Warren Chan What the Heck Were You Thinking?

I was disappointed to see the news about Warren Chan (article by Kadia Goba)

Although I don’t know Chan personally, I did speak with him online awhile back. He seemed like a man who was very interested in helping his community.  I was sad to see that he was so rude on social media.  Chan is best known for speaking up for the Asian community in this part of Brooklyn when others haven’t. He was adamant about looking at the tenant’s side of illegal home conversions as well. What was he thinking? Didn’t he realize that people respected him? 

Of course Justin Brannan kicked Chan off of his transition team. That wouldn’t surprise anyone in Bay Ridge as  Justin is on the brink of a very exciting year and doesn’t have time for racism and nonsense like that.

Chan should issue an apology to Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou. His comment was uncalled for, lewd and disrespectful. 

This is not the first time that I have seen an member of the Asian community lash out at Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou. The other time was just as unwarranted and Niou has always been very professional in her response. 

Assemblywoman Niou holds Shelly Silvers old seat in the NY Assembly. 

The Daily News story here.   The Post also picked up the story here.

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Another School on Lockdown Yesterday

On Wednesday Fort Hamilton High School had a lockdown because one student believed they saw another student with a gun.

Today there was another incident:

Early this morning,  a 13 year old student at the Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies was arrested for bringing a  BB gun and a knife to school. Thank God no one was hurt.

The Rachel Carson High School is inside of I.S. 303 on West Avenue (there are 4 schools in one building)

Story here

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Pam Harris Holds a Climate Change Meeting, but Didn’t Invite Bay Ridge

Pam Harris is the elected NY Assembly member for part of Bay Ridge. It’s clear that she doesn’t realize that.

Harris is rarely in Bay Ridge and doesn’t run many events here. She knows Bay Ridge is a gerrymandered district, but continues to run co-sponsor most events in Coney Island. I don’t see her running many events on her own there either.  

This week she ran an event with Bill Colton. After the event, she wrote on her Twitter and Facebook pages that she was invited to speak at the event. The event was very small (the first row contains the speakers)

Bill Colton put Harris’ name as a sponsor of the event (see the bottom of the flyer).  Obviously she doesn’t know she was a sponsor of the event and Colton just put her name on the flyers.  I saw Colton put Nancy Tong’s name on meetings when he and Harris tried to push out-of-district, Nancy Tong on our district. 

Strangely, Assemblywoman Harris didn’t mention the Climate Change event on social media or her website. The event was held at Il Centro Italian Community Center on 87th Street and 13th Avenue, so it would have been convenient for Bay Ridge residents to attend. 

Does Colton consider Pam Harris an expert on Climate Change because she lived in an area of Brooklyn that was hit by Hurricane Sandy?  Harris’ degrees are in health, human development and family studies, so I am not sure why Colton would have been asked to be on the panel.  Some of the people on the panel have been working or fighting for the environment for years and although they don’t live in our area, I recognize their names from their work/activism.

Harris hasn’t introduced any legislation involving the environment, so it’s strange that her name is on the panel. Wouldn’t it have been more productive of Colton to invite an Assembly member who has been active in environmental issues to be on the panel?  Harris also didn’t say much when Coney Island Creek has 200,000 pounds of pollution added to it every day. As a lawmaker, Harris could have written a bill to protect the Creek, but she didn’t.

If Harris has become an expert in climate change, we won’t know about it in Bay Ridge as she rarely holds events here. She is mostly here for picture-taking moments, like festivals or visiting senior centers. Nicole Malliotakis, the other Assembly representative for Bay Ridge does the same low end form of politics in Bay Ridge, so I guess Harris figures this is acceptable.  A lot of politicians play up to the senior citizens in Bay Ridge because they vote in elections. 

If you look on Harris’ website, the last time she posted a press release was in October. 

Maybe we will see a cheesy press release about this meeting. Colton loves to load the paper with press releases.  I wonder if one of the publications will tell how few people were in attendance.

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Blood Drive – December 19th

Blood Drive at the 62nd Police Precinct

1925 Bath Avenue from  1:00 PM—  7:00 PM  on Tuesday December 19th

For more information: 800-688-0900

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Best Lasagna in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

It’s almost  Christmas and you are tired. You need a tray of lasagna for a party. Where’s the best lasagna in Bay Ridge?

