Photography by Lara Wechsler: Birds
Richard Grayson: 1985 Earthquake in Brooklyn
It’s always a pleasure when author Richard Grayson sends me stories of his life in Brooklyn. This one is in honor of Earth Day. I remember this earthquake, too. We were living on the Lower East Side then and felt it.
This morning I was reading the New York Times reports of yesterday’s rare Midwestern earthquake and comments by Chicagoans like this one: “It actually woke me up. And I thought, my bed is shaking! What’s going on?"
I had the same experience in Park Slope in 1985. For four months I’d taken over my friend Judd Silverman’s share in a duplex apartment on President Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue while he was in Pennsylvania directing plays. On Saturday, October 20, I was sleeping soundly in bed when suddenly the bed started shaking violently enough to wake me up. I looked up and the lighting fixture above was swaying back and forth. It lasted just a few seconds and I drifted back to sleep.
I woke up around 7:30 a.m. and hurried off to a Saturday graduate class in computer education at Teachers College. On the subway I remember musing about that weird dream I’d had about being in an earthquake. It wasn’t until the class took its break after a couple of hours and we headed to the basement cafeteria for snacks that I heard our professor ask, "How’d you like that earthquake this morning?"
I couldn’t believe it was real. When I got back to the Slope, I went over to Sterling Place, where my friend Susan Mernit (now a well-known dot-com entrepreneur in Silicon Valley) lived with her family. She said they’d heard a rumbling noise with the earthquake and the ground shook considerably, if very briefly.
Talking to other people in the neighborhood, I discovered that many people felt the quake and then turned on the radio or TV and got confirmation that there had indeed been an earthquake, preceded by a smaller foreshock.
They struck about two minutes apart shortly after 6 a.m. and were centered in Ardsley in Westchester County. Seismologists at Columbia University said the quake had measured 4.0 on the Richter scale and the foreshock 2.0.
Other people in the Slope, like Judd’s two roommates, seemed to sleep through the whole thing. I was the only one I could find who’d assumed I was dreaming.
I wonder if other Slope residents have memories of that quake. It occurred just three weeks after Hurricane Gloria came through and downed a number of trees and lots of branches in the neighborhood.
Incidentally, the strongest earthquake to hit metro New York was centered right here in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon, August 10, 1884. Scientists say it was a 5.0 on the Richter scale. Here’s a contemporary newspaper report:
"The policemen on the Brooklyn bridge report that the shock was distinctly felt there, and the great towers at either end oscillated visibly, while the bridge itself rocked as if struck by a hurricane. The shock was felt generally along the river fronts, and the piers were shaken as if by a heavily loaded truck passing over them. At the iron steamboat pier, which is built of solid masonry, the motion was so violent that the ticket-takers rushed from their offices to ascertain the cause of the commotion.
The late afternoon boats brought back crowds from Coney Island, where it was said that the shock was much more violent that in the city. The piazzas and dining-rooms at the Manhattan and Brighton Beach were well filled when a rumbling noise was hear, followed by a rocking of the ground, which made window panes rattle and shock dishes and wine glasses from the tables. There was a general rush for the open air, and great excitement prevailed. There was a general rush toward the main entrance, the people being under the impression that the structure was giving way.
In Brooklyn the earthquake was felt very generally throughout the city. Along the river front and in the eastern district the chock appears to have been heavier and of longer duration. Everywhere people ran from their houses in terror. People in Greenpoint started on a run for the immense oil works which are located on the shore of Newton creek, thinking that an explosion had occurred there, while all the fire companies harnessed their horses in readiness to respond to an alarm of fire, which they thought would soon follow.
The sensation experienced on board the receiving ship Vermont, lying in the Brooklyn navy-yard, was similar to that felt when a broadside is discharged from a ship at some distance. According to the story of one of the sailors, there was a distinctly perceptible jar felt, and it was noticed by all on board. Persons traveling in street cars felt the vibration, and in many instances the wheels of the car seemed to leave the track, producing the same effect as when they pass over a loose switch.
The bell of a Presbyterian church in Greenpoint swayed back and forth and rang several times loud enough to be heard by all the people living in the neighborhood. Among other evidences of the violence of the agitation in Brooklyn may be mentioned the stopping of clocks, the throwing down of a high pile of bricks, the swinging of lamps and pictures and the like. Many of the Sunday-schools were in session at the time, and the teachers had in some instances great difficulty in allaying the fears of the scholars."
