Cobble Hill Mulchfest January 5th

While the citywide Mulchfest program will be happening in two weeks, January 12th & 13th, Cobble Hill will be having its own tree recycling one week earlier... on Saturday, January 5th, at Cobble Hill Park. Please see the flyer below for full details. 

Gowanus Canal Superfund Update

Just a few days ago, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency released their proposed Gowanus Canal cleanup plan and schedule of public meetings. 

The plan, the accompanying Press Release, and a new Feasibility Study Report Addendum can all be downloaded from: http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/.

The EPA will hold public meetings on January 23, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at Public School 58, 330 Smith Street, Brooklyn and on January 24, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the NYCHA Miccio Community Center, 110 West 9th Street, Brooklyn to discuss the proposed plan and answer questions.
The EPA will accept public comments on its proposed plan until March 28, 2013. Also of note, the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, just recently stepped down from her position in the Obama administration. 

New Parking Regulations at Trader Joe's

To reduce the dangerous bottleneck congestion that occurs on Court street, parking regulations have been changed in front of Trader Joe's.  This past week a new 'No Standing' sign went up and is in effect 8a-10p daily. This will allow for brief pickups but reduce the parking, and thus the double parking, that had been making our stretch of Court Street unsafe for drivers and pedestrians alike.

In the photo below, each car is now illegally parked and could be ticketed. Both community board 2 and 6 are aware of the changes so be sure to adjust parking habits accordingly as enforcement will likely soon be included in the 76th's precinct routine work.  This is yet another step in the series of improvements the Cobble Hill Association has been advocating for the past year in our ongoing work with the Department of Transportation.

Mulchfest @ Cobble Hill Park - Jan. 12th & 13th

Though trees are going up in homes citywide now, please remember to responsibly dispose of them when the holiday season is over. NYC Parks Dept. will be doing a tree recycling as part of Mulchfest 2013.

Saturday January 5th, 2013
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. @ Cobble Hill Park (and various other locations across the city the following weekend January 12th & 13th)

Join the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the New York City Department of Sanitation , and GreeNYC  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 . More than 24,000 trees were recycled last year. Help us top this number!

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.

Want to volunteer at MulchFest ? Register to join the GreenTeam and MillionTreesNYC volunteer group.

3rd Annual Holiday Toy Giveaway

The holiday season is upon us and we hope you think of your neighbors in need. The Gowanus Neighborhood Association, in partnership with Councilmember Stephen Levin will be sponsoring its 3rd annual holiday toy giveaway on Friday December 21st at 6pm in the Gowanus community center, 420 baltic st. (between Hoyt & Bond streets).

They are asking for contributions and/or donations for underprivileged, low-income children aged 1-12 yrs and accepting new, unopened toys, games puzzles and books for age appropriate girls and boys.

Your donations can be dropped off at the Councilmember’s district office

410 atlantic ave @bond st.

Mon.-Fri.  10am-6pm

Or arrangements can be made for pick-up by contacting:

Betty Lester 718-243-1252 or  Metin Sarci 718-875- 5200

Reminder - Monday @ 7:30pm, General Meeting!

YOU’RE INVITED TO THE (belated because of Sandy) COBBLE HILL ASSOCIATION FALL, 2012 GENERAL MEETING!

Featuring a report on Health Care: Are we meeting the needs of children and seniors in Cobble Hill?

• With speakers:
  Peter Betts, CEO, LICH/Downstate Medical Center & 
• Tony Lewis, President and CEO of the Cobble Hill Health Center
• Cobble Hill Hero Award Presentation: Pediatrician Dr. Edna A. Pytlak, MD

General Meeting: 7:30 PM
Date: Monday, December 10, 2012
Place: University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital
Conference Room A Main Entrance: 339 Hicks St.

All members of the public are invited. Refreshments will be provided courtesy of Ted & Honey Cafe

Safety enhancement installed

The Cobble Hill Association is proud to see another piece of its advocacy for safer streets come to fruition. On the heels of two success (1- getting standard alternate side of the street parking regulations returned to Hicks Street to increase parking, while slowing speeding & 2 - adjusting the traffic light at the intersection of Amity and Court Street), we are excited that daylighting has come to the corner of Court Street and Pacific Street.  Though there was already a No-Standing zone, it was rarely enforced and reduced visibility for cars turning left onto Court from Pacific. Now, the Dept. of Transportation has installed on-street bike parking at that corner, creating 24-7 enforcement of existing rules.

Installation took place last Thursday, November 29th, and the improvement was noticed immediately. While locking my own bike to those racks I over heard passersby take enthusiastic note of the change (one father actually walked past and pointed to the racks to explain daylighting to his young son).  Many thanks for DOT for the responsiveness to our request, and to the Atlantic Avenue BID for its help securing the planting and agreement to sweep the curb as needed.

Also worth reading is the Streetsblog article about our improvement, viewable here.
http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/11/30/eyes-on-the-street-new-bike-corral-in-cobble-hill/

And remember, this is just one of many street improvements the CHA is working on bringing to our neighborhood.