If you haven’t had the chance to see the famous Christmas Lights of Dyker Heights yet, videographer Nola Bradshaw took the trip and filmed it.
Check out her clip of the country’s best Christmas display from the warm comforts of home.
Archive for the tag 'video'
State Senator Marty Golden and his upstart opponent, Democrat Andrew Gounardes, faced off at a debate last night hosted by the Dyker Heights Civic Association.
The 30-minute debate got heated at points, with Golden and Gounardes occasionally raising their voices and breaking with debate protocol to ask each other questions or attack one another.
Among the issues discussed were gun control, women’s rights including emergency contraceptives for rape victims and fair pay, and education.
Education is how Andrew Gounardes opened the debate, attacking the 10-year incumbent for failing to bring home the bacon for local schools. He claimed Golden has voted 99 percent of the time with the Senate Republican leadership, which he said had been neglecting New York City’s schools, siphoning off funding and ignoring issues of overcapacity in New York City. The Senator responded by calling the claims “pure fantasy” and noted that he had brought funding to local schools, including adding 4,000 seats to the district.
On a separate question about education, Golden received boos for expressing his support for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s handling of the city school system, while Gounardes said the state needed to do a better job ensuring the mayor is fulfilling his obligation to students, which, he said, appears not to be the case given college-readiness rates and school standards.
The crowd appeared to overwhelmingly support Senator Golden, many sporting Golden and GOP stickers – but Gounardes also brought a contingent of supporters who cheered him on. Both appeared to have “plants” in the crowd – or people who posed questions that exposed the weakness of their opponent.
One of those questions came from a female Gounardes supporter, who asked Golden if he supported Missouri Congressman Todd Akin’s statements that rape victims should not have access to emergency contraceptives. It seemed Golden was pretending not to hear the question, and then rephrased it as “Should [rape victims] get emergency services immediately upon rape? Yes, they should.”
Gounardes won a round of applause for immediately shooting back that Golden had voted three times against a bill that would provide contraceptives to rape victims.
The insurgent opponent also won accolades when Golden made a few verbal stumbles, such as suggesting that New Yorkers can’t afford to provide equal pay to women and that importing oil and gas from Canada qualified as energy independence.
Golden, for his part, effectively presented his opponent as rabidly anti-gun and portrayed his own record on gun safety as a more effective and moderate approach. He also scored points by aligning Gounardes’ view on renewable energy investments with that of the Obama Administration, which has recently taken flak for providing $90 billion in breaks for green energy industries with little return shown on the investment.
Watch the debate above – it will likely be the most expansive, interesting and exciting to happen this year in Southern Brooklyn.
When a distraught man was threatening to jump from the ledge of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on July 23, it took the quick thinking and compassion of two police officers, who spoke the man’s native Cantonese, to talk him out of ending his life.
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Officer Eddie Fung and NYPD Officer Yi Huang were the two men responsible for preventing the suicide. The officers, along with the distraught man, were all born in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, after the harrowing incident, the officers’ identities were mixed-up and officials were unable to determine which officer was to receive accolades for the heroic deed. Turns out, it was the help of both that saved a life.
During the four-hour ordeal, Fung started the conversation with the jumper, and after a few hours Huang took over.
“At the beginning he ignored me, he was not responding,” said Fung to the New York Daily News. “After an hour, he said he had family and financial problems. He loved his daughter very much, so I focused on her.”
After about 2 p.m., Huang got there.
You don’t realize how tiring it is,” Huang said of conversing at the top of his lungs. “I relieved Eddie.”
Earlier this month, Officer Huang was honored by the City Council with a ceremony.
“Today we honor Officer Yi Huang for going above and beyond the call of duty,” Councilman Vincent Gentile said to the Brooklyn Eagle. “Officer Huang reminds us all why the New York City Police Department truly is New York’s Finest.”
Perhaps Fung is next in line for a ceremony for his contributions as well.
Source: YouTube
Every major media outlet reported that it was Officer Yi Huang who talked a distraught man from the ledge of the Verrazano Bridge in his native Cantonese.
Only that isn’t the real story. Sure, Huang was there, but it was not Huang whose tight bond with the despondent man dramatically changed the course of the events.
Eddie Fung, an MTA Bridge and Tunnel officer, was the man responsible for talking the suicidal jumper down. He was one of the first to arrive on the scene.
