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Speak Out On The Rezoning, Wednesday June 3

Ward Dennis, NAG board member and chair of CB1's land use committee, is urging those who can to attend the next hearing about the contextual rezoning at the City Planning Commission:

The City Planning Commission hearing for the Greenpoint/Williamsburg contextual rezoning is next Wednesday, June 3rd. There have been a few new developments that warrant our attention. 1) the Marino Tile building development on Graham Avenue (across from the CB1 offices) is trying to vest a 12-story tower; 2) another tower currently under construction on Franklin Avenue is trying to vest as many floors as possible; and 3) someone has been posting fliers in Greenpoint trying to get homeowners worked up over the zoning.

Given all this, it is particularly important that the community gets as many supporters as possible out to the hearing next Wednesday. The message is simple - the rezoning is important, and it should be done as quickly as possible.

Please come out and testify next Wednesday. The hearing starts at 10:00 am, and will be held at 22 Reade Street (corrected) in Manhattan (two blocks north of City Hall, near the Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 and Chambers Street J/M/Z subway stops.

Note: The DCP website gives the time as 10 am. Sorry for the confusion.

Williamsburg-Greenpoint Parks Lose $112 Million of Promises

Hot on the heels of Where's My Park? Day, the New York Post is reporting on the shortfalls of the Parks Department. The city's revised capital plan has cut $338 million from parks--and that is just since the preliminary budget in January. Parks throughout the city are affected, and many promised parks from PlanNYC are being put off or cancelled altogether.

The city blames "the economy" for the PlanNYC broken promises, but for North Brooklyn, the promises were made long before the economy took a dive. We were promised these parks as part of the rezoning--we've got the towers, where are the parks? The financial crisis may be a convenient excuse now, but if there had been any movement when the coffers were full, it would not ring so hollow.

Speak out about our need for parks! Watch this space for more actions from our Open Space Committee, and send your thoughts to the mayor, the parks department, OSA, and local newspapers and media outlets.

Williamsburg Walks Returns for Summer 2009 June 6th!

The L Magazine and Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) have partnered this year to organize Williamsburg Walks 2009. We invite North Brooklyn residents, visitors and merchants to celebrate the community on a pedestrianized Bedford Avenue.

Key Details

What: Williamsburg's lively main drag will be closed to cars and fully open to pedestrians

When: Every Saturday from June 6th to July 11th, from noon to sunset.

Where: Bedford Avenue from North 4th to North 9th Streets. All cross streets will be open to traffic. Northbound B61 will re-route up Berry Street.

More information is at http://www.billburg.com/walks, including a "StreetFilm" about last year's program.

Programming

This year, we're hoping to make the event even more enjoyable for the neighborhood--feedback was collected during the successful 2008 season that has informed many of this year's improvements. To more fully activate the streetscape, area non-profits and businesses will be organizing events and activities--urban gardening, children's classes, bike safety classes, performances, and many more.

If you are interested in offering non-amplified programming for one or more of the blocks in Williamsburg Walks, contact us at williamsburgwalks@gmail.com.

We Need You to Volunteer!

Williamsburg Walks is also a great opportunity to support the community. We need people to help set up and clean up after the event each Saturday, as well as helping us publicize it beforehand. Click here to learn about volunteering this summer.

Contributions

If you or your organization would like to contribute to Williamsburg Walks (organize activities, donate street furniture, etc.), please email williamsburgwalks@gmail.com.

94th Precinct Community Council Meeting

For those who couldn't make it, once again Miss Heather has done the community a valuable service by documenting what happened. Discussion of crime stats, the death of Violetta Kryrzak, and more.

Note to the person who left a comment last week regarding drug dealing and problems in their building on the south side: You didn't leave any contact information, and I would love to speak with you further and see if some progress can be made. Email us at blog@nag-brooklyn.org--Mikki

Where's My Park? Photos!

Thanks to all who came out and represented for Where's My Park? Day! The indefatigable organizers, Emily Gallagher and Dewey Thompson, had a great turnout for the event, which featured the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, ghost picnics and zombie soccer players, as well as intelligent advocacy at each stop from community activists. More info later--in the meantime, here is a link to some images.

Photo by Sarah Hampton

Events this Week

Monday (today): 94th precinct community council meeting, 7:30 pm
Capital One Bank basement, 807 Manahattan Ave. Enter on Calyer

Tuesday, May 19: 33rd District City Council debate, 7:00 pm
Harry Van Arsdale H.S. Auditorium, North 6th Street & Roebling

Where's My Park?!?

