This newsletter was brought to you… not by the United States Postal Service. Good morning, and welcome to this July 9, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the Greenpoint newsletter.
What’s up in Greenpoint?
Greenpoint residents have long complained of lost packages, delayed deliveries, and other disappointments at our branch of the United States Postal Service. The local pols noticed. Late last month, Greenpoint’s political representatives called for an investigation into poor postal service in North Brooklyn’s by the USPS Inspector General, according to a statement released yesterday by Assemblyman Joe Lentol.
When Greenpoint residents welcomed the announcement on social media yesterday, Theresa Marko was among them. “I’m not trying to be mean, but it’s atrocious,” she said to e&c, describing her experience with her neighborhood post office. “I had Christmas Cookies once that my aunt sent to me. They were missing for a whole week!” Marko, like some of her neighbors (including e&c, in fact), prefers to use a post office near her work in Manhattan.
“We’ve been receiving complaints about mail delivery for quite a while,” Emily Mijatovic, Lentol’s Director of Community Affairs, told e&c yesterday. “The North Brooklyn community needs to have confidence in its mail system restored, and this audit is the first step toward that.” She added, “I couldn’t tell you how long this process will take, but we are here to see it through.”
In other neighborhood news:
Vinnie’s Pizzeria’s spot in Greenpoint closed yesterday. Their Williamsburg location will remain open, and its shop at Nassau Ave will be taken over by Park Slope’s Da Nonna Rosa pizzeria. (Greenpointers)
A seven-story mixed-used building, with 39 new residential units and (uh) 17 underground parking spaces, is planned for 171 Calyer St. (Greenpoint Post)
An in-progress documentary about women truckers will hold an informal showing this Friday at 8 p.m., at the Sunview Luncheonette. (Trailer, h/t Charlotte C.)
Greenpoint’s streets are scheduled for some TLC from the DOT this week. Check out their resurfacing schedule for more information. (Greenpointers) (Also, the NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection is continuing work to clean the Huron St sewer line.)
And Greenpoint is one step closer to a bit more park space, in its most industrial corner:
Meanwhile in New York City…
New York City needs new affordable units. In particular, it needs apartments for larger, working-class families: Construction of 3+ bedroom units lags far behind that of smaller units. (City Limits)
There’s a rift between City Council and Mayor de Blasio over whether to bailout taxi drivers drowning in debt, following a blockbuster New York Times investigation earlier this year. (New York Times)
A pedestrian was killed yesterday at a notorious Kensington intersection. There have been more pedestrians killed in New York City this year than there were in the same amount of time year. (BKLYNR)
And then there’s this: Over the weekend a cop used what Streetsblog is calling “deadly force” in an attempt to compel a bicyclist to stop at red lights. (Gothamist)
The New York City Housing Authority allowed dozens of children to remain in lead-tainted apartments to wait out bureaucratic “appeals,” according to nearly 4,500 pages of Dept. of Health documents obtained through a records request. (New York Post)
Watch your speed, you crazy fools: Thousands of new school-zone speed cameras will come online this week. (Greenpoint Post)
There’s a private park in Manhattan that isn’t in Gramercy. It was born out of a complicated deal between the city and a developer in Harlem. (The City)
Also in Harlem: The oldest living American, Alelia Murphy, whose 114th birthday was last Saturday. (New York Post)
And one last thing: HuffPost had a report this weekend on the conservative Democrats resisting much-needed housing and transportation projects in American cities. One choice quote: “The boomer generation came of age at a time when neighborhoods were fighting back against highway expansions and power plants,” [Alex] Baca said. “To them, preserving their neighborhood is progressive.” (HuffPost)
Community Countdown
The United Neighbors Organization will hold a free legal housing clinic for anyone need of any kind of assistance this Thursday at 6 p.m., at 66 Clay St.
Greenpoint residents curious about the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s remediation plan for the former NuHart site are invited to a forum later this month. But as e&c has reported previously, the NuHart development is on hold because, according to Ben Solotaire of Councilmember Stephen Levin’s office, the project “is in a limbo” until a lawsuit between the previous owners of the site is settled.
And finally, there will be no L train service between Broadway Junction and Lorimer St between midnight and 5 a.m. on the following dates, to allow the MTA to make “accessibility and power upgrades”:
Weeknights
Tues., July 16 to Fri., July 19
Mon., July 22 to Fri., July 26
Mon., July 29 to Fri., August 2
Mon., September 23 to Fri., September 27
Mon., September 30 to Fri., October 4
Weekends
Fri., July 19 to Sun., July 21
Fri., July 26 to Sun., July 28
Fri., August 2 to Sun., August 4
Fri., September 27 to Sun., September 29
Fri., October 4 to Sun., October 6
Fri., January 3 to Sun., January 5
Fri., January 10 to Sun., January 12
Fri., January 17 to Sun., January 19
Fri., January 24 to Sun., January 26
Thus concludes this July 9, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the twice-weekly newsletter about Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read the full archives here.
If you like what you’re reading, do this newsletter a solid and share it with a friend.
If you don’t like what you’re reading — or if you have any comments or questions — send an email to eastandcreek@substack.com.
See you around town,
e&c