Folding bike built by Kimberly with Recycle-a-Bicycle

My name is Kimberly White and I will be a Fall Intern with Sustainable Flatbush. I am a freshman at CUNY Baruch and I intend to pursue a double major in environmental engineering and agriculture, with a minor in sustainability. Previously I interned with Recycle-A-Bicycle as a student mechanic.

I was inspired to mobilize, organize and educate others about the environmental justice movement by Community Roots (a youth summer program at Brooklyn College). I’m excited to work in solidarity with Sustainable Flatbush to engage a myriad of cultures into sustainable development.  Particularly I’m interested in the racial and cultural dynamics of the green movement.

This curiosity of the racial and environmental inequities embedded in our culture and therefore in the uneven development of sustainability is attested to an environmental justice trip that I embarked on with the youth-led organization NY2NO. Additionally I’m interested in solar energy and becoming further educated about how this system works.

Kimberly and the bees

I’m an amateur bee-keeper, a biker, activist, and an almost intern of Sustainable Flatbush! I’m looking forward to working in solidarity with Flatbush as I believe that our liberation is entwined with each other’s.

Flatbush Avenue (photo by wallyg)

This coming Monday night, June 28th, presents a great opportunity for local Livable Streets advocates to have some input on what the future design of Flatbush Avenue will look like!

See the invitation below (received from Assemblymember Rhoda Jacobs’ office) for a Public Input Session to discuss the Department of Transportation’s Flatbush Avenue Study, part of DOT’s Congested Corridors Project. The study area encompasses Flatbush Avenue from Empire to Nostrand Avenues, including the Flatbush/Nostrand Junction near Brooklyn College. (Apparently this study was initiated some time ago, since it refers to the Target store at the Junction as being “under development”.)

At the moment this major thoroughfare that cuts through so many of Brooklyn’s neighborhood’s is dangerous territory for pedestrians and bikes (a cyclist was killed at the intersection of Flatbush and Beverley only two months ago), and crossings are hazardous enough to effectively cut neighborhoods off from each other. Although street design appears to be a permanent and unchangeable part of the urban infrastructure, this is not actually the case, and the fact that DOT is studying this part of Brooklyn shows that they recognize the need for change.

Let’s dare to imagine and advocate for a Flatbush Avenue design that is welcoming to people instead of acting solely as a conduit for automobiles!

WHAT: Flatbush Avenue Congested Corridors Public Input Session
WHEN: Monday, June 28th from 7-9 pm (registration begins at 6:30)
WHERE: Erasmus Hall High School, Bedford Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues

Peaches or Parking Spots? (photo by Flatbush Gardener)

Brooklyn College has plans to reorient (but not expand) the student athletic track, thereby cutting into a parking lot that is positioned nearby. To make up for the spots that will be lost, the college plans to bulldoze the garden, replace it with approximately 24 parking spots, and leave the community gardeners with a paltry plot, to be laid out and regimented by Brooklyn College Facilities.

You can help! You can raise your voice and tell Brooklyn College how you want the new garden to be configured. You can share with the college the value of a community garden. Share your priorities and interests — let the college know what you think!

A Part of the Garden (photo by Flatbush Gardener)

Join the community, the students, and the faculty for a Town Hall Meeting. There will be two meetings: One in the afternoon (12:30), and one in the evening (6:30).

When: Thursday, 15 April 2010, 12:30 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

photo by Afroza Amin

Hi, My name is Afroza Amin and I’m going to be interning with this great organization for the Spring 2010 semester. I’m an undergraduate junior at Brooklyn College, majoring in psychology and accounting.

I’m ashamed to say I’ve never really thought about sustainability issues as being such a big problem. However, a year ago I went back to my country Bangladesh, a country situated in Southern Asia. The state of poverty and overall environmental degradation in some parts of that country I visited, opened my eyes to the issue. People were struggling to make out a living but still not having enough to eat day to day. The roads were covered with garbage and people would walk by it without giving it a second glance, like its something they were used to. People are so busy struggling to live in such poverty, that they don’t really care what they are doing to their environment.