Fung spent hours communicating with the jumper about their common birthplace, the future of their children and a host of other intimate stories. Huang arrived hours later.
When the nightmare came to an end, it was Fung who rode in the ambulance with the jumper to the hospital.
According to the Huffington Post, it is NYPD’s Public Information office that is to blame for the misnomer. The releases praised Huang without any credit given to Fung.
The good news is that some of the police officers who were also present during the rescue noted the inaccuracies and went personally to thank Hung for his hard work.
The better news is that, now, the right man has been named and thanked.
A distraught man was talked down from the ledge of the Verrazano Bridge earlier this week.
The hero cop who saved his life spoke to him in his native Cantonese and shared personal stories. The two formed a bond and eventually, the suicidal man changed his mind.
This video shows the amazing rescue and the graciousness of Officer Yi Huang.
Congrats are in order for the courageous cop and the team that saved a father and husband from certain death.
Mark Murphy called out his opponent in the race for the 11th Congressional District, Republican incumbent Michael Grimm, demanding he “come clean” about fundraising issues which are currently being investigated by the FBI.
It was recently revealed that a Brooklyn federal grand jury subpoenaed several of Grimm’s campaign workers to investigate allegedly illegal contributions to his 2010 congressional campaign, bringing the FBI investigation first reported by the New York Times back into the spotlight.
“More and more of his activities are generating serious concern from law enforcement officials and community leaders. Voters recognize that Grimm cannot serve his own constituents and address their needs so long as a dark cloud of federal scrutiny covers everything he does.” Murphy said. “Will you, as an ex-FBI agent demand accountability of your staff and demand that they be open and forthright with the FBI, and will you do the same?”
Grimm issued a response calling the allegations a “desperate and false character attack”:
As a former FBI Special Agent and a Marine Corps combat veteran, I have spent most of my adult life serving this country and standing up for the rule of law. Anyone who knows me and my values understands that these allegations are false, malicious, and have no basis whatsoever in truth.
Unlike those who have repeatedly and unlawfully leaked details of the investigation, I will not comment on grand jury proceedings out of respect for the process. We have stated consistently for six months now that we contacted the Justice Department and other appropriate agencies immediately after the New York Times irresponsibly raised these anonymous, false allegations in January. Importantly, the OCE – the only agency to have completed its review – voted unanimously and on a bipartisan basis to recommend dismissing these false allegations.
A spokesperson for Murphy responded later that night, insisting that voters demand to know the truth behind the allegations against Grimm.
Video courtesy of Politicker.
This Ceasar’s Bay Bazaar “shopping the easy way” commercial comes complete with a flickering television effect.
Ah yes, and the mere mention of the international food court and 50 percent shopping discounts are enough to make any Bensonhurst resident nostalgic for the good old days!
Enjoy the analog commercial on your PC and share your Ceasar’s Bay Bazaar memories with us.
In the above video, State Senator Marty Golden discusses tougher vandalism laws and cracking down on auto insurance fraud in New York State.
State Senator Marty Golden represents Senate District 22, which includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Gerritsen Beach and Marine Park; as well as parts of Bensonhurst, Midwood, Gravesend, and Sheepshead Bay.
In the above video, posted on website Politics On The Hudson, State Senator Diane Savino speaks at a rally for the New York State Professional Firefighters Association outside the State Capitol in Albany.
Savino, a former labor leader, defends public pensions and comments on the state of the American labor movement in what blogger Joseph Spector describes as a fiery speech. Continue Reading »
So while we had a little snafu getting the name “Bensonhurst Bean” into the segment, they did manage to make me look fairly knowledgeable about neighborhood architecture in between all the Three Stooges impersonations.
In the above video, yours truly pounds the pavement with veteran TV reporter Chauncey Howell and an excellent camera man whose name I regretfully forgot in the commotion of filming. It was fun admiring the handsome homes, as well as the warm, witty people of Bensonhurst.
We spent some time in the low 60′s off Bay Parkway, 17th Avenue between 81st Street and 83rd Street and various spots along 18th Avenue – including a trip to Villabate Alba Bakery (7001 18th Ave).
Big up to my Aunt Rita who happened to make a quick cameo as she was walking down the block!
