A crowded street in Sunset Park. The 2010 Census shows that this neighborhood is now home to the largest Chinese enclave. (Tiffany Ap / The Brooklyn Ink)

Asian-American civic groups are pushing for redistricting in Brooklyn that would give growing Asian ethnic groups a district and representation of their own.

Claiming that the Asian vote is too diluted across many districts, the groups are hoping to splice together sections of Sunset Park, Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights in a new district that would have a majority population of Chinese immigrants and their descendants.

After holding a public hearing last month, the New York State Legislative Task Force is expected to release a first draft of new district lines in January. District boundaries are remapped every decade to reflect demographic changes demonstrated by the federal census. If drawn correctly, districts should be areas of people that share some a common denominator. The law also stipulates that it must be contiguous and reasonably compact: its length should be no more than twice its width.

“We’re seeing in places like Sunset Park—and we’re seeing throughout New York—that the Asian population is currently at 20 percent or more and we think that could necessitate, or in theory you could argue for, the creation of more Asian-American districts,” says Rachael Fauss, the Policy and Research Manager for Citizens Union.

Research from the group shows that 15 assembly districts in the state have Asian-American populations of more than 20 percent and three are at 40 percent or more— not that you would ever know it by looking at the state legislature. No Asian-American has ever won an election in Brooklyn and currently, there is only one Asian-American representative, Grace Meng of Queens in a lower house made up of 212 legislators.

Meng’s district encompasses Flushing and was created during the last redistricting in 2000 to better represent the flourishing Chinatown in Queens. The new lines helped lead to Meng’s election as the first Asian-American in the state legislature.

“They drew that with kind of an eye towards empowering the Asian-American community,” says James Hong who works with the MinKwon organization and the Asian-American Community Coalition On Redistricting and Democracy (ACCORD). “I feel that everybody thinks that was well done.”

“But other than that, most of the Asian-American communities—East Asian, South Asian—were cut up. There was definitely potential for much stronger pluralities. Instead they were cut up into two, three, four, or five districts. I hope other districts will do what that district did, which is to keep a community of interest together.”

A map of the Assembly Districts that have an Asian-American population above 20 percent. (Map courtesy of Citizens Union)

The current district boundaries were drawn using the 2000 Census numbers when Asian-Americans were 5.5 percent of the state’s population. The latest 2010 Census shows that the Asian population surged by a third in New York City and is now 7.3 percent of the population, making it the fastest growing racial group in the state.

Underrepresentation is not a uniquely Asian problem. “There’s also been a growth among the Latino population,” Fauss states. “Something we’ve been pointing out is that the state legislature doesn’t currently reflect the diversity of New York state.”

The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires that districts not be drawn to weaken or abridge minority voters.

Various civic groups say that the status quo is doing precisely that, however. In Brooklyn, the neighboring Chinese communities in Bensonhurst, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge are split into several electoral districts.

Hong says Asian-Americans are denied the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the political process as a result:  “At almost every level of government and almost every neighborhood, you see that it is split up so collectively, their voice is weakened. They can’t really come to the polls and have a unified impact through the electoral process.”

The new lines must be drawn by next summer. ACCORD officials say that many people still misunderstand the reasoning behind their push for uniting sections of Sunset Park, Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights.

“We’ve said over and over again that this is not purely an attempt to get more Asian-Americans into office,” Hong said.  “Though if the districts happen the way we want them, that may happen in the next few years.”

He makes it clear they are not lobbying for any particular candidate either. “There are—and I think there will be—some white candidates or candidates of other ethnicities that represent an Asian community well and vice versa. You don’t necessarily have to have an Asian representative to represent an Asian community. That’s never been part of our platform.”

Their focus is on seeing voters empowered and keeping them in the same district when they belong in the same community of interest. “We’re saying, hey, there’s something that looks like voter dilution that’s happening as a result of these lines, and we’re just trying to remedy that.”

In fact, the Supreme Court ruled in Shaw v. Reno that race could not be the predominant factor in setting district lines, though it could be one component.

Jerry Vattamalla, a staff attorney for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, says it’s not enough for one area to be dominated by any particular ethnic group to call for redistricting. The people need to “vote similarly and have similar interests.” Other areas the city taskforce will look at include common cultural background; shared language and language access needs; media markets; immigrant concerns; and public transportation.

