It’s been 19 days since Whisk Bakery Cafe’s Josh Rubin disappeared, and his family is trying every option available to find him. At a press conference in front of the 70th Police Precinct today, just steps from the last place Josh was seen, his sister Hilarie announced that friends and loved ones are offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to finding him.
“We love Joshua very much, we are devestated that he is missing, and are frustrated that we have been unable to find him after almost three weeks of searching,” Hilarie said. “The emotional toll of not knowing where he is, not knowing if he is safe, or cold, or sick, or hungry, or worse, is simply unbearable.”
There have been no leads, and the police have been unable to uncover anything about what may have happened.
“The police have checked morgues and precincts and hosptials, and there’s been no further information,” Hilarie said.
She said she last spoke with Josh on Sunday night, the day before he disappeared, and that he sounded normal and happy, with plans to go out to dinner with friends. She added that he is very close with his family and friends, and is always on the phone with them. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, and had slept at his apartment every night.
Additionally, Josh did not have access to his car. He had left it, broken down, at his mother’s house in Rhode Island after he attended a wedding. He didn’t feel comfortable driving it back to Brooklyn, and left it there to eventually be repaired.
The last phone call Josh made was to increase the bagel order for the cafe for Tuesday morning, a day that only he was scheduled to work.
The family is most concerned that Josh disappeared without his diabetes medication, and that he could be sick somewhere, and people may not know who he is.
“With diabetics,” Hilarie explained, “if your blood-sugar gets to a certain level and it’s not maintained or taken care of, you can forget who you are, you can forget you’re a diabetic, you can go into organ failure. That is at the center of our concerns, and that’s why the hospitals are such an important part of our search.”
“It’s very odd to come forward after weeks of his being missing, to bring this information to light,” Hilarie said.
In an effort to work every option that is available to them, the family has hired a private investigator. Eric Lopez of Strategic Investigations worked with the NYPD for 21 years, and has been a private investigator for five–in which time he’s turned up seven missing people. Lopez said he still thinks Josh is in New York.
“Someone has to have seen him,” Lopez said. “Hopefully they come forward. We will continue going out to different locations that haven’t been covered, and putting up posters with information about the reward money.”
“The areas around where he lives and around his cafe are lively both day and night, and we are hoping that someone has seen something, anything, that can help us find him,” Hilarie said. “Our hearts are broken, and we are asking that anyone who has any information call the 70th Precinct.”
If you have any information about Josh Rubin, please call the 70th Precinct at 718-851-5560. If you are able to put up more missing posters, we will have a PDF of the new poster with the reward information soon, as will the Find Josh Rubin Facebook page, where you can continue to check for further updates.
It’s been over two weeks since Josh Rubin, owner of Whisk Bakery Cafe, went missing, and unfortunately there haven’t been any leads that the police or the family have been able to share. Additionally, the shop has remained closed since being open briefly on November 2.
The Facebook page that was set up following his disappearance notes that while people have put posters in locations all over the city, some have been torn down–and now with today’s rain, even more are getting damaged. They ask that people replace them where appropriate. You can download a poster here, and there are additional versions available in multiple languages here.
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Paper spoke with a man who claims he was arranging to sublet Josh’s room in his apartment. He says Josh showed him the room the day before he disappeared, but Josh’s roommates say they know nothing about this.
If anyone has any information that might help with the investigation, please contact the 70th Precinct detective squad at 718-851-5553.
According to a NYPD police spokesman at the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information (DCPI), local resident Maximiliano Huales died in a car accident on November 1. 57-year-old Huales was reported missing after having been last seen leaving his home at 336 East 9th Street on October 27.
The NYPD spokesman confirmed this information with the 66th Precinct. For whatever reason, the NYC Medical Examiner’s office has no information on this death.