Topics: Bay Ridge | No Comments »

Here’s the Real Problem with What Marty Golden Did……

Since we lived in Bay Ridge, we’ve had someone flash a badge at us while we were driving. We followed them and called 911 with the man’s plates. The police didn’t do anything. The cyclist saw a placard – so something was flashed at him. He pursued it because he knew it was not a  NYPD parking card.

If Marty Golden did that move in Bay Ridge and one of his staff member’s children were involved, they wouldn’t be tweeting nonsense to defend them.

Marty’s wife, children and friends live here with us. They know Marty. And they know if the words that were exchanged were his. 

Marty told Channel 1 that his car was in the bike lane. At that point, he should have apologized. Knowing that he had his 4000+ pound vehicle on the road where it didn’t belong, he had to realize it would be upsetting to the the man on the bike.

If the cyclist was creating a road rage situation, why was Marty Golden hiding from him? The pictures clearly show that Golden didn’t want to be photographed. And Golden LOVES photos.  Golden’s wife and children can see him hiding. Most men don’t have to hide from anyone UNLESS they have done something wrong. 

Why didn’t Golden’s staff issue an apology to the driver once they knew that Golden’s car was in the bike lane. Yes, he may have been avoiding blocking the box, but the cyclist wasn’t wrong. And good men like him shouldn’t be called a liar when they came forth to tell what had happened. It’s fine to tell Golden’s side of the story, but also have the decency to issue an apology.   

Some of Golden’s staff cries on social media about the littlest things, but they didn’t say anything about their boss and the very strange encounter with a cyclist.

In an interview, Golden said maybe the cyclist thought he was a cop. No one thinks he looks like a cop anymore. I am pretty sure “his driver” would be insulted that someone thought he looked like a cop in his designer duds.

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Saturday Night Fever 40th Anniversary in Brooklyn

Forty years ago, Saturday Night Fever was released  in theaters. John Travolta played the main character, Tony Manero and his dance moves made the movie a hit. And people are still celebrating it!

BayRizz shared his Tony Manero moments here

You can own Tony Manero’s house in Bay Ridge is at 221 – 79th Street – it’s for sale here. You can look inside:

2001 Odyssey Disco is currently a Chinese restaurant called Bamboo Garden. An Italian man spent  $200,000 to recreate the Odyssey Disco for one night so he could dance in the same place as Tony Manero did in the movie. see story and see how happy he was to do this.

It looked great: here,  here,  here, here, here and here

Some pols trying to get their picture taken here, here and here

Of course everyone wants to see the famous Lenny’s Pizza, seen here:

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Luckiest Empty Storefront in Bay Ridge

You may see an empty storefront in the picture below.

But this is the luckiest empty storefront in Bay Ridge.  8115 – 3rd Avenue – the rent is $2500 – see listing

This was Justin Brannan’s headquarters. Brannan won the election and is Bay Ridge’s Councilman-elect.

While he no longer needs this office, the good luck remains in this place…..for the next occupant.

Be strategic though….there is a supermarket across the street and a parking lot for the supermarket adjacent to the “lucky store.”   There are a lot of good standard stores on the street – a dry cleaner, hair salon, pizzeria and dentist. It would make a great spot for karate school, piano school or place where parents could drop off their child and get all their shopping done while their child was enjoying learning something.

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Fort Hamilton High School – No Active Shooter

Fort Hamilton High School had a lockdown on Wednesday, December 13th when a female student  reported that she saw a student with a gun. (The girl did the right thing whether there was a gun found or not). Story here

Sal Albanese tweeted about it because his daughter is a guidance counselor at the high school.

Initially a soft lockdown was issued in the school and  then a hard lockdown was issued. The Citizen X app alerted the community.

Parents saw many police in full gear ready to take action. Kinda scary.  See more pics here

No weapons or shooter were found and the lockdown was lifted. Police said the student was mistaken about seeing a gun. (source)

Some problems to note at Fort Hamilton:

• Fort Hamilton High School has to have a better procedure for alerting parents.  Parents were told this was a drill. They found out from social media that there was a hard lockdown. Some students were using snapchat, instant messenger and other social media to tell their parents they were scared.

• It was said that there is not a cell phone blocker at Fort Hamilton High School. Yet, Parents weren’t able to text their children who were on lower levels. Students on the 3rd floor were able to text. It was upsetting to parents who couldn’t reach their children.  It’s 2017, people need to communicate in lockdown times.

