About BRC

YOUR LOCAL VOICE – LOUD AND CLEAR.

Our areas of downtown Brooklyn have a strong, active club. We encourage new membership and welcome participation. (facebook: Brownstone Republican Club)

The Brownstone Republican Club was formed in 1994 in Brooklyn, NY originally to promote political and community activism in Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Park Slope and Cobble Hill. In recent years, it has grown to include active members from Crown Heights to Marine Park. The Club now invites visitors and guest-speakers from across Brooklyn, and from each of NYC’s boroughs. 

Our mission statement: to provide a forum for discussion of political issues and other topics of city, state and federal interest and to encourage fellowship. We develop and actively support Republican candidates for elective office. Our geography is predominantly across what’s commonly known as “Brownstone Brooklyn” and centered in what is Brooklyn’s 52nd Assembly District, on the political map.

Across most of our adult lives the political monopoly of Brooklyn politics has largely gone unchallenged. There’s a need for a 2nd option, and opening-up discussion across a wide range of local issues – of encouraging voices within our community, to speak their minds.

In fact, many of our members believe that the true-spirit of the Republican party is shown during our meetings, both by ideas/open dialogue, and with the diversity of people attending. The BRC meets (usually) on the 4th Monday of every month at Sam’s Restaurant at Court and Kane Streets. New members and interested neighbors are always welcome. Membership includes “middle class” residents from all walks — teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, small/local business owners, shopkeepers, city, state and federal workers, retirees, homemakers, and your neighbors. We’re concerned with what’s often overlooked while living in an area of a political ‘monopoly’ — and media acceptance — and will often press Elected officials for responsiveness, authenticity, steady achievement.

Get involved, come to the next meeting — and let’s see what else we can do.

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Our members love Brooklyn as much, if not more, than anyone.

We feel Brooklyn’s ONE PARTY system actually harms people more than they realize. Most people live apart from politics, and find involvement in all this distasteful or useless (to put it nicely) for many reasons. Anger to apathy, it’s all understood. But then, residents may also decry not “having a choice”. Or that there are “no real people to choose from” when elections roll around. Things happen TO US in Brooklyn — from taxes to tolls, to absurd plans and give-aways to Large Developers (like the re-design of the BQE) to 100s of public parking spaces are subtracted (for for-profit bike companies, private business parking, construction, etc.). All with local pols “looking the other way” and whistling, like they don’t know what’s what…

People need an opposing party.

If you know how a Mom/Pop store is forced to cope with escalating taxes, or property assessment fees that drive up Rents, etc. — then, you know why? But oddly, no one blames those in office? You see the crush of parents trying to get their children into “good schools”. When you watch neighbors and long-time families moving away — not because they don’t want their children growing up here — but, because they feel they just can’t anymore?

How about improving both parties, by throwing-out most all incumbents. Or asking the Republican party to get closer to the struggle. (Begin rant.)

— URBAN AGENDA.

There’s 40%+ unemployment of black/brown young men across Brooklyn (to pick one niche)– and yet, Brooklyn has elected Democrats in most all possible elected offices (and its 100% as of 2019) for 60 years.

No one across our media will ever put both of those statistics together.

Our votes are taken for granted. People vote on a fabricated “brand” (using new terms for Same Old Politics, every now and then… like “Progressive” or “Working Families”).  But besides the new window-dressing, are the same blinds. Every aspect of Education/ failures and lack of school choice, is ignored or explained away. Lack of job training and crime reduction, of NOT teaching civics/ or guiding teenagers away from practices that destroy generations — are all punted away, per each new election. There are no answers asked, or really needed to be fabricated.

Some Democrats can rename/rebrand themselves as Progressives, and change the talk to minimum wage or more support for Teacher’s Unions, whatever the norm for votes, etc. — but the crime, unemployment, drop-out rates, teen pregnancies, gun-play (on the streets), drug economy, lack of investment in existing infrastructure for residents, etc. just goes on and on and on. Decades over decades.

— MEDIA CAN BE A PROBLEM.

