Fire at 87th Street and 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge
Andrew Gounardes shared a picture of a serious fire happening on 87th Street and 4th on Sunday January 7, 2017 around 1:00 am. It appears to be this corner fruit market 8702 – 4th Avenue (it’s across the street from DII store):
Roy El-Ayat shared this quick video of the fire (before the firemen arrived). The fire looks out of control.
Councilman Brannan was at the scene and shared that the fire at the Garden Hills Gourmet Market had spread to the apartment above it and that the hydrants were frozen solid because is only 8 degrees out. (We’re impressed the Councilman went to the fire at this time in the morning)
Andrew Gounardes immediately shared this update:
Brannan updated the community about the residents and the community offers support for the residents;
Thankfully no one was injured in the fire. The store is a 24-hour store that a lot of people in the neighborhood love.
This morning, I saw that Adam West shared this video:
Justin A. in Bay Ridge shared this picture of the firemen throwing a mattress out of the apartment over the store. Residents said that over 50 firefighters were on the scene!
Thank you to the FDNY!
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January 6, 2018Gerard Kassar Goes After Preet Bharara on Twitter….But There is More History To His Tweet
Jerry Kassar, the Brooklyn Conservative Party Chairman went after Preet Bharara for his comment about President Trump on Twitter. Preet responded with humor, but Preet probably doesn’t realize the history behind the tweet.
While Kassar acted like he is a loyal and true Trump fan, he actually supported and endorsed Marco Rubio for president – not Trump. See here and here.
Preet probably doesn’t realize their is a bit more of a connection here (but we do). Gerard Kassar is Senator Marty Golden’s Chief of Staff. In 2014, Bharara’s office investigated Senator Golden’s campaign finances. Golden hired a law firm to represent him and papers reported that Golden paid the firm $31,000. (here)
Sometimes a tweet packs a lot more history than someone realizes.
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January 6, 2018Happy Anniversary Bay Ridge Rocks!
Bay Ridge Rocks just celebrated it’s one year anniversary. If you don’t know what Bay Ridge Rocks is, you need to look around a bit more when you are walking around the neighborhoods. Adults and children design, paint and decorate rocks. They leave them around the neighborhood so others feel excited when they come across a beautiful rock.
Some of the rocks are absolutely gorgeous and some simply have messages for hope and happiness. If the organizers were wondering if what they were doing was worthwhile…..it is. One day I was on Third Avenue and I saw a child about 7 years old find a special rock. The child looked at that rock like they just found a diamond – it was a treasured possession from the very start.
I remember when they started doing it last year right after the presidential election. While the news was filled with stories of Trump, these parents stepped away from all the media hype and did what Bay Ridge parents do best – have fun and enjoy life!
Congratulations on a wonderful year of creativity, art, hope and sharing!
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January 6, 2018Jaime DeJesus of the Brooklyn Reporter – Why Does He Publish News A Month Later?
Jaime DeJesus writes for the Brooklyn Reporter.
But why does it take him a month to publish news?
A robbery happened at a Bay Ridge hair salon on December 10, 2017. Why is DeJesus writing about it on January 5, 2018?
I don’t get it?!
There’s no point in publishing news that is that old.
Update: On February 7th, 2018 DeJesus published a story about a crime that happened on April 29, 2017. The NYPD claim to be looking for a second suspect, but there has been no news about the story since May 2017. Almost nine months later, DeJesus wrote about it. I can understand if DeJesus wrote about this story last Spring and now he is following up, but I couldn’t find any old stories written about this incident that would make it important almost NINE MONTHS LATER.
Update 2: On July 5th, DeJesus reported about the death of Besa Lufo. There are problems with his story including that he reported her name as Lufo Besa ( no one else did that) – see here
Update 3: On July 19, 2019, Jaime DeJesus wrote about an incident where a man groped a woman on June 3, 2019 – see here. The story is over six weeks old – why is he telling us this now? He didn’t explain why there was a delay in reporting the story.
