By Helen Klein
As 2006 turns into 2007, Canarsie is clearly a community in the throes of change. As new housing goes up from one end of the neighborhood to another, raising questions of how the area is going to handle the increased density, new immigrants join long-established residents in the area, drawn by Canarsie’s often small-town feel, which is characterized by low-rise homes on peaceful residential streets. They are also drawn by the area’s open spaces – the great swath of parkland known as Canarsie Park that beckons cricket and softball players, as well as runners and bicyclists, and Canarsie Pier, a favorite summertime gathering place for anglers, sunbathers and the like. Double-Edged Sword But, development is a double-edged sword. The peaceful ambience of the neighborhood, which drew Canarsiens new and old into the area in the first place, is being altered by the constant construction, leaving many scratching their heads and wondering how the buses, the schools, the sewers are going to handle what seems like an ever-increasing population. Week by week, and month by month, uncrowded streets are becoming more crowded, as new, multifamily condominiums sprout on every sliver of land, and the area’s remaining one and two family houses are torn down to make way for expansive construction. Among the newest are a 27-unit residential development on the site of the old Seaview Diner, an apt symbol of the changing Canarsie streetscape. Looking for Down-zoning Nonetheless, it is that streetscape that residents are eager to preserve, so eager that they have been pushing energetically for the neighborhood to be down-zoned. The problem they face is a mismatch between the existing zoning and the built environment. In Canarsie, zoning is generally R-4 and R-5, categories that are out of sync with the area’s existing housing stock of one through three-family homes. Not surprisingly, therefore, as developers swoop in to cash in on available properties that can give them the most bang for their buck, the shift has been from one and two-family homes with side, front and rear yards, to multi-family structures that are built to the property line. Payback Time Residents’ efforts appear to be paying off. In December, after doing walk-throughs of the neighborhood and meeting with civic leaders, the Department of City Planning announced that it would be commencing a zoning study of Canarsie, with the intention of implementing a rezoning of the community. DCP has been rezoning neighborhoods around the city, with the goal of preserving the existing context, while providing appropriate opportunities of growth. In getting DCP’s attention, Canarsie joins neighborhoods in other areas of Brooklyn that have been rezoned, such as Bay Ridge, Sheepshead Bay, Midwood and Homecrest. None Too Soon For those who have been living with the development pressures, DCP’s announcement comes none too soon. The hope is that it will prevent future problems, such as those faced by Canarsie Road homeowners who have watched their own house be damaged by development on an adjacent empty lot. Their problems, indeed, appear have been exacerbated by what many in the community feel are shoddy construction practices – bringing into relief problems faced around the city, as some unscrupulous developers cut corners as they rush ahead with their projects. Taking Action That sort of irresponsibility has been the target of elected officials, with positive results in 2006. For instance, Brooklyn assemblymembers held a hearing in September on problems with the Department of Buildings. Subsequently, the City Council passed a pair of bills aimed at closing loopholes that developers take advantage of, and making fines for certain activities more than the cost of doing business. One bill raises the fine for demolition of one and two-family homes without the proper permit, to between $5,000 and $10,000; the other ups the ante for violating stop work orders, imposing a penalty of $2,000 for a first violation, $5,000 for a second, and $10,000 for a third violation, as well as all other subsequent violations. Beyond Development Residential development has not been the only issue confronting Canarsie residents. Neighborhood students learned in December that the city’s Department of Education plans to close South Shore High School, one of five citywide (including two others in Brooklyn) that are going to be reincarnated as clusters of small high schools within a single building. Why reinvent the school? Because it has a reputation of being academically unsound as well as unsafe, South Shore draws far fewer students than other, more successful high schools in the borough. At the school, located at 6565 Flatlands Avenue, enrollment has declined since 2003 and, as a result, the school is at just 63.5 percent capacity, compared with 104 percent capacity utilization which is the average at other local high schools South Shore will not close immediately. Its existing students will be allowed to finish their high school years. However, beginning in September, the small schools in the old South Shore will welcome a ninth grade class, meaning that, by the time the current students graduate, they will be up and running.. Fighting New School South Shore isn’t the only Canarsie school that was in the news in 2006. Also grabbing