From our friends at the Kings Bay Y:
WE ASK YOU TO DO ALL YOU CAN TO RESPOND OR SPREAD THE WORD TO THOSE WHO CAN HELP!
Thank you to all of the volunteers so far in Far Rockaway.
WE NEED YOU in Far Rockaway — Beach 19th and Seagirt Boulevard- (the building is 125 Beach 19th street). It is the JASA high-rise building.
EVACUATING 25 seniors & in DESPERATE NEED for at least 30 Russian Speakers.
We will be offering people an opportunity to evacuate. The first evacuation point will be at the Kings Bay Y- in the gym.
We need the elderly screened and accommodated before the AFTERNOON STORM!
Ken Soloway is coordinating the Far Rockaway site 347-415-3868 pls text him as the phone service is shaky if he doesn’t answer.
Source: NYPost.com
A police sergeant is facing disciplinary charges after his thoughtless actions allegedly led to the sinking of a fully-equipped $500,000 Port Authority patrol in the waters between Breezy Point and Manhattan Beach earlier this month.
According to a New York Post report, the officer ordered the opening of a hatch beneath the water line, causing the vessel to flood and putting 11 lives at risk.
The vessel sank 40 feet to the ocean floor on September 9, forcing eight officers and three civilians to swim approximately 900 feet to shore. Nobody was seriously injuried.
The 37-foot M-2 Moose Boat, equipped with firefighting hoses, nozzles, marine radios, radar, GPS, scuba gear and inflatable rafts, went under during routing rescue exercises after “vibrations” were felt coming from the ship’s engines. A civilian safety consultant from Ocean Rescue Systems, a Maine-based firm hired by the Port Authority to oversee the exercises, suggested the officer open the hatch to take a look.
The hatch, though, was under the water line, and should only have been opened in dry dock.
The boat sank within a half-hour.
The officer faces disciplinary charges and, according to the Post, “will likely lose vacation days for failing to maintain supervisory control and basically abdicating his command to a civilian.”
Reader Kathleen Higgins snagged this photo of the quirky Dragonfly Banquet roaming the waters of the Rockaway Inlet this past Sunday.
The vessel is a unique raft made entirely of recycled materials by Tim Johnson and Gretchen Neutrino in 1995, and the raft’s beautiful murals were painted by Gretchen in a fit of psychedelic inspiration.
The ship itself originally arrived in the New York-area after sailing down from Provincetown, Massachusetts, making a stop in Martha’s Vinyard, then reaching its final destination in Broad Channel, Queens, and becoming a part of the artist’s collective in the middle of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
The Dragonfly Banquet is a raft constructed entirely from recycled materials of another ship, that was also constructed of entirely recycled materials. The original ship, known as the “Son of Town Hall,” was the first vessel made entirely from scrap and recyclables to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
The journey of the original ship was a perilous two-month trip that featured a crew member heart attack, and intense storms with gale force winds. What remains of the “Son of Town Hall” is probably what’s built into the Dragonfly Banquet, as the original vessel was set for imminent destruction by French authorities as of 2008.
Tragedy struck the family of Yevgeniy “Eugene” Glebov, a 29-year-old Brighton Beach lifeguard found dead in the waters off the Rockaways yesterday. He was discovered by a tugboat crew after he disappeared setting off on a lone fishing trip this past Friday.
Glebov, a Staten Island native, was an avid spear fisherman who was known for his daring technique, which consisted of wading into rough waters without an air tank to hunt giant bass. An expecting father, Eugene planned to give up his dangerous hobby once his baby was born.
Eugene’s bravery in the sea extended beyond his fishing trips and into his summer job.
“Two weeks ago, he rescued a girl . . . stuck in a fishing net,” his devastated father told the Post. ”We were hoping for a miracle. We were really hoping he would be found alive.”
“The baby will be named after him: Eugenia. He was excited to be a father,” added Eugene’s cousin, Anna. “He wanted to drop his passion for a new passion.”
Photo by Erica Sherman
If you are a motorist who frequently drives over the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge — prepare to be inconvenienced for the next month or so.
According to a release we received from the MTA, beginning on Wednesday, August 29, through an undetermined date in October, there will be multiple daily bridge lifts at the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge due to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ marsh islands restoration project in Jamaica Bay.
The MTA tells us that the lifts, which will take place around-the-clock, “require full periodic closures of the bridge” and that “it takes approximately15 minutes to raise and lower the bridge.”
If you’re looking to avoid the inevitable traffic delays caused by the bridge lifts, motorists are advised to use the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate.
Federal code requires MTA Bridges and Tunnels to comply with bridge lift requests to allow large marine vessels to cross.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise made the journey from John F. Kennedy Airport to New Jersey by barge yesterday, giving Southern Brooklyn residents an unparalleled show of the historic spacecraft.
Tons of our readers took the opportunity to check it out, sending in dozens of dazzling photos as it made its way from the Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, around the Rockaways and passing by Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Coney Island and under the Verrazano. It looks like we had readers at all points, documenting the voyage.
