SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

If you are in need of some pro-bono legal aid for issues resulting from the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, head down to the Kings Bay Y on 3495 Nostrand Avenue today between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

A team of lawyers will be on hand to answer questions and offer advice on unemployment insurance, FEMA, and repairs and any other Superstorm Sandy legal questions you could think of.

The event is being put together by the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, State Senator David Storobin, Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, and the Kings Bay Y.

Appointments can be made over the phone with Lora at (718) 648-7703, ext. 227. Walk-ins are also encouraged. Make sure to come prepared with any and all relevant documents you may have questions on as well.

Source: Matěj Baťha via Wikimedia Commons

Thanksgiving is famous for drunken fights among family members simmering with resentments over failed marriages, political disagreements, or self indulgent slide shows, but rarely is any blood spilled because everyone is usually passed out by 5 p.m. from a combination of tryptophan and red wine. Sadly,  intoxicating turkey chemicals and alcoholism weren’t enough to temper the rage of Angel Rosario, a local Sheepshead Bay man, who stabbed a fellow party guest for being far too noisy, according to a report in the New York Post.

The victim was attending a Thanksgiving party at a mutual friend’s Nostrand Ave apartment and raised Rosario’s ire for being loud. The two had a fight, and when the allegedly noisy victim left, Rosario followed him and stabbed him with a long knife at 1:35 a.m.

The victim was rushed to Lutheran Hospital where he underwent colon and stomach surgery. Rosario was arrested the next day and was charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing and harassment.

From the offices of Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein:

FEMA representatives will be at the Kings Bay Library 3650 Nostrand  Avenue, (between Avenue W & X)  on Friday November 23 from 10am – 2:pm to assist individuals who suffered damages as a result of Sandy. Assemblywoman Helene  Weinstein and Councilman Lew Fidler asked FEMA  to  come  the library to help assist Sheepshead Bay residents who are not able to travel to the other FEMA  Brooklyn sites. This temporary recovery center at the Kings Bay Library, is a  one-stop shop for eligible storm survivors to get help as quickly as possible.

Individuals do not have to visit a Disaster Recovery Center to register with FEMA. Here are some alternatives: They may apply for FEMA assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling the toll-free registration number at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362).  If you have a speech disability or hearing loss and use a TTY, call 1-800-462-7585 directly; if you use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.  Individuals may also register online at: www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by smart phone at m.fema.gov.

Port Sheepshead Marina, nothing but rubble.

Despite more than a week of cleaning, Emmons Avenue’s eastern end, a strip of waterfront condos, bungalows and boating clubs, remains in shambles.

We visited Emmons Avenue’s two waterfront bungalow colonies earlier this week, and, though Hurricane Sandy destroyed several homes and left families for the streets, there had been no visits from FEMA, Red Cross or any examples of the volunteer frenzy other neighborhoods have received.

In the absence of outside help, neighbors banded together to help each other.

Keep reading, and view a photo gallery of the destruction in the bungalow colonies.

The only entrance to Lake Avenue became impassable once water started tumbling down from Emmons Avenue, and debris littered the alleyway.

There is no shortage of heroes that came out of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, but it seems everyone on Lake Avenue agrees that two quick thinking residents of their bungalow colony and a nearby landlord are their first first responders.

The Nostrand Avenue condo building where Lake Avenue residents found refuge from the flood.

One of several Lake Avenue buildings that are now deemed uninhabitable by the Department of Buildings.

When flood waters breached the bulkhead of Sheepshead Bay and engulfed Emmons Avenue, it advanced forward, rushing into the bungalow colony alleys located below street level. With no drainage systems, approximately 60 residents of Lake Avenue – just off Nostrand Avenue and Emmons Avenue – realized their one-story bungalows were about to be submerged.

“All of a sudden the water started pouring into the house. My 94-year-old father and I live in the house together,” said Lake Avenue resident Wendy Mitchell.

That’s when neighbors Missy Haggerty and Peter McCandless rushed out of their homes and began banging on doors, telling people to get out. Some were sleeping or in the middle of eating dinner, and looked up the block to see a waterfall rushing down the steps into the colony’s dead end alley.

“I got out and I’m trying to hold the door open [for my 94-year-old father] and Peter got him out finally,” Mitchell said. “When we first left, the water was up to the knees. By the time we got about five houses down it was under my arms. I’m five-foot-five and it was under my arms.”

Mitchell said she never would have been able to get out of there if it weren’t for Missy and Peter – and the landlord of a nearby building that abuts the alley.

