For the past three summers, residents along the East River in Brooklyn have been deprived of the stunning Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show and are now demanding that the show return to the Brooklyn waterfront.
Residents and local elected officials from Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens held a rally on Monday, April 2, urging Macy’s to bring the fireworks display back to the East River this year.
“New York’s Fourth of July fireworks should be a citywide celebration,” said State Senator Daniel Squadron. “Instead, the millions of New Yorkers who live in Brooklyn, Queens, and the East Side of Manhattan are kept out of the party, while we send visitors and business to New Jersey. That simply makes no sense.”
Squadron and other elected officials sent a letter to Macy’s Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren, requesting that the 36th Annual Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks include the East River.
In 2009, Macy’s moved the fireworks to the Hudson River to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s journey up the river.
Since then, there has not been a Fourth of July fireworks display on the East River.
“Despite initial claims from Macy’s that the 2009 move to the Hudson River to celebrate Henry Hudson’s voyage was only temporary and that they were interested in moving the display around the city, I am disappointed that again this year it’s likely more New Jerseyans and residents along the west side of Manhattan will get a front row seat, excluding Brooklynites and a large part of the city that is home to Macy’s flagship store,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
“Macy’s is a New York institution and they should bring the fireworks back to the East River where more New Yorkers can enjoy the show,” said Ward Dennis, co-chair of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth.
He echoed statements from many groups and businesses along the waterfront, including the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, Community Boards 1 and 6, and the DUMBO Improvement District.
The leaders also say that bringing the fireworks show back to the East River will further emphasize the nation’s history, as the East River served as the doorway for immigrants arriving in New York City. They also noted that it would be a huge boost to local businesses.
But one Macy’s spokesperson Orlando Veras, said that the Macy’s Fireworks show will not be changed this year and will continue to take place on the Hudson River.
Stating that the fireworks have been fired from various waterways and locations in New York City for more than 30 years, he said that Macy’s Fireworks will, “continue to take place in and around all of New York City’s waterways and will not be a permanent fixture in any one location.”
“Exclusively limiting the show to any particular area would greatly hinder the creative freedom that has made it the nation’s best and largest Independence Day display,” he said.

One week before a hearing that will determine the future of Grover Cleveland High School, parents, staff and students gathered with community members in a church basement in Ridgewood to discuss what the problems really are in the school.
The issues, they said, have more to do with the socio-economic problems in the students’ families than the teachers, staff and programs at the school. In addition, due to Grover Cleveland’s “open door policy,” many students are learning English as a Second Language (ESL), but are illiterate in their native tongues.
Grover Cleveland faces the turnaround method, which would give the building a new name and eliminate 50 percent of its staff come September. Schools are slated for turnaround when they’ve been on the state’s Persistently Low Achieving (PLA) list, meaning graduation rates were below 60 percent, for the last three years.
Currently, Grover Cleveland’s graduation rate is at 58 percent, 5 percent below the city average.
The meeting, hosted by Citizens for a Better Ridgewood, was also attended by the Education Department’s Chief Executive of Turnaround Elaine Gorman and Queens member of the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) Dmytro Fedkowskyj.
Gorman said Grover Cleveland started out the year as a restart school, which is another form of change to the school’s administrative infrastructure, but the state cut off $58 million in school improvement grants when an agreement on teacher evaluations wasn’t reached, forcing restart schools to change over to the turnaround method.
“We know schools well enough to know that that does not mean that the school isn’t doing a good job with many students,” Gorman said. “It’s just not able to graduate as many students as we want.”
Gorman stuck around to answer technical questions about turnaround, and apologized for the turmoil the process is causing in the school.
However, when asked how the turnaround method would affect the students specifically, she replied that the question was too broad and suggested emailing it to her. She left shortly after.
Members of Citizens for a Better Ridgewood and representatives from local elected officials then asked staff members in the office what the problems are in the school.
Maria Rozos, ESL master teacher at Grover Cleveland, said she is proud of the work the teachers accomplish with the students. She said one of her ESL classes is currently reading “Farenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury.
“These are second-language learners who sometimes are illiterate in their own language, they cannot write in their own language, and they are writing and speaking English almost native-like,” Rozos said. “It’s a great accomplishment.”
She said she holds office hours to work on lesson plans with teachers, along with after-school and Saturday tutoring sessions for students and their parents. But, Rozos added, her program needs more resources.
Russell Nitchman, a science teacher who runs the plant-science program at Grover Cleveland, said it’s hard for the teachers to do their jobs effectively under so much pressure and while stressing over what might happen in September.
He told a story about a student who took off school for a week to get a job so he could afford to go on a senior trip. Other students, Nitchman said, leave school early and come in late so they can care for their younger siblings – adding that elementary schools need more before and after-school programs.
Some students often move between relatives, foster homes and shelters, he said.
“When you hear the stories from some of these kids, it’s amazing that as many that come do come,” Nitchman said.
Students also attended the meeting to tell their stories about how their lives changed since they started at Grover Cleveland.
One student, who identified herself as Maria, said she came to the school as a sophomore instead of a junior because she didn’t pass any of her Regents exams.
“Now this past month, I didn’t only pass all my Regents with good grades, I’m actually now ahead of my credits,” Maria said, adding that she’s also a Key Club member.
The PEP will host a hearing on Monday, April 2, at 6 p.m. in the Grover Cleveland auditorium, located at 21-27 Himrod Street in Ridgewood. The panel will vote on the decision on April 26th.

