Source: GenBug/Flickr
After four months of repairs following extensive damage from Superstorm Sandy, the Bay Station Post Office at 2628 East 18th Street reopens today offering limited service.
Community Board 15′s liaison to the United States Postal Service, Don Brown, informed us over the weekend that box mail and parcel pickup services resume today. The retail service should be operational by the end of the week, he wrote, though that’s not yet definite. Until then, mobile unit operations will continue to provide service until the interior retail service resumes.
The station is open Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on Saturdays, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., according to the USPS website.
GARBAGE GAZETTE: I’m sorry, but people are dopes. I certainly don’t understand the point of these little garbage can prisons, but I also don’t understand why anyone, upon seeing one without a garbage can in it, would think it’s a fine place to put your garbage.
Maybe it’s the latest fad: a little zoo where we can stand outside the garbage beast’s cage and point and gawk and take photos (I did) and then move on to the three-toed sloth’s cage or something. I don’t know.
Let’s make some new rules, folks.
- One, don’t throw your trash on the ground.
- Two, if a garbage can is already full, don’t throw your trash in it. No, that little cellophane wrapper that has negative weight is not somehow going to stay delicately balanced on the can until the Sanitation Department comes to empty it, so stop trying and put it in your pocket.
- Just because there is a garbage can prison (sans can), an empty newspaper bin, an unguarded decorative planter, or similar vessel on a sidewalk, it does not mean you have free license to toss trash in it. If you do, you’re just a freakin’ animal and deserve to be put in your own little garbage can prison zoo.
Sheepshead Bay Fruit & Vegetables Market at 1717 Avenue Z unveiled a new wing of the building approximately two weeks ago. The wing, located on the East 18th Street side of the building, expands their deli and bakery offerings, and even has a small counter for hot coffee, soups and other goodies.
Parts of the storefront are still under construction, and we’ve got a feeling some floor rearrangement is forthcoming, but it’s so far a welcome addition. After all, we’re a big fan of the boureks and other baked goods, so more space for these goodies is, well, goodie.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a return of the business’ hot tables, which were once housed in an annex a block away – Sheepshead Bay Gourmet Market, on East 16th Street and Avenue Z – but closed down in 2009.
The section of the building that they’ve expanded into used to be the HemOnCare medical center, which seems to have moved to Avenue S. Construction has been going on for a few months, employees told us.
Congrats to Sheepshead Bay Fruit & Vegetables Market.
UPDATE (10/16/2012 @ 1:41 p.m.): Ping Yim Lee has been found! His granddaughter, Linda, tweeted the following to us at 1:30 p.m.:
“Found! He was spotted at convenience store in Queens but no recollection how. On the way to dialysis w/him.”
This is great news. We wish Ping Yim Lee and his family well.
Original post:
The following comes via Notify NYC:
Notification issued 10/15/12 at 10:55 PM. The NYPD has issued a Missing Senior Notification for Ping Yim Lee, male, Asian, 87 years old. Mr. Lee is described as being 5′ 5″ tall, 150 lbs., brown eyes, bald with no teeth. He was last seen boarding an Access-a-Ride on 10/15/12 near 2577 East 18th Street, Brooklyn, headed to 139 Centre Street, Manhattan, for a medical appointment. Mr. Lee was wearing a black waist length jacket, khakis, and black leather shoes. Call 9-1-1 if seen.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection shut down Jerome Avenue between East 17th Street and East 18th Street today, as crews worked to repair a broken sewage line.
The line backed up, according to a worker on the scene, spurring them to open the fire hydrant and empty the pipes. The street is covered with water and “heavy grease,” according to the DEP worker.
Repairs should be completed and the roadway opened by approximately 5:00 p.m.
We don’t have any additional information about this incident. From the looks of it, I don’t think a pedestrian was involved – reads more like it was probably a parked car that was hit. Just thought we’d pass along the flier.
Police are responding to Gravesend Neck Road and East 18th Street, pursuing a possible kidnapper and accomplice.
The call came over police scanners at approximately 12:30 p.m. today. The call indicated that a man wearing all black was running down Gravesend Neck Road with a baby in his arms not believed to be his. A second call from the same person stated that he was accompanied by a woman.
Police arrived on the scene at around 12:40 p.m. but did not see the perp. They are currently canvassing the area.
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.
Source: Feldco Development
The 88,000-square-foot lot that houses Super Stop & Shop (1710 Avenue Y) has sold for $28.5 million, netting the largest price tag for real estate in the history of Sheepshead Bay.
The property was sold by Connecticut-based real estate firm Feldco Development to a Florida-based LLC named Sands Brook, according to a report in The Real Deal.
The property includes the 54,000-square-foot, one story building with an outdoor parking lot.
