Eulogy for the Green Church

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

The Green Church will not be saved — you can take that to the bank and cash it. Yet despite the writing on the check, some members of the community continue to fight the inevitable.

Call it denial (or call it optimism), but many residents are having a hard time coming to terms with losing their beloved church, which according to a spokeswoman for the Massey Knakal realty giant, is as good as sold.

“The property is under hard contract,” said Keri Neering.

So Bay Ridge United Methodist, the 107-year-old structure on Fourth and Ovington avenues, will be torn down and it will become condos — but don’t blame a lack of effort from local preservationists. They have worked hard, and against long odds, to maintain the integrity of our neighborhood, prompting the consensus cliché — the Hail Mary.

The first “Hail Mary” attempt was by Councilman Vince Gentile (D–Bay Ridge), who worked out a deal that would have saved the church, added condo units to the neighborhood, and yielded a $300,000 annual windfall for the church for upkeep.

Most viewed Gentile’s pass as a perfect spiral, except for the congregants of the church, who wanted no savior (at least in terms of saving the structure).

The second Hail Mary attempt (remember you get four downs) was thrown by the Committee to Save the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church. They urged people to call the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which has the power to declare a building a landmark even without the owner’s permission. But that pass never even made it back to the line of scrimmage: Landmarks promptly declined the request to protect the 100-year-old church.

Then, historian Wade Goria raised the roof at last month’s Community Board 10 meeting in yet another attempt to save the church. Goria, whose microphone was pulled out of his hand at the previous meeting by CB10 Chairman Dean Rasanya after he bashed the Methodist hierarchy, began an impassioned sermon of his own, ranting and screaming (at times, quite eloquently) at the standing-room-only audience.

“We can not let them take this from us,” Goria shouted. “This is our community, this is our church, and this is our fight, now is the time to make our voices heard.”

Yellow Hooker is thinking a new cliché might be more appropriate. This one involves an obese woman and the final few notes of a song. Well, they gave it a shot (or two, or three).

The Kitchen Sink
Everything Zen? Not at least as far as the garbage and debris at Shore Road Park is concerned. The trash is located between two of the park’s most-cherished attractions: the Zen Garden and the Butterfly Park. Before we can cleanse the doors of perception, perhaps officials should first cleanse the large cement stones and the old fencing. …

War, what is it good for? How about the best shawarma with garlic sauce? Bay Ridge Neighbors for Peace is now meeting on Mondays at Mazza Plaza, which is at 8002 Fifth Ave., at 8 pm. …

A source tells The Stoop that state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge) is closer to running for Mayor. “Let me put it this way, at this point we feel quite encouraged,” said the source.

The dead speak at Ridge’s doomed ‘Green Church’

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Another voice has jumped into the debate over the so-called “Green Church” — this one from the grave.

When the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church building was built almost 100 years ago, it was consecrated with a ceremony for the dead who were reinterred from the original church — the very same dead who will now be dug up when the Green Church is torn down for condos.

It’s almost certainly not how those former congregants would have wanted to be treated, says local historian David Elligers.

He recently unearthed a news article from 1901 that made it clear that those early Methodist congregants felt that the church ground was sacred.

“The present generation did not desire the bones of their ancestors scattered to the four winds of heaven,” the article reported.

The relocation of the congregants’ remains became necessary in 1900, when the city purchased the site of Grace’s Methodist Church — including its cemetery — in order to expand roads around what is now Sixth Avenue and 67th Street.

At that time, community members were invited to watch as workers sifted the dirt “to make sure that not a single bone was left behind,” said the church’s then-Pastor W.L. Davidson.

The bones were dug up and moved to their current resting place in front of the Green Church at the corner of Fourth and Ovington avenues in 1901 (see photo).

“It is clear that this was very important to the community of that day,” said Elligers. “It looks like they really wanted to ensure a proper resting place for these people.”

The engraving says that “211 bodies were transferred July, 1901 from the old cemetery of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of the town of New Utrecht at Cowenhoven Lane and Sixth Avenue. Ninety of the persons were unidentified. The names of the others were on church records.”

The newspaper article also reported that some remains were of communal and historical importance, including church elder Adrian Bogart. “His body was held in high regards by all Methodists,” the article said.

Today’s congregation does not feel the same obligation to allow the community to observe the re-interment — and it isn’t afraid to say it.

“It is none of your business, or anyone else’s” said Pastor Robert Emerick. “We are a competent religious organization and we know how to handle human remains.”

Community members looking for information on the current fate of the remains have run into a stone wall sturdier than the Pennsylvania limestone that gives Bay Ridge United Methodist its green hue. But this contentious relationship wasn’t created in six nights and seven days.

The trouble began shortly after reports of the sale of the Methodist cathedral, when Councilman Vince Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) hosted a community meeting in hopes of opening up a dialogue with the sale-minded congregants. But the congregants fought back, claiming that the councilman was trying to infringe on the separation of church and state.

Emerick was later quoted as referring to the remains as “only dust,” much to the chagrin of community activists hoping to preserve a piece of Bay Ridge past. Afterwards the pastor decided it would be best to tune-out the media entirely.

