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Special Independence Day Williamsburg Walks, Plus Some Media Love

Read the articles that include mentions about Williamsburg Walks in the New York Times and the NY Post.

Play in the Street with Williamsburg Walks on the Fourth of July

Williamsburg's Bedford Avenue, from North 4th Street to North 9th Street, will be open to pedestrians on July 4th from noon to sunset, as part of a special Independence day Williamsburg Walks.

This Saturday, July 4th, Williamsburg Walks will offer several opportunities to enjoy the holiday weekend and play street games on five car-free city blocks. Come out for volleyball, soccer, and table tennis, or bring your own games as we will be providing tables, chairs, and plenty of street space.

Come to enjoy:

• Art from the Williamsburg Gallery Association;
• Family-oriented fitness classes by the Greenpoint YMCA;
• An old fashioned picnic by the Southside Community-Supported Agriculture;
• Free yoga classes by Yogalilly with the Classical Yoga Lifestyle Institute
• The "civic block" where visitors will learn how to get involved in organizations that contribute to making the neighborhood a better place;
• Numerous unique dinning and shopping experiences.

Williamsburg Walks, initiated by community members and organized this year by Neighbors Allied for Good Growth and The L Magazine, is a temporary pedestrianization of Bedford Avenue intended to create open space and promote community in North Brooklyn.

Williamsburg Walks is held on Saturdays from started on June 6th and will end on July 11th. This year the event has hosted thousands of residents and visitors who enjoyed a car-free Bedford Avenue. More information is at williamsburgwalks.org.

Williamsburg Walks is Saturday

Join us on Bedford tomorrow for Williamsburg Walks. Programming and more information are on the Williamsburg Walks website.

We got a nice shout out from Fox 5's morning program today

Eat REALLY Local

If you need some fresh veggies midweek and don't want to go to the city for the Union Square Greenmarket, but you can't wait for Saturday's McCarren Park Greenmarket, head over to the Automotive High School Farm Stand! The students have been nurturing their garden all year and now the neighborhood can enjoy the harvest--all the money goes to support the garden, the cooking club, and a farm trip for the students. The stand is open Wednesdays from 4–7, in front of the school, on Bedford between North 12th and Lorimer.

Right now they have hydrangea bouquets, garlic scapes, lavender flowers, lots of herbs, and rhubarb. Coming soon: tomatoes, cukes, flowers, onions, potatoes and much much more.

Photo courtesy Jenny Kessler

NAG Supports Updated Kent Avenue Redesign

NAG's Transportation Working Group advocates for safer streets and better/safer transit options in North Brooklyn. The Department of Transportation recently presented its updated redesign plan for Kent Avenue to Community Board 1 (view the presentation here.) The Transportation Working Group responded with the following letter to Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, expressing our support for the plan and making recommendations for improving pedestrian safety, prioritizing the future Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, and minimizing the potential impacts of a truck traffic reroute.

To volunteer with the NAG Transportation Working Group, please contact transportation@nag-brooklyn.org

Dear Commissioner Sadik-Kahn:

Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) is a community-based advocacy organization serving North Brooklyn. On behalf of the residents of this neighborhood, we want to thank the Department of Transportation for your efforts to resolve the issues surrounding the redesign of Kent Avenue and let you know that we strongly support the new design.

We appreciate your listening to community suggestions in response to the implementation of the first redesign. We also appreciate your commitment to safe cycling and future realization of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which will be an asset to our community. We are particularly excited about increased connectivity between Bedford and Kent Avenues and increased safety for cyclists via the floating lanes. We are also pleased to see that the new plan restores loading zones for our local businesses.

However, we still have a few concerns that we would like to address. The foremost of these is pedestrian safety. As you know, Kent Avenue is quickly changing from an industrial to a residential street. In addition, the East River State Park, particularly with its increased programming in the summer months, regularly draws large crowds including families. We need more attention to this increase in pedestrian traffic immediately -- many intersections, such as N. 8th (at the entrance to the park), N. 4th, and N. 14th, would almost certainly qualify for traffic lights now. The community simply cannot wait for another lengthy study -- the danger is already there. We also urge that the final design narrow the crossing distance on Kent for pedestrians as much as possible.

In addition, we request that the DOT replace only the number of parking spaces that will be available upon completion of the greenway, and look into placing planters within the buffer as a preview of the greenway's landscaping.

