For those who are trying to get information about people affected in Haiti: contact the State Department at 1-888-407-4747

You can help immediately by sending a check or donating online to the American Jewish World Service. According to Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim, they have a number of humanitarian projects ongoing there and has an excellent track record of support there. To give money CLICK HERE.

You can also send a check to:
Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, American Jewish World Service
45 West 36th Street, 11th floor
New York, NY 10018-7904
212.792.2900
ajws@ajws.org

The Park Slope Armory, a multipurpose athletic and educational center that will serve the local Park Slope community and many area schools, will open officially on January 30th. But now’s the time to get a charter membership.

Finally.

The sports complex at the armory was years—and megabucks—in the making. The $16 million renovation project was funded by $8.2 million from the mayor’s office, $6 million from the City Council, and $2 million from the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office.

I went to a ribbon cutting more than two years ago. Back then it looked like it was ready to open. But it didn’t. And the neighborhood waited. And waited. And waited.

People wondered what was going on, what was causing the delay. Blame was passed around.  According to the Brooklyn Paper:

Part of the delay stemmed from more extensive post-renovation fine-tuning that needed to be done, said Robert Hess, the commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services, which runs a 70-person shelter in the building and oversaw the renovation and subsequent contract with the Y. “These are tough projects once you get into them, and things that look straightforward sometimes aren’t,” he said. “We have a great partner in the Y, but we needed to build this out to their specifications, and that takes time.”

The YMCA  of Greater New York, specifically the Prospect Park Y, was selected by the City as the facility’s service operator and is operating the center. Details still need to be worked out but it looks like the neighborhood and local schools will soon get a chance to use the complex which includes a 1/8 mile track, 4 multipurpose courts for basketball, soccer and volleyball, 20,000 square feet of group exercise space, and 50 pieces of exercise equipment.

Address
361 15th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(212) 912-2580
tsylvester@ymcanyc.org

January 11: Opening Ceremony
 (it happened. So at least that was on schedule).

January 12: Charter Membership Sales begin
 (Go for it!)

January 30: Facility Opens (Let’s see if that really happens. Fingers crossed).

Photo by Amy Melson of Brooklynometry

Here is a list of ways that you can help Haiti recover after a 7.0 earthquake devastated the already impoverished nation.

Go to http://redcross.org to learn more about how to donate the the Red Cross to send help to Haiti. The Red Cross has taken immediate action to start to send funding and supplies to Haiti to ensure that earthquake survivors get the help they need.

UNICEF

Learn about how to help Haiti recover from the Earthquake at www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake or call 1-800-4UNICEF.

UNICEF helps children and families all over the world survive natural disasters and obtain urgently needed medical care.

Yele Haiti

Musician Wyclef Jean, whose homeland is Haiti, is asking people to donate to Yele Haiti to help with disaster relief for earthquake survivors.

Wyclef Jean asks people to please text: Yele to 510 510 and donate $5.

For more information go to: http://yele.org.

Save the Children

This organization has been providing help to Haiti since the 1980s. For more information about how to help the Haiti recovery program with Save the Children go to: http://www.savethechildren.org.

World Vision

Go to http://www.worldvision.org to learn how to help the children in Haiti. This organization works to help with disaster response resources. The website also provides information about how to sponsor a child in Haiti or other locations.

Doctors Without Borders

This group has won a Nobel Prize for their work to save lives during times of disasters. For more information about how the doctors will work to help Haiti go to: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

Mercy Corps

The Mercy Corps has created the Haiti Earthquake fund. Send donations to P.O. box 2669, Portland, OR 97208. Go to www.mercycorps.org for more information. You may also call 1-888-256-1900.

