Ughhhh, is it iced coffee weather yet? It’s no secret that we New Yorkers aren’t blessed with a great climate. Winter = grey snow piles for days. Spring = rain, like we’ve had all week. Summer = sweat, gross smells, and sometimes you can fry an egg on the sidewalk. So what are outdoor sport-loving folks to do when NYC weather is THE WORST? Hit up The Pitch, NYC’s only indoor soccer-focused space, which just opened a few months ago in Williamsburg. Continue reading →
Americans waste A LOT of food–35 million tons a year! In fact, we throw out more food than plastic, paper, metal, or glass. If that wasn’t scary enough, this disturbing trend is increasing each year. In NYC, approximately 35 percent of our garbage consists of discarded food. This is where the beauty of a city wide composting program comes into play.
A couple years ago, New York City set an ambitious goal of diverting 75 percent of trash from landfills by 2030. With food waste taking up such a big chunk of valuable landfill real estate, it’s no wonder the city wants to expand its composting programs. Lucky for us, Greenpoint is next on the list!
Well I hate to say I told you so, but even as CitiStorage still burns, the 11 acre lot could be sold to private developers–as soon as tomorrow, warns City Councilman Steve Levin. Many of you may recall from last week’s post, the future of the CitiStorage site was on shaky ground, but I doubt any of us would imagine losing our parkland so soon.
According to the FDNY, the site is still under investigation and investigators have yet to access the origin of the fire due to hazardous conditions. For the unforseeable future, we won’t know if there was foul play that sent CitiStorage up in smoke, but we do know the land is up for grabs, and perhaps to the highest bidder.
So while I don my silk turban and gaze once again into my crystal ball to predict what other crazy conspiracy theories might come true–like arson charges and measly insurance payouts–I am here to warn you: A war is afoot to reclaim CitiStorage as parkland and it’s time we start sharpening our skewers.
The South Williamsburg neighborhood group El Puente is hosting a CRITICAL CALL TO ACTION tonight and everyone from Williamsburg and Greenpoint should be there. Continue reading →
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.
The NYC Department of Parks & Rec is making it easy to recycle your x-mas tree into wood chips this year with MULCHFEST. Bring your tree to a local park on 1/11 or 1/12 from 10am-2pm, and take home your own bag of mulch to use in your backyard (or as a winter bed for your baby street tree). The donated mulch will be used to nourish plants across the city.
Trees can be dropped off at McGolrick, and McCarren, but if you want that mulch gift bag, head to McCarren, where your tree will be converted to wood chips right in front of your eyes. MAGIC.
If you can’t make it (or just cannot lug your huge-ass tree all the way to a park), put it on the curb for pickup anytime between now and 1/15. Just make sure to take off all the decorations first. Tinsel and lights are pretty, but not super compostable.
More than 26,000 trees were recycled last year. That’s like a small forest, right?
There is plenty of free fun all day Sunday in Greenpoint!
At Cooper Park (Maspeth Ave & Olive St) beginning at noon there will be a FREE musical performance by a blues and folk – Mark Cedar & Paul LaPlaca.
In the evening, from 6-8pm at Transmitter Park (Greenpoint Ave & The East River) there will be FREE Swing Dance Night! Inspired by Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Swings will start the evening with a 40-minute group dance lesson, followed by an open dance floor.
Town Square has partnered with OSA, Park Tower Group, Close Encounters, Friends of McGolrick Park, and St Nicks Alliance to bring you SUMMERSTARZ MUSIC.
• Did you know Greenpoint has a park called Sgt. William Dougherty Park? It’s right by the BQE on Meeker and Vandervoort Ave. Don’t get too attached, it will be closed for four years while the Kosciusko Bridge gets a major facelift (Brooklyn Paper)
• Watch out Levin, Pierson is talking nice to pedestrians and bikers. “Stephen Pierson, who is running against incumbent Stephen Levin (D-Greenpoint-Williamsburg) in the Sept. 10 Democratic Primary for the seat in the 33rd Council District, has released a nine-point transportation plan he said will improve public safety” (Brooklyn Eagle)
• “Residents of the Greenpoint Hotel are fed up with their landlord and want him fined and arrested. Tenants rallied Wednesday outside the Brooklyn Housing Court to demand a safer living environment.” (Greenpoint Gazette)
It’s official, McCarren Park Pool is opening on Thursday June 28, 2012! For real! This weekend, a park employee named Guy (as in Gaetano) told me in the best Brooklyn accent you’ve ever heard, “make sure ya have a lock and a bathin’ suit, or ya ain’t gettin’ in.” Word. Blogs are teasing that you can pay $150 for a sneak peek the night before on Wednesday 6/27 during The Big Splash! or just wait 24 hrs and get in FREE on opening day when it opens at 11am. (Better start camping out now!)
But the $150 ticket price isn’t just for premium Instagram bragging, even though that is going to be sweet. It is an important fundraising event for Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, a non-profit thats serves our community by raising funds to expand and improve our local parks. I can get behind that. Parks rule! And so will the pool.
The ticket will also get you cocktails, a fancy dinner, entertainment, a silent auction, a toast to honoree Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of NYC Dept of Parks & Recreation and the chance to see someone christen the pool. Because you know once one person jumps in, everyone jumps in.
You know you BLOW your money on ridiculous things. I’m sure you’ve spent more on a bathing suit or a pair of sunglasses that you’ve already lost. Make it count and buy your tickets to The Big Splash! for a beautiful Brookyln evening you won’t forget.
Proceeds from this event will supplement the Parks Department’s programming in McCarren Play Center and maintenance for the park.
Have you seen the giant “Where’s Our Park?” banner on Franklin St on a fenced off piece of grassy shoreline near No. 14th St? Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park are pretty pissed off because Mayor Bloomberg promised a park there but has not followed through, according to DNAinfo. There was a rally downtown yesterday demanding answers.
Satellite of Bushwick Inlet Now
I say, “Where Is Our Nature?” It’s actually right there behind that fence. And we should leave it alone. The best thing we can do on an industrial shoreline with high rises going up at an incredible rate is leave Bushwick Inlet, that little spot behind the banner, for the birds – literally.
According to: Where’s Our Park? “The community vision for the park includes a boat launch, a museum dedicated to the Civil War era battleship USS Monitor, picnic grounds, athletic fields, volleyball courts, wetland preserves, gardens, performance spaces, a dog run and a two-mile bicycle and pedestrian path.” Continue reading →
Ughhhh, is it iced coffee weather yet? It’s no secret that we New Yorkers aren’t blessed with a great climate. Winter = grey snow piles for days. Spring = rain, like we’ve had all week. Summer = sweat, gross smells, and sometimes you can fry an egg on the sidewalk. So what are outdoor sport-loving folks to do when NYC weather is THE WORST? Hit up The Pitch, NYC’s only indoor soccer-focused space, which just opened a few months ago in Williamsburg. Continue reading 
