Free UPK – All Day – Outdoors
This free UPK Program is beginning outdoors and would be great for a working parent.
It is in Coney Island, but may be what someone reading this needs.
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August 10, 2020Did Lobbyists Stop Angel Guardian’s Landmarking?
We’ve been hearing about Angel Guardian Home for a few years.
On Monday, August 11th at 4:00 pm they will decide if the former orphanage building will be landmarked. Residents can submit background information to an online form before 4 pm on Monday, August 11th.
In 2018, the Angel Guardian Home property on 11th Avenue was sold to a developer for $37.5 million. The newspapers acted like everything was hush-hush. Councilman Brannan kept saying he was working on contacting the new owner.
On August 19th, Kings County Politics reported that Senator Andrew Gounardes accepted donations from the developer. (See here)
In April 2018, Brannan wrote on Twitter that he met with the owner and there could be senior housing, affordable housing, green space, a new senior center and public school seats:
We weren’t sure why Justin Brannan was interested in contacting the developer for a building in Councilman Menchaca’s district?
On May 4, 2018, Brannan tweeted that the building was going to be landmarked.
In that 2018 article that Brannan shared, it states that the building was to be landmarked. It says the developer met with the Landmarking Committee. Now in August 2020, when everyone is away for vacation, the Landmarking Committee is deciding if this building can be landmarked. #SomethingIsn’tRightHere
ISN’T THAT STRANGE TO EVERYONE?
We recently found the lobbyist database. We looked up Angel Guardian and see in 2018, Councilman Brannan (and his staff member too) are listed for period 5. We don’t understand why Justin Brannan is involved with this since he doesn’t represent that area. Why wouldn’t Carlos Menchaca’s name be here?
Some good Brooklynites formed a group called: “The Guardians of the Guardian.” They love Brooklyn and don’t want a partial landmarking. They want the convent on the lot to be included in the land marking.
In 2018, the Historic Districts Council sent their representative to the politicians. In the chart below, you can see they lobbied Brannan and other politicians over making Angel Guardian a landmark. Strangely, Carlos Menchaca’s name isn’t on the list, even though the building is in his district.
Last Fall (2019), we looked to see who donated to Brannan’s campaign because he started collecting even though his election isn’t until 2021. Brannan accepted $1,000 from the developer to his campaign in April 2019. See NYC politician donations here We knew something was up!
It’s sad to see that lobbyists are involved in decisions in Brooklyn. And something isn’t right about the Landmark decision being made in August 2020 when people are away. If you have a moment, please stand up for Brooklyn and fill out this online form before 4 pm on Monday, August 11th.
Topics: Brooklyn | 1 Comment »
August 9, 2020Bay Ridge Story Won The Hamilton NY Film Festival
A movie about two brothers growing up in Bay Ridge in 1975 won the Hamilton New York Film Festival.
Congratulations to John Gray, the writer and director of White Irish Drinkers! Gray was born and bred in Bay Ridge. Ovington Avenue Productions is Gray’s company.
Gray financed this movie with his own money. See more about the movie here
Gray is also known for the 2005 – 2010 television show, Ghost Whisperer, in which the names of many Bay Ridge places were incorporated into the show.
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August 9, 2020Garbage Cans in Other Boroughs
Do you ever wonder why things don’t get to Bay Ridge, even though this is supposed to be one city where money is spent evenly?
Hunters Point Park in Queens had a ceremony for their new large, solar-powered garbage cans this week. Yes, there is a global pandemic going on and people are talking about there not being enough money for anything, but they had a ceremony for these garbage cans.
Channel 1 showed this news segment
Above is Mitchell Silver, the NYC Parks Commissioner cutting the ribbon for the new cans. How come we don’t see him cutting a ribbon at our park?
We had a Shore Road Park Conservancy, but they disbanned. I have a feeling that a lot of politicians have these groups because it is the way to funnel funds to get special cans like this.
Why is money from our district going out of the district to Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservacy?
