If you go to the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA on Bedford Avenue on a given evening, you just might be able to catch a peak at the Splashers.  These 40 senior swimmers have set their sights to the Empire State Senior Games, a statewide competition in June that is for athletes ages 50 and older.

As spunky Splashers co-founder Earl Patton, 74, says, “We intend to bring home the gold this year. We still have the competitive spirit. We’re all fired up!”

These games, which will take place at the campus of SUNY-Cortland will see 2000 athletes compete in 22 land and water sports.  This will be the Splashers third year in the competition.  They have yet to bring home a gold, but they’ve got their goal for this year in place!

The Times reports:

On Monday morning, Mr. Rollino went for a walk in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a daily routine. It was part of the Great Joe Rollino’s greatest feat, a display of physical dexterity and stamina so subtle that it revealed itself only if you happened to ask him his date of birth: March 19, 1905. He was 104 years old and counting.

A Brooklyn institution, Joe Rollino was killed in a traffic accident on Monday morning. One of the last of the old-time strongmen he was arguably, pound-for-pound, the strongest man who ever lived. Even at 103, he was still capable of unusual feats:

Mr. Rollino wowed the crowd at the party … he told stories about the old days, of course, but he was more than just talk, even at 103. Mr. Rollino put a quarter in his teeth. Then he bent it.

Goodbye Joe.
The Great Joe Rollino, Bender of Steel, Is Dead at 104 – NYTimes.com

I am happy to report that since my last visit to Coney Island, which I will admit was several years ago, there has been good news for those who believe in retaining the great landmarks of the past, and not just as memorials but as living, breathing places for visitors to enjoy.

It was brought to my attention that New York City purchased almost 7 acres of land from Thor Equities and is inviting amusement park operators to submit proposals (RFP.)  According to my source those in Coney Island are expecting a great season this coming summer. I hope I will be able to be there. Maybe I’ll even take a ride on the Wonder Wheel, on one of those crazy moving cars!

I grew up in Brighton Beach, and one place down there I knew quite well was the Brighton Beach Baths. The Baths are gone now, in its place a residential development which I’ve only seen from the outside. Thinking about this bit of my childhood which is now gone forever, I decided to do a little research and discover some things about the Baths I never knew before even as I splashed about in the kiddie pool, learned to swim in the shallow end of the giant, salt-water main pool, or learned to dive in the smaller, but much deeper (9 feet down) diving pool, complete with a 10-feet-high high-diving board (which I jumped off of once!)

From the paddle-ball courts in the north end, to the miniature golf course on the west, the Baths was my village every summer for about fifteen years.

The Brighton Beach Baths opened in 1907, and by the time I got there in the late 60’s to mid-70’s the combination beach club community gathering place could boast a membership surpassing 12,000 individuals. Aside from the handball-paddle courts and mini-golf that I already mentioned, there were also paddle-tennis courts, a large circular cafeteria, places to play mah-jongg, pinochle, chess and checkers, a playground with metal swings in the shape of horses, access to the beach, and amazingly, an outdoor theater that hosted famous entertainers of the comedic or singer varieties. I believe I saw Red Skelton and Buddy Hackett perform there, and perhaps even Sammy Davis Jr., if memory serves.

Despite lively protests against tearing down such a beloved landmark of Brighton Beach and Brooklyn history, in 1994 the Baths were closed down. In 2000 the Oceana Condominium and Club arose to take the place of the Baths, one of the first of many such ambitious projects which will forever change the look and feel of an amazing place called Brighton Beach.

Those outside of New York are starting to see what has always been apparent to us in New York; New York is great!  For the first time since 1990, New York City has finally earned the title of tourist capital of the U.S. again.

Mayor Bloomberg lent his enthusiasm at a press conference at the Greenhouse Café in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, when he said, “I think these numbers are just as good a reading as you could possibly hope for, given you have a national recession.”

New York City saw 45.25 million visitors last year, while Orlando had 44 million and Vegas had 35.3 million.  Even more amazingly, employment in the tourism industry actually increased by 1.4% in New York, while it fell by a ghastly 10% in Vegas.

Setting our sights on 2010, New York City is hoping for 46.7 million visitors and is hoping for 50 million tourists by 2012, according to the mayor.

The Times invites us to spend 36 hours in New York City, and suggests that 1 p.m. is the perfect time to visit Brooklyn. Hmmm, well OK.

If you’re wandering around Brooklyn of an afternoon, there are certainly worse places to shop than the boutiques they profile, including my favorite, the Chocolate Room.

