Kira speaking in front of Tommy’s Tavern on Thursday (Image via Ben Weiss).
More than 100 protestors gathered Thursday afternoon in front of Tommy’s Tavern (1041 Manhattan Ave.), a local dive bar on Manhattan Avenue, to condemn the owner’s recent behavior towards a black woman.
Kira, a black woman who works in Greenpoint, says that she was waiting at a bus stop across the street from the bar on June 7th when the owner, Thomas Kaminski, told her she “shouldn’t be here.”
Kaminski bragged about how he had more money than her and yelled about ‘Black Lives Matter protests’ in his neighborhood, at one point flipping her the bird, she alleges.
I was on the phone minding my god damn business waiting for the bus when this ASSHOLE pulled up from around the corner and started shouting and pointing at me. I was mad confused so I took my headphones off and realized he was saying something about black protestors in his
“It’s obvious in Greenpoint that I’m probably the only black person I’d see for a while,” said Kira, who declined to give her last name. “But I never felt unwelcome until that day.”
She previously spoke about the altercation a week ago in McCarren Park during one of the nightly vigils in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. After returning home from the park, she decided to organize a protest in front of the bar, which Council Member Stephen Levin’s office supported.
That’s terrible. No place in our neighborhood for that bs. I live around the corner. I’m very sorry.
— (((Stephen Levin))) (@StephenLevin33) June 8, 2020
“Racism has no place in our district and we will not stand for it,” said the Council Member in a statement.
Members of the protest were also unflinching in their criticisms of Kaminksi.Continue reading →
Participatory budgeting — the community-lead budgeting process that funds $1.5 million in neighborhood projects — is back for the ninth cycle, and you can submit ideas here.
All ideas must be submitted by Friday, October 11, to be considered for the next ballot, according to the PB website: Continue reading →
Local elected politicians are holding an East River State Park and Kent Avenue town hall meeting tonight in Williamsburg.
The town hall takes place tonight (5/28) at the Bushwick Inlet Park community room (86 Kent Ave.) at 6 p.m.
State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, NYC Councilman Stephen Levin, and U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney are sponsoring the meeting.
Voting for Participatory Budgeting, the NYC program where residents vote on how to allocate $1.5 million in funding for projects conceived and pitched by locals, will take place between March 30th – April 7th. Here’s the list of District 33 poll sites.
There are two ballots to vote for three out of seven expense projects ($20,000 total) and five out of nine capital projects ($1.5 million total).
The planned development by All Year Management at the NuHart site (known as 22-26 Clay St.)
NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin is holding a public meeting regarding the proposed k-8 school across from the Nuhart Plastics Superfund site on Thursday (2/7), at the Dupont Senior Housing Center (80 Dupont St.) from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
A letter (PDF) addressed to the NYC School Construction Authority written by a coalition of neighborhood groups and public officials explains that the planned site for the proposed school sits across the street from one of the most contaminated parcels in NY state:
The ground underneath the NuHart site is contaminated with an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of phthalates, which have begun migrating off site in a plume, toward the proposed school site. We will not be completely certain of the precise volume of phthalates under the NuHart site until the remediation begins. Phthalates are particularly hazardous to children’s health and have been implicated in negative infant and child health conditions like reduced gestational growth, asthma and issues with neurological and reproductive systems.1 Researchers and government agencies, including here in New York City, have strongly cautioned parents to reduce their children’s exposure to these highly toxic chemicals. These chemicals are so toxic they have been banned in children’s toys. The site is also contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a known carcinogen that can have serious effects on both long and short term health. These chemicals have been found in the soil, ground water and soil vapor. Soil vapor is of particular concern because of the potential that it has to migrate off-site. Continue reading →
Map of proposed school next to the NuHart Superfund site (via North Brooklyn Neighbors)
The future of the proposed k-8 school across from a toxic site is in question. The current plan is to build the school on a vacant lot across the street from the NuHart Plastics Superfund site, one of the most contaminated sites in New York state.
NuHart Plastics Superfund site
NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin is holding a public meeting on Feb. 7, at the Dupont Senior Housing Center (80 Dupont St.) at 7 p.m. regarding the school and has for the past three years cited efforts to seek an alternative site for a new k-8 school in the North Greenpoint area.
A petition from North Brooklyn Neighbors in opposition to the location of the future school at the corner of Franklin and Dupont streets has received over 6,600 signatures so far.
The NuHart Plastics building spewed toxic fumes into the neighborhood while producing vinyl sheeting from 1950 – 2004, during which time underground storage tanks of toxic chemicals leaked into the groundwater and soil. Today as much as 60,000 gallons of phthalates are underground at the site and the toxic plume has migrated west toward the Greenpoint Playground across the street.
The underground plume at the corner of Franklin and Dupont streets (via North Brooklyn Neighbors)
While local residents are not currently a risk for exposure at the moment while the toxins remain more than 10 feet underground, the cleanup process is supposed to start following the demolition of the building which could start later this year following approval of the proposal of the cleanup plan by the state. Continue reading →
New York City Council Member Stephen Levin will hold a public meeting to hear feedback from Greenpoint parents on the plans to build a 600-seat elementary school on a vacant lot across the street from the Nuhart Plastics Superfund site (280 Franklin St.), which will be remediated in the next few years after the proposed cleanup plan (PDF) is approved. The meeting will take place on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dupont Senior Center (80 Dupont St.). The school would take around three to five years to complete following approval. Continue reading →
Next Thursday, November 8th, NYC Council Member Stephen Levin will hold a community meeting at the Dupont Senior Center (80 Dupont St.) for concerned parents to discuss the proposed site for Greenpoint’s newest K-8 school.
Levin stipulates that this meeting will not focus on the Superfund site so much as on the school itself. He said in a Facebook post: “We would like to meet with Greenpoint parents to discuss the school that will be getting built in the area. We have had several meetings about the Nuhart site but would like to concentrate the school and what people need to know and have questions about regarding the school itself.”
Despite opposition from community groups including North Brooklyn Neighbors (formerly NAG), the proposed location for the school, to be built by developers at Greenpoint Landing, is at the corner of Dupont and Franklin Streets, across from the Nuhart Plastics site, a designated state Superfund.
At the meeting, you can weigh in on issues surrounding the school, and voice your opinion about where it should be built.
If you prefer to lament, or compliment, the cleanup plan in the company of your neighbors, then you’re in luck: North Brooklyn Neighbors and NYC Council Member Stephen Levin are hosting a comment-athon this Wed. Oct. 24, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Threes Brewing (113 Franklin St.). Continue reading →
The school is slated to sit on the corner of Dupont and Franklin Streets, across the street from NuHart Plastics, which was declared a state-level super-fund site in 2010 because it is highly contaminated with thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals, including two underground plumes of trichloroethylene (TCE), and as much as 60,000 gallons of uncontrolled phthalates, which have leeched from the site out toward surrounding streets.
According to NAG’s petition, “exposure to these chemicals have been linked to liver and kidney damage, congenital heart defects, central nervous system defects, changes in sex hormones, low sperm count, obesity, reduced female fertility, birth defects, low birth weight, and altered behavior in toddlers.” Continue reading →
Participatory budgeting — the community-lead budgeting process that funds $1.5 million in neighborhood projects — is back for the ninth cycle, and you can 