Councilman Justin Brannan funded Brooklyn Bridge Park with $15,000 from our district funds (see below). Stephen Levin is the councilman for that area, why didn’t he fund that project?
Notice there was no press release about Brannan saying he was giving our tax dollars to another district.
In Bay Ridge, we are still have the old baskets which are filling up and it looks terrible outside businesses. This shouldn’t be outside of businesses who spent a lot of time and money making their place look beautiful:
Last year, the Department of Sanitation spent a lot of money on a garbage can design contest. On Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, they placed some of these snazzy cans between 88th and 92nd streets. Bay Ridge got nothing.
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August 9, 2020NYC Property Not Maintained in Our Area
This empty building sits in our district on 86th Street – across the street from PC Richards.
Someone told me that it wasn’t used as a civic center because of the sound/vibrations. Both things could have been fixed.
Now it’s become a grafitti wall and the signs of a district not being maintained. It’s not new grafitti – it started out in July 2017 and continues to grow.
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August 9, 2020Tang Spa Closed – Will Reopen in New Location
Update: 1/2/21 – Tang Spa is back in Bay Ridge – see here
Tang Spa at 7406 – 5th Avenue closed. It’s between Connors and Sullivan Law firm and Cubecare (the fast Covid-testing center).
The owner said they are looking for a new location and hope to be open in Bay Ridge by the end of September.
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August 8, 2020Investor’s Bank was Robbed on Friday
On August 6th, BRBR (Bay Ridge Bank Robber) went into Investor’s Bank at 7826 5 Avenue and robbed it.
BRBR gave the bank employee a note for cash.
Call 718-439-4236 if have any information.
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August 8, 2020An Open Letter to Meaghan McGoldrick
Meaghan McGoldrick is the editor of The Brooklyn Paper and Courier. For years, McGoldrick was a journalist for local papers in our area. Now as the editor, Meaghan controls what goes into the paper.
Over the years, McGoldrick has heard me complain about how the reporters at local papers have distorted the news by providing one-sided articles to the community. It‘s disappointing to see McGoldrick run an article which allowed a politician to tell us “all the work he did,” when many people in Gounardes’ district can’t get help from Gounardes. Finding a representative that is willing to represent the whole community is a problem that has existed in Bay Ridge for years!
Another resident described McGoldrick’s article as “a thinly veiled campaign ad.” Reporters articles need to present both sides. I can’t appeal to anyone at the newspaper because McGoldrick is the editor and this is what she thinks we deserve. When a politician can control the story and the paper doesn’t provide the back up research, you know we have problems!
McGoldrick questioned Senator Gounardes about what bills he had passed. Why didn’t McGoldrick ask him about the property tax bill that he failed to pass for two years? Remember in the Fall, Senator Gounardes said he was waiting for the Mayor’s Property Tax Commission, when Andrew Gounardes always had the power to change the property tax rates in NYC, regardless of the mayor or anyone in NYC. (See here)
At this point, anyone could hold our senate seat. Gounardes pushed the Democratic Party’s bills and didn’t push bills for Bay Ridge. #EmptySuit
There are enough Democrats in the NY Senate, so things won’t change regardless of who we vote for in November. But we have a shot at voting for someone who will focus on changing the law for this community. Gounardes had two years to do this and he wasn’t able to do it.
When the bail reform law hurt our neighborhood this year, Senator Gounardes didn’t speak up for the woman who was sexually assaulted at the 95th Street Subway station. Please do not tell me Gounardes supports women when he didn’t say a word for that woman who was attacked.
While bail reform was needed, the Democrats (including Andrew Gounardes) went too far with the bill. Gounardes was silent on bail reform, until the Jewish community complained about how bail reform hurt their community. McGoldrick knew this, as she reported about the problem with the bail reform bill just a few months ago here. When a one-sided article needs to be written, it means that Andrew Gounardes is the wrong person for the job.
While I have voiced my opposition to McGoldrick’s writing, I believe she just strugged it off and will continue with silly articles called “Checking in with..(Name of Pol)” so politicians can continue to relay one-sided news. The editor’s column needs to be renamed, “Hey, Let’s Fool Bay Ridge.”
