The Brooklyn Standard

This article appeared in the 1 April issue of The Brooklyn Eagle.

If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em. That’s the mantra of some Manhattan Beach residents after a long-standing community group slammed the door on renters.

A splinter civic association broke from the Manhattan Beach Community Group last month after renters were barred from joining the 67-year-old organization. The split, which includes defections from the senior group’s leadership, could set the stage for clashes over the development in the affluent southern Brooklyn enclave.

Photo by Daniel Cavanagh.

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The most recent Manhattan Beach Community Group meeting with President Ira Zalcman on the right and Al Slaldone, one of the members of the newly formed Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association, in the center.

Just when the embattled community group in Manhattan Beach thought their troubles were over, a lawsuit was filed in the wake of an already contentious presidential election.

“You know one thing I have to give people credit for is that they came out to vote,” incumbent president Dr. Ronald Biondo said before the votes were tallied.

With 158 member households voting in an unusually packed auditorium at P.S. 195, Biondo lost Wednesday’s election to challenger Ira Zalcman, his vice president, 110 to 48.

“We really got sanity back,” said Zalcman following his acceptance speech, “and now we can look to the future.”

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Still photos courtesy of Dan Cavanagh at GerritsenBeach.net

Many residents hoped months of mudslinging and name-calling would end Wednesday after the Manhattan Beach Community Group elected its next president. Instead, a suit was filed in the wake of the elections that promises to further embroil community leaders – perhaps even creating a splinter civic association in Manhattan Beach.

Ira Zalcman, newly elected president of the Manhattan Beach Community Group, received applause after his acceptance speech.

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