January 13, 2021
Hi. Every month I send out an email blast to our membership, announcing the Block Assoc.'s agenda for the monthly meeting. After the meeting, I prepare and post minutes on the Block Assoc.'s website, which is only accessible to the membership. In these monthly blog posts, my goal is to combine and preserve the most important info from both of those places, in a location that is publicly available. This makes it easier for a member who has been away for awhile to see what is going on. It also give the potential members and the public an idea of what we are up to.
Members - if you want to write a blog post about anything, feel free.
Making Contact with Our Fire House
Paul C., head of the Traffic Committee, made contact with our local fire house to introduce our block association. FDNY Engine Company #226 at 409 State State Street.
This contact was not so easy to make because the City does not list the individual phone numbers of fire houses. Paul had to stop by the fire house a bunch of times. He finally met a very helpful member member of the NYC Fire Department.
Last month we were all wondering what to do with our expired fire extinguishers. I found this NYC document regarding this topic online:
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/docs/harmful-products-brochure-06310-f.pdf
The explanation of how to handle expired fire extinguishers is on page 11 "Gas Cylinders".
Loose Garbage Accumulating at the Intersection of State and 3rd; PLEASE CALL 311!
Loose garbage is accumulating more than usual at the intersection of State Street and Third Avenue. The head of our Clean Streets Committee, Brendan G., writes:
"It’s always dirty there, but this is especially bad (see photo). All of this trash is now blowing down to State Street. Please call or email 311 and/or report a 'dirty condition' online."
If you make your 311 complaint via email, you get a confirmation. Please forward us the confirmation.
Another street clean up event is scheduled for Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
Another street clean up event is scheduled for Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The December street clean up event went very well. About a dozen Block Association members met at the corner of Nevins and State at 4:00 pm on a Tuesday and swept the two blocks for about an hour and a half. It was fun and we got a lot done. There were a lot of leaves on the ground, and we decided to skip the leaves (they are compost anyway) and concentrate of getting up all the garbage on both blocks.
I really can’t thank Brendan G., chair of our Clean Streets Committee, enough. Nor can I thank enough all the people who showed up, including my 14-year-old daughter, pictured below cleaning around these construction fences that collect so much garbage.
The Block Assoc. is Planting Trees in the Spring!
As you may recall, we have engaged Urban Arborists to plant trees in Spring. They will also trim the branches of existing trees going into the street. We are going to dedicate each tree to someone or something. We already have one tree slated to be dedicated to a dear member who passed away recently.
In Community,
Michelle Itkowitz
President
400-500 State Street Brooklyn Block Association, Inc.
https://400500statest.clubexpress.com/