join the Cobble Hill Bike Ride

Dave 'Paco' Abraham, the Cobble Hill Association's green czar, has organized the first ever Cobble Hill Bike Ride. We hope everyone with a bike will join this free, fun event. Come out and meet your neighbors.

Come join the Cobble Hill Association and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative for the first ever...

COBBLE HILL BIKE RIDE

When: September 14, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Cobble Hill Park
Cost: FREE, simply rsvp to cobblehillbikeride@gmail.com.

The Cobble Hill Association and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative are hosting a 12-mile casual bike ride that will start at Cobble Hill Park and pass through the Columbia Waterfront District, Red Hook, Park Slope, Prospect Park, and Gowanus, and loop back to Cobble Hill.

There will be several scenic rest stops as we ride along mostly calm streets with some light vehicular traffic. Several Bike Marshals will travel alongside as well as a mechanic for any urgent bike repairs needed. Light snacks and water will be provided, but riders should be prepared with sunblock, plenty of water, and ready for a light pace that will include some cobblestone streets in Red Hook and the 9th Street hill in Park Slope, with an option to also ride hill within Prospect Park's car-free loop.

save LICH website

The LICH Medical Staff website has information and documents of the campaign to save the hospital. Our own CHA letter to our elected officials is there, too. (They actually have an earlier draft of it somehow, but we are trying to get the right version posted.) Here is the link.

street regulations suspended

We have the following good news to report from CB6 about parking in the neighborhood:

As reported at the May 14, 2008 general meeting, the new Street Cleaning Regulation plan for the CB6 district that was announced in September 2007 is going into effect. The project is now more than halfway done!

Beginning on Monday, August 25, 2008, Street Cleaning Regulations in Area 2(Gowanus/Carroll Gardens East) are going into effect and will be enforced.

Also on August 18, 2008, Street Cleaning Regulations in Area 3 (Carroll Gardens West/Cobble Hill/Columbia Street District) will be suspended while the City changes the signs. Street Cleaning in Area 3 will be suspended for roughly 3 to 5 weeks.

All other traffic regulations (i.e., parking meter regulations, "No Parking" regulations, "No Standing" regulations, etc.) remain in effect.

potluck dinner postponed

We have decided to at least postpone the potluck dinner announced for September 10 in Cobble Hill Park due to concerns about lack of volunteers. We will try to reimagine a park dinner for the spring, one that may be better suited to changing times. A catered dinner in the park for ten to fifteen dollars perhaps? Let us know your thoughts.

LICH statement

Murray Adams, our former president and a former trustee of LICH, spoke at today's rally on behalf of the CHA. Here is his statement:

I am Murray Adams. Until recently, I was president of the Cobble Hill Association, and I have been asked to speak on the Association’s behalf. For about 18 years I was a trustee of Long Island College Hospital, including being Chairman of its Board for two and a half years before I became its in-house lawyer in 1991. I retired in 1998 and have held no position with the Hospital since, but as you can imagine I have a strong concern that LICH survive and prosper for the next 150 years as it has for the past 150, and a strong belief that it can and will do so.

My advice to Dominick Stanzione as he begins the restructuring of LICH is that his first priority must be to reverse the public perception that LICH will continue to shrink, may be forced to close, and suffers from inadequate services and antiquated equipment. Unfortunately, the recent closing of four off-site clinics and the so-called "Doctors' Committee"'s repeated statements that Continuum has been siphoning money from LICH and wishes to close the hospital have greatly increased this perception. The inevitable result has been a large decline in patient volume, and a flight of doctors to other hospitals. In order to survive, as Messrs. Stanzione and Brezenoff have indicated, increasing patient volume is essential.

To do this, Continuum must be willing to grant to Mr. Stanzione a substantial marketing budget and that he must advertise LICH extensively in the local Brooklyn papers and must market to the surrounding community its many excellent services, such as its newly equipped, state-of-the-art radiology department and its new Women’s Center. Neither LICH nor Continuum has ever put together and followed through with an effective advertising and marketing program to show its community the many fine medical programs LICH operates.

In addition, it is important for Mr. Stanzione to meet with the top officials of Downstate Medical school, of which LICH is the principal teaching affiliate, and see what can be done to publicize the many academic programs run by Downstate, as well as LICH, at LICH and get Downstate’s help in publicizing LICH’s importance as a teaching institution. Many of LICH's departments and their teaching programs are top-notch, and they need to be marketed as such.

Lastly, I do not see how Mr. Stanzione will be able to turn LICH around without controlling his own finances here at LICH. Rita Battles, until recently LICH’s President, once told me that if she hired her own accounting people and brought in a much simpler billing system than the Cadillac system that Continuum has developed for their 1500-bed hospitals, she could save LICH at least $1 million per month. This is nearly as much as Continuum is proposing to save by closing OBGYN. Maybe Rita was wrong, but I and many others believe LICH is unfairly burdened by Continuum’s present method of allocating overhead costs among its member hospitals.

