Pages

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Broad Channel Bits


By Dan Guarino

New Memo: Please disregard this flyer. Photo by Dan Guarino New Memo: Please disregard this flyer. Photo by Dan GuarinoHope you got through the snow and the cold okay.
The next morning after the storm people came out to scrape, clean and dig out their cars on the Boulevard. What they found were flyers on every windshield that said “Warning! You are parked here illegally. Please remove your vehicle. Failure to do so may result in your vehicle being ticketed or towed.” No line to say who it was from, but what looked like a Parks Department leaf logo on top.
There were a number of, um, colorful expressions of concern over this that morning.
Well, people like West 12th Road’s Pete Mahon got on the case and quickly the matter was cleared up. An email from our NYC Parks Administrator Jill Weber explained "The flyers were mistakenly placed on cars on the median and should have been removed. They were meant to go on cars parked on 20th Road and Veteran's Circle. Sorry for any inconvenience. “
The hole in the bagel: looks like the Bagel Gull Store on Cross Bay Boulevard is gone. At 6 in the morning two Fridays ago, Wave general manager Sandy Bernstein noticed there was no one there when he went to drop off the papers. (Yep, we do get in there at 5 a.m. to make sure the paper goes out.)
Sure enough when I went poking around I found all the shelves were cleared and all but a few cartons of juice and some bottles of soda were left in the fridge case. Peeking in around the back, it looked like everything was in disarray as if moved in a hurry.
Didn’t check in the big black bags out front (not that I haven’t before), but the volume of bags, plus the other items now piled up out on the deck, looks more like the store contents were cleared out for good.
The last newspapers on the deck, bundled for return, were dated December 24th.
I asked a few people but no one seemed to know what exactly happened to the Bay Gull Store. At the library someone said that the week before one of the store’s workers mentioned they should look around for someplace new to get lunch. But that was about it.
If anybody has any more information, I am sure a lot of people would like to know.
Meantime other neighbors like Ann Lundon noted that with Bay Gull “closing its doors overnight… I have to assume that means our town has no post office.”
Hopefully some other BC business is looking to take on that contract.
Watch where you park. As Kathleen Reardon Savino let us know a few weeks ago, there are shiny new red “No Parking Anytime” signs along Cross Bay Boulevard by the American Legion, near the BCAC parking lot.
Be extra careful if you are parking on the street for any event or meeting at the Legion Hall.
Not surprisingly, since the St. Virgilius Golden Age Club meets there every week on Thursday, it’s reported that several seniors had already gotten tickets.
Not sure what powers that think they be decided to plant these here.
Hmmm, wonder how long this will last?
If you’re reading this you probably know what it’s like to be cold. If any of us forgot, last week when the temperature dropped from 55 degrees to 5 in less than 24 hours was a sharp reminder.
There is a nice big New York Cares coat drive box at the Broad Channel Library. If you have a coat you can spare, there is someone out there who can really use one.
By the way, apparently the intense cold (looking southward, for instance, - 10 degrees is forecasted forAtlanta, Georgia) whipping across the country was a big joke on the morning news program I was watching. People die in this kind of weather. Not funny.
The man in red was seen last week making stops in Broad Channel and the Rockaways. Apparently there was a super surplus of very good boys and girls that Santa needed to visit. Of course, as anybody knows, it’s all of his many, many helpers, people like the BC Vollies here, Marissa Bernowitz in Rockaway, and many others, who are on the permanent good list.
Well, it’s a big hurricane boat, and we are all in it. In Florida writer Gray Rohrer noted in The Current, “Florida lawmakers want private property insurance companies to come to the rescue of coastal homeowners who will be hit with skyrocketing flood insurance rates last month.
Congress adjourned …without passing legislation to postpone National Flood Insurance Program rate increases involved in the 2012 Biggert- Waters Act that are set to take effect in two weeks, when the calendar turns to 2014. The rate hikes are the result of a phasing out of subsidies for coastal areas in light of a $24 billion shortfall for the NFIP.”
They have also talked about a state-level NFIP program, as a backup if private insurance concerns don’t get it together.
Looks like our neighbors to the South, rather than bothering to wait for Washington to get over its dysfunction, are floating brand new ideas of their own.
Good luck to them!
Finally, here’s a headline to make you stop and think.
From the New England Real Estate Journal- “Expanding Floodplain & Rising Tide, Not Floating All Boats.” Well said.
Got news about things going on in this New Year in BC? Let’s let everyone else know about it. Please send any details about fundraisers, events, programs, organizations, meetings or anything BC toworkingstories@aol.com. Or put my name on it and drop it in the mailbox at 1430 Cross Bay Boulevard.
Standing offer: I would be happy to give a shout out to any friends or family you know who is coming back home.
In the meantime, thanks for reading.

No comments:

Post a Comment