There were a few big take-aways from the latest controversial Census data: even though non-white Hispanics are now a minority, they are still pushing other ethnicities to the outer boroughs; and that NYC has become the most ethnically diverse city, reflecting a trend throughout the whole country. So now diversity is here to stay, whether some people like it or not: “Some of the residents here were so concerned about blacks moving in, they didn’t even notice the influx of Asians,” said Nick Venezia, manager of Ben Bay Realty Co. in Brooklyn. more ›

We know that we certainly love airing our dirty laundry in the press and it seems that Democratic City Councilman Vincent Gentile's dad does too. The elder Gentile turns to the Post today for the second time this year in an attempt to get a few hundred thousand bucks out of his son. "He should be ashamed of himself! Let people read that!" Frank Gentile complained to the Post after his son didn't immediately buy him out of the family home. more ›

The wanton golf cart destruction that took place last spring at the Dyker Beach Golf Club in Brooklyn was one for the record books. More than 20 carts totaled in two separate incidents, and one guy who works at the pro shop tells the Post, the carts were found "upside down, crashed into trees, they were trying to tip them over—all over the golf course." One cart was set on fire, and others were piled up in a sand pit with broken axles, cracked roofs, and dented bodies. It sounds like a real rager, but yesterday two teens were hauled into court to pay for it. more ›

The police released a sketch of a man suspecting of sexually assaulting and briefly kidnapping a 12-year-old girl who was walking to school. On Tuesday morning, before 8 a.m., the girl was grabbed on 67th Street and put in a double-parked SUV, where a man "fondled her over her clothes." Luckily, she was able to get out of the car and tell her parents. The man drove away. more ›

Life imitates Seinfeld, once again. In a Newman-esque operation, a Brooklyn postal worker was caught with 537 pieces of mail in the trunk of his car. The Dyker Heights Post Office employee, 26-year-old Peter Ramsdal, was pulled over while driving to the Catskills on April 21st. Police discovered he had a suspended registration, and, upon impounding his car they found the hoarded mail—which then led to contacting federal postal inspectors. more ›

Heartbreaking: The father of a woman killed by a hit-and-run driver in Dyker Heights last month has been regularly traveling from his home in Delaware to Brooklyn to hand out flyers urging witnesses in the neighborhood to come forward. 37-year-old Natalie Assee was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing Fort Hamilton Parkway near 75th Street around 2 a.m. on March 7th. At this point, police have no suspects, but her father, Ulric Assee, has made it his mission to track down his daughter's killer. more ›

A drunken hit-and-run driver was a dead duck by the time police found him, slumped unconscious over the wheel of his Chevy minivan in Dyker Heights. After striking a pedestrian in his 50’s as he was crossing the street, 24-year-old Luis Cuamai attempted to flee the scene, but crashed into a parked car two blocks away and knocked himself out. According to the News, cops found him around 3:30 p.m. yesterday and charged him with drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident, among other things. As for the victim, "He was lying in the middle of the street with blood pouring out of his head," said one witness. Despite that grim report, he is now at Lutheran Medical Center where doctors say he should survive. more ›

Sun Won Cho, a 40-year-old mother of two, was killed in a church parking lot in Gravesend yesterday afternoon when an elderly man accidentally accelerated his black Mercedes SUV in reverse. Four other people, including two children, were injured after the SUV suddenly car accelerated toward the group as they gathered near a playground. The driver, 72-year-old Kyongkoo Park, remained at the scene and was not charged. Witnesses described the tragic scene. more ›

It it's December, it must be time to visit Dyker Heights, that Brooklyn neighborhood famous for its transcendent Christmas light displays. The spectacle draws onlookers from around the world, and was immortalized in a truly hilarious documentary called Dyker Lights, which takes a priceless "behind-the-scenes" look at the predominantly Italian-American families during preparations for the annual festivities. (PBS will be broadcasting Dyker Lights again this year on Christmas Eve and Christmas day—it's not to be missed.) more ›

