Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and State Senator Martin Golden

Without a doubt,  most discussions involving Marty Golden seem to deal with one end of his Gerrymandered district  ---  the parts in and around Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights  ---  occasionally there’s a little something about Bath Beach,  because Father Gelfant  [always good for a laugh]  is there, and he is a strong guy, both for Bishop D and Bishop D’s only inhouse State Senator…..

The reality is that Marty Golden’s potential vote in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bath Beach gets smaller each and every day  ---  a little of that has to do with politics, but mostly it's due to demographic shifts…..

That makes the far end of the district  ---  the part that abuts Kings Plaza, a golf course, a major park, a sewage plant and countless rills and brackish pools  ---  neighborhoods referred to as Marine Park and Gerritsen Beach  ---  crucial to any hopes that Marty, and his friends, supporters  and followers might have of his remaining a New York State Senator beyond 2018

Marty’s dependence on obtaining large voting majorities in the South Eastern terminus of the 22^nd State Senate District is pretty much general knowledge,  ever since the last time that Marty Golden ran against Andrew Gounardes.  In that 2012 race,  Gounardes was able to garner a few more votes against the incumbent in the Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights parts of the district,  with Marty winning almost everywhere else.  However, it was in Marine Park and Gerritsen Beach that Marty did best  ---  and piled up overwhelming numerical margins over the Democrat.

By now, State Senator Marty Golden is a well known fixture in the neighborhoods, still well-known by their parish names, Good Shepherd,  Resurrection and Saint Columba’s,  largely because they remain somewhat Irish-  and  Italian-American.  So far the ethnic changes on the periphery of the area, and generational changes universally,  have not made Marty Golden’s  look, sound and message  inhospitable to a majority of the voters there. 

It remains to be seen whether being forced to let staff member Anthony Testaverde go over an ill-chosen comparison to Nazis will negatively effect the local Golden campaign effort,  which did not have a strong presence on the ground even before Mr. T.  was jettisoned.

On the other hand,  every elected official in the area under discussion, other than Marty Golden himself, is a Democrat.  That means there should be a very significant Democratic Party apparatus in place to work for Andrew Gounardes between now and election day  ---  and the GOP, the Conservative Party and Marty Golden's own retainers have nothing that can match it in any and all categories of retail politics.  

The question remains will all the local Democrats’ leaders unleash the hounds to benefit the Andrew Gounardes campaign.   At the top of the list is Frank Seddio,  the Dems’ County Leader  ---  who thus far,  has talked tough about wanting to take the  22^nd NYS District from the GOP,  but who has in the past done little against Golden, and even had sounded content with the status quo