Column: It seems to always end up with politics, by George Fiala

In the earlier days of this newspaper, I only occasionally wrote a column. There either had to be something compelling in the local news that I wanted to opine on, or there was extra room in the paper that needed to be filled. But now, as I’m starting to grow up, along with the paper, I’ve made a commitment to say something each month. The effect of this upon my life takes me back to the time, decades ago, when I was nearing to the end of an unsuccessful marriage, and spent a year or so in marriage counseling.

Each week I would try to make sure remember all the imagined slights I would endure in the relationship during the week, which I would blurt out to the therapist every Saturday morning, hoping to convince her of the terrible things I had to put up with.

Well, these many years later I’m kind of doing the same thing as I plod through every month, knowing that this column lies ahead. At least once every day or too something happens that triggers a pithy thought in my mind that I think will be the next column. Of course, my problem is that I generally don’t write the thought down. I used my cellphone for a while to archive my thought, but I end up never listening to the transcription.

I did have a bunch of different thoughts this month, some of which I scribbled down, but know that I’m here, I don’t know where they are.

One thing that is hard to forget is the election we just endured.

Up until I was around 45, I believed that anyone who was elected to government was an especially bright person, chosen by the masses exhibiting their special wisdom.

That feeling first started to feel wrong with the election of George W.

Understand now that I lived through both Richard Nixon terms. While I and many of my peers didn’t agree with his policies, mostly having to do with Vietnam and race, we knew that he wasn’t stupid—that he had decades of government experience and probably did alright in school. There were protests every weekend as well as occasional riots.

However, once the draft ended most of my friends didn’t seem to care about him one way or another. I was always surprised that the summer school students at my college didn’t hold a huge party that night in August after he took that helicopter ride from the White House when he finally resigned.

When Bush won, and then, after 9/11 we went to war in Iraq, I started to realize that just because someone is elected to office, doesn’t mean that they can’t make terrible mistakes out of sheer ignorance.

Being confused about this, I applied and was accepted to an International Relations Masters program at the New School, where I began to catch up on all the history I missed in college by sleeping through classes.

I discovered that politicians are real people, and responsible for lots of dumb things throughout world history.

Until I started this paper in 2010, I didn’t experience any of this first-hand.

Over the past almost 12 years I have met and watched local politicians in action. These included Felix Ortiz, Carlos Menchaca, Brad Lander, and Steve Levin, and others.

The others are the only ones I ended up respecting. Joan Millman was an Assemblywoman for many years with an office on Court Street. She earned the respect of her constituents by working hard and being smart. Additionally, she was a savvy politician, becoming an effective advocate for schools and seniors and libraries.

One of my early encounters with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez came at my second Christmas at this paper. Back in those days, I would spend my weekends traipsing around all sort of local events, snapping photos to put in the paper.

This one weekend it seemed that every place I went to, Velazquez and her District Director, the ubiquitous Dan Wiley, had either just got there before me, or showed up right after. Unlike our current leaders—State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assembly Member Marcella Mitaynes, and, especially in his second term, Councilman Carlos Menchaca—Velazquez, like Joan Millman, makes sure she pays her local neighborhood dues by showing up.

When it comes to consistency, Velazquez always follows her principles. In Gowanus, she fought for the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, urging Superfund Status at a time when this city was doing all it could to avoid it, worried that the Superfund stigma would delay the building of residential skyscrapers. This was back in 2009.

Now, in 2021, with the dredging and capping of the Canal finally beginning, the City is still doing its best to handicap the cleanup, both by stalling a fix of the sewage situation ordered by the EPA, as well as rushing to build residential buildings on Public Place, a large plot of land in Carroll Gardens that once housed a Brooklyn Union Gas Manufacturing facility.

Many locals are unsure of the safety of this, as gas manufacturing has left lethal toxins in the ground, and it was Nydia, along with Millman’s successor, Jo Anne Simon, who led a press conference next to the Canal recently to call out for the City to keep the neighborhood safe.

I have to admit one other thing. While most politicians today are younger than me, and completely wedded to social media, Nydia is the only one that regularly responds to my questions and concerns, as it pertains to the communities we write about.

Having just written that, I realize that maybe I should be doing a better job at communication myself (is this my therapy session?)

Starting January, we will have new politicians working for us—a new Councilperson and Borough President, not to mention a new mayor.

One of the biggest areas where government affects community is land use. Starting next month, we will be pestering Alexa Aviles and Antonio Reynoso (and we will try to be in touch with the former Borough President) to make sure that they hear my and our concerns about land use and city services. (This is kind of a warning, in case any of these people are reading). I am all for contextual development, but not SuperSizing of our neighborhoods, whatever the rationalization.

This now brings me to term limits. People love to complain—it’s evidently part of human nature —and of course politicians are a natural scapegoat for all kinds of our own failings. “Throw the bum out” is a very popular phrase, and directly led to the establishment of terms limits for NYC political offices in 1993.

I’m in favor of all of them except for the City Council. The Council legislates, and good legislation should require experienced legislators. If a representative is good, voters should know this and keep reelecting them. If they are stupid and corrupt, get rid of them as soon as possible. That’s what voting is for. And if the voters are stupid, well, we get what we deserve.

What I have seen of term limits in the Council, most specifically right now with our own Carlos Menchaca, is that the first term is when they work hard so they can win a second term.
But then, unless they are somebody like Nydia who actually cares about doing their job well, a lame duck council member is focused on setting themselves up for a next job, usually confirming the Peter Principle (people are promoted to their level of incompetence), and neglecting the task at hand.

For me at least, who kind of took a hands-off approach when it came to covering the once locally popular Menchaca for the past four years, it’s gloves on with the Socialist (her own words) Aviles, who is taking his place.

I’m looking forward to it.