The NYPD is turning to neighbors for help in tracking down a burglar caught doing his dirty deed on surveillance video.
Police say the man broke into an East 27th Street home near Avenue Z through a back window at around 9:30 p.m. on August 31.
The man nabbed approximately $135,000 in stolen property, including an iPhone, jewelry and watches, ABC reports.
They add:
The suspect is described as a male with a light skin complexion, with a tattoo of a bulldog on his right shoulder and a tattoo of praying hands on his right forearm.
Anyone with information in regards is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
Members of the 61st Precinct Community Council and Captain John Chell pose with NYFK Sport Center’s Chinese dragons, which danced during the event.
The officers, auxiliary force, leaders and community council of the NYPD’s 61st Precinct celebrated another stellar Night Out Against Crime, with hundreds of children and their parents taking to the precinct’s lot and adjacent street to celebrate a safe community.
With a heated election year, there were tons of local elected officials and candidates on hand, hobnobbing with neighbors while their children ate free burgers, danced to the DJ, were dazzled by a musician, and took home their own personalized airbrushed t-shirts.
It was the 30th year of the event, and the 61st Precinct is known to throw one of the most extravagant affairs of all the Brooklyn precincts. The event is celebrated in more than 15,000 communities across all 50 states, representing the communities reclaiming their streets from violence and crime.
While there was a lot to love about this year’s event – did you see the dragons?! – my favorite part was the impromptu performance by 3-year-old Jordan Wong, who burst out in dance to Gangnam Style and drew a large audience. We caught most of it on video, below, and Jordan was eager to do it for the crowd again, a not-so-uncommon occurrence according to his father Kuey.
“He’ll do it again. He’ll do it any time. He’s crazy about it,” Wong said about his son. The Wongs live in Bensonhurst and came along with NYFK Sport Center, a group based on 20th Avenue, which performed during the Night Out.
Get your friends and grab your cameras as the On My Block (OMB) “Neighborhood Film Challenge” competition is back with its second annual event. The challenge invites filmmakers to create one- to three-and-a-half-minute movies about their block, using only people that actually live on your block as part of the cast and crew.
The challenge begins on July 1, and just like last year, all films will be screened online and people will have a chance to vote for their favorites until the challenge ends on October 31, 2013.
A special month long Kickstarter campaign was also launched last week that aims to raise $10,000 to fund the second season of OMB, an updated website, promotional material, festival venue fees, and prizes for winning filmmakers.
Here is a list of relevant details from OMB’s press release on important dates and contest rules:
Viewers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite short film on Vimeo from July 1 through October 31, 2013; a panel will judge the 40 films with the most votes the first week of November 2013 of which the top 20 films will be entered into the festival.
The top 20 films will be screened at an awards event November 11, 2013, located at the SVA Theater. Awards will be presented for Best Narrative Film, Best Documentary Film and Best In Show. This year, we introduce a new category for films made outside New York City’s five boroughs as we begin a global expansion of our program.
Dates: June 19 – July 19 – Kickstarter campaign
July 1 through October 31 – Films shot, edited, uploaded to Vimeo
July1 through October 31 – Public voting opens
November 6 – Judging panel votes
November 11 – Top 20 films screened at festival
All filmmakers must sign up on the On My Block site and complete the application before the finished film is submitted. For additional information including submission guidelines, neighbor recruitment tools, tips for writing and producing, or to sign up as a filmmaker or sponsor of On My Block, please contact Mary Crosse at [email protected] or visit www.onmyblockfilms.com. To view films that were created last year, visit www.onmyblockfilms.com/video. For updates on the festival, follow @onmyblockfilms on Twitter.
Good luck to all participants. And remember, if you end up making a film, let us know so we can watch the film and share it with the community.
For more information on the contest you can visit the OMB website by clicking here.
Israel got some love on Nostrand Avenue last Sunday, and nearly 5,000 neighbors and children partied in the streets in honor of the Jewish nation.
It was another successful year for Kings Bay Y’s Annual Israel on Nostrand Avenue Celebration, a joyous festival celebrating all things “Land of Milk and Honey,” which took place in front of the institution’s headquarters at 3495 Nostrand Avenue.
Featuring rides and entertainment, a petting zoo, arts & crafts, live musical, magical and dance performances and booths from community organizations and local artists, the Israel on Nostrand event is one of Sheepshead Bay’s largest street festivals, and never fails to draw a tremendous, energetic crowd.
