If the current Columbia study on lead levels in Greenpoint’s soil has you steering clear of all things growing, community gardens could help you find a safer place to try out your green thumb: the study finds that public park spaces have significantly lower concentrations of lead than private yards. Further, based on Cornell’s 2014 study of New York City community garden soils, NYC Parks GreenThumb (which administers the city’s community gardens) prioritized clean soil deliveries to affected gardens.
So, ready to pull a Joni Mitchell and get yourself back to the garden? With over 600 community gardens throughout all five boroughs, New York City has the largest community gardening program in the nation. This handy NYC Parks GreenThumb Community Garden Guide lets you search by zip code or address to find the ones closest to you. Read on for a roundup of local community gardens. Continue reading →
WEDNESDAY 10/11
♦ Annie Novak’s Illustrations on Birds @ Kingsland Wildflowers (520 Kingsland Ave), 6pm, FREE, Author Annie Novak’s new work explores animal migration with history, humor, curiosity, and a vibrant visual imagination, prompting the reader to look at the skies above in a new light, More info * Sacred Song School Fundraiser for Puerto Rico @ Sacred Arts Research Foundation (107 Green St), 7pm, FREE, Class dedicated to raise funds for the purchasing & distribution of food & water. We are in direct contact with a group of people who are working to supply those in need, RSVP ♫ Moses Sumney w/ Xenia Rubinos @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (66 N 6th St), 8pm, $22, Buy tix
THURSDAY 10/12 * Hurricane Maria Relief Drive @ The Living Gallery BK (1094 Broadway), 4pm, FREE, Hey There Beautiful Inc, Queens of Abundance and The Trap are collaborating to support relief efforts in Puerto Rico, More info ♦ Labyrinth Coloring Party @ Videology (308 Bedford Ave), 6:45pm, $22, Each ticket includes a copy of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth Adult Coloring Book and a set of colored pencils so you can color along to the film! Buy tix ♫ OxenFree (Record Release), Vassals, The Royal They @ Union Pool (484 Union Ave), 8pm, $10, Buy tix ♫ BEMF Presents: DJ Marky, Reid Speed, Kellam Matthews @ Good Room (98 Meserole Ave), 10pm, $15, Buy tix Continue reading →
Greenpoint is a hub for filmmaking, boasting countless production companies and film facilities, in addition to the oft-maligned and very frequent film shoots that tend to clog our slender sidewalks and historical streets. We would argue that Greenpoint’s been culturally interesting and relevant for many years, but some have said that Girls being filmed here helped put Greenpoint on the map. Our neighborhood’s own Greenpoint Film Festival returns for its sixth year, from this Thursday May 4th through Sunday May 7th, presenting a diverse range of shorts and feature-length films, many with a local slant. A panel of six judges curated the fest after receiving hundreds of submissions in set categories: Narrative, Documentary, Experimental and Animation. The GFF’s ongoing mission is to show the imperative ties between art and the public. All the screenings will be held at the Wythe Hotel Screening Room (80 Wythe Ave). Continue reading →
Saturday, May 6th is the sixth annual Riverkeeper Sweep, which is Riverkeeper’s annual day of service for the Hudson River, with more than 90 cleanup events across NYC and the Hudson. At last year’s sweep, more than two thousand volunteers worked along hundreds of miles of shoreline to remove over 48 tons of debris, and plant or maintain 836 trees and native grasses. This year, North Brooklyn plays host to five of the sweeps. If you participate, you’re entitled to a free beer at Greenpoint Beer and Ale (7 N. 15th St) from 12pm till 2am. And also this weekend we have a few different environmental guided tours in the neighborhood, so there are lots of ways you can get your green on!
RIVERKEEPER EVENTS:
Transmitter Park Cleanup | Meet @ Transmitter Park radio building
Saturday, May 6 | 10am-1pm | free, or $8.50 with t-shirt
What: Help clean up Transmitter Park! More info
Newtown Creek Vista Point Cleanup | @ 1000 Meeker Ave.
Saturday, May 6 | 11am-3pm | free, or $8.50 with t-shirt
What: Debris removal, planting native flora and path making. More info | Facebook event
Newtown Creek Shoreline Cleanup By Canoe | @ HarborLAB at 53-21 Vernon Blvd
Saturday, May 6 | 11am-6pm | free, or $8.50 with t-shirt
What: Clean up Newtown Creek by boat! And help with a seed ball and planting project. The boat cleanup will stretch from the meeting point through 58th Road in Maspeth. More inf0
Bushwick Inlet Park Cleanup + Planting | @ Bushwick Inlet Park Dept of Parks building, 86 Kent Ave. @ N 9th St.
