This Saturday (June 3rd), you can tour the beautiful rooftop at Kingsland Wildflowers (520 Kingsland Ave), learn about the future of Newtown Creek at a community visioning workshop, and take a look back to its industrial roots with local historian Mitch Waxman. These events are all free and open to the public.
Schedule of Events:
1-4pm Community Visioning with Riverkeeper and NCA, RSVP
5-7pm Lecture and Kingsland Wildflowers Green Roof Tour with Mitch Waxman, NCA Historian, RSVP
More Deets:
Join Riverkeeper and the Newtown Creek Alliance in creating a cohesive community vision for Newtown Creek. With a Superfund cleanup and long-term plan to control sewage overflows on the horizon, now is an opportune time to engage stakeholders in imagining and designing a future Newtown Creek that provides greater opportunities for restoration, remediation, recreation, and resilience. RSVP
On May 21st, Newtown Creek Alliance sets sail on Newtown Creek in a NY Waterway ferry boat. Historian Mitch Waxman and NCA Program Manager Willis Elkins are hosting the boat ride, and participants are invited to learn about the Creek’s rich industrial history, lasting legacy of contamination and environmental damage and on-going efforts to revitalize and restore this unique waterway in the heart of New York City.
This is a unique and rare way to be able to tour Newtown Creek and learn about our neighborhood’s (tragic) environmental history.
Newtown Creek Boat Tour | India Street Ferry Dock, 10 India Street
Sunday, May 21 | 2pm-4pm
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 →
Today almost all the local people know about the massive pollution of Newtown Creek and the oil plume that sits under Greenpoint, but it was not always so. One of the first fighters for the local environment was a Catholic nun—Sister Francis Gerard Kress. Born and raised in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen in 1914, all her life Kress was a fighter and a protester. At age ten she organized a pot banging demonstration of local children in support of Al Smith’s bid for the presidency, but her biggest protests were yet to come. Continue reading →
From 4 to 9pm this Thursday (March 9th) at LaGuardia Community College’s Little Theater (31-10 Thomson Ave., Queens), there’ll be an immersive set of talks about Newtown Creek, and a dialogue with Riverkeeper.
# ItaliaNites: Malèna @ Archestratus (160 Huron St) 7:30pm, FREE, Viewing of Giuseppe Tornatore’s Malèna in celebration of la Festa delle Donne (International Women’s Day). A coming of age film, it follows one teenage boy’s infatuation with a village siren during World War II Sicily, RSVP ♫ NVRSleep: Across The Pond Edition @ Kinfolk 90 (90 Wythe Ave) 9pm, FREE, An Experimental Music Platform for Today’s Creative Class. Audio trip Across the Pond via Jamaal Fisher, Nasty Nigel, Rodney Hazard, and Special Guests, RSVP =) Popcorn Hour @ Annoyance Theatre (367 Bedford Ave) 9:30pm, $5, See New York’s finest comedians put on a show for you that’ll leave you much more satisfied than a damn $15 movie and $20 soda. Free popcorn, Buy tix
THURSDAY 3/9 * Reclaiming Our Estuary: The Newtown Creek Experience @ LaGuardia Community College (31-10 Thomson Ave), 4pm, FREE, Learn about rediscovering the commons, our waterway and its life, case studies, and the future of Newtown Creek, RSVP # Global Flavors: How Curry, Soy Sauce, and Sriracha Became American @ MOFAD (62 Bayard St), 6:30pm, $10, Learn how soy sauce, curry, and Sriracha became part of everyday dining. How have these three distinct flavors come to represent Asian food in the US, Buy tix ♦ FREE LIKE OSCAR: Resistance Through Afro-Latino Culture @ City Reliquary (370 Metropolitan Ave), 7pm, $8-10, A discussion with Melinda González, co founder of BombaYo, on Latino cultural traditions rooted in the African diaspora that are particularly effective at teaching us resistance and resilience, More info
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!
A green cab driver was shot in the leg early last Friday morning when he tried to speed away from two armed assailants attempting to rob him and his passenger. The incident happened at the intersection of North Eighth and Berry streets at 3:15am. Check out this article from DNAinfo for more details.
