Hey neighbors -

I can’t believe this is W6post#6! We’re up to 90 subscribers, which is fantastic given I have not done any promotions beyond friends, family and the people I’ve met through my stories/posts. Feel free to share. I still haven’t written my ABOUT page, any volunteer writers want to help?

I sat down to write this week’s post–a breezy Halloween hello–and what did I do instead?  I immediately launched into the election and the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, precisely what I told myself not to do.  Good thing, Ward6 readers: I went for a quick jog, stopped every few seconds to admire and snap photos of Halloween decorations, and got back on track.

I love Halloween. My candy-deprived childhood is the main reason, but I also have fond memories of trick-or-treating in my DIY costumes made from whatever I could find in my mother’s closet. I’m sure you can relate.  Inevitably, I ended up in the same oversized jacket, a stick of some sort with a bag on the end, resembling what we called a “hobo.” Not sure this would pass the smell test today.

I graduated to my DIY Pippi Longstocking costume in college and it was my go-to for years. It felt gloriously liberating to wrap my thick hair around metal hangers sticking straight out on my right and left side. I assumed when I had kids, they would appreciate my Pippi DIY, but they refused to be seen with me or at times, even let me out of the house to walk around by myself. I think I scared them.

A few quick observations about this year’s Halloween decorating: first, love, love the number of people decorating; I can’t get enough, even the excessive amount of skeletons of all sizes.  Is it just me or does it appear that residents are hiring decorators or maybe we have an abundance of creative types? 

There used to be only a few houses that went all out every Halloween, like the one Henry/President and the Verandah Pl. carriage house, the first neighbor I noticed to cleverly display skeletons. I must have 50K pics over the years of that one house. And the mini-pumpkin extravaganza on Kane and Strong Place.  Then there’s the rest of us folks with our scrappier presentations. 

I met a neighbor as I took pictures of his Halloween decorations, who, indeed, said there is a local woman for hire. Hmm… I have not talked with her myself, but I can contact her on your behalf ([email protected] or @ward6_brooklyn).

I had mixed feelings about seeing Halloween decorations at the end of September, until a good friend of mine said that the world is so topsy turvy (nice way of putting it) that decorating early made sense to her and, now, me.   Happy Halloween!

I don’t have to tell you, dear readers, about– not just the chaos on Court St. – but the battle royale on social media about the chaos on Court St., its side streets, and walking around the neighborhoods.  I’m eager to see how this all plays out. 

My empathy goes both ways. The growing number of bike riders needs a safe way to get from downtown Brooklyn (many commute from Manhattan) to the southern neighborhoods and beyond. And so do the cars. And so do the businesses we depend on. 

As longtime CG resident Mark Healy wrote in his love letter, “The Miracle of Court Street,” it’s “a double parker’s paradise.”  The redesign is all about eliminating this. It might be good for business and the ease of running errands, but not for traffic and safe streets. I have not independently sourced this last issue, but the NYC Crash MAP from a pro-bike nonprofit shows there are accidents, some fatal, on Court St. 

The unintended consequences of this redesign were on full display this week. I watched as an 18-wheeler and smaller trucks caused traffic jams as they struggled to turn onto Court Street.  So did many of our neighbors, “There’s a truck stuck now turning onto Court St. from Atlantic Ave and traffic is backed up all the way to Livingston,” said a text from Mark, a CG subscriber. 

But the business owners have a legit gripe that customers might forgo a store visit because of traffic or whatnot. Or take the Cobble Hill Chapels that need to park their hearse and safely move funeral attendees to their cars while crossing the new bike lanes, as they explained to me earlier in the week. 

I am still dumbfounded how or why the Department of Transportation, according to many of the Court St business, including the funeral home, didn’t warn them or give them a chance to ask questions before rezoning began.  Or, why didn’t the community boards walk Court Street? There’s nothing like surprising New Yorkers with massive change. Still, I am cautiously optimistic that this will work out. 

Thank you Cobble Hill Association for this update other than what I heard from a few businesses that the DOT is “keeping an eye on it.”

More from CHA- If you want to express yourself!

Submit feedback to the DOT portal:

*** Also, this important question from a neighbor - “Is anyone having a bad reaction to materials being used in the Court Street redesign, especially the beige surface treatment in various sections, I think for the delivery details?”  Let me know if you are ([email protected]) 

Oct. 18 | NYC Says No Kings | Grand Army Plaza (12-2P) or Father Duffy Square in Manhattan 11A | Here is some background from Axios and the No Kings’ organizers.

Oct 18 | Cobble Hill’s new Bolo Bolo Cafe’s Diwali Pop-Up with a DJ from 1-3P

Oct 18 -19 Ragas Live! at Pioneer Works, 24 Hours of Transcendent music

Oct 18-19 | Arts Gowanus 12-6P | If you want some guidance, check out what a select group of “curators, entrepreneurs, artists and community leaders” suggest you do and see.

Check out what I saw last week at RED HOOK’S OPEN STUDIOS:

Next week, I will share more about one of these studios with you.

Oct 18 | 47th annual Bed-Stuy House Tours 9-4P. Proceeds go to fund college scholarships. From our friends at the BK Reader: 

Oct 19 | Tera Mera @ 227 Court St. South Asian market from 12-4P with henna, candles with South Asian scents like Saffron and Jasmin, perfume, sweets and a DJ. Read my interview with the two owners and sisters here. 

Oct. 19 | 12-6P Phoenicia Flea of vintage and crafts @ Strong Rope Brewery. The sunset alone + beer is worth a trip.

Oct. 20 | A heads-up from BK Reader that if you are not a BAM member tickets go on sale at 1P for a live-taping of Michelle Obama’s podcast. Warning: I looked at the ticket prices and I couldn’t find one less than $200. I hope I’m wrong.

It’s complicated and about to get ugly. Already, the deluge of housing YES/housing NO mailers and social media has begun. What gives me pause is that, to reach the goal of more “affordable” housing — proponents of these ballot proposals say — voters need to give up their say/power and those of our local elected officials. Also, there is no overall city plan or public money committed to building more affordable housing.

If you want to dig in: 

Oct. 20 | City Club of New York Zoom, whose head was the only panelist out of four at the NYU Furman Center panel debate who agreed to speak against the ballot proposals.

Now that I have you…more on the controversial waterfront plan

Oct: 23  LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WATERFRONT PLAN in a Zoom with EDC - 6-8P |

Oct 22 | 2nd Mayoral debate | NY1 + The City digital newspaper

See you next week. JLH