Blood Drives & Recycling Drives

Though these are just outside Cobble Hill, they're great important events we encourage residents to participate in.

Electronics Recycling
Our neighbors to the north, the Brooklyn Heights Association, are running a weekend long e-waste collection, June 5th from 10-4 and June 6th from 12-2. If you missed our recent CHA electronics recycling event, bring your old electronics to them instead. Full details are available on the BHA calendar here.

NY Blood Center BLOOD DRIVE
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Brooklyn Heights Synagogue,  3:45 PM - 8:15 PM
131 Remsen Street, 2nd Floor Classrooms

Monday, June 7, 2010
Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church
1:00 PM - 7:00 PM
64 Schermerhorn Street, Busmobile

Giving blood is simple and quick. If you've got a little more time, try giving platelets that can be done more frequently and help even more people. Plus, NY Blood Center is running a Mets ticket giveaway... details below.

Make 4 lifesaving platelet donations from May 1 - July 31, 2010, including 1 donation from May 29 to June 2 OR July 3 to July 7 and receive four tickets to see the Mets at Citi Field. Remember, all platelet donations also earn Advantage points. For more information, visit www.plateletadvantage.com

Help P.S.29 bring 'Imagination' to the Playground

PS 29 is one of the top elementary schools in NYC and can get even better with your help. They are competing to win an amazing program for the Baltic Street schoolyard called Imagination Playground, that would be both a benefit to the students and the entire Cobble Hill community.

Though there's a May 31st deadline, helping them reach the goal is simple. Just follow a few simple steps on the web and become a 'fan' of their idea, and you'll have helped them inch closer to winning the $20K outdoor play system.

Click HERE to become a fan.
And to find out more of what the playground envisions, check out this video.

LICH Playground Renovations

We are pleased to inform you that seasonal painting and cleaning of the LICH small playground will begin this coming Monday, May 24, 2010.

·  To ensure the safety of visitors and workers, the park will be closed to the public during that time.
·  The work is expected to last approximately 10 days.
·  The park will reopen on Friday, May 28th, in honor of the  Memorial Day weekend, and then close again on Tuesday, June 1st, for the project’s completion. 
·  Thank you for your patience during the renovation period!
·  Please share the information with your constituents, friends, and neighbors.
·  If you have any questions, you may always contact us at LICHParks@chpnet.org

For a bit more on the park's background, read this link.

Community Roundtable with Assemblywoman Millman - 5/20 @ 7:30

Please join us for a Community Roundtable Meeting with State Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman

Thursday, May 20th
7:30 pm
@ Christ Church 326 Clinton Street  (at the corner of Clinton and Kane Streets)

Hosted by the Cobble Hill Association, the community roundtable series is to provide an opportunity for you to meet directly with your elected officials. Millman comes from a distinguished career as an educator and has been our local Assemblywoman since 1997, authoring legislation to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the Women's Health and Wellness Bill and the Safe Weapon Storage Act. She's also a continued advocate for Brooklyn Bridge Park, cleaning up the Gowanus Canal, and the fight to re-open Engine Company 204.

Assemblywoman Millman is Chair of the Assembly Committee on Election Law. She is a member of the Assembly Standing Committees on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; Education; Labor; Transportation; and the Assembly Majority Steering Committee.

Small signs, Big Changes

Cobble Hill is privilege to some minor tweaks that could have big impacts on quality of life citywide. First, have you noticed the orange decals popping up on our streets? There's one on Henry Street and one on a Congress street manhole cover spotted recently. They're part of a pilot program that makes it much easier to know a problem has already been reported to 311 and is being remedied.

'When a customer calls 311 to report a condition for repair, a City inspector will visit the site and determine the necessary next steps.  For many issues, private companies, utilities or other City agencies may be required to respond which may influence the duration of repair.  City inspectors will affix a small, bright orange decal adjacent to the site.  For issues that are repaired immediately, no decal will be used.'

If it works well in our neighborhood, perhaps it will speed up the 311 system and simplify confusion.
More info is available on this downloadable flyer.

Another change to our streets is already proving successful at taming traffic: Neckdowns.

Also known as bulb outs, or sidewalk extensions, these subtle changes to the streetscape create a visual road narrowing that makes drivers slow down while making turns or passing through intersections (which is where the overwhelming majority of accidents happen).  Now some drivers may not enjoy a pinch point in the road preventing their speeding, but NYC is walking city where the majority does not own a car, yet traffic "accidents" are sky high. And those who do drive, are also pedestrians after they park, so they too will benefit from the shorter crosswalk and slower vehicle traffic.

