Ward6 #7 | A weed store comes to Cobble Hill, early voting starts today, do you want a Battery Park size neighborhood on our waterfront? Help! I need a Halloween costume; Why did the Pier 6 oyster bar never open this summer?
Hello neighbors.
I honestly had no idea I’d be so busy when I started Ward6. There are way too many local happenings, news, and fascinating neighbors for one person to cover. Take this week, I spent time with a Red Hook artist who graciously explained the wonders of glass fusion for an upcoming post. And then, on a whim, I finally introduced myself to an owner of a neighborhood institution I’ve walked by a gazillion times and couldn’t believe what I’d been missing all these years. On top of everything else I learn/gather for each week’s post. Did I say how much I love our corner of Brooklyn?!
I finally got my about page to work. If any readers missed my debut Ward6 post and want to know my plans for the newsletter, a bit about my career, and my Brooklyn roots, you can now read all about me. It makes me squirm a bit, but I hope it helps establish trust between us.
If you need a reason to support local news like Ward6, here’s some scary data just out this week from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism:
“Almost 40% of all local U.S. newspapers have vanished, leaving 50 million Americans with limited or no access to a reliable source of local news.”
Please subscribe! Pay what you want, or not!
HEY NEIGHBORS - THE WEEK THAT WAS IN WARD 6
Earlier in the week, I had another excuse for a nighttime bike ride out to Strong Rope Brewery (best view in BK), this time to screen Rodrigo Brandao’s work-in-progress film, Bargaining with the Tide. Brandao follows some of our neighbors as they fight the City to ensure community ideas and concerns are incorporated into the Brooklyn Marine Terminal development project.
Sorry for the bad image! The proposed housing on the left starts with towers across from Van Voorhees Park, down to Degraw and more towers near the Tesla dealer and in the BK Cruise Terminal + a hotel. 20+ towers, industrial space, a modern port…
More about how you can get involved with the next phase of the development project later in the newsletter. It’s also a great way to meet your neighbors!
View of the Gowanus Canal from a communal workspace at a new Carroll St. tower that includes some artists’ studios. No fresh air here!
Though beyond the borders of Ward6, I checked out the Gowanus open studios over the weekend and also got a peek inside one of the new towers along the canal that houses some of the below-market-rate artists' studios negotiated as part of the rezoning. Hard to complain about affordable studio space; however, they’re part of a WeWork-type office space with windows that do not open. Maybe a good thing, given it’s right above the canal. No complaints about the art, though!
Ray Smith’s studio on Bond and Degraw
On my way home, I accidentally happened upon this magical studio, home to artist Ray Smith for decades. Check out Joshua Charow’s short film about Smith, shot earlier this year.
Update in the next week or so about the artists’ impacted by the Red Hook warehouse fire. @lanobadesign said “16,000 gallons of saltwater per minute were pumped into the building” during the fire.
HEY NEIGHBORS - TIME OUT’S QUICK HALLOWEEN COSTUME IDEAS!
For a group costume: The Ratliff family from The White Lotus
For an easy off-the-shelf look: Anything from Wicked or KPop Demon Hunters
For a clever but low-effort idea: Your innie from Severance
For a couple: The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement photo
HEY NEIGHBORS - HEARD AND SEEN IN WARD 6
The cannabis company BUZZY will replace the long-empty ATM location at the corner of Court and Atlantic, across from Trader Joe’s. I tried to get more information from one of Buzzy’s employees, but was unsuccessful. Based on what’s publicly available, the owner is local and has been outspoken about the inefficiencies of the cannabis licensing process that ended up costing her a lot of rent money on her Court St. space. More soon.
From Alexa at Court St. Journal, FARE and FOLK : Closes Its Doors on Henry Street. Its sister location, further north near P.S 29, closed a while back after a long stretch–maybe since the pandemic–when something felt off with its half-stocked shelves and a smaller selection of food. I’m sad to say goodbye to Fare and Folk.
I’ve been meaning to write about PILOT, the seasonal floating oyster bar docked at Pier 6 that didn’t open this year. Though I’m more of a Fornino’s pizza regular, I associate the opening of both restaurants with the arrival of summer. I kept waiting for the day I’d jog around the corner along the East River and see Pilot’s waitstaff in their stripped shirts setting up the bar/restaurant for the season.
Pier 6 Brooklyn Bridge Park
Miles and Alex Pincus, the two New Orleans brothers behind Pilot, also own three Manhattan restaurants, including the new Yacht Club, and Seaworthy in their hometown. CG’s Andrea Strong (aka Strong Buzz) had an oyster tasting at the new Manhattan restaurant, where I personally witnessed the unbelievable 180 views.
The Yacht Club restaurant on 11th/ West Side Highway
Chief of Staff, Mata Burr, who works with the Pincus brothers, told me the nearly century-old sailboat and home to Pilot needs repairs that require a tow as the boat has no engine. Once she leaves Brooklyn, Pilot most likely won’t return.
The plan, says Burr, is to replace Pilot with Gov. Alfred E. Smith, a historical fireboat named for a former governor of New York and democratic presidential candidate in the 1920s. Its more recent notoriety was its 50 years with the FDNY. It’s a “big undertaking,” said Burr, for a boat-to-restaurant conversion that requires a unique skill, knowledge of historic boats and floating restaurants. “It’s a labor of love for sure,” said Burr.
If you want to know even more about the early days of the Alfred E. Smith fireboat and love political history, I came across this local post from a Brooklyn resident. I have not verified the information, FYI.
