Just in time for a blizzard: Ward 6 with all of your local news.

Hey Neighbors - 

Happy Saturday to you. Only 27 days until the official start of Spring.  I’m ready.

I did it! After 20+ years in Brooklyn, I finally had dinner at Marco Polo Ristorante on Court St. I had just seen Hamnet, it was ice-cold outside, and I needed some warm comfort food. Marco Polo delivered. How is it that after all of these years, all I knew about the place was the original owner's alleged ties to the Gambino crime family?  

By coincidence, Infactuation wrote a short review a few weeks ago.   

The restaurant was lively, but not packed and even with 2 - 3 large tables of people, I never felt like I was eating in a nightclub, which is often the case. My friend and I shared a delicious grilled octopus salad with purple potatoes, rigatoni with meat sauce, and a Caesar. Other than wanting a bit more garlic in the Caesar, the food was yummy.

“They are totally great with kids!” says a Carroll Gardens’ Ward 6 reader.

In Ward 6 today: Dog shit armageddon; Planet Fitness and Puregym members beware; I miss the Carroll Gardens Library, Will the BQE ever get fixed? More on Paulie Gee's and Court St.; my field trip to see where our recycling ends up; Mark Your Calendar

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Thank you Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Osse for saying publicly what everyone was thinking these past few weeks. “Pick up your fxxxxxx shit!”  But props to our Councilmember Shahana Hanif for her PSA post instructing her constituents to “scoop the poop,” with video of an emormous pile behind her. Well done.

If you’re a member of either of these local gyms, the Mayor’s office is warning consumers about deceptive practices, including difficulty canceling memberships and hidden fees. 

I’m not sure what is behind Mayor Mamdani’s announcement that he plans to cut public library funds in his budget proposal, including $8.7 million from the Brooklyn Public Library. I assume the political gamemanship will become clear soon enough. I decided to take the opportunity see if there is an update on our beloved and sadly missed Carroll Gardens branch (it’s been closed for more than five years!). Take with a grain a salt but it looks like we could see it reopen this year!

The producers behind the Big Dig podcast are hosting, “What to do with the BQE?” on Tuesday with Stephen Nessen of WNYC, transportation expert Polly Trottenberg and community advocate Lara Birnback. Unfortunately, in-person is sold out but the live stream is available. 

Great explainer from the NYT.

After I published last week, Court Street Journal posted “Hellboy Rises in Gowanus” about the beloved Greenpoint Pauli Gee’s opening in the former Ample Hills space on Union St.  

I asked Carroll Gardens’ food writer Andrea Strong of The Strong Buzz newsletter– who writes about two Cobble Hill restaurants this week–about Paulie Gee’s opening in our corner of Brooklyn. “We need more mom-and-pop-driven gems here, and with the level of talent and care that this kind of team brings, I can’t wait.” 

As I wrote last week, the Court St. Merchants Association filed a “notice to appeal” after losing its case against the Department of Transportation.  This doesn’t mean they will necessarily appeal their case, but if the DOT doesn’t work with them in good faith to make some of the changes they requested, one business owner told me the Merchants Association would consider filing an appeal. The first meeting with the DOT at the end of January went well, but there hasn’t been any communication since then.

I know one of their grievances, among many, is the change from two-hour metered parking to one-hour, which doesn’t end now until 10:00 PM, three hours longer than before. This makes it challenging to see a movie at Cobble Hill Cinemas or have dinner without getting a ticket. 

Which is what I saw last Saturday night after having dinner at Tera Mera.  Cars up and down Court St. had tickets and the meter-person wasn’t finished.

A lot of people believe this will encourage people to use public transportation instead of driving to Court St. However, I think it’s also true that some people will just drive somewhere else for dinner and a movie.

The Department of Transportation included Court St. in its Vision Zero initiative because their data concluded the heavily trafficked street is unsafe. Though the Court Street Merchants Association take issue with this, as the two of the fatalities included in the DOT data took place on nearby streets and not on Court. 

