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An Open Call for Community Organizers and Volunteers

If you've been thinking about getting involved in our neighborhood, now is a GREAT time to do it!! We have a wide range of projects - from greening and open space, to transportation issues and housing - and a need for all kinds (creatives, artists, event and benefit planners, translators, technicians, etc.) There really is something for everyone!!

Northside Town Hall Community & Cultural Center

We're working on raising the almost $2 million that will be needed to transform the former Fire Engine Co. 212 building, at Wythe Ave. & N. 9th St into a community center. NAG and the People's Firehouse, Inc. formed a new non-profit to renovate the building into a center that will offer low-cost space for community organizing forever, as well as giving us a central place for the community to meet, celebrate, advocate and have fun. We need volunteers who have energy and creative ideas to raise capital money, through such as large benefit concerts, events in the local food and beverage industry, grantsmanship, art happenings, etc.

Please contact Felice at teddysbng@gmail.com to get involved

Make Greenpoint Green

We're looking for some green thumbs who are interested in urban beautification. This September, we'll be updating a block of Greenpoint by having an educational tutorial on tree bed health and improvement of the streetscape with fall plantings. We're also always looking for creative and motivated people who want to help design and advocate for more open space in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Please contact openspace@nag-brooklyn.org to get involved.

Tenant Rights Graphic Novel

We're looking for artists, collaborators, flyer distributors and Spanish and Polish translators for a unique graphic novel that serves as a tenant rights guide.

Please contact Allison Davis allisoncorinne@gmail.com to help plan next steps.

The North Brooklyn Story Project

The North Brooklyn Story Project is a volunteer-driven oral history project that collects, shares, and preserves diverse memories and experiences from Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Established in 2008, the Story Project aims to foster community among North Brooklyn residents and build a lasting resource to inspire future projects. We are looking for people interested in interviewing storytellers and telling their own stories about life in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Equipment is now being purchased, and we will begin recording stories and creating an online audio database in the fall. The next Story Project meeting will be held in September, with many opportunities to get involved in project fundraising, communications, technology, and training. All North Brooklyn residents and workers are very welcome.

Interested individuals should contact Rachel Bennett (rachtree@gmail.com).

More Bike Racks and Less Truck Traffic

We are partnering with Transportation Alternatives and the Open Planning Project on a new web-based system to identify locations for placement of new bike racks in CB1. We need volunteers to survey potential sites and conduct outreach to businesses. We also need volunteers to assist OUTRAGE, another community group, with counting trucks for a neighborhood study.

Contact Lacey Tauber transportation@nag-brooklyn.org to get involved

Affordable Housing Forum: Saturday April 25th

Saturday, April 25th, 2009
10 am-4:30 pm
Boricua College, Northside Campus,
186 North 6th Street (between Bedford & Driggs)

Speakers, Workshops, Community Resources & Food!

Come hear community leaders speak about the future of your neighborhood (and the history too!)

• Forming tenants associations
• Rent over-charges for stabilized units
• Legal issues
• Maintenance and services
• Loft issues
• Stories from the neighborhood
• Literature and hand-outs available
• Some sessions in Spanish and Polish

UPDATE: SCHEDULE FOR CONFERENCE HAS BEEN RELEASED

Sponsored by the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Tenant Anti-Displacement Collaborative

• Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG)
• People's Firehouse
• Los Sures
• St Nicholas NPC
• Churches United
• Brooklyn Legal Services Corp A
• North Brooklyn Development Corp

With generous support of many local businesses

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

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

Reclaim Open Spaces With NAG Monday, February 9th

The NAG Open Space Community Committee Meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, February 9th at 7pm. The meeting will be at 179 Green Street between McGuinness and Manhattan in Greenpoint


Meeting agenda to include location and planning for future open spaces in South and East Williamsburg, seeding and gardening initiatives throughout North Brooklyn, further development of the open space website uniting park, park groups, programs, amenity lists and more!

Photo by mercurialn via flickr (creative commons license)

Join us February 3rd to build the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center

On Thanksgiving Day 1975, the City told the firefighters of Engine 212 in Williamsburg it was going to close because of the city's dire fiscal crisis. Within hours, a crowd of 300 local residents gathered in front of the firehouse to prevent the city from removing the equipment from the firehouse to close it down. People stayed there around the clock for the next 16 months until the City agreed to keep it open. The firehouse was ultimately closed in 2003, but NAG and the People's Firehouse have been awarded the building to develop it into a community center.

