Strains of Beatles tunes may have been nostalgic, but the focus was as much on the future as the past as civic leaders from Bay Ridge joined together to celebrate at the annual Bay Ridge Community Council (BRCC) dinner dance.
The gala, held at the El Caribe Country Club, 5945 Strickland Avenue, marked the organization’s 57th year of service to the community.
The evening also marked the annual transition in leadership as Robert Cassara, who was the organization’s president for the 2007-2008 year turned the gavel over to the newly elected president, Arlene Keating, who – along with the group’s other officers – was sworn in by Judge Matthew D’Emic, of the New York State Court of Claims.
Also honored was BRCC’s 2008 Civic Award winner, J. Peter Clavin, who received a trio of standing ovations. “Almost everyone here knows him,” noted Cassara. “If you don’t know him personally, you know the name Clavin.”
As far as civic involvement goes, Cassara recited a laundry list of groups of which Clavin is a member, and added, “Peter’s got me beat in the number of organizations to which he belongs.
“Peter,” he went on, “it looks like you have too much time on your hands. Personally, I don’t know how you do it, managing a full-time business.”
Clavin, for his part, paid tribute to BRCC. “I salute the council for staying the course and continuing to do what you do,” he told the cheering crowd.
“I love Bay Ridge,” he added, as he concluded his remarks – a comment that a member of the crowd responded to, calling out the general sentiment, “And we love you.”
The year, said Cassara in his valedictory remarks was, in Charles Dickens’ words, “the best of times,” with the organization sponsoring its perennial favorites such as the Halloween Art Contest and the Essay Contest, as well as reviving one event that had fallen by the wayside, Track & Field Day.
In addition, said Cassara, BRCC had hosted a series of forums on a variety of subjects, from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 to senior safety to preservation, a subject that Cassara made clear was dear to his heart.
Recalling that BRCC had led the charge to preserve the neighborhood in the 1970s, Cassara urged his listeners to nurture the Preservation Committee that was started this past year. “I hope,” said Cassara, “that the council will once again take the lead to protect these vulnerable buildings.”
Cassara, said former BRCC President Peter Killen, is a bit like the Man of La Mancha.
“During the 1990s and continuing till now, Bob found community service,” noted Killen.
“Whether it has been fighting the Department of Transportation on trucking, or the tearing down of the Gowanus Expressway and replacing it with a tunnel, or fighting New York City for better zoning in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, or testifying at City Council hearings on the stopping of illegal driveway curb cuts, or trying to save a green building just because it is beautiful and can be a civic center for the community, Bob has tilted at many windmills,” Killen told his listeners.
Cassara acknowledged that some level of strife had accompanied his tenure. To the tune of “Thanks for the Memories,” he provided his own, telling lyrics: “Thanks for the memory/ Of all the things I had to try/ We didn’t always see eye to eye/ My term is over and now it’s finally time to say goodbye.”
