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Welcome to The Sixth Sense - the monthly newsletter of Brooklyn Community Board 6, serving the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street Waterfront, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook.
Labor Day's behind us. Summer's nearly over. We're back. Did you miss us?
September is a time of transition from the doldrums of Summer to the energetic Fall - we prepare for the harvest, notice the loss of sunlight, and the long nights that lie ahead. This typically means getting ready for school, reactivating ourselves in our schools, houses of worship, civic groups and other volunteer-driven organizations, exercising democracy at the polls, and generally reconnecting to our homes and our community. Time to settle in for the Winter's hibernation. Put away those air conditioners (make sure to clean your filters), barbeques, outdoor furniture, and replace your Ron Jon's with long johns.
Here at Brooklyn CB6 we're welcoming back our members from their summer hiatus, and looking forward to them all getting up-to-speed in their new committee assignments. We'll be considering and reviewing budget priorities and submitting our requests next month. And we'll soon begin planning our annual holiday party - which has become a fundraiser for our non-profit organization, Friends of Brooklyn CB6, Inc. Our Friends group has grown steadily over the last few years as the Community Board's fundraising arm, enabling us to provide you with enhanced outreach (like this newsletter!), research, planning and advocacy resources.
In short, we always have a lot to do and not enough time to do it all. That's where you come in. Have you considered volunteering for your community? We can use people with special skills* and talents who are willing to lend a hand. We're always looking for programmers, app developers, graphic artists, writers, researchers, administrators, fundraisers, planners - all sorts of people who have time, energy and enthusiasm to spare.
Give us a call. Send us an email. Drop in and visit. We'll do our best to match your interest with our need. Together, we'll continue to accomplish great things for the community we love!
It's our community! Get involved. Stay active!
*We are thinking about upgrading email servers and have been weighing the pros and cons of Gmail, Microsoft 365, and our current provider, SmarterMail. If anyone has any real experience assessing organizational needs and would be willing to help us think this through, we'd appreciate it if you'd be open to talking to us. We'll even buy you a cup of coffee! Please email or call Sarah at (718) 643-3027, ext 200.
Enjoy our newsletter and please let us know what you would like to see in future editions.
P.S. If you like what you see here, please use the "Forward email to a friend" link at the bottom of the page to pass this email along to a friend or two. There are over 104,000 residents and thousands of businesses in our district. We'd love it if they would all sign up!
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We Want Your Budget Suggestions!
CB6's Community Budget Suggestions is an online tool that gives citizens a stronger voice in budget decisions that affect their lives and community.
CB6's Budget Committee will meet in October to discuss and adopt its budget priorities for the City's fiscal year 2016. The full Community Board will vote on these priorities at their October board meeting. Budget requests will be submitted by the end of the month to the Mayor's Office of Management and Budget for further consideration.
Submit your ideas using the budget map between now and the end of September for them to be considered at our October budget committee meeting. Please comment on your neighbors' suggestions too. For those of you who are curious about what we submitted last year, you can see our list of FY2015 budget priorities and read the agencies responses on our Budget Committee's homepage. The map is available at www.BKcb6budget.org. |
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Real Energy Conservation: LED Bulbs
by Thomas Diana
As an engineer, I am frustrated to read how poorly energy savings products are marketed and how misguided cost saving plans are implemented. LED bulbs are a prime example. A 40-watt equivalent LED light bulb costs around $16 (60-watt LED bulbs are around $20), and will last 30 to 50 times longer than a standard 40-watt incandescent bulb and 5 to 6 times longer than an equivalent compact fluorescent (CF). Avoiding the physical effort and waste of changing and disposing 30 to 50 incandescent or 6 CF bulbs should be worth the expense of the LED bulb. Yet, as consumers we think only of saving money in the next two minutes at the register. The marketing people at the bulb companies think it is a great idea to tell you that the bulb will last 47 years at 3 hours a day, where you would save $87 over the life of the bulb based upon 11 cents a kilowatt hour, the national average cost of electricity. Most people are not looking 47 years into the future, so this marking plan simply backfires. In reality, most bulbs for the hallways, kitchens or outside lights are on for 9 to 15 hours a day, so now the bulbs will last "only" 9 to 15 years, which actually means that you will emjoy the projected savings over 9 to 15 years instead of 47 years. The marketers use 11 cents as the electric rate, because it is the national average, while here in New York it is actually 25 cents a kilowatt hour. This means the manufacturers $87 savings calculations shown on the package is actually 227% more (i.e., $198 over the 9 to 15 year life of the bulb). The bulb pays for itself in just one year so you can actually enjoy the next decade of not changing the bulb plus the associated energy savings. Utility assistance programs rely on sending seniors and low income households cash money or rebates to help with their electric bills. The checks are cashed or applied directly to the electric bill in the short term. Both parties would be better served if the recipients were directly mailed the monetary equivalent of actual LED bulbs. These LED bulbs would continuously save the senior or low income household over the next decade. Do you want to save your friends some money when they buy their first house or rent their first apartment? Instead of shopping from their house-warming or wedding registry, as a present you can buy them a complete set of LED bulbs for their new place. Their bewilderment should turn to joy when they realize their savings over the next decade. Editor's Note: The Solarize BrooklynCB6 campaign, our effort to help residential and business property owners in our district convert to solar energy, is in the process of setting up presentations at local civic and merchant group meetings. Please come and learn more about how you can lower your bills and reduce your impact on the environment too! |
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Things to do in the District
Dorit Chrysler playing a polyphonic theremin
Virtuoso theremin player Dorit Chrysler will recount the fascinating history of this electronic instrument which generates sound without being touched. The evening will end with a Theremin concert. Admission: $20
Editor's note: The recently opened Morbid Anatomy Museum on the corner of 3rd Avenue & 7th Street in Gowanus has an incredible line up of evening lectures, screenings and readings. There are way too many to list here! Check out their website for a complete listing.
