Saint Anselm is holding a Blood Drive on Sunday, July 30th from 11 – 5 pm in the basement of St. Anselm School on the corner of 83rd Street and 4th Avenue.
Here are some people/places that teach children how to play the piano. Many do lessons for adults as well.
1) Music Box School 9402 Fort Hamilton Pkwy. They offer a free lesson. Private lessons only for piano. 30 minute lesson – once a week – $160 a month. They also offer 45 minute and 60 minute lesson. Children 3 and 4 years old can take a group music class.
2) Piano Masters – 276 79th Street 646-300-4723. They take children at age 3. – Ms. Tamara Kurdadze is a great teacher.
3)VSPAC– 7110 -3rd Avenue – Lessons for children 6 and older. Voytek Sporek is the teacher. 718-680·0944
4) Mary Carmosino on 79th & Colonial. She was the former music director at Fontbonne High School and plays at St. Anselm. 917-579-9612. You can hear Mary play here (that’s not her singing). I heard her playing at Shore Road Park and it was beautiful.
5) Evgeni Ninov Piano Studio 6922 10th Avenue 11228 347-433-2816 – see site
6)Brooklyn Music House 8618 18th Avenue 718-621-2072 $25 a lesson. They do a trial lesson with your child.
7) Brooklyn Musical Arts 7306 – 18th Avenue $24 – 30 min lesson and $35 dollars – 45 minute lesson
I didn’t realize the Union Church was so political. The Bay Ridge for Social Justice group has invited socialists and anarchists to speak on the topic of: “the ramped up efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that threaten the most vulnerable among us” at the Saturday, Union Church on July 29th from 2-4 pm – All are welcome – invitation here – 7915 Ridge Boulevard.
I am not that familiar with anarchy. If I was 19 or 20 years old, anarchy and socialism might interest me. But we know socialism has failed in many countries – this isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact. Anarchy doesn’t seem like it fits well with Bay Ridge either. Today I asked five people to name someone who was an anarchist and everyone named Ted Kaczynski, the unibomber.
While the topic of their discussion looks great, it’s odd that they are running this type of meeting EIGHT months after Trump became president and increased use of ICE.
The Socialists want to have a socialist-type discussion where everyone agrees with them and nods their head, yet it’s odd that The Union Church is participating in such a political discussion. I could understand if they were having this type of discussion with a more even distribution of ideas, but that isn’t the case here. It’s also weird they would have this type of discussion in July, when most people are away on the weekends. *Today Jeff Sessions talked about defunding santuary cities, but this meeting was planned a long time ago, so it isn’t that.
The socialists called this “a panel and community discussion.” Usually a panel contains a lot more than a representative from TWO groups and usually it is a lot more diverse. It’s also labeled as a family event (LOL, this means that one or more of the organizers has kids and was too cheap to get a babysitter. Why would anyone bring a child to this n the weekend when they could be at the park or beach with their family?)
The meeting description reads: “In this environment of Islamophobia and intensifying anti-immigrant sentiment and policies, we want to build a community that is not simply tolerant but just, equitable, and free from fear.” Again, the description sounds great – but the timing for this meeting is probably to push the socialist candidate on the community. Sadly, the socialist candidate was silent last year when their was a problemand there’s also some missing money in our community, but the socialists don’t want to talk about that. It’s weird that he didn’t offer his church for the meeting, but then again it’s probably to bring into some kind Bay Ridge people who are interested in community-building.
Groups on the panel include:
1)The International Socialist Organization (ISO) “The ISO is dedicated to trying to bring about a completely different society, free of all oppression and built on the principles of solidarity and democracy. ISO has organized around issues relating to anti-imperialism, climate justice and educational justice.”
2)The Base “The Base provides a foundation for fostering the ideas and theory of people who have either a preliminary background in political thought, or who have not grappled with political theory at any level. Furthermore, they will help establish a framework where creative modes of sharing will be encouraged, with the goal of spreading these modes beyond the confines of the space itself. ”
The group “Bay Ridge for Social Justice” really doesn’t live up to it’s name. The group walks around the neighborhood once a year to tell Muslims, rather than bringing people together to admire and appreciate culture. They also protesting in front of Nicole Malliotakis’ home in Staten Island, but other than that have been pretty quiet. Social justice isn’t needed just for Muslims, but for many oppressed cultures.
Currently class is being held on Tuesday at 11 am. There is room in this class. Please message, text or call to reserve a spot. I am putting this here for a good friend whose Mother might love this.
On a busy Summer weekend in Bay Ridge, there is going to be a lot of garbage. John Quaglione likes to photograph garbage on street corners and post them on social media and complain. See:
I remembered recently reading about Councilman Gentile using $200,000 to finance a sixth day of garbage pickup on the avenue and some extra cleaning in Bay Ridge too. We always had five days of pickups, but Gentile recognized that the avenue needed an extra pickup each week. Seehereand here.
Gentile shared that information with the public on July 20th (the reporter included that date of in the article). Quaglione photographed the garbage on Sunday, July 23rd – the day of the week he knew there was no pickup. Quaglione was also counting on you and I not knowing that Gentile had increased pickups in Bay Ridge.
Why would John Quaglione do that? Because Quaglione likes to play politics. He made it look like no one is doing anything about the problem, except him. His solution to the problem was to photograph it and put it on Twitter. Whining on social media doesn’t solve the problem. It just shows us that Quaglione isn’t a good problem-solver or leader. We never saw Vinnie Gentile complaining about his job. Gentile is always positive, upbeat and hopeful. Why hasn’t Marty Golden or someone on Team Quaglione told him to stop photographing garbage and complaining on social media?
