Andrew Gounardes Thought A Panel Could Explain to Bay Ridge Why He Ignored Street Problems in Bay Ridge For Years

Andrew Gounardes has represented Bay Ridge for years, but he has never taken on street safety, even though he said he would for years.

See video here

Tonight’s meeting format was ridiculous. There should not have been a panel for what the two politicians and the police should have been able to discuss and handle.

Andrew Gounardes does not know how to prepare and run a meeting. Gounardes gave out cards for people to write questions and then he barely answered any of the questions from the cards.

Gounardes told the audience, “We are going to have breakout groups and answer questions. At no point at this meeting did Andrew Gounardes make any breakout groups to answer questions.

Keith Bray, the Brooklyn Borough Commissioner from the Department of Transportation talked about people getting signs by calling 311. There was no reason for Keith Bray to be at this meeting.

Bay Ridge parents easily saw Bray was there as a time filler. One smart mother asked Gounardes to address the issues in our community, so time didn’t run out.

At 6:50 pm, Gounardes started reading statistics, instead of providing them to the audience on the screen behind him or on a handout. No preparation was done for this meeting because it wasn’t important to Andrew.

At 6:55 pm, Captain Tolson spoke and “did the usual.” Tolson talked about how collisions are down this month. Tolson never says when the numbers are up. Captain Tolson said there have been no fatalities. He said , speeding and texting are the number one problems.

Trailers on Poly Place

Captain Tolson said writing summons doesn’t work for these vehicles. The captain sounded very sympathetic to the truck companies because there is nowhere for them to park, except at JFK.

Captain Tolson said they can’t boot these vehicles because they have to have a certain number of summons.

Captain Tolson said he was talking to the DOT to have angled parking. Tolson told Bay Ridge this months ago and it never happened. At this point, it was 7:05 pm and nothing was accomplished.

Brannan said they changed the signs on Poly Place and he spoke as if he thought HE DID something big. Parents kept him honest and called out that the signs weren’t useful. Brannan also was sympathetic to the truck drivers and wanted to give them parking on 58th Street on the pier. Keith Bray said trucks were parking throughout NYC.

311 Calls Go Unanswered

People complained that no one comes from when they call 311. One man said he called 311 for three days this weekend and nothing happened.

Gounardes wants people to call 311 and then call his office with the incident number from 311. Andrew said he is sorry he can’t help you if you don’t do that. A woman stood up and said that she has called 911 and then Brannan’s office and nothing has changed.

The officer with Captain Tolson offered to help. *This sounded hopeful. When a mother in the community asked for the officer’s number, he told them to call 311.

Another woman said the police drive by and do nothing. Captain Tolson said that the NYPD are not going to chase scooters because that will cause an accident.

The electric bikes do not have to be registered.

Motorcycles and scooters are riding on the sidewalk. One mother explained how dangerous this was. Parents clapped for her. How do we get that mother to run for NYC Council? She was a great voice for this community!

ONE MAN SAID THE MOST TELLING THING….THESE GUYS ARE TWO YEARS TOO LATE. At that point it was 7:30 pm and no solutions had been reached – people came out to get help and were frustrated.

Gounardes and Brannan lost control and people started to get roudy. A man complained and held up this yellow sign:

Enforcement

One woman said, there is no enforcement. Captain Tolson was offended. She continued, “We love you. We don’t understand why you are not around.” At 7:36 pm. an officer with Captain Tolson said there will be a shift and focus on ebikes. (This was the only time there was any talk about change.)

Speed Cameras

Andrew Gounardes did not come prepared with the information about the local speed cameras. He spoke about generic information about speed cameras. Brannan said he hasn’t gotten another ticket since the article was printed.

At 7:40 pm, Andrew Gounardes said that the security said they must be out of the building by 8:00 pm. (*Anyone running a meeting would have reserved the place until 9:00 pm, so all questions could be answered).

Drag Racing

Captain Tolson that the 69th Precinct gave out 12 summons on June 4th. Highway police also issued summons.

Many residents said that they contacted Councilman Brannan’s office and nothing has been done about problems on their street. Gounardes said, “We will follow up.”

** Many people didn’t know about the meeting because Gounardes didn’t inform them in a mailing.

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Xaverian Summer Sports Camp in Bay Ridge

Xaverian Summer Sports Camp https://www.xaverian.org/ath…/summer-xaverian-sports-camps

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Brian Fox is Running for District 26’s Senate Seat

Brian Fox announced this afternoon that he is running for the District 26 Senate seat and challenging the Champion of bail reform, Andrew Gounardes.

If you saw tonight’s meeting with the two politicians from Bay Ridge, you can see most people have lost faith in the current politicians, as they don’t take action or stand up for the community.

