by Richardson Saintpierre
The Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center Thursday, February 12, 2009 was packed with thousands all waiting for the night’s events to begin. Many people who came from all across the city were waiting for Marty Markowitz to deliver his annual State of the Brooklyn Borough Address. An address which many Brooklyn residences are not familiar with manly due to the fact that the media often reserves this address for the back pages of the newspapers and the last ten minute spots on the local evening news; only a handful of outlets even covered the whole speech including the cable news channel BCAT.
No matter how limited the reporting of the Brooklyn Borough President’s Address was to be there was no shortage of local news camera crews setting up for the evening, reporters were also holding silver microphones standing in line to interview the man of the hour Markowitz. In fact not only was the media trying to get a piece of Markowitz but a number of local politicians such as city council speaker Christine Quinn, Borough of Manhattan President Scott Stringer and many others were doing their best to shake hands with the Borough president, but most importantly having their picture taken so they could possibly post it on their reading materials once they run for office in the not so distant future.
The night began with a pre-show performance by the ISO Symphonic Band, which according to the nights program was beginning directed by Brian P. Worsdale. The music was a great backdrop as the countless numbers of people came into the performance house and made their way to seats that were provided for by ushers who did a wonderful job getting everyone to their seats as soon as possible so there would be no confusion as to were everyone was to be sitting. The ISO band continued playing for what seemed like a number of hours as women with fur coats and facelifts walked through the very large space trying to find the nearest seat to the Borough President and kissing men who had on stylish shoes as they displayed smiles that were almost as rehearsed as some of the performances one may find in the Mac playhouse. The address was to begin at 6:30P.M according to the program however; the program did not begin until much after. After the man of the hour was making his rounds smiling, shaking hands as people form all over the theater interviewed him and spoke to him about perusing his third term. The band played and played as the audience did their best to make their presents known and make their voices heard again what could you expect, politicians populated much of the arts center that night.
Once the performance did begin it went off without a hitch carefully planned out to make things run as smoothly as possible. Once the lights dimmed down and the ISO Symphonic band finished playing the “Master of Ceremonies” made is entrance on the stage, which by then was packed with people who were waiting for their shutout by the man of the evening. The “Masters of Ceremonies” was Carlo A Scissura Markowitz’s chief of staff that took over the position after Markowitz’s first chief Greg Atkins left the Borough Presidents office once he accepted a lucrative career in the private sector. Scissura introduced himself to the performing arts center the majority of which already knew who he was. Once that was over Scissura told us all about what a wonderful job it was working for Markowitz and how he loved being in the public sector and later on finally introduced our President Dr. Regina. S. Peruggi who then introduced European pop star Avraam Russo who dazzled us all with his new single. Once Russo left the stage Scissura made way for another performer Christine Quinn someone who is known for assisting Mayer Bloomberg in his magic trick, which made term limits vanish without New Yorkers approval. Quinn who I must say looked good that night made the way for the PS 127, McKinley Park Elementary School Chorus after signing the praises of Marty Markowitz. After the children finished their lovely performances the stage began rocking once the Central Brooklyn jazz All Stars started playing while the crowd cheered. Once the Central Brooklyn Jazz All Stars took their much deserved the La Salsa De Hoy Dance Studio dance quartet danced for an audience that at this point wanted just wanted the main act.
Marty Markowitz finally made is way to the stage with the assistance of two of the Coney Island Burlesque Bombshells that featured Gal Friday also known as “Miss Coney Island” and her two assistances Creamy Stevens and Rosie 151 who made their way into the audience and walked Marty Markowitz up to the stage. As the young ladies walked Marty Markowitz to the stage one could not help noticing how much taller they were to the Borough President even if the “Bombshells” were not wearing very high heals one can’t imagine that their shoes would have made Marty Markowitz appear to be any taller. Once Markowitz began his speech (which was almost as long as his a career in politics) members in the audience did everything they could to appear surprised as the Borough President shouted out almost every single person in the audience which was not all that surprising considering copies of his speech were passed out to many before hand. The shutouts included private citizens, local celebrities, business owners and everything in between. My favorite person asked to stand by Markowitz was Travel Channel‘s “Man vs. Food” host Adam Richman someone who has been known to sit through anything now can say he sat through one of Marty Markowitz’s charming but long speeches.
Borough President Marty Markowitz spoke about his accomplishments, and his dreams for Brooklyn as well as the finical issues the city is facing and what we all can do to do to weather the economic hardships many will have to deal with during the incoming decades. After the speech was finally over and Markowitz thanked all his political operatives, his staff and Kingsborough (a school he thanked for being the setting in which he meet his wife) the address rapid up and the crowds headed for the after party which was being hosted in the school cafeteria.
Before Marty Markowitz headed to the cafeteria Scepter reporter James Davis caught up with the Brooklyn Borough President and asked him a few questions. The first question was why he decided to hold his address her at Kingsborough. “Each year I have it at another location in the Borough and this year we decided to do it in the Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan beach area and off course it was a no brainier I’m very active here with President Regina Peruggi. My wife is a born and raised Manhattan Beach resident so this is were we wanted to do it,” he said. Marty Markowitz also spoke about creating jobs for the citizens of Brooklyn. “Were pitching companies across the country to relocate to Brooklyn to open up their regional sales office, their district offices their sales offices and were going to be able to demonstrate why it’s a better bargain to their bottom line they can do better in Brooklyn and that’s what we will be doing.” Now as for what he would like most to achieve in his next term he said “end of crime, enough affordable housing for all of the residencies of Brooklyn that need it.” He would also like to achieve “the performance arts center down in Coney Island, the Low East kings opening and the Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn playing. That’s it.”
Marty Markowitz was seen taking pictures with many who attended the gathering. Once everything was finally over everyone went home and politicians all over Brooklyn prepared for another day of advancing their careers.
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