Happy Hallowe'en!

What Hallowe'en Costumes Say about You

It all started with the Celts.

In the Celtic calendar, the last day of October marked the end of harvest and the beginning of winter -- a time of darkness, famine and death.

On this pivotal day, which we call Hallowe'en, the spirits of the dead could return to earth through winter's portal and freely walk among the living.

A mask or costume worn after dark acted as a disguise, fooling the ghosts into thinking you were one of them, to avoid being harmed by roaming spirits.

That explains the custom of Hallowe'en costumes, but what about our choice of costumes?

In European celebrations, the practice of wearing costumes gave those at the bottom of society the chance to turn the power structure upside down by masquerading as the powerful:  lowly serfs could be kings, queens, gods and monsters.

Things have evolved since then.  Psychologists today see Hallowe'en costumes as providing a medium for personal expression:  a chance to tell others who we admire or detest;  a chance to reveal our hidden traits to others.

Some examples of what your choice of costume says about you:

• Animals -- you choose animals that express the qualities you like in yourself, and want others to admire in you:  a reserved woman, for instance, may acknowledge her sensuality by dressing as a cat.
• Sex Symbols -- French maids, hot nurses and strumpets can be both an outlet for repressed sexuality and a healthy expression of not-so-repressed sexuality.  The pimp and prostitute duo express conflicting feelings about the limits of sexual expression.
• Innocents -- fairies and princesses represent a longing for one's own innocence, a return to a safer, simpler time.
• Powerful Characters -- devils, for instance -- represent a desire for omnipotence -- or an expression of underlying insecurity.
• Scary Characters -- represent both our fascination with and our terror of death and the macabre.
• Evil Characters -- a guilt-free outlet for the expression of our dark side -- or a means to deliberately turn people off as a way of creating distance.
• Cartoon Characters -- an effort to lighten our spirits, to return to the playfulness of youth.

The article from the Seattle Post Intelligencer

Cuomo's Gas Money

How independent can Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for governor, be on the issue of hydrofracking for natural gas, when energy companies invested in natural gas development are among his biggest campaign contributors?

Here's a sampling of names from the donor list:

• National Grid, the multinational energy company, donated $3,000.
• Robert Catell, former chairman of National Grid’s American division, now chairman of the Advanced Energy Center Advisory Board at Stony Brook University, has donated $15,000 since 2008. Catell has written an opinion column for Newsday titled “Don’t reject hydraulic fracturing out of hand.”
• National Grid subsidiary Keyspan donated $1,000.
• Electricity giant Competitive Power Ventures, seeking to build a natural gas plant in Wawayanda, N.Y., has donated $75,000 to Cuomo since 2009 through its subsidiaries. 
• Spectra Energy Corporation, a natural gas distributor, has donated $1,000, and its subsidiary Texas Eastern Transmission has donated $2,000.

Companies that burn natural gas have a clear interest in greenlighting hydrofracking, which could provide their power plants with plentiful, locally-sourced fuel -- at a time when demand is high.

Tellingly, Cuomo’s 150-page energy and power agenda, Power NY, although it talks about natural gas drilling, never once mentions the word "hydrofracking".  Is Cuomo on the downlow?  Mos def.

Cuomo, as the state's next governor, would oversee the administrative process that determines whether, how and where hydrofracking will take place, at a time when the hard-charging drilling controversy has pitted neighbor against neighbor, upstate against downstate, and environmentalists against the energy sector .

Hydrofracking proponents talk about natural gas yield, fueling power plants and replacing coal, ignoring the threat hydrofracking poses to groundwater, including New York City's water supply.  For them, it's all about the money:  hydrofracking is the new Gold Rush.  For us, it's about our precious, at-risk clean water supply.

Carl Paladino, Cuomo's Republican opponent, sides with the drilling industry, and would greenlight hydrofracking immediately.

To the left of Cuomo, City Council member Charles Barron of the Freedom Party and the Green Party’s Howie Hawkins favor an outright ban on hydrofracking.

Cuomo’s keeping it low. He says he wants to see an expansion of natural gas use, while ensuring that the gas is mined in a way that does not harm the environment -- which is impossible to achieve with hydrofracking.

Administrative stakeholders other than the governor include the state’s lobotomized, rudderless Department of Environmental Conservation, which will have a major say in whether hydrofracking is allowed to go forward.

The state legislature could also enact anti-hydrofracking legislation. A bill already approved by the state Senate would impose a moratorium on the practice until May.

And Eric Schneiderman, the state's new attorney general could weigh in -- if the DEC’s policy decisions result in an environmental lawsuit.

The article from City Limits.

Scandinavians Celebrate Dutch New York

As part of New York City's Annual Five Dutch Days celebration, the Scandinavian East Coast Museum will host a dinner and a presentation, Scandinavian Women in Dutch New York, on Sunday, November 21st from 2:00 - 6:00 at The Danish Athletic Club, 735 65th Street in Bay Ridge.

The Dutch immigrants who settled New York City re-created in the New World a miniature of the diverse, liberal society they left behind in the Netherlands. Under Dutch rule, women were comparatively empowered, having the right, for instance, to inherit property.

Scandinavians made up a large portion of New York City's early population. The community is invited to come and learn more about Scandinavian women in Dutch New York.

A dinner, combining Dutch and Scandinavian specialties, will be served.

Tickets are $30.00.

For more information, call Victoria Hofmo at 718-748-5950.

A Clean, Green Vac Machine

Plastic debris -- some 260 million tons of it a year -- is a major threat to the world's oceans.

Plastic is also resource-intensive to manufacture.  Using recycled plastics saves, on average, 90% of the water and up to 90% of the energy used to manufacture virgin plastic.

Consumer appliance manufacturer Electrolux has launched new line of vacuum cleaners, UltraOne Green, made from recycled marine plastic, that contain 70% post-consumer recycled plastic -- and no PVC.

The UltraOne Green, which Electrolux calls "the best vacuum cleaner [it's] ever made", has been rated "best in test" in eleven countries.

Down the road, the company aims to produce 100% sustainable vacuum cleaners.

Earlier this year, Electrolux launched the Vac from the Sea initiative to call attention to the problem of recyclable plastic sourcing, partnering with environmental organizations to gather plastic debris from the world's major oceans and turning it into a line of ocean-themed vacuum cleaners.

The vacs are packaged in 100% recycled material, and come with an s-bag® Green, made entirely from corn starch.

Electrolux Green Range vacs are 50% more energy-efficient than the average 2000w cleaner.

For more information about these new concept vacs, visit the website.

TEA Party Hosts Hallowe'en Press Conference

The Brooklyn TEA Party will host a press conference in front of State
Assembly Member Steven Cymbrowit's campaign headquarters, at 2658 Coney Island Ave in Brooklyn, this Sunday, October 31, at 4 PM.