We need your help to raise the funds to renovate the building and make the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center a reality. When completed, the facilty will provide affordable office and meeting space for community organizations, create a street-level exhibition space for local cultural and arts organizations, and commemorate FDNY Company #212 and other local history.

Join us Tuesday February 3rd at 6pm to get started fundraising from the community on this project. We need to harness the full creativity and civic spirit of the neighborhood to make this a reality.
We will meet at Union Pool-- 484 Union Ave at Meeker Ave

Other Upcoming Events

Our Open Space working group is dedicated to fighting for more parks and access to the waterfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
Join us February 9th at 7pm at Green Oaks Club, 179 Green Street between McGuinness and Manhattan in Greenpoint.

Our Transportation working group is starting a road safety campaign for bikers and drivers and fighting the proposed cuts in local subway and bus services.
Join us February 12th at 7pm at the NAG Office, 101 Kent Avenue at North 8th Street across from the State Park.

Let's Build a Better Greenpoint/Williamsburg Together

Our new President called on ordinary Americans yesterday to work together to get this country back on track. In that spirit, NAG is inviting you to help build the future of a better Greenpoint/Williamsburg.

NAG is on the move with our 2009 Organizing Agenda. Join our working groups at one of these upcoming meetings.

Our Transporation working group is meeting Thursday Jan 22nd at 7pm at Teddy's backroom to talk about starting a road safety campaign for bikers and drivers and how to fight the proposed cuts in local subway and bus service.
Jan 22, 7pm, 96 Berry Street between N. 8th and N. 9th. Streets

Our Quality-of-Life/Community Character group is also meeting Thursday Jan 22nd at 7pm at the NAG office to review the results of their trash survey and to plan out the North Brooklyn Story Project.
Jan 22, 7pm, 101 Kent Ave at N. 8th Street

Our Open Space group is meeting in early February (the meeting for Jan 27th is being rescheduled) to create a campaign to advocate for opening more waterfront parks.
Contact Emily Gallagher at emily.e.gallagher@gmail.com or call the office at 718-384-2248 to get involved

Our Affordable Housing group is meeting early February to plan out a major event: a housing workshop that will work with all segments of the community on a variety of issues.
Contact Wilneida Negron at wilneida@gmail.com or call the office at 718-384-2248 to get involved

More information about the working groups is available here.


Building a New "Town Hall" Community Center

If you are interested in helping us raise the almost $2 million needed to renovate the Engine 212 building into a new community center, join us Tuesday, February 3rd 6pm at Union Pool.
Feb 3, 6pm, 484 Union Ave at Meeker Ave

Join NAG's Organizing Efforts!

At our organizing meeting last week, we split up into our four issue groups and talked about what the most pressing issues are in each area where we can make a difference. There are a number of efforts moving forward simultaneously, so if you are interested in any of the issues your help can make a difference! This is kind of a long post, but bear with us and read through to find out what we're doing and how you can help.

Each group was tasked with figuring out what the short term and long term priorities are for their issue. The results are as such:

Quality of Life and Community Character

SHORT TERM GOAL: MORE TRASH CANS
The neighborhood has a problem with the appropriate distribution of trash cans. In some cases, trash bags are simply piled up in front of the building, causing sanitation issues, such as rodent problems, trash fires, smell, and aesthetic impacts. The group is going to conduct a survey of the area, create an online map to share the results of the survey and identify priority areas to concentrate on.

LONG TERM GOAL: WILLIAMSBURG/GREENPOINT STORY PROJECT
The neighborhood has been undergoing tremendous changes over the last two decades--as a result, a cultural divide has emerged between old and new residents, low-income and high-income, immigrants and non-immigrants, etc. The story project aims to bridge these divides by using oral histories as a way of educating and fostering constructive civic dialogue among all residents. The goals and scope of the project need to be clarified further before proceeding.

Next Q-of-L/Community Character meeting: Early January (TBD)
To join, contact Gregor Nemitz-Zadie, g.nemitzziadie [at] gmail [dot] com or call the office at 718-384-2248

Transportation

SHORT-TERM GOAL: BIKE/DRIVER/PEDESTRIAN SAFETY EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
The group will educate bikers, pedestrians, and drivers about how to respect each other on the road. This may include encouraging bikers and drivers to respect the rules of the road, advocacy for more/safer bike lanes, and engaging in a dialogue with the local police precincts about ticketing and safety problem areas, etc. The project will begin by creating a network of people who care about road safety in the neighborhood and using that network to distribute outreach material to bikers, drivers, and pedestrians.

