August 8, 2008 / Politics / Bay Ridge / Perspective / The Politicrasher

Dom the Benchwarmer!

By The Politicrasher

for The Brooklyn Paper

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The Brooklyn Paper / Jeff Bachner

Taking it sitting down: Domenic Recchia finishes his descent from a congressional hopeful to a term-limited councilman by unveiling a new bench at a Coney Island post office on Tuesday. Here, Recchia gets some support from Pam Harris of Coney Island Generation Gap, which pushed for the new bench.

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Apparently the next best thing to a seat in Congress is a bench on Coney Island.

Councilman Domenic Recchia (D–Coney Island), who recently bailed on running for the House of Representatives, made a special appearance at a Mermaid Avenue post office last Tuesday. The occasion? The commemoration of a new, $575 blue bench.

Recchia’s enthusiastic statement announcing his bench-warming — it will allow postal customers to “rest their weary feet once again,” he said — easily won The Brooklyn Paper’s coveted “Press release of the week” award and my personal honors for biggest political comedown in the shortest possible time.

Fact check: this was a man who was running for CONGRESS until just a few weeks ago. Now he’s ribbon-cutting post office benches!

At least he did it with a straight face.

“I think its going to be really, really helpful,” Recchia told the Politicrasher. “This bench is addressing the needs of the community.”

Recchia said he was moved to act after an older, run-down bench was trashed by postal workers earlier this summer. The Mermaid Avenue station serves 25,000 neighborhood residents — many of whom are senior citizens, according to its manager, Paul Pellegrino.

Pellegrino was just one of a coterie of officials who took time out of their day to cut the ribbon on Recchia’s bench — you know, because having to stand instead of sit while on line at a post office is the biggest problem facing Coney Island right now.

“It may be a small gesture to many,” admitted Archie Warner, a Postal Service spokesman, “but it’s a big gesture in our eyes if someone comes in, especially on a hot day, and needs to sit down.”

OK, OK, so just how good is this bench? Made of plastic-coated iron, the roughly seven-foot bench has has a back and seat that’s not soft on your back or seat. Its bare-bones industrial design would not be out of place in a hospital, precinct lobby or even a morgue.

On the flip side, it is painted a shiny, cheerful blue. It does provide firm support. And it’s sturdy as hell, according to Pellegrino.

“This’ll last forever because it’s pure iron,” said Pellegrino. “It’s very durable.”

Short of someone stealing it (insert Brooklyn crook joke here), the post office might not have to buy another one ever again.

Uh-oh! If true, that would leave Recchia without a wedge issue in his next campaign!

After the ribbon-cutting chores were done, I pulled Recchia aside and reminded him that he was once a rising star. Yet he said he had no regrets about his aborted run for the Bay Ridge congressional seat being vacated by scandal-tarred Rep. Vito Fossella.

“When I was running for Congress, I learned a lot and made a lot of good friends,” Recchia said.

Clearly! Recchia seemed right at home squeezing onto the bench with five other officials at the cozy photo shoot. And, before leaving, he promised to come back soon and use the bench.

So that, I guess, would officially make him a bench-warmer.

©2008 Community Newspaper Group