SCENES FROM A RUN: BOARDWALK EAST

When I set out to run this morning, it resumed drizzling but I soldiered on and in the end the sun came out.  Made me think of my favorite Vietnamese proverb, "Sau cơn mưa trời lại sáng", that is, "After the rain the sky is bright again".  I was going to do just 8 km but upon reflecting on my personal fiscal cliff I thought it may help to go for 10 km.  I already decided to run to the Riegelman Boardwalk via MacDonald Avenue under the F train.  Eight km, that is 4 km out and 4 km back, normally would take me to the intersection of Ocean Parkway and the Boardwalk.  With 10 km, I was at the eastern end of the boardwalk, which was a place I haven't been to since Hurricane Sandy's visit.  Recall that I went as far as Tatiana's, as reported in SCENES FROM A RUN: POST-SANDY RIEGELMANN BOARDWALK.  It's been over a month, so much clean-up was done, I assume, so there was not that much sand in the eastern section of the boardwalk.  There was one place where some piece of the wooden boardwalk came off and had to be cordoned off, but otherwise the boardwalk looked healthy.  At the eastern end though, the bottom section of the ramp was taken over by the sand, as shown in the photos below.  I suppose the area is not of high importance and is still accessible, so there is no immediate need to remove the sand.

Speaking of 10 km, I will be running in the NYC Runs Hot Chocolate 5k/10K race this coming Sunday, in Roosevelt Island.  I prefer longer distances so I will do the 10 km race, set to start at 10 am.  It will be my first "free" run with NYC Runs.  I used the volunteer credit I got from helping out at the Verrazano Half in late September.  With race fees going up seemingly endlessly, earning a free race via volunteering is a good deal.  If you are on a tight budget but still want to run officially, i.e. not bandit run and have a guilt-free conscience, check out their volunteer program at https://nycruns.com/races/?race=volunteer .  It was recently expanded to include big races like the Brooklyn Marathon.

Some debris were collected on the beach at the eastern end of the boardwalk.

I am sure pre-Sandy the sand did not go that high up on the ramp's handrail.

Another view of the bottom section of the ramp, which is now covered with sand.

Questions of the day, which of the following phrases rhyme visually?  Audibly?

I love to gripe
About the Boardwalk and its ipe

Own a piece of history
Visit my store on eBay
Get yourself some ipe

SCENES FROM A RUN: SHEEPSHEAD BAY

Some thirty-three years ago when I first arrived in the U.S., I stayed at an uncle's home in the Brighton Beach area.  It was one subway stop away from the Sheepshead Bay station of whatever train it was at the time, maybe the D.  I was in the area for a very short time as my family soon got our own apartment in the Kingsbridge area of the Bronx.  Somehow the Chinese transliteration of Sheepshead Bay, "羊头湾", which to me really means "Goat's Head Bay", got stuck in my head.  It annoys me much that the Chinese has the same character for goat, the animal with pointy horns and a goatee (duh!), raised mostly for milk, and sheep, the animal with raised mostly for wool, but I digress.

After the Bronx, I moved around a few times but only with the most recent move that I was close to Sheepshead Bay, namely, Bath Beach, which is not to be confused with Bensonhurst.  Still, I did not visit Sheepshead Bay area that often, if at all.  Only last year when my son started to attend school at Bay Academy, right off the Bay itself, that I realized that there was an actual body of water called Sheepshead Bay.  I guess I am too aware of land-fill and such, so that place names sometimes make no sense.  Like how Bath Beach used to have a beach -- it is where the Belt Parkway now exists.  Not so with Sheepshead Bay.  There is still a bay there.  And a lovely foot-bridge traversing it, too.

I recently came across an article at Sheepshead Bites, http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2012/11/in-aftermath-of-sandy-footbridge-gets-much-needed-repairs, and was saddened to see photos of the damage Hurricane Sandy did to the foot-bridge.  I haven't been to the area since the hurricane's visit and made the trip this morning.  I don't know if any repairs have been made but the bridge was still closed.  There were at least two large gaps in the railing.  I was short on time so I only took photos from the Bay Academy side and not from the Manhattan Beach side.

