The North Brooklyn Angels’ Angelmobile parked on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint.
Happy weekend Greenpointers! For many of us everyday feels like the weekend lately, especially for those who have recently lost their jobs.
There are a number of places to find free meals in the neighborhood during the week in this time of uncertainty.
Gertie (357 Grand St.) in Williamsburg is feeding recently laid off restaurant workers for free on Tuesday – Friday nights from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The restaurant worker “relief center” will offer takeout meals and care packages with hygiene products for those in need until further notice.
Every Monday from 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. the North Brooklyn Angels’ Angelmobile is parked in front of St Anthony of Padua-St. Alphonsus church (862 Manhattan Ave.) where volunteers distribute freshly prepared meals for free; see the Angelmobile’s full schedule here.
And on Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. the Greenpoint Hunger Program hosts a free community dinner at the Greenpoint Reformed Church (136 Milton St.); a food pantry is open on Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the same location.
The ensuing weekend and warmer temperatures may bring the urge for you to go outside. In order to reduce crowding in NYC parks the city will block off select streets Friday through Sunday and has removed 80 basketball hoops from courts throughout the city, including the basketball hoops at McCarren Park.
A glance at a new map released by Mayor de Blasio’s office on Friday showing confirmed coronavirus cases by neighborhood may inspire you to further stay indoors to practice social distancing.
To respond to this pandemic, Assemblymember Joe Lentol has formed a COVID-19 Task Force bringing together community groups, leaders and experts to address immediate needs and solutions; Lentol’s office can be reached at: [email protected]
Stay safe Greenpointers, and in the meantime catch up on this week’s headlines from around the neighborhood: Continue reading →
Shopping for groceries during a pandemic can be a fraught experience while trying to maintain social distancing, and some grocery stores in Greenpoint are adjusting their procedures to protect customers and workers.
To slow the spread of coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends standing at least six feet from one another when in public. Grocery stores can quickly draw crowds during certain hours of the day and to help the flow of customers, crowd-control measures have been put in place at Greenpoint’s Associated (802 Manhattan Ave.) store.
A line is marked for customers at Associated (802 Manhattan Ave.)
Associated instructs customers where to stand with taped markers on the ground. A bright blue rectangle with the word “LINE” greets customers waiting at the front of the store, and markers show customers where to stand near the registers during checkout. Continue reading →
Construction waste recycling worker Sean Ragiel takes a break in Times Square after working at a job site, March 24, 2020. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Gov. Andrew Cuomo will freeze most construction statewide in response to the pandemic virus sweeping New York, after outcry from workers and word of COVID-19 cases on job sites around the city.
On Friday the governor will decree most residential and commercial building temporarily off limits, according to a spokesperson for Cuomo’s office. Infrastructure and transportation projects will be allowed to continue, as well as emergency repairs, hospital building and work on affordable housing.
Until now, construction work has been classified as essential, exempt from a state “pause” that ordered the shutdown of a wide swath of workplaces.
Stephen Jozef, 57, who had been working on Google’s offices at 111 8th Ave., died from the coronavirus Monday, his daughter said. The electrician was last on the site on March 6, leaving because he grew ill.
The carpenters’ union local released a statement Thursday asking elected officials to limit jobs to “truly essential” construction. “Our members’ lives are at stake,” it said.
Cuomo’s move came as some construction sites around the city temporarily closed for cleaning after workers tested positive for COVID-19 — including prized Cuomo public works projects at Moynihan Station and LaGuardia Airport. Both projects will continue under the new guidance.
Some in the industry feared that their coworkers have not yet fully appreciated the threat of the virus as work was allowed to continue.
“They’re being led to believe it’s no big deal,” one steamfitter said. Continue reading →
After getting laid off from her job as a sommelier at a Manhattan restaurant as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Greenpoint resident Amanda Geller turned to her paint brush set and began working on a series of nude paintings of her friends.
“It started out as a joke when I asked my friends in a group chat if they wanted to ‘send me their nudes’ for me to paint,” Geller said. “Now after five days I have had around 30 people send their pictures — some that I don’t even know.”
Prior to mass social distancing and the closure of non-essential businesses, Geller attended weekly figure drawing classes in the neighborhood. “I have received a lot of awesome feedback so far and have had the amazing opportunity to paint women of so many different body types,” she said, adding that she extends the invitation to the greater Greenpoint area.
Many of the women she has painted also work in the hospitality industry and have recently been laid off. “After the quarantine is over I plan to launch an online gallery showing and donate a portion of the proceeds to women in hospitality who have lost work due to the shutdown,” Geller said.