Twenty-three students from Newtown High School in Corona will travel to St. Louis from April 12-14 to compete in a national championship after winning a citywide basketball tournament using robots as players.
The Techtonics,the school’s robotics team, competed against 66 other schools, 16 of which were from other countries, in a regional championship on Saturday, March 17, at the Javits Center in Manhattan. For the first time in the school’s history, they won.
The team was given a kit of parts with instructions to build three robots that could perform specific tasks. The Techtonics named their robot Chen Lin Jr., after their captain, Chen Qing Tian, and New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who starred this season.
In the first 15 seconds of the basketball game, the robot had to shoot balls autonomously. Then students were able to operate the robot using computer controls, before having to shoot baskets themselves, and finally balancing their three robots on a balance beam to score an extra 40 points – winning the regional for the Techtonics.
The victory meant more for the school than the ability to build the best robot. It was a source of pride Newtown’s been lacking lately, as it is on the Education Department’s list of schools slated for closure next year due to what the city decided is sub-par performance.
Tian, a Bushwick resident and senior at the high school who plans to attend Brooklyn Polytech next year, said the team spent the first three weeks devising ideas on how to build the robot.
“I feel proud of my team members,” he said when asked how it feels to lead the regional winners. “It’s all about team work.”
The hardest part, he said, was programming the robot using “computer language.”
However, the team received help from two mentors from its sponsor Alliance Bernstein LP, a global asset management firm.
Matthew Quash, an Ozone Park resident and junior at Newtown High School, agreed that the hardest part of the competition was navigating the controls.
“The biggest challenge was all the hard work that we had to put into the robot,” he said. “And at the competition we didn’t have connection with the robot a couple of times, so we had to keep restoring connection.”
Quash was worked with the engineering half of the team during the six-week construction period. In the regional game he was a human player.
“My job was in the last 30 seconds to throw the balls into the other team’s hoops to try to score points,” he said.
Quash added that his interest in robotics was sparked in engineering class, taught by Peter Paolino, who told him how much he would learn and how good it would look on his resume.
Next, the team has to raise $25,000 to send themselves to St. Louis for the national championship.
To do so, they are holding bake and candy sales, and will host a robotics concert at their school on the evening of April 20.
To donate to the Techtonics, make a check out to Tech Robotics and mail it to Newtown High School, 48-01 90th Avenue, Corona, New York 11373.

Photos compliments of the Techtonics.

