sustainableflatbush.org

The folks who’ve been bringing organic food to our neighborhood since 1976 are holding the official celebration of their large and beautiful new store tomorrow! Here’s the details:

All are invited to the grand opening celebration to mark Flatbush Food Coop’s move into our newly renovated space at 1415 Cortelyou Rd. The FFC is a community-owned natural foods store that has been providing Brooklyn and greater New York residents with quality organic and natural foods since 1976. The beautiful new space is diagonally across the street and three times the size of its former location, at 1318 Cortelyou Road.

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Noon to 5 p.m.
Ribbon Cutting: 1 p.m.

Buying Fair Trade Coffee at the Flatbush Food Co-op, photo by arimoore

This is a community-organized, family-friendly, leisurely neighborhood bike ride, happening next Saturday morning. A great opportunity to see the architecture and sights in Bedford Stuyvesant, one of Brooklyn’s most beautiful and historic brownstone neighborhoods. Bed-Stuy Blog has the news:

To celebrate Bike Month, Bedford-Stuyvesant will be having a bike ride called The Steeple Chase. The Steeple Chase will start at Von King Park (Marcy and Greene Aves) and tour the neighborhood visiting historic churches along the way. It takes place on Saturday, May 24th from 9:00 am - noon.

We now have the registration forms for this event. You can download the forms by clicking here or you can pick one up at the YMCA (1121 Bedford Ave), the Department of Health (485 Throop Ave) or Common Grounds (376 Tompkins Ave).

Completed forms can be dropped off at on one of the pick-up locations or emailed to bedstuybikes@gmail.com.

See you on the 24th!

photo by ultraclay!

Please come join us at the Sustainable Flatbush Monthly Meeting, this coming Monday. We will be continuing plans for our Arbor Day Street Trees Walking Tour and Newkirk Avenue Block Party, and discussing future projects.

WHAT: Sustainable Flatbush Monthly Meeting
WHEN: Monday April 14th at 7pm
WHERE: 462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)

Hope to see you there!

For the transportation geeks among us (yes, I’m one!), this should be a very interesting panel discussion coming up on January 28th. I am familiar with the work of Aaron, Christine and Elizabeth, and those three alone are worth the “price” of admission.

Moderated by Aaron Naparstek of Streetsblog, this panel discussion featuring New York City’s most successful neighborhood change-makers will provide inspiring and practical lessons about how New Yorkers can transform the public realm.

Panelists include Christine Berthet (Clinton Hells Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety), Joshua David (Friends of the High Line), Penny Lee (Department of City Planning), Milton Puryear (Brooklyn Greenway Initiative), Paul Steely White (Transportation Alternatives), Robert Witherwax (Grand Army Plaza Coalition), Elizabeth Yeampierre, (UPROSE) and Chauncy Young (Highbridge Community Life Center).

New York Historical Society, 2 W. 77th St.
January 28th
6pm Panel
8pm Reception and Exhibit

Seating is very limited; please RSVP at nycstreets.org/uws
This event is free and open to the public.

The NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign, a partnership between Transportation Alternatives, The Open Planning Project and Project for Public Spaces, is committed to inspiring and engaging New Yorkers to reclaim their streets as the core of healthy communities where individuals of all ages can safely walk, play and gather

WHAT: Making Solar Happen in NYC
How you can help remove legislative barriers to solar energy

* Why is it easier to install solar panels on Long Island than in NYC?

* Is funding available?

* How will PlaNYC2030 affect permits for solar?

* Why is energy efficiency so important to installing solar panels?

* Solar experts from Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan will share their experiences regarding installations in the metro area.

* Audience Q & A to follow.

WHO: Richard Klein, Quixotic Systems Inc., Manhattan
Tom Gately, Green Power Solutions, Queens
John Siciliani, Duce Green Building, Brooklyn
Anthony Pereira, Alt-Power, Manhattan

WHEN: Wednesday, January 9, 2008

7 p.m.

WHERE: Friends Meeting House

15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan

(15^th Street between 2^nd & 3^rd Avenues)

COST: free

Next Sustainable Flatbush monthly meeting:
Monday January 7th, 7pm
462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)

Our regular meetings on the first Monday of every month are for newcomers and committee members alike. We will report on projects in progress and plan for future activities. Everyone is welcome!

Are you expecting a new iPod or DVD player or computer from Santa? Don’t throw the old one in the garbage — save it for Sustainable Flatbush’s Post-Holiday E-Waste Recycling event! If the stars align correctly, we will make some local pickups with a cargo bike!

Sustainable Flatbush Cortelyou Road E-Waste Recycling Event, Summer 2007

WHEN:
Saturday January 5th and Sunday January 6th, from 1 until 5pm

WHY:
Discarded computers and electronics are toxic hazardous waste! Keep your unwanted electronics out of the landfill by bringing them to this neighborhood e-waste recycling event.

WHERE:
462 Marlborough Road, Flatbush, Brooklyn (map here)

WHAT:
We will accept working and non-working:
• Computers (laptop & desktop) and Monitors
• Servers, mainframes
• Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
• Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.)
• Components (hard drives, CD Roms, circuit boards, power supplies, etc,)
• TVs,VCR & DVD Players
• Audio visual devices
• Radios/Stereos
• Cell Phones, pagers
• PDAs,Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)
• Media (floppies, cd’s, zips, VHS tapes)**

• please note: we cannot accept small household appliances
such as microwaves and toasters
**Gets sent to www.greendisk.com - if you have a lot of media please go to the website, pay a small fee, download an address label and send it directly to them.

All materials collected will be recycled via Lower East Side Ecology Center’s partnership with BuildItGreen. Additional information about e-waste recycling is available here.

This event is co-sponsored by Lower East Side Ecology Center and Flatbush Development Corporation.

In case the print is too small to read, I’ll repeat it here:

Come and participate in a special dialogue about the future of Flatbush. The Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC) and the Municipal Art Society (MAS) are inviting you to take part in Imagine Flatbush 2030 — a community visioning and dialogue process — designed to get you together with other Flatbush community members to collectively create a more sustainable neighborhood. If you care about the environment, community health, protecting diversity, ensuring affordable housing and a whole host of other community issues, this is the meeting for you!

For more information and to RSVP, please contact Sideya Sherman, at the MAS Planning Center, at 212/935-3960 or via email at ssherman[at]mas.org.

Please be advised that there will be a supervised homework room provided for school aged children. If you need to bring a child, please contact us in advance.

Refreshments will be served.

The next monthly meeting will be Monday December 3rd.

WHAT:
Sustainable Flatbush Monthly Meeting
WHEN:
Monday, December 3rd at 7pm
WHERE:
462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)
WHY:
• Hear report and future plans from Gardening Committee Kickoff Meeting
• Plan for December 8th holiday event at Newkirk Plaza and Post-Holiday Electronics Recycling
• Discuss Imagine Flatbush 2030 visioning meetings
• Discuss plans for Livable Streets event at Brooklyn College early next year

Hope to see you there!