SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

After thousands of dollars worth of school books and supplies at P.S. 197 were destroyed two weeks ago, staff, faculty and parents at the school decided to throw a car wash fundraiser this past weekend to replace the materials.

The school, at 1599 East 22nd Street, paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars after a negligent exterminator covered nearly every surface – including children’s desks and books – with poison meant to eradicate bed bugs. The decontamination that followed required tossing out many of the school’s supplies, leaving teachers wondering if the city would be able to replace the items before the school year ended.

Thanks to Janelle F. for the information and photos.

View the photo gallery.

by Ryan Maye Handy

A crowd of Coney Island locals gathered on the boardwalk this Saturday to say goodbye to an old friend.

After 76 years, Ruby’s Bar and Grill, the boardwalk bar known for its vintage photograph-covered walls and classic jukebox, was closing for good.

Every October, Ruby’s Bar and Grill shuts down after the summer season. But this year, when Italian amusement park behemoth Zamperla did not renew the lease, Ruby’s owners opened their beloved bar for one last round.

“Today is not a day of mourning. Today is a day of celebration. Let’s celebrate Ruby’s the way Ruby wanted,” said co-owner Michael Sarrel to a crowd of Ruby’s regulars.

Keep reading and view a photo gallery of the Ruby’s rally.

Tuesday Tips is a series of articles from local experts to help you save money, make better decisions and plan for a better future.

Tax laws are certainly confusing. One of most misunderstood parts is the ‘tax bracket.’ To summarize, your ‘tax bracket’ is not the percentage of your income that you pay in tax. If your ‘tax bracket’ is 20 percent, you are not paying 20 percent of your income in taxes. Our tax system is actually a progressive one, where we are taxed at different levels as our income increases.

Learn what the “tax bracket” really means, and why it means you pay less than you think.

From the NY Post:

Two cops were injured when their patrol vehicle overturned when they were broadsided by another vehicle in Sheepshead Bay earlier today.

An NYPD housing bureau sergeant and one police officer were driving in a marked Ford SUV on Nostrand Avenue around 8:30 a.m when a silver Pontiac Bonneville rammed into the driver’s side of the car, witnesses said.

The impact caused the SUV to tip onto the passenger side, pinning the officers inside the wreck.

“I ran over and tried but you couldn’t open the door to get them out,” said Greta Miller, an NYPD crossing guard for PS 52 who saw the accident. “I ran to the school to get help,” she said.

The driver of the Pontiac was issued a summons for failure to yield, and the officers were transported to Lutheran Hospital for minor injuries, the Post reports.

This story has been updated. For the information as it originally appeared, keep reading.

Courtesy of DOT

When we told you on Friday that Department of Transportation contractors will start pile driving in the early morning hours this week, we cautioned not to get too fired up until we heard back about sound mitigation.

It didn’t stop some from getting antsy, though, with commenters bemoaning the loss of sleep due to the thunderous banging that they thought would ring through the blocks around Hubbard Street and Shore Parkway.

Well, good news, everybody: DOT community liaison Teresa Toro got back to us and there will be procedures in place to mitigate sound and vibration levels. They will be using a pneumatic hammer, which they say is the “quietest” kind of pile driving machinery, and there will also be a material placed between the pile and the hammer to dampen sound and vibrations.

Toro noted, however, that there still would be some sound, and that the agency is doing what they can to ensure residents’ expectations of peace.

“Sometimes, though, they just can’t get around it,” Toro said.

She added that they’ve done other pile driving during the day, and they try to complete as much work as possible when the sun is still out. But if a segment of work – such as the specific piles they’ll be working on – require a lane closure, it needs to be done at night.

The pile driving should be completed this week, barring severe weather conditions that may cause delays. The entire project will be done in Fall 2011.

In an apparent victory for Manhattan Beach residents, officials began removing Oriental Boulevard’s concrete planters on Friday.

