SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

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New York 1 has been following a story about a group of elderly residents that have been left stranded in their Brighton Beach building courtesy of a broken elevator that has been out of commission since Superstorm Sandy struck late last October.

The residents, many disabled, have had difficulty scaling the steps of their six-story building.

“I live on the sixth floor and every day I cannot go out,” Alexander Fayn told NY1.

When NY1 originally reported on the story earlier in the month, the Department of Buildings promised that it would get fixed, but three weeks later it remains broken, driving the tenants mad.

“I’m frustrated, I’m upset, I’m furious,” said Michael Royzman to NY1.

NY1′s further inquiry with the Department of Buildings resulted in a promise by the DOB to investigate the matter.

Great…an investigation, why not just fix the elevator!?

Photo courtesy of Albert Dashevky

As we all know, New York City is a huge sprawling megalopolis populated by millions of people with a seemingly infinite amount of streets. These realities make it convenient for many dog owners to not care about cleaning up after their dogs. Well, you should clean up after your dog and not just because it keeps your neighborhoods clean, but because the piles of unattended dog feces creates an unfair obstacle course for those in wheelchairs trying to navigate our streets.

Remember, a lot of wheelchair users still propel their wheels forward with their hands, so if they roll over dog doodie, it becomes a horrible situation for someone just trying to get around town. You can use your imagination.

State Senator Marty Golden, after receiving letters from families of handicapped constituents dealing with this problem, has vowed to take action, according to a press release.

“Those who do not clean up after their dogs destroy the quality of life for all residents, and this letter highlights the impact that it has on our disabled neighbors,” Golden said. “I do hope that these concerns raised in this letter will not be ignored. The next time you are out walking your dog, stop and think for a moment, and pick up after your dog.”

Golden has petitioned the Department of Sanitation to place more signs that remind owners to pick up after their dogs.

The headline here is a tweak of two suggestions that came to us on Facebook, thanks to readers Ben Jonjak and Hillary Stackpole.

Source: YAI.org

Several autistic and developmentally disabled people who previously lived in group homes in Sheepshead Bay are among the hundreds left displaced after Superstorm Sandy took a heavy toll on their facilities.

YAI Network, an organization which manages several such homes in the area, announced today that two of their homes in Sheepshead Bay were severely damaged, causing their autistic and disabled clients to move into temporary digs.

According to the release, one of the homes is on East 13th Street, and the other is on Avenue Z. Both were in Zone A and suffered a combined $300,000 worth of damage, mostly from the approximately eight feet of water that filled the basements.

“This is really like rebuilding the house,” said Vida Mani, the assistant coordinator in YAI’s Residential Department. “There was water and debris all over the place. One washer was on top of another, air conditioning units floated out of the wall, and we had a big refrigerator that ended up on a shelf.”

The East 13th Street home housed 10 residents and the Avenue Z location held six. All residents were evacuated ahead of the storm to different homes throughout Brooklyn, the release notes.

Aside from the damage, YAI said it lost $2.1 million in lost revenue due to a suspension of its day programs and medical practices, as well as overtime costs for workers deployed to help the displaced residents.

“This storm affected everyone,” said Stephen E. Freeman, CEO of YAI. “And it showed us so clearly that the people we support experienced the same sense of loss and disruption of life as other citizens. They couldn’t leave their homes, they couldn’t get to work and they couldn’t see their friends and families.”

Although FEMA reimbursements are expected to cover most of the repairs to the homes, it won’t cover the lost revenues. YAI has established a Storm Restoration Fund to not only cover some of the losses, but to upgrade their 100 group homes with permanent generators to prevent future disruptions. Donations can be made here.

Source: Golden's office

Finally, some good news out of Albany.

With property taxes in New York among the highest in the nation (and crammed all together here in the Big Apple, it’s not like we exactly get a decent bang for our buck), most of us are struggling just to  make ends meet during the global economic downturn. State Senator Marty Golden is trying to ease the crushing financial burden on homeowners by sponsoring “common sense” legislation that would amend current property tax law.

Keep reading about the proposed legislation.

Tuesday night’s Community Board 15 meeting exploded into controversy over a proposal to bring a group home for mentally disabled persons to 2055 East 21st Street. Residents brought a number of concerns to the table, ranging from sensible, legitimate arguments to down-right bigotry. But underneath their callous, insensitive ideas of the mentally disabled, their concerns hinted at an issue in the area that, unfortunately, was dismissed due to their offensiveness.

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