Tomorrow night (6/12) at the Swinging 60’s Senior Center (211 Ainslie St), our local Community Board 1 will be having its monthly meeting from 6pm-8:30pm. If you cannot attend in person, you can live stream the meeting on PBS Thirteen’s YouTube channel. The meetings are open to all, and a range of topics will be discussed, including: Continue reading
This Wednesday evening, May 16th from 6:30-8:30pm the MTA and NYC DOT are hosting a town hall to discuss L-Train shutdown plans and the impact that the closure will have on our commutes and local businesses. Part of the plan includes increasing the number of cars on the ever-short G Train (it’s about time!), increasing ferry service, adding a few hundred buses to traverse the Williamsburg Bridge, and expanding bicycle access. Wednesday’s meeting will be held at Progress High School (850 Grand Street at Bushwick Ave).
More info can be found on the L Train Coalition’s site.
It’s a frigid Tuesday night in March, currently breezy, but there was a Nor’easter in the morning. The day and the commute hasn’t been easy. You probably feel like parking yourself on the couch, ordering a giant pizza and throwing back a few glasses of red wine. Well, a handful of Greenpointers staff did just that AND we watched the livestream of tonight’s Community Board 1 meeting. Every month, the CB1 meeting livestreams on YouTube via PBS Thirteen, and if you’re a little late or you miss it entirely you can watch it after the fact, from your damn couch. Our neighborhood is one of the lucky ones around town—not all Community Board meetings get the YouTube treatment. We’ve written before about how entertaining the meetings are—if the idea of a “real life episode of Parks & Rec” doesn’t hook you, then check out the cast of local characters and issues below. Continue reading
The DOT is continuing its community outreach by holding meetings open to the public, so folks can ask questions, make comments and raise fists about the upcoming L train shutdown, aka L-Pocalypse, aka The End Times happening starting in April 2019. Tonight you can attend the third in the series of meetings, held at the Williamsburg Community Center (195 Graham Ave), from 5-8pm—you can feel free to arrive at any point during the meeting. Continue reading
Last night, the Swinging 60’s Senior Center (211 Ainslie Street) hosted the final CB1 meeting of 2017, and despite the crummy weather and end of year throwaway vibe, the room was fairly full. If you’ve been following our lighthearted coverage the past few months, you are probably aware of how fun these meetings can be to watch, especially for neighborhood nerds who don’t feel like schlepping a few blocks to attend. And that’s also because you can watch the livestream from the comfort of your couch via PBS Thirteen on YouTube while you pop in a frozen Roberta’s pizza and down some nice wine from Dandelion (just me?) while yelling things at the screen like, “That man’s head is too big for his body!” (also, just me?). This particular meeting had a whole 26 people tune in to the livestream, and I have to say I’m thankful that Thirteen disabled the chat feature—a few meetings ago there was a troll on there typing in dirty words at random intervals, in a display of truly demented deference for locals getting organized and actually giving a shit about where they live.
Chairperson Dealice Fuller is one of the main reasons you should be watching the CB1 meetings, because she throws some amazingly timed shade. Last night was no different, so here are a few of her best gems:
“When I don’t see faces that often, I don’t remember names that well.” –Dealice Fuller (regarding a person in the audience who she didn’t quite recognize, and then an 80s sitcom-type “Ooooohhhhhhhhh….” [as in ‘Damn, that was cold’] went through the crowd)
“Please. How are you gonna have a meeting when people are talking in the middle of the floor?” – Dealice Fuller (to people chitchatting in the audience)
“Marty, we can’t have that, you know better.” –Dealice Fuller (Get ‘im!)
