BROOKLYN COMMUNITY BOARD 6
PARKS/RECREATION/ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION COMMITTEE
April 19, 2017
Attendance:
S. Bautista-Carolina A J. Pautz P F. Brown A C. Pigott A D. Buscarello A M. Shames P E. Felder A J. Oltman-Smith A J. Heyer P J. Thompson A G. Kelly P S. Turet P H. Link A
P = present, E = excused, A = absent
Guests:
S. JONES – REP. FROM NYS DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
L. LANDAU – REP. FROM THE U.S FOREST SERVICE
K. ALLON S. WOLFE D. BUXBAUM
*** MINUTES ***
The Parks/Recreation and Environmental Protection Committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6 held two informational presentations. We did not have a quorum present and the minutes, therefore, could not be adopted, although those present did not see any issues with the minutes of the prior meeting. In addition to the presentations EP Chair Mark Shames reported that he had asked the community board staff to look into the possibility of creating a tool to index the various ongoing and proposed environmental initiatives for our district and whether there might be grant funding for such an endeavor that could be accessed by the Friends of Brooklyn CB6, Inc. not-for-profit. The board office also made the Chairmen of the committee aware that there was a proposal from the City Administration to reduce a number of criminal offenses from misdemeanors to violations. Certain of these offenses related directly to Parks. There was not an opportunity to see the content or discuss the proposal at the meeting but Chairman Kelly stated that he would send out an email with regard to same for individuals to comment directly or to comment in advance of an Executive committee meeting that might consider same. The presentations were made with regard to the following: Presentation and discussion with a representative for New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on the state's Ocean Action Plan, a coordinated and inclusive
effort focused on improving the health of our ocean ecosystems and their capacity to provide sustainable benefits to New Yorkers.
Sherryll Huber Jones who is the NYS Ocean Coordinator of the Division of Marine Resources of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission spoke of the development of a state and regional action plan in conjunction with the federal government. The current process is not designed to change laws or alter regulations but gathers information and studies a wide array of issues including climate change, wind farm location, shipping and habitat. She indicated that she would forward her presentation and various links to the community board.
Presentation by and discussion with Laura Landau a representative for the US Forest Service on their Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP), a mapping tool and database of organizations designed to help understand and strengthen the civic capacity to take care of New York's neighborhoods, and to introduce the soon-to-be rolled out STEW-MAP 2017 survey.
The US Forest Service updates its (Social) Stewardship Mapping once every ten years and it is in the process of doing its survey and such an update at this time. An attempt is being made to do more extensive outreach, create a more fine-grained understanding of group characteristics, turf and networking adding to social networking capacity, and to make the data collected more accessible, and user friendly. Laura can be reached at lauralandau.ufs@gmail.com.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Minutes were submitted by Mark Shames.