Vattamalla says redistricting takes time and intense analysis because of all the competing interests. People grouped together by current districts may also have concerns about being split up in order to create this majority Asian-American district. “Nobody wants their community divided. That’s something the task force will have to decide on,” he said.

A vacant lot on Fourth Avenue that will be renovated in the coming months. Maane Khatchatourian/The Brooklyn Ink

If all plans are finalized by the borough president, one of Brooklyn’s major thoroughfares will become unrecognizable in the coming years as it evolves from an accident-prone access road to a pedestrian-friendly commercial district.

A vision plan announced this summer calls for safety, beautification and commercial efforts to make Fourth Avenue more inviting. Long denigrated as the borough’s eye-sore and one of its most dangerous and congested traffic zones, the plan is intended to make the area comparable to Park Slope’s thriving Fifth and Seventh Avenues.

Josh Levy, chair of Park Slope Civic Council’s FORTH onFourth subcommittee, said the projects are also intended to correct problems arising from a 2003 rezoning law that resulted in residential buildings without ground-floor retail space.

“In 2003, there was a rezoning of a large swath of Fourth Avenue,” Levy said. “It allowed for large developments to occur. Starting in 2004, 2005, a lot of buildings went up … with disregard, reckless abandonment for the streets. Instead of getting retail at street level, interesting boutiques, cafes, stores, even professional offices — anything really — all we got were parking lots, empty walls, not anything that would grow the thoroughfare, encourage patronage.”

Carlo Scissura, the project task force chair for the borough president’s office, said the Fourth Avenue facelift will revive the district’s unique flare and unify the borough’s differing communities.

“It’s really such an important thoroughfare in Brooklyn,” Scissura said. “It brings [together] a group of diverse neighborhoods from downtown Brooklyn — from Park Slope, Sunset Park, Bushwick and Bay Ridge.”

Elected officials, community groups and task force committees are currently brainstorming potential courses of action. The ideas will be pooled together and passed on to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who will compose a more concrete development strategy by this summer then seek funding for the project from city agencies.

P.S. 133 is under construction, one of the many development projects part of a Fourth Avenue facelift. Maane Khatchatourian/The Brooklyn Ink

According to Levy, the development efforts will consist of planting trees, creating street-level retail space, addressing community-wide traffic and safety concerns and enhancing subway lines.

“It’s going to be a long-term project — eight to 12 years,” Levy said. “It’s not a quick fix to transform a boulevard.”

The first step is to plant a few thousand trees and planters up and down the street, especially from 39th to 15th Streets, Joan Botti, chair of Community Board Seven’s Fourth Avenue Task Force, said.

One Fourth Avenue beautification project, the reconstruction of the Ninth Street subway station, is already underway.

For the first time in 40 years, Levy said the subway’s east station house is being opened for retail space.

“It will become the nicest and most renovated subway station outside of Manhattan, with the exception of [the station on] Atlantic Avenue,” Levy said.

Botti said the Fourth Avenue venture was born out of an older Ninth Street station rehabilitation effort. Markowitz allocated $2 million to refurbish the shopping area in the subway station, prompting Park Slope’s Civic Council to conceive the idea of the beautification of Fourth Avenue.

Other measures include installing elevators and security cameras in the R subway stops lining the avenue as well as improving the train schedule, Botti said.

“One of the items that has been coming up constantly is the lack of service or the tardiness, I should put it that way, of the N and the R train,” she said. “That’s one of the goals of the transportation committee, this committee and the task force itself to [decrease] the time between the R train and the N. What do they say, ‘rarely for the R and never for the N’?”

While plant life will make the street more environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing, the remodeled subway station with elevators will increase access for the elderly and handicapped and commercial businesses will promote economic growth, safety measures are developers’ primary concern. Proposals include increasing street signage, expanding medians between cross lights and alternating traffic patterns. Countdown timers were recently installed and traffic lanes reduced on Fourth Avenue.

Lifelong resident Duane Jackson attributed the increased development efforts to the other major construction initiative near Fourth Avenue — the Atlantic Yards project.

“The [Barclays Center] stadium has a lot to do with what’s happening,” Jackson said. “[The city] wants to make sure the area’s nicer to promote the stadium. That’s why I don’t understand the complaints, aside from being displaced. … I’m all for beautification.”

