In Public Service: Peter Abbate learns from local knowledge
Sit down to lunch in Tommaso’s with Assemblymember Peter Abbate and the talk is bound to turn to the neighborhood it’s in, Dyker Heights, and the mom and pop shops and family-owned restaurants that make the community a great place.
Sitting in the back of the dining room, completely in his element, Abbate describes the entire block where Tommaso’s is located, 86th Street between Bay Eighth Street and 15th Avenue, knowing exactly what other stores are on that stretch. “There’s the Mexican place next door. Mona Lisa Bakery closed,” he tells the Brooklyn Eagle.
Abbate (D-Dyker Heights-Bensonhurst, Sunset Park) prides himself on knowing the neighborhoods he represents on such an intimate scale that he can recite the names of stores on particular blocks.