Parents demand empty Pre-K school opens; Red Hook FC play today at 4P!

Hey Neighbors,

Happy Saturday!

I’m experimenting with a new idea I borrowed from Ryan Gilbert, who writes the newsletter, “Workspaces,” and is helping me with some Beehiiv tech issues. Ryan got the idea to feature workspaces during COVID when he noticed techies posting pics of their WFH set-ups. At the time, Ryan wanted to work in tech, but wasn’t qualified, so this newsletters, he said, became the next best thing. He’s featured 500+.

Today, I feature the workspaces of two novelists who both write from their Cobble Hill apartment. I include a short Q & A with them.

Want me to feature your workspace? Email me: [email protected]

Not to get too serious right off the top, but have you seen DTF St. Louis? There are a lot of reasons I didn’t want to watch it (hint: David Harbour), but I couldn’t stop once I started. I’d love to know your thoughts about the series. [email protected]

Calling all LOYAL readers! I need your support to keep writing Ward 6. It’s only $6 a month.

Post #33: RHFC play today; Brownstone sells for $17M; parents demand Van Brunt school opens for Pre-K; two C. Hill novelists under one roof; new bikes lanes are coming; Lander and Rep. Goldman forums; Mark Your Calendar!

Correction: Last weekend, I mistakenly said Council Member Alexis Aviles appointed Columbia St. waterfront resident, James DeFilipis, to the BMT Dev. Corporation, when the council speaker appointed him, with Aviles’ recommendation.

At 4:00 PM today, our hometown soccer team is back in Red Hook for a match against Haiti FC on field #5.

Coming off the season’s first loss last weekend against the national champions, the New York Renegades. Final score was 3-0.

So let’s get out there today to cheer them on! There are plenty opportunities to still make the playoffs.

The Columbia Street Waterfront Association held its first Parent Committee meeting at the Jalopy Theater on Monday to share concerns about the lack of Pre-K seats in the community. More than 40 families participated.

Before I go any further, this meeting, slated for an hour, took all of 35 minutes! I’ve never attended a more productive community meeting. Bravo.

One of the evening’s organizers, Zach Hetrick, a dad of two, who has been busy producing fantastic social media (check out his latest) to get the Mayor’s attention about the unopened facility, talked about touring the school a few weeks ago. Here’s what he texted me that day: “Beautiful facility. Nine classrooms! Bigger than expected!

Together with organizers Jessica Setton and Zoe Grover, Hetrick reminded attendees that NYC has spent a jaw-dropping $14 million in taxpayer money to lease and renovate the building, which was completed in 2023. 

Hetrick reviewed every Pre-K facility in the area and said applications far outweigh available seats. Setton pointed out that within the 2.85 sq miles where most of the families live, there was only one 3-K facility with 12 seats.

Highlights shared by parents:

More information is available on the committee’s website.  They are asking parents to rank the Van Brunt St school when applying for early education and to sign their petition.

If you are interested in joining the CSWA Family Committee, please email [email protected]. 

The big news this week is the Department of Transportation’s plans to add additional bike lanes in our community.

According to AMNY, the proposed changes to Bergen and Dean Streets are in the early stages and will require the MTA to move the M65 bus route, which uses both Dean and Bergen. It doesn’t say where it will move.

Expansion into new neighborhoods, equipment upgrades, and tariff-related costs are the reasons the company says a fare increase is necessary. 

The house that the Robb Report called Cobble Hill’s most expensive brownstone last year is under contract, says Lindsey Barrett of Compass.

I first got a hint that something was happening earlier in the week when I crossed paths with someone leaving 205 Clinton St. with sheets of plastic wrap used to protect new items. We had a moment together when I asked, “Sold?” and he nodded yes. WTF?! 

A few days later, I read in 6sqft that the developers didn’t get the asking price of $22 million, but instead $17 million. 

The last thing I expected to be doing last Saturday morning was picking up other people’s garbage.  But it turned out to be incredibly satisfying as I joined 20+ neighbors of all ages, as part of the Cobble Hill Association and District 39. 

No, I did not pick up poop.

How many times have you weighed throwing something away versus finding a repair shop, and the garbage wins out? Ever since I read about repair cafes in the NYT months ago, I’ve been dying for one to come to Brooklyn. The idea is simple: “reduce waste, nurture refurbishing skills, and bring a neighborhood closer together.” What’s not to LOVE? You have a week to gather your broken stuff!

Hear from our two congressional candidates before the democratic primary in June!!

The Columbia Street Waterfront Association is hosting a non-partisan forum for each candidate at Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen's community room (125 Summit Street, Brooklyn).

You can submit your questions and concerns about neighborhood issues for the candidates here or on the day of the forums.

Last week, I shared Liz’s Books’ bestsellers. Books Are Magic just posted its top 5:

The other day, I read an email from Publishers Weekly about Cobble Hill’s Teddy Wayne’s 7th novel, The Au Pair, coming out next month. 

I Googled Wayne to see if I recognized him, which I didn’t, but his wife, Kate Greathead, also a writer, looked vaguely familiar. Bingo! After some more digging, I discovered she lives in the building next to mine and that we’ve shared brief laundry room conversations. Love it when this happens.

So much about the neighbor-couple–Kate Greathead and Teddy Wayne--piqued my interest. For starters, Publishers Weekly made a thing about the subject of Wayne’s new novel—a well-known author and husband has an affair with his children’s stunning Norweigan caregiver. Hmm… I also wondered what it’s like to be married to another writer and share a typical-sized Brooklyn apartment with two young kids. Then I read that Kate is a 10-time Moth Story Slam winner and Grand Champion! 

I spoke to Kate earlier in the week, and briefly to Teddy as he was getting ready to leave for a doctor’s appointment, and over email.

The couple moved to our corner of Brooklyn in 2016, and they have two children, a boy, 7, and a girl, 6. Between them, they have published nine books. Teddy’s 7th novel, a New York Times 'most anticipated book,’ is available for pre-order now (at any n’hood bookstore), and Kate is about to deliver her third book to her agent.

Did you always want to be a writer? 

Teddy: “Yes, since third grade, then more seriously in high school. I was always an avid reader; as I’ve gotten older, I’ve enjoyed more and more sitting down and creating something fully within my control with words.”

Kate: She always loved stories, but she wasn’t one of those kids who knew from a young age she wanted to be a writer.  “I was not a together and ambitious kid.”

How did she go from loving stories to wanting to write them? 

“Reading Susan Minot’s “Monkeys” in high school really did it for me. It’s a slim little novel written in a minimalist style, and it really bowled me over. It tells the story of a family through the years, no fancy tricks or suspenseful plot, just plain old-fashioned storytelling. And yet it moved me more than anything I’d ever read. I wanted to do that.”  

Writing routine?

They both write as soon as the kids are in school, Teddy in the bedroom and Kate on the couch or any soft, quiet place, even a dank basement. “Any snippets on time that fall into my lap,” including weekends.

What do you mostly write about? 

Kate: “My books are largely derived from real-life experience,” says Kate before blurting out, “I’m incapable of talking about my own work!”

Teddy’s are plot-driven.

I read that you are a champion Moth performer! 

Not just! But a10-time winner and one Grand Slam, which is when the winners compete against each other. “People who compete are failing at life. There is a correlation between being bad at life and having lots of stories. We are the most competitive storytellers! I had to quit because all of my creative energy went to the Moth.” 

Is it difficult being married to another novelist? 

Kate said that marrying another writer didn’t appeal to either of them. But after living together in their first NYC apartment, “we would write all day, and I loved it. We somehow managed a writer’s lifestyle.” 

Kate:  “You would think we would be wildly jealous. But our writing is different.”

Teddy: “We are good sounding boards and editors for each other, and beyond our own work, it’s wonderful to have someone else who can respond to other works of art in ways that are similar—but just different enough—to you,” Teddy wrote in an email.

They also help each other edit, Kate only after she’s finished a draft, and Teddy shares as he’s writing.  “I can’t handle criticism, and I don’t want to lose my steam midway,” said Kate. 

Though Kate did not edit Teddy’s new book, The Au Pair. “I thought I might object on such a deep level.” 

She said she finally read it, two days before a book party for Teddy.  “It didn’t upset me like I thought it would. It’s darkly funny in a bacchian way. And it’s original.” 

No, Kate and Teddy do not have an au pair or a regular caregiver for their two children.

At what point did Teddy tell you about the subject of his new book? 

Teddy first wrote The Au Pair as a short story. “He told me the plot, and I said it sounded horrible!”  

But Teddy had an ulterior motive. If he wrote The Au Pair as a short story that he could sell or get optioned as a screenplay, the family would become eligible for the Writers’ Guild’s health insurance. His plan worked.  

As he was writing the short story, he said, he got into it and decided to turn it into a novel.  

Favorite writer?  David Szalay

Hear Teddy read from The Au Pair at Books Are Magic next month. I’ll let you know when.

Today! May 9th, 12 - 6:00 PM| Atlantic Ave. Art Walk: “This 1.5-mile, free, self-guided event will feature artwork from 125 emerging and established Brooklyn artists at 65+ participating businesses.”  

Today! May 9th | Six Coasts by Smorgasburg, a new restaurant on Governors Island, opens.

Today & Tomorrow! 12:00 PM | Strong Rope Brewery, Swamp in the City, A Cajun and Creole Music Festival. $$ tix

Today - 17th  Red Hook Brooklyn Film Festival.

Sunday, May 10th, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM | Intro. to Pickleball (other days/times) Velto, 160 Van Brunt

Tuesday, May 12th, 8:00 PM | Gotham City Basic Roller Derby Classes | Boreum Hill Int’l School, $$ * you must purchase insurance to participate

Wednesday, May 13th, 6:30 PM | Join your neighbors for a screening of Rabble Rousers, the inspiring documentary about a group of neighbors on the Lower East Side who organized and fought for decades to save their neighborhood—and succeeded. Jalopy Tavern. Visit tinyurl.com/swbtu51326 to RSVP. 

Thanks for reading! jlh