Saturday September 13, 12-5pm, The Sixth Annual Columbia Waterfront Fall Festival will be held on Columbia Street (between Degraw and Union Streets), and on Union Street (between Columbia and Hicks Streets). There are still many ways for you to take part in this day of fun!
Sunday September 14, 11am-5pm, NYPD Patrol Borough Brooklyn South's Unity Showcase Festival at Prospect Park inside Bartel-Pritchard Circle. There will be entertainment, food, games and refreshments for children and adults.
Wednesday, September 17, 6:30-8:30pm, Revitalizing NYC's Industrial Waterfront, a presentation by Andrew Kimball, CEO of Industry City. Kimball will discuss the strategies behind transforming these industrial complexes into creative communities that are now at the forefront of manufacturing's rebirth in New York City. Brooklyn Law School, Feil Hall, Forchelli Conference Center, 22nd Floor, 205 State Street. RSVP online.
Saturday, September 20, 12-5pm, PermaFest 3: "Building Resilient Communities" Skill-sharing, hands-on activities, health & wellness services, barter, a gift circle, a talk about soil nutrition & climate change, live music and a picnic dinner at 6pm. The Old Stone House, Washington Park, 336 3rd Street.
Saturday, September 20, 12-8pm, Friends of Douglass Greene Park Street Fair. Featuring all the fun stuff we have each year at "Gowanus Grind" plus more: food, face painting, bands, games, the Gowanus Wildcats and of course climbing walls from Brooklyn Boulders and skateboarding from Homage! Near Nevins Street between Douglass and Degraw Streets.
Wednesday, September 24, 10am-3pm, NY Methodist Hospital will host Sickle Cell Awareness Day featuring educational materials and giveaways, and hematologists will be available to answer questions on sickle cell and thalassemia diseases. NYMH's Carrington Atrium lobby, located at 506 6th Street. For more information call (718) 780-5367
Sunday, September 28, 1pm, Dead Pan Alley This series of two one-man performances features two Sunday spectaculars by a vaudeville comedian and a Pirate. Waterfront Museum, 290 Conover Street. Tickets (advanced) $13 adults, $10 children.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014, 6-9pm, Taste of Red Hook is the Red Hook Initiative's annual fundraising event, with over 40 participating local restaurants, breweries, and distilleries coming together in support of our mission. Location: Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer Street.
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Learn About CB6 Committee Meetings
It's September and that means that our newly reconstituted committees have started meeting again. All of our committees meet regularly on a monthly basis or as-needed. Below is the monthly meeting schedule. Check our meeting calendar which is updated regularly to get all of our meeting details.
All posted meetings are open to the public, though participation may be limited.
General Board Meeting - 2nd Wednesday (except July & August)
Economic/Waterfront/Community Development & Housing - 3rd Monday
Environmental Protection/Permits & Licenses - 4th Monday
Landmarks/Land Use - 4th Thursday
Parks/Recreation/Cultural Affairs - 3rd Wednesday Transportation/Public Safety - 3rd Thursday
Youth/Human Services/Education - 4th Wednesday
(Meetings are rescheduled when they conflict with City and major religious holidays.)
To receive email notices about upcoming meetings, click on "Update Profile/Email Address" at the bottom of this email. You may choose to hear about specific committee meetings, and neighborhood-specific tidbits of news.
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Wedding Bells!
 The Happy Couple
Congratulations to Land Use Chair Peter Fleming and long-time partner Brian King who officially tied the knot at a private ceremony on August 9, 2014.
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Friends of Brooklyn Community Board 6, Inc. was established in 2003 to support the work of Brooklyn Community Board 6 in improving the quality of life in the district. Friends seeks to provide planning, advocacy, research and administrative resources to supplement the limited capacities and budget of the Community Board, thus enabling it to properly carry out its City Charter mandated tasks of evaluating the needs of the district and advocating on behalf of its communities.
