Jun. 19, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen The people of South Williamsburg have, for decades, dealt with the long-term effects of environmental abuses and climate change. New York City considers the nabe an environmental justice area — meaning it has suffered “disproportionate negative impacts due to historical and existing social inequities without equal protection and…
Jun. 17, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen The creatures of the Atlantic Ocean will shimmy up the beach and onto the boardwalk on June 21 as the 43rd annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade returns to mark the unofficial start of summer in Brooklyn. Around 5,000 participants are hard at work sewing together their homemade costumes…
May. 22, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Meera Joshi, the city’s former Deputy Mayor for Operations, is taking charge of a new group of New Yorkers: the 570,000 permanent residents of Green-Wood Cemetery. Joshi, who resigned from City Hall earlier this year over Mayor Eric Adams’ willingness to cooperate with President Donald Trump, has been…
May. 1, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen After a four-year closure the newly-renovated Bedford Library reopened last week, finally welcoming Bed-Stuy residents back to the stacks. Though the library looks largely the same, it has been retrofitted with a new high-efficiency HVAC system and other energy-conserving measures — making it a “model for energy efficiency,”…
Apr. 30, 2025 By Gabriele Holtermann Climate organizers, experts, and advocates gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall on April 28 for a day of panels and presentations focused on the borough’s climate future. In the wake of the Trump administration’s rollback of climate regulations and cuts to climate grants, experts emphasized the importance of building…
Apr. 23, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen The city officially launched its “Adopt-A-Catch Basin” pilot program in Greenpoint on Tuesday, hoping to deputize locals as volunteer storm drain supervisors. Greenpointers who sign up for the program will be responsible for cleaning debris — like leaves and trash — out of their assigned catch basin so…
Apr. 22, 2025 By Gabriele Holtermann Council Member Chi Ossé, New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P) and local park advocates rallied Monday at Herbert Von King Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant, calling on Mayor Eric Adams to restore funding for the city’s Parks Department and 800 parks-related jobs. Park advocates say underfunding and understaffing have led to…
Apr. 17, 2025 By Adam Daly Over 400 student volunteers from across the city helped plant native beach vegetation along the dunes of Coney Island Creek Park this past planting season, part of an effort to combat flooding and climate impacts threatening the southern Brooklyn neighborhood. The students — representing 20 public schools from…
Apr. 9, 2025 By Lauren Rapp Just as the city is reawakening after months of winter, so are the delicate sprouts of native grasses and wildflowers in the micro-urban grasslands of Green-Wood Cemetery. Visitors may notice a stark difference between grave plots along Green-Wood’s peaceful paths. Some public lots are almost entirely obscured by…
Mar. 28, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen A long-delayed project critical to the success of the Gowanus Canal Superfund cleanup reached an early milestone this week, as the city finished excavating space for a massive underground sewer overflow tank. The Red Hook tank — formerly known as the Head End tank — will catch 8…