Park Slope’s two new Councilmembers, Brad Lander and Steve Levin are going to chair two important subcommittees! Lander received the Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses while Levin received Planning, Dispositions and Concessions, both of which include a $4,000 stipend.

Other Brooklyn councilmembers got tagged as well. Here from the Daily News:

Several Brooklyn Councilmembers retained their chairmanships, including Erik Dilan (D-Bushwick), who kept Housing; Mike Nelson (D-Sheepshead Bay, Midwood), who kept Waterfronts, and Inez Dickens, who kept Standards and Ethics – all coming with a $10,000 stipend also known as a lulu.

Councilmember Diana Reyna (D-Williamsburg) switched from Rules to Small Business, taking over the position from outgoing Councilmember David Yassky (D-Williamsburg) and also worth a $10,000 stipend.

While the Land Use Committee chair went to Queens Councilmember Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), two new Councilmembers, Brad Lander (D-Carroll Gardens, Park Slope) and Steve Levin (D-Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights) received influential subcommittee chairpersonships. Lander received the Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses while Levin received Planning, Dispositions and Concessions, both of which include a $4,000 stipend.

Freshman Councilmember Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush) was awarded the Oversight and Investigations Committee Chair, while his colleagues, Councilmember Letitia James (D-Fort Greene) received Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Chair, and Councilmember Mathieu Eugene (D-Flatbush) received the Veterans Committee Chair. All three receive $10,000 stipends.

Bay Ridge City Council member Vincent Gentile will chair the Select Committee on Libraries worth $4,000.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/brooklyn_delegation_gets_juice_in_i3tBy1hbFFY0eRlUuIldMN#ixzz0ddtA8qTU

Just the other day I was wondering what happened to the Prospect Park bike lane that was supposed to run from Bartel Prichard Square to Grand Army Plaza. I went to a Community Board 6 transportation committee meeting sometime last spring, where the DOT presented their plan to remove one lane of traffic, moved the lane of parked cars off the curb, and put a two-way bike lane where the parked cars used to be.

The plan solved multiple problems: it would help reduce the speed of automobiles on a street where speeding is rampant and it would facilitate biking. At the time, it seemed like it had community support. CB6 ultimately approved the plan and it seemed like it was good to go.

But it’s January 2010 and there ain’t no bike lane. What happened? According to the Brooklyn Paper, Marty Markowitz put the kibosh on the plan just as it was about to go ahead. Here’s an excerpt from the BP story:

But just as the city was about to start building, Markowitz wrote to the city’s top transportation official that called the Prospect Park West lane an “ill-advised proposal that would cause incredible congestion and reduce the number of available parking spaces in Park Slope.”

The Beep’s letter also argued that the bike lane would be especially problematic during the summer surge in foot traffic, when park-goers are barbecuing, attending concerts and participating in many other activities.

About the egg bombs at the Washington Park Dog Run:

Still no word about who’s responsible.

The dog run people are mad as hell and they’re not going to take any more egg dropping! They say it’s an angry Novo 343 resident who’s responsible for the egg torpedoes.

The NY Daily News interviewed OTBKB fave, Kimberly Maier, the executive director of the Old Stone House, and she had this to say: “It’s not a group of people doing it. It’s probably one person,” Maier said. “[The eggs] seem to come from the same trajectory.”

According to Maier, the condominium board notified the local police precinct and put up flyers about the incidents.

So still no egg drop scoop. Sorry, folks.

RebelMart is picking-up stakes.  This Friday at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook come see a terrific three-way bill with three Brooklyn bards de musica: John Pinamonti, Neil deMause and the last ever NYC performance of RebelMart.

Free admission, but bring extra quid for RebelMart’s two new demo albums, Brooklyn Is Dying and Little Iodine, as well as John Pinamonti’s many incredible discs, including the newest, End of Smith.  Of course, Neil writes as good as he plays geetar and sings — go here and here.

