Trucking the topic at Civic Association, by George Fiala

Trucks were the hot topic at November’s Red Hook Civic Association meeting.

A huge crowd for the association filled a large part of PS 15’s auditorium. Many came to hear councilman Carlos Menchaca speak on a host of issues. The other big guest was Megan O’Malley, head of the 76th precinct. John McGettrick presided over things as always. He was joined this time by MTA expert Robert Berrios, who didn’t speak until the very end, when he did a little update on the B77 bus situation, which is still on hold.

The meeting was accompanied, as always when meetings are big enough to command the auditorium, by bouncing basketballs from the adjacent gym.
O’Malley was joined by Officers Jovin and Class, who are two of the local NCO officers. They followed up on a previous meeting to say that illegal bus and truck street parking are being ticketed more than ever.

John Battis, of Dikeman Street, threw a wrinkle into that one, pointing out that cars with commercial plates are parking all around his home. He says that people with businesses drive to the neighborhood to go to work, switching parking spaces with their commercial vehicles, which are illegally parked overnight, and then repeating the process at the end of the day. He says that this is happening in Red Hook because it’s not being enforced here. O’Malley and Jovin says they will notify the overnight cops to check license plates when they can, but a bigger priority at night will always be to keep the neighborhood safe. Checking plates comes second.

Tesla was another big topic, although they do not yet produce trucks. Parking over bike lanes and sidewalks were mentioned, as was the general indifference to Red Hook and it’s community that Tesla seems to exhibit. This was also mentioned at the recent Summit held at the library, and the councilman told the audience that there will eventually be more big companies moving to the neighborhood, and we will probably have to teach them that this indeed, is a neighborhood, and the need for them to be good neighbors is important.

Someone, possibly McGettrick, mentioned that the old, possibly historic building across from Valentino Pier is going to be torn down, which is news to this paper. We had thought that Estate Four had kept that one building in their portfolio, earning money from movie and TV shoots.

Among the news announced by Councilman Menchaca was a different sort of plan for the impound lot, which is at the end of Columbia Street, abutting the Erie Basin. The police had requested a sort of indefinite lease, which is what they are used to getting, but Menchaca used his powers at the council to give them a ten year lease, with the idea being that having an impound lot where evidence is stored is not good to have in a flood zone. In addition, thought will be given as to how the neighborhood could benefit from the space in 2028, such as a park or marina.

A McGettrick project, funding for a permanent groundskeeper at Valentino Pier, was achieved. Another project, express bus service to Manhattan, is still on hold, as the city still is wasting money studying a trolley car alongside shore properties in Queens and Brooklyn, according to Menchaca. John McGettrick recounted an amazing story about his interaction with a paid supporter of the trolley.

The shill was trying to convince John about the wonderfulness of the trolley idea. John countered by saying all we need is the bus to take people to work in Lower Manhattan.

“Why would people want to go to lower Manhattan when we could just have lower Manhattan right here in Red Hook,” was the shill’s response.

Which is what we have to continually be vigilant against, if we wish to remain the community, we have chosen to make our lives in.

In some other business, Carolina of Portside pushed the need to make the ferry entrance more inviting; Joanie from PS 15 announced some participatory budgeting projects that the school is trying to achieve, including an ADA ramp for the pre-school playground; replacement of the 12 year old AstroTurf in the big kids yard, and some permanent electrical hookups in the yard for when events need loudspeakers and other electric stuff.