SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: satyadasa via flickr

Progress continues on the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) seven-year renovation plan of the Belt Parkway’s seven bridges and overpasses, as the Fresh Creek Basin Bridge opened to westbound traffic, according to a press release.

As we’ve previously reported, construction along the Belt Parkway has caused heavy traffic problems, so the opening of the Fresh Creek Basin Bridge should help the thousands of cars that run along the highway flow. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan seems to thinks so.

“Each day our Belt Parkway bridges come alive, carrying 150,000 cars and connecting commuters and commerce across the city and the region,” she announced in the press release.

The bridges and overpasses were built over a half century ago, forcing the impetus for revitalization and repair:

As with the other six Belt Parkway bridges, the total replacement of the Fresh Creek Basin Bridge and its approach roadways will provide the necessary upgrades to bring the structure into compliance with current State and Federal standards. This includes wider travel lanes, safety shoulders, median barriers, improved elevation of the roadway around curves and realignment for improving sight distances and drainage enhancements. This project replaces the original Fresh Creek Basin Bridge, which, along with the other Belt Parkway bridges, was constructed more than 70 years ago and has reached the end of its useful life.

Photo by Maria Danalakis

The following is a press release from Coney Island Hospital, which was been rolling out services after being shuttered by Superstorm Sandy:

Coney Island Hospital (CIH) today announced the re-opening of its Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food and nutrition program made possible with a $50,000 grant from Public Health Solutions (PHS) and the Robin Hood Foundation (RHF). The two WIC offices run by Coney Island Hospital have been closed since Hurricane Sandy, affecting 5,000 participants. The grant funding will establish a temporary new WIC office in the community to serve clients from the center that was located inside the hospital campus and is now undergoing repairs, and a second center that operated out of the Ida G. Israel Community Health Center, which is permanently closed.

The new WIC temporary offices are located at Luna Park Senior Center, 2880 West 12th Street, Room 4, Brooklyn, and are open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The new site was chosen for its easy access to public transportation and proximity to the former Ida G. Israel Community Health Center. The grant will cover the rent of the temporary location, new office furniture, supplies, and clinical equipment. The Public Health Solutions and the Robin Hood Foundation are also supporting the Coney Island Hospital WIC staff with client and community outreach, as well as client coordination in the clinic.

“We are pleased to welcome back our WIC program clients – the women and children who depend on this vital food and nutrition assistance to keep their families healthy,” said Isabel Diaz, Director of WIC programs at Coney Island Hospital. “The opening of our temporary site at Luna Park, thanks to Public Health Solutions and the Robin Hood Foundation, is a huge comfort to our patients and a major step towards our recovery after Hurricane Sandy.”

“Public Health Solutions and its Neighborhood WIC program have been glad to be a part of Hurricane Sandy recovery work,” said Louise Cohen, Vice President, Public Health Programs at PHS. “We have had a great collaboration with the Coney Island Hospital WIC program as well as with New York State Department of Health WIC, to get this program up and running again to serve families in Coney Island. We are grateful to the Robin Hood Foundation for funding this recovery work.”

The WIC Program is federally funded special supplemental nutrition program that serves to safeguard the health of low-income, nutritionally at-risk Women, Infants and Children (to age 5).

The WIC program provides:

• Nutritious foods to supplement diets of WIC eligible participants
• Nutrition assessment and education on healthy eating and physical activity
• Breastfeeding support and counseling
• Referrals for health care and other social services

Source: Coney Island Hospital

The Ida G. Israel Health Center, a Coney Island Hospital-affiliated health clinic, has been closed since Superstorm Sandy knocked it out of commission this past October. The city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) has since deemed it pointless to rebuild the center on the same 2201 Neptune Avenue location and are looking for higher ground, according to a report from WNYC News.

The current location, precariously located a few blocks away from the water, treats 42,000 visitors a year, providing service for children and adults covering primary care, dentistry and drug rehabilitation. Because of the vital role the center plays in a community with a lot of low-income patients, finding a new location has become a top priority for administrators.

“With this amount of devastation, it was felt the best thing to do was relocate the clinic in the community, so this would never happen again,” Dr. John Maese, medical director of Coney Island Hospital, told WNYC. “We want to make sure this clinic stands the test of time, since it’s such a valuable resource to the community.”

Since the center’s doors have shuttered, local residents have made their way to Coney Island Hospital, a somewhat inconvenient trek for local residents without vehicles.

Dr. Maese estimates that it will take 18 months to set up a new health center, most likely to be relocated in leased office space and will cost an estimated $8 million.

We just received word (12:25 p.m.) from the city’s notification system that all lanes on the Belt Parkway are closed, as a mechanical snafu at the Mill Basin Drawbridge has it stuck in the up position.

Expect heavy traffic delays and seek alternate routes.

We will update as more information becomes available.

UPDATE (2:10 p.m.): The bridge is down and all lanes reopened.

The following is a revised important notice from the NYC Department of Transportation Division of Bridges, noting nightly lane closures on the east bound Belt Parkway through mid-July.

Norman Vanigas, the 23-year-old suspected of a sex assault and firing on police officers late Sunday night, is now off the streets and in police custody.

Authorities arrested Vanigas yesterday in the Bronx, charging him with attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal use of a firearm, police said.

