All three of Brooklyn CB6's City Council Members , Hon. Stephen Levin (33rd C.D.), Hon. Carlos Menchaca (38th C.D.) and Hon. Brad Lander (39th C.D.) are giving their constituents an opportunity to determine how to spend at least $1 million in City Capital funds.

If you are a resident of our district you live in one of these three council districts and are eligible to vote, even if you are not a U.S. citizen.

If you are unsure who your Council Member is, use this nifty online address translator to find out, or call 311. 

The Spring thaw beckons a new season of construction activity. We are indeed fortunate that there's so much public and private investment being made in the infrastructure and facilities in our district. No doubt there will be some inconvenience and disruption. When it comes to construction, nobody likes surprises. So we do our best to monitor what's going on around the district and provide you with information and periodic updates.

In Red Hook, the Parks Department is anticipating the completion of the Coffey Park paths and plaza by the end of June. Following up on their commitment to re-engage the community in a discussion about the future of the Red Hook library, a vital yet chronically underutilized neighborhood facility, the Brooklyn Public Library has engaged NYCpublic to facilitate an all-day Red Hook library Community Engagement Lab on April 18th. Participants should be prepared to spend the day (10:00am-3:00pm).

The Parks Department is no longer pursuing the previously funded construction of a comfort facility at the Valentino Park & Pier based on concerns raised by the community and Council Member Menchaca. As a followup to a meeting held last fall by the Council Member at the Patrick Daly School reps from CB6 and the Council Member's office invited the Department of Transportation out to see the Valentino Park & Pier site to see if less expensive, smaller automatic public toilets could be installed under DOT's existing Coordinated Street Furniture program. After having visited the site, DOT is now assessing whether such an option is feasible.

Over at the Gowanus Canal, construction at The Lightstone Group's worksite at 363-365 Bond Street continues, while the new New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facility opened last month at 15 2nd Avenue. As part of the settlement reached by Gowanus United and DOCCS, a community advisory group has formed and met twice. Nearby residents and businesses, along with reps from CB6, DOCCS and the 78th Precinct are monitoring the new facility's impact closely. Also, Con Edison continues to relocate their electrical equipment along 3rd Avenue, as a prerequisite to the City's high-level storm sewer project which will enhance the infrastructure's stormwater carrying capacity to alleviate some of the flooding in the 3rd and 4th Avenue corridors.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently issued a Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PRAP) for the Fulton Manufactured Gas Plant which generally shares a footprint with the Parks Department's Thomas Greene Playground and Douglass-Degraw Pool, and surrounding blocks in the vicinity of Nevins Street, Sackett Street, 3rd Avenue and Douglass Street. The public is invited to comment on the PRAP until May 3rd. DEC is hosting a public meeting from 7:00-9:00pm on April 16th, at the Wyckoff Gardens Community Center, 280 Wyckoff Street.

On the canal itself, DOT reports that they will be working on the 3rd Street bridge on weekends through April which will involve intermittent lane closures (including the bike lane) while they continue to bring our Sandy-damaged bridges back online. Lastly, the EPA has notified us that they will be conducting environmental drilling in the canal from a barge between the 3rd and 9th Street bridges during April 6-24.

And in Park Slope, National Grid has surely been busy upgrading their services. We only recently learned the hard way--without prior notice from the utility--of work occurring on 4th, 5th and 6th Streets in central Slope. We are currently in the midst of playing catch up. Meanwhile, National Grid also notified us of various locations in the North Slope where they are beginning to upgrade and/or relocate their services as a prerequisite to the City's Flatbush Avenue Pedestrian Improvements Capital project HWK-30001. This project will include the reconstruction of the Flatbush Avenue pedestrian triangles at 6th, 7th and Carlton Avenues, along with other pedestrian safety improvements along Flatbush Avenue.

The 8th Avenue pedestrian triangle will also be reconstructed but as part of a separate City Capital project BED-798 which we also recently learned about. In this project we understand that the 72-inch water main on Flatbush Avenue between Sterling Place and 8th Avenues, along with other services on nearby blocks of St Johns Place, 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue, will be upgraded. This project is in the preliminary design phase and we are expecting to host a public meeting to review and discuss it with the City in the coming months.

And, lastly, we are pleased that New York Methodist Hospital is in the process of forming a construction task force that will meet regularly to monitor activities related to the construction of the hospital's new Center for Community Health facility along 5th Street, 8th Avenue and 6th Street, as requested by the Community Board as a condition of its approval.

If there's something construction-wise going on that you want to know more about you can always call us at (718) 643-3027, ext 204. If we don't already know about it, we'll find out for you.