On July 30th, McGoldrick did a “Checking in with Councilman Brannan” article. McGoldrick must have thought it was cute to leave out part of the story! The article began with her asking Brannan about the protest for the police in the community. He didn’t attend any of these protests so it was just a moment for Brannan to talk about the people who were tired of the “Defund the Police rhetoric” and wanted to show their support to the police. (Bay Ridge just got a new Captain so people wanted to show support to him.)
At no time in the article did McGoldrick mention that Justin Brannan voted in favor of NYC’s Council budget that was surrounded with the words “defund the police.” It was a huge story but McGoldrick didn’t cover it. Councilman Brannan played both sides of his district and this caused socialists to protest outside of his office. (Brannan claimed he wasn’t in the office, but a pizza delivery man showed up while the protesters were there. Story here)
The editor of a paper doesn’t want Bay Ridge to know what the politicians are doing! Anyone who is in tune with what is happening in the neighborhood knows that a man yelled out: “Death to America. Death to Israel” and people repeated him at a Palestinian protest on 5th Avenue. (See video) It took Justin Councilman Brannan seven days to speak out quietly about the hate. (See here) Andrew Gounardes remained silent and doesn’t mind someone yelling out “Death to America” in his community. But we do!
Bay Ridge, you will hear the truth here any time a reporter prints one-sided articles. We live here and know newspapers stopped representing our community a long time ago!
,
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August 8, 2020World of Wonder Kindergarten
Topics: Dyker Heights | No Comments »
August 8, 2020Palestinian Protest in Bay Ridge on 8/7
Supporters of #Palestine march through Bay Ridge #Brooklyn #NYC pic.twitter.com/lcmrhJMH3g
— Caleb T. Maupin (@calebmaupin) August 7, 2020
Warning: Foul Language at the start of the video.
Both sides should get new spokespeople.
The Palestinians continue to protest in Bay Ridge because Israel occupies what they know as their homeland.
Notice this protest wasn’t in our news, so thanks to Elad for sharing his reporting on Youtube.
Below is a video taken right before the video above (Warning: Inappropriate for children in the room and some foul Language) Shout out to the 68th Precinct NYPD officer for keeping the peace.
Pro-Palestinian protesters harass Jews in NYC. pic.twitter.com/6DzFnr5e95
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 8, 2020
Update 8/9: This video appeared online and a tweet about it said that they are calling for ethnic cleansing and genocide in Israel.
I had help with what they were saying because it wasn’t clear to me.
The chant was: “We don’t want no two-state. We want 48. Long live the intifada.”
What does “We want 48 mean?” In 1948, Palestine lost the land. They want all of Israel to become “Palestine.”
Sorry to burst your antisemitic bubble, but we don’t give a shit what you want. Israel is here and it’s here to stay. You can keep marching in Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/4shQcD5SKD
— Michele-?????? (@MicheleSabra) August 8, 2020
Topics: Bay Ridge | 1 Comment »
August 7, 2020Bean Post Hot Dog Menu
The Bean Post is one of the best places to get a delivery from.
When the Bean Post delivers, the food is packaged neatly and every time I order when someone is at my house they ask, “Where is this from?”
Now the Bean Post has a new Hot Dog menu.
When you call the Bean Post, you always get a pleasant person on the phone. 718-745-9413
Topics: Bay Ridge | No Comments »
August 7, 2020The Best Istanbul is coming to Bay Ridge
I noticed the new sign, “The Best Istanbul” and smiled. Glad to see Covid isn’t keeping ambitious business owners away!
Chobana was here before. A lot of people didn’t know Chobana was there, so they didn’t stop in.
The new restaurant needs to start with a good promotion and go crazy on social media – especially instagram.
Before Chobana this site was Casa Calamari – don’t worry he’s on 85th Street and 3rd Avenue (the place is called Leo’s and everyone is loving his rice ball with vodka sauce…if you haven’t tried it – go try it).
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