Meeting notes and a temporary farewell

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This month's meeting was great - we assembled at the LeBlanc residence at 304. We met new neighbors and caught up with friends.
Warm welcome to our new members - Annabelle (296), Steve (301) and Cori (304) and thanks to all current members for joining us!


Green Fort Greene and Clinton Hill

We had a guest speaker, Jed Marcus, from Green Fort Greene and Clinton
Hill. He spoke about several initiatives in the works to reduce the carbon footprint of the neighborhood:

• Distributing compact flourescent light bulbs to local businesses to sell at cost
• Bike parking
• Recycling in the local parks
  
• Tree pit expansion (please read about the tree pit survey I did on our block)
• Green business initiatives
• Ways to get involved with Green Fort Greene and Clinton Hill
  

Church on Greene Ave

We also got an update on the church on Greene Ave from Phil via email.

From Phil:

"I did speak this week with a representative of the church at 5 Greene. She was not too forthcoming, but said that they intend to start construction in October / November. Would give me no schedule on completion."

Steve volunteered to get signatures for a petition. The other day I noticed that the garbage around the front of the church lot has been cleaned up. Maybe they are making progress...if anyone knows, please share.



Atlantic Yards
We heard some news about Atlantic Yards from Sean. There is one lawsuit remaining. The situation has changed due to Mikhail Prokhorov's bid for the Nets.



Contractor recommendations
Please continue to share contractor recommendations. We can support good work and possibly get discounts for our block.


Temporary farewell

This will be my last Cumberland Block Association meeting for awhile. Steve has volunteered to maintain the blog in my absence. On a side note: if you are interested in following my stories as a Kiva Fellow in Peru and beyond, please visit http://leapwork.com or for stories by all Kiva Fellows around the world, please visit http://fellowsblog.kiva.org

See you all when I return!
Sheethal

Green FG&CH--THIS WEEKEND -- Get and give out trees +more bike racks

Dear neighbors,

Apologies for the short notice, but good opportunities beckon:

Get a tree or give out trees: As part of Myrtle Avenue's fall celebration, Move About Myrtle, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, MillionTreesNYC and the New York Restoration Project are offering trees for planting on private property. Sunday, September 20 11-7 between Ryerson and Grand. Also, please volunteer to help give out trees -- pick a two hour slot from 10:00 a.m. on and respond to Sarah Farwell at 718.230.1689 or sarah@myrtleavenue.org. Bring a friend, bring the kids.

Bike Racks: 72 installed so far. We have a last-minute chance to request more for installation in 2009. Please send requests by Sunday night 9/20 to gilnyc@yahoo.com. I apologize for the short notice, but opportunity just knocked. Thanks to Gil Ronen.

For racks outside of schools please get a written consent from the school's principal and send a scanned copy by Tuesday night 9/22.

For each request specify an exact street address (e.g. 709 Fulton), cross streets (e.g. between St Felix and Ashland), and if the location is in front of a business then the name of the business (e.g. in front of Crunch).

The rules: Bick racks must be

• On City-owned property, i.e., sidewalks, parks, school property, etc.;
• On wide concrete sidewalks (minimum sidewalk width 12 feet);
• Removed from the natural flow of pedestrians, usually at the curb and always away from crosswalks;
• Usually a minimum of 6 feet from other street furniture (e.g., street signs, mailboxes, benches, telephones); and
• Generally 13 feet from fire hydrants, and 15 feet from bus stop shelters and newsstands.
• CityRacks can NOT be installed on pavers, cobblestone, brick, stone/slate slabs, custom/patterned concrete or metal grating.

Together we will do great things.

Enjoy the weekend.

Jed S. Marcus
Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill
13 Greene Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11238

T: 718.643.6555
F: 718.643.9111

info@greenfgch.org

New bus shelter on Greene Ave and bike rack

I called 311 to request a new bus shelter on Greene Ave. I really like the fancy new Cemusa ones and for reason they skipped our block.

I also requested bike parking.

Let's see the power of 311...