SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

I don’t think there’s any secret that there’s no love lost between myself and the Breakers condo development (3128 Emmons Avenue), which I’ve alternately referred to as “fugly,” the “fanciest storage unit complex in the borough,” and marketed by unscrupulous wags (who ultimately pushed the development into bankruptcy). So when the pier’s surface – built less than five years ago – totally separated from the pilings it stood upon during Superstorm Sandy, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a matter of shoddy construction or if somehow was hit by more force than some other older structures that took the water’s might with little damage.

Chances are, we’ll never know. But one of the development’s residents sent the above photo to us today, letting us know work on rebuilding the pier is well under way. We hope that it’s being built to be a little more future-proof, and capable of withstanding a Sandy-like event.

Oh, and after it came off and collided with the dilapidated club house of the Greenlawn Bungalow Colony, it settled next to the club house’s old pilings, and we got a shot of it a few days after Sandy.

Top photo by Albert.

Forget your guns, the government is coming for your house! Well, only if you want them to. And only if you live in an area hit hard by Superstorm Sandy.

The Daily News reports:

Gov. Cuomo wants Hurricane Sandy victims who live along the coast to consider rebuilding their homes on stilts or selling their houses to the state and relocating.

“At one point, you have to say maybe Mother Nature doesn’t want you here. Maybe she’s trying to tell you something,” Cuomo said in a phone interview with the Daily News Editorial Board.

Cuomo said he hopes more Sandy victims will choose to have the state buy them out rather than rebuild in areas that are at risk of future storm damage.

It would relieve the government of having to pay to rebuild the same houses multiple times.

The state promises “market value” for homes. However, some have already raised concerns about the shortfall in property values this will cause if communities begin withdrawing from the waterfront.

We, however, can’t help but wonder how long the government will let the land sit empty before it forgets all about flooding and builds some luxury condos and retail developments on land that it got dirt cheap.

Cynical much?

Source: Google Maps

After years of delays and millions of dollars over budget, Marine Park residents are still without a much-anticipated community center. And the project is now one of the most notable in the city as an example of the Parks Department’s waste and inefficiency.

The community center, located at the northern end of Marine Park at Fillmore Avenue was touted in a new report by New York City Comptroller John Liu that blasted the Parks Department for “not carrying out and overseeing capital construction projects in a timely and cost effective manner.”

According to  the report, which audited Parks projects conducted in fiscal year 2010-2011, the agency was late on delivering 47 percent of the 315 capital construction projects completed. On average, the projects were 218 days late, nearly double the estimated time for completion.

And it’s not just a matter of delays keeping parks closed from the public. They’re racking up a price tag. Thirty projects combined to run up a tab of $10 million in cost overruns. And bungling by consultants and designers cost the city an additional $4 million to correct, an amount the agency failed to recoup despite clauses in contracts that require contractors to return the money to taxpayers.

The Marine Park Community Center, though, remains particularly galling. Its numbers are not included in the tally above – as Liu’s team only looked at projects completed during the audit period – though it earned some honorable mentions.

Continue Reading »

Photo by Erica Sherman

The city’s post-Sandy Rapid Repairs project got off to a shaky start, leaving many residents vexed by the stop-and-start progress of the program, but as we reported last month, Rapid Repairs began to kick into high gear. They have since reached a huge milestone by repairing approximately 10,000 Sandy damaged homes, according to a report from the Times Union.

The Rapid Repairs program, which is a collaborative effort between the city and FEMA, employed thousands of contractors and construction workers to repair people’s homes for free. Their focus was on restoring basic services like electricity, heat and hot water.

While the progress made by Rapid Repairs has been impressive, the Mayor promised that thousands more homes will continue to get service in the coming weeks.

The FDNY’s Marine 3 headquarters in 2009. (Source: Vlad Iorsh/Flickr)

The fire eaters of the FDNY’s local marine unit will have to rebuild their summer headquarters – or find themselves homeless, thanks to Superstorm Sandy.

The Marine 3 summer vessel. (Source: FDNY)

The unit – FDNY Marine 3 – operates a summer base at the tip of Kingsborough Community College (2001 Oriental Boulevard) in Manhattan Beach. When the waters whipped through the campus, it ravaged the unit’s four-year-old quarters, rendering them useless.

“Marine 3′s quarters sustained damage from flood waters,” confirmed an FDNY spokesperson.

It wasn’t alone. Several firehouses were damaged and many have not reopened since the storm. All are in the process of being repaired, and trucks have been stationed throughout the affected communities to provide quick response.

Marine 3′s headquarters will also be rebuilt, the spokesperson said, although he was unable to provide a timetable or estimated cost for the repairs.

In the meantime, local mariners need not worry. Marine 3′s vessel – used only during the summer, when boating and other water sports are at their peak – was pulled out of the area ahead of the storm, and was unharmed. When summer rolls around, it will again be stationed at Kingsborough, whether the headquarters are rebuilt or not.

“There is no impact to fire protection or fire service in that area,” the spokesperson said.

