Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how a portion of a public budget will be spent. Councilmember Stephen Levin, who represents the 33rd District, has allocated at least $1 million of his discretionary funding for capital projects to PB. Community members have been working to flesh out ideas generated at a series of neighborhood assemblies in the fall into fundable project proposals.

Check out the sample ballot here!

Check out projects in Greenpoint/Williamsburg here!!

Want to hear more about PB? Check out this interview on WNYC with CM Brad Lander, one of the leading sponsors of PB in NYC.

In a list of amazing proposals, there are a few from our Greenpoint/Williamsburg part of the district.  Here is some press about some of the projects and the process:

Participatory Budget Vote Begins This Week

A Dog-Run for East River State Park?

Williamsburg Dog Run Proposed as Public Votes on How to Spend $1Mil

PB Voters!

Come out and vote. In light of the recent issues with politicians and bribes and public money, PB is getting a lot of press as a good way for the public to watch dog how our public funds are spent. However, participation is the key. Any resident of the 33rd District who is at least 16 years old is invited to vote for up to 5 projects from a number of locations throughout the district. VOTING ENDS ON SUNDAY!!

Friday, April 5

* PS 31 7:30 – 9:30 am
75 Meserole Ave  New York, NY 11222

* MS 8 8-10am
105 Johnson Street, 4th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201
* District Office 10 am-5 pm
410 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, NY 11217
* Independence Towers Senior Center  10 am – 4:30 pm
114 Taylor St. Brooklyn NY 11211

Saturday, April 6

PB Ballots! VOTE!

* Greenpoint Public Library 10am – 5pm
107 Norman Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
* The People’s Firehouse 10 am – 6 pm
113 Berry St. (between N 7th and N 8th St), 11211

* El Puente Community Center 10am-5pm
80 Clymer Street Brooklyn, NY 11211

Sunday, April 7

* The People’s Firehouse 10 am – 6 pm
113 Berry St. (between N 7th and N 8th St), 11211
* Independence Towers Senior Center  10 am – 4:30 pm
114 Taylor St. Brooklyn NY 11211

 

Last night was an action-packed Transportation Committee meeting. The meeting was held at the local CB offices on Graham Avenue with 3 CB members (Wilfredo F, Karen N, & Ryan K) and 1 staff member (Marie) in attendance. With so many items on the agenda, the meeting was fast-paced and got down to business from the get-go.

The first item was a presentation from MTA on the new bus route through the Navy Yard. It is technically not a “new” route but an extension of the B67. Instead of stopping in Downtown Brooklyn, the bus will continue on from Jay St through the Navy Yard, circling around over on Division. The route will start with Mon-Fri 5am-7pm running time. There will be a joint public hearing on this extension and for the new B32 bus route up Kent Ave.

The second item was a presentation by the DOT on 3 new bike corrals being proposed for the neighborhood. More about the bike corral program here – Bicycle Parking. Each of these bike corrals has a neighborhood partner who is in charge of maintenance. The 3 locations and partners are: Kingbird @ Frost & Meeker, Williamsburg Cinemas @ Driggs & Grand St, and Marlow & Sons/Diner @ Broadway & Berry.

The third item was a new pedestrian plaza at Broadway & Bedford/S6th. To be called the George B Post Plaza , there is a facebook page with lots of info. There will be a presentation of the plaza to the full board. If/when the full board votes to recommend (the transpo comm voted in favor), then construction will begin on April 15th with completion in less than a week.

The fourth item was another presentation about a proposed plaza at Frost & Meeker. This application is similar to the Post Plaza in theory, but has some differences. The owners of the bar who are opening in the old Lorely space were informed of the pedestrian plaza program during their SLA committee hearing. They were too late to put in an official application but if they were willing to shoulder more of the building costs with limited DOT resources, the idea could move forward.  In a spot that is mostly used by illegally parked trucks, this idea got support from the committee. Both pedestrian plazas presentations will be shown to the full board at the April Public meeting.

