Editorial: All eyes on the Ridge

It’s not often that the eyes of the world are on Bay Ridge, but news that a former resident, Janet Yellen, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to become the next chairperson of the Federal Reserve has galvanized attention on our neck of the woods.

We join in the general applause for Yellen, an economist who has served as vice chair of the bank’s board of governors since October, 2010, and is a graduate of Fort Hamilton High School.

Growing up in a modest home on Ridge Boulevard near Bay Ridge Avenue, a doctor’s daughter who was editor of her school newspaper, and a member of both Arista and Boosters, Yellen early displayed the keen intellect that would lead her, after an Ivy League education, to a career in finance that likely will culminate in her becoming the first woman to head the Federal Reserve, which will celebrate its 100^th birthday on December 13 of this year.

Yellen is not the only Fort Hamilton High School graduate to make history in recent days.

Just a week and a half ago, another Fort Hamilton graduate, City Councilmember Letitia James, secured the Democratic nomination for New York City public advocate and, with no Republican opponent, is likely to cruise to victory in November’s general election.

That would make her the first woman of color to win a citywide post in New York.

Both James and Yellen have shattered glass ceilings, and we applaud their achievements and their tenacity as they individually show the world exactly what makes them tick.

And, to think, it all started right here, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.