SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: mikey k via flickr

A Sheepshead Bay family is still mourning months after 27-year-old family member Yuliya Hermanska was tragically killed in a car accident, according to a report by the New York Daily News.

Hermanska was killed on March 23 when she left her Sheepshead Bay apartment to go shopping. She was struck when a 66-year-old driver jumped the curb and hit her. The New York Daily News described the situation that led to Hermanska’s death.

Police say the driver, Mikhail Nulman, was issued a summons for blowing through the red light at Ocean and Voorhies Aves. He swerved to avoid a collision with a turning car but lost control and mounted the curb, driving nearly 70 feet on the sidewalk and striking Hermanska and two teenage girls, both of whom survived, according to police accounts.

The tragedy hit Hermanska’s family hard. She was a bright lawyer who spoke three different languages and was engaged to be married to fiance Vitaly Obodovsky.

“I keep on asking myself, ‘Why did you let her go to the store?’” Obodovsky told the Daily News.

Uliana Hermanska, Yuliya’s mother was also devastated and has been left wondering whether her daughter will ever see justice. The family’s lawyer, Edward Steinberg, told the Daily News vehicular fatalities involving ‘out-of-control’ drivers, who were not intoxicated or on drugs or alcohol, fail to inspire prosecutors to act quickly.

Steinberg claimed he called the Brooklyn district attorney’s office for details but hasn’t heard anything back. The DA’s office denies this charge and offered that the family should come in whenever they like to help the investigation along.

Photo: TheRealSappy/Twitter

Police are investigating the cause of a Saturday evening accident, in which a car veered onto an Ocean Avenue sidewalk and struck three people.

The accident happened at approximately 4:30 between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Ocean Avenue and Voorhies Avenue, and left three people injured.

One of the victims is in critical condition.

Police closed down Ocean Avenue from Avenue Z to Shore Parkway for approximately an hour, readers told Sheepshead Bites.

Authorities were still investigating what caused the driver to go off the road as of Sunday afternoon.

UPDATE (11:05 a.m.): NYPD sources have confirmed that the victims were three females, aged 27, 15 and 14. They were all taken to Lutheran Medical Center, with the two younger victims in stable condition. The 27-year-old is in critical condition.

Police also revealed that the car, a 2000 black Nissan, was traveling north on Ocean Avenue when the 66-year-old driver blew through a red light, mounted the curb and struck the victims.

There is no indication that the driver was under the influence of any kind of drug or alcohol, the police source noted, though he was issued a summons for failure to stop at a red light. It is currently being investigated as an accident, though additional charges may be leveled at the driver as the investigation unfolds.

Correction: (3/29/2013 at 10:41 a.m.): The 15-year-old victim, still in the hospital, left a comment below correcting the time stated above. It was between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m., she said, and not 4:30 p.m. as we previously reported.

Muni-Meters across the Sandy-damaged areas have been removed and replaced with traffic cones.

ONLY ON SHEEPSHEAD BITES: The Department of Transportation cut down and removed dozens of Muni-Meter machines this week. But instead of suspending parking regulations on affected streets, the agency is asking residents to walk several blocks to the nearest meter and pay.

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Community Board 15 helped clear the way for a new storage facility on Knapp Street, voting in support of a waiver to existing zoning restrictions at their meeting last Tuesday despite objections from community groups.

The proposed location. Click to enlarge. (Source: Google Maps)

Metro Storage NY came before the Board in a process to repeal a “restrictive declaration” on the property at 2713-2735 Knapp Street, a wedge of land that juts into Plumb Beach Channel at Voorhies Avenue. The 28-year-old declaration prohibits any use other than a retail and marina development, a clause that has caused the land to stay desolate since the original plans fell through years ago.

“It’s derelict. What do I see here? I see some trucks, I see some cars,” said Metro Storage’s attorney, Howard Goldman, before the Board.

Goldman said the restrictive declaration and the lot’s proximity to the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant means that few plans can get through the process to make use of the property. In 1996, an application was submitted for a two-story retail development was squashed, and, in 2005, a plan for a residential development was opposed by the Department of Environmental Protection.