The organizers say they will denounce Cymbrowitz and Helene Weinstein as cowards for having failed to respond to letters bearing the signatures of 1,300 constituents and rallies, attended by several hundred people, denouncing the planned mosque on Voorhies Avenue in Sheepshead Bay.

The community will be called upon to punish Cymbrowitz and Weinstein for ignoring it.

Costumes are optional.

Brooklyn Paper photo.

Linkage

The Narrows Community Theater will produce The Curious Savage this fall [Courier.]

Challenger Nicole Malliotakis jumps on State Assembly Member Janele Hyer-Spencer at a candidate forum in Bay Ridge [Brooklyn Daily Eagle.]

A weekend subway alert from BK Southie.

The Brooklyn Paper's guide to Hallowe'en.

Beehive Hairdresser catches a glimpse of Brooklyn Bridge through a time warp.

Mike McMahon is among the Democrats holding the U.S. House of Representatives down by a thread [AM NY.]

Alysia Santo writes up Bensonhurst's Reaching Out Community Services [Brooklyn Ink.]

An employee leaves the door open, and $18,000 worth of prescription drugs go missing from Lowen's Pharmacy on 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge [Brooklyn Paper.]

A Shore Road Walkathon for Dynamite Youth Center [Courier.]

A last rally for historic Coney Island on Saturday [Kinetic Carnival.]

DUMBO's L Magazine compiles a list of the 50 best Brooklyn blocks, leaving out Sheepshead Bay [Sheepshead Bites.]

Brooklyn Young Republicans president Jonathan Judge, of Kensington, recognized as a future Brooklyn leader [CNG.]

Nathan Kensinger photographs the nurses residence at the abandoned Greenpoint Hospital.

The Guggenheim releases its list of the 25 best YouTube videos [Huffpost.]

The story of Debbie Almontaser, fired as principal of New York's first Arab-themed school, is now an award-winning documentary film called Intifada NYC [FWIX.]

Grow veggies in your driveway [Inside Urban Green.]

In a newly-released survey by the Municipal Art Society, New Yorkers rated the livability of their neighborhoods [MAS.]

Did drilling contractor Halliburton knowingly use faulty cement to seal the Deepwater Horizon well [AP?]

Please don't watch this documentary about the BP oil spill -- unless you can handle the truth [Pro Publica.]

Fall Tree, 72nd Street

McMahon's Gut Shot

Gothamist picked up the report from the Staten Island Advance that Rep. Michael McMahon (D) invited Republican challenger Mike Grimm's ex-wife to the candidates' Tuesday night debate at Wagner College.

Grimm's ex, Susan Kim, wore a McMahon button and brought along her father and brothers.  The group took four seats held for them by McMahon campaign aides directly in front of the podium at which Grimm would stand.

Acknowledging McMahon's move, Grimm coolly told the Advance that his ex-wife looked as beautiful as the day they met, and that it was a pleasure to see his former in-laws.

The McMahon campaign explained that the Kims had been his long-time supporters -- but even so.

The article from the Staten Island Advance.

More from Staten Island Dump.

Rally Against Hydrofracking at Bay Ridge Greenmarket

Mike DiSanto, Democratic candidate for State Senate in the 22nd District, will sponsor a rally against hydrofracking  -- and for safe, clean drinking water -- at the Bay Ridge Greenmarket, 3rd Avenue and 95th Street in Bay Ridge, on Saturday, October 30, at 12 Noon.

DiSanto will be joined by 60th Assembly District Leader Kevin Peter Carroll and speakers from Clean Water New York and the Sierra Club.

The purpose of the rally is to raise the awareness of the voting public about the environmental risks posed by hydrofracking in the runup to the general election.

Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is a controversial natural gas drilling process that involves pumping millions of gallons of pressurized water, laced with toxic chemicals, into shale formations deep underground, in order to release natural gas trapped within the rock.

There have been numerous reports around the country of water sources polluted with toxins and carcinogens and humans and animals sickened as a result of hydrofracking, which has serious, long-term public health, environmental, economic, and legal impacts.

The New York State Senate, to its credit, is the first legislative body in the country to pass a temporary moratorium on hydrofracking.

DiSanto's opponent, incumbent State Senator Marty Golden, was absent for the high-profile Senate vote on the hydrofracking moratorium.  Golden later admitted to being an enthusiastic supporter of hydrofracking, saying that "There is plenty of room in this great state for hydrofracking."

DiSanto countered that:

"Our state legislature has a responsibility to protect our drinking water. Allowing toxins and carcinogens to be pumped into the water supply may be good for the big oil and gas companies, but it is not good for regular New Yorkers. I will do everything in my power to prevent dangerous gas drilling from hurting our water supply."

This year, Environmental Advocates of New York ranked Golden's Senate record on environmental issues at the bottom of the scale.

Mike DiSanto Gets a Major Endorsement

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and Gun Free Kids have today endorsed Mike DiSanto for State Senate in District 22, as a result of DiSanto’s commitment to reducing the threat of gun violence and his independence from the gun lobby.

DiSanto was one of only six non-incumbents endorsed by the groups in State legislative races.

DiSanto's opponent, incumbent Republican State Senator Marty Golden, has gotten poor grades from gun safety organizations, including a “D” in 2008 from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. Golden has been criticized for walking out of the Senate chamber during a high-profile vote on microstamping, rather than go on record as opposing the measure.

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, a statewide advocacy group, was established in 1993 by Brooklyn mothers galvanized by the senseless shooting death of a teacher in Prospect Park.

Gun Free Kids, founded in 2007, provides advocacy tools and assists voters nationwide in learning about and supporting state-based candidates who favor sound gun violence prevention policies. It has over 10,000 subscribers nationwide.

Bats, A Symbol of Hallowe'en, Face Extinction

Most of us know bats, night-flying mammals, as symbolic of Hallowe'en.

In real life, they play a very important role in controlling insect populations in crops and forests. So the fact that bats across the country are being wiped out by a fungus called white-nose syndrome is really scary.

For four winters now, white-nose syndrome has been decimating bat colonies from the Northeast to the Mississippi River, and scientists fear it is headed west this winter, having been found in bats living in Oklahoma this spring.

Biologists are shocked and horrified at the rate at which the disease is spreading across the country. The precipitous decline of America's bats -- with nine species already affected and the disease racing across the country into new populations -- calls for an environmental plan of action.

U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, overseer of our nation's public lands, wildlife, and other natural resources, has yet to declare the situation a wildlife emergency.

To address the crisis, it will take an estimated $10 million for white-nose research in next year's Interior budget; restricting access to bat caves on federal lands; a National Park Service plan to limit the spread of the disease; and closing Forest Service caves in the West to non-essential people.

