Storms, Schools, Stop & Shop, Kebabs, and more
There was life before Hurricane Sandy ten years ago, and how we've lived since, with ever more damaging rains and storms, unable to protect the city. But that is not the only story this week.
On top of elections, there are a number of school stories you should know about (daycares, homeless students), the choices Stop & Shop is making about where to stay put (Sheepshead Bay) and where to close (Flatbush), how Haredi communities are reclaiming areas of Brooklyn they abandoned 40 years ago, how a long time resident's plan for a residential building split a tight knot block (Gowanus), and good kebabs (Southern Brooklyn).
Politics
This week marks ten years since Hurricane Sandy, and news stories tell the same thing – if another storm like that were to hit like Hurricane Ida did last year, we would not be much better off than we were ten years ago.
“In the aftermath of Ida, policymakers are still grappling with blind spots in their post-Sandy recovery plans, and homeowners and renters are wondering what, if anything, they can do to protect themselves from rapidly deteriorating conditions,” NYT writes, saying that “Sandy stands as a book end — the beginning of an era of stronger and deadlier storms.”
A bright spot – Coney Island Hospital has a new building and is now known as the Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospital – hopefully as resilient as the late supreme court justice. And Fresh Creek shoreline work approved after Sandy to protect parts of Canarsie against flooding was finally completed this month.
Then there’s the human cost and how we remember those who perish in the ever more deadly storms. Peter Senzamici has an incredibly moving story remembering the two young people – he from Park Slope, she from Ditmas Park – who died while walking her dog during a lull in the storm ten years ago.
In other politics, all the talk is of the surge of Lee Zeldin, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, closing in on Governor Kathy Hochul in the polls with a focus on crime and voters’ pocketbooks. Hochul remains focused on abortion rights but has been talking more about crime.
And she should – crime on subways is up significantly, including slashings, shootings, and incidents like this unprovoked shoving of a man onto tracks at the Myrtle Ave Station last Friday. In the latter, the attacker was caught on Monday and charged with attempted murder.
Food: Stop & Shop
We broke the story on Monday that the busy Stop & Shop on Tilden Ave in Flatbush will not renew its lease and will be closing. The company said it would stay open through the holidays and that the store was closing because it was not meeting financial goals. This is the most unwelcome news for many residents in an area seriously underserved by supermarkets.
The news follows the Stop & Shop June announcement of a $140 million capital investment across its stores in NYC, focusing on reflecting the ethnic diversity of the neighborhoods each store serves, as well as deep discounts on groceries.
Meanwhile, Stop & Shop cut the ribbon on Oct. 7 at its newly remodeled 1710 Avenue Y store in Sheepshead Bay, offering the second-largest Kosher assortment across all of Stop & Shop’s stores, with a Kosher bakery expansion planned for later this year.