Linda Cohen, a 55-year old Brooklyn resident and frequent volunteer in Prospect Park, is in a medically-induced coma after being hit by a cyclist in the park on November 3. A Walk in the Park reports that the accident happened at about 3pm near Vanderbilt Playground as Cohen was attempting to cross the West Drive.
The cyclist, who remained on the scene, was apparently a bike racer.
If you’ve got an idea to help the neighborhood, and you’re in a local community group, or you’re looking to start one, take note: The New Yorkers for Better Neighborhoods Award is now accepting applications.
Citizens Committee for New York City awards grants of $500 to $3,000 to volunteer-ledgroups to work on projects that bring neighbors together and that have a positive impact on the community. They also offer project planning assistance and skills-building workshops.
Recent awards have enabled neighbors to come together to make healthy food available in their communities, transform empty lots into community gardens, organize tenants to advocate effectively for better housing conditions, and start school recycling programs.
The application deadline is January 31. Grant applications are available online here. For more info, contact Emi Wang at 212-822-9563 or ewang@citizensnyc.org.
At 2pm on Wednesday, November 9, all television and radio systems will broadcast the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). You may be familiar with the message and beep that is occasionally broadcast on the local level, but this will be a little different, and a little longer–up to three and a half minutes.
The national test will help federal agencies such as FEMA determine the reliability of the system and its effectiveness in notifying the public of emergencies and potential dangers nationally and regionally.
Yesterday afternoon around 1:00pm, I was walking south on Ocean Parkway to get to work, as I often do when the weather is nice. I looked both ways before crossing at Bay Parkway/Ave I. Immediately after I stepped into the intersection, I was hit by a westbound car. I could not tell how fast the driver was going–the impact was strong enough to knock my shoes and glasses off of me, and my wallet and cell phone clear out of my purse.
The driver did not stop, and without my glasses and phone visible to me, I could not call 911. I was left bleeding profusely from the head, functionally blind, and terrified. I got up, started walking north on that block in my stockings, and started screaming that I was hit by a car and needed help. A nice couple sat me down in their minivan while they called an ambulance. A nice woman got me paper towels to staunch the wound. Another group of women found my shoes, wallet, phone, and what remained of my glasses in the intersection. I went in the ambulance, and after several hours in the ER at Lutheran Hospital and a lot of testing, I was released with a few stitches in my head, but no other damage.
Here is a link to a photo of the injury itself. Below, what remained of my glasses:
I am extremely thankful to the neighbors who saw that I was hurt and helped me, even though I would not be able recognize them if I saw them today. I was lucky to walk away from the accident at all, let alone to find people who let me sit in their van and return my possessions.
If you have any information about the accident, please call the detectives at the 66th Precinct at (718) 851-5611. Detective Calavera is the one investigating this case.
As more missing posters go up around the city (see the full map for locations already covered and those where the family hopes people can still put up flyers), more media outlets have been picking up the story of Josh Rubin, including the New York Times, Huffington Post, and Gothamist. At the request of the 70th Precinct, family and friends are being asked not to speak to the media, so there’s no more info available at the moment.
Meanwhile, many have asked about an update on another man reported missing recently, a man whose disappearance hasn’t seemed to have gotten as much attention. Maximiliano Huales of East 9th Street was last seen on October 27, but unfortunately we have been unable to get any more information on his whereabouts. We’ve been checking with the 66th Precinct, and have been unable to contact any relatives. As soon as we hear anything more, we’ll let you know.
If anyone has any information that might help with the Josh Rubin investigation, please contact the 70th Precinct detective squad at 718-851-5553. Anyone with information about Maximiliano Huales is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
A group will be meeting today at 570 Westminster Rd to hang “missing” posters of Josh around the neighborhood, according to the Find Josh Rubin Facebook group.
Neighbors are welcome to join. Bring tape, and meet in front of the building at 1:30pm.
More opportunities to be asocial in a public park are now available courtesy of AT&T. Beginning today, you can access free AT&T WiFi at the Prospect Park Picnic House. Now freelancers can hunker down in the shade of trees, and families don’t have to interact at an outing if they don’t want to.