These things need to be done, and soon.

Bats may otherwise be just a few years from extinction.

Read more on the Center for Biological Diversity website.

Eco-Sex at the Book Court

On November 11 from 7 PM to 9 PM, Planned Parenthood of New York will host a book signing at the Book Court, 163 Court Street in Cobble Hill, with author Stephanie Weiss, whose just-published book, Eco-Sex, explores the many ways you can go green in the bedroom -- and have a healthier, happier, more environmentally-conscious love life.

Expect a lively discussion about sex, the environment and greening the bedroom.

Chat with experts from local non-profits and eco-friendly businesses working to spread the word about the connection between the environment and reproductive health.

There will be wine and cheese.

Call 212-274-7224 for more information.

Seating is limited. Click here to RSVP.

Blind Cat Goes Missing on 66th Street

His name is Sammie, and he is blind.

He's about 3 years old, mostly white with gray markings on his left side, tail, ears and forehead.

Sammie was last seen on Saturday, October 9 on 66th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues in Bay Ridge.

A reward is offered for his return.

If you have any information about Sammie, please contact: 718-836-1968 or 347-615-5622.

Hydrofracking Threatens State Forests

In September, New York State's now-eviscerated Department of Environmental Protection, its staffing levels at the lowest point since the 1980s and its commissioner fired for speaking the truth to power, issued a Draft Strategic Plan for Forest Management.

The Draft Plan, in Chapter 5, Mineral Resources, greenlights hydrofracking for natural gas in New York's state forests.

Although mineral extraction is permitted under state law, industrial gas and oil development, such as hydrofracking, is incompatible with the environmental protection and public recreational uses on which the State Forest Management Plan is based.

The DEP says it is considering expanding natural gas development in the state forests because gas is cleaner than coal and oil, but hydrofracking isn’t clean:  it pollutes the air and water, destroys the integrity of forests, and degrades the land.

New York State, under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), must analyze alternatives to hydrofracking in our state forests, including weighing a leasing ban.

The DEC's Draft Supplemental Generic Impact Statement, the available study, fails to consider the impact of drilling in state forest lands, the long-term effects of industrial-scale water withdrawals from our rivers, or the DEP staffing levels required to monitor the gas drilling industry.  

The deadline for comments to the plan is Friday, October 29.

For more information, and to take action, visit the Stand Up New York! page on the Earthworks website.

A Letter to the Editor, from Victoria Hofmo

"Walking across Leif Ericson Park last Sunday, I wandered over to see two of my favorite Bay Ridge houses, Nos. 630 and 634 67th Street.

They are twins, with beautiful French style doors and lovely curved details on the roof-line. They are set back, with large gardens in the front -- evidence of a more genteel time.

I love that Bay Ridge has that quality and charm.

There was a garage sale in the back, and I told the woman coming out that I had always admired her house. She said that it was her mother's, and that she had recently sold it.

My heart sank.

She said 'Don’t worry, they are going to keep it a one-family and just gut the inside.'

'Gut' -- what a word. We gut fish. We say, 'I hate your guts!'

'But', I replied, 'The woodwork inside must be 100 years old.' 

'Older,' she said.

I walked home despondent.

It got me to thinking about how lucky we are that most of Bay Ridge’s housing stock is 100 years old or older. Bay Ridge has a certain aesthetic: quality materials, craftsmanship, green space around our homes, and a lack of ostentation. Even mansions, with dozens of rooms, are set back, landscaped and well-proportioned.

It’s what makes our neighborhood, unique, beautiful and livable.

What will happen to the home? Will it become a Fedders condo? Be stuccoed to death with plastic cornices? Will all of its details be eliminated -- the garden cemented? Or will someone see its aesthetic value; realize the quality of life you could have in this home -- the quality of life it brings to the community?

I pray for the latter, because, as we in Bay Ridge know too well, once it is gone, it is lost forever."

Victoria Hofmo is the president of the Bay Ridge Conservancy, an organization focused on preserving the built and the natural environment of Bay Ridge.

Palestinian Film Festival in Bay Ridge

From November 19 through 21, the Alpine Cinemas in Bay Ridge will host Brooklyn's first-ever Palestinian Spotlight, groundbreaking films from award-winning filmmakers in the emerging Palestinian film industry.

After each film, there will be discussion with the filmmakers and actors featured in the films, including Mohammad Bakri, Yaron Shani and Juliano Mer Khamis.

These films, which bring us rarely-heard voices from the Middle East, illuminate stories -- social, political and personal -- that have a universal resonance.

The lineup of films is as follows:

AJAMI
Directed by Yaron Shani, Scandar Copti / Israel / 2009 / 120 min
A special presentation of the 2009 Academy Award ® Nominee for best foreign language film. A powerful crime drama, portraying the streets of Jaffa’s Ajami Neighborhood.
Followed by Q and A with director Yaron Shani.
Friday, November 19, 9 PM.

COFFEE – BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION -- U.S. Premiere
Various Directors / Israel / 2010 / 77 min
A group of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers created short films inspired by coffee, a part of our cultural identity and social reality.
Followed by Q and A with actor Mohammad Bakri.
Saturday, November 20, 7:15 PM.

LAILA’S BIRTHDAY
Directed by Rashid Masharawi / Palestine, Tunisia, Netherlands / 2008 / 71 min
A humorous existential fable about a day in the life of a former-judge-turned-taxi driver on the day of his daughter Laila’s seventh birthday. His only goal is to be home early with a present and a cake, but life takes many twists and turns as he makes his way home.
Followed by Q and A with actor Mohammad Bakri.
Saturday, November 20, 9:15 PM.

ZAHARA
Directed by Mohammad Bakri / Israel / 2009 / 60 minutes
With breathtaking cinematography, Mohammad Bakri tells the story of his 78-year-old aunt, Zahara.  From pre-state Palestine to the present, Zahara has led the family with love and wisdom through life's many trials.
Followed by Q and A with director Mohammad Bakri.
Sunday, November 21, 7 PM.

Tickets go on sale on October 19 at PalestinianSpotlight.org. You can also buy tickets at the box office at the Alpine Cinema, 6817 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge.

General admission is $11; $5 for students with valid student ID.  A weekend pass is $36.

More from the Courier.

Jewish/Israeli-Christian/Arab filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis, a participant in the festival,was murdered in the Arab West Bank in April, 2011, while holding his infant son.

Zombiefest in Williamsburg

It's Hallowe'en -- time to get yer zombie on.

On Saturday, October 30, Food Bank For New York City and indieScreen will co-host Zombiefest in Williamsburg, starting with a Zombie Crawl at 4 PM from the Jamie Campiz Playground on Metropolitan and Marcy Avenues to indieScreen at 285 Kent Avenue for a 6 PM viewing of George Romero's 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead, and finishing with some suds at The Cove on 106 N 6th Street.

