available especially for elementary schools, but the number of school librarians decreased by about 3 percent.

New York State law requires elementary schools to have libraries, but not librarians. Middle and high schools are required to have both.

Many legislative efforts have been made to extend the librarian requirement to elementary schools in New York but so far none have been successful.

In 1985, the Citizen’s Committee for Children and the Women’s City Club of New York, conducted a study of New York City elementary schools and recommended that the librarian mandate be extended to K-6. They were unsuccessful, just as a bill requiring the same thing was rejected in the state assembly in 1994.

In a three-part study, Ruth Schwartz, Director of School Media Program at Syracuse University found that elementary students in schools where there were well-trained, certified librarians, had significantly higher test scores on national achievement tests than elementary schools that did not have such personnel, even if they had a library. While the correlation existed for secondary students as well, it was much more significant at the elementary level.

“This was ammunition to make the case for certified librarians at the elementary level and we were making progress, and then this financial crisis hit and all our efforts flew out the door,” she said.

Arkansas, Hawaii, and South Carolina all have state laws requiring that every school have a school librarian, according to Nancy Everhart, President of the American Association of School librarians. Many states lack a librarian mandate at any level, she says.

But despite the almost unanimous support for extending the librarian mandate to elementary schools, the Commissioner’s regulation on librarian placement has not changed substantially since it was passed in 1928.

According to a State Education official who also declined to be named, the state’s push to ensure all school librarians are certified is also causing the decline. Finding certified librarians is sometimes a challenge.

The number of certified librarians in New York City elementary schools has increased almost three fold since 1998. In the same period, the number of uncertified librarians at the elementary level decreased by three quarters.

Another reason for school library neglect is the strength of the New York Public library system, the fourth largest in the country, without 87 branches.

P.S. 9 is five blocks from a public library and books line the shelves of most elementary school classrooms.

Still, the parents of P.S. 9 were adamant that the school have its own library, funded through grants from Brooklyn politicians.

“Our goal is to really have this be a fully staffed space that becomes an educational tool and resource, an additional support to the curriculum that is happening here,” said Dennis.

Parents are confident the school will get funding for a librarian.

“The numbers can get crunched. Something can get moved around. Somebody who might be on payroll might be moved off,” said Laura Jaffe, another P.S. 9 parent. “[D’Avilar] doesn’t just think outside the box. She throws away the box.”

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Markowitz Pushes for Skyscraper Historic District in Downtown Brooklyn

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz lent his support to plans to designate the center of Downtown Brooklyn as New York’s first “Skyscraper Historic District”, according to The New York Post.

However, he clarified that his support hinges on the removal of a co-op complex at 75 Livingston St. from the proposal. The designation would protect the buildings in it from being demolished by developers.

Opponents to the plan say it will increase rents and costs of living in the area, potentially driving people out.

Tags: Downtown Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz, Skyscraper Historic District

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Brooklyn School Library opens – and closes – its doors

Principal Sandra D'avilar shows off P.S. 9's brand new library that she will promptly close, for lack of librarians. (Alex Alper/The Brooklyn Ink)

By Alex Alper

On November 12, P.S. 9 and M.S. 571 unveiled a revamped school library, which they promptly closed, because there was no librarian.

“Here we truly came together…with a common cause … and created this for our youngsters,” said Sandra D’Avilar, Principal of the elementary school that renovated the library, but whose tightened budget no longer had room for a librarian. “And it’s still not enough to make someone from the Board of Education call and say, ‘hey, we found some money. We‘re going to send someone you can interview, and we’re going to find you a librarian.’”

Out of 880 elementary schools in New York City, 519 had a library and no librarian last year. That’s more than a 300 percent increase in elementary school libraries without libraries over the previous year, after remaining relatively flat over the previous three years.

“Accountability trumps everything,” said a city education department insider who wanted to remain anonymous, because of the sensitivity of the issue. “There is no accountability for information skills, just for literacy and math; therefore, principals figure that libraries don’t make a difference in their bottom line of student test scores.”

The cuts follow a long trend: since 1998, the first year for which there is data available, New York City elementary school librarians have decreased by more than half.

“What is happening all around the country is that, as schools are faced with budget cuts and they have to decide what is going to go…they are eliminating the library because it is harder to rationalize cutting a teacher,” said Kiki Dennis, a parent at P.S. 9 and decorator who designed the library said.

Nationally, figures were not available especially for elementary schools, but the number of school librarians decreased by about 3 percent.

New York State law requires elementary schools to have libraries, but not librarians. Middle and high schools are required to have both.

Many legislative efforts have been made to extend the librarian requirement to elementary schools in New York but so far none have been successful.

In 1985, the Citizen’s Committee for Children and the Women’s City Club of New York, conducted a study of New York City elementary schools and recommended that the librarian mandate be extended to K-6. They were unsuccessful, just as a bill requiring the same thing was rejected in the state assembly in 1994.

In a three-part study, Ruth Schwartz, Director of School Media Program at Syracuse University found that elementary students in schools where there were well-trained, certified librarians, had significantly higher test scores on national achievement tests than elementary schools that did not have such personnel, even if they had a library. While the correlation existed for secondary students as well, it was much more significant at the elementary level.

“This was ammunition to make the case for certified librarians at the elementary level and we were making progress, and then this financial crisis hit and all our efforts flew out the door,” she said.

Arkansas, Hawaii, and South Carolina all have state laws requiring that every school have a school librarian, according to Nancy Everhart, President of the American Association of School librarians. Many states lack a librarian mandate at any level, she says.

But despite the almost unanimous support for extending the librarian mandate to elementary schools, the Commissioner’s regulation on librarian placement has not changed substantially since it was passed in 1928.

According to a State Education official who also declined to be named, the state’s push to ensure all school librarians are certified is also causing the decline. Finding certified librarians is sometimes a challenge.

