To the Editor:
I read with interest your election reports in the Brooklyn Eagle of November 6. 2008, especially the one about the Assembly races in the 60th, 46th, and 49th Assembly Districts.

While your report is accurate in many ways, I believe that it still needs to be slightly modified to include some observations that I have the moral obligation to make, not only as the executive chairman of the LaGuardia Republican Organization of the 49 AD, but also as the former and last Republican Assemblyman of this district and all of Brooklyn for that matter.

Joseph Cammarata, the Republican-Conservative candidate in the 60th Assembly District, deserves a lot of praise for his strong campaign against the Democratic incumbent. However, he should not be considered a Brooklyn candidate. His district is mostly in Staten Island and he was designated by the Staten Island GOP. The Brooklyn GOP simply agreed with their selection. Unfortunately for us Republicans, he lost in the Brooklyn section of his district (Bay Ridge) that was painted by the vote as a “Democratic Blue.�

The race in the 46th AD is also another that needs to be reviewed. Bob Capano fought very hard against the Democratic incumbent, and he deserves much credit for that. The results of the election confirmed once more that the Dyker Heights portion of the 46 AD is basically Republican. I know — I was the Assemblyman of the previous 49 AD which used to include some of those areas in Dyker Heights.

The unfortunate conclusion is that Capano’s 30.3 percent of the votes sadly reflect that as long as this district remains as geographically split as it is now, it would be mathematically impossible to make it Republican.

The other district where a candidate scored the highest percentage of Republican votes in all of Brooklyn was the 49 AD. There the Republican-Independence-Conservative Right-to-Life candidate, Lucretia Regina-Potter, received 31.05 percent of the vote. She did this without the support, assistance, or even recognition from anyone in the GOP, aside from the LaGuardia Republican Organization. This organization also succeeded in providing the McCain-Palin ticket with 54.1 percent of the vote in the 49 AD, thus making this district one of the top three Assembly districts in Brooklyn to achieve this goal.

It is also interesting to note that her opponent, Peter Abbate, for the first time in his 22 years in the Assembly, became quite suddenly, the only incumbent Democratic Assemblyman, not only in Brooklyn, but in the Bronx and Manhattan as well, to receive 68.5 percent of the vote. This is the lowest percentage received by an incumbent Democratic Assemblyman in those boroughs.
Sincerely,
— Arnaldo A. Ferraro
Former Assemblyman 49 AD
Executive Chairman,
F. LaGuardia
Republican Organization

Smaller Format of Heights Press Is Welcomed

To the Editor:
I strongly favor the smaller (tabloid) format.

The November 13 issue of the Brooklyn Heights Press & Cobble Hill News was in my box at Pacific Grove, CA, on Friday 11/14. This is astonishing.

I lived at 16 Monroe Place until moving here in 1999.
Tom Streeter

At first I was taken aback but then thought, why not?
Ursula Hahn
Concord Village

I vote for a return to the full (tabloid ) sized paper of several years ago (as in the Daily News, etc.)!
John Sample
Cobble Hill

Thank you. I love the new size of the Brooklyn Heights Press & Cobble Hill News — definitely much easier to handle!
Evelyn
(full name not given)

I think the smaller size of the paper is infinitely better than the large size; in fact, I was considering not renewing my subscription because of the size. There is one other thing that troubles me about the paper and that is the lack of the old regular column of the police reports. I can understand why is might be considered scary to include such a column regularly but think of it as a way to help people be more aware of the dangers of break-ins and muggings. The more accurate the information as to location and how crimes were committed the better people can protect themselves. It is part of the service the paper should perform.
Edward Sack
Brooklyn Heights

I much prefer this format over the larger broadsheet one. In fact, so much so that I’m taking the time to let you know that I do.

Brian D. Winters
Warsaw, Indiana

Al Capone’s School Record

In his “From the Brooklyn Aerie� column of November 6 (see also current column), David Ansel Weiss referred to the famous gangster Al Capone’s having attended P.S. 7 in Brooklyn. A former school administrator elaborates.

Dear Mr. Weiss:

I’m writing to share additional information regarding Al Capone’s public school career.

Al Capone did attend P.S. 7, as stated in your column of November 6th, but he did not end his formal education there. He subsequently enrolled in P.S. 133, on Butler Street and 4th Avenue, from which he was expelled in the 7th grade.

I’m pretty sure that the above information is accurate, for two reasons:

It’s cited on page 36 of Capone, The Man and the Era, by Laurence Bergreen.

And, until my retirement in 2002, I was an Administrator in Community School District 13, and worked closely with the Principal and staff of 133. Sometime around the year 2000, the school celebrated its 100th anniversary. In connection with the celebration — and also as part of a long-overdue clean up — staff members emptied out two attic rooms full of pupil records dating back to 1900. After much “dusty and dirty� labor, they found Al Capone’s information in his teacher’s “Class Record of Attendance and Progress of Pupils,� which was displayed as part of the centennial celebration.

I would guess that the record is still in the building but I don’t really know.

I am currently living in Massachusetts, but we keep an apartment in Brooklyn and go back there regularly. I have an avid interest in New York City history, and still subscribe to the Brooklyn Heights Press, in great part because I enjoy reading your column.

Arthur J. Nieves

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