So crawl on down, y'all.

A portion of the $12 ticket price for The Night of the Living Dead will go to the Food Bank For New York City. You can buy tickets online or at indieScreen before the viewing.

Post-screening, the undead will adjourn to the The Cove for beer specials. Again, a portion of the proceeds will go to the Food Bank For New York City.

Food Bank For New York City has, for 27 years, been the city's major hunger-relief organization, and is one of the country's largest food banks.

indieScreen is a brand new theater and entertainment space located on Williamsburg's Southside, featuring a sophisticated A/V room, restaurant, and full bar.

Ahava Protesters Return to Ricky's

Local activist organizations, including CODEPINK NYC, Brooklyn for Peace, Adalah-NY, Jews Say No, and Jewish Voice for Peace will return to Ricky's, 107 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights (between Henry and Hicks) for a protest from 5:30 to 6:30 PM on Tuesday, October 26, demanding that Ricky's take Ahava products off its shelves.

The "buycotters" were out in full force last month  -- and so, it seems, were the counter-protesters. And so, round 2.

The message this time is "Occupation is an Ugly Business".

Take the 2, 3 , 4, 5, N or  R trains to Court St / Borough Hall. Exit at Montague Street and walk two blocks toward the river.

Decorative Beast, Liberty Street

Linkage

Bay Ridge Council Member Vinnie Gentile takes a legislative hammer to the hookah bars [Gothamist;]

Anne Lofaro of Bay Ridge wins a high-end office makeover by designer Christopher Lowell [Daily News.]

Unions endorse Janele Hyer-Spencer [Brooklyn Daily Eagle.]

At a candidate forum at the Bay Ridge Manor sponsored by the Arab-American Association, Mike Grimm tangles with the local Muslim community on the mosque at Ground Zero [Brooklyn Daily Eagle.]

Transplanted mollusks are reviving Jamaica Bay [Lost in the Ozone.]

Legendary Bronx jurist Burton Roberts, template for the irascible, heroic Justice Myron Kovitsky in Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, passes at age 88 [New York Times.]

Richard Lipsky on the plight of New York City's struggling small businesses under a businessman mayor [City Limits.]

Coverage of the second debate between Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino tonight (who knew it was even scheduled) [Room 8.]

Can Dan Donovan Win?

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, profiled by the New York Law Journal last week, is running as the Republican and Conservative Party candidate against State Senator Eric Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat, for state attorney general.

Donovan has skewered Schneiderman, endorsed by Al Sharpton, as a "radical" " left-wing" politician and a creature of the dysfunctional political culture of Albany.

Schneiderman, with the advantage of a 3 million registered Democrat voter edge over Donovan, has raised more than $5 million in campaign funds compared to Donovan's $772,537.

In the most recent poll, Schneiderman was 11 points ahead of Donovan.  Nonetheless, Donovan is confident that his vow to clean up Albany, a job for which he says Albany veteran Schneiderman is disqualified, will resonate with voters.

Donovan's campaign centerpiece is a three-point anti-corruption plan that would, if he is granted the necessary authority by the executive or the legislative branch, investigate and prosecute corruption on both the local and state levels; make state legislators -- including lawyers -- give up the names of their clients; and make non-profits vet the state legislators who funnel grant money to them.

Prosecuting Medicaid cheats and mortgage fraud; tracking terror funding; and sending terrorists to military tribunals far from New York City, are also part of Donovan's platform.

The New York Post, in its September 29 endorsement of Donovan, declared him free of the "Albany stench" of which Schneiderman "reeks".

Schneiderman challenges that Donovan would give Wall Street a wink; to which Donovan responded that he wouldn't want to hurt an industry that provides 3 million jobs by being overzealous.

The New York Times implied that Donovan would be soft on Wall Street, reporting that about a quarter of Donovan's funds come from Paul E Singer, the principal in the hedge fund Elliott Management, or donors associated with Singer.

Donovan says Schneiderman is too tight with Al Sharpton, and worries that the Schneiderman-proposed reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws in 2009 have had a negative effect.

Schneiderman'scampaign is angry about Donovan's having put up a website called State Street Eric, written in Schneiderman's voice and detailing Schneiderman's tenure in the state legislature.

The site, and a recent Donovan TV spot entitled "Too Radical", counter the affable image Donovan cultivates.

Donovan was an assistant district attorney from 1989-1996 for former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, and worked as chief of staff to Staten Island Borough President Guy V. Molinari and as deputy borough president under Mr. Molinari's successor, James P. Molinaro, before being elected Staten Island's district attorney in 2003.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is Donovan's highest-profile supporter. A friend and occasional golfing companion, Bloomberg has contributed $37,500 to Donovan's campaign.

Donovan also has the support of former Governor George E. Pataki and law enforcement groups, such as the New York City Detectives' Endowment Association.

Schneiderman is endorsed by a slew of Democratic elected officials, past and present, liberal and "progressive" community groups, unions, and Andrew Cuomo.

Pollsters say that Donovan may have the best chance of any Republican in the state of pulling off an upset.

Donovan's campaign website.

If veteran state legislators are disqualified from cleaning up Albany, wouldn't that apply to Republicans like Marty Golden as much as to Democrats like Eric Schneiderman?  Isn't that "Albany stench" the Post talks about on Golden too?  Or does it selectively cling only to Democrats -- in election years?

Haunted Hallowe'en Walk and Fairytale Forest

Looking for a safer Hallowe'en alternative for your kids than trick or treat?  Take them to the Hallowe'en Walk at Owl's Head.

Now in its 15th year, The Hallowe'en Walk has been called the best public Hallowe'en event of its kind in the U.S.

Every year, more than 150 volunteers donate time and talent to produce this "spooktacular" event, with funding help from local businesses, organizations and individuals.

The walk will take place on Sunday, October 31, from 1 PM to 9 PM, at Owl’s Head Park, 67th Street and Colonial Road in Bay Ridge.

A donation of $1 is recommended at the gate for the Haunted Walk and Fairytale Forest.

Here's the lineup:

Haunted Walk Tours
Scary 2 PM to 3:30 PM

Scarier 4:30 PM to 6PM

Scariest 7PM to 8:30PM

Fairytale Forest Tours:  Featuring Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard Costumed Characters
1:30PM to 3:45PM
4:15 PM to 6:30PM

Also:  Coloring Contest, Magician, and the New Utz Castle

Costume Contest

Registration 3 PM to 6:45 PM

Judging 5PM to 7PM
Winners announced at 7:45 PM
-need not be present-

Plus:  Kid’s Rides, Pony Rides, Face Painting, Sand Art, Trackless Train Ride 

Also: Dracula’s Food Court

(open 1 PM to 9 PM)

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the event, V.I.P. Sponsors Passes are available for $5 (per adult) at the businesses listed below.