The odds are looking like they’re in the state’s favor when it comes to legalizing casino gambling.
Full-scale casino gaming could come to New York State in the future as both the Senate and Assembly recently passed the first round of legislation in favor of expanding state regulations and amending the state’s constitution to allow full casino gaming.
“It is a step closer to having our residents vote on a referendum that could bring full gaming to the state,” said State Senator Joe Addabbo, a member of the Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, in a statement. “It is a step closer for my constituents to have thousands of additional job opportunities at Resorts World.”
Although Addabbo praised the legislature’s vote, he urged that lawmakers proceed forward from this point on in a cautious manner, and that they take into consideration community participation.
“I am an advocate for community input on these issues and feel most people would want their voices heard before any plans are implemented,” he said.
The vote is a significant step toward full gaming, especially for the Resorts World New York casino in South Ozone Park, whose operators have expressed in the past that they are eager to expand their operations if full gaming is allowed in the state.
Advocates of full gaming say that the benefits include increased revenue and massive job creation, in addition to providing stiff competition to out-of-state casinos in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
“Enhancing gaming in New York by bringing table games to casinos will stimulate our economy, draw additional businesses into the state, and create opportunities for countless jobs, increased tourism and much-needed revenue,” said Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder in a letter that he sent out to newspapers earlier this week. (Read the full letter on page 7.)
The amendment seeks to legalize enhanced gaming at no more than seven casinos around the state. According to lawmakers, the locations and details of the proposed seven casinos will be decided in 2013.
Goldfeder noted that he will work to advocate for Resorts World to receive one of the seven casino licenses.
“Resorts World has served as an eager and effective community partner, delivering on their promise of local jobs and serving as an economic engine for the region,” he said, touting their commitment to the community through monthly meetings with the 106 Precinct, Community Board 10 and elected officials to address neighborhood concerns.
The constitutional amendment to allow full-scale gaming would need to be approved once more by both houses in the Legislature and then by voters in a referendum for it to become law. That entire process could take three years.

GOP candidate will await outcome of three-way Democratic primary

Council members Diana Reyna and Elizabeth Crowley together introduced a bill last week calling for the Department of Transportation to install signs around the city directing residents to their local precincts.
“People are often trying to find their police precinct in times of emergency,” Crowley said in a joint press conference last week on the corner of Fresh Pond Road and Catalpa Avenue down the street from the 104th Precinct. “They could be going down to file a regular report or a complaint, or if something serious happens and police need to know, often they come down to the precinct in person.”
The Department of Transportation (DOT) denied multiple requests from the representatives for precinct signs, so they drafted legislation, Crowley said.
The bill, they said, was constructed with the help of Ridgewood-based community groups and civic organizations.
Because the 104th Precinct is not on a main road but serves a large geographic area, Crowley said residents in Maspeth and Middle Village often have trouble finding it.
Since DOT directs pedestrians and motorists to hospitals, parks, museums, and even stores like Ikea, Crowley said it should follow suit that high-crime areas such as Ridgewood receive help finding their local law enforcement.
Although DOT does not comment on legislation before a hearing, Crowley said it will be in charge of deciding specifics, such as where on the street the signs are placed.
Reyna said a fiscal impact document will assess the cost of the signs. But Crowley said the cost shouldn’t be high, since DOT constructs its own signs in a warehouse in Maspeth.
A hearing will also be held regarding the bill, as part of the legislative process.
“In that hearing,” Crowley said, “we’ll hopefully hear from communities throughout the City of New York, and we’ll identify if the need is for every precinct.”
However, both Crowley and Reyna pledged to make sure the first precinct sign is installed for the 104th.
Reyna said the bill responds directly to requests from Ridgewood community members and local groups, such as Community Board 5.
“When we talk about government and access to government and transparency, it starts with the simple signage that indicates where people should go to access what is the basic function of having their local precinct,” she said. “Ultimately, this piece of legislation is necessary because it’s coming from the main advocate, the people of Ridgewood.”
Michael Hetzer of Citizens for a Better Ridgewood said it’s easy to find precincts that are on a main road, but many are tucked away on side streets. He agreed that the legislation came from the community.
“It is very organic,” he said of the bill, “and it seems very simple.”