There is a Gerritsen Beach Cares meeting Monday April 5th 7:00pm in the St. James basement.
Hello,
Your invited to the Annual GBC Membership meeting on April 5th (7:00 p.m.) in the basement of St. James Church.
We are asking for a leader or representative from all the organizations, sports groups or programs, schools, event organizers, scouts to attend and request any donations or support you will need in 2010.
This will be a great opportunity for our members to better understand the great programs and activities you organize and we help support. I know most of us are not thinking about the donation you will ask for months from now. But, GBC needs to make sure we have the requests in our minutes and approved by a quorum at our meeting.
If you have any questions or need additional information please call me at 646-220-8215
Thanks,
Michael Taylor
Chairman of the Board
PS. Please forward this to any leaders, volunteers, others that may be interested.
The Gerritsen Beach Property Owners March meeting nothing much happened. The meeting started a little after 7:30, was lightly attended (a few board members are hospitalized), and ended in under 20 minutes.
20 Minutes?! Really? This was mostly due to the fact that the MTA Brooklyn meeting was on the same day and most or all of our local pols were at the meeting – talking before the public.
The census bureau was there announcing they are still hiring.
Kiddie Beach is planning a ton of kid friendly and family friendly events including but not limited to.
Teen Dances
An Open Mic Band Night
Rockband Night (video game)
Chinese Auction
Chili Cookoff
There is nothing of substance to report, not even the 61st was there on time, they did however show up while everyone was cleaning up and gave an impromptu briefing. They did acknowledged the Xanax arrest, and a few other possession charges at seba avenue park. Surprisingly, There was another arrest worth mentioning, another beach “kid” (born 1987) mugging people by pushing people to the ground and stealing their bags. This occurred in the beach, on Ocean Avenue, and in Park Slope.
There will also be a St. Patricks day parade on March 13th stepping off at 12:00 pm from the VFW.
On Wednesday January 6th (and every first Wednesday) the property owners held their meeting in the St. James basement. Here is the rundown.
61st Precinct Report:
There was some tire slashings on the morning of January 1st on Gotham Avenue. Residents of Gotham Ave who were at the meeting did not know others were effected are are filing a report.
Seba Avenue Park was the main agenda which because of it’s importance will be a separate post.
As for the fire: Jim Donovan wants to thank the entire neighborhood for their “unbelievable” response that they have received. They have received so many donations and are thankful.
There will be a fundraiser for the Hayes family on:
Tamaqua Marina
$25 at the door
January, 30 2010
Cash Bar, DJ, Live Band, Food, Raffles
There is also going to be a separate fundraiser for Kathy Winters whom was also visiting the home
February, 13th 2010
at the Cort Club
Details to be determined
Then what proceed was heated discussion about Seba Avenue Park. The Status (or lack there of) of our fire hydrants and more the same nonsense about GB.net being bad.
There are some good things to mention and some good suggestions that came from the discussion.
Instead of wanting all of our hydrants replaced/repaired maybe a strategic handful can be winterized.
Imagine if Lacon Ct was built as planned with it’s 50-60 units then imagine the fire response for a fire on that block.
The meeting was kinda reprimanded by CB15 Chair Theresa Scavo whom is at 99% of the GBPOA meetings. She explained that she has been coming to our meetings and at every meeting, every time, without fail the community yells that they want swings at seba avenue park but no one spoke up when presented with the designers and artwork.
She went on to tell everyone that the design that shown is not written in stone, and that this meeting was to have the community approve the concept however only one spoke up.
[Whole White Island Meeting at Property Owners Meeting]
Phase 1 is already semi complete, which was clearing all of the vegetation on the island (trees and fragmities)above the 10 foot contour, this was for survey purposes this was completed last July.
Now is the second phase which is the full redesign of the island. Which is broken down into two parts. The first part is to stabilize the island, not using sandbags but a more permanent solution, Armour Stone. These 2,000 lb stones will be put on the side the island where the sandbags are, right on top of as not to disturb or let loose anything being held back.
The second part is to cap the island, with about 150,000 yards of sand, which then the island will be replanted with all grassland. The 150,000 of sand is coming from a recent army core dredging project in Rockaway inlet They will be bringing in everything by barge until the end of september.
Right now they are currently stockpiling the sand until their plan is approved by NY State DEC. Which when it is approved the plan will be sent out for bid for a contractor to do the work.
They are looking to start “construction” in the spring.
They even put out a fact sheet detailing their project: [click image for a PDF]
Additional Information
The island is now and will be off-limits to the public.
A temporary bridge from the golf course to the Island WILL NOT be necessary since a marine based delivery system is being used to move sand onto the island.
The sand being delivered is from an Army Corps of Engineer’s dredge contract within Rockaway Inlet.
Sand that is being stockpiled on the island will not and cannot be moved until plans are approved by NYSDEC and a permit is granted.
Community members have requested that the horizontal members from old bridge be removed due to safety concerns. DPR will include this scope as part of the Phase 2 reconstruction contract.
All woody material will be cut and grubbed from the island surface in preparation for the grassland creation.
As part of the Phase 2 construction, the White Island shoreline will be reinforced with three slope treatments:
Armor Stone
Articulated Concrete Block
Cellular Confinement Systems
Four types of grassland habitat will be created over the island: tall grass meadow, short grass meadow, maritime grassland, and dune planting.
There was also a water, sand and soil test done on the island. Here is the report.
[Warning PDF]
In what could be called the meeting that wouldn’t end, (it was over three hours long!) it was rather productive.
The meeting opened surprisingly with the boy scouts opening with the pledge. Which was a nice touch.
First up, was the 61st who really didn’t know much about the recent helicopter chase, they didn’t doubt it happened, but hadn’t prepared any information about it. They did however issue about 12 summonses during the 4th of july with one arrest, because the person had active warrants.
The meeting was mainly about White island. With an impressive panel from various agencies. What is happening now with White Island will be a separate post to keep this post short.
After the White Island portion they went into the usual stuff.
Lew Fidler
He spoke about the Gerritsen Avenue Traffic changes. Saying that the DOT is looking to remodulate the traffic patterns on Gerritsen Avenue north of Avenue U
Lew said that the DOT didn’t approach his office or any civic group just CB15. Lew hasn’t had an opportunity to review the plan but said that it would not be his decision to make(to make these changes). He suggested that he will get DOT to meet with ALL civic groups and to gather a response to see if these changes are going to be made.
According to the proposal from DOT, DOT is making these changes due to a request by Lew Fidler. Lew suspects that because he requested DOT to look at Gerritsen and Nostrand they came up with a plan for the rest of Gerritsen Avenue.
Lew Fidler spoke a bit on white island complimenting Gerritsen Beach residents on knowing about its nature, waterways and environment.
He spoke about the court flooding and is still waiting on a list from the GBPOA of the “worst” blocks.
Lew said the GBCares issues will be resolved by Friday. Apparently NYC Parks put GBCares role in the community in writing, but not on parks letterhead. They are waiting for it to be transferred to letterhead.
The GBPOA association had requested from Lew Fidler: a no u-turn sign in front of library and a push button green traffic signal at seba avenue park. Lew has sent in letters asking for these to be put in, when he knows he will pass the information along.
Then a 20 minute heated debate ensued when Bill Dumphy of ETO confronted the GBPOA to clear up “bad reports. This will also be a separate post.
ATV’s and Paintballers were also agin brought up (it wouldn’t be a meeting without mentioning them), Lew Fidler is investigating into finding a location for the paintballers. However the dirtbikes and streetikes still remain to be a major problem, there are about 4 “bad apples” that do not care for the law. Everyone knows who the 4 are names are not being mentioned at the meeting, not because people don’t want to, some are waiting for the parents to step up.
So anyone driving for example lets say a blue scooter, or a mini-bikes, should maybe lay really low or not use it for awhile.
The property owners lastly voted on and passed an amendment lowering their membership age to 18, there were eight opposed to the change.
Alan Maisels office in conjunction with GBCares is holding a meeting (which anyone can attend) this Thursday 7pm at the Cort Club to discuss White Island.
They will be discussing the results of a NYC Parks report analyzing the pollution that is seeping from the original seal of white island.
Residents are concerned about the new project specifically the new recapping the island that will add additional pressure to the waste.
Last night’s Gerritsen Beach Property Owners meeting was interesting to say the least. Â There were some exciting exceptions to the normal boring meeting.