The free WiFi is also available now at Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park and Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan. The launch is part of a five-year digital initiative to provide free WiFi at 26 locations in 20 New York City parks across the five boroughs. It’s currently available at about half of them.
The doorman at 570 Westminster, the building above Whisk, has “missing” posters with Josh’s picture on them, and his family hopes neighbors can pick them up and post them all around both Ditmas Park and Kensington–remember to bring tape when you pick up the posters. UPDATE: Click here for a PDF that you can print out, as well.
Additionally, a friend of Josh’s sent along a couple of photos, please click these to view them larger. He’s not wearing his glasses in the pics, but they give you an idea of how tall he is.
“That’s the lowest it’s been since the NYPD first started keeping track,” he said.
The precinct saw its greatest dip this year in burglary and grand larceny auto complaints. Robbery–the forcible removing of a person’s property from his or her person or by threat–is flat, but felonious assault is up (by 12.9% according to the October 23 year to date [YTD] CompStat figures).
“We get spoiled here,” D.I. Sprague continued. Quality of life in the precinct has shown “really incredible gains. Crime here is down 80% over the last 19-20 years.” For example, he said car theft was once at 1,800/year but not more than 140/year now.
Grand larceny, the theft of anything over $1,000 (including cell phones) is up as well, however. The October 23 figures show grand larceny up 17.6% YTD.
Rape, a felony, is forcible sexual assault, but “Pattern 9” forcible touching—the charge for many of the attacks in Park Slope, Sunset Park, and Windsor Terrace, i.e., the groping, or grabbing of buttocks or breasts, is not considered assault or rape. It is listed on CompStat as a sex crime, a Class A misdemeanor, with a maximum sentence of one year. Assault is any crime committed with a weapon or hand. Most assaults, including sexual, happen indoors among people who know one another.
In the past months, the 66th had two rapes reported, but unlike the 72nd Precinct, here they were “acquaintance” not “stranger” rapes.
In addition to the mental disorder, Rubin was also traumatized by falling behind on the rent on his two-month-old establishment.
An employee at Whisky [sic] confirmed that Rubin had been trying to sell the café in recent days.
Had anyone heard about that? Any time I’ve been in there, it hasn’t been incredibly busy, but it’s not empty either.
If anyone has thoughts on what more we can do to help, please share in the comments. One reader suggested organizing to put up posters around the area. If you are interested or have more photos of Josh that might help in the search, please email us at kensingtonprospect@gmail.com or post it in the comments.
Still no news on the whereabouts of Josh Rubin, the owner of Whisk Bakery Cafe who was reported missing on Monday. Detective Dominick Scotto of the 70th Precinct tells us they are still investigating, and that they have some leads, and he’ll keep us posted as the investigation progresses.
We haven’t heard any updates from family or friends, which is certainly understandable, and we wish them the best.
The shop was open this morning, and Paige, who is Whisk’s most regular employee, said she didn’t know what had happened, and that she wasn’t sure if they would be open tomorrow. She suggested that she wouldn’t be returning to work after today, and the shop was shuttered this afternoon.
If anyone has heard from him, please call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). If you have any other info, let us know in the comments.
The NYPD reports that Josh Rubin, owner of the recently opened Whisk Bakery Cafe in Ditmas Park, is missing. Josh was last seen leaving his apartment on Lawrence Avenue in Kensington on Monday, October 31. He’s about 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, with a thin build, brown eyes, and brown hair. There’s no description available of the clothes he was last seen wearing.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and we hope he turns up soon, safe and sound.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577. Police say all calls are kept strictly confidential.
The 66th Precinct is asking for the public’s help in locating 57-year-old Maximiliano Huales, who was last seen leaving his home at 336 East 9th Street on Thursday, October 27 at about 1am. He never returned, and has been reported missing.
