Cobble Hill Halloween Parade!

It's Halloween and everyone is all dressed up. Check out a few pics of this afternoon's Cobble Hill Association sponsored parade below, and see the full set on the CHA's Flickr Page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/35037635@N03/sets/72157625157943327/

Did you snap some photos too? Upload them and add them to the set by adding the tag "Cobble Hill Halloween 2010" (use the full phrase in quotations so all they all stay together) so everyone can see all the amazing costumes. Big thanks to Melissa Glass for her tireless efforts decorating the park and leading the parade with CHA President Roy Sloane. Kudos also go to our elected officials Assemblywoman Millman, State Senator Squadron, and City Councilman Lander who all came in support, as well as Jerry Armer and the 76th precinct for keeping everything safe, and the Jah Pan Steel Drum Band for keeping the beat!

Also be sure to check out some of the great photos Judi Franci took on her photostream too http://www.flickr.com/photos/9050783@N04

Ghouls, Ghosts & Goblins

The Cobble Hill Halloween Parade is this Sunday!

Time: 4:00PM
Date: Sunday, October 31st
Place: Cobble Hill Park
Music: Jah Pan Steel Drum Band

Every year this holiday children's parade grows and grows. Come join the celebration as we take over Cobble Hill Park, shut down Clinton street, and march through the neighborhood in amazing costumes. For a complete viewing of pics from last year's event, check out the CHA Flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35037635@N03/sets/72157622744191714/with/4079905860/

Special Screening - "Arranged"

Late notice, but on Tuesday, October 26th at Kane Street Synagogue, there will be a special screening of the film "Arranged" followed by audience discussion.

This film has gotten a lot of publicity because of its fascinating story of how two young women -- one Orthodox Jewish and the other Muslim -- meet and become friends, as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn, and see how much they have in common.

Light dinner will be served at 6:30 with the movie beginning at 7:00 pm. There is no charge for the event.

For more information, go to http://kanestreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2010_Arranged-Final1.pdf.

Kane Street Synagogue is located at 236 Kane Street, between Court and Clinton Streets.
If you plan to attend, RSVP to Barbara Gringer at bzzg[at]aol.com by Sunday, Oct. 24th

Cobble Hill Halloween Parade

photo by Franklin Stone

Noticed the Halloween Parade sign up in Cobble Hill Park? Well thanks to Trudy Whitman at the Brooklyn Eagle for beating me to the punch and already writing up the details for the Cobble Hill Association's annual Parade.   She wrote:

It’s Cobble Hill’s biggest social event of the year, and it’s right around the corner. The Cobble Hill Park Halloween Parade sponsored by the Cobble Hill Association brings out hundreds of elaborately costumed pint-sized revelers, who first gather in the park to admire each other’s getups and then march through surrounding blocks, so neighbors can admire them too. The streets are made safe — closed off to traffic — and guarded by police officers from the 76th Precinct.

The parade takes place on Sunday, October 31, beginning at 4 p.m. and will be led by the merry Jah Pan Steel Band. The event’s success always depends on the work of volunteers, who are needed at noon to decorate the park and at 9 p.m. for clean-up. To volunteer, please drop an email to cha@cobblehillassociation.org.

Cobble Hill Park - Past and Present

Friday's New York Times has great coverage of NYC's parks; not Central, or Prospect, or Battery Park.... none of those big ones, but rather all the small pocket sized parks that fill in nooks and crannies, breathe life into neighborhoods, and raise both property values and happiness. Our very own Cobble Hill Park gets a worthy mention of praise, with a tidbit of its history.

Cobble Hill Park, on Verandah Place in Brooklyn, a 0.585-acre site where a neighborhood petition drive in the 1960s defeated plans for an apartment building. Two-family town houses there have sold in recent years for $2.2 million or more.
 

For another nugget on the park, check out the David Ansel Weiss's trivia column which notes the site of Cobble Hill Park was "the site of Brooklyn’s Second Unitarian Church, often affectionately called — because of its shape — the Church of the Holy Turtle? Its first minister was Samuel Longfellow, brother of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow."

Regardless what came before, Cobble Hill Park is now beautiful and well cared for by resident Barbara Krongel and her devoted team of volunteers. Want to get your own hands dirty and keep the park pretty? Come join us every Tuesday morning at 7:45am, weather permitting. For more info email sublte116[at]gmail.com

Cobble Hill Book Swap

The Cobble Hill Association is sponsoring a free Book Swap on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) Sitting Park located at Henry & Pacific Streets in Cobble Hill, from 11 AM until 3 PM.

The idea for the Book Swap is simple: bring a book & get a book. LICH staff members will also be on hand to meet the community, conduct free blood pressure screening, and offer asthma information at the park. Books will also be available for sale at $1 or less. All proceeds and remainder books will be donated to the Hospital by the Cobble Hill Association.

UPDATE: This event is now perfectly timed to also be a warm welcome to SUNY Downstate who will now acquire LICH from Continuum Health Partners. This new partnership is not just a great way fix LICH's financial troubles, it will breath new life and a new commitment to stay open and expand its programming for the Cobble Hill Community. The official announcement was made yesterday afternoon by Governor Paterson himself. More detailed info on the story can be found at the following links.
http://www.downstate.edu/news_releases/2010/news_release_full39.html
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/3456

Tuesday WATER, Thursday BLOGS, Saturday BOOKS!