From Gary Pierre-Pierre in the Haitian Times:

A group of Haitian American leaders, state and local officials met late last night to map out a humanitarian relief efforts as the extent of the damage from a category 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti. The group will send a couple of people in the ground as early as Wednesday for a quick assessment. The goal is to get about 300 people, mostly health care professionals engineers to support foreign government’s efforts. A command center will be set up and then the volunteers will arrive after logistics are set up. The group is hoping to have things in place by this weekend. “Our goal is to do humanitarian work, and not first aid,” said Brooklyn physician, Jean Claude Compas during the conference of scores of people. “The Cuban government, the American government, the Venezuelan government and the Dominican government are all doing rescue work.” The group is calling on people or government to donate water and food supplies. The capital’s infrastructure, already precarious is in shambles. The most telling sign is the near collapse of the gleaming white palace, once a symbol of grandeur in a sea of poverty.

Here is this week’s missive from writer, designer and social activist Scott Turner, who runs the Thursday night Pub Quiz at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook.

…tonight, fires scorch the skies above Port-au-Prince.

It’s  2:30 a.m. New York time.  In Haiti tonight, devastation in the capital city.  While we have every reason to recoil from American media’s overwrought hype, there’s no way the crisply-coiffed newsreaders are exaggerating: Port-au-Price is a city in ruins.  It was before Tuesday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake.  Now, with a push from the occasionally cruel Mother Earth, Port-au-Prince is a place too cruel for even Dante’s circles.

What does a city do when the ground roars beneath it, the mountains shudder above it, and there’s no one to put out the fires?

We’ll find out.  But it won’t be good.

There are some moments that test our belief that life can be good.  Haiti, the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere, wracked with civil and political conflict, lacking infrastructure most of us in Brooklyn take for granted — hit with its most powerful earthquake ever.

It’s not fair.  Life hasn’t been fair in Haiti in anyone’s memory.  Miracles don’t really happen, but if they did, they’s fly right over Haiti, their golden contrails barely visible in the sad blue skies over Cite Soleil.

This will be the only news for the next few days.

Check in with Brooklyn’s Radio Soleil Haiti for the latest.  Global antennas are putting out the word tonight: “there is little left of Port-au-Prince…fires are out of control…tremor after tremor…people are in the streets…help us, please, help us.”

If you can’t stand big relief efforts — requests for donations, canned goods, blankets; benefit concerts an news reports with mawkish piano music — this might be the time to turn away from the screen.

But of course, we can’t turn away.  For reasons right and wrong, we respond.  This is one of those times.  Wednesday’s first light will bring pictures of cataclysm and numbers beyond belief.  Some of us won’t turn away because a good wreck is always worth scoping.  The rest of us will wonder “what can I do?”  To comprehend, to help, to get our balance back.  When a poor city’s people are buried ‘neath the poor city’s shanties, the earthquake shakes us all.

Brooklyn will respond.  Not for anything in our past.  Not because politicians and clergy and verbose quizmasters ask us to.  Simply, we’ll ask how we can help.  Our hearts are metaphysical receptacles where we decide whose hand to take and which horror to look in the eye.  In times like this, they tell us to ignore all the voices except our soul’s.

Fort Greene Peace and Brooklyn for Peace present: Afghanistan: A First Hand Report with David Wildman.

Wildman is the Executive Secretary of Human Rights & Racial Justice 
with the United Methodist Church General Board of Global Ministries. Wildman also the co-author of Ending the Us War in Afghanistan: A Primer. At this event, Wildman will discuss:

–What is life in like in Afghanistan with the war going on?

–How is the war impacting of the lives of the people of Afghan people?

–How is Obama’s surge strategy being received in Afghanistan ?

Wildman has just returned from Afghanistan and will report his trip and try to answer these and other questions. On Monday, January 25 ,  7-9 pm at The South Oxford Space. 138 So. Oxford Street (just off of Fulton Street). Admission is free though contributions are requested.

In November, a company called Roadify officially launched ParkingAroundMe (PAM), and received quite a bit of  interest on blogs and local news shows.

And why not? Parking is every New Yorker’s nightmare. And here is a company that’s trying to make it less of one.

This social experiment in parking is starting in Park Slope with plans to expand as they are offering a completely free service to people who are looking for a parking spot or real-time bus transit information. It is text messaged based and can also be used via a Twitter app for those with smart phones.

And this is how it works: when a commuter leaves a parking spot they text GIVE and the location they are leaving  (Example. ‘GIVE 13th st btwn 6/7 ave’) to 95495. This is then entered into an online database managed by Roadify. People circling the block, looking for a spot, text GET and receive a list of these available spots. Users looking to to follow them through Twitter first follow us, @roadify, and GIVE/GET in the same manner via direct messaging so as to not to broadcast to the whole world.

It’s a fascinating concept. But it requires that lots of people opt in and become part of what sounds like a possible solution to the difficulties of parking.

Now Roadify is adding bus schedules to its bag of tricks. In the next few weeks they will begin offering BusesAroundMe (BAM) with the B67 route. Roadify understands that the bus schedule is never accurate – and they want to change that.

Buses Around Me will work in much the same way as  GIVE/GET except with real-time bus transit data. For example, using this service people will GIVE information as simple as, “getting on the bus at 7 st.” They already have the scheduled time schedules in our system and people farther down the line waiting in the cold who text GET will receive something like, “2 mins ago bus at 7 st. 10 mins behind schd.”

Roadify was created by locals to provide a solution to a difficult problem around the area.

Last year parents organized to prevent the closing of The Little Room, a well regarded school for children with speech and language delays, that is part of the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School.

Now, a year later, current and past parents are still struggling to keep the program going beyond August of 2010. This dedicated group has run into some problems and is now asking Dane Peters, headmaster of the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School and Helene Banks, who chairs their board of trustees, to give them more time.

A letter was written last night, which was co-signed by 33 current and past Little Room families. It explains the current situation, which is that The Little Room is basically at the end of the line in terms of having all approvals necessary to get a new adopting agency, and space ready, for September 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year.

According to this group of parents, there is a potential and very interested adopter but due to circumstances the window for them to find a new space has been short; with a bit more time they say they could find a space. That would require state approval, fast, or BHMS extending its own deadline. Without an extension of the deadline, the program won’t exist next year. There has been no response from the school as yet.

Dear Dane and Helene: We, the undersigned current and former Little Room parents, are writing to express our deep concern about the future of the Little Room. Specifically, we ask that the BHMS Board reconsider its decision to terminate the Little Room program in August of 2010 and instead allow the Little Room to continue at BHMS for another year. You will likely respond that the issues regarding the Little Room’s future were extensively debated last winter and that there is no reason to revisit the decision. For a number of reasons, we disagree. In particular, we urge you to consider the following:

“1. When the Board made its decision, no Board member believed that his or her
vote might be a vote to end the Little Room forever. Indeed, even though a
number of elected officials suggested that moving the Little Room would take two
years, the Board expressed full confidence that the program would find a new
home by the BHMS imposed deadline. Some Board members expressed hope that the
Little Room would be able to serve even more students in its theoretical new
home. In short, there was nothing but (largely unjustified) optimism from the
Board.

“Now, however, the situation has changed. The Little Room has been unable to
accept students for the 2010-11 school year. If it does not begin to do so in
the very near future, it will mean that there can be no program in the next
academic year.

“The Board members made their decision with confidence that the Little Room would
never face extinction. But now extinction is here. Given this new reality,
would all Board members now make the same decision they did before? You cannot
know unless you ask them.

“2. Despite this grim situation, the Little Room has actually made great progress
in finding a new sponsor. The YAI Network is, in fact, eager to adopt the
program. As State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assembly Member Joan Millman
wrote to us, “We were encouraged by YAI’s professionalism and zeal for
continuing the Little Room…[Chief Operating Officer Steve] Freeman and his
team have demonstrated an incredible commitment to continuing this program.”