As Brooklyn neighborhoods become increasingly gentrified, concerns over displacement surround new development projects.

Local organizers said they would ensure that the area doesn’t turn into a sea of luxury high-rises that drive out lower income and rental tenants from the neighborhood.

Michael McLeer, also known as Kaves, poses in front of his work. Aby Thomas/BI

At a chic, dimly-lit party held at a stage in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, a crowd of wine connoisseurs and artists cheered Brooklyn-based graffiti artist Michael McLeer, better known as Kaves, for his latest drawing—not on the side of a building, but on the label for this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau from internationally renowned winemaker Georges Duboeuf.

Kaves’s drawing combines images of a Parisian streetscape with an urban Brooklyn vibe, showing a lively scene at the corner of ‘Live’ and ‘Love’ streets. Putting a graffiti drawing on an elite brand of wine might represent a kind of establishment recognition, but in Kaves’s hometown of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Kaves’s art doesn’t get much respect.

Graffiti vandals have been striking at locations all over the Bay Ridge neighborhood, with lampposts, mailboxes, storefronts, etc. bearing the brunt of the onslaught, and the community frowns upon the attacks. In response, State Senator Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) has launched a new campaign using social media to clean up graffiti in Bay Ridge.

“We stand here to remind everyone that graffiti cannot be tolerated.  I call on all citizens of our community to say something if you see it. Together, we can make our community a great, beautiful place to live, to work, and to raise a family,” he said, in a press release.

He encouraged residents to report graffiti in the neighborhood by taking pictures, posting them on his Facebook page, and alerting his office directly by phone or email.

Golden hopes posting the pictures on Facebook will help bust the vandals spreading graffiti in the neighborhood.  He has also hired CitySolve, a non-profit organization, to remove graffiti that are reported by the residents.

John Quaglione, Golden press representative, said the senator’s action was prompted by a sudden spike in graffiti in the neighborhood between 70th to 80^th streets in the past few weeks, primarily on the commercial streets on Third and Fifth avenues.

Residents who have had their walls or storefronts defaced by graffiti are welcoming the move. “It is an eye-sore, and I’m glad they are cleaning it up,” says Marianne Fitzgerald, who works at a printing shop on the corner of 81^st Street and Third Avenue, whose wall has been scribbled with graffiti.

Kaves, however, shakes his head at the anti-graffiti drive in the neighborhood. Kaves, who became part of the graffiti phenomenon at the age of ten in the early eighties, says that by posting the pictures of graffiti on social media, the senator is feeding the desire for infamy that the kids who spread graffiti are looking for.

Graffiti in Bay Ridge. Aby Thomas/BI

“The reason why kids get an adrenaline rush doing graffiti is because they are looking for some sort of notoriety, some sort of fame,” Kaves explains. “They [the Senator’s office] don’t understand… the more notoriety the kids get, the more amped up they get that they got their names on the most wanted list!”

Putting pictures of graffiti up on Golden’s Facebook page could lead to kids wanting to ‘bomb’ Bay Ridge more, Kaves warned. “If you’re going to give them fame by trying to make them ‘America’s Most Wanted’, then, they are going to get off on that,” he says.

Golden’s approach is just an “easy fix,” he said.

“It’s not as hard to fix as homelessness or drug addiction or prostitution. But this is something that children do, so it’s easy to go after children, and say that we’re going to fix this problem that plagues our community.”

Kaves runs a tattoo parlor, Brooklyn Made Tattoo, in Bay Ridge and admits that his storefront has been the target of graffiti as well. But Kaves still feels that penalizing graffiti writers is not the way out, and instead, a long-term resolution needs to be considered.

“Instead of smacking them on the wrists, my idea would be to build a park, or have a designated place where kids can come and paint their graffiti, perhaps competitively paint… The light at the end of the tunnel for these kids could be getting a scholarship to college, or high school, or some sort of an art program—some kind of help, you know? A kid would much rather fight for that, than fight to get his tag on a Facebook page.” Kaves says.

Kaves claims that he’s friends with Sen. Golden, and wishes Golden had discussed a more positive approach on the graffiti problem with him. He says he’d be happy to talk with Golden and discuss how kids writing graffiti could be helped to move in the right direction, perhaps by interning at his tattoo parlor. “But this is the dialogue that needs to happen, rather than shunning and looking down on graffiti,” he says.