A Brooklyn woman is in critical condition after her husband hacked her repeatedly with a meat cleaver in their Dyker Heights apartment yesterday morning. 54-year-old Shao Ling Ye was sweeping up during breakfast when, according to her husband, Youshening Huang, "She swept over my feet and that really sparked it." Neighbors tell the Daily News they heard Huang, 53, shout, "I've put up with you for all these years!" A dazed and bleeding Shao Ling Ye was then seen stumbling out into the street, gushing blood. Candice Meng, 21, who lives in the basement, tells the Post, "There was blood all over her. I just heard her shouting, 'Help!' We came out and she was lying there with her husband standing next to her looking down at her. He was showing no remorse. He asked me if he could come down and wash his hands." Ye is in critical condition with gashes to her head, arm, chest and finger; Huang is charged with assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon. Joseph Tsang, whose parents rent the apartment to Huang, seemed shocked, telling the Daily News, "He's a really peaceful guy. He goes jogging around the neighborhood." more ›

Many Catholics make sure to bring their belongings with them when going up to receive Communion so that they can make a quick dash for the exit upon taking part in the mass's climactic rite. But at Shrine Church of Saint Bernadette in Dyker Heights, church officials have begun encouraging parishoners to grab their things after a series of purse-snatchings occurred while churchgoers left their places for Communion. One woman said to the News, "If you can't trust your fellow worshipers when you are going for Communion, then you are going to hell." A member the church says that at least three purses were stolen recently, but none of the incidents were reported to the police. The spree did prompt Reverend Ponnachan Georgekutty to post a notice on the parish's website warning people not to leave anything behind during the sacrament, which he says has curbed the burglaries. One 74-year-old woman said to the News, "Is nothing sacred any more? Is nothing holy?" more ›

That tree-hugging Mayor Bloomberg and his Million Trees NYC campaign can go play in traffic as far as Dyker Heights resident (and noted gadfly) Sonny Soave is concerned. Ever since discovering telltale white markings spray painted on the sidewalk outside his house, Soave has been futilely trying to stop the city from planting a tree outside his house. He rants to the Brooklyn Paper: “How is it that I have no say about what goes in front of my house? Am I living in a communist New York where the city makes the decision for you? I know it’s the city’s sidewalk, but once it’s planted, it becomes my responsibility to clean up." And we all know how slovenly trees can be, always littering the sidewalk with their stinking leaves and fouling up the air with their oxygen. That's why Soave's making a stand: "I’ll stand right here and block them from putting that tree in if I have to." more ›

A 69-year-old woman was the victim of a brutal assault when a man broke into her Dyker Heights home around 9:30 p.m. Friday night. The police say the intruder broke in through a kitchen window, and clubbed Carmela Boccadifuoco on the head. more ›

If only all crimes were this easy to solve. Last Friday, a woman robbed a North Fork Bank at 71st Street and New Utrecht Avenue in Dyker Heights. Now the police say she returned to the scene of the crime and returned the money yesterday. more ›

After being fired for speaking to a reporter, a lawyer who had represented a slain firefighter's family in their lawsuit against the city is now suing the widow and her children. Way to keep those bad stereotypes about lawyers going! more ›

We can't believe it's been two years since we became acquainted with the Christmas home decoration stylings of Gramercy Park resident Joel Krupnik. Back in 2005, a Christmas display with a bloody knife-wielding Santa, severed doll head and more outside his East 18th townhouse caused much commotion after the Post dubbed Krupnik "Bad Santa" and put a photograph on its cover. more ›

With Christmas less than two weeks away, the annual holiday light display is raging through the nights in Dyker Heights, home of TV’s Scott Baio. Every year tens of thousands of people from around the world flock to the outer-borough Brooklyn neighborhood to gawk at the private homes decked out with millions of dazzling lights. more ›

An off-duty police officer was raped in her Bay Ridge home last night. Police believe that the attacker entered her apartment through a window or door. The victim described him as being a white man wearing a mask; the attacker also threatened her with a knife. more ›