First of course the 61st precinct spoke, reminded us of the ATVs, Quads, speeding but also that fireworks are illegal and that they will not be tolerated. Gerritsen beach is their worst area when it comes to fireworks because of that they have requested sky watch again this year, and everyone, including the captain, will be working the 4-12 tour for the extra man power.
Lew Fidler – Spoke about the flooding courts. Lew is not satisfied with the answer from DOT and DEP regarding the courts. “we are going to get them to the point where they are so sick of answering our questions and point out the problems… they will come in and do the repair they will prevent them from us having to call them“. Anyone who has a specific complaint should call Lews office directly.
Lew got told the crowd that he had provided $200,000 to fix the heating plant in 277. Also he secured funds to continuing the after school programs at 277, also the Parks Department will have $400,000 additionally to expand the tot lot at Seba Avenue Park. Calling the design “Really magnificent” He also secured $22,500 for GBCares and $12,500 Vollies.
Alan Maisel  - Spoke about White Island. How Parks will be putting layers of sand on tops of the island. There is a concern about the waste (it was a landfill) would seep out into the creek due to that pressure. He is currently having meetings with the DEC and Parks along with GBCares to keep the community apprised.
He also spoke about the Lacon Ct property the Knapp street property and jemals responsibilities with the DEC regarding cleaning up the sunken boats, and dock debris. DEC more than likely be ordering Jemal to have them removed.
On a lighter note Alan is now the Chairman of the Solid Waste commission, He told the speaker he was going to throw himself into it.
Some members of GBCares were present at the meeting and expressed concern over how  they feel GerritsenBeach.net is responsible for the current  condition of GBCares. If you don’t know, Currently GBCares as an unintended and indirect result of our post “How Many Wood Chips…” the NYC Parks Department suspended GBCares operations. One of the more important of the programs, their Saturday alternative sentencing/community service program, which maintains Gerritsen Avenue was also shut down. More specifically no gas powered or heavy machinery are now not allowed on the park land, which were essential to operations. Since then GBCares has sent letters requesting approval and is currently waiting for reapproveal. Until they get approval, which may happen within weeks, they are going to play it safe by not using hand tools on the weeds on Gerritsen Avenue.
The “debate” (above) that happened at the meeting was basically GBCares taking issue with anonymous commenting. More specifically they believe that the comments represent my personal opinion and that GerritsenBeach.net allows the comments. One said “It’s really terrible what his website is doing.” Another said “GerritsenBeach.net could be a positive influence but since the entire website cause problems, problems may be what he wants because it might bring in more revenue for him“. Revenue?!  Thats right they believe I am in it for the money. Full disclosure: Last month for the month of June I “earned” $69.66 which is around the average. $70 is not the reason GerritsenBeach.net attends these meetings and asks questions, or gets exposure for local news, or  sheds light on some problems.
In my opinion it comes down to the  right to freedom of the press, and your right as a commenter to comment without fear of retaliation. I have heard numerous times, from different people, some are heads of local organizations, that would love to know who some of you are so they can beat the hell out of you. Which is why I allow anonymous comments.
It seems as though maybe GBCares is refusing to participate in discussions on the website. When someone commented wrongly that GBCares allows criminals into our neighborhood with their program, they were upset that GB.net left the comment up, but more importantly they refused to clear up that issue.
To be perfectly clear, these saturday workers are not violent criminals, just “kids” that usually got a desk tickets.
In my opinion, I see the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners meeting as a forum, I also see GerritsenBeach.net as a forum. Both trying to BETTER the community. I have come to realize that the comments at the Property Owners meeting are sometimes just as harsh, inappropriate, and wrong, just as comments on GerritsenBeach.net.
Just because people can remain anonymous throws people into a tizzy, which consumes them. You really need to get over this. Either use the website to reach the neighborhood or don’t. However you must realize that a good number of people get their “news” from here. Rumors can fly if something is not addressed correctly.
John Douglas sums up the whole situation respectively.
There is a Gerritsen Beach Property oOners meeting tomorrow July 1st at 7:30 pm. It will be held at the St. James Church basement, on Gerritsen Avenue.
The meetings are usually the first Wednesday of every month.
If you missed our coverage of the May 6th Meeting, check it out.
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