Robbery on 66th and Fort Hamilton Pkwy

How is someone supposed to be identified from this picture?  See picture larger here

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Matchpoint Bensonhurst for Tennis

Matchpoint opened a new tennis bubble at Cesear’s Bay – Kohl’s shopping area (there was always tennis courts there, but this is a bit larger) – they call it Matchpoint Bensonhurst.   See here 

Coming off the Highway view – near Kohl’s

We went this week and it is a nice place for tennis in the area. To reserve a court: 718-372-9000.

They do private or group lessons in tennis   718-866-1031

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Thunder Road’s – Bay Ridge Girl

Bruce Springsteen Tribute Band – Thunder Road performed in Bay Ridge on Saturday December 21, 2019.

Video by: Mike Beitchman

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Ms. Jenn’s Little Achievers is Opening in Bay Ridge

Ms. Jenn’s Little Achievers Early Childcare Center for children 2 – 6 years old is coming to Bay Ridge.

What a fantastic place for a daycare center – right near the train exit! It’s going to be open from 7 am – 6 pm.  That’s a large building and they have the driveway next door (a fence was recently put up there).

Ms. Jenn’s Little Achievers is at 9419 5th Avenue, where the original Harbor Car Service used to be. 

May there be many happy children at this place for many years!!  

Congratulations to Jenn, the new business owner! What a great way to start 2020!

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Thank You Bay Ridge! Happy New Year!

We started the decade as new home owners in Bay Ridge! I’ve wanted to live here since I was a teen. 

Thank you to all the people in Bay Ridge who make this community great! Thank you to all the community groups here that make sure that children, seniors, veterans and animals are being taken care of. Your work is amazing and inspiring! Thank you to all the parents who take the time to teach your children to be good people….that isn’t easy!    Thank you to the artists who fill Bay Ridge with beauty and all the businesses that support them. On a Sunday afternoon, good music and people are easy to find in Bay Ridge!

Thank you to the readers of this blog, who send in community events and tips because they want to spread the word to other neighbors. Thank you for ignoring spelling and grammatical errors because this blogger doesn’t want to wear glasses, but needs to. 

Thank you to all who follow politics, who aren’t afraid to speak out and have encouraged me to do so. Corruption grows where there is silence and no one is watching.

Thank you to my family, friends and neighbors for taking care of us when we’ve needed your help….especially this year.

Finally, thank you to God. Ten years ago: Jeremiah 29:11  Today: Psalm 28:7   

Happy New Year Everyone!

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Senator Gounardes Wins a Ridgie Award

Since an outside group, Streetsblog, presented Senator Gounardes with an ‘end of the year’ award, we would be remiss if we didn’t as well! After all, outsiders can’t be the only ones recognizing Gounardes’ work!

We would like to present Andrew Gounardes with the 2019 Ridgie Lemon Award for making people a little more bitter towards a government that doesn’t work for them.   

NINE FOR 2019:

1) While we had high hopes for Andrew, those were quickly lost when we saw him passionately rally for a bill to give tax property breaks to everyone BUT not to NYC.   Gounardes posted the video – see here  The bill didn’t go through, but in the Fall, we saw a Gounardes bill quietly passed  for some cities….he wouldn’t explain who received the break when asked. See here

2) At the start of Gounardes term, we read his weekly notes and believed he was trying to make the government more transparent for the people. The day after Community Board 10 voted against bike lanes, Gounardes sent a letter to Keith Bray asking him to ignore CB 10. That evening, residents found out from a special interest group outside of Bay Ridge, that the letter and decision were a done deal.  Gersh gushed over paint – See here Then Gounardes shared the letter on social media.  Gounardes could have done the right thing and called for covered bike lanes, so that children and teens could ride safely in a ring around Bay Ridge which connected to the existing 4th Avenue bike lane…..but he chose painted lines because a special interest group wanted an immediate ruling. The lemon is awarded to politicians who put special interests over the community and make Brooklyn less transparent.

3) It’s obvious that the people in this community that chose the streets for bike lanes are not road designers or urban planners. They don’t care if a road is unsafe…..clearly the lane by the highway has safety issues. Although residents have complained repeatedly, Gounardes has not done anything to correct the situation. Most bike lanes that were created are hardly used because even the cyclists are afraid of riding in them with the crazy driving that goes on here.

4) Andrew Gounardes sat next to Senator Benjamin as Senator Benjamin told Brooklyn the senate was not going to do anything about property because: “We are waiting for Mayor de Blasio.”  It can be seen at 1:15  on video here.  Sadly, at the end of the meeting when a woman tried to challenge Gounardes and stand up for home owners, Gounardes gave her “the we are out of time” bum rush, like Dan Donovan used to do people (RUDE).

