News

News

Column by George: All hail our new Civic Association!

I‘ve often written that Red Hook needs an organization that represents the viewpoints of everyone in our pretty unique community. An institution that presents our views to the rest of the world, including those outside entities looking to change things here, including real estate developers, government agencies and large corporations. Also a place where our local politicos can come and […]

News

Part 3 in our series: Breathing diseases in the neighborhood , by Brian Abate

There are a lot of different asthma triggers in Red Hook, including outdoor factors like truck pollution and indoor factors like vermin, smoking, and one of the most common triggers: mold. “One of the frustrating things is medication alone isn’t enough to treat asthma if someone is going to continue to get exposed to these factors that can exacerbate their […]

News

Avilés holds presser on last-mile warehouse bills, by Brian Abate

Council Member Alexa Avilés spoke at City Hall Park on February 16 about the unchecked growth of last-mile delivery hubs and three new bills she will be introducing to deal with them. The three bills are co-sponsored by Council Members Jennifer Gutiérrez, Sandy Nurse, Selvena Brooks-Powers, Julie Won, Shahana Hanif, and Lincoln Restler as well as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, […]

News

Politicians say the BQE is killing people, by Brian Abate

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, Council Member Lincoln Restler, representatives from the offices of Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, and other leaders spoke about the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) outside of Jaime Campiz Playground in Williamsburg on February 13. They condemned NY State for not working with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to re-design the BQE in […]

Column, News

Column: NYC apartments were never really affordable, by George Fiala

The new beautiful people who love to equate social justice with unconstrained real estate development love to say that everybody could get a great place to live whereever they want if only developers were allowed to build anyplace they wanted to, as tall as they like. If you don’t believe me, go to the website of the supposed non-profit, Open […]

Community Board 6, News

Yes Virginia, there is (still) a Community Board, by Katherine Rivard

There are many things that set New York City apart—its spirit, grit, bustle… and community boards. Only a city with such dense neighborhoods and opinionated residents could possibly give rise to so many hyper-local, active resident groups. And unlike in most cities, NYC residents have a unique opportunity to weigh in regularly on their neighborhood’s actions and developments, thanks to […]

Environment, Gowanus, News

Public Place battle tamped down by EPA scientist, by George Fiala

After the revelation last month about a provocative letter sent by some Gowanus Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) to EPA heads, some thought that the next monthly meeting would be filled with fireworks (see our last issue). However, Chief Engineer Christos Tsiamis, who has been providing updates to the project almost every month for the past dozen years, diffused all […]

News

Hamilton Avenue footbridge gets an upgrade, by Nathan Weiser

After advocacy from PS 676 students started three years ago, the new and improved Hamilton Avenue footbridge opened with a ribbon cutting on a rainy day in January. Ten students, along with Council member Alexa Aviles and Principal Priscilla Figueroa celebrated the completion of the renovation with a ribbon cutting. The bridge is now safer, more inviting to cross and […]

Health, News

Part 2 in a series: Breathing diseases in our neighborhood , by Brian Abate

After studying “Asthma Alley” in the Bronx last month, this month the focus is on Red Hook, specifically whether it has higher asthma rates than the rest of the city, and if so why? NYU Langone’s Dr. Lorna Thorpe is a professor in the Department of Population Health who conducts research on health equity and the impacts of policies. For […]