Thursday, May 13, 2021

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

I hope my email finds you well on this sunny Thursday. It was good to “see” and hear from folks at last night's board meeting. To all those celebrating, have a very happy Eid.

Before a brief recap of last night’s meeting, I'm pleased to repeat that our COVID-19 statistics continue to move in the right direction. Let’s keep it that way by, if you haven’t already, getting vaccinated ASAP. Vaccine eligibility now includes those from twelve to fifteen years old.

Now back to last night. We had a brief voting agenda which consisted of 3 liquor licenses that were all approved unanimously. Our chair, Peter Fleming, discussed some updates surrounding the public review process of the Gowanus Rezoning. First, the judge, who had “paused” the ULURP clock and put the Temporary Restraining Order in place, issued a further order lifting it. 

In practical terms, that means we are now scheduled to hold a public hearing, in partnership with Brooklyn Community Board 2, on June 3rd to feature both in-person and outdoor options for testifying at a public hearing. There will also be a rain date scheduled for the following Thursday, June 10th. Further specifics and logistics are being worked out for this, and as they are finalized, I’ll readily share them. The goal, of course, is that everyone who wants to participate will be able to do so. To make this happen, we had to move our June board meeting to the 3rd Wednesday of the month, June 23rd. 

In terms of other meetings in which aspects of the Gowanus Rezoning are likely to be discussed, our EWCDH committee meets on Monday, May 17th, and our Landmarks/Land Use committee meets on Thursday, May 27th. In between those two meetings, our Parks committee will meet next Wednesday, May 19th. All 3 of these meetings will take place over zoom and begin at 6:30 PM. 

You may have also heard that our meeting featured a CB6 resident and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer visit. He gave updates on various things that have happened and are happening at the federal level. Senator Schumer showed off his state of the art flip phone, discussed the filibuster, unveiled his firm grasp of Brooklyn vernacular by using another word that starts with the letter “F,” and was the first CB6 attendee to have been impersonated on Saturday Night Live. All joking aside, thank you to Senator Schumer for joining our meeting and spending so much time. If that recap doesn’t do the trick, you can relive all the magic mentioned here on Youtube. 

On that note, I’ll suggest you keep reading past my signature, stay safe and enjoy the rest of your Thursday. 

This is the web archive of a newsletter originally sent by email to Brooklyn Community Board 6 subscribers on Thursday, May 13, 2021. The email edition may contain additional event listings and links.