NYPD Officer Charged With DWI In Bay Ridge

By on March 12, 2013  Featured story, News
Mar 122013
 
Image source: pixabay.com.

Image source: pixabay.com.

An off-duty New York City police officer was arrested this past weekend and charged with driving under the influence on the streets of Bay Ridge, according to CBS 2.

Officer Lester Sanchez, 29, was arrested early Saturday at 4:53 a.m. in the confines of the 68th Precinct, which includes Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.

Sanchez was reportedly charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing to take a breathalyzer test, and reckless endangerment.

This arrest arrives on the heels of several high profile and heart-breaking fatal crashes – including one involving an on-duty NYPD officer, and as police officials respond to widespread public outcry by announcing a series of sweeping changes to crash investigations.

The New York State Senate has also recently approved legislation, sponsored by retired NYPD officer and State Senator Marty Golden, that would stiffen punishments for drivers who flee the scene of accidents which result in property damage, serious injury, or death.

Die Hard Diner: Hinsch’s Gets New Owner

By on March 7, 2013  Featured story, Food & Drink
Mar 072013
 
Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr

Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr.

It looks like Hinsch’s [8518 5th Ave] has nine lives after all.

Thanks to a deal partners Roger Desmond, Gerard Bell and Bill Gardell recently made with Staten Island diner mogul Mike Moudatsos, the endangered eatery, which first opened in 1915 as Reichert’s ice cream parlor and still makes its own ice cream, will live on as “Mike’s Hinsch’s,” writes Helen Klein for Home Reporter.

Desmond, along with Bell – who is also co-owner of Skinflints [7902 5th Ave], and Gardell had taken over the space a little over a year before, when longtime owner John Logue retired.

“When we take over, we keep the name and add Mike’s to it,” Moudatsos’ son Lee, who will run the establishment’s day-to-day operations, told Klein – He also assured the public that the egg creams, homemade ice cream and chocolates that made Hinsch’s famous would continue to satisfy the neighborhood’s sweet tooth after his family took the helm on Monday, March 4.

“All that stuff is going to stay,” Lee Moudatsos said. “We are just going to add to it.”

“I feel the weight of the world is off my shoulders,” Desmond told Home Reporter. “It’s really been some roller coaster. I lost a lot of money but I don’t have any regrets.”

Just over a month ago, after a deal with a national fast food chain fell through Desmond, die hard restaurateur that he is, resolved to reinvent Hinsch’s as a late night date destination.

State Senate Votes For Stricter Hit-And-Run Legislation, As Neighbors Remember Two Innocent Victims

By on March 5, 2013  Featured story, News
Mar 052013
 

800px-Do_Not_Cross,_Crime_Scene

In the wake of a series of fatal hit-and run crashes in New York City, the state Senate has approved new legislation that would stiffen statewide punishments for drivers who flee the scene of accidents which result in property damage, serious injury, or death, notes Amanda Woods for Home Reporter.

The proposed measure, which is sponsored by State Senator Marty Golden, upgrades the charges against motorists who leave the scene of a deadly crash to a Class C Felony. Click Here For More, Including A Hit-And-Run Case That Remains Unsolved After 19 Years

Pedestrian Rage Justified: Reporter Clocks 4th Ave Driver At 68 MPH

By on February 28, 2013  Featured story, Traffic & Transit
Feb 282013
 
car crash dominic bartolini Flickr

Image source: dominic bartolini via Flickr.

It looks like our pedestrian rage was fully justified.

Brooklyn Paper’s Will Bredderman recently used a radar gun to check out how many drivers are actually following 4th Avenue’s posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour.

The answer: Not many.

While most of the 28 drivers observed on a weekday afternoon stuck fairly close to 30 mph, only eight – less than one third, drove within the legal limit, with one driver clocked in at a whopping 68 mph!

Bredderman then repeated the same experiment at different times with similar results. Click Here For More, Including Why Drivers Speed In Bay Ridge

Subway Fare, Verrazano Bridge Toll Hikes – Now With Pretty Charts!

By on February 28, 2013  Featured story, Traffic & Transit
Feb 282013
 

This Sunday, March 3, getting from Point A to Point B will cost just a little bit more than it did the day before: the long-planned increases in fares and tolls will go into effect at 12:00am midnight.

To help visualize the changes, we’ve put together a few handy graphics.

MTA 2013 Fares For subway and bus riders, the base fare goes up a quarter to $2.50. The cost of commuting by subway will go up between $4 and $8 dollars per month, depending on whether you use a 7- or 30-day pass ($30 and $112, respectively). Express bus commuters will pay an extra $20 per month, as 7-day passes are now $55.

NEW FOR 2013 - The MTA will now charge a $1 surcharge for every new Metrocard purchased. This can be avoided by refilling your existing Metrocard. Riders who buy 7- and 30-day passes never had (or needed) this option before, but now any vending machine or token booth clerk can refill these unlimited-use passes. (The $1 card fee doesn’t apply to reduced-fare passes, or for Metrocards purchased from third parties, such as employer pre-tax transit programs.) Continue reading »

Mayoral Hopeful Sal Albanese Unveils Ambitious Transit Plan, Secures Union Support

By on February 26, 2013  Featured story, Traffic & Transit
Feb 262013
 
Image source: salalbanese2013.com.

Image source: salalbanese2013.com.