There is a large gap on the western rail.

The bridge is not open to the public.  Orange cones and yellow tape block off the ramp and there is a wooden wall, with a door for officials to go through.

A view of the foot-bridge from the eastern side, more missing railing.  I may be wrong, but I think those horizontal beams close to the water was added after the hurricane.

It's interesting that I just read a blog post by TOTA about feral burros in Oatman, Arizona hanging around tourist hotspots to beg for food.  We don't have such exotic animals in Brooklyn, but these swans did the same thing.  As I approached the fence at the waterfront, they swam over half expecting some food.  I was so jealous of them fowls, just gracefully gliding over the cold water without a care in the world, or at least it appeared so.

This photo has little to do with the bay itself, other than name of the subway station, but it has much to do with a goal which, as a slow long-distance runner, I most likely will never achieve.

SCENES FROM A RUN: KAISER PARK ETC

For today's morning run, I ran past Home Depot down Cropsey Avenue to Neptune Avenue then ran along the water to get to Kaiser Park.  It was the first time I visited the area since Hurricane Sandy's visit.  As expected, there were many damaged cars with scribble about Geico.  Some time after the hurricane, I heard about sink holes at Mark Twain Middle School.  Then just yesterday my son told me that his school's gym was not usable because the floor was damaged, probably from the storm surge.  I wondered how the track at Kaiser Park fare.  So off I went this morning to find out.

This gas station near West 20th Street must be part of the reason Mayor Bloomberg extended the gas ration.    Many gas stations did not have gas to sell, but this one, right on the edge of Coney Creek, was probably flooded and sustained irreparable water damage.

Only part of the fence remains on this piece of land, mere steps from the shuttered gas station.  Probably a combination of flood water loosening the fence's foundation and high wind/wave.  I don't recall seeing a tree here so that must be a sink hole in the foreground.

This clinic of the Coney Island Hospital is no longer open to service its patients.  A sign on the closed door reads "All medical patients are being referred to Kings County Hospital located at 451 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn... and Woodhull Medical Center located at 760 Broadway, Brooklyn..."

A peek inside the Green Thumb Garden adjacent to Mark Twain Middle School.  However, I noticed that there was no longer a Green Thumb sign on the gate.  Maybe the wind blew the sign away, or maybe it is not a Green Thumb site any more.

Some clean-up already happened and fallen tree limbs removed, but this one at the edge of Mark Twain still rested on the fence.

Another section of the Mark Twain fence breached by a fallen tree.  I guess it's a good thing that the tree did not fall the other way to hit the school.

I am happy to report that the track at Kaiser Park appears undamaged.  There was a temporary fence to block off an entrance to the track but it was not standing at the time.  Perhaps the wind knocked it down, or people simply broke into the track to use it.

Not a sink hole, just some square hole that lost its cover?  Note the debris in the background, which may be dangerous if there are a few hundred people on the track, but to a lone runner, easy obstacle to bypass.

Another down tree, in the area that I, perhaps incorrectly, think of a the western tip of Kaiser Park.  In the warm months, this area is overrun with weeds and such.  The tree probably provided cover from the sky, so the area is somewhat desolate.  Now sand covers most of the ground.  Teams of volunteers cleared the sand off the Riegelman Boardwalk but I wonder if the Parks Department will ever clear all that sand.  Perhaps this is how this piece of land will be like for the next few hundred years...

It took me a few minutes to realize that the downed fence in the foreground, along with the standing piece in the background, used to form the entrance to area in the photo before.  Some weed still stand, but in the warm months there  was much more, so that the path was mostly obscured.

To the left of the photo, in the warm months, usually on Wednesday you can find nervous new drivers sitting in cars, in  a queue, waiting for their road tests.

Back at Home Depot, there is a ton of garbage outside the gate to the trail that goes half-way around the store.  Not much difference, since the trail is always padlocked at this end anyway.

CAESAR'S BAY RECOVERS

Today, for my almost-daily walk for Charity Miles, I went to Best Buy in Caesar's Bay to drop off a broken DVD player for recycling.  Best Buy staff are well-trained for receiving recycling materials.  Walking in the door, you need to tell the door person that you want to recycle the equipment and get a Recycle sticker, otherwise he may think you bring the thing in for return and there would be a different sticker.  You would then bring the old junk over to the service desk, which can be long sometimes but you can just leave your junk on some counter or the floor and alert a staff member.  That's it!  The old equipment will be properly recycled, somehow.  Got to trust someone somewhere, you know, you won't get anything done if you are skeptical about everyone and everything.  The trick is to walk straight out and not wander around, to avoid buying things you may end up regretting later.

Last time I visited Caesar's Bay (http://www.qaptainqwerty.com/2012/11/caesars-bay-and-waterfront-after.html) , Kohl's, Babies 'R Us, and Toys 'R Us were not open for business yet.  Today, I saw that Toys 'R Us had taken over the store near Best Buy to sell bikes, video games, etc.  The place was once a Strauss auto supply store, then became a seasonal store, like Halloween costumes in September or thereabout.  The main building for Toys 'R Us was still not open, but right in front of it, in the parking lot, they have built a large tent to be a temporary store.  A security guard told me that the tent was supposed to be open at 3 PM or 4 PM, definitely tomorrow.  It's the holiday season, the business needs to make a few quick bucks!  I know, it's all wrong the way people think of shopping when it comes to most holidays, but if the local business is alive, hopefully the locals can have employment, too.

Interestingly, on my way out of the parking lot to get home, I bumped into the Spanish interpreter I met on Election Day.  Actually, she recognized me and greeted me first, addressing me as a Mr. Lee, her usual way of talking, perhaps because she worked in a school before.  She lives not far from the Toy 'R Us on Flatbush Avenue near Kings Plaza but came to Caesar's Bay, with her mother, only to discover that Toys 'R Us here was closed.  The Flatbush store is right on the waterfront of Mill Basin so I wouldn't be surprised if it was damaged in the hurricane.  She made my day on Election Day by asking me, shortly after we first chatted, if I know who Chow Yun-Fat is.  Sure I know who he is, as I can be his stun double.  If you are seeing this, drop a note to say hello, Ms. Arias.

At the side of Best Buy, temporary brick-and-mortar store sells bikes, video games, etc. 

The main building is still not functional, but now there's a big tent in front of the store that will definitely be open for business on Wednesday, November 21.

CONEY RECOVERS - SUPPLY DISTRO

Today I had a little time to volunteer in Coney Island.  Coney Recovers' Facebook page says volunteers should be at MCU Park 9 AM sharp so I was there some 15 minutes before that time, but when 9 AM rolled around and I asked a volunteer coordinator she told me to wait a few minutes.  After what seemed to be a long time, a group of New York Cares volunteers came so I approached them and then walked in with the group, even donned their orange jacket, for the duration of the work.  Volunteer work is volunteer work, it does not matter to me really, as long as I get some work done.  Another volunteer group present was America Corps NCCC and some other groups joined later on, one from an Intermediate School, I believe.  Together we gave out water, instant noodles, hand warmers, cleaning supplies etc.  I was at the table to give out water.  All the residents patiently waited in the long line in the cold.  Most came prepared with a grocery cart while some came up with only big, black plastic bags.  It was nice to know that some people refused the water because they already had what they need from earlier distribution.

In other news, maybe it's true that the media only reports bad news.  So we saw photos of people lining up with jerry cans to buy gasoline for their disabled automobiles.  Now that the crisis is over, no news about it?  On my way to the volunteer site this morning, this is what I saw at the corner of Cropsey and Neptune.  Look ma, no lines!  Alert the media!