“Unfortunately, as you are aware, YAI faces a catch-22: it is unable to lay out
the money for major renovation of a new space for the Little Room without State
Education Department (SED) approval, but SED has been unwilling to approve the
facility before it is built out.

“What makes this situation even more difficult is the BHMS imposed deadline.
Given another year, YAI would have more time to find and renovate suitable
space, to work with SED to get the necessary approvals, and to plan an orderly
transition for the Little Room. It is unable to do any of this simply because
of an artificial deadline imposed by BHMS.

“YAI stands ready to achieve the goal that the Board has always claimed to
desire. Do Board members want to stop this from happening simply because it
cannot be done within the artificial timeline created by BHMS? Again, you
cannot know unless you ask them.

“3. Throughout this process, both you and other Board members have expressed your
love for the Little Room. You have claimed to respect the program and to want
to see it thrive for many years to come. We are certain, therefore, that you do
not want to see the Little Room end unnecessarily. You have the opportunity to
demonstrate your love and respect for the program by giving it the time it needs
to complete the process of finding a new home. And in fact, given the situation
in which the Little Room finds itself, you are the only ones who can now save
it. We respectfully ask you to live by what you so often said and to do the
right thing for the program.

“We understand that you are eager for the Little Room to move out. Nevertheless,
the plans you have for the Little Room’s current space can wait a year. One way
or another, BHMS will enjoy many years without the Little Room. But the Little
Room has only one chance to survive.

“If the Little Room ends, thousands of special needs children will be denied the
opportunity to receive an education that can change their lives. Such an
outcome is not only completely unnecessary, but also goes against the Montessori
philosophy and the school’s expressed commitment to diversity. We are sure this
is not what you want your legacy to be.

“We are eager to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss this
situation. We urge you and the Board to reconsider the Little Room’s future at
the next scheduled Board meeting. We look forward to hearing from you and
discussing how to move forward.”

Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6, sent word of the closure of sections of 5th Avenue and Pacific Street beginning on or around Monday, February 1, 2010:

It is anticipated that beginning on or around Monday, February 1, 2010, the following streets in Brooklyn will be permanently closed:

–5th Avenue (between Flatbush & Atlantic Avenues)

–Pacific Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues)

–Pacific Street (between Vanderbilt & Carlton Avenues)

Local and emergency vehicle access will be maintained as needed. These streets are being closed to accommodate the Atlantic Yards project. Northbound traffic on 5th Avenue can use Flatbush Avenue or 6th Avenue to continue north; southbound traffic can use 6th Avenue. Eastbound traffic on Pacific Street can use Dean Street; westbound traffic can use Bergen Street.

To facilitate vehicle circulation, 6th Avenue (between Flatbush Avenue & Pacific Street) and the block of Carlton Avenue (between Dean & Pacific Streets) will become two-way.

These changes necessitate the removal of the Cobble Hill B63 bus stop on 5th Avenue, between Pacific Street & Atlantic Avenue. Passengers can use the existing bus stops on 5th Avenue (at Bergen Street) and on Atlantic Avenue (at 4th Avenue)…

Click here to download the full, official notice (with map), or use the following link:
http://www.brooklyncb6.org/announcements/#15

Thanks to Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6, for sending along this press release from the US Postal Service

Fewer than 170 offices remain under review for possible consolidation under the U.S. Postal Service station and branch consolidation initiative. Today’s announcement updates a review process begun earlier this summer that initially examined about 3,300 stations and branches in urban and suburban areas across the country, focusing on facilities in relatively close proximity to one another. The initiative looks to determine where consolidations might be feasible without compromising customer access to postal services. The Postal Service receives no tax subsidy to operate the nation’s mail service. Revenues from the sale of postage, products and services fund its operations. At the conclusion of its 2009 fiscal year in October, the Postal Service reported a loss of $3.8 billion…

Click here for the USPS Press Release announcing the news.