Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Tonight meet Brad Lander

Cobble Hill Association's
Community Roundtable Meeting
with City Councilman Brad Lander
7:30 PM on Wednesday, April 7th
at Christ Church 326 Clinton Street
(at the corner of Clinton and Kane Streets

Please join us for a "Community Roundtable" meeting with City Councilman Brad Lander. Hosted by the Cobble Hill Association, the community roundtable series is to provide an opportunity for you to meet directly with your elected officials. We are honored to have Councilman Lander as our guest. We hope that you will be able to attend!

This meeting is free of charge and is open to all members of the public.

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About Brad Lander

Council Member Brad Lander has spent his career standing up for affordable, livable, and sustainable communities in Brooklyn and throughout New York City. As executive director of an award-winning community development organization and one of city's leading public policy advocates, Lander has created and preserved thousands of units of affordable housing, strengthened local small businesses, and helped thousands of low-income New Yorkers find living wage jobs.

Lander was elected to the New York City Council in November 2009. He represents the 39th district in Brooklyn, which includes the neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Columbia Waterfront, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Borough Park, and Kensington.

Prior to his election to the Council, Lander was the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, where he worked with community leaders, city government and non-profit organizations to preserve and strengthen neighborhood quality-of-life, promote sustainability, and create opportunity in low-income neighborhoods.

At Pratt, Brad led successful campaigns to create NYC's "inclusionary zoning" program and to require developers seeking tax breaks to set aside 20% of their units for low- and moderate-income families and to pay their building service workers a living wage.  Together, these reforms will save the City hundreds of millions of dollars, generate over 20,000 units of affordable housing, and insure thousands of living wage jobs in the years to come.

Before joining Pratt, Lander served for a decade as executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, a nationally recognized, not-for-profit community-based organization in Brooklyn that develops affordable housing, creates economic opportunities, and organizes tenants and workers. Brad's work at FAC helped to preserve and renovate dozens of neighborhood buildings facing abandonment after the real estate recession of the early 1990s, create several new small businesses, pioneer a successful re-entry program for people returning to the community from prison, and mobilize thousands of residents to work together for a stronger community.

Lander also served as the Housing & Community Development chair of Brooklyn's Community Board 6, on the board of directors of the Jewish Funds for Justice and Grassroots Leadership, as policy co-chair of Housing First!, and on several panels advising the City of New York on public policy issues.  Lander's work has been recognized with awards from the Ford Foundation, Fannie Mae Foundation, Do Something, American Planning Association, the Prospect Park YMCA, and New York Magazine.

Councilmember Lander holds a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute, a Masters in Social Anthropology from University College London, and a Bachelors degree with honors from the University of Chicago. He teaches community planning, housing, and urban policy in Pratt's graduate city planning department.

Lander lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his wife, Meg Barnette, the Chief Operating Officer of the Brennan Center for Justice, and their children, Marek and Rosa, who attend Public School 107.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Free Tree Giveaway, Brooklyn waterfront planning & Red Hook clean-up

Red Hook Economic Development (RHED) would like to encourage individuals, families and community groups to take advantage of a free tree giveaway program. The donated trees, including flowering trees and larger shade trees, are available for planting on private property (ex. front/back yards, community gardens, etc).  The trees must be planted in the ground, rather than in a planter or a container, and unfortunately are not eligible for empty street tree pits.
 
The tree giveaway is on Sat/Sun April 17 & 18 from 10am - 3pm at Putnam Ave. & Fulton St. If there is sufficient demand RHED will explore renting a truck to pick up and deliver (though the individual property owner would also likely have to attend to verify where the tree would be planted). Keep in mind that home and property owners are limited to two trees each, the trees are distributed on a first-come first-served basis, and that trees weigh approximately 30 pounds and stand 7 – 8 feet tall (http://www.milliontreesnyc.org/html/programs/pdr_tree_giveaway.shtml ).
 
 
NYC's Dept of Transportation will be holding a series of community planning workshops for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. The workshop for the Red Hook waterfront will be held on Tuesday April 13th from 6:30 -8:30pm at the Red Hook Recreation Center (155 Bay Street). The workshops will inform DOT’s master plan for constructing the greenway, so please mark your calendars and tell your neighbors.  RSVP to brooklynwaterfrontgreenway@dot.nyc.gov.


RHED’s Streetscape & Maintenance Committee is also organizing a Spring community cleanup day. We will be working with Partnership for Parks and other community partners to beautify Red Hook’s street tree pits, sidewalks and other public spaces. 
The next meeting of the Committee is this Wednesday April 7th at 5:30pm at RHED’s office space (402 Van Brunt St ) to plan for the clean-up weekend.  Please let us know if you can make it.


We are also hear that Red Hook's own Fort Defiance won the "Best Home Away From Home" award at yesterday's Time Out New York Eat Out 2010 ceremony. Congratulations to St. John and his fine staff.
http://newyork.timeout.com/static_content/downloads/758/eatoutawards2010.pdf

Feast- Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics

FEAST seal
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FEAST
Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics
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Greetings!

Please share our RFP.  Applications deadline is April 10!
Request for Proposals
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Incomplete proposals will not be accepted.  If you have questions, please email feastinbklyn@gmail.com.  We encourage applications from any genre.  Artists who submit proposals must be present at the April 24 FEAST.

Click here for proposal form

Thanks and see you soon!
Join Our Mailing List

Monday, April 5, 2010

No More Tapas...Just Clean Tops

I was sad to see that Red's Tapas, the cozy little place whose kitchen stayed up almost as late as my appetite, had to close. But I was also excitedly anticipating what new hot spot might fill in at 289 Columbia St! At least for now, I'm going to have to settle for having a dry cleaning option close to the office-- leases were signed last week, and the new biz is expected to open in 2 months.

From 'Who cares' to 'So what'. More Blah on Van Brunt Street

Did anyone ever shop at that place Luce on Van Brunt St when it was there? Chances are you didn't because it went out of business last month. "Well?" you ask, "whats going in there in its place? A nice new restaurant? Another wine shop? Maybe an art gallery with stupid stuff nobody wants?!" The answer: A contractor's office. Gee, thanks. Welcome to the neighborhood anyway I guess.

Ultimate Burgers and Dogs!


Ultimate Burgers and Dogs is located on DeGraw Street between Court St. and Clinton St. The place is small but very kid friendly. I took my two boys who are three and seven, one afternoon when I could not bear the thought of cooking. Plus, I am always in search of a good burger. I ordered hot dogs for the boys and a cheeseburger for myself, the guy taking my order talked me into the sauce for my burger. The boys loved their hot dogs, which were served with perfectly crunchy potato chips. To drink the boys had the fountain drinks, one had a fruit punch, which was refreshing, cold and not too sweet. The other had a grape flavor which I thought was not as good. There was also orange and lemonade which I will try next time. My burger was delicious, it had lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, really good sour pickles and some delicious special sauce. I also had the tater tots, which were crunchy on the outside and fluffy potato on the inside. There was also a spicy tri colored coleslaw, my boys did not like it, so I ended up eating their servings. Very good food, inexpensive and kid friendly.

Electronic recycling at PS 29! April 25th!

Electronic recycling at PS 29!

On April 25th, from 10:00am-4:00pm, the Lower East Side Ecology Center and the Cobble Hill Association are hosting an electronic recycling day at the PS 29 Schoolyard, on Baltic Street between Clinton and Henry Streets in Cobble Hill to responsibly recycle unwanted or broken electronics from New York City residents.
All you have to do is bring your e-waste to the collection event. A list of acceptable materials can be found below. They do not accept home appliances such as microwaves or refrigerators and cannot accept any electronics from businesses. Registration is not required for this event.

They accept the following working and non-working equipment:
* Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
* Monitors
* Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
* Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
* Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.)
* Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
* TVs, VCRs, & DVD Players
* Audio-visual equipment
* Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
* Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

Friday, April 2, 2010

Your Input is Needed for CB6 Bike Survey!


The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway is Coming! 
Your Input is Needed for CB6 Bike Survey!

The article below is from the April 2010 issue of The Sixth Sense, the monthly newsletter of Brooklyn Community Board 6, serving the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street Waterfront, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook.
Making Bicycling Safer, Easier and More Pleasant
In June 2009, the Department of Transportation completed the City's ambitious goal of building 200 bike-lane miles in all 5 boroughs in just three years, nearly doubling the city-wide on-street bike network while reshaping the city's streets to make them safer for everyone who uses them. The same period also saw unprecedented expansion and innovation of the overall network, including the installation of 4.9 miles of bike paths physically separated from car traffic lanes, 20 sheltered bike parking structures and 3,100 bike racks, accompanied by a more than 45% growth in commuter cycling in that time.
What didn't make headlines at least not until now is that Brooklyn CB6 is leading the way with roughly 12 of those new bike-lane miles toward the City's 200 miles added right here in our district. Just recently, the department announced a plan to add yet another 1.7 bike-lane miles on Smith and Hoyt Streets, and dozens of new bicycle rack installations coming to the district. And we can do even better!
We have set up a short, online survey that will help us continue to plan and advocate for safer, easier and more pleasant bicycling within and through our district. Results will be reported back to the CB6 Transportation committee, and in a future newsletter issue. Won't you please take 5 minutes to share your opinions with us?
                                   

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fultummy's Soft Opening Last Night!!!!



Coffee and tea for $1 and served with a free treat!!! Absolutely Fabulous!
FOOD COMES NEXT WEEK!!!!



Beer Garden should come to Carroll Gardens!

Am I the only person that would love to see a Beer Garden in Red Hook or Carroll Gardens West?  I doubt it!  Seriously, I can't think of a better place in Brooklyn to have one.  If you haven't been to the Beer Garden in Astoria Queens you have got to check it out!  It's like Oktoberfest every day!!!  Imagine an open-air spot on Columbia filled with long picnic benches and an outdoor grill complete with copious amounts of Suds and Food!  Dare I dream?  Just think of how nice it would be on a Summer night to get all of your friends together for some live music, bar b q and night air.  From a business standpoint I honestly believe it could be quite a lucrative venture for the right group of folks.  If I had the money I would have already done it so if anyone knows any people that share my dream then let me know because I am FULL of internal organs and great ideas!  There is an abundance of lots in Red Hook and Carroll Gardens West that would be perfect for such an undertaking.  So, let's make it happen because it's quite a hike to Queens!!!