Once known as the city of churches, Brooklyn these days might be called the borough of boutiques. For a taste of the local aesthetic, check out Court Street in the Cobble Hill neighborhood (take the 2/3 or 4/5 trains to Borough Hall and then walk south along Court to Atlantic). At Serene Rose (200 Court; 718-522-5927; www.serenerose.com), a dangly pair of earrings hand crocheted from gold-filled wire ($140) would be the perfect accent to one of the party frocks. Tiny Fork & Pencil (221a Court; 718-488-8855; forkandpencil.com) sells housewares, toys and antiques. The proceeds go to support local charities. Papél New York (225 Court; 718-422-0255; papelnewyork.com) sells sleek paper goods, including sheets of wrapping paper ($2.50 to $3 a sheet) that will class up even the smallest of gifts. Need to refuel? The Stumptown Coffee at Cafe Pedlar (210 Court; 718-855-7129; cafepedlar.com) is roasted nearby in Red Hook, and you can pick up a bag of Hair Bender blend beans ($12 for 12 ounces) along with your espresso ($2.50). Or stop at the Chocolate Room (269 Court; 718-246-2600; www.thechocolateroombrooklyn.com), which sells its own homemade chocolate caramel popcorn ($4.50 for a quarter-pound bag).

36 Hours in New York City – NYTimes.com

While you’re there, can you pick up some of their Chocolate Stout Gingerbread for me? Thanks.

Gotta love those New Yorkers.  Recently, a retired social studies teacher in Cortland, New York, decided to give $5.2 million to the State University of New York in Cortland.  The money will help to pay for scholarships for children of recent immigrants.

As expected, the donor is the son of Italian immigrants who says that the school in central New York launched his teaching career in the 1950s.  He wants to help other similar children, whose parents and grandparents have arrived to New York in pursuit of the American dream.

This gift, from John Fantauzzi, is the largest single gift that SUNY Cortland has seen in its 140 year history.  Way to go Mr. Fantauzzi!

I assume you love to read. Who else would be reading a blog when they should be working, studying, or the million other things non-blog readers do each day. So as a reader, and as a New Yorker with a special interest in Brooklyn, I will assume that you have been to the awe-inspiring main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. If you haven’t, then close your lap-top right now, get on the subway, and go!

One of the highlights of my childhood is exploring the vast expanses of this magnificent building. After walking through the immense doorway engraved with mythological and historical characters considered symbols and the embodiment of wisdom, all painted in gold-leaf, you enter a huge rotunda-style hall, filled with reading tables and a central desk to check out books and ask for information.

There was a wonderful children’s section in a room off of the main hallway, where I spent many happy hours. Visiting the library, especially in the company of my father, always felt like and adventure and probably inspired me to become one of those people, just like you, that loves to read.

As I am a Brighton Beach native, I spent more time in Coney Island perhaps than most.  Even so, I never went for a ride on the Cyclone, or the Parachute Jump. It’s just not my style. Even my few times on the Wonder Wheel were safely spent in a stationary car rather than one of those crazy roller-coaster wannabe cars that went sliding across the wheel suddenly giving people like me heart attacks.

Nevertheless, there was plenty for a placid, non-excitement starved child like me. My absolute favorite game was the “water pistol in the mouth of a plastic fish” game in which the one who was able to shoot the most water and fill up the elongated plastic container first actually won a goldfish. Having great aim, I won a goldfish more than once. A few of those fish even stayed alive until I got him home.
Of course we used to get hot dogs at ‘Nathan’s Famous’, before it was so famous that they even opened a branch in Jerusalem in the 1990’s. When I went there, I had to scream my order to the guy behind the counter, who was several feet above my head and in the great beyond which was the inside of this hyper fast-food joint.

The late 60’s and 70’s were not considered a good time to go to Coney Island, at least as far as my parents were concerned. The neighborhood had become riddled with crime and drugs, and was not considered a safe destiny for a white Jewish girl from Brighton.

The last time I was there I viewed Coney Island from the boardwalk. It seemed deserted and lonely, begging for a renaissance that seems to have happened in many other neighborhoods in New York City. But from what I hear it will most likely be torn down to make way for another massive condominium project to house the people that want the cool sea breezes in summer, a great view of the majestic Atlantic Ocean and easy access to the subway all year round. Too bad they will not experience the character and joy that I associate with growing up near one of the funnest amusement parks ever, (even if I didn’t actually do anything there more fun than squirt water into a plastic fish’s mouth.)

Brian Lehrer did an interesting interview with Nick Paumgarten, the author of last week’s New Yorker profile of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey.

John Mackey, the co-founder and chief executive of Whole Foods Market, refers to the company as his child — not just his creation but the thing on earth whose difficulties or downfall it pains him most to contemplate. He also sees himself as a “daddy” to his fifty-four thousand employees, who are known as “team members,” but they may occasionally consider him to be more like a crazy uncle.

Mackey’s a complicated guy, an outspoken capitalist with strong anti-union views. Yet his company holds to a compelling salary formula:

Mackey, an outspoken critic of executive overcompensation, pays himself a dollar a year. No one at the company can have a salary more than nineteen times what the average team member makes. (On average, an S. & P. 500 C.E.O. makes three hundred and nineteen times what a production worker does.) Last year, the highest salary went to Walter Robb, the co-president and chief operating officer, who made just over four hundred thousand dollars (supplemented by a bonus and stock options). The average hourly wage was sixteen dollars and fifty cents.

To me, he comes across in the article more as the crazy uncle than the “daddy” … and occasionally, as the crazy uncle with a mean streak. What do you think?