 
On Tuesday is the last chance for public input (in-person, at least) for the Vision 2020 Plan to make NYC's waterfront more tangible for all New Yorkers. A View from Brooklyn has a great write up on the draft proposal.

And on Thursday is the Cobble Hill Association's Fall General Meeting that host a panel of local bloggers to discuss how blogs have transformed neighborhood news. It will include Rich Calder of the NY Post, Tobey Grumet of Bococaland.com, John Loscalzo (aka Homer Fink) of Brooklynheightsblog.com, and Katia Kelly of Pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com

And on Saturday, October 16th, the CHA is sponsoring a free Book Swap at the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) Sitting Park located at Henry and Pacific Streets in Cobble Hill, from 11 AM until 3 PM.

The idea for the Book Swap is simple: bring a book and get a book. LICH staff members will also be on hand to meet the community and will conduct free blood pressure screening and an asthma information table at the park. Books will also be available for sale at $1 or less. All proceeds and remainder books will be donated to the Hospital by the Cobble Hill Association.

This low-key, neighborly event is the perfect time to meet neighbors and support our local hospital, too.

Happy 60th Birthday Promenade

Next Thursday, October 14th, The Cobble Hill Association's Fall General Meeting will host a panel discussion on the role blogs have in shaping local news. Former CHA president and NYU professor Jeff Strabone will moderate several local Brooklyn Bloggers for a great discussion. In addition, We'll have brief updates on two neighboring projects, the massive reconstruction of the BQE Triple-Cantilevered Roadway as well as the 'Fix the Ditch' workshops which seeks to re-unite neighborhoods divided by the highway trench on Hicks street.

For more background on those projects check out the Brooklyn Eagle's fascinating article on just how the BQE and Ditch came about... and wish the Promenade a happy 60th birthday tomorrow.

FALL 2010 General Meeting

How Blogs Are Transforming Local News
A Panel Discussion with Local Bloggers
Moderated by Jeff Strabone

Time: 7:30 P.M.
Date: Thursday, October 14, 2010
Place: Long Island College Hospital, Conference Room A
Enter at main entrance 339 Hicks (at Atlantic)

NYC DOT Greenway Workshops, Round 2: Route Selection

Cobble Hill is just steps away from the water's edge, and our Columbia Street neighbors at the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative have been leading the charge on creating a full 14 mile greenway in our borough.

And this Thursday, September 30th kicks off the second round of community planning workshops for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, led by NYC Department of Transportation (DOT). At each workshop, DOT will present route options and gather feedback as to the community’s preferred alternative. Route options will reflect information gathered at DOT’s first round of community planning workshops, which were held in March/April 2010.

These planning workshops will continue to inform DOT’s master plan for constructing the greenway, so please mark your calendars and tell your neighbors. Four workshops will be held, one in each broad geographic area along the planned 14-mile route. Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and Regional Plan Association are co-sponsoring the workshops.
Please RSVP to brooklynwaterfrontgreenway@dot.nyc.gov. Make sure to specify which workshop(s) you plan to attend:

Downtown Brooklyn (CB2)
Thursday, September 30th, 6:30-8:30pm
Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street

Sunset Park (CB7)*
Thursday, October 7th,  6:30-8:30pm
St. Michael’s Church, 352 42nd Street
*UPROSE is also a co-sponsor of the Sunset Park workshop.

Red Hook (CB6)
Thursday, October 14th, 6:30-8:30pm
Red Hook Recreation Center, 155 Bay Street

Greenpoint/Williamsburg (CB1)
Thursday, October 21st, 6:30-8:30pm
Brooklyn Brewery, 79 N. 11th Street

Electronics Recycling - TWO locations on Saturday

With the PS29 School yard under construction the Cobble Hill Association cannot run an electronics recycling as it has so successfully in the past (here and here). So, this year we are encouraging residents to bring any unwanted e-waste to either of TWO spots just outside the neighborhood, both collecting at the same times.

Saturday
October 02, 2010 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, Furman Street between Old Fulton and Doughty St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Saturday
October 02, 2010 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
The New New York Green Street Festival, Bond Street between 3rd and 4th Street Brooklyn, NY 11231

Full details on what can and cannot be dropped off are available on the Lower East Side Ecology Center's website.

Plaza Design at the Barclays Center

UPDATE: Streetsblog now has images and excellent commentary on the Plaza design here.

Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, with Council Members Letitia James, Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, Empire State Development Corporation, Brooklyn Community Boards 2, 6 and 8 present a

PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING for the Plaza Design at the Barclays Center
Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 6:00pm-8:00pm 
Brooklyn Borough Hall 209 Joralemon Street (at Court Street)

Representatives will be present from Forest City Ratner Companies to brief interested residents on plans fo the public plaza in front of the arena. There will be a Q & A session.

Downloadable event flyer available at: http://bit.ly/AYPlazaDesignflyer

Atlantic Antic this weekend

New York City has plenty of generic street fairs selling tube socks and boring snacks. Thankfully the Atlantic Antic isn't like that at all. It's a wonderful stretch of 600 local shops and vendors offering eclectic food, fun, and music for jam packed crowds on Atlantic Avenue from Hicks all the way to 4th avenue.

Check it out and enjoy the neighborhood on September 26th.
http://www.atlanticave.org/antic2010