SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The granddaddy of Brooklyn advertising circulars, Newsday’s Marketeer, has folded after more than 20 years, depriving tens of thousands of coupon clippers of local business bargains.

For me, the loss is personal.

Before Marketeer was purchased by Newsday in the late 90s, I was a columnist. It was my first writing gig, and I was all of 13 years old. I wrote a kid’s column for about half a year, part of the paper’s effort to expand offerings by adding value for parents. Without much guidance, a school buddy and I wrote weekly columns about video games, toys, local shops, et cetera.

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In the 18th Century, Samuel Johnson said, “If you are idle, be not solitary” – and with those words, as if by magic, the New York State Senate was established; and a whole lot of otherwise idle men were grouped together, to be idle, but not solitary.

With the state facing a $3.2 billion budget gap, little has been accomplished except a continuous ticking-off-the-list of things we can’t do to fix the budget. Why can’t we do them? It’s this senator’s pet project, or that senator’s constituency (or, perhaps, campaign contributor). Meanwhile, New York State is just days away from declaring bankruptcy.

And who’s leading the shenanigans? Sheepshead Bay State Senator Carl Kruger. Continue Reading »

There were no surprises in the local City Council races, as incumbents Lew Fidler (46th District) and Michael C. Nelson (48th District) bested their opposition in this year’s races by a wide margin.

Fidler picked up 79.23 percent of the vote (17,101), leaving Republican opponent Gene Berardelli with 19.46 percent, or 4,201 votes. Libertarian candidate Derek Sacerdote took the remaining 1.31 percent (282). Nelson’s lead was larger, with 89.83 percent (12,528), versus Conservative candidate Stephen Walters, who collected 10.17 percent (1418).

As readers of Sheepshead Bites know, the race for the 46th District was spirited, with often heated back-and-forths between Berardelli and Fidler on this site (here and here), culminating in a taped debate. At issue were term limits, discretionary funding, and negative campaign tactics.

In the end, Fidler attributed his win to running a positive campaign, telling Yournabe.com “negative campaigning isn’t tolerated” in the 46th district, a dig at Berardelli’s website, TheFidler.com.

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On an editorial note, this hardly passes as news, as Democratic candidates are almost never ousted in Brooklyn. Just take a glance at Yournabe.com’s front page, and you’ll see headlines – probably written days before – like this: “DeBlasio wins in landslide…”, “Gentile has easy win…”, “Williams coasts to victory…”, and so on.

Such headlines are so predictable, even before campaign season starts, that it’s ingrained into the mind of every voter, candidate, and reporter from the outset. So when Fidler attributes his win to the other side’s negative campaigning, we have to wonder if it has more to do with self-fulfilling prophesy.

This year was the first time I’ve ever reported on campaigns. And as I followed the fights, it became obvious to me that I was the only one that did. Except for token articles about scandalous claims – like the “anti-semitism” debacle – even the local media didn’t bother reporting the opposition. And for that, we all suffer.

Brooklyn needs real elections to fix its problems, and for that, it needs more media covering the opponents. I’m not saying the Democrats need to be voted out, but elections – especially City Council elections – are a time for discussion about a community’s future. When the opposition isn’t taken seriously, the people are deprived of that discussion, and the incumbent slips by with little accountability.

During various times in our reporting, Fidler intoned – though never said – that Sheepshead Bites’ coverage was biased towards Berardelli. I think Fidler would’ve considered biased any coverage of Berardelli that didn’t lampoon him. And I don’t blame him, candidates in Brooklyn are not used to seeing their general election opponents taken seriously, so any attempt to is cast in a light of suspicion.

That needs to change. Not to the detriment of Fidler or other incumbents, but to the benefit of us all. Courier-Life editor Ken Brown told one caller who asked about more coverage for the opposition, “Republicans aren’t newsworthy.” That needs to change. When anyone – civic group, blog, or business – holds a debate between all the candidates and it doesn’t get a lick of coverage, that needs to change.

Sheepshead Bites was proud of our part in reporting on the 46th District campaign. We wish we had the resources to have covered the 48th District – and others – better. And we’re also proud that a councilman like Lew Fidler, who believes in communicating with his constituents and engaging his opponents, represents an area we cover.

But our pride is tempered by the realization of a failure of an entire industry to even partially fulfill its raison d’etre. News media exists to inform the public. This elections proved to me just how cataclysmically they fail at that. And they wonder why their future looks as grey as the paper they print on.

(Image courtesy of dermRounds via Flickr)

When news broke last week that the Sheepshead Bay United Artists movie theater (3907 Shore Parkway) is suffering a bed bug infestation, everyone was aghast. Cue the fearmongering videos, complete with stock footage of the scurrying suckers, on myFOX New York. From there it hit the blogs over at Gothamist, then the Tweets of Terror spun into overdrive on Twitter, and Facebook friends began swearing off movies like it was, well, the plague. As it turns out, the UA was never closed, news reports were based on rumors, and follow-up reveals that it’s likely false.

Over at Sheepshead Bites, while the media had their fun we just gnashed our teeth and grumbled. You see, we heard rumors about bed bugs at Sheepshead Bay Multiplex more than a month ago. But we couldn’t confirm it: no witnesses or victims, no employees saying anything of the sort, nothing but a brief denial over the phone by management. So we weren’t quite ballsy enough to publish a story that would inevitably hurt business at Sheepshead Bay’s largest attraction without a shred of evidence.

Not so with the mainstream news. Read carefully and you’ll see the news reports were based on a single anonymous, unverified claim to the Department of Health, with no violations issued. While we were working up contacts within the UA, News 12 and FOX jumped on the mere whisper of a scandal and began plugging away, even reporting at one point that the movie theater had closed down. (Interestingly, News 12’s report appeared one morning several days before FOX’s. It promptly disappeared around noon, and was never posted on the website. Maybe they realized their folly?)

Well, we finally got to our contact, a senior employee at the theater, and here’s what he had to say:

About a month and a half ago, we had a couple patrons who came to our theater and left with bites. It was technically in only two theaters. The first person, we had no clue what it was, so we thought she was just bit on the arm by a mosquito because it wasn’t severe. To this day we still don’t think it was bed bugs because after checking that auditorium with dogs and Ecolab, they found nothing but cleaned it anyway. Then about a few days later, another patron came out of one of the other theaters with bites on the neck. She showed us the seat and being that it was the last show, Ecolab came and started their treatment in that row. We haven’t had a complaint since.

Remember, it was around this time that news reporters were working themselves into a frenzy about a bed bug infestation over at John Jay college, where buildings had been shut down. Bed bugs, clearly, where on the public’s consciousness, and just as every runny nose these days rings of H1N1 Swine Flu, every bug bite victim suspected bed bugs.

In reality, if the UA had bed bugs, it’s a perfect nesting ground to spark a pandemic. Complaints would roll in by the dozen. Yet, as the senior employee notes, this all occurred as the film Law Abiding Citizen came out, and every auditorium was packed. The result?

“Not one complaint. So did we have them? We aren’t sure but they still treat those theaters just in case,” said the employee.

So the media clearly bungled this one for sensationalism’s sake. But who pays for their sins? Sheepshead Bay’s largest business. According to the UA employee, the theater saw lower sales as a result, and a lot of confusion over whether they had been shut down by the Health Department.

“In the 8 years I’ve been there, not once were we ever closed. There was no need for alarm because nothing was really ever found,” he said. “The news messed with business since everyone thought we were closed. We had dozens of calls asking us if we were open. Horrible news reporting on FOX’s and News 12’s part.”

That’s the real story, but do you think we’ll ever see a retraction from FOX or News 12? Not likely. And the tweets, status updates, and forum posts continue to spread the myth.

The New York Post is well-known for its horrific headlines, laden with puns and general outrageousness. So it’s almost no surprise to see the repulsively titled “Battle is Hebrewing” (HeBrewing – Get it? Because they’re Jews!) story amongst its pages. And, knowing it’s the Post, we’ll probably all shake our heads and sigh. We’ll mutter, “Oh, that Post,” like it’s a dim-witted nephew who can’t stop drooling while publicly fondling himself. And then we’ll move on.

This is going to be one of those times, because – believe it or not – there was actually an important story under that bullshit. I think my opinion on the Post is clear (that they’re talentless hacks ridden with double-standards and catering to the lowest common denominator), now to get to the story:

The Hebrew Language Academy Charter School, which recently announced its new digs below a yeshiva, has sparked yet another controversy – this time involving a synagogue that they’ll replace as tenants.

Even the High Holidays have done little to quell an escalating holy war (Ed.-Holy war! Get it? Because they’re Jews!) between a rabbi and a new Hebrew charter school in Brooklyn.

The battle pits the city’s first Hebrew-language charter school receiving public funds against Rabbi Moshe Toiv’s Orthodox congregation housed in the same Flatbush facility at 3300 Kings Highway.

The landlord, who already runs a small Jewish high school on the top floor, has ordered the synagogue out to make space for the new and expanding charter school on the first floor.

But the members of Congregation Machzikei Torah have no exodus plans. (Ed.– Exodus! Get it? Because they’re Jews!)

Read more from the NY Post website, which has now been entirely redesigned for an advertiser. Anything to get those dolla’ bills, boys – eh?

Looks like someone doesn’t care for independent media in Sheepshead Bay. We spotted this Bay Currents newspaper bin melted down by the B49 bus stop on Sheepshead Bay Road and East 16th Street. It’s pretty disgusting that some jerk would go and do this, especially to one of the area’s few news outlets not owned by a massive corporation (we’re looking at you, Bay News). After the disappearance of the Bay Currents bin outside of the train station more than a year ago, it appears as if the little newspaper that could has few high trafficked distribution points left. And it really sucks, because these things cost a lot of money – and that’s on top of already high print prices. It’s a time like this we’re glad we’re digital.

