SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Just driving along, enjoying the day’s nice weather coming in through the windows, maybe blasting some Tom Petty or something, and you’re careening around the curve of Gravesend Neck Road near Homecrest Avenue and life is good a-

Cri-thrack! Holy crap, what was that?!

Buddy, your day just got all kinds of screwed up. And your car’s axle, too.

Chaim Deutsch, aide to Councilman Michael Nelson, tipped us off to this mother-sucker of a hole in the road, on Gravesend Neck Road and Homecrest Avenue. Deutsch described it as a “road collapse,” and said he’s informed the Department of Environmental Protection – which is responsible for the water and sewage lines underneath – and the Department of Transportation. The NYPD 61st Precinct is also on scene to prevent you from having the kind of day I described above.

On a side note: has anyone else noted an increase in water and sewage line damage across the neighborhood? Just driving around last week, I spotted four – all already being dealt with – including the one in front of my home.

Source: Bricknave/Flickr

Q LINE

NIGHTS: 12:01 AM to 5 AM, Sat to Mon, May 11 – 13
57 St/7 Av-bound Q trains stop at 49 St.

F LINE

11:45 PM Fri to 5 AM Mon, May 10 – 13
Jamaica-bound F trains run express from Church Av to Jay St-MetroTech.

Who left their ugly RV on the beach?

We’ve received a lot of e-mails these last few days about what’s going on at Brigham Street, south of Emmons Avenue. The stretch of street that abuts the waterway was been closed off by police, and cranes, barges and construction equipment have taken up the space since Monday.

No, it ain’t the beginning of Brigham Street Park. You’ll have to wait a few more years for that one.

The answer lies in a post we did a few days ago where we updated about the new Brighton Beach and Coney Island bathrooms. In it, we also included the schedule of street closures that goes along with it. Among the closures:

Brigham Street South of Emmons Avenue from midnight Monday, May 6, to 6 a.m. Friday, May 10.

That’s because the new stations arrive in one piece. That’s right – huge, truck-sized structures – barreling through New York City’s streets. That, understandably, didn’t seem like such a good idea to local planners. So, instead, the structures arrive by barge, are lifted off it by a crane, placed onto a truck, taken to their location, lifted off the truck by a crane, and installed on the concrete piles already installed – much to the chagrin of local residents.

Brigham Street appears to be the area planners identified as the best, most accomodating option to make that first move from barge to truck. So that’s what all the commotion is about.

Oh, and the bathrooms have arrived. The one at the top of this post was placed on Brighton Beach this morning, and photographed by reader Ira Rubinsky. Nope, that’s not an abandoned RV on the beach…

Here’s the view of the crane at Brigham, as seen from the Breakers:

Photo by Albert

Click to enlarge

CompStat reports are produced by the New York Police Department on a weekly basis. We summarize the week’s statistics for the 61st Precinct reports every Friday. The 61st Precinct is the police command responsible for Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Kings Highway, Homecrest, Madison, Manhattan Beach, and Gerritsen Beach.

The hanging of the Aldi sign begins. Photo by Max Bolotov

The new Aldi Food Market (3785 Nostrand Ave) is coming alive. Photographs reveal that the low-cost food market, a sister company to Trader Joe’s, has begun to hang up their storefront signs.

Last October Sheepshead Bites was first to report on the construction of the new Aldi Food Market being built on the same spot that once occupied a Pathmark. The new food market will only be half the size of the Pathmark at 18,000 square feet and is expected to employ less people, but it’s still another shopping option for those lamenting the loss of the supermarket.

“Now I can walk the neighborhood without people asking when and where we’ll have a new supermarket,” Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein told Sheepshead Bites last October.

Thanks to Erica Sherman, Bart E. and Max Bolotov for the latest photographs of the construction efforts at the Aldi spot.

Photo by Bart E.

A Peek Inside The Construction of Aldi’s Interior. Photo By Erica Sherman

A Look At Aldi’s Customer Parking Lot. Photo By Max Bolotov

A Coming Soon Sign Pasted In The Store Window. Photo By Erica Sherman

This image actually reminds me of a painting done by JMW Turner.

Photo by George Burshteyn

Bennett Castello. Source: New York State Division of Criminal Justice via nbcnewyork.com

A man suspected of attempting to rape a 13-year-old girl in a Gravesend elevator last week has been arrested. According to a report by NBC NY, the police arrested 40-year-old Bennett Castello, a registered sex offender.