JOHN PINAMONTI (10pm)
REBELMART (9pm)
NEIL DEMAUSE (8pm)
Live on stage at Rocky Sullivan’s
34 Van Dyke Street (corner of Dwight)
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Friday, January 22
8pm
Red Hook, Brooklyn
F/G to Smith/9th Street -or- F/R to 4th Avenue/9th Street Stations
transfer for the B77 Bus to corner of Van Dyke & Dwight Street, Red Hook
free Ikea shuttle buses.  Go here for more info: http://info.ikea-usa.com/brooklyn/
http://www.rockysullivans.com/quiz.html

Brooklyn is losing a great one. And so is OTBKB.

Scott Turner, the writer/designer/thinker behind the weekly Greetings from Scott Turner post, is moving to Seattle. The fight against the Atlantic Yards is losing one of its most passionate activists and Rocky Sullivan’s is losing its talented pub quiz host. And OTBKB…

…OTBKB is saddened and bummed because it SUCKS to lose such an excellent contributor. But Scott says that he’s off to  greener pastures: a job offer and a desire to pursue his true love: music—and who can argue with that. I have been honored to publish his posts every week and wish him the very, very best in his Seattle adventure. I even foster hopes that he will continue Greetings from Scott Turner from Seattle (will ya think about it, Scott?).

Tonight, you can hear Scott’s solo band, RebelMart at 9PM at Rocky Sullivan’s. Also on the bill are John Pinamonti and Neil deMause. It’s a  great triple-bill and the last RebelMart show around here for quite sometime. Here is Scott’s farewell missive though he’s still around for another two weeks:

Huh?  Yep…I’m leaving town.  A job offer in Seattle coincided with an awakening that I have to get back to music.  Six years of fighting the Atlantic Yards project and lots else going on here in Brooklyn put a squelcher on the guitar and the singing.  Seattle’s a clean-slate chance to play lots of music and get RebelMart functioning full-throttle.

My last Quiz at Rocky’s is February 4th.  I hired from within for my successor, Sean Crowley, who publishes NerdNY.  Sean’s a regular at the quiz.  He’ll be taking over the Quizmails, too.  I don’t know whether he’ll be issuing scorching screeds at the beginning of each Quizmail, the way I did.

This should explain my failure to send you a photo and a bio for your contributors.  I’d offer to shoot you a weekly rant from Seattle, but it’s not what OTBKB is really about.  Who needs another Brooklynite-out-of-water blog?  Yes, we get it.  They don’t have bagels, yellow cabs and blunt honesty in [name of new city].  OTBKB is about Brooklyn telling Brooklyn what Brooklyn is up to.  As it should be.

Thanks for running my weekly pieces.  I’ve always appreciated the trust you’ve put in me by running them, harshness and jagged edges unimpeded.  It’s certainly helped the Quiz and Rocky’s.  I can’t say thank you enough.  And, per contemporary mores, we’ve never met each other in person.  Yep, it’s the post-Aughts, alright.

Councilmember Steve Levin, who represents the 33rd District in Brooklyn, which includes parts of Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights , DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Boerum Hill, Williamsburg , and Greenpoint, has been named the Chair of the Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions Sub Committee, a Land Use Sub Committee. Levin has also been selected to serve as a member on the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, General Welfare, Economic Development, Education, and Environmental Protection Committees.

“I am thrilled and honored to be chosen to serve as Chair of the Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions Sub Committee, as well as a member of several other committees. I have always made the creation and protection of affordable housing one of my main priorities, and I will continue to do so in my new role as chair of this very important sub committee. In the aftermath of massive development throughout our city, this sub committee will be vital in determining how we move forward to make sure that development can serve those who need it most,” Levin said. “I thank Speaker Quinn and my fellow Council members for putting their faith in me to guide this committee.  Continue reading Councilmember Steve Levin Chair of Planning, Disposition, Concessions Sub Committee →

Two reports from Haiti from Garry Pierre-Pierre, founding editor of the Haitian Times, which is located in Brooklyn:

In the Aftermath of the Earthquake Social Networks keep People Informed and Comforted

The Earthquake Played a Cruel Joke on Haiti

The 17th annual BOOK SALE at Park Slope United Methodist Church is coming. And once again it’s going to be a two-day extravaganza.  Save the dates:

Saturday, Feb. 20
8:30am – 4:30pm
Sunday, Feb. 21 (afternoon only)
12:30pm – 4:30pm

As always, the sale will be a browsers paradise, with thousands upon thousands of new & used books, CDs, records, DVDs and tapes.  And of course the unparalleled Children’s Corner.