The last item was the announcement of the DOT’s Weekend Walk/Summer Streets program coming to the Southside. El Puente & the Southside Merchants are teaming up to sponsor the neighborhood’s third Weekend Walk’s event. Joining Williamsburg Walks in June & the Grand Street Weekend Walk Block Party in July, Southside Connex will be taking to the streets–  Havemeyer St to be exact–in September.  Anusha, from the El Puente Green Light District is just getting started on all the planning. Contact her for more ways to plug into the event.

That was the meeting in a nutshell. The transportation committee meets typically on the third Tuesday of every month (that there are agenda items). The board is always looking for community members who would like to get further involved and join the committee. Tune into any committee meeting to join up.

]]> http://www.nag-brooklyn.org/2013/03/nag-action-plugging-into-the-community-board/feed/ 1 http://www.nag-brooklyn.org/2013/03/nag-action-cb-speak-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nag-action-cb-speak-up http://www.nag-brooklyn.org/2013/03/nag-action-cb-speak-up/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:15:11 +0000 ryan la chica http://www.nag-brooklyn.org/?p=4884

www.aaronshortstory.blogspot.com

www.aaronshortstory.blogspot.com

Have you ever been so fired up about a neighborhood issue that you have spent hours ranting about it , either online or over drinks with friends? Well, this is your chance to speak out for 2 minutes about a neighborhood issue dear to your heart…

In the upcoming months, there will be several public hearings about big developments coming to the neighborhood. As was learned at our ULURP workshop, there are a few select times during process in which the public is given a chance to voice their praise or concern for the plans. Practice your public-speaking skills and learn how the public process works on a neighborhood level by speaking out at next week’s Community Board meeting.

On the agenda for the March Combined Full Board & Public meeting:
3 applications for sidewalk cafes
update from state parks about the flea moving into East River Park
BSA application
update from NYC Health Dept about rodent activity in North Brooklyn
discussion with DOS, NYPD, & DOT about getting allowances for double parking during street cleaning
EDC is coming to talk about the disposition & development of a vacant lot (currently used for parking of a non-profit) on Rutledge
de-mapping of Union Ave in McCarren Park
committee reports — the enviro comm report will include business regarding the 61 Franklin Street Garden
& 29 liquor license renewals or applications, including the Brooklyn Flea in the East River State Park…

(See our Facebook event page for more detailed info on some of the agenda items)

So now that you have seen the agenda, you are feeling inspired to come to the meeting and add your 2 cents, right?!? To speak during the Board meeting, one must sign up on the speaker form before 615pm. Speakers are called up during the meeting. If you are speaking to a specific topic, you can be called up after that item’s presentation. Or you will be called up during the public session — after presentations but before committee reports. You are given two minutes.

Speaking during a CB meeting is a great way to inform the community about street-level problems, express your concern to or about City agencies, or just praise the good things you see going on about the neighborhood. Create change through 2 minutes of words!!

Afterwards, NAGsters and friends will go for an after meeting drink to dish and discuss the highlights of the meeting — as of late we have been walking down to the Commodore on Metropolitan & Havemeyer because they have great salads & grilled cheese and we are usually famished after those LONG meetings…but we follow the critical mass of opinion!!

RSVP via email or the FB event. Let us know what issues have you ready to speak up. We will be posting cb speaking pointers all week long here on the blog and over on our FB page.

www.aaronshortstory.blogspot.com

www.aaronshortstory.blogspot.com

Very exciting right!! Want to get involved? Of course you do. Well, mark this Saturday down in your calendar for some serious brainstorming fun.

Community Outreach Meeting

Good Yoga    2pm   Sat March 2nd

Check the FB event here!!

All are welcome; green thumbs not required;)

Help make this space what the community wants it to be! Band together with the groups of community activists and dedicated citizens who are hell bent on converting the vacant lot at 61 Franklin Street into a garden for the neighborhood.

The best way to get involved is plug into the first community outreach meeting. On the agenda is discussion of  community involvement and brainstorming ideas for the site. Can’t make the meeting (man — you are BUSY BEES Brooklyn!!), LIKE the FB page (linked below) and be a part of the conversation, planning, and fun…

GO GO GO 61 Franklin Street Garden!!!