headlines is Public School/Intermediate School 366, which hasn’t even been built yet. And, that’s the point. Residents of East 108th Street, behind the site chosen for the school, object to plans announced by the School Construction Authority to taken between 10 and 15 feet of their backyards during construction. The school will be located on the site of is proposed for the site of the former Canarsie Hebrew Academy, at 963-965 East 107th Street, plus an additional vacant lot that is adjacent. Other area residents also question whether the school is even needed, and question whether it would serve nearby residents or students from farther afield who would be bused there. However, DOE says the school is a crucial part of its plan to reduce overcrowding, which includes eliminating the supposedly temporary transportable classrooms that were constructed a decade or more ago on schoolyards as a short-term solution to overcrowding. One-Way Street Another school that made the papers in 2006 was P.S./I.S. 66. After ongoing efforts by local leaders and parents, that school, which is located at 845 East 96th Street, got the one-way street it had asked for, in order to make crossing safer for pupils going to and from school. By the time the city’s Department of Transportation made the change, the school had been requesting it for three years. Why the insistence? The area is a busy one, and the location of a Cablevision facility down the block meant that students crossing had to dodge constant traffic, some traveling too quickly for comfort. Park Rehab Also a long time coming was the renovation of Canarsie Park. After years of planning, the groundbreaking for the first phase of the park’s reconstruction occurred in April. The first stage of the park’s rehabilitation — projected to cost $5.4 million — will include a music pavilion, a regulation-size cricket field with bleacher seating, a picnic grove with tables, new asphalt pathways, fencing around the perimeter of the park and around community gardens, security lighting, new water fountains and new landscaping, including 200 additional trees. It will also include forested wetlands at the western end of the park, in a location where, not too long ago, compost was stored. The total renovation is projected to be completed in four phases, and to cost upwards of $20 million. Pier Problems Less successful have been efforts to improve Canarsie Pier. Part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, which is run under the auspices of the National Park Service, it has gotten a little attention in recent months – namely, a new surface in the parking lot and in the playground area. However, a limited budget resulted in a job that some area residents find unsatisfactory. And, many are also unhappy that the shuttered restaurant on the pier has not yet reopened. Indeed, local elected officials called over the summer for NPS to move more quickly on coming up with a concessionaire for the space. The last, a restaurant, closed four years ago amidst a variety of problems. Residents are also waiting for NPS to power-wash the pier, which is dirtied by anglers who cut fish on it, though, according to Gateway officials, that will be done in the near future. Also upcoming is a $200,000 rehab of the building containing the restrooms that will include work on the bathroom facilities as well as to correct some drainage problems, according to Gateway, which also says that, at the very least, they are hoping to have mobile food service at the pier by summer, 2007. Political Update One of the elected officials who had called upon NPS to move more rapidly with respect to the pier had other concerns as well, this past summer. Representative Edolphus Towns, who has been representing the 10th C.D. in the House of Representatives for 24 years, fended off a spirited primary challenge from City Councilmember Charles Barron. Towns captured approximately 47 percent of the vote, besting Barron, who came in second with approximately 38 percent of the vote. A third candidate, Assemblymember Roger Green, who had to give up his seat to make the run, came in last, with about 15 percent of the vote. While no one can say what the results would have been in a two-way race, the 72-year-old Towns clearly benefited from having two challengers who split the anti-incumbent vote. Special Election Earlier in the year, the area got a new assemblymember, as former Assemblymember Frank Seddio relinquished his seat to ascend to the Surrogate Court bench. To the surprise of few, the winner of a special February election was Seddio’s former chief of staff, Alan Maisel, who captured a whopping 86 percent of the approximately 2,000 votes cast in the 59th A.D., easily besting both the Republican and the Conservative Party candidates. Maisel didn’t have a great deal of time to savor the victory before tackling not only the duties of his office but also the electoral process. He was back on the campaign trail almost immediately, preparing for a September primary and November general election, both of which he won easily. In September, he captured 72 percent of the vote over challenger Abraham Levy. Two months later, he trounced his only opposition, Conservative Party candidate Stephen Walters, who garnered 871 votes to Maisel’s 12,427. Photos By Paul Martinka