Shortly after securing the endorsement of the union that represents most New York City MTA workers, Democrat mayoral candidate and Bay Ridge resident Sal Albanese unveiled a transit plan he says will fund improvements to the city’s roadways and public transportation system, as well as make them more equitable for all New Yorkers.

Albanese’s “Faster, Fairer, and Fully-Funded” plan calls for city control of mass transit, 20 new Select Bus routes by 2018, investments in subway infrastructure, and a new tolling system that his campaign claims would raise as much as $1 billion in revenue. It also makes bicyclist and pedestrian safety a priority, citing vehicular fatalities as “one of the invisible public health crises in our city.” Continue reading »

Occupy Sandy’s Bay Ridge Kitchen To Close March 1, Volunteers Still Needed

By on February 21, 2013  Featured story, News
Feb 212013
 
Image source: Facebook.com.

Image source: Facebook.com.

Although Occupy Sandy’s Bay Ridge Kitchen at St. John’s Episcopal Church [461 99th Street] will be closing March 1, volunteers are still needed – especially in places like Sheepshead Bay and the Rockaways.

Occupy Sandy volunteers have been preparing hearty meals and delivering them to Hurricane Sandy victims around Brooklyn and beyond since November.

Months after Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal areas, the group continues to feed around a thousand people a day. They also maintain locations in Sheepshead Bay, Staten Island, and the Rockaways.

Click here for a list of places where you can make a difference by volunteering.

Jewelry, Electronics Burglaries Continue In Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights

By on February 21, 2013  Featured story, News
Feb 212013
 
574px-Willamsburgh_Savings_Bank_facade_burglar

Grotesque inset of a burglar on facade of the Williamsburgh Savings Tower at 1 Hanson Place in Fort Greene (Image source: Wikipedia Commons).

It looks like burglars are still finding plenty of homes to score jewelry, cash and electronics from in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.

While none of the incidents reported by Will Bredderman in yesterday’s Brooklyn Paper police blotter occurred on 70th Street, they all happened within blocks of previously pilfered apartments:

  • The occupant of a ground floor apartment on 73rd Street between 13th Avenue and 14th Avenue left at around 2 p.m. on February 11. She returned at 5:15 p.m. to find her glass sliding door shattered and a host of expensive items – including three gold rings, one onyx ring, a diamond bracelet, a diamond necklace, an elk ivory watch, a pair of elk ivory cufflinks, $5,000 in bills, and a Nikon camera gone.

 

  • The next day another victim, who had left her 76th Street flat at around 5:30 p.m., had trouble gaining entry after returning four hours later. Realizing the entrance was blocked with the door to an adjacent closet, she pushed her way into the apartment – which is located between 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue. Seeing the place had been ransacked, she also noticed the shade on her fire escape window drawn open. Stolen items reported to police included two iPads, a checkbook, a gold chain, two gold necklaces, two gold watches, two gold bracelets, a silver necklace, a pair of gold earrings, and two gold pendants.

 

  • During that same day, a resident of Ridge Blvd between 75th Street and 76th Street was burglarized by some apparently numismatic crooks. He left for the day at 7 a.m. and came back at 11:30 p.m. to discover his MacBook, tablet computer, Canon camera, watch, and $400 in Chinese currency missing.

Beginning March 3, Prepare To Shell Out $15 For Verrazano, $2.75 For Subway

By on February 15, 2013  Featured story, Traffic & Transit
Feb 152013
 
Ah, the "good" old days. (Photo: Brian Hedden/Bay Ridge Odyssey)

Ah, the “good” old days. (Photo: Brian Hedden/Bay Ridge Odyssey)

Despite widespread criticism by commuters, activists, and elected officials alike, the MTA has announced that a series of planned toll and fare hikes will start to take effect on March 3.

Beginning at approximately 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 3, cash tolls on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge will rise to $15.

Of course those with an E-ZPass who live on the Staten Island side will pay “$6.36 to cross the Verrazano for the first two round trips of the month, and an even $6 on the third and subsequent trips,” writes reporter Ken Paulsen on Staten Island Advance’s website – while Bay Ridge residents who live within a stone’s throw of the world-famous span will still have to pay the full E-ZPass price of $10.66 per trip, a $1.06 increase.

But wait, that’s not all!

Via silive.com, here’s a breakdown of subway and bus fare hikes – because life in New York City was apparently not quite expensive enough without subsidizing folks in the ‘Burbs:

  • The seven day Express Bus Plus MetroCard will cost $55.
  • The seven-day regular unlimited MetroCard will rise to $30.
  • The 30-day regular unlimited MetroCard jumps to $112.
  • Single-ride tickets, only sold at vending machines, will cost $2.75.
  • A bonus of 5 percent is added to MetroCards with purchases of $5 or more.

There will be an additional fee of $1 for the purchase of new MetroCards, except for cards purchased at out-of-system vendors and for seniors.

Noveau Bouncer Is Second Person Stabbed At Restaurant In Two Months

By on February 11, 2013  Featured story, News
Feb 112013
 
Source: Wikipedia Commons.

Source: Wikipedia Commons.

Veteran journalist and author Pete Hamill once said, “never go into a bar that needs a bouncer.” The following story just might prove the wisdom of that statement:

In the early morning hours of Sunday, February 3, a bouncer at Nouveau Restaurant [8214 3rd Ave] was reportedly stabbed in the buttocks by a violent patron, writes CNG’s Will Bredderman. Continue reading »

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