Archive for reference

These pages are provided as an archive of the NAG blog on a previous system. Commenting is no longer available.

"Pool Parties" to return

But this time, they will be in East River State Park. Perhaps they will name them "Park Parties?"

Photo by Amit Gupta via creative commons license

Northside Festival

Our friends at L Magazine are putting on the Northside Festival June 11-14th. It is a large music festival intended to take advantage of the many music venues we have in the neighborhood. It will also conveniently coincide with the second Williamsburg Walks, more details about which are to come...

This year, The L Magazine will host the first annual Northside Music and Arts Festival, a four-day celebration of New York City’s independent music and art scene, taking place from June 11-14 at over fifty music venues and galleries throughout the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn. For the music portion of the festival, The L will present a number of shows at the area venues. But Northside is primarily a collaborative event, with dozens of the most influential NYC-based music businesses (from record labels to blogs to radio stations) having curatorial control over their own showcases. The L has also teamed up with the Williamsburg Gallery Association to incorporate Brooklyn’s most renowned galleries, planning exhibitions and various events over the course of the weekend.

Keep the Waterfront Promises

The 2005 Waterfront Rezoning plan has completely altered our community's environment with more than a dozen residential towers either built or in construction along the waterfront. The city promised that our neighborhood, having long suffered one of the lowest ratios of open space per capita and as well as a housing crisis, would receive -- in tandem with the onslaught of development -- new parks and affordable housing. Now, four years later, those needs are now more pressing than ever and the excuses for inaction by the city and the MTA have become completely unacceptable.

Please sign and mail this letter asking the City to create the park at 65 Commercial Street. The timing for this action is critical.

Free Cross-Brooklyn Shuttle

An email from Heart of Brooklyn:

This weekend (and every fourth Saturday) The Heart of Brooklyn Connection will make cultural loops from Prospect Heights to Williamsburg once again! Now that the weather's getting nicer, folks who want to visit the cultural attractions near Grand Army Plaza have a great and easy way to get there from Williamsburg on the fourth Saturday of every month.

The HOB Connection runs in a loop from 10am to 5pm, picks up along Bedford Ave. and at McCarren Park (routes/times are on our site), has tour guides and local information, and then delivers people free of charge to Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library (@ Grand Army Plaza and Flatbush Ave.) Prospect Park and the Prospect Park Zoo.

Next route times are
Saturday March 28
April 25
May 23

Recent Bike Safety News

We desperately need a separated bike path on the Pulaski bridge. In the meantime, please be careful, slow down while passing pedestrians and either ring your bell or say "passing on your left" before passing.

Drivers who kill pedestrians are rarely prosecuted, let alone investigated. Gotham Gazette takes a closer look at why.

Robert Sullivan proposed a code of conduct for bikers to be more responsible on the road.

What it looks like to be passed too closely by cars while biking (albeit in Wisconsin). Imagine a lane of cars parked on the right side whose doors could open without warning and it would be more like NYC.

George Trakas at the Water's Edge: Newtown Creek

More information

Short Takes

Local reporter and (if you read the article) specialist in flattering local organizations Aaron Short, who was laid off when the Greenpoint Courier closed, now has a column at the Greenpoint Gazette. First topic: where all the young people at on Newtown Creek?

Greenpoint Reformed Church

Please take a look at this excellent two-part piece profiling my neighbors Ann and Jen, who co-Pastor the Greenpoint Reformed Church. They do amazing work with their hunger program and are wonderful people.

If you want to help their hunger program, contact the church at 718-383-5941 or you can email info [at] greenpointchurch [dot] org.

If you are the busy type, but like to bake, consider helping via Craig's Kitchen, a "group that works to support soup kitchens in the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods of Brooklyn through fundraising and organizing volunteer energy." Plus, you get to bake on your own time.


Green Point Church Part 1 from Scott Slack on Vimeo.


Green Point Church Part 2 from Scott Slack on Vimeo.

Updated to include volunteering information

NAG Town Hall: Thu March 26th 7:00pm

It's time for YOU to get involved!