Saturday, May 6 | 10am-1pm | free, or $8.50 with t-shirt
What: Cleanup, gardening, and planting. More info
East River State Park Cleanup | Meet in front of the park @ 90 Kent Ave.
Saturday, May 6 | 12pm-4pm | free, or $8.50 with t-shirt
What: Cleanup and park maintenance More Info
ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDED WALKS: McGolrick Park: A Guided Tree Walk | Meet under the monument in McGolrick/Winthrop Park
Saturday, May 6 | 1pm-2:30pm
What: This walk will be led by a certified arborist. “McGolrick park is known for its dense canopy of mature, shady trees. Together we’ll look at these trees, learn the various species growing in the park, and share some tips for identifying trees in NYC. From towering London Plane trees to small, flowering Eastern Red Buds, we’ll take time to look at each leaf, flower, fruit and bud.” Dogs welcome! More infoContinue reading →
Bushwick Inlet Park is finally complete! The mayor just closed the deal on the purchase of the CitiStorage site, the last remaining parcel needed to complete the 27-acre waterfront park. Mayor deBlasiotweeted the deal’s closing saying, “We keep our promises to New Yorkers.” Continue reading →
Are you an artist working and living in Brooklyn? You can become a NYC Parks featured artist at the park house at Bushwick Inlet Park. Attend the open house this Wednesday to tour the space, meet fellow artists and get guidelines for submission.
Call for Artists: NYC Parks/Brooklyn Recreation Deadline: May 20, 2017
Open House: Wednesday, April 19 | 6:30pm – 8pm Where: Bushwick Inlet Center | Kent Avenue & North 9th Street
This program is open to all Brooklyn artists and arts organizations. However, emergent artists with a strong sense of community engagement or community focused practice are encouraged to apply. For more information and/or to RSVP: [email protected]
Where: Bushwick Inlet Park Community Room | 86 Kent Ave (N.9th Street)
What’s going on with Bushwick Inlet Park after the successful outcome of the 2-year long battle to get the city to buy the CitiStorage site and complete Bushwick Inlet Park? Come find out!
Next week, Tuesday March 7th from 7-10pm local watering hole The Diamond (43 Franklin St.) is hosting a Waterfront Defenders Party to benefit this trifecta of fantastic local organizations— The Billion Oyster Project, Newtown Creek Alliance and Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park. Proceeds from beverage sales will be donated and split evenly between them. Meet guest bartenders from these great organizations while learning more about what they do and how you can get your hands dirty!
McCarren Park site images, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle – May 5, 1901
We take the green space that today is McCarren Park for granted, but it was not always a park. Once the ground that the park now occupies had its own streets and factories. A May 5, 1901 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle showed the buildings that were to be condemned to create the park, but it was not just buildings that needed to be condemned. The whole street pattern of the neighborhood had to be changed. Some streets like Jane Street were forever wiped off the map. Others like North 12th, N.13th, N. 14th and Dobbin and Guernsey were cut. Continue reading →
This past Saturday, December 17th, Mayor de Blasio came to Bushwick Inlet Park to praise the community activists who after ten years of strugglefinally prevailed and forced the city to purchase the twenty-seven acre site for the park. De Blasio continually referred to the community’s victory and praised the local group Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park for their tireless advocacy for the park. In his remarks the Mayor laughed about the persistence of local City Councilman Stephen Levin, who incessantly nagged him until the park was purchased. The Mayor spoke of the high cost of acquiring the land ($150 million just for the final piece), but said that the city was fulfilling its promise to the community to acquire the waterfront site.
Stephen Levin and Carolyn Maloney
A number of other local politicians spoke. Borough President Eric Adams mentioned that the park was proof of the city’s commitment to provide waterfront access to all the people of Brooklyn, not only those with the means to purchase luxury waterfront real estate. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney also addressed the gathering saying that the actions of community groups in gaining the park would serve as a future model. State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol reminded people that he had been an advocate for the park for a decade.
Joe Lentol
The mood at the gathering was celebratory, almost euphoric. Many of the people in the crowd had done the hard work of advocating for the park for years. They had made phone calls, signed petitions, and even slept out in the rain to gain the parkland, and they were in the mood to celebrate. As they walked home to Greenpoint, Stephen Chesler, Scott Fraser and some of the other people who fought the hardest to gain the park posed for pictures by the fence, which recently read Where’s Our Park? but now reads triumphantly, Here’s Our Park. Those words said it all.
