Port Sheepshead Marina, nothing but rubble.
Despite more than a week of cleaning, Emmons Avenue’s eastern end, a strip of waterfront condos, bungalows and boating clubs, remains in shambles.
We visited Emmons Avenue’s two waterfront bungalow colonies earlier this week, and, though Hurricane Sandy destroyed several homes and left families for the streets, there had been no visits from FEMA, Red Cross or any examples of the volunteer frenzy other neighborhoods have received.
In the absence of outside help, neighbors banded together to help each other.
Keep reading, and view a photo gallery of the destruction in the bungalow colonies.
Voorhies Avenue and Batchelder Street, near the home where Gonzalez was found dead. (Source: Google Maps)
The boyfriend of Elena Gonzalez, the 44-year-old woman found dead at a friend’s home at 2704 Batchelder Street this past Monday, has been charged with assault.
According to a News 12 report, Gonzalez and her boyfriend, 51-year-old Ury Sualsky, got in a fight on Saturday night which left her with trauma to her face. Retreating to her friend’s house to sleep, she was found unresponsive in the morning.
The full cause of death will not be known until the medical examiner completes a full toxicology report.
The corner of Batchelder Street and Voorhies Avenue. Source: Google Maps
Police found a 44-year-old woman dead yesterday evening at a friend’s house on Batchelder Street and Voorhies Avenue.
The circumstances surrounding her death are still a mystery, but what police do know is that she was staying with her friend after she had a fight with her boyfriend, according to the New York Post.
The woman was found on her friend’s couch with injuries to her face. Police pronounced her dead on arrival. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death shortly.
The music of cellos, harpsichords, flutes and clarinets will soon fill Good Shepherd Church as the Homecrest house of worship gets ready to hold its annual concert series.
Every Sunday, from October 7 through December 16, New Yorkers are invited to enjoy recitals by some of the best classical musicians in the world – for free.
This year’s series features clarinetist Tom Piercy, mandolin player Joe Brent, classical guitarist Dan Lippel and acclaimed ensembles like Brooklyn Baroque and Duo Cantabile, among others.
“I wanted to give conservatoire musicians a place to play in beautiful acoustics like these,” said Michael Fontana, the church’s music director for the past 20 years. “It’s really a great venue.”
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Fidler smash! Fidler bash! Fidler make city agency do job! (Source photo courtesy of GerritsenBeach.net)
Yesterday we told you about a Craigslist post in which a Batchelder Street man (oh, and the manliness of said man was never fact-checked, so it may just be a wo-man) asked someone to come and give new life to a fallen tree branch that the city forgot about, and which was creating an eyesore on the block.
Today we got an e-mail from the poster, who turned out to be a reader, saying that another reader, Councilman Lew Fidler, got in touch to help out.
FYI, I got a response to my tree limb Craigslist post today from Lew Fidler’s office thanks to your article on Sheepshead Bites. They are going to help and arrange to have the branch removed.
Sheepshead Bites has come through for me yet again! Thank you so much!
So tip o’ the hat to the poster for taking his/her gripes to the interwebs (a truly revolutionary idea we certainly never would have thought of), and to Lew Fidler’s office for getting in front of the situation.
Sometimes, when you can’t get the city to do something for you, and your family won’t help either, and friends are – well, what are friends good for, anyway? – it’s time to turn to the interwebs.
That’s what one Batchelder Street man did. After a 25-foot tree branch fell on his block and no one removed it, he attempted to entice Craigslist users who might find “higher purpose” for it in, well, who knows. A hipster art project? An urban carpenter? Whatever. Here’s the ad, published yesterday:
25 foot, newly-fallen tree branch in front of 2035 Batchelder Street. Please make it go away. Tree discarded its limb in the middle of the street, conscientiously avoiding any moving or parked vehicles. Shortly thereafter the jettisoned appendage was bravely and valiantly hoisted and relocated to its current location, on the sidewalk, by New York’s Bravest, where it has remained for a number of days. The limb was lovely to look at while amongst its brethren high above us, but now not so much. Can you find a higher purpose for this now large obstacle? Come and get it, it’s all yours.
We have no idea if the branch is still there.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve posted and/or responded to on Craigslist?
H/T to Thomas C. for the link.
Barbara McCord Way is the new name for Gunnison Court between Brown Street and Batchelder Street, the same block the longtime Plumb Beach advocate Barbara McCord lived on, and on which members of her family still live.
The McCord clan gathers under the sign. (Click to enlarge)
Family, friends and local leaders unveiled the new street sign honoring the former chairwoman of the Sheepshead Bay – Plumb Beach Civic Association Barbara McCord on Sunday, June 3.
A low-sitting quiet block, with one-story homes and no condos, there are few streets like Gunnison Court left in the neighborhood, and the location makes a fitting tribute to a woman who spent much of her life protecting and preserving Plumb Beach’s bungalow colonies and beach-town culture, family, friends and elected leaders agreed.
“She always wanted to keep the community the way it was and to know the neighbors and keep it a great little place that it used to be,” said Lorin McCord-Satzger, McCord’s daughter. “When she set her mind to something to get it done, she got it done and she’d fight with whoever she needed to do it. She got things done.”
McCord passed away on January 22, 2011, at the age of 75, following a 10-year battle with congestive heart failure. But even as she battled the condition, McCord had a continuous presence at the Plumb Beach Civic Association, a group founded by her mother Margaret McCord, and with which she served for more than 40 years.
Read more about McCord, and view more photos from the unveiling.
Amahal Lynch offered no apologies after a judge sentenced him to 40 years to life for the brutal 2010 murder of his girlfriend and her 8-year-old daughter.
“People make mistakes,” Lynch told the victims’ relatives who demanded a statement, according to the Daily News. “God is good, you know. I repented, you know.”
The crime was revealed in May 2010, when police were called to the scene of a burglary in the Sheepshead-Nostrand Houses. What authorities found were the naked lifeless bodies of Shakeema Elliot, 29, and her daughter Kaliya Williams in the bathtub, and pills scattered around.
But upon further investigation, police concluded that the bodies had been moved and arranged to suggest a murder-suicide, and the medical examiner soon found that both had been strangled to death and the 8-year-old sexually abused.
Lynch admitted to the 2010 double murder after officers nabbed the East New York resident days after the crime.
By confessing and pleading guilty, Lynch avoided a sentence of life without parole.
Sammie's hasn't replaced the Del Corso sign just yet. (Photo by Ariela Baranov)
Sammie’s Pizza and Restaurant have opened up in 3003 Avenue U, the spot formerly occupied by Pizzeria Del Corso. Don’t get too excited for the return of Nino Coniglio, the pizza prodigy that ran the last joint; Sammie’s has new owners and is running under a new name, though the sign isn’t up yet.
We did a nice video piece about Coniglio in July, and we got nervous in August when signs went up saying it was closed for renovation. Then, well, it just never reopened.
We haven’t sampled its delights yet, but the menu at Sammie’s does look nice and extensive. There are the usual dishes such as heroes, rolls, calzones, pizza pies, wraps and pasta. In addition, there’s a few interesting pizza selections Del Corso never offered, including “Philly Cheese Steak Pizza” and “Chicken Honey Mustard Pizza.” There is also a nice variety of salads – 13 different ones listed on the menu. Overall, the pizza menu is less traditional than the Del Corso menu, the restaurant menu less refined – but there remains a lot of options.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Sammie’s!
This is a photo of the school. We don't have a photo of the church. You get the idea.
Three Nativity figures, including Baby Jesus and Blessed Mother, were stolen from the outside creche at Good Shepherd’s Roman Catholic Church (1950 Batchelder Street) in Marine Park on Tuesday, January 4.
According to police, video surveillance shows a man walk into the church’s unlocked yard on Avenue S at around 8:30 p.m., lift the three figures and tuck them under his arm before walking off.
The suspect did not damage any property. Police canvassed the area, and the incident is still under investigation. Video is not available to Sheepshead Bites, but a still of the footage may become available soon.
*Correction: The original version of this article indicated that the incident occurred on January 5. We regret any confusion.
