Hey Neighbors -
Happy Saturday. Today’s Ward 6 is short; I just want to share a few important events happening in our community this week. I also included some resources in case you or a neighbor are experiencing storm damage or flooding.
Hop Shop welcomes Ward 6 readers and friends
But first, I want to thank everyone who showed up at the the Ward 6 one-year anniversary party on Thursday night. Loved meeting some of my readers and reconnecting with old/new friends. The party showed me that Ward 6's future includes more small, low-stakes, no-agenda gatherings.
If you haven’t been to Hop Shop on Columbia St., I highly recommend you stop by for a drink. It’s worth the extra few blocks.
After the party, I got home and saw this text from a former 60 Minutes colleague:
“Happy 2yr Layoffiversary!* As I said last year, I hope you’re in a good place.”
I had no idea Sept. 24th, 2024 was my last day at 60 Minutes. I picked the date for my party for no other reason than it wasn’t a weekend, didn’t fall near a Jewish holiday or the week kiddos returned to school (yes, it turned out to be Climate Week and the UN General Assembly!).
Love how the world works sometimes. And, yes, I’m in a good place.
And THANK YOU to the 10 readers who upgraded to $6 a month. Keep it coming! As I’ve said many times before, Ward 6 will never have a paywall. Information is power.
* For anyone who wants to know my story: I worked on the 60 Minutes broadcast for 16 years, begged the show for years to start a podcast, got assigned to co-create/produce the first 60 podcast, and a year later CBS News parent company decimated all of the podcast units. I could not be happier.
Post #53: Storm resources you need today and always; there’s still time to get a mail-in ballot! Did you know there was a Court St. opera house?; Food Food and More Glorious Food, Columbia St. Waterfront residents on the big screen; have questions about the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Plan? Do I have a meeting for you! Girls’ actress decamps BK for the other borough; Red Hook responds to the NYT Magazine’s, “Why Rebuilding After Climate Disaster is No Longer Enough.”
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY
I’m passing along resources from Voices of the Waterfront if you or someone you know is dealing with water damage from the overnight storm. Also, if there is flooding in your area, power outages or trees down.
While you’re street or neighborhood might look fine, it could be a completely different story just a few blocks west, especially in Red Hook.
Call 911 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. Call 311 to report flooding, downed trees, blocked drains, and sewer backups that are not an emergency. Get a service request number so there is a record.
Report outages and downed power lines to Con Edison at 1.800.752.6633 or coned.com. Stay at least 30 feet away from any downed wire.
Report damages here.
The National Weather Service posts a weather briefing twice a day, around 6 to 6:30 AM and 6 PM. It shows what to expect locally, including flood and wind timing.
Notify NYC is the City’s free emergency alert system. Text NOTIFYNYC to 692692 or sign up at nyc.gov/notifynyc. If you live in a basement apartment, you can also sign up for automated flooding alerts.
Track the storm surge yourself. These sites show how high the water is forecast to rise, hour by hour, so you can see when high tide and the surge will hit hardest and plan around it.
Stevens Flood Advisory System: surge and water level forecasts across the harbor Stevens forecast for our local station: the closest look at what to expect near Red Hook NOAA Coastal Inundation Dashboard, The Battery: live water levels at the tip of Manhattan compared to flood stage
Source: PortSide NewYork - near Mary Whalen/Red Hook Ferry where apartment towers + hotel has been proposed
In Red Hook:
Call Red Hook Mutual Aid (646) 484-9677 to get connected to resources and help.
“This weekend is a warm-up. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center says there is a greater than 90% chance of a very strong El Niño this fall and winter, which can mean more intense rain and coastal storms for our region.
Every picture of a flooded corner or a backed up drain is evidence. Sign up to become a Cloudburst Steward or Volunteer and submit your flood photos.
ON REPEAT
Vote! I know November seems like a long way off, but you don’t want to miss voting in the midterm elections. Here is a sample BK ballot. It’s a long one and includes five amendments to the City Charter, which definitely requires research.
Oct. 24th is the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot or to register to vote; Nov. 2nd is the deadline if you apply in person.
I really need to start reading up on the 5 amendments. If they are anything like the last ballot amendments, the descriptions can be tricky without prior research and a bit misleading.