While a candidate before winning his first-term, our Governor Cuomo waved a 100-page booklet at a NY City Hall press conference with our longtime Congresswoman Nydia Velaquez. The hard-bound book was titled “Urban Agenda” and was supposed to address Crime, Jobs and Education.  So? what happened since as per this book’s directives? Who in NYC’s media would ever ask that question of either of them? any follow-up by the NY Times? or even by Cuomo’s opposition in his re-election bids (Zephyr Teachout? Cynthia Nixon?) Go and Google it. Get back to us.

Typically when a Republican candidate runs they are largely ignored by local media and entrenched systems because “they cannot win”. What’s worse, the GOP candidate may be of color and be the leader that our communities need — but still are ignored by local media. People can’t get to hear their messages. (Quick question: Who ran against Letitia James again in 2018 for NY Comptroller? what was that “black man’s” name again, that had 10x her expertise? but barely any media attention?).

Even worse, the media takes the side of the entrenched Democrats — like what happened with the 2014 NYC Comptroller election (of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer over the Republican John Burnett). Anyone care that our Comptroller had little experience, in any/all covered by that office? Therefore an annual budget of $60-70-80 billion will NOT be examined as rigidly for waste, graft, greed, fraud in the name of our citizens. Therefore, everything stays the same, and the cycle continues. By 2019, with the MTA failing us, every day.. no one asks why the Comptroller does nothing.

Media defends and ignores/shields for Democrats. “Public Advocate” Letitia James was allowed to run and win, as the District Attorney for NY State in 2018 — without NYC’s media mentioning that she once brought suit (as a Councilmember in 2010) because she walked into some dude’s unattended parked car? She stepped into his trailer-hitch, and wanted a bring a suit against that “day laborer”, just for parking (legally). This is the stuff of a Public Advocate or public defender, without question?

— LICH WAS CLOSED, and Gov. Cuomo gets away it. 

Our community fought the closing of LICH with a passion — and while many elected officials marched, at times, and said all the right things in front of crowds in protest.. when push came to shove, nearly nothing was done in defense of a 152 year-old institution. LICH, caring for over 1 million residents, was not defended by way of law by any level of lawmakers using the City Council, State legislature nor any protections to even consider where/how $100s of millions of sale-$$$ would be spent!

Our Mayor was boosted in polling from 7% to 21% by famously being arrested (on camera) at a LICH protest. Shortly after taking office, our Mayor became far less of a champion for LICH. It was clear to all across our areas, that the agenda was NOT the health/well-being of our residents and visitors.

There’s NO SENSE to this, but NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo systematically closed Long Island College Hospital (LICH) for what many saw as a real estate deal, leading into 2015. Many Republicans stood and watched, but we didn’t — and in fact were very active in the fight for LICH. So much was wrong, about this issue. Even the numbers: it was sold for $240 million when its 18+ total buildings are in prime real estate footing (this was a steal).

Case in point, a small, Flatbush Avenue building where Junior’s restaurant is currently was very nearly sold for $47 million, alone (mostly for its “air rights” to build higher). To many residents. the two larger, main buildings of LICH alone should have exceeded that $240 price-tag (but arguments about the sale-price are thinned, by the realization that NO ONE KNOWS where the public revenues will go, anyhow).

By 2019 as we predicted, 1,000s of new residents speak of a need for a fully-functioning hospital! How about that? Lutheran as miles away and E.R. waiting times over 7-8 hours, already at Methodist hospital in Park Slope, and traffic clogs any chance of ambulances going to/from hospitals quickly. We become less, when he remove what made sense. Many transplanted residents don’t have this front-of-mind, as they plan of moving away when and if they marry — and politicians? They simply follow their Party leaders.

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Board of Directors: President, Executive Director Barbara Grcevic, Secretary Beverly DiCovello, Treasurer John Jasilli, District Leaders 52 A.D. Michael DiMeglio (also our Communications Director) and Elizabeth Tretter. Past DLs: Dr. Sandra Chase, Rosemarie Markgraf. Past Presidents Mark Uncapher, Michael Boyajian, Rosemarie Markgraf, Eric Miller, Joseph Messineo.