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.
Just one of the homes that participated in May's block-long yard sale
A resident of Oxford Street sent me the following note. It’s the second block-long garage sale they’ve organized this year, the first being in May:
After a hot and humid summer with the 90 to 100 degree weather, some residents of Oxford Street and Pembroke Street in Manhattan Beach are planning to have another garage sale on Saturday, August 28th. The event will run from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with rain date the following day (Sunday, August 29th).
This is a perfect opportunity to clean house, mingle with your neighbors before the summer begins to wind down and turn some of your “excess baggage (and don’t we all have at least some of that?)” into a few useful dollars. So get your things together and put a table or two in front of your house on August 28th.
Looking forward to your participation!
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).
I know, I know – I did a postcard yesterday. They don’t really come in that often, but when they do I try to get them up right away before they disappear into Internet limbo.
No date is given on the card by the eBay seller. However, there is this entirely useless description that I find amusing: “We specialize in BETTER cards from all five boroughs of NYC consisting of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, The Bronx and those Long Island communities that constitute Queens County.” (emphasis added)
Yeah, screw Queens.
A similar angle of the beach is given in this 1903 photograph, which we first showed you in the article about Manhattan Beach’s history with fireworks (and is original from a Daily News profile). You can see just how nitty-gritty that purty building in the background of the postcard actually looked.
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!
This was originally to be a “Postcard” piece, as the image above comes from an eBay auction. But further research revealed a fascinating part of Manhattan Beach history, dating back too far to fit even in the “Remember When” series.
From the Harper’s Weekly archive, the wood engraving above is not some illustration of a far off land beset by flame and destruction. Instead it’s a fireworks display, put on in 1885 in Manhattan Beach.
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.
