SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The following is from the offices of Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz:

Was Your Business Damaged By Hurricane Sandy?

If you had to rebuild or repair your business, you may be eligible for REFUNDS for the city permits/licenses you obtained.

On THURSDAY, MAY 9, from 9:30 – 11:30 A.M., Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz will welcome a representative from the Mayor’s office to help businesses apply for these refunds.

No appointment is necessary. Just come to Assemblyman Cymbrowitz’ district office at 1800 Sheepshead Bay Road (between Shore Parkway and Emmons Avenue) to take advantage of this on-site help!

The deadline for refunds is May 31, so it is important that you act NOW.

For information/questions, call (718) 743-4078

We look forward to seeing you!

Many Thanks to the NYC Restoration Business Acceleration Team for its partnership in making this event possible.

Yes, it’s last minute, but we’re passing it along anyway…

State Assembly Insurance Committee Chair Kevin A. Cahill will be holding a roundtable today at 2:00 p.m. at the Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton – Manhattan Beach (3300 Coney Island Avenue) to discuss the claims settlement practices of insurers related to Superstorm Sandy. He will be joined by Assemblymembers Steven Cymbrowitz, Helene Weinstein and Alec Brook-Krasny.

Cahill has been making the rounds to Sandy-afflicted areas to discuss the topic, and it may result in proposed legislative changes in the case of future disasters.

“The damage caused by Sandy left hundreds of thousands of homes and commercial properties without power and caused an extraordinary amount of property damage,” said Cahill. “This roundtable will help us determine if insurance companies adequately responded to claims from families and businesses that rely on their insurance policies to recover from such a disaster.”

The committee will also hear testimony from representatives of the Department of Financial Services, insurance agents and brokers, consumers, adjusters and major insurance companies.

Jewish and Turkish-Muslim teenagers come together to share experiences through the Peace Builders program. (Source: youngpeacebuilders.org)

In New York, people of all races, religions and opinions are crammed together in a vibrant democracy that has forged a unique situation never seen before in world history. Still, even in a place as diverse as New York, we can still find ourselves divided by color, ethnicity or religious beliefs, a painful reinforcement of centuries old barriers of intolerance. That’s what makes the Young Peace Builders (YPB) of Southern Brooklyn so special. The Young Peace Builders is an organization that consists of teenage Muslims and Jews working together to improve their community.

The Young Peace Builders program was launched three years ago as a cooperative effort by the Kings Bay Y (3495 Nostrand Avenue), a Jewish Community Center, and the Amity School (3867 Shore Parkway), a K-12 school that predominantly serves a Turkish-Muslim student body. The program, recently covered by the Jewish Week, so far for girls only, primarily serves as a symbol for an increased linking between Muslim and Jewish groups in the area as well as a training ground for future leaders in the area of interfaith cooperation.

“This can serve as a template for Jewish-Muslim relationships,” said Leonard Petlakh, executive director of the Kings Bay Y. Rabbi Robert Kaplan, who coordinates the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York City’s outreach to various religious and ethnic groups, calls the Y and Amity School “mainstream organizations … within their [respective] communities,” with the ability to influence their own communities. “There is no reason there should not be more and more” Jewish-Muslim programs like those in southern Brooklyn.

The Jewish Week also described how a large amount of credit for the group’s existence belongs to Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz:

The two religious groups, who were neighbors but virtual strangers to each other, were brought together by State Assembly member Steven Cymbrowitz, whose district includes Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and part of Brighton Beach; his constituents are Jews and Turkish Muslims. After participating in a legislators’ mission to Turkey a few years ago, he brought leaders of his neighborhood’s Jewish and Turkish communities together.

“It’s through education that we can get to understand each other,” Cymbrowitz told The Jewish Week.

Through the YPB, Jewish and Muslim teens have gone on trips to Israel, Turkey, Boston and Washington DC. On these trips, the teenagers have shared hotel rooms, prepared each other’s meals and celebrated religious holidays together. Teenager Hayrunnisa Kalac expressed the hope that the founders of the program hoped to instill in all its participants.

“We’re planting the seeds of something that can be very big” — an example of tolerance, Kalac told the Jewish Week.