Working with our friends GWAPP, Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park Barge Park Pals, Friends of Transmitter Park, Park Moms, the People's Firehouse, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra and our friends at Assemblymember Joe Lentol and a Representative from Council Member David Yassky's office, we asked the City "Where's My Park?!?" yesterday.

Because of the public attention that was brought to the promises from the 2005 rezoning going unfulfilled, the City has made a new round of committments to speed up access to waterfront parks. These commitments were made to the community by the Parks Department in an email from North Brooklyn Parks Administrator Stephanie Thayer:

- Manhattan Avenue Street end greening is open to the public as of today.
- Northside Piers (at North 5th St/Kent Ave.) will be open 7 days per week within the next two weeks.
- Transmitter Park will be opened for use this summer, with interior fencing that provides as much safe site access as possible.
- We are working to improve Newton Barge Terminal Park to provide waterfront views this summer.
- Mayor's office will proceed with an independent study to further the relocation of the MTA.
- Parks Dept. will hold regular public listening sessions about the parks commitments of the rezoning.
- We will break ground on the first phase of Bushwick Inlet Park, a soccer field, between North 9th and North 10th, in June.

More images of the event:

Phantom children playing in the phantom Bushwick Inlet Park



Phantom children in the phantom Transmitter Park @ Greenpoint Ave.


Christine Holowacz & Emily Gallagher at 65 Commercial Street A/K/A the MTA Site




Assembly Member Joe Lentol and Phil Depaolo



The Rude Mechanical Orchestra





Michelle & Jim Rodecker bearing the NAG Banner

Photos by Rachelle House and JD Fox

The MTA Fix

We are waiting to see how the details pan out, but we are relieved that the State Assembly, State Senate and Governor acted this past week to prevent the worst fare hikes and transit cuts that would have been necessary had no solution been formulated.

The downside of this agreement is that it only partially rights the ship of the MTA and it does so on the backs of transit riding households with a 16% increase in the base fare. As additional money is needed in the near future, the state government needs to recognize that transit riders and employers have already shouldered their share of the burden.

The long-term fiscal status of the MTA is questionable, especially when it comes to having the cash to invest in the urgent capital needs of the system. Therefore future fixes need to better balance the brunt in such a way that helps people make better transportation choices. Whether it is a land tax, a congestion fee, a bridge toll, a gas tax or some other idea we haven't heard of yet, we will need a more equitable funding structure similar in spirit, if not substance, to that proposed by the Ravitch Commission.

We're glad that we will be able to get to work tomorrow, but worried that we won't be able to get there so easily in the future.

Where's My Park Day?!

We'd love to pitch in on "It's My Park! Day," but our parks are missing! Don't let the city get away with giving us towers and traffic without the promised open space and the waterfront!

Join us for a terrifying tour of our not-parks! If we don't ask, loud and clear, we may never get the parks we deserve and that were promised by the city in the agreement to allow development of our waterfront.

Dress as if you had a park! Recreational equipment and musical instruments recommended.

12:30pm Join us for sign-making and crafts at the NAG Office (N 8th and Kent)
2 pm The tour begins at What-Should-Be-Bushwick-Inlet-Park--Kent Ave and N. 14th St.

Yassky Rally For MTA Site

As a complement to "Where's My Park?!? Day," Councilmember David Yassky is calling attention to the City's failure to make the MTA site into a park. From his office:

Councilmember Yassky is holding a "Rally for a Waterfront Park in Greenpoint!" on Thursday, May 14th (that's this Thursday) to remind Mayor Bloomberg about his promise to create a park on the MTA site located at 65 Commercial St.
Four years later: "Where's Our Park!"

Rally for a Waterfront Park in Greenpoint!
Thursday, May 14th
Steps of City Hall
1:30 pm Sharp
(take the 4, 5, or 6 subway to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall )

Join Councilmember Yassky, your neighbors and friends and tell Mayor Bloomberg,
"We want a waterfront park not a parking lot!"

The Crash of Condo-Burg

NAG organizer Ryan Kuonen is featured on Work Only, a web TV show by Shanna Maurizi that focuses on "art and politics, from [their] secret headquarters in Brooklyn and San Francisco." (Emphasis added)

Friday May 15: Make the Pulaski Safe for Everybody!

PULASKI BRIDGE WALK - RIDE - RALLY!