According to authorities, on April 30 at a Gravesend building located on Avenue Z and West 2nd Street, Castello was riding down an elevator with the victim when he allegedly pulled a pair of scissors and attempted to rape her. When the elevator door opened, he ran off and the girl was unharmed.

Castello was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, burglary and rape.

In 1998, Castello was convicted of sex crimes against a victim who was over 21. As a result of his conviction, he was classified as a violent sex offender.

Sweet Life. Photo By Armando Guevara

If you are looking for a taste of the Sweet Life, you should head over to Avenue U. A new store offering ice cream, cupcakes, candies and other delicious sweets is taking over the spot once occupied by “U Sun Shine” Carpet and Furniture at 2106A Avenue U.

That bright and beautiful sign sure makes whatever they are selling seem really delectable.

Thanks to Armando Guevara for the update and the photo.

Source: nytimes.com

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office announced that it is doubling the number of evacuation zones along New York City’s coastline. The New York Times is reporting that the expanded map will add 640,000 residents to the three million New Yorkers already living in such zones, putting 37.5 percent of the total population in evacuation zones.

The city is hoping that by expanding the evacuation zones, people will take calls to evacuate more seriously. The new map represents only a preliminary look of what is expected to change. A more detailed map is expected to be released in June.

While the evacuation zones have been expanded, it’s worth noting that to date, residents located in Zone A, which includes Sheepshead Bay, have been the only ones ever asked to evacuate.

The release of the new map was the major highlight of a city report on the response to Superstorm Sandy. The New York Times summarized a list of other conclusions and initiatives drawn from the report.

Many lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy will be set down in new “playbooks” for city agencies that had to learn on the fly how to deal with a major storm’s aftermath: how to request waivers and extensions from federal school-lunch and food-stamp programs to serve a deluge of needy families; how to muster economic development programs to help battered businesses get back up to speed faster.

Others issues will be left to future task forces to interpret.

A number of smaller recommendations are already being acted on, like the purchase of more emergency lights, generators and small boats for firefighters.

The report also calls for new regulations for hospitals, nursing homes and adult homes during evacuations. It recommends the creation of a patient tracking system, better communication equipment and guidelines for the return of patients.

Source: 401 (K) via Flickr

Corrupt New York politicians are dominating the news lately, most recently the scandal surrounding State Senator John Sampson. While the alleged crimes of Sampson and Malcolm Smith are serious in size and scope, they aren’t the only local politicians skirting on the edges of the rules, especially when it comes to those governing state campaign finance laws.

A report by the Associated Press cites studies done by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) that have found over 100,000 violations committed by New York politicians since 2011. The violations also include failures by campaign committees to file accurate reports.

Bill Mahoney, a researcher for NYPIRG, stated that his group noted 278 improper corporate donations among other violations.

“Some of them are flagrant violations of the state’s contribution limits. Others are more minor peccadillos that show a complete disregard for the law because they occur in such huge numbers,” the Chronicle reported Mahoney saying.

The report explained why nothing is being to done to enforce violations:

Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters, whose group has monitored the state Board of Elections for decades, said then Gov. Eliot Spitzer budgeted $1.5 million for board enforcement of election laws in 2009, but it was never used because the agency is controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties. It has no will for enforcement, she said. “Right now it has no investigators.”

The NYPIRG report says that corruption on the state level is “exponentially greater” then the corruption on the city level. Governor Andrew Cuomo cited the report as a clear need to move away from the current system, which allows state officials to police themselves, and is pushing for greater independent enforcement.

The AP report noted that local State Senator Marty Golden was found to be in violation of more minor offenses have “seemingly questionable expenses.” Apparently, on his way to and from Albany, Golden refuels his car using campaign cash in Mahwah and Hackensack, New Jersey, where gas is cheaper. [Corrected: See below, with statement from Golden's office]

Golden, who is for stronger enforcement, defended his actions by stating that he saves 30 cents a gallon by filling in up in New Jersey on his 170 mile trip to Albany.

Correction (May 10 at 11:40 a.m.): Our original post indicated that the NYPIRG report noted “minor offenses” by Golden in spending campaign cash on gas in New Jersey. In fact, that was an observation by the Associated Press, and was listed as a “seemingly questionable expense,” not a violation. Golden spokesperson Ray Riley wrote the following to Sheepshead Bites:

It’s not a violation, nor has it been considered a violation.  If you read the AP article, the author writes: “The AP review of finance records found seemingly questionable expenses..”  which means the AP found them to be questionable, not the New York State Campaign Finance or Board of Elections.

We regret any confusion this may have caused.