It's Official Crime is on the Rise - Bring Back the Beat

There have been a couple incidents on our block recently, so please be careful and consider the request below to help deal with the issue of increased crime in the neighborhood.

 

Reprinted from the Fort Greene Association blog

 

Fort Greeners,
The 88th precinct has finally admitted to what community leaders have been saying for over two years, that crime is on the rise in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.  Fort Greeners don't take issues like this sitting down, they take action.  Last night at the FGA November Meeting a SRO crowd began to take action  by demanding the return of Beat Cops to Fort Greene and Clinton Hill by signing and sending letters to Commission Kelly as part of our "Bring Back the Beat" campaign.

Now it's time for you to do your part.  Either use the letter as a starting point for your own personalized version or download the letter and mail it to the Commissioner today.  While social media and email have their place they do not replace the old analog form of the good old letter.

I ask you to take the time today to protect your neighborhood, your family, your children by participating in our Bring Back the Beat campaign.

Paul Palazzo
FGA Chair

Download the letter to print or copy and paste from below.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly
NYC Police Department Headquarters
One Police Plaza
New York, NY 10038

November 18, 2010

Re: Bring Back Street Patrols to Fort Greene Clinton Hill

Dear Commissioner Kelly:

I am writing to you to ask support in protecting something you helped to create, the current day neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.  Back in the early nineties you and then Mayor Dinkins initiated the Safe Streets program which initiated a precipitous decline in crime and fostered the renaissance of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.  Thank you for helping to create such a vibrant neighborhood.

Fort Greene and Clinton Hill are now destination locations for both tourists and native New Yorkers.  Our streets are alive with scenes of shoppers, sightseers, and increasingly young families enjoying my great neighborhood.  I want these scenes to continue but they and my family are being threatened.

Crime is now on the rise in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill and the time has come again to bring back the successes of Safe Streets.  What I am speaking of specifically are neighborhood foot patrols, more commonly known as the neighborhood Beat Cop.

You have been attentive to my neighborhood and I appreciate your recent additional emphasis in apprehending perpetrators of crime. As a proactive force you demonstrated the Beat Cop of the Safe Streets program was highly effective in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. Beat Cops in the early nineties not only provided a visible deterrent to crime but also became part of our neighborhood fabric. I would like to see the Police as part of my neighborhood again.

So please Commissioner Kelly help protect and strengthen what you started decades ago.  Let's bring back Beat Cops to Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Sincerely,

Spring is here and the CBA is back!

Hi friends!

I recently returned from my work as a Kiva Fellow in South America and am working to get the Block Association back up and running!

1. Next Cumberland Block Association Meeting - April 28th or 29th
2. Next Fort Greene Association Meeting - Monday April 19th at 7:30 (7 PM for neighborhood social)
3. Petition for church on Greene Ave
4. Fort Greene House tour on Sunday, May 2nd from 12 - 5
5. Clinton Hill Garden Walk on Sunday, June 6th from 11 - 5

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1. Next Cumberland Block Association Meeting - we are planning for the week after next

Stay tuned for details.  The next meeting will be likely April 28th or 29th.  I am in the process of coordinating the date and location.

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2. Fort Greene Association meeting tomorrow at 7:30 (7 PM for neighborhood social)

Join us at our next scheduled Neighborhood meeting to be held on Monday April 19, 2010 -7:30PM, at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Fort Greene has changed but our choices for healthy food seem to be stuck in the past. At this meeting we’ll explore the Food Solutions coming to our neighborhood Come share your experiences with others and learn about efforts to provide healthy food choices to Fort Greene.

Ask questions, and get answers. Plus all the goings on in Fort Greene and don’t forget to come early and meet your neighbors with refreshments starting at 7PM.
YUMMY! ENTER OUR RECIPE – POT LUCK CONTEST

What is your favorite healthy recipe for a family of four on a budget?
Bring along your favorite designed to cost $10 or less to the meeting for the 7PM Neighborhood Mixer
and enter our Recipe – Pot Luck Contest.

Enter to win valuable prizes and share your secrets on healthy eating with your neighbors.

Come and savor what your neighbors have to offer.

As always FGA Meetings are Open to All Homeowners and Renters alike

Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

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3. Petition for Church on Greene Ave

Our neighbor Phil (thanks Phil!) has created a petition regarding the church on Greene Ave.  It is dangerous and caused violations and pests in neighboring restaurants.  It blocked part of the greene space creation at 7 corners and it doesn't look like anything is going to change for awhile.  Please join us and sign the petition at the next meeting.