Once I got back to New York I did some research on sustainability groups or if there was any sort of action being taken for this state of Bangladesh. There wasn’t much being done about it and that got me thinking more about the issues. In the end, not really knowing what to do, I pushed the thought to the back of my head until I was in one of my psychology classes last semester. Professor Nancy Romer was offering a class for individuals who were interested in interning with sustainability groups.

Sustainable Flatbush was one of the organizations I was interested in because it was close to my neighborhood, so I emailed Anne. She replied back to me saying that they were interested in spreading the word to the South Asian community so my language skills would be needed. I was thrilled to hear this and after doing some research about the organization, I just knew this was the organization I wanted to intern with. The goals of this organization greatly interested me because it was the things I thought needed to be addressed in my country. Energy solution, zero waste, livable street; these goals of the organization are things I became interested in and would like to find out more about. All in all, I’m hoping to gain more knowledge so that I can help others in my community understand these things and become aware about what they can do.

About a year ago, Sustainable Flatbush’s Executive Director Anne Pope and I sat at Sycamore Bar and Flower Shop on Cortelyou Road.

I had just become the Director of Energy Solutions at SF, and we were strategizing about the best ways to meet the urgent need for energy efficiency upgrades in our neighborhood, to bring down soaring energy costs and reduce our carbon emissions.  With new incentive programs from government and utilities, Anne and I realized the time was right to leverage funds that would bring major energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to Flatbush.

So we conceived the Neighborhood Energy Forum.  For the past year, SF’s Energy Solutions Initiative has been working diligently to bring the Neighborhood Energy Forum to fruition.  We’ve been fortunate to join forces with a fantastic group of sponsors and partners, the Flatbush Development Corporation, the Energy Smart Communities program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), ConEd,  and National Grid.

Join us on March 20 at the Brooklyn College Student Center, from 9:30 to 2:00.
Admission is free!  Here’s what it’s about:

Multi-Family and 1-4 Family Tracks

We understand that large buildings face different challenges than smaller homes, so depending on the size of your residence, we have information tailored to your needs.  Representatives from NYSERDA, National Grid, and ConEd will highlight low- and middle-income incentive programs to help building owners, co-op boards, tenant groups and other stakeholders understand what needs to be done and how to take the first steps.

Meet Contractors Who Can Do the Work at Our Energy Fair

Energy auditors, building engineers, renewable energy installers—basically anyone you need to talk to—will be on hand offering their services.  You will gain important knowledge about how to move forward by talking to the experts, and may even find someone to work with on your project.

A Perfect Storm for Renewables in NYC

With federal, state, and local tax credits and abatements, plus a solar-electric (photovoltaic, or PV) incentive rebate program, 2010 is the year for solar–not just PV but solar heat and hot water too.  So if you’re one of those people who have asked us, “How can I get solar for my home,” come to the Neighborhood Energy Forum and catch up with renewable energy vendors at the Energy Fair.

Check-in with Your Elected Officials

Members of the New York State Assembly and Senate as well as New York City Council will be on hand to let you know what they’re doing to support energy efficiency and renewables in our city.  See the Neighborhood Energy Forum page to get the story on who will be there.

To find out more, visit our Energy Forum page, or jump right to our registration form.  Send me an email if you have any questions.  See you there!

Relevant Links:

• Neighborhood Energy Forum Registration
• Neighborhood Energy Forum
• Ellen Honigstock at our Neighborhood Energy Forum
• What National Grid Can Do For You
• Neighborhood Energy Forum on March 20th

Campus Road Community Garden welcome sign

The Campus Road Community Garden was founded in 1997, under the auspices of the South Midwood Residents Association (SMRA), according to the Daily News. The agreement to build the garden was negotiated between the then-current President of Brooklyn College and Ms. Toby Sanchez. The plot’s location was considered provisional — it would be moved to a more permanent location when the college had more money.

