Woodstock in Prospect Park?

As we look through the archives of our many mysterious repositories of information, we came upon this item that we missed while on hiatus.

From the Daily News:

Prospect Park may host Woodstock's 40th anniversary

Coming soon to a backyard near you.

The summer of Love could be coming to Brooklyn if a promoter from the original Woodstock music festival has his way, the Daily News has learned. Michael Lang, who helped put on the famous upstate 1969 festival, is hoping to stage a massive Woodstock 40th anniversary concert in Prospect Park's Long Meadow this summer -- if he can find enough sponsors. (read more)

Well I'm no expert on large-scale festival concerts, but I'm willing to bet that this would create a mountain of garbage so high, even Tommy Chong couldn't see over it. Not to mention turning our beloved long meadow into a giant mud wrestling pit. I'm sure you recall that the last time someone tried to throw a Woodstock, a bunch of angsty teenagers tried to burn the place down because they were being overcharged for Evian. I'm not sure turning Prospect Park into a tire fire is a fair price to pay just to see the surviving members of the Byrds trundled onstage in wheelchairs and forced to wheeze into their mikes for 45 minutes.

Thanks to Matthew for sending this in.

Tired of the trash?

Local Kensingtoner Debbie is, and I don't blame her. She tipped us off to this site: www.stoplawnlitter.org.

You sign up and they put your name on a "do not distribute" list. It seems to be legit - somehow connected with a new local law aimed at stopping pollution in Queens.
I know my block is always covered with flyers and garbage from these advertisements which get blown all over the place. Thought it might be of interest to my neighbors.

Thanks for the tip! I know I'd love it if the corner at the Church F stop wasn't such a trash storm on a windy night.

CB7 Meeting regarding Park Circle

This isn't within our borders but it still affects many if not most of us. Park Circle, also occasionally referred to by residents as "Swirling Maelstrom of Death", is up for discussion at this meeting and if you are a concerned citizen tired of playing the most intense game of frogger ever created, you should try and make it to this meeting. (click for larger)

More endangered Bus Lines.

In addition to the possible reduction of B67 service, it has also come to our attention that the B23 Cortelyou Road bus is facing complete elimination by April 2009.

From a local flyer:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed the ELIMINATION of the Cortelyou Road B23 bus route by April 2009.

YOU can help us fight it!

Visit www.cb14brooklyn.com/petition to sign our online petition to save the B23 route

Attend the MTA’s Public Hearing on this and other service cuts on Wednesday, January 28th, 6 PM, at the Brooklyn Marriott. For more information, visit www.cb14broklyn.com

Sign CB14’s Petition Today!

This one is easy enough...click the link, sign the petition. The line, as stated in the petition, provides unique access to the Q, B, F, D, and M trains, the Cortelyou Road and Flatbush Avenue commercial strips, schools, restaurants, hospitals and cultural institutions.

Save the B67!

A multitude of readers and concerned residents have contacted us regarding the possible demise of the B67 busline that runs to Park Slope and beyond.

According to this highlight of the proposed budget cuts, B67 weekend and weekday service would be cut completely, which would be a major blow to the residents of Kensington and other nearby neighborhoods who rely on this line.

Here's what you can do to help:

Brooklyn Public Hearing
6pm on Wednesday, January 28
NY Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
333 Adams St, Brooklyn

Contact Michael Bloomberg's office via Email (through nyc.gov)

Contact the Head of the MTA via Email (through mta-nyc.custhelp.com)

Contact Governor Patterson via Email (through ny.gov)

Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Let's save the B67!

Fundraiser/Party for local politician

Local Kensingtoner and reader/contributer Allison is hosting a house party and fund raiser for Josh Skaller, a Democrat running to replace Bill de Blasio. You may have met Josh at Festivus. I was too busy airing grievances to speak to him but by all reports he's a nice guy.

Read more about this event at KensList.

From the Inbox

I saw that they tore down the two houses next to the giant lot on Caton between East 7th and 8th, and read that there was a discussion about the project with the community (which I didn't know about, sadly). I would REALLY like to see the project built with commercial space on the ground floor - there are only the four stores on Caton and the nursery, and wondering if you could put up a post asking if anyone else in the hood would also like to see some stores at that location, and see if anyone has the contact info for the developer. I know who he is, but have no idea how to reach him. Generally it's a good return for him since stores could provide income for his project, and might bring some added amenities to the neighborhood that are sorely lacking due to the randomness of the zoning on Caton
Any opinions or info out there about the space discussed above on Caton?