The number of certified librarians in New York City elementary schools has increased almost three fold since 1998. In the same period, the number of uncertified librarians at the elementary level decreased by three quarters.

Another reason for school library neglect is the strength of the New York Public library system, the fourth largest in the country, without 87 branches.

P.S. 9 is five blocks from a public library and books line the shelves of most elementary school classrooms.

Still, the parents of P.S. 9 were adamant that the school have its own library, funded through grants from Brooklyn politicians.

“Our goal is to really have this be a fully staffed space that becomes an educational tool and resource, an additional support to the curriculum that is happening here,” said Dennis.

Parents are confident the school will get funding for a librarian.

“The numbers can get crunched. Something can get moved around. Somebody who might be on payroll might be moved off,” said Laura Jaffe, another P.S. 9 parent. “[D’Avilar] doesn’t just think outside the box. She throws away the box.”

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A Life in Court: Friendship and Corruption Inside the Brooklyn System

At the Brooklyn Supreme Court, attorney John O’Hara files amendments to the wrongful death suit he is pursuing on behalf of his friend, the late Judge John Phillips. (Alysia Santo/The Brooklyn Ink)

By Alysia Santo

Attorney John O’Hara, 49, is waging a campaign to expose the treatment that his mentor and friend, Judge John Phillips, endured in the last years of his life. O’Hara is representing Reverend Samuel Boykin, Phillips nephew and administrator of the estate in a $10 million wrongful death suit against the residential facility where Phillips died in February of 2008.

The suit, which was brought early this year, alleges that Phillips was “confined against his will for approximately eight months by the defendants at their facility,” and that as a diabetic, he did not receive the proper diet and frequently missed his insulin shots.

It’s sharp contrast to Phillips’ 13 years on the bench in the Brooklyn civil court, where he was nicknamed the “Kung Fu Judge” because of his 10th degree black belt. In those days he was an elected trustee of the people, tasked with dispensing justice.

But O’Hara’s crusade for Phillips started long before he died. He says that Phillips’ trouble began after he started telling people he wanted to run for District Attorney in 2000 against Charles “Joe” Hynes.

Soon after Phillips made his announcement to run, Assistant District Attorney Steven Kramer became concerned when stopping by Judge Phillips’ property to investigate an alleged real estate crime. According to Orlando Rivera, a spokesperson for the DA’s office, “Justice Phillips’ home was in disarray,” and the judge appeared “disoriented and uncared for.” Kramer began writing letters to local judges recommending that a “law guardian be appointed to oversee Justice Phillips’ finances and protect his numerous and valuable assets.”

Judge Leonard Scholnick placed Phillips in the State Supreme Court’s guardianship program, and over a period of 8 years Phillips estate went from an estimated $10 million to owing $2 million in taxes. This all under the watch of a series of five different court appointed guardians whose responsibility was to protect Phillips interests.

O’Hara and other defenders of Judge Phillips say this is one of several examples of the Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles “Joe” Hynes, using his power and influence over the court to undermine political challengers.

O’Hara’s perspective on the DA’s office comes from personal experience: after successfully running candidates against the Brooklyn Democratic machine in the early ‘90s, District Attorney Hynes indicted him for allegedly breaking a number of election laws. After three trials and three appeals he became the second person to be convicted for false registration and illegal voting since Susan B. Anthony in 1873. He was disbarred in 1997 but in 2008, following Phillips’ death, he applied for reinstatement to the bar.

In October 2008, the members of the New York State Committee on Character and Fitness granted reinstatement in a unanimous vote. “Mr. O’Hara, accurately it appears, claims the machine went gunning for him,” stated the committee’s report, which concluded that O’Hara had been the victim of a political prosecution.

Sandra Roper says she suffered at the hands of DA Hynes as well after she ran in Judge Phillips’ place for DA in 2001. After her run, she spent the next couple of years in court, defending herself against felony theft charges that she felt were brought about to punish her for challenging Hynes in the election. After she was found not guilty, she pursued Hynes on a selective prosecution charge but it was dropped.

Phillips believed he was suffering from a political persecution as well. In a letter dated April 11th, 2001, Phillips wrote to his attorney, Dominick Fusco, that the Kings County DA’s office “is behind a plan to declare me incompetent prior to my announcing my candidacy in the democratic primary against Mr. Charles Hynes.”

“What happened to Judge Phillips is so bad. I’ll never let this go,” says O’Hara. His recent reinstatement to the New York bar is O’Hara’s last hope to get the late justice he feels Judge Phillips so strongly deserves.

It is a twisted ending to a long friendship. O’Hara and Judge Phillips had both been mavericks in the Brooklyn political scene, challenging the established Brooklyn Democratic Party machine.

******

The two men met in 1976, when O’Hara was 15 and Phillips was 51, while O’Hara was volunteering in a state assembly campaign at the Board of Elections in downtown Brooklyn. “I had always heard about the Kung Fu Judge,” says O’Hara. “When I met him he was larger than life. He invited me to come out to his campaign headquarters in Bed Stuy.” O’Hara would pedal his bike the six miles from Bay Ridge to help Phillips hang posters and get ballot signatures.

When O’Hara was applying to law school, Phillips, now a judge, mailed and phoned a recommendation for all 12 schools that he was applying to. “I told him I was driving a cab one night a week extra to get the money orders for the applications. He kind of laughed because I didn’t have a checking account.” O’Hara chokes back tears remembering when he went to go pick up the recommendations from Phillips. “Inside each file he had written out the check for the application fee for each law school. I remember these things like they were yesterday.”

After Phillips lost his reelection bid in 1986, he tried to run again in 1990 and 1991. Signatures were intensely scrutinized and Phillips applications for a spot on the ballot were denied both years. In 1992, O’Hara helped him get on the ballot, and the voters elected him. “I made sure all the petition technicalities were there,” says O’Hara. As the years went by, the friendship evolved. “Even though he was twice my age and a different color, we just had a kind of understanding, “ O’Hara says. “We had a mutual admiration for each other that had grown over time.”

O’Hara’s habit of running campaigns against establishment Democrats was sidelined in 1996 with his indictment by the DA’s office for casting an illegal vote from a residence which was not his “principal and permanent address.” The charges were prosecuted three separate times, a rare occurrence, particularly for a nonviolent crime. A Brooklyn courthouse insider who spoke to Brooklyn Ink anonymously, said people who knew about the prosecutions saw it as corrupt, “Everyone could smell a rat.”

The DA’s office responded through an emailed memo. “We cannot comment or engage on a conversation beyond what is given to you on these documents,” writes spokesperson Orlando Rivera. In a play by play of the trials and appeals, the DA’s office lists the evidence against Phillips, yet does not directly respond to any of the questions surrounding the allegations being made by O’Hara and others.

O’Hara was disbarred in 1997 and fined $20,000. Over the next 10 years he fulfilled 1500 hours of community service in the same parks that he used to campaign in. One of them was even across the street from his high school. “I called it the chain gang,” he says. After being recognized one day, O’Hara bought a green jacket and pants. “I wanted to blend in with the park employees.”

After O’Hara’s conviction in 1997, he found out that Judge Phillips had been trying to run for DA in that year’s election, but had been taken off the ballot over his petitions for the third time. “I tracked him down and I said Judge, why didn’t you tell me you were running for DA, and he said ‘I wanted to surprise you’,” says O’Hara. “He told me he wanted to take Hynes out because of what he did to me.”

The pair started planning out Phillips’ run for DA in 2001. “We knew this guy could be taken out,” says O’Hara. “Phillips was a black man with a lot of money. That’s what made Hynes nervous.”

******

Weeks after telling friends he was running against Hynes, Phillips was visited by doctors under a court order from Justice Leonard Scholnick. In sealed court transcripts from a hearing about Phillips’ medical status in 2001, Dr. James J. Lynch, a Brooklyn-based psychiatrist, testified that he became alarmed during the examination when Phillips started telling him why he thought he was there. According to Lynch, Phillips said, “the District Attorney is involved, specifically an Assistant District Attorney, but that person was part of the conspiracy against him, was trying to take his funds, take his property.”

Two different doctors testified that Phillips was suffering from early stage dementia but that the condition was not putting him in “acute danger” and that with a “home attendant” to help him clean, cook, and shop, it “would be an okay situation.” The same day as the testimony, Phillips was placed under the control of the first of almost a half-dozen court-appointed guardians. His person and his property were now under the direction of the Brooklyn court system – a system in which he himself had once presided.

In an emailed response from the DA’s office, Rivera attached a memo saying that Judge Phillips was placed into a guardianship program because ADA Kramer was concerned about his mental health and “sought to help.” It was all done to protect the judge, since Phillips was “considered a friend and mentor by many people in the District Attorney’s office.”

In 2004, Phillips was taken against his will to East Haven Nursing and Rehab in the Bronx. Ezra Glaser, Phillips’ attorney during his time there, says in his experience with guardianship it is unusual to declare someone incompetent during the early stages of dementia. “The fact that he [Hynes] has such extraordinary care for an old man that wants to run against him just seems a little bit odd to me,” says Glaser.

Officials at East Haven upheld an order from Brooklyn Judge Michael Pesce saying Phillips couldn’t receive any mail, phone calls, and visitors were limited to a short list of people, at times being denied access completely. John O’Hara was horrified, and went into action. “I held a demonstration in front of Pesce’s house. I would take the files Phillips was receiving, many of which became sealed, and I would mail them to reporters everywhere.”

When O’Hara was denied access to Judge Phillips, he snuck into the building. “I got Phillips on tape saying get me out of here, they are holding me hostage,” says O’Hara, who then passed the tapes to a reporter at the New York Post. A series of articles ensued, with titles like “’Prisoner’ Judge Bids for Liberty.” (Grace Bargrese, an employee of East Haven who was around Phillips during his time there said she was “not interested in sharing any information” about Phillips.)

Samuel Boykin, Phillips’ nephew, also fought to help Phillips. “They used a court order to put a person in a nursing home against the family members’ will,” says Boykin. “We challenged the court’s position, we wanted to make his golden years more comfortable. But they denied that every time.”

Reverend Samuel Boykin and Judge John Phillips at East Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation in 2006. (Courtesy of Samuel Boykin)

After two and a half years, Phillips was moved from East Haven to Prospect Park Residential. Eight months later, Phillips died in the elevator of what O’Hara calls “his nursing home jail.” O’Hara and others close to Phillips say the residence failed to properly provide for his diabetic needs.

According to court documents, since 2001 Phillips had gone through five different court appointed guardians and three judges. His estate was effectively robbed. All 12 of his properties, which consisted of multiple apartment buildings and storefronts across Brooklyn, were sold. His assets, which totaled over $10 million, were now in the red, where they remain. According to court documents, Phillips estate owes the IRS $2 million. In a summary by the last court appointed guardian, James Cahill, not one of the guardians ever filed a tax return and not one of them has ever been brought up on charges, although the Committee on Character and Fitness disbarred one of the guardians, Emani Taylor, for embezzling Phillips’ funds.

******

When O’Hara realized that Judge Phillips would not be able to run for DA, he looked up the name of a civil rights attorney named Sandra Roper, whose law office happened to be just around the corner from Phillips’ office. Roper was well known in the Brooklyn community, and had recently met with Phillips to discuss running on the same slate for a seat in the city council. She had worked for the NAACP, and had admired Phillips both as lawyer and judge. O’Hara and Roper had never met, but O’Hara suggested she switch her campaign to run for DA’s office – which would fill the slot that Phillips couldn’t.

Roper demurred at first. But then she started hearing the stories about what had happened to Phillips. “People on the block mentioned some police-looking folks had come and scooped up judge Phillips and took him,” says Roper. “No one knew where he was at that particular time. Soon I got the whole story about O’Hara and Phillips. And that’s when I made my decision to run for DA.”