“We don’t know if we’re gonna wake up tomorrow and find the world still here.” –Dealice Fuller (on whether unexpected world events will interrupt future committee meeting dates)
The monthly Community Board 1 meetings are highly entertaining if you have even a passing interest in local goings-on, and as we’ve previously reported, if you don’t want to attend in person you can watch them from the comfort of your own home livestreamed via public channel Thirteen on YouTube. At the meetings, you get to find out who’s applying for liquor licenses, which block association has beef with which developer, and watch bright-eyed millenials with new business ideas get torn a new one (pass the popcorn). One of the most enjoyable parts of watching the livestream of the CB1 meeting is the closeups on chairperson Dealice Fuller’s face—this woman does not play. She’s badass and amazing. You can watch last night’s meeting in full here.
Here are the highlights from last night’s meeting (which ran over by about an hour):
Continue reading
Have you been feeling frustrated with Greenpoint’s local Police Department? Earlier this year, Greenpointers protested in front of the 94th Precinct following offensive statements the Captain made regarding the department’s approach to rape cases. And a few weeks ago, a woman was reportedly raped inside a port-a-potty on Banker Street. The location of that incident is right next to some warehouses, but within spitting distance of local bars Northern Territory (12 Franklin St) and Greenpoint Beer and Ale (7 N 15th St), leaving residents concerned not just about the matter in question but also for their own safety. At first, no charges were filed due to “inconsistencies” in the woman’s story, but then following community outrage and a candlelight vigil, the DA stepped up to get involved.
Monday night (May 8) is your chance to connect with the 94th’s newly established Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs), Officer Rivera and Officer Molina. Their role will be to engage the community and address concerns—and also likely they will attempt to placate the many fired-up Greenpointers, any of whom are connected and fueled by local message boards. Perhaps what has been most frustrating to residents is the seemingly poor communication (or lack thereof) from the Precinct when troubling incidents are reported both in the news and via social media. In short, let’s hug it all out. Or at least try to.
WHAT: Meet the 94th Precinct
WHEN: Monday, May 8th @ 7pm
WHERE: Greenpoint Loft, 67 West Street, 5th Floor
Food and refreshments will be served. Continue reading
The Riders Alliance, a grass-roots membership organization of subway and bus riders dedicated to winning better transit in New York City, are hosting an L Train Shutdown meeting tonight.
Riders deserve a voice in the L train shutdown!
Are you worried about how the L train shutdown will affect your community? You’re not alone!
We’re fighting hard to make sure you’ll be able to get around easily when the L is out of service–but we can’t do it without your help!
Come join us at our first L Train Riders meeting to discuss what riders like you need during the shutdown–and how we’re going to make sure the MTA and DOT listen to us!
When: Thursday, February 23rd, 6pm-8pm
Where: The Carto Center: 201 Moore St, Brooklyn, NY, 11206
Food will be provided. Two way MetroCards for those in need.
This Thursday at the Automotive High School Auditorium (50 Bedford Avenue) from 6:30–8:30pm, local City Council Member Stephen Levin has organized a meeting in response to community members’ post-election concerns. The purpose of this meeting is to keep momentum going by connecting local organizations with folks who are ready to get involved. Levin says, “We need to reassure our community that if the new administration tries to roll back the progress we’ve made as a city that we are prepared to fight back!”
Here’s the organizations that will be attending the 12/15 meeting:
Planned Parenthood of New York City Action Fund
Make the Road New York
Brooklyn Community Pride Center
Central American Legal Assistance NY
Showing Up for Racial Justice – SURJ, NYC
Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn
Newtown Creek Alliance
Coming Together: Organizing For A Better Brooklyn
Thursday, December 15 | 6:30-8:30pm
Automotive High School Auditorium, 50 Bedford Avenue
Get to The Woods (48 S. 4th Street) on Thursday, December 8th from 6-8pm for an evening of socializing and learning about the proposed BQX streetcar system. It’s planned to run 16 miles along the Queens/Brooklyn waterfront and to be emissions-free, without overhead wires or underground power sources. If all goes as planned, groundbreaking would start in 2019-2020, and if it’s going to look anything like their fancy Photoshopped renderings, it could be pretty cool. Continue reading