Kaves sees his way of doing graffiti art as part of a million dollar business. The future looks bright for him. In January, he heads to Los Angeles to work on a painting for an art show for the rock band, Metallica.

“I went from being a Bay Ridge kid writing my name on a handball court to becoming the first American to paint his graffiti on a most prestigious, celebrated wine bottle,” Kaves says. “However, in my neighborhood, they look at my wine label and call it ghetto.”

Senator Marty Golden and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis celebrate their ping pong win at the Bay Ridge Third Avenue Street fair. (Photo: Rose D

Democrats and Republicans faced off on the southwest corner of 80th Street at Bay Ridge’s annual Third Avenue street fair.

The crowd gathered around two teams comprised of a city councilor, state senator and two Assembly members. Frank Morano, a political commentator, provided play-by-play analysis as the crowd gasped at each exciting turn.

“Coming into this game, Democrats were heavily favored,” Morano said. “All that has changed.”

The crowd cheered loudly shortly after. The faceoff ended. “It’s over, it’s over! The Republicans have won the battle of Bay Ridge.”

The Republican team celebrated in full view of the losing Democrats. There was no room for congeniality in this fierce, best-of-three table tennis match.

While such political contentiousness is prevalent across the country, here in Bay Ridge the real battle may be between two Democratic organizations that are seeking to regain political losses in the neighborhood.

The 2010 election results not only brought a wave of Republicans into elected positions nationally, but also gave the impression that Bay Ridge leans Republican even though the rest of Brooklyn tends to vote Democrat. In that election, Bay Ridge elected two Republicans over long-term Democrat incumbents.

Following the 2010 elections, the two Democratic organizations in the neighborhood are on the offence, looking to achieve better results next November. But while they hope to establish a stronger Democratic presence in the area, the clubs have opposing strategies. The Brooklyn Democrats for Change is a seven-year-old organization that is largely focusing on redistricting efforts while the Bay Ridge Democrats, a newly established club, seems to concentrate on developing connections that go beyond local politics. This, in turn, has left Democrats fragmented in a neighborhood that is already politically polarized.

Kevin Peter Carroll speaks at the October meeting for the Brooklyn Democrats for Change (Rose D'Souza/The Brooklyn Ink)

“I think the biggest issue is redistricting and it is an issue for a lot of people. If you divide a neighborhood up, you’re not focused on the needs of that neighborhood. We’re losing our voice,” Kevin Peter Carroll says.

At 25 years old, Carroll is already on his way to becoming a veteran in local politics. Carroll is the 60th Assembly district leader and a founding member of the Brooklyn Democrats for Change. He was the club president before he won the district leader election last year.

Five Assembly members, two state senators and one Congressman represent parts of Bay Ridge because of district mapping. And although Democrats won four of the five assembly districts that cover Bay Ridge, Carroll and the Brooklyn Democrats for Change focus on the 60th Assembly district. The district boundary represents a large section of Bay Ridge, but more than half of the district’s territorial boundary covers Staten Island’s East Shore.

When Republican newcomer Nicole Malliotakis upset the incumbent Democratic candidate Janele Hyer-Spencer in the last election, she only won the Staten Island section of the district. Hyer-Spencer won Bay Ridge.

“We have some State Assembly people who have never stepped foot in Bay Ridge and that’s a problem. It’s not fair to the constituents they represent,” Carroll says, explaining why he and the Brooklyn Democrats for Change prioritize redistricting on their agenda.

Carroll is not one to hold back an opinion, which is why other local Democrats do not necessarily support him.

“I was attacked for that last year for my willingness to work on redistricting reform with leaders of the conservative party,” Carroll explains.

Justin Brannan, seated in the center, oversees the meeting of the Bay Ridge Democrats. (Photo: Rose D

After Carroll was elected, the local Democratic scene went through several organizational changes. Two of the three local Democratic organizations at the time joined together to form the Bay Ridge Democrats. Justin Brannan, Councilman Vincent Gentile’s media representative, serves as the president of the Bay Ridge Democrats. Brannan was a member of the Brooklyn Democrats the previous year.

