Counting down the hours until daylight savings, and much more from Ward 6.

Hey Neighbors,

Happy Saturday. Only 12 hours, 30 minutes to the return of daylight savings time. Woot! It’s funny, I think about the daylight we gain, and my husband hates the idea of losing an hour of sleep. Go figure.

I have some important community meetings listed at the end of today’s post under MARK YOUR CALENDAR. Within days of the news that elementary school girl was hit by a car crossing Columbia St. at President St., residents demanded a meeting with the Department of Transportation. They got it! And now they need us to pack the house at Jalopy next week to show the DOT our community needs a stop light or other safety measures at that intersection.

And it’s time to re-engage in the Brooklyn Marine Terminal and the city’s vision for redevelopment. Come one, come all! 

If you have a tip, please, please email me @ [email protected] or . If you are a regular Ward 6 reader, please share with a friend or consider upgrading to $6 a month to help sustain me. 

Post #24: Tera Mera makes Allison Roman’s Brooklyn restaurants she loves; oyster steeped beer, Cobble Hill service nights draws a crowd, what you should know about a preliminary state Superfund designation for lower Court St., important health survey set to start, district drama ends for now, mysterious Pre-K location solved, Mark Your Calendar!

In one of my earliest posts for Ward 6, I featured Shalini and Kathleen, the two sisters behind the Indian streetfood restaurant, Tera Mera. I remember sitting in the backyard and with every dish, Shalini shared a story about the food, not just the ingredients, but how and where it’s eaten in Mumbai. 

Now, local chef and cookbook author Allison Roman has named Tera Mera one of the Brooklyn restaurants she loves most.  CNTraveler also made a cute video. 

I’m a huge fan of the Billion Oyster Project and plan to do volunteer work for the organization this summer. I will never say “no” to eating oysters, especially paired with a Perfect Manhattan, and enjoy a cold beer on a hot day. 

Threes Brewing is slightly behind Ward 6’s coverage area, but I was intrigued when I read about its Pilsner made with oyster shells. I immediately called Head Brewer, Josh Penney, who started at the brewery after the collaboration with BOP had begun.

When you first heard about your brewery’s collaboration with the BOP and brewing beer with oyster shells, what did you think?

I thought it was great. I’ve made beer with river rocks before, I’ve used black garlic, rose petals, and marigolds. We’ve brewed with a stout before; this is our first year using a Pilsner. The minerality of a Pilsner goes well with oysters. 

How do you brew with oysters?

First, we go to Governor’s Island and bring back the oysters. We decided to use even more this year. We clean them and add them to our last stage of brewing when [the ingredients] are hot. We let the oysters steep for about 40 minutes and draw the contents out of the shells. 

Can you describe what it adds to the beer?

It impacts the flavor and some of the aroma. It’s like a fresh sea spray. Gives it a crispness. 

I was hoping to stop by last night to have a taste, but ended up seeing The Bride instead, which I highly recommend.

$1 from every beer sold goes to the BOP.

On a whim, I signed up to help pack toiletry bags for the nearby New Men’s Sunrise shelter organized by the Cobble Hill Association. For a rainy Thursday night, I was impressed with the 30 or more people who showed up. 

One thing that stood out is that almost everyone appeared to be in their 20s or 30s, which isn’t the typical demographic for the CHA. The two young women I spoke with said they came for a good cause and to meet more people in the community. One told me it was her New Year’s resolution to focus on her neighborhood. Neither were members of the CHA.

We packed 200 toiletry bags!

PS - the CHA is looking for a social media producer. It’s a paid position!

I’ve thought a lot about the coexistence of 140 new apartment buildings in Gowanus near a Superfund site and surrounding contamination.

The clean-up has been ongoing for years, but I often wonder if the warped-speed construction has allowed for adequate remediation? 

As both the Gowanus and the Brooklyn waterfront / Brooklyn Marine Terminal (and the adjacent area) are former industrial areas, I follow the incredible, all-volunteer community group, Voices of the Gowanus, to learn about potential issues for our corner of Brooklyn, if the city delivers on its intention to develop the waterfront. This will require extensive and expensive environmental remediation.

Voices of Gowanus has demanded for more extensive testing of soil vapor, toxic chemicals passing through cracks and pipes in buildings, after its own advocacy work led to the discovery of this problem. Testing turned out 38 buildings out of 371 that required mitigation. 

Now, Voices of Gowanus has teamed up with NYU School of Medicine to do a much more extensive health survey. If you want to learn more, there’s a virtual town hall on March 10th, or you can read more here.

If you want to learn more : 

Eric Newstrom of the Red Hook Star-Revue mentioned a new state Superfund site at the end of Court St. between 4th Place and Nelson St. and Luquer St. (between Court and Smith St) in his newsletter this week.

This was the first I heard of it, and after talking with Voices of Gowanus, I learned DEC has not held any public meetings yet.

To be clear, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation is uncertain at this point whether this area is a public health concern. According to a DEC notice that was shared with me,  “...there is a potential for concern about this site contamination…the DEC’s investigation of the site is not yet complete.”

It has a “Class P” designation, which means “preliminary information indicates that a site may have contamination that makes it eligible for consideration for placement on the Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites (commonly referred to as the list of State Superfund Sites).”

