Celebrating Community
A couple weeks ago I was surprised to see the name “Carlos Menchaca” pop up on my phone’s Caller ID. Menchaca has been representing Red Hook in the City Council for the past seven years. During all of that time I have been writing about Red Hook in this newspaper. We’ve never socialized, despite my invitations for dinner to talk […]
On July 27, I got an email from Catherine McBride of the Red Hook Initiative which was pretty different than any I have received at this paper since I started it ten years ago. RHI press releases are generally quite vanilla. They are generally about their Red Hook Hub or else something having to do with their fund raising. This […]
After an hour or more of picketing and soapboxing outside, a raucous, emotional crowd filled the auditorium of Sunset Park High School to capacity on September 16. Following a six-month delay for a comprehensive evaluation, Councilmember Carlos Menchaca had, apparently, reached a verdict on the Industry City rezoning and had invited the community to hear it. By the end of […]
Inspired by the Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, students around the world left school on September 20 to protest for dramatic political action to address the climate crisis – including elementary school kids from all the Red Hook schools and the Brooklyn New School. The PS 676 fourth and fifth grades attended a local rally at Coffey Park, and there […]
The idea of participatory budgeting (PB), which in April concluded its eighth annual cycle in New York City, is admirable and perhaps even inspiring. In practice, however, it feels a lot like New York progressive politics on the whole: somewhat dysfunctional and ultimately empty. An exercise in direct democracy embraced by forward-thinking cities around the world, PB empowers ordinary people […]
South Brooklynites woke up on the morning of Dec. 27 to find City Councilman Carlos Menchaca’s picture on the bottom of the New York Daily News’ front page. Menchaca was reported to have let three staff members go before Christmas, according to the Daily News — who ran their exclusive article online Dec. 26 and printed the same article […]
On Friday, December 14, the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) converted the LOOK Hotel at 17 Seabring Street into a temporary homeless shelter that will offer 152 beds for “single adult males who are employed or employable.” DHS has contracted Core Services Group, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, to operate the facility. No estimate has been provided for how […]
On October 20, the Red Hook Library hosted a free performance of “Soft” by the Theater of the Liberated. Directed by Carolyn Ferguson, a resident of the Gowanus Houses, the play dramatized the administrative labyrinth that NYCHA tenants have to navigate when they request repairs for their apartments. Last year, the nonprofit Hester Street organized an arts forum called Making […]
Approximately 15 local residents met with local leaders and officers of the 76th Precinct at 191 Union St., where they voiced their frustration over a lack of parking spaces–especially regarding the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Carshare program—and what they considered to be the reckless use of Tesla cars. Locals meet the police the first Wednesday of every month at the […]
Brooklyn Cruise Terminal – July 5, 2017 1,000 free fan zone passes for the Formula E electric motor race this month will be distributed to Red Hook residents, Formula E and NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) representatives announced today. The Allianz eVillage fan zone will allow fans to have a close-up view of the course and of the cars that […]