Inspiring stuff and a great read. Check out the full article by clicking here and read more about the Young Peace Builders and their mission by clicking here.

Correction (1:47 p.m.): The original version of this article erroneously referred to the name of the organization as Young Peace Keepers instead of their actual name, Young Peace Builders. We regret the mistake, and any confusion it may have caused.

Source: Igor Khodzinskiy via Daily News

As the city rushes to repair the beach and boardwalk after Superstorm Sandy in time for Memorial Day, Brighton Beach and Coney Island residents are getting fired up over late night construction, and now they’re planning a protest.

The city is making repairs to the boardwalk and beach, as well as improvements like three new public restrooms and lifeguard stations. But residents say that work, including thunderous pile driving, is being done as late as 3:00 a.m.

Daily News reports:

“It’s this constant banging deep into the ground. It’s like a boom sound,” said Marian Rosenfarb, 79, who lives a block away from the beach. “With this noise I don’t know if I’ll reach 80.”

Rosenfarb says the vibrations from the construction causes her building to shake. the noise is impossible to drown out, she added.

… Three new buildings are being constructed along the boardwalk, at West 2nd St, Brighton 2nd St. and New Brighton St.

The modern modular structures – which are also being added in Queens and Staten Island – will replace old lifeguard stations and public bathrooms that were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy.

All three stations will be wheel chair accessible, designed with green features like solar power and skylights, and constructed above flood levels.

Pile driving into the sand is expected to last until next week and the new structures should be completed by the start of beach season.

“Work is going on 24 hours a day in order to finish the project as quickly as possible,” said spokeswoman Meghan Lalor.

“While we acknowledge that this may present an inconvenience, we ask for the community’s patience while this important restoration work is being done.”

Residents, though, are not happy with mere acknowledgement. They want the city to cut out the late night work, and the noise it generates.

Neighbors in the Oceana condominium complex (50 Oceana Drive West) are organizing a rally this Sunday, April 7, at noon on the boardwalk at Coney Island Avenue. The rally isn’t just against the construction; the residents of the posh complex are hoping to kill plans to install a new public bathroom in what they claim is their yard.

“No one ever gave a thought that there is no need to build yet another filthy anti-sanitary condition in our front yards. In the past this bathroom attracted many strangers and caused much destruction to the neighborhood,” resident Ella Rabinovich wrote to Sheepshead Bites.

Residents have also organized a petition, which they’ve sent to the Parks Department. Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz also sent a letter to the Parks Department in opposition to placing the bathrooms by Oceana.

The following is a press release from the offices of Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz. It was issued yesterday.

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn) is pleased to announce that his district office has returned to its longtime home at 1800 Sheepshead Bay Road.

The office, which was destroyed along with most of Sheepshead Bay Road and Emmons Avenue by Sandy, moved back to the Bay today from its temporary location on Coney Island Avenue.

“As Sheepshead Bay continues its slow but steady recovery from Sandy, we’re pleased to be back among our neighbors and I invite constituents to come in and visit,” Assemblyman Cymbrowitz said.

The district office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Fridays until 5 p.m. The phone number is (718) 743-4078. Assemblyman Cymbrowitz may also be reached by email at cymbros@assembly.state.ny.us.

And then there were two!

Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo became the second candidate to officially announce a bid to replace term-limited City Councilman Michael Nelson this year, touting her lifetime residency in the neighborhood and her seven-year-long tenure as the Board’s chairperson.

“Because of my work at Community Board 15, I am able to hear the problems that are being faced day after day by our neighbors,” Scavo said during her remarks before the Highway Democratic Club at Mirage Diner (717 Kings Highway) last Thursday. “To solve these problems, no matter where you live, we need leadership, we need a vision and we need a commitment from someone who cares.”

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The Small Business Administration recently announced that it has funded over $1 billion in disaster relief loans for victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York State, touting the approval of more than 15,000 low-interest loans to help residents and business owners get back on their feet after getting slammed by the powerful late October storm.

But an analysis of loan data for five zip codes in Southern Brooklyn, an area that includes some of the hardest hit neighborhoods in New York City, shows the federal agency has funded less than 30 percent of the applications for home and business loans it has received.