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We got the following e-mail about a Voorhies Avenue-based physician working with FEMA to obtain expensive replacement equipment for local doctors hit by Sandy:

Hurricane Sandy’s devastation has required our community to begin a long and difficult recovery. One of the hardest hit sectors was the medical community where many physicians have lost vital equipment. Many of these offices will not be able to continue serving the community without a “loan-free” solution. FEMA is attempting, through a collaborative effort with Dr. Daniel Branovan, to find much needed replacement equipment for local medical offices. He is currently compiling a database of equipment that local physicians desperately need. We hope to make this database as complete as possible by reaching out on a wide reaching forum such as yours. If possible, please make any kind of announcement for local physicians, who experienced losses, to email their contact information to mail@doctorbranovan.com as soon as they can so they can be informed of how to apply for replacement equipment.

Dr. Branovan is also working with Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz in trying to get FEMA to raise the $25,000 cap on the one percent interest business loans, saying that the amount wouldn’t even cover the cost of one piece of machinery in some medical offices.

Amid all the damage from Superstorm Sandy, at least one new eatery has been born. Espresso & Grill Room is now open at 1613 Voorhies Avenue.

The location’s interior was still incomplete when the flood waters came, sparing them the cost of needing to redo everything, an owner told us when we stopped by before it opened. That allowed them to make a quick recovery and launch this business this week.

The business has been in the works since at least August, when we reported that it would replace Cupcake Kings, which closed in June.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Espresso & Grill Room, and good luck!

Councilman Michael Nelson’s chief of staff wrote to inform us that they’ve returned to their office, following flooding that made them vacate to Senator David Storobin’s office.

Chief of Staff Debbie Miller-Weiss writes:

Our district office at 1605 Voorhies Avenue now has power, telephone service and internet access.  We are very pleased to report that our office will be open beginning tomorrow.  Moreover, we are deeply grateful to NYS Senator Storobin for having welcomed us into his office during this crisis – allowing us to interact more directly and efficiently with our constituents, giving us full use of his desks, computers, phones, copier, scanner, fax machine, among other things.

You can reach the councilman at 1605 Voorhies Avenue, 1st Floor, or by calling (718) 368-9176. You can also e-mail mnelson1@council.nyc.gov,

A traffic light that’s out-of-order due to the power outages still hobbling Sheepshead Bay caused a car accident this morning on Bedford Avenue and Voorhies Avenue.

Sure, it’s not unusual to see cars on the sidewalk in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the flooding from which caused many cars to float several feet from their parking spaces, but this one ended up there after confusion at the down traffic light.

“All the more reason why we need our power back,” writes tipster Richard K.

It does not appear anyone was injured in the accident.

Photo: Erica Sherman

In a press release this morning from Councilman Michael Nelson restating that his office is temporarily co-locating with State Senator David Storobin, the pol revealed that, like many of us, he too ignored evacuation orders and chose to stay in his office (1605 Voorhies Avenue) and take calls. Here’s what the release said:

On the night of the storm, the Councilman recognized the importance of his personal presence in areas of his district facing danger in order to arrange last minute evacuations and to be available to meet with emergency personnel on the scene so that everything necessary could be done for the safety and wellbeing of his constituents. Unexpectedly the Councilman’s office building located a few blocks from the bay suddenly lost power and started to flood. Nelson became trapped in his District Office at the time of the storm surge. Flooding occurred in the building’s basement, lobby, and elevator shaft and reached the 3rd step leading to the Councilmember’s first floor office. In addition, his vehicle on the street was heavily damaged. Later that evening, a little after midnight, his Chief of Operations, Chaim Deutsch rescued him.

Deutsch is also the founder of the Flatbush Shomrim, and it was actually Shomrim volunteers who risked their lives drudging through the mucky waters to save Nelson. Kudos to them for their selflessness.

Nelson actually told us about the late-night, mid-hurricane rescue mission earlier this week. We asked what he was thinking by returning to his office.

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Sheepshead Bay has just been hit with its first major outage, affecting 1,050 customers according to the Con Edison power outage map. They are citing a 6:00 p.m. restoration time.

This may just be confined to one building. Reader Jeffrey W. e-mailed us to say power is out at a large co-op building at 2719 East 28th Street between Voorhies Avenue and Shore Parkway, which is roughly where the Con Ed map has the outage centered.