Open Thread — BHA Membership

By on September 24, 2007 10:58 pm in Brooklyn Heights

So we received our Brooklyn Heights Association membership renewal letter in the mail this week. The question — should we renew? Are you a member?  Do you feel they represent you and the neighborhood properly?

Comment below, thanks!

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  • ABC

    isn’t it only like $25 or $50? just renew.

    I’m the cheapest person in the world and even I don’t give this one too much thought.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Yes, yes and yes.

  • Club Wildfire

    The BHA needs to go.

    They have done more damage to the neighborhood than any other force.

  • nabeguy

    I suppose you want to bring back Club Wildfire as a positive force, right?

  • lifer

    I dont live in the heights, and have no real opinion on the BHA, but what exactly do they do? I have ony read about the writing down of liscence plates to nark on illegal (and sometimes legal handicapped )parking on this blog. Are they also responsible for the initiative thing that gets the less fortunate to keep Montague clean?(they wear those blue shirts and sweep up), anyone a member that can tell us what else they do for BH? just curious..

  • ABC

    lifer, you can click on highlighted link in body of story. that will that you to BHA homepage where they talk about what they do (a lot)

  • lifer

    Thanks ABC, wasnt looking that closely,

  • steve

    For additional historical background on the important role that the BHA has played in preserving the Heights, see the foreword to the Dover Edition of Clay Lancaster’s book Old Brooklyn Heights: New York’s First Suburb [revised edition, 1980, Dover Publications]. The foreword is entitled “How Brooklyn Heights Came to be New York’s First Historic District.” Here is the link at Amazon, where you can check out the first few pages by taking a Look Inside:
    http://www.amazon.com/Old-Brooklyn-Heights-Yorks-Suburb/dp/0486238725/ref=sr_1_1/104-9970539-0469530?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190749384&sr=1-1

  • lifer

    I read the BHA site about what they do (thanks again ABC), pretty impressive, alot like the Cobble hill Association where I live and grew up, but seemingly a greater scale with more history. Any chance they will get involved with the community’s concern over the hate crimes mentioned elsewhere on the BHB? their first paragraph states “And we organize the community’s response when there is a threat.”, again, not trying to rabble rouse, but do they or will they get involved in stufff like this?

  • LTindaBH

    Didn’t the BHA used to do a neighborhood patrol in a car not that long ago?

  • Patricia Schuster

    I am a new member, and now on the BHA Board. Until I went on the Board, I didn’t know what the BHA did either–getting out the word is something we are trying to do better. To that end, we are planning a low-budget ad campaign of flyers to advertise what it is the BHA does–please look for it. It will highlight the following:
    The BHA
    –protects the historic character of our neighborhood by working with the landmarks commission;
    –gathers volunteers to rake, weed and clean our parks (e-mail us if you would like to help);
    –helped bring the floating pool to our neighborhood;
    –will plant 30 new trees in our neighborhood this fall;
    –hosted the Blue Pig ice cream party to introduce neighborhood children to the new Cadman Plaza Park;
    — is your advocate to sanitation (call us re: trash &/or rats);
    –works with local police to keep our neighborhood safe (we send a representative to the precinct meeting re: our neighborhood incidents) and would be the right organization to contact if, as neighbors, we wanted to organize a patrol, etc.;
    –is working to ensure the success of PS 8 and secure a middle school;
    — is planning a party for “It’s Our Park Day” on Sat. Oct. 20th–come join us at Cadman Plaza Park to plant bulbs, rake leaves, paint the fence and then stay for a family concert (Mark your calendar, and again, please e-mail if you’d like to help!);
    –makes sure the “park” stays in the new Brooklyn Bridge Park;
    –organizes the House Tour;
    –represents the neighborhood to the city on issues such as Resident Permit Parking.

    We are planning 3 big events for the neighborhood this fall in an effort to build community. Please mark your calendar, e-mail for more info or to volunteer to help, and join us:

    1. Sat., Oct 20th–“It’s Our Park Day” at Cadman Plaza Park. Volunteer activities and then a family concert.
    2. Weds., Nov. 14th–A lecture at the Brooklyn Historical Society re: how Brooklyn Heights became the first historic district and the role of the BHA in that effort.
    3. Thurs., Nov. 29th (tentative date)–An evening with the experts to discuss school issues in the Heights (ie. future of PS 8 & possibility of a middle school, how we might deal with the nursery school/private school crunch as adjacent neighborhoods develop and send children to our schools).

    SO, everyone, please, please renew your membership and encourage everyone you know to join us also. We are working hard to build community in the Heights (especially among younger families, who have been missing from the BHA) so that we can be an effective voice on hard issues–such as getting a middle school–and make the Heights an even greater place to live through events like It’s Our Park Day and the Historical Society lecture.
    our website–www.brooklynheightsassociation.org,
    our e-mail–bkhtsassoc@aol.com
    our phone #–718-858-9193
    Thanks!
    Tricia Schuster
    BHA Governor
    Mom of 3 little girls