Business owners in the area, and across Brooklyn, have been frustrated by what they argue is SBA’s slow response to loan requests in the aftermath of a storm that caused an estimated $20 billion in damage in the five boroughs.

And while business owners tell a different story, Andre Ledgister, a spokesman for SBA, said the agency was processing loans in an average of 21 days.

“We’re asking that everyone be patient as we process the large number of applications form this disaster,” Ledgister said, adding that SBA has approved 2,080 disaster loan applications in Brooklyn worth over $101 million. This includes nearly $68 million in loans in Southern Brooklyn.

SBA provides disaster loans to homeowners, renters, nonprofits and businesses. After Sandy, the agency sent out nearly 23,000 loan applications in the zip codes 11229, 11235, 11224, 11223 and 11214, which cover neighborhoods like Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Gerritsen Beach, Brighton Beach and Gravesend.

Residents and business owners in those zip codes filed 4,650 loan applications and 1,344 have been funded, for a rate of 29 percent, according to data provided to Sheepshead Bites by SBA in late February.

Alan Chavez, a spokesperson for SBA, said the agency sent out applications to “almost everybody that was damaged” by the storm, trying to cast a wide net in the badly battered neighborhoods. But Chavez said many residents and businesses in the area decided not to apply to SBA for loans.

“Some people decided not to use it,” Chavez said.

Still, among those who did apply, the funding rate was below 30 percent.

“I’m extremely disappointed in hearing those numbers,” said Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz. “I think that SBA has extremely harsh determinations and make it extremely difficult for anyone to receive a loan from them.”

He added: “I know of storekeepers on Emmons Avenue that needed loans and didn’t apply because it was too cumbersome. And those that did jump through hoops to work with them, they are still waiting to hear from SBA.”

In the zip code 11235, SBA has received 2,108 applications and funded 456 home loans, 47 business loans and two economic injury loans, a rate of 24 percent. The loans are worth a total of $27.2 million. In 11229, SBA got 802 loan applications and funded 375 for homes and businesses, a rate of 47 percent. The loans are worth nearly $21 million.

In 11224, which covers Coney Island, SBA had received 1,468 loans applications and funded 393 for homes and businesses, a rate of about 27 percent. The approved loans in Coney Island are worth approximately $18.2 million.

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a first-term Democratic congressman whose district includes Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, credited SBA for its post-storm efforts, but said the agency needs to do more to help storm victims.

“The Small Business Administration has done the best job that they can under the enormity of the circumstances, but the nature of the disaster will require the agency to do more in the months to come,” Jeffries said.

Rick Miranda, who runs the Brooklyn Hispanic Chamber or Commerce, said SBA had been doing a good job helping businesses in the borough in the aftermath of Sandy. The Hispanic chamber is one of two organizations in Brooklyn that is certified to originate SBA loans and Miranda knows the process well. Even in normal times, without the backlog of applications Sandy generated, it can be tough to gather the paperwork needed for SBA approval. But Miranda said SBA had been responsive to his requests since Sandy, even agreeing to send more Spanish-language agents to Brooklyn to help Hispanic business owners with paperwork.

“With devastation of this magnitude, I don’t think it was negligence on behalf of the agency,” he said. “I think they’re doing the best they can.”

Still, Cymbrowitz criticized the SBA process as unresponsive to the scope of the damage Southern Brooklyn took from Sandy.

“What happens is, in order to get the loan, it had really nothing to do with the loss, but had to do with the credit of the business owner, which was never really explained to the business owner,” he said. “So the business owner, the amount of money he would receive, is really based on his credit history and not the damage he received.”

- Craig Giammona

Source: Google Maps

Last year we reported on the controversy surrounding a flurry of noise complaints coming from residents driven bonkers by Z Best Car Wash facility (2784 Coney Island Ave). Led by Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, angry locals petitioned Community Board 13 to make sure that the car wash would never turn on its machines again. Their complaints were muzzled as the Community Board unanimously voted to support the car wash in keeping its doors open.

