Smorgasburg + Brooklyn Flea = way too many people in East River Park Image: Andre van Hoek
There has been a lot of talk about Smorgasburg and East River State Park lately. Two weekends ago, the company behind Brooklyn Flea, the outdoor market that spun off Smorgasburg, decided to combine the two markets into one massive Saturday market. This move sent ripples through the North Brooklyn community as it made the southern end of East River Park completely unusable for locals. Luckily, after Smorgasburg/Brooklyn Flea combo was reported about, the founders heard the neighborhood’s complaints and decided to break the markets back up into two. Now the neighborhood needs to turn its attention to a much bigger fight happening with Transmitter Park. Continue reading →
Applications for affordable housing ($596 for a studio!) at the Domino Sugar Factory reached a whopping 87k—only 104 are available, with half designated to go to residents of CB1.
Will makeup giant Sephora be coming to Williamsburg? It’d probably look right at home next to the Apple Store, Levis Store and Whole Foods.
Following two pedestrian deaths, neighbors are speaking up about making Grand Street a safer place to walk.
Because we’re all natural skeptics, we’ll maintain the premise that no meek shall cross the pedestrian thoroughfare at Meeker Avenue. Then again, things in that area might get a little friendlier in 2016.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) will be making a few important new safety proposals to improve conditions at the pedestrian crossing, which include shorter crosswalks, wider sidewalks, improved signal timing, and clear lane designations. Continue reading →
Open space activists rarely sit still, however, being champions of movement and activity (ideally on a well-appointed lawn). Here are a few recent developments in the saga of the hotly anticipated Bushwick Inlet Park.
1. Midtown Equities is selling one of its properties in downtown Brooklyn for $200 million, which is also, coincidentally, the amount it would need to purchase the CitiStorage property from owner Norm Brodsky. Continue reading →
Its official Greenpointers, Citi Bike is coming to the hood and we’ve got the map to prove it! The gears in the long stalled Citi Bike expansion appears to have finally been greased, but don’t go out and buy that helmet just yet—we won’t be seeing any bikes until the end of this year.
As Greenpointers reported in November, Citi Bike announced plans to bring the popular bike sharing program to the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The expansion plans included adding 6,000 bikes and 375 new docking stations to locations by the end of 2017. Lucky for us and the nearby nabes of Williamsburg, Long Island City and Bedford-Styvesant, we’ll be getting 1,000 of those blue babies this year. Continue reading →
For all of you who felt so left out when Citi Bike didn’t include your beloved Greenpoint in its initial bike share launch, they will be expanding soon to a block near you. Come find out all about it tonight (1/13) at Community Board 1’s “Learn About Citi Bike” event at Swinging 60’s Senior Center (211 Ainslie St) at 6:30pm.
NYCDOT will present and NYC Bike Share staff will be on hand to answer questions about Citi Bike’s expansion in Brooklyn’s Community Board 1.
And for those of you who don’t need to commute using Citi Bikes, there is always impromptu spinning…
66 Clay Street - possible site of new homeless shelter.
New York City just hit a milestone you might not have heard about. The amount of homeless people living in shelters is 57,665 people – a new record. According to a report released in October, New York’s homeless population grew last year, with almost 68,000 people without a permanent residence–all this while the number of luxury apartments for sale in Manhattan doubled in the last year. Meanwhile, homelessness is down across the country.
In the wake of this new reality, New York City’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) announced a new homeless shelter will open in Greenpoint at 58-66 Clay Street. The shelter will be operated by Home Life Services, Inc. and will shelter 91 homeless adult families. A timeline for opening has not been set.
Traffic cones line portions of the curb and roadway as the work begins.
A stretch of Kent Avenue in south Williamsburg is being updated to include a two-way bicycle greenway, along with improvements to calm motorists and conform the roadway to traffic patterns above and below the area.
McGolrick Park is a hidden gem on the other side of McGuinness Blvd (#OSOM) but many local residents feel the park needs some major love, like updates to the playground and repair to the pathways. It doesn’t help that neighborhood punks have no respect, either; last year they set fire to benches and vandalized the statue.
Residents of #OSOM have come together and formed the McGolrick Park Neighborhood Alliance (like it!). Last week they pleaded with the Community Board 1, “requesting that fundraising efforts for the Park be made a major part of their next fiscal agenda with a particular focus on improving its playground,” as reported in the Greenpoint Gazette.
Tonight – August 20, 2013 at 6:30 PM there will be a Public Hearing on the 77 Commercial Street Project and an Informational Presentation on Newtown Barge and Box Street Parks at Automotive High School (50 Bedford Ave).
Like Greenpoint Landing, 77 Commercial St has also begun its ULURP process. (WTF is ULURP?) Approval of the proposal will mean 30-40 story towers in exchange for a park and affordable housing.
Aside from the impact on the character of the neighborhood as well as issues with infrastructure and transportation, the environmental issues at this site and the risk to public health are of great concern.
According to the convoluted and endless Environmental Assessment Statement issued on 8/1/13, the 77 Commercial St site is “currently or was historically a manufacturing area that involved hazardous materials” … “a site where there is reason to suspect the presence of hazardous materials, contamination, illegal dumping or fill or fill material of unknown origin.” When is the open house?!
Based on the findings in this statement, a detailed analysis of air quality, noise and hazardous material in respect to public health needs to be conducted. If you can get a word in edgewise this evening, it’s very important that questions with respect to these vital issues are addressed.
