SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Photo By Erica Sherman

Bayfest, Brooklyn’s largest waterfront celebration, is coming to Emmons Avenue this Sunday, May 19. This incarnation of Bayfest marks its 22nd year in existence as eight blocks of Sheepshead Bay’s waterfront will be filled with music, fun, and vendor-free booths giving out a slew of samples and product information.

This year’s Bayfest will include the usual mix of musical performers, raffles and kid friendly activities, but will also feature a big selection of Sandy-related recovery organizations looking to help rebuild the community.

You can also say hello to your friends at Sheepshead Bites as we’ll have our own booth and be giving away a few goodies.

Here are all the relevant details from the organizers:

SANDY RECOVERY INFO
We admit we got a very late start preparing for BAYFEST because we were so involved with post-Sandy efforts.  At the same time, we saw it as the perfect opportunity to support the community’s long-term recovery from the disaster, and the event has come together beautifully. We’re grateful and pleased about the number and variety of Sandy recovery organizations that will be on hand, and their eagerness to meet with and assist residents still suffering from the disaster.

At this writing, two dozen organizations will participate in Investors Bank BAYFEST (with more signing on), making it the largest event of its kind in Brooklyn to date.  We were able to put this list together with the cooperation of the Brooklyn Long-Term Recovery Group, which brings together organizations that focus on coordinating to address the various unmet needs of Brooklyn’s Sandy survivors.

Here is the list so far of the two dozen organizations that will attend Investors Bank BAYFEST, with brief descriptions of the types of assistance they offer:

• Alzheimer’s Association – scholarships for Medic Alert bracelets/necklaces (part of the Safe Return program)
• Arab-American Family Support Center * – case management
• American Red Cross * – case management including housing assistance, appliances, financial aid, referrals
• Asian Americans for Equality – loans and grants
• Bridge Street Development – temporary housing
• Brighton Neighborhood Association – mold remediation and other assistance
• Brooklyn Jubilee – pro bono legal assistance
• Brooklyn Long-Term Recovery Group – referrals
• Catholic Charities * – case management and a variety of resources and services
• Coney Island Hospital medical van – free checkup with a doctor, blood pressure screening
• Department of Financial Services
• Diabetes Education and Resource Center – healthcare
• Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol – emergency preparedness
• Lutheran Social Services – case management and a variety of resources and services
• Met Council – case management and a variety of resources and services
• Neighborhood Housing Services – loans; referrals
• Neighborhood Revitalization – professional mold remediation
• New York Cares – muck-outs, mold remediation, repairs, tax advice, volunteers
•  NIA Community Network Services – financial counseling, debt management and reduction
• NYS Energy Audits – free insulation, appliances, weatherization
• NY Mortgage Coalition – foreclosure prevention, mortgage assistance, legal support
• Operation HOPE – insurance counseling, financial management guidance and support
• Project HOPE – counseling, and emotional and psychological support
• YaDestiny Treasure Chest – children’s clothing

Eligibility for services offered by some of these organizations is income-based. Some may require a FEMA number; others work with undocumented residents.

The organizations with an asterisk (*) do case management, meaning a trained, compassionate case manager works one-on-one with you to:

• Answer your questions about recovery
• Develop a plan to address your needs
• Connect you with appropriate community resources
• Determine what financial assistance may be available to you
• Advocate on your behalf with service and benefit providers

All of the case management organizations are 501(c)3 non-profits and participate in CAN.org (Coordinated Assistance Network), the American Red Cross’ membership database that works to prevent duplication of services.  It may not be accessed by the government for any reason.

MUSIC
ReverbNation.com supported us again this year in our search for bands.  Over 1,600 bands from as far away as Japan applied through their platform to play Investors Bank BAYFEST.  We narrowed the list down to 300 bands within 25 miles of Sheepshead Bay that were family friendly and that sounded good in videos of live performances.  We listened to all of them–twice.  There’s a lot of good music out there!  But we had to choose.  In total, Investors Bank BayFest will offer 23 performances on two stages and eight blocks of Emmons Avenue.

Main Stage
On the Main Stage The Voice will meet American Idol, as Brooklyn’s own Adriana Louise(The Voice, Season 3) and Good Day New York’s Michael “Big Mike” Lynche (American Idol, Season 9) share the stage, backed up by the pro outfit East Coast Band.  We’re bringing back two BAYFEST favorites: Stout, with their traditional songs of the sea, and rock ‘n’ roll fire-fighting bagpipers The Shots.  New will be feisty, bluesy Amy Lynn & The Gunshow and Vinny Jett, who will give his rap song “Sandy The Homewrecker” a Brooklyn twist.  Early in the day we give the DSNY a Lifetime Achievement Award and at 3:15pm the FDNY fireboat will do a display in the Bay.