Newtown Creek will be swimmable by 2035! Actually, don’t quote me on that swimmable thing, but according to this piece from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, at last week’s Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting, the EPA announced plans for the remediation of Newtown Creek. Unfortunately, the plans wouldn’t even begin to show results until 2025 at the earliest.
According to this article from the Wall Street Journal, sculptor Barry X Ball will be moving his studio from Williamsburg to Greenpoint in the Spring. The space, at 193 Banker St., is currently being renovated specifically for him, and according to Mr. Ball, once it’s finished will be “the only comprehensive stone fabrication facility in the world.”
Local Greenpointer Kim Brown, who is the owner of Greenpoint Hill (100 Freeman St.) got some press this week in this lovely piece from Bedford + Bowery. Brown is a ceramicist herself and her gallery features work from mostly Greenpoint-based artists.
Greenpoint has been dubbed “the new home design capital of the world” according to this recent article from Vogue.
Some of last weekend’s Greenpoint Halloween festivities, including the Town Square Spooktacular and P.S. 110’s annual fall festival, were captured in this piece from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Some of the photos are especially great!
Guys dressed up as construction workers for Halloween will be preventing anyone from passing under the BQE this weekend. Actually, they are real construction workers, but seriously, traveling from one side of the BQE to the other will be difficult this weekend. Three out of six avenues that travel under the highway in Greenpoint will be closed. Check out this piece from The Williamsburg Patch for more info.
Teacher Maura Flanagan of P.S. 373 (185 Ellery St.) brought students up to visit the McCarren Park Greenmarket. Students at P.S. 373 have their own gardens and were seeing how a real farmer’s market organizes and operates.
Been wondering what the massive building is going up between India and Huron Street along West Street? It’s “The Greenpoint”, a 40-story condo building, the details of which have been spilled in this article from Curbed.
For further proof that the G-entrification train now stops in Greenpoint, check out this piece from the New York Times.
A LaGuardia Community College assistant professor has reportedly contacted Progress Queens claiming that recent allegations made by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection regarding Newtown Creek are “a hoax” in line with “the strategy of corporations that are allegedly responsible for the pollution of Newtown Creek”.
The Better With Pets Expo, hosted this week at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint, got some press on News 12 this week (disclaimer: “exclusive content for Optimum, Time Warner Comcast customers”.)
The Newtown Creek Alliance hosted their latest Superfund Community Advisory Group meeting last night at the McCarren Park Pool Community Room. There was a presentation by the EPA, including an open discussion with the community.
Last Saturday’s Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund Open House event got some press in this article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
PS 110, The Monitor School will be hosting their Fall Carnival on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 2-6pm at the PS 110 school playground (corner of Driggs and Monitor). Among other fun Halloween activities, the event will feature a haunted house, pumpkin painting, and carnival games. All proceeds will benefit the school.
Music Off McGolrick and the Tarot Society will be hosting “All of Them Witches” tonight at 8pm at the Park Church Co-op (129 Russell St.) The event will feature music, tarot readings and all sorts of spooky entertainment.
Vert Gardens (193 Banker St.) will be hosting their final plant sale before moving on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 10am-4pm. Check out this Greenpointers post with more information on Vert’s moving.
The Participatory Budgeting process for District 33 has moved from the idea collection phase to the project development phase. Over 20 budget delegates have started reviewing over 100 ideas that have made it this far. There is still time to be a budget delegate. Click here for more information.
The bat that has taken up residence outside Silk Road Cycles.
A bat has been posted up outside Silk Road Cycles (76 Franklin St.) all week. Someone at the shop reportedly contacted Animal Control 4 days ago and as of yesterday, the poor, apparently sick bat was still there.
Riverkeeper will be hosting a Newtown Creek Community Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, Oct. 20. The EPA will be presenting an update.
A pro-Donald Trump art show was cancelled this week at a Williamsburg gallery.
No, Bill Murray has not announced any further bartending engagements, but his son’s restaurant, 21 Greenpoint got some good press this week! Continue reading →
This Saturday (June 3rd), you can tour the beautiful rooftop at Kingsland Wildflowers (520 Kingsland Ave), learn about the future of Newtown Creek at a community visioning workshop, and take a look back to its industrial roots with local historian Mitch Waxman. These events are all free and open to the public.
