What’s happening to Bay businesses?
Small businesses across
Sheepshead Bay are going belly up
— and they’re not being replaced —
with some storefronts remaining
shuttered for well over a decade,
according to locals.
“If you were in a spaceship
and decided to land on Avenue U
between Coyle and Brown street,
you would think it is a ghost town,”
said Stuart Brynien, a longtime
neighborhood resident.
The crisis affecting the coastal
community can be seen in graffi ticovered
brick-and-mortar shops
appearing sporadically, and
sometimes one after the other
along Avenue U, where between
Coyle and Bragg streets the ruins
of the family-owned Hy Friedman
clothing store, a long-shuttered
furniture outlet, and the obsolete
Captain Video — which closed
amid the rise of Netfl ix back in 2004
— all remain vacant.
Readers shared their thoughts
online:
High rents and in general retail is
in serious trouble. Mom and pop retail
the bread and butter of small strips is
dying. Frank from Furter
I have no idea how the economics
of “no rent income for years” could
possibly work, but a landlord who
keeps their commercial property
vacant year after year after year
should be fi ned to oblivion and the
property put up for a below-market
sale, with members of the community
given fi rst right of refusal (heck,
make it a competition like a grant
application -- best proposal gets the $1
million property for $200,000) Tyler
from pps
How could someone say that
“greedy landlords” are at fault when
the city has greatly increased our
property taxes. The taxes on my one
family home went to nearly $8,000 it’s
unbearable. The $15 minimum wage
isn’t helping small business either.
The cost of paying employees along
with payroll taxes have all gone up.
The truth, any smart investor looking
at the opportunity cost of opening a
business in New York knows that it is
a lost cause.
Robert E. Hogan from Bath
Beach
While you’re never going to control
rent costs, you could defi nitely look
into whatever law allows owners to
carry a building with maintenance
and property taxes for a decade
without a tenant and not take a bath.
Coz in most every other part of the
world that’s not how things naturally
operate. K. from ArKady
Landlords will always try to get
with a can, that’s what business it’s
not only about. I agree sometimes
unfairly but the main issue is the
property taxes and the compounded
so called fees. For example businesses
get charged a annual fee just to have
an air conditioner on the roof and
our location that’s free is $745 a year
in addition to that there are other
permits that are necessary to operate
which could range and total of extra
thousands of dollars a year. So if you
want to greedy landlords also have to
add greedy tax collectors !
Baron from Sheepshead Bay
I think I understand. A business
can’t afford to pay its employees $15 per
hour. It deserves to, and does, go out of
business. No other prospective tenant
can afford to pay its employees $15
per hour either, so they don’t rent the
building and it stays vacant. Failure
to rent to a business that can’t afford
to stay in business is thus somehow
antisocial behavior. That makes it the
landlord’s fault? Seems to me it’s the
$15/hour minimum wage mandate’s
fault. Gary from Fort Greene
I am a landlord but labeling them
‘Greedy’ is just wrong. The city is
killing landlords with high property
taxes, fi nes, inspections,etc. It’s not
possible to make ends meet and this
is business, people invested millions
dollars in it to make money. They just
try to pass some burden expenses
to tenants, that’s why the rents are
high. But it’s not landlord greediness
it’s NYC absurdness and it’s going to
get worse when landlords will start
abandon those properties. NYC Guy
This article is good news. Housing
prices around Sheepshead Bay
are going to decrease soon. At the
meantime, you all may need to go
shopping on 86 street or grow your
own food or fi sh for your own Seafood.
People from Manhattan like going to
COURIER L 26 IFE, JULY 12–18, 2019 M BR B G
the movie theater in Sheepshead?
Dojo from Ryerson
Lane blame
One of New York’s Finest used
a pair of handcuffs to pummel a
man’s face during a bloody Bedford-
Stuyvesant traffi c stop last year,
according to a lawsuit against the
city and the cop alleging excessive
force.
Offi cer Julio Ramos pulled 21-
year-old Ricardo Mendoza’s BMW
to the side of Flushing Avenue near
Nostrand Avenue after spotting him
speeding in April, 2018, according
to the suit.
Before exiting his unmarked
cruiser, a body camera worn by
Ramos recorded him directing two
other cops to approach Mendoza’s
car with their weapons drawn.
“Yo, we’re jumping out and f---ing
everybody right now,” said Ramos
“Yo everybody go to one fucking car,
bro. Guns out. F--- this.”
The three lawmen surround
Mendoza’s vehicle and repeatedly
ordered him to exit his car, but
the driver refused to leave, asking
why they pulled their guns out over
a speeding violation, the footage
shows.
“You’ve got your gun out, for
what?” said Mendoza. “What’d I
do?”
Ramos gave the man several
warnings, before opening the car
door, dragging Mendoza out of the
driver’s seat, and then using his
handcuffs to slug the plaintiff in
the face as his partners held him
down, according to the suit.
Readers were divided online:
“Ramos — who still patrols
Brooklyn streets for the 79th
Precinct...” That is just disgusting to
hear. Jim from Cobble Hill
Where are the “good apples” I keep
hearing about? Tyler from pps
The handcuff bash was excessive
but damn it’s like homeboy was trying
to thug out the cop tho. Plus driving
90 down these streets you gonna kill
somebody’s kid. Effy from Bed stuy
Simple obey an order and nothing
will happen. Today you must approach
with your fi re arm out of the holster.
Lae and Disorder from Formaly
of brooklyn now N C
All the whining bike nazis want
speeding drivers dealt with, and when
the NYPD beats one down they decide
they hate cops more than speeding
drivers. Make up your minds already.
Hillary from Prison
So, this creep is pleading Excessive
Force. It’s interesting how these
criminals could break the law any
way they want but when they risk
the danger of police offi cers while
trying to restricts his lawbreaking
behavior, for some reason they feel
the police are supposed to act in a
polite and dignifi ed manner. This is
why I always side with the police. Of
course there are some bad apples in
the 35,000 police force, but I had rather
have them on the street and have
criminals that blatantly put innocent
people in harms way so they can act
out in bad behavior. And until you’re
ready to carry a gun and commit your
life to protecting innocent people from
garbage like this, Shut up.
Bob from Gerritsen Besch
Bob has a point, which is why the
cops get in so much more trouble than
braver employees who have more
dangerous jobs. People with their
heads on straight don’t want to and
cannot get hired as cops.
Mike from Williamsburg
Bay straphangers
need a lift!
Recent reports that the MTA is
installing more subway elevators
brought to mind the lack of
accessibility right here at our own
station on Sheepshead Bay Road.
The Kings Highway station has an
elevator. So does the Flatbush Avenue/
Nostrand Avenue stop on the 2/5 line
(to name ust two of the stations I use
regularly). So why not Sheepshead
Bay?
After the station was renovated in
the late 90s, all we ended up with were
cosmetic improvements, mostly on
the outside. Why bother to rebuild a
station if you’re not going to make it
accessible to everyone?
That additional elevators are being
installed anywhere is, undeniably, a
victory.
But the fact that the MTA missed
a chance to make life easier for the
residents of Sheepshead Bay, by
increasing accessibility to one of
the busiest stations in Brooklyn, is
practically criminal. Shame on you,
MTA.
Stuart R. Brynien
Sheepshead Bay
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