Mobile stage
Indie sensation Darnaa is donating her performance and will perform on her mobile stage, which she is allowing other bands to use.  Defying categorization, Band Droidz will warm up the stage for her, while top flight jazz artist Onaje Allen Gumbs and his band New Vintage, as well as soaring arena-rock band Face The King, will open the day.

Pier performances
Pier bands will include:

• Inner Situation
• January Jane 
• Jose Polo
• SpinBox
• SanzEnd
• Two Cent Sam
• Annika Vitolo
• Giant Flying Turtles
• Michelle Ferreira
• Ghosts of Eden
• Nando Griffiths & Pure Fyah
• Daddy Rocker

KIDS FUN

• Arts & Crafts with A2Z Party and ScribbleShop (Tucker Park)
• Strolling cartoon characters
• Giant Bounce
• FDNY Smokehouse
• Face Painting
• Brooklyn Public Library storyteller (at their table)
• Harborlore “Fish Tales” storyteller (2pm, pier 4)
• NY Aquarium

RAFFLES & GIVEAWAYS

• 50/50
• Brooklyn Brewery gift certificate
• Circle Line tickets
• Intrepid tickets
• GNC men & women’s vitamin packs ($50 value each)
• Wheeler’s gift certificate
• JoMart Chocolates gift certificates
• More coming in…

The All Community Arts event will be taking place simultaneously east of BayFest on Emmons Avenue.

Dance scholarship recipient, Mikhail Calliste, and CBTB Artistic Director, Marla Hirokawa. (Photo courtesy of Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn, Inc., 2010)

The Covenant Ballet Theater of Brooklyn, a non-profit dance academy, needs your help. Needing $19,000 to restore its facilities to pre-Sandy conditions secure a new space, CBT has started a “Fund Anything” donation campaign to raise the money. Here is a description of the problems facing CBT from founder Marla Hirokawa:

Loss of vital funding and the ancillary effects of Hurricane Sandy have brought CBT to a financial crisis. The company has to give up its 3500 sq ft home on 2085 Coney Island Avenue and vacate by May 31st, a month short of our normal program end date. CBT Dance Academy is a small school with a big heart that has been spreading the love of dance in south Brooklyn where artistic, cultural offerings and activities are few. Without a home, CBT cannot continue reaching its diverse and multi-cultural population nor continue in its quest to break the negative male stereotypes in ballet with a tuition-free Boys Program (taught by male instructors). CBT has raised professional dancers. It has created historic ballets that have honored real heroes. It has been a safe and warm place where the pre-professional and recreational student can meet and train. It is a place where the young novice can dance alongside professional dancers in artistically meaningful productions. It is a dancing family to youths, adults and professional dancers. CBT cannot continue without a home.

If you would like to donate to the CBT and keep this proud institution afloat, click here. Based on how much you donate, you could receive gifts including mugs, t-shirts, DVDs and concert tickets. To date, they have already raised over $4,000 and have 84 days left to reach their goal.

Correction (5/17/2013 @ 12:00 p.m.): This article originally indicated that the funding was to restore the group’s space after taking damage from Sandy. That was inaccurate. The funding is to secure a new space altogether, after they are being forced to move due to Sandy-related funding shortfalls.

Councilman Lew Fidler (Photo By Erica Sherman)

In the six months following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, victims of the storm have been facing a slew of problems beyond the damage to their properties. The New York Daily News is reporting that one of the new hurdles confronting residents is the city’s yearly sale of tax liens to debt collectors.

Every year the city sells the tax liens, which include unpaid property taxes and water bills, to third party debt collectors. The collectors then jack up the interest fees, sometimes as high as nine percent on homes valued under $250,000. The increased fees force many homeowners to foreclose their homes.

This year, 720 Sandy-damaged homes, located in Brooklyn and Queens, are on the city’s lien list. Lawmakers, like Councilman Lew Fidler want the city to delay the sale of the liens another year.

“Sandy hit many homeowners like a brick bat and many have still not recovered. For the City to come along and whack them again with a lien sale is not only cruel but, in the end, it will be counter-productive. If our goal is to get people to pay what they owe without losing their homes, this is the exact wrong way to go about it. Allowing people some more time to recover from this disaster is both reasonable and compassionate.” Fidler said in a press release.

