Associated Supermarket Owner's Day in Court

The drama continues in the $45,000 mugging of the owner of our local Associated Supermarket back in 2010. Our man Bruno Corona has testified that his bookkeeper tipped off his attacker, Carlos Pere-Rodriguez. Corona was jumped, violently attacked and relieved of $45K in receipts. Story in the NY Post. Here's hoping justice is served, and that Associated continues to carry those Applegate cold cuts.

Son of Sal Arrested in Shopkeep Murders

His neighbors on Staten Island called him "Son of Sal," not due to a penchant for grisly murder, but due to his seemingly harmless eccentricities. Did the teasing make him do it? Probably not. And even if the defense claims "insanity," I just want to put it out there that this guy, should he prove to be telling the truth in his confession, is definitely more than a little quirky. He's out of his ever-loving gourd.

The police have apparently nabbed "John Doe Duffle Bag," the odd man out in photos near the murder scene at 834 Flatbush, a white middle-aged balding moustachioed duffle-toter on a stretch of Flatbush more known for its West Indian and African American shoppers. Was it the fact that he appeared so out of place that led detectives to him? In a nod to the ineffectiveness of police sketches, one can only say that they were WAY off on this one, at least initially. See the cops' original cookie-cutter young black man sketch to the right. With sunglasses? Sheesh.

The story as told by the Daily News suggests that Salvatore Perrone will spend a good long time behind bars contemplating the emptiness inside his soul. If you're planning on serving on his jury, please forget everything I just said, because of course we want to assume here that he wasn't just sporting the wrong moustache on the wrong day in the wrong place. I mean, just look at him! Aren't those the eyes of a serial killer? Or at the very least, a junior high science teacher.

I sincerely hope this is the end of it. And if it is, kudos to the kops for kicking it into high gear in the last few days. Such a ghastly story, and so many distraught family members. Truly, truly sad and senseless.

Raffle Deal for Q Readers

Part of the deal of having your kid in a "coop" nursery school is that you get to raise money for it! And serve on committees! And clean! And shop! And pay the tuition! It's AWESOME! And is "nursery school" not politically correct anymore? I almost never hear it uttered.

Look, Maple Street School is pretty awesome, and damn convenient for working stiffs (it's right next to the Q/B train at Prospect Park). And each fall the school raises money through a raffle, the prizes are great, and the odds are pretty good too. From my vantage point on the finance committee, I can also tell you that the amount we raise each year from fundraising is suspiciously close to the amount we give out in financial aid. Meaning your raffle purchase is not just going to rubber cement and peanut butter (two things that are also very un-p.c. at nursery school these days, by the way).

Here's my deal for you, since I have to sell a minimum number of tickets. If you email me here and agree to buy a pack of 5 for $20, I will PERSONALLY ride my bike over to your place and deliver them. By hand! That's right, artisanally!

A Kindle, tix to Yo Gaba Gaba, 12 weeks of kids dance classes, wines from Down Under...who's in?

Miracle on Eastern Parkway

When I was at the CB9 envisioning forum on Sunday, I was talking to the Brooklyn College sociologist and historian on hand Jerome Krase. We spoke briefly of the Crown Heights riots...he was thinking 1977 I was thinking 1991. So many riots, so little time...

But the below article places into perspective just how much good can come from tenacity, planning and consensus building. Can you imagine Eastern Parkway as a highway? It almost happened. Check this editorial from the Times in 1978:

Cold Blooded Murder on the Flabenue

UPDATE: Details emerge, including a request for potential witnesses to come forward, here.

The Q has always had a soft spot for the many ma and pa shop owners along our glorious boulevard. Some have carved specific niches for themselves, particularly targeting cultures and ethnicities that the big box chain stores ignore. The Flatbush Avenue BID includes a staggering number and variety of businesses. A walk southward down and past Erasmus High is a loud, jostling and exhilarating experience. The owners of these businesses are often the sole full-time employees and work countless hours a week running their prides and joys.

It's with great sadness and shock that we learn of the shooting death of the nearly octogenarian shopkeep of the awesomely named She She boutique. Rahmatollah Vahidipour was shot in the head Friday evening and dragged to the back of his store and covered with clothes. Police have linked the death to two other murders of shopkeeps in the last few months, suspecting that the same 22 caliber pistol was used in all three.

