Generally Speaking: Community Board 10 district manager gives State of the District

Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann delivered a “State of the District” address at the January monthly meeting of the Bay Ridge AARP. Her district covers the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton and a small portion of Sunset Park.
The Bay Ridge chapter is headed by retired 68th Precinct Detective Peter Killen who we learned is recovering nicely after coronary triple bypass heart surgery performed at Staten Island University Hospital last week.

In addition to Killen, his fellow officers included Vice President Ed Savage, Corresponding Secretary and Membership Director Ann Panzarino, Treasurer Patricia Killen and Recording Secretary Alice Boyle. Other members of the board are Joe Conly, Harold Egeln, Jr., Millie DiGeorgio, Ted General, Jane Kelly, Marilyn O’Brien, Louis Peters and Alba Savage.

Also in attendance was Fran Vella-Marrone, Brooklyn director for U.S. Representative Dan Donovan. Next meeting of the Bay Ridge Chapter is on February 9, 2:30 p.m., at the Shore Hill Neighborhood Center, 91st Street between Colonial Road and Shore Road.

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FDNY Lieutenant Joseph Graffagnino, who graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in 1992, will be inducted posthumously into the school’s Hall of Fame on February 13. He was appointed a FDNY firefighter on May 9, 1999 and assigned to Ladder Company 5 in Greenwich Village.

When the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001, he was assigned to Ladder Company 149/Engine Company 284. He arrived at Ground Zero aboard his fire apparatus shortly after the collapse of the second tower.

We were advised most of his time off was spent searching for survivors and then for remains. Just hours earlier, he had been tending bar at the Salty Dog Tavern in Bay Ridge.

Graffagnino, a Dyker Heights resident, died on August 18, 2007 while fighting a seven-alarm fire at the Deutsche Bank building, 130 Liberty Street, next to Ground Zero in Manhattan. The building was empty and was being gradually demolished.

City Council Deputy Leader Vinnie Gentile, also a graduate of FHHS and David Whitebook, president of the FHHS Alumni Association, will formally induct Graffagnino and three other graduates at the Rex Manor. Whitebook is also a former FHHS assistant principal and a past president of the Bay Ridge Community Council.