Peter Sweeney and Eileen Nadelson joined the opposition ticket to run for the judgeship alongside Roper. The campaign had almost no money. “People who run for school council spend more money,” says O’Hara. But they managed to line up the signatures needed to get on the ballot. Two hundred volunteers over the course of two weeks gathered 12,839 petitions.

The legal backlash came quickly. Attorneys for Hynes sent investigators to the homes of Ropers petitioners. According to court documents, one hundred seventy-two witnesses were subpoenaed, including Roper’s father – who had died 11 years prior.

“As surreal as it was when I found out what happened to Phillips and O’Hara, what ensued after was beyond surreal,” says Roper. In what is believed to be the largest election-law matter in Brooklyn history, over 10,000 signatures were scrutinized. After six weeks in court, the judge ordered Roper’s name removed from the ballot, along with the two candidates for judge.

Yet the New York State Appellate Division reversed this decision two days later. Judge Nadelson and Judge Sweeney won their seats, but Roper ended up losing the election. Despite her loss, she showed the DA’s vulnerability. As an unknown female candidate with almost no funding, Roper had managed to get 37 percent of the vote.

Roper’s legal woes continued when in 2003 she was indicted in the Brooklyn Supreme Court on felony theft charges after a former client, Mary Ward, filed a complaint with the DA’s office charging that Roper had cheated her out of $8,000. Roper had already been exonerated from these charges after Ward filed a complaint with the Bar Association Discipline Committee.

It is unusual for any attorney to be prosecuted on charges that have already been exonerated by the grievance department due to the exhaustive nature of the reviews. According to court documents, it was revealed at trial that Ward had a long history of filing complaints against attorneys. “For [Hynes] to allow this to go forward even though I had been cleared speaks volumes,” says Roper.

The trial ended in a hung jury — eight of the jurors found her innocent. In 2006, Roper filed a lawsuit against Hynes and the New York State Unified Court System, alleging that a “selective prosecution” had cost her a job as a court attorney and deprived her of her right to run for office. “I wasn’t suing about money, I wasn’t suing about getting my job back, I wanted vindication,” says Roper. Ezra Glaser, Phillips’ and O’Hara’s former attorney, represented her. “A prosecutor has immense powers,” says Glaser. “He had immunity to act as a government actor, so the charges were dropped.” Phone calls and emails about the Roper case were not returned by the DA’s office.

“People who fight the system pay a big price,” says Judge Nadelson, who retired last year. “The party is making the rules about who can be a judge, or a politician, or anything else. It’s scary when you think about it.”

******

It was after delivering the eulogy at Phillips’ funeral in February 2008 that O’Hara decided to go back to his beginnings – as a lawyer in the courts. As Roper, O’Hara, and Glaser stood outside together, watching the casket being put into the hearse, Roper said, “You know, it just doesn’t seem like its really final.” The next day O’Hara and Glaser starting working on O’Hara’s motion for reinstatement to the bar.

While Roper has stepped out of the political arena, she has researched and written pardon requests for O’Hara four times. Glaser recently filed this year’s pardon request to the governor.

“You become consumed with your own vindication,” says O’Hara, who says he is not done with the Brooklyn DA office yet. “I am considering running for DA in 2013.”

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Made in Brooklyn: Bonbon Oiseau

Deb Stein is not what you’d expect from a jewelry designer. She doesn’t keep up with fashion magazines, doesn’t consider next season’s trends, and doesn’t have an Etsy store. In fact, she never even meant to be a jewelry designer. Her company, Bonbon Oiseau, just sort of happened.

“I really backed into this business,” she remembers. “I was selling a few pieces I’d made at a friend’s shop called Therapy in Williamsburg. Daily Candy wrote about my stuff, and suddenly, I had a business.” She’d dabbled in beading during grad school, but otherwise, she had no background in jewelry making. “I started getting emails from Teen Vogue and shops all over the country. And I thought, ‘I don’t even know how to do this.’”

That was in 2005. Today, Stein’s Bonbon Oiseau creations—all made in her Greenpoint studio—grace showroom floors from Paris to Tokyo, and are mainstays at Brooklyn boutiques like Cog & Pearl and Kill Devil Hill, and shops spanning the US and Europe. And while you won’t find any Bonbons on Etsy, Stein does have online shops on Big Cartel and the Bonbon Oiseau website.

Stein’s style is punctuated by a certain spunk that can only come from such unconventional beginnings. Before stumbling into jewelry, she was a painter with an eye (and ear) for stories. She spent two years in India researching a family of toymakers and artisans to see how they passed tradition through their families. “They did everything from scratch. Every little bit—the hair from their paintbrush was pulled from a squirrel’s tail, and that squirrel was in a cage right next to them.” She’d uncover their stories and weave them into her paintings, fueled by her subjects’ dedication to handmade everything. So when Stein dropped painting and picked up jewelry designing, it makes sense that her storytelling bug immediately resurfaced.

She’s since mastered her jewelry-making techniques through metal smithing and stone setting classes, but otherwise, Stein is entirely self-taught. “Mostly I subvert the techniques into what I need them for and what I want to do,” she says. “I still consult with my old teacher, Caroline Glemann from Liloveve, or a few fellow designers (like Virginia Galvan) who are great metal smiths.”

Antique glass, beads, and reclaimed treasures mark her signature style in every piece. But nothing within the Bonbon line is arbitrary. Every collection unravels astory, and each piece is a vignette from that tale. Many series even belong to a sole heroine. “In the ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ collection, I imagined the main character Phileas Fogg as an intrepid female traveler touring the world and picking up little talismans along the way,” Stein explains. “Each charm and detail in the collection reflect the memories and souvenirs I imaged she’d brought home.”

