Vogue comes to Red Hook, and my amazing sail for a good cause.

Hey neighbors - 

Happy Saturday. Early Democratic primary voting starts today, FYI.

Imagine if the Knicks win tonight and all of the Brazilian, Moroccan, and other soccer fans in NYC get to witness the massive celebration (stay safe and classy NYC)! And what a game last night between the U.S and Paraguay. Wow.

I started my weekend early with a fundraising sail on the Sloop Clearwater to support Red Hook’s incredible non-profit, PortSide NewYork. 

The award-winning organization “connects New Yorkers to the benefits of the harbor, the waterways, and to grow maritime activity in NYC.” Through education, job training, and extensive community programming, PortSide does wonderful work, and its temporary home (long story) on the decommissioned oil tanker Mary A. Whalen, is a fun field trip (by the Red Hook Ferry Terminal). And it’s free!

Today, it’s open to the public from 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM for TankerTime (tables, hammocks, kiddie pool) and until 11:00 PM tonight for SecondSaturdays TankerTime, a community potluck (BYOB & food) with BBQs and a beautiful setting.

If you can spare $40, I highly recommend tonight’s community sail (+ speaker) with the non-profit the Sloop Clearwater at 5:30 PM today from Red Hook.  Great way to meet neighbors and make friends, and discover the incredible New York Harbor.

Post #40: This week’s BK Workspaces; who would think, the Knicks AND the World Cup?! where rental prices are up; Vogue comes to Red Hook; see what books your neighbors are reading; the young founder of the Period Pantry in B. Hill; Carroll St. Bridge reopening celebrations; cast your vote TODAY for our next dem. congressperson; Mark Your Calendar.

Thank you to all Ward 6 readers who UPGRADED to $6 a month to help keep me in business!

This week’s BK WORKSPACE belongs to Columbia Street Waterfront’s Zach Hetrick, a commercial/sports photographer, runner, and parent-extraordinaire, for his efforts, along with those of his neighbors, in convincing NYC to open a newly renovated yet unused Pre-K school. Some of you might remember his fabulous social videos as part of the neighborhood’s lobbying campaign.

Do you have another campaign/fight in you? “Always down for a challenge, but love ones that are so clear cut that it’s impossible to defend and argue against!”

I just learned you have a unique specialty as a photographer… I came to NYC, and started racing subway trains while also documenting them. I would jump out of a subway car, run upstairs, and go to the next stop. I’d win if I beat the train or got back on it. That led to work with Nike and other brands. I specialize in physically running with a camera, capturing images on runs, amongst other regular commercial work.

How crazy that the largest soccer event in the world is finally back in the U.S, and it’s competing with one of the most popular sports in our country–basketball! 

Where are you watching Game 5 tonight?  FYI, the corner of Degraw and Columbia St is now a Knicks watch zone.

Brazil v. Morocco? I’m debating between Bar Tabac on Smith St., Strong Rope in Red Hook, and Alma on Columbia St.

Love that Vogue Magazine chose Brooklyn over NYC to do a photoshoot with the fashionable New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson. And not just anywhere in BK, but the iconic Defonte’s Sandwich Shop of Red Hook.

Last, but not least, Red Hook FC, our hometown semi-pro team, won their match this week and qualified for the Northeast Semifinals against Osner’s FC on June 20th @ 4:00 PM in Red Hook Field #5.

Corcoran’s latest NYC residential real estate report says that Carroll Gardens-Gowanus-Red Hook saw a 25% increase in average rent from April ‘25 to ‘26. 

Average rent by neighborhood: 2026/2025:

And then there is this… $16.7 Million Brooklyn [Cobble Hill] Townhouse (Robb Report).

You may have walked by the Period Pantry, a repurposed newspaper bin on Wykoff between Bond and Hoyt, stocked with free period products. The founder of the project, a 25-year-old data scientist and Brooklyn native, Naomi Giancola, emailed me last week to tell me about it, and to share pictures of the new, spruced-up Period Pantry, freshly decorated by a local artist.

“I’ve been thinking about opening the Period Pantry since COVID. In high school, NYC passed a law requiring period products for girls as young as 6th grade. I used them all the time. When COVID hit, I couldn’t stop thinking about the girls in high school who relied on the products.”

In 2025, Naomi received a grant and started the Period Dignity Project with support from the Wykoff Bond Gardens, which hosts the Pantry. 

