Aug. 10–16, 2018 Including Canarsie Digest FREE SERVING BERGEN BEACH, CANARSIE, GEORGETOWN, MARINE PARK & MILL BASIN Blindsided Gerritsen Beachers say bus stop creates BOXED IN! visibility hazard Illegally parked buses block businesses around MTA depot BY KEVIN DUGGAN BY KEVIN DUGGAN The owner of the all-night Talk about being thrown un- They’re causing a busload of Floridian Diner across the der the bus. problems. street from the Flatbush Bus Gerritsen Beachers are Bus drivers for the Met- Depot said that the nightly blasting transit offi cials for ropolitan Transportation wall of buses around his eat- placing a bus shelter where it Authority are illegally park- ery even blocks his parking dangerously blocks the view ing their buses on the streets lot. of drivers turning off of Av- around a Marine Park de- “Not only are they park- enue X. Positioned far out pot, obscuring local busi- ing their commercial vehi- from the sidewalk, on a me- nesses during the day, and cles around the diner and in dian separating the bike lane often completely blocking front of the other stores so from traffi c on Gerritsen Ave- access to 24-hour businesses nobody can see that we exist, nue, the structure forces driv- overnight, according to local they also come in at night to ers wanting to make a turn to business owners and com- park and block the driveways EASY RIDERS: Why park the buses in the bus depot when it is easier to move far beyond the corner — munity leaders. so people can’t get in and just leave them out on the street? Photo by Steve Solomonson across the bike lane and even into traffi c — in order to see out,” said Steve Zaharakis. oncoming cars, according to Despite having a four- the president of a local civic and-a-half-acre dedicated bus association. depot just across Fillmore “You really can’t see down Avenue from the Floridian [Gerritsen] avenue to see Diner, drivers routinely leave what’s coming at you, so you their buses parked on nearby have to nose out into traffi c, streets such as Flatbush, Fill- and by the time you get out more and Utica avenues — and far enough to have a clear have been doing so for the past view what’s coming towards 40 years, according to Zahara- you, your car is already in the kis. So many buses line local lane of traffi c that’s coming streets at night that he said towards you,” said Gerritsen they often box in his diner on Beach Cares president John all sides. Douglas. “My diner is open 24 hours Gerritsen Avenue is a busy and at night the buses are left thoroughfare, according to so that they circle the diner so Douglas, and many cars park I’m in between buses,” he said. along the road behind the bus “They put them on Fillmore, shelter because Public School on Utica and Flatbush, so they 277 is on the same block. encircle the whole diner.” “There’s a lot of traffi c in On Utica Avenue, the buses that area, especially during frequently block one of the the school year,” he said. “Peo- driveways to a parking lot ple come and park to pick up that is shared by a local Petco, their kids so it’s a little hectic a Burger King and a Popeyes. in that spot.” This blocks access for both The left turn has become so employees and customers, ac- dangerous that Douglas, his cording to one Petco supervi- wife, and his neighbors avoid Wheel characters sor. it and opt for other routes in- “Around 9–10 pm, buses stead. Handicapped canines Candy and Little Miss Lexi fl ashed their pearly whites in Prospect Park on Aug. start to fi ll up across Utica Av- “My wife, myself and a 4 while appearing as a spokes-dog for shelter Posh Pets Rescue during an animal adoption event on enue and they do tend to block bunch of my neighbors, we Aug. 4. For more furry fun, see page 14. Photo by Jason Speakman the shared driveway,” said the Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 A CNG Publication Vol. 73 No. 32 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNDAILY.COM INSIDE NNN%9IFFBCPE;8@CP%:FD GL9C@J?<;9P:E>(D<KIFK<:?:<EK<IEFIK?('K?