Meeting notes and a temporary farewell

Please click here to subscribe to the Cumberland Block Association blog

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

Next Block Association Meeting Wed Sept 30th at 6:30 PM - 304 Cumberland St

Hi neighbors,

We'll have our next block association meeting:

Wednesday, September 30th at 6:30 PM at the LeBlanc residence at 304 Cumberland Street.

Please be on time so we can finish the meeting before they have to put their daughter to bed by 8PM.

To help expand our group, please ask a neighbor if they will join you. We'll have a drink and meet our neighbors, discuss block happenings and project updates.

A couple notes:

• Subscribe: Please subscribe to the blog through the link below so you will get email updates. (You can unsubscribe at any time) http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=CumberlandBlockAssociation&loc=en_US
• Suggestions: There is a new feedback tab on the left side of the blog. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions there.
• New York Times Fort Greene Local blog: The Cumberland Block Association is now on The NY Times Fort Greene Local's blogroll!
  

See you on the 30th.

Best,
Sheethal
http://cumberlandblockassociation.blogspot.com

Second Meeting - Thursday, July 9th at 7 PM

Click here to subscribe to blog updates. Feedburner is the company that delivers our blog emails so don't get confused by that. Just enter your email address and submit. You will then get an email confirmation of your subscription. And then you're in!

----

Hi neighbors,

We had our second meeting tonight at the Raible residence at 307 Cumberland. We enjoyed some refreshing white wine, brie, fresh fruit and veggies and no-pudge brownies during the meeting.

Welcome to our new members - Loise (291), David (314) and Estelita and Lilly (29 Greene)! Thanks to our members Deb and Phil (307) for hosting the meeting in their beautiful home and Rodney (310) and Sheethal (311) for their attendance.

We started with introductions. Loise told us some great stories about our block. Her parents lived in 291 since the 50's until their passing and she grew up on the block. We learned about some of our past neighbors. Thanks Loise for sharing that info with us! Please click here to access the Block Association Contact List. Please update your info if it is incorrect. If you know anyone else on the block who would be interested in joining us, please let me know.

We talked about some block happenings -

• Planting at Seven Corners (intersection of Fulton, Greene and Hanson Place). Read more info about that here
  
• Updates on Atlantic Yards
• Updates on the Salvation Army building on Hanson Place
• Loise asked about where to donate clothes. Sheethal suggested the Salvation Army on Flatbush. Rodney mentioned that clothes could be donated to a women's and childern's shelter on Dean between Carlton and Vanderbilt.

Block Association Projects

Click here to access to the ongoing project list

Some project updates -

• Sheethal updated us on our entry into the Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest. Our entry is in. Read more about that here.
• Sheethal updated us on the beautification on the garage in front of 311 project that Tokumbo has been working on. John has improved the look by painting over the spray painted "No Parking" but we think we could get this to look even better.
• Sheethal requested bike parking on our block. Please support this effort by adding your request for bike parking by clicking here to submit an online form through 311.
  
• Sheethal requested a new bus shelter on Greene Ave (we still have the old one). Please help support this effort by calling 311 to request a new bus shelter on Greene Ave.
  
• We discussed postponing the block party until next year so we would have more time to plan something good.

We also added a few new project ideas to our list -

• Alleviate the mess of telephone wires in the backyards
• Coordinate a block trip to the Irondale Theater in the Presbyterian Church
• BAM and Mark Morris community involvement - learn about ways they are already involved or could be involved in the local schools or maybe with our block party
• Resolve the parking situation in front of Mugavero Senior's Center so that when ambulances park or folks need to leave, it is more accessible

New Project Ownership

• Rodney has agreed to learn about how to start a Neighborhood Watch program.
• Phil and Loise will work on the Church on Greene Ave. Loise mentioned a woman named Clarissa James on South Elliot who needs a space for her daycare center. She suggested perhaps the church space could be used for that if not something else productive, instead of sitting vacant.
• Dave said he would compile a list of contractors. Please submit recommendations to him or post them on that project thread.
  

