Job Opening: Urban Agriculture Coordinator

Posted on 2007-11-21 by admin

East New York Farms, one of Brooklyn’s handful of urban farms, is seeking an Urban Agriculture Coordinator. The position will start part-time February 1, 2008 (for training) and become full-time with full benefits March 1, 2008.

Deadline for applications is December 14. See their blog for details.

Responsibilities:
* Recruit and train new and experienced gardeners from East New York and surrounding communities in urban production for market (primarily vegetable production, possibility of chicken raising and bee-keeping)
* Lead and coordinate trainings for gardeners, as well as provide individual technical assistance
* Organize local gardeners and develop their capacity to support each other, sell at the farmers market, and oversee a micro-loan fund
* Provide group development assistance to 20-30 members of new 1/2 acre urban farm, and assist them in further developing the farm
* Supervise and support Urban Farm Manager in cultivating and maintaining a half-acre urban farm
* Co-supervise and train teens (ages 13-16) to grow vegetables, serve other neighborhood gardeners, and help run the farmers’ market
* Assist with designing and leading lessons to build skills and help youth understand the social context of their work
* Track and assist with reporting activities to funders
* Support farmers’ market operations
* Support outreach/promotion efforts of project

Qualifications:
* At least one full season of growing experience, primarily in small fruit and vegetable production
* Experience facilitating trainings for both youth and adults
* Experience working with diverse communities and individuals
* Responsible and able to work independently
* Drivers’ license a must
* Ability to work weekends (work week is Tuesday – Saturday from March through November) and occasional evenings
* Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
* Spanish language skills a plus

This is a full-time position with full benefits

Position will start part-time February 1, 2008 (for training) and become full-time March 1, 2008.

Please send resume and cover letter by December 14, 2007 to:

Sarita Daftary
East New York Farms! Project Director
info@eastnewyorkfarms.org

Thanks to the Contributors to Gardeners for Recovery

Posted on 2007-11-21 by admin

Thank you to the anonymous contributor or contributors who donated $100 to the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone campaign over the weekend. Your contributions increased the fund from $100 to $200. I matched your $100 yesterday. The total now stands at $300. Just $200 more – your $100 plus my matching – will bring us to the minimum of $500 needed to have our own paver in the National September 11 Memorial Plaza:

An eight-acre landscaped Memorial Plaza filled with more than 300 oak trees will create a contemplative space separate from the sights and sounds of the surrounding city. The design is unique in its use of ecological considerations which exceed sustainability standards.

Gardeners for Recovery is a Cobblestone Campaign for the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center. Gardeners for Recovery recognize the importance of gardens and gardening for individual, community, and global healing and recovery.

Monday 11/26: Kickoff Meeting for the Gardening Committee of Sustainable Flatbush

Posted on 2007-11-21 by admin

At last week’s Sustainable Flatbush Town Hall Meeting, six committees were established to focus on different areas:

R3 (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
Livable Streets
Energy Efficiency
Businesses
Schools
Gardening

Next Monday, November 26, at 7pm, the Gardening Committee will have a kickoff meeting.

There are three main items on the agenda:

Brainstorm ideas about what the committee can do. Sustainable Flatbush’s mission is to educate, advocate, and act on issues of sustainability in our area. What are our ideas for how gardening relates to that mission?
Identify a couple of things we can do immediately, especially over the winter
Identify co-chairs for the committee who will coordinate with the other committees and larger organization and recruit and support committee members.

If you want to attend next Monday’s meeting please email me at [xrisfg at gmail dot com]. I’ve setup a Google group for committee planning. If you can’t attend next Monday but want to help with gardening committee planning, let me know as well.

Imagine Flatbush 2030

Posted on 2007-11-20 by admin

Update 2007.12.13: Added link for all related posts on Imagine Flatbush 2030.

