Brooklyn Greenway: Columbia Street Cleanup Saturday

Come out this Saturday for a fun way to give back to the community by cleaning up Columbia Street:

Saturday, April 4, 10:00-11:30am
Columbia Greenway Clean-Up
Lend a hand at BGI’s monthly cleanup along the new Columbia Street section of the greenway. These cleanups are held in cooperation with the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association, in order to keep the newest section of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway free of trash and other debris.

Tools, trash bags, work gloves provided, but please make sure to dress warmly!
Meet at BGI’s office, 145 Columbia Street between Kane and Degraw
(Ring BGI’s doorbell on left-hand side of residential entrance)
RSVP to Brian: bmccormick(at)brooklyngreenway.org


BGI is doing great work opening up the waterfront and inland communities to pedestrians and cyclists . . . putting a stretch of green through Brooklyn that makes safe public park space more accessible to all of Brooklyn. Join Mia and I on Saturday as we pitch in to help. This is my favorite type of community service.

Photo of Columbia Street stretch of the Greenway from Brownstoner.

CB6 Land Use Committee Mtg: Public Place Site

An important meeting to attend. See you there.

LANDMARKS/LANDUSE COMMITTEE
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008
TIME: 6:00 PM

P.S. 32 - AUDITORIUM
317 HOYT STREET
BROOKLYN NY 11231

A G E N D A

- Presentation and introduction by representatives for the Department of Housing Presentation and Development of the development team selected by the City of New York to develop “Public Place,” the City-owned 6-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Smith & 5th Streets (Block 471, Lot1).

There's more on the agenda, but this is the main attraction.

Public Place Layout

Brownstoner has all the details in a very comprehensive rundown of the winning bid.

All things considered, and especially given some of the alternatives I saw, this looks pretty good.

Image courtesy of Brownstoner. Check out their post.

CB6 Tonight: What's Going On At Public Place?

As announced by District Manager Craig Hammerman at the last CGNA meeting, CB6 is hosting an informational meeting tonight to get out the word on the Public Place development proposals.

This is a big project by any measure. It's important to have a large presence of interested residents out there to maximize community input.

Tonight, 6:30PM
PS 32 Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street
(between Union & President)

Brooklyn CB6 Calendar

New York City: Beyond the Automobile

I've written a lot about the F&V train lately, and clearly as a Carroll Gardens resident it's an issue near to my heart. But restoring the F express and extending the V out to Brooklyn is just one example of the investments we as New Yorkers can and must make in our transit infrastructure to keep this city on an upward trajectory.

The rise of the automobile was a devastating blow to this city, among others. For 50 years, scarcely any additional resources were put towards developing our transit systems, as countless billions were spent building and rebuilding thousands of miles of space hogging, environmentally disastrous highways and additional lanes on local streets.

Pedestrian flow is the life of this city. How conducive to community is it to cross a six-lane through street to see your neighbors? Or to cross under a dark, noisy and crumbling structure like the Gowanus Expressway to get to a park? Or to look out your window and see a Cross-Bronx Expressway or the BQE gouging its way through your neighborhood like a deep, painful scar?

One of the beautiful things about New York is that millions of our inhabitants can get by without ever owning a car. Without an expansive, 24 hour transit system this would be impossible. It follows that the greater the transit coverage, and the more frequent and rapid the service, the more people will travel the rails and buses, and get out of their cars.

After 50 years of favoring the automobile and truck, it's time for New York to invest in transit for people and for freight, to take back pieces of the road infrastructure for open space, and remember that a thriving city centers around people and places, not cars.