Dear Cobble Hill Community,
We hope you all enjoyed your summer holidays and have successfully entered into your Fall routines. Below please find the report on our fourth month in office:
THE MATTER OF FORTIS
The board continued its communications with City Councilmember Brad Lander, State Senator Daniel Squadron, and City Hall over the future of the LICH site.
The most significant news of this past month has been the LACK of significant movement on a way forward.
Our recent coverage in Politico (Aug 2016) has stirred a few more articles.
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/08/negotiations-moving-slowly-on-city-hall-backed-housing-project-in-brooklyn-104588
Brooklyn Paper article:
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/39/39/dtg-lich-ulurp-delays-2016-09-16-bk.html?comm=1#feedback
Curbed calling us NIMBY:
http://ny.curbed.com/2016/8/10/12420382/cobble-hill-brooklyn-lich-redevelopment
Semantics used in the discussion of development in NYC and the community’s opposition is getting old. NIMBY was originally used to describe communities opposing low-income or affordable housing. It is now used as a pejorative term for any community opposing any development.
The CHA is not NIMBY. We are working to label ourselves as PIMBY. Planning In My Back Yard.
There are several articles in the works and we are looking forward to sharing them once they are published. We are pushing PIMBY to the forefront of the argument.
CHA EVENTS:
Autumn Music in the Park Series:
We are planning to host two concerts in Cobble Hill Park on Saturdays this October. A very generous family stepped forward to help underwrite the series. We are very grateful for this show of support and involvement in our community.
Stay tuned!!!
Atlantic Antic
We will be there this Sunday September 25th. Our booth is located between Clinton and Court Streets near 199 Atlantic Avenue (near Cook’s Companion).
Please stop by and say hello. Sign-up for membership. Contribute money to our general fund to support our efforts to protect the neighborhood. We’ll be selling child-sized T-shirts.
Halloween Parade
We would like to thank Melissa Glass for her many years of organizing and pulling off the parade, even when the Park was closed due to Super Storm Sandy. We thank Melissa for all she has done and the help of her handy decorating guys Peter LaBonte, Allen Scheuch and their sons who are now off to college.
We are looking for a passionate organizer to step forward and help organize the parade. Michelle Mannix, George Sanchez, Leslie Cohen and Melissa are all here to help. Please step forward to lead a bunch of very happy kids and families around our neighborhood!! George has the zany and fun marching band ready to GO!
We need volunteers to decorate and to take down the decorations. Its fun work!.
COMMITTEES:
TREES COMMITTEE, Georgia Willett and Tom Synnott co-chairs; Chip McEnhill, liaison. This committee helps to protect and maintain the street trees throughout Cobble Hill. The Trees Committee also works with the Cobble Hill Park Committee to care for the trees in the park.
LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMITTEE:
We are pleased to announce that Jonathan Mellon has accepted a new position in Washington DC to work on issues of preservation at the national level. We wish Jonathan all the best and great success in his work. Jonathan will advise us as he can but must step down as the acting Chair of the committee. We are currently looking for a new chair. Please submit your name or someone you know who is highly organized, an excellent communicator, has knowledge and expertise in NYC Landmark Preservation laws and process and cares deeply for our community. YOU ARE OUT THERE – step forward and join us.
Last night the CHA attended a CB6 Landmarks Land Use Meeting regarding an application for a curb cut and surface parking of two cars in the side yard at 118 Amity Street. The application was disapproved by the CB6 committee with an additional recommendation that the developer/owner remove the pavers in the side yard and execute the side yard design that was approved by the LPC in 2008.
The CHA opposes this application and will do so at LPC in October. The proposal is not appropriate on this very much intact 19th Century block. Please join us if you want to learn about Landmarks and how the CHA works to protect and preserve our historic neighborhood.
MEMBERSHIP
The Cobble Hill Association is a not-for-profit community organization completely run and maintained by volunteers. If you are reading our updates and believe in the work we are doing, please donate at: https://www.nycharities.org/give/donate.aspx?cc=2462
We will need funds to continue to defend and protect our historic neighborhood. Please consider donating above and beyond our membership fee level. THANK YOU!
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
Fall General Meeting – Late October – securing date and location as we speak.
SAFETY MESSAGE:
We urge and encourage all of the bike riders in our community to wear helmets and obey all of the traffic laws. Please ride only with traffic, stop at red lights and ride only on the road/bike lane and not on the sidewalks. Remember to look out for children and the elderly. The walk sign is their sign! We want all of our residents to be safe. Happy riding!
Please continue to send comments, suggestions, and offers of help. Part of what makes Cobble Hill great is our sense of neighborhood.
My best wishes for a wonderful Autumn season and looking forward to seeing you at our events, meetings and in the neighborhood.
Warmly,
Amy Breedlove
President, CHA