The BEEP Addresses Brooklyn!

On February 3, over a thousand guests streamed into the newly renovated Park Slope Armory to witness the 2010 State of the Borough Address, delivered in true Beep style by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The night, which was attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Comptroller John Liu, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and numerous other officials, public figures, community members, residents, and honorees, was filled with performances, festivities, food, and of course, our Beep’s extensive and energetic overview of 2009.

“I’m honored to have been elected for another term as Brooklyn Borough President,” Markowitz said. “The mayor didn’t have me in mind when he thought about extending term limits, but I thank him, as well as Speaker Christine Quinn and the City Council, and I’m thrilled to be serving Brooklynites for four more years.”

The theme of this year’s address, in honor of the 2010 Census, was “Brooklyn Counts,” and Markowitz speech left no area uncounted for—from building projects, to book festivals, job creation, Haiti relief efforts, education, the economy, tourism, housing, the environment, transportation, seniors, and the arts. In addition, Markowitz honored dozens of Brooklynites, from business owners and entrepreneurs, to Williamsburg newlyweds Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan, who had a zero gravity wedding this summer on a special airline flight. Entertainment throughout the night was an eclectic Brooklyn blend, and included performances by the I.S. 228 Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Ballet, the Venuto Brothers, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and Sesame Flyers International—whose dazzling but scant West Indian American Day Carnival costumes left the Beep blushing on stage.

Markowitz touched on several building and renovation projects in his address, including the restoration of the Loew’s Kings Theater in Flatbush, the renovation of the Bedford- Atlantic Armory in Crown Heights and the Sumner Armory in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the launching of Luna Park and the Asser Levy Park Project at Coney Island, the reconstruction of the McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg/Greenpoint, the revitalization of the New York Aquarium, the transformation of 4th Avenue into a “Brooklyn Boulevard” from Atlantic Ave to the ocean, and the controversial Atlantic Yards project.

“In 2009, confident investors rushed to buy bonds for Atlantic Yards, meaning they believe Brooklyn is the future,” he said. “Soon we will have affordable housing, union jobs, and the downtown cultural center that the fourth-largest city in America deserves, with a state of the art arena hosting everything from music and theater to pro basketball.”

In terms of the economy, Markowitz promised a strategy meeting with deputy Mayor Robert Lieber to discuss job creation in Brownsville, and also talked about creating business incentives for outsourced jobs to be moved to Brooklyn and bringing in a large-scale manufacturer and regional corporate offices to the borough.

“We need to create incentives that get our largest companies to employ our own, and penalize those that have received taxpayer bailouts and yet still refuse to create jobs right here for those who are struggling,” he said to great applause.

He also commended small businesses, entrepreneurs, and innovators, such as Jonathan Butler, founder of the “Hipster Mecca,” the Brooklyn Flea, local brewery owners such as Sixpoint’s Shane Welch, Viraj Puri of Greenpoint’s Gotham Greens rooftop farms, and Brokelyn.com’s Faye Penn.

The literary scene in Brooklyn had much to applaud as well. Markowitz announced that the Brooklyn Book Festival, which last year drew over 35,000 to downtown Brooklyn, would this September celebrate it’s fifth anniversary with a weekend-worth of readings, parties, events, and programming.

Markowitz went on to topics such as green initiatives, affordable housing for seniors, and programs for parents and youth. When it came to transportation, he suggested measures for creating funds for the MTA, and asserted his stance: no service cuts, fair increases, or tolls on the East River bridges.

The borough president took several moments to say some words about those that Brooklyn had lost this year, as well as honor “Character and Characters” in Brooklyn, such as “Project Runway” winter Irina Shabeyeva; Gowanus resident Renee Flowers, who leads the Gowanus Wildcats Drill Team; Corvette Hunt and Bethany Paul, Williamsburg barber-shop and tattoo parlor owners at Graceland Brooklyn; and Crown Heights Resident Mohammed Hashan, who dared to ask Lindsay Lohan for her I.D. when she left her phone in his sandwich shop in Little Italy.

Markowitz also noted the loss of Brooklyn’s Poet Laureate, Ken Siegelman, who passed away over the summer, and continued on to present the new Poet Laureate, Tina Chang of Park Slope. Chang, who is the author of Half-Lit Houses and co-editor of Langue for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asian, and Beyond, read a poem about Haiti written specifically for the event, “Praise.”

In the spirit of the Beep, the night was scattered with jokes and jabs, including a showing a scandalous photoshopped Cosmo spread of Markowitz’ face over Scott Brown’s body, and a slide show in which the Beep poked fun of the Daily News for calling the long-term renter’s first home a “castle.” One comment made by the Daily News—which called borough presidents “useless wastes,” and “bloodsucking leeches”—Markowitz did not take lightly, and he made a point to highlight the numerous improvements and progress that had been made by his office.

“Brooklynites know that if you scrap borough presidents, you lose the borough’s voice—and without that voice, if the “powers that be” decide Brooklyn doesn’t count—believe me, it won’t,” he said. “I ran for this office because I wanted to make the borough president the most important job for Brooklynites, and I work every single day to make sure Brooklyn gets its fair share.”

Markowitz outlined some of his achievements, including fighting for affordable housing at Mitchell Lama, keeping open school-based health clinics during flu season, creating a high school for innovation in advertising and media in Canarsie, a Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance in Bed-Stuy, and the Brooklyn School of Inquiry in Bensonhurst, fighting against a Trans-Gas power plant on the Bushwick Inlet, and pushing for the creation of a Brooklyn Community Pride Center for the LGBT community.

“This is what a strong borough president can do—and Brooklyn deserves a strong voice,” Markowitz said. “That’s why I’m going to be demanding charter changes to beef up the job of borough president, public advocate, and community boards. We must strengthen these offices and demand budgets determined by formulate and not by whim, so those you elected to fight for your interests can do so.”