The summer-long Sheepshead Bay farmer’s market has kicked off its third year, returning to the Ocean Parkway malls in front of Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway).
The market, operated by Harvest Home, began the season last Friday, and, as in years prior, will be there every Friday until November 15. Its hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
There are about a dozen vendors hawking seasonal fruits and vegetables, alongside fresh baked goods. Some of the products sold include basil, broccoli, sweet corn, cucumbers, okra, melons, summer squash, gooseberries and much more.
Sheepshead Bites offers a hearty congratulations to Anastacia St. Juste and her newborn baby Amari, a beautiful boy who is among the first to enter this world at Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway) since Superstorm Sandy struck in October 2012.
Amari, weighing a petite 6 pounds, 12 ounces, was born on Tuesday at 10:55 p.m., just a smidgen more than 24 hours after the reopening of the Labor & Delivery unit on Monday. Amari and his beaming mother, pictured above with Ob/Gyn chair Toni Stern, are both healthy and happy.
The reopening of the Labor & Delivery unit marks one of the final steps in Coney Island Hospital’s service recovery. Just about all units and services have returned to the hospital, including badly-needed 911 intake. The hospital shut down entirely in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, as water damaged the institution’s equipment and infrastructure, and rendered destruction in the facility’s ground floors. Repairs to the hospital and preventative measures for future floods are expected to cost more than $200 million.
If you have a question about the status specific services, you can call the hospital’s main line at (718) 616-3000.
Authorities busted a Midwood couple Tuesday, claiming the duo was scheming to sexually abuse three children – one as young as two months old – at a Jersey City hotel.
Bebars Baslan, 35, and Kirsten Henry, 25, were nabbed at the hotel where they had arranged to meet an accomplice who would deliver an 8-year-old girl, a 1-year-old boy and a 2-month-old boy. But the accomplice was actually an FBI agent who recorded Baslan detailing plans to drug the children, molest them, and take sexually explicit photos.
The couple live on Ocean Parkway, near Avenue L.
According to reports, Baslan and Henry also planned to use references Henry had wracked up babysitting children and working in schools to get better access to children – until they could have their own child to molest.
Prosecutors say the two planned to open a baby-sitting service so they would have access to “many” children, and they discussed using Dramamine to dope the kids with a confidential source they thought would help them secure the kids to sexually exploit them.
Baslan: “Then, you know, just it knocks them out a little bit.”
Confidentail Source: “What do you mean?”
Baslan: “You know, Dramamine, the allergy medicine. It knocks you out, when you’re a kid.”
Prosecutors say they have audio recordings in which Baslan says Henry is “dying for this,” referring to a plan to have her sexually abuse “an 18-month-old child.”
Baslan: “She is dying for me to have a baby with her for us to whatever.”
Confidential Source: “The two of you together, to have your own kid and raise it in a sexual, like upbringing kind of thing?”
Baslan: “Right.”
The couple had a backpack containing a digital camera and laptop computer at the time of the arrest. If convicted, they face 30 years to life in prison. They pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual abuse on Wednesday.
“Bullet Points” is our format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.
Councilman Fidler Lays Out Green Vision For Coastal Protection: If anyone thinks a seawall will protect Southern Brooklyn from future Sandy-like tidal surges, they need look no further than Sea Gate to put that false theory to rest, Councilman Lew Fidler told Community Board 15 at their meeting last night.
“A lot of people think that you can just build a wall and that will solve all the problems. I suppose if you know people in Sea Gate, you can ask them whether or not that solved their problems,” he said.
Fidler added that the cost of erecting a seawall around the southern end of New York City would be around $5 billion, a hefty price tag for an uncertain solution.
Instead, Councilman Fidler, who said he has held and attended numerous City Council committee hearings on Superstorm Sandy and preparations for future threats, said the city should fight nature with nature.
The following is a press release from the Health and Hospitals Corporation:
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation announced today that for the first time since Hurricane Sandy flooded its basement and first floor, causing substantial damage to its emergency department, Coney Island Hospital is again receiving ambulances for most types of cases through the City’s 911 service.
“The restoration of ambulance service brings us one step closer to our goal of restoring all services in the facility and re-establishing ourselves as the primary health care source in southern Brooklyn,” said Arthur Wagner, the hospital’s Executive Director.
