Housing and Land Use Committee member Martha Brown and CB4 Chair Julie Dent. — Photo by Aaron Short

A light dusting of snow began to coat the salted sidewalks outside the Hope Gardens Community Center, even as a foot of snow has already collected from last week’s storm. Inside, community members have gathered for February’s Community Board 4 meeting. Two items are on the public session, but it’s a short meeting otherwise and District Manager Nadine Whitted is not present because she is ill from a cold that seems to be going around these parts. Let’s get right to it.

6:40 PM: Chair Julie Dent calls the meeting to order and hands the mic to NEDAP’s Community Education Coordinator Luis Caridad, who gives a session about foreclosure rights of owners and tenants. It’s Foreclosures 101, and board members, many of them homeowners or building owners themselves, are paying close attention.

Caridad notes that there have been over 300 foreclosures in Bushwick over the past year and that the plan that President Obama signed provides loan modifications for distressed homeowners. He also touches on a bill that Governor David Paterson signed in December to expand rights of tenants whose buildings are undergoing foreclosure.

“Tenants are expected to make payments to the owner,” said Caridad. “They should continue to make those payments, and the new owner would likely request [any] back payments. Foreclosure doesn’t affect a tenant’s ability to make rent. Tenants’ responsibilities are directly to the landlord, not to a third party.”  

6:51 PM: We’re moving on to the second item of public session featuring Raul Rubio, who leads a presentation on the Brownfield Opportunity Area grant, which is being administered by the Family Services Network (FSN) and the Municipal Arts Society of NYC (MAS).

Essentially FSN and MAS have received a state grant to develop contaminated lots throughout Bushwick. For the past twelve months, the organizations have been conducting community outreach to determine the most essential needs for property redevelopment (to give you an idea, housing was listed as the top priority, followed by economic development, youth, health and human services, and sanitation.)  Family Services Network and MAS have broken Bushwick up into three subzones for development: the commercial corridor of Broadway, the industrial rail yards near the cemetery, and residential central Bushwick between Bushwick and Wyckoff Avenues.

Rubio outlines eight goals, which included improving access to healthy foods with new farmers markets and grocery stores, more multi-service facilities and recreational spaces, helping more businesses move into commercial corridors, and decreasing traffic on major roads. The final report, which has not been released yet, will be sent to the state for further review and it will eventually be linked on the FSN website.

CB4 Public Safety Chair Barbara Smith asks whether the plan might be too broad. Rubio agrees with Smith.

“You’re right it is very broad but so are the concerns of the community.” said Raul.

7:11 PM: Julie Dent thanks Rubio and moves to the agenda. The parliamentarian reads the roll. 26 people are present and we have a quorum.

“We were all at the inauguration of our borough president. Everything was very nice and well attended,” says Dent.

Dent asks the electeds to identify themselves and it’s a full house tonight. There’s Karen Cherry from Congressman Ed Towns, Italia Guerrero from Marty Markowitz’s office, Allison Frost from Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s office, Evelyn Cruz from Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez’s office, Judy Rodriguez from the NYC Comptroller’s office, and reps for State Senator Martin Dilan, Council member Erik Martin Dilan and Councilmember Diana Reyna.  

7:21 PM: Housing and Land Use Committee member Martha Brown delivers the lone committee report, telling us that she has a sore throat but she is going to read her report anyway. Everyone is under the weather as I scan the room for hand sanitizer. It’s right next to the sign-in sheet.

Brown explains that Poko Partners, which gave a presentation at a recent board meeting, came back to the Land Use Committee to give rent projections and their affordability plan for 839-845 Broadway, subsidized apartments planned on the site of an underused building. The board doesn’t have to vote on this issue because it already voted on a letter of support. Which brings us to the second item on the Land Use agenda.

Just a couple lights on at the fanciest halfway house for miles.

“979 Willoughby Avenue in Brooklyn has been converted into a men’s halfway house. This has been done without informing the residents in the community or the community board. We need to investigate this. At the present time, we do not know which agency is running this shelter. We hope to get information about this shelter as soon as possible in order to alleviate concerns on this property. Since this building was supposed to be condominiums, we need to research this further,” said Brown.

She notes that the board is trying to put together a database about all these halfway houses. There are already 15-20 buildings on the database, which is administered by DM Whitted. Brown cites public safety, garbage, drug use, and police enforcement concerns that have gone along with this residence.

“We need to find out funding sources: State funded, city funded, privately owned, or operated by some other entity,” said Brown. “As we are rebuilding our community we need to investigate these buildings that are trying to bring us back down to where we were. We need to get community input into these kind of residences.” 

7:38 PM: The board slides through old and new business rapidly before moving onto announcements. Let’s give you the highlights. 

*Council member Diana Reyna will host a meeting for interested homebuyers to purchase affordable housing, specifically restored homes at the Bushwick Salvation Army, 1151 Bushwick Avenue on February 25 from 7 to 8:30 PM. 

*A woman from the US Census notes that Census jobs are between $14.25 and $20.25 an hour. You can call 347-222-3940 to schedule an appointment.

*Citizens Committee for New York City giving small grants for neighborhood betterment projects, and the next deadline is March 14. The application is available at www.citizensnyc.org/grants. 

*Italia Guerrero from Markowitz’s office reminds board members to send their reappointment applications on February 22 and non-members interested in joining the board should call 718-802-4832 for an application. 

*Mary McClelland from the Broadway Bushwick Community Coalition takes the floor. Last time she was talking about Bushwick’s dog shit problems. Tonight she’s talking about rats. Mary always brings the goods. 

*Rubio notes that FSN will host a foster care workshop on February 24 from 5-8 PM in the Dekalb Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

*Evelyn reminds people to file their taxes and get that earned-income tax credit if you are a family earning under $48,000. Also, Saturday the 21st is the last day to purchase an appliance under the Great Appliance Swap. It’s like Cash for Clunkers but for your refrigerator.

7:54 PM: Before we adjourn, Julie thanks the MAS volunteers for setting up the presentation. Parks Chair Austen Martinez suggests organizing community board members with colorful posters to protest outside 979 Willoughby, but Julie advises that the board listen to elected officials’ liaisons, who suggest pressing the Department of Buildings and the FDNY before anything else. Anyone want to join me on a brisk walk down Wilson Avenue to Willoughby for some site shots? Anyone? Fine. Goodnight!