Join Long-Time & New Residents at a

NAG Town Hall Meeting

Thursday, March 26, 7:00pm

Stop Subway & Bus Cuts

Fight for New Parks

Save Our Affordable Housing

Make Streets Safer for Everyone

Keep Our Neighborhood Diverse

Location: Swinging Sixties Senior Center
211 Ainslie Street @ Manhattan Ave (Map)

Find out more about NAG's 2009 organizing agenda for
affordable housing, open space, better transportation
and preserving our unique community.

Questions?
Contact the NAG office at 718-384-2248 or info@nag-brooklyn.org

Seedballs!

On Saturday, March 21st members of NAG's Open Space organizing group gathered in East River State Park, across from the NAG office, to learn about the urban gardening strategy of "seed balls."  The group, together with some enthusiastic passersby, made hundreds of clay pellets filled with wildflower seeds and organic compost material provided by Crest Hardware.  We're going to distribute the seedballs to neighbors in Williamsburg and Greenpoint to plant in vacant plots of land on March 28th.

To participate in the distribution, contact us at openspace@nag-brooklyn.org

Pictures by Jeremy Levine and Marina Fernandez Ferri

Help Block Magazine Cover North Brooklyn

Block Magazine asked us to put this reader survey on our blog. Since other local papers have been put out of business, it's worth supporting the ones that do bring us important local news.

From the publishers:

Block Magazine, having covered North Brooklyn since 2002, has been forced to suspend the print issues we distributed in street boxes and local businesses before the recession hit our local partners and us.

But, taking a cue from such honorable publications as the Christian Science Monitor, we will continue online, starting this April, with a brand-new design, friendlier reader interaction, a better events calendar, a couple new editors, and the same type of in-depth, inclusive community journalism that started it all and kept us going.

We would like your help in shaping our future. We want to hear what you expect from you local community magazine. Please take a moment to take our survey

To be notified of our re-launch, please click here.

And to those lamenting the death of print: we fully intend to come back. We’re keeping the street boxes!

Take the survey here.

RIP Greenpoint Courier

The Greenpoint Courier has its last edition on the newsstands this weekend. As the Courier-Life papers is owned by Murdoch's News Corp, when the Brooklyn Paper was bought by News Corp as well, it was a sad but unsurprising chapter in local media consolidation.

An unfortunate casualty of the acquisition was the Greenpoint Courier and the excellent coverage that reporter Aaron Short brought to important North Brooklyn issues, such as the Meeker Avenue Plume. Keep your eye out for Aaron's return to the local news scene, and keep tabs on his whereabouts and take on the issues at the burgeoning blog Aaron Short Story.

In the meantime, keep checking your other local papers: the Greenline, Greenpoint Gazette, Greenpoint Star and the Brooklyn Paper.

Tomorrow: Support a Superfund Designation for Newtown Creek

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, the Newtown Creek Alliance, and Riverkeeper will hold a news conference tomorrow at 11:30 am to release a national report by CHEJ, Superfund: In the Eye of the Storm, and advocate for a Superfund designation for Newtown Creek.

Newtown Creek has been severely contaminated by metals, volatile organic compounds, high pathogen levels, floatables and petroleum pollution. Because of the proximity of the creek to hundreds of thousands of workers and residents, these chemicals pose a direct threat to human health.

Superfund: In the Eye of the Storm details how the federal cleanup program is burdened by climate change-related hurricanes, tornadoes and floods that damage toxic sites, as well as by increased corporate bankruptcies. Groups argue that polluters such as Exxon Mobil should pay for the cleanup of toxic sites, not taxpayers. This national report will be delivered to federal policymakers with an appeal to support reinstatement of polluter pays fees.


In addition to releasing the report, the groups will call on EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to add Newtown Creek to the Federal Superfund National Priorities List.


WHEN: Friday, March 20, 2009 at 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Newtown Creek, at the GMDC, 1155 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn

Photo via Newtown Creek Alliance

NAG Town Hall: Thu March 26th 7:00pm

It's time for YOU to get involved!

Join Long-Time & New Residents at a

NAG Town Hall Meeting

Thursday, March 26, 7:00pm

Stop Subway & Bus Cuts

Fight for New Parks

Save Our Affordable Housing

Make Streets Safer for Everyone

Keep Our Neighborhood Diverse

Location: Swinging Sixties Senior Center
211 Ainslie Street @ Manhattan Ave (Map)

Find out more about NAG's 2009 organizing agenda for
affordable housing, open space, better transportation
and preserving our unique community.

Questions?
Contact the NAG office at 718-384-2248 or info@nag-brooklyn.org

News Roundup

Great recap of last night's 94th Precinct Community Council meeting from Miss Heather. Burglaries and grand larcenies are up.

The L Magazine's Northside Festival, June 11-14, is on.


Looking for fresh produce? Want to support small, local, organic farms? The Garden of Eve CSA still has openings in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Williamsburg-Greenpoint Preservation Alliance tells the sad story of this building on Berry and N 7th.

Williamsburg is Dead has a list of local restaurants participating in Dine Brooklyn, which gets you a three-course meal for $23.

Upcoming meetings of note:

CB1 meeting
Tues, 3/17 6:30 pm
Swinging 60's Senior Citizens Center
211 Ainslie Street

NAG's Open space planning meeting
Thu 3/19
7pm Greenpoint Reformed Church (136 Milton St. b/t Franklin and Manhattan)

Guerilla gardening work session<--help flowerfy the neighborhood!
Sat 3/21
3pm NAG office (Kent and N 8th)

News Roundup and Upcoming Meetings

The Times weighs in on the death of blogger Robert Guskind.

Also in the Times, a brief profile of Greenpoint photographer Anders Goldfarb, with a slideshow.

NY Waterways, who provide the East River ferry service, is in deep financial trouble. Good thing the L is so reliable and able to handle its ridership.

Upcoming meetings:

94th Precinct meeting tonight, 7:30 pm
Capital One Bank basement
807 Manhattan Ave
Enter on Calyer
They'll be discussing the Production Lounge shooting and other public safety issues


CB1 meeting tomorrow night (Tues) 6:30 pm
Swinging 60's Senior Citizens Center
211 Ainslie Street
The city planning dept will be presenting the proposed rezoning for parts of Greenpoint and Williamsburg

Also see this list of upcoming NAG meetings

Briefly noted

Williamsburg buyback starts a unique effort to connect renters in need of housing with vacant developments in need of tenants.

The trash train replaces the garbage trucks clogging the eastern ends of our neighborhood (NYT)

Did you see a bike accident on Friday?

Did you see this accident at Lorimer and Bedford Ave near the Nassau G? If you did, please contact the victim

Today, Friday March 13, 2009 at approx. 1:20pm I was riding with traffic on Bedford Ave, approaching the intersection of Lorimer St. I was hit by a silver Chrysler sedan (who was a car service car) turning right on to Lorimer. I was wearing a silver windbreaker, riding a black + red track bike with white rims (yes, with a front brake and yes, I was wearing a helmet).

I counted at 5 to 10 people in the area who I believe saw the accident take place. However, no one would come forward as a witness. One mustached fellow (Thank you, whoever you may be) took pictures, but I didn't get a chance to get his name before leaving in the ambulance. Sadly, he did not arrive until moments after the accident happened.

I was not too seriously injured but suffered pretty nasty bruising on my legs, arm, face, and pretty serious abrasions on my left hand.

I am baffled as to why no one came forward as a witness. I do not believe that at that intersection (Bedford and Lorimer), with multiple people around, two or three very popular restaurants (practically one per corner), not one person saw the accident take place.

If you were in the area and saw it happen, please, come forward. It's the right thing to do.

via FreeWilliamsburg

Upcoming NAG Events

North Brooklyn story project
Wed 3/11, 7pm NAG office (101 Kent Ave @ N 8th St.)

Transportation organizing group
Thu 3/12, 7pm NAG office

Open space planning meeting
Thu 3/19, 7pm Greenpoint Reformed Church (136 Milton St. b/t Franklin and Manhattan)

Guerilla gardening work session
Sat 3/21, 3pm NAG office

Organizing Agenda Town Hall #2
Thu 3/26, 7pm place TBD

It's Official: L and G Subway Stations Have Had Dramatic Increase in Ridership

According to Transit Overload, a new report by the Center for an Urban Future:

• The Bedford Avenue L saw the greatest increase in the average number of weekday riders from 1998-2008.
• The L train has 13 of the 50 fastest growing stations- the most of any line.
• The G train has 4 of the 50 fastest growing stations - in 8th place out of 26 lines.

It's time for better service, yet we are facing massive service cuts to the MTA. You can take two actions.

1. Call your state legislators (numbers below) and tell them that half measures are not enough. It is up to the state government to find a responsible way to fund transit. We need more transit service than we have now in this growing neighborhood, not less.

State Senator Martin Malave-Dilan: (718) 573-1726
State Senator Daniel Squadron: (212) 298-5565
Assemblymember Joe Lentol: (718) 383-7474

2. Attend the Transportation Organizing Group meeting this Thursday, March 12.
Join our us at our next meeting to discuss how to fight the MTA cuts, as well as our plans for safety trainings this summer and the Forum for Urban Design's Bike Share program, coming to our neighborhood.
Meeting is Thursday March 12 at 7pm at the NAG office (101 Kent Ave @ N 8th Street)
For more information: contact Lacey and Alex at transportation@nag-brooklyn.org

Is This Fence Coming Down in Four Days?

This bulkhead, on Kent St and West St., is supposed to be open to the public. A while back Java Street Realty, Inc. put up an illegal fence blocking access. The city took them to court and won, but the fence remains. Now there is a sign up (below) giving them until March 11th to remove the fence, or the city will remove it and the company will be charged for the expense, and be subject to fines.



There also seems to be a closed park next door to the site. What's up with that?



It is really too bad to see how hard this community has to fight for access to the waterfront and to the little open space we have. I hope the city is there bright and early March 12th to remove this fence.

Thanks to the tipster who sent this stuff in!

News Roundup

The MTA is still stalling on releasing the land for a waterfront park in Greenpoint.

A lot of violence in the neighborhood lately: motorcyclist killed by a drunk driver on Greenpoint Ave., a shooting on Meeker and Morgan, and an ex-cop shot two women, killing one.

Also, a local synagogue was threatened. Awful.

Brooklyn DA Hynes is creating a real estate crime unit. CB1 alone ought to keep them busy!

Some bridge toll holdouts might block the idea.

Possible (huge) hotel in williamsburg?

The proposed contextual rezoning of some parts of Greenpoint and williamsburg will be presented at the next CB1 meeting, March 17th.

A bright spot over the weekend was the successful art events throughout the neighborhood on Saturday. There were family activities during the day, galleries open late into the night, and a great turnout. THanks to all who came by the future Northside Community Center!

News Roundup and Weekend Events

Gowanus Lounge Update
Friends of Gowanus Lounge have gotten the site back up. The site's founder, Bob Guskind, was a passionate community advocate and friend to many. He will be missed.

All Weekend: See People Move in Bushwick!
The Arts in Bushwick SITE Festival is this weekend--it's a two-day festival of performance including theater, media, and other spectacles. All performances are on a suggested donation basis.

Sound Sculpture at Third Ward,Friday, March 6
What happens when you put seven artists in a room and ask them to create a sculptural object focusing on sound? A collaborative installation combining 100 algorithmically-controlled, sound-generating motors and field recordings, of course. And free beer!

3rd Ward
195 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn
L train to Morgan station
7-10p; $free

Williamsburg Armory Events on Saturday
In conjunction with the big Armory show in the city, lots going on here. There's a family scavenger hunt at 3, various tours, and the galleries are staying open late.


Shaam-e-Shauq Saturday at Monkeytown
A Hindi/Urdu poetry recitation event. The event will open with the screening of a song compilation showcasing poetic brilliance in words and visuals, over seven decades from Black and White to the current era. Recitations by Humaira Rahman, Altaf Tirmizi, Raeis Warsi, Vivek Sharma, Nishchaya Gera, Geetanjali Mittal.

