GerritsenBeach.net

For those who care here are the CB 15 Committees and the Members:

(Click the Image for a PDF)

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Here are the local meetings that are coming up. The Sheepshead Bay Plumb Beach Civic Association has invited STEPHEN JEMAL of SSJ Development to discuss his development on Knapp St. That should be an interesting meeting if he shows up. I should go and meet him.

• Sheepshead Bay Plumb Beach Civic Association, September 2 at 7:30 pm.; Baron DeKalb, Knights of Columbus, 3000 Emmons Avenue; 718-891-1937. www.sbpbcivic.org.

• Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association, September 3 (and each fIrst Wednesday) at 7:30 pm.; St. James Lutheran Church, Gerritsen and Florence avenues; 718-648-6599.

• Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association, September 8 at 8 p.m.; Public School 195, 131 lrwin Street; representatives from the Office of Emergency Management will talk about hurricane preparedness; 917-747-5863.

• 61st Precinct Community Council, September 10 at 7:30 pm.; Bainbridge Adult Day Health Care Center, 3093 Ocean Avenue; 718-627-6847.

• Community Board 15, September’ 23 at 7 p.m.; Zoning Meeting September 16 at 7 p.m. Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard (in the faculty dining room) ; 718-332-3008

Hasc Center is opening a new Group Home at 2055 East 21st Street, a one family detached home. Hasac Center is an organization that serves infants, children and adults who are developmental challenged or have learning disabilities. It also offers an array of services to the families of these individuals.

I know group homes are always a tough sell to local communities and this was no exception, the entire audience was filled with people from the area surrounding the group home.

According to state law the community board can do one of three things.

You may either: (l) approve the site recommended; (2) suggest one or more alternate sites; or (3) object to the establishment of a residence at the site because to do so in your Board’s opinion, would result in such a concentration of residential facilities that the name and character of the neighborhood would be substantially altered. Please note that under state law need or over-concentration of residential facilities constitutes the only legitimate ground upon which the community can object.

I’ve never heard such ignorant and bigoted statements from a crowd ever before. One guy said children are calling it an insane asylum, others wanted background checks run on the Hasc clients, another said they had super human strength, another said they couldn’t control their sexual desires and would be sexual deviants. Then at one point a CB 15 board member heard members of that community say something to the effect of “its going to be torched anyway“. Another board member was so disgusted with the crowd that he had to leave the audience and be calmed down by a friend.

Despite the crowds resistance, Chairperson, Theresa Scavo kept the meeting running extremely smoothly. She took no crap from the crowd, kept it moving, and even took time out of the meeting to explain to the crowd how community board meetings work and what the crowd should expect.

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[Photo courtesy of mylunchfell/flickr]

Via SheepsheadBites.com

According to Community Board 15 chairperson Theresa Scavo, Verizon will begin installing large poles - similar to telephone poles - in front of homes in order to deliver is FiOS fiber-optic service to the area. Scavo notes that once the pole is in the ground they will not be moved. If you see Verizon workers preparing to work in front of your home, and you are not happy with the potential placement of the pole, Scavo advises calling the board immediately - before work begins - at (718) 332-3008.The streets the company will deploy to are:

• Ave. V from Bragg to Ocean
• Bragg from Ave. X to Ave. T
• On Brigham from Ave. W to Ave. U
• Haring from Ave. Z to Ave. X

More Streets Here

Blog Rumors Are Not True? Really?

Just to let everyone know, there are TWO sites in our part of Brooklyn where people can go and get news, GerritsenBeach.net and Sheepshead Bay Civics site and forum at SBPCivic.org.

If you have been following, Councilman Mike Nelson’s former deputy chief of staff Robert Varley recently went public with that Nelson told him to post things on the two area sites.

It was recently picked up by the Brooklyn View. Who ran the story with the title “blog rumors are not true”. What blog are they talking about? SBPBCivic.org in their own article is called a forum, oh that’s right, this is the only “blog” they can be talking about, but let’s not credit this site properly. Let’s continue to STEAL images off the web and now stories. Then lets overuse the word “blog” until it sounds like you don’t know what your talking about. You know what fine, I burnt that bridge by calling you out for stealing images.

The article continues to say that Mike Nelson doesn’t read local blogs(why plural?), WHICH COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Why did he have his people get in touch with me to stop the comments on the original Manhattan Beach post that was bashing him? But I forgot he doesn’t read them because they have zero accountability. Apparently the post had enough credibility for him to want it to stop.

The article continued to say that they tried to contact Varley by email and he did not respond. He didn’t respond? He seemed like a responsive guy when I LOOKED HIM UP AND SPOKE WITH HIM. Nice reporting Brooklyn View. Boy did I learn a lot speaking with him. All of which will come later.

The Brooklyn View then got a MAJOR fact wrong. The user “City Insider” never attacked Nelson or his family. In fact nowhere on the SBPBCivic.org site does anyone ever attack Nelson. There were anonymous comments on GerritsenBeach.net directed at nelson and his wife, but that’s ok lets not credit anyone or get the facts straight.

Hey, Brooklyn View, can I talk to you over here for a second? If you could not get in touch with Robert Varley why even post RUMORS from blogs “with zero accountability”?

Mike Nelson, you apparently you still can’t count, you said “…I’m not surprised they hide in blogs seen by 30 of their friends”. That is so funny and clever! However, On my site alone I average 725 unique hits a day, some of which are from CITY HALL. That is alot more than your 30 guess. SBPBCivic.org forum is also very popular.