5) Gounardes continued to survey people over the broken train. He knew riders in  area weren’t seeing improvements, but it was a time to pretend to care and give out paper with his picture on it. Let’s check in today with a rider from the area – see here.…make sure to see his last comment.      

6) For taking pictures with the Verrazzano Bridge and pretending to do something about the toll.  ::SIGH:: this one always gets the Bay Ridge politicians. So far Max Rose is the only politician who stood in front of this bridge and passed a bill.  Even the bridge is tired of the these silly pols standing in front of it.  Here’s what Bay Ridge didn’t see: Streetsblog wailed on Gounardes for calling for reform for drivers – see here   

7) For all the times Andrew Gounardes stood clapping in pictures for other senator’s bills and for sending out press releases instead of getting things done. Different year, different political party -> Same nonsense. We challenge the Senator that 2020 not to issue press releases on nonsense.

8) Why is a donor of Andrew Gounardes on the worst landlord list again? Kadia Goba wrote about this last year and Gounardes won’t speak to her – see here.  If someone can accept a check, then that person can have an important conversation as well. 

9) Today Andrew Gounardes asked us if  we wondered who the federal government is working for (see here).  We can’t get our local government to work for us because special interests and Gouanardes wants us to question our federal government? The people we elected are our neighbors and their bills should be affecting this community. 

Is Gounardes’ office still labeled with  Justin Brannan’s sign? A plastic sign could have been purchased for around $170 and correct that…..(oops we have nine already) 

The Ridgie Lemon Award was earned by Andrew Gounardes, as he made his community realize that the government doesn’t represent them! No one in this community thinks it is right that Gounardes’ friends Brad Lander and Mayor de Blasio pay less than half the property taxes of other residents in the same borough.

Andrew Gounardes was silent this week when Councilman Borelli and Brannan brought up a bill which would hurt seniors, who are long-time home owners. (See here)

The one bill Senator Gounardes created is the speed camera bill. The government pushed that bill through SO FAST because they want more of your money. In some areas of Bay Ridge, it has made traffic and situations a lot worse. The police aren’t on the streets, so people do what they want. 

With all of these lemons, the year ended without lemonade for Ridgites and a  jerk talking about a drone bill for developers.

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Break Dancing Classes on Bath Avenue

Elite Dance Complex has break dancing class for girls and boys 9 – 18 years old on Thursday Friday and Saturday evening.  See Here

Elite Dance Complex is at 1648 Bath Avenue in Brooklyn.  718-337-8497.

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Prestige Hockey in Coney Island

Classes for children ages 5-7 years old.  $50 for four weeks.

Program starts on January 4th 

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Brannan Wants You to Count Homeless People

Councilman Justin Brannan wants you to count homeless people. See Brannan’s tweet here

Oh and if you volunteer, you will get a free t-shirt for counting homeless people because every  entitled person wants a shirt that says they counted homeless men, women and children in NYC.

I've been volunteering for the HOPE Count for the past 5 years or so. It's something I think everyone should experience at least once.

They are actually short on volunteers for the #BayRidge site this year so please consider getting involved

Info here: https://t.co/Jyut4GneN2 pic.twitter.com/QZahp63VnM

— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) December 31, 2019

Last year, Brannan was a leader for Hope Count in Bay Ridge. Yet, Brannan didn’t use any of his discretionary funding to house the homeless this year.  Hope Count is a waste of time and money. NYC knows how many homeless people there are and they aren’t able to house them.

Our community had a lot of money this year and $5000 went towards another dog park. That $5000 could have gone to a church who would have been persuaded to house the homeless and feed them soup during a cold month! Why does Brannan keep counting the homeless when he isn’t willing to spend money differently?

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Councilman Brannan Joined a Bill Which Hurts Long-Time Residents

Justin Brannan Property Tax Bill Bay Ridge

On Christmas Day, an article came out in The Post about Joe Borelli’s property tax bill that Councilman Justin Brannan eagerly supported. Many people messaged me on Christmas, to tell me because they thought the politicians finally got it together and wanted to announce the property tax bill to residents on Xmas. 

The bill was written two years ago (see here) and wouldn’t help current property owners. Neither Borelli or Brannan did anything about this bill in two years either. I’m not sure why it was presented like it was a new bill or why the paper said “Borelli sent the proposed resolution to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.”   It’s push on Christmas Day showed us politicians are just “playing politics.” 

Policy expert, Howard Husock from the Manhattan Institute took Borelli’s bill and broke down how dangerous the bill is, as it will punish long-time residents. See his Daily News Article Here  Husock explained how seniors will be the ones hurt by this bill! Finally, Husock asserted that actual property tax reform is needed and this bill shouldn’t be put in place of that. Thank God for people like Husock who are watching politicians and explaining how harmful their bills are!

