Enjoy the sun while it lasts. Happy Friday, and welcome to this edition of East & Creek, the Greenpoint newsletter.
What’s up in Greenpoint?
e&c scoop: Acai Berry, located on Manhattan Ave. near Bedford Ave., was ordered closed this week by the Dept. of Health following an inspection on Monday. Inspectors found “evidence of mice,” and noted that food was not “protected from potential source of contamination” and “not vermin proof.”
Interested in contributing ideas for the park-to-be under the soon-to-be-completed Kosciuszko bridge? Just like the notion of more green in Greenpoint? The North Brooklyn Parks Alliance will hold a meeting next Tuesday to gather ideas for the space. (Greenpoint Post)
WNYC went looking for lead in McCarren Park’s soil, and they found it. In fact, of the three parks tested city-wide, McCarren was “the most contaminated park WNYC tested.” (WNYC)
And if that isn’t enough bad park news for you, SummerScreen at McCarren Park is cancelled this year because its boss got caught not really always paying his employees on-time or sometimes ever. (Gothamist)
Meanwhile, Kickstarter — the Greenpoint-based crowdsourcing site — will not voluntarily recognize its employees’ nascent union. (The Verge)
And if you really, truly have thoughts about aperol spritzes beyond “oh, well, that’s fizzy and cold and either good or bad,” then by all means attend tonight’s “Rally for Aperol” at some Greenpoint bar. (New York Post)
Meanwhile in New York City…
Mayor de Blasio — did you hear? he’s… uh….. you know…….. — “rammed through” his controversial ferry purchases last year over the objections of the city comptroller, NYC’s top budget watchdog. BTW: Previous reporting from the Post found that the disproportionally subsidized ferry systems benefits mostly the city’s “hottest waterfront areas” — ours included. (New York Post)
A new rule, proposed last month by the Trump administration, could evict thousands of residents currently living in public housing or benefitting from federal housing assistant. The measure, meant to target families that include undocumented individuals, would displace over 11,000 New Yorkers. (New York Times)
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called for civil fines “based on a percentage of [the offender’s] income,” rather than fixed penalties that have a disproportionate impact on poorer offenders. (The City)
Window-washing in the Big Apple: yeah, it’s actually terrifying! (New York Times)
Notes from Tuesday’s Community Board meeting
Residents and members of Brooklyn’s Community Board 1 raised a number of issues and questions at the board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday — some of which may be if interest to Greenpoint residents. A group of residents raised red flags over a rumored 40-story development on an empty lot just north of Williamsburg’s Domino Park development. A developer came seeking zoning variances to build a six-story building that would, most notably, cover up Our Lady Of Perpetual Wistfulness. The CB’s Parks Committee chairperson mentioned a meeting regarding the “Box St. Park”; the meeting will take place on May 29. One resident reminded those gathered of the “serious petroleum vapors that have been intruding people’s homes” in the northern part of Greenpoint.
The most contentious moments of the meeting came while community members debated the risks and merits of Dept. of Transportation’s proposed Grand St. bike lane improvements, in Williamsburg. In the same week during which three bicyclists were killed elsewhere in Brooklyn, local business owners and residents either appealed for the much-needed safety measures… or decried the loss of some of Grand St.’s parking.
[a note about e&c’s biases in this matter: e&c, like the majority of CB1’s residents, does not own a car. e&c would never want to own a car!]
Some business owners in the more industrial raised what seemed to this newsletter like legitimate concerns regarding the infrastructure’s nitty-gritty in manufacturing zones. Some community members made idle chit-chat while bicyclists eulogized friends and neighbors injured or killed while biking on Grand St.
One representative of the Grand St. B.I.D. speculated that some local entrepreneurs’ recent loss of business was the result of in-progress bike infrastructure improvements, and prophesied that the completed lanes would only continue to hurt bottom lines.
Later in the meeting, one CB member criticized City Councilmember Antonio Reynoso’s comments last month that community boards city-wide present an “obstacle” to improving the city’s bike infrastructure; Reynoso’s district, within CB1, is New York’s most dangerous for bicyclists.
In short, a fun, enlightening time was had by few.
Later that night, e&c happened upon this following scene, at the intersection of Manhattan Ave. and Leonard St.:
A delivery bicyclist was hit by an individual driving a van north on Manhattan Ave. This is a section of busy street with no bike infrastructure — no protected lanes, no “sharrows,” no nothing. The bicyclist struck was speaking and conscious immediately following the accident, according to bystanders; he was transported from the scene by FDNY paramedics.
So anyway, there was some clarity: there are dollars and cents and parking spots… and then there are arms, and then there are legs, and then — just like that — there is the pavement, glistening with god knows what.
A note from e&c: Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to this newsletter, and a special thank you to anyone who has forwarded it along to their friends, roommates, or neighbors. It means a lot! Really! Thanks!
Your Subway Weekender
G - Normal service! Normal service!
L - Not normal service! Not normal service!
Thus concludes this May 17, 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