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No Garbage Collection in Brooklyn Heights Until Wednesday

By on December 25, 2011 8:31 pm in Environment

This in from Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association:

Dear Neighbors:

I hope all are enjoying a holiday and had not planned to intrude on celebrations of Christmas Day with news about garbage. Continue Reading →

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Marty’s Letter to Cuomo Urges Reinstatement of BQE Study

By on December 7, 2011 11:56 pm in Environment, Government, Health, News, Transportation

Borough President Marty Markowitz has written a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo urging him to rescind the decision by the State Department of Transportation to terminate environmental studies for the rehabilitation of the Gowanus and Brooklyn Heights portions of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which would have the effect of postponing any major reconstruction or replacement of these roadways indefinitely. According to Markowitz’s letter: Continue Reading →

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P.S. 8 on List of Schools With Hazardous PCB Laden Lighting Fixtures

By on December 7, 2011 1:42 pm in Education, Environment, Government, Health

We’ve received word from the office of Congressman Jerrold Nadler that P.S. 8 is on the list of schools, compiled by the City’s School Construction Authority, that have old lighting fixtures containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. These are carcinogens, and are considered especially hazardous to pregnant women. According to Dr. Maida Galvez, Director of the EPA Region 2 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, “The bottom line is that there’s no safe level of [PCB] exposure in pregnancy, period.” There’s more information here.

Next Monday, December 12 at 10:00 a.m., Congressman Nadler, along with representatives of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, NARAL, Planned Parenthood NYC and others, will assemble on the steps of City Hall to demand action to relieve this hazard to public health. For more information, contact kterenzi@NYLPI.org

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Pumpkin Composting at Greenmarket Tomorrow; Trash Pickup Today

By on November 11, 2011 9:12 am in Environment

Got leftover Halloween pumpkins (we’re thinking of you, Peter Steinberg)? The BHA’s Judy Stanton urges you to take them to the composting booth at the Greenmarket tomorrow. They’ll also handle other veggie waste or scraps, and are there every Saturday.

Word came late, but there is normal trash pickup today, despite the Veteran’s Day holiday.

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Squadron’s Community Meeting Hits Hot Button Issues

Squadron’s Community Meeting Hits Hot Button Issues

By on November 2, 2011 12:31 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Development, Education, Environment, Government, Parking, Traffic, Transportation

Last evening’s Community Meeting got off to an interesting start when Brooklyn Heights resident and long time Brooklyn Bridge Park advocate Tony Manheim asked State Senator Daniel Squadron if, now that in a deal brokered in part by Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman, the State has given control of the Park to the City, he and Millman would consider yielding their nominees’ position on the Park’s board to representatives appointed by the Mayor. He also asked if Squadron thought it now appropriate to have the Park’s management “collapsed into” the City’s Parks and Recreation Department. Squadron said he was “not excited” about giving up his slot on the board, but that Manheim’s ideas were “conceptually interesting.” Another person suggested that, instead of mayoral nominees, the board slots go to community representatives. Continue Reading →

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Brooklyn Bridge Park Fall Colors Tours

Brooklyn Bridge Park Fall Colors Tours

By on October 17, 2011 10:30 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Environment, Events, Nature

This Friday, October 21 and Sunday, October 23, from 11:00 to 11:45 a.m. both days, Brooklyn Bridge Park will present a Fall Colors Tour.

Autumn is especially beautiful at Brooklyn Bridge Park! Join Rebecca McMackin, the park horticulturalist, for a walk on Pier 1 and see the beautiful fall colors in the park’s flowers, trees and perennials. Ms. McMackin will talk about the park’s diverse planting palette, the organic maintenance of the landscape and the role of bees and birds in pollinating these striking specimens.

The tours are free, but attendance is limited, so please reserve in advance by e-mailing to brooklynbridgepark@bbpnyc.org . Tours begin at the entrance to Pier 1, near the foot of Old Fulton Street; there will be a tent.