~With pathway feeling the crunch, walkers and bikers rally for more breathing room~

Friday, May 15 @ 6 pm - evening commute
Jackson Avenue and 11th Street, Long Island City (Queens entrance to Pulaski Bridge)
March, ride, and rally for safer conditions on the Pulaski Bridge

After Party at the Creek, 10-93 Jackson Ave, LIC, Happy Hour until 9:00 p.m. Closest Public Transportation: 7 Train to Vernon/Jackson or B61 Bus to Jackson Ave and 11th Street

Rezoning Turns Four Today--Are You Celebrating?

Today marks four years since large portions of Williamsburg and Greenpoint were rezoned. We've got a lot of new buildings, not enough new parks, and a whole lot of questions and issues left to be resolved. NAG is dedicated to making sure that the city keeps the promises made during the rezoning, as well as fighting for affordable housing, preserving neighborhood character, and creating publicly accessible open space.

NAG board member Ward Dennis has a great overview of rezoning-related issues on his blog Brooklyn 11211. What do you think? Has your block changed for the better or worse? Do you have to leave for work earlier and earlier because the train is so crowded? Do you think the police are overwhelmed by the demands of the new demographics? Chime in in the comments, email us, or come to a NAG meeting to share your thoughts.

And if you want to join the fight to get our community its due, turn out for Where's My Park? Day this weekend!

Guys and Dolls opens Thursday!

The Automotive High School production of Guys and Dolls opens Thursday, May 14th and has two more shows on Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th. All shows are at 7 pm in the Automotive High auditorium.

Automotive has come a long way, thanks to dedicated teachers and administrators who put in long hours turning the school around. The music and drama departments have only been around a few years and have made a huge difference in school spirit and fostering a sense of achievement and responsibility in the kids. Plus, they put on a really great show--come out and show your support!

Gentlemen (and Ladies), start your composting

If you're like me, you've been dropping your banana peels and carrot ends in a bucket and taking it to the North Brooklyn Compost Project in McCarren Park. They could use some help this weekend getting ready to open up, so check them out and support them on "In Our BackYard" (ioby.org)!

Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park: May 11

If you're interested in Where's My Park?!? Day on Saturday the 16th, you might also be interested in...

Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park Meeting
Monday May 11, 2009
7pm @ Greenpoint Reformed Church
136 Milton Street
RSVP to bushwickinletpark@gmail.com

Come learn about how to take our future 28 acre waterfront park from a fantasy to a reality.

-Learn more about Where's My Park Day on May 16th
-Plan garbage clean ups and other community outreach activities along the future Bushwick Inlet Park
-Letter writing and other ideas for advocacy
-Volunteers needed to help with the website & other activities

Get Out and Meet Your Neighbors This Weekend!

Three great, free events.

Friday night: Williamsburg Gallery Association’s neighborhood-wide art party
6–9pm
Neighborhood wide

Get a map here. I got this info from TimeOut: Participating spaces include 3rd Ward (195 Morgan Ave between Meadow and Stagg Sts, 3rdward.com), Art 101 (101 Grand St between Berry St and Wythe Ave, art101brooklyn.com), Parker’s Box (193 Grand St between Bedford and Driggs Aves, parkersbox.com), Front Room (147 Roebling Ave between Hope St and Metropolitan Ave, frontroom.org), Like the Spice (224 Roebling St between South 2nd and 3rd Sts, likethespice.com), Capricious Space (103 Broadway between Bedford Ave and Berry St, capriciousspace.com), Artbreak (195 Grand St between Bedford and Driggs Ave, second floor; artbreakgallery.com) and more than a dozen others. Troll through the art, dance your face off (there’s an 8pm tribute to Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, and New Order at Like the Spice) and drink yourself silly before trucking it over to Zebulon (258 Wythe Ave between Metropolitan Ave and North 3rd St, zebuloncafeconcert.com; $4) for a killer after-party with guest DJs.



Saturday: Fifth Annual Bicycle Fetish Day
12-6 p.m. City Reliquary, 370 Metropolitan Avenue
City Reliquary is throwing a block party for your bicycle. At their fifth annual Bicycle Fetish Day, there will be bike related events including awards and celebrations of bicycle culture, bike artwork, bicycle rides, and bicycle beautification stations to spiff up your wheels. Food and beer will be available for purchase. An afterparty in City Reliquary’s spacious backyard will follow later that night.


