*Cutbacks at the MTA are mixing up bus routes through Sunset Park—the B37 and B70 will diverge from their well-known paths, and many aren’t happy about it, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.

*The Eagle takes a look back at “Operation Blockbuster,” the big South Brooklyn crack bust of 2008

*Legit or scam? The diet product Herbalife has carved out a firm foothold among immigration groups. Feet in Two Worlds reports.

*Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the end of May announced a huge biotech facility will go into the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. The Wall Street Journal gives some additional background on the mayor’s startup projects.

*In case you haven’t found your spot yet, the Brooklyn Eagle has links to suggestions for the best spots to watch the World Cup.

CB7 announcement below:

COMMUNITY BOARD #7 
 

PUBLIC SPEAKOUT 

ON COMMUNITY ISSUES CONCERNING

4^TH AVENUE 

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2010 

CB7 OFFICE – 4201 4^TH AVENUE

(ENTRANCE ON 43^RD STREET)

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

A bit belated, but here’s another piece of community news that came my way. Sunset Park Community Supported Agriculture is now accepting new members. Below find a little info on what a CSA is, and how exactly you might go about joining the neighborhood group if this strikes your fancy. I know several people in the neighborhood have, including Sunset Parkour. From the press release:

CSA’s have been popping up in neighborhoods around the city recently and Sunset Park is no exception.  Last year a handful of neighborhood residents got together and worked with Just Food to establish a CSA right here in Sunset Park.  After a great first year with MimoMex farms the Sunset Park CSA is ready for their second year and is now selling shares for the 2010 season.

The Sunset Park CSA runs for 22 weeks from mid-June through early November.  Members can choose either a Weekly or an Every-Other-Week vegetable share.  Members pick up their shares on Wednesday’s from 5 to 7:30 at St. Michael’s Church on 4^th Avenue between 42^nd and 43^rd Streets.  The Sunset Park CSA is a volunteer organization and the members also set up and break down the distribution site each week.

Here are the share prices for the 2010 season.  Note that there are two different pricing options based on household income – Plan A and Plan B – for the vegetable share.

More questions? You can shoot an email to SunsetParkCSA@yahoo.com.

Neighbors told the Daily News the abandoned row-house had people coming and going at all hours, and may have been home to squatters for at least two years. It has been in disrepair since at least 2003, according to records from the Department of Buildings.

Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez with teacher Maria Diaz and students at P.S. 24, photo by William Alatriste

Local Politics–Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez keeps busy:

*Councilwoman Sara M. González last week joined Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and others at P.S. 24 on 38th Street for the official launch of ‘Respect For All Week’, a citywide program to address bullying, harassment and discrimination in New York City Schools. “We will be instilling a most valuable life lesson to children at a young age, that bullying, harassment and discrimination are not acceptable in today’s society,” said Councilwoman González in a press release.

*On March 12, the councilwoman took part in a panel discussion chaired by Senator Velmanette Montgomery as part of an emergency meeting at Borough Hall in Brooklyn to address the slated closures of day cares and Head Start programs throughout the city.  DC 1707, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators and the Day Care Council called the meeting in response to the threatened cuts.

*Friday was supposed to be the final voyage, but the Rockaway Ferry will forge on, NY1 reported. A last minute deal brokered between the City Council, including Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez, and the mayor’s office will extend the ferry service until July, including its service to the Brooklyn waterfront.

In State News:

*Congressman Felix Ortiz raised the ire of many local restaurateurs when he proposed a bill to ban salt, yes that is the use of all salt, in New York restaurant. Ortiz advocates the ban as a way to address health issues such as hypertension that have skyrocketed in recent years. But you can imagine how fans of salami, pastrami, French fries, salt cod, soy sauce and, well, most dishes with flavor felt about the Sunset Park Democrat’s plan. Tom Colicchio, star of “Top Chef” and owner of Craft restaurant, served as token foodie in the Daily News coverage. “New York City is considered the restaurant capital of the world,” he said. “If they banned salt, nobody would come here anymore.”

After much tomato-tossing, Ortiz last week he backed down from the ban, the YourNabe reported. It seems, in the long run, good for Sunset Park’s many eateries. The tears of the Top Chef crowd might not tug on any heartstrings in Sunset Park, but the end of savory banh mi and chorizo-laden pambazos is another story.