“Mostly the project is something fun during these crazy times that celebrates women and all types of beauty. A woman takes a nude when she is feeling sexy and fucking awesome and I love capturing that in a piece of art that they can show off and feel good about themselves.”
Read more of Greenpointers’ interview with the sommelier-turned-painter: Continue reading →
The McCarren Park basketball court (via Google Maps)
The basketball hoops came down Thursday morning in McCarren Park along with 79 other New York City courts to further deter groups from congregating and to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
The basketball court at McCarren Park is now without hoops
“Social distancing is taking hold with New Yorkers — but we’re seeing some issues when it comes to basketball courts,” Mayor de Blasio tweeted on Wednesday. “If you want to go shoot hoops with your kids, that’s fine. But we can’t have pick-up games. If people don’t follow the rules, we’ll take hoops down.” Continue reading →
As construction sites continue to bustle with action along Greenpoint’s waterfront, the state recommends that everyone stay inside to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
Nail and hair salons, clothing and record stores, and many restaurants have closed, but residential and commercial construction work remains essential according to the list of essential businesses released last week by Governor Cuomo.
Local residents began writing to Greenpointers last week about their concerns of the large groups of construction workers congregating and performing tasks side-by-side at work sites in the neighborhood. Continue reading →
The Williamsburg restaurant Gertie (357 Grand St.) will offer free meals for laid off hospitality workers as a result of mass closures from the coronavirus crisis.
Starting on Thursday at 4 p.m., Gertie will become a “relief center” for anyone who has recently lost their job in the hospitality industry, as the announcement posted to Instagram on Tuesday states: “Each night, we will pack hundreds of to go dinners that people can come to pick up and take home,”
Meals will be available Tuesday – Friday from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. on a first come first served basis. The pop-up relief center will continue indefinitely until the restaurant can no longer financially support the program.
Along with the Gertie team, partners include the Prospect Heights restaurant Olmsted (which is also operating a food bank) the Lee Initiative and Makers Mark:
Due to the closure of restaurants in NYC we have an urgent need for assistance for the thousands of restaurant workers who find themselves suddenly without work, without a paycheck and without a support system. Independent restaurants are at the center of the vibrant growth in America. For the past decade, we have relied on the stellar hospitality and positive PR of the independent restaurant scene to make this a city we are incredibly proud of. But now restaurant workers need your help more than ever. If we don’t take a stand and do something now, there will not be an independent restaurant industry to speak of when the corona-virus crisis is over.
Rite Aid (723 Manhattan Ave.) is closed but the pharmacy remains open.
The Greenpoint Rite Aid (723-725 Manhattan Ave.) with the famous disco ball hanging in the center of the building is now closed as the store rebrands to a Walgreens.
Employees of the transitioning store were stocking the shelves on Tuesday morning in preparation for the reopening scheduled for Friday, but the Walgreens at 723-725 Manhattan Ave. may not be open very long.
The pharmacy is still open at 723 Manhattan Ave.
The pharmacy remains open this week during the change over and customers will still be able to access the pharmacy in the rear of the store by walking through the front entrance as usual. Continue reading →
The beautiful parks of North Brooklyn hosted groups of people eager to get outside last weekend as the state of New York implores everyone to self-quarantine in order to slow the spread of coronavirus.
This is McCarren Park in #Brooklyn#NYC No one is socially isolating. I even had people stare & laugh at me for wearing gloves and a mask. NYC is so screwed. @NYGovCuomo please pass the Shelter in Place in NYC! #NoExcusepic.twitter.com/gnOduYLnYh
Park-goers enjoying the warm weather last weekend in McCarren Park as warnings to socially distance were ignored.
It was just one week ago that crowds flocked to Greenpoint’s parks and popular brunch spots as news of the global pandemic continues to be taken with varying degrees of seriousness, despite Italy’s dire consequences of ignoring the warnings coming from public health experts to practice stringent social distancing.
Warm spring weather may entice people to head outside again this weekend, but as Mayor de Blasio pushed for a ‘shelter in place‘ restriction this week, Governor Cuomo followed California’s lead on Friday in calling for everyone to stay indoors indefinitely.
New York City has emerged as the epicenter of the country’s crisis and it’s imperative that we all do our part to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus. That means going outside this weekend, and for the foreseeable future, only for necessities such as food and medicine.
Walking, running and biking outside for exercise are still permitted, but not in groups, and a minimum of six feet between people should be maintained all times. Continue reading →
