For ages, Charles and I have wondered what was up with the flyers containing job listings that are posted along Flatbush. Most of the postings list municipal entry-level jobs, and they run from Flatbush, south of Parkside, down to Linden or thereabouts.
The other day, on my way to get some jerk chicken, I saw a woman taping a job listing to one of those electrical boxes on the street. She looked like she was of retirement age and spoke with a Caribbean accent. We talked for a bit, and she said that, yes, she is the one responsible for the flyers. No, she doesn't work for the City. She goes to the library every week to get new job listings, then prints them out for posting. "I see so many young men wasting their lives," she said. "This is what I do."
I asked if I could interview her but, though she told me her name, she declined, saying that she preferred to remain anonymous.
So next time you're walking down south on Flatbush, keep your eyes peeled on the senior ladies. You never know who may be a superhero.
Bob Marvin took some photos at ArtMart last Sunday and has posted them on flickr. Check 'em out.
Hope everyone had a swell time. We sure did, though I'll confess that the major draw for me was the annual Maple Street School tag sale. I not only unloaded a ton of baby clothes and toys, but replaced them with bigger clothes and toys. Weeeee!
Remember how the City used to collect leaves in the fall for its Compost Giveback program? Well, that program has been killed (or at least, temporarily disabled). The PLG Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) blog reports on a new campaign to encourage City Council reps to resume the compost program. Our rep, Mathieu Eugene, sits on the Council Environmental Committee, so there's going to be a “Compost to Council Shout-Out” to urge Eugene to help bring back the program.
Up until 2008, the NYC Compost Project included the collection of our city’s fall leaves–roughly 20,000 tons per year–which will increase up to three times with the Million Trees Initiative, for the production of municipal compost. This compost was given back to NYC residents and the Parks Department to revitalize our gardens and open spaces. However, the NYC Compost Project faced a lack of financial and political support for the Fall Leaf Collection and Giveback Days, and they have been cancelled entirely "until further notice."
It costs the city nearly $100 per ton–close to $2 million per year–to dump the leaves in out-of-state landfills. This is a costly burial for a local resource, and a primary human cause of methane–a destructive greenhouse gas–in the atmosphere. As an efficient, cost-effective (as we already have fully operational municipal composting facilities), and sustainable alternative, composting fall leaves should be the clear choice for our city.
Want to lend your voice to the effort? You can sign the petition organized by East New York Farms right here.
Seth Kaplan, of PLG Arts, has put together a few show videos about the mural project on Lincoln Road and Flatbush. Here, Bob Marvin explains how PLG Arts came up with the idea and got permission from developer Henry Herbst for the project.
One of the muralists, Margaret Whitehair, talks about her contribution, which includes an image of Flora, the sweet Costa Rican cashier some of you should recognize from the bodega O.J.
Daniel Goers and Jennifer Wong, also muralists, talk about their robot panel (below).
And finally, we've got a montage of people preparing the construction fences for painting. Enjoy.
The New York Times has a story this week about young people finding "a modern answer to the Commune." The central characters in the narrative—a group of twentysomethings looking for fellow lefty activists to room with—end up settling on a place in PLG.
While some households keep informal checklists for political puritanism (only anti-ableists, anti-ageists, anti-classists will feel at home, advertise a set of Philadelphia roommates), the Times story ends by pointing out how this particular group found harmony by putting their differences aside: It turns out that, yes, meat-eaters and vegetarians CAN live together! (Anyone see the awesome Swedish movie Together?)
Our next door neighbors, who are a bit older that these crews, live commie-style without the checklists and it seems to work very well. Let's also not forget the group of adults organizing Brooklyn Cohousing, a sort of uber-coop coop being planned for South Slope.
Some rumors have circulated recently that The Man is trying to shut down the Prospect Park Drum Circle. The rumor is true in part, but only part.
The good news is that the drum circle itself is under no threat. (The Man apparently likes the drum circle.) The vendors around the Drummers' Circle, however, now have some paperwork and additional fees to pay if they want to remain at Drummers Grove.
In the past, the Parks Department had an agreement with the vendors that allowed them to merely pay a fee to the general fund of the city of New York. It was an arrangement not unlike the one with Latino food carts in Red Hook.
But if you know what happened to the Red Hook vendors, you know what happens next. Since someone at City headquarters decided that long-term (multi-month) agreements must be bid out, the Department of Parks and Recreations is openly soliciting bids for the Drummers' Grove area. The current vendors thus have to collectively put in a proposal and submit a bid. Individual food vendors will also continue to need permits from the Health Department.
So far as we know, no other vendors have submitted bids. Chances are the current vendors' bid will be the winning one (which is what happened in Red Hook). I tried several times to talk to Drummers Grove rep Fela Cameron about it, to no avail. But we'll keep you posted...
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