Here’s the rundown from DNAinfo:

At about 11 p.m. Sunday, a 21-year-old woman told Brooklyn cops that she had just been sexually assaulted by a man armed with a gun and knife near Oceanview Avenue in Brighton Beach, police stated. The officers then broadcast the man’s description over the radio.

Barely four blocks away, two cops in a patrol car allegedly spotted Vanigas, who fit the suspect’s description, walking east on Brighton 10th Street toward Neptune Avenue, the NYPD said. When the officers pulled their cruiser in front of Vanigas, he reportedly ran to the north side of Neptune Avenue, took out a gun and fired once at the cops.

The officers did not return fire, police said, and the Vanigas reportedly escaped on foot, sparking a two-day manhunt that ultimately led to his arrest.

Police have not charged Vanigas with any crimes pertaining to the alleged sexual assault, an NYPD spokesman said.

Source: NYPD

Norman Vanigas, 23, is wanted by police as a suspect for firing at police officers when stopped for questioning in last night’s sexual assault call. Authorities are offering a $12,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest.

Investigators are still determining if Vanigas was responsible for the sexual assault.

If you have any information regarding Vanigas, call 800-577-TIPS. You can also submit tips at www.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.

Source: NYPD

A sexual assault suspect fired on officers late Sunday night, kicking off a pursuit that lasted early into the morning and turned up no results.

(UPDATE [1:49 p.m.]: Police have released a photo of the suspect, Norman Vanigas, posted above. There is a $12,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.)

A helicopter circled the area from approximately 11:30 p.m. and police cars and foot patrols swarmed the streets around Shore Parkway and East 14th Street, where the attack is believed to have occurred.

DNAinfo reports:

Shortly before midnight, officers received a report that a woman in her 20s had been sexually assaulted near Shore Parkway and East 14th Street, police said. As cops canvassed the area, they encountered the suspect, who fled the area on foot.

“The suspect did at one point turn around and fire something in the general direction of the officers,” a police source said. “It’s unknown if it was a firearm or a pellet gun or a firecracker. It did make a noise of some sort.”

The suspect was not caught, despite that the search went on until at least 2:00 a.m., according to neighbors who live in the area.

The increased level of police activity was first reported by Sheepshead Bites, drawing residents in the area who helped fill neighbors in.

One reader, Mickie W., sent in the following report:

However according to sources on the ground in Zephyr’s Superette, the commotion began with an attempted rape in or near Brighton Beach during which the perpetrator pulled a gun and fired a round either at or within the vicinity of law enforcement, prompting an intense neighborhood wide manhunt.  The target of air and ground search were trees and bushes along the elevated tracks running between Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay.  An individual was allegedly taken into custody for identification and questioning but again, no confirmation from police.  Air and foot support appeared to stand down around 2 a.m. although the command vehicles stationed on east 14th and 15th Streets remained.

A commenter on the original post added:

I live on Ocean & X my fiance and I were stopped by officers while walking our dog. They asked for identification and let us go. I can still hear the helicopters circling the area. Hope they find who they are looking for.

Reader Andrew Kent was following chatter on the police scanner, submitting the following:

They were looking for someone supposedly hiding in a dumpster behind Reynolds, but now they’re trying to get access to the school to search.  The original call may have come from a porter inside the school.

Another resident living near the focal area of the search described part of the scene:

They circled over shore parkway and east 13th & Homecrest for about 40 minutes. A police van drove over a pile of garbage as though they were trying to scare somebody who was hiding in the pile and then walking officers came over and kicked the trash cans.

More officers were searching the bushes behind a building on Homecrest. Helicopter is still flying in the vicinity of the Belt Parkway and East 14th street.

And here’s a little more info from a reader that helps pinpoint the location:

E12th has half of the block closed off with yellow tape … from what the cops are saying shots happened right under the bridge on Neptune side.

(THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED HERE: Sheepshead Bay Sex Assault Suspect Fires At Cops, Sparking Five-Hour Pursuit)

There is currently heavy police activity in Sheepshead Bay, near Emmons Avenue and East 14th Street.

A helicopter circles above the Belt Parkway, expanding and contracting its search as police vehicles roam the streets at least as far north as Avenue Y.

We’ve received messages from readers with conflicting accounts. We are working on discovering the details, but here’s how one tipster described it:

Sunday 11:35 pm: Five squad cars and at least one unmarked suv patrolling east 14th &15th … Pedestrians of a young male description were being stopped on emmons according to several young neighbors returning from the store. Foot patrols of 4 and 6 officers walked East 15th and checked alleys and vacant lots. NYPD Helicopter was brought in to circle overhead. Entire brigade moved off towards Coney Island Avenue around 11:50 pm although what seemed to be more than one helicopter continued to sweep the neighborhood until after midnight.

UPDATE: A Facebook reader points us to these alerts on Twitter, from: @AlwaysAction. However, it says West 12th Street, and we haven’t yet verified a connection:

Screenshot taken 12:10 a.m.

This is a breaking news story and may contain inaccuracies. We will update it as more information becomes available. If anyone has more information or additional photos, please send them to tips (at) sheepsheadbites (dot) com.

The following is a message from the New York City Department of Transportation: