Many of you have written in over the past few months with concerns about the safety (and future safety) of Fourth Avenue. Here is your chance to tell the community what you think needs to happen with one of Sunset Park´s busiest streets:

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.

This is an opporunity not only to learn, but also to educate others about what you think is happening with gangs in Sunset Park. Whether you are associated with a community organization, a school, or have faced gang issues yourself, this is a chance to tell the community what you think is important.

See the announcement below from Community Board 7:

The 72nd Precinct, Community Board #7 Brooklyn, Community Based Organization and Churches are working together to combat Gangs in OUR Community

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE

GANG AWARENESS FORUM

GANG VIOLENCE IS DESTROYING LIVES AND

DEVASTATING FAMILIES IN OUR COMMUNITY

THE PURPOSE OF THIS GANG FORUM IS TO:

• REACH OUR KIDS • INFORM THEM OF THE DANGERS OF GANG LIFE • OFFER POSITIVE ALTERNATIVES TO GANGS •

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010

6:30PM

OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP CHURCH

545 60TH STREET (GYMNASIUM)

FEATURING:

GANG THEATER PERFORMANCE

COMMUNITY RESOURCE

PERSONAL TESTIMONY FROM FORMER GANG MEMBERS

SPECIAL GIVEAWAYS:

GAMES

RAFFLES

AND MANY OTHER SURPRISES

COME AND JOIN US!

PARENTS WELCOME

This have been rather neglected around here of late, but I wanted to drop in for a couple of quick reminders about upcoming community board meetings. Both will take place at 6:30pm at the CB7 offices in the old court building at 43rd Street and Fourth Avenue.

*Tonight’s concerns more northward matters: The parks committee will discuss the proposed dog run on 18th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.

*Next week on Wednesday, May 12th, there will be a public hearing with the public safety committee on the liquor license renewal application for 2004 Viva Mexico Inc., at 3913 Fifth Avenue. Liquor licenses at this restaurant have been contentious in the past, as you can see in the Best View in Brooklyn archives.

Here is the information for the upcoming youth committee meeting for Community Board 7, which was rescheduled after a cancellation last week. The committee will create a mission for the year. Do you have ideas or concerns about youth in Sunset Park? Show up and put in your 2 cents:

Community Board 7’s Youth Committee

Tuesday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m.

Community Board Office, enter on 43rd Street at Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park in the old court building.

A friendly reminder. See information below:

Please be advised that the next meeting of Community Board #7’s Transportation Committee Meeting will be held on TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010 @ 6:30 P.M. at the Board Office, 4201 4^TH AVENUE (ENTRANCE ON 43^RD STREET).

The agenda is as follows:

• Rehabilitation of ramp from Gowanus Expressway to Prospect Expressway

Please make every effort to attend this meeting.  Please contact the Board Office to confirm your attendance.

Good afternoon. It’s Monday. Not too much in the news at the moment, but a few things to put on the calendar:

*Schools! That word alone is usually enough to rile someone up. In Sunset Park’s crowded classrooms, education is of particular concern. Several of Brooklyn’s biggest names will next week offer parents, politicians and interested parties an opportunity to offer opinions about Brooklyn’s school system. The information is below. I hope to see you there.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Councilmembers Letitia James, Brad Lander and Steve Levin will convene a town hall meeting to discuss the city’s public education system. The event will take place on Wednesday March 3, from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. in the courtroom at Brooklyn Borough Hall. We hope that you will come out, share your ideas, and help forge a community partnership to build a stronger foundation for parental involvement in our schools.

For more information or to RSVP for this event, please contact Chris Black at the Public Advocate’s Office, 212-669-7200 or cblack@pubadvocate.nyc.gov

*Feelings on Fourth Avenue? The Park Slope Civic Council will sponsor a forum,  “The Future of Fourth Avenue,” on Thursday, March 4, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Park Slope.

The Council has previously voiced concern that Fourth Avenue is marginal to the rest of the neighborhood just north of Sunset Park. Borough President Marty Markowitz in his recent state of the city hoped to change the character of the thoroughfare, and rechristen the wide (and recently deadly road) “Brooklyn Boulevard.”

*Community Board 7 will hold a Public Hearing Monday, March 15 at 6:30 pm at the Board Office on the corner of Fourth Avenue and 43rd Street. It has to do with a city-owned property by the South Brooklyn Army Terminal. I’ll try to find out more. For the moment, see below for more information:

APPLICATION #C100204PPK – In the matter of one city-owned property, generally bounded by 39^th Street (1^st & 2^nd Avenues) and the western portion of 2^nd Avenue, from 37^th to 29^th Streets (Block 622, p/o Lot 1),  in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), restricted to parking and accessory use only

*Sunset Park Stills has some beautiful new images up, including some Lunar New Year-themed shots. Take a look!

Sunset Park Alliance for Youth will roll out a program to help young people earn their GED and find a job.

The “S.P.I.N” program offers computer training, resume writing help, job placement assistance, GED referrals and an opportunity to gain academic skills. The Alliance’s program is geared towards people between the ages of 16–24 and not in school.

Sunset Park Alliance, headed up by former Community Board 7 Chair Randy Peers, is made up of six community-based agencies–Center for Family Life, Fifth Avenue Committee and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, Lutheran Family Health Centers, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation and Turning Point. They together serve over one thousand young adults in the community, according to a press release by the Sunset Park Alliance.

Interested? You can find out more or RSVP to: info@sunsetparkalliance.org or 718-788-2305

Orientation is Thursday, Feb. 11, groups start on Wednesday, February 17th

Sunset Park Alliance for Youth, 783 4th Avenue (at 27th Street)

The Transportation Committee of Community Board 7 will tonight discuss a proposal from residents of 20th Street in Greenwood Heights to make the road one-way west of Seventh Avenue.

The meeting will begin at 6:30pm on the evening of Monday, January 25th at the Board Office, 4201 Fourth Avenue (enter on 43rd Street).

Are you headed to the meeting tonight? Help report! Send in your notes on what went down to Sunset Park Chronicled (sunsetparkchron@gmail.com)

Some things to consider: who are the stakeholders? Why make 20th Street one way? Any objections? Let the neighborhood know.

For 13 years the Vazquez family has watched Sunset Park change from the window of their three-bedroom apartment on 55^th Street. This year, the shifting tides of New York real estate hit home.

Developer Galla Condominiums recently bought and converted to condominiums a dozen apartments in the 16-unit building at 546 55^th Street where Carmen and Alex Vazquez live with their children. Each unit that goes up for sale marks one less rent-stabilized apartment in a neighborhood where such units are scarce.

As the number of rent stabilized units dwindle, long term residents find themselves living surrounded by housing that rents and sells at rates far beyond what many longtime and new immigrant residents in this working-class neighborhood can afford. Read the full story

Pedestrian crosses Fourth Avenue at 54th Street. This six-land road, an artery for traffic passing along Brooklyn's west side, makes for dangerous crossing.

Yesterday, an SUV fatally struck Hugo Jansen as he crossed Fourth Avenue near 46th Street. The grandfather was, said witnesses, crossing against the light.* I would venture to say most in the neighborhood have. It’s cold. It’s a busy time of year. We all want to rush home.

At the risk of editorializing, I’d like to ask everyone to wait for the walk signal. Read the full story