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The Streets Are No Safer Eleven Years Later

My student died eleven years ago today while riding her bike, just outside of this community on 62nd Street and 21st Avenue. (Story here)

The reality of the streets in our community is that they are not safer than they were eleven years ago.

Politicians have played games and wasted the money from this community. Bay Ridge, vote for people who will use the community’s money to make the community safe for the children who live here.

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Memorial Mass for Donal Nolan – Saturday 6/11

The family of Donal Nolan invite you to his memorial mass. June 11th at 11:00 am at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church at 9511 4th Avenue – Brooklyn.

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Pride Bee Union Formed to Support Teens

The Pride Bee Union is a new online community for LGBTQIA+ teens in NYC. Happy Pride!

The Pride Been Union was started by some caring scouts in Bay Ridge as part of their Silver Award Project. (Their Instagram)

Congratulations to these scouts for their leadership in building a community to support other teens.

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Parents, Your Childs EBT Card Was Loaded Again

I’m not sure why this wasn’t announced, parents check the EBT cards that you received last year. At the end of May, they were reloaded with $375 for each child. This money is from the Summer 2021.

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The Bay Ridge 5th Avenue Festival Is Still Popular

It was a beautiful day in Bay Ridge.

People love walking the avenue seeing old friends and trying all the different vendors.

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GayRidge Had a Great Pride Day in Bay Ridge

GayRidge shared some photos of some happy people and dogs here and here

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No One Walks Around the Golf Course Because the Area is Not Maintained – Commercial Vehicles

Outside of Poly Place, Captain Tolson from the 68th Precinct can’t seem to clear this street of commercial trucks. Tolson doesn’t live in Bay Ridge, so this isn’t a concern for him.

Photo by Effie P.

We have at least three elected leaders from this area who haven’t been doing their job here. Yes, it’s their job. They have budget and the ability to clear this area – the lowest level of maintenance is not being done.

The sign was knocked to the ground by those parking here because this is lot to them – not our neighborhood.

Photo by Effie P.

This has been going on for years because the people who are supposed to be representing us are representing other people and areas.

Elect new people who are concerned and can get the job done with the 68th Precinct or with a company they hire with the money from our district.

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Kings Plaza Evacuated Two Days in a Row

Yesterday, Kings Plaza was evacuated because people heard loud sounds on the second floor near the food court and thought they were gunshots.

It turned out to be fireworks set off as a prank on the second floor of the mall. (Source)

Today there was another evacuation at the mall.

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Andrew Gounardes Voted for the Clean Slate Bill

The Clean Slate Bill was voted on in the NYS Senate this week. (See news)

Did you know that Senator Andrew Gounardes voted for the Clean Slate Bill? Gounardes had a lot of time to share his vote, but didn’t discuss the bill on any social media platform. (See the bill)

The bill aimed to seal certain criminal records of people with felonies and misdemeanors – with some conditions and some exceptions. Sex offenses are not covered under this, so that is good.

The goal is for people to have a second chance so they can apply for housing, employment, jobs and some licenses that do background checks. The NY Senators took the bill too far and left loopholes which can cause innocent people to be hurt.

There are some situation in which people deserve a second chance, but there are some situations that can be created that would harmful for innocent people. Like bail reform, this will be another disaster for Brooklyn.

Vinnie Gentile didn’t use social media much, but when there was a controversial vote, he always explained his position. Andrew Gounardes thinks that his vote is a private vote with his friends in Albany. His decision not to share the vote means he has stopped representing this community. Gounardes was also silent when gerrymandered Brooklyn.

NYS Senator, George Borello brought up a problem with Clean Slate that legislatures don’t want to respond to. People convicted of animal cruelty, animal fighting and animal hoarding would also have their records sealed.

Andrew Gounardes should have stepped up and offered help with the bill and his experience with this topic. In Albany, it seems like Gounardes just goes along with the other Democrats.

Gounardes should have shared the story of the puppy mill in Bay Ridge. (See here) When this situation existed on Bergan Place, the residents couldn’t get help from Brannan, Gounardes or the police. They went to the news because to get help for the dogs. The guy moved out because he knew all eyes were on him. Months later, he was in the news for doing it again and he was arrested and charged with several crimes. (See here)

In several years, that mans record will be sealed. And someone else will rent to him. If he does the same thing, they will be stuck (and maybe physically hurt). I wrote to the senator who made the bill to ask him about the Clean Slate Bill and he didn’t say it wasn’t true.

Michael Tannousis shared that Carl Heastie didn’t allow the NY Assembly to vote on this bill, but that he was against it. Play the interview video:

Tannousis was much more open with this vote than Gounardes.

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