Unlike the Brooklyn Democrats for Change, the Bay Ridge Democrats do not believe that redistricting is Bay Ridge’s biggest political problem.

“The local Republicans like Kevin’s idea. That’s a red flag for me,” Brannan says. “If the Republicans like something I’m doing, that probably means I’m doing something wrong.

In fact, Brannan thinks that the current district mapping can be beneficial.

“The more people you have fighting for your neighborhood, the better,” Brannan says. “More representation means more people who can bring home money to the district for our parks, schools and streets.”

The difference between the two clubs is subtle but noticeable. Bay Ridge Democrats members are younger and have stronger connections to local politicians. And while both clubs invited many of the same guest speakers in the past year, the Bay Ridge Democrats appears to command more legitimacy within Democratic circles outside of Bay Ridge. The Bay Ridge Democrats is less than a year old but has already had well-known guest speakers like Senator Charles Schumer and hosted a high-profiled panel on redistricting last March.

Carroll and Brannan, on the other hand, share similarities. They are young, ambitious Brooklynites — born and raised — who bring a nontraditional, fresh presence to Bay Ridge’s older political field. They also both downplay the idea that there is tension between their two organizations.

“There are divisions in Bay Ridge. There are divisions in the Democratic Party. In general, people have different ideas, different things for the community,” says Carroll.

Carroll insists that, political differences aside, he and the Brooklyn Democrats are only seeking what they believe is best for the neighborhood, which they think they can achieve by making Bay Ridge a single district.

“The status quo is a problem. We want to shake things up a little bit,” Carroll says. “I feel like we’re not going to get a single district if the same old people are drawing those lines because they’re not watching out for neighborhood concerns. They’re watching out for themselves.”

Brannan is more cautious in his explanation of why the clubs won’t be joining together any time soon. “It would be wonderful if we were just one big, happy family and that’s how we’d be most powerful — but what are you going to do? We can’t force other clubs to join ours — all we can do is make overtures,” he says.

“We took two old clubs that were around for a long time and formed [them] to make the Bay Ridge Democrats,” Brannan says. “Why didn’t [the Brooklyn Democrats] join us? I don’t know, it’s up to them.”

While Brannan doesn’t believe the clubs are rivals competing for the same Democratic audience in the neighborhood, he says his club is different because of its non-partisan, community approach.

“I think we have more of a different vision as a club. We also do stuff that’s apolitical, like we’re trying to save the local post office,” he said.

Katherine Khatari, a longtime social activist in Bay Ridge, says she doesn’t want to pick sides between the organizations. “I love Kevin and I love Justin.”

Instead, Khatari is more concerned about the future of the Democratic party in Bay Ridge, which is why she tries to attend many of the clubs’ activities such as their monthly meetings.

But Khatari hesitantly admits that, so far, the Bay Ridge Democrats have been more successful than the Brooklyn Democrats. “Justin is a powerhouse. He’s done so much for the community in a short span of time. That’s why [his club’s] taken off the way it has.”

“Kevin’s also a good guy. So it’s like having two sons and I’m the mother. I can’t show favoritism. I got to love them both.”

More Stories on The Brooklyn Ink:

Supreme Court Election Has Low Turnout

Bay Ridge Gets Tough on Liquor License Applications

Bay Ridge Seniors to Government: Help!

According to the owner Mousa Ahmad, undercover police constantly loitered across the street and hung around in his cafe for hours, eavesdropping on conversations. Everybody in the neighborhood knew of the surveillance. Eventually his cafe got a bad name and the customers stopped coming–they didn’t want to be blacklisted and eventually, Ahmad had to close the place.

He is one of many Muslims that were targeted by a massive police surveillance program as uncovered by an Associated Press Investigation. What’s more, they feel they have little recourse because privacy laws have weakened dramatically in the wake of 9/11.

“It’s really not clear that people can do anything if they’ve been subjected to unlawful surveillance anymore,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Over the summer an AP investigation revealed that the NYPD was behind a massive Muslim surveillance program, in which the daily lives of many Brooklyn residents were documented.

Logan’s is still waiting on its liquor license.

And community opposition prevented the opening of another establishment, Ibiza, which would have become the largest liquor-serving nightclub on Third Avenue.