Can’t wait to hear all those big ideas, great dreams, and to begin to build something together…

We were super honored to be able to have CUP in the house, participating in their amazing activity, and having these discussions with our neighbors and future planners of the City. So, when’s the next Land Use Committee meeting?

What is ULURP anyway? Ever wondered how the City’s land use review process works? Wanna know who decides what development happens in our neighborhood? How can regular people plug in to that process and make their voices heard?

Join NAG, El Puente, & the Center for Urban Pedagogy for an interactive workshop about ULURP, the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and get the answers to these questions and more!

Last week during his State of the City speech, Mayor Bloomberg referenced two sites on the North Brooklyn waterfront.  On the Southside, updated plans for the redevelopment of the Domino Sugar factory site are beginning to emerge.  Further north, the development of the Greenpoint Landing site is set to start this year.  While Greenpoint Landing should be able to move forward without more review due to it’s inclusion in the 2005 rezoning, the new developers of the Domino site may choose to make enough changes to the approved plan that they will need to go back through the City’s Land Use Review procedure, known as ULURP.  It can be a confusing system to those who don’t know the rules and parameters. Come and learn how to be a part of the process…

Lots to talk about and learn along with our friends from El Puente and theCenter for Urban Pedagogy at NYC Land Use Review: a Citizen’s Guide, an interactive workshop.  6:30pm at El Puente’s Community Health & Environment Center, 289 Grand Street, Williamsburg.  RSVP on Facebook.

Have you been super eager to volunteer with NAG but not quite sure how to exactly plug into a project? We are super pleased to introduce our new Volunteer Coordinator, Julia Morrow. One of our main goals for our Happy Hour will be to get to know her and hear about all her amazing plans to get you volunteers involved in all the NAG action!

Plan to drop by after work and join us for a little volunteer happy hour! 

In 2013 NAG has a packed calendar of ways to engage in some civic action and make a difference on your favorite corner of the neighborhood. Be a part of the team that organizes the world’s favorite pop-up park event,  Williamsburg Walks. Participate in the planning for a community- built & maintained open space, the 61 Franklin Street Garden. Educate yourself on how development works in NYC and join others in raising a collective voice to keep our local community strong.

NAG has a legacy of making change in the community, banding together to fight the problems, turning trash-heaps into neighborhood spaces, neighbors into friends, projects into a party. Join us tomorrow as we continue to plan for that neighborhood we all want…

Get gussied up & celebrate neighborhood activism!

Enjoying food, fun, & friends at the 2011 Gala

#7 -You believe in building a stronger community through citizen participation. NAG devotes a lot of our resources to helping the residents of Greenpoint & Williamsburg plug into their local government and create (or call for) real change on their street…

Good times at the 2011 Gala

NAG’s Annual Neighborhood Gala & Benefit is such fun! We gather together a great bunch of neighborhood activists, advocates, and supporters in one room to celebrate NAG’s grassroot neighborhood activism. This year the Gala will take place on Saturday, November 3rd from 8 p.m. to midnight. The venue is Biba, the soon to open restaurant space located below our offices at 110 Kent Avenue (North 8th Street – looking onto the East River State Park). It is an evening of food & drink & music & dancing.

Buy a ticket today and support our brand of community organizing. NAG is a great mix of old timers and newbies who work together to improve our neighborhood on a hyper-local level.  Some of this work has developed into a series of skillshares that we like to call NAG Action where our organizers help break down neighborhood issues and the byzantine practices of  local government. NAG ACTION brings the issues of our Organizing Agenda–Open Space, Transportation, Affordable Housing, and Community Character–under one umbrella. The goal is to address them in a proactive way and to support the larger goals of progressive, intelligent community growth, bringing together any and all types of organizers, activists, local leaders, business owners, and residents to discuss, learn, and take action in the neighborhood.

Sharing ideas at the NAG Town Hall

The topics are determined by NAG’s (volunteer) organizers, rotating between teach-ins, skillshares, group discussions, and actions. Areas of focus center around the immediate concerns of our community as we look to local experts on each topic to help us teach and participate. The best part of NAG Action is that we welcome everyone to join us at any level of neighborhood knowledge. Whether you’ve been in the ‘hood your entire life or just arrived last week, there are things that we can all learn, share, and do together to better our community. The list of NAG Action events over the past 3 years is exhaustive. Check out the blog to see just a few. We hope to keep growing and growing that list each year to include all of the issues that affect our everyday life in North Brooklyn.

Support NAG’s  continued work by coming out to celebrate another year of nagging!

We really hope that you can join us for this special night. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available at Brown Paper Tickets. For more information, please email us at nag.bklyn@gmail.com

Talking about waterfront open space. Jul 2012

Superfund Skillshare @ GMDC. Oct 2010

Cut a rug with NAG at our annual gala!

Join us for some good times & celebrations!

#9 –NAG is leading the fight to get more open space in the neighborhood. 

We need your support to keep bringing the fight to City Hall!

NAG’s annual fundraiser is such a fun  celebration.  This year the Gala will take place on Saturday, November 3rd from 8 p.m. to midnight. The venue is Biba, the soon to open restaurant space located below our offices at 110 Kent Avenue (North 8th Street – looking onto the East River State Park). It is an evening of food & beverages provided by local businesses, as well as music and dancing and amazing conversation.

In addition to throwing a great party, NAG works hard at making sure that we get some of that good growth for our neighborhoods, especially that open space that makes life in the city so sustainable.  Brooklyn’s Community District 1, which encompasses Williamsburg and Greenpoint, has only 0.6 acres of open space per 1,000 residents. (The median in the City is 1.5 per 1,000). NAG won’t stop fighting until our neighborhood gets the open space it deserves.

When it comes to open space we fight to get promises fulfilled — like those made during the 2005 rezoning; We work to get new open space created–like on the City owned land on the Williamsburg Bridge waterfront. We organize meetings and charettes in order to be sure that everyone’s voice gets heard.

The power of one may seem insignificant at times – however, supporting a cause that you feel passionate about on a local level can only add to the domino effect of positive change in the world. NAG will continue to show up to City Hall, be it for protests on the steps or testifying on behalf of its members inside, until we have an open space ratio we can be proud of. Check out some of our work: Broken Promises Continue Over Bushwick Inlet Park & Williamsburg Bridge Park Community Visioning

Support NAG’s  continued work by coming out to celebrate another year of nagging! We really hope that you can join us for this special night. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available at Brown Paper Tickets. For more information, please email us at nag.bklyn@gmail.com

Where's Our Park? Protest at Bushwick Inlet

Community Visioning for Williamsburg Bridge Park

Come watch it with your NAG friends @ BLACK RABBIT

Wed Oct 3rd — 830-1030pm

91 Greenpoint Ave [btwn Franklin & Manhattan]

Domestic Policy Debate with fun quizzes & games & prizes by the fine folks of Black Rabbit and the fabulous guest hosts

For each debate — even the Vice Presidential– we will be gathering at a local watering hole and getting our politics on. Whether you are a Dem, a Green Party peep, or a Blue City Republican, come on down for some local discourse on this important national event.

Save the date for all the debates. All debates start at 9pm. Pre-debate fun starts at 830pm-ish

Th Oct 11th — VP Debate — location to be announced

Tues Oct 16th — Town Hall Format (with female moderator) — Teddy’s Bar & Grill. 96 Berry St

Mon Oct 22nd — Foreign Policy Debate — The Woods. 48 S4th St

Also, it is good to note that the deadline to register to vote in the General Election is Friday, October 12, 2012.

This is also the deadline to change your party enrollment for the 2013 Primary Elections (meaning if you want a voice in the upcoming  local mayoral & city council elections you must be a registered democrat by next Friday!!) If you have any questions on how to register to vote, change your party affiliation, or about local voting districts, check out the resources listed above. We will have some voter registration cards on hand at the debates, ready and willing to help you think global, talk national, and VOTE LOCAL!!