SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: richiebits/Flickr

Take that 30-something Park Slope stroller mommies! Sheepshead Bay kicks your ass when it comes to raising children, if you believe the study done by the Citizen’s Committee for Children of New York.

According to a News 12 Brooklyn Report, Sheepshead Bay ranked second in Brooklyn neighborhoods, behind Bay Ridge and just ahead of snooty Park Slope.

The study weighed factors that positively impact a child’s well being including the adult employment rate, median income and levels of child poverty.

But not included in the study is the fact that we’ve also got great parks, a strong school district and a slew of kids-related services. Are you a parent? What makes Sheepshead Bay so great for child-rearing?

Photo by Erica Sherman

With the cost of renting out storefront property perpetually on the rise across the city, it comes as no surprise that many local politicians are having trouble meeting the budget limitations set for their respective headquarter bases. State senators based in New York City are allotted $40,000 a year for rental expenditures, but many have gone over that line, according to a report in the New York Post.

One of the state senators marked for going over their rental budget allotment is our own Marty Golden who rang up a yearly rent bill of $48,000 for his Bay Ridge headquarters. Still, its hard to blame Marty when a typical small storefront property on Sheepshead Bay Road goes for more than $4,000 a month.

Golden isn’t the only local politician having trouble meeting the limit:

Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) paid $49,723 for his district office at 38-50 Bell Blvd. He insisted the Senate Republicans negotiated his lease — claiming he didn’t even know he was over the limit.

Even imprisoned ex-Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) and indicted former Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) got in on the fun, despite having represented lower-rent neighborhoods, spending $45,000 and $47,452, respectively.

[Jeff] Klein cut his annual rent by $15,000 by leaving his East Tremont Avenue district office for the Hutchins Center, where he pays “market rate,” said spokesman Eric Soufer.

“Believe me, nobody comes to work for us because of the accommodations,” Soufer said. “I’ve had college dorm rooms that are bigger than our office.”

The problem politicians like Golden face is that they could rent cheaper space on higher levels in office buildings, but they would lose on-the-street contact and easy access to their constituents.

We put the question to our readers as to what is more important; paying extra to keep your local politicians closer to the ground and more accessible, or saving costs by pushing their headquarters into harder to access office spaces?

Janna Doheny, after surrendering to authorities. (Source: Brooklyn DA)

Janna Doheny, the owner of multiple units inside Brighton Beach’s posh Oceana condominium development, is charged with bilking more than $29,000 from Medicaid over the course of eight years, according to a new indictment revealed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

Doheny, 43, filed falsified documents for Medicaid, claiming her only source of income for her and her daughter was just $1,550 a month from her job at an adult entertainment establishment in Queens, and that her savings and investments totaled less than $5,000.

But investigators claim that Doheny wasn’t as cash strapped as her Medicaid application stated. They say Doheny lived the high life, making pricey purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue, Victoria’s Secret and Amazon, as well as getting professional glamour shots in skimpy swimwear while vacationing at a luxury resort in Arizona – a discovery they found by perusing her profile on a Russian-language social networking site.

“Lying to the system to receive Medicaid is a theft of taxpayer dollars and will not be tolerated,” said Human Resources Administration Commissioner Robert Doar, whose agency assisted in the investigation. “At HRA, we maintain the integrity of public assistance programs by providing benefits to those who are eligible and investigating those who ignore the rules.”

Investigators also found that Doheny not only purchased several condo units at Oceana between 2002 and 2010 – where price tags range from $500,000 to $2 million – but that she also owned property in Bay Ridge, Long Beach and South Florida.

The complaint goes on to state that Doheny deposited more than $100,000 annually into several bank accounts in her own name and the name of her business, Oceana Ventures, as well as a pile of cash totaling $170,000 in a safe deposit box on Long Island.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, along with the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and the Human Resources Administration, started to take a closer look at Doheny’s holdings after being tipped off to the Oceana purchases.

The Parks Department revealed they will be adding free wireless internet to parks in Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, and Marine Park after Bensonhurst Assemblyman William Colton expressed that the city has so far lavished Manhattan and northern Brooklyn communities with the service.

Colton said he believes it is unfair that wealthier neighborhoods in northern Brooklyn and Manhattan are dominating much of the city’s free internet service at parks and public spaces, and that his constituents deserve to be serviced as well as those residing in other areas.

The New York Post said that through a deal with AT&T, the city provides free wireless internet in 20 parks, most in neighborhoods filled with tourists.

Following the official’s protest, the Parks Department said the future sites for WiFi in Southern Brooklyn include the Coney Island beach and boardwalk, MCU Park, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park’s Nature Center, and possibly Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge. Colton is holding a press conference later today regarding the announcement.

Hope the Parks Department actually follows through with this promise. It’s about time that the city focuses on neglected areas such as Brooklyn and services residents just as well as those in wealthy neighborhoods.

And, we hope, you’ll all be using that WiFi to tune in to Sheepshead Bites!

Police officers flooded Sheepshead Bay’s commercial corridors on Sunday, going door-to-door to inform business owners of a murderer believed to be targeting convenience stores in a bloody spree that has already left two dead.

The man they’re looking for, pictured above, is described as a Hispanic male in his 20s, 5-foot-9 and with a medium build.

