Welcome to our new “Day in the Front” column.

Reporter Asar John walks the East side of Red Hook, highlighting interactions with people working, living and playing in that special part of town. This is his story for a day in May…..

A recent Saturday left me quite confused about my choice to wear several layers of clothing—it was toasty in the sunlight beaming down from partially blue skies as I walked along Bay Street; as I moved closer to Columbia Street, however, it was the wind that had it out for me.

Taking refuge in the Rec Center, I met two front desk workers there named Darwin and Kevin. As employees in Red Hook, they enjoy the neighborhood’s family- and community-oriented vibe, noting the array of sporting events across the ball fields surrounding their building.

They said that for about a decade, outdoor sports in the area went dark, most likely because the fields were closed for post-Sandy repairs (editors note – most of the closures were due to legacy pollution problems, especially lead in the ground).

They’ve enjoyed seeing it revived on the recently renewed fields, welcoming people from across New York City to enjoy Red Hook’s parkland.

I made a quick turn around the corner to witness the action Darwin and Kevin were praising. Middle and high school-students congregated on the ball fields along Henry Street for a championship flag football game, jumping, stretching and clearly energized for the most competitive match of the spring season.

I met one of the referees, who told me he plays football, basketball, and softball recreationally. While he enjoys his job as ref for these games, he finds difficulty managing the middle school teams. Now, you might be thinking it’s crass, inconsiderate, know-it-all seventh graders that dampen the ref’s mood; it’s actually the coaches who preside over the middle schoolers that give him headaches. He says some coaches aren’t familiar with league guidelines and bark at him for calls he makes.

Proud parents, Andrea and Ouche, came out to watch their son compete in the game. They’d traveled all the way from Queens, where their son attends Bard High School’s Long Island City campus. They watched from afar, not within their son’s view on the field, although he at least stopped to say hello to them.

The Saturday tournament was their first time in Red Hook. Andrea commented on the neighborhood’s cleanliness, availability of on-street parking and vast open space in the recreational area. The downside: she couldn’t find places to eat.

I told her you just have to look in the right places, since the food spots in Red Hook mainly exist in pockets. The northern part of Red Hook’s Columbia Street hosts Dawn Skeete’s Jam’It Bistro, stalwart Defonte’s and Wraptor. Van Brunt Street is dotted with restaurants across its 21-block span alongside a cluster of nourishing finds on Lorraine Street just west of the fields.

My next stop took me straight past that cluster and into the outdoor seating areas of Red Hook West. Perched above the complex were gray clouds, as if the sky had transformed from one environment to the next along my walk. At the Houses, I met up with another Andrea—81-year-old Andrea McKnight. She’s a well-known Red Hook resident who has serious concerns about the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, headed for the place she’s lived for 56 years. She welcomed me to a meeting with a group of neighbors who shared similar concerns around PACT and what they could do to stop it.

The neighbors gathered in resident Henry Watkins’ apartment, detailing their storied lives in Brooklyn’s largest housing development. There were memories of picking up bank statements in Coffey Park that floated across the river from the Twin Towers on 9/11. The wreckage and resiliency work from Sandy. Apartment fires believed to be caused by faulty wiring. Helping elderly neighbors as they suddenly came down with cancer. Now, the gathered residents were fearful that they’d be exiled from the same place these memories were born.

Turning that fear into action, the residents plan to collect signatures from their neighbors in a petition against the PACT conversion. While already approved (see last month’s issue) they believe there’s still time to halt PACT in its tracks.