Dozens of neighbors gathered last night at the vigil organized by Councilmember Brad Lander to stand up against anti-Muslim graffiti found outside of TDS Insurance on Beverley Road.
Mamun Ur Rashid, the owner of TDS Insurance, discovered the Islamaphobic vandalism on his store Monday morning and reported it to police.
“We do not want any religious conflict in Kensington,” he said in a statement released by Lander’s office. “We respect people of all faiths and seek to live together in peace.”
Lander hopes to help build even stronger community bonds by creating “Kensington Plaza,” by adding benches to the space near where the graffiti was found.
Additionally, Lander made sure last night that the 66th Precinct is aware of the other incidents of anti-Muslim vandalism in the area, which appear to have been written in the same handwriting.
Several incidents of anti-Muslim vandalism have been spotted around the neighborhood recently, and tonight Councilmember Brad Lander will be holding a vigil to gather the community to stand up against the hatred. The vigil is tonight, February 8, at 6pm at the intersection of Beverley and Church, the site of some of the graffiti.
The religiously offensive graffiti has been seen around the site of the vigil–I saw some on a phone booth on Beverley, and a neighbor sent in photos of more on a mailbox nearby on Ocean Parkway. In such a diverse and tolerant community, this comes as something of a shock, and one that Lander says we must not let continue.
“Hate has no place in our community. Kensington is one of Brooklyn’s most diverse and vibrant neighborhoods–with strong Jewish, Christian, and Muslim populations, with long-time and newer residents, including immigrants from Bangladesh and Latin America. We celebrate this community’s vitality and cross-cultural exchange.
“We will respond vigorously to bigotry targeting any group. Recently, Brooklyn has seen multiple anti-Semitic crimes–and the community has responded with appropriate outrage. Now, in the face of this Islamophobic attack on a member of Kensington’s Bangladeshi community, we must unite again.”
Lander suggests transforming the space where the vigil will take place into a mini-plaza–which, if this is the space in front of the Walgreens, has been a work in progress for some time–creating a space that would be “created by and for the neighborhood’s diverse communities.”
Council Member Brad Lander has joined NY Communities for Change to support the workers at Golden Farm, and this week they plan to increase the pressure on Golden Farm by making sure that the neighborhood knows about the workers, their rights, and the fair pay, basic benefits and continued protection on the job in the future that they are requesting..
This week, they are organizing people to knock on doors in Kensington to help spread the word:
Weekday Shifts: 12-3pm or 5:30-7:30pm
Thursday, February 2
Friday, February 3
Wednesday, February 8
Thursday, February 9
Friday, February 10
While Councilmember Brad Lander has gained some help in fixing the flooding issue at the Fort Hamilton Parkway subway entrance, his Participatory Budgeting Transit Committee has been working on ideas for capital–as in, one-time, not on-going–improvements for the entrance. They’ve sent us this information with hopes that neighbors will be able to provide additional input:
We were delighted to hear the announcement from Catherine Zinnel of Councilmember Brad Lander’s office that they were able to get various city agencies (Department of Parks, Sanitation, and Environmental Protection) to commit to cleaning up the area outside the Ft. Hamilton F/G subway entrance. We applaud the great strides that Councilmember Lander’s office has made with this recent announcement. This is indeed a triumph!
Through the newly implemented and innovative Participatory Budget process, residents of four Council Districts–including Brad Lander’s District 39–are recommending how to spend approximately $6 million of public money. (To learn more about the process, see pbnyc.org.) As part of the Participatory Budget process, we are a committee of four who, over the past few months, have been working with Mr. Lander’s staff to study how to remedy the various situations occurring outside the southern entrance of the F/G subway station at Ft. Hamilton Parkway.
Our Transit Committee would like to go beyond the much-needed maintenance of that area and achieve some structural changes that would address the fundamental issues that create the problem. For example, the pitch of the sidewalks does not adequately lead to the drainage, so we are proposing the installation of drainage trenches (about 6 inches across and run the width of the sidewalk. To prevent much of the run-off, we propose that the fencing be replaced, the ground turned over and reseeded and proper curbing built up. This will go far to eliminate the mud flats that accumulate under the overpass. In addition, we are exploring anti-slip coatings for the sidewalks because, even with clean and working drains, if there is any precipitation and when it is lower than 32 degrees, those slopes are always going to be treacherous.