The city has taken the step of removing homes who have faced extreme damage from the tax lien list but has not yet taken any extra steps.

Pictured In Photo: Annetta Lee, Natasha Naveed, Noel Aly, Lisa La Spina, Selma Albin, Janet Kennedy, Assistant Principal, Jeanne Fish, Principal, Cherie Lang, Hillary Stackpole, Dell Coe (Photo Courtesy of Hillary Stackpole)

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz awarded a special commendation to the staff of Gerritsen Beach’s P.S. 277 (2529 Gerritsen Avenue) in a ceremony last week.

According to a press release, the school’s Parent’s Association wanted to recognize the staff for their efforts in providing relief to the children and community of Gerritsen Beach following Superstorm Sandy. So they reached out to the beep and asked him to surprise the school’s team at a morning assembly, and he honored them for their terrific work providing comfort to the community kids.

Sheepshead Bites would also like to extend a salute and warm-hearted congratulations to the staff of P.S. 277 for all their excellent work throughout the trying days of Superstorm Sandy.

Source: aresauburn via flickr

The piles of money are coming, just not right away. The New York Times is reporting that the first round of federal aid totaling $1.77 billion will be distributed to rebuild homes devastated by Superstorm Sandy in the early summer.

As we reported earlier in the month, the money, coming in the form of Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), has been approved. The Times explained how the money will be divided and who is getting it.

The biggest chunk of money, $648 million, will go to programs to rebuild homes and make them more storm-resistant, according to the city’s plan. That amount also includes $9 million for rental subsidies for up to 24 months intended mostly for low-income renters and people at risk of homelessness.

The rest of the money approved by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development will be spent in several ways: $360 million on city infrastructure, $294 million on investments to make the city more resilient to storms and $293 million on loans, grants and other programs for businesses.

The money is not expected to address all of the recovery expenses but more federal dollars are on the way later in the year. This first round of spending is designed to allow the city to spend the cash on those who need it the most.

“The most significant portion of the funding is for housing recovery programs,” Caswell F. Holloway, the city’s deputy mayor for operations, told the Times. “The biggest step forward in bringing neighborhoods back is to help people get in their homes.”

If you want to apply for grants you can do so by calling 311 or by visiting nyc.gov. Applications for business owners will be up on the city website starting this month and in June for homeowners.

Source: nytimes.com

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office announced that it is doubling the number of evacuation zones along New York City’s coastline. The New York Times is reporting that the expanded map will add 640,000 residents to the three million New Yorkers already living in such zones, putting 37.5 percent of the total population in evacuation zones.

The city is hoping that by expanding the evacuation zones, people will take calls to evacuate more seriously. The new map represents only a preliminary look of what is expected to change. A more detailed map is expected to be released in June.

While the evacuation zones have been expanded, it’s worth noting that to date, residents located in Zone A, which includes Sheepshead Bay, have been the only ones ever asked to evacuate.

The release of the new map was the major highlight of a city report on the response to Superstorm Sandy. The New York Times summarized a list of other conclusions and initiatives drawn from the report.

Many lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy will be set down in new “playbooks” for city agencies that had to learn on the fly how to deal with a major storm’s aftermath: how to request waivers and extensions from federal school-lunch and food-stamp programs to serve a deluge of needy families; how to muster economic development programs to help battered businesses get back up to speed faster.

Others issues will be left to future task forces to interpret.

A number of smaller recommendations are already being acted on, like the purchase of more emergency lights, generators and small boats for firefighters.

The report also calls for new regulations for hospitals, nursing homes and adult homes during evacuations. It recommends the creation of a patient tracking system, better communication equipment and guidelines for the return of patients.

Source: Free Press Pics via Flickr

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, many business and homeowners were left with tough financial decisions as to how to rebuild their lives. Many were offered loans by the Small Business Association (SBA) but rejected them because they didn’t want to incur more debt.

Because of complex bureaucratic rules, business and homeowners who rejected the SBA loans are now being denied some resources, leading politicians like Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Michael Grimm to press the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) into changing their rules, according to a press release.

Current HUD policy now demands that the amount of approved loans, including those who didn’t even accept them in the first place, are to be counted against the potential grant amounts they are eligible for in the upcoming distribution of the Community Development Block Grants. The justification of the complex rule that Schumer and Grimm are battling against was explained in the release:

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, which comes in the form of a grant, not a loan, is intended to supplement other forms of available aid, and cover only “unmet need.” In determining the amount of “unmet need,” HUD regulations provide that any SBA loans for which a homeowner is approved are counted against the of unmet need.