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January 5, 2018Bay Ridge Socialists Get It Wrong
Sometimes people do things out of habit because it’s easy. When people are just on automatic: no one needs to think, make new plans or communicate because the old plan is “good enough.”
On Monday, January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Bay Ridge Socialists are planning a march and while their premise is new (that they are defending DACA), the march is still the same march that they did other years — which was ineffective and doesn’t promote solidarity in the community.
The Socialists invitation states: “For the past two years, Bay Ridge residents, neighbors, and allies have come together on Martin Luther King Day to honor the radical legacy of Dr. King by showing that hate has NO PLACE in Bay Ridge.” They have done this for two years and seen that it hasn’t been effective. You can’t walk around the streets of Bay Ridge one day a year and think that “something is happening” or changing in the community. And it’s wrong to give children the idea that this is an effective way to deal with hate.
DACA doesn’t just involve just the Arab community. There are immigrants from a lot more places than just Arab countries. Why has this been limited to the Arab community? The march begins and ends at two Arabic places of worship so how does that support any other immigrants in the community? Why haven’t leaders invited Christian churches to participate in this? Yes, you have to invite them when it’s an event that is running from two Arabic houses of worship.
This year there are a lot more groups involved in this. Why aren’t the leaders of these groups seeing this? Why aren’t all these leaders reaching out to schools in the area and building the community? (I know the answer……that would require work.)
One day an amazing student will make this into a unity march that extends from one high school to another (Telecommunication & Xaverian at one end and Fort Hamilton and Fontbonne High Schools at the other) . And teens will take their place as leaders in our community…. that’s how we will know that King’s message had been heard AND UNDERSTOOD. It will happen in my lifetime.
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January 4, 2018Does the Middle Class Lose Under NYC Speaker CoJo?
The NYC Speaker was chosen and it’s Corey Johnson. I thought Donovan Richards would have made an excellent NYC Council Speaker. I’ve watched Richards for a few years and he always responds and acts the way that a public official should. Donovan Richards is the chair of the NYC Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. Even when people are upset or in disagreement, Richards makes sure that they are heard and he is respectful for all sides. I have been impressed with his quick-thinking and the way he easily negotiates for NYC residents.
I guess Donovan Richards got a deal because he folded to Johnson. Robert Comegy had to get something in this deal, as well because he folded pretty easily too. How did these men fold so easily? Why didn’t they back Jumaane Williams who held on to the end. I don’t always agree with Jumaane Williams, but he took a stand and could have used some backing. Even if they weren’t Jumaane supporters, they KNEW he was running for speaker for the right reason. In 2014, we watched Eric Garner die and nothing changed. Melissa Mark-Viverto was afraid of offending people or not being on their good side, so very little got done with ‘Right to Know.’
So how did Johnson win? It’s pretty disturbing to see that money seems to have been a huge factor. “Council Member Johnson’s lobbying largesse far outpaces the rest of the members, with $126,300 in political contributions, of which $84,875 went to other current or incoming members. Johnson, who has been aggressively campaigning for the Council’s top spot long before others jumped into the fray, also gave to local Democratic clubs and Democratic county organizations. He made the maximum allowable contribution of $2,750 to 26 candidates (including Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who was unsuccessful in her reelection bid).” (SOURCE) So Corey Johnson’s special interests will win over NYC families time and time again because he had more money to give out to council members than the other politicians did. NYC Council has already done special interests with Melissa Mark-Viverito (Melissa Mark Viverito couldn’t even follow Councilman Mark Treyger’s money because Treyger gave it to his friend and it wasn’t traceable).
After Corey Johnson won, he made a new twitter account – NYCSpeakerCoJo. Seriously? This is NYC – not Hollywood where people have to use cutesy names. Why couldn’t he use his old account or just be NYCSpeaker or just NYCCouncilSpeaker? In NYC, people are professional not into the nonsense nicknames. Sadly, Johnson doesn’t know how to use social media as his old account (@CoreyinNYC) is retweeting the new account.
