A new article in the Brooklyn Paper highlights the conflict between the city and Community Board 10 over whether or not to keep garbage cans on Bay Ridge Avenue in Bay Ridge.
The community board had requested a study, which began in May, where trash receptacles were removed from Bay Ridge Avenue, in order to determine if the lack of cans would reduce the amount of illegal garbage dumping.
However, over the course of the study new cans were installed on the avenue at the request of State Senator Marty Golden. These cans had smaller holes, meant to discourage the dumping of household garbage.
CB 10 District Manager Josephine Beckman and Environmental Committee Chairman Greg Ahl think these new cans have interfered in their efforts to reduce littering, causing more dumping. Sanitation officials disagree with this assessment, saying more cans are on the way.
What do you guys think? Do more trash cans mean more or less litter?
You’ve all probably seen the larger receptacles with smaller openings put in place by elected officials. Could they strike a happy medium between traditional cans and no cans at all?
The following is a press release from Councilman David Greenfield:
THIS WEDNESDAY: GREENFIELD CLASSIC FEATURING BORO PARK SHOMRIM & 66TH PRECINCT IN FREE BASEBALL GAME
Brooklyn — Councilman David Greenfield is excited to announce the second annual Greenfield Softball Classic, featuring the Boro Park Shomrim versus the NYPD’s 66th Precinct this Wednesday, August 24, at 7pm. The game will take place at the St. A’s Sports Complex, located on 20th Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets. The entrance to the baseball field is on the side of PS 121 on 20th Avenue.
The Greenfield Softball Classic is free and open to the public. Spectators will enjoy complimentary cotton candy, popcorn and soft drinks and and good sportsmanship from the 66th Precinct and Shomrim. Among those slated to appear at the event are Councilman David Greenfield, Deputy Inspector John Sprague, Shomrim Coordinators Yanky Daskal, Simcha Bernath, Mottie Katz, Abe Kaztow, Sam Follman, Shaya Lichtenstein and many other police and public officials.
“Last year’s event was a terrific community event,” explained Councilman David Greenfield. “The NYPD was victorious, but I know that Shomrim has new players on their team that will make this year’s game very competitive.” Councilman Greenfield encouraged spectators to come early to get the best available seats at the field.
“I invite the community to come out and support the Shomrim and NYPD. I look forward to greeting our neighbors at this enjoyable classic,” Greenfield concluded. The baseball field will open to spectators at 6:30pm.
City Councilman David G. Greenfield represents the 44th Council District, which includes Borough Park as well as parts of Midwood and Bensonhurst.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle is reporting that Councilman Vincent Gentile has set up a satellite office at the Bay Ridge Greenmarket.
Gentile began his pop-up office at the weekly farm and fish market, located in the parking lot of Walgreens Drug Store (8705 Third Avenue), last Saturday.
The office will be available every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The greenmarket is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. until it ends on November 19.
The open-air market draws large crowds of shoppers, according to Gentile, who likened it to a town square. “That’s where all the action is,” said Gentile, who added that it made sense for him to move his office to that location on Saturdays. “Now along with your fresh-caught fish, baked goods, seasonal fruits and vegetables, you’ll have a direct line to City Hall at your convenience,” he said.
According to the Eagle, Gentile, along with officials from the city’s greenmarket program, helped open the market in 2008 when a Key Food supermarket at the same location closed its doors.
Councilman Vincent Gentile represents City Council District 43, which includes Bay Ridge, as well as parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Bensonhurst
During all the commotion last week about the 18th Avenue Feast, there was one story I wish we could have covered. Thankfully, Bay Ridge Journal did a solid job discussing the latest scandal that no one seems to be talking about.
According to Daily News, Representative Michael Grimm’s friend, business associate and fellow ex-FBI agent Carlos Luquis was convicted in 2006 of a $2 million “no show” scam involving a Texas energy firm.
Carlos Luquis identifies himself on a business card as a “director” of Austin Refuel, Texas-based company Grimm has co-owned since 2008.
Grimm, a Staten Island Republican, and Luquis share a law enforcement background, having worked for years as FBI agents, including a stint together in the New York office.
During his campaign for office last year, Grimm emphasized his exploits in the FBI and presented himself as a big supporter of law enforcement.
Luquis left the FBI in 2003 and became head of security for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, a company that manages the flow of electricity in the Lone Star State.
Eighteen months later, Luquis and five others were indicted on charges of setting up bogus companies to bill ERCOT $2 million for jobs that were never done.
Luquis was convicted of two of six counts in 2006.
Although he was sentenced to twelve years, Luquis did not even serve two. According to court records, the convicted white collar criminal still owes $200,000 in restitution payments.
Several business owners who have had dealings with Grimm’s company say that Luquis was their go-to guy. Sally Jo Hahn, an energy consultant, said that at Austin Refuel, Luquis runs the show. Click Here To Hear Grimm’s Explanation
One thing I really like about peach pie is that it’s seasonal. Unlike with apples, you generally can’t get decent peaches year-round. The fact that fresh and ripe local peaches are almost exclusively a late summer phenomenon seems to make them somewhat more… special.