Police describe him as 5-foot-4 Hispanic man who weighs about 130 pounds, and is in good physical and mental health. He was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577. Police say all calls are kept strictly confidential.
Train service on the F/G line was disrupted for a short while this morning because a man was hit by the G train at Church Avenue.
A spokesman for the MTA tells the Associated Press that the man, who was struck at about 7am as the train was entering the station, was alive when he was taken to the hospital. It’s not clear how he ended up on the tracks.
A two-alarm fire broke out at about noon yesterday in the basement of 430 East 8th Street. The electrical fire, which required Con Edison to shut off power for a period of time, was under control in just over an hour, but some residents have had to find another place to stay. A partial vacate order was put in place because of extensive smoke and water damage, but thankfully there are no reports of any injuries.
Can religious laws take a seat on a publicly funded bus? That’s the controversy surrounding the B110 bus, which runs between Borough Park and Williamsburg, and makes stops through Kensington.
The New York World, a Columbia Journalism School publication, had a woman ride the bus, which is open to the general public but is ridden mostly by Hasidic Jews. Signs on the bus instruct women to sit in the back, apart from the men, in accordance with Hasidic tradition.
When she asked why she had to move, a man scolded her.
“If God makes a rule, you don’t ask ‘Why make the rule?’” he told Franchy, who rode the bus at the invitation of a New York World reporter. She then moved to the back where the other women were sitting. The driver did not intervene in the incident.
Perhaps the most heated discussion about it took place on a Vos Iz Neias reprint of a Post story, where one commenter suggests placing a curtain between the segregated sections as an improvement, and another wonders why the men can’t be forced to the back–or at least asked to give up their seats for women.
A life-sized scarecrow with dreadlocks hanging from a tree as a Halloween decoration was removed by police yesterday after neighbors complained that it was racist.
Neighbors tell NY1 that the house on East 5th between Caton and Fort Hamilton goes all out for Halloween every year, and don’t believe the scarecrow, which has hung in the tree six years in a row, was intended as anything but scary.
Police removed it because it was in a city tree, but there are bound to be people who have noticed it in the past. Did you ever see it and feel that it was offensive?
Do you know a block you’d like to fix up? Maybe you’d like to plan a cleanup day on Church Ave or another one at Greenwood Playground? Or install bike racks or plant flowers in tree beds on a particular block?
If you’ve got a volunteer-led group–neighborhood associations, community groups, etc.–consider applying for a Love Your Block grant.
Some neighbors have come up with a pretty genius idea: People who are out walking their dogs will volunteer to escort people home from the Fort Hamilton and Church Avenue subway stations.
If you want to have a say in local budget allocations, you’ll have your chance next week! There’s a meeting at the cafeteria of PS 230 on Albermarle Road from 6:30 – 9 pm next Monday, and there will even be a bilingual Bengali option.
What improvements would you like to see the money go towards?
Looks like Kensington will be awash in daffodil blossoms come spring.
PS 230 neighbors, calling themselves Kensington Greens, will be planting 150 bulbs tomorrow, Sunday at 10:30 a.m., on the green/tree strip alongside the playground on Dahill Road at 12 Avenue. The bulbs come courtesy of New Yorkers for Parks/The Daffodil Project, part of its living memorial to honor the 9/11 dead and missing. The labor comes courtesy of you. Please come help us plant. Bring tools and bone meal, if you have some, to fertilize compacted soil in the tree pits.
Have any of you been to lower Manhattan recently, either to join the protests of Occupy Wall Street, or just to go to work? What’s your experience been?
At least one neighbor was there yesterday, as noted by the Wall Street Journal:
J. J. Rudisill, an illustrator who lives in Kensington, Brooklyn, carried his 2-year-old son Solomon on his shoulders. Mr. Rudisill’s wife, Cari Jackson, stood next to them. “It’s about his future. We have to put a lot of policies in place to support middle-class families,” she said.