Ugh.

This new gated community is being called The Breakers and is being sold by Wilk Real Estate. It is located right at Emmons Avenue and Ford Street. The original drawings for this development did not show a gated community.

If this 77 unit development is all sold, it will bring in $49,607,500.

Here is what they are saying about the community on The Breakers - Wilk Real Estate Website

Sheepshead Bay Prime Real Estate. New Condominiums in the heart of Brooklyn being built in the heart of Sheapshead Bay, gated community of 77 units. Private boardwalk, pool, and marina.

Brooklyn Real Estate. Beautiful new condo in Sheepshead Bay on Emmons Ave. Gated community (the breakers), private pool, boardwalk, and gym. ocean view apartments and apartments with private roof available. top of the line appliances are installed in all apartments, Liebherr refrigerators which are like sub zero, Jenn Air stoves, and Bosch Shu dishwashers. parking spaces available too.

Update: SB/PBCA is calling upon city officials to investigate whether the extension of Ford St. created has been de-mapped, and therefore made private.

Every politician has his enemies; Councilman Mike Nelson apparently has a lot and keeps piling up more.

It recently was exposed on the SBPBCivic.org forums that Councilman Mike Nelson, had his former Deputy Chief of Staff Robert Varley post to various websites including this site under the guise of City Insider. Every post that was ever written by Robert Varley aka “City Insider” was seen and approved by Mike Nelson. The identity was always a secret, which was important, since City Insiders opinions should never be linked back to Mike Nelson.

Varley left his position as Deputy Chief, under good terms in February 2008, and the forum account has been un-used by Varley since. However since February a Norman Chesler, who was a close friend of Mike and his wife Shela Nelson, had began commenting on GerritsenBeach.net. He has been threating that he would reveal things that will be detrimental to the Nelsons and others. However, it should be known that Chelser is someone who who’s admitted making the $56,000 in payoffs to Clarance Norman, the former chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party. Clarance was convicted of three felony counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions during his 2000 and 2002 re-election campaigns for his seat in the New York State Assembly and is currently serving a jail sentence. Chesler although his credibility is close to nil due to his illegal dealings, he still could say some damaging things.

Other than Chesler people have been saying some nasty things about Mike and Sheila Nelson. According to Varley the Nelsons then took action, blaming him for the nasty comments, then outing him as City Insider on the Forum as another poster because according to Varley “maybe that would make those nasty comments go away”.

Varley who attempted for days to get in contact with Mike Nelson took his story public.

• “Councilman Michael Nelson how dare you” - SBPBCivic.org Forums
• All of City Insider Posts - SBPBCivic.org Forums (Warning: You have to register)

The Gerritsen Inlet Bridge was built in 1940. It is a nine span structure over Gerritsen Inlet, with a clearance of 35 feet above the Mean High Water mark. It is located within the Gateway National Park Recreation area, DOT is working with the Coast Guard and the US Parks Service and NYC Parks to ensure all construction methods comply with environmental protection laws.

The new structure (pictured above) will be three spans over the Inlet, with the 35 foot clearance maintained. Like Nostrand Avenue, the bridge will be built “on line” so expect lane closures when construction begins in the winter of 2010.

Slated to begin in late 2008, the reconstruction of these bridges are slated to take as long as six years, but DOT promises limited disruption of traffic.

Situated in the Sheepshead Bay community, the Nostrand Avenue Bridge was built in 1940, and is a three span  structure with vehicular traffic under the center span.  The proposed new structure will result in several improvements according to DOT.  The new structure will consist of a single span, eliminating the need for support piers (the columns underneath the bridge), resulting in better sightlines for Nostrand Avenue.  Nostrand Avenue will be widened and realigned.  ON the Belt Parkway itself, the bridge will be widened in order to provide new safety shoulders in both directions, and there will be a new reinforced concrete median   Nostrand Avenue is slated to begin construction in the fall of 2011.

Nostrand Avenue will be built “on line” meaning piece-by-piece reconstruction with lane closures to accommodate construction activity.

The Mill Basin Bridge is adjacent to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and the Gateway National Recreation Area.  It is a movable draw bridge on the Belt Parkway with a clearance over mean high water of 35 feet.  The new structure will not be a draw bridge, but a fixed structure with a 60 foot clearance over mean high water.  The new construction will result in increased sight distances, wider lanes, and the inclusion of safety shoulders in both directions.  A new fender system will be installed to protect the bridge substructure from marine traffic.

The Mill Basin Inlet Bridge (pictured above)will be built “off line”, meaning that new structures will be built adjacent to the existing bridges.  Traffic will remain on the existing bridges until the new structures are complete.  According to DOT, minimal impacts will occur when the approach roadways are configured to move traffic to the new bridges.  Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010.

Other bridges included in the reconstruction project include the Fresh Creek, Rockaway Parkway, Bay Ridge and Paerdegat Basin bridges.

When construction starts, Expect the following schedule for weekday lane closures:  all lanes will be open from 5 AM to 10 AM and from 2 PM to 10 PM.  One lane will be closed from 10 AM to 2 PM, and from 10 AM to 5 AM, and two lanes will be closed from 1 AM to 5 AM.  For weekends, expect one lane closed from 11 PM to 6 AM  on Fri-Sat., and two lanes closed from 1 AM to 5 AM Saturday.