Walgreens to go GREEN!

Due to a few residential requests and a very persistent community activist the regional manager of the new Walgreens on Church/Beverley has agreed to do some planting in front of the store. We are very happy Walgreens has decided to a leadership role in bringing more "green" to Church Avenue. The store will either plant trees or put in large planters.

Lamppost K-style

We don't know lamppost wiring protocol but this just seems a tad bit hazardous to us. A couple loops around the pole with some electrical tape and we're done! This lamppost is located on Beverly and Ocean Pkwy a pretty well utlized walking area. Are we being overly critical here?

Small Steps for Kensington - #1

We here in Kensington Brooklyn are all about the small steps. We realize things don't change over night and work hard to get the word out about our lack of services both business related and city supplied. The city supplied ones (or lack thereof) are the real kickers for us though! Don't get us wrong we know there are lots of other hoods who have problems with dog poo and garbage but if the can is full why do we only get bi-weekly pick up?! We digress... We've always maintained the reason for some of our garbage strewn streets and poo piles is because of our lack of cans and not just irregular pick up.



Well, welcome ole mighty cherished garbage can! That's right, we got a new one on the corner of East 5th and Caton Ave. (Rejoice dog owners!) Of course, this comes with a catch... Because this is not a bi-weekly pick up spot (which doesn't make sense to us 'cause its only one of our major tertiaries!) but a weekly pick up spot the can is only here on a trial basis. That's right people use the can sparingly cause if gets too full instead of making it a regular pick up spot sanitation will just remove the can. Oh 311 why oh why do you tease us in this way!

This is not a *New* Concept

We saw this picture on Brownstoner today and it reminded us of the recent rumblings from some members of the community re: business diversification and improvements. Personally we don't like the word gentrify because of the implication but we are in favor of diversification.

Currently our main business has lots of the same (99 cent stores, bodegas, pharmacies, nail salons) yet lots of people who would like more. However, the more people we talk to the more we hear how important it is to maintain our roots. We think old and new business could co-exist and if the recent excitement over one little sit down Thai restaurant doesn't show you the need well I don't know what will...

Kensington is having a bit of a resurgence and not just because of all the new people moving in but because of the tenacity of the people who have lived here all along. All these neighborhood associations have been around for 20 plus years. So, whether you want a Starbucks or want it all to stay the same posting a simple comment here or on a local yahoo group is just a post... We challenge you to attend your local neighborhood association meetings and get involved in this community

Top 5 - The Results

From our recent post on community concerns and needs comes our very non-scientific results. We’ve placed them in order of mentions (in parenthesis) although it was a little tough since many of you decided to discuss rather then just list… not that there is anything wrong with that but we had to do a little interpretation. For instance, when you discussed crime we put that under “Increase Police Presence and Foot Patrol”. Blurbs following each are from your comments or emails. We’ve scheduled a meeting with di Blasio’s office for Wednesday so any other additions should be added through comments. (Picture is of traffic down Church Ave on Tuesday at approximatly 6pm).

(12) Caton Avenue Truck Traffic
Recent (’03) DOT observation “"Residential Land Uses along Caton Avenue and Linden Boulevard are incompatible with heavy through truck traffic. Recommendation is to seek alternate routes for trucks in the area."

(11) Tree Planting Campaign
Kensington Gardens!!!! A tree planting campaign to encourage businesses along Church Ave. and every residential property in Kensington to plant a tree! Trees will not only beautify our neighborhood but increase our property value, not to mention help global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the air!

(10) Diversification of Local Business
Better amenities, such as dining, shopping and services. Don't get me wrong, we still need 99-cent stores and nail salons, but can't we also have some cafes, a decent place that serves eat-in brunch/lunch/dinner, and some specialty stores (books, knick-knacks, etc.)?

(10) Sanitation and General Neighborhood Cleanliness
It would be great if there were more garbage cans on the streets. There was a tire on the sidewalk in front of the school yard for MONTHS before someone finally threw it out. Private owners would get tickets if they kept their part of the sidewalk as dirty!
Specific Sanitation Concerns Include:
(3) Dog Poo
(3) Removing of Abandoned Vehicles on Story St. & Church Ave.
(2) Albemarle Playground Maintenance

(10) Prompter and More Regular Graffiti Removal
Local business owners (many of which do not live nearby I may add) should be held accountable or fined when they do not promptly remove graffiti… The computer store on Church Ave & E4th Street is an eyesore!

