New Year's Music @ Christ Church

Thanks to Father Ron Lau for this tip about a great event at Christ Church.

The Cobble Hill Consort, made-up of the Christ Church Choir and the Canoni Chorale, both under the direction of Donald Barnum, will sing Evensong at Christ Church, Cobble Hill at 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon on New Year’s Day, Sunday,  1st  January 2012.  Unlike recent evensongs, which highlighted  polyphonic settings of the canticles and anthems, this service will feature simple plainsong settings.

Following Evensong, all are invited to the Christ Church Rectory for the Rector’s Annual New Year’s Day Open House and New Year’s Masque!

What is a masque???  The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe.  A masque involved music and dancing, singing and acting. Professional actors and musicians were hired for the speaking and singing parts. Of all the arts of the Renaissance, the masque is the artistic form most alien to audiences today. The most outstanding humanists, poets and artists of the day, in the full intensity of their creative powers, devoted themselves to producing masques; and until the Puritans closed the English theatres in 1642, the masque was the highest artform in England. But because of its ephemeral nature, not a lot of documentation related to masques remains, and much of what is said about the production and enjoyment of masques is still part speculation.

While we cannot promise dancing, we will have music and singing, and some acting to accompany a fully-laden holiday board  -- an evening of music, merriment, and mummery -- and food and drink!

For more information, please call 718 875 3144.

Cobble Hill Mulchfest 2012

This just in from our friends at the Cobble Hill Tree Fund...

DATE: Saturday, January 7 and Sunday, January 8, 2012 
LOCATION: Cobble Hill Park: Clinton and Verandah Place
TIME: 9:30 am – 1:30 pm

Bring your holiday tree to Cobble Hill Park, at Clinton Street and Verandah Place, and other locations city-wide, to be recycled into mulch that will nourish plantings across the city!

Join us and New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the New York City Department of Sanitation, and GreenNYC to recycle your Christmas trees into wood chips.
These wood chips are used to nourish trees and plants on streets and gardens citywide. Or, take home your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree.

Last year, close to 17,000 Christmas trees citywide were recycled. Please help us top this number! This year, MulchFest will take place on January 7 and 8, 2012. Parks will host over 35 chipping sites and 35 additional drop-off locations: over 70 sites in all! And this year, you can bring your tree to a drop-off site from January 2 through January 8. It’s easier than ever to chip in!

Please remember to remove all lights and ornaments before bringing the tree to a MulchFest site. Biodegradable bags will be provided if you wish to take some free mulch home.

Wreaths, garlands, and artificial trees cannot be accepted and remember that tress will NOT be accepted after the scheduled times.

Sponsored by:
Cobble Hill Tree Fund,  Cobble Hill Association,  Friends of Cobble Hill Park, and  Boy Scout Troops 213 & 815

Cobble Hill Additions

Although nearly every lot in Cobble Hill is developed, the neighborhood does have a few empty spaces. However, new plans have arisen to potentially fill in a corner parking lot at Strong Place and Kane Street with appropriately scaled and historically contextual residential development.

Such a project in the Cobble Hill Historic Distrioct must first get approval by the Community Board, Landmarks Preservation Committee, and the Department of Buildings, but in this preliminary stage both Curbed and Brownstoner have entries about the potential construction, including renderings and floor plans.

Below is a street view of what it will be replacing.

NOTE: This entry was updated to point out no approvals by the CB, LPC, or DOB have yet been given.

Welcome Sadie's Kitchen

243 Degraw.

It's been Copper. It's been Whim. Ciello Café. It's been Chicory. It's been Ultimate Burgers and Dogs. And now, it's Sadie's Kitchen. This little spot on the edge of Cobble Hill has had an unfortunate amount of turnover the past few years, leading some to speculate the location is simply cursed. Now, owners Peter Sibilia and Damien Vizueteare hoping to give their retro style Mac & Cheese restaurant staying power beyond its recent history.
The Cobble Hill Association wishes them luck and is glad to see another new business start up in the neighborhood. Though we're used to getting write ups of our shops in the local papers and blogs, the curious past of this location has gotten enough attention that both the NY Times and Wall Street Journal even wrote about it. Read up on that media coverage, then treat yourself to trying out Sadie's firsthand.

And if anyone knows what happened to the old fashioned Coca Cola signage, let us know.

B61 Press Conference

Hat tip to a post by our neighbors at the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association for posting the below info about our neighborhood's steady, but slow, B61 Bus line.

"Next Bus Please" - Brad Lander Releases Report on Study of B61 Bus

Council Member Brad Lander invites you to attend a press conference next Monday to present their recently completed report about the B61 bus.  The report, titled “Next Bus Please: Improving the B61 Bus” summarizes data collected by community volunteers & presents suggestions for improving service.

Time: 9:00am

Date: 5 December, 2011

Location: 4th Avenue/9th Street Bus Stop, Brooklyn

Decaying Highway, will NOT be fixed - UPDATE

UPDATE: Cobble Hill Association President also spoke with 1010WINS & the Brooklyn Daily Eagle regarding the BQE project being shelved. A link to his comments there are linked at the bottom of this post.

Yesterday afternoon, we got word from the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) that they are terminating the environmental study for the proposed rehabilitation of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. It is a desperately needed project of which the Cobble Hill Association and many other local groups have been participating for months. Though NYSDOT blames harsh economic times for ending the study, safety is paramount and many portions of the highway are simply unsafe. 

CHA President Roy Sloane offered these words to the NY post in response.

We were told by the state that the BQE was in danger of collapsing in the 80s," said Sloane. "It’s also pathetic that they put all these years and effort in, spent money on all sorts of designs and are now dropping it.

For more details on how this project abruptly stopped, check out the links to a New York Post, 1010 WINS-CBS News, and Brooklyn Eagle report.