Here’s City’s Reporter’s take: What You Need to Know about NYC’s 5 Ballot Proposals.
FOOD, FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD
The Georgian restaurant Bebo on Atlantic opened last night. The owners: Gio&Gio
COURT STREET OPERA HOUSE FORCED TO CLOSE
Another beautiful short doc. from filmmaker Joshua Charow. This one is about Judith Barnes, an artist and opera singer, who was forced to close her Behind the Door theater on Court St., located on the ground floor of her building.
I had never seen her artwork displayed like this until this summer. Beautiful.
Thanks for the tip, Dom, who once lived on the top floor.
CSW RESIDENTS IN THE NEW JOHN WILSON FILM
Columbia Street Waterfront residents and surrounding neighbors fought the Adams administration for more than a year to close the concrete recycling plant inside the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which sent toxic dust throughout the area.
Footage of residents protesting the concrete recycling plant from the film
Some of you might be familiar with John Wilson, the creator and star of his HBO show How to with John Wilson, whose new documentary, The History of Concrete, includes the CSW’s fight to close down the concrete plant.
I spoke to a few of the people featured in the film, who said they had no idea they have made the final cut until the doc started screening at festivals!
The Times describes Wilson’s film as “a weird, fun movie that goes in some very unexpected directions” much like his original show. It’s getting fantastic reviews. Here’s Wilson on Jimmy Kimmel Live and a profile of him on CBS Sunday Morning. TBH, I never watched his HBO show.
Here’s how one community member responded to the NYT’s “Why Rebuilding After Climate Disaster Is No Longer Enough” from last weekend.
“Fourteen years after Sandy, this piece in the Times Magazine could have been written about Red Hook.
Juliette Kayyem calls it the original sin of recovery: we don’t listen to what the disaster is telling us. We rebuild the same thing in the same place, the photo ops are over and nobody owns what comes next.
Her Harvard Kennedy School team studied nearly 3,000 recoveries from billion-dollar disasters. Only 625 came out ahead. 1,259 never got back to baseline. The difference was not how fast the money arrived. It was whether communities were protected against the next storm, whether they controlled the money, and whether the plan kept poverty and inequality from rising afterward.
Look at Red Hook. Our coastal protection is designed to 10 feet. Sandy’s surge was about 12. The Gowanus Canal is left open as a back door. Red Hook Houses is still finishing Sandy repairs on the outside and the interiors are also in major disrepair. And the biggest public land decision on our waterfront since the storm is moving forward through a state process that skips ULURP, adding new density to the floodplain before Red Hook has a plan or protection.
By the study’s own definition, that is a lagging recovery. It doesn’t have to be.
A leading recovery for Red Hook means someone accountable for recovery. It means the community holding real control of the money and the decisions. It means protecting the people who are already here before adding anyone new to the floodplain, and treating the working waterfront as the anti-poverty infrastructure it is.
Red Hook deserves a just recovery! “
BK NEWS (and beyond)
No wonder I haven’t seen the Girls’ actress Jemima Kirke in a long time; she sold her Clinton St. house a while back. Now, Curb reports Kirke may have abandoned Brooklyn for that other borough.
Politico/NYPost reports what our soon-to-congressman is up to: “Left-leaning Democrats with ties to Mayor Zohran Mamdani are hosting a big Manhattan fundraiser for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed next month. Among the hosts of the Oct. 5 bash on the Bowery are jeweler Alexis Bittar, former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, former City Comptroller Brad Lander, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman and City Council member Chi Ossé.”
Bussiness Insider reports on Carroll Gardens resident: She left her NYC teaching job to open a sewing studio.
Brooklyn Magazine’s “Where to Eat in Brooklyn This Week” features Sam’s Restaurant on Court St. and Osteria Radisa on Smith.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
Today! 2:00 PM Red Hook FC V. at Red Hook Field #5. Rain or shine, I’m told the team will play. The only reason for a cancellation is if it’s unsafe to travel to the field.
Monday. Sept. 28th, 6:00 - 8:00 PM, Brooklyn Marine Terminal Community Forum. Come learn about the controversial proposed development and the latest updates. RSVP
Oct. 4th | New date for the Atlantic Antic!
Oct 16 - 18th | Open House New York! 300 destinations.
Thanks for reading! JLH