Sunday, January 24, 2016

Public Meeting with NYU Langone

This Wednesday, representatives from NYU Langone will present updates on their Cobble Hill healthcare operations to the Community Board Six Human Services Committee. The committee will discuss the current, and future, healthcare offerings in the neighborhood. Community Board committee meetings are open to the public. The meeting details are below, and available on the Community Board Six website.

6:30 pm Wednesday, January 27th 
Cobble Hill Health Center 
380 Henry Street 
(Congress & Warren Streets) 

Saturday, January 16, 2016

An Update on the Proposed Redevelopment of the LICH site

A few days before Christmas, the Cobble Hill Association and all the elected officials who have been involved on the community’s behalf were asked to attend a meeting at City Hall because Mayor de Blasio's administration was taking a direct interest in the redevelopment process and had a new ULURP proposal to present.

The CHA agreed to participate in the meeting so we could understand the new ULURP proposal as fully as possible.  We made it clear to the administration that we were not indicating any acceptance or agreement with City Hall or Fortis as part of the process of information gathering that the meeting represented.

CHA representatives had also attended a December meeting where NYU described their plans for the new medical center to be developed on the former LICH site, regardless of what type of residential development occurs.  After this meeting, CHA and the Brooklyn Heights Association, which also attended, sent a letter to NYU outlining a number of concerns about infrastructure issues relating to the medical center.

In the pre-Christmas City Hall meeting, two members of the de Blasio administration outlined a new ULURP plan that includes a reduction in market-rate residential and affordable housing square footage, but a larger school than previously proposed.  During the meeting, CHA representatives made it clear that the plan does not fully address the community's issues with the original ULURP proposal, and that our information from the NYU meeting and the proposal of a larger school raised many infrastructure- and traffic-related issues.  The City Hall representatives asked that the CHA to develop a list of information requirements and that we attend a second meeting early in the new year.

The list of information requirements requested after the first City Hall meeting included questions relating to basic infrastructure issues, such as traffic, parking, safety, access and entrances to the medical center and school, and other subjects relating to neighborhood open spaces and environmental issues.  At the post-New Year meeting at City Hall, some information was provided and additional information promised.

CHA is continuing to pursue information gathering on all the elements of the new ULURP plan and intends to communicate its best understanding of the plan to the community at the earliest possible time.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Don't Trash Your Tree, Mulch It!


Happy New Year Cobble Hill! The NYC Parks Department will be running its annual Mulchfest, where the city collects christmas trees to be chipped into mulch. Rather than leaving your tree on the curb, "treecycle" it at Cobble Hill Park next weekend on January 9th and 10th. Bringing your tree to Mulchfest saves the DSNY time and money and supplies the Parks Department with mulch that it uses in its stewardship of the city's natural areas. Mulch will also be available at Cobble Hill Park for any home gardeners.

Mulchfest 2016 at Cobble Hill Park
January 9th and 10th, 10:00am - 2:00pm