4. Fort Greene House Tour
Sunday, May 02, 2010
12:00 PM to 5:00 PM

BAM Triangle Park
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11217

The 30th Fort Greene Association House Tour is coming! The tour is held only once every two years, and this one will be even better than the last. In addition to gaining access into the splendid Victorian interiors of Fort Greene you will also get a glimpse of the backstage life of Fort Greene. Fort Greene which has become the City's hot new arts scene will swing open its doors with exclusive Artists Showings and Backstage Tours. The Tour will also feature residents who have shops, produce national magazines, and design on a global scale right from the comfort of this all inclusive neighborhood. Join us in fort Greene Brooklyn for this very special event benefiting the advocacy and programs of the all-volunteer, non-profit organization, the Fort Greene Association.

TICKETS
Advance Ticket: $20

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5. Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District 13th Annual Garden Walk

Sunday, June 6, 2010
11:00am - 5:00pm
Clinton Hill private and community gardens

Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District presents its self-guided 13th Annual Garden Walk. Spend a Sunday afternoon being inspired by the creativity of this neighborhood's urban gardeners. The stops on the tour include single, double and triple-lot city refuges. Pick up a self-guided map at the corner of Washington Avenue and Lafayette, just outside the entrance to the G train, and enter into a a wonderland that cannot be seen from the street.

This year's stroll features 15 private gardens in the historic district of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. In addition to private gardens, many of which also feature the artwork of their creators folded into their greenery, the tour includes several vibrant community gardens, a newly planted garden entitled, Symbols, Parables and Healing, sponsored by BBGD in partnership with Teen Challenge, the drug recovery and prevention program at 444 Clinton Avenue, The Pratt sculpture Garden, green graffiti art installations and a Living-Couture Fashion Show in a neighborhood church.

All proceeds from the Garden Walk fund activities that support, encourage and facilitate local gardening, urban farming and environmental art.

Tickets are available in advance for $15 at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/107257

and for $20 the day of the event.

Local ticket outlets will be announced shortly

Contact:
Emily Wasserman
151 Dekalb Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718 852 9283
emilywas@gmail.com
 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1297300822&ref=profile#!/event.php?eid=115612625123494&ref=mf

Traffic Calming Reset on DeKalb Avenue

Fort Greeners,

You may have noticed that NYCDOT Signals has reset the signals on DeKalb Avenue between Vanderbilt and Ashland Avenue. The 25 m.p.h. progression was installed in 2001 as a Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming pilot program but over time some of the signals have gotten "out of synch" and the consistent progression was lost.

The purpose of creating a progression slower than the posted speed limit (also known as "signal calming") is to discourage speeding. Motorists starting from a red light will only be able to achieve a consistent speed of 25 m.p.h. Traveling faster than this will result in the motorist having to stop and wait for the next light to turn green, as he/she is ahead of the "green wave".
NYCDOT Signals has looked into this issue as there have been many concerns from the community about speeding on DeKalb Avenue. Though signal calming cannot completely prevent speeding, based its experience in other corridors NYCDOT has found that the program does work.

The FGA would be interested in hearing any observations this and other traffic and public transportation related issues. Send your comments to transit@HistoricFortGreene.org.
Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

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The Fort Greene Association, Inc., operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Clothing Recycle at Fort Greene Farmer's Market on Saturdays

Fort Greeners,

Textiles such as clothing and linens comprise nearly 6% of residential waste in the city, adding to landfills and disposal costs.

We are pleased to report that the Council on the Environment of New York City [CENYC] is expanding textile recycling program.

Beginning August 1 the following Fort Greene park Greenmarket will accept clothing and other textiles for reuse or recycling

SATURDAY
8am-3pm, Fort Greene Park Greenmarket, Washington Park at DeKalb

How does textile recycling work? You drop off clean clothing, shoes, bedding, linens, hats, handbags, belts and other textiles in usable or non-usable condition. Donations are sorted into different grades such as cotton blend and synthetic scrap and then redistributed to markets where there is a demand for these materials, such as wearable clothing or stuffing for mattresses. For more information visit www.cenyc.org/clothing or call 212-788-7989.
Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

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The Fort Greene Association, Inc., operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

FGA News - Got Junk! Turn it into Gold!

1st Annual Fort Greene Information X-Change
Stoop Sale Day!
Saturday, June 27th, 11:00am-4:00pm

The group encourages participants to donate 10% of sales to a local association so we thought we could donate our 10% of sales to the Cumberland Block Association to beautify the area around John's corner bodega with a planter.