Imagine Flatbush 2030 Winning Logo, Credit: Imani Aegedoy, 11-9-2007

Last night I attended the first of a series of four workshops for Imagine Flatbush 2030. Brooklyn Junction and
Sustainable Flatbush were also in attendance. Sponsored by the Municipal Arts Society (MAS) and Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC), IF2030 is a community-based process to develop goals and indicators to inform any future planning for the area:

The Mayor’s PlaNYC2030 is a citywide sustainability agenda that lays the groundwork for achieving and maintaining affordable housing, open space, good transportation, clean air, water, and land and reliable energy. It affords an enormous opportunity to rethink the development of the city. As part of Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York, MAS will work with the residents, business owners, and civic leaders of Flatbush, Brooklyn, with the partnership of the Flatbush Development Corporation, to assist in creating neighborhood sustainability goals and tools to measure progress toward consensus-based goals.
– Imagine Your Neighborhood 2030: a Community Visioning Project

The project study area [PDF] comprises the northern half of Brooklyn’s Community District 14, north of the old LIRR right-of-way which runs between Avenues H and I.

There will be three more meetings, one each in December, January and February. The final report will be published in March 2008. The next meeting will be Wednesday, December 12, likely to be hosted at Brooklyn College. If you live or work within the study area and would like to get involved, contact Sideya Sherman of MAS [ssherman at mas dot org] or Aga Trojniak of FDC [trojniak at fdconline dot org].

Flatbush is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the city, growing at a rate of eight percent annually, and mirroring the needs and attributes of a growing population within a district that is both architecturally and historically distinct. Yet the lack of affordable housing undermines the ability of the neighborhood to stay diverse, the resident to open space ratio is among the highest in the city, and heavy vehicular traffic compromise the quality of life.

This area is one of great diversity: ethnic, cultural, religious, and other. It is also an area of great disparity in economics, services, and environmental amenities.

“Welcome” in eleven languages on street sign for Newkirk Family Health Center, 1401 Newkirk Avenue

Kings Theater, Flatbush Avenue

GreenBranches, Flatbush Branch, Brooklyn Public Library

Da Pride a Flatbush, FDNY Engine 281

Greenmarket, Cortelyou Road

Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church, Ditmas Park

599 Coney Island Avenue

2274 Church Avenue

Christ My Sufficiency, Brooklyn Foursquare Church, 603 Rugby Road

Townhouses in Caton Park

Flatbush E-Cycling, Cortelyou Road

Together We Can Change the World

Susan Siegel of FDC opened the meeting and introduced the MAS team. Conducting the meeting on behalf of MAS were:

Eve Barron
Sideya Sherman
Lacey Tauber
Elizabeth Yeampierre (Executive Director, UPROSE)
Juan-Camillo Osario

The IF2030 Advisory Committee includes:

State Senator Kevin Parker
State Assembly Member Rhoda Jacobs
State Assembly Member Jim Brennan
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz
City Council Member Mathieu Eugene
Ms. Anne Pope (Sustainable Flatbush)
Ms. Gretchen Maneval (Center for the Study of Brooklyn, Brooklyn College)

Contact

Imagine Flatbush 2030 c/o
Municipal Art Society
457 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 212.935.3960, x259
Fax: 212.753.1816

Imagine Flatbush 2030

Links

Municipal Arts Society (MAS)
Flatbush Development Corporation
UPROSE
PlaNYC2030

Tree Pits are not Dumpsters

Posted on 2007-11-18 by admin

Commercial Trash Dumped in Tree Pit on Cortelyou Road

I had a great community experience of planting Daffodils in the tree pits along Cortelyou Road the previous two weekends. So I was especially disheartened to find this afternoon that someone placed their trash in one of the tree pits.

You can see from the photo that it’s mostly recycling. There’s a bundle of cardboard on the right. The blue bags contain plastic and metal recyclables. The black bag contained mixed garbage, including papers identifying the business whose trash this was.

I don’t want to identify them right now. I want to give them a chance to respond. If I have time, I’ll try calling them tomorrow. I emailed them earlier this evening:

This afternoon I noticed that the tree pit in front of your building on Cortelyou Road had several bags and bundles of recycling and garbage in it. I looked for any items that could identify where it came from. I found several pieces of paper from your business.

You may not know that your neighbors spent the past two weekends working on the tree pits along Cortelyou Road from the subway station to Coney island Avenue. We removed all the accumulated garbage, weeded the pits, and planted Daffodil bulbs, which will bloom next April.

Please dispose of your commercial trash properly, at curb-side, and not in the tree pit.