We are also proposing netting barriers to the pigeons roosting spots under the overpass and better signage to identify the subway entrance.
Our committee welcomes any and all suggestions, photographs, professional opinions, observations and even personal horror stories. This will help solidify our proposal and make for a more powerful presentation in order to win funding to help this problem area. Please send your comments to fixfthamilton@gmail.com. Our community deserves a safe and clean entrance to its subway station
The problem of the often-flooded pathway leading to the Fort Hamilton Parkway F/G station, which we first wrote about last March, and which we began making more noise about this fall thanks to your photos and efforts in reaching out to community leaders, has been resolved.
Catherine Zinnel, District Director for Councilmember Brad Lander, tells us that the city has made a commitment to maintain the area. She writes:
In response to your concerns we have been in touch with multiple City agencies, namely the Department of Parks, Sanitation, and Environmental Protection, and asked them to address this ongoing problem. We are happy to report that we have received a commitment from the City to maintain this area, including removal of garbage and debris year-round and removal of snow and ice during the winter months. Further, the City has cleaned the drain and drudged the attached pipe.
This should do it, but if you notice any flooding, please contact the Councilmember’s office at 718-499-1090.
Over the summer, Councilmember Brad Lander introduced the Shop Local program for the 39th district and asked residents to nominate your favorite local businesses for a Shop Local spotlight. He received nominations for businesses all over the district and this month he spotlights three more, including Jaya Yoga on Fort Hamilton Parkway:
If you’re looking for something different – sign up on their website for the All You Need Is Love Yoga workshop on December 3rd that combines yoga and the Beatles at Jaya East in Kensington!
Jaya Yoga East
2902 Ft Hamilton Pkwy at E 4th St
917-740-JAYA
The Delegate Orientation for District 39′s Participatory Budgeting took place last week at PS 230, and neighbor Maggie Tobin wrote about the experience for Councilmember Brad Lander’s blog. Delegates broke out into eight groups, and as part of the Streets and Sidewalks committee, Maggie shares some of her ideas for how our area could benefit from a portion of the $1 million in funds:
I would love to see a few small plazas (rather grandiose word for a smattering of benches) in the vicinity of Church Avenue. Two places in particular would be in front of Walgreens, the other would be an addition to our little green triangle at 35th and Church. Our main shopping area is in need of a complete makeover but any little help could get the ball rolling in the right direction.
The delegates will continue to meet through February, taking the ideas generated by the public and transforming them into full proposals, which will be put to the district for a vote in March 2012.
There are just a few days left for residents to submit ideas on how to spend $1 million on capital improvements through Councilmember Brad Lander’s participatory budgeting initiative. You can easily add ideas on an interactive website, but you have to get them up by Sunday, November 13.
Some popular ideas already on the map in our area include:
* Planting more trees on McDonald Ave.
* Installing a dog run.
* Implementing traffic calming measures on several local streets.
There are a ton of great ideas on the map already, but if you have one and it’s not up there, please add it!
Councilmember Brad Lander is rolling out some additional ways neighbors in District 39 can let him know their ideas on how to spend $1 million. Participatory budgeting will let residents choose capital improvement projects, but you have to speak up to make sure your ideas are heard. If you missed the first round of meetings, here are some ways to participate:
Submit your videos: There’s also a participatory budgeting video project. If you want to go a little farther than just submitting an idea, then make a video about your idea and why it is needed. See some ideas in the video above.
Become a Budget Delegate: At the assemblies, many neighbors also volunteered to become Budget Delegates. These are the people who will be meeting in committees over the winter to evaluate the ideas that have been submitted, figure out which are feasible and how much they cost, and decide which will be put on the ballot. You can sign up to be a budget delegate here (the training and first meeting is Monday, November 7, at 7pm, at PS 230).
In March, once the delegate committees have done their work, residents of the district will vote to decide which projects get funded.
Last winter, Councilmember Brad Lander presented a petition signed by over 1,200 people and asked the MTA to make some changes when the northbound platforms at the 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway stations were to be closed. Unfortunately after consideration, the MTA said that they wouldn’t make any changes because the cost was too high to justify them.
Following the recent string of sexual attacks in the neighborhoods around those stations, Lander is hoping safety will be enough to justify the changes in the next round of closures, which begin next month at the southbound platforms of those stations.
