SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

“This is the Kings Highway surfboard,” says Chris, 21 with a laugh.

We’re stuck waiting for the Q Train late one evening. A police investigation on Ave M halted train service for over half an hour. Snapping photos of Chris, his friends and their skateboards equipped with all-terrain tires was a good distraction.

The mountainboard is pretty cool, actually. It’s got a skateboard deck with snowboard bindings.

Mountainboarding is a cross between snowboarding and skateboarding, with some BMX elements thrown in the mix. It was originally started to keep riding mountain slopes after the winter season ended, and has since developed into it’s own extreme sport. Riders can mountainboard anywhere from skateparks to hillsides and streets.

It’s not a new sport, according to Chris, it just isn’t well-known yet.

Chris lives on Kings Highway and East 16th Street and rides mostly in Prospect Park and other places with hills. He also spends a lot of time at various Occupy events, riding with friends there.

“I like riding around here, too. Everyone stares at me. This is the perfect New York City board, it handles anything. I’d love to see the sport go bigger here.”

That night, Chris and his friends were headed to check out a new spot for riding, somewhere in Bronx. Chris rode the board briefly on the station platform.

“Yeah, we need to go off-road,” he said before the train finally pulled in.

Commuters who drive to the Gravesend Neck Road subway station before hopping on a train to the city were surprised last week when, according to a reader, the Department of Transportation installed Muni-Meters nearby, eliminating approximately six free parking spots.

Our tipster, Auxil B., writes:

Muni Meter mania is sweeping the Bay, as you previosuly reported. What you may not know is that [on the morning of June 15] DoT gobbled up a half dozen formerly free spaces on the north side of Gravesend Neck Road bet e.15 and e 16 street and have Muni-ized them. I wonder if that is legal and does our City Councilman or CB 15 know that? This makes it even harder to find all day commuter parking at Neck Road.

Well, sure, it’s legal. But does Community Board 15 get notified when new metered spaces are installed?

“No, no, no. DOT does not inform the Board about upcoming work,” Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo told Sheepshead Bites. “The installation of muni-meters is done and I find out when you find out. The Board has no say.”

If DOT is eliminating free parking spaces on Gravesend Neck Road, where else are they doing it?

We asked them just that question, as well as an explanation for why.

They sent no response.

Do you know of any other parking spots in our coverage area that were previously free but became metered when Muni-Meters were installed? Let us know in the comments!

Steiner (Source: brandonsteiner.com)

Daily News’ source for all things Brooklyn, Denis Hamill, has got a heartwarming Father’s Day tale for all of us to learn a little kindnessfrom.

A Native American teenager, who never knew his biological father, celebrated Father’s Day with his surrogate father from Gravesend, who helped transform the quality of the teenager’s life over the past two years.

Eighteen-year-old Keith Martinez grew up on a poor and corrupt Indian reservation in South Dakota, where he lived with seven other boys in a cardboard trailer. He was sent to Scarsdale to live with Brandon Steiner after he was chosen to participate in his school’s STEP program, or Student Transfer Education Program.

Steiner was raised in Brooklyn, and grew up living on the corner of Ocean Parkway and Kings Highway. He is a noted sports collectibles expert.

From the moment Martinez arrived at the doorstep of Steiner’s home two years ago, Steiner has worked to assist Martinez in every way possible. When he learned that Martinez was struggling academically, Steiner hired private tutors. Steiner forced Martinez to focus on his education before other extracurricular activities, such as football. He also took him to various places in the city, such as Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, to teach him about life.

Steiner definitely placed Martinez on the road to success. Martinez graduated from Scarsdale High School with a high SAT score and a 3.72 GPA, according to the Daily News. He received 14 college scholarships to several colleges, some of which were extremely prestigious and selective. Martinez, who feels forever indebted to Steiner, expressed his appreciation by celebrating father’s day with Steiner in Manhattan.

“I was raised by a stepfather, but Brandon has become like another father to me,” Martinez said to the Daily News. “So I will tell him that I’ll always appreciate everything he’s done for me. On the reservation, we support ourselves running a concession stand, selling soda and candy. Now I’ll major in business and marketing at Villanova University, and someday go back to Pine Ridge to build a great company that can provide jobs and services for my people. That’s my dream. And one thing that Brandon has taught me is that dreams can come true.”

Things only ever get weirder around here.

The man nabbed after attempting to rob Apple Bank for Savings at 1321 Kings Highway on Wednesday was a world record holder for his ability to rapidly chomp down on glass lightbulbs. With talent like that, we’ve got to wonder what he ever needed the money for.

Oh, and he also robbed or attempted to rob at least 10 other banks.

The New York Post reports:

R.J. Williams, 22, who holds the world record for wolfing down a light bulb in a stomach-destroying 33 seconds, was busted yesterday after a failed bank robbery attempt in Brooklyn, cops said.

Williams, who lives on the Upper West Side, allegedly scored nearly $14,000 after knocking off seven branches in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

He was nabbed when he fled an Apple Bank yesterday in Midwood. Williams had begun to write a note to a teller on a deposit slip at one of the counters when employees started staring at him, police said, because he previously tried to rob the bank on Friday.

He left and bank staffers hit the silent alarm and dialed 911, then two employees followed Williams to the corner of 13th Street where Williams ducked into a doorway and started changing his clothes, police said.

Williams was wearing a blue jacket with a cream strip going down the arms and cream colored baseball hat.

… Eventually police brought the bank teller out to positively identify him.

