Council Member Brewer Pays Tribute to Barry Benepe

We will now move into general discussion, and I'd like to first recognize Councilmember Brewer, followed by Holden, then Sanchez.

So I'm here to talk about Barry Bannapee who died yesterday.

He was the head of the founder of the Green Market, the co-founder of the Green Market.

He died at 96.

He was also a architectural and brilliant writer on so many different topics.

He was somebody who I think uh Jane Jacobs was a friend of.

He wrote about um the parks, the bikes, um, how to make our neighborhoods a better place.

Obviously, his son, Adrian Benepee, some of you know as the parks commissioner and now head of Brooklyn Botanical.

Um, his Barry Benepee's father and my grandfather were best friends for 80 years.

And he was somebody, I think, who made this city a much better place.

So we obviously um wish his uh wife, Judith Becktor, who was a friend of mine even before she married him and his amazing family, very talented family in many ways, um, send our condolences.

I I think the people like Barry don't come along very often.

He ha was a graduate of very prestigious colleges and graduate schools and decided that he wanted the farmers in the city of New York and the state of New York to get their due.

And the way to do it was to start the 14th Street Green Market.

And I think all of us can thank him because many of us go to the green market, and please think of them every time you do so.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember.

I'd like to read a correction into the record on the votes on introduction 246A, which was adopted by a vote of 43 in the affirmative four in the negative and two abstentions.