Community Board meets in person, finally! by George Fiala

They had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the auditorium at PS 32, but by the end of the night the members of Community Board 6, local politicians and their representatives, and various interested community members were having such a good time re-meeting each other that you might have thought it was an early holiday party.

Since the beginning of  the pandemic over 2 1/2 years ago, CB6 has depended on Zoom meetings, like other organizations, including the District 15 school district, the outreach organization of the Gowanus Superfund project, the Carroll Gardens organization and the Parks Department.

The legal ability of CB 6 to hold virtual meetings came from the Governors office, under the auspices of the emergency powers they were given due to the pandemic. Governor Hochul finally decided not to renew the Executive Order in September. That forced the community board to postpone their monthly Executive Board meeting, originally scheduled as a Zoom call on September 14, while they scrambled to find a space to hold an actual meeting.

District Manager Michael Racioppo said that it was a bit difficult to convince any of the venues that they had used prior to the pandemic to allow use of their space, mostly because it has been such a long time. But after an initial rejection, PS 32, a public school on Union Street near the Gowanus Canal, offered the use of their auditorium.

Outgoing Chair Peter Fleming looked out at the crowd of almost 50 people half-filling the room and expressed some displeasure at the Governor for pushing them off the computer. He said they were exploring holding hybrid meetings in the future, but complained that “the Governor tells us what to do, but doesn’t send us money to do it.”

The meeting started with introductions, most of those in the seats were not wearing masks and could be heard clearly. Of the 27 members present, 19 said they were from Park Slope. Only one person identified themselves as being from Red Hook.

The first speaker was Councilman Lincoln Restler. He spoke about the positive things happening at the Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens. He also mentioned that plans were underway for building a 9 story building at 280 Bergen Street. I thought I heard him say that it would be 100% affordable housing, but the zoning application calls for 300 apartments of which 90 would be classified as “affordable.”

It was determined that there was a quorum, so the two landmark issues before the Board were heard next, and both were approved.

The balance of the meeting consisted of announcements from representatives from other local politicians. The most eloquent was from Alexa Aviles’ rep, Christina Bottego. A topic repeated by most of the reps had to do with the BQE. Evidently there is infrastructure money available to “reimagine” the BQE, which includes more than just the main problem at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which is in danger of falling down. Bottego mentioned that the bulk of the road is actually in Sunset Park, and that it’s time for there to be social justice in deciding where to use infrastructure money in both construction and staging areas.

She also reminded the audience the Puerto Rico has had another devastating hurricane, and please contribute money, not old clothing, as money is the biggest need.

The end of the meeting is customarily reserved for members of the community, and a member showed up. A woman named Deborah who identified herself as from the Columbia Waterfront District read a letter in which she complained bitterly about the rush hour traffic that pours through her neighborhood because of the bottleneck created by eliminating a lane on the BQE in Brooklyn Heights. She asked for traffic lights to be placed at both the Summit and President Street intersections with Columbia Street.

There was also a representative from the Department of Sanitation who came equipped with heavy paper bags for people to bag their leaves in. He successfully gave some away.

The meeting ended, and then went on for some time longer as our communities got a chance to mingle, finally!