The teller easily recognized Williams by his Elvis-esque sideburns.

“That’s him, 100 percent,” the teller told cops.

Inside Williams pocket was a pre-written demand note, police said.

He allegedly confessed to 11 capers. His spree began April 23, when he scored a paltry $268 from the HSBC bank in Sheepshead Bay, sources said.

You can see Williams win the world record in the video above.

Source: Google Maps

An armed robber attempted to stick up the Apple Bank for Savings at 1321 Kings Highway this morning, but was caught by police after trying to make his getaway.

The incident occurred shortly after 10:00 a.m., according to a scanner report.

NYPD was on the scene, and advised that the perp is in custody, caught at East 9th Street and Avenue P.

It’s unclear at this time what the suspect was armed with or if he left the bank with any money.

It’s the second time in five days that Apple Bank was the scene of a robbery. On Friday, a perp entered the bank at 2:15 p.m. and passed the teller a note demanding money. The perp left with cash, then hit two more banks on Kings Highway. Police are still searching for that suspect.

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.

Reader Randy Contello tipped us off after he noticed several bases of muni-meter parking spots installed last week on Avenue U from East 16th Street to East 21st Street.

Now, the muni-meters are fully installed and running.

The new meters are part of the Department of Transportation’s plan of replacing all single-space meters throughout the city with the muni-meters.

The installation work for our area includes the following locations:

• Avenue U from Ocean Parkway to Gerritsen Avenue
• Coney Island Avenue from Avenue Z to Hutchinson Court
• Nostrand Avenue from Avenue U to Kings Highway
• Sections of East 12th to East 29th Streets, Haring Street, Desmond Court, Dunne Court, Avenue Z, and Gravesend Neck Road

The work is set to be completed in December.

The DOT states that, “Muni-meters have several advantages over single-space parking meters, include the convenience of a pay-and-display system, the reduction of unnecessary sidewalk encumbrances, and additional capacity for parked cars in the same curb space.” Whether or not this helps or hurts businesses is debatable.

“Yay for hell coming to the area with the start of muni-meters,” says Contello.

Recently, local pols introduced a bill that would enabled muni-meter parking have payment roll-over ability. No word yet on the bill’s passing.

UPDATE (5:37 p.m.): Randy informs us that it’s only the north side of Avenue U that currently has operating muni-meters. The south side has spray-painted marks indicating the locations for installation. Fill us in and let us know about progress at the other locations listed above!

Capital One Bank at 1226 Kings Highway (Source: Google Maps)

Three banks along Kings Highway were robbed in a matter of 30 minutes on Friday by one speedy thief.

The crime wave started at about 2:15 p.m., when the male robber entered Apple Bank at 1321 Kings Highway. He handed the teller a note and left with cash.

The robber did not display a weapon, according to police.

Then, about 15 minutes later, he walked into the Capital One Bank at 1226 Kings Highway and gave the teller there another note. This time, though, he left without any money.

The third and final of the robberies occurred at about 2:40 p.m., when the suspect entered an HSBC Bank at 1621 Kings Highway. Again, a note was given to a bank teller who gave the man some money.

The robber was described by witnesses as Hispanic, around 5-foot-7, and about 150 pounds. He was said to have been wearing black pants, a red baseball hat and a red shirt.

Currently, the police do not know how much money the robber got away with.

“It’s very unusual for a guy to do three banks in a row, that close together, and to stay in the same area. He’s looking for a score, there’s no doubt about that. And he’s nonsectarian about which bank he goes to,” said Thomas McKenna, a retired New York first-grade detective according to the New York Times.

If you have any information about this crime, including the identity of the suspect, please contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.

A reader just called in to tell us about an accident on Kings Highway and Coney Island Avenue, in which a man was struck by a truck and pinned underneath it.

Gothamist’s news map confirms that there is an incident there, stating:

BROOKLYN: *PEDESTRIAN STRUCK* CONEY ISLAND AVE & KINGS HWY. PED STRUCK BY A TRUCK, EMS O/S REQ ALS ON A RUSH (c) [MNS225]
Island Ave & Kings Hwy
Brooklyn, NY
5/21/2012 3:51 p.m.

That is all the information we have at this time. We’re heading to the scene now.

UPDATE (4:43 p.m.): The victim has been transported to Lutheran Hospital. The person’s condition is unknown, but an employee of the Chase on the corner said that after being struck, the victim stayed on the ground, immobile. The employee didn’t see the accident, only the aftermath, which she said included the presence of numerous emergency response vehicles. Traffic control officers were also posted on the scene.

By the time we showed up, there was little sign of an accident other than the truck (above) pulled to the side, an NYPD patrol car, and several sets of rubber gloves on the floor, presumably used by EMS workers before we arrived.

Correction (5:22 p.m.): The headline and first update, time-stamped 4:43 p.m., indicated that the victim is male. This was accidental. The gender of the victim is not known to Sheepshead Bites, though a reader on Facebook said the victim was female. This is unconfirmed, and we apologize for any confusion.

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.

Organic Forever at 938 Kings Highway has closed after a short stint in the neighborhood.

One local said that organic foods pricing is just too high for the area because local grocers offer steep competition.

Readers, do you prefer organic or a bargain when you shop for your grocery items?

Krausz at 718 Kings Highway is like a store from another time. It sold mostly women’s clothing, but other dry goods occasionally made their way onto the shelves as well.

Sad to see you go, Krausz.