Donations are needed:

The church welcome donations of books, DVDs, videos, CDs, tapes and records as well as children’s books, tapes, games and puzzles.  Excellent condition only, please!  No magazines. Donations will be gratefully accepted at the church (6th Ave. at 8th St.) on:

* Feb. 15  Presidents Day   from noon to 7:00pm
* Feb. 18  Thursday  from 7:00pm to 10:00pm
* Feb. 19  Friday  from 10:00am to 9:00pm

Undomesticated Brooklyn is OTBKB’s new weekly column devoted to cooking, cleaning, and entertaining in Brooklyn. It is written by Paula Bernstein, editor-in-chief of the blog Undomesticated Me and co-author (with Elyse Schein) of “Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited.” Featured on NPR, CBS “Sunday Morning” and “Good Morning America,” “Identical Strangers” won a 2007 Books for a Better Life Award.  She lives with her husband and two daughters in Brooklyn.

by Paula Bernstein

Although I’m relatively competent in other areas of my life, I always feel stressed and out of control when it comes to domestic matters.

Until recently, I boasted about the fact that I didn’t know how to cook or clean. I half-joked that I “mop” my kitchen floor with baby wipes, dust my TV with my bare hands and beg my children to take showers simply because I can’t bear to scrub the tub. Instead of making dinner, I order take-out or heat up chicken nuggets and boxed mac-and-cheese.

As a child growing up in the “Free to Be You and Me” 70s, I considered myself too liberated for housework. I wasn’t going to chain myself to the stove like my mom. If I didn’t learn how to cook, clean or sew – I naively reasoned that there was no way I would end up as a housewife.

Now, nearly two decades later, times have changed. Martha Stewart-type domestic skills are revered and even professional women boast about whipping up gourmet meals and knitting their own sweaters. Upscale magazines are dedicated to the subject of home décor and adults of both genders are expected to know the difference between arugula and escarole.

I’ve begun to realize how shortsighted I was in dismissing cooking and cleaning as tools of female oppression. After all, how independent am I really if I can’t even cook and clean for myself? I’m starting to wish I had let my mom teach me a few things about housework.  If being domestic will grant me self-sufficiency, then I’m all for it. It’s time to change my undomesticated ways.

I’m hoping you’ll join me as I throw my first-ever dinner party, learn how to knit, and attempt to cook delicious, healthy meals for my family. I plan to solicit help from Brooklyn-based chefs, hosts, and generally crafty types to help me in my quest for domesticity.

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Tin House at the Old Stone House curated by Tin House editor-in-chief Rob Spillman.

Tin House is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon and New York City that has a reputation for presenting “what’s still righteous and nervy in American writing.”

For this special Brooklyn Reading Works event, Spillman brings together a stellar group of Tin House authors, including Brenda Shaughnessy, Matthea Harvey and Elissa Schappell. They will be reading their own work plus one poem each by Heather Hartley, the Paris editor of Tin House.

Thursday, January 21, at 8 PM.

The Old Stone House. Third Street and Fifth Avenue. Suggested donation of $5 includes refreshments. Tin House magazines and books will be offered for sale.

And here’s BRW’s winter/spring schedule. All events at 8 PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope:

January: 21: TIN HOUSE AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE curated by Rob Spillman

February 11: MEMOIRATHON curated by Branka Ruzak. We are accepting submissions for memoir pieces about life during the recession of 2009/2010 (send to louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com ASAP).

March 18: BLARNEYPALOOZA curated by Michele Madigan Somerville

April 15: TRUTH AND MONEY curated by John Guidry

May 20: 4TH ANNUAL EDGY MOTHER’S DAY curated by Sophia Romero, Michele Madigan Somerville & Louise Crawford (note new date for this event).

