Green Saturday, gets EVEN GREENER!

We've already told you about the jam packed line up this Saturday in Cobble Hill, with Electronics Recycling, a Plant Sale, AND a Bike Fest....

But There's even MORE sustainability in the schoolyard at PS29, as they've turned it into a full on mega green event!

PS 29 Recycling Day: Saturday, April 30th

Electronics Collection by the Lower East Side Ecology Center: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Textiles Collection by Wearable Collections: 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Plastic Containers with Lids Collection by the Park Slope Food Co-op Recycling Squad & CHIPS Soup Kitchen: 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Volunteers still needed! Email ps29pc@gmail.com if you have an hour to help.

Be sure to check out ALL the action in the neighborhood this Saturday. Want to see how successful we've been at events like these before? Watch here and here)

Green Saturday in Cobble Hill

This Saturday, April 30th, there LOTS OF GREEN going on in Cobble Hill!
Electronics Recycling, Plant Sale, & the Brooklyn Bike Fest!

From 10am to 4pm, PS 29 & the Cobble Hill Association are hosting the Lower East Side Ecology's Electronics Recycling Event.  We've spared tons (literally) of e-waste from landfills at these events in the past (see here and here) and hope to have the same success this time around. Grab those old computers, cameras, cell phone and properly dispose of them with us.

Then, walk over to Cobble Hill Park for the Cobble Hill Tree Fund's Annual Plant Sale, from 10:30AM to 3PM.  Annuals, tomatoes, geraniums, hanging baskets, and a variety of perennials will all be available. There'll also be plant/tree identification activities for children in the park.

Still want more green in your day? Saturday, from 10 am - 4 pm, at Brooklyn Bridge Park will be  the first-ever Five Boro Bike Fest.

This free, family-friendly event is open to the public and features live entertainment, classes, bike repair, and an expo with demos and giveaways. The Bike Fest is part of a fun-filled weekend that kicks off Bike Month.

Activities at Bike Fest
*10:30 Wear a helmet  *10:30 Fix-a-flat   *11:00 Use your gears  *11:30 How to buy a bicycle  *11:30 Chain maintenance  *12:00 Adjust your bike for a comfortable ride  *12:30 Stretching for cyclists  *12:30 Fix-a-flat  *1:00 Fuel up--gels, bars, beans, oh my!  *1:30 How to buy a bicycle  *1:30 Commute by bicycle  *2:30 Use your gears  *2:30 Fix-a-flat  *3:00 Chain maintenance  *3:30 Adjust your bike for a comfortable ride

We Demand it Again; No Housing in BK Bridge Park.

Last Wednesday at LICH, the Community Board 6 and Community Board 2's motions against housing  inside Brooklyn Bridge Park were upheld by the Mayor-appointed Community Advisory Committee.

This is particularly significant because the park's pro-housing operators had tried unsuccessfully to claim that the citizenry of Brooklyn - those individuals they had hand picked to be on the Committee in the first place - agreed that housing was the only solution for park payments.  It is obvious once again that the people of Brooklyn know that more housing is not needed inside Brooklyn Bridge Park and that there are many ways to pay for park maintenance without private housing. They have demanded that the Jehovah Witness properties adjacent to the park be mined for tax revenue; that the city explore a Real Estate Investment fee (used to secure and protect open space in East Hampton) and that all concessions, including the River Cafe inside the park, pay-in; that the combination of off site and on site parking, events and movie shoots will also go a long way to pay for the park without housing.

Please read the Community's motions for yourself. 

Motion passed at April 20, 2011 CAC meeting at LICH:

Maker:             Dorothy Siegel, BBPDF
Seconder:      Richard Bashner, CB 6

The CAC endorses the positions taken by CB6 and CB2 that encourage the BAE to aggressively study potential revenue generating ideas and expense reduction options, including fundraising/sponsorship opportunities and options involving the Watchtower properties. In addition to the revenue sources mentioned in the CB2 and CB6 resolutions, the CAC urges BAE to consider other potential revenue sources including, but not limited to: a real estate transfer fee; enhanced revenues from parking (specifically, the police garage); alternative approaches to the PID; and potential revenues from the yacht marina. The CAC further urges BAE to provide a point by point analysis of the revenue generators covered in the 1997 Praedium Group study.

