Family Jewels Safe Following Bling Fling

One man’s bling is another man’s “heirloom bling”:

It was bling that had sent them into the sewers.

Andres Rodriguez was serving corn on the cob at an east Williamsburg farmers’ market Saturday when he lost an amethyst gemstone that had been in his family for 40 years.

But after shedding a few tears, Rodriguez got help from city Environmental Protection Department workers, who yesterday retrieved the family heirloom from gallons of gobs of gook.

“He was heartbroken,” said his wife Christian Rodriguez.

“He said, ‘I have very bad news and my heart is broken.’ He was crying. I thought someone died.”

The 40-year-old heirloom, a gift from his father, Andres, dropped into a Cook St. sewer grate. “My heart went right inside with it,” said Rodriguez, 66.

This important ring had to be retrieved, which is when DEP stepped in:

The ring, as well as a diamond ring that didn’t go the way of the sewer, are expected to be willed to one of Andres Rodriguez’s seven sons, all also named Andres.

Two of Andres Rodriguez’s grandsons are also named Andres.

DEP workers yesterday lifted the grate and lifted two loads of grime, wrappers, cups and trash bags with a catch basin.

Once the trash was unloaded, workers raked through the muck and found the ring — in less than 15 minutes.

And you may or may not realize that this happens fairly frequently:

DEP district supervisor Jamie Berkeley, one of three workers who sifted through sludge to find the bling, said New Yorkers call 311 daily in search of lost items.

Although car keys are the item most often lost, Berkeley said he has personally rescued pets, jewelry, wallets and weapons.

Now If They’d Only Do This At The Liquor Store

Bay Ridge residents discover the beauty of the drive-thru:

One Brooklyn neighborhood’s out-of-control parking shortage has spurred local businesses to deliver their wares curbside so harried drivers can get their pastries without a parking ticket.

With parking at a premium and double-parking tickets costing $115, Bay Ridge bookstores, butchers and bakers are offering deliveries to anyone with a car and a cell phone.

“I truly feel bad when my customers get tickets,” said Your Baker co-owner Angelo Saraniero. “It’s not good when it costs them $115 to park and pick up a piece of cake.”

Saraniero, 43, said about 100 drivers call from outside his 86th St. store each week to order tiramisu and sponge cake.

The drive-through service has helped customers avoid tickets, and also has lured new ones to the 26-year-old family business.

“I’m gaining customers who would otherwise pass me up because they’re afraid of the consequences,” said Saraniero.

At A Novel Idea, a bookstore on Third Ave., longtime customers order “The Da Vinci Code” and “Pride and Prejudice” from the comfort of the driver’s seats.

Owners Christine and Ellen Heaney said interest in the delivery service picked up speed two years ago after customers complained about a Bay Ridge ticket blitz.

The number of curbside deliveries hits its peak during the holidays, when shoppers line up around the block to call in their orders.

“Mothers love the service because if the kids are sleeping in the back, then they don’t have to wake them up,” said Christine Heaney, 35.

Senior Prom: One Hop This Time

No one, it seems, wants to grow up:

Not everyone at this senior prom was hip to some of the newer dances, like the cha-cha slide or the modern version of the Cotton-Eyed Joe.
But when it was time to do the waltz, the tango, the Macarena, the mambo, the regular cha-cha or the electric slide, these promgoers hit on the ballroom floor with gusto.

More than 500 dancers above age 62 gave new meaning to the words “senior prom” last week at Micali’s Terrace in Bensonhurst.

“I love to dance,” Alfonso Friscia, 67, a retired security guard, said as he waited for the doors to open at 5:30 p.m.

Friscia had arrived at 3 p.m. to be sure he got a good table for him and his date, Pauline (Babe) Sanfilippo, a grandmother from Park Slope.

. . .

This is the sixth year of the prom, sponsored by St. Rosalia-Regina Pacis Neighborhood Improvement Association through a grant from State Assemblyman Peter Abbate (D-Bensonhurst) and City Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Borough Park).

“These seniors wear me out,” Gentile said after dancing with numerous constituents. The proms have become so popular, the politicians now give two annually. Each draws more than 500 seniors.

“This is a way of giving back to people who have done so much all these years,” Abbate said.

No prom is complete without chaperones and this one was no exception. Students from Intermediate School 281 in Bensonhurst escorted seniors to their tables and later joined them on the dance floor.

Connie Costa, 74, taught Gina Lam, 13, and Evelyn Li, 12, how to do the twist.

“They were delightful,” said Costa, who was attending her first prom. “I was in the hospital the night of my high school prom. Appendicitis.”

The chaperones took over the floor to do an energetic demonstration of the Cotton-Eyed Joe. But for most of the evening, young and old together enjoyed popular American dances, as well as folk dances from Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy and Latin America.

Even when DJ Casper’s “Cha Cha Slide” was played, a few seniors like Julia Goldner, 75, kept right up with the clapping, hopping, sliding and stomping.

Anna Buscemi, 91, of Midwood said she didn’t dare sit down.

“I’m very active,” said Buscemi, who also practices yoga. “If I sit down, I won’t get up again. So I don’t sit.”

Turn On The Bright Lights!

Coney Island’s Parachute Jump has been outfitted with lights:

The 277-foot tower, shaped like a giant blossom at the end of a tapering stalk, dropped its last screaming rider in 1965 and fell silent. For years it rotted, a skeletal symbol of Coney Island’s long decline, narrowly escaping demolition.

Last night, the city turned the lights back on. As an eager crowd jammed the boardwalk, a switch was thrown and the Parachute Jump was bathed in red and purple light, as shivering patterns chased each other across its girders.

There are still no riders, and no parachutes, but the jump is back in the night sky above the boardwalk.

“Not exactly how it was when I was a kid,” said Brooklyn’s borough president, Marty Markowitz, “but it will be a beacon of light for this and future generations, harking and heralding Coney Island as a place where dreams come true.”

The reviews from those assembled were muted. Phyllis Carbo, 70, who rode on the Parachute Jump as a girl, hesitated when asked for her opinion. “I’m running for Assembly on the Republican line, so I have to be very careful,” she said. “I’m impressed.”

Even the evening’s master of ceremonies, Dick Zigun, one of Coney Island’s leading boosters, pronounced the light show “very subtle.”

Others were less restrained.

“Did they light it already? Is this it?” asked Joe Joya, 63.

His wife, Jane, 61, said, “I thought it was going to be a lot brighter. I thought that the lights were going to be more of a Vegas type of thing.”

Her husband added: “You’re not going to see that from Staten Island.”

See also: Parachute Jump.

That’s A Win-Win-Win Situation

LaGuardia planes are safer, the needy are less hungry and the population of indiscriminate pooper birds is that much smaller — win-win-win:

These geese could be cooked.

Federal wildlife experts netted and gassed 165 of the birds on Rikers Island yesterday. The Canada Geese — which could end up as food for the needy — are considered a hazard for planes flying in and out of LaGuardia Airport.

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials will come back to the island next week to see if any birds dare to return — and kill more if necessary.

The birds will be frozen and tested to see if they are safe for donation to food pantries, officials said.

So far this year, 32 planes have struck geese at LaGuardia, Port Authority officials said yesterday.