The decision to remove the planters came after residents berated Mayor Bloomberg’s community liaison during a Manhattan Beach Community Group meeting attended by the parents of the 4-year-old killed in a tragic bus accident last month. Residents stated in no uncertain terms that it was time the mayor prodded the agencies to action on traffic safety initiatives.

Continue Reading »

Courtesy of Asprey J. via Yelp

A man died in the early morning hours after being shot multiple times in the torso in front of Donut Shoppe at 1503 Avenue U, police sources told Sheepshead Bites.

According to police, two men in their 20s crossed paths in front of the business near the corner of East 15th Street at around 4:15 a.m. They got into a dispute and one of the men took out a pistol and shot the other three times in the stomach. He took off towards the Avenue U train station, tossing the gun as he went.

When police arrived on the scene, witnesses pointed out the suspect and they found the gun after a brief search.

The victim was transported to Kings County Hospital, where he died of his wounds. The suspect was taken into custody by officers of the 61st Precinct. The crime did not appear to have anything to do with the business.

This is the sixth murder of the year in the 61st Precinct, up from three compared to this time last year.

Remains of a pumpkin lobbed at the blogger's family home.

Upset residents of Gerritsen Beach are taking up arms – and pumpkins – against local blogger Daniel Cavanagh following his posts outing several teenaged hooligans terrorizing residents on Halloween.

At least one angry neighbor turned to property damage to settle scores, lobbing a pumpkin at the blogger’s family’s home over the weekend. The pumpkin cracked the house’s vinyl siding when it was hit on Saturday night, around 10 p.m. Cavanagh said he filed a police report with the 61st Precinct.

Keep reading about some of the harassment Daniel Cavanagh faces in Gerritsen Beach, as well as what he says he’s doing about it.

With the midterm elections over, our nation taken back, it’s finally time to get down to the people’s business. There’s a sinister element among us, and we need to shine the light of freedom brightly upon it.

We’re talking, of course, about bikers. And no, not the leather, tattoo and goatee types, nor the midlife crisis-stricken insurance brokers out on Long Island who bought a Harley to prove to their younger co-workers that yes, they really are cool. (Ed. – We’re looking at you, Chad.)

I mean bicyclists. They’re everywhere, and they’re wreaking havoc among our citizens. Or at least, they may be, and the City Council Transportation Committee thinks we ought to know about it.

Bikes running over pedestrians, bikes colliding with other bikes, colliding with motor vehicles, crashing through shop windows, leading police on high speed chases before exploding in a fiery swan dive off of a cliff – okay, maybe not the last two, but the point remains: statistics on bicycle-related accidents are non-existent and are currently not collected by the NYPD or the DOT.

The City Council wants to change all that, seeking to put a bill to vote that would compel the Boys in Blue and the DOT to keep tabs on the pedaling menace, wherever it may lurk, which happens to be everywhere… except on bike lanes. The bill, expected to move forward early next year, would require reports to be filed for accidents involving bicyclists even when there is no automobile involved and no injuries occur.

“We cannot assess traffic safety without knowing how many accidents are caused by bicycles and where,” Transportation Committee chair Jimmy Vacca told CBS. “It’s an important part of our attempt to improve pedestrian safety in the city.”

[via Queens Crap]

– Eitan Kahan

With the holiday season approaching, Sheepshead Bites wants to support our local craft-makers and help readers find unique and creative gifts for their loved ones.

That’s why we’re throwing knickknack traffickers a bone by offering free classified ads.

Whatever your skill is – be it making jewelry, candles or macaroni gift cards – if it’s crafty, handmade by you, and will make a great holiday present, shoot us an e-mail and we’ll set you up with a free classified ad from now until December 31.

That’s nearly two free months of ad placement – a $40 value – and we’ll also help direct people to the classifieds section with posts on Facebook and Twitter.

So e-mail us now and help Sheepshead Bay’s most creative gift-givers find you!