“I have decided that I am not going to dignify this process with a response any longer,” Emerick said. “I am not happy with how the media has handled this, so I am not going to answer any more questions.”

Our local board is a hot ticket!

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Who says that community board meetings are a bore? If people would only experience the excitement first hand, they’d see that the meetings are as entertaining as an episode of “American Idol”!

Take last week’s Community Board 10 meeting. Where else can you be sitting and listening to a fairly routine debate about sidewalk cafe permits when all of a sudden someone gets up and starts screaming?

It started out innocently enough last Monday night at the Knights of Columbus meeting hall, when New York University professor Wade Goria’s name came up on the list of people who wanted to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting.

For the uninitiated, public comment periods are the Ellis Island of democracy — a time when the great huddled masses, the wretched refuse, the homeless, the tempest-tossed, can breathe free and say whatever they feel. Those of us who cover community board meetings for a living have seen screaming matches, shoving matches and, in one notorious Lower East Side board meeting a few years ago, a riot by police officers (yes, we’re still being deposed for civil suits!).

So it’s no wonder that Goria thought he could just get up to the mic and say what was on his mind. Unfortunately, he had chosen to attend a meeting on a night when the board was set to vote on a big zoning issue, so the turnout was better than usual (and, as usual, there was even free marble cake and coffee!). This may have played a role in what went down.

What went down? Goria went down.

As a historian, Goria said he wanted to address the much-discussed likelihood that the historic Bay Ridge United Methodist Church, “The Green Church,” would indeed be sold and torn down to make way for condos.

This has been a controversial issue in the neighborhood, as community groups that want to save the church clashed with parishioners who, believe it or not, want to sell. The reverend at the Green Church even once invoked his Lord and Savior to explain why the congregation needed to sell the building and raise money for its larger mission.

Pastor Robert Emerick’s passion even cowed Councilman Vince Gentile into submission. But that didn’t matter to Goria.

“Pastor Emerick says that he is selling the church to be closer to Jesus,” Goria started in. “But I don’t think Jesus would want to see his house of worship be destroyed to line the pockets of corrupt church elders looking for a $12-million payday.”

But before Goria could go any further, he was interrupted by screams from the standing-room-only audience.

“He is out of order!” one woman shouted. “He is not allowed to say that.”

Goria tried to speak again, but this time, CB10 chairman Dean Rasinya — a retired cop! — intervened on behalf of the growing chorus seeking to end the professor’s lecture early.

“You are out of order,” Rasinya said, giving Goria the stare-down.

Undeterred by the warning, Goria looked back down at his two pages of notes and continued where he left off about the church’s supposed corruption.

“Pastor Emerick was sent by the hierarchy to make sure this sale went through,” Goria tried again. Before he could finish his next sentence, Rasinya leapt out of his chair, and with one clean swipe, grabbed the microphone out of the historian’s hand.

A stunned Goria paused for a moment before exiting stage left, much to the approval of the cheering audience.

Goria, who has taught International Relations for 18-years at NYU, later said he was hoping to deliver the message that the sale of the Green Church was “a corporate ruse” and church elders are money-hungry. He also wanted to say that the government should seize the church building and preserve it — but he never got the chance. Rasinya had delivered his own brand of justice.

One CB10 member said Goria was censored because he committed a violation of the public comment rules.

“You can’t just stand up there and say this or that about someone’s religion,” the member said. “This isn’t anarchy, and when he attacks a religion, it is the chairman’s responsibility to maintain order, which is what Dean did.”

Goria said he wasn’t trying to insult anyone’s religion, and that he should have had the right to speak about what he feels is a robbery of historic proportions.

“It was public comment session and my right of free speech was taken away,” said Goria. “Now I know how Martin Luther felt.”

Men like Goria don’t show up at every meeting, but if you thought community boards were all about rezoning lectures, or 30-minute debates on whether or not to put a traffic light on 86th Street, you’re going to miss out on some great action (and marble cake and coffee, too).

The Kitchen Sink
Our pal Fran Garber is at it again. The doyenne behind Bay Ridge’s Regina Opera Company begged us to “tell the world” that she’s looking for an actor to fill a “non-singing, non-speaking” role in her upcoming production of Puccini’s “Tosca.” Remember, would-be thespians, there are no small roles, even if there are small opera companies. Garber asked actors to email her at reginaopera@yahoo.com. …

The Najjar family was well known in Tripoli as being the premier bakers of baklava. Now the clan is trying to live the American dream in Bay Ridge at Sweet Treats, their appropriately named shop on Fifth Avenue at 68th Street. …

Vampires in Bay Ridge? Aspiring screen writer Anthony Capialbi sees dead people, and they gather in Owl’s Head Park. Check out his short film, “Destiny’s Child (Devil Witch Vampire),” for free on YouTube. It’s set in Bay Ridge! …

Don’t look now, but state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge) is keeping an open (and green) mind to the mayor’s environmental plan. “Pollution and congestion are major issues that effect quality of life …

and that they do need to be addressed to a degree,” he said through an aide. …

Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Bay Ridge) applauded the recent Supreme Court ruling that prohibits partial-birth abortion. Fossella said he will oppose any effort in Congress to reverse the Court's ruling.…