Love Kensington? Become a Patch Mayor!

Patch seeks to bring local news stories to its locals in Kensington and Windsor Terrace.  What better way to bring news to the locals than from the locals?  Now there is an opportunity to do just that.

If you live in the Kensington Brooklyn area and love it there, would you like the opportunity to share what you know and how you feel about it with others? Tell people in the area about local upcoming events?  Now you can.  Residents are being called upon to be more involved in their neighborhood and be, well, “neighborly.”  Patch has found that it is actually the locals who really do know the most about local happenings!  And that’s why it wants to create Patch Mayors who will tell others about the local fundraising event, a new kids happening, or where there are  new buildings that could disrupt everyday life happening.

What will you get from it?  You will finally have a platform through which you can share and inform with other members of your community.  You can choose to write about anything you want related to the neighborhood.  And most of all, you can use it as a sounding board to try your hand at journalism!

Brooklyn Bargains Fading as Windsor Terrace Becomes Unaffordable

A few years ago someone priced out of Park Slope could turn to the quieter, and less expensive Windsor Terrace as a viable alternative. Today, however, as Windsor becomes livelier, it is also experiencing skyrocketing real estate costs.

“It’s not really considered a bargain anymore, like it was a few years ago,” said Abigail Palanca, a broker with Town Residential who grew up in Windsor Terrace and lives there now. “There’s been incredible, incredible change, but there are so many families who are still here and so many new families who have moved in, the dynamic is still really nice. You still step outside and everybody says hello. When my kids run too close to the street, I hear five people calling their names.”

Windsor Terrace Brooklyn Public Libaray. Courtesy  Jim.henderson

Windsor Terrace, well-place between Park Slope, Kensington, Prospect Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery, was a well-kept secret that is no more. Subway access is decent. Commuters can expect a 45 minute trip to Midtown Manhattan on the F train. Parking in Windsor is also a bit easier than in its adjacent neighborhoods.

“When I first bought my house here, there were a lot of older people, not a lot of kids—my kids didn’t have friends in the neighborhood,” said 20-year veteran resident of Windsor Terrace, Mary LaRosa Lederer, who owns neighborhood realtor Brooklyn Real. “There were a lot of retired cops and firefighters. I’m seeing a lot of change.”

The changing demography of the neighborhood has not changed the feel of the neighborhood as much as what had been expected.

“I think the fact that we don’t have a Fifth Avenue or a Seventh Avenue or a Smith Street probably saves it a little, because the person who wants to live here has a family or wants quiet,” Ms. Lederer said. “I think that grounds Windsor Terrace a little more.”

Bright Lights of Brooklyn Freaking Out Residents

Brooklyn residents are not happy with the new lights recently installed into streetlamps in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Jolanta Benal expressed her distaste for the new illumination this way:

“It feels like I’m in a strip mall in outer space. I don’t want to come off as melodramatic, but it really is horrible,” she said.

Street lights in the snow, the old-fashioned way

Even after she had changed her sheer curtains for dark velvet drapes light still flowed into her living room.

“Each day that goes by, there are more of them,” she added. “There is nowhere to run and hide.”

Other residents describe the experience of being in the glow of the new lights as like being in a construction site or a set for a movie in which the film crew is shooting at night. Some even say they feel like the lights would work well in a prison yard, or as good lighting for alien abductions.

The new lights are environmentally friendly LEDs, which can save the city lots of energy, but are known to be optically harsh.

“The old lights made everybody look bad,” said architect Christopher Stoddard, who lives at the corner of Fuller Place. “But these are so cold and blue, it’s like ‘Night of the Living Dead’ out there.”

“We’re all for saving energy,” added his wife, Aida Stoddard, also an architect. “But the city can do so much better.”

The change over began in October 2013 and will eventually replace all 250,000 of the city’s lights with these LEDs. The city has a goal of reducing its overall carbon footprint by 30 percent by the year 2030. The cost of replacing the old lights with the new is estimated to be about $75 million. Savings will run about $6 million on energy costs, and $8 million on maintenance, annually. Since the bulbs last on average 20 years, about two to four times as long as sodium-vapor lamps.

“To the degree you can make the city’s operations more sustainable, it just pays so many dividends,” said Margaret Newman, the LED leader during the Bloomberg administration, .

Mohawk Tavern Changing Name to Something More PC

After  members of the Mohawk Nation complained about the name of a local bar, the owners of that bar have made the decision to change its name.

The bar, which opened up last week, was named quite innocently the Mohawk Tavern after the Mohawk River near Albany, New York, where two of the owners grew up.

Mohawk River

“There was some chatter on the blogs and some members of the Mohawk Nation who lived in the neighborhood were unhappy,” owner Brandon Lenihan said.

Located in Windsor Terrace at Prospect Avenue and Reeve Place, the bar will remain open, but will soon have a new name “in a day or two,” the owners announced. Lenihan added that no matter what the name of the bar will finally be, the public should be aware that they will be serving beers from New York State breweries as well as locally produced wine.