A Look Inside the Center for the Urban Environment
I’m sorry that I didn’t make it to the walk-through of the brand new Center for the Urban Environment on 7th Street between 3rd and 2nd Avenue, which is quite the up and coming street.
Judging by the pictures on Gowanus Lounge, it looks like a very interesting space.
The Center is in the same building as Brooklyn Artist’s Gym and Room 58 (part of the Brooklyn Writer’s Space). And on the same block where the new branch of Union Hall will be.
Quite the hot spot of a block.
Today at 3 p.m. Assemblymember Joan L. Millman presented the Center with a $250,000 check for its new state-of-the-art green building in the Gowanus seciton of Brooklyn. The Center is on schedule to be Brooklyn’s first LEED-certifed building for commercial interiors by the US Green Building Council.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
The Center’s Community Grand Opening is scheduled for Saturday, May 10th and will feature public tours of the building, you and family programming, a local tour of the Gowanus neighborhood and a Sustain Business Corner. Founded in 1978, the Center has been involved in urban environmental education in NYC. THey are a leading innovator in the field, with programming that promotes sustanability and a healthy living enviornment.
The Walworth Farce at St. Ann’s is a hit! Read the NY Times Review
I got an email last week from the director of St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO about Ireland’s premiere theater company, DRUID, and their award winning hit, The Walworth Farce, from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, "en route" to a Fall engagement at London’s National Theatre.
This not-to-be-missed production is playing at St Ann’s from April 19th until May 4th. Today it got a glowing review from Ben Brantley in the Times. Get your tickets now.
The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder
HOW I PEEL ABOUT BANANAS
My breakfast wouldn’t be complete
Without a fresh banana to eat
It’s just the right material
To go with milk and cereal.
Bright as the sun and shaped like the moon,
The slice floats onto my spoon,
But now too many banana bits
Are making the cereal have fits
Look at this bowl, so full of stuff.
Some fruits don’t know when enough’s enough!
The problem is, bananas have grown
To the size of a yellow telephone
Pole. Much too, much too large –
Why, one’s enough to fill a barge.
And once you peel it, everyone knows,
It has to be eaten, or there is goes.
Something needs doing about the peel,
Which coils up like a sleeping eel.
Banana, mine, I love your taste
But hate being tempted to go and waste.
So Mr. Grower and Mr. Shipper,
How about bananas with a zipper?
Passover, Warsaw, 1943
Tonight is the first night of Passover, the eight-day holiday, also known as the festival of matzoh (or unleavened bread), that commemorates the Jewish exodous from Egypt.
It was on this day in 1943, which was also, like today, the first night of Passover, that hundreds
of German soldiers entered the Jewish ghetto with tanks with plans to destroy the ghetto in three days.
Resistance fighters fought back
with the guns and grenades they had been storing. The following excerpt about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is from The Writer’s Almanac for April 19, 2008.
Thanks to Leon Freilich, OTBKB’s Verse Responder, for sending this my way. And Happy Pesach.
Hitler’s army had invaded Poland in September of 1939. Warsaw was the last city in Poland to submit to the Nazis, but on September 27, after three weeks of resistance, the city finally surrendered. One Warsaw man wrote in his diary, "All about us buildings lie in ruins. … If there is a Hell, this is it. [The] hospital was set afire. … The shrieks of those trapped in the flames could be heard for blocks around, even above the crash of shells and bombs."
Conditions only got worse. There were about 300,000 Jews in Warsaw to begin with, but thousands more Jewish refugees streamed in from smaller towns. On October 3, 1940, about a year after the invasion, the Nazis officially announced the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto.
They built a wall around a section of the city measuring about 20 blocks by six blocks. Jews were given a month to move into the ghetto, and all non-Jews were ordered to leave. Jews had to leave almost all of their possessions in their homes, and many of the Poles who left the ghetto area moved into their old apartments…
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Photography by Lara Wechsler: Get Chucked
Pope Causing Traffic Nightmares in Manhattan
You are warned: Use public transportation if you’re going into Manhattan. He was at the United Nations and will be at Park East synagogue this evening. I hear much of the Upper East Side is a mess.
Continue reading Pope Causing Traffic Nightmares in Manhattan
All Welcome to Blogfest: A Public Event for One and All
Just to be clear: Bloggers and non-bloggers alike are welcome at the Blogfest, a public event for one and all, on May 8th at 8 p.m.
The Lyceum is BIG and we can hopefully accomodate everyone who wants to be there.