Thanks neighbors for helping us get our projects going! If you have any thoughts for projects and/or would like to help your neighbors in their efforts, please email Sheethal at sheethalshobowale@gmail.com or sign up for an existing project on our project list.


Hope to see you at the next event or the August meeting!

Next Cumberland Block Association meeting - Thursday July 9th at 7PM

Hi neighbors,

We'll have our next block association meeting on Thursday, July 9th at 7 PM at the Raible residence at 307 Cumberland Street.

We'll have a drink, meet new members, and discuss block happenings and projects for the summer.

Please subscribe to the blog through the link below so you will get email updates. (You can unsubscribe at any time)
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=CumberlandBlockAssociation&loc=en_US

Happy 4th of July weekend! Hope everyone has lots of BBQs to go to.

Best,
Sheethal http://cumberlandblockassociation.blogspot.com

First Meeting - Thursday May 21st ~ 7 PM

In true Brooklyn form, the meeting didn't start until 7:30. We discussed the Landmarks Commission for a bit while waiting for people to arrive. We started with introductions while Tokumbo (311) passed out nametags.

Meeting was attended by Phil (307), Sabrina (304), Matt (304), Jack (306), Donald (300), Sheethal (311), Tokumbo (311), Nancy (310), Rodney (310) and Ezra (310) (for a couple minutes he threatened to squirt us with the hose ;)  Carol (299), Denis (281), Hugo (281), Joy (309) and Candice (309) expressed interest but could not join us.

We discussed having meetings at the church or rotating between neighbors once a month. It was decided we all want to check out each other's pads so we would rotate.

Ideas for the Block Association -

(Please comment below the post on which activity you would like to champion.  First come first served.)

Tree guards - Cumberland Block association between Dekalb and Lafayette got uniform tree guards.  I will contact them.  I also found out that donating to New York Tree Trust can apparently get the city to put them in but I didn't find anymore info on the Parks Department website.

Neighborhood Watch - do something about people urinating on the block, drinking, etc., break-ins on Cumberland and gunpoint break-in on Washington Park. Find out what a block watch entails like signs for block watch. Police Department is starting a watch program again.

Stoop Sale - block wide on a Brooklyn Flea day

Street Repaving - ask through community board, DOT, Sanitation. Perhaps the block association and individuals should file complaints. More about this to follow

Block Party - Last weekend in August or September, Look into getting a permit from the Parks Department
Police will put up a barricade (and a bouncy castle!), look for vendors to sponsor

Church on Greene Ave - figure out a way to encourage them to do something with it. Tokumbo (311) contacted Leticia James but no action yet. Possibly notify the buildings department. Rats are a problem, etc.

Street triangles - between Hansen Place and Fulton St. Ask the DOT

Street cleaning - Suspended for 6-8 weeks in Fort Greene. See info here. Look into rallying for Permit Parking

Parking Garage across from 311 - No Parking sign looks like graffiti. Work with John to put up a nicer looking sign

Contractor recommendations - Compile an neighbor approved list and possibly get block association discounts for promoting their businesses

Fort Greene Association - Let them know about our block association to get updates about the neighborhood and a designation on their website

Other News -

Brooklyn Botanical Garden Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest - Sheethal entered us this year. Judging starts June 15 and ends in late July. I will keep you all posted on our entry!

Block wide planting - Email Sheethal for a free tree from the Arbor Day Foundation if you would like one to plant in front of your house. I'll place the order this week because soon it will be too hot to transplant young trees.

Do Not Place Unsolicited Advertising Materials on this Property sign - get yours from Marcus Attorneys at 13 Greene Ave

Community Board No 2 meetings - We will post info for upcoming meetings on our blog.

Looking forward to getting started!  Thank you everyone for your enthusiasm!

Notes: Sheethal