“I am really glad they dropped the name! My uncle was Mohawk — it is 2014, why are we using the name of another culture for a business? I am really relieved to hear about this change and I will be one of the first people to line up for a drink. Glad they did the right thing!” read one comment posted on the local Kensington BK blog, where the name change was first reported.

PS 154 Greenmarket Celebrates End of Season with Clambake

This Sunday is Last Day if the Season of Windsor Terrace Greenmarket

Join loyal market-goers this Sunday, December 22 to celebrate a great season of shopping at the PS 154 Windsor Terrace Greenmarket. The market will be open for the last time this season from 9am to 3pm, with a celebratory clambake scheduled for 11am. The clambake is sponsored by American Seafood, an operation which catches their fish off the Long Island coast.

While you are there be sure to say hello to all the local farmers who have been working so hard all year to bring you the best of their produce, and say thanks. Don’t forget to also come by and say hi to Dorothy at the information tent. As the market manager she would love to hear from you and how you enjoyed shopping at the greenmarket this past year.

The clambake will be just one of many items that will be on sale this Sunday, including Baker’s Bounty, Consider Bardwell Farm, Yellow Bell Farm, J Glebocki Farm, Sawkill Farm, and Williams Fruit Farm.

Brooklyn’s Composting Initiative to Begin in October

Beginning next month households that wish to recycle food scraps, paper soiled with food, and a small amount of garden waste will have the chance. The city will be launching its organic waste collection pilot program in Windsor Terrace, South Slope and Greenwood Heights on October 7.

The program, which already began in Staten Island, lets residents of private homes place their food related waste into special bins which the city provides. After it is collected it will be made into compost and then used as fertilizer for local gardens, parks and tree-lined streets.

Those wishing to participate in the program will be given a small kitchen container and a small beginning supply of DSNY-approved compostable liners. These items are scheduled to be delivered to households that wish to participate during September.

Go to the NYC Recycles page for more information and tips for those who join in the program.

Expanding Choice at Savor Brooklyn

Now one of Windsor Place’s newest cafes will be offering a dinner menu in addition to their beloved cup of coffee or marvelous mocha. Savor Brooklyn, at 199 Windsor Place, began to serve dinner last Sunday evening, and where dinner is a glass of wine can’t be far away.

Savor opened last November to a shaky, or shall we say, windy beginning, but has since established itself as a place to warm up and enjoy the nice view behind the café’s over-sized front windows while sitting back with a wonderful hot beverage.

Until owner Helen Traversi organizes a regular fixed menu she will be offering a rotating selection of special plates with an emphasis on pasta. On Sunday patrons had a choice of either Bolognese sauce or penne with mushrooms. As for a heavier fare, pork tenderloin with roasted peppers was also available.

Savor also now has a beer and wine license. Traversi would like to create a wine list which is small but well-chosen, with three white varieties and three red. Cava, a type of sparkling wine, will also appear on the list. As for the beer, Traversi is looking forward to pleasing her patrons, and is inviting them to visit Savor’s Facebook page to vote for their favorite beer that comes bottled.

Food Co-Op May Be On Its Way to Kensington and Windsor Terrace

After Windsor Terrace’s only grocery store was bought-out by a pharmacy, people there and in nearby Kensington were left with no convenient way to purchase food. Since necessity is the mother of invention, the residents have come up with the idea of bringing a food co-op into their neighborhood as an answer to the question where will the food come from.

It appears that support for this idea has been building in recent weeks among the people of the neighborhood.  Ever since Walgreens bought out Key Food in June, organizers have been trying to get a food-buying group started. Last Tuesday night their efforts got an extra push when more than 100 people showed up for a meeting in support of the idea of a food-buying group for the residents of Kensington and Windsor Terrace.

No seats were left for meeting participants, showing organizers that their efforts have finally been rewarded.

“Going into the meeting, we were all thinking, ‘This may not sail,’ ” said organizer Jack O’Connell, 68. O’Connell added that he was “flabbergasted” by the hefty crowd that showed up at the Knights of Columbus Hall on 10th Avenue.

Kensington Youthmarket a Success

This spring and summer saw the opening of the Kensington-Windsor Terrace Youthmarket. The market was such a success that it was the largest revenue producing Youthmarket of all the GrowNYC markets in the network.

The good news was announced by Catherine Zinnel, the Kensington Liaison/District Director, who was appointed to her position by Councilman Brad Lander.

Due to the great success of the project here in Kensington, the initial trial period is now over and we can all expect to see the Youthmarket back next spring, perhaps in an expanded version with flowers, fresh meat and/or fish for sale.

The Youthmarket is scheduled to stay open every Saturday this season until closing day on October 29. Go see what all the excitement is about on East 5th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway from 9am to 3pm.