Friday's shooting is similar to two other murders of Brooklyn store owners that happened over the summer. In both of those incidents, authorities believe there's a possible link to numerology and obsession with the numbers 1, 7 and 8.
The address of Friday's killing included the number 8 as the unidentified victim's store address was 834 Flatbush Avenue. All three shooting were committed with a .22-caliber handgun.
The two prior store owner murders happened on July 6, when 65-year-old Mohammed Gebeli was found shot to death at his clothing store at 7718 Fifth Avenue and on August 2 59-year-old Isaac Kadare was found dead in his Bensonhurst store at 1877 86th Street.


Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20126318/store-owner-killed-in-brooklyn-possible-connection-address-killings#ixzz2CZrSmAFM

The other lone proprietors were killed in similar fashion in the Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst neighborhoods. They were all of middle-eastern descent. Some suspect numerology at play, though that theory made more sense with the first two than with this one, since the addresses of the others were scrambles of one another (7718 Fifth Avenue, and 1877 86th Street. This one was at 834 Flatbush...though i guess you can make a 7 out of 3+4, though I can't say I've ever been confused for a Robert Langdon).

It's just horrible, really. It doesn't seem the killer is partial to one neighborhood, and I'm sure that makes it even harder for the cops. I guess it's not to soon to start using the word "serial" next to this killer. Let's hope they find the psycho soon.

Police say a Brooklyn boutique owner was shot and killed inside of his store Friday night and are looking to see if this incident is related to prior killings that may have been based on the victim's addresses.
Officers found the 78-year-old Vahidipour Rahmatollah of Great Neck, NY in the back of She-She Boutique on 834 Flatbush Avenue with a gunshot wound to the head. Authorities believe he was shot at the counter and dragged into the back of the store where the suspect covered the victim's' body with clothes.
Friday's shooting is similar to two other murders of Brooklyn store owners that happened over the summer. In both of those incidents, authorities believe there's a possible link to numerology and obsession with the numbers 1, 7 and 8.
The address of Friday's killing included the number 8 as the unidentified victim's store address was 834 Flatbush Avenue. All three shooting were committed with a .22-caliber handgun.
The two prior store owner murders happened on July 6, when 65-year-old Mohammed Gebeli was found shot to death at his clothing store at 7718 Fifth Avenue and on August 2 59-year-old Isaac Kadare was found dead in his Bensonhurst store at 1877 86th Street.
The NYPD has offered rewards of $22,000 in each of the homicides for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Anyone with information about them may call the Crime Stoppers hot-line anonymously at 1-800-577 TIPS (8477).


Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20126318/store-owner-killed-in-brooklyn-possible-connection-address-killings#ixzz2CZmaowfC

Police say a Brooklyn boutique owner was shot and killed inside of his store Friday night and are looking to see if this incident is related to prior killings that may have been based on the victim's addresses.
Officers found the 78-year-old Vahidipour Rahmatollah of Great Neck, NY in the back of She-She Boutique on 834 Flatbush Avenue with a gunshot wound to the head. Authorities believe he was shot at the counter and dragged into the back of the store where the suspect covered the victim's' body with clothes.
Friday's shooting is similar to two other murders of Brooklyn store owners that happened over the summer. In both of those incidents, authorities believe there's a possible link to numerology and obsession with the numbers 1, 7 and 8.
The address of Friday's killing included the number 8 as the unidentified victim's store address was 834 Flatbush Avenue. All three shooting were committed with a .22-caliber handgun.
The two prior store owner murders happened on July 6, when 65-year-old Mohammed Gebeli was found shot to death at his clothing store at 7718 Fifth Avenue and on August 2 59-year-old Isaac Kadare was found dead in his Bensonhurst store at 1877 86th Street.
The NYPD has offered rewards of $22,000 in each of the homicides for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Anyone with information about them may call the Crime Stoppers hot-line anonymously at 1-800-577 TIPS (8477).


Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20126318/store-owner-killed-in-brooklyn-possible-connection-address-killings#ixzz2CZmaowfC

Your Community Needs Your Input! SUNDAY 2-3 at BBG

This post is directed at you! Yes, you. We need you on Sunday. Everyone. Free snax! And free Brooklyn Botanic Garden for members of the Community Board 9 district (sorry CB14, I wish I had time to work on both). CB9 is west to Ocean, south to Clarkson, north to Eastern Parkway, and East to Utica. (For free admission to BBG, you must enter at 100 Washington entrance and tell them you're there for the meeting!)

We had a mtg last night to hash out the agenda, and it'll go something like this. At 2, the chair of CB9, Rabbi Jacob Goldstein will welcome you. District Manager Pearl Miles will tell you about CB's, how we can influence City government and planning, and how a 197a plan can push the City in the right direction. Then most of CB9s committee chairs will talk for 5 minutes tops about plans in their areas: public safety, housing, public spaces, environment/sanitation, transportation, youth, education, economic development, etc. Then at 3 we break for said snax, and you'll have a chance to choose the areas of interest to you and break out into small groups to solicit your input and hear others discuss what they'd like to see tackled, changed, and improved. We'll meet back up around 4:30 to wrap-up, and your voice will have been heard and we'll make plans to move forward. Bring all and everyone. We're meeting in the auditorium which is at the 100 Washington entrance to the garden. Mention that you're there for the meeting and gain entrance to the garden without cost.

Sound like a plan? Right on. (and thanks Skei for the nice poster!)

Missing Person Alert

Chester Court

Most of you have probably marveled at the lovely tudor houses on cul-de-sac Chester Court just off Flatbush. But did you know that cul-de-sac means literally the "butt of the bag?" Makes sense if you think about it.

But what I really want to share is from Curbed, this amazing picture of the Flatbush/Chester intersection from way back:

Then, with the powerful use of state-of-the-art infrared inset technology, comes the Curbed Cornerspotter "reveal:"

Don't know about you, but that Lefferts style homestead, much much older than the 1920 date of the photo-shoot, yanked at my yearn-strings. You can almost hear Otis Campbell yodeling a late night tin-pan alley tune after an evening of sucking down home brewed hooch. Er, that might have been Mayberry RFD; my memory's a bit off on account of the rheumatiz. I guess those tudors must just be a few years old when this thing was taken. If you live on this block you ought to have a copy of this framed to hang over the mantle!

One thing it nails home to me...there was a HUGE building boom at the early part of the 1900s that radically transformed the area in a very short period of time. Developers were gobbling up land and throwing up "old world" style townhouses, much in the manner that current greedsters are throwing up "Fedders" style curbcut housing, or McMansions in the exurbs. Of course, the 100-year Brownstones have grown in appeal and status, but at the time critics lamented the cookie-cutter style faux-mini-mansions cropping up like weeds. Will today's buildings festooned in Fedders one day fetch 400-500 times what they were purchased for? (houses on my block went for $2,000 in 1912.) Only time, and Brownstoner, will tell.


And to think that beautiful big tree behind that old house was sacrificed in the name of progress. But let's get real...about 100 more people can live in that four story apartment building than in that three bedroom house. Supply meets demand, you could say.

Arts for Sandy Tomorrow Night

Okay, I highly recommend this awesome Sandy benefit event. Right cause, right organizations involved (see below). How to tie it in to the theme of this blog? A-ha! Got it!

The event was organized by pal Laurie Cumbo, founder and head of MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts). AND, she has announced she's running for Tish James' City Council seat, which she is vacating to run for Public Advocate. AND, this council seat has a proposed change of district that will dip down into PLG if approved (down to north side of  Lincoln, I believe.) And THAT, fair reader, is the tie-in.

Go enjoy yourself and these fine orgs, each of which offers up little chunks of fresh baked arty goodness:

ActNow Arts Foundation, Inc.
Alexandra Beller/Dances
Bang on a Can
BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn featuring Dan Zanes
BOMB Magazine
Brooklyn Ballet
Brooklyn Music School
Dancewave
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.
Haiti Cultural Exchange
Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy
Irondale Ensemble Project
KowTeff African Dance Company
Lafayette Inspirational Ensemble
Mark Morris Dance Group
MoCADA
New York Writer's Coalition
Noel Pointer Foundation
Purelements An Evolution in Dance
Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, A Dance Company
Roulette
Scenarios USA
SONYA (South of the Navy Yard Artists)
The Actors Fund Arts Center
The Town House Art Gallery
Urban Bush Women
Witness

Some Volunteer Options Post-Sandy

Having been to Coney Island I can attest to their need for help. A pal suggests you go to Coneyrecovers.org.

and

Volunteer Sign-ups for the The Park Slope Armory!  

