Hey Neighbors -
Happy cooold Saturday.
Last week, I wrote about a new photography show, Everyday Legends, at the Eleventh Hour Art gallery at the foot of Atlantic Ave., right by the BQE entrance. On Thursday, I went to the opening reception, where I met Brooklyn Heights resident and former National Geographic photographer Nathan Benn, who also served as director of the esteemed Magnum Photos. I highly recommend you check it out.
Speaking to a decent-sized crowd despite the evening temperature, Benn said the photographs on display were among his personal favorites from his more than two decades at National Geographic. None of the photos, however, ever appeared in the magazine. Benn said his editors selected only a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of pictures he shot for publication. Benn told a local VA weekly that he always did his best work “taking pictures of private lives of normal people.”
Lower left: Nathan Benn and Lindsey Acree
If you go to the exhibit, be sure to introduce yourself to Brooklyn artist and co-director Carter Shocket and to Lindsey Acree, co-director and owner. At the reception, Acree said she first met Benn after seeing him with his head smashed against the gallery window, trying to get a glimpse of a photographer's work he recognized hanging on the wall. She invited Benn inside, and one thing led to another.
Col. St. Waterfront Artist Melanie Adams (@electricladyfloras) describes her window displays
THE BIG-ISH REVEAL
If you’ve been with me since I launched Ward 6, you might remember my story “Gen X Indie Band with Gen Z Appeal,” about my pursuit to interview an unnamed Ward 6 celebrity/actor. Here’s the Big-ish reveal: Back in the day, R.E.M was my go-to (plus YAS) fan and I was eager to talk to Ward 6 resident, Michael Shannon, about his R.E.M tribute band.
As I wrote in September… after my brief encounter with Shannon at Swallow on Atlantic Ave last year, we exchanged a few emails, set up 2-3 dates to meet at Cobble Hill Park for the interview, near where we both live, and then he disappeared, sadly.
Before I moved to NYC, the MTV News-like show I worked on covered tons of music - A Tribe Called Quest music, not R.E.M. So, I lied (never again! I was young!) to get access to a R.E.M concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater and the band's intimate press conference beforehand. I vividly remember nervously asking Michael Stipe at the presser to confirm/deny the rumors that the band was about to break up. He denied. Duh.
Even though Shannon blew me off, I still bought tixs this week to his Lifes Rich Pageant tribute show in March, despite the high price. Why the big-ish reveal now? A Carroll Gardens friend and reader, who knew I’d been pursuing Shannon, sent me When Bruce Springsteen (Hank Azaria) met Michael Stipe (Michael Shannon) from the Times, which more or less borrowed my idea (minus the Springsteen). Oh well. I tried.
“When I was starting to listen to R.E.M., I was a young teenager in complete despair, completely lost. It wasn’t just like, “I didn’t get the shoes I wanted for Christmas.” It was heavy stuff. And I would walk around my hometown with my Walkman, listening to R.E.M. It was how I soothed myself.” Shannon/NYT
UPDATE: BIG TRUCKS (yes, you, Amazon) OFF OUR STREETS
The Department of Transportation installed a sign at Henry and Atlantic after residents, the Cobble Hill Association, and elected officials complained about the number of tractor-trailers on our streets that bypass BQE traffic and often get stuck making turns or, worse, side-swipe parked cars. For a period in November/December, neighbors complained that this happened multiple times a day and at night.
Henry and Atlantic Ave
GOV HOCHUL, GET TOUGHER ON ICE
Our State Senator, Andrew Gounardes, is urging Gov. Hochul to do more to protect New Yorkers from ICE and support the New York For All Act.
“It applies to all state and local government agencies our communities rely on—and to all the ways these agencies could coordinate with or collude with ICE. Under our bill, New Yorkers can attend parent-teacher conferences, visit public hospitals, and report labor violations without fearing they’ll be ripped apart from their families for doing so.”