While our neighbors in Boerum Hill received an enormous neckdown last year, which will soon house an art instalation and slew of bike racks, many corners in Cobble Hill have had similar facelifts. Over the past few months the safety enchancement was given to northwest corner of Hicks & Union, the southeast corner of Henry and Atlantic, and most recently both southern corners of Clinton and Atlantic. Hundres of pedestrians and cyclists cross that intersection every morning and now they will all move a little safer. Thank you Department of Transportation's new Street Design Manual!

Electronics Recycling Update

Apologies for the belated report.. but the official numbers just came in!

On April 25th, the Cobble Hill Association and PS29 worked with the Lower East Side Ecology Center to run an amazingly successful electronics recycling event. Despite pouring rain and miserable weather, 231 residents near and far came out to safely dispose of old computers, TVs, vcr's, batteries, etc, totaling 18,846 pounds or 9.4 tons, far surpassing our previous collection totals.

Some came by cab, some with shopping carts, but all brought armfuls. Two large trucks were filled to capacity and several thousand pounds of ewaste was able to avoid landfills and contaminating our earth. Special thanks to the staff of LESEC, We Recycle, volunteers from the 92 street Y, and City Councilman Brad Lander who not only came to show support, but also brought a discarded computer monitor he found on a nearby street.

To check out even more photos from the event, check out our CHA Flickr link beklow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35037635@N03/sets/72157623943277452/

SPRING, 2010 GENERAL MEETING

Please join us for the Cobble Hill Association, Spring general meeting. Keynote speaker will be our Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez.

Time: 7:30 P.M.
Date: Monday, May 10, 2009
Place: Long Island College Hospital
Conference Room A
Enter at main entrance 339 Hicks (at Atlantic)

Agenda:
1) Election of Cobble Hill Association Officers:
       Roy Sloane, President
       Dave "Paco" Abraham, 1st VP
       Ron Lau, 2nd VP
       Elizabeth Velikonja, Treasurer
       Dereck Denkla, Membership Secretary
       C.Murray Adams, Corresponding Secretary
       Laurie Maurer, Recording Secretary
2) President's Report
3) Presentation of Cobble Hill Hero Awards
4) Keynote Speaker: Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez

All members of the public are invited. No admission charge.

PS29 Tag Sale - Saturday 5.8.10

PS 29 TAG SALE:

Shred Services, Inc. of Red Hook will have their PAPER-SHREDDING TRUCK on site at the PS29 Tag Sale (schoolyard), this Saturday, May 8th, from 10 AM - 1 PM. Cost to shred is $10 for a large box; $5 goes to the PTA. It's a convenient way to safely discard your old confidential documents, credit card receipts, etc.

At the Sale, the PTA will host a Plant A Pot For Mom activity, while supplies last; for $5 your child will come home with a special Mother's Day gift! 

Tag sale items, on sale from 9am-3pm, so far span the gamut from gently used clothing to books, toys, small furniture and camping gear.

TONIGHT - first 'fix the ditch' workshop

The Brooklyn Queens Expressways divides our neighborhoods. Tonight we REUNITE them!

DETAILS
The BQE Enhancement project is a joint effort between the City and your community to improve the pedestrian environment between Atlantic and Hamilton Avenues. NYCEDC will be hosting a series of three collaborative workshops over the next year to develop a vision for improving the study area:

Workshop 1 (TONIGHT!) : designers will solicit advice, input and local experience with this section of the BQE
Workshop 2: designers will present initial conceptual plans and ask for feedback
Workshop 3: designers will present finalized conceptual alternatives

**TONIGHT**
WORKSHOP 1
When: Tuesday, May 4 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Long Island College Hospital, Avram Conference Center
339 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201
Join your neighbors at our first design workshop so we can work together to improve the connection between the Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Columbia Street Waterfront neighborhoods.
Please RSVP to bqe@nycedc.com

Project Sponsors:
Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (12th District, NYS)
New York City Department of Transportation
www.nycedc.com 

And remember, after you've enjoyed tonight's workshop... you can share your thoughts with friends and neighbors at the monthly Cobble Hill Association Happy Hour tomorrow (Wednesday) at Watty & Meg, from 6 - 9pm.