Along 65th Street near Fort Hamilton Parkway in Brooklyn are a number of culinary gems: The sidewalk-sprawling Three Guys Produce, billed as “The Original Poor Person’s Friend;” Asian markets with fresh shiso and lily bulbs, and also the legendary, cafeteria-style Rocco’s Calamari. With a fledgling greenmarket in nearby Leif Ericson Park, this Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights/Bensonhurst interzone has quietly become a destination for inexpensive, quality provisions. more ›

A construction area collapse in Brooklyn yesterday cost a worker his life. The man was waterproofing the foundation of the Leif Ericson Day School in Dyker Heights while standing aside a trench dug next to the building. According to WCBS news, the trench was said to measure two to three feet wide, 15 feet long and eight feet deep. The construction worker, who hasn't been named, appears to have fallen into the trench as it collapsed at 2:40 p.m. yesterday afternoon. more ›

Promoting a civil public school environment is important, but we had no idea that the price you paid for writing on a desk could be so severe. A 13-year-old girl was handcuffed and arrested by the police for writing "okay" on a desk at her Dyker Heights school. WCBS 2 spoke to the Chelsea Fraser and her outraged mother Diana Silva, who said, "I'm appalled, because here we have rapists, murderers, and you're taking a 13-year-old kid? Wasting valuable manpower to arrest a child who wrote on a desk?" Yeah, what happened to detention? more ›

Yesterday morning, a drunk driver crashed in Dyker Heights, hitting two cars and hitting two kids crossing the street. With blood alcohol twice the limit, Jian Kai Huang ran a red light, hit a truck that was crossing with the light, and then both cars hit a van waiting at the red light. Vegetable stand manager John Hughes told the Post, "I ran over there and I saw people laying all over the street. I called 911. I told the guy, 'You have to send as many ambulances as you can.'" Another witness, Gerri Reyes, said to WABC 7, "On the corner was a group of people, women and children waiting to cross and a black vehicle coming from the opposite direction and could not get out of his way. He hit into the white car. The next thing I know there are people all over the floor and I ran to call 9-1-1." more ›

A look at some noteworthy (and mainly regifted) programs this week: more ›

In the otherwise bucolic Brooklyn neighborhood of Dyker Heights (especially at Christmas with all the elaborate Christmas setups), a man was beaten and shot yesterday afternoon in what police believe was a road rage incident. George Fattakhov and a friend were driving around in their Lexus around 66th Street and 10th Avenue when the incident occurred. The passenger told the NY Times what happened:

As the two were driving through Dyker Heights, a shiny white Cadillac Escalade abruptly cut them off. Heated words were exchanged, but after a few moments Mr. Fattakhov drove off. As he and his friend drove away, they noticed the Cadillac following. At a red light, the driver of the Cadillac — described as a white man with a dark ponytail — jumped out with a bat and swung at Mr. Fattakhov’s car. more ›

NYC Sunset by Sidewalk Story. more ›

Jesus of the Twin Towers, Dyker Heights by gkjarvis. more ›

-- Sad: a sanitation worker who made headlines last year catching a four year old who jumped out of a burning building was shot and killed last night. more ›

Has anyone taken pictures of the festively lit-up Brooklyn Borough Hall, as featured in the NY Times? Gothamist is curious, because we have sort of mixed feelings on multi-colored displays. On one hand, they are beautiful atop the Empire State Building or in Dyker Heights. On the other hand, they remind us of what the Murray Street townhouse used for MTV's Miss Seventeen looked from the outside during filming - like a club. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz apparently hopes to have "lighting themes for all the major holidays, in addition to ethnic festivals for Irish, Italian, Russian and Pakistani heritage, among others," or keep it in "blue and gold, the official colors of Brooklyn." So far, there is a list of which holidays will be cause for lighting - and in which colors - but what about red and green and gold for Kwanzaa? Or red for Chinese New Year? Obviously, Gay Pride Weekend will look best - Borough Hall will be full of rainbows. more ›

Lisa Whiteman, Photographer more ›