June 10: FICTION IN A BLENDER curated by Martha Southgate

My friend Charlie Libin, a filmmaker and cinematographer, is working with filmmaker Jonathan Demme in an effort to organize a shipment of donated generators, lighting equipment and other supplies to aid in the recovery in Haiti. Demme is the director of two documentaries about Haiti  “Haiti: Dreams of Democracy” and “The Agronomist,” a documentary about Haitian national hero Jean Dominique, the journalist and freedom fighter who owned and operated Haiti’s only free radio station. Dominique was assassinated in 2000. He is also the award winning director of “Silence of the Lambs” Philadelphia” and “Rachel at the Wedding.” Charlie asked me to post this message (if you need to reach Charlie you can get in touch with him by leaving a comment here.

We are seeking portable 3,000 to 6,500 watt (putt-putts). Additionally, parcans, tungsten balloons, open face fixtures, stands, work lights, spare bulbs, power tools and cable distribution are needed. Eastern Effects Lighting here in Brooklyn has generously offered to be a drop point for all donated gear.

In the aftermath of 9/11 many in the film industry participated in the recovery. All NYC rental houses donated equipment and services. We are seeing the same spirit of giving to assist the people of Haiti.
Please contact me with a heads up if you do have items to donate. If you are unable to transport them to Eastern Effects, I will make pickup arrangements:

Eastern Effects
210 Douglass Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 855-1197 Contact: Scott Levy or Chris Hayes

Continue reading NY Film Industry Effort for Haiti: Let There Be Light →

Two 25-year-old female fraternal twins were driving up Seventh Avenue, when a car ran the light at high speed driving east on Third Street and rammed into their car.

Pictured above one of the twins is being strapped onto a gurney. She is wearing a neck brace. Her sister didn’t think she was too badly hurt. “She’s just very shook up,” she said.

“We definitely had the green light on Seventh,” she told me. “The other car just came out of nowhere speeding up this street against the light.”

Squad 1 firefighters and EMT were on the scene quickly.

Wednesday, January 27 @ The Bell House (149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY)

Purchase Tickets: $50

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1135305

100% of the proceeds will be split between Save The Children and Partners In Health.

http://www.savethechildren.org/

http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti

All performers will be playing abbreviated and stripped down sets. Scheduled to appear:

JIMMY FALLON

New York State Senator DIANE SAVINO

COLD WAR KIDS

TED LEO

EUGENE MIRMAN

THE WRENS

SONDRE LERCHE

TODD BARRY

PAT KIERNAN of NY 1

AC NEWMAN of NEW PORNOGRAPHERS with RHETT MILLER of OLD 97s and NICOLE ATKINS as THE SEEKERS.

HERE WE GO MAGIC

THE WAHOO SKIFFLE CRAZIES

Early birds can come for free food courtesy of GREAT JONES CAFE, DUB PIES, and more.

A special two hour edition of keyboard karaoke will be hosted by SARA SCHAEFER and JOE McGINTY in the front lounge from 11pm-1am.

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Tin House at the Old Stone House curated by Tin House editor-in-chief Rob Spillman.

Tin House is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon and New York City that has a reputation for presenting “what’s still righteous and nervy in American writing.”

For this special Brooklyn Reading Works event, Spillman brings together a stellar group of Tin House authors, including Brenda Shaughnessy, Matthea Harvey and Elissa Schappell. They will be reading their own work plus one poem each by Heather Hartley, the Paris editor of Tin House.

Thursday, January 21, at 8 PM.

The Old Stone House. Third Street and Fifth Avenue. Suggested donation of $5 includes refreshments. Tin House magazines and books will be offered for sale.

And here’s BRW’s winter/spring schedule. All events at 8 PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope:

January: 21: TIN HOUSE AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE curated by Rob Spillman

February 11: MEMOIRATHON curated by Branka Ruzak. We are accepting submissions for memoir pieces about life during the recession of 2009/2010 (send to louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com ASAP).

