Celebrating Community
Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group (CAG) members received updates from government and city agencies at the general monthly meeting, held November 27. The biggest surprise involved a last minute request by the NYC DEP to substitute a giant tunnel, instead of the planned sewage retention tanks ordered by the EPA, to capture raw sewage that now is dumped into the […]
The Red Hook waterfront has been a site of gritty industrial activity for over a century. The neighbors of one lot on Beard Street, however, have had enough. “It seems like they have a lot of clients and tenants,” says David Trimble, who organizes the yearly Red Hook Crit bike race. “I would definitely like to see it cleaned up […]
If you stumbled upon a cluster of decapitated snakes in a park, what would you do? This bizarre question confronted Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse (BBPB) volunteers on a cleanup day at Valentino Pier on Saturday morning, May 6. The beach cleaners found around five to seven lifeless – and headless – snakes on the rocks just south of the pier. […]
For BGI’s summer fundraiser, it’s a good idea to come hungry. Photo by Sarah Matusek. There’s more to Brooklyn than brunch. Just ask Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, whose annual summer fundraiser, Brooklyn Waterfront Tastes, combines the boozy weekend meal with bicycles and grassroots activism. In its thirteenth year, BGI’s brunch-tasting event lucked out with a day of sunshine and drew a […]
The saga of the Red Hook ballfields began in March 2012, when the NYC Parks Department hurriedly shut fields 5-8 because of suspected lead contamination. Topsoil was replaced and the fields were back in operation in time for an abbreviated little league and softball schedule. This was the direct result of an extensive USA Today report that identified hundreds of […]
There has never been more uncertainty about the future of our federal government in my lifetime, than right now. In 1980 Ronald Reagan gave an inaugural address that included the phrase, “government is not the solution, it is the problem.” That same speech also included a very powerful, upbeat message, as follows: “I believe we, the Americans of today, are […]
Red Hook’s streets were quiet Wednesday morning, with the few pedestrians walking their dogs or waiting for the bus looking despondent. “It’s unsettling and confusing and I’m not really sure what’s going to happen next,” noted a man on King Street. “I think it’s embarrassing,” said a woman near Wolcott. “This is what happens when people don’t go vote. I’ve […]
Are there treasures untold lying beneath the oily surface of the Gowanus canal? An organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of historical artifacts, Archeology and Historic Resource Services (AHRS), have attempted to answer this question. In a recent report they explored the identity and history of a number of large mystery items found in a 2010 sonar scan of […]
Paulie McDonald is looking for striped bass tonight. “They’re the biggest, meanest thing out here,” says McDonald, “and that’s what I’m trying to catch.” McDonald is standing on a crumbling concrete bulkhead behind one of the long brick warehouses that define the Red Hook landscape. Even as he speaks, McDonald’s eyes are fixated on the tip of the fishing rod […]
Debris removal from the Gowanus Canal will begin at the end of October the EPA announced at the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group meeting this past Tuesday. Initially, the removal of urban waste items – such as tires, shopping carts and potentially a few mystery items – was expected to begin this past August. However, at Tuesday’s meeting, Natalie Loney, […]