Cari tells us it was pretty neat that her son was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal after his first protest. Indeed!
Construction has begun on a new Flatbush Hatzolah garage, on 18th Avenue near Coney Island Ave, between the Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins and Congregation Agudath Sholom of Flatbush.
The main Flatbush Hatzolah garage, which houses about 6 ambulances, is on Ocean Parkway and Avenue N, according to the Flatbush Scoop. They say this new garage will better service the northern part of the volunteer EMS’ response area.
The NY Times City Room sent a reporter to cover the CB 7 public safety meeting this past Tuesday located inside the 72nd precinct off Fourth Avenue. She got the flavor, but not all the necessary details for those who live here.
Councilman Brad Lander termed “the level of community engagement extraordinary.” More than 100 people showed up to hear what’s being done to address these sexual attacks. The public safety committee plans to put out a flyer, which it will distribute at subway stops, listing all the groups and summarizing proposals to deal with them.
Among the groups and people who reported on their activities, in addition to the 72nd Precinct, were SafeSlope, RightRides, SlutWalk, The Healing Center, Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez’s and State Senator Valmanette Montgomery’s offices, NY State Assemblyman James Brennan, and the setting up of D.A. Hynes’ program Safe Stops by the Sunset Park BID.
Jay Ruiz, the founder of the Brooklyn Bike Patrol, said, if necessary, he would personally meet people at the Ft. Hamilton Parkway subway stop. See the piece on him in Brokelyn, among other places. He is looking for more volunteers, especially women. He now has a Facebook page, where photos of all volunteers—whom he screens—will be posted. Volunteers are on call at home, and two are based in Manhattan. His phone number is (718) 744-7592 or rocket55j@aol.com.
ALRIGHT THEN….i have rarely felt so fired up as i have the moment i heard that the susan g. komen breast cancer charity had made some politically-motivated back-room board deal/manipulation to pull funding from planned parenthood. and then listened to them spin spin spin during the vertigo-inspiring fall-out. but most people, it turns out, have […]
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He used to walk up my block when I was a kid. He was a short man maybe in his 50’s. He had black hair, a moustache and thick “Buddy Holly” style glasses. Sam usually wore a brown overcoat in the winter and a sports jacket in the summer. He could always be seen wearing a brown or black derby too. Now Sam also walked with a cane, except most of the time it was […]
And it usually comes later, but it will probably be today. Although that's not saying much given how warm this winter continues to be. I'll be indoors today, but you, if you can, should get out there! […]
Susan G. Komen foundation has decided to cut funding to Planned Parenthood – having been influenced by political right-wing moolah. Screw them. Don’t give them a penny and let them know. I encourage you to unsubscribe their emails and post to your Facebook or social network site and email them also to tell them that […]
Two weeks ago I was shopping at Fairway. I needed red peppers for a recipe I was making that night, but Fairway didn't have any. Hmm, well I was off to Court Street to pick up something else, so I stopped into the Italian grocery and they had this incredible deal on just the kind of pepper I was looking for. If you can believe it, I bought the last two […]
I sit in our dutiful van, rocking, nose running, both due to the brisk wind coming from the southwest that brings in the damp coolness of the ocean. We feel cold under it, but the plants don't seem to mind. Sunny and in the forties, today became an opportunity for my midwinter visit to the beach farm. Last year around this time the beach farm was covere […]
She said she last spoke with Josh on Sunday night, the day before he disappeared, and that he sounded normal and happy, with plans to go out to dinner with friends. She added that he is very close with his family and friends, and is always on the phone with them. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, and had slept at his apartment every night.
The NYPD reports that Josh Rubin, owner of the recently opened 
The 66th Precinct is asking for the public’s help in locating 57-year-old Maximiliano Huales, who was last seen leaving his home at 336 East 9th Street on Thursday, October 27 at about 1am. He never returned, and has been reported missing.
