Hey neighbors -
With so much going on in the world, here’s a little escape, “a palette cleanser,” as the BK Paper editor explained local news to me. My goal is to include a variety of neighborhood happenings and news, with a little palette cleanser for everyone– some frivolous and some serious, depending on your mood.
Good news to share from a West Coast reader (Ok, a sister!) who offered to help with the design of Ward6, possibly. I suspect many of my creative friends and readers are finding it challenging, maybe even stressful, to watch, in almost real time, as I tinker, barely, with the “design.” Come on, readers, I need H-E-L-P to get this newsletter to a Brooklyn-worthy design!
ROOKIE MISTAKE. Right before I soft-launched WARD6, I worked with Remsen Graphics to make biz cards and stickers (yes, merch!) to take to a journalism conference. It didn’t take long before I noticed my total rookie mistake!! Can you find it?
HEY NEIGHBORS - THE WEEK THAT WAS
Various pics on Mary A. Whalen; Andrea McKnight (upper t)
Last weekend’s unexpectedly warm weather spurred two evening bike rides to Red Hook with friends to check out Observe the Moon Night, a collab between PortsideNY and Pioneer Works (and others).
Observe the Moon
By the time I arrived on Saturday night at “our hamlet by the sea,” as Pioneer Works describes their area of Brooklyn, I was too hungry to wait in line with the hordes of people eager for a glimpse of the first-quarter moon. If you love astronomy, Pioneer Works has exciting plans for more permanent events like this one. I’ll keep you updated.
While there I met a new neighbor, Red Hook resident Andrea McKnight (see the upper-right pic above), as I waited for my friends on PortsideNY’s the Mary A. Whalen (see above), a historic tanker and maritime educational non-profit that I wish I had known about when my two kids were younger.
Andrea and her husband, Jay, who died last year, worked tirelessly to bring needed services to our communities and stood up to businesses that posed a risk to our residents. And talk about burying the lede – NPR Morning Edition aired the couple’s love story on StoryCorps and produced this animated short!
By coincidence, another PortsideNY event on Tuesday night brought the Young Men’s Norweigan Choir to Strong Rope Brewery (the best views in Brooklyn) to raise money for the tenants of the Beard Street warehouse fire. “Norway? What?” I was a bit confused myself, but I learned that Red Hook was once known as “Little Norway” for the immigrants who worked on our waterfront.
Before I decided to launch Ward 6, I would have smiled at the idea that I could find time to attend this event. But the music was lovely and I learned a ton of history and current day adventures. How often can you say Norway, Black spirituals, drunken orgies, sloopers, ocean voyage, and jubilee in one sentence!
HEY NEIGHBORS - UPDATES FROM LAST WEEK
Answer to CG reader Michael’s question about the disappearance of Union Street’s bike lanes (thank you Mark in Gowanus for the help)
Next week, more on ChopperGate. Blade has taken over my IG, BTW, after I checked out the company’s many Ryder Cup posts. You can still file a complaint with 3-1-1.
Thank you, Court St. Journal for this link about how people can help residents impacted by the Beard St warehouse fire from our friends at the BK Reader.
Not technically an update…Shout out for Frankies and Delfonte’s on Jimmy Jimmell with guest Jeremy Allen White of The Bear, who, I learned, spent some of his childhood in Carroll Gardens. Strange coincidence that his co-star, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, also lived/lives in the neighborhood?
HEY NEIGHBORS - TWO WEEKS UNTIL WE DECIDE OUR NEXT MAYOR (early voting)
Another reminder that the deadline to sign up for an absentee ballot is Oct. 25, unless you have time to go to the Board of Elections. Heads-up: on Nov. 4th (or the 25th for early voter), you will also decide: Comptroller (bye-bye Brad), Public Advocate, City Council, Borough President, and District Attorney.
You may have also heard there are other questions on the ballot “... that outlines the powers and duties of the municipal government.” This is important!
“Four questions aim to speed and simplify the lengthy approval processes for affordable housing projects (The City: 6 Ballot Questions New Yorkers will See). My goal is to get you concise information by next week’s post. The housing amendments are more complicated than they appear. There is already legal action around the language used on the ballot.
I suspect voters will be inundated with catchy slogans about YES housing/NO housing. As with most things, there is more to it than this. One critical question for me is whether our communities and elected officials risk losing our voices and ability to participate meaningfully in development projects if these amendments pass.
Please send me non-partisan information if you have a good source: [email protected].
I read that the Pratt Center for Community Development will hold an info session on Oct 21st, during lunch hours (if you have them) from 12-1P, and CB6 also said they would provide information. Here’s info from NYC vote.
HEY NEIGHBORS - TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE?
Cobble Hill’s adorable Hudson
This has been on my mind for a while, as my friends/neighbors often enlist me to walk their adorable dog Hudson when they travel. I also keep Hank-the-dog company from time to time on strolls to BBP with his owner. I’ve never owned a dog, though my dad and step-mom had a Siberian Huskie when I was a kid, who loved to break free and roam the streets of their northern California city-ish.
In an ideal world, this is something to aspire to, right?
However, Hudson and every other dog I know enjoy relieving themselves where their friends relieve themselves. FOMO?
A wide variety of signage has led me to believe that urine is not great for plants. Still, I wanted facts. I asked filmmaker Louis Cox, AKA “the tree guy” from the Cobble Hill Association and licensed by the NYC Parks Department to perform tree maintenance (CHA). In an email to Ward6, Louis said he encourages our neighbors to do their best to be respectful of our plants and each other. There are only so many places to walk our dogs in Ward6.
The short answer from Louis: “...dog pee is a long-term environmental concern and we do our best to reduce the amounts, and defend young new plantings first. I think for small plants in beds, they are more vulnerable to the negative effects of dog pee.”
The long answer:
Dog pee is less harmful for older, mature trees. But decades of build-up can be harmful.
Younger trees are more sensitive to changes in PH.
Dog pee can contain bacteria that can be harmful to gardeners
Dog pee is acidic and can prevent things from growing
Dog pee can cause leaf burn
Fun fact - small doses of dog pee is a fertilizer, but the dog FOMO can oversaturate the soil and cause nitrogen overdose and kill plants
Park Dept guidelines ask owners not to let their dogs pee in tree beds, which are maintained by property owners but under the ParkDeptep.
Link from Louis: https://doggysaurus.com/how-to-get-dog-pee-in-new-place/
Something else I found:The Tree Guard Project from our friends in District 33
HEY NEIGHBORS - I SAT THROUGH THE CB6 ZOOM SO YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO
Things of note:
New film studio on Dykemen St. in Red Hook
Many complaints about the new bike lane from neighbors, who said they are, in general, supportive of bike lanes but angry the DOT, allegedly failed to engage with local busineses. This petition is circulating with a suggestion for a new configuration that residents say is less dangerous and more biz-friendly.
Idea for a new bike lane from the petition
A new Spanish tapas place opening on Union and Hicks; Bar Reve where Amano used to be on Smith
Brooklyn city council member pushes for year-round outdoor dining
Strong words exchanged about CB6 YES vote on the BMT.
HEY NEIGHBORS - SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM!
Republicans' confidence in mass media to report news "fully, accurately and fairly" now at 8%
Tee from the Atlantic Antic
Makes sense but still unexpected: https://marketingjunto.com/podcasting-is-where-most-people-get-their-news/
HEY NEIGHBORS - THINGS I READ THIS WEEK
From Hyperallergic: Hundreds of artists submitted designs to Mamdani’s 36-hour “I Registered to Vote for Zohran” sticker contest. The winner…
The Tangle newsletter is all around informative.
From CG’s Court St News: What’s “clean beauty” and is it really good for me?
Some friends alerted me to a split-second power bleep last week, as described on Reddit:
“a giant explosion… lights flickered…I was bracing for Thunder but nothing happened… a strange sound. Like a ship’s horn. Pretty scary” Which, of course, piqued my interest. Here’s what happened: “The breaker box on the power line. Corner of commerce and richards.” (tks to Mark in Gowanus for your help!)
HEY NEIGHBORS - NOT ENOUGH DAYS/NIGHTS IN A WEEK!
Oct 10-12 | Red Hook Open Studios, various locations; Gospel Music Speaks, New Brown Memorial Baptist Church (609 Clinton) 2-3p
Oct 11 - 12 | Alexis Bittar Fall Sidewalk Sample Sale on Court St & Amity
Oct 11 - 12 | Open House NY
Oct 12| Pioneer Works Second Sundays - explore the gorgeous old warehouse and studios
Oct 14| Voices of the Waterfront Zoom tutorial about how to draft your testimony for the next round of the BMT - waterfront development (28th). It’s not over! Your voice matters! (F)
Oct 14 | Author Talk: Julian Brave NoiseCat
Join Pioneer Works and Greenlight Bookstore for the official launch of Julian Brave NoiseCat’s We Survived the Night—a stunning debut that interweaves oral history and hard-hitting journalism with the deeply personal journey of the writer behind this urgent portrait of Indigenous survival, love, and resurgence.
Oct 15 | Rezoning film series #2 at Strong Rope Brewery - “Gowanus Current,” the massive rezoning of Gowanus 7-9pm (F).
If you have an hour, I HIGHLY recommend Emergent City, a PBS-POV doc about the fight to protect Industry City land for climate resilient manufacturing and much more. It’s important context to what’s is going on now with the BK waterfront, as many of the same people are involved. Hint: there is happy ending!
Oct 17-18 | BRIC JazzFest (Brooklyn Paper)
Oct 22 | BK Public Library Fall Benefit: Liz’s Book Bar in conversation with Phoebe Robinson! $$ BK Heights
Oct 26 | PS 29 Rummage Sale + Free Electronics disposal
OUTER BOROUGH (MANHATTAN) HAPPENINGS - America’s most prolific gig poster artist
Display at the Atlantic Antic
I met artist Mike King at the Atlantic Antic whose studio is below the frame shop on Atlantic Ave. and learned about the Poster House @ 119 W 23rd where he is exhibiting his collection, “Mike King & the Art of the Gig Poster.” Don’t quote me, but I think this is the country’s only poster museum.
Fav pic from the Atlantic Antic
More next week about ChopperGate and missing summer oysters!