Bonus points, too, for professional spacecraft photographer (yeah, that’s his job) and Manhattan Beach-native Ben Cooper, who runs his own website at LaunchPhotography.com. Cooper chased the Enterprise point-to-point, from Manhattan Beach to the Verrazano Bridge, capturing some crazy close looking shots with a lens bigger than his head. We had the opportunity to join Cooper for a few shots in Coney Island, where Bites super-reader Elina got us access to the roof of a local co-op. We got some pretty sweet shots from an exclusive angle – so thanks to Elina.
Tomorrow Wednesday, the shuttle departs New Jersey and heads to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. It was rescheduled due to weather.
Check out all the awesome photos of the Enterprise, mostly sent to us by readers.
The historic Ryan Visitor Center control tower at Floyd Bennett Field. Source: NPS.gov
Tons of educational, nostalgic and live music fun is to be had on May 5 and 6 this weekend as the historic William Fitts Ryan Visitor Center reopens this weekend after having been restored to its former glory. You may recall we posted about this awesome place a few months ago after Nick Carr of ScoutingNY put together a terrific photo essay.
According to the National Park Service’s website:
…step back in time to the Golden Age of Aviation as the William Fitts Ryan Visitor Center reopens. Over the past three years the Ryan Center has been restored to its 1930s appearance, when it served as the air terminal for Floyd Bennett Field, New York City’s first municipal airport.
The festivities kick off at noon on May 5 with live music, followed by a 12:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting. There will be contests, swing dancing, and children’s activities on both days, and the Rockaway Arts Alliance — an arts organization that works with its community to mentor local youth in artistic endeavors — will conduct children’s activities on both days in the new visitor center.
As part of the weekend-long celebrations, a full scale replica of the “Winnie Mae,” Wiley Post’s Lockheed Vega aircraft, will be christened. NPS tells us that “The original flew Post around the world twice in the early 1930s, including the first worldwide air trip flown solo by any pilot. This aircraft was built at Floyd Bennett Field’s Hangar B by volunteers from Gateway’s Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (HARP), based on a scale model.”
Visitors to the newly-restored center will be able to partake in a number of exciting activities, including being able to view newsreels from the airfield’s original heyday on a touch screen monitor. Kids can flex their aviation wings by being able to “fly” a mini-airplane, as well as test their paper airplane design skills.
Over the course of the three year renovation:
[T]he Ryan Center was painstakingly restored to its original look during the Golden Age of Aviation in the 1930s, when Floyd Bennett Field served as New York City’s municipal airport. Paintings and panels depicting modes of transportation from the steam engine to the dirigible have been restored to their 1939 appearance. Electrical, fire suppression, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems have been upgraded. A new elevator has been added for increased accessibility.
Photo by Erica Sherman
NotifyNYC released the following announcement over the weekend, which modifies its previous announcement that daily bridge lifts of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which began January 26, will be extended through March (and before that, through February):
Due to a restoration project in Jamaica Bay, multiple, daily bridge lifts of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge that began January 26th will be extended through April. The lifts will take place around-the-clock and require full closure of the bridge to traffic. It takes roughly 15 minutes to raise and lower the bridge. Motorists are advised to use Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate route.
At least they didn’t alert us at the end of March.
Notify NYC sent the following alert:
Due to a restoration project in Jamaica Bay, multiple, daily bridge lifts of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge that began January 26th will be extended through March. The lifts will take place around-the-clock and require full closure of the bridge to traffic. It takes roughly 15 minutes to raise and lower the bridge. Motorists are advised to use Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate route.
For more information about the restoration project, you can read our earlier article.
It’ll soon be a year since we first reported a seal sighting at the dock of the Miramar Yacht Club. The adorable animal was seen just lounging around, getting his tan on. At the time a yacht club member said he has never seen a seal in the waters of Sheepshead Bay; it was unheard of.
Then in March of 2011 there was another seal sighting, but this time it was at Brighton Beach. A month after that it seemed the same seal that appeared at the Miramar Yacht Club resurfaced again in Sheepshead Bay.
Apparently, a Rockaway cruise vessel is taking advantage of the seals’ affable nature, and is giving tours to those who don’t want to wait for them to sun themselves on lonely Sheepsheady Bay marinas.
During a recent American Princess cruise in which a New York Post reporter tagged along, seal-spotters laid eyes on a dozen of the water-bound furballs.
“The nicest part is that they are just as interested in us as we are in them,” said Jack Goldstein, the captain of the American Princess. “Sometimes, it feels like they are staring back at us.”
The cruise leaves from the Rockaways and proceeds towards Staten Island. The vessel stays idle around Swinburne and Hoofman, the two man-made islands off of the Staten Island coast that have played home to the seals for the past 10 years.
Paul Sieswerda, the cruise’s tour guide, says there has been a great increase in seal sightings in Jamaica Bay since 2006.
“There is a growing population of harbor seals in the East Coast,” said Sieswerda.
He has devoted much of his life to the mammal. In the summer of 1976, he kept and raised a baby seal in his bathtub until he was able to find a proper aquarium for the animal. Also, in 1994 Sieswerda cared for a seal named Andre, which was the idea behind the children’s film Andre.