• Circles—6901 3rd Ave.
• Boragi Florist—7613 3rd Ave.
• T and R Endurance Sports—7924 3rd Ave.
• Kaleidoscope Toys—8722 3rd Ave.
• Heart To Heart—9004 3rd Ave.
• The Bay Ridge Mail Station—9728 3rd Ave.

Sponsorship Passes, in limited supply, will admit one adult and up to 5 children at the V.I.P. entrances.

For more information call 718 238-6044.

Genesis Rep Does Broadway Tunes

Genesis Repertory, Brooklyn’s Classical Theater, assures us that nobody will die at a night of Broadway music showing another side of the company's finest classical actors, at 8 PM on Saturday, November 6.

The event will take place at the Genesis Theater, at The Block, 376 Bay 44th Street (off Shore Parkway) in Brooklyn.

Admission is $20.

Refreshments will be served.

The lineup of performers includes:

• Mary Elizabeth MiCari 
• John Stillwaggon 
• Rocco Buonpane 
• Michael Whelen 
• Kathy Whelen Stein 
• Kristin O’Blessin 
• Joyce A. Adams 
• Ashley Westbrook 
• Jayme Stevens 
• Mario T. Claudio 
• Michael D’Antoni 
• Robert Aloi 
• John Fitzgerald 
• Mohammed Saad 
• Ali Quan Southall 
• Special guests Robin Watkins and Neil Schleifer 

Choreography by Joyce A. Adams; musical direction by Eric K. Johnston; percussion by Adam Weingarten;  direction by Jay Michaels.

Silent Auction

Looking for a local advertising opportunity -- or a tax deduction? Look no further. When you donate an item or service to the GenesisRep Silent Auction -- taking place at the November 6 event -- you will get free signage, a full page ad on the Genesis website, and a written acknowledgment from the theater, a tax-exempt not-for-profit organization.

For tickets and information, call 347.492.0534 or visit the website.

TNR Workshop at Bay Ridge Public Library

Feral cats are a sad fact of life in New York City. Abandoned by their human caretakers, they have no choice but to search for what food and shelter they can find on the city streets.

To see female cats and their kittens trying to survive in such desperate circumstances is particularly heartbreaking.

The cats may have no other choice, but we do, and TNR or "trap, neuter, release", which stops the proliferation of feral cats while providing colonies of neutered adults with food and shelter, is the most humane choice available to us at this point.

Doing TNR, however, involves skills and contacts that most of us lack. What better place to get on the learning curve than by taking a workshop with Meredith Weiss, a Bay Ridge resident and a nationally-recognized expert on TNR?

Meredith, director of the TNR Program at the New York City Feral Cat Initiative, an affiliate of the Mayor's Alliance for New York City's Animals and Neighborhood Cats, will present a free TNR workshop on Saturday, Nov. 13, from Noon to 3:30 PM, at the Bay Ridge branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, corner of Ridge Blvd. and 73rd St. in Bay Ridge.

To register for the workshop, call Meredith at 212-662-5761 or email her at NYCFeralCat@aol.com.

Skull, Bay Ridge Parkway

Linkage

After 50 years, commercial divers find 1500 rounds of live ammo dumped onto the floor of New York Harbor near Gravesend.

Construction on the new PS 331, on the site of the demolished Green Church on Ovington and Fourth Avenues in Bay Ridge, to begin in November [Brooklyn Daily Eagle.]

A great list of kid-friendly Hallowe'en parades, parties and fests, from A Child Grows in Brooklyn.

BK Southie dreads the weekend shuttle bus on the D line.

The Sheepshead Mosque has been re-approved (yes, it was approved, then de-approved, then re-approved) [Gothamist.]

If Daryl Lang had gotten out more, he might have found parts of Brooklyn he liked better than Park Slope.  [OTBKB.]

Eater discovers Two Toms in Gowanus.

Mayor Bloomberg would welcome Walmart to New York City [Gothamist.]

Lawsuits against the NYPD have cost taxpayers a billion dollars over the last decade [Queens Crap.]

Disgraced state senator Hiram Montserrate is indicted for campaign fraud [Daily News.]

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife leaves a message on Anita Hill's answering machine [Wall Street Journal.]

More government contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan this year than U.S. soldiers [Pro Publica.]

Are news aggregators like Huffpost parasites? [Guardian]

As the scientific discovery of the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, the global collapse of honeybee populations, becomes more likely, a corporate stakeholder appears to be obfuscating the facts [Alternet.]

The Fracking Lawsuits Begin

Thirteen families in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale, have filed one of the nation's first lawsuits linking hydraulic fracturing or "hydrofracking" for natural gas to tainted groundwater.

The lawsuit alleges that a faulty gas well drilled by Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co. contaminated local groundwater in northeastern Pennsylvania with hydrofracking fluids, exposing residents to dangerous chemicals and sickening a child.

The well’s cement casing was allegedly defective, resulting in spills of industrial waste, diesel fuel and other hazardous substances, which leaked into the aquifer and contaminated wells within several thousand feet of the drilling site.

Fracking is the controversial natural gas drilling process that extracts natural gas from dense shale deposits like New York State's Marcellus by blasting millions of gallons of pressurized water, mixed with toxic chemicals and sand, thousands of feet underground, cracking the rock and releasing the gas.

Thousands of natural gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania and West Virginia as a result of hydrofracking.  And that is just the beginning of the boom:  by one estimate, the Marcellus contains upwards of 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. 

Northeastern Pennsylvania is ground zero for natural gas speculators, who are betting that the Marcellus shale gas reservoir will be the next big thing for the U.S. natural gas industry.

They have benefited from the fact that hydrofracking is currently exempt from federal regulation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as a result of the so-called "Halliburton Loophole" in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The EPA is due to report back to Congress on whether the loophole should be closed.

According to a report released to the EPA by environmental group Riverkeeper, more than 100 cases of hydrofracking contamination -- cases where federal and state regulators and environmentalists agreed that natural gas drilling operations were the likely case of groundwater, drinking water, and surface water contamination -- have been documented nationwide.  Of those, 20 involving tainted drinking water occurred in Pennsylvania.

According to the Riverkeeper report, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection has, in the last two and a half years, logged 1,435 violations of the state’s oil and gas laws in the Marcellus Shale. There have been 30 investigations of stray gas migration from new and abandoned wells in Pennsylvania, and five explosions that contaminated ground or surface water between 2006 and 2010.

Clearly, the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing are not just in environmentalists' imaginations.

According to the Pennsylvania lawsuit, water wells in Susquehanna County more than 2,000 feet from a gas well drilled by Southwestern in Lenox Township in 2008 contained high levels of barium, manganese and strontium.