I called 311 to register a complaint. They didn’t even have a category for this. They said they would add it to their system, and to call back in a few days. I can’t believe that noone has ever complained about this kind of thing before. If I have time, I’ll try calling Parks, who have responsibility and authority for tree pits, and ask them what to do the next time this happens.

I removed the trash from the pit after I took my photos.

Barbara Corcoran Hates the Earth

Posted on 2007-11-18 by admin

Welcome, Apartment Therapy readers! If this story interests you, be sure to learn more by checking out the related posts linked at the end of this article.

Barbara Corcoran thinks the owner of this “townhouse” [sic] should chop down this maple tree, pave over the front yard, and park cars there instead to increase their property values.

Queens Crap has the goods on this (Daily News columnist advocates paving). I learned about it through Brooklyn Junction (Barbara Corcoran Weighs In On Proposed Yard Change), who was alerted to it by commenter “dbs” on his post about the Yards Text Amendment. I’ve read some excellent follow-up by my neighbor, Crazy Stable (Get a cement truck over there fast) and Forgotten New York (Cuckoo Corcoran).

Trees increase the selling prices of residential properties. Paving over the front yard will decrease the resale value of a home. It will also incur other annual costs to the homeowner, such as energy costs.

As a realtor (not just any realtor, “New York’s top realtor” the byline for her column asserts), Corcoran should know better. She should at least know better than to advise her readers out of ignorance. But then, it’s her Manhattan-myopic company that, even after years of doing business in Brooklyn and the other “outer” boroughs, has no category for “house” in their listings. And ascribes the name “Ditmas Park” to most of Victorian Flatbush. Not to mention she should know something about the Department of City Planning.

Barbara Corcoran thinks this is a townhouse.

Oh, and as soon as possible they should chop down that pesky Cherry tree and pave over the front yard so they can park cars on it. She’s sure it will increase the property value.

Q. My wife and I have lived in Queens for the past 10 years and we plan on staying in the area for about another five. We are noticing lately that all of our neighbors are paving their yards and then use the space to park their cars on.

My wife has spent many hours cultivating her plants and would like to keep the garden, but I think having a driveway will help us increase the price of the house when it comes time to sell. What do you think?

A. Hey, a flower garden might look pretty and keep your wife happy, but the space in front of your house is worth a hell of a lot more as a driveway. [emphasis added]

You should know that the city council of Queens [sic, it’s the DCP proposal, the Yards Text Amendment] has just proposed a zoning change that would prohibit residents from paving their yards in some areas.

So get your wife on your side and get a cement truck over there fast.

– Ask Barbara, New York Daily News, November 8, 2007

What do you think? Leave a comment below. Even better, write Barbara herself.

[goo.gl]

Factoid: Street Trees and Property Values, December 2
The State of the Forest in New York City, November 12
Preserving Livable Streets: DCP’s Yards Text Amendment, November 6
Victorian Flatbush at risk from inappropriate zoning, October 23
Another reason to loathe real estate brokers, April 6
NASA Earth Observatory Maps NYC’s Heat Island, Block by Block, August 1, 2006

Links

Daily News columnist advocates paving, Queens Crap
Barbara Corcoran Weighs In On Proposed Yard Change, Brooklyn Junction
Yards Text Amendment, Brooklyn Junction
Get a cement truck over there fast, Crazy Stable
Cuckoo Corcoran, Forgotten New York

Footnotes

If you email Barbara Corcoran, you’ll get this robo-response:

Thanks for sending a question to “Ask Barbara”. Look for Barbara’s answer to your question in her “Ask Barbara” column appearing every Friday in Your Home only in the Daily News. Look for more real estate questions and Barbara’s helpful answers at www.nydailynews.com.

Would you like to speak to Barbara directly? Simply reply to this message with your full name, town and daytime phone number. You may be invited to ask your question on Barbara’s new show!

The title of this post comes from the Dilbert comic of June 19. Dogbert has been hired as a green-washing consultant for the company. He advises the pointy-haired boss, “Stop eating, breathing, driving, defecating, and procreating. Sit in the dark and decompose on some garden seeds. Or do you admit you hate the Earth?” The boss responds, “A little.” The cartoon was taken up by anti-environmental bloggers such as Moonbattery: “Thank you Dilbert, for attempting to rescue us from militant kooks who think the global warming hoax is real.”