The problem with this regulation is that it does not take into consideration the circumstances that might have led someone to reject a loan in the first place. Schumer expressed concern that this policy will hurt people who need it most.

“This policy will punish these homeowners and HUD should do everything in it power to make sure these individuals are eligible for additional federal assistance,” said Schumer.

Schumer’s concerns were shared by Grimm, according to SI Live.

The Kickstarter campaign to save the Mermaid Parade launched yesterday and they are already a quarter of the way to their goal.

Because of damages sustained by Superstorm Sandy, Coney Island USA, the parade organizers, needed to cut back on expenses, leaving them $100,000 short of affording all the things that make a parade happen like security, supplies and staff uniforms. Organizers have already reeled in over $24,000 in just a few days of activity. If this trend continues, their $100,000 goal will be reached long before the deadline hits at the end of the month.

Those who decide to donate will get access to a slew of exclusive prizes.

For example, if you decide to give $13 to the parade you receive a specially designed temporary tattoo from a local Brooklyn artist and you get your name added to a big “THANKS” banner in the parade.

If you give a whopping $10,000 you are declared “King Midas” and are given this  ambiguous promise:

King Midas! You are the Merfolk hero. We’ll make things happen for you by land or by sea. Write us a private message; there are plans to be hatched. (Most of your contribution could be tax deductible)

I wish I was rich enough to just fork over 10 grand just to see what “things” will happen to me. Anyway, if you would like to donate you can do so by visiting the Mermaid Parade’s official Kickstarter page by clicking here.

Source: NYC Dept Parks and Recreation NYC Dept Parks and Recreation

This summer, it looks like beach goers will be able to flush with impunity after all. Last week we reported that plans to install the $2 million state-of-the-art bathroom facilities along the shores of Brighton Beach had been delayed for unexplained reasons. According to a Parks Department press release, it looks like the bathrooms will indeed be put in place by Memorial Day, in spite of protests from local residents.

The protesters, who mainly consist of residents of the Oceana luxury condominiums (50 Oceana Drive West) were outraged at the installation of the bathrooms, which they consider to be unsightly. Residents were also concerned that the new bathrooms would attract an unwanted homeless presence and rowdy teenagers, making it unsafe for their children.

The delivery of the new bathrooms, as well as new lifeguard stations will take place starting tonight. Deliveries will be made each night this week, through the May 10. Deliveries will take place because the pieces being sent over are huge and the streets need to be relatively empty for the Parks Department to orchestrate the delivery.

The Parks Department wants residents to know that during the delivery and installation of the new facilities, they can expect to hear diesel truck engines, crane activity and beeping trucks. Safety horns may also be blown in case of emergency situations.

Once the delivery stage is finished, work on the facilities will continue until May 24, but this phase is expected to be much quieter than the pile-driving operations that plagued Brighton residents last month.

Parking will also be restricted during the delivery stage this week. Here is a list of the parking regulations set to be enforced this week.

To facilitate transport of the oversized structures, parking will be restricted at the following locations:

• Brigham Street South of Emmons Avenue from midnight Monday, May 6, to 6 a.m. Friday, May 10.
• Brighton 15th Street south of Brighton Beach Avenue from 10 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, to 6 a.m. Wednesday, May 8, 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, to 6 a.m. Thursday, May 9, and from 10 p.m. Thursday, May 9 to 6 a.m. Friday, May 10.

Parking will be restricted on one additional night to accommodate deliveries to New Brighton. We will inform the community once the schedule for New Brighton has been finalized.

Please note that we will also suspend alternate-side parking rules in the affected area, from Monday, May 6 to Friday, May 10, to help ease any parking difficulties that may result from the deliveries.

The construction of the bathrooms were approved by the public and financed by FEMA after Superstorm Sandy destroyed the bathroom facilities previously in place on the beach. City officials say that moving the bathrooms now would cost an additional $2 million that they are not willing to spend.

Source: @NYCFireWire via @evgrieve via the Village Voice

A fire broke out at Nathan’s Famous on Coney Island (1310 Surf Avenue) over the weekend, according to a report by the Village Voice.

The famous hot dog mecca  is still undergoing construction after the damage it took resulting from Superstorm Sandy. The fire broke out on the roof  this past Saturday due to that ongoing reconstruction effort.

The fire was put out by the FDNY in less than 20 minutes and no one was hurt. Nathan’s is still expected to reopen for summer business.