It is apparent, even at a distance, that among the primary concerns of most New York City voters are safety from crime and the need for the police department to insure increased public accountability for it’s actions. While these issues resonate in Red Hook, the community also faces at least two major environmental challenges in the immediate future. Currently a […]
News
A Summer of Renewal for our Students
This year has demanded that all New York City families and students do so many things differently—they’ve had to think differently, learn differently, and connect differently with teachers, peers, and the whole school community. At the Department of Education, we know we also have to think differently as we look towards the summer. For the first time ever, we are […]
City Council Candidates Make Their Case at Debate, by Brian Abate
The People’s Candidate Forum covered issues including jobs, climate and justice, while allowing the District 38 City Council candidates to state their cases for being elected. The candidates included Alexa Aviles, Rodrigo Camarena, Erik Frankel, Jacqueline Painter and Cesar Zuniga. Though there were a lot of important questions asked, many of them resulted in similar answers from all of the […]
Alexa Aviles is running for City Council, by Nathan Weiser
After growing up in East New York and having lots of experience fighting for marginalized communities, Alexa Aviles feels she is the right candidate to be the next councilperson for District 38. Aviles talked about how there are all kinds of programs and resources across Brooklyn and the city that residents might not know about. “Residents need to have access […]
Garcia and Prince for Mayor
Pretty much by accident, I was right there when Bill de Blasio’s 2013 mayoral campaign came to life. Lightning may have struck twice as I think I might have been at the beginning of another candidate’s rise. That first time, I was covering a protest meant to save Cobble Hill’s Long Island College Hospital, when a mayoral candidate given little […]
Star-Revue wins newspaper awards
The NY Press Association, a trade group for community media, announced the winners of its 2020 Better Newspaper Contest. For the second year in a row, the awards, normally awarded during their weekend convention in Saratoga Springs, were given out in an internet presentation. The Star-Revue is a perennial winner since our acceptance into the organization in 2012. That year, […]
How participatory is PB anyway? by Brian Abate and George Fiala
Around ten years ago Councilman Brad Lander helped take an idea from Brazil and brought it to New York. Every City Council member has about $5 million each year to distribute in their district as they please. This usually takes the form of grants to groups that may or may not support the politician, such as a Lion’s Club or […]
Superfund lawyer says Buyer Beware on Gowanus Rezoning, by George Fiala
At the end of March, the EPA filed an Administrative Order making specific demands of the City of New York regarding their unkept promises at the Gowanus Canal cleanup. Christos Tsiamis, Chief Engineer of the project, has said many times in the past that the Federal government, of which the EPA is part of, has sovereignty over city government, which […]
Remembering Linda Mariano
Linda Mariano, a lifelong advocate for the Gowanus community, shown above as Miss Gowanus on the 100th anniversary of the Gowanus Flushing Tunnel in 2011, passed away last month. Brad Vogel, who we know from the Gowanus Dredgers, wrote these words in memory of her full life: “Linda and I served on the Community Advisory Group together (she helped get […]
PS 676 hosts autism awareness day, by Nathan Weiser
PS 676 held their first autism awareness day on Thursday, April 8, in the middle of World Autism Month. The PTA was excited about being at their first event since the pandemic began. Thursday was a beautiful spring day and many different neighborhood organizations and NYC based developmental and community groups came to the Huntington Street schoolyard. The United Nations-sanctioned […]