The Marine 3 headquarters opened in September 2008, featuring 24-hour security, a new kitchen and bathroom, and a state-of-the-art floating concrete dock. The location also became a training center for members of the Fire Department’s Marine Division, which was given access to Kingsborough Community Colleges’ Maritime Technology Program, a high-tech sailing simulator that puts students at the helm of various vessels to prepare them for careers on the water. It helped grow the city’s small vessel program, which FDNY brass lauded as allowing them to provide faster, more efficient responses to water-related emergencies.

Delmar Pizza & Italian Eatery at 1668 Sheepshead Bay Road hung up a temporary “opening soon” banner this week. So please – please, please, please, please, please – stop e-mailing, calling, texting, Facebooking and Tweeting me about whether or not they’ll open. They’re opening. Soon.

Just how soon? When we stopped by this morning, the owners there – who’ve been paying for repairs out-of-pocket because of delays in government loans – said they’re confident they’ll be tossing dough before March.

Don’t expect the same ol’ Delmar, though. Yes, it’ll have the classic, scrumptious pizza we all know and love. But they’re altering the floor layout and adding a salad bar. Oh, and all the memorabilia hanging on the walls? It all survived Sandy.

See you soon, chicken parm on a roll. I promise.

A high-powered spotlight used to illuminate Coney Island Hospital’s (2601 Ocean Parkway) construction work appears to be irking neighbors, and possibly blinding drivers.

Here’s what tipster Ed L. wrote to us:

There is a lack of concern for the neighbors and community as well as the safety of cars that come around the corner of Shore Parkway and East 6th St.  The construction crew aim the lights in the direction of Shore Pkwy and East 6th St blinding drivers as they turn the corner as well as blinding the community. I have asked for the lights to be aimed at the hospital not into the windows and streets of the community. They just don’t care.

Well, we doubt the folks there don’t care. The hospital shuttered during Sandy, and has only partially reopened as they make repairs. With thousands in the community depending on them as a 911 intake facility and provider of other critical health services, we know the team is  laboring to bring the community hospital back on line as soon as possible. But that’s no excuse for making a dangerous situation for drivers and neighbors.

Sheepshead Bites has contacted the hospital’s administration and is awaiting a response.

Source: CDM via the New York Daily News

It would cost upwards of $10 billion and take nearly a decade to build, but politicians, engineers, and average citizens are starting to dream big when it comes to protecting New York City’s coastline from another storm surge disaster.

A New York Daily News report is citing growing interest in plans to invest in a massive billion dollar seascape project meant to push back the types of surging sea swells that caused $42 billion dollars in damage after Hurricane Sandy struck.

The types of projects dreamed up include a 5-mile-long and 80-foot-high rock barrier reaching from Breezy Point, Queens to Sandy Hook, N.J., a massive 1,700-foot wall stretching across the Arthur Kill and a huge structure in the shadow of the Verrazano Bridge that features two identical 640-foot-high gates.

In recent years, support for ambitions architectural super-projects such as these would have met stiff opposition from politicians and taxpayers alike. More than likely, they would be unwilling to invest the vast resources required to prevent a scenario they could scarcely envision.

The reality of Sandy is changing these attitudes.

Despite the enormous cost and ingenuity required to erect a seascape structure, they aren’t long term solutions, as oceans will continue to rise ever higher in the coming centuries. Still, they have proven effective in countries like England and the Netherlands, where massive seawalls have prevented billions in flood damage since their construction.

While enthusiasm is running high right now for bold action, time will prove to be the number one obstacle in seeing such projects to completion. As New York recovers from Sandy’s destruction and is lucky enough to spared of another major storm in the coming years, people’s desire for a long term solution will wane.

The Daily News quoted engineer Larry Murphy who recalled the devastation caused by the 1938 “killer cane” which killed 700 New Yorkers and left 63,000 homeless.

He says, “There’s a tremendous amount of damage, but maybe it wasn’t bad enough. Look at the ’38 hurricane. If that hit today, there would be no question about building that barrier.”

Source: Friends of Ocean Parkway

Our friends at the Friends of Ocean Parkway blog tipped us off to the soon-to-be-constructed Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, coming to Ocean Parkway at Avenue U.

We called over to Rabbi Elie Abadie of Congregation Edmond J. Safra in Manhattan, but he told us the new building was not officially affiliated with his flock, but just that they share the same name.

According to the Manhattan congregation’s website, Edmon J. Safra was a “Lebanese-born [Sephardic] Jew who rose to prominence in the banking industry, [and] supported a remarkable diversity of institutions and charities during his lifetime.”

Welcome to the neighborhood, Safra Synagogue.

Paulie Randazzo vows to reopen the battered restaurant before Thanksgiving.

Rosemary Randazzo watched helplessly as her restaurant, the near-century-old Randazzo’s Clam Bar at 2017 Emmons Avenue, was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

Through cameras that streamed to her computer, Randazzo, 54, sat safely in her Mill Basin home and witnessed as the front doors broke and water rushed in and tormented furniture.

“The place looked like it was shaking,” Randazzo said. “It was terrible. I watched it until the electricity went.”

Randazzo’s Clam Bar, a five-generation community staple, was so badly damaged that it remains without power, heat or hot water more than two weeks later, but the owners are poised to have the neighborhood icon make a comeback in time for the holidays.

Keep reading, and see photos from inside Randazzo’s.