The Pincus brothers also own Victory Chimes, a historic Maine schooner docked behind the fireboat at Pier 6. According to a Maine NBC News story, Chimes was built in 1924 as a working merchant vessel and was supposed only to last a little more than a decade.
HEY NEIGHBORS - EVEN MORE LOCAL NEWS
Death of a Bergen St. institution, Vinnie Pampillonia, owner of the Italian Art Ironworks. Thank you to a neighbor who posted his obituary on Nextdoor. More on Vinnie next week.
“In 1962, he set sail for New York City, armed with little more than grit, passion, and an unshakable drive to succeed. There, amid the clang of steel in Brooklyn, he began to forge both iron and legacy. After starting as a worker in an iron shop, Vincenzo soon founded Vinnie’s Italian Art Ironworks in 1964 — a name that became synonymous with craftsmanship, beauty, and determination. Today, his sons & family proudly continue the business, honoring the values he instilled.”
24-HOUR MTA customer service center coming to Jay St. Metro-Tech, among other subway stations (amNYC).
HEY NEIGHBORS - WHAT DOES SPIKE LEE AND PS29 HAVE IN COMMON?
Answer: both with SALES this weekend AND did you know Spike Lee spent some of his childhood living on Warren St. in Cobble Hill?
HEY NEIGHBORS - MORE HAPPENINGS IN WARD 6
Oct 25 | Early voting starts today! (more from amNY)
On the ballot: Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, BK Borough President
Council District 38 - Alexa Aviles is the incumbent (Red Hook)
Council District 39 - Shahana Hanif is the incumbent (Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens)
Three housing proposals: If you haven’t had time to read up on the three housing proposals on the ballot, a coalition of city council members recommends voting no, as it removes our local elected officials from having a say in development projects. The power would be in the mayor's hands instead.
“Through their democratically elected City Council, New Yorkers currently have the power to secure more affordable housing, neighborhood investments, and good union jobs, but that is at risk to Mayor Adams’ misleading Ballot Proposals 2, 3, and 4,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “These proposals threaten to remove our communities’ ability to hold developers and the City accountable to deliver for the needs of working-class communities and our neighborhoods. Without communities’ voices and power in development decisions, our neighborhoods will get less affordable housing, less investment, and will be vulnerable to more gentrification. New Yorkers deserve to know the truth about what is at stake this election, and that’s why we will continue to inform voters about the true impacts of Mayor Adams’ misleading ballot proposals.”
According to this article from The City, Brad Lander, Gov. Cathy Hochul, and BK Borough President are in favor of the three proposals. And if you watched the last mayoral debate this week, both Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa said they were in favor, and Zohran Mamdani said he didn’t have a position yet. A lot of criticism this week that Mamdani, days away from early voting, didn’t take a position.
Oct 25 | Brooklyn Brooklyn: Monet and Venice start today
Oct 25 | Liz’s Book Bar on Smith St. 8P “Join us at Liz’s Book Bar for an evening of filled glasses and sonic storytelling…exploring the breadth and impact of Black music through the eras, across timelines.”
Oct 26 | 8th Annual Cobble Hill Halloween Window Painting 8:30a
Oct 28 | Brooklyn Marine Terminal in-person meeting (Voices of the Waterfront for information) about the next phase. Please join me!
Oct 28 | BK Public Library: “Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in American” in conversation with Rebecca Traister. 6P BK Heights
Oct 29th | Celebration of resilience | 13th Annual BARNACLE PARADE Coffey Park, Red Hook 4P
Oct. 29th | Brooklyn Marine Terminal (virtual) - check out CHA/Voices of the Waterfront
Oct 31 | WOOT!
Saturn Road: calendar of events
View north if you were eating at Alma on Col. St. (Source: NYEDC)
Debate continues over the future of our waterfront. If you want to get involved, there are still plenty of ways to voice your ideas/concerns and meet new neighbors.
Voices of the Waterfront is eager for your participation. There’s plenty of public involvement in the next phase, where, with our input, the City will begin the feasibility research for this massive project. Typically, the research comes first, but the City chose a different process that doesn’t entirely make sense for something this complex. There is a hearing next week. Please come!
I listened to a Zoom on Thursday held by the City and the same recurring themes came up: housing density with 20K possible new residents, lack of transportation, affordable housing, traffic concerns, and other infrastructure issues. There are many questions, and not a lot of satisfying answers.
I’ve been digging through the archives to learn more about Ward 6's history. I’ll share more soon. One thing is for sure: both the Columbia Waterfront and Red Hook are survivors. They continue to thrive despite countless outside forces that could have destroyed their communities. The construction of the Gowanus Expressway, the BQE, the Manhattan-Battery Tunnel that cut off and isolated the neighborhoods; on top of drug epidemics, recessions, unemployment and a sewer project that, with all the digging and destabilization caused two houses to collaspe, in the 70s.
I’ve also learned about prior fights about the waterfront and in the early 70s, a proposal to tear down a lot of houses adjacent to the BQE to make the pier larger is one of many battles the community eventually won, and slowly came back after decades of neglect.
“A community is not just made up of physical surroundings. It is made of people. And we feel there's gold here in terms of people.” (Ramon Regueira in the NYT, 1981)
HEY NEIGHBORS - IF YOU’RE STILL WITH ME!
Actor Adam Driver talks with the BK Eagle.
And the BK Public Library Book Prize winners:
See you next week. JLH