She’s no traitor, and her only aim is to serve the community.
That was the message Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo gave in a heated statement to the Manhattan Beach Community Group at the civic’s meeting on Wednesday night.
“I represent the community,” Scavo said in an interview the next day. “I don’t represent the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association or the Manhattan Beach Community Group. Just Manhattan Beach, not either group.”
Scavo said she was responding to insinuations within the community that she was playing politics with the neighborhood’s fractious civic associations, which have been feuding for nearly three years.
The Manhattan Beach Community Group is having its “end of summer” meeting tomorrow night. It should be no surprise to anyone that the meeting agenda is dominated by traffic issues, since the summer was marked by another fatal accident. The issue of the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association may also come before the board, after that group claimed to have advanced its agenda further than the MBCG, following a meeting with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. In an MBCG statement earlier this month, the group said many of the plans forwarded by the MBNA originated with the MBCG traffic committee.
Sheepshead Bites may not be able to make it to this meeting, and we’re looking for someone to record it for us. We can meet you beforehand to lend you a tripod and Flipcam – a one-button operated, cell phone-sized camera. If you’re going, please get in touch with us. Thank you!
The meeting will be at 8:00 p.m. in the auditorium of P.S. 195 (131 Irwin Street).
In the wake of a Sheepshead Bites report last week detailing a rival group’s verbal bashing, the Manhattan Beach Community Group has issued a statement calling the claims “blatantly untrue, a cold lie.”
MBCG Traffic Committee Chair Judy Baron wrote the letter published on the group’s website on Sunday, taking aim at statements made by Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association President Alan Ditchek during an August 2 meeting. Ditchek was discussing progress made during a meeting with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in implementing traffic safety proposals, when he unleashed a tirade against MBCG, saying the group was busy “patting themselves on the back” instead of getting things done.
“Last week was not the first time that their President has ‘bashed’ us and it probably won’t be the last,” Baron wrote in a preamble to her letter. “We are flattered that the MBNA would take our traffic ideas/projects as their own. Because what’s important is getting the job done, not getting the credit.”
The Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association revealed a laundry list of traffic safety proposals at their meeting last night, and lambasted their rival community group’s efforts for “patting themselves on the back.”
Executive members of MBNA and Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo met with representatives of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s office on Thursday, July 29, to present their ideas. According to the group, the advocate’s office gave a warm reception to the suggestion and is now issuing letters to relevant agencies to spur action.
“I’ve got to say the Public Advocate’s representatives were extremely attentive,” said Scavo. “They questioned why DOT, why Parks, why [there hasn't been] reception from these various agencies.”
MBNA President Alan Ditchek is optimistic about the plan.
“[These are] very good ideas and certainly will go a long way to rectifying the situation in Manhattan Beach that’s happened here over the last few years,” said Ditchek. “I think we’ve got a very good list compiled and if we implement just some of these things we will certainly see safer streets.”
It has been brought to our attention that a resident of Manhattan Beach received a telephone call on Thursday, July 22, from a company informing the resident that there is drinking water contamination in the area and that this company has been subcontracted out to do tests in his home.
The Environmental Committee of the Manhattan Beach Community Group (MBCG) has been in touch with the Department of Environmental Protection of the City of New York (DEP) and as of Friday, July 23, 2010, we were informed that DEP has no knowledge of any water contamination in Manhattan Beach.
We caution residents to be vigilant when they receive calls of this nature. Please use common sense with any stranger calling or ringing your bell. Feel free to contact us and we will gladly research any question you have.
Since the MBCG posted this on July 24, the group has received more calls from residents targeted by this scammer. Do not let strangers into your home or give them personal information!
Get information on code enforcement, property tax exemptions, foreclosure prevention, building permits, low-interest home repair loans and more on Thursday, July 22nd, 6:00 p.m. at Kingsborough Community College, Building U, Room 220. It will run until 7:30 p.m. [UPDATED]
This meeting is hosted by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development located at 100 Gold Street, Room 6E4, New York City 10038.
Correction: An earlier version of this post indicated the event would start at 7:30 p.m.. It will begin at 6:00 p.m. and run until 7:30 p.m. Our apologies for any confusion.