Why would Councilman Brannan join a bill which would hurt long-time residents?  This is just politics to him and he doesn’t look ahead to see how bills are going to pan out.   This is the second time we have seen this (see here).  Politicians promoting nonsense in the newspapers needs to stop!

Today, Borelli went to Twitter and acknowledged Husock’s views (see here). Justin Brannan was silent! 

I think these two disingenuous politicians thought no one would notice their plug in the NY Post. Most pathetic was Councilman Brad Lander jumping on the bill.  Lander has been quietly benefited from low property taxes, so neither he or Mayor de Blasio want that to change.    

While Justin Brannan has had the ability to write a bill to stop the increase of property taxes in our area, he hasn’t. Brannan doesn’t have any bills about property taxes because it isn’t an issue of interest to him. Surprisingly, in January 2018, when Brannan first took office, he introduced a drone bill. How many of you in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Gravesend need a drone bill?  (More information here).

These politicians are aware that nothing is going to be done about property taxes during the de Blasio administration. Brannan, Borelli and Lander are cowards and part of the broken system of NYC. 

When I shared this on Twitter, Justin Brannan had his staffer tweet me. The staffer then said he was confused on what I wanted Brannan to do. There is nothing confusing here! I was just as sarcastic back to the the staffer, who was confused by the placard-use earlier in the year. Strangely, Brannan’s staffer mentioned my career. My job has nothing to do with my right to speak up against the Councilman failing to do his job. 

The following day, Brannan sent a tweet saying I was lying!  I asked him to point out the lie and he went silent. Brannan didn’t like that I said he should have recused himself from pushing a bill, that his wife benefited from.  That is true!  How did NYC Council allow him to push a bill for himself?  I don’t know all the rules that govern this city, but c’mon!

This community has been bamboozled by newspapers and press releases for years. I have no reason to lie because my neighbors read this blog and need the truth.  We are stuck with Brannan and I will point out any time he plays politics on our community. While he may  help residents with things that need a 311 call, he is a lawmaker who has failed to help home owners in his district for two years!

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Car Crash 92nd Street in Bay Ridge

WOW.

If you hear all of the sirens, it is because there was a car crash at 52 –  92nd Street.

People are sharing video on Citizen.  See here

We were driving in the opposite direction when we saw the NYPD and ambulance was coming down.

Hopefully, everyone is okay. Cars can be replaced.

(At first I thought it was behind these condos but that’s further down at 60 92nd Street)

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Dyker Heights Didn’t Receive the Help They Needed

Long before the Christmas season, our local papers were loaded with pictures and stories of politicians at tables “supposedly” correcting the problems for this season. The situation was bad enough this year that the news Reported about it.

First there was the loophole bill that allowed one ice cream truck vendor to rake in the cash.  See here   Senator Gounardes is an attorney, he should have pointed out the exceptions to the law.  This should not have been a surprise to anyone. But the picture-taking and press releases seem to have gotten in the way of the work.  The sad part is the Josephine from Community Board 10 had to hear the complaints….she should have been able to rely on Brannan and Gounardes because they are lawmakers.   

*When the loophole problem was shown, both lawmakers should have done more to help Dyker Heights residents so this event would go smoothly.  Anyone walking in the area could tell that more garbage cans were needed.  Some residents saw there was some improvement from other years as there were less vendors because of the bill.

The residents shouldn’t be questioning if they should have this event – of course they should have it!  It’s part of who they are as a community and those who decorate aren’t having a light fight with their neighbors, they love Christmas and want to share the joy with everyone. Many of the homes have been decorated every year for over 20+ years!

The local government needs to step up their assistance to this event – just like it would if there was a street fair. Some residents have already called for a meeting so things can be discussed while issues are fresh in everyone’s mind.

On social media, we saw many Dyker residents sharing pictures of trash on the streets – in many instances it was on corners where a person would expect to find a garbage can.   

(UPDATE: Trash cans were added to 11th and 12th Avenues (but not 10th Avenue) today December 29th..good work Dyker Heights….but people shouldn’t have needed to go to the news to get some garbage pails.)

Our friends who live in Dyker Heights had difficulty driving to their homes. The NYPD didn’t want to be there, so they were not in a good mood when speaking with residents.  Other residents found their driveways were blocked by cars visiting the lights.

Buses should not be allowed up residential blocks.  Buses can pay for parking at the Dyker Golf Course or at the Knights of Columbus and people can walk through Dyker Lights.

Our advice to Councilman Brannan and Senator Gounardes – take care of the residents concerns and don’t take any pictures until the job is done right.  Next year, go to Dyker Heights on a Saturday night at 10:00 pm and take pictures of clean streets and residents not being aggravated. Then share the news in the paper.

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