BP Markowitz, TA President Reuter discuss Brooklyn transit priorities
    BP Markowitz and Transit Authority (TA) President Lawrence Reuter covered a lot of ground when the City's subway and bus chief visited Borough Hall last week. The biggest topic was TA capital spending. Marty pointed out that Brooklyn has the most transit riders of any borough --- and any county in the nation -- yet the TA's capital plan is largely focused elsewhere. Rehabilitation work on Brooklyn subway stations, for example, has not been on par with station rehab work in Manhattan.
    Marty told Reuter that since many millions of additional square feet of new commercial office space is anticipated in Downtown Brooklyn, together with more new housing and expanded higher education facilities, subway stations must be upgraded to improve the accessibility of Downtown Brooklyn and accommodate ridership growth.
    The two also talked about:

• The proposal to extend the LIRR through the 8th Avenue subway tunnel into lower Manhattan, which was included in the lower Manhattan redevelopment outline released last week by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Reuter agreed with Marty that this use of the 8th Avenue tunnel would disrupt many more Brooklyn subway riders than the number of Long Island commuters who would be served. Marty added that a much better alternative for improving access to lower Manhattan would be to extend the proposed Second Avenue subway line to Brooklyn.
   
• The TA's plan to relocate the 1,800 jobs at its headquarters at 370 Jay Street to lower Manhattan. Marty told Reuter that to encourage redevelopment of this site, the TA is obligated to upgrade the dilapidated Jay Street Station that lies underneath the building. Reuter promised that the station upgrade will be included in the Authority's next capital program, to coordinate with redevelopment of the site.
   
• The deplorable condition of the escalators at the Brighton Beach and Coney Island stations. Brighton Beach has the largest concentration of elderly in the borough.
   
• Disruption of service on the 2 and 3-lines into Manhattan as a result of the World Trade Center disaster. Reuter indicated that normal 2 and 3-train express service will be restored by November.
   
• Manhattan Bridge subway dislocations. Reuter indicated that a study, which will involve extensive public participation, will be conducted to determine the services that should be operated over the rehabilitated Manhattan Bridge. This study will also look at adjacent subway lines.

In addition, TA President Reuter agreed to look at the feasibility of a pedestrian bridge leading from the subway to the Coney Island boardwalk as part of its Stillwell Avenue station rehabilitation project.

BP Markowitz marks Yom Hashoah and honors Brooklyn's Holocaust survivors
    Borough President Markowitz attended several Yom Hashoah services last week, including those of the Flatbush Park Jewish Center and the Jewish Community Council of Kings Bay and YM-YWHA. Yom Hashoah is the annual day set aside on the Jewish calendar to honor the memory of those murdered in the Holocaust, to remember the event itself as a cautionary tale and as an impetus to speak out against hatred, and to respond to those who claim the Holocaust did not occur.
    "Whenever I attend Holocaust memorial services," Marty said, "I am amazed at how the human spirit can survive in the face of the most terrible evil. It is truly a great mystery, one that is embodied in every survivor of the Holocaust.

"As a Jew, and as a human being, I am greatly concerned that so many young people today have no knowledge of the Holocaust. Teaching young people about the Holocaust is inherently difficult because, while we understand the importance of educating future generations about the Shoah, at the same time, we cannot help wanting to protect children from that terrible knowledge. Yet, we must find ways to teach today's young people, and future generations, about the Holocaust, if we are to create a better world - one where such evil cannot take root.
   "It is important to remember that the Shoah was not carried out by Hitler alone, or by a few insane individuals. The Holocaust was planned and carried out by a legal national government, with the systematic participation of thousands of ordinary citizens and the consent of millions more. Hitler rose to power promising to carry out a program of racial hatred, and the Holocaust was the logical fulfillment of those promises.
    "So," the Borough President concluded, "we will continue to study and to tell the story of the Shoah, and of each man and woman here in Brooklyn, and throughout the world, who lived through it. We will continue to tell the story to celebrate their courage and their survival."

In brief
    Last week Borough President Markowitz's schedule included a meeting with Congressman Jerrold Nadler to discuss pressing Brooklyn issues including the proposed cross-harbor rail freight tunnel; a tour to show and discuss economic development priority sites in several Brooklyn neighborhoods with Dan Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, who told Marty that he would return soon; and a meeting a Dyker Heights Community Forum that was also attended by Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, to discuss school governance.
    Marty helped celebrate the ground breaking for the construction of twenty new homes in Bedford-Stuyvesant that will be built by Habitat for Humanity, and presented an award to Fire Department Chaplain John Delendick, as part of the annual awards dinner of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation. "If the terrible attacks on our city had never occurred, " Marty noted, "Father Delendick would still be a hero. He has long been a hero to the residents of south Brooklyn, and the many other Brooklyn neighborhoods where he has served. And he has been a longtime hero to the New York City Firefighters who have sought his counsel."

Lighten Up Brooklyn campaign gearing up

    Lighten Up Brooklyn, Borough Hall's campaign to encourage Brooklynites to slim down, was set to be kicked-off on April 16th as Borough President Markowitz was to be publicly weighed at the Borough Hall Rotunda. Starting on April 22nd, Brooklyn residents wishing to lose weight will be able to register and have their weight officially taken and recorded at one of more than 140 weigh-in stations located throughout the borough in hospitals, health clubs, drug stores (all Brooklyn Duane Reade branhes), supermarkets (all of the borough's Pathmark's), churches, and government offices. The only information required for registration is name, age, sex, and zip code), be weighed and have their weight officially recorded. Weigh-in station locations are available at the Borough President's web site, www.brooklyn-usa.org or by calling 718-802-3777.

    After Lighten Up Brooklyn ends on June 15th, all of the results will be tabulated and the neighborhood that loses the most weight per person on average will appear live on NBC's Today Show --- and have its neighborhood flag hoisted above Borough Hall.

The advantages of Brooklyn living, according to a recent arrival

    Nell Campbell, the famous Australian actress and the owner of Nell's, a nightclub that defined nightlife in Manhattan in the '80's , recently moved to Hoyt Street in Boerum Hill. She's quoted in the Home Design section of the New York Times: "Living in Brooklyn is like living in London with Manhattan over your shoulder."