See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Daily
Who would have thought politics could be so uncivil in a civic association?
The Marine Park Civic Association has taken action to prevent two current board members from returning to serve the community as civic officials next year, and both of them say they’ve been arbitrarily booted without due process because of their relationship with another outspoken civic member.
“They just want me off the board because of my husband,” said Maria Manzola, wife of John Manzola, “because John speaks out and they don’t like that. They think, ‘why should Maria be on the board, when I’ll go home and talk to John about what they discuss.’”
Marine Park Civic Association board members Maria Manzola and Jim Kelly both received letters from the civic’s nominating committee, and while the contents of the letters differed, the message was essentially the same — they’re getting let go.
“It was a big surprise,” said Kelly. “The first sentence tells me what a nice guy I am and what a great job I’ve done, while the next sentence stabs me in the back.”
Kelly was told that he would not be considered a nominee in the running for next year’s slate of civic officers, and will remain on the civic’s board of directors for the next month, until elections are held in July.
He’s still peeved though, and said that since the civic’s founding, members of the board of directors are always automatically considered nominees.
Furthermore, he states that the nominating committee’s power rests solely in putting nominees on the ballot, not taking current board members off of it.
“I wrote a letter of rebuttal, where I quoted our bylaws and how they violated them,” said Kelly. “The purpose of the committee is to nominate people for the next year, not to send condescending letters to a current board member telling him he can’t run.”
In the “condescending” letter he received, quite to his surprise, it was written that Kelly was being eliminated from the slate of nominees due to a vague accusation that he had opinions that differed from the majority of the board members.
“We have decided that because of fundamental differences in our objectives, we will not be submitting your name for renomination,” the letter read.
But Kelly, a longtime friend of John Manzola, who was booted from the civic’s board last year for instigating a shouting match with Lew Fidler over the state of the Carmine Carro Community Center during a general meeting, says it’s his relationship with Manzola that’s at least in part the reason why he’s getting the boot.
“You know what, you have to read between the lines,” said Kelly. “I would say my friendship with John is part of it.”
Kelly might have been removed from the slate of nominees for next year, but John Manzola’s wife, Maria, has been forced to resign effective immediately, she said.
“They sent me a letter to say I have to focus more on myself, because I wasn’t feeling good this past winter, and they told me I have to resign,” said Manzola.
The fairer Manzola came down with a serious illness in December and, amidst frequently hospitalizations, missed several months of civic meetings.
However, after receiving the letter demanding her resignation, Manzola confronted the board, saying another member had been absent for over a year, and no action had been taken against him.
“I got up and said there are other members who have been out sick, that they’re still on the board, and the whole room got very silent,” Manzola recounted. “I told them the reason your taking me off the board is because of my husband and they didn’t say another word.”
Anyone who knows Maria’s husband, including Maria herself, will acknowledge he’s a bit of a fire brand and, without condoning his elimination from the board, that he’s not afraid to mix things up in a heated atmosphere.
“My husband Jon is very loud,” Manzola admitted, “but that’s the only they hear you. You have to raise your voice.”
Jon’s wife, however, is not the confrontational type. As evidenced during her decades of service to the community, Maria’s function at the civic association is to make sure there’s enough cake and coffee for everybody during community events, not exchanging four letter words with politicians or other board members regarding city projects.
“I’ve been working hard for this community on the Marine Park Civic Association for many, many years, and this is what I get?” Manzola asked. “They have no consideration for all the years I’ve put in. I’ve been in this community for over 40 years, doing the Halloween walk, doing Christmas in the park, getting there early to set things up, and this is what they do to me?”
Messages to Marine Park Civic Association President Jim Ivaliotis were not returned.
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.