Cornegy hosts community baby shower
Councilmember Robert Cornegy Jr. on Wednesday hosted his third Annual Community Baby Shower in partnership with the Campaign Against Hunger, Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center, Bridge Street Development Corporation, Bed Stuy Restoration and other community partners. The baby shower featured giveaways to new and expectant mothers. It took place at Restoration Plaza.
Hospitality Alliance demands return of indoor dining
The New York City Hospitality Alliance and restaurant owners from all five boroughs on Wednesday held a press conference calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to develop and implement an immediate plan for the return of indoor dining in New York City. More than six weeks after indoor dining was indefinitely put on pause, reopening plans for gyms, schools, museums and bowling alleys have been announced. New York City restaurants and bars anticipated that indoor dining could resume at 50 percent capacity under Phase 3 of reopening on July 6, but restaurants elsewhere in the state have been serving customers indoors since June 17. With feasibility and demand for outdoor dining during the cold winter months expected to be tenuous, insiders are predicting a death knell for the industry if indoor dining does not resume by mid-September.
Gillibrand calls for mental health funding
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) recently urged Senate leadership to include robust funding for substance use disorder and mental health care services in the next coronavirus relief package. “As the addiction crisis grows, individuals and their families are in dire need of resources to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. The coronavirus pandemic has placed a heavy burden on mental health care and substance use disorder support services and we must ensure they are able to help the millions of Americans in need,” she said.
Missing Brooklyn woman found in East Hampton
Casie Penatello, a Brooklyn woman whose jeep was found on a Bridgehampton beach, has been found. East Hampton Village police found the 22-year-old woman in good health, local police said. Southampton and NYPD detectives had been working together since Sunday, when she was seen leaving her home. No further information was available, according to the Independent, a publication on the East End of Long Island.
‘I Cover the Waterfront’
Permits have been filed for a three-story residential building at 102 Summit St. in the Columbia Street Waterfront District. The site, between Columbia and Hicks Street, is now occupied by a three-story brownstone and is six blocks west of the F and G trains’ Carroll Street subway station. Anthony Prestiagiacomo is listed as the owner, and Paul Lombardi of Design Studio Associates is listed as the architect of record. The building will have three apartments, most likely condos, as well as a penthouse and a rear yard, according to New York YIMBY. Demolition permits have not yet been announced.
Melody Lanes reopens, future still uncertain
Although bowling alleys got the OK to reopen on Aug. 14, the owner of Sunset Park’s famed Melody Lanes says his business isn’t out of the woods yet. Just before the pandemic hit, Melody Lanes completed a $1.5 million renovation of the business’ interior, but the bowling alley is seeing very little use even as customers are welcomed back. This may be due to the new COVID-related restrictions that have closed every other lane, banned sales of food and drinks, and forced managers to hang plastic sheets separating groups of bowlers. Gary Beshara, the owner, says it’s not financially worthwhile to open, but he’s doing it to help his 30-person staff, many of whom have been working there for decades, according to amNewYork. Despite the long pandemic-related closure, Beshara had to pay $110,000 in real estate taxes for the building at 47th Street and Fifth Avenue.
New condos rising in East New York
A nine-story, mixed-use building is slated to be built at 495 Sutter Ave. at the corner of Snediker Avenue. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is listed as the owner. With 184 residences planned, this is a massive development for the low-rise neighborhood. The building, however, will not have any accessory parking, according to eastnewyork.com. The site is now a huge empty lot.
Family seeks missing grandma
A Sunset park family is searching for a 72-year-old woman who suffers from dementia, two days after she left to go to the corner store and never came home. Police believe Ann Mariel Thompson might have turned the wrong way on 45th Street when heading home from her regular trip, which is only about a minute from the family’s apartment near Sixth Avenue. She hasn’t been seen since 6 p.m. on Sunday. The cashier told police that Thompson had been at the store, but went in a different direction than usual when she left. “She usually doesn’t have any problem going to the store,” her son, Sam, told Patch.
Five-story building planned for Crown Heights
Permits have been filed for a five-story building to be constructed at 188 Utica Ave., Crown Heights. The site, currently occupied by a corner store, is at the intersection of Park Place and is four blocks north from the 2, 3 and 4 trains’ Utica Avenue station. The building will have 15 apartments, most likely rentals, as well as 1,875 square feet of commercial space and 625 square feet of community facility space. Zeidan is listed as the owner, and Charles Mallea of M Architecture is listed as the architect, according to New York YIMBY.
Compiled by Raanan Geberer.