The storefront of Logan's restaurant on 71st Street. Logan's is one of several bars and restaurants facing scrutiny over their liquor license applications. Photo by Aby Thomas/BI

There’s no question: Bay Ridge’s Community Board 10 is getting tough on new liquor license requests. The board doesn’t have the power to grant a license—that’s the job of the New York State Liquor Authority. The community leaders and residents, however, are weighing in heavily to recommend or oppose who gets to sell liquor in the neighborhood. And their efforts are working.

“If a new establishment is reluctant to be a serious partner with the community in maintaining our neighborhood’s safety and quality of life, our office will do everything in its power to make sure they can’t open their doors here in Bay Ridge,” said City Councilman Vincent Gentile, whose district includes the neighborhood.

Logan’s Executive Chef Ralphael Abrahante thinks he still has a chance to win neighborhood approval. He has already agreed to have no live music, no DJs, and no open doors. But he fears the venue’s rowdy past is what is standing in the way of getting the license.

“The community vented [at me] at the community board meeting about the history of the location which, I felt, was a little bit unfair to me, because I am new,” Abrahante said.

CB10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann said that while the board has a good working relationship with the existing bars and restaurants in Bay Ridge, the board strives to protect the community from public nuisance. The board reviews the history of establishments previously located at the site of new liquor license applicants and evaluates the background of an applicant, she said.

In the case of Logan’s, the board has been especially strict. Its busy corner location formerly housed a bar that had incidents involving prostitution, money laundering, underage drinking and drugs.

Gentile said such rigorous reviews of new establishments are essential for a neighborhood like Bay Ridge. The state liquor authority grants the licenses, but a negative community recommendation is often an insurmountable obstacle for new bars and restaurants.

There was a four-month struggle to prevent the opening of Ibiza. The community board’s tough policy and residents’ opposition finally caused the proposed new restaurant and lounge on Third Avenue to withdraw its application for a State liquor license. Gentile, in a press statement, called it a “quality-of-life victory for Bay Ridge,” to keep the “inappropriately large bar” from opening.

Ibiza’s address on 8214-16 Third Avenue was previously the site of an infamous nightclub, Level, that was shut down in 2009 after residents’ complaints of underage drinking, excessive noise and fighting at the location.

“It was terrible,” said Lori Willis, a resident on Third Avenue, when talking about Level. “It was so loud, there were drunken people passed out on my lawn, people urinating on my driveway… It was unbelievable.”

In order to prevent similar problems, Bay Ridge residents became very vocal in opposing the granting of a liquor license to Ibiza.

The community board, however, set forth a series of stipulations for its approval of Ibiza’s liquor licenses, one of which was that Ibiza would not apply for a cabaret license. Although Ibiza management’s agreed, the board discovered that Ibiza was advertising its location on websites as being “Brooklyn’s hottest new nightclub” where New Yorkers could come and “dance now.”

The board also said that although the owners of Ibiza insisted their future establishment would solely be a “restaurant and lounge,” their

The entrance to Ibiza, which withdrew its liquor license under pressure from bay Ridge community members. Photo by Aby Thomas/BI

testimony before the community board suggested otherwise: their kitchen was scheduled to close at 11 p.m., but their bar was slated to remain open, with a live DJ, until 4 a.m.

Those apparent discrepancies led Gentile to ask the New York State Liquor Authority to deny Ibiza’s request for a liquor license, which led to Ibiza dropping its application.

“We encourage responsible business owners to be forthright and abide by the restrictions we impose to protect the community,” CB10 Chairwoman Joanne Seminara said. “The Ibiza owners grossly misrepresented their plans to the Board and therefore, we hope that our request to deny their application contributed to their withdrawal.”

The crackdown by the Bay Ridge’s community board seems to have its origin in a bar brawl in August this year on 64^th Street that resulted in five people being hospitalized with stab wounds. The karaoke bar had been allowed to open in late 2009 despite the board’s apprehensions about its proximity to a public school.

Beckmann said that the board is trying to balance the needs of the liquor serving establishments and the residential community in Bay Ridge.

“Nightlife establishments such as restaurants and bars are a vibrant part of our community. However, since we are a heavily residential community, concerns about businesses that may be disturbing quality of life of nearby residents are taken seriously,” she said.“Homeowners and residents are also stakeholders and have an investment in our community and, without a proper balance, the economic and community impacts could be far reaching on both sides.”

