Politicians Need To Do More for Mom & Pop Shops
While the pandemic has been going on for ten weeks, the politicians and their staff are working from home.
It’s sad to see Senator Gounardes post a link to a form to get contact information from the business owners THIS WEEK. Why hasn’t Gounardes used the past few weeks to work with business owners on re-opening plans? While Gounardes doesn’t control the dates that they can re-open, he can make sure that the re-opening is well-publicized and that people can properly social distance.
Instead they get an advisory, which must make business owners so annoyed.
I attended a webinar that Senator Gounardes and Councilman Brannan gave for business owners. I wanted to see if they were really helping or were they making it look like they were helping. It wasn’t good.
Their webinar had several people who came to repeat website addresses that everyone already knew.
I’ve seen other virtual meetings that Andrew Gounardes has held and they were in a completely different format and allowed for viewer interaction and question and answer.
There was very little new information and if I was a business owner, I would have felt completely discouraged. I don’t think the politicians understand that Bay Ridge businesses missed three big profitable holidays during the pandemic – St. Patty’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day. Their sales are probably down by 60-70% what they made last year at the same time. They will need help to recover as they were forced to be closed.
The business owners aren’t Gounardes’ base so I guess he wasn’t willing to give them too much time. Our merchants were not able to ask any questions of the politicians. Creepily, as soon as the hour was up, Brannan shut down the meeting the way that Dan Donovan used to shut down meetings at the exact minute it was supposed to end.
Senator Gounardes marched in a Black Lives Matter Protest. As you can see, Gounardes is not social distancing from the Archbishop or other protesters.
Last week, Gounardes didn’t mention, The Bay Ridge Boost on social media and there were no pictures of him on the Avenue helping or promoting social distancing. When politicians says they are supporting local businesses – it may just be what we want to hear.
Today on Twitter, Councilman Brannan posted ideas for small businesses (see here). As we have seen in the past with property taxes, Coucilman Brannan likes to write in the newspapers and on social media about different topics, but he doesn’t write the legislation to make things happen. We have seen Brannan write some strange legislation that we can’t help but wonder who is it benefiting from it?
Maybe in a few weeks we will see a bill to help Mom and Pop stores survive this difficult time.
Topics: Bay Ridge | 1 Comment »
June 10, 2020St. Anthony’s Day Procession on 6/13
Msgr. Cassato uses social media well. He’s the pastor from St Athanasius Church.
Msgr Cassato nnounced that there will be a procession around the neighborhood starting at 12:30 pm for The Feast of St. Anthony on Saturday!
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June 9, 2020Kimchee Korean Restaurant Closed After 19 Years
Ridgites shared that Kimchee Korean Barbecue Restaurant posted a sign that they closed. They were in business here in Bay Ridge for 19 years! NINETEEN YEARS!
Good luck to the owners. You will be missed.
The coronavirus really hit a lot of businesses hard and there isn’t enough to help them recover.
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June 9, 2020Gamestop on 86th Street Closed
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Gamestop on 86th Street closed and removed their sign.
Video game fans are going to be sad to hear this news. But there are more stores nearby – see here 6713 18th Avenue is the next closest shop.
While the pandemic closed all stores to close, Gamestop had been planning to close stores because the brick and mortar stores aren’t as profitable as the website. (Info here)
The Bay Ridge Gamestop was pretty busy, so I am surprised to see it closed.
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June 9, 2020Eight People Shot in Brooklyn in 4 Hours
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June 8, 2020Elia Restaurant Becomes Kotopoulo
We will miss Elia. Kotopoulo will replace Elia at 8611 – 3rd Avenue
Congratulations to Pete and Christina on the new business plan!
They are now serving Freebird Chickens that are free from hormones antibiotics and the chickens are vegetarian fed. See menu
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June 8, 2020The Common Re-opens on Wednesday 6/10
The Common is next to Walgreens on 3rd Avenue and 94th Street. The owner is super nice and a great cook.
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June 7, 2020Chalk the Walk in Bay Ridge – BLM Protest 6/8
Look beyond the cute chalk drawing above. This isn’t like the other protests.
Read the details for tomorrow’s Chalk Walk in Bay Ridge carefully.
Let’s first look at who is sponsoring this event. See here
The South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance Group is sponsoring this event. This is not the regular Bay Ridge socialist group we know – BR4SJ – Bay Ridge for Socialist Justice group. Interestingly, on their Facebook page they referred to “contacting their senator” – Savino or Felder. (See here) They did not mention Bay Ridge’s senator, Andrew Gounardes. Why aren’t they holding this even outside of school in Savino or Felder’s district?
This group hasn’t been very active in Bay Ridge for awhile, as you can see from their Facebook page. They still have up the 2019 Martin Luther King Day Protest March pictures. This year, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day March that went on for years in Bay Ridge was cancelled.
