“Dear Chairman Mark:
Thank you for coming to our monthly open community meeting last Thursday night here at Harway Terrace. It was good to have such impressive representation from CB13. CB13 member Brian Gottlieb is a regular at our meetings, and Todd Dobrin gave an impressive presentation with the non-metallic knives. You showed great interest in the issues presented, especially since some concerns involved imminent danger.
At your next District Service Cabinet meeting, you must bring up the topics we addressed, and press them regarding the need to immediately enforce traffic safety at the Cropsey Avenue Belt Parkway overpass. Signage indicating limited visibility (because of the steep incline of the overpass) is needed. In fact, it should have been installed when the overpass was constructed!
Warning signage also needs to be installed in order to slow down speeding motorists, and remind them to use extreme caution on the overpass, because pedestrians now have to walk in the street. Also, the right turn signal for cars going onto the Belt Parkway is causing a back-up on one of the two remaining southbound lanes. It needs to be removed.
With this letter sent to CB13 notifying the city of the dangers, the City of New York becomes liable for any accidents or deaths caused at that location. Harway lost two residents at that location several years ago.
May I remind you that Assemblyman Colton asked you to send him the list of dangers and issues brought to your attention, to enable him to send supportive letters of concern?
I again thank you for coming and extend to you an open invitation to come to all or any of our meetings. Please note that our meetings usually are on the fourth Monday of every month, and in the past were held at Seth Low IS96, 99 Avenue P.
Bensonhurst West End Community Council’s boundaries are from Gravesend Bay to Ocean Parkway, North to 14th Avenue and include all District 21 schools as well as the District 20 schools; encompassing the 60th, 61st and 62nd precincts, Community Boards 11, 13 and 15.
We are anxious to hear from you with the list of concerns and responses from the DSC meeting.
Respectfully yours,
Carmine Santa Maria, President
• • •
I’ve been pulling out my Big Screechers columns from the Brooklyn Graphics this past week, trying to sort them out for my files. I got a call from my editor, Vince DiMiceli, who was editing last week’s column and he questioned the word “coterminality,” which is archaic and unknown now. But in the May 2, 1979 edition of the Brooklyn Graphic, the word was used repeatedly. The front-page headline was “Koch Gets Wet in Bensonhurst” along with “Taking a bath in Coney Island”, and the entirety of pages 2 and 3 were devoted to the motorcade that the Committee to Save Bensonhurst used in protesting the Coterminality edict that forced us to be placed in Community Board 13 in 1980. For the record, “coterminous” means “having the same boundaries or extent in space, time, or meaning.” I don’t expect him to ask me about it this week. He’s a sharp guy.
To prove that everything old is new again, page 5 of that same Brooklyn Graphic told the story of the nuts and bolts falling under the West End El. A danger that has recently reappeared at the corner of 86th Street, Stillwell Ave and 26th Avenue at Hilna Motors. With the original story, I wore the hat of the Big Screecher and 33 years later I’m still Screeching!
Screech at you next week!
