Civic Association 2.0 meets again, by Brian Abate

On May 15, I attended the monthly meeting of the revived Red Hook Civic Association at P.S. 15 on Sullivan St. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 6 PM but I arrived early and chatted with some other attendees outside of the school. Shortly afterward, Jacqui Painter arrived we were allowed into the building.

We went to the auditorium, and it got a little noisy with kids playing in the gym behind us. The meeting began with all first-time attendees introducing themselves.

Next, leaders from different committees summarized what they were focusing on in their own specific meetings, while Carolina Salguero of PortSide kept track of the time to make sure the meeting would move along smoothly and stay on schedule.

First up was the organizing committee and Imre Kovacs mentioned that he had found another location for future meetings at the Red Hook Recreation Center, 155 Bay St., which should be quieter. The new site will also allow everyone to sit face to face rather than in rows. No one had any complaints about moving future meetings to the Rec Center.

Nathan Shepard, who has been active in the Association, recommended that everyone who is interested should join each of the subcommittees (using email) especially while they are in their early stages. There is no responsibility attached and it would allow everyone to bring up any new issues and ideas that could be addressed by the various subcommittees. Shepard also said he was happy to help anyone interested in joining subcommittees after the conclusion of the meeting.

Salguero suggested distributing flyers widely, especially to NYCHA buildings to make sure this Civic Association is inclusive, before focusing on subcommittees. She added that the last Civic Association was not inclusive to everyone.

Not inclusive?
We reached out to the president of the last Civic Association, John McGettrick, with Salguero’s comment.He said that “despite what Carolina has to say, we worked closely with Emma Broughton, Lillie Marshall, Andrea and Jay McKnight, Bea Byrd, Judith Dailey and Wally Bazemore.” All these people lived in the Red Hook Houses. He offered that NYCHA created the two tenant organizations, each of which serves a similar purpose to the Civic Association. One might similarly say that those organizations are also not ‘inclusive,’ yet for issues of interest to the community at large they often collaborated with the Civic Association.

McGettrick continued: “In fact, Andrea and Jay McKnight were co-chairs of the Civic Association for many years. The Civic Association worked with both Tenant Associations in the formation of the Red Hook Justice Center. We all worked together to improve B61 bus service. The Civic Association promoted the Atlantic Basin for the location of the Ferry Terminal for the benefit of the entire community. We helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for PS 15 through Friends of PS 15 fund-raisers. We all worked together to improve Coffey Park, especially the bathrooms. While it didn’t work out as well as we hoped, we all worked together to help the Community Board create Red Hook’s 197A plan. We helped bring attention to the lead in the ballfields, we were against the proposal to bring toxic sludge from the Gowanus  Canal to the neighborhood, and finally, we all worked hard to prevent Mayor Giuliani from routing all of NYC’s garbage through the neighborhood.”

McGettrick now splits his time between the Adirondack’s and Florida, but he is still a regular visitor to Red Hook.

We also asked Carolina for clarification of her comment, and she specified that she did was not necessarily referring to race. Instead, she said it was not a place where everyone was allowed to speak. PortSide was never allowed to make a presentation, despite the fact that one time they were on the agenda.

Bus to Manhattan?
Next, Imre Kovacs recapped that the public services subcommittee was focusing on a potential bus route from Red Hook to Manhattan, library updates, better street sweeping, and the need to get kids from Red Hook to use the ballfields more often. A motion to support friends of the Red Hook Library passed.

“For the bus route, we want the MTA to take a look at more recent data and find out how they reached the conclusion that they couldn’t have a bus go from Red Hook to Manhattan,” Imre said.

Parking permits?
Rob Cantave spoke about the infrastructure development subcommittee and listed some areas of interest. They included developing an online, easily shareable neighborhood map, sewage upgrades planned for the neighborhood, traffic/safety/transportation with regard to last-mile warehouses, cruises coming to Red Hook and how they are recharging, and Council Member Alexa Aviles’ office proposing a parking permit for Red Hook.

Afterward, Jose spoke about the activism subcommittee and said members of the community worked to define exactly what it is and what it should look to accomplish. The subcommittee should serve the whole community, with a focus on outreach, community gathering, and intervention. Everyone is welcome.

Finally, Carolina reported for Jim  Tampakas from Tampco Mechanical, who was unable to attend the meeting, saying “145 Wolcott St. (owned in part by Alex Washburn, could become another last-mile warehouse.”

Carolina also spoke about the importance of making sure PortSide will not be displaced and said that the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) made and then broke promises to PortSide. Others in attendance voiced their support for PortSide as well.

A few people in attendance reiterated the importance of making sure the Civic Association will be inclusive of everyone in Red Hook, and especially to be careful about using inclusive language that won’t put anyone down.

Towards the end of the meeting, the idea of a possible Civic Association barbecue was mentioned.

Move to the Rec Center
The meeting concluded with Jacqui telling everyone that the plan is for the next meeting to take place on June 12 at 6:30 at the Rec Center. Usually, meetings take place on the third Monday of the month but since Juneteenth is on the 19th, the meeting will take place on the 12th. Everyone is welcome.