The most recent chapter in the car wash battle centered around whether the business had a proper zoning variance. Residents charged that the location had not been operational for two years, using images from Google Maps to prove their case, thereby nullifying the previous car wash’s variance. As a consequence, the Department of Buildings, at the urging of Cymbrowitz, put a padlock on the business and demanded that they apply for a new zoning variance.

After voting unanimously in favor of granting the car wash its variance, boardmembers were flummoxed as to why there was so much animosity between all the parties at play.

“It is a travesty and embarrassment that the Department of Building’s has acted this way, and I think it’s a travesty that the politicians can’t speak the same language — that you have a politician that strongly supports this business and a politician that’s strongly against it,” Brooklyn Daily reported board member and architect Jack Suben saying. “I think it’s a shame that everybody has to come to this body just to speak with each other.”

While many residents were still outraged at all the noise the car wash was producing, the business got a big ally when Andy Mitchell, who lives right next door, told the board that the car wash had done a good job at lowering the racket.

“I’m going to be honest, they did reduce the noise level,” Brookyln Daily reported Mitchell saying. “I’m not looking to close any business. I realize they invested a lot of money and, compared to the old car wash, their building is beautiful.”

As a condition of the board’s support, Russell Shern, the owner of the car wash, promised in writing to install a canopy aimed at keeping the noise down. Shern noted at the meeting that it would be impossible to install the canopy until the Department of Buildings lifted their stop-work order, a request he was granted.

Source: Nadler.house.gov

Representative Jerrold Nadler is facing some criticism from Jewish groups today over his stance on the recent Congressional legislation that allowed for FEMA money to be spent on the repair and rebuilding of synagogues, churches and other religious houses of worship damaged by Superstorm Sandy, according to an editorial by the Jewish Press.

Yesterday, we reported that the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve the use of federal funds to help Sandy-stricken houses of worship of all faiths. The passing of the act is likely to face some friction in the Senate and the courts as it brings up important questions regarding separation of church and state.

Nadler was a vocal leader of the opposition to this bill, arguing that the use of taxpayer money to fund the reconstruction of religious buildings was unconstitutional. His stance did not go unnoticed by the Jewish Press, arguing that the legislation made “common sense.”

If Congress decides that it is in the public interest to bring about large-scale restorations, such as roof and sidewall repair, by what logic can one exclude religious institutions that are in exactly the same position as non-religious entities? After all, religious institutions are entitled to, for example, police and fire protection just like their non-religious counterparts.

While Nadler was on the receiving end of criticism, other politicians, who have been pushing for the bill, like Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz were pleased with its passage in the House, reaching out to his Facebook followers with this message.

 Yesterday the House of Representatives passed the “Federal Disaster Assistance Non-Profit Fairness Act of 2013,” which would allow houses of worship to be included among the non-profit recipients of FEMA relief aid. I’ve been working on this issue with the Jewish Community Relations Council of NY and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to help synagogues and churches apply for FEMA. Houses of worship impact our entire community and desperately need a helping hand to get back on their feet.

Photo By Erica Sherman

Senatory Marty Golden’s goal to stiffen penalties for hit and run drivers came one step closer to reality this week, after the New York State Senate passed his legislation, according to a press release.

As we reported last month, Golden has been trying to get this legislation passed for a few years now, already once getting it passed in the Senate, but seeing it fail to gain traction in the Assembly.

The bill bumps up hit and run penalties from a Class A Misdemeanor to a Class E Felony. Repeat hit and run offenders will have penalties stiffened from a Class E Felony to a Class D Felony and hit and run drivers attempting to escape a scene where someone is killed will now face a Class C felony.

For Golden, the passage of this legislation is of great urgency considering the continued actions taken by reckless drivers on the road.

“Just last week, a hit and run accident in Manhattan took the life of a senior citizen. Two times in December we saw young women lose their lives at the hands of a motorist, in the Bronx and in Queens. And in November, a jogger was struck and killed in Brooklyn,” Golden said in the release.

Golden also pressed the Assembly not to drop the ball when it comes to pushing this legislation through.

“Each day that the State Assembly fails to act, it is another day that New Yorkers are walking, jogging, and riding their bikes in danger,” Golden said.

Sheepshead Bay’s Steven Cymbrowitz is the sponsor of the bill (A.1533) in the Assembly.