Arab American Association of New York (Photo: Hiten Samtani/The Brooklyn Ink)

Kadria Salem is filling in the blanks.

The house is red ____white

Her instructor, Tim McFarland, enunciates “AND” repeatedly to help her.

She marks an “a” on the blank, and stops. This time, McFarland stresses on the “n.”

aNd

She cannot end the word. McFarland tries again.

anD

She’s learning by rote. McFarland has to deconstruct the words, “New York,” four times in the span of 10 minutes. She isn’t getting it. She mutters “Ya Rab (Oh Lord)” every time she turns a page, and takes pains to erase all stray pencil marks.

McFarland opens a coffee-stained citizenship test book for the next set of exercises, on the Constitution of the United States.

We live in the United States of America.

“We have freedom of speech,” writes the 62-year-old Yemeni mother of four, who had her youngest child when she was 45. She keeps offering “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as her response to the questions.

“What three words of the Constitution talk about self-government?” McFarland asks.

“We, the people,” Salem says. McFarland nods and she grins. “Shaatir (Clever),” she says, with more than a little swagger. She wears an abaya and a white headscarf, and sports round bifocals that frame what is—save for the folds around her lips and chin—a remarkably unlined face.

Salem has been in America for 11 years. She says that she wants to learn English just to pass the citizenship test and get a passport. She has plenty of friends and relatives in Brooklyn, so she is able to get by with Arabic. But she feels left out. Everyone in her family speaks English, except for her. Salem says her daughter and husband review her work when she goes home. Sometimes they tell her to read out words, but she feels she cannot even do this. When she’s asked to try speaking in English, she gets agitated and refuses. Still, she comes in, for 11 hours every week.

For the past year, Salem has been taking this free ESL course at the Arab American Association of New York. The not-for-profit association is located in Bay Ridge, and provides services—including adult education, citizenship and immigration, and healthcare consultation—to the more than 117,000 Arab immigrants in Brooklyn. The association’s operations are supported by AmeriCorps, a federal anti-poverty program that partners with nonprofits and charities. AmeriCorps service members make up six out of the association’s 11 full-time staff.

But on January 1, AmeriCorps will end its support, and when it does, all the association’s AmeriCorps service members, McFarland included, will lose their contracts.

What this means is unclear. It could mean a dramatic cut in services. And, if the association cannot secure funding—roughly $22,000 plus benefits per service member—to hire back some of the staff it will lose in January, it could mean the end of classes for students like Salem.

AmeriCorps allocates service members to the Arab American Resource Corps, which in turn funnels them to the association, says Jennie Goldstein, the associate director of the association.  The cuts to the corps, she adds, “are not something we could control.” The association lost two NYC Civic Corps—an AmeriCorps program funded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office—members in July, and lost an AmeriCorps VISTA member in August, so Goldstein is used to doing more with less. But the loss of six more AmeriCorps service members come January will be a challenge.

***

Tim McFarland, ESL teacher (Photo: Hiten Samtani/ The Brooklyn Ink)

Tim McFarland is back in his office, having just finished teaching Salem. “Kadria recognizes a word she has learned, but finds it very difficult to recall it,” he says, nailing the guttural “K” in Salem’s first name. The 24-year-old native of rural North Carolina, who wears stud earrings and has permanently windblown hair, is not someone you’d expect to be in charge of an ESL program for Middle Eastern women. But he’s never had any problems with his students, or their husbands. “Just the fact that I’m a Caucasian male makes me a little bit innocuous,” he says. “I have a friendly but formal relationship with them, and I stay away from taboo topics like religion and sex.”

He has a degree in linguistic anthropology and is dexterous with language; he combines his basic Arabic conversational skills with gestures and simple English words to create a pidgin that his students can understand. When he started at the association in 2009, the ESL program didn’t have a formal structure, and students floated in and out. McFarland implemented a syllabus called “English in Action” and focused on engaging students in dialogue. “While they’re learning the present continuous, they’re also learning how to interact with people at the bank, or how to take the train,” he says. “What we strive for is communicative ability rather than pitch-perfect English.”

The association offers these courses to more than 100 women at four levels of proficiency: literacy, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Sixty percent of the women enrolled are returning students who work their way up the levels. Most of them are recent immigrants, who are either green card holders or married to citizens.

McFarland talks about some of his past students. “There were two Moroccan girls, Aziza and Mariam,” he says. “They would initially respond in French, now they share jokes with me in English.” Their breakthrough, he adds, represented a true rite of passage—“being able to tell and understand jokes is one of the keys to knowing that you get a language.”

He also mentions Suhair, an Egyptian woman in her late 20s. “She had zero English when she came in,” he says, “and became a straight-up fluent speaker in eight months.” Suhair is now employed full-time as a home aide. “I’ve never seen a person more motivated to learn a language. She would see something at home or when she was out, and bring it in, always asking questions.”

AmeriCorps announced its decision in May. But the students in McFarland’s classes don’t yet know that their program might end. Jennie Goldstein says that the association hopes to raise $100,000 during its annual gala on November 18, where it will also celebrate its 10th anniversary. “All our eggs are in the gala basket,” Goldstein says. “We cannot count on government funding. And not on the women who come here, whose husbands work in delis and who are trying to learn English. What we need is 10 doctors in the Arab-American community to write a check.”

***

Shamsya Essa, 36, wears a gold ring on her right hand, and has intricate embroidery on the sleeves of her abaya. She’s made an effort to be stylish despite the restrictive Yemeni dress code.  McFarland conducts a mock immigration interview with her.

McFarland: What is your A (Alien Registration) Number?

Essa: 0416*****

McFarland: What is the national anthem of the United States?

Essa: Star-Spangled Banner

Even though he is gentle and patient with her, the drill manages to recreate some of the anxiety of sitting in front of an immigration officer. She keeps looking to him for assurance.

Before coming to America, Essa was illiterate. She finds that learning English helps her everywhere: at the hospital, on the street, at her son’s school. The interactions at school frustrate her the most; she cannot discuss her son’s report card with his teacher, even though she understands what’s being said. She has eight children, and her youngest son doesn’t speak any Arabic. She speaks with him, she says, “through his brothers and sisters.” But now, she practices her English with him.

The coffin on Oldschool Alex's hand was tattooed by now-retired artist, Dan Higgs (Anna Codrea-Rado/The Brooklyn Ink)

Oldschool Alex, a tattoo artist, sees tattoos as a commitment. He says he doesn’t have a reason for every one of the many inscriptions that adorn him; they simply mark his ability to express himself freely.

Alex, who is 38, got his first tattoo when he was 17. He was living in New Jersey and part of the punk rock scene – the mid 1970s rock genre. The image is from one of his favorite comic books, “Faust.”

Oldschool Alex has "Farewell" tattooed across his fingers. (Anna Codrea-Rado/The Brooklyn Ink)

Alex now has even more tattoos that speak to his interests. He is, for instance, a movie buff and has dedicated one arm to images from horror films.

The "x" on Alex's temple represents his commitment to the "straight edge" life style. (Anna Codrea-Rado/The Brooklyn Ink)

Among his other tattoos are replicas of the work of artists he admires. One of them, the now-retired Dan Higgs, did the coffin on his hand. Alex says Higgs’s stylized American traditional work is “unique”, a style he greatly respects.

Alex refers to tattoos on people’s hands and face as “job stoppers.” This might hold true for other lines of work, but Alex says his decision to get them was “career motivated. You never trust a skinny chef,” he says.

He’s noticed a growing number of people getting tattoos, which he says is a “double edged sword.” On the one hand, it’s “good for business,” and he’s pleased to see a societal move towards the acceptance of tattoos. But he’s worried that people don’t give the decision sufficient consideration.

Operating the needle comes with responsibility and Alex says the pressure on tattoo artists is often overlooked. “We’re altering people’s bodies permanently,” he says.

Alex says he makes sure his customers have thought their decision through before he agrees to tattoo them. He says that he turns away more people than he tattoos.

Despite claiming that he got his tattoos “for fun” and that most of them “don’t mean anything,” some do hold significance. The cross on his temple denotes his commitment to “straight edge,” a no drink, drug or promiscuous sex lifestyle.

See more of Brooklyn’s inked

The Brooklyn Ink went tattoo spotting recently and asked local residents, “Why did you get your tattoo?” Click on the images to read the stories behind them.

Have a tattoo you would like to share? Tweet it to us @thebrooklynink