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Scenes From a Saturday Stroll

By on October 16, 2011 11:57 pm in charity, Environment, Events, Gardening, Health, Photos


On Saturday morning, Jonathan Landsman and his crew were busy planting by the Clark Street entrance to the Promenade. More photos and text after the jump. Continue Reading →

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Help Tomorrow So Promenade Gardens Will Bloom in Spring

Help Tomorrow So Promenade Gardens Will Bloom in Spring

By on October 14, 2011 11:16 am in Environment, Fun, Gardening

As your correspondent returned from his morning walk, he found Jonathan Landsman, the Promenade Gardener, and a Parks Department crew, unloading plants from a truck. Some of these, along with bulbs, are to be planted tomorrow (Saturday, October 15) , which happens to be It’s My Park Day. If you would like to lend a hand, Jonathan asks that you join him at the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade at 9:00 a.m. Work will be done by 11:00 a.m. Continue Reading →

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Help Poplar Street Garden Grow This Saturday

Help Poplar Street Garden Grow This Saturday

By on October 12, 2011 10:25 pm in Environment, Events, Fun, Gardening

The gardeners who tend to the Poplar Street Community Garden, located at the northwest corner of Poplar and Hicks streets, are having their annual Fall Work Day this Saturday, October 15, from noon to 3:00 p.m.

Please join us as we ready the garden for winter and spring. We welcome your good company and helping hands to plant, prune, and weed! Come join us for an afternoon outdoors breathing fresh garden air and enjoying a bit of garden heaven! Tools and Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, e-mail poplargarden@gmail.com

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Squadron, Millman, Levin call for Tourist Helicopter Ban

By on October 5, 2011 12:36 pm in Environment, Government, News

Following yesterday’s fatal helicopter crash in the East River, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and City Council Member Steve Levin, along with other local elected officials, have called for “a complete ban on all tourist helicopters from Manhattan’s dangerous air corridors, including the city’s rivers and harbors.” Continue Reading →

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Reefer Madness: Is Brooklyn Heights Going Up in Smoke?

Reefer Madness: Is Brooklyn Heights Going Up in Smoke?

By on July 14, 2011 7:19 pm in Environment

Twitter user/Brooklyn Heights resident @estwhile tweets Thursday:

Either there’s a skunk hanging out at the #BrooklynHeights #promenade or ppl have been smoking crazy amounts of weed on my corner all day.

We’ve also noticed a steady flow of folks toking on “Mary Jane” in the neighborhood recently. Have you?

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Monsanto’s Controversial RoundUp Sprayed in Cadman Plaza Park

Monsanto’s Controversial RoundUp Sprayed in Cadman Plaza Park

By on June 12, 2011 9:26 pm in Environment, Government, Health

A BHB tipster writes us that the Parks Department is spraying RoundUp, a pesticide recently in the news for reportedly causing birth defects and other issues. Note that many of these findings have been disputed, so let’s not get all Jenny McCarthy about this yet: Continue Reading →

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EDC Staffers Offer Little Hope for Helicopter Noise Reduction; Velazquez Urges Bloomberg to Ban Tourist Flights

By on June 2, 2011 9:50 am in Environment, Government

Two representatives of the City’s Economic Development Commission, Josh Nachowitz and Patricia Ornst, gave a presentation yesterday to the Finance District Committee of Community Board 1, which encompasses downtown Manhattan, concerning efforts to alleviate noise from helicopters using the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. Several Brooklynites were present by invitation, including Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, BHB reader and frequent commenter Jeffrey J. Smith, a woman resident of One Brooklyn Bridge Park, and your correspondent. The EDC duo began by asserting that there has been a reduction in helicopter noise complaints, but, when asked, couldn’t say by how much. They then shifted to saying there had been a reduction in the number of flights because of the agreement to end “short tours” that circled the Statue of Liberty then returned to the Heliport. Asked about a recent increase in flights, Ms. Ornst echoed T.S. Eliot in saying April is the cruellest month, breeding not lilacs out of dead land but tourists yearning to see New York city from aloft. Continue Reading →

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Promenade Gardeners’ Bake Sale Saturday

Promenade Gardeners’ Bake Sale Saturday

By on June 1, 2011 4:10 pm in Environment, Events, Food

The Promenade Gardeners, who are responsible for the upkeep of the gardens and for the floral displays we enjoy, are holding a bake sale this Saturday, June 4, from 11:00 a.m. “until the last crumb,” at the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade.

Gardeners are great bakers. Drop by and we’ll prove it. Every cake, cookie,tart, tartlet and muffin was baked by our neighbors, the volunteer gardeners who keep the Promenade blooming. Now they need funds to keep up the good work. Every munch helps.

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Downtown Heliport on Agenda Tomorrow Evening

By on May 31, 2011 8:57 pm in Environment, Government

Brooklyn residents who are interested in the issue of continuing helicopter noise from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport are invited to attend the Community Board 1 (Manhattan) Financial District Committee meeting tomorrow (Wednesday, June 1) evening, at 49-51 Chambers Street, Room 709, starting at 6:00. An update on the Downtown Heliport and flight patterns by the City’s Economic Development Commission is on the agenda.

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