Come to the Brooklyn Blogfest and find out why Brooklyn is the bloggiest place in the United States at the Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on May 8th at 8 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum at 227 Fourth Avenue (at President Street) in Park Slope.
“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” wrote Sewell Chan in the New York Times last year.
An event for bloggers and non-bloggers alike, the Blogfest brings together citizen journalists, place bloggers, photo bloggers, special interest bloggers, and the creative, quirky, and personal bloggers that make the Brooklyn Blogosphere such a fascinating place to be.
Come hear: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Creative Times, Bed-Stuy Blog, Gowanus Lounge, New York Shitty, Flatbush Gardener, and Luna Park Gazette.
Special features include a video by Blue Barn Pictures, a salute to Brooklyn’s photo bloggers, Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers plus special message from WNYC radio talk show host Brian Lehrer and a promo from Brooklyn Independent Television’s: A Walk Around the Blog.
Learn about blogging; be inspired to blog. Best of all, participate in the annual SHOUT-OUT: A chance to share YOUR blog with the world!
For additional information call or email: Louise Crawford at 71-288-4290 or louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com
Missing Girl Found: She Ran Away
Maria Barrett, the 11-year-old girl, who disappeared on Monday evening from her home on 2nd Street in Park Slope, is back at home with her mom.
The word on Seventh Avenue: She had a fight with her mother and ran away.
"She was found and returned by local police," says a member of the Park Slope United Methodist Church. "That’s all I know."
As to where the girl was hiding out when she ran away no one seems to know. Or no one’s telling. yet.
Problematic Service on the 2,3 Trains This Weekend
Thanks to Leon Freilich, who gets the MTA’s weekend advisories. He sent this to me:
1
No scheduled weekend service changes.
2
Manhattan-bound 2 trains skip Eastern Pkwy, Grand Army Plaza, and Bergen St
Apr 19 – 21, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon
Uptown 2 replace the 5 from Nevins to 149 Sts
Uptown 5 replace the 2 from Chambers to 149 Sts
Apr 19 – 21, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon
For more information click on the mta.info link in this e-mail, pick up
a brochure, and read station signs.
3
No 3 trains between New Lots Av and 14 St
Take the 4 instead
Apr 19 – 21, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon
4
Bronx-bound 4 trains skip 170 St, Mt Eden Av, and 176 St
Apr 19, 4 AM to 10 PM Saturday
Manhattan-bound 4 trains skip Eastern Pkwy, Grand Army Plaza, and Bergen St
Apr 19 – 21, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon
5
Uptown 5 replace the 2 from Chambers to 149 Sts
Uptown 2 replace the 5 from Nevins to 149 Sts
Apr 19 – 21, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon
For more information click on the mta.info link in this e-mail, pick up
a brochure, and read station signs.
6
Bronx-bound 6 trains run express from Hunts Point Av to Parkchester
Apr 19 – 20, 7 AM to 6 PM Sat and Sun
F
No scheduled weekend service changes.
Q
No scheduled weekend service changes.
R
Park Slope Rabbi Makes Newsweek’s Top Ten Pulpit Rabbis
According to Newsweek.com, Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope is number 10 in a list of 25 of the top pulpit rabbis in the United. States.
Mazel Tov to Andy and to Congregation Beth Elohim, which hired him just over a year ago to be their main main.
Bachman brought with him a large number of new congregants to Beth Elohim, many of whom were members of Brooklyn Jews, a community of Jews in Brooklyn he founded dedicated to social programming, Shabbat celebration, social action projects, and Jewish learning.
The following criteria was used by Newsweek.com to make their list of the top US rabbis.
• Ability to inspire congregation through scholarship and oratory
• Success in growing and expanding congregation
• Community leadership and innovation
• Ability to meet spiritual and personal needs and goals of his/her congregation
• Leadership within denominational movement
Missing Girl Found
Maria Barrett, the 11-year-old girl, who disappeared on Monday night, was found Thursday afternoon. At 7 p.m, a member of the Park Slope Methodist Church sent me an email. The church was
actively involved in the effort to locate Maria. Members of the church plastered the neighborhood with missing signs.
Wanted: Food, Wine and Liquor Sponsors for the Blogfest
If you’re a wine or liquor company, a local restaurant, or a maker of delicious snacks or baked goods and you want to get your brand and your product out there you might consider becoming a sponsor of the Brooklyn Blogfest.
Blogfest participants love to eat and drink and they really like to tell others about it. Talk about an influential crowd. There will be tons of neighborhood and food bloggers at this event and god knows they love to WRITE about whatever they’re eating, drinking, and doing.
Last year WNBC-TV covered the event on the 11 o’clock news, as did the New York Times and other media outlets.
Partida Tequila was a wonderful and generous sponsor of the Blogfest last year. And boy did they get a lot of publicity from that. They may want to do it again.
But we’re hoping to find some other sponsors, as well. And what better way to reach 300 influential Brooklynites who’s blogs reach tens of thousands readers every day.
If you’re interested, please email me and we can have a conversation about how you can be part of the Brooklyn Blogfest. I look forward to hearing from YOU.
louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com
Today: A Walk in the Park with PS 321’s GoGreen Walkathon
Today, a Park Slope elementary school will be taking a walk in Prospect Park.
It’s the second annual PS 321 GoGreen Walkathon. Beginning at 8:50 am, the entire school and some parents will walk up 3rd Street to
Prospect Park.
They will then walk a 2 mile inner loop
in Prospect Park. We are hoping that many parents will join us for
this event. Last year, it was an incredibly moving sight to see 1500
people all walking around the park to raise money to help make our
environment healthier!
It’s a fundraising event, too, for good environmental causes like
Brooklyn’s Added Value and the Red Hook Farmers Markets, NYC’s
Transportation Alternatives, and efforts to save the Amazon rain forest
(see below).
Last year, staff and parents
participated in deciding which of the many worthy environmental
organizations the school should support and identified organizations doing
important work that is understandable to our students. After much
discussion, the school decided to give the money they raise to three nonprofit
organizations.
PS 321’s School Leadership Team decided to make a three-year
commitment to these organizations:
• Added Value (www.added-value.org)
operates two Farmers Markets in Red Hook. The organization has a Youth
Leadership focus, and the Farmers Markets are run by teenagers trained
by Added Value. The organization has transformed an old asphalt area
into an urban farm. In addition to selling fresh, locally grown
produce, it donates food to those in need.
• Amazon Watch (www.amazonwatch.org)
is dedicated to the protection of the Amazon Rainforest–the lungs of
the earth–and its indigenous people. Amazon Watch supports Escuela
Senen Soi, a program that trains indigenous Amazonian leaders to
protect their environment.
• Transportation Alternatives (www.transalt.org)
is a New York City organization working on changing transportation
priorities to reduce cars , encourage safe biking, and improve public
transportation options. One of the projects that is particularly
accessible to our students is Safe Routes to School.
GoGreen Walkathon Today with Park Slope Public Schoo
Today every class at Park Slope’s PS 321 will participate in the GoGreen Walkathon in Prospect Park, a 2-mile walk around Longs Meadow in support of environmental issues in the city and around the world.
Last night, the 5th graders were given homework about organizations that are fighting to save the Amazon rain forest, Transportation Alternatives, Added Value, the organic farm in Red Hook and the Red Hook Farmer’s Market. The walk is also a fundraiser for these organizations.
Started in 2006, PS 321’s GoGreen is
a group of parents dedicated to promoting earth-friendly behaviors in children and raising the environmental awareness of all members of
the school community.
In that capacity, GoGreen is a source of support for teachers in
bringing environmental issues to the classroom, a source of information
for parents on topics related to green living, and an advocate for
reducing whereever possible the carbon footprint of the school
facility.
The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder
NO POPE IN PARK SLOPE
The Popemobile is due to cruise
The streets of Manhattan and the Bronx;
No-show in Brooklyn, that’s the news;
So what are we, a flock of skonx?
Some folks’ll be sad not to be sharing
As holidayers and serenaders
The evening meals they’ve been preparing
For the Pope’s
Passover seders
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Photo by Lara Wechsler: Skate
Park Slope Shocked by Missing Posters
This sort of thing doesn’t happen here.
Isn’t that what people always say when a child goes missing. And yesterday as residents of Park Slope discovered missing signs on every block of Seventh and Fifth Avenue they expressed shock and dismay.
"Have you seen those fliers on the street about a missing girl, who is 11 years old," one friend emailed me.
Another friend reminded me that Maria Barrett, the missing girl, is only in fifth grade, the same grade my daughter is in. I overhead the crossing guard, a large woman who crosses PS 321 students and others during school hours on First Street and Seventh Avenue, talking to a neighbor. Standing next to a lamp post with a sign, she talked about the girl as if she knew her: So and so saw her just the other day, she said.
Although the perception might be otherwise, stranger abduction is actually very rare in the United States. The likelihood of it happening is like one in a million. Most stereotypical abductions are conducted by people the child knows.
