Green Weekend Grows!

Silver Linden on Warren & Court Credit: Molly Culver

With the annual plant sale part of a super green weekend on the horizon, the The Cobble Hill Tree Fund got a great write up courtesy of Molly Culver at the Patch. Check it out right here.

And, another green update: the PS29 Recycling Event will now also have special paper shredding services on hand too!

Same deal as last year: $10 for a large bag or large box of shredding. The school receives $5 and Time Shred Services receives $5.

Green Saturday, gets EVEN GREENER!

We've already told you about the jam packed line up this Saturday in Cobble Hill, with Electronics Recycling, a Plant Sale, AND a Bike Fest....

But There's even MORE sustainability in the schoolyard at PS29, as they've turned it into a full on mega green event!

PS 29 Recycling Day: Saturday, April 30th

Electronics Collection by the Lower East Side Ecology Center: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Textiles Collection by Wearable Collections: 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Plastic Containers with Lids Collection by the Park Slope Food Co-op Recycling Squad & CHIPS Soup Kitchen: 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Volunteers still needed! Email ps29pc@gmail.com if you have an hour to help.

Be sure to check out ALL the action in the neighborhood this Saturday. Want to see how successful we've been at events like these before? Watch here and here)

Green Saturday in Cobble Hill

This Saturday, April 30th, there LOTS OF GREEN going on in Cobble Hill!
Electronics Recycling, Plant Sale, & the Brooklyn Bike Fest!

From 10am to 4pm, PS 29 & the Cobble Hill Association are hosting the Lower East Side Ecology's Electronics Recycling Event.  We've spared tons (literally) of e-waste from landfills at these events in the past (see here and here) and hope to have the same success this time around. Grab those old computers, cameras, cell phone and properly dispose of them with us.

Then, walk over to Cobble Hill Park for the Cobble Hill Tree Fund's Annual Plant Sale, from 10:30AM to 3PM.  Annuals, tomatoes, geraniums, hanging baskets, and a variety of perennials will all be available. There'll also be plant/tree identification activities for children in the park.

Still want more green in your day? Saturday, from 10 am - 4 pm, at Brooklyn Bridge Park will be  the first-ever Five Boro Bike Fest.

This free, family-friendly event is open to the public and features live entertainment, classes, bike repair, and an expo with demos and giveaways. The Bike Fest is part of a fun-filled weekend that kicks off Bike Month.

Activities at Bike Fest
*10:30 Wear a helmet  *10:30 Fix-a-flat   *11:00 Use your gears  *11:30 How to buy a bicycle  *11:30 Chain maintenance  *12:00 Adjust your bike for a comfortable ride  *12:30 Stretching for cyclists  *12:30 Fix-a-flat  *1:00 Fuel up--gels, bars, beans, oh my!  *1:30 How to buy a bicycle  *1:30 Commute by bicycle  *2:30 Use your gears  *2:30 Fix-a-flat  *3:00 Chain maintenance  *3:30 Adjust your bike for a comfortable ride

We Demand it Again; No Housing in BK Bridge Park.

Last Wednesday at LICH, the Community Board 6 and Community Board 2's motions against housing  inside Brooklyn Bridge Park were upheld by the Mayor-appointed Community Advisory Committee.

This is particularly significant because the park's pro-housing operators had tried unsuccessfully to claim that the citizenry of Brooklyn - those individuals they had hand picked to be on the Committee in the first place - agreed that housing was the only solution for park payments.  It is obvious once again that the people of Brooklyn know that more housing is not needed inside Brooklyn Bridge Park and that there are many ways to pay for park maintenance without private housing. They have demanded that the Jehovah Witness properties adjacent to the park be mined for tax revenue; that the city explore a Real Estate Investment fee (used to secure and protect open space in East Hampton) and that all concessions, including the River Cafe inside the park, pay-in; that the combination of off site and on site parking, events and movie shoots will also go a long way to pay for the park without housing.

Please read the Community's motions for yourself. 

Motion passed at April 20, 2011 CAC meeting at LICH:

Maker:             Dorothy Siegel, BBPDF
Seconder:      Richard Bashner, CB 6

The CAC endorses the positions taken by CB6 and CB2 that encourage the BAE to aggressively study potential revenue generating ideas and expense reduction options, including fundraising/sponsorship opportunities and options involving the Watchtower properties. In addition to the revenue sources mentioned in the CB2 and CB6 resolutions, the CAC urges BAE to consider other potential revenue sources including, but not limited to: a real estate transfer fee; enhanced revenues from parking (specifically, the police garage); alternative approaches to the PID; and potential revenues from the yacht marina. The CAC further urges BAE to provide a point by point analysis of the revenue generators covered in the 1997 Praedium Group study.

CB2 & CB6 urge more exploration

The fight against building unnecessary housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park continues and now both Community Boards 2 & 6 have passed resolutions urging more exploration. A weak study was done by the Committee on Alternatives to Housing, but failed to include the potential sale of Watchtower Properties as revenue generators.  The Brooklyn Eagle has more details below.
Debate on Park ‘Alternatives To Housing’ Is Still Alive

The Lion's Legacy

Photo By Judy Whitman

While several local articles went around last week announcing the unfortunate passing on one of Cobble Hill's most important civic leaders, Murray 'the Lion' Adams, just yesterday the Brooklyn Eagle published a more in depth review of Murray's many accolades.

Adams was an indefatigable community activist, and all who knew him assumed he would spend many more years advocating for the neighborhood... He was one of the founders of the [Cobble Hill Association] organization and served as president in the 1960s. Asked if he would classify himself as an urban pioneer, he insisted that pioneer was “too strong a word.”

To read the article in full, please click on Trudy Whitman's The Achievements of Murray Adams

final chances to OPPOSE housing in our parks

CB 6 sent along this message the other day. Please use it as another chance to stand up for a true Brooklyn Bridge park... that is one without private housing. It should feel like a lawn for all of Brooklyn to enjoy, not just a backyard for wealthy hugh rise condo owners. As our Cobble Hill Association president Roy Sloane eloquently put it last week "I will never support housing in this park until there are high-rises in Prospect Park, Central Park and every other major park in this city."

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Representatives for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation have agreed to brief us on the Draft Report findings for the "Study of Alternatives to Housing For the Funding of Brooklyn Bridge Park Operations" prepared by Bay Area Economics for the Committee for Alternatives to Housing.

The meeting will be hosted by the Brooklyn CB6 Executive Committee at 6:30pm on Monday, April 11th, at Long Island College Hospital, 339 Hicks Street (at Atlantic Avenue), Brooklyn.

The report itself can be viewed by clicking here, or at the following link:
http://www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/about-us/project-approvals-presentations

Written comments on the report are due by April 25th and may be submitted directly to:
bbptestimony@bae1.com

Safer routes to Brooklyn Bridge Park/Pier 6

Councilman Brad Lander is renewing his efforts to make the Department of Transportation address the immense dangers in accessing our waterfront park at Pier 6 with a new online petition. It just takes a few seconds to sign, and will go a long way to keeping the issue on DOT's radar so that hopefully it can be addressed BEFORE the warm weather ushers in new visitors to harm's way as they head to the park.

As we saw last year after the new park opened, the current routes along Atlantic Avenue and Columbia Streets, past the entrances to the BQE, are just too dangerous. With spring upon us, we need some adjustments (e.g. a new traffic light at Congress and Columbia) soon.

Please sign Brad Lander's petition calling on the NYC Department of Transportation to make routes to Pier 6 of Brooklyn Bridge Park safer for pedestrians, and pass it along, if so inspired.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/2777/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3735

In Remembrance

The Cobble Hill Association suffered a tremendous loss this week, with the loss of one its greatest leaders. CHA President Roy Sloane shared the following message.  
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With great sadness, we wish to mark the passing of C. Murray Adams.  Murray passed away peacefully yesterday at his beloved Long Island College Hospital, following complications of a brief illness.  He was the past president of the Cobble Hill Association and a member of our board, but, most importantly, a wonderful person, husband & father.

There are few individuals who have had the dedication and made the contributions to Cobble Hill that Murray has over the years. He played an integral part in shaping the neighborhood from one threatened by urban renewal and Atlantic Avenue becoming a state highway to one of Brooklyn's premier family neighborhoods. He did this through his intelligence, his charm and his tireless dedication to improving our institutions and our local political representation.

Murray was one of the founders of the Cobble Hill Association in the late 1950's and served as one of its first presidents. Our longest serving leader, he was president again from 2004 through 2008 and was still serving on our board at the time of his passing. Murray was also a member of the boards of Long Island College Hospital and the Cobble Hill Health Center and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund. He served as a legal adviser for the lawsuit to prohibit housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  In just the past two years, his vision, leadership, and skill as a citizen lobbyist helped make the SUNY Downstate/ LICH merger possible-- saving LICH and creating a powerful new health care resource in our borough.

 

A Memorial Service for Murray Adams will be held on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 3 PM at the Friends Meetinghouse, 110 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn (corner of Boerum Place).  Contributions in Murray’s memory may be made to the Long Island College Hospital and the Imani House Adult Literacy Program.