To see Lander’s ideas for solutions, as well as his full letter to New York City Transit, please visit the Windsor Terrace Blog.
If changes aren’t made, and you normally end your ride at the southbound platform of the Fort Hamilton station in the evening, will you make a change in your commute this winter? Will you double back at Church Ave, or take a bus if you can?
Reminder: Now’s your chance to decide how to spend $1 million. Councilmember Brad Lander is one of a four who is testing out “participatory budgeting” in his district, which invites regular people to decide how government should spend $1 million in capital funding.
The Kensington meeting is tonight, and residents are welcome to brainstorm project ideas. See some of the ideas that already came up at meetings in Windsor Terrace and Park Slope, and then make sure Kensington’s needs are represented tonight!
If you want to have a say in local budget allocations, you’ll have your chance next week! There’s a meeting at the cafeteria of PS 230 on Albermarle Road from 6:30 – 9 pm next Monday, and there will even be a bilingual Bengali option.
What improvements would you like to see the money go towards?
Does that empty lot on the corner get you down? Do you want to see more trash cans on your block? You just might be able to do something about it, if you get involved with the new participatory budgeting initiative.
Spearheaded by Councilmembers Brad Lander, D-Brooklyn, Jumaane Williams, D-Brooklyn, Eric Ulrich, R-Queens and Melissa Mark-Viverito, D-Manhattan, the theory is, if you give residents a chance to say how capital funds should be spent in the district, they will participate in, and trust, the governmental process.
“This is a time when faith in government is weakened,” explained Lander in an interview. “But for those of us who believe democracy is at its best when we work together as a community to solve problems, this is an opportunity to take part.”
The participatory budgeting initiative was announced earlier this month, and in the coming weeks assemblies will be held across the 39th council district, represented by Lander. The first is 6:30 p.m. this Wednesday at Old First Reformed Church, 729 Carroll St., in Park Slope. Another will be held at PS 58 in Carroll Gardens on Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
And though getting involved in the process, which is groundbreaking and, some say, revolutionary, will take time, Lander and volunteers already on board say the initiative will prove to not only be worthwhile, but possibly game changing.
Maybe this means that the “Walgreens” Plaza can happen? What would you allocate money to?
The Friends of Greenwood Playground are partnering with the 72nd Precinct, Brad Lander’s office, and the Brooklyn DA’s office for a safety awareness program on Wednesday, October 19 at 6:30pm. The program will be held in the auditorium at PS 130.
Info from FoGP:
This program is for parents and kids, caregivers and neighbors. Please keep in mind that it may be somewhat frightening to some children, so please use your discretion.
Please note the auditorium is a 4 flight walk-up, so it may not be suitable for some folks.
There will be a few presentations, as well as a fingerprinting program for kids, and a Q and A at the end.
Safety Awareness Program
Wednesday, October 19, 6:30pm
PS 130, 70 Ocean Parkway at Ft Hamilton
Council Member Brad Lander is one of a few who is testing out “participatory budgeting” in his district, which invites regular people to decide how government should spend $1 million in capital funding.
Then show up to one of the first series of meetings where residents are welcome to brainstorm project ideas and select budget delegates. The Kensington meeting is next month at PS 230, so get your list of ideas ready.
District 39 Neighborhood Budget Assembly
October 17, 6:30pm
PS 230 Cafeteria
1 Albemarle Road RSVP here
Volunteers wanted: email lander@council.nyc.gov for more info.
The photo above is the “after” shot, from Saturday, September 10, which neighbor Meema captured after seeing that neighbor cleaning the debris from the blocked drain at the passageway to the Fort Hamilton Parkway F/G subway station. Not knowing what to do with the trash and debris, he left it in a pile, but it’s made an enormous difference.
Compare that “after” to these “before” shots. The one on the left, from Muriel on September 8, shows the gymnastics people need to use to get past the puddle, which she and others note isn’t the only problem–pigeons and rats compound the mess. The photo on the right is from John on September 9–though the water was mostly gone, a filthy mud slick remained.
Thanks to the neighbor who volunteered some time and effort in clearing out the Fort Hamilton passageway, and additional thanks to Sasco tools on Coney Island Ave and Sean Casey Animal Rescue for lending him a shovel and giant broom, respectively.
As a result of the serial rapist targeting women in nearby neighborhoods, Brooklyn resident Cait Smith started a petition on change.org to have Councilman Brad Lander and Councilwoman Sara M. Gonzalez increase police presence in these areas.
Council Member Brad Lander just launched a new site, Shop Local, to promote local small businesses in each of the communities in his district. They’ll highlight different places on the site, and the community is welcome to make suggestions for who they profile:
On the new website, we will showcase local businesses nominated by you. Whether it is the restaurant where you had a first date or the storeowner who always makes a contribution to the PTA, please tell us what local businesses are important to you.
One of the first businesses in the spotlight is Brancaccio’s. Click over to read more, and to get a deal at the neighborhood favorite!
Since the 2000 census, New York City’s Asian population has increased 32%, the NY Times reported Thursday, “the fastest-growing racial group by far.”
For the first time, according to census figures released in the spring, their numbers have topped one million — nearly 1 in 8 New Yorkers — which is more than the Asian population in the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles combined.
That milestone, in turn, has become a rallying cry for Asian New Yorkers who have been working for years to win more political representation, government assistance and public recognition. Many leaders have seized on the one-million figure as a fresh reason for immigrants and their descendants who hail from across the Asian continent to think of themselves as one people with a common cause — in the same way that many people from Spanish-speaking cultures have come to embrace the broad terms Latino and Hispanic.
One complaint is Asians receive “less than a quarter of one percent of the money for city social-service contracts,” although
Median per capita income for Asians is well below the city’s average, and Asian households are on average more crowded than those of blacks, Hispanics or non-Hispanic whites, according to the American Community Survey. Asians also have the highest rate of linguistic isolation, a classification in which nobody older than 13 in a household speaks English well.
While more political clout is the goal, intra-group divisions, noted by Councilmember Brad Lander the other evening at Albemarle Neighborhood Ass’n, hinder building local coalitions, while inter-group conflicts undermine city-wide unity.
Councilmember Brad Lander came to speak at the ANA meeting last night. He was hit with a foul ball and then popped one.
Two distraught neighbors grabbed his, and the meeting’s, attention complaining how the 66 Precinct mishandled a fight Monday night, June 20, among local and visiting teenagers at Albemarle Road and McDonald Avenue. The officers were insulting and refused to take a report, they each said out of the other’s hearing. Both women told police they saw a gun and an injured teenager.
“Everyone who calls the police needs to be treated respectfully,” Councilman Lander said as the audience murmured its approval. He promised to call Deputy Inspector John Sprague, the 66 Precinct commander, a man he termed “collaborative with the community.”
Neighbors say the area around PS 230 has become a hot spot. Repeated assaults and robberies at the PS 230 playground have made kids and parents leery of going there. Lander said he would encourage D.I. Sprague to increase police presence at the playground to “calm things down.” He left the broader issue of the area’s security to the Albemarle Neighborhood Association to handle, that being its claim to fame, going back to the 70s.
The fight among 4 neighborhood teenagers and a group of about 8 teen-aged boys from outside Kensington started on Albemarle Road off McDonald Avenue, outside the Albemarle Food Center , a deli at 101 McDonald, and then spread east along Albemarle toward E 3. The local kids were inside the deli “almost hiding” to avoid a fight with the marauders.
Veronica Guzman, the volunteer coordinator for Brad Lander’s Teen Chef program and a community activist dedicated to PS 230′s PTA, burst into sobs as she described how disrespectful the police had been to her. She said she and a friend came upon the fight as they went to buy iced coffee at the deli. One young man, his faced hidden by a bandana, had what looked like the cartridge barrel of a pistol inside his black backpack; others had baseball bats and sticks, she said.
The kids went chasing the local boys down Albemarle. Sonia, a neighbor who works in a NYPD precinct and saw the fight unfold from in front of her house at Albemarle and E 2, told the meeting, “Someone was injured. ”There was an ambulance there. . .Broken glass. I thought it was a riot.”
Once Veronica began yelling about a kid with a gun, about 10-15 neighbors popped out on the street to help her. Around 8 p.m. three people called 911: Veronica, her friend, and the owner of Am-Thai Chili Basil. The cops, about 8 of them from the 66 Precinct, didn’t show up for another 20 minutes.
Veronica said, “Police treated me like a piece of dirt.” One cop called her “a crazy psycho lady,” and threatened to arrest her, until her husband stepped in. The cop encouraged him to take Veronica home to calm down. Another cop brought up NYC budget cuts as the reason he wouldn’t make a report. A third officer, the only woman there, said, “We’re here. Isn’t that good enough?”