March 18: BLARNEYPALOOZA curated by Michele Madigan Somerville

April 15: TRUTH AND MONEY curated by John Guidry

May 20: 4TH ANNUAL EDGY MOTHER’S DAY curated by Sophia Romero, Michele Madigan Somerville & Louise Crawford (note new date for this event).

June 10: FICTION IN A BLENDER curated by Martha Southgate

During a mid-nineties Charlie Rose interview, Quentin Tarantino claimed that his practice with new works from filmmakers he loved (Brian DePalma was his example) was to see the film several times before coming to an opinion on it. His solid reasoning is that it takes a viewing or two to understand the story and the characters and at that point he could then focus on technique or what else the movie might be saying.  Had I the time and opportunity to apply this to the directors I love (and still manage to see anything else), Michael Haneke would be on even the shortest list that would require such filmgoing rigor. In fact, there’s no movie I’ve seen in a theater more than his original Funny Games and I was so amazed after my first viewing of The Seventh Continent that I went back and saw it the following night.  I write here after my first viewing of White Ribbon, Haneke’s latest and a work deserving of multiple viewings, currently playing at Film Forum and Lincoln Plaza.

White Ribbon is like a confounding puzzle that remains unsolved (similar to Cache and Code Unknown in that way). The story centers on a small German village on the eve of World War I. While the action takes place in chronological fashion and there is narration—the memories of elderly man who we see as a young school teacher in the story—the movie is intentionally never clear or straightforward. Often we see images that are not explained or the significance of which is not revealed until much later in the film. The thread that ties them together is a series of events demonstrating the brutality of the villagers, including a mystery surrounding several acts that appear to be attempts at homicide.  Shot in stark black and white, the film depicts the actions with most of the violence (again, like Funny Games) happening off screen and with barely a drop of blood or scratch on its victims.

Haneke’s work brilliantly operates on two levels. Often he delivers a movie—a thriller, usually—that can be enjoyed as a genre piece by a masterful manipulator. Another level of aesthetics and subtext usually provides more to chew on and often more manipulation, notably direct audience addresses (implications? attacks?) that make him such a divisive artist. With White Ribbon, the genre fan enthusiast is certain to be confounded; the story’s key mystery remains unsolved, major story elements are skipped or told in passing narration.  The deeper level lovers of Haneke may be driven just as crazy. The simple read of the film is that it is showing the atmosphere that will lead to the German atrocities of the next generation—the film is subtitled “A Children’s Story”—but there are so many more themes at work here—rites of passage, religion, repression, authority figures, male and female roles in society. My desire for multiple viewings is to put these themes into a greater context. In one of my favorite scenes, the narrator-as-a-young-man takes a carriage ride with his fiancée, their suppressed/repressed romance one of the few rays of light in the film. Steering the carriage off the intended path, tension grows as it seems the school teacher has decided upon an unexpected physical act. His fiancée pleads with him to turn back, but he calmly insists that he is only taking her to a secluded picnic spot. They partake in their first kiss and continue.  We never are sure of his actual intentions, nor do we even find out what happens. We are left to determine what his dogged determination means?  Is it an act of desire, love, an untying repressive binds, a rite of passion? Does her kiss indicate that she has given in to his desire?  It is easy to withhold narrative information, the achievement is getting us to care enough to put it all together.

This is a very busy week with something worth your while every night.  Tonight, George Usher performs his 2009 album, To Have and Not Have in its entirety over at The Lakeside Lounge.

The rest of the week includes the following shows: Maura Kennedy (Tuesday), City Winery’s Haitian Benefit Concerts (Wednesday and Thursday), a come early, stay late night at The Rockwood Music Hall with Poundcake, Amber Rubarth, Coby Brown, and Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds (also Thursday); The Disclaimers (Friday); Demolition String Band (Saturday) and Carrie Rodriguez (Sunday).

For more details, check Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

I was there. Took notes. Have much to say…stay tuned.

Today is a federal holiday and public schools, banks and post offices are closed. The public library and the New York Stock Exchange are also closed.

