Community Corner

Bay Terrace Civic Blasts New York Post Columnist

Group offended by writer's depiction of community in piece on Martin Scorsese's 'The Wolf of Wall Street.'

The Bay Terrace Community Alliance is blasting the New York Post following a recent column that the group believes includes “hateful comments” about the community.

In her Dec. 9 piece “’Wolf of Wall Street’ Can’t Shake Queens Roots,” columnist Andrea Peyser describes Bay Terrace as a “soulless collection of identical six-story, red brick co-op buildings and attached garden apartments” and goes to write that, “These days, Bay Terrace is a graying ghost town as kids have grown up and moved on.”

In writing about Martin Scorsese’s anticipated new film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” she notes that Jordan Belfort, the movie’s titular character, “can’t shake Bay Terrace, which helped mold an upwardly mobile middle-class kid into an amoral, drug-loving crook.”

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Peyser writes that she, much like Belfort, grew up in Bay Terrace.

A local civic, the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, was not pleased with the Post columnist’s depiction of the community.

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“Bay Terrace is the perfect middle class community for children, families and seniors,” Warren Schreiber, the civic’s president, said. “Along with some of the city’s best educational opportunities, it provides a safe environment where neighbor cares about neighbor. I can’t think of anyplace I would rather live.”

The civic is calling on Peyser to issue an apology for her column.

“The assumption that people who live in Bay Terrace turn out to be ‘amoral, drug-loving crooks’ is completely outrageous and offensive,’” a statement from the civic read. “Ms. Peyser might be writing that of an evaluation of her own flawed character, but it’s certainly not true of the majority of people who have lived or currently live in Bay Terrace.”


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