This week, Colleen makes a peach pie using two different varieties of peach – white peaches for their low-acidity sweetness and yellow for their tangy acidity. The combination of these two types result in a praise-worthy and crowd-pleasing peach pie filling.
Pies are generally easy to make, even by an inexperienced baker. Elaborate cakes or pastries are one thing but there’s really no reason the average person needs to throw his/her money away on a store-bought pie when a better one can be baked right here at home.
Colleen’s Peach Pie
Ingredients:
Pie Crust
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup ice water
Filling
1 egg, beaten
5 cups sliced peeled peaches
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter Click Here To Learn How Simple It Is To Bake A Home-Made Peach Pie!
While contradictory rumors swirl regarding the fate of the 18th Avenue Feast, organizers tell Bensonhurst Bean that the generations old tradition is cancelled now and, potentially, forever.
Rumors have been swirling for weeks that the event would go kaput after about 30 years (60, if you include its predecessor on 14th Avenue), exacerbated by contradictory reports in this news outlet and the local papers. Bensonhurst Bean reported last Friday that the event would be abbreviated to one day, citing the city’s event calendar.
Then earlier this week, News Corp.-owned Courier-Life, which publishes the Bay News and Brooklyn Paper, exclaimed “Don’t believe the blogs!” saying the event would go the full 10-days. But now organizers are telling us that we were both wrong – this year’s event is smoked.
“There isn’t gonna be a Feast,” Joe LaMotta, one of the festival organizers, told Bensonhurst Bean. “The Festa di Santa Rosalia is cancelled.”
Hey there – a few non-weekend items to note about D-train service:
The Coney Island-bound platform at 71st Street re-opens today! Though you will note below, there will be no service there this weekend, but then everything is back to normal on Monday morning.
The 20th Avenue Station will close in both directions at midnight tonight, and will not reopen for over a week – Monday morning on August 29.
The Coney Island-bound platform at 79th Street will close tonight at midnight as part of the weekend service diversion, but will not reopen until next Friday morning, on August 26.
With that out of the way, here are your subway diversions for the weekend of August 20-21, beginning Friday night/Saturday morning at midnight and continuing until 5am on Monday, unless otherwise noted:
Affected train
Weekend service disruption
Coney Island-bound D-trains run on the N-line in Brooklyn from 36th Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, due to structural repair and station rehabilitation from 71st Street to Bay 50th Street.
Use N-line service to New Utrecht Avenue and Coney Island and transfer to Manhattan-bound D-trains to reach affected stations.
Reminder that the 20th Avenue station will be closed in both directions.
Normal service, notwithstanding the year-long closure of the Smith-9th Street station.
Normal service in Brooklyn.
Bensonhurst Weekend Subway Alert is a weekly look at the diversions affecting travel on the D-, F-, and N-lines through Bensonhurst and the rest of Brooklyn on the way to Manhattan. For information on diversions on other lines or beyond Brooklyn, refer to mta.info or Subway Weekender. Information is provided by the MTA and is current at the time of publication, but is subject to change.
At first, I noticed that the northern end of Bay Parkway was remarkably cleaner than earlier in the summer. While things weren’t eat of the sidewalk clean, mind you, quite a few smelly garbage-stained spots I had planned on using were not nearly as bad as when I first visited them.
I was just about to call it quits when I ran into the mosquito-breeding pool pictured above. Though you can’t tell from the photo, it wasn’t just sitting on the street but behind a fence. And I normally don’t go on private property to overturn basins of filthy water.
Since this is nowhere near Bath Beach, I also didn’t feel it was necessary to drop a dime on the guy. Plus, since we don’t do this column to get hard-working building supers or homeowners in trouble, I won’t disclose the exact address. I will say it’s on Bay Parkway within two blocks of 65th Street.
If you live in or near this building and see the super on a regular basis, please politely remind him or her that this water needs to be dumped out, ASAP.
In the above video, Councilman James Oddo cries foul over the Port Authority’s plan to raise tolls on Hudson River Crossings at a hearing earlier this week in Staten Island.
During the same hearing, reportedly the first of eight in New York and New Jersey, there was a noticeable tension between constructions workers and other audience members – including a shouting match between one union member and a leader of a local advocacy group.
Joe Valentine, head of the Vice President of Taxpayers of Staten Island, got into it with Dennis Lee, a member of Construction Local 79.
Members of various trade unions stand to gain from infrastructure improvements proposed along with the toll increases. The Port Authority says the additional funds will also go towards re-building the World Trade Center.
While Brooklyn itself has no Hudson river crossings, many of us do have friends, family and jobs in New Jersey.
How would increased tolls affect you? Do you feel the planned infrastructure work is worth the hefty increases?
Some say the Port Authority is exaggerating the toll increases, just to make the public think they’ve achieved a victory when tolls are raised less than was originally announced. Do you think this could be their strategy?
Councilman Oddo represents the 50th Council District, which includes central Staten Island, as well as parts of Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst.