In the end, the key to the restoration of LICH’s fiscal health is to restore and then increase the volume of patients coming through LICH. This will require enlarging the medical staff, but until the perception that LICH is a troubled hospital which is about to close is changed, it will be almost impossible to increase patient volume or to recruit more good doctors to LICH.

LICH rally on Wednesday

As you probably know by now, LICH is planning to close more of its units and sell more of its property. You can read all about in the New York Times for July 31, 2008.

Meanwhile, City Councilman Bill de Blasio has organized a rally at LICH for this Wednesday at noon. Here is the announcement:

Councilmember de Blasio to Call on LICH to Reverse Decision to Cut Vital Community Services

Councilmember Bill de Blasio will join local elected officials and community activists at a rally tomorrow urging Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to reverse its reckless decision to shut down the maternity ward and end its rape crisis intervention program.

De Blasio is calling on LICH to stop taking services away from Brooklyn families and to work with the community to create a long-term plan for combating its financial problems. Without a sound financial plan for LICH's future and community involvement in this process, Brooklynites have no way of knowing how much longer LICH's doors will remain open.

LICH is run by Continuum Health Partners, which also manages Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan.

Who: Councilmember de Blasio, State Senator Marty Connor, Councilmembers Sara Gonzalez and Tish James, and others.

When: Noon ­ Wednesday, August 6, 2008 [at noon].

Where: 339 Hicks Street, Between Atlantic and Pacific Streets.

We hope to see you there.

CHHC update: meetings next week

The renovation of the Cobble Hill Health Center is back on the schedule. After a very constructive meeting with them in June, they have revised their plans and wish to meet with interested members of the CHA and the community again next week. All are invited. Here are the details:

What: CHHC renovation plans.
Where: CHHC, 380 Henry Street.
When: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 6 p.m.

After their meeting with us on Tuesday, they have a hearing scheduled with the CB6 Landmarks Committee on Thursday, July 24. Here are the details for that event:

[Check the CB6 online calendar for details.]

the concert series begins

CHA PRESS RELEASE

2008 MUSIC IN THE PARK
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
FIRST CONCERT: THURSDAY, JUNE 26

The seventh annual Cobble Hill Park Summer Concert Series kicks off tomorrow night with Sufferin' Succotash, featuring a rich, flavorful gumbo of old-time country breakdowns and heart songs, down-home blues, rags, hokum favorites, Louisiana Cajun and Black Creole "Bal d'Maison" dance tunes, Jazz Age pop "novelty" rarities, and more.

Sufferin' Succotash's repertoire comes mostly from scratchy 78 rpm records from the 1920s and '30s—"The Golden Age of American Vernacular Music"—as well as field recordings of folk tradition-bearers. Their sources range from such old-time country performers as Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers; Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers; blues string and jug bands like The Mississippi Sheiks and Gus Cannon & His Jug Stompers; early Louisiana French recording artists such as Black Creole accordionist Amedé Ardoin and the Cajun fiddle and accordion duo of Leo Soileau & Mayuse Lafleur; rural tradition-bearers like Appalachian fiddler/banjoist Tommy Jarrell; and African-American fiddler Butch Cage.

True to the spirit and tradition of their sources, Sufferin' Succotash performs these musical gems of a bygone era with all the fiery vitality of a sweaty Saturday night house party on the fiddle, harmonica, button accordion, guitar, banjo, mandolin, single-string bass, and other traditional acoustic instruments. As a modern-day band in the Big Apple, Sufferin' Succotash's unique renditions of these classic music forms feature hot, tasty licks with a rockin' "downtown" backbeat, like the pulsating rhythm of the subways rumbling beneath the City's streets.

THE BAND
SHLOMO PESTCOE (vocals, fiddle, button accordion, mandolin, banjo, guitar, ukulele)
PETER "TRIP" HENDERSON (vocals, harmonicas, tenor ukulele)
BOB "DR. FRETS" JONES (vocals, guitar, bass)
PETER STUART KOHMAN (vocals, guitar, banjo-ukulele, mandolin, bass)
PETER FORD (vocals, single-string 'Box Bass', guitar)

This year's series will feature seven Thursday evening concerts in Cobble Hill Park (on Clinton Street between Verandah Place and Congress Street). All concerts are free and open to the public. They start at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays. In the event of rain, the concerts will be held on Friday evenings.

This year's series will feature:

June 26 - Sufferin Succotash with Shlomo Pesko
Blues and Folk for the whole family

July 3 - The Beatnix
Old Time Rock n' Roll

July 10 - Linda Ipanema and the Dixie Cats
The Best of New Orleans Jazz

July 17 - Bobby Harden New York City Soul Trio
Singing the Blues

July 24 - Bustmenti
Mexican Music

July 31 - So-Nu
Klezmer and Balkan Music

August 7 - Lara Ewen, Story-Telling Songs
and Jeff Jacobsen, Singer Songwriter

The Summer concert series is sponsored with the generous support of Long Island College Hospital, the Brooklyn Heights Press, and Ridgewood Savings Bank.