MBCG says Shore Blvd and Exeter is more dangerous, as pedestrians leave the footbridge and the road's curve limits visibility.
Spurred on by an accident that left one dead and one arrested, the Manhattan Beach Community Group has come up with a list of short- and long-term objectives to make Shore Boulevard safer, particularly around Exeter Street where the road curves and the pedestrian bridge sits.
“Newly paved Shore Blvd. has become faster and more dangerous at the curve of the road between Exeter and Dover Streets,” the group’s president, Ira Zalcman, wrote on the website. “Last spring a car lost control at this very spot and hit a tree, park bench and 2 cars. Two nights ago there was a fatality a block away.”
Below is the group’s to-do list:
Move Shore Parkway traffic light from Ocean Avenue to Exeter Street, where pedestrian traffic exits the bridge and the road begins to curve, limiting visibility.
More police enforcement on summer nights, when the beach empties.
A lit highway sign should be placed temporarily on Shore Parkway between Coleridge Street and Beaumont Street, saying, “Fatality occurred here – Slow down.”
Decoy a parked scooter or police car near the bridge.
The following article was originally published on the Manhattan Beach Community Group website and is written by the group’s president, Ira Zalcman. He was on the scene of the accident just moments after it happened, and spoke to many witnesses. Zalcman and MBCG have been fighting for speed and traffic enforcement along Oriental and Shore boulevards for years. His outrage, though muted, is palpable and understandable.
Last night, a warm humid summer night, Brian Waldman, age 52 years, parked his car next to the Bay between Coleridge and Beaumont Streets in Manhattan Beach. He parked legally on the north side a little past where the newly paved road curves several blocks before the closest traffic light. If he would have combed his hair, blown his nose, looked for some unimportant item in his glove box, he might be alive today. Instead, he did something you and I have done many times without giving much thought to. He opened his car door on a wide street, stepped out.
What Brian Waldman didn’t know was that 23 year old Anthony Garcia and his friends had stayed on the beach until the last closing moment. Garcia then drove a car he didn’t own with his suspended license. Feeling good from a day at the beach he exited the parking lot and drove down Irwin Street past two rows of houses. He drove by PS 195 and made a left turn onto Shore Blvd. Heading home via Ocean Avenue which would take him to his home on Sterling Street in Crown Heights, he knew Shore Blvd. was his last stretch of open road. Witnesses walking on the wooden bridge said that they could “hear” him speeding.
Anthony Garcia was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, as well as for driving with a suspended license, after being picked up by police early this morning.
Garcia struck 52-year-old Brian Waldman around 9:30 p.m. yesterday while Waldman was leaving his car. The victim died in route to Coney Island Hospital.
The car that him had several occupants and was going westward and stopped a block away from the impact. Debris could be seen for most of that block.
The car door that was hit looked like it was shredded. Glass was strewn like confetti. Witnesses said the car that caused the accident was speeding. When this writer left the scene of the accident NYC Highway Police were beginning to do their measurements.
Update [10:45 p.m.]: The victim was a 52-year-old Sheepshead Bay resident. The alleged driver has been brought to the station for question, but she reportedly denies being behind the wheel of the car. She said another man was driving and fled the scene.
A man was struck by a car on Shore Boulevard within the past hour possibly leading to his death, according to a source at the scene.
Manhattan Beach Community Group President Ira Zalcman contacted us with some preliminary information. He said a 52-year-old man, approximately 40 years old,got out of his vehicle after parking on the water side of Shore Boulevard, between Coleridge Street and Beaumont Street. While his door was still open, he and his car were struck by a westbound vehicle with about four people inside.
Zalcman described the damage to the victim’s door as “incredible,” adding that witnesses of the accident are shocked and said the driver was speeding.
Police have taped off the entire boulevard for two blocks. Zalcman said police on the scene are being tight-lipped, but from the way they’re handling it, the accident was likely fatal and the accident was fatal. An officer told him that a Highway Patrol Unit was on its way to take measurements, indicating that it’s being treated as a crime scene.
We’ll bring you more information as it becomes available.
