From The North Brooklyn Community Group: MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Although this meeting is not until next week, I feel compelled to pass it along stat. Next Tuesday, September 13th, at our very own Polish National Home the folks/minds behind Bring to Light and the Institute for Applied Reporting and Urbanism want to get your take, fellow Greenpointers, on what you’d see like to happen to our waterfront! Here’s the 411 per their press release:

Institute for Applied Reporting and Urbanism and the organizers of Bring to Light, http://bringtolightnyc.org/, the light- and projection-art festival planned for Oct. 1 in Greenpoint, invite you to join us on Sep. 13 at 6:30 PM at the Polish National Home for a meeting about realizing a shared vision for the waterfront in our neighborhood.

How Can We Use the Waterfront Now? will present plans for this year’s Bring to Light festival, including the scope of the event and all of the ways the organizers are responding to concerns about noise, crowds, flows of pedestrians, bikes, and sanitation. We will give neighbors a chance to respond to those plans and share ideas about how we can improve the festival. We are also inviting a diverse group of community activists, designers, artists, officials, and leaders to provide a broader picture of plans in effect and under development for the transformation of the Greenpoint East River into an active publicly accessible environment.

We would be especially grateful for the participation of those of you who enjoyed the festival last year, as well as everyone who has concerns or misgivings about the role of artists and young people in our community. We believe that this event can only be a success if it models a better future for Greenpoint. That can only happen if the festival is as inclusive as possible and builds consensus among all the groups that live in our community.

Last year, we produced the event through a quick two-month process of consultation with community activists, elected officials, parks advocates, the city administration, business owners, and neighbors. It was done on a shoestring budget, largely self-funded, through volunteer labor and the commitment of a few individuals. Your participation turned the American playground and Noble Street into a magical place filled with families, young people, and people who have lived in Greenpoint for generations.

Since the event last year, a new floor was opened for artist studios in the Greenpoint Terminal Market, Fowler Arts Collective has grown and prospered, new cafes have opened up along Franklin Street, a new pier was completed with ferry service connecting the neighborhoods along the East River, and the Transmitter Park is nearing completion. There was also a hugely controversial proposal for a Night Market on West Street that was rejected by the neighborhood and raised many fears about the future direction of Greenpoint.

We want to be a part of process that promotes the kind of cultural life and waterfront access you envision for the area. Are there ways we can produce the festival that can be a tool of advocacy and an advanced front in waterfront access for the public? In the future, would you like to see a children’s science center, a small burger stand on the edge of the water, a beer garden, or a protected wilderness for endangered species? A swimming pool in the East River, a place for small boats to launch, a museum dedicated to the industrial history of the area and its service to our country, a preserved historic site, affordable housing, or a place to play? In the absence of real estate development, we have an opportunity to produce the neighborhood we want now and fight for the parks and waterfront walkways promised by the city in its rezoning plan.

Join us in a discussion of the Bring to Light festival and how it can serve as an advocate for your interests, strengthen the community, improve its physical character, and be a part of the many initiatives underway to make the Greenpoint waterfront more publicly accessible, greener, more sustainable, and a better place for the everyone in the neighborhood. Although this is a one-night event, we want it to have a lasting positive resonance throughout the year.

Check it out!

How Can We Use The Waterfront Now: A Community Meeting
September 13, 2011 starting at 6:30 p.m.
The Polish National Home (AKA: The Warsaw)
261 Driggs Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222