“All the money is from the community. It’s all donations.” This allows Naomi to restock every other day.

“When I first started,” said Naomi over Zoom, “I wondered if anyone was going to use it.” Now people stop her on the street as she refills the products. “You run the Pantry?! It’s so helpful.”

Recently, Naomi was one of the lucky New Yorkers and won a housing lottery for an apartment in one of the new Gowanus apartment towers, blocks from where she grew up. I asked her what she remembered about the area when she was growing up.

“The Gowanus was disgusting! My commute [to elementary school] was over the Canal and we used to hold our noses, especially after it rained,” Naomi said, laughing. “It was super sketchy. Now when I tell people where I live, they say, ‘Oh, you live in Gowanus, I’m jealous.” 

Naomi then gestured toward the Canal on our Zoom, and said she wonders if the residents know they live next to a Superfund site.

Not a complete surprise, given the local campaigns, including our Community Board 6, and the support of Council Member Hanif to reopen the bridge after a five-year renovation, only to pedestrians, bikes, and emergency vehicles.  

As Doug Gordon of CB6 said in Streetblog, “The bridge has been offline for five years, and it has not led to traffic Armageddon, even as the neighborhood has added so many new residents,” so we should not anticipate much of a change. 

This month's top-seller list from Books are Magic. All top ten bestsellers are 10% off.

Join Ward 6 on Wednesday, June 24, 6:00 PM- 9:00 PM for A Night of Reading and Good Times:  Actors Read the Work of Local Authors, including Cobble Hill’s Anne Hellman, whose first novel, The Indecipherables, will be available in January. RSVP

Our Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon supported a one-year moratorium on the development of large data centers in New York.

They “are an absolute drain on our energy and power grid, which spikes our utility bills, are harmful to our environment  -- all while enriching tech and fossil fuel oligarchs…And they don’t even create jobs!”  

New York State joins many other cities, towns, and states passing moratoriums.

The big race for our corner of Brooklyn is between incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman and Former Comptroller Brad Lander. 

 “I think 95 percent of the time we would vote the same way,” Goldman recently told The Atlantic. 

The primary could come down to likability for some voters. Do you like Lander’s folksy style or Goldman’s more buttoned-up lawyerly demeanor?  

As our council member for 11 years, Lander’s name recognition surely helps.  This does not mean he is universally loved, especially by critics of the Gowanus rezoning and subsequent towerization. 

Goldman’s leadership as the chair of the Brooklyn Marine Task Force could be a serious issue for him. I was happy to see him at the Columbia St. Waterfront Association community forum a few weeks ago, answering questions about the BMT. Still, I’ve heard from residents that it would have helped to see Goldman in the community sooner, much sooner. 

Also on the ballot:

Our Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, Lydia Green, district leader.

I Sat in a Sauna with 80 Other people (Time Out). I’ve read about the Bathhouse, a new, well bathhouse, near Barclays Center, but I had no idea it’s the largest bathhouse in North America. I’m not sure this is a good or bad thing. I guess I’ll have to try it out. 

It’s All Hands on Deck, Educators Seek Stronger Ice Safeguards (BK Paper).

Not a BK story, but this Times piece from last weekend is about neighbors, community and friendship and it’s worth a read, How Three Chess Friends Battled Demons and Saved Two Lives.

Today and tomorrow, 11:00 - 5:00 PM | 21st Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island, $$

Today, 12 PM - 4:00 PM, Art Supply Swap @  Brooklyn Borough Hall. “Bring unwanted usable supplies and take home what inspires you!”

Today from 3:00 PM - 9:00 PM & Sunday, 1:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Watch the World Cup and Strong Rope Brewery.

Today, 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM | Celebrate the reopening of the Carroll St. Bridge with the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 420 Carroll. And Monday @ 7:30 PM. 

Sunday, June 14, 12:00 - 7:00 PM |Second Sundays @ Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer Works. Free! Enjoy the garden, too.

Sunday, June 14, 6:30 - 8:00 PM | Community chat! Come learn about working AND accessible waterfronts, what works in NYC, and examples from around the world. With the CSWA and author T.J Maguire | 1 Tiffany Place Community Room. RSVP.

Friday, June 19th | Where to Celebrate Juneteenth (BK Reader)?

Wednesday, June 24, 6:00 PM- 9:00 PM| A Night of Reading and Good Times:  Actors Read the Work of Local Authors.” RSVP

Thanks for reading! JLH