• Fort Hamilton has to have a procedure for classrooms. Students were videotaped at the windows and some were chanting to be let out. I saw two different videos of students at the windows during the lockdown. The staff needs to execute soft lockdown procedures without fail (substitutes included).   

• Many saw students leave with officers. While initially this was reported as a student (possibly the shooter) being taken away in a police vehicle,  I was told  that this was a relative of one of the officers. I have no idea if this is true, but Fort Hamilton should look into this. No students should have left the locked down school.

•  A procedure for parents coming to the school and picking up students needs to be in place. Parents in this area really care about their children and they will race to the school in an emergency. Parents were outside chanting, “Let them out.”  Have a procedure to accept or hold them somewhere and update them so they aren’t chanting to let the students out (a nearby building where they can have a cup of coffee would be good).

• • Around 1:30 pm, Xaverian High School sent a text to parents and asked them to check their e-mail:

• To All Members of the Xaverian Community,Earlier this morning, we were in contact with NYPD after learning of a lockdown situation that was ongoing at Fort Hamilton High School. The information that we learned was that there was allegedly an armed individual in Fort Hamilton High School. As a result, the Xaverian administration and security staff implemented heightened security protocols in and around the building as we monitored the ongoing situation. At approximately 12:30 pm, our contacts within NYPD informed us that based on their investigation, there was no threat to our students or school, and that there is no need to alter our normal school routine.

The 68th Precinct is permanently assigning a police officer to Fort Hamilton High School and Telecommunications High School for safety.

Fort Hamilton High School temporarily has a metal detector for students to pass on Thursday,  but they were gone on Friday.

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Welcome to Bay Ridge, Luxe & Lace Bridal Boutique

We are glad to see Luxe and Lace Bridal shop setting up in Bay Ridge. 

Luxe and Lace is at 8718 3rd Avenue. It is between the Indian Restaurant Bombay Tasty and Kaleidoscope Toy Store.   It is a beautiful bridal jewelry and accessory store (veils, shoe, headpieces, etc)

The store reminds me of a store that was in Bay Ridge for many years  called Sposabella. It was on 82nd and 5th. 

Good luck to the new owner who is also the owner of Nile Boutique on 3rd Avenue. More info here. 

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Cathy’s Place – Renamed The Coffee Club

 

 

<span style=”font-family: ‘comic sans ms’; font-size: large;”>On the corner of 96th Street and 4th Avenue was a small diner called Cathy’s Place. On any given day, you could stop in to grab a coffee and see all the local people in the neighborhood. The place was just rename The Coffee Club, but it’s still the same owner.</span>

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<p style=”color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, ‘Times New Roman’, ‘Bitstream Charter’, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;”><img class=” wp-image-18226 aligncenter” style=”height: auto; max-width: 100%; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;” src=”https://queenoftheclick.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cathys-place-bay-ridge.jpg” alt=”” width=”498″ height=”319″ /></p>
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<span style=”font-family: ‘comic sans ms’; font-size: large;”>The woman who owns this place is a very nice person and makes good coffee!</span>

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Brooklyn Cyclist’s Encounter with Senator Golden

Senator Marty Golden Picture by Brian Howald

Brian Howald, a member of Brooklyn Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee told about his encounter with Senator Marty Golden –  Worth a read (it’s over using the bike lane).

See more here,  here and here

Howald had photographed the car’s license plate and another Brooklyn resident discovered that there were tickets on the car by using the license plate number into the  NYC ticket paying site  AND this is  a story in itself as some of the tickets involve school zones. 

Update: On NY 1, Marty admitted that they used the bike lane. Golden proceeded to say that the cyclist had road rage. (When a 4000 pound vehicle is in the bike lane, a cyclist would be a bit annoyed, especially if they are being told to get out of the bike lane and someone is waving a parking placard). If Marty was doing the right thing, then why is he hiding in the pictures?

The Post wrote: “The vehicle’s license plate number, which the Post is not publishing, is associated with more than 30 traffic violations over the last four years — including for running red lights, not feeding parking meters, standing in bus stops and for speeding in school zones, according to city records.” 

On December 13th, The New York Times covered the story   

Hear the story from the cyclist here   

Senator Golden has unpaid vehicle violations. – see here

The Village Voice – Golden doesn’t look under any stress from the cyclist road rage. He is smirking.

AM NY covered the story    

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