Check out the photos of the event, generously provided by our friends at the Kings Bay Y and photographer Ken Brown.
Our friends from the Kings Bay YM-YWHA are once again readying themselves to bring us their Annual Israel on Nostrand Avenue Celebration, a joyous festival celebrating all things “Land of Milk and Honey,” June 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in front of the Kings Bay Y, 3495 Nostrand Avenue between Avenue U and Avenue V.
According to the Kings Bay Y, the celebration, which annually attracts thousands of people, is “the largest event celebrating Israel in Brooklyn.” Attendees will get to enjoy live entertainment, vendors, delicious food, free giveaways and raffles. There will also be bouncy carnival rides for the kiddies, a petting zoo, arts and crafts, and lots more.
The Annual Israel on Nostrand Avenue Celebration is free and open to the public. To learn more, contact Alina at (718) 648-7703 extension 224, email at [email protected] or go towww.kingsbayy.org.
Sheepshead Bites will have a table at this event, so come by and meet the team!
On the turf of former State Senator Carl Kruger and embattled State Senator John Sampson, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch came before a group of concerned citizens with a message: don’t despair, not everyone is corrupt, be you must be active and involved to ensure the best from your elected leaders.
Madison Marine Homecrest Civic Association hosted the event on Thursday, May 16, inviting Lynch to the Carmine Carro Community Center in Marine Park to talk about the recent cases. Lynch’s appearance came amid scandalous headlines involving Sampson who’s at the center of a handful of federal probes, and less than two years after the arrest and resignation of Kruger. Both represented portions of Marine Park.
The entire 40-minute talk by Lynch, which included questions from the audience, is posted above. But, aside from Sheepshead Bites, a slew of other reporters were at the event. Here’s what some of them wrote:
Don’t “succumb to cynicism and apathy. Don’t give up — stay committed,” said Lynch, who is the chief federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, which also includes, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island.
“Stay involved . . . Don’t give up.”
… When the audience was asked how many of them believed all politicians are corrupt, nearly everyone in attendance raised a hand.
Lynch told the audience, “We have to take back the system from the people who trampled on it. I don’t own it, you own it.”
Lynch took that message a step further when she said that not only should people not give up on the political process, but also that their participation is necessary.
… U.S. Attorney Lynch stated that apathy hurts the democratic process and that – along with wiretaps, undercover officers, and witnesses using recording devices – ordinary citizens who notice inconsistencies often play a big role in bringing corrupt politicians down.
“We are all enforcers,” Lynch said. “We all play a role. People need to get involved. ‘See something, say something’ is not just a slogan for the subway.”
Lynch also cautioned people to be patient in corruption cases and warned that just because somebody’s name is brought into the mix doesn’t necessarily mean they are corrupt.
“There can often be names that come out that should not have come out because, especially early on in an investigation, it’s impossible to determine their involvement and often it just tars their names,” she said.
Political reporters converged on Lynch after the event, asking her about recent allegations from minority lawmakers that the feds, including Lynch, were unfairly targeting elected officials of color. Lynch, herself an African-American who began her career working in civil rights, denied the charges.
From the Eagle:
When Lynch was questioned about whether black politicians are unfairly targeted, she replied, “Not stealing money is not a high standard. We look at the behavior of everyone. Our goal is to protect communities. You deserve integrity regardless of what your background is.”
When Lynch was questioned about whether black politicians are unfairly targeted, she replied, “Not stealing money is not a high standard. We look at the behavior of everyone. Our goal is to protect communities. You deserve integrity regardless of what your background is.”
… “No matter what type of case we prosecute, people who may feel targeted are concerned and make all kinds of statements about it,” Ms. Lynch said. “It’s part of the problem of public corruption that it really almost makes everyone look as if they’re involved, even if they’re not. And so you have people get very paranoid and very nervous and feel as if they’re under a microscope … We don’t go around targeting people other than those that we strongly have evidence [against], but I think what happens is, the atmosphere is very toxic, for lack of a better word, and it does affect people and that’s a byproduct of these cases,” she said.
A slew of local elected officials, including Councilman Lew Fidler and Assemblymembers Helene Weinstein and Alan Maisel, spoke before Lynch, and used it as an opportunity to remind attendees that the recent headlines reflect a few “bad apples.” They also touted anti-corruption legislation they’re working on, including disallowing lawmakers from using campaign funds on legal fees, and the ability to strip convicted legislators of their pension.
The Parks Department planted approximately two dozen new trees along Emmons Avenue west of Ocean Avenue this week, as the city moves to complete the final phase of a decade-long rehabilitation of the waterfront.
The $460,000 project, funded by Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, will continue throughout the spring. On the checklist for beautification are:
repaired sidewalks
covered trash bins
new trees, with granite block pavement in enlarged tree pits
new curb cuts
fresh paint on the Bay’s railing
blue concrete and matching artistic design elements previously installed near the piers, from Ocean Avenue to East 27th Street
1964 World’s Fair-style benches
When construction is finished, the Emmons Avenue street-scape will have seen a complete overhaul over the last decade. Repairs began in 2003, when the city installed new antique-style lights along Emmons Avenue and Shore Boulevard. In 2006, the city completed a similar renovation to the current one, from Ocean Avenue to East 27th Street, adding new benches, sidewalk designs, tree pits and more.
Cymbrowitz, in a press release, said that the improvements will help the community continue to recover from Superstorm Sandy.
“Beautifying Emmons Avenue is part of the larger mechanism of long-term recovery,” Cymbrowitz said. “Trees represent new life. They’re meant to last, and so is Sheepshead Bay.”
Hundreds of horseshoe crabs invaded the subtle slopes of Plumb Beach’s shoreline in their own sex-fueled, prehistoric rendition of the Allied invasion of Normandy last week, as horseshoe crab mating season kicked off on Thursday, April 25.
The National Parks Service snapped the photo above of some of the crabs getting down and dirty. The animals have been taking to soft-sloped beaches of the mid-Atlantic during the spring’s new and full moons for 400 million years, one of the few living species known to predate the earliest dinosaurs. Female crabs come ashore and deposit up to 20,000 eggs each, followed by a handful of males clinging to their tails and fertilizing the eggs in their wake.
The crabs come up in late April, May, and throughout June – just before high tide or long after sunset – during full and new moons. You can see them around the following dates:
Thursday, April 25, 2013 (Full Moon)
Friday, May 10 (New Moon)
Saturday, May 25 (Full Moon)
Saturday, June 8 (New Moon)
Sunday, June 23 (Full Moon)
Saturday. July 6 (New Moon)
Monday, July 22 (Full Moon)
Wednesday, August 7 (New Moon)
Wednesday, August 21 (Full Moon)
Also, check out this video Sheepshead Bites made back in 2010, when the American Littoral Society’s Don Riepe showed us around the beach and the horseshoe crab’s mating practices. Yes, it has bifurcated penises.
The team at Sheepshead Bites wishes the Chabad of Sheepshead Bay (1315 Avenue Y) a terrific birthday, as they celebrate their 20th year in the community.
The chabad celebrated with a gala dinner last night, attracting about 150 members of the shul and other neighbors.
During the dinner, they aired the above video, made by shul-member, reporter and videographer Daniel T. Allen (who has produced work for Sheepshead Bites). The video shows some of the great work the chabad does in the community, the spirit of its congregants, and the challenges they faced (and overcame) following Superstorm Sandy.
Once again, happy birthday, Chabad of Sheepshead Bay!
Paul Moses, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and Marine Park resident, spoke before the Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association on Thursday, discussing the media’s lackluster response to Southern Brooklyn’s disaster zones in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
“There’s been some brilliant journalism in recent days, but there was a slow start in reporting the extent of the storm’s impact,” said Moses. “I think it’s fair to say that Southern Brooklyn has gotten relatively little media attention.”
Moses said that the citywide press did some stellar reporting, exemplified by stories about the state’s and city’s role in the gas shortage, the Long Island Power Authority’s failures, and the struggles at city housing projects.
But in the first days after the storm, Moses said there were few stories that focused on Southern Brooklyn and Queens, though the press was quick to report in the immediate aftermath at locations like downtown Manhattan, Red Hook, New Jersey and Staten Island. It wasn’t until several days – and sometimes more than a week – that communities like Gerritsen Beach, Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay found their way into the newspapers.
But media should have been on the scene in these neighborhoods immediately after the storm, he said, in order to convey the most important and useful information for victims and those looking to help.
“In a time of disaster, the journalist’s role is to notify the public of impending danger and to give people the vital information they need, and to tell people where the damage is, and to tell the stories of the people who’ve been affected,” said Moses. “Through what we report on, the public at large finds out where the greatest needs are after the disaster and often will respond accordingly.”
“I really found the overall coverage in the first few days disappointing,” Moses added.