Her “Reve des Bonnie & Clyde” collection is inspired by—yes—renegade outlaws Bonnie & Clyde. Stein made each piece imagining what Bonnie Parker might have had in her jewelry box while on the road. The result was hand-wrought silver, Victorian etched glass hearts, antique charms, and woven chains with a sexy edge.

Not every backstory is borne from quirky characters: many Bonbon creations come from Stein’s own travels. One of her most cherished collections is inspired by a trip to China. “The idea started with Bruce Chatwin. He published an essay called “Rock’s World” about an ancient village outside of Lijiang,” she explains. She visited the village after reading the essay, and years later, the “Fleuri d’Hiver” collection emerged. “That collection came from every detail I remembered about the nature, people, and colors I experienced there. The red from a thousand-year-old camellia tree that a monk protected during the Cultural Revolution. The yellow of the mustard fields. The celestial symbols the Naxi women wore on their coats were represented by little black sequins.”

Even the beads Stein uses tell a story. Many come from sources in Paris, Texas, and here in New York. “My favorite source,” she says, “is a genteel old-school Frenchman with a jewelry shop in Paris. His daughter saw my work and told me the glass I was using was the work of her grandfather. So I went [to her father’s shop] and he tentatively showed me a tray of beautiful old glass rings and funny twisted beads in bright reds, turquoise, violet, and ivory. He told me his father used to produce the glass beads for Chanel and the costumes of the Folies Bergere dancers in the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s.

“When I came back the next day—always a two day process with him because he’s only willing to show me a few things at a time—we bargained for over an hour in a very Victorian way—he wrote down the prices to show for my approval, I’d cross it off and say I could pay this for this many, it went on and on! A true character that makes designing with the beads that much more inspiring.”

A story is literally hiding in every detail of her work, whether it’s in the beads themselves, or Stein’s design muses. Bonbon Oiseau’s upcoming 2011 collection, “Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining,” takes an unexpected turn. There are no villains or enchanting voyages behind these creations. The sole inspiration, in fact, is Stein’s father. “He’d always use these old sayings—he’d often say, ‘every cloud has a silver lining.’ After a sad year of mourning his death, I was inspired to create an uplifting collection based on his favorite saying.” Together with her assistant, Vanessa Kinzer (who helps create every collection), Stein used seed beads to design intricate woven patterns that look like clouds. A thin silver (or gold, above) chain creates the graceful lining.

Stein also brings her fervor for people and stories back into the Brooklyn community. She spearheads an annual holiday raffle for the Food Bank of New York City, where she and eight other artists donate a piece of their work to the prize. The swag features Brooklyn-made goodies including a feather calendar by the?Wild Unknown, assorted wonders from Sesame Letterpress, hand-poured organic candles from Tamika Rivera of Therapy, and a set of jewelry from Bonbon Oiseau’s own Fleuri d’Hiver collection. The winner is drawn on Christmas Eve, so there’s still time to throw your hat into the fashionably charitable ring—details can be found on the Bonbon Oiseau blog.

“It’s an especially fun raffle to organize because everyone is so grassroots,” Stein said. “If we can band together and offer our work as a way to give back, it’s a no-brainer.”

Maria Gagliano is a writer, book editor, and co-publisher of Slice magazine. She’s a Bensonhurst native living in Park Slope, where she’s teaching herself to sew, garden, pickle, preserve, and bake like her Sicilian family. She chronicles her (mis)adventures at pomatorevival.com.

Published on 12.15.10.

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MTA Connects Subways in Downtown Brooklyn

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be opening a new subway stop in Downtown Brooklyn. According to NY1, the MTA announced it is opening a transfer connector between Jay Street and Lawrence Street, connecting riders from the A, C and F lines at Jay Street to the R line at Lawrence Street. Not only will the two subway stations be linked, but the $160 million project also includes a renovation of the Jay Street/Borough Hall stop.

Tags: Downtown Brooklyn, Jay Street, MTA

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Brooklyn Woman Allegedly Attacks MTA Bus Driver

A woman allegedly attacked an MTA bus driver on her morning to commute, accusing her of purposely driving slow. Alicea Diaz of Coney Island was aboard the B82 Limited in Bensonhurst when she allegedly yelled and hit bus driver Jacqueline Benjamin, 60-years-old, reported the New York Post. Diaz was charged at Brooklyn Criminal Court with assault, menacing, harassment and criminal mischief. Attacking an MTA employee is considered a felony and Diaz could face jail time. The driver was taken to Coney Island Hospital to be treated for pain in her eye and forehead. She was not charged.

Tags: Bensonhurst, Coney Island, MTA

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Brooklyn Battery Tunnel To Be Renamed

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Three Brooklyn Congressional Representatives to Lose Clout

Darrell Issa (R-CA) current ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is taking over the chairmanship from Edolphus Towns (D - NY) as part of the new Republican congressional leadership. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By Miranda Neubauer

Brooklyn’s clout in the new U.S. Congress will be greatly diminished come January. Despite easy victories in November, the borough’s three most powerful congressional representatives will be removed from leadership posts in three House committees when the new Republican majority is sworn in.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D), who represents Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick and Sunset Park, among other areas, will lose her chairmanship of the House Committee on Small Business that she has held since 2007.

One organization that is set to receive $750,000 in federal funding this year through Congresswoman Velazquez’s position is the Brooklyn Kings County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The money will fund a not-for-profit business incubator program.

The loss of her position on the committee “will be a detriment to the aspiring entrepreneurs and to the small business community in general, ” said resident Rick Miranda.

The organization, which has existed since 2005, also offers loans through the Small Business Administration, helps minority owned businesses obtain certification to do work for the city and hosts educational and networking forums.

“Someone like Congresswoman Velazquez, who came from a pretty poor background herself, … she realizes that the middle-class citizens that contemplate and dream about opening up a business can never take the plunge because they never have the money or the savvy or the education,” said Miranda. Miranda also pointed out that the group’s business incubator could sponsor six businesses per quarter, amounting to 24 a year. “A huge mouthful in this economy.”

