Short notice, yes, but its a lovely day and you should go get your tipico on in Sunset Park. It starts at noon, runs until 6 p.m., and I have full faith that someone will be able to carry the festivities forward. Boriqua festival next week. Stay tuned.

*Do charter schools mirror the city? The New York Times found that Latinos are underrepresented in charter schools as compared to their presence in public schools citywide. Given the raging battle over charter schools, you could see that as good or bad…thoughts? (P.S. Don’t miss the interactive map.)

*Cutbacks at the MTA are mixing up bus routes through Sunset Park—the B37 and B70 will diverge from their well-known paths, and many aren’t happy about it, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.

*The Eagle takes a look back at “Operation Blockbuster,” the big South Brooklyn crack bust of 2008

*Legit or scam? The diet product Herbalife has carved out a firm foothold among immigration groups. Feet in Two Worlds reports.

*Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the end of May announced a huge biotech facility will go into the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. The Wall Street Journal gives some additional background on the mayor’s startup projects.

*In case you haven’t found your spot yet, the Brooklyn Eagle has links to suggestions for the best spots to watch the World Cup.

Sunset Park peddles in hot tacos. Photo by Carnade, from Flickr

Annnnd, we’re back. After a long absence, there’s lots to catch up on. Here are some of the highlights:

Recent(ish)ly in the news:

*New York Mag did a long piece on domestic workers in New York City, many of whom live in Sunset Park. The piece on “nannies” (I’ve just never really liked that term) featured Domestic Workers United.

*The American Prospect also had a piece on the domestic workers’ legislation up in Albany.

*City Limits yesterday wrote on how churches are fighting on immigrants’ side, lending a hand in defense and immigration proceedings. An organization tied to Our Lady of Perpetual Help manages 3,000 cases at a time.

*And before we leave this topic, the Supreme Court just handed down a ruling that automatic deportation of those with drug charges was meant for traffickers, not petty possession. It’s still unclear how this will play out, but it could have a huge impact on a lot of lives.

*Dennis Holt puts in his two cents about the Future of Fourth Avenue plan at the Brooklyn Eagle.

*I love the “skate kid” shot at Sunset Park Stills. I was just wondering the other day what looks will define this era (which is one of my favorite pastimes in Sunset Park.) This is one for the look-book.

Those of you who have come across stinky tofu know it’s not for the faint of heart. The intrepid Sarah DiGregorio jumps in head first for the Village Voice.

More to come, so stay tuned…

photo by vee

*Tabula Raza gallery will on June 16 open “Rock Paper Scissors,” a show with a conceptual bent examining the shifting elements that go into each work of art (rock=physicality, paper=communication and scissors=tools).  The opening reception is Wednesday, June 16 at the gallery, 24 48th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11220.

*Vee has been up and about, with typically lush images of Sunset Park. Stop by Sunset Park Stills and take a look.

*One of the most mouthwatering shots at Stills comes from the folks over at Buendia Productions. You can check out their Flickr page, or go strait to the (web)source.

*You should note that Buendia is having an exhibit (more here) on June 17 at Chashama’s space in the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

*It’s been a while since he visited Sunset Park, but sometime-neighborhood photographer Evan Sklar has been busy in New York and nearby states. Check out his blog…maybe we can woo him back for some summertime pics.

Know of art news that got left out? Drop a note to sunsetparkchron@gmail.com, or leave it in the comments…

We talked a while ago about Borough President Marty Markowitz’s vision for a better, brighter Fourth Avenue. This morning, you can get a preview of what that might look like. The collaboration with students from NYU’s Wagner School show green medians, bike racks and remarkably traffic-free streets. Some of those commenting on Curbed seemed skeptical. Thoughts?

Local News:

*The only man convicted of Malcolm X’s shooting was released from prison this week and went home to Sunset Park, The Brooklyn Eagle reports.

*This blog did a piece about “going green” in low-income communities. Elizabeth Yeampierre of UPROSE spoke about some of the problems that crop up in Sunset Park.

Local Eats:

*Folks at Time Out New York got hungry, and, armed with a dollar, came to Sunset Park to get its fill.

*In other foodie news, a “chowhounder” (yes, I said it) tells us that if you time it right, you can see those dim-sum rice noodles made down on Eighth and 61st.

City News:

*The MTA is looking to make some major cuts, the Daily News reported, cutting about 750 jobs, mostly from the bus division.

*The Bloomberg administration has announced plans to overhaul the city’s special education system. The plan hopes to downscale the number of special education classrooms, shifting from a decades-long approach that separated children with learning disabilities into their own programs.

In a great example of how community journalism can work, I got this note about the goings on at a Community Board 7 meeting on parks. A reader attended, and sent this note back:

Sunset Park will be undergoing some serious changes–$4 million in renovations starting this year. Sara Gonzalez helped acquire the funding, the reader said.

The first is a reworking of the concrete baseball/soccer field (“the big slab”) in the middle of the park. It will be turned into a more legitimate multi-purpose field, faux-grass and all, as the picture above shows. The comfort station (I believe that’s the bathroom) and the area with the chess tables will also get spiffed. The playground, however, will not get reworked…yet. Some of the parents at the meeting were not too happy to hear that, but the playground will apparently top next year’s list.

Another unfortunate budget victim is summer camp:  registration in Sunset Park has been delayed as the is no money in the budget for it. Rumor is it may not happen this year, the reader said.

*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.

“Tee Gee” left this long and comprehensive reply to a short news update about Councilwoman Gonzalez’s vendor legislation for Sunset Park. I had noted it has been controversial, based in part on this article I came across quite a while ago, as well as some general tensions I know exist between local businesses and street vendors. I’ll continue to report on this, but in the mean time, here’s one neighborhood take on the proposed legislation. Keep scrolling to see the P.S. on local pols. Read and reply!

The Sunset Park Street Vending bill is one of the more amazing pieces of business to come before the City Council. For years, store-based businesses have complained about unfair competition from street vendors. They pointed out that the vendors were unlicensed, didn’t give receipts, didn’t guarantee goods, didn’t post prices, didn’t follow department of health regulations and were just unfair to rent paying businesses.
But when the Sunset Park Business Improvement District investigated on behalf of its member businesses (all store-based), they found that there were at least 3 different types of street vendors. One, were opportunistic folks who had regular jobs but came out just before holidays to sell inferior goods and knock-offs of name brands. The second type, were often recent immigrants who were selling on behalf of greedy business people who “charged” the vendors a ridiculous fee to vend their goods. These vendors were victims forced to vend aggressively just to break even for the day after prepaying the folks who sent them out. And the third type of vendor (which is predominant in Sunset Park) are recent immigrants who live in Sunset Park and are providing foods and goods that for the most part are not available in local stores.

After much investigation, the BID determined:
1. The city has not given vending licenses in so long that the wait is many years and thus most vendors do so illegally.
2. Sunset Park vendors want to be licensed and follow the regulations that stores follow but are subject to constant fines and sometimes arrest.
3. Daily sidewalk vending (not the ones who just appear before holidays) actually helps store-based businesses by increasing business throughout the district.
3. The BID and the local vendors agreed to develop a pilot program that would permit vendors on side streets (and not near stores with similar products and not on 5th Avenue). The vendors would follow a detailed list of regulations that the stores follow and in addition would provide assistance in maintaining the cleanliness of the avenue and especially the street corners. Their presence on the side streets would greatly promote the store located on side streets.
4. The Brooklyn Public Library and several other not-for-profits agreed to provide a package of free services for the vendors (mainly recent immigrants) and their families (and also for the store owners & their employees & families).
5. The BID put together this coalition of service providers that would provide these services:
a. English language development
b. Business skill development
c. Citizenship & Naturalization Assistance
d. Housing assistance
e. Assistance in navigating the school system
f. Career planning
g. Legal services
h. Health services.

The plan is much more detailed than my limited comment here. But basically it would recognize our local vendors as legitimate members of the business community and the community at large. It would embrace rather than attack these hardworking individuals. It would “jump start” our newest wave of future Americans into the role of active citizenship. Unlike the parents of many of us, who came to the U.S. two or more generations ago and had to wait for their children or children’s children to be viewed as “valid” citizens, our newest neighbors would be welcomed into the American dream. And America (I should point out that many of these immigrants are already Americans – South & Central & North, we misuse the term when what we mean is United States of America) would get a new boost of patriotism from these new citizens as they become proof that the American dream is real and not a trumped up scam.
In closing, this is not a compromise plan where everyone loses equally. This is instead, a very rare case of a true “win-win” situation. Needed services would come to the vendors, and numerous benefits would come to store-based businesses. And in the end, Sunset Park’s Main Street would be cleaner, offer a greater variety of goods, and become a fulfillment of the American dream.

P.S.

I would like to add an additional comment about the Sunset Park Vending bill. The “family” of Sunset Park elected officials: Congresswoman Velazquez, Borough President Markowitz, our three State Senators – Montgomery, Adams & Savino, Assemblyman Ortiz, and City Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez are all strong supporters of the plan. Our Community Board has signed on and the Speaker of the City Council – Quinn has made its passage a priority.

But yet, the plan faces stiff opposition! And here is the reason why – street vending has two camps that have been fighting for generations. It is almost like the two sides in World War I. The sides are so deeply entrenched that “peace” seems impossible. There are vendors (not local ones) and there are store based businesses (again, not the local ones) who fear this bill’s passage. They mounted a stiff campaign of demonstrations at City Hall, letter writing and the lobbying of various elected officials.

The two sides have been enemies for so long that neither is willing to trust any changes in position except for total surrender by the other side. They have lost all ability to negotiate – and for good reason – thru the years, the City has modified the vending laws from time to time and each time, only made the situation worse by hurting both sides. So government in general has lost the trust of the two sides.

Another major problem is that Mayor Bloomberg’s advisors have backed away from the plan. When the plan was first proposed, they were in such strong support that they wanted to immediately begin the plan in several neighborhoods without even going before the City Council for passage of a bill. They were going to do it thru an Executive Order of the Mayor.

Sunset Park agreed to changes asked for by the Mayor’s people but insisted that the plan NOT be imposed on any community. We felt it was essential that a community ask for the plan to be tried – the general community and both the stores & the street vendors. Just like we wouldn’t want something imposed on Sunset Park, we wouldn’t want to impose our plan on another community.

But when the two deeply entrenched sides began lobbying the Mayor, his people dropped the plan like a hot potato. Their excitement became silence. They avoided phone calls from Sunset Park and adopted a cowardly policy worse than neutrality. They ignored that the plan was on the table at all.

For people who are fearful of the bill possibly not working as we imagine it will work, the response is simple. This is a pilot program that would end after one year if not renewed.

Some of us in Sunset Park will not forget that the Mayor had a chance to do something of major benefit for Sunset Park’s street vendors & businesses and instead took on the role of the Wizard of Oz’s Cowardly Lion. The Sunset Park plan could have been the first step in resolving street vending problems throughout the city.

*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…