Vandalizing of Painted American Flag Called Hate Crime by Artist

Scott LoBaido, the patriotic artist who paints American flags all over the country, called the vandalizing of one of his flags in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn a “hate crime” when he was told of the incident which took place yesterday.

The flag is painted on the side of a linen warehouse owned by John Gentile, resident of Tottenville in Staten Island. The flag covers a 35-foot by 20-foot wall and was painted two years ago at the request of the owner after he admired another one of LoBaida’s flags near his home.

Vandalized LoBaido Flag in Kensington

Security cameras caught video of the vandal in action. The tape shows a van pulling up to the building at about 1am on Sunday night. Gentile said, “a kid who intentionally came to do this” turned off the van’s headlights, wrote the words “Patriotism Makes Me Sick” in black paint on the flag, and then drove away. The camera was able to record the license plate number of the van.

"It's a hate message and a hate crime," LoBaido said. "Once in a while you get a punk who tags a flag. But this is more than that. This was a deliberate act. It is eating me alive."

LoBaido is presently in North Carolina painting a flag on a NASCAR vehicle, plus another flag which will be auctioned off for charity. Recently two of his flags were auctioned for $10,000 and $8,900, with the money going towards building homes for disabled veterans.

"You bet I'm going to fix it when I get back," said LoBaido.

Watch Out Hollywood, Brooklyn is Coming!

Commissioner Katherine Oliver with Mayor Michael Bloomberg

It is getting more and more desirable to shoot movies in the Big Apple, while filmmaking in Hollywood is on the wane. For example, Steiner Studios, New York’s largest sound-stage venue, just added an additional 45,000 square feet to its space.

Now the home of such favorite shows as HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, has a total of 355,000 square feet of filming space.

According to Katherine Oliver, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, there are now a total of 13 TV pilots filming there.

Los Angeles says there is stiff competition between filming in the Golden State and in the Empire State, blaming the struggle on about $420 million in tax breaks offered by New York. The incentive, says Hollywood, has caused an 11.5 percent drop in the number of TV dramas being filmed there.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Creates Fan Club to Save Kensington G-Train Service

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

Mayoral hopeful and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio joined the grass-roots call to maintain the service of the G-train to the Kensington neighborhood in Brooklyn.

De Blasio announced the creation of a new organization to fight for the subway service, called “5 Stop Fan Club,” referring to the five train stops which the MTA is threatening to shut down. This new group joins an on-line petition submitted by the Working Families Party demanding that the present G-train service be maintained.

“These extra five stops are a lifeline that Brooklyn residents and small businesses have come to depend on,” said de Blasio. “Ending this service will have a profound effect on the community and the mom and pop stores along these five stops. I encourage every New Yorker who wants to see the G train service preserved to join the 5 Stop Fan Club and let your voices be heard.”

The five train stops in question were only added to the G-train’s route by the MTZ in 2009 to help deal with the disruptions caused by the repair of the Culver Aqueduct, a bridge over the Gowanus Canal.

Since the work on the aqueduct is almost finished, the MTA is planning on closing down the extension, which was only put in place to allow commuters from Greenpoint to travel all the way to Kensington without being forced to change trains.

Last Friday the Working Families Party inaugurated their petition on the internet, which will eventually be submitted to the MTA, hopefully dissuaded them from cancelling the train service. De Blasio is affiliated closely with the Working Families Party, which helped get him elected to his present office of public advocate.

De Blasio’s “Fan Club” has a website with several elected officials joining the movement, including Representative Nydia Velazquez, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senators Eric Adams and Dan Squadron, Assemblymen James Brennan and Hakeem Jeffries, and City Councilmembers Brad Lander, Sara Gonzalez, Stephen Levin and Letitia James.

Councilman Greenfield and Residents Demand Investigation Into Outlandish Water Bills

Councilman David Greenfield

Ever since the installation of automated meter readers (AMRs) the water bills of residents and businesses have been unexplainably high. After receiving complaints about the problem from many residents, New York City Councilman David G. Greenfield, along with six of his fellow council members took to the steps of City Hall to demand an investigation into why water bills are so high.

AMRs Causing the Trouble?

Beginning in 2009 AMRs began to be installed into homes and businesses throughout the city as part of a $250 million project whose goal was to make it easier to measure water usage and bill residents for that usage. Instead it appears the AMRs are causing havoc; not only in New York, but in other cities there have been complaints of major problems with the technology as well, in some cases leading to huge audits and customer refunds.

New York customers have complained about getting bills many times greater than their bills immediately prior to the AMRs installation.

“These meters are unquestionably producing suspect readings that need to be investigated immediately. Like many of my neighbors, the new bills show my family using water in amounts far in excess of what is actually taking place in our home, and the city urgently needs to get to the bottom of this situation. In addition, the process to determine if we had a leak was frustrating and onerous. I am relieved that Councilman Greenfield is fighting on our behalf, and I am hopeful that he can help get some answers on this issue,” said Kensington resident Mordechai Lev, who was overbilled by approximately 400% after his new meter was installed.

 Fix the Problem Before it Gets Worse

“After I received a bill that was much higher than ever before, I was told only that all charges were valid after I requested the city review my case. We need real answers concerning this problem before more residents receive incorrect bills, especially since we don’t know how many other people are impacted by this. My thanks to Councilman Greenfield for demanding that the city address this problem instead of simply insisting that its meters are functioning correctly,” said Borough Park resident Toby Schwartz, whose bills tripled as a result of her new water meter.