Finally, as you are aware, there is much concern in the neighborhood about the truck traffic that will be rerouted to Wythe Avenue and North 11th Street. We encourage you to implement traffic calming measures, such as stop signs, traffic lights, neckdowns and/or road diets on these streets, and to maintain open communication with the community during and after the plan's implementation to assess the implications of this rerouting.

We thank you again for your attention to this issue and we look forward to a dialogue with you as this project moves forward.

Sincerely,
Lacey Tauber, Kevin Vincent, Michael Freedman-Schnapp, and Alexandra Sweet
NAG Transportation Working Group

image via Gowanus Lounge

Sign the Pool Petition to Keep McCarren McCarren!

As you may have read, there is a plan going around the Parks Department to sell the naming rights to several New York Park facilities, including McCarren Pool. While the Parks Department keeps saying that the plan is only in the preliminary stages and that McCarren may or may not end up on the "For Sale" list, local pro-pool activist group Poolaid is getting ahead of the game and collecting signatures against the renaming of McCarren Pool. (Poolaid was created by myself and by NAG co-chair Michael Freedman-Schnapp, along with Beka Economopoulos and others).

You can sign the petition online here, or at the NAG table at Williamsburg Walks--on the Nortwest corner or North 7th and Bedford. Below is the Poolaid statement regarding selling the naming rights.


STATEMENT AGAINST
THE RENAMING OF MCCARREN POOL

In 1809 the Parks Department named McCarren Park after Patrick Henry McCarren, a local politician responsible for many of the parks and green spaces in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. In 2009, the centennial year of McCarren’s death, the Parks Department wants take that name back by selling the naming rights to McCarren Pool.

It’s a terrible idea. Here’s why.

• North Brooklyn has fought for years to get MCCARREN pool reopened. We didn’t fight to for the right to swim in AT&T pool, AmEx pool, or any pool but McCarren Pool.

• McCarren Pool is already paid for, by taxpayers. The pool was built with taxpayer money and is being renovated with taxpayer money. The corporation would be contributing nothing to our community, but gaining great benefits. Other things in other parks, like Wollman Rink, are named for their *benefactors*, for those who donated the money for the facility. McCarren is already named for its benefactor, Patrick Henry McCarren.

• McCarren Pool is famous because of our local promoters, our local bands, and our citizens. It was longtime residents like Jelly NYC and bands like TV on the Radio who made McCarren into a premier destination, written up in national magazines, not some multinational corporation.

• Patrick Henry McCarren is an important part of local history. He is responsible for many of the parks we have today, and for the building of the WIlliamsburg Bridge. He also had ties to the sugar industry and the Havemeyer family, who owned Domino Sugar. Greenpoint and Williamsburg are undergoing extraordinary changes—every day, physically, we see our history going away. Patrick Henry McCarren, with his connections to local landmarks and local history, should be used as a teaching tool, not be erased from the pool that bears his name.

• Greenpoint and Williamsburg have already gotten a raw deal from Parks. We haven’t gotten the parks we were promised in the rezoning. The waterfront is still fenced off. It is wrong to sell the open space we do have, that we fought for, to a corporation.


Please sign and forward the petition to keep McCarren named McCarren.
You don't need to live here to sign it.

Williamsburg Walks on June 20th - CANCELED

Feel free to be singing in the rain, but there won't be any walking in the rain. Due to the particularly bad weather forecast for tomorrow, we are forced to cancel the Williamsburg Walks.

"Um, Peter? This computer can't open a PDF... and it doesn't seem to have Word or Excel, either."

NAG can guide you through the process of securing Section 8 housing, write a grant for the local town hall building, or forge collaborations with politicians, academics, and local residents, but when it comes to wireless routers, upgrading operating systems, or increasing RAM, we need help!

*Sigh* If only there was a gallant computer-literate NAGer out there somewhere! Someone who just gets all this computer stuff and can whip us into shape in a mere afternoon (or less)! You know the type we're talking about: those guys who get together with their computer friends over a beer to geek it up about Linux or the latest wireless gadgets, and who gave up the mouse ages ago in favor of the command window. It wouldn't take much for a computer fella (or gal) to fix us up, good as new, so then maybe the tripping hazard which is our wired internet connection could be retired.