*Congresswoman Yvette Clark joined with two other House Democrats in to oppose the reduction in the number of station agents in New York City subways, Gothamist reported. Clark is the Chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology. The letter to MTA chairman Jay Walder implied the reduction could have serious consequences: “We strongly urge you to re-evaluate the current plans” and not, potentially, “compromise” subways, they wrote. You can read more at the NY Times.

*There has been talk for a while about the 14-mile Green way slated to connect Greenpoint to Sunset Park. The Department of Transportation this week announced that it will hold community workshops in conjunction with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and the Regional Planning Association to educate the neighborhoods about the bike and pedestrian path. Sunset Park gets its own, which will take place Thursday, April 8 at 6:30pm at St. Michael R.C. Church on Fourth Avenue and 42nd Street.

*Images of the Sunset Park waterfront featured in a show in February called Gentrification: The Pink Elephant Speaks, a recent art exhibit at The Museum of African Diasporan Art. You an read about the show at the Indypendent, and others that capture the lesser known sites in New York City.

*The New York Times took a tour around Sunset Park. Anything you didn’t know? Anything left out?

* Other school issues have hit close to home. The Brooklyn Eagle last week covered a meeting about the slated consolidation of students from District 13 (Fort Green, Downtown, Park Slope) and District 15 (Sunset Park, Red Hook, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace). The building that houses P.S. 133 will be rebuilt, and students from Sunset Park’s overcrowded schools will join them in a new, larger building. “Sunset Park is in a crisis situation,” James Devor, president of CEC-15, a governing body for District 15, told the Brooklyn Eagle. But not everyone was pleased with the plan. The Eagle reports race issues bubbled up, with parents from P.S. 133 worried that their 300 children would get short shrift after the arrival of 660 students from District 15, who are predominantly white.

* Though the Bloomberg administration has touted its success slashing fat and fillers, the Daily News reports lunches may not be as healthy as they look. Cheese sandwiches, mozzarella sticks and pizza still make regular appearances on school menus. These dishes feature unpronounceables like azodicarbonamide (a bleach used in food), the maligned high-fructose corn syrup, and processes food with high levels of fat and salt.

Sunset Park turned out in droves Saturday at the Rec Center a gift and chance for a Polaroid with Santa at Health Plus’s annual Holiday Celebration. The line snaked out the door for the lucky who had made the cut around 3:30pm when the event began to wind down.

An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 locals showed up the gift-giveaway and holiday event, according to Kenesha Nelson, special events manager at Health Plus. Established at Sunset Park’s Lutheran Hospital in 1984, Health Plus has a large client base in the community. The managed care organization advertised the event by sending mailings to members, posting flyers in the neighborhood and giving the heads-up to schools.

“It’s just one more way Health Plus is giving back to the community,” said Julio Coronel, Health Plus regional marketing director.

Limited supplies forced organizers to turn some latecomers away at the door.

Those who made it inside waited patiently for their turn to pick a gift (puzzles, mini basketballs and trucks were some of the top choices) as well as a 20Q game and soft toys and picture frames adorned with the Health Plus logo. A few parents comforted Santa-wary children.

One mother came with her four children, each of whom picked something up at the event. She asked her son if he liked his gift. He thought about it for a minute, and answered, “Si!” Two older girls, regulars at the rec center, came early to grab the good stuff–one straight from a test to get into middle school.

At 4:10pm, a few stragglers huddled by the strollers outside, waiting for their families to wrap things up at the party and head home, in from the chilly winter afternoon.

On the Streets: BestView wrote an extensive post on trucks in the neighborhood. Regulations confine trucks not making local stops to only two streets in Sunset Park, but according to BestView and other locals they regularly make use of un-designated side streets. Read more on Best View in Brooklyn.

Though H1N1 rates have fallen in most of the country, Heath Commissioner Thomas Farley told the Daily News, they continue to rise in New York City.

The city used radio and newspapers to publicize free vaccines last week. It seems to have worked. Over 15,000 New Yorkers lined up this weekend for the free vaccines now available to any who visit the school clinics. That’s 11,000 more New Yorkers than searched out the vaccine a week ago.

Health Commissioner Thomas Farley and the city hoped for a good showing when they used radio and newspaper ads to lure more people to take precautionary measures as the flu season kicks into high gear.

You can find information on H1N1 vaccinations here.

Have you seen signs of the flu in the neighborhood? Are you taking any precautions? How do you feel about the (at times controversial) vaccine?