CB2 & CB6 urge more exploration

The fight against building unnecessary housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park continues and now both Community Boards 2 & 6 have passed resolutions urging more exploration. A weak study was done by the Committee on Alternatives to Housing, but failed to include the potential sale of Watchtower Properties as revenue generators.  The Brooklyn Eagle has more details below.
Debate on Park ‘Alternatives To Housing’ Is Still Alive

The Lion's Legacy

Photo By Judy Whitman

While several local articles went around last week announcing the unfortunate passing on one of Cobble Hill's most important civic leaders, Murray 'the Lion' Adams, just yesterday the Brooklyn Eagle published a more in depth review of Murray's many accolades.

Adams was an indefatigable community activist, and all who knew him assumed he would spend many more years advocating for the neighborhood... He was one of the founders of the [Cobble Hill Association] organization and served as president in the 1960s. Asked if he would classify himself as an urban pioneer, he insisted that pioneer was “too strong a word.”

To read the article in full, please click on Trudy Whitman's The Achievements of Murray Adams

final chances to OPPOSE housing in our parks

CB 6 sent along this message the other day. Please use it as another chance to stand up for a true Brooklyn Bridge park... that is one without private housing. It should feel like a lawn for all of Brooklyn to enjoy, not just a backyard for wealthy hugh rise condo owners. As our Cobble Hill Association president Roy Sloane eloquently put it last week "I will never support housing in this park until there are high-rises in Prospect Park, Central Park and every other major park in this city."

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Representatives for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation have agreed to brief us on the Draft Report findings for the "Study of Alternatives to Housing For the Funding of Brooklyn Bridge Park Operations" prepared by Bay Area Economics for the Committee for Alternatives to Housing.

The meeting will be hosted by the Brooklyn CB6 Executive Committee at 6:30pm on Monday, April 11th, at Long Island College Hospital, 339 Hicks Street (at Atlantic Avenue), Brooklyn.

The report itself can be viewed by clicking here, or at the following link:
http://www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/about-us/project-approvals-presentations

Written comments on the report are due by April 25th and may be submitted directly to:
bbptestimony@bae1.com

Safer routes to Brooklyn Bridge Park/Pier 6

Councilman Brad Lander is renewing his efforts to make the Department of Transportation address the immense dangers in accessing our waterfront park at Pier 6 with a new online petition. It just takes a few seconds to sign, and will go a long way to keeping the issue on DOT's radar so that hopefully it can be addressed BEFORE the warm weather ushers in new visitors to harm's way as they head to the park.

As we saw last year after the new park opened, the current routes along Atlantic Avenue and Columbia Streets, past the entrances to the BQE, are just too dangerous. With spring upon us, we need some adjustments (e.g. a new traffic light at Congress and Columbia) soon.

Please sign Brad Lander's petition calling on the NYC Department of Transportation to make routes to Pier 6 of Brooklyn Bridge Park safer for pedestrians, and pass it along, if so inspired.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/2777/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3735

In Remembrance

The Cobble Hill Association suffered a tremendous loss this week, with the loss of one its greatest leaders. CHA President Roy Sloane shared the following message.  
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With great sadness, we wish to mark the passing of C. Murray Adams.  Murray passed away peacefully yesterday at his beloved Long Island College Hospital, following complications of a brief illness.  He was the past president of the Cobble Hill Association and a member of our board, but, most importantly, a wonderful person, husband & father.

There are few individuals who have had the dedication and made the contributions to Cobble Hill that Murray has over the years. He played an integral part in shaping the neighborhood from one threatened by urban renewal and Atlantic Avenue becoming a state highway to one of Brooklyn's premier family neighborhoods. He did this through his intelligence, his charm and his tireless dedication to improving our institutions and our local political representation.

Murray was one of the founders of the Cobble Hill Association in the late 1950's and served as one of its first presidents. Our longest serving leader, he was president again from 2004 through 2008 and was still serving on our board at the time of his passing. Murray was also a member of the boards of Long Island College Hospital and the Cobble Hill Health Center and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund. He served as a legal adviser for the lawsuit to prohibit housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  In just the past two years, his vision, leadership, and skill as a citizen lobbyist helped make the SUNY Downstate/ LICH merger possible-- saving LICH and creating a powerful new health care resource in our borough.

