Mar 212013
 

On Friday, March 22nd at 6:00 pm the Christ Church After School and Creative Youth Center will host their annual Multicultural Festival at Christ Church Bay Ridge [7301 Ridge Blvd] (enter on 73rd street). Children ages five through ten will be performing musical and dance pieces from ten different countries.

After the performance, festival goers will enjoy a variety of food prepared by the young participants’ parents. Each family is asked to bring in a dish from their country of origin.

Director Victoria Hofmo explained in a press release, “It’s a great event and way to share the wonderful cultural richness of our After School family and our hometown Bay Ridge.”

For further information, please contact Christ Church’s youth center at (718) 745-1551. Click Here For Map

Mar 212013
 

In yet another bar fight involving off-duty first responders in Bay Ridge,  two NYPD officers have been suspended without pay after one allegedly pointed his gun at a group of women before firing a shot into the air.

Officer Lester Sanchez of East New York’s 75th Precinct was arrested following the incident, which took place in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 9, at AM Bar [7221 3rd Ave], notes the Daily News. Continue reading »

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.

Dec 192012
 
Image source: Aislinn Ritchie via Flickr.

Image source: Aislinn Ritchie via Flickr.

It can be easy to forget a friend’s birthday, especially when it falls smack in the middle of a hectic holiday season – which is why we’re wishing a belated happy birthday to our much-beloved hood of Bay Ridge!

According to Home Reporter, this past Sunday, December 16, was the 159th anniversary of the day in 1853 when prominent residents of Yellow Hook voted to change the area’s name to Bay Ridge.

The name change was prompted by an outbreak of yellow fever. Not wanting their beautiful bay side hamlet to be associated with the illness, community leaders made the real estate-savvy decision to name the area after the terminal moraine, or ridge, it sits on top of. Continue reading »

Sep 042012
 

Beautiful but deadly (Image source: *水華* via Flickr).

Residents of 73rd Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue say police from the 68th Precinct haven’t done enough to stem all the drug dealing, noise, and WWE-style violence on their formerly peaceful block, as reported by Will Bredderman for Brooklyn Paper. Continue reading »

Aug 062012
 

In the Youtube video shown above, which was apparently taken in May of 2010, thieves make quick work of a complete set of car wheels on 73rd Street.

More recently, two different Bay Ridge drivers returned to their parked cars only to find them sans wheels during the last week of July – as car rim and tire thefts continue to pose a major headache for car owners in Southwestern Brooklyn and beyond.

According to Brooklyn Daily’s Will Bredderman, who writes about both incidents in this week’s police blotter, one crime occurred on Shore Road sometime on or before July 26, with a second happening on Bay Ridge Parkway on July 26. Continue reading »