Thank you to the 1000s of volunteers who have helped thus far!  Your efforts are impressive and so appreciated.   Alas, as the days go on, our needs continue.  The Shelter is asking volunteers to sign up for specific jobs each day.   Take a look at the jobs we need and please sign up!   In particular, we need folks who speak Spanish and Russian.   Shifts last 4 hours and go 24 hours a day.  Please click on the following web link to go to the signup sheet:

http://www.volunteersignup.org/P888L     

To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do.  Thanks in advance for volunteering!

Details: 

• Park Slope Armory is located at 361 15 street between 7th and 8th avenues.
• This shelter houses about 300-350 people from nursing homes in the Rockaways. Mostly a senior population, many with health challenges.  
• Volunteers shifts last 4 hours and go all day and all night.  ( Double shifts are welcomed and encouraged!)
• Things to know:  Where comfortable clothes, no photos and no kids (sorry).   
• Questions:  nightshiftatthearmory@...

PLUS, from assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs office some very interesting options:

1. Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs and Midwood High School :   Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs and Midwood High School are accepting donations of the following supplies: Flashlights, D batteries, buckets, mops, work gloves, rubber gloves, towels, industrial garbage bags (often called compactor bags), chapstick, hygiene products, baby wipes, gift cards, and more; they are not accepting clothes at this time. Donations can be dropped off at Assemblywoman Jacobs’ District Office (2294 Nostrand Avenue between Avenues I and J), Monday-Friday from 9-5 PM or at Midwood (2839 Bedford Avenue ) during school hours. Financial donations can also be made out as checks to the Midwood High School Parents Association.
 

1.   Flatbush Shomrim: The Flatbush Shomrim is seeking monetary donations as well as new items with tags , including children’s toys, toiletries, diapers, baby wipes, sanitary napkins, new coats, etc. The items will be distributed in hard hit areas throughout New York City and can be brought to 2298 Nostrand Avenue between Avenues I and J from 9:30 AM -10:00 PM.

 

1. Masbia Soup Kitchen: Masbia is looking for both donations and volunteers to help feed thousands of senior citizens displaced by the storm. For more information about volunteering, please log on to http://masbia.org/, or contribute to Masbia’s cost of food at http://masbia.org/donate.asp .

4 .       Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA) : JASA is looking for volunteers to help seniors trapped in their apartments because of the Sandy, as well as those who have not received their regular meal deliveries due to the storm. Volunteers should be willing to carry supplies up 7-20 flights of stairs during daylight hours. For more information, contact Jacob Stolar at 212-991-6572 or jstolar@jasa.org.

 
5.       The Jessie-Streich Kest Fund: A fund has been created to honor the life and memory of Ditmas Park resident Jessie Streich-Kest, who was struck and killed by a falling tree during last week’s storm. Contributions in Jessie’s memory will go to the Sean Casey Animal Rescue, an organization she cared deeply about. Donations can be made online via YourCaring at http://bit.ly/SqJpjV, or via Facebook at Facebook.com/

DonateToTheJessieStreichKestFund; checks can also be mailed to: Jessie Streich-Kest Fund, c/o the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, 241 Water Street, 3 rd Floor, New York, NY 10038.

  6.       Michael Pergola, South Midwood Resident: Michael Pergola of South Midwood is collecting batteries, flashlights, candles, instant coffee and other goods which he will shuttle to hard hit areas of the city. Contributions can be brought to his home at 783 East 21 st Street between   Glenwood and Farragut Roads . He can be reached at 917-685-5679 or at muckpe@aol.com for more details.

  7.       1199SEIU Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund: 1199 SEIU is asking for monetary donations to support its members who are struggling in the aftermath of the storm. To contribute, log on to http://www.1199seiu.org/hurricane_sandy_relief_fund.