Still, one has to admire the resourcefulness of Sheepshead’s residents. Rather than let the bin sit there, a charred blue piece of junk, area commuters have turned the newspaper bin into a much needed trash bin. Let’s hope the Department of Sanitation cleans this mess up.

Apparently, the financially beleaguered developer Stephen S. Jemal is finding creative ways to raise funds after being slapped with a $5.6 million lawsuit: he’s turning around and suing bloggers.

Following GerritsenBeach.net’s investigation revealing the Riviera developer was the target of a civil suit filed by his investors, Jemal responded by having his legal team send a cease-and-desist, and request $20,000 to cover his legal fees. The story isn’t that simple though. Just before receiving the letter, GB.net was hit by a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, which temporarily crippled the server. Apparently, the DoS originated from a party connected to Jemal.
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Stephen S. Jemal, the same developer who received the print version of a hand job from the Daily News just a few weeks ago for his plans to build new waterfront developments in Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach and Mill Basin, is now being sued by the investment companies that provided the money for those developments.

GerritsenBeach.net has uncovered court documents that reveal a civil suit against Stephen and Sharon E Jemal was filed in Texas Northern District Court on July 14. The companies, Gerritsen Beach Investments Ltd and Riviera Investments I Ltd, claim that the Jemals have not paid them back $5,580,000 plus interest.

SB/PB Civic has also followed up on the story by doing some research into the Jemal family, which apparently is no stranger to lawsuits and less-than-virtuous business practices.

I wonder what all this means for the future of the Riviera sites, which the Daily News called “the biggest real estate vision the South Brooklyn waterfront may ever see.”

[via GerritsenBeach.net]
[via SB/PB Civic Association]

(Stephen Jemal assumes the position for a Daily News writer. -Courtesy of Daily News)

Daily News recently published a piece on developer Stephen S. Jemal, “the man who made Nobody Beats the Wiz electronic stores the 13th most recognizable brand in the United States”, and also the guy behind the three Riviera developments in southern Brooklyn. All I’ve got to say is, holy crap – what the hell, Daily News?! The story is so flattering to Jemal and his developments, a full-fledged bow-down we’re-not-worthy ass-kissing, that I really have to wonder if Daily News is priming its real estate pages for some sweet advertising from Jemal’s company, SSJ Development, and its Riviera brand.

First up, there’s this really ridiculous lead: “This is the biggest real estate vision the South Brooklyn waterfront may ever see.” Really? Are we talking about the same waterfront that once was called Brooklyn’s Gold Coast, and saw such massive “visions” realized as the Coney Island Jockey Club, the Sheepshead Bay Speedway, the Manhattan Beach Hotel, the Oriental Hotel – and that’s just in the Bay, not the rest of the South Brooklyn waterfront. Jemal might be doing sizable deals, but he’s no Austin Corbin.

Then there’s the real heart-warming parts of the article – Jemal boating around the coast like some modern day adventurer – or conquistador – and picking out his future prizes; or his efforts to “give back” to the community by simply working within established zoning laws:

“I consider this waterfront cleansing to be community service,” says Jemal, who handled real estate development for the Wiz. “In some of these areas, you can approach from a car and hit a dead end and have no idea water is even there.” [Apparently, driving up to a condo's wall screams 'WATER!' - SB]

When it comes to cost, Jemal thinks he also gives back to the community. His projects in Sheepshead Bay, Mill Basin and Gerritsen Beach, totaling almost 500 units, will be built in the same height scale as the rest of the neighborhood and will be sold for prices he hopes are affordable to the neighborhood’s middle class.

The article goes on to call him a “genius”, to drool over the boat slips, idealize his environmental cleanups, glow about his “passion”, wax poetic on his personal and home life, and so forth. Even the photo seems to say, “Sure, I may look like Skeletor, but don’t you want to reach into my unbuttoned shirt?” This may be assuming too much, but the come-hither, leg up position may have been an invitation, presumably accepted, for the Daily News writer.

Let me pause for a second, before things get really heated. I’m no development naysayer. I have nothing against Jemal. In fact, I know surprisingly little about his work, and from what I read of his plans, they’re not nearly as terrible, destructive or garish as some of the other work going on in the area. My problem here is with the Daily News. To the residents of Brooklyn’s southern coast, development is one of the top issues. It’s not to be taken lightly. But, unfortunately, the press too often serves as the number one cheerleader for the developers.

As for Jemal himself, we already know some of the concerns with his plans. Almost all are still to be resolved, and I wish the Daily News had taken the opportunity to confront the developer about them. But the only criticism in the article itself came from CB15 chairperson Theresa Scavo, whose name they spelled wrong, and whose concerns about site cleanup were dismissed by a quote from the developer. Some extra consideration by the reporter or editor would’ve been nice here.

So, Daily News, why don’t we take off the skirt and pompoms, and please – PLEASE – ask some hard questions of this guy and his ilk.