No, the deli owners said, they didn’t call the cops. They didn’t see a thing since they were inside making sandwiches when it all began “outside their store,” but they could hear Veronica warning about the gun. Later, when it was all over (around 9:30 p.m., according to Veronica), a police officer told them he ‘d found a plastic knife on one of the kids.
Should you happen to be having drinks and antipasto at Brooklyn Commune tonight around 6, you’ll get a taste of the Kensington/Windsor Terrace Youthmarket Farm Stand’s Teen Chefs second training session. Food prep starts at 6, and the practice cook-offs will run from 7 to 8. Eventually the Teen Chefs will be expected to devise and cook their own recipes.
Under the tutelage of Youthmarket volunteer chefs/coordinators Veronica Guzman, formerly a chef at Spence School and PTA co-chair at PS 230, and Laura Duffy, who specializes in vegan cooking, the students will go through an 8–week training course running from May 13 to July 1. The first Teen Chef Battle will take place next Friday, May 27, at the third training session. By then the apprentice chefs will have honed their knife skills and learned the culinary basics. And judges will be there to make the first awards.
Two teams of 3 kids each, all with families rooted in Kensington, won the coveted spots on the Youthmarket Farm-Stand team. More than 20 students sent in applications, some from as far away as Manhattan. After an initial winnowing, the judges, who included the volunteer chefs/coordinators and Jessica Turner from Councilman Brad Lander’s office, spent 2 days in April interviewing the 10 students at Brooklyn Commune.
According to my informant, the judges were looking for students eager to devote themselves fully to the Farm Stand for its duration (from July 9 until September 10); a desire to learn cooking and nutrition; and the ability to communicate their knowledge and enthusiasm to the public.
The Youthmarket Teen Chefs program is jointly underwritten by Councilman Brad Lander and Family Cook Productions, under GrowNYC’s umbrella, which runs the NYC Farmers’ Markets. Brad Lander’s office plans to announce the names of the winners and more details at a future date. Brooklyn Commune is located at 601 Greenwood Ave. (between Prospect Ave. & 7 St.), Tel: (718) 686–1044.
Councilmember Brad Lander is working on a number of “green” projects around our area that should help create a more pleasant environment for everyone. We contacted his office to see how these projects are going, and here’s the update:
Dome Playground: As you know, Councilmember Lander was very pleased last year to have allocated $600,000, along with an additional $300,000 from Borough President Marty Markowitz, to begin the renovation of Dome Playground. In February, representatives from the Parks Department came out for a community visioning session which was attended by over 50 people who talked about their hopes for the park. The next step in that process is for Parks to present their first draft of a phased plan for construction to the community. Based on that plan and community response, Brad hopes to allocate a significant portion of his capital funds to Dome playground again this year. This is obviously a slow-moving process, but one that will hopefully result in a more user friendly park for all area residents.
The “Walgreens plaza” (this will definitely need a better name!): Last year DOT came out for a site visit to explore the idea of adding some benches and planting to the curved area of sidewalk at Beverly Road, between Church Avenue and East 2nd Street (outside the Walgreens). Turning this area into an actual plaza would require some capital funding, which Councilmember Lander is open to doing next year if the community advocates for it, but even the addition of benches and plantings will require a “maintenance partner” from the community. This is where we hit a wall last year, when DOT expressed a willingness to consider making the triangle at 35th Street a plaza under DOT’s public plaza program but we were not able to identify a not-for-profit organization with the capacity to maintain it. We are eager to move forward here, so hope that a community group will be able to step forward to help make this happen.
PS 179:Councilmember Lander wrote a letter to the DOE expressing his desire for a plan to address overcrowding at the southern end of his district, in a way which would enable the removal of trailers at PS 179. The DOE is moving forward with plans for two new schools in the Kensington area–another item that Councilmember Lander made a big issue of during the Culver El rezoning, so we are very pleased that these plans are moving forward. However, those schools are in Districts 15 and 22, but because three districts come together in Kensington, at PS 179 is in District 20, we do not yet have an answer on whether this additional capacity (which, in any case, will not be ready for another couple of years, until the schools are built) would enable a removal of some of the trailers. We are still hopeful about this as a longer-term possibility.
