Community Magazine April 2012

New York City Municipal Schedule *Alternate Side Parking: For snow and other emergencies call 311 to get an update of parking rules for a particular day **Garbage: Residents who are normally scheduled for collection on the day of a holiday should place their trash out at curbside on the holiday evening for collection. Some residents will experience a disruption of on-time household collection service. Recycling: Residents who are normally scheduled for recycling collection on the day of the holiday will not receive service that week. They should place their recyclables out at curbside the following week on their regular day of service. Councilman Greenfield Protests Proposed “Super-Ghetto” District Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) led dozens of Jewish community leaders in protesting the creation of a so-called “Super Jewish” district that replaces six senate districts. Six senators currently represent the Orthodox neighborhoods of Borough Park, Midwood, Flatbush and Kensington, and the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment has largely melded them into one district. While the proposal seemed to offer the Jewish community the advantage of “their own” district, Greenfield pointed out that the move to create what he termed a “Super-Ghetto district” will simply dissolve the influence of the largest Orthodox Jewish population in the country. By reducing their representation in the state legislature from six senators to one, the new political landscape would likely result in a decrease in services and funding for local projects and organizations. Greenfield recommends that the districts be drawn so that the Jewish communities in Flatbush, Midwood, Boro Park and Kensington are spread among at least three or more senate districts – especially considering the growth of the community’s population and its unique needs. 9/11 Families Demand Hearings about Remains Families of victims from the 9/11 terror attacks recently called for Congressional hearings to establish protocols for dealing with unidentified human remains. Pentagon officials had recently raised a firestorm of criticism when they announced that partial unidentified remains from the attacks were incinerated and sent to a landfill. Some families oppose a plan to place unidentified remains in an underground repository at bedrock, behind an underground memory wall that is part of the September 11 Memorial & Museum. Some families have asked that they be offered to choose what is done with unidentified remains, whereas others want them encased in a tomb as part of the memorial. Many have asked that the remains be returned to Ground Zero. More than 1,100 of the 9/11 victims have not been identified. 13th Avenue renamed for Holocaust Hero Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved 100,000 Jews during the Holocaust, will be honored along 13th Avenue in Borough Park, which will be renamed as a tribute to his heroism. City Council Members David Greenfield and Brad Lander planned the renaming between 36th Street and 60th Street as part of the Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration Commission, commemorating Wallenberg’s 100th birthday this year. The largest number of Holocaust survivors in the country lives in Borough Park, including hundreds who owe their survival to Mr. Wallenberg. He saved 100,000 Jewish Hungarians when he served as the first secretary at the Swedish Legation in Budapest, issuing Swedish “protective passports” and establishing safe houses throughout Budapest. Occasion Day Date Alt Side Garbage Collection Parking Banks & Post Offices Observance Thursday April 5 Suspended Normal Normal Open Passover: 1 st – 2 nd Days Friday-Saturday April 6-7 Suspended Normal Normal Open Observance Thursday April 12 Suspended Normal Normal Open Passover: 7 th – 8 th Days Friday-Saturday April 13-14 Suspended Normal Normal Open Observance Thursday May 17 Suspended Normal Normal Open Shavuot Sunday May 27-28 Suspended Normal Normal Open Memorial Day Monday May 28 Suspended Suspended Holiday Closed 108 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE