Prominent Bay Ridge artist and mural designer Michael McLeer, better known as “Mister Kaves,” recently painted an extraordinary “Support Our Neighborhood” mural on the east side of Fifth Avenue near 86th Street. There will be a formal “Bay Ridginal” unveiling on Friday, July 24 at 11 a.m.
The mural is sponsored by a grant from NYC Small Business Services and enjoys support from former Councilmember Justin Brannan, current Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso and the 86th Street Business Improvement District.
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The Bay Ridge Historical Society at its June meeting included a Zoom presentation by Douglas Westfall, a congressionally recognized national historian and author of multiple books on American history. During his talk he mentioned an upcoming book about early Dutch settlers of New York, which will include his direct ancestor Juriaen, who came to Manhattan island in 1642.
During the session he also revealed the Dutch settlers had an early version of the Bill of Rights, and he projected historical maps of Manhattan.
Courtesy of History101 NYC
The Bay Ridge Historical Society is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. It was a spinoff of the Bay Ridge Bicentennial Committee of Planning Board 10, which also produced “The Bay Ridge Chronicles,” written by educator and author Jerome Hoffman. Online copies of the book, which is now out of print, are available at the Society’s website: BayRidgeHistory.com.
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The cost of U.S. postage stamps keeps rising and recently went up to 82 cents! In 2021, first-class postage stamps were 58 cents and just last year they were 78 cents. At the rate they keep going, we may be paying $1 a pop in a couple of years. This is becoming a serious situation for several youth, fraternal and community groups who can ill afford the creeping postage costs.
Sure there are email and text messages. But with dozens upon dozens of personal, business and unwanted electronic media vying for your time and attention and tying up cell phones and computers, occasional U.S. Postal mail is still a good alternative. Only now it is getting expensive to do group mailings. Don’t you hate to ask, “Didn’t you see my text or email?”