Tree Plantings Requested by the Borough President: As Councilmember Lander indicated in his testimony during the Culver El rezoning, last summer Borough President Markowitz requested that the Parks Department do some street tree planting throughout Kensington. The Parks Department has confirmed those trees are definitely still in their plan and the trees are scheduled to be planted this spring. Parks expect to be planting about 300 trees in that neighborhood over the next 6 weeks.
Additional Green Space near Culver El Site:We have asked the Parks Department to examine the possibility of creating some additional green space in the vicinity of the Culver El rezoning. Parks has been out there to look at a few sites in order to create an initial report, and they have asked the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) to appraise some spaces so that we know how much it would cost the city. Parks has not yet completed this process, so obviously there are a lot of steps before any spaces could become available for community use, but we are excited to be starting this process.
Dog Run at Greenwood Playground:We are exploring the possibility of a dog run at Greenwood Playground, in the area under the pedestrian bridge. This is something we have heard a request for from many Kensington residents, and especially from Sean Casey Animal Rescue. While this is in Windsor Terrace, and would not add new green space, it would provide a new open space amenity for Kensington (especially northern Kensington) dog owners.
Youth Market: While it does not directly speak to the need for open space, we are very excited about the “green” program that will be coming to the Kensington/Windsor Terrace border this summer through the Youth Market. This program will not only bring farm-fresh produce to the area, it will also be an empowering experience for many area kids. While it does not add new green space, it certainly enlivens existing open/plaza-type space.
If your organization is interested in becoming the Maintenance Partner for the space near the Walgreens, please contact Lander’s office at 718-499-1090.
Brooklyn Spoke, a biking blog, has a lot of nice things to say about Councilmember Brad Lander for all the things he’s done to support livable streets, such as traffic calming on Prospect Park West and a push to set traffic signals in Prospect Park to flashing yellow during car-free hours. He’s also been visible when public transit riders have problems:
When it comes to transit, Brad has done some tremendous work for subway and bus riders. When it was announced that F and G service at the Fort Hamilton and 15th Street Stations would be disrupted due to construction, Brad immediately lobbied for the MTA to help Kensington and Windsor Terrace residents with shuttle buses or extensions of existing bus routes.
We can add that he and his staff are always available and very responsive. If you ever have concerns or issues in the neighborhood, you might consider reaching out to them.
On Monday, March 14, City Councilmember Brad Lander will be hosting a Community Conversation on Public School Instruction and Assessment with DOE Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky. The event will be a dialogue about teaching, learning, assessment, and accountability in New York City’s public schools including:
-What are the best ways to teach and assess students? teachers? schools?
-What are the strengths, limitations, and plans for improving the DOE’s current accountability system?
-Do we have too much high-stakes testing in our schools? Are there alternative models?
-What is the DOE doing to improve instruction in all schools, including integrating the new Common Core State Standards?
Monday, March 14, 6:30-8pm
PS 321
180 7th Ave between 1st and 2nd Streets, Park Slope For more information or to RSVP, please email lander@council.nyc.gov.
Councilmember Brad Lander’s office has let us know that the MTA has rejected the extension of the B68 bus during construction on the F and G subway lines. Last month, Ladner presented the MTA with a petition signed by over 1,200 people who find the closing of the 15th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway stations inconvenient.
The letter from the MTA (see below) lists the reasons for why the extension is, by their calculations, unreasonable. Lander disagrees, as his Valentine’s Day themed statement shows:
“They have inflated the estimated cost by 400% (by quoting a cost of $375,000 for an all-day extension, when only the morning rush-hour is needed),” says Lander. “The true cost of giving we lovers of public transit a better option during the closings: $95,000, or just 0.003% (that’s right, three-one-thousandths of one percent) of the $275 million Culver El reconstruction project. But I guess 0.003% is too much to ask from this relationship. Sadly, like many a careless lover, the MTA believes that we’ll come back tomorrow all the same. And we probably will. But it is not the right way to build a long-term relationship.”
So, spurned lovers of the MTA in Kensington, you will just have to keep doubling back until the project is (hopefully) completed in May.
