Column: Words by George

A couple weeks ago I was surprised to see the name “Carlos Menchaca” pop up on my phone’s Caller ID.

Menchaca has been representing Red Hook in the City Council for the past seven years. During all of that time I have been writing about Red Hook in this newspaper.

We’ve never socialized, despite my invitations for dinner to talk about local issues. Despite an open invitation, I only was able to get him to write for us once, an op-ed explaining what I consider his shining moment in the neighborhood – his opposition to the ULURP proposal of the Oxford Nursing Home so they could move to Conover Street.

This was the second time he’s called. The first was nearly two years ago, after the NY Daily News ran a front-page story about his firing of three staffers just before Christmas, allegedly on the advice of a life coach he employs.  I asked our reporter Brett Yates to find out more. After he made a few calls, word got back to the councilman and he called to request I stay away from her personal life.

This time, I thought he might have been reading my mind – did he know what I was thinking about his recently announced mayoral run? No – he called me to ask for a donation.

He started out by asking whether I heard that he was running. That was kind of a shock – did he forget what I do for a living? I assured him that I had. He told me that that he wants to continue the great work he has done for Red Hook for the whole city.

That was perfect since I was already thinking about writing this column.

I told him that I was working on a piece for this issue, and getting a list of his accomplishments would be perfect. He said no problem, and would I like to contribute $50?

I said I would think about it, and waited in vain for his list. I did receive multiple emails asking for donations, including one which mentioned an incident he was involved in at the Red Hook early voting location. He and some fellow politicians were hanging around a table set up by Red Hook Relief. The Board of Election supervisor happened to be there taking care of a handicap access issue, and determined that the table violated electioneering rules. A 76th precinct cop patiently but firmly asked them to move, but was met with objections.

This incident became fodder for a solicitation later that day, where he said: “The NYPD must issue clear guidelines and not escalate situations at the polls. As Mayor, Carlos will do a lot more to protect our communities including defunding the police and reinvesting the money into city and social services that protect our communities’ health and safety.”

Trust me, as one who has been a critic of the 76th in the past – the last thing they are looking to do is to suppress local voting.

One of the things about running a local newspaper is that the longer you do it, the larger perspective you get on things. Not everything, but a lot.

I criticized Carlos a few months ago in these pages for not working as hard at representing Red Hook as he had during his first term. In particular, in that case, at not doing enough to let residents of the Red Hook Houses understand what was happening around them.

FEMA money that was pledged after Hurricane Sandy is being used to protect the Houses in the event of another storm. The result will be a resilient campus with many aesthetic improvements, as well as a state-of-the art power plant that will provide heat and hot water in a much improved manner.

However, all this good stuff is still relatively unknown to many and instead people complain about the inconvenience and disturbed environment. In the past, Carlos would marshall the relevant agencies and force them to hold public meetings to let everyone know what’s going on in their neighborhood.

You could blame COVID for the lack of public meetings, yet Brad Lander, Jo Anne Simon (two other nearby politicians), not to mention the 76th Precinct, have been able to figure out how to hold public meetings  in person.

Menchaca came into office touting participation, particularly Participatory Budgeting (PB), but can anyone name a completed PB project? Or a creative one?

Project Expos are supposed to be part of PB. Yates wrote last year:  “If any of this stuff actually happens in District 38, we at the Star-Revue aren’t hearing about it.”

A big issue during his first term was a Parks Department plan to build a giant bathroom in the modest Valentino Pier Park. Somebody had asked about having facilities that parkgoers could use, and Parks responded with a plan for a huge $2 million monstrosity. Carlos arranged for a community dialogue with Parks, and so they agreed to hold off. The deal was that we wouldn’t lose the money – it would be used for something we really wanted, which Menchaca’s office would arrange, but it’s been five years and nobody mentions it any more.

The situation with our ballfields is pretty poor. They were closed due to the existence of past pollution. They’ve been under construction for years and years. In the meantime, we all get to see a huge construction project right next to the Bay Street ballfields take only a year or so to build.

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When all is said and done, Menchaca’s legacy in Red Hook will be trucks. In addition to the above warehouse, another is going up on one side of IKEA, and Amazon will be building at 280 Beard. In case people on the Pioneer Works side of town think they are getting away with something, UPS is planning a giant facility in the area stretching from the Cruise Terminal to Valentino Park. That reminds me —instead of that nursing home, we are getting another storage facility.

The point is that Menchaca has had no real vision for this neighborhood. He is kind of an accidental politician, and will leave office with the same mantra that he came in with – participate. But please… no specifics.

Jacqui Painter

Back in the beginning of the summer, NYCHA construction disturbed an important piece of plumbing, and the Red Hook Houses were left without water for a number of days. A small group that was started at the beginning of the pandemic, focused mostly on pantry operations, sprung into action, and with a spurt of publicity led by Jacqui Painter, collected and distributed multiple tons of water to those affected.

We had never heard of her before, but she claimed to be a local. We saw online that she had spent a lot of time in the Midwest and in addition to being a graphic artist had also worked for a political lobbying organization.

Well, she has just declared herself as candidate for the city council in a race to replace Carlos Menchaca next year.  So we did a little more digging. It turns out that did indeed grow up here.  Her father is Robert Painter, one of the founders of the volunteer Red Hook Boaters. In fact, he’s been in these pages.

We welcome her hat in the ring and look forward to hearing what she has to say about Red Hook as the race to succeed Carlos shifts into full steam next spring. — George Fiala