This is not Barbara Corcoran

November 20: Organizing Meeting for Victorian Flatbush Artist’s Tour

Posted on 2007-11-18 by admin

Via Flatbush Family Network and FDCOnline. Two of my neighbors are trying to organize an Artist’s Tour to coincide with the annual House Tour. They’re holding an organizing meeting this Tuesday, November 20.

To: Working artists of Victorian Flatbush and our supporters

We live in a neighborhood of distinctive beauty and historic significance—and one that has regained fresh vitality in recent years. Our community is fabled for its vibrant diversity—not only many nationalities, ethnicities and religions, but also a variety of
artistic disciplines practiced by the many creators and innovators among us.

Therefore, I propose we organize an artists’ studio tour in Victorian Flatbush.

Through our combined efforts, we will be able to market our event using websites, posters, brochures, signage, maps, etc. We have seen the success of studio tours all over the country and as close as Park Slope and DUMBO.

I also propose that we run it the weekend of the Victorian Flatbush House Tour.

This tour already brings hundreds of people into the community. A studio tour would provide synergy, attracting art lovers to our event and benefiting both.

The studio tour would provide visitors a rare glimpse into the working habitat of the artist while greatly increasing our visibility. This visibility and high traffic will translate into sales as home-oriented guests will seek just the right treasure to beautify their own homes.

Think of it as an art show where you don’t have to travel or set up a tent. All we need to bring is our creativity, hospitality, talents and commitment to make this a reality.

To this end, there will be an organizing meeting Tuesday, November 20, 7:30PM at Karen’s home. All those interested in opening their studios or in helping out on this event are urged to attend.

Help us spread the word! Please let anyone else who might be interested know about the meeting and ask them to attend. If you are interested in attending this important meeting, please email ArtistKaren [at] mac {dot} com.

Looking forward to seeing you then,
Karen F. & Brenda B.

Welcome to the (Bloggy) Neighborhood

Posted on 2007-11-17 by admin

Via Across the Park, one of my blogging neighbors, I just learned of a new blog on the block, Hawthorne Street:

Hello and welcome. Before creating any misconceptions, let me say up front that we’re going to be posting irregularly: anywhere from a couple of times a week to once every two months. Quality over quantity!
– Reading this blog

Even better, they’re tree huggers:

Since our block—and areas south and east of us—could use more trees, I passed info out to my neighbors on how to request a free tree in front of their houses. I made about 70 copies of the documents below and folded them into a flyer, which I placed in mailboxes of homes without trees on Fenimore, Hawthorne, Winthrop, and Parkside blocks from Flatbush to Nostrand Avenues.
– Getting more trees on your block

Sweet!

Note that, in addition to submitting the paper form, you can request a street tree online. You can request a free street tree, or you can plant your own. Tree planting season runs another month, until about December 15. After that, Spring will be the next opportunity for planting. For more information, see Request a Street Tree on the Parks Web site.

To the New York Post, we’re all just Brooklyn, anyway

Posted on 2007-11-16 by admin

I was startled to read on Ditmas Park Blog just a few minutes ago that a man had been murdered Monday night around the corner from me. They quoted what was reported in the New York Post:

A suspect was busted after fatally stabbing a man on a Kensington [sic] street, police said yesterday. The 29-year-old suspect, whose name was not immediately released, knifed the 26-year-old man in the chest at Westminster Road and Slocum Place at 10 p.m. Monday. The victim, whose name was withheld pending family notification, was rushed to Methodist Hospital, where he died. Police busted the assailant, who suffered minor injuries in the fight. Charges were pending.
– New York Post NYPD Daily Blotter, November 14, 2007

This is almost not even wrong. They got the ages and night of the attack correct, but that’s it.

