New Park Slope Civic Council President Ken Freeman has some big shoes to fill — and he knows it.
Freeman, whose day job is director of sales for the Massey Knakal real-estate giant, was selected to replace outgoing honcha Lydia Denworth earlier this month — and he promptly paid homage to his predecessor.
“I think the job Lydia did was wonderful,” said Freeman. “I hope to emulate her success.”
Denworth said she had full confidence in Freeman.
“Ken is smart and reasonable — I feel confident that he’ll do a great job.”
Like Denworth, Freeman said he’d continue to focus the Civic Council on nuts-and-bolts quality-of-life issues such as increasing the number of bicycle racks and decreasing the clutter allegedly caused by newspaper boxes at several busy intersections.
But most of all, he just wants to “give back” to the community he loves.
“I love Park Slope — it’s a little slice of heaven,” he said. “It’s a great honor to be the president.”
The 37-year-old Freeman (photo, right) has been on the Civic Council for seven years, the last two as vice president. He has also been a public member of Community Board 6’s landmarks and land-use committee. He and his wife Colleen have lived in Park Slope for 10 years. They have three children together.
Those kids better get used to missing Daddy. Denworth said the reason she stepped down is “to spend more time” with her family (though we all know that means she’s running for something!).
“When I accepted the job originally, I wanted to only do it for one year, but stayed on because I needed to see some of the projects through,” she said, adding that she plans to devote herself to a book.
Denworth led the Coucil for two years, and has been credited with several initiatives that sought to involve the larger public, including this weekend’s “Stoopendous,” a neighborhood-wide stoop festival.