Sunset Park

Sunset Parker gathering steam on Facebook

Neighborhood group attracts 6,0000 members

August 12, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Tony Giordano says the Sunset Parker Facebook group gives residents a voice. Photo courtesy of Giordano
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A Facebook group created by a Sunset Park civic leader who wanted to share photos he had of the community from the 1960s and 1970s has grown into an indispensable forum for residents to exchange ideas, gripe about the city and boast about the special nature of their neighborhood.

Sunset Parker, a Facebook group started by Tony Giordano in 2014, recently signed up its 6,000th member.

“I have to admit, this was all a shock to me,” Giordano told the Brooklyn Eagle in an email. “I really thought I would find a dozen history buffs who liked old photos.”

What he found was that there are thousands of people who either live in Sunset Park or used to live there who still care very much about the neighborhood.

In recent months, members have posted warnings about potholes, given each other a heads-up about burglars on the loose and have criticized elected officials for what they charge is a lack of action on important issues. Traffic accidents, R train delays, alternate side of the street rule changes, health alerts, weather conditions and street closings are posted, too.

Over the past year, the members of Sunset Parker have pushed for the opening of a waterfront park in Sunset Park, worked to overturn a ban on showing movies and having concerts in the park, participated in a State Senate candidates’ debate and provided free classes for Sunset Park residents taking the Department of Sanitation test.

Sunset Parker is currently engaged in a fight to get the city to install a protected bike lane on Fourth Avenue.

“But I think what was revealed is that for 20 years the people of Sunset didn’t have a civic council and were frustrated by not having a public voice,” Giordano told the Eagle. “Given the opportunity to have their voices heard is the only thing I can imagine being behind the fast growth.”

Historic photos are still the mainstay of Sunset Parker, but now the page also features meeting notices. 

Sunset Parker has 15 administrators and more than 100 regular contributors.

The Facebook group has come a long way from its humble beginnings, when it was primarily known as a forum for old photos.

In 2014, Giordano, a retired teacher, created the page and posted pairs of “Then & Now” photographs showing Sunset Park locations as they looked decades ago and matching them with current photos.

Giordano, whose wife, Renee Giordano, is the executive director of the Sunset Park Business Improvement District, said he wanted to be sure that the photos wouldn’t be lost in a drawer at home and forgotten.

Within days, dozens of Sunset Park residents joined the new Facebook page and began telling their own stories from back in the day.

Giordano said one of the things he loves about Sunset Parker is that it can serve as a vehicle for reunions. He pointed out that three co-workers in a Maryland bank found out that they all grew up in Sunset Park by looking at the Facebook page. In another heartwarming story, two men posting comments about a block party in 1978 realized that the woman they were both talking about was an aunt to both of them and that they were cousins.

 

 

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