=CFFI9IFFBCPE#EP(()'( Nature boy: Sunset Park filmmaker Nathan Kensinger highlights some of the city’s overlooked and aban- doned landscapes in his documen- taries. Photo by Jason Speakman HATE GRIME Leaders condemn, cops hunt perpetrator of vulgar, Urban jungle: “Reclaimed Ground” highlights Hunter’s Point, a forest that flourished in Queens before the city transformed it into a park earlier this Wild guide year. Nathan Kensinger His films show city’s natural landscapes anti-Chinese graffi ti smeared across Bensonhurst By Julianne McShane ishing a lot of it.” of the closing night of the Rooftop Film was a real surprise — you’d walk down the e’s a force of nature. At a free outdoor event this week, Festival, at Industry City on Aug. 25. street and see a deer peek out and investi- A Sunset Park filmmaker who Kensinger will screen three of his films The movie spotlights three Staten Island gate this newly open landscape,” he said. Hhas turned his camera on New that focus on New York’s natural land- neighborhoods abandoned after Hurricane Kensinger said that his two latest films York City’s wild spaces and hurricane-rav- scape. In his “Reclaimed Ground,” Sandy, with the state buying and destroy- make a sort of matched set. aged neighborhoods will screen his short Kensinger highlights Hunter’s Point, a ing the remaining homes. Kensinger went “In ‘Managed Retreat,’ you’re seeing flicks at two Brooklyn events his month, wild forest that flourished on the Queens to photograph the neighborhoods in the a community torn down and being turned on Aug. 10 in Greenpoint and on Aug. 25 waterfront before construction workers days after the hurricane, and realized that into nature, and in ‘Reclaimed Ground,’ at Industry City. Nathan Kensinger said bulldozed it in 2015 to make way for a new he needed to film the transition. you’re seeing nature being torn down and he first put his focus on the city’s land- park. For “English Kills Voyage,” he used “I thought that these neighborhoods turned into a community,” he said. scapes and waterways when he moved to a remote-controlled boat decked out with were taking the most interesting approach “The Films of Nathan Kensinger” at Gowanus in 2003 and noticed how quickly waterproof cameras to explore the muck [to recovery], and in the course of pho- Java Street Community Garden (59 Java BY JULIANNE MCSHANE the waterfront was changing. of Newtown Creek. And in “Covered tographing it, I just realized it would be St. between West and Franklin streets in “I really became interested in the Tracks,” Kensinger explores an abandoned much better captured on film,” he said. Greenpoint). Aug. 10 at 8:30 pm. Free. industrial waterfront and trying to capture train tunnel running through the Hudson To get the footage, Kensinger visited “Managed Retreat” at “Rooftop Shots: the buildings that were still standing,” he River. The filmmaker will discuss his the neighborhoods several times between Closing Night” at Industry City Courtyard said. “In the course of exploring the water- work before the showing. 2015 and 2017, and was amazed at how 5-6 (Second Avenue between 34th and 35th front and taking all of these photographs, I Kensinger’s latest documentary, quickly the wildlife returned, he said. streets in Sunset Park, www.rooftopfilms. started to see that they were really demol- “Managed Retreat,” will screen as part “I think how quickly nature returned com). Aug. 25 at 8 pm. $16. They won’t take the hate. The Police Department Your entertainment must track down the bigots guide Page 43 who scrawled racist, anti-Chi- nese graffi ti at various sites throughout Bensonhurst, de- Police Blotter ..........................8 manded local leaders and Bor- Standing O ............................22 ough President Adams, who Letters ....................................32 said the vulgar vandalism Rhymes With Crazy ............34 — which was mass-produced across the neighborhood us- Harbor Watch ....................... 37 ing spray paint and a stencil — bore all the hallmarks of a hate crime, and must be pros- ecuted as such. “This was a pre-meditated action to identify a group and treat them in a disparaging, negative fashion — that to me says hate crime all over it, and that crime needs to be pros- Offi ce of CouncilmanOffi Mark Treyger HOW TO REACH US ecuted to the fullest extent of UNITED FRONT: (Above) Councilman Mark Treyger, at podium, Borough the law,” Adams said on Mon- President Adams, right, and Assemblyman William Colton, left, joined Mail: day, when he revealed he’s of- forces with the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn at an Aug. 6 press Courier Life fering a $1,000 reward for tips conference to demand that the authorities fi nd the perpetrators of the Publications, Inc., that lead to the arrest of the person or persons responsi- vile, anti-Chinese graffi ti, and prosecute them for hate crimes. (Right) 1 Metrotech Center North Police later released surveillance video of this man, who authorities be- 10th Floor, Brooklyn, ble. The stenciled black paint lieve is responsible for at least one — but possibly several — vulgarly N.Y. 11201 left a profane message — “Chi- racist messages stenciled on walls around Bensonhurst. General Phone: nese C---- Stink Like Fish” — (718) 260-2500 displayed at various locations video believed to show the per- in this community, and your News Fax: in the neighborhood.