If you want the Gov. and other electeds to pass NY For All in the upcoming session.
I was curious about Brooklyn’s immigrant population and found that between 2010 and 2023, there are 20% fewer “legal non-citizens (42,300)” and 26% fewer undocumented immigrants (39,000).
High school students from Brooklyn and Manhattan protest on Friday (credit: my son)
WHAT IS WRONG WITH NYC?
When I saw this Gothamist headline earlier in the week, “Mamdani’s DOT Commissioner Wants NYC to be More like Paris, Bogota and Tokyo,” I immediately thought of my newsletter friend Lex Roman, who posted a video of herself riding through the streets of Bogota. Every Sunday and on holidays, the City closes 62 miles of streets, something it’s been doing since the 1970s, starting with just a few miles. Colombia’s capital also prioritizes buses over cars.
I’m sure the Commissioner’s comments did not sit well with many neighborhood residents and store owners, who repeatedly said they felt car owners were under attack when the Department of Transportation, seemingly out of the blue, refashioned Court St. to favor cyclists and pedestrians. While I can’t envision a day in my lifetime when cars won’t dominate the City, there is no mincing the Commissioner’s words about the new administration’s priorities. Just days after Mayor Mamdani’s inauguration, he announced his administration would restart a Queens protected bike lane redesign after a judge stopped it.
After the news that congestion pricing has reduced car traffic by 10-12% and air pollution, I’d imagine more and more New Yorkers are seeing the benefits of fewer cars.
By coincidence, I met a Cobble Hill neighbor, Fred Kent, this week, who has written extensively about Paris’ two-decade transformation defocusing cars in favor of cyclists and pedestrians. For example, Paris closed the Georges-Pompidou highway along the Seine to cars (not without controversy), and it's now a place to walk, eat, and exercise.
" Parisians decided that enough was enough. Their beloved city was being gradually stripped away to make way for the insatiable demands of traffic and the sacrifice simply wasn't worth it. They were tired of cars taking up so much of their city, polluting their air and making their streets dangerous, unpleasant, and stressful… Paris began a revolutionary transformation – taking back the city from cars."
For awareness, the co-chairs of our community board's (CB6) transportation committee, which represents Ward 6 (Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Col. Street Waterfront, Red Hook), are aligned with the Mayor’s priorities. Already an avid cyclist, Tony Melone posted this on X in support of safer streets for bikers after a driver beat him for touching his car mirror while biking home. The other co-chair is Doug Grodon, host of the podcast “War on Cars” and co-author of the book “Life after Cars.”
TAX THE RICH!
So says our new Mayor. While his administration did not define “rich,” I did look at our neighborhood data, thanks to help from CB6, that shows 36% of households in our area (+ Park Slope) earn between $100,000 - $250,000. While 30% earn more than $250,000, the median household income is $165,910.
NO GLASS TOWERS FOR THE BROOKLYN WATERFRONT?
Not a fan of Williamsburg-style waterfront development with luxury glass towers that residents cannot afford to live in? Well, the Adams administration liked it a lot and wanted to build 20+ towers on the 122 acres just blocks from where most of us live.
Even if you like towers on the waterfront, come check out other ideas for creating a waterfront for all of us to enjoy that is resilient to climate change and includes space for light industry, maritime job training for students, and a modern port that relies on the water, not trucks, to move goods, and micromobility that transfers goods across the river via ferry and e-bikes.
Pratt architecture student standing in front of her resilience renderings | Randy Gordon of Col. St. Waterfront Assoc. and CUNY Prof. LaDawn Haglund
Beautiful renderings from Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture students are on display, a culmination of five months of work with community input. Grab a bite at the Red Hook Tavern or Three’s A Charm afterwards! Compere Collective, 351 Van Brunt St.
While you’re at it, the City Club of New York released this all-maritime design.
UPDATE: MAYBE OUR CONGRESSMAN IS NOT MOVING TO SI
Last week, I reported that a judge ruled that MAGA Representative Nicole Malliotakis’ district diluted the votes of Black and brown New Yorkers, and requested redistricting plans. The reason this is such high drama is that, depending on the plan, our congressman, Dan Goldman, could either run against Malliotakis and maybe pick up another democratic House seat, or stay where he is, and campaign against Brad Lander. All of this is within weeks of the official start of the election. Then, this week, Malliotakis appealed the judge’s decision. Drama!
BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS RANK HIGH FOR AIR POLLUTION
Carroll Gardens (9) and Brooklyn Heights (10) are among the top ten NYC Neighborhoods with the highest amount of air pollution. Fine particulate matter pollution is the most common and—harmful—urban air pollution. Leading causes include traffic, building emissions, and commercial cooking. The good news is there’s been a 40 percent decrease between 2009 and 2024.
THINGS I READ / WATCHED / LISTENED TO THIS WEEK
Not-Ship: Birds Might Help us Get Through This: I’ll never forget the day I saw a Red-tailed Hawk on my apartment’s fire escape. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, and for a split second, I assumed the worst, as it was way bigger than anything else I’d seen outside my window. Then, I just stood there, transfixed by this magical creature at home on its metal, urban perch.
A fellow newsletter writer recently shared her latest post, “Birds Might Help us Get Through This,” with me, which could not have come at a better time. It turns out, bird watching is beneficial to our mental health and “can ease stress, tension, and fatigue. It can also improve attention.” Given our proximity to Brooklyn Bridge Park, where 100+ bird species thrive, this post is a must-read.
And guess what birds bring the most joy? Check out the Not-Ship newsletter for the answer.
Other resources @BrooklynBridgeBirds
Carroll Gardens resident, Julie Scelfo, and founder of MAMA - Mothers Against Media Addiction, shared this Reuters article about the start of a potentially precedent-setting case for thousands of other lawsuits seeking damages for social media harms.
“Meta Platforms, TikTok and YouTube will face courtroom scrutiny this week over allegations that their platforms are fueling a youth mental health crisis, as the national debate about kids’ screen time enters a new phase.” Reuters
More tech news… 404 Media reports about the Palantir app for ICE agents to ID targets.
Go ahead! Please use your phones during a movie, now says Alamo Drafthouse!
From Court St. Journal: Two sisters spread their Danish love for rey bread at their Red Hook bakery, Fro.
“Frø means seed, which is a reference to the seediness of our bread, but also a seed of Danish culture we’re planting in America,” Only available online and in a handful of stores
From the Times of London via Artnews: German Museum Becomes Giant Brothel “the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn will open a major exhibition on the history of sex work, transforming the space into a brothel-like setting amid heated debate. And Frido Kahlo-branded apartments for sale in Miami.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Feb. 1 - Feb 20 | Pratt Institute of Architecture exhibit, Compere Collective, 351 Van Brunt St.
Feb. 1st, 3:05 PM | Free showing of the animated film ARCO at Cobble Hill Cinema. Pick up tixs at Books are Magic / Smith St. Gift from our fav bookstore!
“We also want to highlight an opportunity that will hopefully boost everyone's spirits through these hard times. NEON was kind enough to give us 100 free tickets to Cobble Hill Cinema's screening of Arco, an animated science fantasy following a ten year old boy and his time travel journey.”
Feb. 3, 6:30 PM | Center for Brooklyn History, Book launch of “Freedom Lost, Freedom Won:” Eugene Robinson and Darren Walker in Conversation. 128 Pierrepont. Free
Feb 5th, 7:30 PM | PM Words and Waves at Red Hook Record Shop. Readings and presentation of Thomas LeGrega’s surf film. 360 Van Brunt
March 21, 7:00 PM | Hands-on mozzarella making and much more! Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen, 125 Summit St. [email protected] $
If you like what you’re reading, pls …
…and let me know how Ward 6 is doing: [email protected] and @ward6_brooklyn
See you next week. JLH