Ridgewood resident starts beer society in neighborhood 4 The Courier sun • november 6, 2014 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata Stephen Calebro started the Ridgewood Beer Society in August. BY SALVATORE LICATA slicata@queenscourier.com @sal_Licata1 He’ll drink to that. One Ridgewood transplant has such a love for beer that he decided to start a group for its appreciation. Stephen Calebro, 40, just moved to Ridgewood from Bushwick in July. He has always been fond of the drink and wanted to see whether others in the neighborhood shared his interest. Out of that idea came the new group, the Ridgewood Beer Society. “The older I got the more I started to pay less attention to the popular art and music of the times and started to appreciate food and drink more,” said Calebro, who works in a beer café in Hell’s Kitchen. “So, I decided to throw the idea out there to others and from that came the beer society.” Started in August, the beer society has more than 130 “likes” on Facebook. Calebro has already put together three events for people in the society to come together, get to know each other and find out more about different types of beers. Calebro is planning events and meetups around many of the local bars in Ridgewood as well as breweries in Brooklyn and Queens. “The local bars and stores here have a great selection of beers that you wouldn’t really find in a lot of places,” he said. “I want to focus the events around this area of Queens in general and then branch out from there.” Beyond the social events in bars and breweries, Calebro is hoping to expand the group to food appreciation. He even has an idea of doing the first beer and bagel pairing because of the variety of both products. He also wants to host bottle sharing events, which is when people from the group bring their own cup, a bottle of their favorite type of beer or one that is not mainstream, and share it with the group. Calebro welcomes all people of Queens and Brooklyn, from beer enthusiasts to those who just enjoy a drink. “The group is very laissez-faire: if you could make it to an event great, if not, no problem,” Calebro noted. “I just want people to come and hang out with others who want to have fun and drink beer.” Clean street initiative extended in south east Queens BY SALVATORE LICATA slicata@queenscourier.com/@sal_licata1 A successful street-cleaning program in southeast Queens has been extended through May of 2015, officials said. Commercial corridors in the neighborhoods have long been eyesores due to the accumulation of litter and trash. But since the Clean Streets, Safe Neighborhoods, Strong Communities (CSS) initiative started in April, this has changed. “The restoration and revitalization of our community depends on our collective efforts to keep our streets clean and promote safe neighborhoods by having a sense of pride and respect for our area,” said state Sen. James Sanders Jr. “Through the Clean Streets, Safe Neighborhoods, Strong Communities initiative, we have an opportunity to improve our community and ensure our children grow up in a safe and clean environment.” The CSS program is a citywide initiative to hammer down on illegal dumpers. It increased fines for those people who illegally dump their garbage and others who use the city garbage cans for residential and commercial trash. Along with these initiatives, commercial corridors throughout Richmond Hill and other neighborhoods in Queens had periodic clean-ups from the nonprofit organization Wildcat. The clean-up by Wildcat, in connection with the DNSY, became a popular component of the initiative, according to Council member Ruben Willis, and the city has expanded the organization’s role and extended its contract. With the expansion, Wildcat will now clean commercial corridors on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The organization will also help with snow and leaf removal, as well as removing garbage and other debris from vacant lots and abandoned homes. Wildcat is a nonprofit organization that provides jobs for underemployed or formerly incarcerated residents of the city. Willis commended them for the work they have done throughout his district and is looking forward to the continued partnership, but said it is not only on the organization to keep the streets of the neighborhood clean. “Wildcat alone cannot shoulder the load of preserving the cleanliness of our neighborhoods,” Willis noted. “That responsibility also lies with us as citizens, and we all must do our share.”
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