SCENES FROM A RUN: POST-SANDY RIEGELMANN BOARDWALK

For this morning's run, I re-visited the Riegelmann Boardwalk, better known as Coney Island Boardwalk.  It was the first time I ran a section of the Boardwalk since Hurricane Sandy's visit.  I'm happy to report that the C.I. Boardwalk is mostly intact.  I ran as far east as past Tatiana Restaurant then back west past MCU Park, so I didn't cover the entire Boardwalk, but what I saw was promising.  Some places, perhaps without local businesses' push, still had a layer of sand, but in most places the sand was gone.  The fishing pier on the west side was closed to the public because of some missing boards, perhaps a missing rail section too.  Past MCU Park there were some gaps on the floor, but then again the Boardwalk is old, maybe those gaps were there before the hurricane arrived.  Overall, the Riegelmann Boardwalk fared pretty well during Hurricane Sandy's visit.

Around Tatiana Restaurant the Boardwalk was clear of sand.

Around the hand-ball court, this is the more typical view - lots of sand on the Boardwalk.

Fishing pier is now off-limit.

About midway out into the water, the fishing pier has some loose boards, maybe a missing fence section, too.

Definitely not part of the Boardwalk, but I have a soft spot for public libraries so this image of the Coney Island Branch of the BPL is included.  Its doors were perhaps damaged by water and are now replaced by a wooden board.

CAESAR'S BAY AND WATERFRONT AFTER HURRICANE SANDY'S VISIT

The Belt Parkway Waterfront is one of my favorite places to run.  I would run from home to Caesar's Bay then toward the Verrazano Bridge, along the water with no interference from vehicular traffic.  The terrain is mostly flat so most of the time I would traverse the foot-bridge near Bay 16th Street, for a little hill-training.  Near where the path splits into pedestrians and cyclists', I would go up the steps to Bay 8th Street, again for hill-training.  Most of the time I would go past the first set of bench, after the split, for a total of about 10 km round-trip.  For long runs I would go as far as Owl's Head Pier.  Years ago, I used to run to Owl's Head then take the bus back but in recent years I can go out and back on foot only.

Today was the first time I ran along the Belt Parkway Waterfront since Hurricane Sandy's visit.  Days ago, driving on the Belt I could see that some sections of the metal fence were no longer there.  Today I got a close-up of the damage, which was extensive.  I suppose the wave, water, and wind at some point broke the fence sections and left the fence all mangled.  After the hurricane, park personnel would arrive with the proper tools to separate the damaged pieces.  Who knows, maybe the hurricane actually snapped the sections off the ground.  It was a powerful storm, a superstorm.  No wonder the Verrazano Festival, set to run along the very same path and scheduled for November 11, did not happen.  Not only the fence missing a few sections, the surface of the road was broken in many places, too.  "Collapsed" is the better word to describe some of the road sections.  The foot-bridge is closed off and I had to duck under it to get to the other side.  Maybe the bridge was not inspected yet so it's safer to fence it off.

Below are just some of the photos I took.  Follow the link to see the whole set of photos.

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5810441195747911857?authkey=CM7q7o6um-K6mQE

CONEY RECOVERS

I spent most of today volunteering for Coney Recovers.  The night before I prepared a bag of school supplies to be donated and a separate backpack for me to carry throughout the event, with snacks and drink.  I made sure I knew where my steel-toed boots were, only to end up realizing that I wasn't wearing them midway to Coney Island.

In the morning, for the walk to Coney Island, I set the Charity Miles app on my Android phone to log the distance for Wounded Warriors.  I could have taken the subway, now that the trains run to the usual terminal in Coney, but I wanted to both save a little money and earn some extra money for WW, plus get a chance to win a T-shirrt.  Get more details on this latest Challenge at https://www.facebook.com/CharityMiles .  You most likely already missed the chance to walk for Saturday (unless you live on the West Coast) but you still can earn the extra 25¢, per mile, for Wounded Warriors.