“Since the storm, Coney Island has been systematically restoring services to help meet the healthcare needs of the community,” said Dr. John Maese, Chief Medical Officer. “We are delighted to again expand our much-needed services to the community and accept 911 ambulances.”
Ambulances began arriving at Coney Island on Wednesday, February 20. The hospital is accepting most types of 911 patients, including heart attacks and stroke cases. Trauma care and labor and delivery remain closed.
Repairs are ongoing at Coney Island, and its emergency department continues to function at a reduced capacity due to storm damage. However, the hospital’s Tower Building has re-opened along with most of its inpatient beds and imaging and laboratory services, and the hospital has for several weeks been admitting walk-in patients from its emergency department and patients from other HHC facilities.
It has inpatient adult psychiatric beds available, operating rooms, as well as medical/surgical and intensive care beds. All primary and specialty outpatient clinics are open, and have been operating a fleet of mobile medical vans providing primary care services and flu shots in parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island affected by Sandy.
Tipster Inna P. let us know about an accident that happened at approximately 5:40 p.m. yesterday, when a pedestrian was struck on Ocean Parkway, in front of Coney Island Hospital.
It appears the pedestrian was crossing the service road in front of the hospital when he was struck by a car. In a video Inna sent, the victim, though sprawled out on the pavement, is conscious and alert. He was rubbing his head as he stayed lying down on the street.
It’s not clear if the vehicle in the photo is the vehicle that struck him, or if the driver stayed on the scene after the accident.
FEMA has approved $103 million in aid to the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation to help fund repairs at facilities including Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway).
Senator Charles Schumer announced last week that the funding would come through, according to the Wall Street Journal, and will contribute to repairs at Bellevue Hospital, Goler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Metropolitan Hospital Center in addition to Coney Island.
The $103 million package still falls far from the $810 million HHC execs said they needed to come back from Sandy at a press conference two weeks ago. That number includes $200 million for Coney Island Hospital, and is the total estimated price for repairs, revenue loss and improvements to protect against future storms.
Regardless, the FEMA grant will help fill the coffers and keep repairs underway.
“I’ve seen the damage with my own eyes, and it was devastating. I appreciate FEMA listening to our pleas and getting these funds here quickly. This is not the end of the aid that these hospitals will need – not by a long shot – and we’ll keep fighting until the hospitals have been fully restored and they can get back to what they’re good at – helping New Yorkers heal and recover,” Schumer said Thursday.
Coney Island Hospital is currently open for most outpatient and some inpatient services. They expect to be fully operational and resuming emergency room intake within the next few months.
The “all in” costs for repairing Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway) and upgrading it to be better prepared for future storms is approximately $200 million, Health and Hospitals Corporation President Alan Aviles told Sheepshead Bites during a press conference yesterday.
Aviles led U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and reporters on a tour of the facility, showing off the hospital’s progress nearly two and a half months after Superstorm Sandy. The two announced that repairs to the city’s public hospitals in the wake of the storm and necessary improvements will cost $810 million – an amount included in the $51 billion aid being considered in Congress.
The 61st Precinct Community Council Meeting will meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Sephardic Community Center (1901 Ocean Parkway).
The Community Council is comprised of concerned residents and top brass from the 61st Precinct, and offers neighbors an opportunity to ask questions and express concerns about crime and safety issues in the area. The monthly meetings are attended by Captain John M. Chell, the commanding officer of the precinct, who will present a report on incidents and trends in the neighborhood, and speak face-to-face with neighbors about specific concerns.
For further information, or if you have questions or comments concerning Community Affairs, call (718) 627-6847.
Ever dream of being surrounded in wood paneling, chandeliers, elegance and grandeur, all while staying in Brighton Beach for some reason? Well, lucky for you, your dreams are on sale and if you put down $2,999,000 bucks, it could all be yours today!
Curbed let us in on this 2805 Ocean Parkway penthouse that has seen its asking price slashed repeatedly in the past few months. All this suffocating luxury was originally going for about $4.5 million when it was first listed in July, first dropping $1.2 million, than $400,000 in recent weeks.
According to Curbed, the owners are desperate to sell, so who knows how low they’ll go on this 5 BR 5.5 BA sparkly penthouse of high living? There is only one way to find, so contact the sellers and make your best offer!
