Mayor DeBlasio dished out nearly a dozen promises that would improve residents’ quality of life during a town hall in Sheepshead Bay on Sept. 14, including a pledge to scrub streets clean of graffiti, replace an entire failing sewer system by spring, and put in much-needed bus shelters. Here’s what Hizzoner vowed to do for Sheepshead Bay at the Connie Lekas School on Avenue Y two weeks ago:
• The city will spend $20 million to improve the medians on Kings Highway from 23rd to 27th streets. The work will start shortly, DeBlasio said, and the work along 27th Street will be done by the end of November.
• The Department of Environmental Preservation will deploy skimmer vessels to clean the Sheepshead Bay inlet near Emmons Avenue and Shore Boulevard twice a year
• City Hall will find a new home for the raucous party boats instead of the Parks Department-owned piers on Emmons Avenue by the time the season starts next spring.
• The city will clean up the graffiti along Sheepshead Bay Road, Coney Island Avenue, and Avenue Z.
• DeBlasio pledged to fix 100 sidewalks in front of homes that have been damaged by city trees by November, and then another 100 in the following months.
• The city’s “We Are New York” English learning program will be implemented in the Sheepshead Bay and surrounding community to offer free English lessons.
• A $10-million initiative will provide homeowners in southern Brooklyn with free check valve devices that can stop sewers from backing up in homes and flooding.
• DeBlasio said he will put Russian-speaking translators at polling sites.
• The city will erect a new shelter for the B36 and B68 buses on W. Fifth Street at Trump Village, which had been demolished when the stop was moved because of ongoing construction work.
• The city will pay for and install five bus shelters along Oriental Boulevard for the B1 and B49 buses.
• The Department of Transportation will study whether to put a stop sign on the notoriously dangerous corner of Stuart Street and Avenue S — and will decide by the end of October.
• The Department of Transportation will add another Select Bus Service stop for the SBS B44 on Nostrand Avenue and Avenue R.
Some of the promises are “in the works,” according to Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay), but Hizzoner has yet to check one item off his list. Courier Life will continue to update his progress.
— Julianne Cuba