By Charles Hack
City Councilmember Lew Fidler wore a big smile when he spoke to the Informed Voices of Canarsie. That is because he had just learned from Council Speaker Christine Quinn that he was to be offered the position of assistant majority leader. But he said it would not stop him from continuing with his favorite position — that of chair of the Youth Services Committee. “I was offered a couple of more prestigious sounding committee committees in the Council and I turned them down,” Fidler told the Canarsie group meeting on Jan. 17 at 1696 Canarsie Road, the evening before the new council leadership positions were announced. Alan Maisel, chief of staff for former assemblymember Frank Seddio, offered him support. Maisel will likely be nominated as the Democratic candidate for the 59th Assembly District special election. “The programs we run, we couldn’t do without Lew Fidler,” Maisel said. Commanding Officer Captain Ralph Monteforte announced that the 69th Precinct had received 16 new officers. “That is great news for us and the community,” Monteforte said. Monteforte said that with the new officers, his precinct would be in a better position to tackle some of the problem areas. CompStat statistics show that reported crimes have fallen by 5.15 percent between 2004 and 2005, dropping from 1,495 to 1418. Felony assault, robbery and car theft were all down for the year. One very bright spot was that the murder rate fell by 55 percent from 9 murders in 2004 to just 4 last year. Following the tragic slayings of two cops in other precincts, the captain also announced that removing illegal guns from those who have no business carrying them was a priority at the precinct. “We are trying to get the guns off the street, not just for police officers, but for the safety of the public in general,” Monteforte said. Only grand larceny was up significantly – by a whopping 19.9 percent from 376 to 451 reported incidents. Monteforte warned residents to be careful not to leave valuables in cars. One resident complained of noise problems in the neighborhood, saying that he wanted police to be more responsive to complaints. Monteforte said that the public should report noise problems to 311, who would then notify the precinct. The station in turn would dispatch a radio car to the problem spot. Police then have to assess whether the volume is reasonable. If not, they will visit the offender’s home and order them to turn the volume down. All too often the person turns the volume back up once the officer leaves. However, the commanding officer said that his officers were doing what they could to respond to noise complaints in a timely fashion.