Oh where can Maria be? Was she kidnapped by a stranger or a family friend? Is she hiding somewhere around here? Was she the victim of a crime? Did she run away?
It’s every parents worst nightmare. Just temporarily losing your child on the street, in a store, at the playground can cause instant panic. Usually you find them within minutes but not without your mind jumping to every worst case scenario.
Can you imagine not knowing where your child is for days?
Park Slope Girl Still Missing
Last night at 11:29 p.m. a member of Park Slope United Methodist Church on 6th Avenue and 8th Street sent me a jpeg of the flyer that’s all over Park Slope.
Maria Barrett and her family are members of the church. He told me that members of the church have been blanketing the neighborhood with the flyers.
Maria, age 11, has been missing since Monday night. She was last seen on 2nd Street between 6th and 5th Avenues.
If you have any information call Maria’s mother, Jane Barrett at 718-237-3400. Detective Gibbons is with the 78th precinct. His number is 718-636-6483
The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder
HUNTIN’ FOR VOTES
Who knew that Pennsylvania
Was Wild West shootin’ territory?
Debatin’ there, both Hiill and Obe
Strapped on guns and looked real ornery..
They waited long enough, till last night’s
Debate (and buddy, this ain’t slanderin’)
Before goin’ after them down-home hunters
With mighty good old-fashioned panderin’.
Earth Week at the Audubon Center
This is from Eugene Patron, the man who spreads the word about all things Prospect Park. There’s loads to do next week, which is a school vacation.
Celebrate Earth Week at the Prospect Park Audubon Center! This year’s Earth Week will have a different theme each day, with programming for environmentalists of all ages.
April 21 – 27 at the Audubon Center
Learn how to do your part through lectures, tours, activities, film screenings, workshops, recyclable crafts, and a daily exhibit. See the schedule below for a full list of what’s going on.
Monday, April 21 Earth Week Crafts, 1 – 3 p.m.
Connect with nature in a whole new way by making all-natural and recycled crafts! Drop in and create a take-home craft.
Discover Tour: Natural Revival, 3 p.m.
Audubon naturalists explain what can be done to protect nature in Prospect Park, the history and philosophy behind its restoration, and the future of the park. Binoculars provided.
Earth Day: Tuesday, April 22 Earth Day Pledge, 1 – 4 p.m.
Learn about what you can do to help the environment by reducing waste, conserving energy, recycling, saving water, and protecting our natural resources. Make an Earth Day pledge that will be posted at the Boathouse.
Advocacy Station Craft, 2 – 4 p.m.
Speak out! Design and make an advocacy button that displays your most passionate environmental issue opinion. Supplies and button maker provided.
Wednesday, April 23 Film Screening: the BBC’s "Planet Earth: Seasonal Forests", 4 p.m.
Watch this Emmy Award-winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough. This episode surveys the coniferous and deciduous seasonal woodland habitats—the most extensive forests on Earth. Appropriate for all ages. 44 min.
Thursday, April 24 Earth Week Crafts, 1 – 3 p.m.
See April 21.
Discover Tour: Natural Revival, 3 p.m.
See April 21.
Friday, April 25 Arbor Day Celebration: Children’s Story Time, 2 – 3 p.m.
Story readings from some of the most famous children’s books that have trees as their subjects.
Tree Walk, 3 – 4 p.m.
Learn what magnificent and famous specimens call Prospect Park home on a tree walk with a Naturalist.
Saturday, April 26
B’EarthDay Bash
Celebrate the birthdays of John James Audubon, Frederick Law Olmsted, and James T. Stranahan, along with the sixth anniversary of the Prospect Park Audubon Center. Expect a fun-filled day of special guided walks, craft workshops, and more.
Children’s Craft: Nature Journals, 1 – 3 p.m.
Like all great naturalists, John James Audubon was famous for his nature journals. Keep his spirit alive by creating your own out of recycled materials, then take your journal out on the nature walk at 3 p.m. and record your first observations.
John James Audubon-inspired Nature Walk, 3 – 4 p.m.
Join our Senior Naturalist on a nature walk influenced by the spirit of John James Audubon. Tour Prospect Park’s most interesting natural areas while gaining an understanding of Audubon’s passion for the natural world. Binoculars provided.
Artist’s Reception: Leaf and Circle, 5 – 8 p.m.
Join this reception for artist Jessica Baker’s unique exhibit.
Sunday, April 27
Bicycle Tune-Up Center, 1 – 4 p.m.