The plaintiffs seek monetary damages, environmental cleanup and medical monitoring. The sickened child is apparently neurologically impaired as a result of exposure to heavy metals.

The drilling industry denies that it can be proven to have caused the contamination. The Pennsylvania DEP is waffling. Local residents are drinking bottled water.

Hydrofracking is a probable cause of groundwater contamination in six states — Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.

The article from Syracuse.com

Who Is Brian Doherty, and Why Is He Running?

That's what I've been asking myself as I've noticed the Brian Doherty campaign posters popping up on lawns and in shop windows in the north end of Bay Ridge over the past few weeks.

I'd never heard of him.

Turns out he's kind of the Conservative/Republican version of Mike DiSanto.

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, first-time candidate Doherty, a retired NYPD sargeant, is running against 14-term Democratic Assembly Member Dov Hikind in the 48th AD, which covers northeast Bay Ridge, Borough Park, Kensington, northern Dyker Heights, and parts of Flatbush.

Hikind, a 28-year Albany veteran, has run on both the Republican and Democratic ticket since 1998, and, like veteran Bay Ridge State Senator Marty Golden, Hikind hasn't had any opposition in a coon's age.

Like Golden, Hikind was ripe.

Doherty, running on the Conservative and the Republican lines, wants to offer voters an alternative. He calls Hikind, who hasn't been seen in the Bay Ridge part of his district for a long time, the "invisible man", a legislator who is "out of touch".

Hmmm, that sounds really familiar.

The article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Fellow Conservative Republican Michael Grimm, seeking to unseat Michael McMahon in the 13th Congressional District, has endorsed Hikind, apparently because he's hawkish on Israel [Atlas Shrugs in Brooklyn].

Gov. Paterson Sacks DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis

Gov. David Paterson, days after putting the state's Department of Environmental Conservation on life support by imposing drastic staff and budget cuts, has effectively pulled the plug on New York's environment by firing DEC commissioner Alexander B. "Pete" Grannis.

Grannis, a 2007 Spitzer appointee, has, throughout his decades-long career as a public servant, been a steadfast champion of the environment.

Grannis was receiving an award for environmental stewardship when he was fired.

According to widely-published media reports, the Paterson Administration sacked Grannis because of a leaked memo describing in precise detail how Paterson's most recent round of budget and staff cuts would effectively decommission the DEC.

The Albany Times Union picked up the memo and ran a story about it on Tuesday.  

Click here to read the memo, revealing how the agency's core functions, like monitoring air and water pollution, cleaning up toxic chemical spills, and overseeing hazardous waste disposal and storage, will be all but eliminated. 

In recent years, the DEC had been stripped of about 20% of its scientists, engineers and enforcement officials.

Click here to see a chart of DEC historical staff levels including the new target level, the lowest since the early 1980s.

I find it less than coincidental that Gov. Paterson, "bullish" on hydrofracking, has gutted the DEC, charged with monitoring the impact of hydrofracking for natural gas on the state's drinking water, as the State Senate-imposed moratorium on hydrofracking ticks down to its May, 2011 expiration date.

More from the Daily News.

More from Huffpost.

More from the New York Times.

More from the Albany Times Union.

Narrows Community Theatre Returns to Fort Hamilton

The Narrows Community Theater has returned to Fort Hamilton Army Base in Bay Ridge.

As of October 14, 2010, the NCT has signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton to use the post theater for theatrical productions, auditions and workshops. 

Heightened security at Fort Hamilton after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks resulted in the theater having to stage its productions at other locations around Bay Ridge for nine years.

When the fort’s new commander, Colonel Michael J. Gould, announced earlier this year that he was looking for opportunities to re-open the fort to the community, NCT president Susan Huizinga jumped at the chance to return to the base theater, NCT’s primary home before 9/11.  

Huizinga contacted Renée Citron, Deputy to the Commander, who facilitated the move back. 

The NCT plans, in addition to producing plays, to conduct singing, acting, audition and dance workshops at the fort, which will be open to the public, as well as to army personnel.

In the photo:  (left to right): NCT President, Susan Huizinga, Installation Legal Officer, Kent Reeder, Deputy to the Garrison Commander, Renée Citron, and Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Director, Sarah Lee Johnson.

Sean Casey's 3rd Annual Howllowe-en Block Bark

Sean Casey Animal Rescue, a local not-for-profit, no-kill animal shelter, will host its 3rd Annual Howllowe'en Block Bark at the Hamilton Dog House, 155 East 3rd Street (between Fort Hamilton Parkway and Caton Avenue), Brooklyn, on Sunday, October 31 from 12 Noon to 5 PM.

There will be food, beverages, games, raffles, costume contests -- and the "Open Mic Project" redux.

It promises to be a fun-filled day.

Sean Casey Animal Rescue is on facebook.

Lychees, Canal Street

Strivelli Players Present "Cabaret" at Christ Church

The Strivelli Players' production of the Broadway musical Cabaret will be performed on November 5, 6, 12, 19 and 20 at Christ Church, 7301 Ridge Boulevard in Bay Ridge (73rd Street entrance).

Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 8 PM. The Saturday matinee on November 13 begins at 3 PM.

The production is directed by Fred Grieco, with choreography by Joe DeRanieri and James Martinelli.

The Strivelli Players, a local community theater, was formed in 1975.  The group started out as St. Athanasius Theater Guild. The name was eventually changed in honor of the group's founder, Jerry Strivelli, a professional actor from Bay Ridge.

Because of the bawdy subject matter of Cabaret, parental guidance is suggested.

For reservation and ticket information call 718-907-3422.

Bay Ridge Democrats Formed

About thirty local residents came out this evening for a meeting at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge to volunteer for the Mike McMahon, Mike DiSanto and Janele Hyer-Spencer election campaigns.

Representatives for each of the candidates addressed the meeting, emphasizing the importance of this year's election to the Democratic Party and the need for campaign volunteers.

Signup sheets were passed around and campaign literature handed out.

High-ranking local Democrats at the meeting included Female District Leader Joanne Seminara, former Male District Leader Ralph Perfetto, and Steve Harrison, Mike McMahon's former primary opponent.

Both Seminara and Perfetto, who have worked with Janele Hyer-Spencer, gave the assembly member high praise for intelligence, competence, hard work and in-depth knowledge of the issues.

Democratic leaders stressed the importance of retaining the congressional seat held by Mike McMahon, and supporting the candidacy of political newcomer Mike DiSanto, Marty Golden's first Democratic challenger.

At the meeting, it was announced that the American Heritage Democratic Organization and the United Americans Democratic Organization, both organized by Ralph Perfetto, have been joined into one club, which will be called "Bay Ridge Democrats".