If you want to see for yourself and have time to go down a rabbit hole or three, there are different crash platforms to browse. Crash Mapper, NYC’s Vision Zero crash data and our Community Board 6 posted another platform called Crash Count run by three volunteer Brooklynites, who want to bring attention to what’s happening on city streets with an easy to navigate platform. “Tragedies happening over and over again, right outside our doors,” says Michael Freedman. 

Unlike Vision Zero’s site, Crash Count is updated nightly with more than data.“We take the data from each crash and turn it into a narrative,” says Freedman with information about the drivers and details about the accident. You can search by neighborhoods, community boards, state assembly districts.

To make his point about the frequency of fatal crashes in NYC, Freedman compares what happened in Lake Tahoe last week where eight people died in an avalanche to an average week in NYC. The tragedy in California, “was all over the news. During the same period, we had six deaths due to traffic violence on our streets. A needless death is a needless death, but we focus on these rare events (like Lake Tahoe), when we have these tragedies happening over and over again, right outside our doors.

These types of crashes, says Freedman, can be prevented with easy changes. 

“We could have a 20 mph citywide speed limit and pass the Super Speeder bill so people with more than 16 speeding tickets would have an automated speed limit. “

If you are a data nerd like me, you might enjoy, “What’s Happening on My Block?” You can see details about 311 complaints, accidents, etc.

The voting rights case that would turn a safe Republican district into a toss-up has run its course in New York State after a court of appeals rejected Representative Nicole Malliotakis case. Now it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide whether to take the case. 

If not, Malliotakis’ district will likely be redrawn to incorporate parts of Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman’s district, which includes our corner of Brooklyn. Goldman would challenge Malliotakis if this is the case, which leaves Brad Lander potentially unchallenged in the June primary.  

Last Friday, I took a field trip to Sunset Park and the largest recycling facility in the country, a private company that serves all of New York City except Staten Island. 

A random invitation arrived months ago, and I immediately and unequivocally said yes. 

I was not the only one, as about 25-30 people showed up on a Friday afternoon for the tour. Most of the people were from community boards throughout NYC; the person next to me identified herself as a “master composter,” and, strangely enough, two women who did not know each other signed up for the tour because they wanted to convince their husbands to recycle. 

Some notable fun facts!

As part of Creative Mornings (evenings, too), the incredible organization that Brooklyn entrepreneur and designer Tina Roth Eisenberg founded nearly 20 years ago. What started as a way for Eisenberg to connect with creatives like herself after moving to NYC from Switzerland is now worldwide, and always free. A Business Insider “Brilliant Thinker,” Eisenberg is even more impressive to listen to.

Once a month, Creative Mornings sponsors a pre-work talk, in addition to the various clubs, which is how I got to know the organization. I attend the Monday morning Writeshop on Bergen St, where we write and motivate one another, which is how I met Katie, the sponsor of Flash Mob. 

If you are peri, or pre-peri, or in menopause, I highly recommend attending as us gals tend to learn everything we know from, well, us gals. There is still so much the scientific community and too many doctors don’t know about this time of women’s lives. I highly recommend this group.   

New York City plans to build more than 20 Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and I think it’s fair to say most of us have no idea what this means. 350 Brooklyn is hosting a discussion to share more about BESS's contribution to a more resilient grid, a clean, non-polluting source that could lower electricity costs. Brooklyn Public Library main branch.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to hear from NYC renters in its first-of-its-kind, “Rental Ripoff Hearings.” Whether it’s mold, hidden fees, or appliance problems, tell the new administration what really goes on in the rental world. Unfortunately, the in-person meeting is currently at capacity, but I’d email them ([email protected]) to ask whether they plan to move to a larger venue. You can also submit your complaints to the same email. I’ll be there and will report back what I learn.  

Thanks for reading!