As the years passed, the college left the garden alone. It grew slowly, about two or three thousand square feet more than its original 6000 feet, and now encompasses about forty members. Growers, who pay $30 a year for a plot, raise vegetables, flowers, and herbs. The garden hosts collaborative learning experiences for high school students, and this past September, hosted a Brooklyn College Slow Food eat-in.

The Garden, as viewed from the outside

But the Campus Road Community Garden is now in danger. Brooklyn College has awoken from its green-dreams slumber and discovered that, in order to broaden its running track, it must cut into its parking lot. How to create more parking spots to compensate for the old ones taken down? Why of course — demolish the Campus Road Community Garden!

I had the privilege of speaking to Madeline Nelson, a community-oriented activist and a staunch supporter of all the Campus Road Community Garden symbolizes, about the situation. She read me excerpts of the original contract – and some of the requirements are so unusual, I have to share them. Did you know that the gardeners must leave plots for academic programs, and  if Brooklyn College’s president wants flowers from the garden, the growers are required to give some?

She also shared with me the growers’ response to Brooklyn College’s claim that the gardeners have extended their boundaries beyond what the contract permitted. Madeline pointed out that the contract never specified borders for the garden’s northern and southern sides; only the eastern and western sides had specifications, and to ensure the garden kept within those boundaries, a pathway was built in the spring of 1997. In any case, Madeline explained, the garden expanded slowly, and Brooklyn College was aware of every foot the garden grew. The growers never attempted to hide the gradual plot-by-plot expansion, and besides, Brooklyn College received an annual list participants – they were fully aware of when more people where added to the garden’s roster.

I asked Madeline if she could explain Brooklyn College’s affirmation that the garden’s current location was always considered provisional, and growers thus could not protest when the college announced the garden would be moved.

She explained that it was “verbally understood” that the garden was on a ten-year plan, and eventually something was going to be done so the school could expand its athletic field. But, she went on to say, the gardeners understood that the expansion would be for academic purposes – for the students to have a better athletic area. But not for a parking lot!

Touring the Garden

Brooklyn College’s official stance on the creation of a new parking lot is that they are legally required to add more spots to make up for those lost to the new athletic field – a question of state law. The growers, however, question this sudden need for more parking. Mass transportation and the recent surge of bike-riding have lessened the need for parking. And, if it is indeed a matter of state law, Madeline asked me, has Brooklyn College done its “due diligence”? Has the college asked the state for an exemption? Have they explained times have changed – that with more buses, bicycles, and trains, the parking lot just isn’t necessary?

Madeline also outlined several of the gardeners’ own proposals, all of which would protect the garden while still getting the parking that Brooklyn College insists it needs.

First, there is the massive Target parking lot right next to the university, which never seems to be at anywhere near full capacity – a “hugely underutilized” facility, Madeline calls it. As it is, Target offers special rates for those who come to park early, but has the college ever attempted to negotiate a special student lot in Target’s parking area? Target would get more potential consumers, and Brooklyn College would have a place to which they can send students’ cars.

If Target will not cooperate – and we don’t know if they won’t, because the college has not taken up the proposal – Madeline pointed out that by the new West Quad Building, there is more empty land, full of trees and shrubs that are not as developed at the ones in the garden. She actually suggested to Brooklyn College personnel that the athletic track be expanded there, and then the parking be put elsewhere, but the response was negative: “Nice idea, ain’t gonna happen.”

One flower, one bee. One garden, an entire ecosystem.

But it gets worse. In the new garden, Brooklyn College wants a new organizer – instead of the current one, who is part of the community and has over sixteen years of experience in the garden, the college wants to put in a faculty coordinator. What does a teacher from the college know about a garden that someone who actually works in the garden does not? Furthermore, the garden would also fall under the jurisdiction of Brooklyn College Facilities Planning and Operations – the very same Facilities whose Assistant Vice President, Steve Czirak, called the garden a “weed patch”!

What has gone wrong? How can Brooklyn College sacrifice this working ecosystem, as Madeline calls it, for a parking lot? Where has the college failed?