Friends of Brooklyn Community Board 6, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Federal EIN 04-3780020).
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General Board Meeting
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photo by Bryan Bruchman
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6:30pm, September 10
Cobble Hill Health Center380 Henry Street (btw Warren/Congress Sts) Brooklyn, NY 11201
(Board members are encouraged to supply corrections to minutes.)
All posted meetings are open to the public; however, participation may be limited.
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ADVERTISE WITH US
The Sixth Sense newsletter is delivered to over 5,400 email boxes of some of the most civic-minded people in the known universe.
Interested in supporting a local non-profit organization and advertising at the same time?
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Who's Who at #BKcb6
● Daniel M. Kummer,
Chairperson
● Thomas Miskel,
First Vice Chairperson
● Pauline Blake,
Second Vice Chairperson
● Gary Reilly,
Treasurer
● Ariel Krasnow,
Secretary
● Richard Bashner,
Waterfront/Community Development
● Paige Bellenbaum,
Human Services, Co-Chair
● Peter Fleming,
Land Use; Elections
● Glenn Kelly,
Parks/Recreation/Cultural Affairs
● Ariel Krasnow,
Housing
● Daniel M. Kummer,
Executive
● Robert Levine,
Landmarks
● Sayar Lonial,
Transportation, Co-Chair
● Rick Luftglass,
Budget;Economic Development
● Thomas Miskel,
Transportation, Co-Chair
● Gary Reilly,
Finance/Personnel & Law; Permits & Licenses
● Mark C. Shames,
Environmental Protection
● Matthew Silverman,
Public Safety
● Benjamin Solotaire,
Human Services, Co-Chair
● Suzanne Turet,
Education, Chair
● Craig Hammerman,
District Manager
● LeRoy P. Branch, Jr.
Assistant District Manager
● Liza Santiago-Sierra,
Community Associate
● Sarah N. Phillips,
Special Projects Coordinator
● Helena Miskel,
Office Volunteer
● Craig Hammerman,
Editor-in-Chief
● Sarah N. Phillips,
Managing Editor
● Thomas Diana,
Contributing Writer
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GOOD & WELFARE Welcome to the neighborhood Captain Frank DiGiacomo, our new Commanding Officer for the 78th Precinct. Thanks to outgoing Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri who was promoted to head the department's Highways Division. We also want to thank Pauline Blake, outgoing President of the 78th Precinct Community Council, for her decades of tireless and selfless service to the community, and congratulate Wayne Bailey as the new President of the council. Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont-based ice cream moguls, paid Red Hook a visit this summer and mapped out a great route of "must-trys" for casual visitors. Maybe they'll name a flavor after Red Hook? How 'bout Red Hook Churros (with a hint of cinnamon)? Brooklyn Public Library is expanding days and/or hours of service effective October 4, 2014 throughout Brooklyn. In our district that means... * Carroll Gardens branch will now be open Tues mornings; * Park Slope branch will now be open Wednesday evenings; and, * Red Hook branch will be open on Saturdays. (No changes planned for the Pacific branch.) Primary Day is September 9th. Poll are open from 6am to 9pm. Not sure where to go? Use the online Poll Site locator or call (212) VOTE-NYC to determine whether you have a Primary race to vote in, and where to go if you do. Democracy works best when everyone participates!
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QUICK CLICKS
Dig this...the Department of Transportation has a new real-time online permit look-up tool so you can see who's doing work at any roadway excavation site in the City. Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is accepting applications for their Brooklyn-Made Awards. The awards will be presented at the Chamber's annual meeting on October 29, 2014. Awards will be made in the following categories: food and beverage manufacturing, design, technology and innovation, and minority and/or woman-owned businesses. Applications will be accepted until September 23, 2014. Dads Take Your Child to School Day is September 16 throughout New York State. Research suggests that fathers' involvement in school results in improved academics, behavior and social skills. Be a positive force in the life of a child. Partnership for Parks honors partners who demonstrate exceptional leadership and commitment to their local parks through service, advocacy and collaboration. Recipients will be recognized at their annual It's My Park awards reception in November 2014. Know any groups making a difference in a local park? Nominations are accepted until September 27, 2014. Beginning July 1, 2014 the household income to qualify for Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption program increased from $29,000 to $50,000, making more seniors eligible for the program. More information is available at the Department of Finance's website or by calling 311.Parks Department reports that 305 new trees are scheduled to be planted throughout our district during this fall planting season (which runs from mid-October through mid-December). The complete list of locations are available in a downloadable spreadsheet on their website.
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Did you know that we maintain a Facebook page and we tweet too? For those announcements that just can't wait for our next issue...
Like us on Facebook BrooklynCB6
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