Alternate side of the street parking rules are SUSPENDED. Subways and buses are running on weekend schedules. Check the MTA website for any weekend/holiday advisories.

All of these events are going on today, Monday, January, 18:

Old First Church and Spoke the Hub present: Peace Finding & Keeping Workshops from 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM. These family workshops will be held at both the newly renovated Spoke the Hub Re:Creation Center, located at 748 Union Street at 6th Avenue and at Old First Reformed Church, located at 729 Carroll Street at 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

–10:30am at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House keynote speaker Danny Glover, the acclaimed actor with musical performances by The New Life Tabernacle Mass Choir and special guest Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, who is widely regarded as one of the best beatboxers. After the program, BAM Rose Cinemas will present a free screening of the documentary Soundtrack for a Revolution, executive produced by Danny Glover and shortlisted for a 2010 Oscar nomination.

—Words Have Power at the Brooklyn Childrens Museum for ages 6 and up at 11:30 AM. Examine the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how his famous words “I have a dream” have affected change in America. Explore the power a speech can hold and  create unique poem collages to take home!

—Park Slope Parents is sponsoring The Second Annual MLK Day Sing-Along, Bake Sale, Food Pantry Stocking, Animal Shelter Drive, Art/Letter-Writing and Winter Gear Drive at the The Church of Gethsemane, 1012 8th Avenue (btw 10th & 11th Street). Sing-Along and Art/Letter writing from 12:00 to 2:00. Donations accepted from 10:30 and 3:00

Thanks to Eliot Wagner on Now I’ve Heard Everything for this information about a Bell House Benefit for Haiti. 100% of the proceeds will be split between Save The Children and Partners In Health.

All performers will be playing abbreviated and stripped down sets. Scheduled to appear:
JIMMY FALLON
New York State Senator DIANE SAVINO
COLD WAR KIDS
TED LEO
THE WRENS
SONDRE LERCHE
EUGENE MIRMAN
AC NEWMAN of NEW PORNOGRAPHERS with RHETT MILLER of OLD 97s and NICOLE ATKINS as THE SEEKERS.

More performers and ticket information to be announced on Monday, January 18.

The Bell House is located at 149 7th Street near 2nd Avenue, Brooklyn (F or G Trains to 4th Avenue, R Train to 9th Street)

The Lede blog at the New York Times seems to have an enormous amout of up-to-date  information from Haiti, including links to other news sources, Twitter feeds, blogs and individuals that the Times’ is working with in Haiti and elsewhere.

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Greenpoint will be cut off from the rest of the city late on weekend nights, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority eliminates the G train for the next four weekends. The agency says that the nighttime weekend service cut is to accommodate track work and station repair until Feb. 8. Shuttle buses will replace the G train — dubbed “the Brooklyn local” after the MTA extended it all the way to Church Avenue last year — between 10:30 pm and 5 am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday. The F train will operate normally between Church Avenue and Bergen Street during those hours.

Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, Lakou New York, and MUDHA (Movement of Dominican Haitian Women) are organizing an immediate delivery of first aid relief. MUDHA is traveling to the Dominican/Haitian border, looking at how to reach affected areas.

They are accepting the following donations:

FIRST AID SUPPLIES:
– Ace bandages, gauze pads, bandage & tape
– Water purification tablets & Rehydration salts
– antibiotic and antifungal (Mycology) creams
– anti-allergy medication (i.e. Benadryl)
– anti-parasite medication
– Tylenol; children’s Tylenol
– cold and cough medicine
– diarrhea medication
– eye drops
– insect repellent
– hydrogen peroxide
– skin disinfectant spray

PERSONAL HYGIENE GOODS:
– Toothpaste and tooth brushes
– soap and deodorant
– sanitary napkins
– brand new under wear – adult (small & med.) and children sizes

DRY FOODS & OTHER ITEMS:
– Nutritional bars, fruit & nut bars, cereal bars (NO CANNED FOODS PLEASE)
– Tea Light candles & quality batteries (AA & D)

EVENING DROP-OFF HOURS ARE MON. & WED. 6:30-8:30 P.M.

Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees:
335 Maple Street, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY (this is not a mailing address) (718) 735-4660

Please use rear entrance on Lincoln Road between Nostrand and New York Avenue. Enter through St. Francis Church parking lot

DAYTIME DROP-OFF HOURS ARE MON. – FRI. 11:00-4:00 P.M.

Vox Pop Cafe is a drop off point for goods being collected by Action Now for Project Salvation for Haiti.  They have arranged for a container to be sent directly to Haiti and have infrastructure in place for dissemination.

ITEMS NEEDED:
MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN:
(new or clean, used clothing)
Pants
Shirts
T-shirts
Skirts
Shorts
Shoes
Sneakers
Socks
Underwear (new only)

SCHOOL
SUPPLIES:
Pens
Pencils
Erasers
Notebooks
Crayons
Rulers
Book bags
BABIES:
Disposable diapers
Baby clothing
Blankets

LINENS/OTHER: (very important)
Washcloths
Towels
Sanitary napkins
Flashlights w/batteries
Travel-sized items:
Toothbrush/paste
Soap
Shampoo
Comb/brush

MEDICAL SUPPLIES:
Aspirin
Alcohol pads
Band-aids
All first-aid items
Latex gloves
Empty plastic pill bottles

FOOD:
Powdered milk
Canned goods
Rice
Beans
Cornmeal
Sugar
Chocolate milk – Quick/Ovaltine

A list of needed goods is also available at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/group.php?gid=247506256628&ref=mf

From New York State Senator Eric Adams:

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti in their time of severe adversity and dire need. I ask my fellow New Yorkers to extend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters in Haiti and to the bereaved here in the U.S. It is in time of tragedy that the nobility and generosity of the human spirit can truly shine through. I know that New Yorkers from all backgrounds will join me in supporting and assisting the many people affected by this devastation. My office is committed to assisting recovery, relief, and rebuilding efforts. My staff and I will continue to monitor the situation. We are working in conjunction with organizations to get help to those in need: 8CC Haitian Center Council and Director Henry Frank; Ebbets Field Community Development Center, and its Director Michelle Adolphe; and Executive Director Dr. George Casimir of the Haitian American National Alliance. These groups, as well as my staff will assist in collecting clothing, blankets and canned foods. Also working in partnership with them, we will coordinate with Chase Bank to have an account dedicated to raising money for those affected by the devastation. Our District Office at 572 Flatbush Avenue, between Beekman and Midwood, remains open from 10-6 each day. This Saturday, we had already scheduled an open house. We would ask everyone who plans to attend to bring non-perishable items, clothing, or a blanket to help with the relief effort. The Open House is scheduled for this Saturday from 4-9.

On Mon, Jan 18 at 10:30 AM at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, there’s a free, first come, first seated event in celebration of the life of Martin Luther King.

This year, BAM welcomes keynote speaker Danny Glover, the acclaimed actor, who has gained respect for his wide-reaching community activism and philanthropic efforts. He is also a UNICEF Ambassador and Chairman of the Board of TransAfrica Forum, a non-profit global justice organization focusing on issues facing African Americans and peoples in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Musical performances by The New Life Tabernacle Mass Choir and special guest Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, who is widely regarded as one of the best beatboxers in the world, round out the program.

Following the event in the Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas will present a free screening of the acclaimed documentary Soundtrack for a Revolution, executive produced by Danny Glover and shortlisted for a 2010 Oscar nomination.

Public Advocate Bill di Blasio has this information for those who are trying to contact American citizens in Haiti:

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and all New
Yorkers whose families and loved ones have been affected by this
tragedy. I encourage anyone who is trying to get information about
U.S. citizens in Haiti to contact the American Citizens Services at
888-407-4747.  In the coming days, I will be working with community
organizations and my colleagues in government to assist with relief
efforts.”

There will be a memorial service for Karen Hansgen this Friday, January 15 at 2 pm at:

The Brooklyn Meetinghouse of the Relgious Society of Friends (Quakers) located at 110 Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn