While the rest of us do nothing but complain, a bunch of local kids saw the garbage problem on their block and launched into a full-force cleanup and publicity campaign.
Twelve kids and eight parents spent last Saturday afternoon painting wooden boards into a colorful set of “No Littering” signs to place along East 14th Street between Avenue X and Gravesend Neck Road.
“We thought that pedestrians might pay more attention to handmade/kid-made signs urging them to keep our block clean, than to standard, city-issued warnings,” said Yuliya Chernova, the mother who organized the event. ”We hoped that this would remind folks that this is not just a pavement, this is a place where local kids ride their bikes and scooters and play all the time.”
We are all more acutely aware of the effects our activities have on the marine ecosystems since the catastrophic explosion and subsequent oil spill — the petroleum industry’s largest in history — devastated the Gulf of Mexico last year, claiming 11 human lives and taking an incalculable toll on marine life.
Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, will be exploring this topic, and more — including CO2 emissions, crashing global fish stocks, the scarcity of freshwater available for human consumption, the lack clean water for more than one billion people of the world’s population, over-fishing, pollution, development, and climate change — at its “Eco-Festival 2011: Sustaining Waters,” April 13 to 15.
All Eco Festival events are free and open to the public.
Reader nolastname sent in these photos of a tree that collapsed onto a Department of Sanitation garbage truck this morning, on East 18th Street and Avenue X.
The announcement we received for this month’s Manhattan Beach Community Group meeting — moved up an extra week earlier to April 13 due to the upcoming Passover holiday — was refreshingly snarky, something we don’t see nearly enough of in our Southern Brooklyn civic groups. Behold:
We will be discussing important topics such as world famine, a possible truce in Libya and what to with all that wet plutonium in Japan. If time allows we will squeeze in such hot topics like using solar energy to BBQ, tanning beds at MB bus stops and why Bernie Madoff is upset about possibly sharing his cell with an elected official. […] It’s a meeting you’re not going to want to miss. Don’t forget to bring a date. […] It’s free unless you haven’t coughed up your $25 dues for 2011. Late fees waived just for you.
The meeting will be held inside of P.S. 195, 131 Irwin Street, at 8 p.m.
Nolastname took this photo through a hole in the construction fencing surrounding Zamperla’s new “Scream Zone” amusement park. That’s the Soaring Eagle, the first roller coaster to be built in the People’s Playground in more than 80 years. You can soar as high as tens of feet! Tens!
State Senator Marty Golden is encouraging members of the Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, and Gerritsen Beach communities to attend a town hall meeting he is hosting tomorrow, whereupon he will discuss issues regarding quality of life and concerns relating the 2011-2012 New York State Budget.
The meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. inside the Salt Marsh Nature Center, 3302 Avenue U at East 33rd Street.
Members of the NYPD, FDNY Fire Safety Unit, NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Sanitation, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, New York City Transit Authority (MTA), Department of Buildings, and the Department of Parks and Recreation have all been invited to attend.
Golden will also give an update on his recent legislative efforts, ongoing community projects, upcoming events and other information pertinent to the communities he serves.
For more, contact his community office at (718) 238-6044.
The original version of this article indicated the event was tonight. It is actually tomorrow. Apologies for any confusion.
Jay Stern and Lloyd Lederman were in high spirits yesterday, as throngs of people packed into the 2718 Avenue U storefront to celebrate the kosher-style deli’s 18th anniversary. Not to miss a food celebration, Borough President Marty Markowitz stopped by to issue a proclamation honoring the Brooklyn deli. Sure, he was accompanied by representatives from Congressman Anthony Weiner, Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein and Councilman Michael Nelson – all with their own certificates and proclamations – but the real draw were the $1 hot dogs being sold by the front of the shop.
Markowitz & Co. palled around for the better part of an hour, while the beaming owners of Jay and Lloyd’s Kosher Deli bounced about, shaking hands and cracking wise. The only hitch of the day was the unforgivable sin committed by the beep, when he dropped the first hot dog handed to him.
Even seniors from the Crown Nursing & Rehab Center made an outing, perching themselves in front of the establishment to enjoy the nice weather with their processed meats.
Our only wish? Congressman Weiner himself should’ve stopped by. The opportunity for more of Weiner’s weiner jokes was just too good.
Sheepshead Bites wishes the establishment a happy anniversary, and hopes to see many more.
No, we don’t mean beat them like that. We mean beat them at, like, building stuff. Or something. I don’t know… this is the e-mail I received:
On Thursday, April 21, 2011 volunteers from Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Nuestros Niños Child Development School, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the South Williamsburg community will join forces to build a new playground at Nuestros Niños School. The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in February. We’d like to invite you to organize a small team of Sheepshead Bay neighbors to come help us build – and battle some other neighborhood bloggers to see which ‘hood reigns supreme! Challenges will incorporate tasks to get the playground built as well as some “Battle of the Network Stars” type games. The winning team will receive $3,000 from Dr Pepper Snapple Group to put towards a block party or community project.
If you’re interested in joining us, our friendly competition will take place on from 10am – 12:00pm on April, 21st. You’re welcome to stay the whole day to help us take the playground from start to finish, but this is not necessary. We’re asking each blog to round up a team of 3-5 people which may include readers or other neighborhood bloggers. We encourage you to have fun with it – name your team, and start trash-talking!
Chances are, all the other people involved in this will be hipsters, gushing “Like, y’ah” all over the place and reveling in their Dr. Pepper Snapple Group-sponsored creativity. And once the playground is complete, I’m sure they’ll stuff some flea-infested ass-hat from Wisconsin in there for a couple grand a month.
Personally, I’d love to see some Sheepshead Bay guys go up there and crush them. Competitively, of course. Unfortunately, I’m not expecting much, since the trust-fund kids scheduled it for 10 a.m. on a weekday. You know, when real people work.
Anyway, if there are three to five of you interested in doing this, we’ll send you out there with some t-shirts (if we have your size available) and root for you. Maybe we’ll even come and lord over you. Shoot me an e-mail at nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com.
The towering spires of the 142-year-old United Methodist Church of Sheepshead Bay have been granted a reprieve from being torn down, as church officials switch to a new contractor to handle the structural flaws.