What Brooklyn College has failed to see is that the community garden has done just that – created a community. Growers, nature lovers, and curious students all bond over the patch of greenery; people find new roles as planters, as admirers, and as eaters. The community garden has taken what we all know – that food must be grown before it can be eaten – and made it something we understand. But by dismantling years of devotion, sweat, and hard work, Brooklyn College is refusing to see just how valuable the community garden is – something so much more meaningful than fifty parking spots!

Are you prepared to let the college raze all this -- for a parking lot?

The gardeners are not taking this sitting down, and neither must you. Destroying a valuable piece of local culture  – not to mention a haven for flora and fauna in the veritable desert that is the college — to build more parking spots is the ultimate in cruel ironies. And you can help! From the comfort of your own home, sign an electronic petition here, and join the Facebook group devoted to the garden here. Interested in taking a more active role? On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, Community Board 14 (at the CB14 District Office, 810 E 16th Street) is holding a meeting at 7 PM – and the life of the community garden is the hot topic of the night. So show your face, and your support, and let Brooklyn College know that a garden is a thing of beauty – and should be enjoyed, if not forever, for at least many years to come.

All photos courtesy of Flatbush Gardener. Thanks to Madeline Nelson for graciously giving her time and allowing me to interview her for this piece.

I’ve been interested in urban sustainability, especially public parks and recycling/composting, since I was in elementary school. I remember that when I was about ten or so, my family had our postage stamp-sized backyard paved over. Previously, it had been a scrap of green heaven for me, full of weeds and bees and basketballs and wonderful childhood memories. I actually cried as three men in blue overalls pulled out our tiny swing set from the ground. I trace my love of public parks to that incident — it was as if I was determined that if my own private parkland was wiped out, there would at least always be a patch of park for me to go to, to explore, to love, to adopt as my own.

photo by Dassa Gutwirth

When I’m not out doing my part to save the world (or at least save the parks), I enjoying reading, bike-riding, and volunteering with children with disabilities. I hope to be back here on SF’s site soon, with more information on their events — and of course, with good, green news!

Energy Efficiency and Affordability Where We Live

We are faced with the pressing challenge of reducing our resource use and greenhouse gas emissions, but how can we make that happen? We all know it’s going to take more than just changing our lightbulbs (although that is a great first step!), but the problem lies in the cost of retrofitting our older buildings or installing renewable energy.

The Neighborhood Energy Forum is bringing together all the people in the chain of making energy efficiency and alternative energy happen here and now.   If you have the desire to start an energy efficiency project in your building–whether big or small–come learn about how you can do it!  Find out how to get funding from all kinds of programs, and meet the contractors who can help you take the first steps.

The Forum’s long-term objective is to create a model block in Flatbush where the majority of homes and apartment buildings have lowered their energy use and costs, inspiring others to do the same.  Together we can decrease energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions and increase New York City’s overall energy efficiency.

You can look forward to speaking with representatives from Sustainable Flatbush, National Grid, Solar One, NYSERDA, and many other energy experts. Our elected officials will be on hand as well to let you know what they are doing to meet our energy efficiency goals.

Click here to register to attend the event. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

If you are interested in sponsoring the event we offer a range of  sponsorship opportunities that can help your business or organization reach its core audience and increase its visibility.  Check it out!

We look forward to seeing you there!

WHEN: Saturday, March 20^th 9:30am – 2pm

WHERE: Brooklyn College Student Center, Campus Road and E. 27th Street, 5^th floor

Relevant Links:

• Neighborhood Energy Forum Registration
• Neighborhood Energy Forum
• Ellen Honigstock at our Neighborhood Energy Forum
• What National Grid Can Do For You
• On the Path to Energy Efficiency and Affordability

Campus Road Garden (photo by Flatbush Gardener)

Before the interview was over Anne gave me a list of upcoming events and meetings to attend. Also she suggested that I walk over to Brooklyn College’s Campus Road Community Garden. Even after attending Brooklyn College for a year I had no idea that there was a garden. When I neared the end of Campus Road I saw sunflowers and pumpkins and I was already amazed. When I walked through the paths in garden I could not believe that something so sacred existed on Brooklyn College’s campus. I instantly recognized the peach trees even though they were not bearing any fruit because I grew up with peach trees in my backyard.