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We just received this generous offer from Howard, owner of Klearview Appliance at 3707 Nostrand Avenue:

In order to help those affected by the recent storm, Klearview will provide free removal and disposal of home appliances from flooded homes in our area.  We hope this will make it easier for those people to clean up after the flood.  We realize that most people need to get the old stuff out before they can get new ones delivered, and it’s hard to clean up with so much debris in the house.  If you can get the word out to the community we can get started.  The will only need to call us at 718-743-0907 and tell us they saw it on your website.

Approximately 20 volunteers came out last night to greet the 24-foot-long truck and unload its haul of donations for Sheepshead Bay residents. (Photo: Erica Sherman)

A group of friends and family living around P.S. 52 have worked hard to bring needed supplies to Sheepshead Bay while others have overlooked our hard hit waterfront. They sent me this e-mail, requesting help distributing supplies dropped off last night by former residents in a jam-packed 24-foot truck.

We need walkers, runners, and bikers to distribute supplies in stranded Sheepshead Bay!

Vote, volunteer, and take home needed supplies!

Volunteers are needed in Sheepshead Bay Tuesday, 11/6 (Election Day!) from 9am to 3pm, and Wednesday and Thursday from 4-6pm to help distribute much needed supplies that just arrived from North Carolina in a 24′ truck.

Come to the Nostrand Avenue entrance between Voorhies Avenue and Avenue Z of the Sheepshead Bay Elementary School (PS 52) to hand out supplies at the school and to fan out into the neighborhood (which still has no heat, power, cell phone service, internet, access to gas, or subway service) on foot or bicycle and distribute desperately needed supplies like food, water, clothes, and toiletries that just arrived in a 24′ truck from North Carolina.  If you have a hand truck or cart, please bring it!

Locals are welcome to come to the school to pick up what they need.  (Please bring your own bags!)

Since you may now vote at any polling place, you can also do that at the school!  We also hope you’ll stay, if only for an hour hour two, to help.

These supplies were collected and delivered by George and Pat Aswad, former Sheepshead Bay and Gerritsen Beach residents who relocated to Havelock, North Carolina, where they opened a restaurant, Crabby Patty’s.  They have no political affiliation; they are just neighbors helping neighbors.  The Aswads and their friends had initially headed to the Rockaways because that is where the media indicated there was most need.  Luckily, they were turned away, but had just enough gas to get to Sheepshead Bay, where they were welcomed with open arms.

At approximately 9:15 p.m. tonight, thousands who were lucky enough to enjoy continuous electricity after Hurricane Sandy had the privilege snatched away as Con Edison cut power from Sheepshead Bay to Flatbush.

The affected area seems to be between East 16th Street to Knapp Street (and, further north, Nostrand Avenue), and from Emmons Avenue – which was already without power – to as far north as Foster Avenue.

That put Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest, Midwood, and a chunk of Flatbush.

According to super reader Ariela Baranov via our Facebook page:

Update for the most recent blackout: ConEd on the radio saying there was a transistor overload, so they took down the Sheepshead Bay network which affects many surrounding neighborhoods and about 160k customers. That makes about 815k customers in the dark now. They took it down to make sure there would not be a further cascade, and hope to have that particular network up within the next 4 hours or so. Let’s hope that’s an accurate estimate.

She said this info came by way of a public radio announcement by a Con Ed rep on CBS 88 AM.

UPDATE (12:04 p.m.): We’re hearing power is back online for many affected by this. Those who lost power during the storm, though – well, on to day two.

Photo by Neil Friedman

Aldi Food Market, slated to replace the defunct Pathmark at 3785 Nostrand Avenue next October, will be only half the size of its predecessor, but local pols say that it will still fulfill their promise of bringing in a notable anchor tenant to revitalize the commercial corridor, restore shoppers’ options and revive jobs in the community.

Sheepshead Bites has learned that the former Pathmark location, which occupied 35,000 square feet, is being subdivided into two storefronts, with Aldi filling 18,000 square feet of the property. The second tenant has not yet been signed. Both will have Nostrand Avenue storefronts (as opposed to Pathmark, which had its entrance on the south side of the building), and rooftop parking will remain at the location.

Find out more details about Aldi’s move to the neighborhood, and what local leaders say in response to its smaller size.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, Councilman Lew Fidler and Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo joined with representatives of the Lefrak organization and Aldi market today to announce that the German-based grocer has signed on to replace Pathmark at 3785 Nostrand Avenue.

The storefront has sat empty since April 2011 as local elected and the landlord, Lefrak, scrambled to find a supermarket replacement – one of the top constituent demands, the pols said.

“This is a location that has hundreds of thousands of people desperate for a store they could walk to. I know because when I walk around and talk to residents, that’s the only question they want to know,” said Weinstein. “They don’t want to know what’s happening in Albany, they don’t want to know what’s happening in the budget. They just want to know, ‘When can I walk with my cart to go to the store and buy something?’”

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