Eat Pie & Shop - A Benefit for PS29

Our wonderful local elementary school is throwing another amazing fundraiser to help support all the great program it has for our neighborhood children. And this time... it's not just in the charitable category, it's also DELICIOUS!

On December 4 from 11am to 4pm, PS 29 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, will host the their annual “Eat Pie and Shop” Holiday Gift Fair and Pie Social, to benefit the school.  Featuring local bakers as well as shops like Shake Shack, soon coming to Downtown BK, and Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain in Carrol Gardens... it's sure to be an appetizing event.

Full details are available on the event website... http://www.eatpieandshop.org/

St. Nicholas Holiday Fair 12-3-11

Rat Information Portal

Though most of our local streets are rather well cleaned, some have observed an uptick in Rat sightings. This isn't just a matter of keeping our neighborhood attractive, it's also a serious health concern. Fortunately, just this week the city's Department of Information Technology has made it easy to access the Department of Health's "Rat Information Portal."

The Rat Information Portal (RIP) is a web-based mapping application where users can view rat inspection data. Findings from the Health Department’s inspections are searchable by address, or by borough, block and lot (BBL). You can use the map tools to find information about properties on the map. Visit the Rat Information Portal at gis.nyc.gov/doh/rip to view rat inspection data.

Be sure to track the issue on your block and always call 311 if you come across a problem in Cobble Hill concerning rats, rodents, or any other creatures that do not belong.

Electronics Recycling Update

Just a few weeks ago, the Cobble Hill Association helped plan yet another electronics recycling event at PS29 with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. With the dedication of amazing volunteers from the school's PTA, the scope of the collection went far beyond computers and cell phones - it included paper shredding, textiles recycling, and even had composting demos from the NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn. All in all, a complete success and we are now report the final tallies.... 212 families came to drop off 4.5 tons of electronics!

Look to the spring for another e-waste event....Tentative date is already set for April 22nd 2012.... Earth Day!

Cobble Hill Halloween

We hope everyone enjoyed the massive Halloween parade through Cobble Hill Park this year, but are curious if you also remembered to check out the neighborhood's other spooky celebration... the annual
'Impalements' installation done by local artist Jane Greengold.

Image courtesy of the artist Jane Greengold

It's a dizzying celebration of pumpkins that showcases 100 individually carved creations on the corner of Kane and Strong Place.  Though its been going strong for many years already, this time around the NYTimes even got in on the action!

For articles and images of the fantastic work, please check the links below.
http://www.janegreengold.com/projects/public-art/impalements
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/jane-the-impaler-and-a-ghastly-halloween-tradition/?ref=nyregion
http://carrollgardens.patch.com/articles/pumpkin-heads-will-remain-until-christmas

Remembering one of our own

Just over two months ago, Cobble Hill resident and Cobble Hill CSA founder Jeffrey Axelrod was killed while riding his bicycle through the Lower East Side. Though it happens with alarming regularity, our streets MUST NOT remain speedways that give cars priority over people's safety. These types of 'accidents' are largely preventable by better engineering of our roads, education of our drivers/cyclists, and most importantly better enforcement by our NYPD to take vehicular crimes more seriously.

Though nothing will bring Jeffrey back, the generous collective at the NYC Street Memorial Project have installed a ghost bike recently to make sure his death will not be in vain.
http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/10/jeffrey-axelrod-ghost-bike-now-at-chrystie-and-delancey/
http://carrollgardens.patch.com/articles/boerum-hill-resident-remembered-with-ghostbike-memorial

Cobble Hill Halloween Parade

Calling all ghouls, ghosts and goblins!
The Cobble Hill Halloween Parade will be Monday October 31st

TIME/ DATE: Monday, October 31st,  4:00 pm
PLACE: Cobble Hill Park
MUSIC: Jah Pan Steel Drum Band

All are welcome to attend this ever growing neighborhood event. However, it cannot be pulled off with some elbow grease to set up so we would like a crew of volunteers to help set up at 9AM and then another group of volunteers to help clean up at 8:30PM on the day of the parade.

If you would like to volunteer to help, please let us know by responding to CHA president roysloane[at]earthlink.net

Recycling Day at PS29 - Sunday 10/23

In our continuing efforts to green the neighborhood, the Cobble Hill Association and amazing folks at PS29 are yet again holding an electronics recycling event with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. What's more, it'll include plenty of other recycling opportunities too throughout the day!

• 10a.. to 4pm...Old computers and electronics will be collected by Lower East Side Ecology Center, in conjunction with Cobble Hill Association.   See www.lesecologycenter.org to review the list of accepted items at bottom.
• Composting Workshop led by The NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn.  Backyard composters will also be for sale. 
• Computer hard drive shredding provided by eRecycleNY, PS 29 parent owned EPA compliant electronics recycling company serving the NYC area. 
• Clothing rummage sale, proceeds go to PS 29 PTA. Wearable Collections will be picking up remaining clothes, as well as stained & ripped clothing, textiles & stuffed animals. 
• Confidential Documents shredded on-site (& then recycled) for a small fee. by Time Shred Services

How to Research Your Home Workshop

You Are Invited to the COBBLE HILL ASSOCIATION Spring, 2011 General Meeting
How to Research The History of Your Own Home
with Francis Morrone

image taken by Giles Ashford during the Municipal Art Society's
Jane Jacobs Forum 2010

Join us for a discussion with Francis Morrone about how to research the history of a house or other building in Brooklyn. Morrone will discuss some of the nuts and bolts of basic building research, as well as the myriad avenues opened up in recent years by the internet. The web has changed the whole game. For the serious researcher it has not replaced the necessity of consulting physical archives, but it has made stay-at-home research rewarding as never before.

Learn the secrets of the trade from a professional historian.

Time: 7:30 P.M.
Date: Monday, October 17, 2011
Place: Long Island College Hospital, Conference Room A
Enter at main entrance 339 Hicks (at Atlantic)

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

Amazon filming @ Ted & Honey

Cobble Hill is already a coveted spot for families and businesses, now once again it's the desired locale for another film shoot. Word just came in from CB6 that Eyeball NYC will be in production this week on a commercial for Amazon. 

"We will be filming at Ted & Honey Cafe and on Verandah Place from approximately 7:00am to 3:00pm on Tuesday September 27th. For the purposes of staging scenes and parking production vehicles, street parking will be held in advance on oth sides of Clinton from Kane to Verandah Place... We appreciate the opportunity to shoot in Cobble Hill and will do our best to hold only the space necessary, and operate in as clean and quiet a manner as possible. We look forward to working in Brooklyn (aka home); thank you very much for helping to keep the production industry strong in New York City."

Another addition to Brownstone Brooklyn

Wanted to share the good news that the Cobble Hill Blog and NY Post have already sent out...

The NYC City Council finally approved a 50 foot cap on new development in Boerum Hill, the great neighborhood immediately adjacent to Cobble Hill.  The rezoning area is bordered by Atlantic Avenue to the north, Court Street to the west, Fourth Avenue to the east and sections of Warren and Wyckoff streets south. We are happy to see Boerum Hill now under the same landmark guidelines as our own Cobble Hill which will ensure future developments maintain the character we've all come to love.

NY Post: Councilman Steve Levin, who represents the historic, landmarked Boerum Hill neighborhood said many of the its homes were build more than 150 years ago and the rezoning “is going to make sure that … historic character is preserved in perpetuity.”
“Everyone saw that there was a great need for this rezoning,” he said.

BQE Emergency Repairs

CHA President Roy Sloane sent along this emergency notice...

Part of the eastbound lane of the BQE (adjacent to Grace Court and therefore under the Promenade) caved in earlier this morning. It is 'just' the asphalt itself, not the supporting steel structure. 

Presently, DOT are plating the area and putting up jersey barriers to keep cars off the affected lane. BQE is currently down from 3 to 2 lanes (leading to extensive delays). Repairs will be done on Wed 31st, from 10pm to 6am Thursday. There will be a full shut down of the Atlantic Avenue ramps to the BQE.

During this time, Furman will be made two-way to accommodate traffic, and there will be traffic agents on site to direct traffic. DOT says the repairs will hopefully only take a couple of days, but this is not a guarantee until they know the full extent of what they are dealing with.

Good to know DOT is on top of this emergency work, and will make necessary road changes that include a a temporary TWO-WAY Furman Street. However, one has to wonder, why isn't it ALWAYS two-way? Current vehicle speeds are dangerously high, and keeping this temporary conversion could make a safer road to walk across, bike along, and drive on.