The name has a local provenance:  there was a club called "Bay Ridge Democrats" back in the 1960s.

There are now two Democratic clubs in Bay Ridge:  Bay Ridge Democrats and Brooklyn Democrats for Change, headed by Kevin Peter Carroll, the newly-elected Democratic district leader for the 22nd A.D.

The McMahon, DiSanto and Hyer-Spencer campaigns will be running local operations out of the Stars and Stripes Democratic Club, 7321 15th Avenue in Bensonhurst until election day.  Drop-ins are welcome.

The Bay Ridge Democrats will host a post-election party -- their first as an organization -- at the Longbow Pub, 7316 Third Avenue in Bay Ridge, on November 11.

For more information, email bayridgedems@aol.com.

Mom and Pop Hang Tough

City Limits, in a recent post, ponders the future of  Bay Ridge's mom and pop stores, the small businesses that help make the neighborhood the livable place it is.

Around 86th Street, Bay Ridge's main shopping venue, mom and pops compete for business with national chains.  The venerable Hinsch's diner and ice cream shop, in one location for 62 years, is up against Subway's 32,000 shop international franchise.

But Subway lacks the history, the flavor, of Hinch's, a Bay Ridge landmark.

Although the statistically-driven city doesn't track these statistics, shops like Hinch's are disappearing.  The past few years have been very hard for the city's shopkeepers.

A survey last year by U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner's office found that of 5,991 stores citywide, 726 -- more than 12% -- had closed or were in the process of closing.

The number of  loans approved by the federal Small Business Administration in the five boroughs fell by a staggering 500% between 2007 and 2009.

Nearly 29,000 commercial eviction warrants -- another indicator of struggling small businesses -- were served in New York City between 2006 and 2009.

The recession is only part of the problem:  the city's neighborhoods are gentrifying:  new people are moving in who don't want the stuff people used to buy.  Commercial rents, driven up by the real estate bubble,  have stayed high despite the recession. Big box stores have moved in; and people are buying more through the Internet.

The Bloomberg administration's Department of Small Business Services has expanded the number of business improvement districts, created online tools to help entrepreneurs navigate the red tape involved in starting a business, and helped steer some small business owners to loans. But taxes, parking enforcement, rezonings and redevelopments that favor big boxes or exclude commercial uses are pushing the other way.

In Bay Ridge, some mom and pops have survived and are even thriving in the changed economy by doing what they do best:  offering personalized service. Other businesses, after decades in the neighborhood, are barely hanging on -- and hoping that the economy will bounce back soon.

The article from City Limits.

Getting Out the Democratic Vote

Democratic candidates Michael McMahon, Janele Hyer-Spencer and Michael DiSanto have organized a recruitment meeting for campaign volunteers at 7 PM tomorrow, Thursday, October 21, at Good Shepherd Church, 7420 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge.

Volunteers are essential to getting out the Democratic vote:  to staff the phone banks and to go door-to-door in the neighborhood.

Volunteering is not only essential to helping the candidates win, it's also a great way to socialize with your neighbors.

For more information, contact bayridgedems@aol.com.

After School Art Classes at Christ Church

The Creative Youth Center at Christ Church After School, at 7301 Ridge Boulevard in Bay Ridge, has launched a new community arts education initiative, "Eclectic Art Classes".

The first 4-week class series for the "young at art" (second grade and up) will begin on Tuesday, October 26, and continue for the next three Tuesdays.

Classes will begin at 4:00 PM and end at 5:30 PM.

The instructor will be J. Cerutti.

The cost for the 4-week program is $75.00.

Each week, the class will produce a different project, as follows:

• Tuesday Oct.26, Week 1- Skateboard Design
• Tuesday Nov.2, Week 2 - Recycled Magazine Mosaic Paper Painting 
• Tuesday Nov.9, Week 3 - Oil Pastel Pet Portraits (Bring a photo of your Pet) 
• Tuesday Nov.16, Week 4 - Tie Dye Flowers in a Paper Vase

Each class will result in a finished work that the student can take home.

Registration ends Oct. 25.  You can register by submitting your child's name and phone number, along with the $75 fee, to Victoria Hofmo at the Christ Church After School Program.

For further information, call 718-745-3698.

Seniors Off to the Poconos, Fourth Avenue

Iran Arrests Sekinah Ashtiani's Son

Sajad Ghaderazdeh, the 22-year-old son of Sekinah Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose Iranian stoning sentence has become an international cause, was arrested in the city of Tabriz on October 10, along with two German journalists who interviewed him.

Houtan Kian, Sekinah Ashtiani's court-appointed Iranian lawyer, is also in detention.

According to the organization Iran's Committee Against Stoning (ICAS), Sajad's trial, which was to have begun this week, has been postponed for further investigation.

He has been denied legal representation, and has not been permitted contact with this family.

According to an ICAS spokesperson, Iran has been embarrassed by the international attention focused on Sekinah Ashtiani's stoning sentence and is taking revenge on her son, whose courageous support of his mother's cause has driven worldwide efforts to save her.

Sajad, a bus conductor in Tabriz, began campaigning for his mother's release in late June, after Iranian officials ignored his letters pleading for his mother's life.

He initially brought her case to international attention by writing an open letter saying "There's no justice in this country."

He has given several interviews to foreign media, knowing he was risking his own life by criticizing the Iranian regime.

The Iranian government has stonewalled Amnesty International's inquiries about Sajad.

Germany is seeking the diplomatic release of the two journalists, apparently traveling on tourist visas, who interviewed Sajad.

According to at least one news source, Iran has re-sentenced Sekinah Ashtiani.  She will no longer be stoned for adultery:  she will hang for murder.

The article from EVRI.

Fourth and Bay Ridge Avenues

KingCon a Marathon Weekend Treat

On Marathon Weekend, November 6 and 7, from 11 AM to 7 PM (plus special events the evening of November 4), the Brooklyn Lyceum, a former public bath at 227 4th Avenue (corner of President) will host its 2nd Annual KingCon, an independent comic, animation and illustration convention.

Take the R train to Union Street.  The Lyceum is just up the block from the station.

The event celebrates some of the borough's finest talent, featuring panels, discussions, kids' events, and networking opportunities.

Tickets are $7 day/$10 weekend (kids: $3 day/$5 weekend).

Call 718-857-4816 for tickets.

The growing roster of talent, which now numbers 50 artists and vendors, includes graphic novelist Paul Pope, known for his new interpretations of Batman, Bored to Death's Jonathan Ames, and legendary X-Men scribe Chris Claremont.

Paul Pope will kick off the weekend on Friday evening with a live comics reading, and stay to guest DJ a night of comic-related bands.

Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma), and Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames will return this year for a KingCon-inspired Bored to Death season finale, shot on location at the Lyceum.