In all seriousness, the NAG office could use some help updating its computer and internet resources. The good news is that we don't expect it to take a lot of time or energy on your part. What we really need is someone out there who knows his/her way around a motherboard enough to help us figure out how to do some pretty routine things, such as:

• Convert to a wireless router and help choose and install wireless cards, as needed
• Update an old computer to a later Windows operating system
• Install more memory, etc in said old computer, as needed
• Perform routine maintenance

Let us know! Call the office at 718-384-2248 or email info -at- nag-brooklyn -dot- org

-Rima

Weekend Stuff!

Williamsburg Walks NAG and the L magazine bring you week two of the Bedford ped-fest, where we close off the street to vehicular traffic and invite the community to make the most of it. Come and lounge at the cafe-style tables, check out what local organizations are up to--you can even take home a kitten! This week is extra high energy because it coincides with the L's Northside Festival, a four-day extravaganza of music and art. (John Vanderslice is tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburgh!)

Crest Fest The annual art show at Crest Hardware on Metropolitan has expanded this year with more food, bands, and the usual installations of hardware-themed art throughout the store. It's free--all proceeds from sales of food, etc., will go to benefit Macri Park. Saturday at noon, goes all day.

Mini-Golf in Bushwick This is just extremely rad.

Local heroes El Puente, in concert with a coalition of other organizations and Councilmember Robert Jackson, are rallying to preserve anti-dropout funding in the city budget. We all benefit from keeping kids in school. Here is what El Puente does with their funding:

El Puente is a community-based youth and community development
organization that serves over 1,200 youth ages 6-21 and their
families from primarily the most at-risk communities in North Brooklyn. Serving students from
over 75 Brooklyn schools (including its own NYC public HS, the El Puente Academy for Peace
and Justice) from all 12 Brooklyn school districts that span 13 City Council Districts (33, 34, 35,
36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47 & 48), El Puente successfully engages youth in a
comprehensive, holistic membership-driven program. Our nationally recognized model includes
1-on-1 mentoring, academic support services, college/vocational prep, pre-professional arts
training, health/wellness support & civic engagement opportunities. Family support includes
immigration counseling, social service referrals and adult GED/ESL classes.

DATE: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
TIME: 2:30 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.
LOCATION: Meet at El Puente 211 S. 4th Street, Williamsburg
We will travel by subway to join hundreds of students & families to rally on the steps of City Hall.

For more info, contact Theresa Doherty tdoherty@elpuente.us

Save Your Community Board -- Rally Tomorrow

Your community board needs you! While it's true that the city's CB system is flawed, it is still one of the best and most effective routes available for community activists like ourselves to interact with City government. Mayor Bloomberg has proposed cutting $35,000/year from the boards' already-meager $200,000/year budget, which covers all employees, office expenses, etc. This will mean layoffs of essential staff, and will dramatically affect boards' ability to function effectively.

As anyone who has attended a community board meeting knows, boards are charged with a wide range of tasks - from providing constituent services, to reviewing City plans and proposals. They also have a City Charter mandate to undertake comprehensive planning for their districts; however, most boards lack the technical expertise and the finances necessary to do this. Community boards need MORE support from the City to function effectively, not less.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, along with the other 4 BPs and all 59 community boards, will rally tomorrow at 11am at City Hall to urge the City Council to fully restore community board funding for the coming fiscal year. Join them and let the Council know that you support your community board!

Williamsburg Walks!

Williamsburg Walks had a successful kick-off yesterday! The NAG and Town Hall tables couldn't hold a candle to puppies and pottery demonstrations (see below), but still a great time was had by all!

See you the next 5 Saturdays- the event is every Saturday until July 11.

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures from June 6:

Walking Down Division Street

I had the chance to talk to a friend's urban photography class at the Greenpoint YMCA's PS 16 Afterschool last week and had a lot of fun. I spoke to the kids about how neighborhoods change, then we took a walk around Division Street to see how different areas of the neighborhood had been impacted by the urban renewal program the City did in the 1940s & 50s to build highways and housing projects.

A photo comparing the urban renewal area north of Division to the older buildings south of Division:

A photo of the Williamsburgh branch of the Public Library that was cantilevered over the BQE.

Cristian helped me take these photos of stores on Lee Ave:

-Michael

Williamsburg Walks is Back Tomorrow, Saturday June 6

The event runs noon to sunset, Bedford Avenue, N4th to N9th Streets.

And we've got the schedule of programming up. Learn about local food from the Southside CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture), view art presented by the Williamsburg Gallery Association, acoustic music presented by the L Magazine, or exercise with your kids in a streetside class presented by the Greenpoint Y!

More information is at www.williamsburgwalks.org. Also see the article in today's Metro.

We could still use a few volunteers, especially in the late afternoon, so contact williamsburgwalks@gmail.com if you want to help.

June 4: Brooklyn Day & Rent Party at Teddy's Bar & Grill

Thursday, June 4th, from 7pm on, celebrate Brooklyn Day at Teddy's (N8th & Berry Street), with a night of all Brooklyn music, hosted by D.J. "d", Borough President Marty Markowitz, and special guests, including legendary Brooklyn recording artist, "Set-It-Off" Strafe, spinning his own mixes, Councilman David Yassky and other borough celebs.

It is also Teddy's monthly Rent Party, where raffle sales benefit, 50 % to the winner, for their rent, and 50% to the Town Hall building around the corner. Raffle tickets sell for $2 each, or 3 for $5.00.

June 4: Safer Streets for Walking, Biking, and Driving

Join us at the Diamond Bar (43 Franklin Street), Thursday June 4 at 7:30pm to write letters to the city and elected officials asking to improve proposed plans for Kent Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge.

At the last Community Board Transportation meeting, we heard updates from the DOT about the Kent Avenue redesign, and the new design plan for the Pulaski Bridge. You can download the Kent presentation here, which essentially involves making traffic one way, with a "floating" 2-way bike lane, separated from traffic by a buffer and parked cars/turning lane. The Pulaski plans are not available online yet, but basically involve some striping and signage to encourage a safer interaction between pedestrians and cyclists on the pathway.

We want to support the general impetus behind both plans, but we have a few specific improvements we want. More immediate attention is needed to safe walking and crossing Kent Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge needs a study that will ultimately lead to more space for walking and biking long-term.

Contact transportation@nag-brooklyn.org to let us know if you're coming.

Will PoolAid Man Ride Again? Parks Department Puts McCarren Pool Up For Sale

After all the time and energy PoolAid (founded by NAG board members Michael Freedman-Schnapp and Mikki Halpin) and other community groups spent getting McCarren Pool reopened, we were shocked to read in the New York Post (via Brooklyn Vegan) that the naming rights to McCarren Pool are up for sale. Yes, for only $3 million, a corporation can erase years of history and community use and put their name on our pool.

This is utterly wrong. We at NAG, along with everyone else, would like to know why this is happening--to our pool and not to any others. (Other places up for grabs include a track and field house in Staten Island and a sports facility in Chelsea.)

The renovation of McCarren has been fully funded. Our community is not for sale.


We've left messages for the Parks Department and the mayor's office, asking:

Is this true?

How were the facilities that are for sale selected?

Why was there no community input?

Why is McCarren for sale, since it was fully funded?

Why is the money going to the city general fund and not to our underfunded parks? It could be used to build the parks we were promised and didn't get!

Is the Parks department at all sensitive that companies like Exxon Mobil could seize this opportunity to further attempt to whitewash their image and try to make us forget the damage they have done to this community?

ADDENDUM: Just got off the phone with Phil Abramson from the Parks Department. He said that the Post got hold of a preliminary list and the program is still in the planning stages. I asked how the items on the list got on it, and he couldn't comment, except to stress that it is a preliminary list. He said that many facilities in the city are named for donors, citing Wollman Rink. I pointed out that the Wollman family had actually paid for all of Wollman Rink, and that selling off McCarren is totally different, that the name has a community history, it is a name we fought for when getting the pool reopened. He said that the park would still be named McCarren, just not the pool.

I asked if there would be any community input to this process and he said he wasn't sure--later he said that after the RFP is issued that there would be community input. I asked about the timeline for this and again he wasn't sure. I asked why the money would be going to the general fund and not to our community. He said the city needs the money to pay for firefighters and public services in this economy. He also said several times that this might not happen because possibly no one will come up with the money.

Abramson was very nice, but I have the feeling this is like when McCarren Pool was almost given over to Clear Channel as an exclusive vendor--it wasn't until we found out and protested that it was opened up to community groups and anyone who wanted to program a show. It is the people who live here, and local businesses like Jelly NYC who made McCarren Pool famous, and we would like for it to remain our pool. Not for sale.