Councilmember Lander introduced legislation a couple of weeks back to make sure that the sounds from religious institutions do not “exceed 70dB (A) when measured at a distance of fifty feet or more from the sound source”. Hopefully just the thought of it might bring some relief to the neighbors over by the green triangle while we wait for it to be approved (it was referred to Committee for Environmental Protection). Here is the full text:
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to clarifying the applicability of the noise control code.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section 1. Section 24-217 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as
follows:
§24-217 Exemptions. The provisions of this code shall not apply to the operation or use of any organ, bell, chimes, sound device or apparatus or other similar instrument from on or within any church, synagogue, mosque or other house of worship, except that no sound emanating from such church, synagogue, mosque or other house of worship may exceed 70 dB(A) when measured at a distance of fifty feet or more from the sound source on a public right-of-way or any point within a receiving property lawfully occupied as a dwelling or dwelling unit.
§2. This local law shall take effect one hundred eighty days after its enactment.
Brad Lander’s office is offering a free workshop on handling urban wildlife on January 22nd – more info and RSVP here.
Having problems with raccoons, squirrels, opossums, pigeons or other urban wildlife? Some wild animals are both adaptive and opportunistic, which allows them to survive quite well in NYC despite the close proximity to people. However, conflicts can develop when urban dwellers and wildlife try to live within the same landscape. Led by a wildlife expert from The Humane Society of the United States , this interactive workshop will focus on practical, effective and long term solutions to common urban wildlife problems.
I know it’s been an extremely frustrating few days for many of you. My staff has been hard at work, trying to help the scores of people who have contacted my office while I’ve been on my way back from out of town.
From the many of you who have e-mailed or called, I know that the snow (and car and bus) removal seems to be taking much longer than usual. We are still following up with the Department of Sanitation to address some of the major streets in the district (including Henry Street, Prospect Park West, McDonald Ave, and Cortelyou Road in Kensington) and have passed many of your requests about other streets on to them as well.
Unfortunately, we now hear that it may not be until the end of Wednesday before some streets in our neighborhood are plowed, even for the first time. (FYI– alternate side parking remains suspended for Wednesday).
If your street hasn’t been plowed or if there is a sidewalk that needs attention, my office has set up an online form at http://www.bradlander.com/snow. You can also e-mail us at lander [at] council.nyc.gov, or call us at (718) 499-1090.
Doing some research on rooftop farming and I came across this Times article about rooftop greenhouses. Given how capital-intensive growing on rooftops is, is it too hard to imagine a future where we are complaining about corporate rooftop farms? One venture capitalist involved projects a billion dollars of sales by 2020. Imagine feeding the entirety of NYC w […]
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I receive a number of hits for soil testing services and I think that's great. It's an important part of growing in urban areas. I would like to include more information on soil testing, and link to the Cornell's labs, but I find their website absolutely cryptic -I cannot figure it out! I would also use their services, but I cannot find my way […]
I shopped at a grocer on Long Island this weekend after going out to the North Fork. When I was a kid, this same store was oriented toward working class Italians, and today it is still that, but also reorienting toward Asian and Central and South American food products. It is where I saw my first sheep head in cellophane for sale, complete with eyeballs and […]
Recently I began using a mobile device and that has made me much more conscious of the look of my blog via mobile. Today's stats show that 48% of my page views have been on an iphone or ipad. That's high, it's usually closer to 5%, but even that has grown in the last few months from only 1%. I've been communicating with Marie of 66squaref […]
A few thought people having sex in the garden was unlikely, but, finally the evidence is in - condoms and napkins in proximity. I gotta get me one of those pickers we use in the park. On a good note, the crocus are blooming. […]
...Is the way to lose that and not gain this. :Yoshida Kenko, no. 188, Essays in Idleness Some of you may know that I've taken up garlic growing this past year. My plot upstate is a borrowed one, and as such requires less commitment than one for which I could be paying. In other words, in Kenko's words, I get to take this and keep that. This weeken […]
Dear KWT CSA members, It’s that time again – 2012 CSA sign-up is now open!The Kensington Windsor Terrace CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) offers two pick-up options:Wednesdays 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the East 4th Street Community Garden. Members are asked to commit to one volunteer shift during the season; Wednesday shifts are from 3:30 to 6:15 p.m. Pick-ups […]
Last autumn I was on a garlic seed production research tear. I came across a company in china called Pretty Garlic. Log onto their website to read the mythical origins of pretty garlic -something about a sick girl saved by garlic. In reading their how-to-grow garlic page, I was a little surprised by the frank use of the term "human wastes" as suppl […]
