Thursday, April 15, 2021

I hope my emails find you well on this rainy Thursday. It was good to “see” and hear from folks at last night's board meeting.

I hope my emails find you well on this rainy Thursday. It was good to “see” and hear from folks at last night's board meeting. If you missed it or want to rewatch it, you can see it here on YouTube. 

Before offering an attempted recap, I’ll remind you that tonight our Transportation and public safety committee is meeting right now. The agenda will feature an MTA presentation on the elevator and ADA improvements for the 7th Ave F and G Subway stop and DCP’s Zoning for the Accessibility text amendment. 

Shifting into reverse and last night, we had four items on our voting agenda, and they were all overwhelmingly approved. 

One was from our Economic Waterfront Community Development and Housing Committee and was presented by Housing Chair Ariel Krasnow. It was a motion to support the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Open Street request. The street in question was 2nd Street between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal, between 10 am and 9 pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. While not a motion or resolution, EWCDH, specifically the “Community Development portion” had some news last night as Samara Trilling, a software engineer for JustFix.nyc was announced as our new Community Development Chair. 

Another item was presented for Permits & Licences chair, Rachel Freeman. Despite being unable to attend the committee meeting, she didn’t skip a beat. She presented a motion to approve an application for an on-premises Liquor License at 223 Smith Street. This establishment will serve American cuisine and is owned by the same people who own and operate Verde on Smith across the street. 

The other two voting items were from the Landmarks/ Land Use Committee. Land Use has a new chair. Mark Shames, who remains as our Waterfront Chair and member of the committee, stepped down from his role, and Alec Scherinbeck has stepped. Peter expressed his appreciation to Mark. Alec knows he has big shoes to fill, but his resume indicates he’s very much up to the task.Alec lives in Park Slope just a few blocks away from where he was raised. He currently works as the Deputy State Solicitor for New Jersey. He is a whiz with questions of procedure: Previously, he was counsel to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in McCarthy v. Pelosi, a constitutional challenge brought by House Republicans to the House’s novel remote-voting procedures that were adopted during COVID to allow the House to vote without gathering in person. His thoughts about public policy have been published widely, including on the New York Times Opinion page. 

But I digress and get to the items that were up for review. The Landmarks item presented by David Briggs was for legalizing changes to the fence at 441 14th Street in the Park Slope Historic District. The Land Use item, presented by Alec Schierenbeck, was for an application to the Board of Standards and Appeals to permit residential use in a three-story, single-family home with a cellar in an M1-1 zoning district contrary to Zoning Resolution section 42-10 at 166 Coffey Street. 

On that note, I must stop typing as I am scheduled for a COVID-19 vaccination appointment. Speaking of vaccination appointments, there are many available, so make one, stay safe, and have a good evening

This is the web archive of a newsletter originally sent by email to Brooklyn Community Board 6 subscribers on Thursday, April 15, 2021. The email edition may contain additional event listings and links.