Fort Greeners,

Got Junk! Turn it into Gold!
by participating in the
1st Annual Fort Greene Information X-Change
Stoop Sale Day!
Saturday, June 27th, 11:00am-4:00pm
(Rain date: June 28th)

Brooklyn Young Filmmakers and Fort Greene SNAP are inviting Fort Greene neighbors to come out on Saturday, June 27th and hold their own household stoop sales as part of the FGInfoX Stoop Sale Day.

If you want to do a stoop sale on Saturday, June 27th and have your block shown on the FGInfoX Stoop Sale Day Map, you can contact Fort Greene SNAP 718-694-6957 and ask to speak to Henrietta or Terry, or you can visit www.fortgreenesnap.org and download an application (You can also ask questions online at FGInfoXStoopSale@fortgreenesnap.org.) Deadline to apply: Monday, June 22nd.

Starting June 20th, the FGInfoX Stoop Sale Day Map will be available for download at www.wearebyfc.org and www.fortgreenesnap.org. FGInfoX will also be distributing it door to door to residents in brownstones and public housing, as well as leaving stacks at several public locations, and advertising in newspaper community calendars and online blogs.

FGInfoX and Fort Greene Snap are encouraging participating households to pledge to donate up to ten percent of their proceeds to a special project of their local neighborhood association or to one of the small neighborhood non-profits participating in the FGInfoX Stoop Sale Day, but it's not
required.

Brooklyn Young Filmmakers will use the proceeds from their stoop sale to help fund their July Community Filmmaking shoot here in Fort Greene.

Want to act? Check out the Community Casting Call FGInfoX is hosting on June 10th on the BYFC Blog www.wearebyfc.org.

"My South Elliott block (between DeKalb and Lafayette) is on the FGInfoX Stoop Sale Day map. How about adding yours?" - Trayce, BYFC Director

Not doing a stoop sale? Do a green thing and get your name in the film credits by donating saleable items that you are not using to Brooklyn Young Filmmakers for resale at their stoop sale to help them fund their July film project.

Contact Brooklyn Young Filmmakers at FGInfoX@wearebyfc.org, 718-935-0490.
Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

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The Fort Greene Association, Inc., operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Rats - a chronic problem in Fort Greene. Get relief!

Fort Greeners,

If you have a rat problem tomorrow June 17, 2009 two important meetings will be held to discuss neighborhood actions against this chronic issue.

6:30 - 7:30 PM at LAPC, 85 South Oxford Street at Lafayette
Rodent expert Dr. Robert Corrigan of the Department of Health will be present to discuss rodent control strategies, as well as representatives from the Department of Sanitation.
Sponsored by:
Council Member Letitia James, and concerned residents of Fort Greene

8:00 PM at 308 Carlton Avenue btwn Lafayette & DeKalb
At the home of John Tedstrom, meet your neighbors to discuss what can be done on the nearby blocks. This local block meeting begins at 7PM and will include presentations from the FGA, Green Fort Greene / Clinton Hill , and the Carlton Willoughby Block Association about other neighborhood building programs. All are welcome.


JOIN IN THE FIGHT!
Come learn what you can do to help combat...Rats!
Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

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The Fort Greene Association, Inc., operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Sunday at Fort Greene Garden Tour

Tokumbo and I went on the Fort Greene Garden Tour on Sunday June 14th. No wonder they call us Fort Greene!
















This is a lush, natural-looking garden filled with flowers and plants.
















This garden has been cultivated for many years with the help of a few classes at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and a professional garden designer.
















A window box on Claremont Ave.

















This garden has a modern look created by the own of Plant Specialists in Long Island City.

Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District 12th Annual Garden Walk Sunday, June 14th, 2009 from 11am - 5pm

The self-guided Fort Greene Garden Walk on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 from 11am - 5pm includes 10 private gardens, 3 community gardens and a commercial rooftop, featuring a hydroponic garden, a beehive and a chicken coop.

Additional stops on the tour include Irondale Theatre (http://Irondale.org) and GreenSpaces (http://GreenSpacesNY.com) where acclaimed "green graffiti" artist Edina Tokadi (http://mosstika.com) has created an indoor installation and her first permanent outdoor piece. Claiming that urban "distance from nature is cliché," Ms. Tokodi creates street art out of moss and grass.

The hidden verdant treasures of the historical and culturally explosive neighborhood of Fort Greene will delight and amaze those who seize the opportunity of the garden tour to visit them. While the Tate museum protects the Elgin marbles, an old-time Fort Greener has painstakingly reconstructed a Roman ruin in his own backyard. Inspired by a stroll thru Hadrian's villa outside of Rome, Italy this gardener has taken the two combined yards behind his brownstone and recreated the mossy patina of a decaying Roman ruin. This historical wonderland is choc-a-bloc with shards of ruins, embedded plaques that detail the pageantry of Ancient Rome and raised platforms perfect for oration. Togos optional.