Note: This is a great, kid-friendly event, and if you aren't familiar with the City Reliquary, you should be, run by a local fireman and some other community-boosters, it is a great source of local history and perhaps even more importantly, fun.

Sunday Night: The Yes Men Fix the World and Bhopal Survivors
6-8pm
The Change You Want To See Gallery
83 Havemeyer St, at Metropolitan Ave

This Sunday survivors and activists from Bhopal will join us for a special preview screening of The Yes Men Fix The World (dir. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr, 2009), a new film in which they appear.

The Yes Men Fix The World follows a couple of gonzo political activists as they infiltrate the world of big business and pull off outrageous pranks that highlight the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. The film begins with the Yes Men's famous 2004 impersonation of a Dow Chemical spokesperson on BBC World News. In a broadcast that reached 300 million people, they took responsibility for the world's largest industrial accident, causing Dow's market value to drop $2 billion in less than a half hour.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal Disaster. More than 23,000 have died as a result of the catastrophic gas leak and ongoing water contamination. To this day, residents and allies around the world continue fighting to force the company responsible to make amends. Key organizers from Bhopal will lead a Q&A about the campaign after the screening. This will be their first occasion to watch the film in which they are featured.

CB1 Public Safety Committee Meeting Thursday

This is probably a good place to go if you want to discuss the high-speed chase and its violent aftermath, and discuss communication strategies before the precinct meeting on the 18th.

May 7, 2009
6:30PM
CB #1's District Office
435 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(Corner of Frost Street)

May 16th: Where's My Park?!? Day

Remember the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning? In it, we were told that in exchange for enormous buildings along the water front we would recieve a number of parks and open spaces to relax in, to get up by the water, to play soccer, to do whatever we please!

Not one park has been completed, not one has been opened.

So while the rest of New York City is celebrating "It's My Park Day!" on May 16th, NAG and GWAPP will be instead asking, "Where's My Park?!?" in an act of community awareness and civic action.

Bring your kids and your grandmas to the NAG Office (N 8th and Kent) at 12:30p to make some pro-park crafts and picket signs, and then join us at 2:00p at Bushwick Inlet (N 14th and Kent) as we march down past several of the promised parks' locked gates. The day will end with a block party full of music, games, refreshments, and community... in a parking lot.

Come help us make a scene! It's the only way we'll unplug the City's deaf ears across the river.

33rd District Council Race Debate

Come join the New Kings Democrats as they host a debate between the candidates for the Democratic nomination for the City Council seat in the 33rd District. The 33rd District includes Greenpoint, Brooklyn Heights, parts of Park Slope, Williamsburg, downtown Brooklyn, and Boerum Hill.

Tuesday, May 19th, 7:00-8:30pm
Harry Van Arsdale H.S. Auditorium
North 6th Street & Roebling

Turnout in the council election on September 15th is going to be very important to make sure that our neighborhoods get the resources they deserve! The candidates are: Isaac Abraham, Ken Baer, Doug Biviano, Ken Diamondstone, Steve Levin, Jo Anne Simon, and Evan Thies.

News Roundup

Last week a high-speed chase in Greenpoint ended tragically, with the death of Violet Krzyzak, a 38-year-old mother. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones. Here are some stories about the incident.
Streetsblog
Greenpointers

NAG Board member, CB1 member, and Brooklyn 11211 blogger Ward Dennis says there is a way to solve the Kent Ave bike lane drama and he is one of the few we trust on this topic.

The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition announced the artists for the India Street Mural project.

The park at the end of Manhattan Avenue (TPateoMH? Terminus Park? Anything?) is finally open. Miss Heather has photos, and this writer was there yesterday! It is lovely.

Real estate stuff: Northside Piers price cuts, and some at 273 Berry. The Love Chapel is for sale. (Someone buy it! We need more theaters!)

Once again, Celebrate Brooklyn celebrates by not having any events in North Brooklyn, despite featuring our artists and musicians. It's fun anyway. Here's the lineup.

Upcoming Events: Mark Your Calendars!

We will have more about these events in the days to come, but block out the time now--you won't want to miss them!

May 14, 15, 16: The Automotive High School Musical! This year it's "Guys and Dolls"
May 16: Where's My Park? Day
May 17: Bike Safety Workshop "Train the Trainers"
May 18: 94th Precinct Community Council Meeting

Note: Neighborhood Watch is looking for a blogger! If you are a good writer and care about the community, email us some clips and ideas. blog@nag-brooklyn.org