Those worrying this might mean the end of another local supermarket following the demise of Pathmark on Nostrand Avenue need not worry, as Stop & Shop renewed their lease in 2005, securing its presence until 2030. The supermarket also holds ten 5-year renewal options, extending its presence through 2080. Stop & Shop opened in 1992.
The sale shatters all previous real estate records for the area, including the 23-year reigning record-holder: the Atlantic Towers Apartment Corp. on Avenue Z and East 13th Street, which sold in 1988 for $25 million. It also trumped the latest large-ticket sales in Sheepshead Bay: the 2008 deals for Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza ($24 million) and the proposed Station Plaza site on Sheepshead Bay Road ($20 million).
On a side note, the future Marshalls location across the street was touted as part of the marketing materials for the property, showing the growth of commercial developments in the area. Station Plaza – which appears to have halted development before it even began – was not mentioned.
Clarification: When the supermarket opened in 1992, it was not yet named Stop & Shop. I believe it opened as Finest, which then became Edwards, and finally Stop & Shop. However, for all intents and purposes of identifying the tenant, all three are the same and the name changes were merely casualties of chains swallowing up chains – not different entities.
Source: GenBug/Flickr
Very few of us look forward to our trips to the local post offices. Many think of it as a special circle of Hell, featuring long lines of irritable weirdos, made worse by bad ventilation that gives the humid air a definite funk of moldy papers and body odor. Personally, I’ve never had an issue with the service itself, even finding many of the clerks friendly and helpful, but I’ve heard numerous horror stories that make me better understand the term “going postal.”
Well, complaints about our local branch have spurred the United States Post Office into action. After residents repeatedly lodged reports citing the “absence of courtesy” at the Bill Brown Post Office at 2628 East 18th Street, two new window clerks have been added, according to Don Brown, Community Board 15′s liaison to the USPS’ Consumer Advisory Council.
What’s more is that the new clerks – and presumably the old ones – have been provided a course in Customer Relations, to help ensure friendlier, more efficient service.
“It is hoped that these actions will help improve both the service and image of the Post Office,” Brown told Sheepshead Bites.
Following reports that the Brighton Beach Post Office at 3157 Coney Island Avenue is slated for potential closure, Congressman Jerold Nadler is fighting to keep it open.
Nadler wrote the following letter to the postmaster general:
Dear Postmaster General Donahoe:
As the Congressional representative for the 8th Congressional District in New York, I am writing concerning the proposed closures of several post offices in my district. It has come to my attention the Brighton Retail Station at 3157 Coney Island Avenue in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the Ovington Retail Station at 6803 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and the 26 Federal Plaza and Port Authority Retail Stations in Manhattan are among the 3,653 retail stations being studied for closure nationwide by the United States Postal Service (USPS).
I understand that difficult decisions need to be made by the USPS in the face of serious budgetary concerns due to declining revenue. However, I strongly recommend that the USPS keep the Brighton and Ovington Retail Stations open, as these stations are located in neighborhoods where the communities rely on their local post offices on a daily basis. Additionally, I have heard serious concerns from the communities served by the 26 Federal Plaza and Port Authority retail stations.
The Brighton Retail Station is the only postal station in Brighton Beach, an area with many elderly, infirm and foreign-born individuals, a large number of whom use their local postal station on a regular basis. The neighborhood surrounding the Brighton Retail Station is home to more than 20 percent of residents above 65 years of age, almost twice the percentage of senior citizens in Brooklyn, and far higher than the national count, according to the U.S. Census. In addition, more than half of the residents of this neighborhood are foreign-born, and nearly a quarter of the population is disabled. Brighton Beach is also home to a thriving retail corridor, and businesses rely on the services provided by their local post office. When the station was in danger of closing last year after a proposed rent increase, my office and the USPS worked together with the landlord to sign a five year lease. I ask that you honor this lease going forward and keep the Brighton Retail Station open, for the good of the community and for local businesses.
The Ovington Retail Station’s closure would negatively impact many of my constituents in the neighborhood who rely on the station for their postal needs. In particular, the closure would affect the many seniors and the disabled who reside in this part of Bay Ridge. This neighborhood has a high percentage of disabled residents when compared with the rest of Brooklyn and with the national average, according to the last U.S. Census count. In addition, about half of the residents in the surrounding neighborhood are foreign-born, according to Census data. These populations, as well as local businesses, have come to rely on the Ovington Station, and its loss would make it difficult for them to access postal services.
As you study the impact of the potential closures, I also urge you to strongly consider the impact of closing the 26 Federal Plaza and Port Authority retail station on their surrounding communities. My office has been contacted by community members who utilize these two Manhattan post offices with concerns about their closure, especially regarding the impact on disabled individuals who use these stations.
I ask that you keep these postal stations open to ensure that residents and business communities do not lose vital resources.
I appreciate your attention to this important matter.