We hope to see you there.

CHHC: hearing postponed

The Cobble Hill Health Center is such a good neighbor that they have decided to defer their upcoming CB6 and LPC hearings in order to have more time to revise their plans pursuant to the advice of community members. I have no doubt that taking the time now to get it right will save everyone time, money, and effort in the long run. Wouldn't it be great if everyone conducted business that way?

CHHC: hearing on Thursday

We had a meeting last night with the Cobble Hill Health Center about their plans to renovate the building. Because they are within the Cobble Hill Historic District, their plans must be reviewed by Community Board 6 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. They were kind enough to sit down with the community before their official hearings begin.

As Donny Tuchman of CHHC explained, the interior of the building needs to be renovated to create larger rooms and more handicapped accessibility. From a landmarks perspective, the problem is that their air flow plans involve adding four rooftop mechanical units that would be visible from the street.

We advised them and their architect to find a way to disguise the units or make them less visually obtrusive. Baffling, fencing, and different colors of paint were all suggested, but clearly their approach to the rooftop units will have to be reimagined if they want LPC to approve their renovation. They agreed to try to do that and to keep the community updated during the twenty-month construction, set to begin later this year.

The next event is their appearance before the CB6 Landmarks Committee. Here are the details:

Thursday, June 26, 2008
6:00 p.m.
P.S. 32 Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231.

After that, their LPC hearing is scheduled for July 22. We will keep you updated as the matter moves forward.

Cobble Hill concert series

The Cobble Hill Association Announces the start of the
2008 MUSIC IN THE PARK
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

The Cobble Hill Association is pleased to announce the schedule for its seventh annual "Music in the Park" series of free concerts. This year's series will feature seven Thursday evening concerts in Cobble Hill Park (on Clinton Street between Verandah Place and Congress Street). All concerts are free, open to the public, and scheduled for Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. (The rain date for each concert is the following day, i.e. Friday).

"This year we have a wonderful group of talented musicians excited to make Thursday evenings in Cobble Hill Park a very pleasant experience. I love the opportunity to hear the music and see friends gather in our own little oasis, Cobble Hill Park," says W. Rudy Kamuf, organizer of the series.

This year's series will feature:

June 26 - Sufferin Succotash with Shlomo Pesko
Blues and Folk for the whole family

July 3 - The Beatnix
Old Time Rock n' Roll

July 10 - Linda Ipanema and the Dixie Cats
The Best of New Orleans Jazz

July 17 - Bobby Harden New York City Soul Trio
Singing the Blues

July 24 - Bustmenti
Mexican Music

July 31 - So-Nu
Klezmer and Balkan Music

August 7 - Lara Ewen, Story-Telling Songs
and Jeff Jacobsen, Singer/Songwriter

The summer concert series is sponsored by the generous support of Long Island College Hospital, Ridgewood Savings Bank, and the Brooklyn Heights Press & Cobble Hill News.

More information about some of our newest performers:

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Lara Ewen combines the lyrical focus of classic storytelling songs with an acoustic-driven sound familiar to fans of today's alternative country and Americana music. During 2007, she travelled throughout the U.S. to support the release of "Ghosts and Gasoline," which the editors of CDBaby.com described as "the kind of album which sticks with you long-term, leaving an emotional imprint in the same league with your first kiss, your first road trip and your first heartbreak." Lara's music appeals to fans of Townes Van Zandt, Patty Griffin, and Lucinda Williams, and the editors of Encore magazine describe her as "Emmylou Harris singing Neil Young songs."

Jeff Jacobson is a folk-pop singer/songwriter whose self-titled debut album was released in May 2007. He has received numerous songwriting awards and was voted one of the "14 Best Singer/Songwriters of Greenwich Village" by Underground Music Online three years in a row. Critics have favorably compared him to Paul Simon and Lindsey Buckingham, and Amie Street calls Jeff "one of the most accomplished musicians in New York." He is also one of the co-founders of NYC indie favorites The Undisputed Heavyweights. "Poignant, polished, well-executed pop songs full of memorable hooks and exquisite guitar lines."—Urban Folk

Landmarks: CHHC renovation meeting

The Cobble Hill Health Center is planning a major renovation which requires approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. They have agreed to meet with the community to show us their plans and receive feedback before they proceed (as the developer for 110 Amity Street recently did). Please come out and be heard.

What: CHHC renovation plans.
When: Monday, June 23 at 7 p.m.
Where: CHHC, 380 Henry Street.

The matter will likely be added to the CB6 Landmarks agenda for Thursday, June 26, and their LPC hearing is scheduled for July 22.