Going through my feeds, I saw that The Brooklyn Paper reported it today:

An East New York man was stabbed and killed on 12th Street on Monday night after an argument with another man, who was later arrested for the crime, cops said. Police said William Rosario, 26, succumbed to a single stab wound in the chest in the 10 pm incident between Fifth and Sixth avenues. He was taken to New York Methodist Hospital, but was dead on arrival. It’s unclear what sparked the dispute. Police said they arrested the suspect, who also needed treatment for “minor injuries he received during the dispute.” The arrested man, 29, was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon — the knife, which was recovered at the scene.
– A man is stabbed to death, The Brooklyn Paper, November 17, 2007 [issue date; it was on their Web site as of 11/15]

Then I learned from Brooklynonometry that the Daily News had reported it first, giving the same location as The Brooklyn Paper, and identifying the neighborhood correctly:

A 26-year-old man was stabbed to death after a fight in front of a Park Slope home, police said. The victim – whose family has not been notified of his death – was fighting with Antonio Bruno, 29, on 12th St., between 5th and 6th Avenues, at 8 p.m. Monday, a police source said. The victim was stabbed once in the chest and taken to Methodist Hospital where he died of his wound a short time later. Police responding to the scene arrested Bruno and found a knife at the scene. Bruno, who was treated at the same Brooklyn hospital for minor injuries, has a lengthy rap sheet dotted with drug arrests, the police source said. Charges against Bruno are pending, officials said.
– Man stabbed to death in Park Slope street fight, New York Daily News, November 13, 2007

As if I needed a reminder that the New York Post is not even suitable for wiping my @$$.

Factoids: NYC’s Street Trees and Stormwater Reduction

Posted on 2007-11-15 by admin

I’ve been diving deep into the 72-page report on NYC’s street trees I wrote about a couple of days ago. The report was released in the Spring of this year to the public and addressed to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Fiona Watt, Chief of Parks Forestry and Horticulture. The research documented in this report has informed many of the initiatives I’ve written about previously, including PlanNYC 2030, Parks’ Million Trees Initiative, DCP’s Yards Text Amendment, and so on.

The city spends $21,774,576 each year on its 584,036 living street trees (2005/2006 census), an average of $37.28 for each tree. The annual cost savings and other benefits to the city are $121,963,347, $208.83 per tree, for a Cost-Benefit ratio of $5.60 returned on every $1.00 invested. The second biggest contributor to this impressive %560 annual rate of return is stormwater runoff reductions.

Gallons of rainfall/stormwater intercepted each year by NYC’s street trees: 890,643,392
Annual cost savings to the city: $35,628,220 total, $61.00 per tree

Many older cities [including NYC] have combined sewer outflow [CSO] systems, and during large rain events excess runoff can mix with raw sewage. Rainfall interception by trees can reduce the magnitude of this problem during large storms. Trees are mini-reservoirs, controlling runoff at the source. [emphasis added] Healthy urban trees can reduce the amount of runoff and pollutant loading in receiving waters in three primary ways:

Leaves and branch surfaces intercept and store rainfall, thereby reducing runoff volumes and delaying the onset of peak flows.

Root growth and decomposition increase the capacity and rate of soil infiltration by rainfall and reduce overland flow.

Tree canopies reduce soil erosion and surface transport by diminishing the impact of raindrops on barren surfaces.

Much of this economic benefit of trees is determined by the total surface area of their leaves. Broad-leaved deciduous London Planetrees, of which there are many large specimens in NYC, account for %28.9 of the stormwater reduction provided by street trees.

Note that this report only address street trees, which comprise only about one-tenth of the 5.2 million trees in the city. However, street trees are adjacent to – and shelter – paved and other impervious surfaces which are the primary cause of surface runoff. Because of this, they provide much greater CSO reduction than trees on open ground such as parks and natural areas.

Preserving Livable Streets

Flatbush Gardener

Urban Habitat Gardening with Native Plants

Job Opening: Urban Agriculture Coordinator

Thanks to the Contributors to Gardeners for Recovery

Monday 11/26: Kickoff Meeting for the Gardening Committee of Sustainable Flatbush

Imagine Flatbush 2030

Contact

Related Posts

Links

Tree Pits are not Dumpsters

Barbara Corcoran Hates the Earth

Related Posts

Links

Footnotes

November 20: Organizing Meeting for Victorian Flatbush Artist’s Tour

Welcome to the (Bloggy) Neighborhood

To the New York Post, we’re all just Brooklyn, anyway

Factoids: NYC’s Street Trees and Stormwater Reduction

Related Posts