Another stop is the garden of legendary jazz singer and long-time Fort Greene resident, Betty Carter. Throughout her esteemed career, Ms. Carter partnered with the genre's greatest, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and fellow Fort Greene resident Sonny Rollins. Passing away in 1998, a weeping willow tree that she planted in 1970 forms the focal point of the garden that she lovingly tended.

Other highlights include a triple lot with multiple plantings and a separate vegetable garden, the wild and woody private garden of the New York Mycological Society's founder, a handsome formal stone landscape with a sunken pool, and a showcase garden designed for entertaining, by the talented owners of Plant Specialists, one of New York's top landscape design teams. In addition, John Howe of the Brooklyn Bee (http://thebrooklynbee.com) will be on hand with his bee kit. The Sankofa Art Center will showcase birdbaths made at its Fort Greene pottery collective, and Alive Structures (http://alivestructures.com), a local business, that creates green roofs and walls and planters from recycled materials, will display its wares.

Fort Greene proudly struts its long tradition of greenery. The leafy neighborhood would make Michelle Obama proud, as its residents had a strong sense of community, tended vegetables, raised bees on rooftops and advocated gardening long before we even knew her name.

Advance Tickets $15
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/68832
The Greene Grape/Provisions, 753 Fulton St., Fort Greene
Root Stock & Quade, 471 Myrtle Ave., Clinton Hill
The Forest Floor, 659 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights
Thirst Wine Merchants, 187 DeKalb Ave., Fort Greene
Day of Event $20
The Greene Grape/Provisions, 753 Fulton St., Fort Greene

All ticket holders must visit The Greene Grape/Provisions on the day of the tour for a copy of the map.

For information:
Emily Wasserman 718 852 9283
brownstonebgd@gmail.com www.bbgd.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-NY/Brownstone-Brooklyn-Garden-District/74500971368
Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

The Fort Greene Association, Inc., operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Fort Greene Association Meeting - Wednesday, June 10, 2009 7:30pm

Fort Greeners,

The Fort Greene Association is proud to announce our next Open Meeting entitled:The Future of Health Care: Are you covered?

The meeting which is to be held at the grand South Oxford Space of ARTNY, 138 South Oxford Street on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 7:30PM with a "Meet your Neighbor Mixer" starting at 7PM. Light refreshments will be served. - Speaker list subject to change.

At the June 10th meeting guest speaker Dr. Oliver Fein, an advocate for single-payer healthcare, will trace the history of health care in our nation; from charity hospitals for the poor, to the linking of health benefits to employment during World War II, to the present-day dominance of the private for-profit health insurance industry. He will analyze the costs of private health care. He will compare health outcomes of other industrial nations, all of whom have guaranteed health care, with the outcomes in the United States. Be there, your health depends upon it.

Dr. Fein is Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Public Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, where he serves as Associate Dean responsible for the Office of Affiliations and the Office of Global Health Education. Dr. Fein has advocated for an expanded role for primary care and for academic health centers in urban health care delivery systems. He was Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow during 1993-1994, where he worked in the office of Democratic Majority Leader George Mitchell. He is immediate past vice president of the American Public Health Association.

GROWING OLD IN FORT GREENE:
FGA Member, Beverly Emmons will describe a new pilot program being initiated with the help of the FGA, Good Neighbors of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Good Neighbors is a membership 501c3 organization being fostered by the Fort Greene Association whose purpose is to help keep people in their own homes as long as possible.

Modeled on an organization founded 8 years ago in Boston, called Beacon Hill Village, Good Neighbors arranges to offer its members, primarily through third party providers, many of the activities and services available to residents of conventional high quality retirement communities. [Wall Street Journal Nov 15-16 2008]

ALL THIS AND ALL THE GOINGS ON IN FORT GREENE

All are welcome, owners and renters alike

Got an issue you need to voice? Sign up for our OPEN MIC. Speak-out - Be heard.

The Future of Health Care: Are you covered? - Open to all

When: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 - 7:30PM

Where: South Oxford Space of ARTNY, 138 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

For further information please the Fort Greene Association at
email: theFGA@HistoricFortGreene.org
web: www.HistoricFortGreene.org

Serving Greater Fort Greene,
Fort Greene Association

The Fort Greene Association, Inc., operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization.