The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Diana Wins Big

9:35: Looking good! with 3/4 of the precincts in she's got 48% of the vote. Shirley's under 30%. Menachem's around 18%. Geoffrey's way back. Kinda surprised by that actually. Didn't he WIN an election for district leader?

9:40: Let's call this thing for Diana and head on over to her party at the church on Hawthorne tween Nostrand and NY Avenue.

My cheap analysis? Weak candidate put up by a King County Democratic Committee that was sleeping on the job. So I hear (I'm no expert) there could have been 200 people on the committee but only 10 were on when Karim Camara stepped down. Embarassing yes. But hardly a loss for the community. As a result of the chaos, we get an actual Assemblywoman we can work with.

Such an odd scene today on Parkside near the PS92 polling place. Eric Adams and Diana Richardson, mere feet apart, but such a psychic distance. C'mon y'all. Kiss and make-up. We're gonna need everyone on the same team to fight our biggest battles.

THEN CAME THE AFTER THE PARTY AT THE CHURCH OVER ON HAWTHORNE (I think it's called St. Gabriel's? After Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back, Kotter I suspect).

The Q was happy to see so many local union leaders and rank and file whooping it up. The Crown Heights Tenants Union was there and other tenant organizers. A suprisingly broad coalition of elected officials from Scott Stringer and Jumaane Williams to Kevin Parker and Brad Lander to Yvette and Una Clarke were quick to take credit and congratulate their buddy. Conspicuously absent, of course, were longtime Central Brooklyn power couple BP Eric Adams and State Senator Jesse Hamilton, who, in my view, needlessly supported a weaker candidate. Sign of a splinter in the monolithic Democratic power structure? Nah. I spoke to a couple people who feel DR was simply the stronger candidate, and would have made a better choice from the git-go. It's all good, and I suspect after a day of nursing wounds it'll all be hunky dory. If it's not, that would be bad for us all.

What was perhaps most striking of all, however, was the anemic support for Geoffrey Davis. Was yours among the hundreds of cars graced with MTOPP flyers urging you to vote for him? If anything, it seems to have hurt him, as he barely managed more votes than the typical opinion poll's margin of error. See, I think MTOPP, with all of its anger and vengeance for the Community Board, has forgotten that the Community Board is a very minor player that hardly anyone cares about. I'm not being flip; it's really a tiny piece of the puzzle. CB9 is Alicia's neighbors. Corruption only counts when you have any power. Ain't no one on the Community Board getting bought out by developers. Because read my lips...nobody cares. And apparently, no one cares about her endorsement either.

It's all good. Keep an eye on this lady though. Diana's young, and she's an excellent speaker and a strategic thinker. She knows the right people and she can win friends and influence people. May she stay true to her core principles and not fall prey to the temptations of office. Frankly, and this might sound sexist, but I trust a woman in power more than a man. And yes, that's an early endorsement for you know who as well. It's time, and she ain't half bad.


7 comments:

Seth said...

It should be interesting to see what happens in 2018.

Will the Democratic Party let Diana run on their ticket or will there be another slugfest for the post?

Anonymous said...

Nobody likes MTOPP even if they're concerned with the issues AB pretends to care about. MTOPP is a small group trapped in an echo chamber so they don't realize that. Neither did their candidate. As for Eric Adams, it turns out others are as underwhelmed by him as I have always been. Anyway, congratulations DR! Great news.

Anonymous said...

Adams lost big, I guess its hard to be a kingmaker when you lose on your home turf, he is more than underwhelming but disappointing.

Seth said...

Eric Adams has always been a great supporter of our community and continues to be as Borough President.

I voted for Richardson and I don't think Eric supporting someone else takes away from his leadership.

Unknown said...

Diana Richardson is an ideal attractive Golden Boneish Jamerican Woman who supports Gentrification. With having Alicia Boyd`of MTOPP arrested and support for Luxury Housing and Gentrification,along with her Wicked Beauty she fits in to the norm of Gentrification- White.With the disingenous betrayal of the Crown Heights Tenant Union and the Golden Bpneish talking slick tactics she has pulled this off. Let me reiterate: First , thank you for responding to my comment April 24th,2015. I guess we are all twits or insane for the right cause of history ; and often for the wrong cause.Now, I guess you could Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and Malcolm X "twits" or Freedom Fighters. Mr Thomas you are on the wrong side of history in which there are over 200 signatures in which I participated in circulating in that is requesting your resignation from Community Board#9 due to your racist wording and language. Such words as" assholics,not in my black yard and insulted 40th district Councilman Mattieu Eugene as "in a cheap suit".In addition you have no knowledge of East Flatbush, Flatbush and Kensington in which your April,25th post" Q is Moving on" that there were years of rioting, resentment and tensions between Jews and Blacks is ignorant,stupid and idiotic without factual evidence or support: at best an irrational assumption. A distinguished Professor of Baruch College, Brooklyn College or any other City University of New York would have graded this post as an F. Note, East Flatbush, Flatbush and Kensington it exists are professionals, doctors, lawyers,insurance agents, realtors and restauranteurs as well. When your newcomers arrived in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Kensington in which it is not a ghetto or slum ,but a thriving neighborhood above most in Brooklyn.Before you arrive at such conclusions, assumptions and opinions please effectively and properly research your facts before making any asuumptions and analyses.
To those and Mr. Thomas of this Blog I would like to state that there were no violent, racist or derogatory comments written.Nor should it submitted to the 71st Precinct of the N.Y.P.D. for Criminal investigation. No, it is you Mr. Thomas ,supporters and Community Board#9 that is wrong and incorrect. First, representing the Community Board without ending commercial,financial or economic interests or gains is violation of conflict of interest in the charter of Community Board representation. Next, to comment on my academic, literary,writing or other skills. I am a proud graduate of Samuel J. Tilden High School and possess a Bachelor of Arts degree from Long Island University ,with pursuing a second degree in the School of Business from Brooklyn College-CUNY. Again, this is our community in which we will protect and you are on the wrong side of history.It is our First Amendment rights-Freedom of Speech.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Kasa: I love you. You are deeply, deeply troubled, but I love you.

Keep sending your irrational and barely coherent ramblings. Keep speaking up for whatever ill logic you've come to believe as fact. You represent, I suspect, a tiny but virulent faction of the populace and as such you are, as you state, entirely within your rights to express yourself, here or elsewhere.

But here's the thing. Nearly every statement you made is wrong. So be it. I look forward to sharing the same digital space with you in the future.

But if you ever call me again I will send the fuzz your way. And if you ever have the guts to say any of this to me in person, I may very well kick you in the 'nads. Hear me?

Unknown said...

Sounds like Kasa's got a little crush on DR with her Golden Boneish Wicked beauty! Grrrrrrrr....
But that's about all I got from your very poorly written post. Perhaps a couple more degrees will enhance the clarity of your prose!