SBPR activists want the NYPD out of schools entirely (in 2018 NYPD officers were move out of NYC schools). This is a movement that is happening across the United States, as the police in some areas are arresting or mistreating students. See here
According to this 2020 report, minority students in NYC are being targeted by the police. The report states that the NYPD, on average, arrests four students each day and seven students are given summons. Why can’t changes be made so summons and arrests are for serious top level issues only?
I think SBPG has good intentions, but I don’t agree with “defunding the police.” Immediate changes can be made to the way things are handled at schools. Why does NYC have so much difficulty making changes immediately?
Why has NYC Council not stomped out the systemic racism that is happening in schools? Mark Treyger is the head of the NYC Council Education Committee. Treyger has seen the statistics and knows where the problems exist. Why hasn’t he and the Education Committee taken care of this issue by now? Treyger could have had Corey Johnson add more counselors to schools where issues continue to arise. Treyger could have proposed for them to remove officers from ONE school where there were problems and see what happens over three months.
Some state senators have accepted money from the NYPD Gianaris donated the money he received. See here
The wording being used (“Defund the Police”) is purposely derogatory and counter to what should be said at this point. Both sides should be moving towards working together. The police administration has made steps to heal ties, yet protesters are still yelling, “Defund.”
NYC’s budget was increased to fund the police – they said the increase was for school safety. (See here) Years ago, school safety was part of the DOE budget, rather the NYPDs. Activists want the funding to go to the DOE, rather than the NYPD. Activists want the DOE to train agents to deescalate student situations.
I’ve worked in several schools in Brooklyn. When school safety agents were under the DOE, it wasn’t good. That’s why agents were placed under the NYPD. Yet, many of the people who are protesting now don’t know this because they were teenagers back then or they didn’t work in a school. One thing good about NYC schools is the SAVE Legislation which requires students to be in school and taught. You will not see the socialists or people who want to defund schools talk about this. But the SAVE Legislation changed NYC’s school system. It made it possible for a student to be removed from class, but not suspended from school so they still get an education.
I think safety for a school should be decided by the administration at the school. Why aren’t experts allowed to make the decisions about schools? They know what their school needs because they are there every day. Schools where students are being consistently targeted should be able to choose a different type of security.
In 2019, the agreement for the school safety agents was updated. It is called the “Memorandum of Understanding” – shortened to MOU – see the MOU. If it still allowed for students to be arrested and summoned, why didn’t NYC Council fix it? There are people holding positions in this city and not doing their jobs.
Prior to 2019, the MOU wasn’t updated since 1998. It’s supposed to be updated every four years. SBPR can help update the 2022 MOU.
School safety officers are essential in many schools. I’ve only seen amazing school safety officers who quickly make bonds with the faculty and students. I think most students will say having a safety agent at their school makes them feel safer.
I’ve known many safety agents and they love their jobs and being part of a school community. I would think parents would have peace of mind from dropping their child off at school with an agent, rather than one without one.
On Monday, June 8th, The South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance will have the Chalk Walk from 5-6 pm. Families are invited to chalk the sidewalk from PS/IS 30 down the block to its annex on Ovington.
I love their idea for a chalk event for Black Lives Matters, but “defunding the police” should not be part of this. Maybe someone else will have a Chalk Walk without the negativity.
The South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance used these hashtags: #BlackLivesMatterInSchools #CounselorsNotCops I hope the parents present at the chalk walk won’t be writing negative things about the police because the 68th precinct has been very good during the protests and working during this time can’t be easy. See today’s protest: here
Why not chalk up the Mayor’s sidewalk or outside the politician’s offices? These are the people WHO KNEW and FAILED to do anything.
If you don’t agree with this event, don’t go and heckle – there will be children present because they want to do the chalk drawings (the kids have been social distancing and just want to have fun).
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June 7, 2020Congratulations Class of 2020 at BRP
Congratulations to the Class of 2020 at Bay Ridge Prep!
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June 7, 2020Bay Ridge Ballet Instructor Visits Student
Patty Foster-Grado, owner of Bay Ridge Ballet has been teaching virtual classes while the pandemic is going on.
She did a quarantine drive-by visited to see one of her students. So sweet!
Bay Ridge Ballet is at 127 Bay Ridge Avenue. I love seeing anything about Bay Ridge Ballet because we watched Foster-Grado work hard to build her dance school here.
You can see Miss Patty teach on Youtube.
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June 7, 2020Sale on Art Materials in Bay Ridge
Art Fun Studio announced a sale on materials as they are making way for new Summer inventory.
Art Fun Studio is at 547 92nd Street.
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June 7, 2020RIP Donna and Michele Blanchard
Twenty-six years ago today, Donna Blanchard and her four-year-old daughter Michele were killed while crossing the street at Fort Hamilton Parkway and 92nd Street. They had just bought groceries at the deli and were heading home. (Story here)
A white box truck hit them and did not stop. No one was ever charged with their deaths. Every time I pass the mural on 92nd Street, I wonder if someone feels guilty that he killed two people on that corner.
The McLeer Family had four other children (ages 6 to 23) who had to go on without their mother and sister (how awful). Two of the brothers dedicated a song to their mother – see here
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