Either way, it’s important the community is aware.

This is what I know… In 2024, DEC identified dangerous cancer-causing soil vapors in the rectory and main building of St. Mary Star of the Sea Church (where Al Capone also celebrated his wedding) on Court St. while investigating the source of tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) in the area around the Gowanus Canal.  

The NYU Health Survey is concerned about the presence of these two cancer-causing chemicals, often associated with old dry cleaners. 

According to the DEC report, “Source Area and Trackdown Report” from December 2025, the church was not the source, but “...the contamination is being addressed through ongoing investigation and mitigation…” 

I’ll keep you updated.

I’ve often wondered about a single-story white building on 129 Van Brunt along my jogging route with a Pre-K sign that’s been empty for as long as I can remember.  Thanks to a Ward 6 reader, who kindly sent me this New York Post article, I learned this building was part of the city’s Pre-K expansion under Mayor de Balsio. Of the 47 locations identified as new schools, 21 never opened, including 129 Van Brunt.  

I did a little digging and learned, in 2022, the building sold for a whopping $22 million, and more than $2 million in renovations followed, according to a review of city permits.  From what I can tell, the DOE leased the space, which, according to Brooklyn Bridge Parents, was supposed to offer 135 new Pre-K spots in 2023.  

I unsuccessfuly tried to get additional information from Council Member Shanana Hanif.

Update on Pre-K availability from BKReader.

For now, both Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman will each represent their districts for the upcoming elections. The future, however, is still an open-ended question.  On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled against the lower court.

Actually, it was the same way at 3:00 PM when I snuck out for a jog. Yes, I’m tired of the honking, the traffic and road rage, especially along Columbia St. 

So, naturally, I was curious about a gathering at Borough Hall on Tuesday night organized by Open Plans, a non-profit promoting Low Traffic Neighborhoods (LTN). I was surprised to learn that New Yorkers are driving more than ever, even though the population has increased by less than 2%.

Tayla Schwartz, a senior strategist with Open Plans, presented to a packed room on various safety measures to create pedestrian-focused streets, drawing on London, which has built 100 LTNs over the past decade. Two of these measures include diagonal dividers and daylighting, which re-routes traffic, for example, out of neighborhoods that deal with what she called “cut through” traffic, for example cars heading to the BQE. 

Open Plans, which also owns Streetblogs, is promoting LTNs and public space as a way to “dismantle car culture,” among many other goals.

Food for thought. 

Today! Until April 26 |  After decades living in New York City, I finally trekked up to the Bronx to see the Orchid show last year, and I can’t recommend it enough.  A burst of color is exactly what we all need right now, along with the low 70-degree conservatory. It’s beautiful. It’s also fun to see the wide swath of New Yorkers who come to admire the orchids. 

Mr. Flower’s Fantastic Concrete Jungle is this year's theme, featuring the work of none other than the mysterious street artist, Mr. Flower Fantastic himself, who wears a mask to conceal his identify. 

“Orchids collide with concrete in a dazzling reimagining of the Big Apple, from stoops and slice shops to the subway itself.”  Say no more. 

Today! March 7, Super Science Saturday, 11:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Great day of hands-on science at PS29 on Henry (between Kane and Butler) 

Today! March 7, noon - 4:00 PM | courtesy of Court Street Journal: Substacker Dad Mag is hosting a meetup at Talea Cobble Hill. Grab a beer and learn more about the growing community of parents and families in the neighborhood.

March 8, Sunday, 1:00 PM | Wash. Square Park | Carolyn Bessette- JFK Jr. lookalike contest at Washington Square Park. Winners get $250. And, YES, I’ve been watching!

** Save the date |  March 10, Tuesday, 6 - 6:45 PM | Jalopy 315 Columbia St. | Protect the Columbia St. Waterfront Community. | Come one, come all to support your neighbors on Columbia St, who are lobbying the Department of Transportation to implement safety measures on a stretch of Columbia St. after an elementary school student was hit by a car late last year.  We must pack the house! 

Did you know that “President Street is the only street between Atlantic and Hamilton Avenues that has no crosswalks on Columbia Street AND community spaces within a block of Columbia Street?”

March 10th | Free music series begins at BAM. 

** Save the date: March 11th |  Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church | Join local community groups, AM Jo Anne Simon, Councilmember Shahana Hanif, and the NYCEDC to understand this phase of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal “vision plan.” 

Remember: this is a proposed plan and a lot must happen before it’s shovel-ready, if we ever reach this stage.  There is still time to learn about it and how to make sure your opinions are heard. 

You will learn how to submit testimony about any concerns you might have about this plan. The EDC went forward with its “vision plan” without doing impact studies, which makes it even more challenging to weigh the viability of what they proposed.

For example, I plan to ask the City to conduct a study that examines the impact on PS29 and BHS on Court St., with construction vehicles using Kane St. as their entry point to the BMT area.  Displacement of Columbia St. Waterfront residents is another concern if the city builds luxury towers, and the cost of remediating old industrial land, drawing on lessons learned from Gowanus. 

March 16th | 6:00 PM | NYCEDC virtual BMT hearing, where you can testify or listen to the concerns of your neighbors. You can register to attend or testify at this session here.

Other resources from the Columbia St. Waterfront Association: