“Bullet Points” is our format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.
Neighbors Demand Board Rescind Support For Drug Counseling Center: Residents of East 17th Street near Kings Highway rallied at last night’s Community Board 15 meeting, demanding the Board rescind a letter of support for a proposed drug treatment facility at 1670 East 17th Street.
Led by Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association President Ed Jaworski, a group of residents took to the podium, claiming that the Board failed to inform the community that the issue would be discussed and voted on in December.
“The City Charter and the Community Board bylaws say that the Community Board should serve the community, should communicate within the community, should act as a liaison agency, should review services, should develop plans for the community. None of this was done regarding the drug center being located on East 17th Street,” Jaworski said. “What took place at the November meeting was a shortcut. It was cutting the community’s input.”
The center, One World Counseling, received a letter of support from Community Board 15 in November with a 31-4 vote. Dmitri Oster, a rep for One World, told the Board then that they intended to target immigrants in the Sheepshead Bay area who have turned to drugs to cope with cultural integration. They would offer only counseling and would not distribute medication.
Community Board 15 voted in favor of permitting one drug rehabilitation center in the neighborhood, but voted down another, saying that the owners’ attitudes made all the difference.
At the November 27 meeting, the Board gave the nod to One World Counseling, a newly-formed entity proposing to develop a drug and alcohol abuse treatment center at 1670 East 17th Street, just off Kings Highway. The Board’s 31-4 vote came just minutes after nixing plans of an existing center, First Steps to Recovery at 2990 Brighton 12th Street, to move to 2634 East 21st Street, with a no vote of 34-1.
During the hearing for First Steps, representatives for the outpatient addiction treatment clinic explained that they served “elderly” Eastern European patients who have turned to drugs or alcohol to cope with the struggles of integration. The clinic dispenses medications and has been operating in Brighton Beach since 2002. They were seeking to move to the 2634 East 21st Street location because their current space is too small.
A woman was stabbed to death in her Brighton Beach home on Thursday, and the killer is still at large, according to the Daily News.
The perp stabbed the 51-year-old victim several times in the neck and back.
Police found the victim just before 5:00 p.m., after they received a call to her basement apartment on Brighton 12th Street.
The victim’s identity has not been released, and detectives are still investigation.
UPDATE (3:17 p.m.): Brighton Neighborhood Association Executive Director Pat Singer offers the following additional info via Facebook:
The killing took place in a three family home next door to 3021 where some momths ago a Russian ring operated the theft of thousands of dollars from Holocaust funds. It was msore than a basement. I believe it was also used as some kind of office. There is a sign on the house advertising “Home care” services.
UPDATE (5:46 p.m.): Six hours and 31 minutes after we inquired, the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information wrote to us with the following “additional details,” revealing the name and address of the victim:
Nina Khalanskaia 51 of 3019 Brighton 12 Street. Stabbed multiple times
We had to follow up and ask – again – if there had been any arrests. Below is their answer:
no
(H/t to localbroker.)
The original version of this article mistakenly identified the location as East 12th Street. It is actually Brighton 12th Street. Apologies for any confusion.
A member of the crew seconds before she told me not to use flash on my camera. Photos by Erica Sherman
We received a heads up from a tipster that the brand new J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan drama, “Person of Interest,” the pilot of which debuted on CBS last week, was filming on Brighton Beach Avenue and Brighton 12th Street yesterday, so we ran on over and shot a few photos.
Careful driving out there. The rain and winds are apparently taking their toll on our already sick trees. The one above toppled over at Corbin Place and Brighton 12th Street.
The New York Times carried an article today about Tuesday’s bust, involving some 17 Russian-Americans – most or all of whom lived in Southern Brooklyn – and their scummiest of scumbag attempts to bilk Holocaust survivor funds. In it, they go inside a building on Brighton 12th Street where documents were made or altered. From their reporting, it appears knowledge of their misdeeds were widespread, and they had approached many neighbors about participating in the scheme.
The authorities came early on Tuesday, entering the six-story apartment building on Brighton 12th Street in the heart of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.
They headed upstairs, stopping at the fourth-floor apartment where Tatyana and Abram Grinman lived. The Grinmans, especially Tatyana, were known in the building; neighbors said she had approached many of them, asking if they wanted to participate in a program that would give money to Holocaust victims.
“She gave me papers to fill out because my mother and father lived in the ghetto,” said Bella Freytor, who lives upstairs from the Grinmans. “She said I keep $1,000 and she keeps $3,000,” her fee for handling the application.
