*There’s been quite a look at Sunset Park schools of late. Yesterday, the New York Times did a story about P.S. 172, the little elementary school that could. Despite challenges that tend to stymie efforts to score high on tests (low-income students, English language learners and kids with learning disabilities) the Fourth Avenue school regularly outperforms its neighbors in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.

*This follows the recent Daily News story on the long waiting list at P.S. 105.

*Things are happening in Sunset Park proper. The Community Board last week announced plans to revamp the “big slab” that serves as a baseball/soccer field. Stay tuned for a more detailed post this week.

*The Times last week also chronicled one of more than one hundred Latino evangelical Christians who appear to have been scammed by a Red Hook pastor.

*Sarah DiGregorio of the Village Voice has been on the eat again. Check out her piece on the new hand-cut noodle shop in Sunset Park.

*The Daily News reported that P.S. 150 has the longest wait list in the city, due largely to demand from Chinese families who have moved into Sunset Park in recent years.

*Police at the 72^nd Precinct think they may have caught the burglar who has been targeting and stealing from Chinese residents who live the 40s and 50s, and driving up the burglary rate, Inspector Jesus Raul Pintos said last week.

*The lack of Brooklyn-bound toll on the Verrazano has some people worked up, including local owners who have trouble parking in Sunset Park, the Eagle reported.

*The weekly park sweeps at Lets Clean Sunset Park! are back up and running. Want to join in? Check out the website to keep up to date.

*Thanks to the Brooklyn DA, Haitians in need of clothing after the earthquake will soon be sporting a load of designer knockoffs confiscated last year from a Sunset Park storage facility, according to the Post.

*Councilwoman Gonzalez held a leadership summit last week, the Eagle reports. She also brought together a group to talk about the somewhat contentious issue of legislation on vendors along Fifth Avenue. Details on that to come.

*Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn last week announced the New York City Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy (WAVES), “a citywide initiative that will create a new sustainable blueprint for the City’s 578 miles of shoreline.” Sunset Park obviously has a good bit of that waterfront. I haven’t had a chance to look through it carefully, but I’ll report back on the details of the plan.

*Picturing Sunset Park: Check out a kind of unusual shot I stumbled upon here, and good shot of Chinatown here.

*Frank of The Sunset Park Blog noted a couple of new Italian places in the neighborhood, and made a well-deserved plug for staying in (the neighborhood) when going out to eat.

*Things have been cooking, sprouting and…shopping…over at Sunset Parkour. Take a look out how her seedlings are progressing, and her note on Sunset Park’s recent meh ranking in NYMag’s list of “most livable” New York neighborhoods. Eh, they can keep Park Slope.

*Got any other news? Send it along…

Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez with teacher Maria Diaz and students at P.S. 24, photo by William Alatriste

Local Politics–Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez keeps busy:

*Councilwoman Sara M. González last week joined Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and others at P.S. 24 on 38th Street for the official launch of ‘Respect For All Week’, a citywide program to address bullying, harassment and discrimination in New York City Schools. “We will be instilling a most valuable life lesson to children at a young age, that bullying, harassment and discrimination are not acceptable in today’s society,” said Councilwoman González in a press release.

*On March 12, the councilwoman took part in a panel discussion chaired by Senator Velmanette Montgomery as part of an emergency meeting at Borough Hall in Brooklyn to address the slated closures of day cares and Head Start programs throughout the city.  DC 1707, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators and the Day Care Council called the meeting in response to the threatened cuts.

*Friday was supposed to be the final voyage, but the Rockaway Ferry will forge on, NY1 reported. A last minute deal brokered between the City Council, including Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez, and the mayor’s office will extend the ferry service until July, including its service to the Brooklyn waterfront.

In State News:

*Congressman Felix Ortiz raised the ire of many local restaurateurs when he proposed a bill to ban salt, yes that is the use of all salt, in New York restaurant. Ortiz advocates the ban as a way to address health issues such as hypertension that have skyrocketed in recent years. But you can imagine how fans of salami, pastrami, French fries, salt cod, soy sauce and, well, most dishes with flavor felt about the Sunset Park Democrat’s plan. Tom Colicchio, star of “Top Chef” and owner of Craft restaurant, served as token foodie in the Daily News coverage. “New York City is considered the restaurant capital of the world,” he said. “If they banned salt, nobody would come here anymore.”

After much tomato-tossing, Ortiz last week he backed down from the ban, the YourNabe reported. It seems, in the long run, good for Sunset Park’s many eateries. The tears of the Top Chef crowd might not tug on any heartstrings in Sunset Park, but the end of savory banh mi and chorizo-laden pambazos is another story.

*Congresswoman Yvette Clark joined with two other House Democrats in to oppose the reduction in the number of station agents in New York City subways, Gothamist reported. Clark is the Chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology. The letter to MTA chairman Jay Walder implied the reduction could have serious consequences: “We strongly urge you to re-evaluate the current plans” and not, potentially, “compromise” subways, they wrote. You can read more at the NY Times.

Good afternoon. It’s Monday. Not too much in the news at the moment, but a few things to put on the calendar:

*Schools! That word alone is usually enough to rile someone up. In Sunset Park’s crowded classrooms, education is of particular concern. Several of Brooklyn’s biggest names will next week offer parents, politicians and interested parties an opportunity to offer opinions about Brooklyn’s school system. The information is below. I hope to see you there.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Councilmembers Letitia James, Brad Lander and Steve Levin will convene a town hall meeting to discuss the city’s public education system. The event will take place on Wednesday March 3, from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. in the courtroom at Brooklyn Borough Hall. We hope that you will come out, share your ideas, and help forge a community partnership to build a stronger foundation for parental involvement in our schools.

For more information or to RSVP for this event, please contact Chris Black at the Public Advocate’s Office, 212-669-7200 or cblack@pubadvocate.nyc.gov

*Feelings on Fourth Avenue? The Park Slope Civic Council will sponsor a forum,  “The Future of Fourth Avenue,” on Thursday, March 4, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Park Slope.

The Council has previously voiced concern that Fourth Avenue is marginal to the rest of the neighborhood just north of Sunset Park. Borough President Marty Markowitz in his recent state of the city hoped to change the character of the thoroughfare, and rechristen the wide (and recently deadly road) “Brooklyn Boulevard.”

*Community Board 7 will hold a Public Hearing Monday, March 15 at 6:30 pm at the Board Office on the corner of Fourth Avenue and 43rd Street. It has to do with a city-owned property by the South Brooklyn Army Terminal. I’ll try to find out more. For the moment, see below for more information:

APPLICATION #C100204PPK – In the matter of one city-owned property, generally bounded by 39^th Street (1^st & 2^nd Avenues) and the western portion of 2^nd Avenue, from 37^th to 29^th Streets (Block 622, p/o Lot 1),  in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), restricted to parking and accessory use only

*Sunset Park Stills has some beautiful new images up, including some Lunar New Year-themed shots. Take a look!

* Protests, lawsuits and contentious conversation have followed the announcement the city plans to shutter 19 schools for poor performance. The city has since 2002 closed 91 schools, many large high schools that have reopened as smaller and charter schools. A recent New York Times article offers insight into some of the city politics behind these closures. The new comptroller, John Liu, is adding his two cents–he questioned the school vote when he appeared last week on Local 237 President Greg Floyd’s new radio show, the Daily News reported.

* Other school issues have hit close to home. The Brooklyn Eagle last week covered a meeting about the slated consolidation of students from District 13 (Fort Green, Downtown, Park Slope) and District 15 (Sunset Park, Red Hook, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace). The building that houses P.S. 133 will be rebuilt, and students from Sunset Park’s overcrowded schools will join them in a new, larger building. “Sunset Park is in a crisis situation,” James Devor, president of CEC-15, a governing body for District 15, told the Brooklyn Eagle. But not everyone was pleased with the plan. The Eagle reports race issues bubbled up, with parents from P.S. 133 worried that their 300 children would get short shrift after the arrival of 660 students from District 15, who are predominantly white.

* Though the Bloomberg administration has touted its success slashing fat and fillers, the Daily News reports lunches may not be as healthy as they look. Cheese sandwiches, mozzarella sticks and pizza still make regular appearances on school menus. These dishes feature unpronounceables like azodicarbonamide (a bleach used in food), the maligned high-fructose corn syrup, and processes food with high levels of fat and salt.

Photo taken by EyOne

In December, the Metropolitan Transpiration Agency passed controversial budget cuts which would, among other things, discontinue a program that provides free MetroCards for over half a million students in New York City. Under the current plan, students would begin to pay half price for rides this September, and full price fares at the start of the 2011 school year. The Urban Youth Collaborative opposes the cuts, and says eliminating the cards will affect students’ ability to attend school.

The group, sponsored in part by Sunset Park’s UPROSE, will hold a protest at MTA headquarters tomorrow, February 1 at 12:30 pm.

Here is the information sent in an email this weekend:

Location: 347 Madison Ave, between E 44th st and 45th st
Time: 12.30 pm
Train Directions: 4.5.6.. line to 42ND St Grand Central
B.D.F.V to 47-50th st Rockefeller Center

WE REALLY WANT YOU TO COME OUT & ACT TO MAKE A CHANGE!
If you have an organization or affiliate interested in participating,
please contact us ASAP!
Urban Youth Collaborative.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact the event
administrators via facebook:

Khaair Morrison, email:khaairmorrison@aol.com
Sharmin Hossain, email: sharmin.hossain@hotmail.com

Feel Free to email us or message us via facebook.

*NYC schools have gone mobile: the city this week announced an upgrade to Notify NYC that will allow parents to receive updates on school emergencies, dismissals, and closures by cell phones. The upgrade to this emergency system offers subscribers real-time updates on everything from snow days to school relocations in up to five zip codes by phone, email or text message. Interested? You can subscribe here.

*Speaking of schools, you can see how your local one fared at the New York Post website. You can sort the Post’s list by name, borough and other categories. Check out your school and report back–did it make the grade? Do you think your school is better, or worse, than the score reflects? Leave a comment!

*The MTA has mounted a new site that provides real-time updates on delays and service changes to New York’s 26 subway lines, meant to help regulars in its 468 stations keep on the go.

A Brooklyn principal has reprimanded a Sunset Park science teacher for selling to students copies of a book that purports to “recognize and combat satanic attacks; and recognize those serving Satan, and bring them to Jesus Christ,” the New York Daily News reported.

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