SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The Nostrand Avenue building where Sergeny Mamontov chopped up his roommate, Aleksandr Zilbergleyt. Source: Google Maps

Sergey Mamontov, the 50-year-old lunatic who brutally butchered his 55-year-old roommate Aleksandr Zilbergleyt received a 25 years to life sentence on Monday.

The New York Daily News reported that Mamontov’s case horrified jurors and the prosecution, especially when he took the stand and explained in graphic detail how he disposed of Zilbergleyt’s body by cutting it up into thousands of pieces, throwing his fingers into Sheepshead Bay and running his brain through a meat grinder.

Melissa Carvajal, a prosecutor in the case described the crime as so “horrendous, horrific, gruesome” that Zilbergleyt’s family “couldn’t attend the trial because they simply couldn’t hear the details.”

Photo by Bart Ettinger.

Advance Auto Parts – “a leader in the automotive aftermarket” – is coming to 3720 Nostrand Avenue, the location of the shuttered R & S Strauss Discount Auto.

The storefront has been empty since last June, when Strauss declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and shuttered all stores overnight – a story that Sheepshead Bites was the first to report nationally. More than 700 were left without a job, and patrons of the two local stores – here and at 2570 Coney Island Avenue – were puzzled to find the buildings locked.

The Coney Island Avenue location is slated to become a seafood restaurant operated by the owners of Chateau De Alik (1223 Avenue U).

Advance Auto Parts is a Fortune 500 company with more than 3,500 stores nationwide, the nearest being in East New York. They are based in Roanoke, Virginia.

Kings Bay Y teens light candles in honor of the Holocaust’s victims. (Photo by Erica Sherman)

Approximately 100 community leaders, clergy, neighbors and Holocaust survivors gathered on Sunday, April 14, for the Annual Holocaust Commemoration Program held at the Kings Bay YM-YWHA, located at 3495 Nostrand Avenue.

The annual event, which organizers describe as “solemn yet uplifting,” honors the memory of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust and to rally around the notion of “Never Again.”

Rabbi Melvin I. Burg of the Ocean Avenue Jewish Center led a touching presentation recognizing Jewish heroes from the tragic event. The event also included a candle-lighting ceremony and special performances by the Kings Bay Y Tween Knafayim and the Madison Jewish Center Junior Choir.

View photos from the touching event.

Construction crews were on Emmons Avenue and Nostrand Avenue today, beginning the installation process of sidewalk bulbs – or bulges that stick out into the parking lane – and payment machines. The work is being done to prepare the B44 route for Select Bus Service (SBS), which features off-board fare collection at nearby payment machines, and dedicated bus lanes on certain parts of the strip.

Community Board 15 has expressed opposition to SBS along Nostrand Avenue, saying that the parking spaces it will cause to be eliminated are more valuable than the few minutes the MTA says riders will save over current B44 service.

A contractor on-scene said work at each stop takes just a couple of days. They will be working their way up the line over the next few weeks.

Elected officials and library administrators gathered at the Kings Bay branch of the Brooklyn Public Library last Friday to celebrate the launch of a new laptop loaner program.

The program kicked off in Brooklyn Public Library branches in Kings Bay (3650 Nostrand Avenue) and Kings Highway (2215 Ocean Avenue), where 18 brand new laptops and charging carts are now available thanks to $50,000 in funding allocated by Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein.

“Whether you’re a student using the internet as a research aid or a senior citizen wanting to know your rights, this program will have a positive impact on all library patrons,” said Weinstein in a press release.

The laptops will help busy branches like Kings Bay by allowing people to use the laptops for two hours anywhere in the building – a departure from the policy for current desktop computers, which can only be used for 30 minutes.

Now… we’re on our way over to make sure every browser’s homepage is set to Sheepshead Bites.

Photo by Joe Comperiati

 Nearly 2,000 kids and their caretakers swarmed the Kings Bay YM-YWHA (3495 Nostrand Avenue) on Sunday, celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim with costumes and other revelry.

According to the organizers, the annual Purim Carnival is the largest Purim celebration in the area, and this year’s appeared to have an even better turnout that years prior.

Kids of all ages gathered to sing, dance and celebrate the holiday, which commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the ancient Persian empire. To kids, it’s primarily known as “Jewish Halloween,” when revelers of all ages don masks and costumes, attend parties, and treat themselves to sweets.

The party also featured rides, sand art, face painting and Purim-themed arts and crafts, pairs with free hamentashen cookies and entertainment. It was attended by Manhattan borough president and candidate for the comptroller’s office, Scott Stringer, along with Assemblyman Alan Maisel and Councilman Lew Fidler.

Check out the photos after the jump.

MTA New York City Transit employees load subway cars onto flatbed trucks for transportation to the Rockaway Peninsula. Source: MTAPhotos / Flickr

THE COMMUTE: In Part 1, I discussed the various Select Bus Service corridors presently in operation and how their success or lack thereof has not been adequately measured. In Part 2, I mentioned one corridor — Flatlands Avenue / Avenue P — that has not been selected where I believe there is significant potential for it to work well. I also discussed other corridors where it will just be a poor substitute for needed rail lines.

This is not a series against SBS. It works on Fordham Road, may work on Hylan Boulevard after it is fully implemented, and would work, if implemented where it is needed, on Flatlands Avenue. In Manhattan, the reaction has been mixed. It will not work well when not implemented in conjunction with necessary local bus reroutings. In the Nostrand Avenue corridor, the B44 SBS will result in a glut of unnecessary bus service on Rogers Avenue.

Continue Reading »

Yoseph Robinson, Source: haaretz.com via facebook

Councilmember Jumaane Williams wants to honor the tragically slain Yoseph Robinson, a former hip-hop artist turned Orthodox Jew, by renaming the corner of Nostrand Avenue and Avenue J in his honor, according to a press release.

Robinson, who was murdered on August 19, 2010, while working as a liquor store clerk in Midwood, left behind an inspirational story and thousands of mourners across Brooklyn. Council Member Williams reflected on Robinson’s legacy and the pain left in his tragic death:

“Yoseph Robinson was a true role model for the Caribbean and Jewish communities of Flatbush,” said Williams. “I live just a stone’s throw from where Yoseph worked and ultimately lost his life, and I can speak to the impact his loss has had on this tight-knit neighborhood … Now, we must take the next step to memorialize his legacy for future generations.”

Robinson’s remarkable journey from Spanish Town, Jamaica, to Midwood, Brooklyn, was set on a rocky road. As a teenager, Robinson was a budding hip-hop artist caught up in criminal activity like drug dealing. Looking to reform his life, he converted to Orthodox Judaism at age 23. Never giving up music, he began to mix Torah passages into his lyrics while making a living working as a clerk at MB Vineyards located at 2388 Nostrand Avenue.

While trying to protect his girlfriend, Robinson was gunned down by Eion Klass as Klass tried to take her jewelry. Klass was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison.

“Yoseph’s life bridged the cultures of our neighborhood and showed us all the individual capacity to rebuild one’s life and restore one’s potential,” said Williams.

To join those wishing to rename the corner of Nostrand Avenue and Avenue J in Robinson’s honor, you can visit MB Vineyards and sign the petition there. According to the press release, several notable rabbis and civic leaders have already pledged their support for the commemoration.

Democracy was in action at Sheepshead Bites’ Transit Town Hall last year, where the B4 and SBS were discussed. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen every day. (Photo by Erica Sherman)

THE COMMUTE: In Part 1, I discussed what is wrong with Select Bus Service (SBS). Other than the case of Merrick Boulevard in Queens where it was defeated, SBS is being forced down our throats, whether we want it or not. As I stated last week, SBS has its place as part of a total transportation strategy, which includes the construction of new rapid transit lines and restructuring the bus system to make it more effective, neither of which the MTA is doing.

Restoring a few bus lines, adding a few new ones, and creating some SBS corridors is not a transportation strategy for future generations, nor does the overly expensive and prolonged construction of East Side Access and Fulton Transit Center — which will benefit a very small percentage of city residents and even fewer Brooklynites — encompass all needs. The MTA has stated in the past that until those projects and the Second Avenue Subway are completed, there will be no other major mass transit capital expenditures for system expansion. In other words, no new mass transit lines anywhere.

Continue Reading »

Source: tracktwentynine / Flickr

THE COMMUTE: Last week, I mentioned how the benefits of Select Bus Service (SBS) have been exaggerated and the disadvantages minimized, and how the MTA continues to push forward with additional proposed routes without performing proper evaluations of existing routes. I have also written several times about why the Nostrand Avenue corridor is the wrong choice for SBS. The issue goes much deeper than just the removal of a few parking spaces. That is not the reason I oppose it. SBS, or Bus Rapid Transit as it is called elsewhere, has its place as part of a coordinated transportation policy. However, in New York, we have no such policy. SBS is mostly being used as a substitute for not constructing new subway lines or reactivating existing rights of way. In this first part of a three-part series, I discuss SBS in greater detail.

Continue Reading »