NYC expect:
- More selfies of the speaker than ever before. ( couldn’t have guessed it would begin today, but it did. Why is this train empty near Johnson, but filled everywhere else? And why do we need all these pictures of him on the subway? DO SOMETHING THAT HELPS NY’ERS ON THE SUBWAY, THEN TAKE A PICTURE. Then there is this, this and this too just in case you didn’t get enough.
- More people will be hired because if Johnson hires more people, it will look like more is being done. I contacted the NYC Council office and the staff is unresponsive to residents.
- More taxes – Mr. CoJo doesn’t own property in NYC so it doesn’t matter who has to pay more tax. Cojo has sat in office and allowed NYC residents to pay twice that of the Mayor and said nothing about it. I’m not even sure Corey Johnson has ever been to Bay Ridge.
- More tax breaks for friends of Johnson and none for you! Isn’t it cute that Johnson lived at his friend’s home while the friend got a tax break? (here too)
- The Real Estate Industry backed Johnson with money –here and here. This means more deals for them – none for us.
- While Johnson has introduced a lot of legislation, I couldn’t find anything that would help middle class NY’ers overall. Johnson’s legislation is just little things for poor, disadvantaged NY’ers, the LGBTQ Community or administrative paperwork items – nothing groundbreaking or amazing.
Kings County Politics believes Seddio, Eric Adams and a few councilmen like Mark Treyger won with CoJo (the article link has been significantly changed since it was originally posted). That just means more fake picture taking moments for Brooklyn. That’s not good for middle class New York.
Maybe CoJo will surprise NYC, but it doesn’t look good for middle class families in NYC.
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January 4, 2018Fins, Furs, and Feathers Pet Store Moved from 93rd to 95th Street and 4th Avenue
Fins, Furs, and Feathers Pet Store in Bay Ridge moved from 93rd Street to 9508 – Avenue (where the realty/employment office used to be – see pic below). It’s next to Mike’s Deli and across the street from St. Pat’s Church now.
The new place is called Wagging Tails Pet Store.
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January 4, 2018Free Summer Camps in Bay Ridge and Nearby in Brooklyn 2018
Free Summer Camp Programs in
Bay Ridge and Nearby in Brooklyn 2018
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January 4, 2018Who Shovels in Bay Ridge?
Teens who are shoveling in Bay Ridge:
Carmen 917-499-8732
Omar 917-499-8732
I know there was someone else because he was around all the time last year. If you shovel snow in Bay Ridge for $$, put your name and contact number in the comments and I will add you.
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January 3, 2018Affordable Housing in Brooklyn
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January 1, 2018New Church in Bay Ridge
Christ Central Church in Bay Ridge is growing!
Updated January 7th:
At the start of a new year, we often set goals and resolutions to change things in our lives – eat better, get healthier, make more money, etc. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, we often allow fear to get in our way.
Fear is a universal human experience. It has the power to hold us back from all that we were created to be. But how can we we move forward and not be bound by fears that have held us back in the past? It’s a new year, but how can we conquer those same old fears?
Learn more here
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December 30, 2017Commissioner Kathryn Garcia Thinks NYC Has Money To Burn
We get it – garbage isn’t fun…….but there’s no reason to waste NYC’s money on mascot outfits. Plus employees or ACTORS ARE BEING PAID TO WEAR THE OUTFITS (SOURCE)
NYC Sanitation Commissioner, Kathryn Garcia thinks we have money to burn. Five mascot outfits were created with NYC money. In the picture above, Garcia is posing with the Sanitation Mascots. The same woman changed the garbage truck size in Bay Ridge.
While Garcia fools around with the mascots, Bay Ridge received small trucks that couldn’t handle the garbage AND these senior citizens couldn’t get garbage delivery. Can you imagine the time NYC employees sat around planning these mascot costumes, rather than helping residents in Brooklyn? Seriously, it’s sad that an agency that is suppose to help people is wasting our tax dollars on nonsense. One mascot outfit would have been sufficient to talk about recycling.
Garcia also had this plan
Can we get a new Sanitation Commissioner in NYC? This one is careless with our tax dollars and residents are getting less service with Garcia in the position.
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