“This issue has caused me and my family much frustration as we tried to get answers from the city. I am pleased that this ongoing problem is getting the attention it needs, and I am hopeful that as a result of Councilman Greenfield’s efforts, we will finally get to the bottom of this. The city needs to take these concerns and complaints regarding water bills seriously so that the public is assured the meters are functioning correctly,” said Borough Park resident Joseph Reichberg, whose bill spiked to $2,800 according to the new meter.

Demanding Investigation

Councilman Greenberg and his colleagues went to City Hall to request from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) an immediate investigation into the issue with a thorough examination of the meters and the overpriced bills, including a complete explanation of what is causing the spikes in the bills and other inconsistencies and irregularities.

“The complaints I have been hearing from residents and business owners regarding their water bills are shocking and need to be investigated immediately. We need to be sure that this technology is reliable and that customers are not being overcharged. I urge the DEP to take these complaints seriously and look into this matter so that the public can be confident that the bills they receive are accurate. I thank my colleagues and constituents for joining me today, and look forward to resolving these issues with the DEP,” said Greenfield.

Kensington Residents Helping Workers Get the Wages They Deserve

A wage battle is gaining momentum in Kensington as ten workers enlist support of neighborhood residents to fight for the wages they say are owed to them by the Golden Farm Grocery.

The ten men claim that they did not receive minimum wage from their boss, store-owner Sonny Kim, until last year when the workers began organizing with New York Communities for Change and filed a law suit. They say that until that time they were only paid $4.86 per hour for 72 hours of work per week, with no increased pay for overtime. Kim has refused to pay the back wages the workers say he owes to them.

“We are looking to get back all the years he stole from us,” said Nicandro Martinez-Rodriguez, 48. He worked in the produce department of Golden Farm of 12 years, earning only $350 per week for working 12 hour days 6 days per week.

Kensington residents have been supporting the men’s efforts to recoup their money by protesting in the store, signing petitions, going door to door to get support, and informing more people on-line.

There are even some people who are boycotting the grocery store, including sending notes to Kim explaining that they will not come back to shop there until he pays the workers what he owes them.

“I just don’t feel comfortable continuing to shop there knowing that the workers weren’t being respected,” said Brian Pickett, 33, an adjunct professor who has also handed out info sheets to customers leaving the store.

“I’d like to resume shopping there once the owner accepts his responsibility.”

 But store manager Steve Kim disagrees with the accusations. “We keep American rules and regulations 100%” he said. “The Spanish guys don’t know English writing and reading. How would they know American labor law?”

 Roberto Ramirez, 40 has been employed at the Golden Farm Grocery for six years. He says the encouragement that he received from the store’s customers gave him the courage to take a stand.

“They treated us like slaves,” Ramirez said. “I am seeing that the community is supporting us...They are the ones who had actually been motivating us to do this.”

Kensington Animal Shelter's Sean Casey Ready for Just About Anything

Last week Sean Casey and his volunteers from his Animal Rescue Shelter in Kensington went looking for a group of vicious pit bull dogs who have been terrorizing dog owners in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Casey says he has already searched for the wandering dogs, which have already killed one small dog and mutilated another, over thirty times, but he promises, however, not to rest until he has the evil dogs in his custody.

  “The difficulty is that these dogs are potentially roaming,” noted Casey, who says he and his staff have been setting traps and checking the Long Island Rail Road tracks around Brooklyn College two to three times a day. “But we’re pretty confident we’ll have them soon.”

 There is no question that Casey knows his pit bulls. There are dozens of them holed up now in his shelter on East Third Street Shelter near Caton Avenue. Casey says it’s a problem that people just don’t understand these animals.

 “Pit bulls can be the greatest dog in the world or they can be monsters — they can be whatever their owner wants them to be,” said Casey, who owns a pit bull himself. “But in this case, some idiot probably didn’t take his responsibility seriously and this is what we end up with.”

 Don’t think that Casey’s shelter is just for wayward dogs. The chances of finding 20 cats, 40-50 dogs, (the vast majority pit bulls), 10 snakes, 10 turtles, and 20-30 hamsters and guinea pigs at any time in his small animal shelter are high. Once Casey even handled the rescue of an alligator who was abandoned by his owner.

 “A lot of people buy these creatures when they’re young without realizing its going to grow up,” said Casey, who was able to find a safe home for the alligator in Pennsylvania, since it was against the law for the animal to remain in New York.

 Due to New York law Casey must turn down requests to save monkeys, boa constrictors, iguanas, ocelots, sharks and other exotic animals because according to the city’s laws New Yorkers are not allowed to own wild animals, including alligators.

 “He’s like Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but with volunteers,” said Kensington resident Allen Kirson. Casey helped Kirson look for Captain, his beloved parrot, when it flew away. Casey was even willing to climb a ladder standing between two vans to try and reach the bird, which turned out in the end to not be Captain after all.

Have a Shvitz Like in the Old Country

Brooklyn is not so far from Russia and Turkey after all, especially if you are hankering for a good old fashioned shvitz, and happen to be in Kensington. Mosey on over to Brooklyn Banya, the “Best Russian-Turkish Bathhouse” in all of Brooklyn.

At 602 Coney Island Avenue, between Beverly Road and Avenue C, you will find over 10,000 square feet of “pure luxury sweat.” There are three saunas, a steam room, a bath, an ice cold pool and a therapeutic Jacuzzi for whatever and wherever it aches. You can have a birch leaves treatment, guaranteed to ease all that worries you; or try one of Banya’s specialties, a salt body scrub, and a stress-relieving massage.

When the sweating and soaking are all over you will leave Banya feeling at least ten years younger, with the softest, smoothest skin- just like when you were a baby. No doubt you will come back.

The hours of operation are: Monday through Friday 9am to Midnight; and Saturday through Sunday 8 am to Midnight. For more information call: 718-853-1300.