Other headliners will include Bottomfeeder's Bob Fingerman (From the Ashes and Pariah), and Sarah Glidden (How to Understand Israel in 60 days or Less).

KidsCon

Kids will be a major focus of KingCon this year,  with special workshops and guests, including celebrated children's cartoonist Raina Telgemeier (Smile,The Baby-Sitters Club) in a discussion of the world of kid's comics with Nickelodeon Magazine editor Dave Roman, author Colleen AF Venable (Guinea Pig: Pet Shop Private Eye) and writer Nick Abadzis ( Hugo Tate and Bob the Builder).

Rick Parker, the legendary cartoonist and parody artist, will lead a live drawing workshop, and Papercutz publishing will give a reading of their latest Smurfs title, complete with face painting and Smurf giveaways.

FemCon

The weekend's adult fare will include a special panel discussion, "Hips, Lips and Pencil Tips: the sexually empowered woman as feminist focal point", which will look at the changes in female representation and authorship in comics.

Aspiring artists can enter their work in a sketchbook contest and take home free prizes.

So if, like me, you love comics and always have, come join Brooklyn illustrators, authors, publishers and other artists in a celebration of the independent craft of comics and illustration.

Visit the website for more information.

Linkage

Democratic candidate for governor Andrew Cuomo endorses Janele Hyer-Spencer for State Assembly.

Marty Golden, Nicole Malliotakis, from somewhere to the right of William F. Buckley, express their longing for the good ole' days of the full-strength Rockefeller Drug Laws [Brooklyn Daily Eagle.]

The "vermin house" on 79th Street in Bay Ridge provides local outrage addicts with a major fix [Daily News].

Former president George W. Bush endorses Michael Grimm for the U.S. House of Representatives [Brooklyn Daily Eagle.]

The city wants to bring windmills back to Red Hook [Brooklyn Paper.]

In a bid to reduce obesity and diabetes, Bloomberg administration wants to ban using food stamps to buy soda pop [Brooklyn Paper.]

The Bloomberg administration introduces a first-of-its-kind municipal government car-sharing program [NYC.Gov.]

The city's Animal Care and Control shelters, coping with budget cuts, are in desperate need of donations [Gerritson Beach.]

The New York Times live blogs the Cuomo-Paladino debate.

The Obama administration lifts moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico [AP.]

Republicans Would Doom Intercity Rail

For proponents of intercity rail development, election 2010 is not expected to bring good news.

Republicans have opposed high-speed rail since the program was first announced in February 2009.

Intent on demonstrating their opposition to everything Obama, the GOP has staked out a stridently anti-rail position in this fall's elections -- in the name of fiscal restraint.

With 37 of 50 governorships up for grabs this year, Republicans are polling well nationally.

Republican candidates have threatened to shut down high-speed rail projects in Wisconsin, Ohio, California and Florida. In states like New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, where Democrats are expected to win this fall, intercity rail projects will probably survive.

While most new spending on intercity rail projects is federal, states have to put up least 20% of construction costs in order to draw down federal dollars, and bear most of the operations expenses.

If Democrats lose control of Congress, or lose in those 37 states electing new governors this fall, intercity rail would be doomed.

The post from Transport Politic

Those Fracking Democrats

We can thank Democratic Governor David Paterson for hydrofracking.

In 2008, Paterson signed a bill designed to streamline the state's permitting process to allow hydrofracking, and ordered the state's Department of Environmental Conservation to update its generic environmental impact statement to set statewide hydrofracking standards.

Paterson has been called "bullish" on hydrofracking.  So is Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who hopes to succeed Paterson as governor.  The only difference between Cuomo and his Conservative Republican opponent Carl Paladino on the issue is that Paladino would favor fewer environmental restrictions on the drilling industry.

It's all about the revenue.  Hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale formation in the Southern Tier and around the New York City watershed could generate $1.5 billion for the state by 2015, bringing in jobs and boosting the economy  -- for a while.

In April, the DEC announced that its generic environmental impact statement would not apply to drilling in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, and that applications for wells in those areas would be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Companies would have to undergo a public review process for each proposed new well.   (That would not be the case in other parts of the state, however.)

The DEC has issued a draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement, laying out the basics of the final statement for public review, as it continues reviewing public comments on the statement.

It is unclear when it will publish a complete statement. The deadline has been suspended.

Environmentalists do not see the draft environmental impact statement fully protecting surrounding water supplies or insuring that New York gets the best deal for its natural gas.

Unlike other states, New York would require gas companies to list the chemicals they plan to blast into the ground during the fracking process.

Assembly Member Robert Sweeney, chair of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, is sponsoring a bill that would halt hydrofracking until the next governor has a chance to weigh in on it.

The State Senate has already passed a moratorium.

The money in hydrofracking comes from fees that the state charges for well permits, based on the depth of the well. Hydrofracking usually involves wells ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 feet, for which the standard fee per the first 10,000 feet is $3,8000, plus $190 for each additional 500-feet of depth.

Owners of real estate in the target zone see big dollar signs. Lease revenues can run thousands of dollars an acre, and some owners have earned over a million dollars.

Land leased by counties and the state could also bring in revenues.

The state now collects between $10 and $12 million a year in taxes on revenues created from drilling, which has a downstream impact of a billion dollars.

A lot of that money will be spent repairing the damage done by hydrofracking.

According to a Common Cause study, the natural gas industry has spent $2 million since 2005 lobbying New York State, most of it in the last two years.  A lot of that money has gone to buy ads during campaign season, as the natural gas companies try to win over voters with the promise of big bucks.

If the DEC issues its final draft generic environmental impact statement, hydrofracking would start this spring, but the DEC, gutted during the Paterson administration, is expected to delay acting on the gas drilling issue until a new governor takes office in January 2011.

The post from Gotham Gazette.

You Have Been Warned

"Green Power Breakfasts" at BPL

The Brooklyn Public Library and Con Edison will co-sponsor two "Green Power Breakfast" panel discussions in November, featuring representatives from the business and environmental communities, to talk about who's going green, what’s working and what’s not, and how going green can boost your bottom line.

Both events will take place at the Brooklyn Business Library, 280 Cadman Plaza West, in Downtown Brooklyn.

Here's the lineup:

Wednesday, November 3, 8:30 – 10:30 AM

Promoting the Environment: A New Image for Big Box Stores 

Representatives of major retailers, including IKEA, will talk about why they're promoting sustainable business innovation, and how it affects their bottom line.

Wednesday, November 17, 8:30 – 10:30 AM 

Has the Time for Transit-Oriented Development Arrived?
Experts from the Regional Plan Association, Jonathan Rose Companies and Transportation Alternatives explain how innovative transportation developments will impact business and development in New York City.

Visit the Business Library website to register for these events, or call 718.623.7000 and select option 4.