Sheepshead Bites reader Paul (a.k.a PayPaul) came across this nasty scrape earlier today between a callous truck driver and an overpass at Avenue J and East 15th Street. That’s the B/Q station at Avenue J, and as you can see in the photo it has a 10 foot, 10 inch clearance. This truck was taller than that. We can only guess how fast he was going to get that wedged under. Here’s what Paul had to say, and a bunch more photos: Continue Reading »
This week’s slightly late mid-week photo comes to us from Israeli Meir Sadan, who caught this beautiful shot of a commuter at the Sheepshead Bay train station back in 2006. -[via Flickr]
Gothamist Maps – and one Sheepshead Bites reader – is reporting a corpse on the NY-bound tracks at the Kings Highway station. The incident occurred between 8:30pm and 9:00pm, and a portion of the platform remained roped off after 10:00pm. Below is the blurb from Gothamist. Any readers with more information are encouraged to add it in the comments section.
Fatal Person Under Train
E 16 St & Kings Hwy
Brooklyn, NY
5/19/2009 8:43 p.m.
(Courtesy of Acadia Realty)
Acadia Realty, a partner in the enormous Sheepshead Bay Station Plaza development adjacent to the train station platform, has posted floor plans of the mega-establishment on its website. The plans reveal a 16-story residential tower perched on top of four floors of retail, a one-story parking deck and a floor of office space.
If the plans become a reality, the 22-story Sheepshead Bay Station Plaza will stand far taller than any other building in the area, with the Sheepshead Bay train station platform nestled in its shadow.
The website shows that the residential lobby will be on the ground floor on the side closest to Voorhies Avenue, but does not indicate the number of dwellings or inhabitants. The apartment tower will sit directly above an office, which itself is above an 89-space parking deck. The four-floors of retail below is topped off by a fitness center and a community facility. Outside of the main building, a private street is planned that includes an estimated 650 parking spaces and an additional small retail building. In addition to Acadia Realty, the project is being built by PA Associates and GreenbergFarrow.
Continue Reading »
(Photo by Ray Johnson)
Recent construction at local-stop stations has forced commuters to do frequent switchovers at the Sheepshead Bay station to get back to their stop.
This newly-constructed crossover bridge allows riders to walk over the subway track, but leaves little room on the platform. The flyover facilitates transfers near the front of the Manhattan bound B and Q and near the back of the Coney Island bound trains. Now, the transferring commuters won’t have to walk way over to the Voorhies exit or rush through the busy main underpass staircase.
Judging from the wear and tear on the paint and metal on the stairway — after only a month or so of use — it looks like commuters are getting good use of the bridge.
The awkwardly-placed bridge was put up relatively fast compared to some other MTA construction — although, it almost seems as if they might have neglected to plan in a protective screen on the side railings. Some commuters have noted that they feel a little nervous looking straight down onto the train track from such a steep angle, while others say that it is a welcome sense of freedom when everything else is claustrophobically-enclosed and safe.
Thanks to Gowanus Lounge, I’ll be on the lookout this week for the historian, otherwise known as, Master New York Factologist Kevin Walsh.
Gowanus Lounge said that his trip is specifically to take another look at the familiar mural at the Sheepshead Bay train station. But will the historian be able to keep himself from stopping by Randazzo’s for some clam chowder?
It might be that he’s already paid his visit. Has anyone seen him around this part of Forgotten NY area? He might be a little lost, though, since based on this quote, it sounds like he might be wandering over on West 15 Street in Coney Island (of course, he’s not wanderng — he’s the authority on all things New York and even wrote a book):
Sometimes, NYC history can be preserved in the unlikeliest of ways and in the most unusual places. Take a large mural along West 15th Street in the shadow of the BMT Brighton line (B, Q) just north of Sheepshead Bay Road. The mural, entitled “Sheepshead Bay’s Historic Future,” depicts Emmons Avenue as it was in 1994 and how the artist, Faith Palmer-Persen (probably with the camera in the mural), apparently predicted the ways it would evolve.
Anyone in Coney Island seen Mr. Walsh? please point him over here.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has posted the results of the 2nd Rider Report Card and the B Line received an overall C grade from just 2,203 commuters. Everyone else was probably too busy running from the rats. (According to Gridskipper, Washington, D.C. may have their political rat races, but we’ve got the real deal.)
While it is normally a good thing that the MTA is concerned about what riders think of the NYC Transit Authority’s service, this survey appears to be just false concern. In his summary letter, President Howard H. Roberts, lists the top ten priorities that B train riders are looking for when they ride the subway.
Read more about how the MTA Rider Report stacked up. Continue Reading »
Reader Celeste Leibowitz sent this in last night:
Today around noon my husband and I were waiting for the Manhattan-bound Q train on the Sheepshead Bay station when we noticed a number of transit police on the platform. The Q train pulled in halfway and then stopped. It appeared someone or something was on the tracks.
When we leaned over we could see a very pretty Siamese cat sitting quietly by the side of the tracks. The fact that it hadn’t dashed out of the way of the oncoming train told us it was either injured or sick.
A conversation between the conductor and the transit police ensued and one of the policemen used the front of the train to climb down onto the tracks and try to pick up the cat. The poor thing was definitely injured as it could not get up and run but could only try to scuttle out of the way as the officer tried to pick it up. He was having no luck capturing the cat, even with a canvas bag a passenger waiting on the platform handed him, when I got his attention and told him to get the cat by the scruff of the neck so it could not defend itself by attacking him (which it was trying to do).
The cat was removed and it was clear it had been injured, maybe hit by the previous train, because its legs and tail were damaged. Now this was a Siamese cat, an expensive breed, and I am sure that somewhere there is a heartbroken owner wondering about his/her pet. I called the transit police and they told me the cat was taken to the ASPCA, presumably to their hospital up on E. 62nd Street in Manhattan.
Maybe if you publicize this incident the owner will find out what has happened to the cat. I hope so. I don’t know the full extent of its injuries but even if it could not be saved, the owners would prefer to have some closure, I am sure.