LONG-TERM GOAL: FIGHTING TRANSIT CUTS AND EXPANDING LOCAL TRANSIT SERVICE
In the face of massive potential cuts to subway service citywide, our local transit ridership is growing by leaps and bounds, which is putting stress on the system. We will create and/or join a network of transit riders to advocate against transit cuts in our neighborhood. This will involve building a local network of concerned riders, forging alliances with other groups involved in this issue and mobilizing at appropriate times.

Next Transportation meeting: January 8th, 7:30pm, NAG Office (101 Kent Ave @ Nth 8th Street)
To join, contact Lacey Tauber at laceytauber [at] gmail [dot] com or call the office at 718-384-2248

Open Space/Access to the Waterfront

SHORT-TERM GOAL 1: OPEN THE NEW NORTH 5th STREET PIER AND MANHATTAN AVE PARKS
These two parks have been almost completed, but have yet to open because of bureaucratic snafus or a failure by a construction company to comply with safety measures. The group will advocate to open these two spaces as soon as possible.

SHORT-TERM GOAL 2: FACILITATE COORDINATION AMONG PARKS GROUPS
There are many groups working in or around the issue of open space, they do not necessarily share dialogue/plans/activities with each other. In the short term, the group will create a "clearinghouse website" that will link to other group's websites, list events, and include RSS feeds from park group blogs. This will allow for interested people and newcomers to the issue to get involved more easily

LONG-TERM GOAL: CONVERT "MTA SITE" ON COMMERCIAL STREET INTO PARK
Northern Greenpoint is one of the most park-deficient areas of the neighborhood. Because of this, the City promised that the MTA Site on Commercial Street would be converted into a park. However, there have been interminable delays in relocating the MTA facilities and getting approval to convert the site into useable park space.

Next Open Space meeting [UPDATE: early February TBD] Tuesday, Jan 27th at the Green Oaks Club (179 Green Street between Manhattan Ave and McGuiness Blvd)
To join, contact Emily Gallagher at emily.e.gallagher [at] gmail [dot] com or call the office at 718-384-2248

Affordable Housing

GOAL 1: PROTECT LOCAL "SRO" HOUSING
Single Room Occupancy housing (SRO) is historically one of the basic forms of affordable housing, viable for some students, childless singles, seasonal workers, widows/widowers, or others who do not require large dwellings or private amenities. In gentrifying neighborhoods like ours, it has become common practice to evict the SRO tenants, to renovate these buildings, and to make them available at market rate to higher bidders. Long-term tenants in two SROs in the neighborhood have been threatened with eviction by their landlords. The Affordable Housing group will support a campaign to save these low-income dwellings.

GOAL 2: ORGANIZE AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMUNITY WORKSHOP/FORUM
There is a need to energize and educate the community in regards to tenant’s rights. We will organize a forum that will address the issues most important to this neighborhood, create a dialogue with local officials, give a voice to endangered tenants, and hopefully inspire more people to get involved in the cause.

GOAL 3: ACHIEVE PROTECTION FOR LOFT TENANT
There are numerous tenants in loft apartments in the neighborhood that are in legal limbo, jeopardizing tenants while allowing landlords to take advantage of the lack of tenant's legal status. The affordable housing group will support the South Eleventh Street Tenants Association in their fight to keep their home and join the campaign to expand the Loft Law to more endangered lofts in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg neighborhood.

Next Affordable Housing meeting in January (Date TBD)
To join, contact Wilneida Negron at wilneida [at] gmail [dot] com or call the office at 718-384-2248

Join us to Launch NAG's 2009 Organizing Agenda

Working Meeting
This Thursday, December 4th at 7pm

Holy Ghost Ukranian Church Basement
160 North 5th Street (between Driggs and Bedford)

We will implement this agenda starting with a working meeting the evening of December 4, 2008. At this meeting we will break into four issue groups (affordable housing, open space/waterfront, transportation, and quality of life/community character) each of which will identify the aspects of the issues they want to work on. These issue groups will report back at a general meeting in February/March about their progress in beginning a campaign.

More information about the 2009 Organizing Agenda