Monkey Town
58 North 3rd Street, between Kent and Wythe, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
7:30p; $8 cover, $10 minimum drinks/dinner


New Enviro Space Opening Party, Sunday March 9
For over 20 years, Time's Up! Environmental Group has been working on environmental awareness and increasing non-polluting transportation. Our wide range of different types of group rides have helped attract thousands of new bicyclists which has encouraged others to ride and become every day commuters. With all these new riders it's also important that Time's Up! supports them with a place they can go to learn how to maintain and fix their bikes and also with the opportunity to bring their bikes- so they can work on them themselves and become more self-sufficient while also learning about community building, volunteering, and the bigger picture.

The new Time's Up! Brooklyn location at 99 South 6th Street, conveniently located near the Williamsburg Bridge- the most utilized Bridge by new cyclists. This will be our second location to support this new community of cyclists.

The opening party is also a tribute to all our volunteer instructors who have reached their 500th workshop including a women's-only workshop, which is taking place consistently every Monday night for close to four years.

Time's Up! Environmental Organization is 100 percent volunteer-run. Your contributions and volunteer efforts go directly into supporting campaigns, events, and change that you can feel in your lungs and see on the streets.

East River Bar
97 South 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
5p; $free-donation

RIP Bob Guskind

Robert Guskind, who ran the stellar Gowanus Lounge blog, died this week. Bob was a generous friend to this blog, to NAG, to me, and to anyone who cared about community issues. He provided careful reporting, great humor and valuable insight to topics all over Brooklyn, from Coney Island to the Newtown Creek. He will be greatly missed. Links to some tributes, below.

Brownstoner
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
New York Shitty
The Brooklyn Paper


(Gowanus Lounge is dark right now, but there is movement afoot to at least keep it up as an archive. We'll report any developments.)

News Roundup

The "New Domino" isn't a very good neighbor. (The developers of the lot on Driggs between N 8th and N 9th are the same way--and there is a bus stop there! The block is completely treacherous. I called 311, nothing happened.)

Aakash Nihalani perpetrated an art attack on Bedford's Lou Reed "installation". Faille followed suit.

Sound Fix may live on.

Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott have been indicted for second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault in the attack on Jose and Romel Sucuzhañay.

The coolest time in Williamsburg is always the time between when you got there and when everyone else did. This guy made a documentary about it.

Photo by Sheryl, via a Creative Commons license

Join the North Brooklyn Story Project, Wednesday March 11th

What: North Brooklyn Story Project Introductory Meeting
When: Wednesday, March 11th, 7 p.m.
Where: Neighbors Allied for Good Growth headquarters: 101 Kent Avenue at North 8th Street

The North Brooklyn Story Project is looking for people with stories to share about our community, and people who can listen to and record these stories.

Do you have a story to tell about life in Williamsburg or Greenpoint? A memory, a snapshot of life here today, an interesting interaction with community members? Do you know a neighbor or shopkeeper or friend with a story to tell? If so, you're invited to become part of the North Brooklyn Story Project.



The North Brooklyn Story Project is a new initiative of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG), a community organization that has been serving North Brooklyn since 1994. The project was developed to get residents talking and listening to each other – to build a vibrant and friendly North Brooklyn community.

The first step? To find people interested in telling their stories and people interested in interviewing them. Together, interviewers and storytellers will create an archive of North Brooklyn stories that all of us can use to feel connected to our diverse neighbors and neighborhoods – past, present, and future.

No special skills or equipment required – just ears and a voice. If you're interested, please come to the North Brooklyn Story Project Introductory Meeting, on Wednesday, March 11th, at 7 p.m. The meeting will take place at NAG headquarters (101 Kent Avenue at North 8th Street). At the meeting, we’ll discuss an upcoming training to be offered to our group by the Brooklyn Historical Society, as well as your ideas for making the project a success.