The suspect’s most recent alleged victim is Isaac Kadare, found brutally killed in his Bensonhurst 99-cent store on August 2. The discovery of Kadare’s body was first reported by Bensonhurst Bean. Media reports later confirmed that two customers found Kadare on the floor of the store at approximately 8:45 p.m., and that Kadare had been stabbed in the throat and shot in the head.

Over the weekend, NYPD ballistics teams linked Kadare’s murder with the July 6 murder of Mohammed Gebeli in his Bay Ridge clothing store, Valentino Fashion. Both men were shot in the head in their shops with what’s believed to be the same .22 caliber gun.

According to the New York Post, police sources are exploring the possibility that the suspect is a serial killer, targeting businesses with the numbers 1, 7 and 8 in their street addresses – Kadare’s store was located at 1877 86th Street, while Gebeli’s was at 7718 5th Avenue. However, they acknowledge that the addresses could be simply be a coincidence, and are looking at other motivations, such as ethnic hatred.

Police are offering a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect. Additionally, Senator Marty Golden is offering $5,000 and Councilman David Greenfield, along with the Sephardic Community Federation, are offering up another $5,000.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. All callers to Crime Stoppers remain anonymous. Callers should use the reference number BK-2303 when calling. Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-577-TIPS, via the website, or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

Following the death of Amjad Barakat of Sheepshead Bay, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Bay Ridge last night, State Senator Marty Golden has issued the press release below:

State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn), in response to a tragic hit and run last evening on the streets of his Brooklyn district, is calling for the State Assembly to pass S2918/A3350, which would increase the penalties for drivers who leave the scene of an accident without stopping and/or reporting it from a Class A Misdemeanor to a Class E Felony.

Last evening, an hit and run happened in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Senator Golden’s district, that claimed the life of a Brooklyn man. It was just yesterday afternoon that the New York State Senate approved S. 2918, introduced by Senator Marty Golden.

This legislation would also increase penalties from a Class E Felony to a Class D Felony for repeat offenders and hit and run drivers who injure others. Drivers who flee from the scene of an accident where someone was killed would face Class C Felony charges under the proposed law.

Senator Marty Golden stated, “On the day the State Senate approved legislation to toughen the penalties against those who leave the scene of an accident, another life was lost at the hands of a hit and run driver in my district. It is time that New York State gets serious about making sure that reckless drivers, who take innocent lives and destroy families, face the strictest penalties.”

Golden continued,“Each day that the New York State Assembly fails to act on this legislation, is another day where New Yorkers all across this State are walking, jogging, and riding their bikes in danger. I urge New Yorkers to contact their Assembly representative and ask them to make this the year that the Empire State stands up against hit and runs.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Amjad Barakat and I trust that the New York City Police Department will conduct a full investigation of this accident,” concluded Golden.

This legislation was passed by the State Senate last year but failed in the State Assembly. Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn) is the Assembly sponsor.

Source: Tony Webster/Flickr

Police are hunting for a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed Sheepshead Bay resident Amjad Barakat, 33, in Bay Ridge last night.

The accident happened shortly before 9:00 p.m., according to the New York Daily News.

Barakat was crossing 72nd Street when a beige sedan struck him. The driver then fled south on Seventh Avenue.

Authorities pronounced Barakat dead at the scene.

Source: www.nad.usace.army.mil

If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) tries to yank its North Atlantic Division headquarters from the Fort Hamilton Army Base, it will be over protests from a number of Southern Brooklyn leaders, including Congressman Michael Grimm.

USACE — the world’s largest public engineering, design and construction management agency — is threatening to defect across the East River to rival borough Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood in a move that has got local pols and community leaders crying foul.

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Fifty-six-year-old Nunzio Franzese won the 4th Annual Senior Idol competition this weekend, nabbing a $500 prize for his crooning of “Mack the Knife.”

The annual competition was put on by State Senator Marty Golden’s office and AARP Chapter 5055 at Xavarian High School in Bay Ridge. Former radio and TV host Joe Franklin served as emcee, and former WCBS FM disc jockey Don K. Reed was the celebrity guest judge.

We didn’t make it to the show, but luckily some digitally-capable attendees did. A YouTube user pbourbou captured the performance (above), while student journalist Evan MacDonald, from Columbia University’s local news site Brooklyn Ink, produced the excellent audio slideshow below. In MacDonald’s piece, Franzese talked about winning, and his singing experience.

Sure, we’ve all known Sheepshead Bay is one of the city’s best neighborhoods, but now we’re getting some much deserved attention from the city press. New York Magazine’s much touted “The Most Livable Neighborhoods in New York” list ranked Sheepshead Bay 27th, just above SoHo and below Chelsea.

The list aggregates data from a plethora of sources and then ranks it across 12 categories from cost of living, to diversity and nightlife. Sheepshead Bay ranked high in affordability, schools, health and wellness, and crime.

The only other Southern Brooklyn neighborhoods to even rank in the top 50 were Bay Ridge (12th) and Brighton Beach (30th), while the big-headed yuppies in Park Slope nabbed the top slot.

It’s easy to take issue with New York Mag’s methodology and say we should have been higher up, or their assessment of things like “creative” and “housing quality” were way too subjective. One could even point out that some numbers just seemed downright wrong, like the fact that we ranked 22nd for crime even though our precinct has the lowest crime stats in the city (not including Central Park).

But instead of whining, we choose to be happy. Why? Because we’re in the top 50. And Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, and Marine Park are not. Remember that, punks.

What do you think? Should we have ranked better? What did these scoundrels forget?