I arrived at Tom's Restaurant with my own shovel and was assigned to work with a team going to Carey Garden building.  On the way out, I bumped into Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr., almost addressed him as Senator but realized in time by the time I shook his hands.  It was from his Facebook page that I found my way to the volunteer opportunity.

We started out working on cleaning the playground area of Carey Garden building.  I should have taken more photos of the setting before we worked, but at least I got the one below.  I think the water lifted the thick and heavy rubber tiles then the wave or wind just swept some sections under others.  We first swept away the debris, mostly leaves and twigs, then took many tiles apart in order to remove the pieces tucked underneath.  Did I say the pieces were heavy?  I know the wind and water moved many things, like gigantic trees and vehicles, but it was still amazing to think how these tiles were moved.  Eventually we got the pieces as even as humanly possible, using just team-work and hand-tools.  Silly me I thought I could just walk up the block to buy a sandwich for lunch.  No stores were opened.  There were two supermarkets across the playground but one was shuttered while the other, while with the gate up, was all dark inside and with a ladder leaning against the door.  I ended up accepting an apple from a fellow volunteer and subsisted on a rice crispy and a 100-calory bag of cookies.  After lunch we picked up litter in the parking lot and in the shrubs.  Lastly, we pulled the heavy bags of garbage and such to the sidewalk for an NYCHA truck to pick up, or to the Dumpster.  To my surprise, when I signed out I was given a Luna Park ticket equivalent to a 4-hour wrist-band.  Curiously, even though I registered online Saturday evening, the registration desk could not find my name in their database.  Maybe the records were not synced yet.

It was good to be able to help a small part of Coney Island get back to normal.  I look forward to spending a few more days next week with Coney Recovers.  To volunteer, check http://coneyrecovers.org/volunteer

HURRICANE SANDY, THE AFTERMATH

Hurricane Sandy has come and gone.  I am glad to report that my family and I made it out OK.  The worst for us was a trash-strewn front yard, some debris in the backyard, one night of no power, and, it appears, one day of partial power.  We lost power around 6 PM on Monday then it came back on around 9 AM Tuesday but shortly afterward power was gone for certain parts of the house.  Kitchen, with the refrigerator, has power, all living room lights have no power, but the main TV and its FiOS box have power.  Internet router did not have power but relocating its plug to a nearby wall outlet and all is well again.  I confirmed with some neighbors on the block and the same thing happened to them.  I suppose Con Edison cut back on power distribution so that everyone has some to use.

After a late lunch I ventured outside to see what happened to the neighborhood.  The wind had decreased much and it was only drizzling rain.  Not too far away at Benson and Bay 40 was the first uprooted tree I saw.  A few meters away an evergreen tree in someone's backyard was also tipped over.  Benson Avenue was not open to traffic.

A block away on Bath Avenue near the bus depot was another tree downed, also blocking the avenue. I continued my way toward Calvert Vaux Park then made it over the footbridge to Dreier Offerman Park.  Calvert Vaux Park did pretty well, only a few big branches broken here and there, no big trees were toppled.  But then again, the park is relatively new, whatever big trees, if there were any, would have been bulldozed to make room for the soccer fields etc.

Benson Avenue between Bay 40th Street and 25th Avenue was closed to traffic.

Uprooted tree blocking Benson Avenue in Bath Beach, Brooklyn.

On the same block a few meters away a tree in someone's yard tipped onto the street.

Bath Avenue between 25th Avenue and Bay 40th Street was also blocked.

On 26th Avenue near Harway Aveneu, a tree was ripped apart.

A small tree blocked part of Shore Parkway near Bay 44th Street.

Calvert Vaux Park fared pretty well.

There were a few broken branches in Calvert Vaux Park.

A white van with Jersey plate near Dreier Offerman Park was crushed by a tree that was snapped near its base.

See https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5805218577016790833?authkey=CLjFsI_VgOvN8wE for more photos of the devastation in the Bath Beach, Brooklyn area.