Your Neighborhood Needs You!
Our 5th year of Participatory Budgeting NYC (PBNYC) is about to kick off, and we need your help! The PBNYC process gives New Yorkers the power to decide how to spend tax dollars in our neighborhoods....
View ArticleProtecting Workers in the “Gig” Economy
More and more workers here in Brooklyn (and far beyond) are being paid “by the gig” – freelance graphic designers, writers, and film producers, Uber drivers, Handy.com cleaners, day laborers, and many...
View ArticleHurricane Joaquin – what you need to know to be prepared
As you know, there’s a chance that Hurricane Joaquin is headed our way. We don’t know its exact path, and hopefully it will head out into the Atlantic, rather than make landfall, as the most likely...
View ArticleComposting is coming to Community Board 6!
Two years ago, the Department of Sanitation began a composting pilot program in a few neighborhoods around the city. Today I’m happy to share the news that the pilot has been so effective, it’s getting...
View ArticleBring Back the B71 Bus!
When the MTA eliminated the B71 bus route that ran along Union Street in June 2010, they cut a vital transportation link for our neighborhoods. Students lost their route to school. Seniors lost the bus...
View ArticleDiscuss Overcrowding in Our Schools Next Wednesday Night
I often hear from parents concerned about overcrowding in District 15 elementary schools. In light of the growing concerns about crowding, especially at PS 29, PS 32, and PS 58, next week on Wednesday...
View ArticleNYC ID card sign up coming to our area!
Almost a year ago New York City made history by launching IDNYC, our city’s new municipal ID card program. Since then, over half a million New Yorkers have signed up, and IDNYC is now the largest...
View ArticleHope, Not Hate
The following are remarks from Council Member Brad Lander at the Brooklyn Vigil for Paris, November 15, 2015:Article 1. Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights.Article 4. Liberty consists...
View ArticleCaring for our Seniors – Community events coming up!
From facing hard decisions about care giving needs, to finding enough money to pay rent and medical bills on a fixed income, life can be challenging for our senior citizens and those who care for them....
View ArticleMore New Plans for St. Mary’s Playground
As you might have seen earlier this year, a major reconstruction is in the works for St. Mary’s Playground (under the F and G tracks, along Smith Street from Luquer to Huntington Streets).The park has...
View ArticleRemembering Bette Stoltz, a champion of South Brooklyn
On Thursday, we lost a great champion for South Brooklyn, for Smith Street, for small businesses, for manufacturing, for Brooklyn jobseekers, and for low-income kids. Bette led the South Brooklyn...
View ArticleGratitude, 2015
There’s a lot to be anxious about these days.Terrorism around the world punctures our sense of security, and prompts xenophobic backlash against our neighbors and those seeking protection from this...
View ArticleProtecting Freelancers from Getting Stiffed
New York City is the freelance capital of the world, with over 1.3 million freelancers, so many of them right here in Brooklyn. More and more people are working “by the gig” (as graphic designers, film...
View ArticleHey, did you hear it might snow?
You might have heard somewhere these past few days, but we’re expecting a bit of snow this weekend. We’ve seen what happens when we under-prepare, as well as what happens when we over-prepare. But the...
View ArticlePBNYC 2016 Ballot is here: What will you choose?
You’re going to get a lot of chances to vote this year – the Presidential primary in April, the State legislative primary in September, and the General Election in November.But only one ballot contains...
View ArticleSome new candidates on the (PBNYC) ballot!
PBNYC Vote Week is underway – and there are some new candidates on the ballot!For the first time ever, we’ll be offering a brand new voting opportunity. In addition to voting on how to spend $1.5...
View ArticleWe are Orlando. So let’s do something about it
Even two days later, it’s hard to make sense of the brutal tragedy in Orlando. There’s something truly incomprehensible – about so many lives lost at once, about raising our kids in a world where mass...
View ArticleTell the MTA: We demand better F train service for ALL riders!
Whether you use a “local” or an “express” station, you were probably taken aback when the MTA announced their so-called “F Express Proposal” a few weeks ago. I know I was – since there was no outreach...
View ArticleStill and always, grateful
Some years, gratitude is closer to the surface. Some years, it takes a little more digging.Four years ago, as Thanksgiving came, we were recovering from a natural disaster.Hurricane Sandy had taken the...
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