Generally Speaking: Fondly remembering Brooklyn’s Miss Norways

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we’re about to lose a second year of seeing a lovely and talented woman being crowned as Miss Norway of Greater New York. In addition to the popular and glamorous Miss Norway pageant held in the Arthur Nilsen Banquet Hall at the Christian Home in Dyker Heights, the winner is also viewed by thousands of spectators and participants – usually riding in a flashy convertible – at the annual Norwegian-American 17th of May Parade in Bay Ridge.

 Young women of Norwegian descent fill out an application in February to join the April pageant. Sadly, we learned on the Norwegian Immigration Association website that they have decided to discontinue their sponsorship of this annual event. As we filed this week’s column, we have not been able to confirm whether a new sponsor would be stepping forward to fund the 2022 competition.  

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 Former Bay Ridge City Councilmember Sal Albanese was just endorsed by the Staten Island Democratic County Committee in his race for council there. The former Brooklynite moved to Staten Island about four years ago. He enjoys high voter recognition from his past mayoral candidacies and from his run for Congress in the then-13th Congressional District, which included all of Staten Island and a portion of South Brooklyn — even though he lost to Susan Molinari during that election.  From 1983 to 1998 he represented the greater Bay Ridge area in the City Council.  The Staten Island seat is currently held by Republican/Conservative Steve Matteo, who is the council’s minority leader and is term limited.

  In a campaign statement, Albanese says, “The reason that I am running is that the city, including Staten Island, is facing a very difficult next few years. We have a deep financial crisis and the erosion of public safety. I can’t sit on the sidelines and not get involved in restoring common sense in the governance of one of the most important urban centers of the world.”

 At this juncture,  Sal doesn’t appear to have any Democratic primary challengers, but there are four candidates running in the GOP primary. 

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