Happy International Women's Day, and I hope March's first week went well.
We head into a rainy weekend after a busy week. I'll offer a week recap, a reminder for the next week, and some recommendations.
On Monday night, Council Member Hanif hosted a meeting regarding the emergency shelter planned for 3rd Street, which still needs an opening date and is hardly perfect. Eric McClure and I were on the dais with the shelter operator BHRAG, the Department of Social Services, and CM Hanif, who did a great job running the meeting. Echoing what we said in December, we made clear that we support the "fair share" of locating shelters and, therefore, this shelter and that our community must contribute to ensuring that those who claim refuge are sheltered during the process. Unfortunately, also like in December, racist rhetoric was common among those opposing the shelter. That racist sentiment was reported on in many articles about the meeting, but, to me, New York Magazine's Curbed captured it most effectively by reporting when a request to "keep in mind the humanity of our new neighbors" was "met with robust laughter'.
Thankfully, other, much happier things happened throughout the week. For example, Council Member Aviles's Intro 4 passed the City Council on Thursday. The legislation will reduce emissions by requiring shore power for cruise ships docking in Red Hook and traffic mitigation plans for such ships. As I've mentioned, we're proud to have supported this legislation and thrilled to see the organizing efforts of the Red Hook community come to fruition. Congratulations to CM Aviles and her team on this big win for the community.