Without Velazquez, said Miranda, he fears such funding for small business might dry up. The new Republican majority “should take a real hard look at what is available and continue to assist those programs that are doing well and not just say we need to cut our spending on these programs.” The new majority should not “choke us in our ability to execute services to the small business community.”

The weakening of the power of other Brooklyn congressmen will have more national effect.

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D), who represents Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville and East New York, among other areas, will lose his position as chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee—a position he has held since 2009.

The change in chairmanship of the committee has a national impact, Julian Phillips, Towns’ spokesperson said. “The congressman was such a strong ally for the president … now that he will more than likely be taking a lesser role, obviously the kind of power and influence he was able to wield as chairman will no longer be the case.” Over the summer, Towns held a hearing in Brooklyn to examine a case of fraud at a Brooklyn census office, after two managers were fired for fraudulently filling out census forms.

As chairman of an investigative committee with subpoena power, Towns has also investigated the BP oil spill and the Toyota recall, among other major issues. “The new chairman may have a different agenda,” Phillips said. While Towns will be able to serve the community as Congressman and as ranking minority member, “his powers will be less than what they were.”

In fall 2009, Director of the National Urban League Marc Morial testified at an Oversight Committee hearing about the impact of the economic crisis on minority communities. With the change in leadership, Morial said, “you’re not going to have as much of an examination of policies and solutions [related to] the disparities of the recession and the disparities of the subprime crisis.”? Foreclosure rates have been highest in areas with high minority populations, such as Bushwick.

Jerrold Nadler (D), representing Coney Island, Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge, will go from high ranking to minority status in the Judiciary and Transportation and Infrastructure committees.

Nadler’s spokesman Ilan Kayatsky also said it is too early to tell how the new majority will play out. “We will still be fighting for the same transportation reforms, such as seeking more funding for mass transit and high speed rail.”

Kayatsky added that “more debates and disagreement on how much and where and why” would be expected with Republicans in the majority. Democrats, he said, will no longer be “driving the house agenda” as negotiations get underway. With a new six year transportation up for reauthorization, Kayatsky said that for Nadler, “it’s really about funding mass transit as much as possible.” The congressman’s priority, he went on to say, was increasing sustainable transportation options and expanding rail freight with “less focus on cars and roads.”

Last July, Nadler helped to secure $ 450,000 for a Brooklyn Waterfront Transportation Study, which will explore the transportation improvements necessary to develop a container port at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park. According to the congressman’s summer press release, “the development of deep water port facilities in New York Harbor will create tens of thousands of jobs in New York City and the region, and will protect New York’s position as the East Coast’s major gateway to global trade.”

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Contestants in Latest Season of ‘Top Chef’ to Reside in Brooklyn Heights Penthouse

The eighth season of “Top Chef” returns to New York this December, but the contestants will live in a penthouse atop One Brooklyn Bridge Park, PR Newswire reports. The “Sky House” is a 4,628-square-foot, four bedroom unit priced at $7.25 million, making it the second most expensive apartment in Brooklyn. The place features a custom Italian kitchen built by Dada. The building’s facilities include a fitness room, yoga room, media lounge, indoor virtual golf, valet,?concierge?and 7,000 square feet of landscaped gardens. “The luxurious penthouse provided a nice escape for the cast, on the other side of the river, and gave the chef’testants the perfect place to rest and recharge,” said Robert Levine, CEO of RAL Companies, developer of “Top Chef”.

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Brooklyn Man Arrested in North Carolina

The Dispatch reports that Socrates J. Gomez of Brooklyn has been charged with three drug related counts in Davidson County in North Carolina. The 25 year old is being accused by law enforcement of trafficking cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia and of keeping a vehicle/dwelling for controlled substances, says The Dispatch. Gomez was arrested after he was stopped on interstate 85 North due to a traffic violation, said The Dispatch.

Tags: Brooklyn, Cocaine, Davidson County, Drugs, North Carolina

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Brooklyn Morning — Macy’s on Fulton Street

By 10:30 shoppers were dodging and weaving through the displays at Macy's on Fulton Street. Every available surface seemed covered with strings of Christmas lights. Christmas Trees were ubiquitous. You can hear the endless tape of Christmas music from the bathroom. The only colors in the spectrum are red, green, and gold. The effect was warmth, even as a cold wind blew outside. (Alex Eriksen/The Brooklyn Ink)

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Unusual Trial Concludes in Brooklyn Supreme Court

By Miranda Neubauer

“The defendant does not have the burden of proof, it’s the burden of the people to prove that a crime was committed and that I was the one who did it.”

So began the defense’s closing arguments in an unusual trial that concluded Monday in Brooklyn Supreme Court. The central figure in the trial, Neb Morrow, was in a dual role: defendant, charged with robbing a McDonald’s in Park Slope and defense attorney representing himself.

Presiding Judge Joel Goldberg, in an interview, said self-representation in such a criminal case is “very, very rare” and said it was the first time he was handling such a case in 23 years on the bench. “Usually I manage to talk them out of it,” he said, noting that in most cases “attorneys don’t even represent themselves”. Before allowing self-representation to proceed, Goldberg explained that the court had to ensure that the defendant understood the risks of such a choice.

Defendant Morrow was exercising his sixth Amendment right to represent himself, called a “pro se” defense in legal parlance. While he sometimes struggled to reconcile his duties as his own attorney with his personal interest in winning an acquittal, Morrow displayed a good grounding in courtroom conventions that ensured that his performance was far from amateur hour. As for the outcome? Read on.

He had experience: Morrow had previously represented himself in federal court. In that case which concluded in early November, a jury convicted him of a felony charge of interference with commerce by threat or violence in connection with robberies of Radio Shack stores in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan in summer of 2009.

Still Judge Goldberg saw the need to lay out the ground rules. “You have to sum up as an attorney, not as a witness,” Judge Goldberg had instructed Morrow on Monday just ahead of the summations, in which the prosecution and defense each summarize the evidence and makes its best argument, respectively, for conviction or acquittal. “You’re free to argue the evidence shows I’m telling the truth, but you can’t say I was telling the truth,” Goldberg told him.

Morrow was charged with first degree robbery of a McDonald’s restaurant on 4th Avenue in Park Slope on Oct. 13 of last year. The indictment alleged that Morrow had entered the establishment around 9 pm and pointed a gun at the manager and demanded money.

“You have to argue what the evidence shows, you can’t give personal opinion in the case,” Judge Goldberg told Morrow, who earlier in the trial had testified on his own behalf.

Evidence presented during the trial indicated that the individual entering the restaurant had obscured his face with his hand and a hood so that none of the store’s employees got a clear look at the suspect. According to the prosecution, the suspect left the store with two McDonald’s bags filled with the proceeds from two cash registers.

Police responded quickly and arrested Morrow a short distance from the crime scene after the manager, riding along with police, identified him walking in the street. Police said Morrow was in possession of the weapon and the McDonald’s bags containing $1,526, according to the prosecution.

Morrow was in control of his own defense throughout the trial, cross-examining prosecution witnesses and presenting his own argument for acquittal to the jury. Goldberg assigned a stand-by lawyer with whom Morrow could consult about legal questions and who could take over in the event he changed his mind about representing himself. A defendant does not have a federal or state right to hybrid representation.

From the start, Morrow sought to do justice to his dual roles as defendant and attorney, making an effort to show competency in legalese. Before the summation went under way, he made a motion alleging prosecutorial misconduct that violated his 14th and sixth Amendment rights.

He argued that the Assistant District Attorney had “intentionally withheld Brady and Giglio” material. Those terms refer to evidence favorable to the defense or unfavorable to the prosecution’s witnesses that the prosecution is required to turn over to the defense. Morrow alleged that the prosecution had not provided him with contact information for one witness, another employee at the McDonald’s, and that a second witness had become unreachable by phone after a conversation with the prosecution.

The McDonald's that Neb Morrow was charged with robbing. (Miranda Neubauer/The Brooklyn Ink)

He said he submitted “a request for a full acquittal since it’s obvious that this constitutional violation occurred in this courtroom, with the knowing intention of keeping me in the dark, knowing that I’m in the pro se defense, [withholding evidence until it is ] too late for me to do say or do anything about it.”

Judge Goldberg denied both requests.

When it came time for summations, he explained that Morrow had the option to sit either at the Defense table or at the podium to start his closing argument, adding quickly, when Morrow started to move, “when the jury comes in.”

Once the jurors were seated, Morrow began his defense argument, attempting to paint the prosecution’s remarks as extraneous and distracting.

“What the attorneys say is not evidence, what the witnesses say is evidence in the case,” he said. “Nothing that I’m saying right now is evidence in this case… In this case I took the stand and testified in my own behalf, everything I said on that stand is evidence in this case. [ADA] Hillary Schaeffer is going to say that some of things I said are not true, but what she says about what I said is not evidence.”

But when Morrow suggested that he would begin directly refuting the prosecution’s statements, Goldberg interrupted, cautioning him to “comment on the evidence, not what she said. “ Later, Schaeffer objected to an effort by Morrow to argue that that the prosecution could have called rebuttal witnesses. “The jury should not speculate about what people who didn’t testify would have said,” Judge Goldberg concurred.

Morrow’s major task was to refute the most damaging evidence about his arrest, allegedly in possession of the stolen money, and it was an uphill battle.

Morrow argued that the police had framed him when two other men had tossed the stolen goods near where he was walking.

Morrow also tried to raise doubts about his identification by police and the McDonald’s store manager. He emphasized that a police officer had indicated in his testimony that the officers had been searching for a suspect wearing a gray hoody, whereas he was wearing a black jacket.

“[What I was wearing] was black on the inside, and it’s jacket and it’s not sweatshirt type material, all of the witnesses testified that the individual had worn sweatshirt type material.” As Schaeffer objected, Judge Goldberg reiterated that it was the jury’s recollection that took precedence. “I’m not asking you to recollect, go to the record look it up,” Morrow continued, “all of this evidence clearly establishes that there is a reasonable doubt in this case to believe I committed this crime.”

While Morrow had used some of the exhibits showing his jacket in closing statement, Schaeffer showed footage from a security camera to illustrate the sequence of events, arguing that the “perpetrator was smart and the crime was well planned out.”

“The evidence is clear that an armed robbery was committed…The only issue for your consideration is who committed this robbery,” she continued.

“[The Manager] obviously does not get a good look at the perpetrator,” Schaeffer said, in discussing the footage. Judge Goldberg sustained an objection from Morrow with regard to the use of the word “obviously”. She added that his focus was also on the fact that “he’s got a gun in his face” and the suspect was saying “Give me the fucking money” and “Do you see the fucking gun in my hand?” Nevertheless, she said “He is able to give some descriptive information.”

Schaeffer noted that another one of the employees who had followed the suspect out of the McDonald’s had observed him in the dark. “Something that may be gray might appear black,” she said. When Morrow objected to that description, Judge Goldberg overruled him.

Schaeffer stated that Morrow had spent 18 years of his adult life in prison and that he lied to police about his identity in a 1991 arrest. “He will tell you what he needs to tell you, he [has an interest] to falsify, to exaggerate and to lie,” she said. “He does not take responsibility for this actions. [All he talks about] are all the people who have wronged him.”

At this point, Goldberg sustained an objection from Morrow, emphasizing that “character is not an issue, but credibility is.” Every defendant in a case is entitled to a day in court,” she concluded. “But that doesn’t mean you’re missing something, the case is simple and the evidence is overwhelming, now it’s time he be held accountable for his actions.”

An hour later, the jury indicated it had reached a verdict. “You have been a gentleman throughout the trial and I respect that,” Goldberg told Morrow before the jury came back.

The Jury foreman announced that the jury had found Morrow guilty of robbery in the first degree. Morrow asked that the jury be polled. One after another, the twelve jurors confirmed that, yes, this was their verdict.

Morrow has filed an appeal with regard to the federal case and remains in police custody awaiting sentencing in the state case. He could face between one to nine years in prison.

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A Brooklyn Shop Girl’s Guide to Black Friday

I spend a lot of time in retail stores. Probably because I work in one, but also because the only thing I do more than help others shop is shop myself. I’m your neighborhood shop girl and with years of retail experience on both sides of the cash register, I can give you all the tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way.

Since everyone is looking to score a deal this week, I thought we’d start things with some tips on shaking off the tryptophan hangover and hitting the stores this Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is the holiest day on the shopping calendar, the Olympics of retail, the day when dreams of designer fashions and home electronics at affordable prices are made and broken. This isn’t just a President’s Day Sale people—this is Black Friday.

1-Mentally prepare for the melee. Have coffee, tea, a yoga session, or a meeting with your spiritual advisor or palm reader. Whatever it takes for you to be in top mental condition at 4 AM, do it.

2-A little reconnaissance work can go a long way. Make a list of stores and the items you want from each one. Check store web sites and Facebook pages this week—there may be extra coupons and savings if you’re on their mailing list, or some extra deals you can print out and take with you. It doesn’t hurt to know the floor plan of the store either. Sales don’t count if you’re lost in the wrong elevator bank.

3-Use credit cards. It’s faster than cash and harder to steal. Use this opportunity to get your frequent flier miles, sale price protection, extra warranties, or points (but don’t use it as an excuse to buy everything in sight—trust me, you do not, under any circumstances, need harem pants).

4-Bring back up. Alexander the Great was nothing without his army, so there’s no way you’re going to conquer the furniture gallery at Macy’s on Fulton Street without some help. Divide and conquer, my friends (and all the better if there’s a group to carry home your spoils of war).

5-Wear the right clothes. Leave the five-inch heels at home and travel light. Don’t waste time waiting in line for dressing rooms—wear clothing you can slip items over. Avoid bulky coats and bags because they’ll weigh you down as you maneuver the sale sections.

6-Be nice to the sales people. The only thing more frightening than shopping Black Friday is working it. Sales associates are the only people who know where that last Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer in pink is, or where an extra cashmere sweater in your size is hiding.

7-Bring sustenance. You can’t shop ‘til your drop if you’ve already dropped from low blood sugar, so stick an energy bar in your bag and bring some water. Door busters are almost as important as your health. Almost.

8-Confrontations. You and a fellow shopper grab the same dress. Be polite, but firm. That dress is going home with you because the shopping gods told you so and it’s fashion destiny. If all else fails, tell her you’re pregnant, have cancer, or you “just want to try it on for size” before bolting (but only if you think you can outrun her—that’s where tip #5 comes into play).

9-Stay home. If it all seems too overwhelming, stay in your sweatpants and score some Black Friday deals online. Sites like retailmenot.com and couponcabin.com have additional savings, and most stores have the deals available on their websites, sometimes starting the night before. Get your online bargain hunting practice in before Cyber Monday (the Black Friday of internet shopping).

I hope these tips have you geared up and ready to go for the biggest and baddest shopping day of the year. Above all, remember to play nice. No one wants to end up like that lady who got trampled at Wal-Mart last year. Happy shopping!

Lauren Soroken is your friendly neighborhood shop girl. She lives in Prospect Heights with a very large collection of vintage accessories.

Published on 11.24.10.

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Brooklyn Cop Suspended and Fined for 2009 Beating

By Camilo Smith

Two NYPD officers were arrested yesterday and pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment in connection with the beating more than a year ago that left a man with a broken ankle.

The officers are Sean Hurley, 40, a housing officer with Police Service Area 9, and Brian Murphy, 37, who works in the Brooklyn Courts Section. According to court documents, they attacked a man identified as John Kenny, in the early morning hours of June 12, 2009. The assault occurred near 1696 Second Avenue, which is the address for a popular Irish pub named Marty O’Brien’s, according to police.

Two NYPD Officers were suspended for 30 days and fined $120 each for an assault that occurred over a year ago. They attacked a man near an Irish pub. (Photo courtesy of Marty O'Brien's)

Jennifer Kushner, spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney, said the officers were arrested yesterday, pleaded guilty and were released with time served. She said she could not provide further details about the victim and did not explain why the arrests took place more than a year after the assault.

The court documents states that the officers “recklessly caused physical injury,” “with intent to harass, annoy and alarm.” Kenny, who could not be located, was left with “cuts and bruises to his face and body and a broken ankle.”

The New York Daily News reported that the officers were suspended without pay for 30 days and each paid a $120 fine.

Harassment in the second degree is a violation punishable by up to 15 days in jail.

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Brooklyn Gets Gobbles from Markowitz

Borough President Marty Markowitz gave out 1,000 turkeys and about six tons of Thanksgiving trimmings to Brooklynites yesterday at Borough Hall Plaza yesterday, the NY Post reported. Markowitz and Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham distributed the goods to senior centers, soup kitchens and social service groups. The Bedford Stuyvesant and Red Hook Lions Clubs helped give out the food in Downtown Brooklyn.

Tags: Marty Markowitz, Thanksgiving

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News Corp Takes Control of Brooklyn Company

Wireless Generation, a privately held Brooklyn-based education technology company, became a unit of News Corp yesterday. According to Reuters, News Corp acquired 90 percent of the firm for $360 million. Wireless Generation, a 10-year-old company which offers mobile and web software to teachers to access student programs, will be managed by News Corp.

Tags: Brooklyn, News Corp

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