(9) Increase Police Presence and Foot Patrol

(7) Church Ave. Clean Up
The sidewalks in front of many local stores are filthy!

(5) Introduction of More Green Space (Make use of local abandoned lots at end of Church Ave. & E7th & Caton)

(5) Hiring Center for Day Laborers (Currently day laborers ‘wait’ at intersection of Church Ave. & McDonald)
“In Defense of Day Laborers" March 28, 2007, Wednesday. (NYT); Editorial Desk
Synopsis - Editorial on informal, often unruly job market of Latino day laborers, manifestation of shadow immigrant economy; criticizes crackdowns on gathering places, saying one can oppose illegal immigration and still approve of safe, organized hiring sites.

(4) Improvement in F train Service (Add an Express to Brooklyn)

(4) Examine Local Zoning
Re-examine the zoning in the nabe so the older homes have a prayer of being returned to their former beauty and the scale of new development is at least limited to something more contextual.

(2) Dog Run

(2) Community/ Teen Center

Top 5

I've met representatives from both diBlasio's and Brennen's offices at various community meetings and soon I'll be meeting with both individually. I'd like to get input on YOUR concerns and issues with the neighborhood. What would you like to change? What drives you crazy? What are the things you wish could be different? Mine are garbage and graffiti as well as developing business along Church Ave but now's the time to put in some constructive input. Add to the comments section and later this week I'll compile a top 5.

Why can't old and new businesses co-exist?

just wondering....

It's my blog and I'll post what I want to....

My new best friend kensington gal posted the following on the comments section of Brooklyn Record in re: Kensington's Park Slopization.

"What should be more important than preserving the supposed 'character' of sketchy, dirty Church Ave and its plethora of nail shops and 99¢ stores is the rampant Fedder-ization of the neighborhood. If you want to talk about a loss of character, try looking at the absolute crap that's being put up in the 'hood. Check out the number of Stop Work Orders that a bunch of these places have had and you can gauge the quality of said crap. The more brick behemoths that get built, the more people, more congestion, less parking and a real decline in the old feel of a sleepy town of quaint 100 year old frame houses. That's what I'd be worried about, since awful, cheap, out of context buildings are really what's changing Kensington now".

Serioulsy, I don't know kensington gal but it summed up most of what I've been trying to communicate re: development in and around our area.

Posting on Poo

We all know how some of our lovely streets are littered with dog poo, right? Yeah, like you could of missed it! Well, I think someone in Carroll Gardens has got the right idea. Taking the Legalistic Approach on Dog Crap.

Anyone want to join forces create, laminate and post some signs?

Setting The Record Straight

A comment was posted under “Update to Retail Space” that I feel the need to respond to. I’m not planning on making a practice of this since although I am the keeper of the blog only created it as a forum for discussions. That being said I took some offense to a few of its points (I guess I have to grow a thicker skin) and think it’s important I clarify some of my intentions.

When I initially began this blog it was because I was sick of the neighborhood being lost in the shuffle and ignored. I was also disgusted at some of the services (and lack of) that we receive. For instance, why can’t we have twice daily garbage pick up along Church Ave? Or why aren’t our shop keepers better maintaining the sidewalks in front of their stores (i.e. hosing off the walks and sweeping them daily as required). Why is Bricklane allowed to only serve a select client? Regardless, here are some of the ideas I had in mind that I hoped would change as more people in the neighbor gathered together:
1. More trash cans and better pick up service
2. Better maintenance of streets and sidewalks
3. Prompt graffiti removal by business and building owners
4. More diversification of business
5. Greener spaces
6. Prompt (and maybe express) train service
7. Better representation from our council people and community board

Lastly, I don’t have a vision of turning Kensington into the next Park Slope. I moved to the neighborhood because it wasn’t Park Slope but wanted to be close to Prospect Park. I have no hidden agenda to raise my real estate value in fact, I’d like to keep the neighborhood affordable (see my development comments). And I have no need for a bar since I don’t really drink. My only true vision is improving what I call home.