The Red Hook Civic Association met on March 26 at the Red Hook Recreation Center.
The March meeting was the group’s first anniversary. According to Nico Kean, the April meeting will consist of a special celebration with a party and a progress report, and will be held at the Red Hook Coffee Shop on Van Brunt Street.
A name change for the group was decided upon, to differentiate themselves from John McGettrick’s previous civic group.
“We have looked at how we are now as an organization and what our style and philosophy is,” Imre Kovacs said. “We came up with Red Hook Neighbors Assembly as representing who we are.”
Assembly refers to the fact that they are listening and are going to react with activism. The 11 people at the meeting unanimously voted in favor of the new name.
On to business
Finding an interim location for the Red Hook Library, which has been closed for renovations since March 17, 2023, has been a goal.
“We kept our eyes open and noticed zoning would allow an interim library space at 362 Van Brunt Street. The art gallery that was there moved out,” member Imre Kovacs said. “We spotted somebody showing the property. We checked it out and it looked great.”
The library will likely share the space with Red Hook Mutual Aid. “It did not look good for a while, so we made something happen,” Kovacs said. “We are happy about that because now when we talk with other agencies they can know that things can happen in Red Hook.”
The space is in a new building on Van Brunt that is painted and handicap accessible. The library space will have shelves, a row of computers and tables.
The Red Hook Business Alliance was at the meeting and spoke about their Red Hook Second Weekend Initiative.
They are trying to get local programming on the second weekends. The goal is to attract visitors to the neighborhood.
They are also advocating to get a shuttle bus to go through Red Hook to the trains at Borough Hall. That would support weekend visitors and possibly operate on Thursday and Friday evenings.
Dave Lutz, who is on the infrastructure committee, said they are working with the Red Hook Business Alliance and council member Aviles to mitigate traffic problems caused by the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
They are discussing other infrastructure issues like sewer construction.
There are also two potholes next to the skate park on Hamilton Avenue.
The effort to get a bus to go through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Manhattan is also on the Assembly agenda.
A letter recently went out from the organization to civic leaders, elected officials and folks in the MTA advocating for this bus to bring people to work in Lower Manhattan.
The idea is that the bus would make a few stops along the Red Hook Houses, go down Van Brunt Street and then go to the entrance of the tunnel at the end of Hicks St. They are in favor of the M9 extending through the tunnel and making a loop in Red Hook. It currently goes from East 20s down to the hospitals, the Lower East Side, Chinatown and then ends at the Battery Tunnel.
Mayra Molina, who is a caseworker and field representative in Congressman Dan Goldman’s office, had a few updates. Goldman’s office is sponsoring a 2024 high school congressional art competition. Any student from the district can submit art to the office.
Christina Bottego, who is the legislative and budget director in council woman Aviles’s office, also provided updates. They have been trying to get the Parks Department to respond to the sinkhole at Valentino Pier. She encourages community members to call 311 for complaints like this.
The last topic she brought up was that CB6 in the land use subcommittee will be hearing a proposal for development at 150 Mill Street.
“It has been a contentious project,” Bottego said. “The developer has not had Red Hook’s best interests in mind. They have promised a supermarket with no evidence that the supermarket will ever materialize.”
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