On the Candidates: Ken Baer

I’ve been deeply involved with communities, and local government. I don’t think you can ask for anything more.

Widely known as the environmental candidate, Ken Baer sits quietly, licking an ice cream cone.

“This should slow me down, so I don’t talk too fast!” Baer said, excitedly. With only one week to go, Bear, who is running for city council in the 33rd district, certainly has a lot to talk about.

A park slope resident for over 30 years, Ken Baer has been intimately involved in his community through his participation in the Park Slope Food Coop, and his tireless efforts to promote recycling in his neighborhood. Additionally, Baer served as chair of the New York City chapter of the Sierra Club, where he stood up against the prospect of incinerators being installed in the five boroughs as a solid waste management strategy, and rallied on behalf of sophisticated recycling programs throughout the city.

Though he has not held office, Baer is familiar with the inner workings of city government. Throughout his career, he has worked for two city agencies, the Agency for Child Development and the New York City Department of Finance, where he worked as an accountant, reviewing tax law, making it easy for Baer to “read legislation and look for loopholes in government documents—it’s something I have a facility for.”

As councilperson, Baer will advocate for the parks and open space promised in the 2005 rezoning promises, a limitation on high rise developments, especially in North Brooklyn, and a heftier responsibility for Community Boards. Baer insists that a sure fire way to ensure community-based planning is to elect community board members, not appoint them, and to give boards veto power over important community decisions, especially those pertaining to land use and rezoning.

“We need to look at issues separately: The parks need to be funded, and we need to stop developing new high rise buildings, so we’ll have to look at other solutions to bring affordable housing,” Baer said. “I also want to establish community control over government. Community Boards should have the ultimate say, and have veto power. I’d especially like to see the Broadway Triangle revisited, because it was done behind closed doors, without all the stakeholders involved. By electing community board members instead of appointing them, and giving the boards more power, they will act as true representatives of the community.”

Though Baer is a resident of South Brooklyn, he insists that he is, in fact, the eyes and ears of the entire district, and is equally dedicated to working on issues pertaining to the north as he is the south. As councilperson, Baer plans to hold annual forums, in various parts of the district, to gather information about specific issues and problems constituents are facing in their neighborhoods and communities.
“I up here and talk to people, I take a look at things,” Baer said. “I see the blight in Williamsburg, where all the industrial buildings were and it’s terrible. I’m very hands on—or eyes on—I like to go out and look and ask questions, and get information that way, right on the spot.”