Neighbors Helping Neighbors sent over this notice to say they seek new board members. For those interested in housing and looking for an opportunity to get involved in the neighborhood, this could be a good fit:

Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a 19-year old housing advocacy organization based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is seeking new board members.  We provide homeownership and foreclosure counseling and direct tenant advocacy to low- and moderate-income clients in Sunset Park and throughout Brooklyn.  We have a dynamic, committed staff and an active and engaged board of directors. A commitment to our mission is essential; being a Sunset Park resident and/or experience in housing and tenant advocacy, finance, fundraising or strategic planning are helpful. Essentially, board commitment involves ~5 hours a month and currently encompasses questions of program, strategic planning, fundraising, and staff and executive administration. Candidates must reside or be employed in Brooklyn. For more information, please contact Elizabeth at eln212@gmail.com.  Visit www.nhnhome.org to learn more about the organization.

You can zoom, grab and drag the map below to see reported heat-and-hot water issues around Brooklyn. Click on any of the dialogue boxes in the map below to see details of a complaint.

I came across this tool while perusing the Mission Loc@l site out of the Berkeley J School. I thought it pretty cool, and definitely worth sharing.

SeeClickFix allows community members to report non-emergency issues around their neighborhoods. The web site maps them, then alerts government, community groups and media so they can help address the problems.

Given the recent blustering weather, I started with a map to track heat and hot water violations, but these maps can address all kinds of issues–abandoned cars under the Gowanus Expressway, cracks in the sidewalk, dangerous corners…you name it. Got an issue you want to submit to a virtual neighborhood watch? Give a holler. We’ll put it on the map.

Image of Brooklyn Typology's density map

I love me a map. Stacks of charts, graphs and plans provide the foundation for any city project, and offer those interested in neighborhoods a huge amount of information. Databases and public records can prove goldmines, but visual depictions serve up information in more palatable bites.

Though BestViewinBrooklyn has closed for business, its blogger still keeps an eye on Sunset Park. Last week, I got an email about a map of population density in Brooklyn.

Sunset Park has one of the highest. Census tract 100, blockgroup 2 boasts 159.59 people per acre, making it the eleventh densest area in Brooklyn. Flatbush’s tract 508, blockgroup 4 tops the list at a whopping 333 people per acre. One difference, however, is the number of units per acre. Whereas Flatbush as 108 unit per acre for those 333 people, Sunset Park packs 159 into about 47 units per acre, mostly in the form of two- to four-flat buildings. That means that Sunset Park averages 3.4 people per unit, slightly higher than Flatbush’s 3.08.

Interested? Check out the density data, the map, or other troves of info on the site. The map is part of Fake is the New Real, a collection of maps, art and lists by artists and urban planner Neil Freeman. This particular project, Brooklyn Typology, bring census data to life. And makes it pretty. Take a look–then leave a comment. What did you learn about our fair borough?

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