Of course this isn’t the first time Quaglione complained about the corner garbage on social media. Four years ago, when Quaglione ran for office and lost (2013), he did the same thing during his campaign. Quaglione was even photographed with a garbage can because he wanted a reporter to write a story about him for the paper. It’s four years later and the same reporter photographed Quaglione with his home garbage canbecause Quaglione wanted to be in the paper (he didn’t actually do anything). Silly politicians fill our papers with nonsense and residents here can’t get news of what’s happening in the neighborhood because of this.
Quaglione works at Senator Golden’s office. The real question becomes: Why didn’t Senator Golden do anything about this?
Poor Nancy Tong. The men sitting at the table with her are using her as “a revenge candidate” and today they have her Playing Politics! Why doesn’t she know this yet?
How do we know Tong is playing politics?
Bill Colton and Pamela Harris are Assembly members in this area and both are members of that political club. Pam Harris voted in favor of this bill – you can see the Y next to her name for the bill’s vote. If Nancy Tong was being authentic, she would have called Harris out on her vote. Yet, Nancy failed to mention that! Also this vote was done at the end of June….why didn’t Nancy talk about this in June?
Tong and Treyger could have voiced their concerns to Harris, but instead they want us to think they are actually doing something for people, when in fact it’s just their game of politics. Stop the Nonsense Tong and Treyger!
His big announcement is that he would change the mansion tax. What does this mean? Currently if a family buys a one million dollar home, they have to pay a mansion tax within 15 days of closing. Chirico said would change it so that people wouldn’t have to pay mansion tax unless the home was $2 million. THIS MAN WANTS TO GIVE TAX BREAKS TO PEOPLE WHO CAN AFFORD MILLION DOLLAR HOMES….Seriously? Can we stop giving tax breaks to people who don’t care about tax breaks?
How does this help current residents who are paying high property taxes? It doesn’t. This bill would only help people on future home purchases. I guess there are current residents in Dyker who want to purchase new million dollar homes and they don’t want to be hit with the mansion tax. You, the middle class reader of my blog must be shaking your head…..yeah me too.
Chirico said he would oppose any property tax hike. I think every candidate running is going to say that.
When we moved to Bay Ridge eight years ago, our property tax was around $4K – it’s now almost $8K. Chirico wants to expand property tax relief for senior citizens (What about the middle class?), increase the senior citizen rent increase exemption and create tax rebates for renters who surpass a certain threshold percentage of their income on rent. Yup, the middle class is left out. Why? Because some candidates are trying to appeal to senior citizens since they vote.
To us, it looks like Chirico’s intended audience is the rich and the senior citizens.
Brooklyn’s Elite Dance Complex has hip hop classes for boys or girls ages 4-18. The studio is located at 1648 Bay Avenue. 718-337-8497 Their site : here
Alejandro Tello left his job at an amusement park and was skateboarding home using West 10th Street and Avenue T in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Alejandro was hit by a SUV which from the videoseems like an accident as the driver may not have realized they hit the teen. The car was making a turn and Tello was not present at the start of the turn and may have been in the driver’s blind spot. The news states that: ‘Police observed that both wheels went over the teen and the driver should have stopped.’ Alex was just three blocks away from his home.
The next car stopped and shielded Alejandro’s body. A car going in the opposite direction also stopped to help. (Good people in Brooklyn).
Alejandro was unconscious when he was taken to Maimonides Hospital. He had severe head trauma and didn’t survive. The hospital gave the family Alejandro’s things. Only one shoe was there, so his mother returned to West 10th Street to look for the other shoe. (My heart breaks for her). See: here.
Alejandro’s father understood that this was an accident and kindly told reporters that he had forgiven for the driver: ““If you are watching me, I forgive you. Me and my wife, my family, we forgive him. I wish the best for his family because I know he could have a family and I don’t wish anything bad to him.” (See here) The following day, Alex’s cousin placed flowers on the pole near the accident. Reporters spoke to Alejandro’s cousin, Hector who also said that he forgave the driver.
The white BMW SUV that hit Alejandro was found parked on the street two miles from the accident. Police are still looking for the driver. Anyone with information can call: 1-800-577-8477.
Alex Tello was going to start his senior year at New Utrecht High School. Alejandro taught himself how to play the piano and guitar. He loved rock music, photography, skateboarding and his family. Alejandro was preparing for college. He planned on being a musician or a police detective.
Many prayers for his Alejandro’s family – parents, two brothers and a sister. If you are reading this, take a moment and pray for strength and peace for the family. A GoFundMe Page was set up here
Green Spa is having a class to learn how to make natural bug repellant on July 25th from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm. That’s a pretty unique class and with so many chemicals in insect repellant, it’s good to see this shop offering alternatives in Bay Ridge.
The Resource Beacon of Hope is an impatient detox center located at 449 – 39th Street (between 4th and 5th Avenue). If you have a friend or family member who is taking heroin and needs to go to a drug rehabilitation facility, this is the place to go to get clean. 718-633-HOPE.
If you are a parent who just found out that your child was using drugs or overdosed and needs help, I think having this inpatient treatment facility nearby is something to consider. Don’t be embarrassed or mad about it, stuff like this happens in life. Your kid is still alive, so get him or her help. I lost a good friend because his family was too proud and ignored the problem. In NYC, 1300 fatally overdosed last year (that’s 3 or 4 people everyday).
Donna Mae DePola, the president of Resource Beacon of Hope opened this facility on March 1, 2017. “We have an opiate epidemic in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge,” said Donna Mae DePola, a Bay Ridgite who runs the addiction-treatment facility and is herself a recovering addict. (See: here)
There are 20 beds for people to get on the road to recovery.