Peach Tree from Campus Road Garden (photo by Flatbush Gardener)

Finding a peach tree in the middle of Brooklyn was my greatest discovery because it was just a little something that reminded me of home, but that Sunday, October 4th, I attended the Campus Road Community Garden meeting and learned about the proposed demolition of the garden. You could hear from the discussion how passionate these gardeners were about preventing the garden from being turned into a parking lot. Each year many of the students and local gardeners use their hands to turn the soil into fruitful vegetation, so the fervor in their voices was understandable. Ideas were proposed about making the campus community aware of the presence of the garden and the threat of its demolition.

By that Tuesday, October 6th, I was able to help Sustainable Flatbush with Brooklyn College’s Student Center’s Welcome Back Bash. From our table set up on Campus Road we provided students and local community members with information about the goals and initiatives of Sustainable Flatbush. The street became filled with students and members from the community who played games, listened to live music from the Pimps of Joytime, watched the street performances of Circus Amok, and gathered information from student groups and organizations. Sustainable Flatbush invited several environmental groups to table at the event and introduce students to their programs. Since Sustainable Flatbush invited the Brooklyn Compost Project, I was able to dig through and at the same time learn about worm composting from Annie Houck-Lawson. I watched Rommel from Recycle-A-Bicycle fix bikes and Sam from Transportation Alternatives advocate for biking, walking, and public transit. Community Gardeners from the Campus Road Garden took students on tours of the garden to make them aware of the garden’s existence and solicited signatures for their petition to thwart the demolition of the garden.

Fall Foliage Walking Tour (photo by Jason Reif)

The light rain did not stop members of the community from gathering at Sacred Vibes Apothecary on October 24th, to follow Tracey Hohman and Chris “Flatbush Gardener” Kreussling to learn more about the trees in the Victorian Flatbush neighborhood. The drizzling rain made the yellow, red, orange, and green leaves as well as the brown in the barks glisten. By the end of the tour, tour-goers were able to identify and name the trees that line Argyle, Albemarle, Marlborough, Cortelyou, and Beverley Roads. I am now able to recognize the gingko trees that are on my street and Brooklyn College not just from their smelly fruit but their distinctive leaves.

I also had the chance of sitting in on a meeting with Anne and three representatives from the New York City Department of Transportation on October 20th. They were proposing the idea of changing and making improvements to the Nostrand Avenue bus service, the B44. By creating the Nostrand Avenue Bus Rapid Transit they would improve boarding time, bus speeds, and more through restructuring the street lanes and the sidewalks to accommodate the over 41,000 daily riders of the B44. Living right off of Nostrand Avenue I know how crowded the B44 can get and how long bus waits are, so I can appreciate the much needed upgrades. These representatives were looking for local organizations and community members to support the idea of the Nostrand Avenue Bus Rapid Transit so that it would be an idea that came into fruition.

Anne, fellow intern Mark, and I all met at the Community Resource Exchange on the 21st of October for a Budgeting Basics workshop for non-profit organizations. Being in a workshop with other non-profit organizations was very helpful because even though everyone was from different organizations and had different objectives, many of the concerns and questions about budgets were similar. I learned how much actually goes into creating and maintaining a budget. Also I began to understand that budgets should be symbiotic with planning, because a budget is your plan in numbers.

Shredding Leaves at the Flatbush CommUNITY Garden (photo by Flatbush Gardener)

Twice in November, on the 8th and the 21st, Sustainable Flatbush collected leaves at our Flatbush CommUNITY Garden in conjunction with NYCLeaves, to turn into rich compost for the garden. I was able to help work the leaf shredder and thanks to all the members of the community who dropped off their leaves there were way more leaves than we could shred in a single sitting. The first day that we collected leaves we received over 800 pounds of future compost. Once the leaves were shredded we added them to the compost piles in the garden. Rather than using the leaf shredder some children and a few adults took shredding into their own hands by jumping, playing, and tossing the leaves, so leaf composting not only keeps leaves out of our landfills but it is fun for all age groups.

Sustainable Flatbush invited Novella Carpenter to read from her book Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer at Vox Pop Cafe. Her book contained stories of dumpster diving, pig auctions, squatting, and much more about the trials and tribulations of having and maintaining an urban farm and garden. I learned that a lot of time and effort go into raising your own animals for food. I found Novella Carpenter’s experiences so inspiring that someone could be so dedicated to wanting to know where their food came from that they grew and raised their own food.

The morning of November 15th neighbors of the Flatbush community and beyond gathered with their own tools and the desire to beautify the streets by planting daffodil bulbs. The bulbs were planted in street tree beds with trees that were planted within the last year. Come spring everyone will be able to witness the fruits of their labor when the streets of Flatbush are decorated in shades of yellows and whites from the daffodils’ blooms.

Flatbush Daffodil Project 2009

There was record attendance at Brooklyn College’s November 17th Town Hall on Sustainability: 93 students, faculty, and community organizers met to voice their opinions on topics such as food, housing, health, transportation, water, energy, community gardens, and waste. Anne was one of the panelists that spoke and answered questions about sustainability in Brooklyn College and the community beyond the campus gates. I was a part of the health round table; we discussed concerns about health insurance or lack thereof, making more students aware of the health clinic, having healthier food choices at the Brooklyn College cafeteria, and using non-hazardous materials for cleaning and landscaping. Individuals at the community garden round table were some of the gardeners from the Campus Road Community Garden; they questioned and gave suggestions to Joseph Nigro, the representative from Brooklyn College’s facilities, about maintaining all of the garden’s land without having to destroy any of it for a parking lot, but he was unable to provide any clear answers. The purpose of the town hall was to present to the community what Brooklyn College is doing with regards to sustainability and take suggestions to improve on its sustainable efforts.

In October and November I had the opportunity to not only attend but be involved in a variety of events, meetings, and workshops with Sustainable Flatbush. Events are important to actively demonstrate to the surrounding community that as an organization you are fulfilling your objectives. What I love about Sustainable Flatbush is that the initiatives spread across a broad range of environmental topics, so I can meet with representatives from the Department of Transportation one day and then be in the garden and shredding leaves on another day.

Brooklyn College Welcome Back Bash

Campus Road was closed down and filled with tables of student groups and community organizations, games, street performers from Circus Amok, and live music provided by the Pimps of Joytime. Sustainable Flatbush provided Brooklyn College students and neighbors with information about the goal of our organization as well as our four initiatives.

Circus Amok

At the Welcome Back Bash Sustainable Flatbush invited Sam from Transportation Alternatives, who informed people about the organization’s advocacy for bicycling, walking, and public transit; Rommel from Recycle-A-Bicycle, who was able to put many students’ bikes back into tip-top shape; and master composters from Brooklyn Compost Project, who encouraged students to learn about worm composting.Community gardeners from Brooklyn College’s Campus Road Garden were there to make students aware of the proposed demolition of the garden and solicit signatures for their petition to save it. They also took students and neighbors on walking tours through the garden’s peach trees, figs, pumpkins, mums, and much more to make them conscious of the garden’s existence.

With music in the background and students playing basketball, Sustainable Flatbush was able to educate students about sustainable living. Questions about urban gardening, composting, bicycling, and many more were answered. People were able to pick up information on Sustainable Flatbush events and projects, New York City bicycle maps, and Biking Rules pamphlets.

If you missed the bearded woman get out of a straight jacket, a man string himself through a wire hanger, a woman swallowing swords, all the fun and music, and most importantly Sustainable Flatbush, there will be another Welcome Back Bash in Spring.