Secretary of Interior Kenneth Salazar called Jamaica Bay “one of the great urban parks of America,” but asked caretakers to think creatively about the parkland’s future.
Salazar made the statements during a July 26 harbor summit, hosted by National Parks Service and the Harbor Conservancy. Regional leaders gathered to discuss how government, nonprofit and industry can work together to achieve the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Hudson-Raritan Estuary Comprehensive Restoration Plan, which includes Jamaica Bay.
“I believe that America is at a time when we can embark and embrace a new agenda for conservation for America,” Salazar told the audince. “And I think that here in New York and New York Harbor we can move forward and create what will be a star relative to the great urban parks of America in the 21st century. I think the assets are here, I think the vision is here I think the New York Harbor Conservancy has done a lot to move us all forward.” Keep reading about Salazar’s statements.
On this date 32 years ago, six firefighters perished in what, at the time, was the largest loss of firefighters in a single fire in Brooklyn history. At approximately 9:02 a.m., the roof of Waldbaum’s at Avenue Y and Ocean Avenue (where Staples is today) collapsed, sending at least 12 firefighters into the inferno. In battling the blaze to save the lives of their fellow laddermen, 34 firefighters were injured.
The heroic firefighters who died in the blaze on August 2, 1978, are FF George Rice, 38, Ladder 153; FF James McManus, 48; Cov. Lt. James Cutillo, 39, 33rd Battalion; FF Harold Hastings, 39, 42nd Battalion; FF Charles Bouton, 38, Ladder 156; and William O’Connor, 29 of Ladder 156.
On the anniversary of their supreme sacrifice, John Dwyer of JGDwyerPhotography put together the above slideshow. Dwyer has been photographing the FDNY in action since the 1970s.
This one comes in by way of Queens Crapper, who wrote the perfect blurb:
I like how the reporter and newscasters act like this is something that no one knew about and haven’t been doing for centuries…
I have a lot of nasty things to say about these people and the attitude that Southern Brooklyn is some uncharted wasteland waiting to be explored by Manhattan douchebags. But, well, the diplomatic side of me says I should keep it to myself and instead be grateful that one of our local industries got some good publicity. Let’s just hope it brings some clients down to Sheepshead Bay’s beleaguered fishermen.
Congressman Anthony Weiner unleashed an oral onslaught on Republicans yesterday, after a bill was killed that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to those sickened by toxins resulting from the 9/11 attacks.
At the heart of the debate was a procedural maneuver made by Democrats to suspend the rules before consideration of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The move allowed leadership to block potential GOP amendments to the measure (there was worry that Republicans would attach something overtly partisan in hopes that it could pass on the otherwise widely-popular measure). It also meant that the party needed a two-thirds majority vote.
When the final tally was announced, there were 255 representatives for the measure, 159 against. The defeat of the bill, which would have provided free health care to those affected during the 9/11 rescue and recovery, likely means that the court system will have to settle compensation issues.
Weiner spoke right before the vote when it was clear that Republican lawmakers would stake their opposition on grounds of procedural concerns.
Over on this week’s open thread, Supafly10579 asked how to keep the bottle collectors out of her yard. This, of course, spurred a discussion that’s come up a few times before in the comments – i.e. readers think these people are a nuisance.
Someone linked to the video above, which shows one of these bottle collectors locked in a fierce argument with a customer service employee at Stop & Shop. She is being banned because she places labels from returnable bottles on nonreturnable bottles, bilking the store out of money.
Orgies are nothing new on Plumb Beach, according to local lore. But, while residents may complain about the anonymous romps, group sex has been going on there for millions of years.
Horseshoe crabs use beaches like those in Jamaica Bay as their mating grounds because their location in a bay or cove protects them from surf. They come ashore in our area in May, during new and full moons and deposit thousands of eggs in the sand at once, before returning to the waters.
In the above video, Don Riepe, director of the Northeast Chapter of the American Littoral Society and the Jamaica Bay guardian, tells Sheepshead Bites about the anatomy of horseshoe crabs and the mating ritual.
Though it may look menacing, the horseshoe crab is harmless to humans. Its claws deliver only a gentle pinch and it’s tail is no stinger, just a means for righting itself when turned over on the beach. Still, it’s a tough little bugger, surviving several periods of mass extinction throughout Earth’s history. Early traces of the horseshoe crab family began popping up during the Paleozoic Era, 540 million years ago.
Police and Coast Guard vessels converged on a cruise boat before a late night party on Friday, July 9. The boat was a Stamford, Connecticut, vessel named Annabel Lee, stationed that night on Pier 1, but never before seen in Sheepshead Bay.
NYPD officials on the scene declined to comment, and the party eventually went forward. But we’ve heard that they were likely cited for liquor license violations.
In the above video, you can see party promoters carrying liquor onto the ship just before an NYPD vessel came alongside it. The NYPD boat docked at Pier 2, where a number of officers unloaded and met on the sidewalk. They then entered the Annabel Lee just minutes after 11:00 p.m. and stayed on board for approximately an hour. Plainclothes detectives came on board at around 11:30, and a Coast Guard vessel stayed next to the cruise boat the entire time.
Those who’ve been reading Sheepshead Bites for a long time know that one of our pet peeves is the lack of art and music in Sheepshead Bay. Scratch that – it’s not so much the lack of those things as the absence of any organization or infrastructure to promote cultural activities in the neighborhood. One thing we’ve learned here is that there’s an abundance of creative, talented people in our ‘hood, but there’s no local outlets.
Wait, scratch that, too. There is Arthur Melnick and the Brooklyn Streetcar Artists’ Group (BSAG). We first told you about BSAG last September, when they held their first exhibit at Coney Island Hospital, featuring 49 installments from 22 local artists.
Melnick, the group’s director, and the BSAG coalition returned to Coney Island Hospital on June 4 with a larger exhibit. The opening featured performances from musicians and a silent auction to raise funds for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The exhibit remains open to the public on the second flood of the hospital’s main building until the end of the summer.
Over this one we’re feeling pretty silly. Here we are, constantly complaining that we need more outlets, and when Melnick invites us to the opening it ends up falling through the cracks. So to Melnick, BSAG and our readers, we apologize. Above is a video report produced by Bay Currents in lieu of our own coverage.
Dear readers of Sheepshead Bites, I don’t think I need to expound upon the daily lunacies experienced by Q and B train riders. We’ve all had our share of sociopaths and weirdos, and, yes, we all love to share them like war stories, chests swelled with the glory of surviving the encounter.
If you haven’t heard of People Of Public Transit, make sure you have a lot of time to waste and then go check it out. The site chronicles much of this scintillating subculture, as well as general subway behavior faux pas.
Well, yesterday they published the above video caught on the Q train. I’ve seen this guy. Janelle F., who pointed it out to us via Facebook has definitely seen him. You’ve probably seen this guy, too.
So, you know, I’m republishing it. For the historical record and all. People in the future need to know these things happened.
Got a subway or bus story you’d like to tell the world about? Send it to us here.
Mosque opposition group Bay People sent a representative to last week’s Community Board 15 meeting to again press their case against the religious facility. The group has repeatedly criticized media reports that play up the appearance of bigotry, and say that their main objections pertain to zoning. Since Sheepshead Bites has been among the list of media outlets they’ve claimed sensationalize the story, we’re posting this unedited video of the representative from Bay People making their case.
We have additional video from speeches made at Bay People’s June 27 rally that require some editing and cleanup. If you’re interested, let us know and we’ll bump it up on our priority list.