For more information, please contact Gregor Nemitz-Ziadie g.nemitzziadie@gmail.com

News Roundup, Forcing Responsibility on Developers Edition

State may require developers to consider the greenhouse gases their projects will emit.

A new City Planning regulation will impose tighter controls on waterfront development.

Apts & Lofts is closing Bedford office, but enlarging the one on Driggs.

The Print Shop on Bedford is closing. (Will it become the Print Bar??)

Northside Town Hall Art Event Sat Night! (And One At The New Pierogi Too)

Please join us Saturday night, March 7th from 7:30 pm –11:30 pm, when we hold the inaugural art exhibition at the Northside Town Hall site!

The piece showing will be “Running," by Michael Ballou, who some people may be familiar with through his work at Four Walls back in the day. There will also be David Watson on bagpipes
from 7:30 pm – 8:00 pm

More on the Town Hall:

Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) and the People’s Firehouse, Inc. (PFI) were awarded the rights to re-develop the former Engine 212 Firehouse at 134 Wythe Ave. by the City of New York into a full-service community and cultural center.

More art in the neighborhood:
Pierogi is opening a new space, The Boiler, also on Saturday night. It's at 191 North 14th Street (Between Berry St. and Wythe Ave.) More info here. This is from the release, sounds rad:

The inaugural exhibition will include works by three gallery artists: Tavares Strachan, Yoon Lee, and Jonathan Schipper. We will show, for the first time in New York, an ambitious project by Strachan, “The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want (Arctic Ice Project).” The centerpiece of this installation is a 4.5 ton block of ice, brought from the arctic and kept frozen by the power of the sun in a solar powered glass freezer. (See attached press release for full details.) We will also show a dramatic twenty-foot painting by Yoon Lee and Jonathan Schipper’s “215 Points of View”—a 6-foot diameter sphere covered with 215 surveillance cameras and corresponding monitors—suspended from the ceiling.

G stands for "Going Farther into Brooklyn"?

While we're hesitant to harp on any good news MTA-related. The G train is proposed to be extended to Church Avenue in Brooklyn this fall because of construction. This means an easier transfer to the 4th Avenue R train, as well as direct access to Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, and Kensington.

The catch? There will be severe service disruptions along the shared portion of the F & G trains during this time, particularly in 2011 when service will not be available in certain directions at Smith-9th Street and 15th Street.

And of course, they are proposing to cut the G Train's Queens leg beyond Court Square permanently as part of the doomsday budget.

Photo by Ken Stein via Creative Commons License

North Brooklyn Apparently Not Hostile to Hostels

Miss Heather's blog had a post last week about the "Luxe Hostel" now on offer over at 184 Eagle Street. For around $800 a month, you can rent a room, complete with locker, fully-equipped kitchen and purported Manhattan views. There's also the "Greenpoint Lodge" on Norman St., which doesn't have rates on its site. Both places are advertising on Craig's List, and Miss Heather has some evidence that the Luxe Hostel (sometimes also called the Luxe Guesthouse) people have more hostels--up to six--planned. There is even a Facebook page!*

Miss Heather raised some questions about if these units, filled to capacity, will exceed occupancy levels for the buildings, but I'm not sure the DoH is going to crack down on that when they've overlooked so much in the neighborhood already.

*Which reminds me, please join NAG's Facebook group!

Guest Post by Greenpoint Youth Court

Our Greenpoint Youth Court program is coming along very nicely--we have a space at the Polish-Slavic Center and 20 or so kids about to complete their training. We should be ready to start hearing cases in late March.

The Youth Court is a new youth development program that empowers teenagers in the Greenpoint & Williamsburg area to assign alternative sanctions to their peers who have committed minor infractions such as jumping the turnstiles, fighting and writing graffiti.

The Youth Court is currently in search of local artists willing to donate time to design and build a courtroom set for the program. An honorarium may be possible.

Please contact Eleanor Anderson at eanderson -at- crownheights -dot- org or 646-460-1764 if you are interested or for more information.

The program is expected to be up and running in late March. More updates to come!

-Eleanor Anderson, Greenpoint Youth Court