Riding a bicycle instead of driving a car is a simple way to help the environment. Bring your bike to the Audubon Center and get help tuning it up for spring. Also, learn quick lessons for maintaining your bike and improving its performance.
Think Locally! 2 – 3 p.m.
Ever wonder what it really takes to get everyday goods and resources such as groceries or electricity into your home? Join us for a presentation on the topic of bioregionalism—learn what it is, how you can practice it, and what working examples exist in Brooklyn today.
Discover Tour: Get Inspired! Get Motivated! 3 p.m.
Inspiration leads to motivation, and motivation results in action! Take a tour of the beautifully restored Midwood forest and lend a hand to help clean up the area. Learn about the Midwood’s ecological history and what is being done to restore it. Binoculars provided.
ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Photography by Lara Wechsler: Fifth Avenue Hardware
Coffee with Evan Thies
I arrived late for coffee at Ozzie’s with Evan Thies but he didn’t seem to mind. He is hoping to replace David Yassky as City Councilmember in the 33rd District 33rd, which includes Park
Slope, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, DUMBO, Cobble
Hill, Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill.
He lives in the Northside of Williamsburg and worked with Hillary Clinton, and David Yassky as a senior advisor for five years, where he worked on a wide
range of local issues in the Council, as well as citywide issues.
He’s a very down-to-earth, wonky, policy-oriented guy, who loves to talk about government reform and affordable housing
We immediately started talking about a wide range of topics including blogging and the role that Brooklyn blogging has assumed in the media and political information landscape of Brooklyn.
Thies talked passionately about education and the need to advocate for public school education and undo some of the wrong-headed aspects of the Bloomberg administration’s education policy.
Development is Thies sweet spot. He is frustrated by the way huge swaths of Brooklyn have been developed without concern for infrastructure, affordable housing or education.
Today’s conversation was more of a "getting to know you" type of thing. It was early and I wasn’t taking notes but I must say I got a very positive impression of Thies and his desire to be a really practical, community-oriented city councilmember willing to lend his ear to those in the community who wish to share ideas.
At his December campaign kick-off at Union Hall in December Thies shared with the crowd some of his thoughts on development in this city. I found this excerpt at the NY Observer.
If there’s one constant in New York, it’s change—and right now things
are changing faster than ever. Development is our biggest issue today.
It affects everything: where we can afford to live, the quality of our
neighborhoods, and even where the jobs are. In the Northern part of
this council district alone, where I live and my grandmother used to
work, we will add 10,000 new residents in the next few years. Park
Slope, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn are all growing. But who benefits
from that? If billions are invested in our communities, shouldn’t that
mean that the folks who live here now can still afford to later; that
our schools improve, not slide; that this becomes a nicer place to live
and not a harder one to?
Wake Up and Smell the Sewage
Today over coffee with Evan Thies, who is running for David Yassky’s city council spot, I learned that my old friend from video production days, Dewey Thompson, is a member of Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee. It was great to hear his name again. Hey Dewey, how ya doing.
Evan Thies seems like a good guy. A real policy wonk, he cares A LOT about affordable housing, education and a rethinking about the way development is approached in this city.
Once home, I googled Evan and Dewey. Here’s what I found about Dewy. And it’s in the award-winning Brooklyn Paper from February 2008.
Greenpoint’s noxious Newtown Creek sewage treatment plant will lose its notorious stink, city officials promised last month.
Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd announced on Jan. 23 that the city’s upgrade and expansion of the facility would knock out the smell by adding chlorination tanks and enclosing the open-air treatment basins.
Some residents were open-minded about that promise, but others were skeptical.
“If everything works the way it is supposed to, we should be an odor-free community by the end of the year,” said Christine Holowacz of the Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee.
Dewey Thompson, a member of Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee, was less convinced. “I can’t imagine a sewage treatment plant that won’t smell like sewage,” he said. “I’d like to believe what the commissioner said, but my nose says ‘no.’”
Thompson wasn’t the only skeptic. Dubious questions came fast and furious at the meeting, prompting plant superintendent James Pynn to admit that the city does not actually monitor odor at the plant because odor cannot be quantified scientifically. Simply put, only the nose knows.
“Odor is a perceptible nuisance, but it’s not a health hazard,” Pynn said.
Greenpointers have good reason to be skeptical about the city’s promises. In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg pledged to staunch the stench at the Owls Head sewage treatment plant in Bay Ridge — but two years later, residents there are still complaining about the smell.