 

A Memorial Service for Murray Adams will be held on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 3 PM at the Friends Meetinghouse, 110 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn (corner of Boerum Place).  Contributions in Murray’s memory may be made to the Long Island College Hospital and the Imani House Adult Literacy Program.

Cobble Hill Street Resurfacing

Next week several streets in our neighborhood will get some much needed resurfacing from the Department of Transportation.

1) Butler Street (between Court St and Gregory Pl aka Quisenbury Dr)
2) Gregory Place aka Quisenbury Drive (between Butler and Baltic Streets)
3) Degraw Street (between Hicks Street and 5th Ave)

The 1st stage of street resurfacing, a process called milling, involves the stripping away of the top several inches of asphalt. The removed asphalt is captured and returned to the Hamilton Avenue Asphalt Yard where it is recycled into a new asphalt product and reapplied to the streets. The City saves money and resources both in terms of decreasing its reliance on virgin product for fresh roadway application, and preserving precious landfill space by avoiding the disposal of the old product. The work can be loud at times, and it creates a temporary scarified, rough driving surface containing raised manhole covers and other protruding appurtenances.

The second stage of work, which usually lags behind the first stage by a couple-few weeks, involves a different work crew responsible for the laying of the new roadway surface. The final stage of work involves the reapplication of missing striping from crosswalks, lane markings, etc. In all, the total process can take a couple-few months to complete.

No one enjoys living through the process of resurfacing streets and weather or other unforeseen circumstances can slow down the process for everyone. Your patience and understanding during this time is truly appreciated.

If you experience any problems, or have additional questions, call either CB6 or 311.

Testify AGAINST Housing in BK Bridge Park

The Cobble Hill Association strongly urges its members to testify on March 31st and speak out against housing in Brooklyn Bridge park. Though developers try to convince the community that five additional buildings are the only solution to finance the park, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund and many other sensible community advocates know this s not true. Bigger revenue opportunities include selling the Jehovah Witness properties immediately adjacent to the park, as well as creating an Atlantic Ferry Landing concept that would serve as an entertainment and recreational draw on Pier 6. Or perhaps most sensibly, eliminating the duplicative entity AND conservancy with mind-bogglingly inflated budgets and simply fold it into a properly funded NYC parks department scheme?

Please take just 1 hour to attend the hearing on Thursday, March 31st at 5:30 PM and TESTIFY

that we don't want nor do we need more private housing inside this park.

Congress Street Bike Lane

While last week's roundtable discussion with Councilman Brad Lander was an opportunity to bring practically any issue to light, many residents chose to focus their voices on rumors surrounding a new Congress street bike lane possibly coming to the neighborhood. While the NY Post fueled, or possibly started, a fire with misinformation...  more accurate details came out of the Q & A. As the Brooklyn Eagle notes... 

The city Department of Transportation insists that it’s only “a conceptual design made by a sub-consultant on a study [commissioned by the Economic Development Corp.] related to the BQE enhancement” and that “previous press reports were inaccurate in suggesting that DOT officials told community members that the project was moving ahead."...  Roy Sloane, current president of the Cobble Hill Association, said, “I was asked by the DOT to take the plan to key people on Congress Street to see what they thought of it, and not one person approved of it. I know there are numerous reports that it’s moving forward despite community opposition, but I spoke to DOT and they said it’s not true.”

The Cobble Hill Association recognizes many residents remain concerned, but appreciates that DOT sought local insight, even during concept phase. We have complete faith that if a detailed plan should come to fruition, once again DOT will seek resident's input to make the best possible solution in designing a safer east-west connection for pedestrians and cyclists moving in and through Cobble Hill.  

Councilman Lander Community Roundtable 3/16

Local Counilman Brad Lander joins the Cobble Hill Association for another roundtable discussion next Wednesday, March 16th. This is the 2nd year the CHA has hosted these open interactions allowing our residents to pose questions directly to area representatives.

Whether your issue is big like avoiding housing in Brookyn Bridge Park, keeping the Prospect Park West bike path, maintaining Long Island College Hospital... or something small and localized to your block or your building, this is a great opportunity to have the Councilman's assistance.

Wednesday, March 16th
7:30p - 9p, Community Roundtable with Brad Lander @ 326 Clinton - Christ Church (corner of Kane and Clinton)